This Is What Happens In A Week

I went silent for a week and a ton of things happen—not very good for me or for the sports world I treasure. When I was away from the keyboard and in New Orleans visiting our daughter, I was merely out of town but not out of touch.

So I have been asking myself some questions during this period. Some were answered, but not necessarily to my satisfaction. I am sure that you may have many of these same questions.

In college basketball, I can ask this—how did Virginia manage to win the NCAA Championship? Did they really deserve to win the big prize?

The Cavaliers were lucky to have escaped even the opening contest against Gardner-Webb, immediately evoking memories of last year against UMBC, when UVA became the first #1 seed to lose to a #16 seed. Could this happen to this squad again? With a second half performance more worthy of a top seed, UVA won going away.

Did this erase the doubters? Not exactly. This UVA team was eliminated early in the ACC Tournament by Florida State. Despite a gaudy record with only 3 losses, the faithless were aplenty. 

Although they dispatched Oklahoma in the second round, the Cavaliers had plenty of trouble disposing of #12 seed Oregon in the Sweet Sixteen. A low seed and a Pac 12 school—synonymous with mediocrity.

Up next was a Purdue team which had UVA beaten but for star Carsen Edwards making 2 of 3 foul shots at the end of the game which went to OT instead of cementing the win for the Boilermakers. Did this do enough to propel Virginia into the Final Four?

Which is where they met a hungry Auburn team. Auburn, without its top player who suffered a season-ending ACL injury in the Elite Eight OT victory over SEC foe Kentucky. This Auburn team was the first real pedigreed test for UVA. Auburn was white hot, having won the SEC Tournament in trouncing favored Tennessee. While the Tigers escaped a very good New Mexico State team by one in the first round, they subsequently defeated Kansas, and North Carolina as well as the aforementioned Kentucky team. Their #5 seed was way too low.

Auburn should have won the game. They came from 10 points down with 5:20 left and were ahead when UVA dribbled the ball up court in the waning seconds on last Saturday night. That’s when the referees missed an obvious double dribble by Ty Jerome, allowing the Cavaliers’ Kyle Guy, a deadly three point shooter to get off a shot from the left corner. He was bumped by Samir Doughty, who attempted to put up some resistance to Guy’s shot, but instead struck him with his body. Guy sank the resulting three free throws to send the Cavaliers into the title match.

Auburn was disheartened but gracious in an agonizing defeat. Virginia was lucky, and they felt they were a team of destiny, set to erase the year’s memories of the UMBC 

debacle. There was one hurdle left—Texas Tech, victorious by 10 over #2 seeded Michigan State, many people’s favorite to win the tournament.

It took OT, but the championship did go to Virginia. Again, Virginia squandered a 10 point second half lead, needing a three pointer with 12 seconds left in regulation to tie the Red Raiders. Based on an 11-0 run and flawless free throw shooting, UVA won its first ever NCAA basketball championship. 

UVA never played a team higher than a #3 seed, and that was Texas Tech. Were they a worthy champion? In the end, the Cavaliers beat whomever they played. They lost sizable leads, came from behind or played OT and still won. The players believed they were on a mission.

If they had won convincingly, would their championship have been viewed at differently? Of course. What makes them special is that, with an elephant on their back from last year’s disaster, this team took advantage of every conceivable break to win the title.

Yes, doubters, the University of Virginia is this year’s NCAA men’s champs. Very few in the Commonwealth of Virginia or in Charlottesville would think otherwise. There will be little doubt when the banner is hoisted next season in their arena and the trophy is displayed for all to see. In the end, that is all that matters. 

On the women’s side, my interest waned after UConn and Oregon lost in their Final Four games. Baylor was destined to win the tournament, even if it squeaked by Notre Dame. Playing with the heart of a champion, the Lady Bears defeated a game Oregon team, holding Sabrina Ionescu in check just enough to win. This was a UConn team that was a half step behind the rest, and it showed.

In the championship battle, Baylor lost star Lauren Cox  to a knee injury and had four players saddled with 4 fouls apiece. This led to the Fighting Irish to overcoming a first half 17 point deficit to take a one point lead in crunch time. Baylor regained the lead on a jumper by Didi Richards with 33.2 seconds remaining in the contest, only to surrender it back to Notre Dame. With everything on the line, Richards snaked her way to the basket and scored the winner on a scoop layup.

These were the four best teams. Three head coaches with Hall of Fame resumes were leading their players—the legendary Geno Auriemma from UConn, Muffet Mc Graw for Notre
Dame and the victorious Kim Mulkey, who also won a championship as a player. That is some star power. Oregon has kept improving with Ionescu. It would be no surprise to see the Ducks back in the Final Four next season, since Ionescu turned down the lure of being the top draft pick in the WNBA Draft held this past week in order to return to Eugene for her senior year.

I have a profound respect for Auriemma and what his UConn program has meant to women’s college basketball. While I dislike Mc Graw for her angry demeanor, she is a great coach. As for Mulkey, she personifies the gym rat who can understand and dissect a game as well as any coach in men’s or women’s hoops. Besides, her hot pink outfit for the Oregon game was worn very well. How can I root against a woman who can pull that off in front of national TV audience?

Keeping with the basketball theme, we saw the Golden State Warriors play the New Orleans Pelicans at Smoothie King Arena on Tuesday night. Warriors Head Coach Steve Kerr elected to rest Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, Anthony Bogut and and Andre Iguodala. He started DeMarcus Cousins, Draymond Green and, thankfully, Steph Curry.

At least I thought that. In this meaningless contest since the Warriors had already clinched home court for the Western Conference playoffs, I was happy to see Curry hoist three pointers and dribble, steal passes and do what he does best. 

Except that Curry fell awkwardly with a bit over three minutes left in the first quarter after scoring five points. He played on for about a minute, then took himself out of the game and ran up the tunnel.  I was crushed and thought the worst—that I was there and was a Golden State jinx when Curry hurt himself and couldn’t play in the series against the Clippers. I watched Cousins and the reserves pull away from the undermanned New Orleans team, but my thoughts were all about Curry’s condition. Mercifully, it was only a tweaking of his ankle. I felt relieved, but it took until Wednesday morning to learn Curry was okay. 

My final basketball note is from the dysfunctional franchise called the Los 

Angeles Lakers. Unexpectedly and shockingly, Hall of Fame Lakers’ icon Magic Johnson abruptly left his position in the organization to—in his words, “become Magic again.” His announcement surprised owner Jeannie Buss, man-in-charge Rod Pelinka and the real power on the team, Lebron James.

Who can blame Magic for leaving? The team became a circus, replete with distraction upon distraction. His power was usurped and he could not stand to see the disarray that was the norm. 

Then, to top off the bad week for the proud Los Angeles franchise, came the firing of Luke Walton—a really good coach who was thrown into an impossible situation with the uncoachable James, the Bell family side show and injuries to key players including James all which led to a disastrous conclusion to the season. Walton deserved better than this. Maybe Sacramento, which immediately hired Walton, will be a good destination for him.

On a side note—we did see two Warriors on Canal Street in their sweats on Monday night—i think Jordan Bell was one of them. We almost caught up to them. I was going to wish them good luck for the next night. I wonder what their response would have been? We also saw the Warriors board the early bus for the arena on Tuesday. Cousins was the only one we knew. What we did see was how much luggage accompanied them on a two game , three day jaunt. Enough to fill a small truck and both undercarriages of the buses, including at least one set of golf clubs. I guess NBA teams do not travel lightly. 

After the first two weeks of the baseball season, the Yankees resemble a M.A.S.H. unit. Beset with injuries to 12 of its players, with salaries of over $88 million but unavailable to play, the team is hurting in all aspects of the game. They can hit and score, but the pitching is not good enough. 

Brett Gardner shows the wear and tear of a veteran. Greg Byrd and Luke Voit collectively do not enthuse me. Gary Sanchez is enamored with his power; otherwise he remains the same enigmatic player from past years. Gleybar Torres is a solid hitter, prone to mistakes in the field. Clint Frazier possesses the talent to stay in the majors, yet he is a victim of a numbers game once Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Hicks return. J.A. Happ and James Paxton have been mildly disappointing. Maybe the starting corps will be bolstered by the arrival of C.C. Sabathia for his final season Sabathia, Domingo German, Zack Britton and Aroldis Chapman combined for a one hitter versus the White Sox. And the relief pitching is under fire, missing the key component of Dellin Betances. The Yankees have almost become unwatchable except for the obligatory Aaron Judge at bats (Including the shortest HR for his career, going 335 feet), and he is not lighting the baseball world on fire in the early going.

As much as the Yankees are not a pretty sight, they still have a small lead over Boston. Returning home from the disastrous opening road trip, having Baltimore visit Fenway has helped. I expect the Red Sox to get better, although they have to be troubled by the loss of velocity in Chris Sale’s fastball. To me, it is no surprise that Tampa Bay is in first place so far. Kevin Cash is an excellent manager and they were a good team, albeit not a playoff team last season.

While very few anticipate Brad Ausmus to change the Angels into a playoff team, the fact that all-world Mike Trout is skipping the series with the Cubs at Wrigley Field is of concern. The last thing the Halos need is to lose Trout, especially with his torrid start. 

Surprising to me is the start of the Seattle Mariners. They jump started their season with wins over Oakland in Japan and have played to a 11-3 record behind solid pitching and the awakened home run bat of Jay Bruce, formerly of the New York Mets. I don’t know if they will continue this pace, or even be contending as the calendar hits September, given that Houston and Oakland reside in the AL West. For now, they have been tough.

In the National League, the Milwaukee Brewers sit atop the Central Division as expected, with the revamped St.Louis Cardinals and Paul Goldschmidt right on their tails. There have been rumblings in Chicago that Joe Maddon is on the hot seat, for Cubs management and fans expect the Cubs to win the NL pennant with the veteran cast they have.

The Dodgers have gone into a tailspin, losing the last 5 games. The season debut of Clayton Kershaw on Monday will be a welcome sight. And who is in first place in the NL West but those San Diego Padres, winners of the Manny Machado sweepstakes. Machado leads the Padres with 4 homers and 8 RBI, while outfielder Will Myers leads the team with a .296 batting average and below outfielder Hunter Renfroe has a .282 average. Kirby Yates has 8 saves and is pitching to a 1.00 ERA. San Diego looks formidable.

The NL East was projected to be a dogfight among NewYork, Philadelphia, Atlanta and Washington. The Mets lead the division for the moment at 9-4, behind solid pitching, including the reemergence of Steven Matz, and despite Jacob deGrom actually having a bad start after 29 straight quality starts. Michael Conforto, newly acquired catcher Wilson Ramos and powerful rookie and budding star first baseman Peter Alonso, who is hitting .370 with 6 home runs, including a 550’ shot in Atlanta, and his 16 RBI offset a slow start by Robinson Cano, who historically heats up in May. Relief pitcher Edwin Diaz, who came over in the trade which brought Cano to the Mets and sent Bruce to Seattle, has been everything the Mets have expected of him.

Right behind the Mets are the Phillies. Prized addition Bryce Harper is batting .325 with an OBP of .491 by way of 4 home runs, 9 RBI, 13 BB and 28 total bases, but also has 15 strikeouts. Jean Segura, Rhys Hopkins and Obdubel Herrera have also started out well for the Phils. Starting pitchers Jake Arrieta and Zack Elfin have been impressive so far. The two teams square off in Philadelphia on Monday for the first time this season.

It is a long season and we haven’t even seen 10% of the 162 game schedule. When the stars return and the weather turns from cold (the Tigers and Twins were snowed out on Friday in MinneapolIs) to more seasonal temperatures, expect the baseball world to heat up.

Two quick notes on Stanley Cup hockey. The Columbus Blue Jackets have opened up a surprising 2-0 lead in their series with the Tampa Bay Lightning, and the Lightning’s best player and probable M.V.P. Nikolai Kucherov is suspended for the next game. The Islanders have gone up 3-0 on the Pittsburgh Penguins.

And a salute to the UMass Minutemen, who lost to Minnesota-Duluth in the NCAA Division I Men’s Hockey title game. In a state where Harvard, Boston College, Boston University, Northeastern and even UMass-Lowell have been the recognized powers, it is good to see the flagship state school being successful in a sport the people of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts adore.

Of all of the Majors in golf, I love The Masters because it is so picturesque and so important to the golfing community. This is despite my despising the people who run the Masters and Augusta National Golf Club. They have always been a shallow, misogynistic, bigoted, self-centered bunch who care only about their own egos and the profits they can derive. Yet they have the prettiest tournament and a player joins the elite of golf by winning The Masters. Which is why it was thrilling to me and to millions as well as CBS that Tiger Woods sat two shots behind the leader entering Sunday’s final round. Wouldn’t it be nice if Tiger won again—how good for golf would that be?

The answer is that it was tremendous theater from 9:20 a.m. until about 2:30 p.m. to watch Woods gain the lead on the back nine and never relinquish it on the way to his fifth Masters title. He defied the field and beat the impending weather which forced the early morning start. Woods only trails Jack Nicklaus by 3 major titles, and many thought he would never won another given his back issues and off the course problems. It may have taken 11 years for Woods to win number 15, but in may not take that long for him to capture number 16.

One last remark. The WWE held the Hall of Fame induction for wrestler Bret Hart at the Barclays Center on Monday. In the midst of Hart’s speech, a 26 year old MMA fighter stormed into the ring and attacked Hart. At first, the crowd and some at ringside thought this was another scripted stunt. But it wasn’t and wrestlers intervened to pull away the assailant, who now faces assault charges. Think WWE owner Vince Mc Mahon isn’t privately happy over this?

Just like the Yankees getting hurt all over the roster, the Mets and Phillies taking the early lead in the NL East and UVA and Baylor winning their titles, why am I not surprised about the bizarre WWE fracas? Or Tiger Woods buzzing near the leader on Saturday? In a week where Magic Johnson leaves his beloved Lakers for normalcy, there is little that isn’t surprising.

This is what happens in a week.