bukie

KenPom's predicted score of the UK-Louisville game: 69-62.

He's greatly improved his shooting in the 4th. He was 0-15.

In that case... 1. Scioscia's Tragic Illness - Trevor Bauer, Arizona 2. Calvinball - Danny Hultzen, Seattle 3. Harrys Budcrew - Dylan Bundy, Baltimore 4. Mighty D-Block - Bubba Starling, KC 5. Sock it Thome - Gerritt Cole, Pittsburgh 6.Lynx - Anthony Rendon, Washington 7. Kid Rodelo - Archie Bradley, Arizona 8. Theocracy - Francisco Lindor, Cleveland 9. Quakers - Xander Bogaerts, Boston 10. Ron Washington's Dealers - Christian Yelich - Miami 11. NSBB - Javier Baez - Chicago Cubs 12. Quakers (from Tootielicious) - Josh Bell - Pittsburg 13. Calvinball (from GHS) - James Paxton, Seattle 14. Calvinball (from NSBB) - Anthony Gose, Toronto 15. The Eyes of Texas - Taylor Jungmann, Brewers 16. Scioscia's Tragic Illness (from Bazingas) - Jake Marisnick, Toronto 17. NSBB (from Bazingas) - George Springer - OF, Astros 18. The Eyes of Texas - C. J. Cron - 1B Angles 19. NSBB - Ronald Guzman - OF, Rangers 20. Galesburg Hand Sanitizers - Sonny Gray - P, A's 21. Tootielicious- AJ Cole - P, A's 22. Lynx - Oscar Taveras, St. Louis 23. Ron Washington's Dealers - Rymer Liriano - OF, Fathers 24. Quakers - Daniel Norris - P,Toronto 25. Theocracy - Alex Meyer - P, Washington 26. Kid Rodelo - William Middlebrooks - 3B, Boston Red Sox 27. Alamo Stealth - Cory Spangenberg - 2B, San Diego 28. Sock It Thome - Brandon Jacobs - LF, BOS 29. Mighty D-Block - Chris Parmalee, Minnesota 30. Harry's Budcrew - Starling Marte, OF, Pittsburgh 31. Calvinball - Blake Swihart, C, Red Sox 32. Alamo Stealth - Cheslor Cuthbert, 3B, Kansas City 33. Scoscia's Tragic Illness - PASS 34. Calvinball - Kolten Wong, 2b, Cards 35. Harrys Budcrew - SKIPPED 36. Mighty D-Block - PASS 37. Sock it Thome - SKIPPED 38. Alamo Stealth - Joe Ross, RHP, San Diego 39. Kid Rodelo - Eddie Rosario, 2B, Minnesota 40. Theocracy - Jed Bradley, LHP, Milwaukee 41. Calvinball - Drew Smyly, P, Detroit 42. Ron Washington's Dealers - Chad Bettis, P, Colorado 43. Lynx - Luis Heredia, Pittsburgh 44. Tootielicious - Tyrell Jenkins SP STL 45. Galesburg Hand Sanitizers - Andrelton Simmons SS ATL 46. Northside Baseball - Elier Hernandez, OF, KC 47. The Eyes of Texas - SKIP 48. Bazingas - Tommy Joseph, C, SF Scoscia, D-Block and Quakers all passed. 49. Bazingas 50. Shane passed last round 51. Northside Baseball 52. Galesburg Hand Sanitizers 53. Tootielicious 54. Lynx 55. Ron Washington's Dealers 56. Theocracy 57. Kid Rodelo 58. Alamo Stealth 59. Sock it Thome - skipped last round and has not made pick. will be out if her turn comes up and we don't hear from her first. 60. Chuck passed last round 61. Calvinball

Too little too late. By far. What, you're suggesting that after 23 years, the damage is pretty much done?

I have no problem with the draft continuing, now that it's where it's at. The only issue was with people getting frustrated about people being done and not saying anything about it.

If there's not going to be a fourth round, let's at least hold off on the free for all until the waiver process is set up.

No one's in danger of loosing anyone.

@Ryan_G_Baker: Best Final Four moment EVER. Bruce Pearl walks up to Jimmy Collins & apologizes & says Deon Thomas was the victim. 23 years later #Illini

So, apparently the entire Big 12 wants to be coached by ex-Illinois coaches.

Philly just falling apart after a 20-9 start to the year. They could feasibly finish 8th now.

I think he was, are you familiar with Mike Thomas' history with Ohio? Well obviously there's no way of knowing for sure unless someone finds something through a freedom of information search, but do you really think he had Groce ahead of guys like Grant and Miller? Definitely, since there was no word about Grant and Miller coming from the university. The only reason they waited so long to talk to Groce was that Ohio was still playing until last Saturday.

the walks will come when pitchers come to respect his newfound prodigious power Once they start pitching around him to get to Castro, the walk floodgates will open.

If CBS is set up to prevent any points from being scored if you have an illegal roster, that setting should probably be turned off now, though.

Considering where the team/program was when he took over, he's probably a year ahead of schedule. In that sense, he's exceeded expectations.

Ok then, so how does Louisville not have an advantage over Illinois using that criteria? Illinois has a better recruiting base, slightly less history, and comparatively equal fan support. The argument for Louisville as a better job than Illinois has more to do with the history of the program, a lot more than who is currently the coach (and can we give Groce at least a season or two before we call him an abject failure?) I may be biased based on where I live, but I can't imagine there being many comparable fan bases to Louisville and UK. That state cares about nothing else. Their facilities dwarf Illinois, and pretty much all other Div 1 programs as well. I liked the hire by the way. Well, yeah, but he didn't list facilities as one of his criteria, which admittedly helps Illinois' credentials. It's also why they're spending so much to upgrade the facilities in the "near future" (as stated by Thomas yesterday).

Ok then, so how does Louisville not have an advantage over Illinois using that criteria? Illinois has a better recruiting base, slightly less history, and comparatively equal fan support. The argument for Louisville as a better job than Illinois has more to do with the history of the program, a lot more than who is currently the coach (and can we give Groce at least a season or two before we call him an abject failure?)

How? I think its a top 15 program. Even if all of the teams on abucks list were better than us. That still puts us at 15. I mean sure his list is awful, he didn't include Indiana in it, but even using it we are right at 15. Clearly the job isn't that great otherwise they wouldn't have crapped the bed on the coaching search, but you keep changing conversations between historical rankings, current ratings and how good the job is. Everyone keeps saying they crapped the bed on the coaching search, but that's just not true. I don't think there are more than a couple of jobs that Smart/Stevens would have taken if they became available. Illinois made top-10-quality offers to them, and they preferred to stay where they were. I mean, sure, maybe Stevens would jump to IU, and Smart would take a Duke/UNC offer, but their choice was more about being comfortable and able to stay competitive where they were than a comparative slight on the Illinois program.

So, then Texas Tech was a better program when Bobby Knight was the coach?

My understanding is yes, you can bench a starter in order not to exceed 7 starts. That would mean only 4 starters would be active. As far as having 9 starters and therefore permanently having 4 reserves... meaning you do not have a second RP, or...?? A commish will have to weigh in on that. But the team I saw had 20 active players, 16 regulars with a bench of 3 pitchers and 1 position player. I also understand that this year you can pick up a FA to get your 7th start. But I am assuming that if you do so, then you would have to drop someone in order to keep your line-up legal. Whatever you need to do to get 7 starts, yes, but the lineup needs to stay legal. Except you still can' t use relief appearances by starters to get points.

I think part of the initial negative reaction from some fans around here had to do with having no idea who John Groce was three weeks ago. Well, that and the ridiculous meathead spin put on everything by some mainstream Chicago media members, and reading way too much into their comments.

It's amazing what an 8-10 season in the Big Ten does for the ego these days.

He neglects further comment on Thomas, aside from pointing out the risk in any hiring endeavor, and that even hiring coaches from other major programs doesn't always work out like schools want (Texas Tech, Minnesota). Also, he mentions this is the third consecutive time Illinois basketball has hired a former major conference assistant that was a head coach at a mid-major. First time worked so well he left in 3 years, second time it works fantastic for two years and gradually fell apart after that. So who knows?

Illini alum John Gasaway shares his thoughts on the hire:

I'm wrong, the Phoenix/SJ game just has to end in regulation, then there's no way for all four teams to pass the Hawks.

It's not mathematically clinched yet, but there is no way for the Hawks to miss the playoffs now. San Jose/Dallas/LA/Phoenix play each other too much to have all four pass them.