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College hoops
Maybe Kansas’s demise was greatly overstated.
Point A: Every team from Miami to Seattle is going to be better when their best player is, you know, on the floor. It’s doubly true when said best player is Darryn Peterson, who many peg as the No. 1 overall NBA draft prospect.
(Side note: The NBA lottery picks could feel very F-driven and 2014-ish with freshmen and foreigners dominating the top-10 picks. Peterson, Cam Boozer, AJ Dybantsa, Darius Acuff, Caleb Wilson, Nate Ament, Kingston Flemings and Mikel Brown Jr. are all likely to be projected top 10. Yikes.)
Counterpoint to Point A: Tourney games are not played at home, and Kansas is infinitely better in the Phog than anyone this side of an experienced London bus driver. Spy, you rode on that first double-decker number back in the day, right?
But Kansas is fighting for scraps in terms of the Final Four front-runners to me. So is Houston, the defensive-minded crew the Jayhawks took to the Lawrence woodshed Monday night.
Same with Louisville and UNC, two teams that tussled in the Big Monday opener on ESPN last night.
Side question, in a few parts: Can we attest that Big Monday is the sporting flagship of the sports broadcasting mothership? For those of us who grew up — quite literally since we got cable about the time I was 10 — with ESPN as our go-to, we all remember that the first major sports connection for the WWL leader was college hoops. It was talk shows and lumberjack thingys and SportsCenter and World’s Strongest Man competitions and Denise Austin spending the mornings doing aerobics. Seriously, folks, it was ESPN the Ocho without Pepper and Cotton but with a salty blonde in morning tights. And Big Mondays highlighted with a surging Big East conference gave us Dickie V and Raftery telling Jerome Lane to “Send it in, big fella” and so much more. True or false on a Tuesday, if MNF is the gold standard, is the best comp what Big Monday is to ESPN and sports what Must See Thursday was to NBC and sit-coms. Discuss.)
Where were we?
Yes, the tier of teams fighting for a Final Four spot. It’s a fun debate, and one for which Florida and several Big Ten teams deserve serious consideration.
But even as good as Arizona and Michigan are — and they are tremendous, but each is flawed in one critical aspect — there is a clear leader in the clubhouse for the 1 seed and the team to be one everyone’s darling come bracket season.
Duke’s march has been amazing. The Blue Devils have the Player of the Year front-runner in Boozer — not saying he’s the best, and this would be a clear MVP moreso than PoY dunk — and a deep collection of talent.
The stats are overly impressive since Duke has 12 Quad 1 wins, which MC finds meaningless of course, unless those are SEC Quad 1 losses, and has nine wins over AP Top-25 foes.
Duke was named the No. 1 team in the country Monday, marking a record 148th time its has been atop the AP poll.
And while March Madness has forever been flawed in naming the best team — it’s the most fun way to determine the champ but not the best — Duke’s half century of success is staggering.
And while a slew of big-picture debates of all-time college hoops Blue Bloods are above my skill set, I do ask this question on a Tuesday:
True or false, Jon Scheyer is the best “coach after THE coach” hire in college football or basketball history?
Discuss.
Combining the streams.
Sorry to Egon, Ray and Dr. Venkman, but the brilliance that has led to the ascension of the NFL to atop the pop culture realm crosses a variety of streams. Some intentional, some coincidental.
There was the gambling explosion of late.
There was the cultural bloodlust turn.
There was the marketing genius — cue the Guinness guys’ “Brilliant!” — of making the sport year-round.
There was the financial benefit and the lasting connection of the fire minor leagues of the passionate fans of college football.
The last two converge this week in Indy.
College football fans care about their former stars as they are posting their NFL worthiness.
NFL fans care about who can help their favorite teams now and moving forward.
In fact, no one has more at stake in their underwear this week since pre-internet Victoria’s Secrets showpieces in the day. Deep breaths, Spy.
And it reminds us that the NFL is year-round. Truly.
The combine comes three weeks after the Super Bowl, and this year, it comes right on the heels of the Winter Olympics.
No wonder we have ignored the NBA. Well, that a few other dozen reasons.
That said, as much as we complain about the NCAA sports calendar, if we can pick a nit on the business machine that is the NFL, shouldn’t the calendar be adjusted to have the draft in early March and free agency after that?
The draft is random. Free agency is about filling voids. The order should be constructed accordingly, right?
Sign of the times
This in a lot of ways makes me sad.
This also, in almost every way, will happen.
Army coach Jeff Monken floated an idea to move the iconic Saturday date after the conference championship games of the Army-Navy game to aid the college football playoff.
It’s not entirely altruistic since as Army and Navy have become occasional contenders for those at-large spots; it makes sense for them.
And when (not if, when) the expansion hits, the odds for Army and Navy to be part of the field are increased, so be ahead of that looming decision whenever it comes.
But like so many things in college football, the cost of better ways is paid with the currency of our favorite sport’s traditions.
And this feels like another deposit in that bankrupt exchange.
Alas.
But if we are going to move it from the second Saturday in December, let’s really move it.
Make it the stand-alone Saturday night season opener the week before Labor Day on a four-year rotation. At Army, at Navy, at an NFL stadium (think Philly, Washington, Baltimore) and then find ways to take it to the masses serving across the globe, be they in Europe or Hawaii or wherever. Heck, if the NFL can global, you have to think our U.S. military branches can figure it out.
And deliver great football courtesy of the Red, White and Blue.
This and that
> The State of the Union is tonight. I will watch some of it. I do not have high hopes for inspiration. That saddens me.
> Great scene of the U.S. men’s hockey team celebrating with Toby Keith’s “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue” and singing every single word. Keith would have loved that.
> Rest easy, Robert Carradine, aka Lewis Skolnick from “Revenge of the Nerds.” Gang, speaking of a movie that would have no shot to be remade these days, that one is way higher up the board than many, Many, MANY others for a slew of reasons, despite John Goodman’s goodness as the football coach. “(Bleep), we forgot to practice.” Carradine was 71.
> Dang, Chuck Bediako, quit while you are behind. The former Alabama center-turned-G-League-reserve-turned-Alabama-center is now appealing the ruling that he’s exhausted his college eligibility. Hey, Johni Broome, wanna come back to the Plains?
Today’s questions
True or false, it’s Tuesday. Morning, Ernie.
True or false, Jon Scheyer is the best coach after THE coach.
True or false, the NFL draft and free agency should flip-flop.
True or false, the Army-Navy game should be moved.
True or false, you will watch the State of the Union tonight.
True or false, it will go north of 100 minutes. Betting future market Kalshi has that thought as a 43% favorite. I think over, to be honest.
As for today, Feb. 24, let’s review.
Steve Jobs would have been 71 today. Yeah, he was kinda smart.
All-time Rushmore of Steve. Go.