D's Notebook

Tag: basketball (Page 2 of 60)

OMG In MSG

May 22, 2025 /

Normally on a day like this, after what happened at Madison Square Garden last night, I would have hopped out of bed early and banged out 25,000 words about the latest inexplicable Pacers, come-from-behind win.

Funny thing happened last night, though. If funny is a proper synonym for infuriating.

At 7:59 I set aside my small screen where I was watching YouTube vids and hit the power button on the remote to fire up the big screen for the game. The TV began it’s warmup process and just as the screen came to life, our power went out.

There were no storms at the time. We didn’t hear the sound of a transformer blowing somewhere near us. Nor someone using a chainsaw that had possibly sent a tree towards a power line as happened last month two houses down the block.[1]

So I waited a few minutes in case it was one of the temporary outages that we sometimes experience.

No dice.

By the time I dug out my little radio, the Pacers were up by six early.

I checked our power company’s website but it did not show any outages in our area. I refreshed it a couple times without any updates, so went to the page where you report outages. Naturally it was not working. Our power company is truly the worst when it comes to customer relations. If there’s one page on a utility’s website that should never go down, it is their Report An Outage page!

So I called. The nice lady who eventually answered said there had been reports from 15 others in our area, they couldn’t identify what the cause was yet, but that a crew was on the way to investigate. By the time we got off the phone the outage map showed 48 people in our little area were without power. There weren’t any other large outages in the city, so I hoped that meant a quick resolution. By halftime, at least.

All I could do was wait and listen to the game on the radio. Which was what I did for the next three-and-a-half hours. Thus I missed much of the experience.

The Pacers hung with the Knicks until the fourth quarter, when they decided to stop playing defense and gave up a huge run despite Jalen Brunson sitting on the bench with five fouls. I was about to turn the radio off and go to bed late in the fourth quarter with the Pacers down 14. Time to get ready for game two.

Then Aaron Nesmith hit a 3. And another. And another. And another. Meanwhile the Knicks were missing shots, both from the field and the free throw line, and turning the ball over. When Nesmith hit his fifth 3 of the quarter it was suddenly a two-point game. The teams exchanged some free throws as the Pacers slowly ran out f time.

As I said last month, though, never count the Pacers out.

This was not nearly as cool on the radio, as I didn’t see Tyrese Haliburton’s frantic retreat to the arc, the insanely high carom of his shot off the rim, the ball falling through the net, nor the wild celebration. The Pacers radio guys went momentarily crazy but quickly saw that Haliburton’s toe was on the line and that the game would be going to overtime.

As tends to happen in these situations, the team that ended regulation on the run and had the miracle finish kept the momentum and the Pacers stole game one. Thank goodness for Haliburton, as it would have been tough to come back from giving the Reggie Miller choke sign to the crowd and then losing the game.

This is the third time the Pacers have done this in this year’s playoffs, coming from at least seven points down in the final 50 seconds of regulation.

I tried to tell you people about how this team never gets rattled or gives up. Maybe you’ll start listening to me now.

(Edit: It was terribly fun to follow Pacers bloggers and listen to the radio announcers as they tried to talk themselves into the comeback after Nesmith’s third 3. So many variations of “Is this really going to happen again?” which got progressively louder as the deficit got smaller.)

Three wins to the Finals.

Oh, and the power came back on just after 4:00 AM. First I noticed that our bathroom light was on. Then I heard our TV downstairs, blasting whatever TNT shows at that ungodly hour. Now I have a fun morning ahead of clearing our two fridges of all the perishables and making a trip to the grocery store to replace them.[2] In the midst of the outage I was doing research on whole-home generators. If we assume L is going to get a fat academic scholarship in two years, we might be able to make it work…

  1. During game one of the Milwaukee series. Maybe I should want the power to go off when the Pacers play.  ↩
  2. I got a text from our cable company while typing this, at 8:06 AM, that our service had been restored at 4:26 AM. Gee, thanks for that.  ↩

Pacers-Knicks

May 21, 2025 /

The long wait is over: the NBA Eastern Conference finals begin tonight. The Pacers have been sitting around for more than week as the Knicks closed out the Celtics and then the stupid NBA calendar got situated. Somehow the Western Conference finals started before the Eastern, even though the Thunder just finished their series against Denver on Sunday. Dumb.

Anyway, it’s finally here. This is a truly fascinating series and it’s been fun to hear the NBA podcasters I pay attention to twist themselves around trying to pick a winner. While most seem to land on Knicks in seven, they still have a hard time getting there.

For most reasons you have to throw out last year’s Pacers triumph in seven games in the semifinals. The Knicks were mega-banged up in that series and were literally falling apart by that final blowout. They’ve added Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges, and Mitchell Robinson is finally healthy. Meanwhile the Pacers are basically the same team, with Pascal Siakam having an entire season in Indy and Andrew Nembhard turning into a starter in his second NBA season. Bennedict Mathurin was out last year because of injury and is the only big change in Indiana’s main rotation.

Despite the roster changes I think the Pacers did take away a lot from winning last year. They won a game seven on the road, at the time the most anticipated basketball game in New York City in a generation. Although they were swept by the Celtics in the conference finals, they easily could have won three of those games. In the NBA there is often a stair-stepped process for teams to win a championship. The Pacers took a couple of those steps last year.

The stylistic matchup is terrific. Both teams try to wear down their opponents, but in very different ways. The Pacers are always forcing tempo, running on offense and pressing on defense. The Knicks are trying to batter you on both ends, the fouling-est team that never gets called for it on defense and then Jalen Brunson punishing people at the end of the shot clock on offense. Both teams’ strengths line up exactly with their opponents’ weaknesses. The Pacers are deep, athletic, and can really shoot it, but are small and basically don’t worry about offensive rebounding. The Knicks are thin, injury-prone, but have an ideal, modern, non-scoring big in Robinson, who is a shot-blocking fool and rebounding machine. To me he might be the key to the entire series, as the Pacers don’t have anyone who can match him. Both teams are built around point guards who are end-of-game wizards.

I think the Knicks are too reliant on Brunson. So I probably just jinxed them into Towns and Bridges having huge series. I think the Pacers do a much better job of always having another player step up, not just game-to-game but moment-to-moment. So now Siakam and Myles Turner are going to be dominated by Mitchell, Towns, and OG Anunoby.

The Pacers might shoot and run the Knicks out of the series. Josh Hart might get away with 1000 fouls on defense (then bitch on every dead ball about the calls he’s not getting) and take Tyrese Haliburton, Nembhard, and/or Aaron Nesmith out of what they want to do. We know Brunson is going to fall down 100 times a game, then lie there like he got shot, and draw fouls when he didn’t get touched.[1]

Yes, I’m already getting worked up about the refs and the Knicks. Just like last year when Turner is going to get called for two absolute garbage illegal screens in crunch time while Hart never comes close to fouling out.

This is a tough one.

If the Pacers can steal a win in one of the first games in New York, I say they win in six. If not, Knicks in seven. It’s going to be nerve wracking no matter who wins and in how many games.

  1. There currently is not a more infuriating star in the league than Brunson. By all accounts a very good guy. Gets soooo much out of his body and skills. You have to admire him. But there is not a better player in the league right now at drawing phantom fouls, acting like he just had a season-ending injury then hitting a step-back 3 moments later, and all the sly stuff he does on offense like grabbing defender’s arms or jerseys then pushing off that he NEVER gets called for.  ↩

NBA Notes

May 14, 2025 /

Another wild few days in the NBA, on the court and off.

Pacers

They did it again! Going back to Cleveland for game five Tuesday felt like a sure loss, even with all the Cavs’ injury woes. Take the L on the road, the final punch of the year from the proud-yet-battered #1 seed, and then close out the series at home on Thursday.

It sure looked like that’s where things were headed as Cleveland built a 19-point lead early in the second quarter. Just like game two, the Pacers were missing open shots before the Cavaliers ratcheted up their defense to get Indiana away from what they wanted to do and then started hitting shots of their own.

The turnaround was quicker this time.

The lead was down to four at halftime and after Cleveland scored four-straight points to start the third quarter, Rick Carlisle called a quick timeout. Here came the big run, and the Pacers were leading by 12 with under a minute to play in the period. There were some rallies in the fourth quarter – the Cavs got it down to one point twice – but once again the Pacers always had an answer. Myles Turner hit a corner 3 with 23 seconds left to clinch the win and the Cavs’ dream season was suddenly over.

There was a very telling moment early in the third quarter. The Cavs were up eight when Donovan Mitchell picked off a bad Andrew Nembhard pass. There was nobody ahead of Mitchell and the Cleveland crowd was roaring in anticipation of a powerful dunk. Only Mitchell chopped his steps and timidly tried to lay the ball up, which Turner came flying in to block away. We knew Mitchell was playing with a bum ankle but he couldn’t even elevate for a breakaway dunk. After that play I knew the Pacers would win.

Mitchell did have to sit out a few minutes to get his ankle looked at, but still scored 35 points, including a couple huge 3s late in the game that gave the Cavs hope. But he also missed three-straight free throws during that run which could have cut the Pacers’ lead to three with just under 2:00 left. That dude is amazing and never stops, but his body let him down.

Darius Garland also could barely walk at times, it seemed, although Kenny Atkinson was reluctant to remove him since the Cavs’ bench was mostly ass in this series. It’s a testament to how good Cleveland was this year that they were still in this game until the end.

But, as many national observers have finally started to notice, the Pacers were simply the better team. They are a nightmare matchup for other guard heavy teams thanks to the relentless pressure they put on the ball and withering pace they try to sustain on offense. As I said a week or two ago they are a well-constructed squad where all the parts fit together nearly perfectly. And they seem to never get rattled by the moment.

Also, poor Cleveland.

It is now on to the conference finals for the second-straight season. And, most likely, there will be a surprise opponent waiting for them there. Because…

Tatum/Celtics-Knicks

I’m not a Celtics fan but it was terrible watching Jason Tatum blow out his achilles Monday night. He seems like a very good dude, in one of the best players in the world, and is never injured. Until now. He was playing one of the most complete games of his life. And then a teammate threw a bad pass that Tatum had to lunge for, only he crumpled to the ground as his achilles gave out.

The Celtics had already screwed that game, and the series, up. But any hopes of a comeback in that game or the series were gone when Tatum left the court. And now the future of the Celtics is very much in doubt. Tatum will likely miss an entire season. They face a massive salary crunch. A team that was built to contend over a 5–6 year period might need a total revamp by the time Tatum is healthy again. Time moves quickly in the NBA.

The real story from this series, though, is how the Knicks have thoroughly taken it to the Celtics. The Celtics have led by double digits in every game in the series, yet find themselves down 3–1. The Knicks were a regular season disappointment, but have found something the last couple weeks (although they barely survived Detroit in round one) and are on the verge of making this a truly special year. They’ve been lucky with injuries so far. As a Pacers fan I’m hope the reverse devil magic that seems to waylay Pacers opponents strikes the Knicks. And I would love it if the refs would not allow the Knicks to play a style closer to football than basketball, although we know that’s not going to happen based on how the playoffs overall have been officiated.

Side note about that: way back when L was in third grade and I was helping to coach her team, we had a girl who would put her arms around whoever she was guarding and give her loose hugs to stay close to her. We kept having to tell her you can’t hug the girl you are guarding. I keep thinking of that kid as I watch the playoffs this year. Superstars who are off-the-ball get completely wrapped up so they can’t move. When they try to break out, defenders will grab jerseys, waistbands, and arms, and I haven’t seen a single whistle for it. Then the Knicks take that to another level and do this to players who have the ball. I don’t get it. Prepare for a lot of complaints about that from me once the conference finals begin.

Draft Lottery

As big as the Tatum news was, the biggest NBA news of the week came earlier that evening when the Dallas Mavericks somehow won the NBA Draft Lottery despite having less that 2% odds to grab the #1 pick. Outrageous!

San Antonio grabbed the second pick, Philadelphia the third. All the truly bad teams – Washington, Charlotte, Utah, New Orleans, Brooklyn – got screwed. The Mavericks, who made the play-in tournament and would have been comfortably in the bottom of the playoffs had Kyrie Irving not blow out his achilles, leaped all those teams and get to take Cooper Flagg.

I was of the opinion that this was a massive fail by the Hoops Gods, rewarding Dallas GM Niko Harrison for his insane trade of Luka Doncic earlier this year. Others pointed out perhaps the Hoops Gods did this as a gift to Dallas fans for watching their homegrown superstar be traded away.

I’m not sure which is correct, I just know Dallas picking first is stupid.

Of course there were immediate jokes that Harrison would try to trade the pick to the Lakers to get Luka back. Or he would make some other dumb trade or pick rather than just plug Flagg in next to Anthony Davis, Klay Thompson, and eventually Kyrie Irving. I don’t think he’s dumb enough to screw this gift up, though.

Meanwhile the Spurs, who were doing just fine until Victor Wembanyama got hurt, now have a massive opportunity to either plug another young star in next to him, or flip that pick to bring in a veteran star (Giannis?). And the Sixers, who had one of the most disgusting seasons in NBA history, are gifted their fifth top three pick in 11 years, which doesn’t seem right.[1]

I’m not big into conspiracy theories about the draft. As Zach Lowe pointed out, it’s hard to believe 29 other owners would stand by and let the commissioner rig it so one of their competitors were able to get a specific player. This sure seems odd, bordering on fishy, though.

  1. The actual process for deciding who picks where is fascinating and weird. The first four picks are determined by selecting four ping pong balls for each pick, with teams given a selection of the possible combinations. Philadelphia was one ping pong ball away from completely losing their first round pick, but ended up landing at #3.  ↩

Never Count Them Out

April 30, 2025 /

Good Lord that was a basketball game!

The Pacers laid a big, fat egg early, taking nearly seven minutes to score their first six points, blew multiple chances to put the game away in the second half, then somehow managed to come back from being down seven with 40 seconds left in overtime to win game five of their series and send the Milwaukee Bucks home for the summer.

Actually, there was no somehow about it. As I wrote a few weeks back, the Pacers have been doing this for the past three months, often against Milwaukee: improbably winning games that seemed lost with outrageous play in the closing seconds.

Tuesday it was Tyrese Haliburton getting two steals and a defensive rebound and scoring six-straight points in the closing minute of regulation to send the game to overtime. He then hit a 3 to open OT to stretch his run to nine-straight. However, he missed his next four 3’s, while the Bucks, specifically Gary Trent Jr., hit four straight 3’s to go up 117–111.

Trent was incredible. His shots were barely touching the net. Two were shots he barely had in his hands before launching as the shot clock expired. This should have been one of the great days of his career, and the launching point for someone to give him a shitload of money this summer.

However…

With 29 seconds left and up four points, Trent threw a terrible pass that turned into a Haliburton and-one layup. Seconds later, AJ Green threw a pass to an unguarded Trent as the Pacers tried to trap and get another steal or foul. The pass sailed directly to Trent…then through his hands and out-of-bounds. The Pacers had 10 seconds to go for the win. Which Haliburton clinched by blowing by Giannis and laying the ball in with one second left.

Reggie Miller stuff.

I felt kind of bad for Trent. Then I remembered he’s a Dukie so fuck him.

And then things got really interesting.

After time expired, for some insane reason Haliburton’s dad ran on the court and began taunting Giannis, who initially looked confused then stepped to the old man. They were separated, cooler heads seemed to prevail, and both teams went through the postgame interactions normal after a tense, physical series. Only when Giannis met Bennedict Mathurin, events took another turn. There’s been no word on who said what and who said it first, but soon Giannis was gripping Mathurin tight to his own body, not letting him leave and speaking directly into his ear. Soon players and coaches were pulling the duo apart, but this led to other players yapping and shoving. Amazingly, Bobby Portis Jr, the most belligerent of the Bucks anytime these teams play, seemed pretty chill and was slapping hands with Pacers. And then Giannis and Old Man Haliburton went at it again, with Giannis putting his forehead directly on Haliburton’s as they “chatted.” Kevin Porter Jr. was losing his shit at midcourt, which nearly caused another ruckus.

Eventually everyone calmed down. Mathurin was basically drug to the locker room. James Johnson, the most feared player in the NBA, approached Giannis pleasantly and got an earful about Mr. Haliburton’s actions. Somehow all this happened while NBA TV was interviewing Tyrese so he never got involved in it and was surprised when he got to the locker room and was told about his dad’s actions.

Ironically, while all this was going on Metta Sandiford-Artest, FKA Ron Artest, was sitting courtside taking it all in, looking serene as could be. Thankfully events didn’t spiral they was they did when Artest lost his mind in Detroit 21 years ago.

What a truly dumb moment. A terrific win, one that will be recalled for decades around here, got sullied by a player’s father inserting himself where he did not belong. Mr. Haliburton has always seemed a little thirsty for attention. It might be time to make his ass watch from a suite or outside the arena if he can’t keep it in his seat. I’m not sure what he thought he would accomplish by infuriating a much younger man who is 6’11”, 245 lbs. and all muscle.

I don’t think Giannis was completely innocent here. As noted on Bill Simmons’ pod this morning, he’s had a few postgame run-ins with opponents in the past. Like so many superstars, he is wildly competitive and sometimes lets that get away from him in defeat. But he absolutely won the post-game press conference, which made the Pacers look even worse.

What is important is the Pacers, despite a rough start, closed the Bucks out and can now take a few days to relax before they face #1 seed Cleveland. I don’t think that’s a terrible matchup for the Pacers, as long as they remain focused. Which is always a crapshoot with these guys. They can throw waves of defenders at Cleveland’s guards. They can go small against Cleveland’s bigs. Most of all, they know exactly who they are, how they need to play to maximize their skills, and have been deeper in the playoffs more recently than the Cavs. Cleveland should absolutely be favored. But the Pacers aren’t some sacrificial opponent they can run right through before likely meeting the Celtics in the conference finals.

Pacers-Bucks Notes

April 23, 2025 /

A few thoughts about game two of the Pacers-Bucks series last night.

Once again the Pacers jumped out to a big, early lead. Not as much of an ass-kicking as in game one, but there was never any doubt who the better team was. And that was with Dame Lillard coming back. He actually played remarkably well in the first half, then clearly suffered a bit from his long layoff in the second half. The Bucks have so many holes, though, that his presence did not mask many of them.

The Pacers were rolling when, suddenly, the shots stopped falling in the third quarter. This was not because of anything the Bucks were doing. These were WIIIIIIIIDE open shots the Pacers just kept missing. They could have easily pushed the margin out over 20 and put the game to bed before the fourth quarter began.

Milwaukee did step up their defensive pressure eventually, and that did have an impact. The Pacers went stagnant on offense. The ball stopped moving and every possession turned into a slog of back-down, one-on-one nonsense resulting in forced, off-balance shots as the shot clock wound down. The Bucks made a couple runs thanks to this, even getting the margin down to just two points inside two minutes to play. The Pacers answered with consecutive 3’s sandwiched around a defensive stop and escaped with a 2–0 lead in the series.

The good news if you are Milwaukee is you found some things on defense Tuesday. You played well on offense most of the night. I still think they have too many holes, and the Pacers too many advantages, for that to swing the series. But I also don’t think this is an easy sweep for Indiana as it might seem after the first two games.

The bad news for Milwaukee, ironically, is that aside from the opening minutes, they played really well. Bobby Portis was draining 3’s. Giannis was doing Giannis things. Dame, as mentioned, looked solid and you assume will get better over the course of the series, although there is no telling how his body will react after spending weeks on blood thinners and not playing. Despite all that the Pacers still won, and only a 13–0 run late made it look competitive.

The road games are going to be harder than the first two, for sure. You figure Giannis has at least one GO OFF game in him this series that the Pacers won’t be able to do a thing about. But watching last night, I really appreciated how good this team is. They aren’t NBA title contenders, unless the Cavaliers and Celtics have multiple starters get injured in the coming weeks. But they are a damn solid team that is deep, can shoot, is pretty athletic, has gotten much better defensively, rebound better than a year ago, and play at a pace that is deadly to older teams without depth like the Bucks.

It’s hard to be in the middle in the NBA. For a decade the Pacers were on the wrong side of that middle, never getting those two really good players you need to challenge the best teams in the conference, but also never bad enough to get a franchise-altering talent. Even when they snuck into the high lottery, their reward was Bennedict Mathurin, a player I really like, but who is not THE guy you build around.

This is the perfect team for Indiana. They play hard. They are fun to watch. They win more than they lose. If you don’t have a true title contender, this is the kind of team you want.

There were two different double-technical foul moments Tuesday, and a ton of yapping back and forth. I was almost disappointed when Kevin Porter Jr. slapped hands with Thomas Bryant and apologized after earning a flagrant foul for tripping Bryant on a break. These teams have hated each other for over a year. There will be a genuine dust-up before this series is over. And I can’t wait for it.

While watching S asked me who my favorite Pacer was. I had a hard time answering. Haliburton should be obvious answer. He’s the guy who elevated the franchise after a decade of treading water. He was voted as the Most Overrated Player in the league in The Athletic this week. I’m convinced that is only because he talks so much trash. But it’s not fun trash, or menacing trash, the kinds that earn the respect of your opponent. It’s the always hiding behind a teammate trash. It’s the backing away during a timeout trash. It’s the deadball trash then acting surprised when the opponent takes offense. I’m fine with yapping, but his act can get tiresome.

As I said, I really like Mathurin. I think he’s a lower budget Anthony Edwards. Not as explosive or as purely talented as Ant, but a similar game and attitude. There’s an immaturity to his game (and Ant’s, coincidentally) that gives me pause. And I also wonder if he’s going to be the player that gets moved out as the front office has to deal with a salary/roster crunch this summer.

Pascal Siakam has such an interesting game, all weird angles and awkward lunges, and I admire it but I can’t say he’s my favorite.

Myles Turner has been on the Pacers longer than anyone else, and seems reenergized this year. But I still hold it against him for picking Texas over KU out of high school.

Andrew Nembhard and Aaron Nesmith both play their asses off, and keep getting better. But they are kind of quiet and anonymous and not the kind of players you get drawn to as favorites.

TJ McConnell is so much fun to watch. He should not be a good NBA player, but wills himself to it every night. But I’ve never been an “adopt the little guy” guy when it comes to picking my favorite player.

Obi Toppin is the best in-game dunker in the NBA, and has turned himself into a decent shooter. But can you really pick a bench player who sometimes disappears just because he has jaw-dropping dunks once a week?

I told S the obvious answer is Johnny Furphy. Jokingly, of course. I think Furph has a bright future, but he needs to be a rotation guy for my Jayhawk love to win out.

After all that the answer is that I don’t have a true favorite Pacer. And despite all those caveats and disclaimers, it’s more about this being a balanced team where everyone is a part of the team’s success than the positives and negatives of any particular player.

Hoops Chat

April 8, 2025 /

A lot of hoops thoughts to work through as the college season has come to a very entertaining end.

Women’s Tourney

Man, UConn roared through the tournament like they were all mad the program hadn’t won a title in nearly a decade. Their performance in the Final Four was as dominant as I can remember any team, men or women, having over the final two games of the season. They eviscerated UCLA and South Carolina with a gorgeous, flowing, democratic brand of basketball. Try to take away one player and two others were waiting to kill you.

L is a big Paige Bueckers fan. In fact, she wrote her high school entrance essay about Bueckers and how she showed perseverance overcoming her injuries. I’ve shared before how it’s really hard to get L to sit down and watch full basketball games. Well Friday and Sunday, she sat next to me and watched every minute of the two UConn games.[1] I was pleased that she, apparently, watches a lot of highlights, because she knew every player and what they run on offense and defense. I was happy for Paige, I was happy for L since she wanted Paige to win, and I was happy that I was able to sit, watch, and enjoy a couple games with my hoopster daughter.

Bueckers was obviously the headline story, but, man, Huskies freshman Sarah Strong was so impressive. Not quite as flashy as Juju Watkins, but she has just about everything in her game. In the void of Watkins being out part/most/all of next year rehabbing her knee, Strong should become the face of the college game.

I literally laughed out loud when I saw a Fox News headline that Bueckers’ apparent lack of popularity outside hoops-heads (I guess?) is because of her race. So they’re just going to ignore the last two years, or the fact that the most popular WNBA player ever and one of the most popular athletes in the world at the moment is another white, Midwesterner? Now maybe the article was more nuanced, or it went directly political and got into how Bueckers is far more outspoken about things that get the Fox News crowd riled up than Caitlin Clark has ever been. But I didn’t read that shit, so can’t be certain.

Geno Auriemma has always annoyed me. I think it’s just his east coast arrogance. He seems to have mellowed a bit in recent years. I don’t know if it was the (super) relative lack of success for the program over the past decade, age, or something else, but he actually seemed kind of likable this weekend. Although I guess he kind of made an ass of himself in the press conference after the title game. Hopefully Paige yelled at him.

L asked if I thought he would retire now. I think it’s hard to do that when you have a player like Strong returning, along with Azzi Fudd and others. And I’m sure he has another stud freshman or two who will join them. Why quit when the program is still loaded?

The women’s Final Four was in Tampa. Although we flew in and out of the Sarasota airport, it was still filled with UConn folks coming in for the weekend when we left on Friday.

Chomp Chomp

Not much about Monday’s men’s title game was pleasing to the eye. Houston’s defense is remarkable, but it completely sucks the life out of the game. Worse, their offense is kind of terrible, mostly designed to throw the ball off the backboard and grab offensive rebounds while hoping LJ Cryer or Emanuel Sharp hit the occasional 3 between all the bricks. I was trying to remember a team with this combo of attributes making it this far. Virginia and Villanova were both intense defensive minded teams that sometimes struggled to score. But both teams were also focused on playing deliberately on offense, and had a couple guys you did not want to let get open looks. The classic Georgetown teams jumped out at me, but they had a hall of famer in the low post so I’m not sure that’s an exact match for Houston, either. Ironically Georgetown’s one title game win in their three chances was against Houston in 1984.

Florida’s defense was not much worse, creating an absolute slog of a game. Worse, the officials had no idea how to manage the physicality and clearly let it get away from them a couple times. Hell, the entire second half was a mess of too many calls followed by no calls followed by terrible calls to try to quell the near-violence. Slamming the ball on the ground in anger is 100% worthy of a technical, but I’m not sure how J’Wan Roberts throwing his hands in the air and screaming after every single call/no call is not also a “demonstrative act.”

All that made for a disjointed, ill-tempered, uncomfortable game to watch. I was glad I had no strong interest in who won.

Well, that’s not true. The Gators winning made me some money. I won one pool, tied for first in another. Sadly I got those in the wrong order. The pool I won shares the money amongst the top four. The one I tied in gives all the money to the winner, and I lost the tie breaker in that one. That tie breaker was extra annoying because the guy I lost to had KU in the Elite 8. I feel like I should win over him based on that alone.

Oh well. Second time in four years I’ve won a pool. And this year was with me being absolutely terrible on day one. Of course it’s also because I picked four number one seeds to get to the Final Four. But I’m on record as having wanted to pick against one of them, just not finding a team below them I trusted to pull the upset. So at least my cop-out was an informed one.

As some of my readers know, I finished second in my fantasy draft, trailing my buddy Nez in Lee’s Summit by 16 points. If only Clemson hadn’t lost in the first round…

I feel a little bad for Kelvin Sampson. He’s truly a great coach who has been unfairly maligned because he sent too many texts to recruits. Well, he did it twice at two different schools, so he deserves some shit for not learning from his mistakes. But that sure seems quaint in the NIL era. Anyway, he might be the current best example of a “culture” coach. You know what you’re getting from one of his Houston teams. Shame he and his son couldn’t come up with better plays to run on the Cougars’ last two possessions. Four turnovers in the last 2:00 nearly matched KU’s meltdown against Arkansas.

Houston might have the two combined most painful championship game losses ever. Not sure 1983 will ever be topped, especially given the talent on that team. But not even getting a shot off on the last two possessions Monday will smart for years.

Still props to them for one of the greatest comebacks in Final Four history Saturday night against Duke. That was thoroughly enjoyable. It never seemed possible until suddenly it was. That was the second biggest choke by a team from North Carolina in the Final Four this decade.

I had not watched Florida at all until the past couple weeks. When they were rolling, they were incredible. Such a great combination of parts. Waves of athletic bigs. Athletic wings. Shooters everywhere. And although he was largely held in check last night, Walter Clayton Jr. is like a low-rent Steph Curry, never afraid of taking a shot from anywhere on the court and, more often than not, nailing them.

Lots of buzz in the KU community that Todd Golden is the favorite to come to Lawrence when Bill Self retires. Golden has some baggage, to say the least. And now that he’s won a title in Gainesville he may not feel the need to jump to a traditional power. He has proven, though, that he understands modern basketball and how to build a team to compete. As soon as this time next year KU AD Travis Goff could have a big decision to make about whether the allegations against Golden are enough to prevent him from being considered to replace Self. Again, all rumors, but apparently Goff has zero interest in Chris Beard when the time comes because of his legal issues a couple years back. Seems like Golden should be disqualified if Beard is.

Jayhawk Talk

What a wild two weeks for KU.

First they lost almost every player who could return from this year’s team, worst of all Flory Bidunga. There had been rumblings for weeks, and you just kind of expect it these days anyway. I was still super bummed when Flory jumped. There were even rumors that Bryson Tiller, who was on campus this spring and will be a freshman next fall, might not stick around. There was a full-on panic as we realized we barely had enough players to fill out a roster, and worry that Darryn Peterson might decide to take his talents elsewhere.

The tide started to turn over the weekend. Self nabbed a couple transfers from the portal, both athletic wings. Then Bidunga announced he was returning to Lawrence. That news broke Sunday in the middle of a family conversation. Which I interrupted by throwing my hands in the air and yelling “FLORY IS BACK!!!!” My family made fun of me.

Flory’s time in the portal was fascinating, and telling of the state of college ball at the moment. There were immediate rumors that Auburn, his second choice a year ago, was offereing $3 million a year, which seemed insane. If that was true, I would happily let Flory walk. I love him and his potential, but he ain’t worth three million bucks.[2] Then there was word of back-and-forth between KU and Flory’s “team,” with Self even flying to Indiana to meet with them a week ago. Suddenly Saturday night, when all signs pointed towards Flory going to Auburn, the tide seemed to shift and there were strong rumors he would stay a Jayhawk. I guess until the revenue sharing model gets instituted, this is how college hoops will be. Even if you’re happy with where you are and your role, you jump in the portal to basically renegotiate your deal with your current school. I want players to get paid, but I’m pretty sure this is an awful way to do it. It hurts all sides. I haven’t read enough about the upcoming House settlement to understand if it will solve this problem, make it worse, or keep it as it.

Anyway, Flory’s back!

(My winning pool entry was titled Bidungapalooza. I sweated that name for a week but it worked out all around.)

There’s still work to do. I would like another big guard who can start. There has to be another big to play either next to or behind Flory. Even then, I worry that too much is being expected of Peterson, who will be the most talented player to arrive in Lawrence since Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid showed up in 2013. You know what, though? KU will NOT be picked preseason #1, nor picked to win the Big 12. There is always pressure at KU, but it will be dialed back a few notches next year, which should be good for everyone from the coaches to players to fans.

  1. She also plays for the AAU program run by UConn sophomore Ashlynn Shade’s parents.  ↩
  2. Message board rumors Sunday were that he’s getting $1.3M from KU this year, slightly better than Auburn’s final, true offer.  ↩

Weekend Notes

March 24, 2025 /

A weekend mostly filled with basketball, the last time I’ll say that until late next fall.

Jayhawk Talk

What an appropriate ending.

KU had a three-point lead over Arkansas Thursday with just over 3:00 remaining in the game. In the following 90 or so seconds:
AJ Storr forced a bad shot early in the shot clock, missing. This came after a time out. As usual with Storr, Bill Self threw up his hands in disgust/disappointment after the play.

After an Arkansas miss, KJ Adams grabbed the rebound, turned to head up court, and crumbled to the ground, losing the ball. After another Arkansas miss, Hunter Dickinson threw a pass literally to no one. It might be the worst pass I’ve ever seen a third team All American make. Arkansas turned it into a layup that cut the lead to one.

Then DaJuan Harris tried to enter a bounce pass to Dickinson. Two pet peeves before we get to the result. For some reason this team insisted on throwing bounce passes into Dickinson all season, despite the fact he is 7’2” and not flexible or mobile. Then, Dickinson was posted up outside the lane rather than inside the paint. Despite being a massive human being, he rarely buried people deep into the restricted area.

Anyway, Arkansas already had two defenders on Hunter, and one easily slipped around him to intercept the ball.

And that, my friends, was pretty much the game. In the final 3:00+, KU turned the ball over five times. The game was right there to win with one or two decent passes or smarter shots. Instead, it was Arkansas who made the big plays late and ended the game on a 15–5 run. They went on to upset #2 St. John’s Saturday and are now one of THE stories of the tournament.

As infuriating as that long sequence was, it was probably an apt ending for a team that was a poor match in too many ways to ever to find a comfortable center. Every player had at least one major flaw. Several of them had a whole bag of flaws. Throw them together and there was never a strength on either end of the court that they could consistently play to. While in the moment what anger I could conjure up – and I have to admit if not for those last three minutes, I would have had zero anger about this loss – was aimed mostly at Harris and Dickinson, as I’ve said before this all falls on Self.

He coached a hell of a game. Switching to a zone against a young team with suspect shooters when the Jayhawks couldn’t stay in front of the Arkansas guards and wings changed the game. I completely believe that had KU made one more bucket to get the lead to 5 or 6, they would have won. Arkansas was flailing and frustrated. Other than Adams’ turnover, which was a result of him apparently blowing out his achilles, KU’s last miscues were more on their actions than anything the defense did to force them.

Like I said a week or two back, I was ready for this season and this mini era to be over. This team never earned any strong affection from me. They were too flawed, too mercurial, too emotionally flat. I’m not going to look back on a single moment this season and think, “That was awesome,” or dig through YouTube highlights late some night.

Of course, when you get what you want, sometimes the reality that follows is scarier. KU needs a big influx of talent to put around Darryn Peterson, Elmarko Jackson, and (please, Hoops Gods, please), Flory Bidunga. You would hope that Peterson would be a huge selling point, especially for shooters who can capitalize from him driving the lane and drawing defenders. But Self and his staff are batting around .200 in the portal the past four years. They need to hit a home run this spring, finding guys who can get to the hoop, fit in with the talent already in Lawrence, and, most importantly, mesh with Self.

And, you know what? Self might need to dial it back a touch with the transfers. They are going to fuck up, they will come in with bad habits, they will chafe at being corrected. Self doesn’t need to meet them halfway, necessarily. But relaxing a little so guys can figure out where they fit in and gain confidence in the process could go a long way for them actually having a clue what to do when conference and NCAA play rolls around. Maybe roll with their mistakes in November and December so they are fully integrated in February and March.

Self was once the king of spring, always finding ways to plug holes in his roster with leftovers and cast-offs. That mojo has gotten tarnished in the portal era. He needs to rediscover it and not miss on anyone he signs in the next couple months.

There have also been rumors that at least one assistant coach will not be back next year. We all know that Self is in the final years of his career, so he’s not going to add a young dude(s). I say bring Danny Manning back for one more run, turn him loose with Bidunga all summer, and watch Flory blossom in the fall.

Swings And Misses

It was hard not to watch players who could have been Jayhawks this year perform for other teams.

Zuby Ejiofor was fantastic in St. John’s loss to Arkansas on Saturday.

KU just missed getting Liam McNeely in his first recruitment, then there were rumors that Self passed on him after he de-committed from Indiana last spring, opting to focus on transfers. His size and shooting were exactly what KU was missing.

Riley Kugel was the first commit Self got last spring, but had academic issues that kept him from getting into KU. Mississippi State accepted him, and he scored 11 in a loss to Baylor. He didn’t have a great season, but he possessed a size and athleticism that was lacking among KU’s wings.

Labaron Philon had signed with KU, but the sides mutually agreed to part last spring. He struggled in Alabama’s two tournament games, but has so much talent his name is popping up in the lottery range in some mock drafts.

KU was a finalist for Derik Queen, although with Dickinson already on campus and Bidunga already committed, odds were never high he was going to be a Jayhawk. Still, one of his last visits was to KU so there was a chance. Hard to see where minutes would have come for him and Bidunga if they were both on the same team with two seniors also in the frontcourt.

Sports are full of What Ifs, especially after disappointing seasons. And they are generally dumb because you never know, right? Maybe McNeely blows out his knee if he comes to KU, or Philon never gets off the bench and is into the portal this week. But maybe McNeely is the perfect compliment to Dickinson by pulling the defense out to the perimeter, or Kugel has moments where he can’t be guarded and creates space for Zeke Mayo as the defense tries to pinch off his drives.

General Tourney Talk

This was, for the most part, a garbage-ass first week. Especially the first couple days, most games turned into blowouts early, or had 10-point margins going into the final TV timeout with no drama in getting to the end.

Sunday rewarded viewers for sticking with it. UConn battled Florida to the closing seconds, in what was the game of the tournament for about five hours. I have zero love for UConn, but that team plays its ass off, and Florida needed everything they had to get by the Huskies.

Later Sunday evening Colorado State and Maryland took that drama to a different level. In what was a great, back-and-forth game to begin with, CSU took the lead on a 3-pointer with just under four seconds to play. Then Derik Queen banked in a runner at the buzzer to give the Terps the win. Amazing finish to an amazing game.

Colorado State, man. They’ve put guys into the NBA in recent years, have a couple high transfers playing for other teams. And they were still one of the most fun teams to watch this weekend. If Nique Clifford had any eligibility left he would be getting a big bag from a Power 5 school. I hope he gets drafted and a chance to play at the next level. That’s a good ass program.

I loved Stan Van Gundy screaming about teams who insist on throwing bounce passes to big men. Maybe Self should bring him in as a special consultant. Or should have brought him in this year.

The Sunday schedule always sucks. Three games with exclusive windows to start the day, and Duke is always in one of these games. Then five games crammed into the evening, with one always starting super late. Seems like there’s a better way to stagger games and not have them lasting until midnight Eastern.

Every March there’s a batch of commercials that drive dedicated watchers of the tournament crazy. I DON’T FUCKING UNDERSTAND WHY GEICO BROUGHT BACK THE ‘LITTLE PIGGY WHO CRIED WHEEEE ALL THE WAY HOME’ COMMERCIAL. It is one of the worst ads ever made, forcing me to either mute or switch the channel the moment it comes on. Geico has tons of clever, funny ads. Why would they bring this one back and throw it in high rotation during the NCAA tournament?

I hate pretty much every Buffalo Wild Wings ad, too. The giant, doofus buffalo pisses me off.

I do like the Justin Bateman – Will Arnett ads for State Farm.

There sure are a lot of insurance ads, aren’t there?

My brackets stink. I have 11 of the Sweet 16 but did so poorly on day one I don’t think I can get into the money even if the rest of my picks work out. I’m 22/58 in one pool, 22/46 in another. At least I’m consistent.

I vaulted into first place in my player pool, and have six of eight players remaining. That lead is tight, though, so I need my players to keep winning and racking up the points.

Sports are dumb, by the way.

Weekend Visitor

M flew back to Cincinnati, a much easier journey than her trip down, Friday evening after a good week on Anna Maria island. She drove home Saturday for her first visit home since Christmas. It was good to see her. We took her out for sushi Saturday, she requested chicken white chili Sunday. The crappy, wet, chilly weather was perfect for a final round of chili for the season. She has five weeks of classes left.

And now we have four days until we fly to Florida for our week in the sun.

NCAA Picks

March 20, 2025 /

I hate my picks.

That’s how I’ll sum up this year’s NCAA tournament. Which seems perfect for a college basketball season I have mostly hated.

Spoiled KU fan, I know.

As hard as I tried not to, I ended up going with all four #1 seeds to reach the Final Four. Which is an idiotic way to fill your bracket since it has happened exactly one time.[1]

Some people think Auburn is creaky and vulnerable based on their late-season lull. I see a team that was focused on one thing – winning it all – getting complacent late. Some people are screaming the “It’s March, that’s Tom Izzo time!” nonsense but I still don’t think Michigan State is Final Four good. Auburn is, frankly, more Michigan State than Michigan State is this year.

Houston has some injury issues, but if J’wan Roberts can survive this weekend, I think the Cougars roll into San Antonio.

Duke? Come on. They just blitzed the ACC tournament without Cooper Flagg in the last two games, and he’s coming back. Although the ACC kind of stunk, so we should maybe tamp the excitement down a notch or two. And they got the easiest, by far, route to the Final Four. As usual.

I really wanted to pick St. John’s out of the West. In fact at first I did. But I think Florida is the best team in the country, and as fearsome as the Johnnies are on defense, they can’t shoot, which will kill you in 2025. Seriously, a KU-SJU game Saturday could be an all-time brickfest.

I found it hard to pick upsets, too. I have BYU in the Elite 8, for some reason. I could also see them losing their opening game and blowing up my bracket.

I have Clemson and Illinois in the Sweet 16 in the Midwest, but those only require mild upsets. Otherwise my Sweet 16 is pretty chalky.

Yuck.

As for my Jayhawks, they should beat Arkansas tonight. Doesn’t mean they will, but they should. The Hogs will be missing their leading scorer and rebounder, but I believe he didn’t play in the exhibition game between these two teams, either. Freshman sensation Boogie Fland returns, but he’s missed two full months of action with a serious hand injury. He’s probably still fast enough, rust and all, to cook DaJuan Harris. But will he have the ball/finishing skills to match his performance back in October? The Hogs will be quicker on the perimeter, and have a mobile big man that can put Hunter Dickinson in bad spots.

But I think the Jayhawks will come together for two hours and dispatch the Razorbacks. KU 75, Arkansas 70.

That will bring Zuby Ejiofor and the Johnnies on Saturday. Like Arkansas, St. John will be much more athletic at every position than the Jayhawks. There is also that defense, the best in the country, which isn’t exactly an ideal opponent for a team that has clicked offensively only a handful of times across 33 games. This is not the KU team to pull the upset.

However, I did take Ejiofor in my player draft. It would somehow be appropriate if he played like ass and KU knocked off SJU.

Nah, the Hoops Gods are more about punishing my real team for whatever reason than my fantasy team. St. John’s 83, KU 70.

Florida over Houston in the championship game.

  1. That was a pretty good Final Four, with a fantastic ending.  ↩

Early NCAA Thoughts

March 18, 2025 /

Here we are, NCAA tournament time. The time of some of my favorite, non-family of course, moments of my life. And also some of my least favorite. I suppose that’s the good thing about KU’s relative mediocrity this year: if I genuinely have no expectations, there is only opportunity for good memories this week. I expect them to shit the bed, so anything other than that will be a pleasant surprise.

The Jayhawks didn’t do a thing in the Big 12 tournament to change how I think about them. Moments of brain-dead play, often from the most experienced players, against Colorado. Then the Arizona game was the exact opposite of when the teams played a week before in Lawrence. Instead of the Jayhawks controlling the game and the Wildcats making constant runs, even briefly taking the lead in the second half, this time it was Arizona in front and KU rallying. KU made the big plays late in Lawrence; Arizona was clutch in KC. Two pretty even teams playing two pretty even games over six days. Not that long ago this was a game that KU 100% would have won in Kansas City. This year’s team is on a different, worse, level, though.

Crazy that the Arizona game was the first time KU had worn blue in the Big 12 tournament since the 2008 championship game. And even then they only wore blue because of losing the regular season game vs Texas, and thus the tiebreaker when determining who the home team was for the regular season co-champs. This has been a truly glorious era of KU hoops, and this was just another bitter reminder of how the last two years have brought all that to a screeching stop.

As for this coming week, playing Arkansas might be the ideal draw for this team. But not for the reasons you think. The Razorbacks blew out the preseason #1 Jayhawks in an exhibition game back in October in John Calipari’s first game in Fayetteville. Hunter Dickinson didn’t play, and KU clearly didn’t run anything serious on offense. But that game pointed out flaws early, like the lack of shooting and athleticism, that were masked in early wins over Michigan State and Duke. Arkansas has their own issues between injuries and inconsistencies and perhaps some general weird vibes in the program. But losing to them, likely because the Hogs are more athletic and can exploit KU’s deficiencies, would be a perfect bookend to the year. I’m already fearing DaJuan Harris going 2–11 from 3 as Calipari happily leaves him wide open to shoot all night.

But beating them sure would be fun, and I think KU is the better team if focused. Do they have one good game in them?

Should the Jayhawks survive the Hogs another near-perfect storyline opponent likely awaits in St. John’s. I say perfect because that game will shine a bright light on the choices Self made two springs ago. He sacrificed freshmen Ernest Udeh and Zuby Ejiofor for Hunter Dickinson. I contend that was a decent gamble. He had Kevin McCullar coming back, Dickinson was an All American big, and you build around those two established players instead of two raw, rising sophomore bigs.

Udeh has struggled with inconsistency at TCU, although I contend he would have developed better had he stayed at KU.

Ejiofor, however, has been a true revelation this year. His offensive stats aren’t as good as Dickinson’s (17.6 ppg, 10.0 rpg vs 14.6/8.0) but he’s been red hot late in the season. Zuby shoots better from the field and is a better defender. He is a perfect match for Rick Pitino’s style and his teammates, where Hunter is clearly not a good match for the talent around him.[1] None of us know for sure if Hunter is a good teammate or not, but there always seems to be some cloud over the team that might lead back to him. Zuby seems like a guy everyone would love to play with.

Who knows, Hunter may dominate Zuby if the teams play on Saturday. And that may not matter as St. John’s is genuinely the better team. I’m kind of laughing at the thought of KU’s guards facing the Johnnies’ pressure. We have dinner plans Friday and I considered moving them to Saturday so I could avoid the KU game. Then again, it may be a cathartic end to this mini-run and worth my time even if it is ugly.

I’m sure there are some KU fans talking themselves into things finally clicking and the team making a run. I can’t do that. Even in this team’s best wins this season – Duke, Michigan State, Iowa State, Arizona – the team has never been fully locked in. When it doesn’t happen over four-plus months, it’s not suddenly going to happen when the tournament begins. A shame.

Please, never rank KU #1 in the preseason again.

As for the broader tournament, I’m really struggling to come up with interesting picks. It feels like the top 4–6 teams are CLEARLY the best teams in the country. I watched more of the SEC tournament last weekend than any other, and kind of fell in love with one seeds Auburn and Florida, and two seed Tennessee.[2] Those three teams are all loaded with talent and athletes and shooters and can guard. But each also has these awful lulls because they get out of control or play too fast or can’t create in the halfcourt or take ten terrible shots in a row. Then I look to try to find an upset over them and think of how bad Michigan State looked when they lost to KU in November, or how many injuries Iowa State is fighting, or how young Texas Tech is, etc.

I love Houston, but that team also seems to be lacking something that I can’t put my finger on. Maybe because they are a true program team, totally bought into their coach’s philosophies rather than loaded with obvious talent? Which probably means they’re going to race through the bracket with ease.

Naturally Duke got the easiest draw of any of the #1 seeds. Amazing how often that happens. Maybe Cooper Flagg will re-tweak his ankle this weekend and that will doom their efforts to get out of the east. I think that’s something America can get behind in this divided age.[3]

At the moment I lean towards picking all four #1 seeds, which is dumb. I feel like Florida might be the most talented roster in the country, but St. John’s is the most complete #2 seed. Naturally they are together. If KU wasn’t the #7 seed I would complain more about how the west is, by far, the stoutest region. But it doesn’t matter to us.

I’m going to sit on this a couple more days and offer my picks on Thursday.

  1. Bill Self’s fault, not his.  ↩

  2. Side note, why did ESPN used C+C Music Factory’s “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)” so prominently in their coverage? The song is 34 years old. It was perfect for the 1991 tournament. A year which, coincidentally, Kansas and Arkansas played. But in 2025 seems weird to use it almost every commercial break.  ↩

  3. You know that you know who is pulling for Duke.  ↩

Weekend Notes

March 17, 2025 /

As I said Friday, last week was a very odd one around here, at least in terms of our daily schedules.

Monday was a normal day, although one third of L’s classmates were gone on their retreat. She did go in late after getting her stitches removed and new cast put on.

Tuesday had the same schedule, although this was her day to go on retreat. As it involved A LOT of walking, we excused her and she stayed home. We got in a good 30-minute, seated shooting session before the winds kicked up in the afternoon. Trying to lock that upper body form in.

Wednesday was SAT day for juniors. Seniors were excused, so C was home. Freshmen and sophomores had “unity days,” so L did dumb stuff with her classmates all day. They went in 20 minutes late and got out 75 minutes early. I guess that’s enough to count it as a full school day even if they weren’t actually in class.

Thursday? Normal day for all four grades!

Then Friday, for some reason, was the Indy St. Patrick’s Day parade.[1] Which CHS always takes the day off for so the band and several teams and student groups can march in it. Despite being a gorgeous day, C wasn’t interested in going to watch. And L wanted nothing to do with crutching around in the crowds.

Back to a normal, five-day week this week. However, after that, the next five weeks include one off for spring break and three four-day weeks. Weird times. A lot of days off when we’re paying tuition, too.

Last week was the most glorious weather week you could imagine, especially for this time of year. Every day it at least touched 70, Friday it rubbed up against 80. While it was breezy, the sun was out each day, making it feel more like late April. L spent her day home trying to get some sun. I certainly got some over the five days. Shorts and t-shirts every day.

I wrapped up the last of our late winter yard work. All the hydrangeas have been trimmed back, all the ornamental grasses cut down to the earth, any other stragglers cleaned up so the growing season can begin.

Then our first thunderstorms of the year Friday night/Saturday morning. I guess we had a severe thunderstorm warning sometime around 3:00 AM. The thunder certainly woke me up. There were even three tornadoes in southern Indiana. Then rain off-and-on Saturday and Sunday as the temperatures dropped. It actually spit snow several times yesterday.

This week will be your March typical rollercoaster. It is 26° as I type this Monday morning. It will be in the 70s tomorrow, then barely 40° on Thursday. Good times.

Kid Hoops

This weekend was the kickoff of travel ball season. There is always a huge event here in Indy that is normally spread across several venues in the suburb of Westfield. I think all the high school teams are confined to the Pacers Athletic Center, so L and I were able to go watch her team play twice as well as all of her CHS teammates, plus girls she’s played with in the past now on other teams. We spent five hours up there Saturday evening watching games. I had to tell the story of what was up with the cast on her foot at least 10 times.

Her coach let her sit on the bench during games. There are five new girls this year and it was funny to watch the ones she’s played with in the past kind of shuffle the new additions to the side so they could sit by L at the end of the bench when they came out of the game. She did a good job cheering and help coach.

Her team went 1–1 Saturday, then lost in the knockout round Sunday. It seemed like all the new girls fit in, from a basketball perspective. They all understand how to play as a team. Hopefully the coach can get them some gym time so they develop some chemistry. We’ll probably go watch them again, but I’m not going to spend $40+ every week so I can sit and watch my daughter sit on the bench in a cast. L might even go on a road trip with one of her best friends on the team and her mom.

Spring Breaker

M flew down to Florida yesterday for a week in the sun. It was quite a process to get there.

She and her friends boarded their plane on time in Cincinnati, then had to get back off a few minutes later. Airspace in Florida had basically been shut down because of a line of heavy storms moving through the state. After an hour or so they re-boarded, sat on the ground for a bit, then finally departed.

Once in the air, there was some adjustment of route but eventually they made it to Sarasota. She texted us and told us that no planes were being allowed to take off, leaving all the gates full. They were going to have to sit and wait until flights were either cleared to start taking off again, they were cancelled and planes moved from gates, or the storms passed so they could wheel out a portable jetway.

They sat for an hour until the storms fell apart and were finally able to deplane via the portable stairs. Stressful and aggravating but at least they made it. M said some friends were on a different flight that made it into Florida airspace before turning around and flying back to Cincy because there was no where to land safely. That would be awful. Not sure if those girls made it in later in the evening or are scrambling for a flight today. Looking at M’s flight route, it appears they may have been contemplating doing the same turn around, but luckily found a gap in the storms to get into Sarasota.

Hopefully the rest of her week is less stressful than the flight down.

I’ll get to college hoops tomorrow.

  1. Turned out to be a great decision, though, as it was 30–35° warmer Friday than today.  ↩
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