Thinking out loud…while considering the phrase “if at first you don’t succeed try, try again.” Maybe try doing it the way your mom told you to do it from the start?
The outlook for next season in the Big East changes about as often as you change your socks or underwear. Which is every day. Or at least…it should be every day.
If you don’t, what is wrong with you?
The next “Way Too Early” Big East poll for 2023-24: 1) Marquette 2) UConn 3) Creighton 4) Providence 5) Villanova 6) Xavier 7) St. John’s 8) Seton Hall 9) Butler 10) DePaul 11) Georgetown.
UConn’s status as a potential natty contender again lies within the guys currently hoping to reach the NBA. The deadline to return to school is June 1. But that doesn’t mean the Huskies won’t be competitive…with a highly ranked recruiting class coming in.
But young guys take time to translate their game at this level, and some never get to translate it at all. And Husky fans already seem to be heaping a ton of expectation on 7-2 soph-to-be center Donovan “Kong” Clingan. A national player of the year candidate?
Let’s start with Big East Defensive Player of the Year candidate…with maybe, PC’s Devin Carter.
Creighton’s all-Big East forward Arthur Kaluma has entered the transfer portal, looking to leave if the NBA doesn’t work out. He’s the Jays’ second starter (with Ryan Nembhard) to depart from a team that was a point away from the Final Four and potentially returning all five starters.
WTH happened in Omaha? Just a guess, but NIL $$$ may not be as plentiful as they’d like.
Villanova looks to be better than expected after a portal rebuild, especially with Justin Moore’s return for a fifth season. Xavier has Zach Freemantle to re-tool around. St. John’s might have to change its’ nickname to the Gaels (as in Iona) for the year.
It seems half of Iona’s’ team from this past year transferred in. But they’ll be competitive, Coach Pitino will see to it.
SJU also picked up forward RJ Luis from UMass in the portal before the doors closed this week, and the reigning Ivy Player of the Year in guard Jordan Dingle from Penn. That’s a strong finish.
Could there be, legit, SEVEN Big East teams NCAA-worthy? Yup.
Not for nuthin’, but speaking of St. John’s – former coach Mike Anderson has sued the school for $45.6 million, largely because he insists he was fired without cause…and only to bring in Pitino.
His buyout was a mere $11.4 million, and SJU reportedly balked at paying that…maybe because they couldn’t afford to pay him AND Pitino?
This could be a (red) storm cloud hanging over their heads for a while. Father Shanley, pay the man his money. If UConn ultimately had to pay Kevin Ollie…boy, are you gonna lose this one.
Brown is apparently back on the Providence schedule after five years off of it. The traditional crosstown rival (124 previous games played over 102 years) is scheduled to play at the AMP on Sunday, Dec. 10, sez CBS Sports.
Sure, it’s good for local hoop, Brown grads and curmudgeonly sportswriters.
Does PC need to play it? No, and there’s no legit argument otherwise…unless the Bears become a consistent Top 100-150 NET team. Which Mike Martin’s team may be next year.
But why would CBS, or anyone else, put this or any other college game up against the NFL on a Sunday during the playoff push?
Maybe it’s a TV thing. Maybe it’s because the Patriots don’t play that day. The week following is likely an exam week.
DePaul secured 6-6 guard Elijah Fisher from Texas Tech, who played sparingly as a freshman last season in Lubbock. He’s a former national Top 50 recruit.
Georgetown got a grad transfer in 6-9 Ismael “Ish” Massoud from Kansas State. Massoud averaged five points and two rebounds for the Wildcats off the bench last season in their Elite Eight run.
The biggest win last week may have been from Ray Allen. The former UConn and NBA star picked up his bachelors’ degree from school at age 47. You’re never too old to learn.
7-foot Pawtucket native and former Top 50 recruit Isaiah Miranda hit the portal before the deadline and is leaving NC State after not playing this past season. He has, reportedly, more than 30 suitors for his services.
Tweet of the Week, from @GoodmanHoops: “There were 23 players who earned Player of the Year honors in what are commonly one-bid leagues: 10 of them transferred, 9 exhausted their eligibility, 4 slated to return to their school.”
Former Big East Senior Associate Commissioner Stu Jackson took over as the commish for the West Coast Conference at the end of last season. This week, the league hired Dan Leibovitz away from the SEC to take over the position.
Leibovitz’ reputation is outstanding throughout the industry. He is a former head coach at Hartford, been an assistant at Temple, Penn and in the NBA with Charlotte. He was also an associate commissioner with the American Athletic Conference from 2014-16 just after the split with the Big East.
How about USC’s team next season? The Trojans will have the sons of LeBron James (Bronny) and Dennis Rodman (DJ, transferring in from Washington State) on the roster.
Shakin’ my head over Bob Huggins. Actually, shakin’ my head over West Virginia’s reaction TO Bob Huggins’ rather politically incorrect assessment of some Xavier fans this past week on local radio in Cincinnati.
Huggins has never really had a filter, per se, on his words or actions. Perhaps he has mellowed with time, with age, and his Hall of Fame status. But today…you simply can’t say what he said without repercussions.
He admitted his wrongdoing and apologized. But WVU bailed out its (in)famous coach here by its’ silence and relative inaction on the matter, opting for a three-game suspension, a million-dollar cut in salary (donated to WVU’s LGBTQ community), a donation to Xavier and a reduction in his contract from a multi-year deal to a single season.
But he still has his job, thus making him a very, very important (and powerful) man in the State of West Virginia.
I’m all for second chances. We’re way past the point of political correctness being a mere nuisance in society these days. But radio and TV announcers get the equivalent of a career death penalty for saying much less than what Coach Huggs called Catholic fans at Xavier.
The school deflected the attention away from his unfiltered faux pas and created an entirely new and different problem – a university’s tolerance for hurtful behavior, even if it was said in jest (but still, over the radio) because their basketball coach “wins.”
The West Virginia University president, if you didn’t know, is former Brown president E. Gordon Gee, who served on the Providence East Side campus from 1998-2000.
And Gee has a track record for fawning over winning coaches, praising former Ohio State football honcho Jim Tressel after his involvement in NCAA violations a dozen years ago.
How about the year Alabama has had? A football player was arrested for gun and weed possession, another struck a fan on the field; a basketball player was arrested for murder, and a transfer player was arrested for gun and weed possession; a deputy athletic director was arrested for domestic violence, and the baseball coach fired for possible point-shaving.
But, by gawd, Roll Damn Tide.
41 student athletes at Iowa and Iowa State are being investigated for online sports gambling…which is still an NCAA no-no, no matter the legality for everyone else where live and online wagering are legally approved.
Like in Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts.
This – is the tip of the iceberg. And waiting for another big ship to crash into it is only a matter of time. Just sayin’.
The Colorado Rapids of MLS have a player being held out of team activities (Max Alves) because he allegedly was paid to take a yellow card in a match last season. The league sez it’s investigating.
Speaking of MLS, has anyone noticed the Revolution are tied for first in the Eastern Conference (with FC Cincinnati) and also tied for the best record in the league?
This comes on the heels of a major disappointment last season in failing to reach the playoffs. And, they lost a US Open Cup game this week to Pittsburgh of the USL (wait, wut?)…playing mostly younger guys.
Will it be an improvement next season, or just another mind-blowing interpretation of a rule? The block/charge rule in the men’s game is changing, ostensibly to allow more freedom of movement on offense.
Once the offensive player plants his foot and begins an upward motion to the basket, the defensive player cannot slide in underneath to draw a charge. It will be a blocking foul…or at least, it should be. Subject to interpretation, of course.
The rules committee chair…is former Friar head coach Rick Barnes, now at Tennessee.
The women’s game may institute a flopping penalty in time for next season…as the men’s game did last year. Players who are called for flopping (on the receiving end of a block/charge call) would receive a warning first, a technical foul thereafter.
URI’s softball team reached the Atlantic-10 tournament this week for the first time in 13 seasons and won a postseason game for the first time in 20 years. The team, led by second-year head coach Whitney Goldstein, won 22 games this year after winning only five just two years ago.
After winning their first America East championship in men’s lacrosse, Bryant gets sixth-ranked and traditional lax powerhouse Johns Hopkins Sunday. It’s the sixth NCAA Tournament appearance for the Bulldogs, who won seven men’s lax titles in the NEC.
Sam Ferry was named this week as the new head men’s basketball coach at Rhode Island College. He spent the past four years as an assistant at Holy Cross, and prior to that was an assistant at Pittsburgh and Monmouth.
Time Passages: Louisville Hall of Fame coach Denny Crum passed away this week at age 85. He built the Cardinals into one of the country’s most powerful programs during the ‘80’s, winning two national titles and reaching six Final Fours in the ‘70’s and ’80’s.
Crum’s 1980 natty-winning Louisville team, the “Doctors of Dunk” were as entertaining as it gets…featuring “Dr. Dunkenstein” Darrell Griffith.
And former Minnesota Vikings’ and Boston Patriots QB Joe Kapp died at 85 after suffering from Alzheimer’s. Kapp is still the only QB in history to lead his team to a Rose Bowl (at Cal), a Super Bowl (with Minnesota) and a Grey Cup (BC Lions). Kapp played for the Patriots in 1970.
My buddy “Big E” sez his mom wore a mood ring when he was young, and it always turned blue when she was in a good mood. When she was in a bad mood, it always left a big, red mark on his forehead.
I believe the NFL’s goal is to dominate the holidays. Not just one of them, but all of them.
The first-ever Black Friday (day after Thanksgiving) game will be the Jets and Dolphins. And not so ironically, viewed on Amazon Prime, which pretty much already owns that day.
The traditional three games on Turkey Day, a full schedule on Christmas Eve, three games Christmas Day, and a full slate on New Years’ Eve, too. With another five being played in Europe? World domination.
The Pats get the Colts in Frankfurt, Germany Week 10 on Sunday, November 12th. Technically, it’s a home game for New England. If you’re lucky enough to find/buy tickets, save a few Deutschemarks for a beer and a brat?
New England will attempt to stay undefeated on foreign soil…the only such team in the NFL. The Patriots are 3-0 playing outside of the US.
The first glance at the entire Patriots’ regular season schedule leaves this impression: “Ouch.”
Opening with the Eagles (on TB12 Day, no less) and Dolphins at home; there are three back-to-backs with AFC East rivals; the first four games are Eagles, Dolphins, @ NYJ, @ Cowboys; the last four are @ Steelers, Chiefs, @ Broncos, @ Bills.
You do your own math, but this team has its work cut out for it in 2023. Best guess here – the Patriots and Jets play for a wild card spot on the final day of the regular season, Week 18, at Gillette.
Juju Smith-Schuster’s Instagram following is HUGE. He has more than 3.4 million followers, ranking him Number Five as the most influential social media influencer in the NFL. Odell Beckham, Jr. is Numero Uno with more than 17 million followers.
Say whatever you like about his football sense, with Aaron Rodgers now playing for the J-E-T-S.
But his business sense is acute – an investment firm he co-founded (RX3 Growth Partners) has raised nearly $150 million from athletes and celebrities to close out a second round of funding.
The Jets’ season ticket and suite sales have also jumped 400% since his trade from Green Bay.
The Garden party was over before it ever really got started this postseason. Since 2019, the Celtics and Bruins are a combined 25-22 in home playoff games. That might be a good road record…but at home?
Stunningly mediocre.
And the Celtics get another shot at home Sunday. When you get them figured out, let us know what you come up with?
Their penchant for chucking threes is maddening…and then they start falling. Jayson Tatum is self-proclaimed “one of the best players in the world,” and is 0-for-his-last-19 in first quarters. Defense can be dominating, and they get beat on routine pick and roll or pick and pop plays.
But his 16 points in the 4th quarter Thursday (and 19 total), after shooting 1-for-13 with just three points in the first three periods against the Sixers, may have been one of his all-time efforts.
When he is ON, and the defense is ON – he personally outscored Philly 16-13 in the 4th quarter – this team is championship material.
So, (hopefully) take your best shot in Game Seven. Especially since Doc Rivers traditionally has had trouble with those, amiright?
Consider these eyebrows raised. There’s a lot of baseball still to be played. But the present Red Sox can hit it, they’re learning to field it…and there are glimpses of actually pitching it, too.
Brayan Bello is growing on me. His fastball, with movement, is wicked; he can throw his slider for strikes. And kudos to Kenley Jansen for 400 career saves – why do I think Lee Smith whenever I see him on the mound?
What happened to Jarren Duran? The guy purporting to be him this year is NOT the guy who played him last year.
RI Governor Dan McKee this week joined with 11 other governors that support phasing out…and ultimately banning sales of new gasoline-powered cars by 2035.
What? Your electricity bill isn’t already high enough? Just wait a few more years.
Happy Mothers’ Day, to all you muthas. And ya’ll know who you are.
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