04/20/24
April 09, 2019
SportsFilter: The Tuesday Huddle:
A place to discuss the sports stories that aren't making news, share links that aren't quite front-page material, and diagram plays on your hand. Remember to count to five Mississippi before commenting in anger.
If TT had won, it would have made a Texas trifecta with the Longhorns winning the NIT and Baylor winning the women's title.
Nonetheless, Lubbock has become a focal point for the nation's sporting interest.
1) Mahomes 2) Kliff Kingsbury failing upward and currently the main attraction among NFL draft reporters and "analysts" 3) Red Raiders march to the NCAA title game and came close to winning it
The more I learned about Chris Beard between the 2nd and 3rd weekends of the tournament the more I decided I would be OK with him winning the championship. Hope he stays where he is. He is going to get some players and he can compete right where he is, just like Bennett has done at Va. For Beard, a job like Arkansas at this point is not even a sideways move let alone upward. They're huffing the fumes of prior glory.
posted by beaverboard at 10:47 AM on April 09, 2019
Johnny Manziel now goes by John, but the bigger news at this link is that he still thinks he can make an NFL team. Surely that ship has sailed after he crashed out of the CFL.
posted by rcade at 12:20 PM on April 09, 2019
I think Bennett and Beard are an interesting contrast - Bennett had his run of success at Washington State that brought UVa calling, but it was a pretty slow burn for him at UVa, working up from pretty much nothing to "competitive" to "dominant" (at least for the regular season) and now fully validated by tournament success. Beard's rise at Texas Tech has been meteoric by comparison. I'd certainly like for there to be more Bennett-type coaching stories in college basketball, but I'm not sure Beard is it - he could certainly stay at Tech and they could be a power for years to come, but as of yet he doesn't have the mutual investment that exists between Bennett, UVa, and the Cavalier fan community. I do think you're right that most of the schools hunting for coaches right now are basically lateral moves for Beard in terms of prestige, so I'd think the only temptation would be major dollars from a flagship state university with some built-in recruiting advantage (Texas?). I just see Beard as much more of a threat to leave sometime soon than Bennett. And I hope there's not any complacency about Bennett's feelings mixed into that.
posted by LionIndex at 07:06 PM on April 09, 2019
Final Four weekend in Minneapolis was fantastic. The NCAA does championships better than any professional league by a long shot.
Big congrats to all teams involved. Any one of the four could have won the championship if 1 or 2 plays went in their direction. Ultimately Virginia made the most of their opportunities and are a deserving champion.
There are 3 common themes that all 4 teams shared: first, each had a majority of key players who had been with the program for multiple years; second, each team had great coaching; third, all played great team defense.
posted by cixelsyd at 11:36 PM on April 09, 2019
Arkansas at this point is not even a sideways move let alone upward. They're huffing the fumes of prior glory
I'm going to keep an eye on them going forward since they just lured Eric Musselman away from my hometown Nevada Wolfpack. For the past two seasons under Musselman's direction the 'Pack has been nationally relevant for the first time since Nick Fazekas strolled the Reno hardwood.
posted by tahoemoj at 01:43 PM on April 10, 2019
Congrats to the Hoos fans around these parts. That was a well-deserved national championship