Thinking out loud…while wondering if tennis would be more watchable if the ball boys were dogs…
-- Tweet of the Week I, from @JonRothstein: "The Big 10 has put 18 teams into the last two NCAA Tournaments. Only three of those teams have advanced into the Sweet 16."
-- Officiating in the college game? Really? Other teams, other leagues are having issues, huh?
-- Here's the thing – this is on the coaches and the rules committee. S-I-M-P-L-I-F-Y the game. A travel should be a travel. A flop should be a flop. The game is over-officiated.
-- Didn't the Buggles sing "Video Killed the Radio Star?" Video is (slowly) Killing College Basketball.
-- And officials shouldn't need to go to the monitor until the last 60 seconds of a half, if only to correct egregious mistakes. If they don't have the courage of their convictions – and training – to make a proper call and stick with it, they shouldn't be on the floor.
-- Have always thought the NCAA Tournament wasn't exactly a true measure of overall conference strength, regardless of how well a league does. Emotion is a funny thing. Injuries aren't so funny. Agendas change, too…from players and coaches who often decide to move on during this time.
-- Surviving conference play as a regular season champ, to this POV, is a truer measure of overall strength and success. Beating up on your brothers. Travel. School demands.
-- And on occasion, if you're standing at the end of the long haul, you have very little gas left in the tank at season's end for the Big Dance.
-- Tournament champs are a crap shoot for the NCAA's, too. With a few notable exceptions, (UConn and Kemba Walker, hello!) it takes such a Herculean effort to get through your league tournament to reach the Big Dance, there's a natural tendency to let down afterward.
-- So much has been made of the Friars' "luck" during the 2022 version of the Big Dance. Sure, it takes some luck to move on, no doubt. But it isn't dumb luck. The only people who believe that are, well, dumb.
-- Best story of the entire NCAA Tournament thus far might be PeacockTV, NBC's streaming service, paid for and sent St. Peter's Peacock cheerleaders to their second-round game and beyond.
-- The school couldn't afford to send them for the first game – the upset of 2nd seeded Kentucky – and after their plight became known…voila. Dancin'. One peacock to another.
-- The Executive Vice President of PeacockTV? Former Friar walk-on Rick Cordella, who was on the team the last time the Friars reached the Sweet 16, back in 1997.
-- Can't make this up. We're all basically separated by two degrees (or less) of Friars…
-- Tweet of the Week II, also from @JonRothstein: "Providence's Noah Horchler in two NCAA Tournament games: 14.5 PPG, 11.5 RPG, 50% from the field, 55.5% from 3-point range."
-- And while Horchler's continued offensive prowess will be important for the Friars to advance further, it sez here defense remains at the top of the wish list. PC held both South Dakota State and Richmond to their lowest point totals of the season.
-- It's official – Ed Cooley is a finalist for Naismith Coach of the Year. Considering his team defeated two of the other finalists on the list (Mark Adams, Texas Tech and Greg Gard, Wisconsin), shouldn't this be a fait accompli?
-- URI's hiring of former Dayton and Indiana coach Archie Miller is an eyebrow raiser. Miller sat out this season after his departure from Indiana, but he had great success at Dayton. Friar fans will undoubtedly recall some of that, in Columbus, OH specifically.
-- Regardless of what you believe about his coaching abilities, whether he's more suited for the Atlantic 10 instead of the Big 10, Miller's arrival in Kingston has helped stoke the fires again.
-- Basketball in Lil' Rhody is always better when multiple teams are relevant. It's what we do.
-- Ya' know, Miller and Ed Cooley already have a relationship – having coached with Team USA together in 2015 with the U-19 team in Greece.
-- Wonder how much that relationship/friendship changes by, oh, early next December?
-- And Xavier re-hiring Archie's older brother Sean Miller as head coach, after his controversial departure from Arizona? Sean is fortunate to dodge those rubber bullets fired by the NCAA over the recent FBI probe.
-- The Musketeers apparently fear no evil will befall their own program by hiring a former coach whose program ran afoul of the feds. They just want to win, ethics-be-damned.
-- What, Al Capone wasn't available?
-- One of the game's good guys, Creighton's Greg McDermott, has re-upped with a contract extension in Omaha from AD Marcus Blossom – the former PC assistant AD.
-- Ex-URI star Tyrese Martin won't be back with UConn next season, even with an extra year of eligibility available. Martin announced this week through social media he will enter the NBA Draft and won't return to Storrs.
-- Brown's Ivy Defensive Player of the Year Jaylan Gainey's name picked up steam in Chicago this week after he's entered the transfer portal – which gains about new 70 players per day right now. So far, Florida State and Marquette appear to be showing him some love.
-- My buddy "Big E" sez he never hypothetically asks himself if the guy in front of him in traffic can go any slower. Because the answer is always 'yes.'
-- Did you see where the Patriots loaned out one of their team planes to the Friar Faithful, taking a large group of donors, fans and administrators to Chicago for the game against Kansas? Winning breeds winning…or at least, winning breeds an assist with travel plans.
-- Not sure I understand the angst on sports radio over the Patriots' free agent activity, or lack thereof. What are they doing?
-- They're waiting for next year's cap increase, combined with some frugality and attention to their own free agents this year, to strike back big. That's really what's going on, isn't it Patscap?
-- The radio bloviators are simply trying to light a fire during a downtime on the calendar…aka The Start of Baseball Season.
-- Malcolm Butler's return is the very definition of coming full circle. The way he left Foxboro – will we ever know what truly happened with his benching in SB LII – and his return this week?
-- Not for nuthin,' but Disney would reject the movie script. Too far-fetched. But I have my popcorn ready.
-- Trent Brown's return is the best move, thus far, the Patriots have made in free agency. Every QB needs his blind side insured. Now, if the Pats would just flip him over to Mac Jones' blind side, they'd be all set.
-- Why the fuss over Matt Ryan moving to the AFC and the Colts from the NFC and the Falcons? You didn't think much of him when he faced the Patriots in the Super Bowl, but now it's the second coming for Indy? Puh-leeze.
-- I'll agree with you, the Miami Dolphins are 'going for it.' But think about this – how bad must it have become for the Chiefs (and Patrick Mahomes) to ship Tyreek Hill out of Kansas City with Mahomes in his prime and Hill one of the few players in the league teams must gameplan against?
-- Sure, sure, KC wanted to re-sign him. Who wouldn't want to bring back one of the games' true difference-makers? But at what price? As for the Dolphins, those five draft picks leaving South Florida (and $73 million in guaranteed salary headed Hill's way) could become crippling.
-- Let's keep this in some perspective, talk show hosts-be-damned. Last time I checked, football games were not won or lost in March. Just sayin.'
-- The Red Sox' signing of Trevor Story was a surprise. A pleasant one. Does his arrival mean he's an eventual replacement for Xander Bogaerts at shortstop?
-- It doesn't hurt, certainly. If you believe the stories out there, Bogaerts put on his best recruiting pitch to help bring Story to Boston. Which means at least some of the guys are single-minded about winning. Could be a dynamite infield.
-- The Sox still don't have enough pitching. You'll see. But I'll have whatever Rich Hill is having…he looks like he's discovered the Fountain of Youth. He'll likely be the fifth starter, and he's 42 years old.
-- Forbes' new baseball franchise valuations have the Red Sox 3rd in MLB behind the Yankees and Dodgers worth $3.9 billion, up 13% from a year ago. But are they spending $$$ to make $$$?
-- Count me in on the 'ghost' runner to start extra innings. Yeah, it's a little cheesy and juvenile, but the game MUST change. I'd settle for a compromise – how about starting with a runner on second in the 12th inning, rather than in the 10th?
-- RIP pitchers hitting in the #9 slot and striking out 90% of the time. RIP the double-switch. Quirky, yes. Needed? Like we need holes in our heads.
-- And what do we still need? A pitch clock. Or do you get a kick out of watching a pitcher kick the mound, going to the resin bag and grabbing his, um, below-the-belt area before throwing the ball?
-- Throw. The. Damn. Ball. That is all. Sticky-stuff optional.
-- Hampus Lindholm. I just like saying his name if I'm pronouncing it correctly. Improved blueline play would be a bonus.
-- Oh joy. Kyrie Irving can play home games again? For that matter, so can all New York Yankees and New York Mets players who also remain unvaccinated. Still, no one has lost as much as Kyrie – sacrificing $16 million for 35 lost games, all because of principle?
-- Unless he leads the Brooklyn Nets to a title, that's a helluva price to pay for his "principle."
-- Jayson Tatum is on fire. Jaylen Brown is on fire. It stands to reason the Celtics would be hot, no?
-- Tatum = MVP? He leads the NBA in total points scored, and he is making his team better right now. Not ready to go quite that far, but let's say he's an MIP – a Mighty Important Person.
-- March madness at another level. Celebrate like North Macedonians should – beating Italy's Azzurri to keep the Euro champs out of the World Cup, incredibly, for a second straight time.
-- Can you find North Macedonia on a map? Did you even know they existed? They do now.
Interested in having your questions on local Rhode Island sports (and yes, that includes the Patriots, Red Sox, Bruins and Celtics) answered in a somewhat timely fashion? It's your chance to "think out loud," so send your questions, comments and local stories to jrbroadcaster@gmail.com. We'll share mailbag comments/Facebook posts/Tweets right here! Would appreciate the follow on Twitter, @JRbroadcaster…and join in on Facebook, www.facebook.com/john.rooke ...
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