FREE THOUGHT FRIDAY:
DEUCE IS A DROUGHT: Does two straight years with no postseason basketball seem like an eternity to you; Tennessee Basketball fan? It should. Since the NCAA Tournament was expanded in 1976 two consecutive seasons without a Vol appearance in either the Big Dance or the NIT has occurred only twice. The Vols failed to make either bracket in 1986 and 87 under Don DeVoe and the three-year period between 1993-95 which were the last two years of the Wade Houston era and Kevin O’Neill’s first season in Knoxville. In a span of time that has seen eleven basketball coaches lead a program that could with merit be described as “unstable” none have exceeded two consecutive years without a postseason appearance and continued to be employed here. I’m not suggesting if Rick Barnes’ second edition of the Vols fails to make the myriad of postseason events that now exist that he should be shown the door. I am saying if the drought extends beyond the spring of 2018 it will be an ignominy that I’ve never witnessed almost a dozen coaches -many of which were average at their trade- suffer here. Below is Tennessee’s tournament breakdown since 1976:
NCAA APPEARANCES (19): 1976, 77 (Ray Mears); 1979, 80, 81, 82, 83, 89 (Don DeVoe); 1998, 99, 00, 01 (Jerry Green); 2006, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11 (Bruce Pearl); 2014 (Cuonzo Martin)
NIT APPEARANCES (10): 1984, 85, 88 (DeVoe); 1990, 92 (Wade Houston); 1996 (Kevin O’Neill); 2003, 04 (Buzz Peterson); 2012, 13 (Martin)
NO POSTSEASON (12): 1978 (Cliff Wettig) 1986, 87 (DeVoe); 1991, 93, 94 (Houston); 1995, 97 (O’Neill); 2002, 05 (Peterson); 2015 (Donnie Tyndall); 2016 (Rick Barnes)
TENNESSEE TOURNEY TIDBITS: (All reflect the period starting in 1976)
-LONGEST NCAA TOURNAMENT DROUGHT: Eight seasons from 1990-97 which also represents the combined tenures of Wade Houston and Kevin O’Neill.
-The next longest was 5 seasons 1984-88 under Don DeVoe meaning the Vols made the NCAA Tournament only one time (1989) between 1984 and 97; a period of 14 seasons.
-LONGEST NCAA TOURNAMENT APPEARANCE STREAK: Six seasons from 2006-11 which also represents the tenure of Bruce Pearl
-The next longest were the first five seasons of the DeVoe era from 1979-83
-LONGEST COMBINED NCAA+NIT APPEARANCE STREAK: Nine seasons from 2006-14 which also represents the combined tenures of Bruce Pearl and Cuonzo Martin
The next longest was the first seven seasons of the DeVoe era from 1979-85
FINAL FOUR FOCUS:
-It will be really easy to pull for the winner of Villanova and Oklahoma to win it all with one of Roy Williams or Jim Boeheim assured to emerge from the other side of the bracket.
-That being said North Carolina will have to play down to the field to keep from winning the National Championship. They appear to clearly be the class of the tournament.
-If you’re going to beat a team that is more talented defending at the highest level is the way to achieve that goal. Villanova is the team in Houston capable of disrupting the Tar Heels enough to pull off the upset.
-I would love to see Lon Kruger win a national championship. He is rarely mentioned among the nation’s elite coaches despite the fact his overall resume and the number of teams he’s lead to a high level of success (5 teams to the NCAAs; K-St, Fla, Ill, UNLV, Okla) suggests he should never be omitted. The one hole in his career? No national title.
-I’ve thought Marcus Paige was one of the country’s most overrated players throughout the course of his career in Chapel Hill. He has however played very well in this year’s tournament.
-Brice Johnson on the other hand has had a spectacular season (17.1 ppg; 10.5 rpg) and was rightly honored by being named a 1st team All-American.
-cbssports.com ranked every starter in the Final-4 with Buddy Hield being named the best player in the field.
-While UNC passes the eye test as the best team CBS has more Villanova Wildcats
(3- G Josh Hart; 6- F Daniel Ochefu; 8- G Ryan Arcidiacono; 11- F Kris Jenkins) and Oklahoma Sooners
(1- G Buddy Hield; 7- G Isaiah Cousins; 9- F Ryan Spangler; 12- G Jordan Woodard) than Tar Heels
(2- F Brice Johnson; 5- G Marcus Paige; 10- G Joel Berry) in their Top-12
-Syracuse Guard Michael Gbinije is the only Syracuse player ranked in the top dozen
-I’m going with Villanova and UNC to meet Monday Night for the championship with the Heels to cut down the nets in Houston. Vegas agrees with my championship matchup as the Heels are favored by 9 ½ over Syracuse while the Wildcats are 2 point favorites over Oklahoma.
FANTASY BASEBALL: As you’ve heard me mention many times there is little I like so well and do so poorly at than Fantasy Baseball. It is my favorite of the fantasy seasons due to the everyday nature of baseball and the multitude of owner decisions available to you throughout the course of the season. In fantasy football the draft and luck are everything. Screw up on draft day or have the misfortune of injuries to key players and your season is O-V-E-R. In baseball however a shrewd, studious, dialed-in GM/Manager can make the difference in a successful season. Unfortunately for reasons too numerous to mention here I am none of the above. I go into the 2016 season with one goal only; finish in front of Tony B. This should be obtainable since his crack GM Anthony Basilio has discovered girls in his second decade. His crackpot father on the other hand has yet to discover his team’s lineup page location in relatively the same time period. My team would probably be better off if I hadn’t. For those with absolutely nothing to do here are my two teams:
HOME LEAGUE: REDRAFT; 10 Team; Head-to-Head; Points Format:
Lineup: C-Stephen Vogt, 1B-Anthony Rizzo, 2B-Roughned Odor, 3B-Nolan Arenado, SS-Ian Desmond/Marcus Semien; OFs George Springer, J.D Martinez, Starling Marte; Utility-Kyle Calhoun
Reserves: Byung-ho Park, Miguel Sano, Desmond/Semien
Pitchers: Chris Archer, Tyson Ross, Danny Salazar, Colin McHugh, Julio Teheran, James Shields, Kenley Jansen, Kenta Maeda, Kevin Gausman, Derek Holland and I’m stashing Lucas Giolito
KEEPER LEAGUE: 20 KEEPERS; 14 Team; Head-to-Head Points Format
Note: After thrashing around for four seasons I decided to punt the next couple of years in an effort to build toward 2018-19. I may have to revise that to 3018-19
Lineup: C-Travis d’Arnaud, 1B-Prince Fielder, 2B-Roughned Odor, 3B-Yangervis Solarte, SS-Alcides Escobar; LF-Brett Gardner; CF-Gerardo Parra; RF-Mark Trumbo; U-Carlos Santana
Reserves: Javier Baez; Dexter Fowler
Starting Pitchers: Yardano Ventura, Jose Quintana, Matthew Wisler, Jimmy Nelson, Rich Hill, Taylor Jungman, Daniel Norris
Relief Pitchers: Francisco Rodriguez, Steve Cishek; Brad Boxberger
Minor Leaguers: Jorge Mateo SS NYY; David Dahl OF Rockies; Anthony Alford OF Blue Jays; Archie Bradley SP Diamondbacks; Hunter Harvey SP Orioles; Jake Thompson SP Phillies
For those of you who love fantasy as I do you’re welcome and have a great season. For those of you who don’t my apologies and I’ll try not to waste too much time and space on the subject herein.
FINAL FRIDAY THOUGHT: Though really looking forward to my second stretch with Tony at 1180 beginning Friday I would be remiss in failing to thank Joe Armstrong and the fine folks at WJBE who provided Tony’s show a platform and time slot at a time we really needed it. I will always have fond memories of our association with those terrific people.
