bukie

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.

Assuming both Epps and Shannon are healthy (Epps was in concussion protocol for the last week, Shannon had an ankle injury during the BTT game) they have a lot of length and interchangeable parts, as everyone not named Dain Dainja can play and guard anywhere. They did a lot more switching early on in the season and pressured defenses. Now they play mostly straight up, but they'll tinker with lineups during the game until they find something that works both offensively and defensively. If Illinois is engaged from the start, they are a super dangerous team, as they beat UCLA and Texas on the road, took Virginia, Purdue, Indiana, Maryland and Iowa to the brink on the road, and will occasionally look like world beaters, particularly in the second half of games. However, if they are not engaged from the start, they tend to really go through stretches of terrible play, long offensive droughts, and really slow starts (see, every game against Penn State, game vs Missouri, game at Northwestern). Offensively, Illinois is a poor 3 point shooting team that takes a lot of bad 3's (heat checks from the logo, turnaround fadeaway 3's, 3's with a defender in their face), and they don't really have a go-to scorer most of the time (Shannon destroyed UCLA but has been mostly quiet the last month. Meyer is occasionally amazing and occasionally just disappears on both ends of the floor, Hawkins is 100% energy but can take bad shots, Dainja can't make anything more than 5 feet from the rim, and everyone else has been some version of injured/ineffective during the season). They've had injury issues all season between concussion protocols for Shannon, then Harris, then Epps, and a broken foot for Goode, but it looks like everyone might be healthy for one of the few times all season. Defensively, Illinois is one of the best shot blocking teams in the country, and defends well against 2 point baskets, forcing a lot of long jumpshots. They tend to struggle against good 3 point shooting teams that can pass their way through the defensive pressure. When engaged they're a fantastic rebounding team (and when they aren't they can't get a rebound to save their life). I can only assume they'll be ready to go from the jump Thursday, because if not then, then when? WTF? Why all the concussions? I can only assume they practice hard, just wish it translated into games more often. But yeah, they began the year with a 10 player rotation, then Skyy was a disaster and Perrin was upset that they wanted him to do strength training before jumping into game minutes, and Goode broke his foot playing Kansas, and suddenly they're staring at a 7 guy rotation for the majority of the year with 3 freshmen who they weren't really expecting to get majority minutes so early. Then the concussion rotation started and they got really thin really fast, particularly in early January after Skyy Clark left. They played like absolute garbage for 2 weeks before Clark left, which we can only assume was to team chemistry issues where Clark was a starter but was putting in zero effort offensively and defensively. Then he left and they suddenly played amazing for about 6 weeks, despite being without Shannon for 4 games, then without Harris for 4 games, mostly thanks to Mayer being the obvious go-to guy and relishing the role. Then Mayer just took a dive in effort that he's claiming was due to caffeine poisoning or dietary issues or being overworked in practice or having an improper offensive scheme or defensive scheme (there was a new excuse from him after each poor game). The past 3 weeks, then, it's just been they get down big early while pretending they're a good 3 point shooting team, Underwood lays into them at halftime, urging more post play and trying to get Mayer and Hawkins dominating down low, and seeing the team play awesome for the last 20 minutes, only to come up short at IU, Purdue, and against PSU in the BTT (though they were actually on a roll against PSU until about 8 minutes to play, then got jump shot happy again). The only good 3 point shooters they have are Melendez, who has effectively had the yips all season (finally made a 3 the last 2 games) and Goode (who is just finally starting to get into a rhythm after spending 3 months completely out), but most of the 3s are being taken by Shannon and Mayer, who are shooting below 30% from deep the past month. It's like Eamonn Brennan said in the bracket analysis today: the West bracket is totally stacked, but this goofy Illinois team could absolutely win it if they can click like they were before the player health dominoes started.

They will not have to worry about Kansas, Arkansas wins comfortably. Something has got to change, I'd really like to see Underwood replace Mayer in the starting lineup with Epps, Mayer has been terrible lately. In fact, I'd go with a bench rotation of Harris, Goode, Rodgers and Mayer. How’s the guard play for Illinois? Arkansas’ guards are really long and can defend and are the strength of the team. If they get neutralized, the Hogs do not score. Assuming both Epps and Shannon are healthy (Epps was in concussion protocol for the last week, Shannon had an ankle injury during the BTT game) they have a lot of length and interchangeable parts, as everyone not named Dain Dainja can play and guard anywhere. They did a lot more switching early on in the season and pressured defenses. Now they play mostly straight up, but they'll tinker with lineups during the game until they find something that works both offensively and defensively. If Illinois is engaged from the start, they are a super dangerous team, as they beat UCLA and Texas on the road, took Virginia, Purdue, Indiana, Maryland and Iowa to the brink on the road, and will occasionally look like world beaters, particularly in the second half of games. However, if they are not engaged from the start, they tend to really go through stretches of terrible play, long offensive droughts, and really slow starts (see, every game against Penn State, game vs Missouri, game at Northwestern). Offensively, Illinois is a poor 3 point shooting team that takes a lot of bad 3's (heat checks from the logo, turnaround fadeaway 3's, 3's with a defender in their face), and they don't really have a go-to scorer most of the time (Shannon destroyed UCLA but has been mostly quiet the last month. Meyer is occasionally amazing and occasionally just disappears on both ends of the floor, Hawkins is 100% energy but can take bad shots, Dainja can't make anything more than 5 feet from the rim, and everyone else has been some version of injured/ineffective during the season). They've had injury issues all season between concussion protocols for Shannon, then Harris, then Epps, and a broken foot for Goode, but it looks like everyone might be healthy for one of the few times all season. Defensively, Illinois is one of the best shot blocking teams in the country, and defends well against 2 point baskets, forcing a lot of long jumpshots. They tend to struggle against good 3 point shooting teams that can pass their way through the defensive pressure. When engaged they're a fantastic rebounding team (and when they aren't they can't get a rebound to save their life). I can only assume they'll be ready to go from the jump Thursday, because if not then, then when?

I have a feeling the Big 12 will be this year's version of the past couple years of the B1G's "clearly the best conference, but the regular season kind of inflated every team's profile" and teams ended up a bit overseeded and will disappoint in the tournament.

Well, Rutgers is in the NIT. Would have to imagine Michigan is also there, Wisconsin...maybe?

The key against Illinois is to dress in PSU uniforms. Then they don't start playing until there's 2 minutes left.

Couple of Kansases, sure no problem.

I am unreasonably concerned about the bracket selection this year.

The dangers of fouling up 3 at the end of the game: [tweet] [/tweet]

What in the world were those Great Britain uniforms? Did Nike forget they were in the WBC until this morning and someone just laser screened the country over the front?

For those who want to hear immediate in depth analysis of the trade, Robert Mays of The Athletic is doing an emergency podcast right now with Nate Tice and Dane Brugler (Mays is a huge Bears fan and was sold on Fields from the start):

In that case, triple trade down go. Houston, then Indy, then lower end top 10 pick.

Detroit Mercy's Antoine Davis finishes his college career with 3664 total points, 3 shy of Pete Maravich's NCAA record, as Detroit loses in their conference tournament. Davis finished the game with 22 points, missing a 3 at the buzzer.

Keep trading down, amass all the picks.