March Is Upon Us

Finally. Bryce Harper and the Philadelphia Phillies ended all the speculation by reaching an agreement. And it is some agreement. 

Philadelphia is on the hook for $330 million for 13 years. There is no opt out clause and there is a no-trade clause. Harper has the highest total contract amount, topping Giancarlo Stanton’s $325 million. There are incentives in addition to the yearly figure which will make Harper even richer.

This is a team friendly deal in the amount, but can turn ugly for the Phillies if Harper doesn’t produce like he did in Washington and/or he suffers significant injury. Agent Scott Boras said that Harper wanted to be in one place where he can thrive, as well as have the biggest contract.

Does this make Philadelphia the NL front runners? Perhaps, yet they have to run the gauntlet of the fine starting pitching in Washington and New York, and the Atlanta Braves won the NL East last season.  Thus, the addition of Bryce Harper immediately bolsters the Phillies lineup and reduces the pressure on prodigy Rhys Hopkins. The new acquisitions who played for the Yankees last season, outfielder Andrew McCutcheon and reliever David Robertson, will have an impact—but the question is how much, as McCutcheon is not the slugger who won the N.L. M.V.P. Award while with Pittsburgh and Robertson struggled away from the Bronx during his stint with the White Sox. Add in questions about the starting pitching and the quality of the young lineup, and it is not so obvious that Harper’s joining the ensemble warrants a declaration that the Phillies are the favorites in the N.L. Milwaukee and St.Louis are very solid teams, Cincinnati is improved, the Cubs are a factor. I heard that San Diego picked up a really good player this off season to go with the young corps that will develop into a contending team.

There is another hint that the Phillies believe they need more talent than they currently have. That is the speculation about South Jersey native Mike Trout coming back to the Philadelphia area once he is a free agent in two years. To me, this means that the Phillies are a superstar player short of having a championship team. 

Whatever the outcome, Harper has already made an impact. About 350,000 tickets have been sold since he signed. That translated to nearly $14 million in revenue, without adding in parking, concessions, merchandise. 

His first exhibition game was a sellout and 1,500 standing room tickets on the berm were sold. Harper’s teammates and coaches found him to be warm and accessible. After Harper hit a homer in a simulated game off of major league pitching, McCutcheon dryly remarked that “we’ll keep him.”  McCutcheon knows baseball and a winner.

Before I get to basketball, I would like to acknowledge that Rutgers had two Champions for the first time ever in the recent Big Ten Wrestling Championships. F&M is actually sending 1 wrestler to the NCAA’s in Pittsburgh, as the Diplomat wrestlers recorded their best finish in the EIWA Championships in years. 

Upon traveling to Iowa City and beating Iowa minus its head coach, Fran Mc Caffery , who was suspended for verbal abusing the officials in a road loss at Ohio State, talk started about Rutgers being on the cusp of an NIT bid. Reaching .500 at 14-14 was an achievement. Especially where the team was a month ago. But as RU head man Steve Pikiell calmly said, to keep his team focused, they only play one game at a time. 

Obviously, they weren’t focused enough on Wednesday night. A cold shooting first half put the Scarlet Knights behind 31-17 before a sold out RAC. Geo Baker, the sophomore guard, had a horrendous night, shooting 0-10 from the field and scoring 0 points. Still, RU staged a furious comeback, as they had two chances to put in the game winner off of a Baker missed three point attempt. Alas, Penn State won 66-65, greatly diminishing RU’s chances for the post-season. 

Rutgers concluded its regular season with a resounding 89-73 defeat at the hands of Indiana in Bloomington on their Senior Day. The Knights did little to help their cause both offensively and defensively. 

This may have been a hangover from the Penn State loss and the horrible situation forward Issa Thiam put himself into on early Friday morning. Thiam was arrested in Piscataway on seven counts; no other details were given. Coach Pikiell suspended Thiam indefinitely. 

Thus, RU limps into the Big Ten Tournament, playing at the number 12 seed against number 13 seed Nebraska. This is a far cry from where RU hoped they would be. To have any chance at reaching the NIT, RU would have to go 2-1 in three consecutive nights. That is very daunting. While they did make a run last year at Madison Square Garden based on the outstanding play of Corey Sanders, this team does not seem to have that makeup. 

It has been a very significant building season for Rutgers. They didn’t finish in the Big Ten cellar. RU won 7 league games, their high total in the league. Had the miraculous shot that Iowa converted to win a game at the RAC hadn’t fallen and if the Knights converted the rebound at the end of the Penn State game, the team would be16-14, not playing on Wednesday night, and perhaps ahead of schedule in the team’s overall development. With the youth on the team and the chemistry that has been building, 2019-20 has promise, These words have not been echoed on the Banks of the ‘ol Raritan for awhile.   

I was at the Prudential Center on Wednesday night to see Marquette play Seton Hall. The Pirates were fighting for an outside chance at an NCAA berth, while Marquette wanted to end a two game losing streak and remain in contention for the Big East regular season title.

A lot like the RU game, Seton Hall fell behind the Golden Eagles, trailing 37-31 at the half. Marquette was dominating off the glass and scoring on three pointers, despite guard Markus Howard, the leading scorer in the Big East, having a subpar night. 

Behind by at least 12 points in the second half with more than 10 minutes gone by, Seton Hall went on an 18-0 run to close out the game, which included a streak of 10 straight points by guard Myles Powell, who ended the contest with 34 points. 

I don’t ever remember being in an arena when such a comeback has happened—I have seen big runs to start a game, but never this. I don’t know that Seton Hall really is an NCAA team, even with big wins over Kentucky, Maryland and now Marquette plus Villanova. And I think Marquette rises and falls on Howard being on, so the key to defeating the Golden Eagles is to shut down Howard. Villanova simply lost too much talent to be a championship threat.

In other basketball news, Swarthmore made the D-III Final Four and a trip to Salem, VA. The Garnet face Christopher Newport in the Friday opener, with Wisconsin-Oshkosh meeting Wheaton in the nightcap.  The winners collide on Saturday for the title. With Swarthmore making it to the Final Four, this is another instance of a school sacrificing academics for athletics. Scandalous. Lol.

I enjoyed the Golden State-Philadelphia contest on ABC last Saturday night. Each team played without one star—Klay Thompson had been experiencing knee problems and Sixers big man Joel Embiid was slowly working his way back from an injury. The game had a definite playoff feel. PG Ben Simmons led the Sixers, but in the end, the see saw battle was won by the Golden State duo of Kevin Durant and Steph Curry. 

This Warriors team can be as exciting as in the past. It may have more losses than prior teams had. And this is probably the last run at a title—which by no means is a given. Whether Golden State triumphs or falls short, it has been a blast watching this team. 

I saw on Tuesday night some of their shortcomings when a schizophrenic Boston team dismantled GSW at Oracle Arena. Without a healthy Klay Thompson and his efforts on defense, the Warriors are a very average to below average team. No matter that DeMarcus Cousins is a bull in the paint, a prodigious center has not been part of the arsenal the makes the Warriors so good. I think he is a liability. The fact that Golden State is looking to bring back an aging Andrew Bogut to help at center demonstrates a major problem underneath for this team and that the flow and spacing, which was the Warriors trademark, hopefully would return with a player like Bogut. 

Without Bogut, the Warriors took down the Denver Nuggets on Friday night. Denver is the closest threat to the Warriors’ superiority in the West. With Klay Thompson back in action, defending like a man possessed, arguing with himself for not playing harder, Klay went off for 39 points, which included 9 from beyond the arc. As important as Curry and Durant are, Klay Thompson’s importance on both sides of the court should never be forgotten.

The bad Warriors showed up on Sunday evening as the lowly Phoenix Suns came into Oracle and emphatically broke an 18 game losing streak to Golden State. The Suns played with passion; the Warriors did not. Devin Booker out hustled and outplayed the Golden State defenders. Phoenix benefitted from sloppy play by Thompson and Curry at the end of the game as well as horrid shooting from 3 point range by Golden State. 

It is not the “lack of energy” of the Oracle Arena crowd which Thompson mentioned after the Phoenix loss. I am firmly of the belief that the initial distractions at the start of the year morphed into a disease among the players. Draymond Green is not the player he was 4 years ago. The passing is not as crisp as in previous years. There is too much emphasis on the 3 point shot and too many isolation plays without movement. Also, outside of the key addition of Durant, the role players on Golden State have not improved the team, whereas the contenders have gotten younger and better. 

The veterans like Curry and Thompson feel that when the playoffs begin that they will be able to turn on the energy again and win one more title. I doubt that this attainable given that the Western Conference is so much better. Teams like Utah, Portland, Oklahoma City, and Houston will be true tests for the Warriors—which I don’t see them necessarily being favored to win the series. As a matter of fact, the way the team is playing, their lead atop the Western Conference is perilous and they almost certainly will not have home court advantage against 2-3 Eastern Conference foes if the Warriors reach the NBA Finals.

It has been a great run, with a lot of fun games. There is a time when all good things must end. Unfortunately for Golden State, it is looking like this season. For once, I would love to be wrong.

The NBA does have two train wrecks performing in two of its most venerable cities. The Lakers and Celtics are out of sorts right now. And who are the causes of this disjointedness? Why those two pals and former egomaniacal teammates who couldn’t stand each other—Kyrie Irving in Boston and LeBron James with Los Angeles. 

LeBron and his cronies have absolutely ruined the glamorous image of the Los Angeles Lakers. “Showtime” is no NO time. Because he is the greatest player ever to have played the game (in his mind but there are plenty of doubters on that subject), LeBron believes he is the only one who can play the game right. He is easily frustrated by teammates—that was also the case in Cleveland. Because they aren’t as immortal as he is. Coaches are mere folly to his superior knowledge. 

Certainly LeBron has scored a ton of points in his career, surpassing Michael Jordan for fourth place all-time in NBA annals. James has also played way more minutes, and played in far more playoff games.

Even coupled with his championships and title game appearances, this does not give him the right to drop himself upon the Lakers and try to take over running the franchise. Despite protestations to the contrary, he has no regard for Luke Walton, the current LAL coach who ran off an impressive string of victories a couple of years ago at Golden State when Steve Kerr was incapacitated with back trouble. It is so bad for Walton, that his father, legendary UCLA and NBA champion Bill Walton, has started actively campaigning for Luke to land at his alma mater to regain National Championship form at the school. 

Moreover, the rumor that LeBron coveted Eric Spoelstra, his former coach at Miami who still coaches the Heat is laughable. While LeBron won in Miami, he was surrounded by Chris Bosh and Dewayne Wade, two certain Hall Of Fame indictees. He scoffed at Spoelstra during his time in Miami, but James behaved a lot better because Pat Riley, the power behind the throne for the Heat, was a person not to mess with.

While Walton could get scooped up by many other franchises because he is that good, the question remains why would he put up with the constant headaches associated with Team LeBron? There is no certainty that agent Rich Paul, who is LeBron’s long time friend, will be able to still pick off Anthony Davis after his blatant attempt to control the market at the trade deadline not only failed, but sank the Lakers as a team-everyone was expendable under the way Paul wanted to do business, so their future in LA was bleak. 

Add into the mix that Lonzo Ball and Brandon Ingram will miss the remainder of this lost  season. Monitoring LeBron’s minutes actually may extend his career. 

I look at Magic Johnson and Jeannie Buss. Where is their assertive leadership? How have they allowed the once proud franchise to deteriorate as it has? Is LeBron, his entourage, his vision as an entrepreneur in the music, TV and movie industries and his pouting worth all of this? What will the fan base tolerate if the Lakers cannot sign a top free agent in the off season? It is a mess.

Boston is no better. Kyrie Irving is as disruptive a force on the court as he is in the locker room and with the press. He is sullen, sulks, is petulant and not a real team player—it is all about Kyrie. Danny Ainge, who handles the basketball operations, is highly supportive of his young and talented coach, Brad Stevens. 

Oveall, Boston has played well, sometimes better without Irving on the court. They went through a stretch of losses, then they put two impressive road victories together this week at Golden State then in Sacramento the next night. The talent is there. The Celtics’ chances to win the Eastern Conference are equal to their rivals. Last season, the team came up one game short without Irving. The question is whether they can put aside the rancor, act professionally and play together as a team. If that is the case, they can make the NBA Finals. Should selfishness and ego take control, Boston is doomed this season.

On Saturday night, the NBA conveniently arranged for the Celtics to be on an extended road trip away from the Garden, with a stop in LA to take on the Lakers at the Staples Center.This was an all-Boston affair, as the Lakers were forced to utilize bench players and call ups from the G League. Watching this dismal game was not a highlight for a Saturday night, for ABC or me. 

Duke traveled to Chapel Hill on Saturday night for part two of their annual rivalry. While inching closer to playing, Zion Williamson was only a spectator. Unless the two teams meet in the ACC Tournament next week or in the NCAA Tournament, his participation in this storied series will be just under 1 minute—the time the it took for his Nike shoe to disintegrate.

Carolina prevailed again, this time by a score of 79-70. Tough, aggressive defense along with some clutch 3 point shots  by Coby White helped the Tar Heels withstand a serious scoring drought to hold off the late charge by the Blue Devils. R.J Barrett of Duke showed why he will be sensational at the next level in leading his team with 26 points.

North Carolina tied Virginia for the ACC regular season title, with a 16-2 record. Virginia will have the top seed in the ACC Tournament which is later this week in Charlotte. Coach K says it is likely Zion Williamson will return for the tourney games. How effective Zion will be after a long period of inactivity remains to be seen. He could provide Duke with an emotional lift and lead them to the ACC title. To get there, #3 seeded Duke likely will have to finally defeat Carolina and then UVA. 

ACC fans and maybe the Big East fans at Madison Square Garden always seem to be the luckiest based upon the strength of their leagues. Big Ten rooters who migrate to Chicago might take exception. 

I am an opponent of conference tournaments deciding championships and NCAA bids, as this especially hurts the non-major conferences. Just because Seton Hall and Indiana have a number of Quad 1 wins, something Belmont or Loyola (Chicago) cannot possibly attain, does not mean that the Pirates or Hoosiers should be rated ahead of a runner-up in the Ohio Valley Conference or a school which reached the Final Four last year.

Nonetheless, it is the start to an exciting time of the year for basketball enthusiasts. Which is why some question the reason I am headed to Edmonton, where the lows will be in the teens and the high temperatures will make it into the balmy (for them) mid-30’s. 

The answer is simple: this is when the Devils are scheduled to play the Oilers and Canucks. This is once in a lifetime for me and my son. Anyway, I will get to watch the ACC Finals when I arrive home from this fun trek. That’s definitely like having your cake and really enjoying it after the fact.

Besides, if you want to know when March Madness officially kicked off this year, it was Saturday night in the Bahamas. The Bahamas? That is where A-Rod proposed to J-Lo, who said yes and now sports a $1,000,000 ring on her hand…everything else is secondary, I guess.