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SEC thoughts
Book Dalton Knecht as SEC player of the year.
The Vols sharpshooter dropped 26 on South Carolina in Columbia on Wednesday night as UT wrapped up its first outright regular-season SEC title in 16 years.
That Knecht did it over the hosting Gamecocks — and runaway favorite for SEC coach of the year Lamont Paris — was fitting. In truth, Knecht should be getting some national player of the year chatter at this point. And how in world did that dude not average 35 a night for Northern Colorado before portalling to UT?
It's been a banger year for the SEC, which is right behind the Big 12 in terms of power and perception, and the league could get as many as nine teams into the tournament.
It will be interesting to watch how UK and UT scrap come Saturday since a) the league title is secured for the Vols and b) UT could be playing for a 1 seed all things considered.
UK is in of course, and the guard-heavy Cats could use a road win in Knoxville — remember UK humbled Auburn in Auburn last month — to jumpstart its postseason filled with high hopes.
South Carolina, Auburn, UK and Alabama are each 12-5 in the league, which is two games back of the Vols.
With one final Saturday looming, seeding for the SEC tournament next week in Nashville could be tricky.
Right now UK is the 4 and Bama is the 5, and that would be a doozy of a quarterfinal matchup, no?
State of the union
Joe Biden will give his State of the Union address tonight. As we mentioned Wednesday, the stakes are impossible to overestimate with a looming date with Donald Trump almost assuredly coming in the November election.
The scrutiny of this speech will be higher than any I can remember considering those stakes and the perception that Biden's mental state is shaky.
In fact, check out this list of wagering options from betonline.ag:
— Over/under 69.5 minutes for the speech length.
— Over/under 11.5 "non-facts" according to The Washington Post fact checker.
— Plus-200 odds that he directly mentions Donald Trump.
— Plus-300 that he misidentifies a foreign leader or country.
— Plus-400 he mentions Barack Obama.
— Plus-2000 he misidentifies/confuses Nikki Haley with some else.
Good work if you can get it
So CBSsports.com talked with some agents for NFL players at the suggestions of what some of the free agent QB1s will command on the free agent market are staggering.
Kirk Cousins north of $42 million per year.
Baker Mayfield at $40 million per, which is four times what they expect Derrick Henry to make after leaving Nashville.
Wow.
Cousins is of course being linked with QB-starving Atlanta Falcons, and that number — plus coming off a season-ending Achilles injury last year — is a bit scary, but it's nothing new for Cousins.
Considering his time in Washington and the various franchise tags and extension he has signed, Kirk Bleepin' Cousins will be north of $350 million in career earnings after this free agent deal.
Yes you read that correctly.
Kirk Cousins?
This and that
— Here's some fiscal breakdowns of what Caitlin Clark should make as the top pick in the WNBA draft.
— There are reports that Peyton Manning's production company is trying to get Bill Belichick and Nick Saban together for a similar product as what Peyton and Eli do in their Manning-Cast coverage of football games. That would be awesome.
— Man, controversy is brewing in New Jersey after a bad call sent on boys' basketball team to the state championship. There are lawsuits being threatened, too.
— Yep, we got over 100-units to the good after Super Tuesday, which naturally meant a bagel on Wednesday night. So it goes I guess.
— The Mrs. 5-at-10 wowed them at UTC's photo night on Wednesday. She's a rock star.
Today's questions
It's an anything goes Thursday, so fire away.
We'll start here: Over/under 69.5 minutes for the State of the Tonight?
As for today, March 7, let's review
Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone on this day in 1876.
Good work there AGB.
Bryan Cranston is 68 today. His turn as Walter White is one of the best in TV history.
Joe Carter is 64 today. Rushmore of best home runs in World Series history.
And remember the mailbag.