"The Stack" 3-15-17
Kansas State shot nearly 70 percent from the field as the Wildcats took down Wake Forest 95-88. They advance to take on Cincinnati on Thursday. Earlier, Mount St. Mary's beat New Orleans 67-66.
Rick Osentoskii-USA TODAY Sports
The Stack is back on this Wednesday and we do not have a whole lot to talk about today outside of March Madness. Free agency in the NFL has died down a bit. The World Baseball Classic continues. Can Israel keep it going? That’s an interesting storyline to watch out for. What else is there? Just reaction to the first of the First Four games so let’s get right to “the stack” for today, Wednesday, March 15th:
Mount St. Mary’s, Kansas State advance
The Stack obviously doesn’t know what the heck we’re talking about when it comes to March Madness having gone 0-2 yesterday. However, one could maybe say that what is really going on is that we (I) am just saving up all of my good picks for Thursday and Friday and into the weekend. The Mount, Mount St. Mary’s beat New Orleans 67-66. After the first ten minutes or so when this game was going back and forth and fairly close, The Mount went on a big run and kept a lead until late in the second half when New Orleans regained the lead albeit briefly. The two teams would go back and forth and New Orleans had a chance with 2.6 seconds left, but the inbounds pass was intercepted and The Mount prevailed. Lost in all of this was a fight between a couple of New Orleans players late in the second half. It appears to be just a disagreement, but it did result in Travin Thibodeaux being on the bench for the remainder of the game. Mount St. Mary’s will take on Villanova in Buffalo on Thursday.
Kansas State and Wake Forest capped off the night with a highly entertaining contest and the Wildcats prevailed 95-88. They were better on the boards and Kamau Stokes knocked down five threes while the rest of the team made one. That’s going to have to change if they want to take down #6 seed Cincinnati. Cincinnati is great defensively and they can score. Kansas State answered every little run that Wake Forest threw at them in the second half and pulled away in the last couple of minutes. Iwundu is a pretty good player, but I see K-State getting bounced in the first round. Tough loss for Wake Forest, but they’ll keep getting better.
#16 North Carolina Central vs. #16 UC-Davis 6:40 PM ET TruTV
Went 0-2 Tuesday night, let’s try for 2-0 tonight. We start with North Carolina Central and UC-Davis. UC-Davis is making their first ever NCAA Tournament appearance. North Carolina Central is playing some pretty good ball right now while UC-Davis barely survived UC-Irvine in a championship game that was less than stellar. Normally that means the team that played the worst and that no one is giving a chance to is going to win. Having said that, I’m going with NCCU.
Pick: North Carolina Central
#11 USC vs. #11 Providence 9:10 PM ET TruTV
I didn’t think USC should have made the tournament, but I get why they did. 24 wins is tough to turn down. I just don’t think they’re all that great and I think Providence is slightly better. They’ve played better basketball in the second half of the season and I think they find a way to get a win and then promptly lose to #6 SMU. Plus I like Ed Cooley’s hair. Ed’s a good coach. I like him a lot.
Pick: Providence
NFL Free Agency
A couple of moves were made on Tuesday that raised some eyebrows and made some headlines. Eddie Lacy will be the new running back in Seattle now. Don’t worry he is probably around 260 pounds, but the Seahawks don’t mind. OK, they mind a little bit as they will want Lacy down in the 240s. Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll says he likes a bruising running back. OK then. Let’s hope he thinks that when Lacy gets injured or can’t gain more than three yards a carry because he doesn’t have any speed.
Offensive tackle Andre Smith is heading back to Cincinnati after a year in Minnesota in which he got injured after what the fourth game of the season? The Bengals have lost a couple of offensive lineman this offseason so bringing Smith back is good assuming he can stay healthy.
Finally, linebacker/defensive end Datone Jones signed with the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings have signed former Green Bay Packers before and they haven’t always worked out. We’ll see if this one does. Jones is expected to be a defensive end. Maybe the Vikings should focus instead on bringing guys like Cordarrelle Patterson back. Oh wait, he signed with the Oakland Raiders, because the Vikings weren’t showing interest. That will come back to haunt this team. What are they doing up there in Minnesota this offseason? I thought they were on the verge of a Super Bowl. Now, I’m not so sure.
Coming up Thursday: NCAA Tournament Thursday preview/picks
Listen to this week's "The Sports Block" podcast here as we break down every game of the NCAA Tournament.
