This is my favorite weekend of the year. Baseball is starting up, the NCAA Tournament has ended, the NBA wakes up as teams are trying to get to the eight seed (or I guess now the 10 seed) or jostling to set up the best playoff opponent and The Masters is being played in Augusta, Georgia.
I did not know what to focus on this week, so we are going to cover a bunch in what we will call The Assorted Detail Deliberation (A.D.D.) Column. Here we go.
College Basketball/ NBA Draft
1. Congratulations to Baylor on winning the tournament. They were a well coached, long, defensive juggernaut who could shoot from outside. They completely flummoxed Gonzaga simply by being more physical and communicating on the defensive end. It was a defensive clinic.
2. Mark Few will win an NCAA Tournament in the next five years. He has done a great job building Gonzaga into a perpetual title contender with an absolutely beautiful motion offense. He just needs to make one adjustment to this offense; he needs to know when to break it. This game showed Few how much he needs a high screen and roll section of the offense they can go to when the defense is just bigger, faster and stronger than you. Something that can collapse the defense and allow Jalen Suggs or the next dynamic point guard to dump the ball to the roller, or kick out to an open shooter.
3. I watch no college basketball before the tournament, but I go back in May or June and watch the toughest games the prospects played in and decide who I like. I am allowed to change ranking of the top prospects June. Right now, I would go, Suggs, Cade Cunningham and Evan Mobley for a top three. I like Suggs over Cunningham (again, right now) because Cunningham disappeared in games during the tournament. It reminded me of Cam Reddish where I found myself wondering if Cunningham was still on the floor. Franchise altering players never go M.I.A. Think of Steph Curry or Ja Morant in the tournament,. The guys around them were never great, but those guys never disappeared. Again, I am allowed to change this if the rest of the tape makes this look like a fluke.
Cavs
4. I don’t understand the section of the fan base who believe the answer to all the Cavs woes is to fire Koby Altman. Where could Altman have done better? His first draft was using the sixth pick on Sexton in 2018. Look back at this draft, who would you rather have? If you remember correctly, Michael Porter Jr.
had back issues which scared everyone off. Maybe Shae Gilgeous-Alexander, but this is the first year he has had to be the best player and the Thunder are not fantastic. Same exercise with Darius Garland, who would you rather have? Tyler Herro is the only one I see taken after him you would rather have. Have the Browns taught us nothing? The answer to chaos is not more chaos. Stop thinking the solution to everything is to fire someone.
5. Koby has made two mistakes. Hiring John Beilein and trading Kevin Porter Jr. I forgive the Beilein hire because he had the foresight to add JB Bickerstaff to the coaching staff to help. The Kevin Porter Jr. saga is worth a serious look in the offseason. How did a veteran or coach not pull Porter aside and tell him his locker was moved because of COVID-19 protocols? How do you not explain this to a 21 year old kid with a history of poor decisions and outbursts so he understands the reasoning?
6. I think one more trip to the lottery will do this team good in the long haul.
They need one more player to help this roster and there are a few in this draft that could catapult this team to the next level. Take the best player between 6’6” and 6’10” who can create his own shot off the dribble.
Indians
7. Cleveland limped into the weekend series against the Tigers fulfilling the darkest fears of every fan. The offense was squandering away great starting pitching and the outfield was an absolute mess. The odd thing is, they were hitting the ball hard, it was just being hit at people or getting knocked down by the wind and cold. It was only a matter of time before the luck would turn. Well it turned this weekend for sure against the Tigers. In three games, the Indians scored 20 runs. In the five games before, they scored 17 runs. The old adage once again stands true; Detroit Tiger pitching will cure what ails you.
8. I am not going to tell you this team has figured it out and all is wonderful. We all know that is a lie. I am going to tell you if they work the count, continue to hit the ball hard and pitch well, good things will happen. They are a .500 ball club and it will fall on Amed Rosario, Josh Naylor and the collection of mediocre outfielders to carry this team farther than 500.
9. We are only one week into a 162 game season, please remember this when it comes to all reactions. This is not the 60 game sprint of 2020, it is a 162 game grind to the finish. There will be weeks when they cannot hit to save their lives and there will be weeks when it’s as easy as this weekend.
10. If anyone says “Stop! Save some runs for next week” you have my permission to leave the room or upgrade your seats. That phrase is right up there with “Be a hitter” on the annoying scale. You want to look at the jackass responsible for this nonsensical statement and say “Thank you for reminding the guy holding the bat in the batter’s box what to do. He forgets from time to time.” If you don’t have anything intelligent or humorous to say, just drink your beer.
The Masters
11. The Masters is my favorite golf tournament of the year. I put it on, open all the windows and turn on the surround sound. It is also the only tournament I am glued to my couch for every shot. I love it because it makes golfers use every single tool in their golf toolbox. The fairways are narrow, you cannot aim right at the pin on your approach shot and you have to read every last ridge and hill on the greens. It is also a beautiful telecast thanks to the limited commercial breaks and the CBS broadcast crew,
12. This weekend taught us something about the health of the game of golf. I don’t think we need to freak out quite yet about Bryson Dechambeau and other players shortening the golf course with gargantuan drives. Sure, length helps golfers get to clubs they can control and get more spin on, but if those clubs are hitting out of the rough, pine straw and sand, it does not matter how much spin you can get.
13. If the PGA does not want to limit the evolution of the equipment, maybe the answer is to make the fairways more narrow to reward the players who do not hit as far and punish the players who swing out of their shoes and don’t care where it lands. Just a thought.
14. We may be having a different conversation after the PGA Championship in South Carolina.
The PGA typically does not trick their courses up to really punish guys who miss, so we could see Bryson put up -20 and have everyone freaking out again about not having enough land. It will be entertaining though. The majors usually are.
15. Congratulations to Hideki Matsuyama and congratulation to Japan. He played the most complete tournament. Matsuyama hit fairways, scrambled when he had too and really took advantage of the rain softening the course on Saturday night. It is great to see the game of golf spread throughout the world and hope we get more winners from across the world.
