I Hear Baseball Starts For Real Next Week

Despite having another 19 hours of sleep post-COVID vaccination #2, I managed to watch more than enough of the opening round of the 2021 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. The NCAA pulled off the four consecutive days with just one glitch—due COVID testing VCU had to forfeit it game versus Oregon, which might have been quite beneficial to the Ducks in their blowout win over Iowa and Player of the Year Luke Garza.

What I came away with from this opening act of the Tournament was that the NCAA Selection Committee: 1) did a horrible job at seeding teams; 2) did a horrible job at selecting teams; and 3) either lucked out or did a masterful job of making the Tournament so interesting with the plethora of upsets. Whatever the reason, it was a wild weekend for sure.

So who is left in the Sweet Sixteen? In the East, Michigan, Alabama, Florida State and a play in team, UCLA (laughable because of the pedigree of the Bruins who, under the legendary John Wooden’s guidance—with the games being played in Indiana, Wooden was the consummate Hoosier, even if he was an All-American at Purdue before he became the Wizard of Westwood—have won the most titles in the history of the Tournament. Seeds #1, #2, #4 and #11. The start of a pattern with a double-digit seed in the Sweet Sixteen.

The South Region survivors are #1 Baylor, #3 Arkansas, #5 Villanova and #15 Oral Roberts. That’s right—a 15-seed took out #2 seed Ohio State in a thrilling OT matchup, then ousted #7 Florida by 3. Oral Roberts is a better team than its 16-10 record, and was a hot team which continued its roll in the NCAA’s. Villanova was the beneficiary of #13 North Texas eliminating #4 Purdue in another OT game. 

Midwest Region teams still alive are: #2 Houston, #8 Loyola of Chicago, #11 Syracuse and #12 Oregon State. What was the Committee thinking here? Loyola is the champion of its state, having dominated top-seeded Illinois. This a playoff-hardened squad that went 24-4 prior to the Big Dance. Loyola was better than #3 seed West Virginia and #4 seed Oklahoma State, both from the Big 12. The Ramblers are more like San Diego State, given a #6 seed with a 23-4 record.

Except that SDSU met up with a hot shooting Syracuse team behind the bombs of Buddy Boeheim, son of Hall of Fame Coach Jim Boeheim. The Orange took care of WVU in the second round, leading to the intriguing game with #2 seed Houston. Houston demolished Cleveland State and then defeated Rutgers to reach the Sweet Sixteen. More on Houston later.

And what about Oregon State? The Beavers awakened in the Pac-12 Tournament, winning that title. Any respect for that? None whatsoever from the Committee or pundits. With double digit wins over Tennessee and Oklahoma State, the Saturday afternoon meeting with Loyola ought to be some good basketball. 

Then there is the West Region. #1 Gonzaga advanced easily. They are joined by #5 Creighton, #6 USC and #7 Oregon. 

The NCAA defines upsets as defeating a team at least 5 seeds above the winning team.  In the West, Oregon downed #2 Iowa—an upset. While technically not an upset, USC handed #3 Kansas a 34 point humiliation in the second round. Creighton made it to this weekend by beating Ohio University. The #13 Bobcats upset a reeling, COVID-affected #4 seed and defending champ Virginia. I might add that #14 Abilene Christian, a 23-4 team, snuck by #3 Texas in an intra-state battle. Another upset, as UCLA’s win over #6 seed BYU technically was. For good measure, Maryland, a #10 seed, defeated #7 UConn. 

Thus, the West was where the most action was. Which meant that the Committee didn’t have a clue how to rate the Pac-12. Look no further than the ridiculed conference that sent UCLA, Oregon State, Oregon and USC to the Sweet Sixteen, the latter two schools meeting on Sunday night. 

As opposed to the vaunted Big Ten, which started with 9 teams in the Dance, and has only Michigan, a bona fide team, left to represent the conference. How do you spell OVERRATED? (I told you so throughout the year and what good was my admonition?)  

This Tournament had the highest cumulative total of seeds making it to the second round: 96. Yes, it sparks interest with the upsets. But if the Committee got seeding right and the silly rule that upsets only apply to five places between teams, would the games be better or simply more boring and predictable?

My beef with the NCAA is that they have never given enough credit to mid-major conference teams, permitting only one or maybe two invitations. Additionally, the bias for some conferences (Big Ten, Big 12, usually the Atlantic Coast, and the Southeastern) leads to better seeds on the theory that the competition was better overall among the major schools. 

There is one Big Ten school (#1 Michigan), one Big 12 school (#1 Baylor), two Big East schools (#5 Villanova, #5 Creighton), two ACC schools (#4 Florida State, #11 Syracuse) two SEC schools (#2 Alabama, #3 Arkansas). That is half of the Sweet Sixteen. The Pac-12 has four schools still in the hunt. The remaining four schools playing are from the Missouri Valley Conference, the American Athletic Conference, the Summit League and the West Coast Conference. 

When the weekend shakes out, the Final Four could still have three #1 seeds and a #2 seed. Which could be perceived as vindication for the NCAA. I look at how difficult was that for the Committee to determine. 

However, should any more of the top seeds be defeated, I look at this as a crummy job by the NCAA. Not surprisingly.

Before moving on, I will discuss the fortunes of Rutgers in its first Tournament since 1991. Absent a bewildering stretch where RU gave away a 10 point lead by poor play and some curious coaching—taking the air out to the ball to take time off of the clock was never going to be a good strategy against a Houston team with up tempo scoring ability and a tenacious defense. 

Sure, I think Rutgers should have upset the Cougars (#10 over #2) and I feel badly for this team. The pulsating victory over a tough #7 Clemson squad demonstrated how good the Knights were. 

Nonetheless, Rutgers was way better than its seeding and the non-NCAA experts had it better when they claimed RU was between 29 and 32, which would have been an 8 seed. Depending on how far Houston advances will determine where RU ends in the rankings. I think they are in the 25 to 28 range. 

This was a marvelous year to be an RU fan. The announcers went a bit overboard saying this is one of the greatest Rutgers teams ever; I can think of 5 or 6 that I thought were better. 

It is a building block for the future, no matter who leaves and who stays with extra year of COVID eligibility. The bitter taste of the Houston loss will fade and the good memories will persist—even if there remains the what if, had they held on to down the Cougars.

One footnote to the RU-Clemson contest. The game was nearly delayed as players from both schools considered protesting for athletes rights to compensation for their images. Rutgers star Geo Baker has been outspoken on this topic. He and a few other leaders in the players movement will meet with NCAA President Mark Emmert this week to further discuss the matter. Everyone profits from the sport except for the players. I hope that the NCAA recognizes that the way the system is right now must change. 

A final dig at the NCAA is the atrocious way they set up the Women’s Tournament in San Antonio. Inadequate training facilities highlighted by a picture of a hotel set of weights and poor food was unacceptable. Yes, the NCAA immediately changed the situation by upgrading the training facilities and the food. My question is simple: why did this happen in the first place?  

It also explains why Megan Rapinoe, a US soccer star, was at the White House and on Capitol Hill earlier this week to champion the cause of women’s rights in athletics, and to speak against inferior pay to professional athletes like herself. Spoken like the champion she is. 

Injuries to Lebron James (high R ankle sprain) and Steph Curry (contusion to his backside) were the highlights of the week for the NBA. James and Curry join Joel Embiid, Anthony Davis and Kevin Durant on the sidelines. That’s a ton of NBA superstars not playing due to injury. Not what the league needs at any time. 

A sad note with the loss of former Lakers’ great Elgin Baylor. Along with Hall of Fame guard Jerry West, the duo was the heart of the team which moved from Minneapolis to Los Angeles and started a run of successful years only succeeded by the team of that era, the Boston Celtics. 

The best line I heard about Baylor was that “he was Dr. J before Dr. J,” a reference to the acrobatic Julius Erving of the Sixers. Baylor was a high-flying forward/scoring machine. He stayed in basketball after his retirement as coach in New Orleans and an executive with the Clippers for 22 years. A 11-time All-Star, Rookie of the Year (1959), a member of the 35th and 50th anniversary NBA teams and a First Team All-American at Seattle University, his number is retired at his alma mater and by the Lakers. When I first started watching basketball in the late ’50’s and early ’60’s’, I liked watching him play. He was that good. 

So I have been told by my smallish and mercurial editor that I better keep it brief this week. I fear her for she has a way with words that can be scary. 

Happy Passover to those who celebrate. Don’t overdose on matzoh and gefilte fish. I hear baseball starts for real next week.

Not To Worry

It’s the precursor to March Madness. The college basketball post-season tournaments are occurring. Not something to stop the world, mind you. That happens next week with the NCAA Tournament.

But for so many schools, it is the last gasp chance to reach the Big Dance and continue an epic Cinderella run. And in this topsy-turvy time, a lot can affect the outcome of these soirees. 

The big player in these scenarios is not some talented 7 foot behemoth. Nope. It is that persistent predator, COVID-19, which always looms large in the sports landscape.  

Perennial NCAA tournament invitee, Duke, needed some help to reach 25 straight years in the Dance. In its first ACC Tournament game, the Blue Devils did their part and won. 

That was it for Coach K and his guys, because a positive test after the win has shut the program down. The Duke men’s program joins the women’s program on the sidelines, as the women were shut down much earlier in the regular season.

Then news came that defending national champion Virginia was struck with a positive test. Their ACC games are finished. Moreover, they will need seven consecutive days of negative tests to be able to participate in the NCAA Tournament. This may require creative math along with a lot of luck for the Cavaliers to be playing next Friday—if they aren’t disqualified because of their unknown test status. 

Kansas, another basketball blue blood, had a positive test show up on Friday. Just like UVa, the continuation of their season is very much up in the air. It hasn’t been a real good week at Kansas. More on that later. 

Others still have hope in the Big East. Georgetown upset #1 seed Villanova on Thursday at Madison Square Garden. While reveling in the victory, Hoyas’ Head Coach and Knicks legend Patrick Ewing was miffed that security continually checked him for his passes, given that he is probably the most recognizable Knickerbocker, with the exception of Walt “Clyde” Frazier, who ever entered the building. Perhaps the security personnel only knew of Ewing as an Orlando Magic player and coach; it has been awhile since he played for New York. 

Seton Hall is also desperately looking at a long shot to have their name called on Sunday night as a NCVAA Tournament team. They drew Georgetown in the Big East semifinals, and the winner would play the winner of UConn and Creighton fo the conference’s automatic bid. Georgetown continued to play beyond expectations, downing the Pirates and they meet Creighton in the Big East finals. 

If Georgetown manages to beat Creighton, and Oregon State, who reached the Pac 12 final on Friday night, wins that title game, two more bubble teams will have their dreams dashed. Selection Sunday will not come soon enough for a number of teams whose hopes are only remotely alive.

North Carolina has suddenly become formidable. A win at home over Duke last Saturday and two resounding wins over Notre Dame and Virginia Tech in Greensboro on Thursday pitted them against #2 seed Florida State in the ACC semis. 

While I think that the Tar Heels have made the Tournament, a win over a Florida State team headed to  the Dance would not hurt the resume. The winner of this game would play a rested Georgia Tech in the final, as the Yellow Jackets now don’t have to overcome Virginia in the semis. FSU won by 3. UNC enhanced its position.

I have waited to talk about Rutgers. With their win over Minnesota, they all but punched their first ticket to the Dance since 1991. Thursday night’s ugly game versus a poor shooting Indiana Hoosiers team onside Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis became a boo fest for the IU faithful, who cannot fathom a sub.500 record and want Head Coach Archie Miller’s scalp.

RU didn’t as much win the game—they did have some clutch shots by soph Paul Mulcahy and enter Myles Johnson was again big on the boards—as Indiana’s horrible shooting from the free throw line down the stretch along with being ice cold from the field sealed IU’s fate. Hey, a win’s a win, especially when it cements their Tournament status.

The prize for winning was a date with #2 seed and third-ranked Illinois. The Illini have been hot recently, with many experts believing that they are better right now than #1 seed Michigan, and in line for a top regional seed in the NCAA’s. 

RU beat Illinois in Piscataway much earlier in the season. That was then and this is now.  The well-rested Illini walloped RU. Not to worry, RU fans. We’re still in. Unless there is a COVID-19 outbreak—which would mean, besides the illness unfortunately targeting  a person or persons, that Rutgers is never going to make the NCAA Tournament because there is a hex, curse or whatever upon the school. 

I have viewed projected brackets which have RU as a #8 seed in a region. Doing the math, that means that the Scarlet Knights are between the 29th and 32nd best college basketball team in the country. 

Let that sink in for a moment. I think that the analytics are overblown in this year of limited play outside of the respective conferences. While the Big Ten might have up to four teams in the top eight seeds, it does not mean that they are necessarily that much better than the Big 12 or SEC. Or for that matter, Gonzaga, the presumptive number 1 overall seed. That is why they play the games—to determine who is the best and how good are the rest. 

Now I want to discuss the money-grabbing NCAA. Shut out last season because of the pandemic, the leadership is hell bent to hold a successful Tournament. Because that means big $$. Which they did not make in 2020.

Of course, COVID is a major impediment. The design to play all of the games in locations in and around Indianapolis is a fine idea. Not perfect like last season’s NBA plan, but conceptually it has its merits. 

However, COVID does not conform to plans. The emergency plans of fill-in teams from conferences in the case of a selected school being unable to play or to have teams submit their names as possible at-large berth substitutes underlies why the NCAA is determined to play to the end this year. 

So too is this absurd rule that if there are 5 players on a team in the Tournament, the school can continue to participate. Injuries or players fouling out against a superior team with more able players doesn’t matter. So much for the integrity of the game. 

To me, this is shameful. I hope for the sake of the already polluted college game, neither of these scenarios eventuate. 

A lot of QB contract restructuring in the NFL before free agency along with a number of significant salary dumps to open up cap space. Tom Brady took less money but can be the Tampa Bay QB until age 48 with his new deal. Patrick Mahomes also restructured his mega deal to allow the Chiefs more flexibility. New England and Cam Newton agreed to an incentive-driven one year pact.

These measures are the new normal in the NFL  Make ridiculous contracts and hardly ever keep to them. For it is only play money in the NFL, right?

My wife and I have this spot we love to go to in a newly developed area in nearby Florham Park, on the site of an old Exxon research facility. Between office buildings, there is a grassy area with some chairs overlooking a pond (undoubtedly infused with some gnarly stuff) which has ducks, geese and an entertaining fish which periodically jumps out of the water. 

This little bit of serenity in an industrial and residential complex has a big centerpiece—the home of the New York Jets. Through the trees, the gargantuan building rises up as a  monolithic monument to the corporate power of the National Football League and the incentives offered by the local and state power brokers to lure the Jets from Long Island. 

I’ve shared with you that I have been inside and the facility is beyond impressive. But the product which comes from that training center is as mediocre a one as resides in the NFL.

We found ourselves relaxing there the other day when the temperature hit 75 degrees. While the conversation was mostly about how nice it is to be there, the topic of the Jets arose.

Beyond the pond sits that enormous building, and what do the Jets have to show for their membership in the NFL? One Super Bowl win in Super Bowl III. The past Super Bowl was Super Bowl LVI. The Jets franchise hasn’t been there in 52 years.

Yet the team has another relatively new GM in Joe Douglas. Douglas jettisoned the previous coach and has brought in a young wunderkind. He has the second and nineteenth picks in the upcoming draft, four of the top 51 choices, to work with. There is $69.3 million of cap space money available to spend, second only to Jacksonville. And he has a QB who he talks about in nice, polite terms but really hasn’t committed to for the 2021 season when there is a phenom from BYU, Zach Wilson, who the scouts say can be better than the consensus number 1 pick, Trevor Lawrence and Deshawn Watson, the unhappy QB in Houston.  

What we thought about was what was going on inside of the building with the men who make the decisions. When is someone in this moribund organization which has frustrated me so much through the years going to make the right choices and draft the best personnel and find the right free agents to become a quality team? 

Why not with Darnold as the QB? Give him some true receivers and a running back (would I ever love for the Jets to get one of Alabama’s gifted pass catchers and the powerful runner Najee Harris) plus plug some gaps on the offensive line and and at defensive back? Or if they opt to either trade down or select Wilson or acquire Watson, the team still has a great chance to change the dynamics of the team immediately. 

This is a pivotal time for the Jets. Get it right and they will begin to contend Buffalo, with the new big kid in the AFC East, or reach equal terms with New England and Miami. Mess it up, and Jets fans are resigned to more cruel years in purgatory. 

When we drove pas the complex on the way home, there was apparent turf construction underway. I thought to myself that this could be a new era on a new field, or another beautiful addition to a gleaming edifice that didn’t matter. 

As I alluded to earlier, things at the University of Kansas have not been too good this week. In addition to the positive COVID test sidelining the Jayhawks men’s team, football has been the bigger news.

Les Miles, the former LSU National Championship football coach, reached an agreement to a buyout of his contract when news of the allegations of a toxic culture which he permitted in Baton Rouge surfaced. The investigation was into inappropriate conduct with female students for which Miles received a reprimand, was not permitted to hire student employees to babysit and prohibited Miles from being alone with students.  Pretty serious stuff, although there was no finding that he had sexual relations with any of the women. Along with Miles, AD Jeff Long, the man who hired Miles at Kansas, was gone, for not having properly vetted Miles; Miles had told him there was “a legal dispute in Louisiana” which was nothing to be concerned about.

This is the sports equivalent of what is transpiring with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who is under intense pressure to resign. I am not going to discuss the merits of that matter, as this blog refrains from political discourse. 

Kansas is a football backwater. The last winning season was 2007, when the team was an astounding 12-1. In the 20 years since the turn of this century, the football team has reached .500 or better four times. Twice the team didn’t win a game in a season, including 2021, and two other times Kansas won only one game. 

Hiring Miles was perceived as a good football move—even if Miles was in his 60’s and perhaps better days had passed him by. Long knew Miles from their days together at Michigan where Miles was an assistant coach and Long an assistant AD. 

Which is probably why Long had overlooked the troubles Miles had gotten into at LSU. He desperately wanted a winner and he thought his old friend could achieve that at KU.

Except that history follows those who take advantage of others. Some face harsh treatment—iconic actor/director Woody Allen is another on the hot seat for his past activities as detailed in the recent HBO documentary. 

Society has no room for this kind of behavior. Past inappropriate behavior of those in visible positions of power come under greater scrutiny. That it discolors the ability to lead or pursue further opportunity is a morality judgment which I am not debating. 

The actions of others takes down those who are overseeing the situation. Look at Penn State as Exhibit #1. 

With Miles’s indiscretions, coupled with the intolerance at Kansas given the men’s basketball team has had four serious Level 1 infractions leveled at it and Head Coach Bill Self, there was a very dark cloud hanging over those in athletics In Lawrence. That made Long’s firing all but inevitable.

It is sad to see this. I look at Rutgers and hope that AD Pat Hobbs, a lawyer by background, has made the right choices to run clean and successful programs with his choices of Steve Pikiell for men’s basketball and Greg Schiano for football. For if Kansas cannot afford this kind of misery, certainly Rutger s shouldn’t either. 

On the baseball front, the Yankees suffered a significant loss when lefty reviver Zach Britton announced he will undergo surgery for bone chips in his throwing arm. How significant it will be we cannot yet determine. 

Meanwhile, the young pitching prospects and the veterans continue to shine during Spring Training. No real injuries have been reported. The bats haven’t heated up yet, but that will happen soon. Optimism continues to surround the Yankees’ camp.

With all that I have written about, people should trust the process. When I began to write this week’s blog on Friday, I believed there was nothing to worry about. It was as certain as A-Rod and J-Lo getting married or my faithful editor receiving her long-promised watch for her incredible help. 

I am taking next week off to give myself a rest and to brace for any aftereffects from the second COVID vaccine next Friday. Somehow, I still believe there is nothing to worry about.

March Malaise

I’m in sort of a funk right now. I watch sports and not much interests me. Ditto what I read on ESPN.com or CBSSports.com. 

There’s nothing really meaningful going on at this time. Football is dormant, although the trade and free agency markets will be heating up and the NFL Draft is on the horizon. 

Pro basketball is at its All-Star break. With the late start due to COVID-19, an early March All-Star Game seems totally out of place. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver reminded the fans that this year the spectacle in Atlanta is a made for TV production. 

Remember this—the players didn’t want to go this year. With the coronavirus wreaking havoc with their lives and vaccinations for players not happening yet, the risk factor for travel was higher. 

And, with good reason, the NBA is worried about the players not headed to Georgia for the game and other contests. While there are strict requirements for testing during this hiatus, the fact that the protective bubbles which the players have found themselves in during the season won’t be there. This could create chaos—all in an effort to market the stars of the sport.

Do I like that the 3-point and dunk contests along with the Skills Challenge are on the same evening? Yes, very much so. To accommodate TV and the game itself, the number of participants is slightly limited. Still, seeing Steph Curry compete in the 3-point contest is worth my putting the event on. I can pass on the dunking and the Skills events. 

Team LeBron and Team Durant made their roster selections. While Kevin Durant is still out with that nagging hamstring issue—c’mon, Dr. O’ Malley, get him better for the remainder of the season—he was sort of “stuck” with drafting Brooklyn teammate Kyrie Irving first, while Lebron James’ first and second picks were Giannis Antetokounmpo and Steph Curry. Durant countered with Joel Embiid from Philadelphia, a legitimate M.V.P. candidate. 

Here are the rosters:

Team LeBron: Giannis; Curry; Luka Doncic (Dallas); Nikola Jokic (Denver);

Damian Lillard (Portland); Ben Simmons (Sixers); Chris Paul (Phoenix); Jaylen Brown (Boston); Paul George (LA Clippers); 

Domatas Sabonis (Indiana); Rudy Gobert (Utah).

Team Durant:  Irving; Embiid; Kawhi Leonard (LA Clippers); Bradley Beal (Washington); Jayson Tatum (Boston); James Harden (Nets); 

Devin Booker (Phoenix); Zion Williamson (New Orleans); Zach

LaVine (Chicago); Julius Randle (Knicks); Nikola Vucevic (Orlando); Donovan Mitchell (Utah).

I like Team LeBron’s first seven selections a tiny bit better than Team Durant’s choices. But when you have Zion Williamson picked eighth and Donovan Mitchell as the last pick, Team Durant has great scoring power. 

A couple of interesting sidelights to the rosters . First, not all teams are represented in Atlanta for this version of the ASG. Atlanta, Detroit, Houston, Oklahoma City, Miami, Cleveland, Sacramento, San Antonio, Minnesota, Memphis, Charlotte and Toronto did not land a player among the starters or reserves, even with an injury replacement. 

Second, the Utah Jazz players—Mitchell and Gobert—were the last two picked. A coincidence? 

Finally, the NBA is dedicating the weekend to the Historically Black Colleges and Universities. The officials will be from HBCU schools. The court will be reflective of the HBCU. Many of the limited number of fans in attendance will represent the HBCU. Interviews will highlight the HBCU. Uniform patches will salute the HBCU. The sales of merchandise from the ASG will go directly to the schools. Plus much more. 

Thank you, NBA, for doing the right thing and making an event its members didn’t want to attend into a celebration of something good. With their format of actually playing the fourth quarter for real, this might be a night worth viewing. 

Moving to colleges, Rutgers had an absolute clunker at last place Nebraska, blown out of the gym by over 20 points. The Scarlet Knights have no one to blame but themselves for such a poor showing. 

Saturday the team is in Minneapolis to take on the floundering Minnesota Golden Gophers. RU handled Minnesota at the RAC. They will need to win on the road to keep in the discussion of a wild-card berth into the NCAA Tournament. 

While pundits still have RU as high as a #9 seed, a loss to Minnesota would critically wound their chances to end the 30 year drought from the tourney. This would mean that RU has to make a run into the semi-finals of the upcoming Big Ten Tournament. Which is highly unlikely. 

This team has gone from a world-beater to an erratic, mistake-filled group. This is sad, for when they play well, the hope of RU fans is enormous and the promise of the team is great. Except that it is hard to turn on the light now when there seems to be chaos on the floor when they play. 

Prove me wrong, but I don’t see them making the Big Dance. Which would be a shame. 

The same mantra applies to Seton Hall. Once a formidable Big East team, the loss to UConn on Senior Night was a shot in the foot. Those same pundits have the Pirates on the outside looking in. Which means they have to come up with a big run at the Garden to have a chance to make it into the Tournament. When I saw the players either saying goodbye or thinking about coming back for the extra year the NCAA granted because of the coronavirus, I observed a team not wanting to play further in March. 

The National Invitational Tournament, a staple at the Garden for the entirety of my life, will be a 16 team event in Dallas. Once a competitor for the best teams, it has sadly morphed into a get together for the has beens who couldn’t make it into the NCAAs.  Which would make it a fitting place for RU and SHU to meet for the one time this season.

A sometimes reader remarked that he was sure that Butler University, located in Indianapolis, was a Catholic school. Just because they are a part of a predominantly Catholic school league in the Big East does not automatically make them a Catholic school. In fact, Butler was started by the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and had originally been named the North-Western Christian University. 

Butler is one of the host schools for the NCAA Tournament this year, conducted in Indiana at Hinkle Fieldhouse at Butler; Mackey Arena at Purdue; Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall at  Indiana University; Bankers’ Life Fieldhouse in downtown Indianapolis; Indiana Farmers Coliseum, also in Indianapolis; and at Lucas Oil Stadium, the home of the Indianapolis Colts. 

Hinkle Fieldhouse is the sixth-oldest college basketball arena still being used. Hinkle Fieldhouse is on the National Historic Landmark list and in 1987 was named a National Historic Landmark. Its capacity has been reduced from 15,000 to its present 9,100. Hinkle Fieldhouse even served as a World War II barracks, and hosted the Indiana High School Boys Basketball Tournament Finals, which included the memorable 1954 title game when Milan High School downed the much larger Muncie Central High School—which served as the inspiration for the movie Hoosiers.

The arena was renamed for longtime Butler coach and athletic director, Paul D. “Tony” Hinkle. What was Hinkle’s claim to fame? He converted the basketball to its orange color. 

In watching a plethora of college and NBA games lately, I have been bored beyond belief. Maybe it is the poor shooting I have witnessed. Perhaps it is the over reliance of three point shooting, which is spectacular if it works, but the percentages aren’t that great—even for 

Steph Curry, who has struggled at times. 

More troubling are the amount of layups which have been missed. Whether it is off the glass or rolled toward the rim, these shots simply are not falling. Easy baskets are not happening. 

I am not limiting this to the colleges. I saw Curry miss two layups and Draymond Green and his teammates blow a few more in losses to the Lakers and Trail Blazers. The LAL game was a blowout, so it didn’t matter. The Warriors lost by 2 to Portland. Make two layups and you don’t lose. 

Also, free throw shooting is horrible. I even saw Curry, a 94% shooter from the line, miss two. 

What does this tell me? Fundamentals have been forgotten in an attempt to make the glamour shots. Glams does not win games. Fundamentals do. Which makes it that much harder for me to watch as the colleges wind down their regular season and head into the post-season. With the NBA, we have over two months to watch poor play. Ugh. 

Let’s talk some football. J.J. Watt surprised almost everyone with his deal to sign with the Arizona Cardinals. He is getting a ton of money, with $23 million guaranteed. The Cardinals defense will be that much more formidable. The offense won’t necessarily have to carry the team. 

Watt’s pick is curious in that Arizona is no guarantee to make the post-season. He does have familiarity with some players and coaches. Plus, the NFC West is a very tough division—Seattle, if they retain Russell Wilson at QB, is always a winner. The Rams have Matthew Stafford at QB and still have Aaron Donald anchoring the defensive line. The 49’ers are better than they played last season. I wish him an injury-free 2021 campaign. 

Sam Darnold is in the news. GM Joe Douglas said he likes Darnold’s abilities. Yet, when asked if he would listen to trade offers for his QB, Douglas said he would take those calls. Not exactly a glowing endorsement for Darnold to be a Jet in September. Get the guy some real receivers and let him play. 

Getting back to Wilson, Las Vegas was one of his preferred destinations. Both the GM and Coach said they like their QB, Derek Carr. That means that Chicago and New Orleans are more likely destinations—unless Dallas’ Jerry Jones suddenly decides to swap Dak Prescott for Wilson. The rift between Head Coach Pete Carroll and Wilson is said to be real and large.

It has also been very quiet regarding Deshaun Watson. Houston said they are keeping the unhappy QB. Watson said no dice to that. This looks to be a stalemate for now. 

In case you missed it, there is spring football for a number of Football Championship Subdivision schools. North Dakota State and the schools in the Northern Plains have been playing for a while. Delaware and Villanova open their schedule this weekend. The patriot League has a 4 game slate—Lafayette and Lehigh play 2 at home and 2 on the road, with the final game the annual tussle, this year in Easton. 

The Centennial Conference did authorize strong sports competition. F&M Baseball has two games at Montclair State at the end of March. In any other year, my wife and I would attend. There is a prohibition in place for campus visitors and this comes a week after we receive the second COVID vaccination, so we wouldn’t feel safe anyway.

What I do worry about is the safety of the athletes in FCS Football and in DIII baseball. They aren’t vaccinated and the testing cannot be as rigorous as that of the major colleges or the pros. 

I watched the Rangers and Devils from the Prudential Center on Thursday night. I thought to myself—who are these guys on both teams? And the Devils are a bad team, having lost 7 out of the last 8. I even had some difficulty knowing all of the Islanders when I watched them defeat Buffalo on Thursday. 

The team with the best record is Toronto. Long-suffering Leafs fans are ecstatic. Does this make them the best team in the NHL? Hard to tell, because the Leafs are playing all Canadian teams and both Montreal and Calgary replaced their head men this week. 

Just like it is hard to tell if the Capitals, Lightning and Golden Knights, all division leaders, are as good as Toronto. I think that the level of competing in the other divisions is a bit stronger. That does not mean that Toronto isn’t the best team in the league. It just means that they have amassed a ton of points in what appears to be a weak division. 

Presently, three NHL players are on the COVID-19 list. One is the Penguins captain and future Hall of Fame player Sidney Crosby. When I watch the Penguins, he is the most amazing to watch. He may have aged and slowed a trifle, but I root for him to succeed. Most of all, to beat the virus if he is infected. 

I have seen so much written about baseball. Remember—it is Spring Training. The homers and bad pitching do not count. Dellin Betances looked awful for the Mets. I am rooting for the kid. The Yankees may have been onto something when they didn’t resign the big reliever. 

It has been conjectured that pitching staffs, especially in the National League, will be severely tested with the expansion of the schedule from 60 games in 2020 to the expected 162 games for 2021, and the lack of a universal DH. That means that there has to be a reservoir of starting and relief pitching which will be major league caliber. 

Staffs such as Washington have aged—Jon Lester, who will have his thyroid gland removed, is 37 and Max Scherzer is 36 and showing signs of wear. Or Philadelphia, where Aaron Nola and Zach Wheeler anchor a less talented group. 

Or the Mets, where there is tremendous depth after otherworldly Jacob deGrom. The acquisition of Carlos Carrasco in the Francisco Lindor trade was insurance that the Mets could field experience on the mound. If Noah Syndergaard returns as the top pitcher he was, look for the Mets to thrive.

We all wish Yankees manager Aaron Boone the best in his recovery from surgery where a pacemaker was installed. Born with a congenital heart valve issue, that failed to deter his playing career (ask Red Sox fans about him). The heart issues caught up in 2009, when he had open heart surgery to repair the valve. 

Being the Yankees manager is stressful enough. Boone is expected to make a full recovery and be as productive as ever, Wouldn’t it be a nice story for the Yankees to win the World Series in the year that their manager had a pacemaker installed?

For now, I sit in New Jersey, watching sports on TV with some misgivings and more disinterest. Must be March Malaise.