"The Stack" 2-13-17
The Stack is back on this Monday and we have a fairly short blog post for today and possibly for this week as we will be on vacation Thursday and Friday so who knows if we will be posting anything. We’ll see. The Knicks won on Sunday so that means no more #NicksBetterThanKnicks tweets anymore, at least not until the next debacle or long losing streak. Second baseman Brandon Phillips was traded from the Cincinnati Reds to the Atlanta Braves so that is two of the worst teams in the NL making a trade. That won’t make Reds fans happy. What else will we be talking about? Let’s find out in “the stack” for today, Monday, February 13th:
Committee unveils initial top 16 teams in bracket
Trying to make people talk about the NCAA Tournament more and get everyone excited, the NCAA revealed the top 16 teams Saturday afternoon on CBS. They will be doing this a couple more times I believe before the official unveiling of the bracket exactly one month from yesterday. To no one’s surprise (at least I would hope to no one’s surprise), the one seeds would be Villanova (East), Kansas (Midwest), Baylor (South) and Gonzaga (West). Considering the Zags are the lone undefeated team in college basketball right now and they had a very good non-conference schedule, that sort of feels like a slap in the face. UNC is the top two seed and have been placed in the South Region with Baylor, Florida State is considered the sixth best team and is in the Midwest Region with Kansas, Louisville the seventh best team in the East Region with Villanova and Oregon is the worst of the two seeds and is in Gonzaga’s region. Technically shouldn’t the worst of the two seeds have to play the best one seed and so on down the line? That’s what should happen and maybe we will get to that way. The three and four seeds were also released. I don’t have much of a problem with what the committee has decided thus far, but how do you not put Wisconsin among the top four seeds? They were ranked seventh in the country last week. Obviously the polls don’t mean much to the committee. They will be looking at quality wins, strength of schedule and RPI. That’s what they should be doing anyway. It was nice to get the reasoning behind it and hopefully with a couple of more chances to show updates to their thought process we won’t be taken aback on Selection Sunday and wonder why the committee didn’t give Baylor a one seed even though they deserved it or something else like that. A lot can and will change between now and Selection Sunday. The bracket that was provided to us on Saturday is a nice start, but inevitably will change and will generate plenty of discussion.
College basketball weekend thoughts
After Thursday’s blockbuster doubleheader, there wasn’t nearly as much excitement or good games for the weekend, but plenty of people wanted to see if Gonzaga is indeed for real and if they could win on the road at St. Mary’s who is currently ranked. The Zags had no problem dismissing the Gaels 74-64. This team is for real people and could very well be making their first ever Final Four appearance this year. There were no real surprises on Saturday and only one “upset.” #18 Duke survived and beat Clemson 64-62. #4 Louisville came back from a first half deficit to beat Miami (FL) 71-66. #3 Kansas survived a road game at Texas Tech and won 80-79 despite Frank Mason III fouling out and #9 Arizona beat California only by five 62-57. The only upset happened in South Bend where #14 Florida State lost to Notre Dame 84-72. The Seminoles haven’t looked as good over the past couple of weeks like they did at the beginning of ACC conference play. That is slightly concerning.
The bigger upsets took place on Sunday with three of the five ranked teams losing and that is slightly misleading since Cincinnati and SMU were both ranked, but Cincinnati is ranked higher. They lost to SMU 60-51. Don’t worry though. You’ll see both of these teams in the tournament. Northwestern has all but locked up their first ever NCAA Tournament appearance with a 66-59 on the road at #7 Wisconsin. Maybe the committee knew what they were doing by not putting the Badgers in among their top four seeds in any region. And Buzz Williams and the Virginia Tech Hokies rallied from a double-digit halftime deficit to beat #12 Virginia 80-78 in double overtime. The Hokies are a bubble team and this win really helps their cause.
We should be in store for another great week of college basketball action and the team to watch this week is the Kansas Jayhawks who take on #13 West Virginia tonight in Lawrence, Kansas, (9 PM ET on ESPN) and then head down to Waco to take on Baylor over the weekend. One seeds are definitely up for grabs and we will be talking about plenty of college basketball as we creep closer to March.
Mike Ilitch dies at the age of 87
Sad news to pass along out of Detroit (no jokes today) following the passing of Detroit Red Wings and Detroit Tigers owner Mike Ilitch. The Little Caesars pizza founder passed away Friday night at a local area hospital at the age of 87. The outpouring of love and support pouring in for Ilitch from former players and others is really touching. Brendan Shanahan, a winger for the Red Wings said that Ilitch always made sure his players were treated like his family. Ilitch was a very successful businessman and his impact on the Detroit area and specifically the Red Wings and Tigers will surely be missed. Thoughts and prayers go out to his family, friends, former players, coaches and anyone who had the opportunity to meet Mike.
Coming up Tuesday: Reaction to top stories in the sports world