bukie

As someone who grew up watching Cuba dominate amateur baseball with their "special brand of amateurs"...

On the plus side, going into this tournament I figured it'd be a wilder one and especially hated all the top seeds in the East, so I have an FAU-Kentucky elite eight matchup. On the down side, FAU might lose tonight to Memphis, so what do I know.

It's eerily similar to Virginia's last 4 trips to the tournament, except Virginia squeezed a national championship in the middle of losing 3 other years in the first round to 13, 13 and 16 seeds.

They can jettison Mayer to the Moon right now, if I were Underwood I'd bury him on the bench. I'll bet if you asked Underwood if he's done with this team, you'd get a horsefeathers yeah! He didn’t play the last 12 minutes or so. Didn't play the first 28 minutes either so it was hard to tell the difference.

They’re also the only 1 seed to ever lose to a 16. Happened 5 years ago today. This is not true. Virginia was the 1 seed that lost to a 16, UMBC. The year before they won it all.

And thus ends the most infuriating 3 month stretch of Illini basketball that I remember. Shannon at least gave effort every game. The freshmen (Epps, Harris, Rodgers) were the only thing propping this team up for the last 3 weeks. RJ and Goode showed up today. Hawkins tried, but was a turnover machine today and needs to work on that shot if he's going to be more than 3 feet from the rim. Dainja lost all defensive effort the last month. Mayer just wasn't working within the flow of the team. Hoping nobody hits the transfer portal, but wouldn't be surprised to see Hawkins and Melendez there (though RJ basically took January off, he was on fire today).

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ACL or Achilles were my two thoughts. Not many other leg injuries that could happen like that are going to force a player to be carried off the field. Freak injury, total shame. Still just waiting for the meme where someone overlays the video of them carrying him off the field with that intro music.

Not a good catcher block there on strike 3, but the batter doesn't really notice and they get the last out, winning the game 3-2 and relegating Colombia to the qualification round for the next WBC.

Trea Turner doing his best Alex Gonzalez to keep the game going.

But so far, this is just narrowly avoiding being a disaster.

Why are the announcers saying that the US can only not advance if they give up a grand slam? If that’s accurate, another funny thing about this scenario is the US has no incentive to score runs in the top of the 9th because it gives Colombia more opportunities to score the 4 runs they need (other than a grand slam) If Colombia loads the bases the US can just walk 2 batters and move on. Weird rule…not sure if they thought through these possibilities when they made it It's not accurate, it's just they think the USA needs to lose by 3 to be eliminated (I think it's two, because the US played 3 fewer innings), and they think the only way to give up 4 runs in the bottom of the 9th is a walkoff GS (which it isn't, you can score a run to tie first then a walkoff 3R HR does it). But yeah, don't even walk 2 batters, just literally balk twice.

USA leads 3-2 after 8. That should do it, as the only way they can fail to advance now is a walk-off HR with runners on, and there is zero reason to even allow that scenario.

Mexico is up 10-3 in the 8th inning so looking like Mexico will advance and finish 1st if the US wins. Also keeps alive the small chance that the US can advance with a 1 run loss. Hypothetical as the US is the "away" team: if it's a tie game, bottom of the ninth and a runner reaches, do you balk him in? Hell, I would. At that point, a 1 run loss is the same as a win. That would be a nightmare scenario for the tournament. In fact, I'd IBB the first guy and balk him around. Saves on pitching, advance anyway.

I think if the plan is to draft OL top pick no matter what, then trade down again into the teens, add another pick or two, and still get their pick of OL candidates.

Actual advancement scenarios tonight for Pool C: - MEX/CAN is an elimination game, winner moves on, loser is done. - USA/COL is kind of an elimination game with caveats: ---- If USA wins, they advance and COL is eliminated. If USA and MEX win, MEX wins the group and USA is 2nd. If USA and CAN win, USA wins the group and CAN is 2nd (2 team tiebreaker is head to head) ---- If COL wins, by 2+, they will advance regardless of who wins MEX/CAN. ---- If COL wins by 1, they will advance if CAN wins (3 team tiebreaker with USA-MEX, COL advances due to a 2-0 h2h advantage). If COL wins by 1 and MEX wins and USA/COL game isn't 15-14 or higher (so CAN wouldn't catch up in RA), USA would advance by lowest runs allowed per inning played.

Wait...what? [tweet] [/tweet] As for the tiebreaker, the US would only advance with a 1 run loss, as Colombia has allowed 2 more runs than the US in 2 additional innings (the US won a game in 7 innings, and the tiebreaker is RA / inning), so it would be best served with a win.

The account is subscribed to Twitter Blue, has an "MFL" logo, and already changed the tweet to say a deal hasn't been done. Step away from the keyboard for a while.

No, no we haven't.

Signing reactions from the Athletic: Bears add LB T.J. Edwards Edwards goes to Chicago for $19.5 million over three years, according to reports. The native of Lake Villa, Ill., who grew up idolizing Brian Urlacher, now will anchor the Bears defense after a season in which he racked up a career-high 159 tackles (99 solo, 10 for a loss) for the Eagles. It’s a much-needed addition for a Bears defense that ranked 31st in the league, surrendering 157.3 rushing yards a game. Grade: A Bears score LB Tremaine Edmunds The former Bills playmaker lands a four-year, $72 million contract, featuring $50 million in guaranteed money. After yielding 375.9 yards per game (fourth-most) and a league-high 27.2 points per game, Chicago’s intentions of improving its defense are clear. The Bears opened free agency by adding T.J. Edwards from Philly. Now they get the highly coveted Edmunds, who was No. 8 on The Athletic’s ranking of free agents (and No. 2 linebacker), to further fortify their defensive front. Boasting great size (6-5, 250) and athleticism, Edmunds makes plays all over the field whether against the run, as a pass-rusher or in pass coverage. Grade: A Bears add G Nate Davis Continuing their aggressive approach, the Bears address their offensive line as well. Davis is getting three years and $30 million, according to The Athletic’s Jeff Howe. When healthy, the former Titan and No. 2 guard in The Athletic’s free-agent rankings played at a Pro Bowl level. But injuries slowed him in 2021 and 2022. If he can return to his top form and remain on the field, Davis will improve a line that surrendered 58 sacks last season (fourth-most in the NFL). Grade: B

Maybe we don't need to focus on every Twitter rando's opinion on the Bears, since we already had a whole page of "Poles is asleep and not doing anything" comments after he made the first signing and 4 hours passed before the next signing, and then a page of "Poles isn't spending money on the players I wanted" comments afterwards.

The majority of team UK is from the Bahamas, which probably contributes to European apathy regarding the event.

I have a feeling this year is going to be one of those wacky years with a double digit seed in the Final Four. No team has shown to be really dominantly good all season except maybe Houston, and they haven't had much competition (their good wins are Virginia, St. Mary's and Memphis). UCLA has been good all season, this might be their year. Unless they lose to Illinois in the Elite 8. The East bracket, though, is chock full of teams that are either mediocre for the season but hot right now (Duke, Memphis, Kentucky), suffered injuries lately or just poor play lately that make them not as good as their seed (Tennessee, K-State), or have just won a ton of close games all season and haven't looked good in efficiency metrics (Purdue, Marquette, MSU). It's got big "FAU vs Providence in the E8" vibes.

I've got my eye on Oral Roberts over Duke.

On a non-NCAA tournament note, North Carolina has refused an NIT bid, and so their season is over.