Well a lot for the Little Ball of Hate to unpack this week with his sports teams, including the Jayhawks, Nebraska athletics and the Ravens. Let’s get right into it. First up is the Jayhawks…
Dickinson and McCullars need to carry this team on their collective backs in the tournament.
WTH is wrong?
So back-to-back 20+ point losses for the first time in 100 years.
What the hell? Let’s break this down.
The huge loss to Cincinnati, while not predictable, probably inevitable. With Dickinson and McCullar on the bench, that’s 36 points on the bench if you are keeping track at home. Not sure I’ve seen a team missing the top two scorers in the Big 12 win a game in the Big 12 tournament, especially when the rest of the team, minus KJ Adams look like they’ve forgotten how to play the game of basketball.
As for the Houston game, again missing McCullar, playing against the best team in the country on the road was never going to happen. That being said, KU just looks flat. There have been spurts of great defense, but it has been rare to see the offense roll.
It’s been talked about, and probably over talked about the lack of depth. Billy Self will admit that trying to build this team in the offense was a fail. Going after a guy that already had off-the-court issues in Arterio Morris was a bad idea. There’s a scholarship gone after he was dismissed. Losing many players through the transfer portal didn’t help. And we can safely say now that Nicolas Timberlake was a complete bust. So a light bench was KU’s downfall during the conference season.
As for the NCAA tournament, the Littke Ball of Hate is guessing KU is a No. 4 seed, which sets up a 12-seed matchup. I’m not calling an opening round loss, but to me a sweet 16 appearance would be a success for this team. If Hunter and Kevin are healthy for the tournament, KU’s starting five is strong and could carry them a ways. Not a final four team, which based on their start is a surprise to say the least.
And it just goes to show how spoiled KU fans are. You know Self will have them back in the mix next year, and if Hunter and Furphy come back they’ll be strong. If this is a down year, I’ll take that all day long.
Thanks for nothing Trev!
Nebraska athletics WTH?
So supposedly the NU AD job was Trev Alberts’ dream job. Comes back to his Alma mater is treated like Superman and is now leaving for the same position at Texas A&M. Strange move to say the least.
It’s clear that not hiring a University president was frustrating Alberts, but does anyone else feel there is something else going on behind the scenes.
There is this: He was also named in a lawsuit by former Nebraska player Ashley Scoggin, who is accusing Alberts and women’s basketball head coach Amy Williams of failing to protect her from former assistant coach Chuck Love who allegedly had a sexual relationship with her.
Not sure if that is enough to leave. The Little Ball of Hate is not going to lose much sleep about this, hell he was at UNO for 12 years waiting for his chance to pounce at UNL. Maybe he was never really a Husker. The one thing that worries me a little bit is how it will affect Matt Rhule, who I think is on the right track with the Huskers on the football field.
Alberts has on his resume moving UNO to Division I (killing two beloved sports in football and wrestling, and handling it poorly) and getting a renovation package moving on Memorial Stadium as well as hiring Rhule…we will see for both Alberts and NU.
Surprising signing by the Ravens. With Lamar, this backfield has a chance to be amazing.
King Henry to the Ravens WTH!
And then one of the bigger NFL surprises as the trade season opened up was Derek Henry to the Ravens. Credit to the Ravens for making this move. Some teams who had a season like Baltimore did might sit on their laurels a bit, but not in Bmore.
A backfield with Lamar and Henry? Yikes. I feel bad for all AFC North defenses. Now, losing Queen definitely will hurt the defense, but adding Henry means a lot of tough cap decisions to make. There will be others coming. One thing that will help is the NFL increased each teams’ cap to $255.4 million.
Losing OBJ was going to happen and it should not hurt the receiving crew much at all. Cornerback Marlon Humphrey ($11 million) is gone for sure, again not a huge loss, when healthy he is a lock down corner…when healthy, thing is way to rare for a first-round draft pick. OLB Tyus Bowser ($5.5 million cap savings) will probably be gone as well, another injury-plagued player. RT Morgan Moses ($5.5 million cap savings). This would be a mistake to let him go. With Lamar still a danger for injury the Ravens need to focus on the OLine.
The Ravens should draft an early offensive line for sure. The offense has all of the weapons it needs now. Defense should be solid. The Little Ball of Hate is predicting a Super Bowl berth next year.
Tidbits
If the NCAA women’s tournament committee does anything right they need to make sure LSU and Iowa are on opposite sides of the bracket. I want to see a repeat of Reese vs. Clark. And I will be rooting for Clark. She handles controversy a lot better than Reese does. I think sometimes Reese looks for a fight.
I put money on Creighton winning the NCAA tournament, $10 decent odds. I’m saying this as Providence is trying to knock them out of the Big East Tournament. The Bluejays are built for the NCAA Tournament.
And I know the Little Ball of Hate is going to sound like a curmudgeon (I mean the name fits) hate hearing that the Madison Square Garden is the most famous arena in the world. Ok, it has hosted many big events, but I’ve seen two basketball games there and I was not impressed…didn’t really get a sense of history and it is kind of a boring design.
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