Mourning Mates...
Today's Topic = Big Three on life support in Sun Devil ICU...
That's why I greeted all of you this fine morning with
"mourning mates" as it sure looks like we could be going to a Sun Devil athletic dept funeral soon...
I'm not yet dressed in black to honor the passing of our Big 3 Sun Devil sports but it may be just around the corner, it might appear, given recent trends in those sports...
The men's BB team, led by Bobby Hurley, has now tied our women with an 11th seed in the PAC tournament, just like what our women "accomplished" this season...
Ironically, our women, led by coach Natasha Adair, had to play Utah in their tournament which they promptly lost to this past week...
Now, it will be Bobby's turn to do the same thing in Las Vegas on Wednesday, if I don't miss my guess...
Things have gotten so bad that Jose Perez decided to pack his bags and go elsewhere before the end of the season...
And, who can blame him given the woeful direction that our BB program is headed these days...
Nick Saban also packed his bags and left his job at Alabama for some of the same reasons that are associated with the transfer portal and NIL "buy a player" routine that is a key part of college athletics these days...
He got tired of having to meet with his players to discuss how much playing time he would guarantee them (or they would transfer if it wasn't enough) or how much money they would make at Alabama as compared to other SEC schools (and if it wasn't enough, it was adios time for them)...
Chip Kelly traded his head coaching job at UCLA for an OC position at Ohio St for similar reasons and we know Bobby hates the idea of groveling for NIL dollars in addition to coaching basketball at ASU...
Especially when most players are not worth the NIL money they are being paid in the first place, if you ask many coaches, fans and boosters at various schools...
However, one player that is worth their weight in NIL gold is Caitlin Clark at Iowa, who will be looking to make Iowa the Big 10 champ in ladies BB today, for the third straight year, against Nebraska...
She is the all time college BB scoring leader, whether talking about men or women...Pistol Pete didn't have anything on her...
So, I'll be watching her play on CBS at noon ET later today, as will millions more since she oftentimes outdraws even NBA games on TV given her iconic stature...
Getting back to our Sun Devils, I'm wondering, with 42 baseball games left on our schedule, if we can win enough with our lousy bullpen, etc, to win more than what good old Tracy Smith did in his third season at ASU, when he went 23-32 and then matched that again in his fourth season at ASU...
If we split those remaining games our baseball team would end up at 28-28 and sure as heck would not make the post-season, which has become the norm, it seems, around here, and why we might be talking about "mourning" even more misery related to our Big 3 sports...
On a more positive note, our swim team just won another PAC championship so we can hang our hats on that right now....back to back PAC champs in swimming, I might add...
I'm sure that gives president Crow goosebumps just thinking about it...
Well, the sun came up again this morning and Caitlin Clark will be doing her amazing thing later today, too...
I wonder how many NIL dollars she gets at Iowa for lifting their brand in the cold Midwest..??
She is worth every penny of it if you ask me...
G'day Mates and Go Devils!!!