College hoops 108
There are a lot of folks positioning for the tournament. It is March after all.
Guessing who will be where is a little premature right now considering the grudge matches ahead and the donnybrooks that could highlight the conference tournaments.
In truth, the divides between the 1s and 2s and maybe even the 2s and 3s, the semifinals of the Power Five conference college tournaments may be much better and more dramatic than they have been for a few years.
While we are here, let’s air our annual grievance with the scheduling for the major college tournaments, which may be the most watered-down and over-looked significant accomplishment in team sports we follow.
Think about it this way: For the schools playing in a conference title game on Sunday, if they win, they enjoy that for oh, about three hours, then the entire conversations turns to seeding and brackets and the Madness. Heck did, you know that the A-Sun
So, here’s my thought: Move the major college tournaments up a week and swap the dates with smaller conferences, especially the one-bid leagues.
It would be a better spotlight for those leagues. We’d watch the MEAC conference title game on the Saturday or Sunday before the brackets are announced. What better way to see if you want to roll the dice with Chesterfield State or Whatsamatter U. in your bracket.
Plus, it would let the winners of the big conference draws have a chance to celebrate that accomplishment for more than half an hour.
NL East review
I pay for access to The Athletic. I think it has several professionals that make it valuable.
I also hope that more true sports journalism portals find ways to a) make money; b) employ sports journalists; c) encourage competitive journalism by offering another big-time platform so everything does not center around ESPN; and d) make money. (Because, let’s be honest, if any of these endeavors fail to turn a profit then the rest – as important as journalism is for society (and yes, even sports journalism) – simply can not exist.)
Anyhoo, I saw the headline in my email that read “Bowden: Offseason grade for the NL East.” I was intrigued.
Bowden, of course, is longtime baseball exec who has been a baseball insider for a number of outlets Jim Bowden. He is good at his craft, which is analysis way more than prose.
If you have a pass to The Athletic and you are a Braves fan, this is a great rundown of the moves that did and did not happen in the suddenly supremely competitive NL East.
For those that don’t, I will offer my grades here.
Philadelphia – A+ (Bowden’s grade: A+)
The Phillies backed up the truck, made every prospect available and remade a roster that finished 80-82 last year.
They added the biggest free agent and made the best offseason trade. They also added a power reliever (David Robertson) and a former NL MVP (Andrew McCutchen) in free agency and made deals for a major upgrade at short and behind the plate by adding AL all-star shortstop Jean Segura and NL all-star catcher J.T. Realmuto. The overhaul of the lineup – they now have a 1-through-8 that averaged more than 22 homers per spot last year – also came with the added bonus that they got better defensively at short, left, first base, right field and at catcher.
New York Mets – A (Bowden’s grade: A-)
The Mets have been trash with exceptional starting pitching for years, which is strange and befuddling. New GM Brodie Van Wagenen (Is there a whiter name in all of sports than Brodie Van Wagenen? Anyone? Bueller?) addressed that with an array of mid-to-small-size free-agent moves and a blockbuster trade with Seattle. And did that without chipping away at the strength of the club – the rotation, which is as good and as deep (when healthy) as any in the NL.
The Mets added Robinson Cano, who is getting long in the tooth, but still hit .303 with 10 homers and 50 RBIs in 80 games last year, and Jed Lowrie to the order. Most important, Whitey Van Wagenen made the Mets bullpen arguably the best in baseball by getting the game’s best closer (Edwin Diaz) from Seattle and signing useful relievers Jeurys Familia and Justin Wilson. Well done, Whitey.
Washington National – B+ (Bowden’s grade: A-)
If the Mets do not have the best rotation in the NL (especially if Clayton Kershaw starts the season on the DL), the Nationals might. That group was strengthened by the addition of Patrick Corbin, arguably the most coveted pitcher on the free-agent market, and Animal Sanchez.
The major knock of course is that Harper left – and he left for roughly the same, if not fewer, dollars – and that power bat will be missed, even if his Harper’s personality had worn thin with some of his Nationals’ teammates.
Miami Marlins – Incomplete (Bowden’s grade: C)
Does it really matter? The Marlins added a slew of prospects in deals, including hard-throwing Sixto Sanchez in the Realmuto deal, and spent next to nothing in free agency. The Marlins are going to try to do it with prospects, continue in three years, then trade all of those stars and do it again. Rinse. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
Atlanta – D+ (Bowden’s grade: B-)
Bowden is a bigger believer in the addition of third baseman Josh Donaldson than I am. Hey, I hope it works – truly, because the summers are more fun when the Braves are competitive – and Donaldson is a former Auburn star. War Eagle.
Adding retreads Nick Markakis and Brian McCann does nothing to blow my skirt up.
Yes, this team won the division last year. Yes, they did not part with any of their prospects – something that Bowden lauded for what it’s worth – but they did not pony up the monster dollars a lot of us expected, especially since they made a killing with the new ballpark last year.
They whiffed on attempts to land an upper-half-of-the-rotation starter. And worse, they refused to part with Austin Riley for Realmuto, who would have been an awesome addition. (The fact that J.T. landed in Philly magnifies that miss.)
Thoughts?
Winners and losers on a Tuesday
Yep, we down with that because friends, the NFL combine just concluded.
And we love the draft. You know this.
Let’s play a little back and forth with some winners and losers from the Underwear Olympics not from the state of Mississippi. (Seriously, what D.K. Metcalf and Montez Sweat did is the definition of human evolvement. Sweet buckets of sweat and swearing, those dudes are unbelievable at 6-3, 228 and a 4.33 40 for Metcalf and at 6-5, 260 and a 4.41 40 for Sweat, the fastest defensive lineman in combine history.)
Winner: Kyler Murray. This one was easy. When he stepped to the measuring tape and was taller than 5-10, the chatter about the Heisman winner going No. 1 overall to Arizona or maybe No. 3 to Oakland started to echo.
Losers: Everyone other wide receiver who is going to be measured physically in this draft cycle to Metcalf, who is addition to the numbers above also had a 40.5-inch vertical and did 27 reps of 225 on the bench. One question remains, though: For a team that threw the ball all over the yard, why did Metcalf get only 26 catches in seven games last season? Yes, a neck injury cut his season short – do you want to invest a top-10 pick in someone who already has one neck injury? – but still, those numbers are almost as staggeringly forgettable as the combine numbers are staggeringly OMG!
Winners: Everyone wanting to draft a defensive lineman. Buckets of big dudes moving like big studs. We know what Sweat did. But Michigan’s Rashan Gary ran a 4.58 at 280 pounds, Quinnen Williams clocked a low-4.8 (the fastest time for a 300-pounder in more than a dozen years), Clemson stud Dexter Williams benched 225 36 times and that’s not even covering Nick Bosa, Ed Oliver and a slew of other dudes who are dudes. You could be the Falcons picking in the mid-to-upper teens and get a D-line dude who in most years would be a top-10 cat.
Loser: Daniel Jones, the former Duke quarterback, had been whispered as a possible first rounder because this QB class has been panned. Well, Kyler Murray, Dwayne Haskins and Drew Lock each had strong showings in Indy. Jones did not shine as bright and has been left to be the big name among that next group after the big three.
Winners: Couple of linebackers named Devin. Devin Bush of Michigan and Devin White of LSU clocked a 4.43 and a 4.42 in the 40. Each has impeccable tape, and now each, coming off All-American seasons, is step-for-step as fast as Julio Jones. At linebacker for Pete’s sake. They can never make this game safe friends, when you have dudes that big, that strong and that fast showing up in a bad mood.
Loser: Elijah Holyfield. The Georgia running back who picked up a lot of slack when DeAndre Swift inexplicably struggled last fall dropped a 4.81 40 turd in the punch bowl. It’s the most painful athletic moment for a Holyfield not involving an ear ever.
Winner: Parris Campbell. THE Ohio State wide receiver was electric with a 4.31 40 and his agility numbers likely moved him into round one. In fact, with all the dudes from THE Ohio State running wild in Indy, we’re going to see how big a disappointment Coach Urban Liar’s last year in Columbus truly was.
Loser: Jachai Polite. His numbers were pedestrian and his antics in between interviews left a lot of NFL folks with a sour taste in their mouths. Not exactly the dream combo anyone wants to build at the combine.
Winner: Noah Fant, the Iowa tight end, was a dude’s dude – a 4.50 40 at 6-5, 241 – means he’s going top gain a lot of momentum at a position that a lot of folks are dying to address.
Losers: Anyone overvaluing the measurables for O-linemen – remember when the big dude from Oklahoma plummeted because he was slow he’s a 345-pound tackle for Pete’s Sake – and now folks are worried that the Alabama tackle’s reach is about a half-inch short. PUH-lease.
Winner: Jamal Dean, the Auburn corner turned in arguably the biggest surprise number in the 40 – and yes, cover corners and WRs running 40s has a great combine-to-game corollary – at 4.30. Dude made some money in Indy friends.
This and that
– Many thanks to former Baylor School and UGA star golfer Keith Mitchell for pulling up a chair on Press Row on Monday. Think about that. Dude is the current big deal in the PGA and he stayed true to his hometown and set 15-or-so minutes with us on the radio right here in Chatty-Vegas. Here’s the podcast, and as usual Paschal and Keith were aces. That other dude was blah.
– First it was Luke Perry kicking the bucket on Monday. Now King Kong Bundy has bought the farm. No word on the cause of Bundy’s death but here’s ruling out anorexia.
– Fake news or sporting tradition? According to this YahooSports! story, more than half of the participants at the combine were a half-inch or more shorter than their listed heights at their school. Gang, this has happened forever, and I am pretty sure I was listed at 6-6 in my high school basketball program. I am 6-4.
– That’s back-to-back connections on college hoops picks. After the universally known Quinnipiac win over St. Peter’s on Friday, we connected on K-State minus-1.5 at TCU in a double-digit win. We are now 41-27-2, which gets us back over 60 percent (60.3) against the number. Entertainment for everyone. We have a few games we like tonight and we’ll post them between lunch and the end of Press Row. Deal? Deal.
– How excited are the Phillies fans about the Bryce Harper signing? Well, know this: Harper’s Phillies’ No. 34 has passed LeBron James’ Lakers 23 as the best selling across all sports in the U.S.
– How much have the salaries exploded in baseball? Well, from Darren Rovell, know this: Harper will make $30 million this year. Former Phillies Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt made $32,602,277 in his 17-year career, and that number has been adjusted for inflation.
– LeBron and the Lake Show are in free fall. It’s trash all the way around.
Today’s questions
True or false Let’s explore. Truly.
True or false, the Braves make the playoffs this year.
True or false, you watched Beverly Hills 90210.
True of false, the Lakers make the playoffs. (Hi Stewwie.)
As for today, March 5, well, Eva Mendes celebrates a birthday today. We’re a fan of Ms. Mendes’ skill set.
And today is Fat Tuesday. Rushmore of Fat, and be creative.