scarey

As a casual Fulham fan and a fan of Tim Ream... did we really have no other standouts better than a 38 year old Ream for this team? I thought this from the time they had their roster set, but kept my mouth shut about it because the US was playing so well. He was overmatched all game. Pulisic was terrible. Not even invisible, he was a negative every time he touched the ball. Tillman had a hell of a game. I couldn't believe when he scored again on the set piece. Antonee, Richards, and Adams had solid games. McKennie looked good when he was attacking, but was bouncing all over the place when he was back to defend. This game was nowhere nearly as bad as the final score indicates. Freese is gonna need a bottle of something very strong tonight, that may end up being one of the worst plays in a US world cup game.

I honestly thought pretty much everybody was on the same page on this one, but it seems that's not quite the situation so I'll make my point. For pretty much any red card, there needs to be one of two components involved. 1. Malcontent 2. Reckless play Even though there are people that support the red card for Balogun, those people generally agree that there was no malcontent. However, one of the arguments in favor of the card is that the play was reckless. To that, I say a reckless play requires a conscious choice to make a reckless play. You cannot accidentally be reckless. The example I'll give is the Messi non-card we all know about.. He was chasing the player he challenged and made a stab at the ball from behind where the player had clear position and the outcome had a higher probability of contact with the player than winning the ball. Balogun, by contrast, was challenged from behind. Muharemovic made a great play on the ball and positioned himself to win the challenge, but in doing so knocked Balogun off balance and put him in a position where he unknowingly could injure Muharemovic. Balogun didn't have the autonomy to make a decision to make a reckless play or not. To me, any suggestion that he made a reckless play is ridiculous. You can't be reckless if you don't know you're putting a player's health in jeopardy. To me, even though the outcome of the Arias play had a lesser likelihood of serious injury, it is more egregious. Mind you, it's not egregious to the point of a red card IMO, but he made a conscious effort to challenge that play. When two players converge like that, there is a degree of accountability for each of them if the result is an injury even if there was no malcontent. If one cleats the other, regardless of if it's Williams or Arias, the "offending" party should be responsible and booked appropriately. I am going to assume your intention is to point out that this is a false equivalency, and I get that given the potential outcomes involved in each. The force and placement on the leg in each instance is not the same. Same can be said about the Messi tackle. However, I know I've heard professional analysts try to convince others that the outcome matters. I'm not so naive to think it doesn't weigh into the minds of refs as they make calls, but to me it's a ridiculous premise. I think there is something to be said about the aggressiveness or veracity of a tackle weighing into the decision. But, if you have two separate plays with zero malcontent and incidental contact from a reckless play with two different outcomes (one with no injury, one with an injury that takes a player out of a game or games) there should be absolutely no difference in application of booking. And this is in the actual case of an injury. These so-called analysts also appear to believe the difference should be for the potential outcome... meaning there was no injury in the Balogun-Muharemovic challenge, but it "could have been bad". Bottom line... I'm frustrated and I'm venting. That is all.

As a way of highlighting the absurdity of the Balogun red card, I intend to highlight any similar plays that go without a red card in this World Cup. Early in the first half yesterday, Jhon Arias accidentally stepped on Inaki Williams on a convergent challenge. Arias was given a yellow and shortly after scored the sole goal of the game.

Bittersweet on this one. On the one hand, we FINALLY get a Big Ten championship team and deny Hurley an undeserved championship (legit, they haven't impressed all year, I don't understand how they got this far). On the other hand, this Michigan squad is so unlikeable. A whole lot of douche in that locker room starting with May. Also, this just further reinforces that you can just throw money around and get a championship. The Final Four teams over the last 3 years have been: UConn x3 Purdue Alabama NC State Florida Houston Duke Auburn Michigan Arizona Illinois I would guess of those teams, Purdue, NC State, Auburn, and Illinois paid less than $10 mill for their rosters meaning 75% of teams making it to the Final Four threw significant money at their roster. I'm a fan of players being paid, but it really sucks to watch the wealthy get an advantage in any sport. I shouldn't be one to cry foul as Purdue reportedly spent $20 mill on their roster this year, but I don't think they throw that kind of money at it if they didn't need to dish out money to keep their home grown super stars. There needs to be a healthy middle ground between players not getting paid and a handful of heavy spending schools having a realistic chance of winning a championship due to money. As a fan of Purdue, Painter appears to be good at retaining most players he recruits. I have to think it sucks cheering for a Morez Johnson, then watching him walk after a year. I hope they figure out a way to make it work.

I thought Acuff was going to get 40 against Hawaii. The play a zero help defense, so it's completely 1 on 1 all game. Arkansas is handling them, but color me disappointed in only seeing 13 for him so far.

Upset alert. Duke was down 11 to Sienna at halftime but has since pulled within 4. Sienna has not subbed anybody out at all. I think they've started wearing down.

I think this is generally true. However, Purdue is the rare situation where there is movement due to the result. I had them as a 4 seed if they drop the game against Nebraska (or god forbid Northwestern). But to beat two top 11 teams and arguably the best team in the nation to get that tournament title? I think the selection committee did the right thing making them a 2 seed. BTW, lost in the excitement of Selection Sunday and Michigan going down was the fact that Purdue passed Illinois as the number 1 ranked offense on KenPom!

Fitting end to the Purdue seniors' careers. They have to watch Wisconsin chuck no look 3 pointers all game and then have Nick Boyd throw the ball at the rim between his legs over and over down the stretch to lose their final game at Mackey. Some impossibly stupid foul calls too. I never could have imagined this season to be so frustrating/disappointing/infuriating. The only thing I can hope for at this point is they can get enough games between the Big Ten tournament and the NCAA tournament to give Smith the shot at the all time assists record. If they're lucky enough to win two games in the big dance, they're gonna have to lose to Duke in the sweet 16. He needs 47 assists to pass Hurley. He's probably going to need 5 games to do that.

I had a feeling this was going to be a Purdue loss. Jake Diebler has been a very mediocre coach at Ohio State, but he's managed to go 3-0 against Purdue. Each of those matchups have been against a Purdue team that was ranked number 11 or better. I hate being a Purdue fan.

Michigan is good, but not unbeatable. The second half of the Purdue game showed me that. It'll take a great game from the Illini, but I think they're capable of winning tonight.

This Purdue team is so talented and SO FRUSTRATING! They were gifted with an unbelievably favorable schedule this year, and have failed EVERY major test they've faced at Mackey. Unless they win the Big Ten Tournament, I have ZERO faith for this team in the dance. I felt they needed to make a Final Four to have a successful season, and I don't see it happening.

The NIL kicked in for the 21-22 season when Kansas won. They only had 1 rotation player that was a transfer, but I think we can agree that the transfer process was not in full swing for that season. Since then, the last three champions have had 3-4 transfers in their rotation including players that have carried their respective teams (Tristen Newton, Cam Spencer, Walter Clayton, Alijah Martin, and Will Richard). It's hard to imagine a team winning a championship if they don't have significant dollars to spend in the transfer portal. I'm all for players getting paid, but pay-to-win is always a tough pill to swallow in sports.

I thought they showed some chinks in the armor in the second half. 14 turnovers is quite a lot. Purdue isn't typically very aggressive with on the ball defense, but when they did get aggressive, Michigan started turning the ball over in heaps. They also are VERY aggressive on closeouts. Purdue got them in the air and drew some fouls on shot fakes and closeouts a couple of times. I was surprised by how often Purdue got to the rim. I was also surprised by how much Michigan relied on jump shots. I haven't actually watched a lot of Michigan this year, so maybe this was just an approach for this game. They are an extremely talented team. The most talented I can remember since the second UConn championship team for sure. Despite that, I saw a way a good coach and disciplined players can beat them.

My prediction for a Purdue win was predicated on winning the rebound battle and hitting ten 3 pointers. They lose the battle 31-39 and only hit 8. On the positive side, Purdue showed a new level of defensive intensity in the second half. I'm pretty disappointed in the god awful performance in the first half because they played great in the second half. That shouldn't have even been a game. Reflecting on the preseason rankings, I think it's pretty obvious in retrospect how talented this Michigan team is. I think the romantic story was the battle hardened, less talented Boilermakers were the team the talking heads WANTED to be #1 over some of the clearly more talented teams. Credit to May for making all the parts work together, Kentucky and BYU certainly haven't been able to. It's pretty disheartening though to know that 4 years of cohesion and hard work just can't live up to paying for the best talent. That being said, if Purdue continues with this intensity into the tournament and shoot better, they still have a great chance at a final four.

Yeah, they definitely are showing their colors right now. I guess the loss to TCU was the fluke.