I started a Podcast!

 Yesterday I started talking about sports on Youtue. I'm hoping to do more of this in the future. You can view the link here. 

Huge day of sports today. Will be on the air around 9:30 tomorrow leading up to the Mets opening day against the Brewers. 

Huskies Make Splash and hire Danny Sprinkle From Utah State

 The Washington Huskies made a big splash yesterday hiring Danny Sprinkle to be their new Head Coach for Men's Basketball. The program had gotten underwhelming under Hopkins and it was definitely time for a change in leadership. 

When Lorenzo Romar was fired in 2017, they finished 9-22. They had a good recruiting class coming in which  made it hard to move on. When a Power five school goes looking for a head coach, it is often exciting to go out and get the next up and coming head coach, usually a coach that is having success at smaller schools. 

I'm not sure if Mike Hopkins was Washington's first pick in 2017 but I instantly thought it was a weak hire. 

Some of the problem is that coaches are not moving up as much. Randy Bennett and Mark few seem comfortable at St. Mary's and Gonzaga respectively and there are other examples out there. 

The fact that they couldn't lure an up and coming coach and gave him this long is why Washington is behind. 

In 2016, Stanford fired Johnny Dawkins two years removed from a Sweet 16 appearance. In 2021 Texas fired Shaka Smart after making the NCAA Tournament and losing in the first round. 

But Washington has a habit of being too frugal and waiting for the last possible moment. Will Sprinkle be a good hire, I think it has a chance too. The big question will be if it's sustainable and if there is success, will he want to stay. 

You could make a case that this is the best hire of the Washington Huskies basketball history. Andy Russo came from LA Tech, Lyn Nance came from St. Mary's, Bob Bender from Illinois State, Lorenzo Romar came from St. Louis and Mike Hopkins the outlier was the assistant  coach for Syracuse at the time of hire. 

The track record indicates that generally Washington has been able to snag Tier 2/3 Mid Major coaches from a league in the middle of the pack. Romar is the one exception because Romar played for Washington back in the day. Utah State is in the Mountain West and is a Top eight league. 

The fact that Washington is in the Big 10 probably helped this process. He needs to change the culture of Washington and see if he can get the players to buy in. I think he can get Washington to the Sweet 16 within four years and will be interesting if bigger schools come knocking on the door after. 

For Sprinkle, if he wins 20 games consistently he will likely be able to stay at Washington for a long time.       

The Gap between the Have's and Have Not's is Growing

 March Madness is down to 16 teams. I feel like we have never seen so many blowouts during the first four days. The upsets that we saw on Thursday and Friday will still there but I believe that has more to do with teams being poorly seeded.

 The gap between the strong conferences and the weaker ones is growing. Sadly. Any good team gets gobbled up by a bigger conference. At this rate, the ACC, Big 12, Big 10 and SEC will have 20 teams each by 2030. 

Here is the breakdown by conference of teams remaining. 

ACC: 4

Big East: 3

Big Ten: 2

Big 12: 2

SEC: 2

Mountain West: 1

Pac-12: 1

WCC: 1

The Pac 12 is gone next year. But hopefully not forever. There are eight conferences represented. How much longer until we only see four conferences represented. The Mid majors change conferences as well but don't always find the same success. George Mason and Davidson haven't had a great deal of success in the A-10. 

The only thing that might save the Tier 2 conferences in basketball are that most of the realignment moves are football based. This is what is keeping A-10 and WCC teams trapped. If your school isn't playing Div I FBS football the best options are the Big East. They seem to snag teams from the MVC or A-10. 

The thing that can keep the Mid Majors going are if successful teams come up from Div II can be fun teams like Grand Canyon and James Madison. 

But there is only so much Pie to go around. Not every team can be in a major conference. I've read stuff that by 2040 there will only be two conferences. The Big 10 and SEC. 

It's scary, if this was 2006 than we would have had the MVC and C-USA represented as well. It's sad when conferences lose strong teams and can't replace them. The Big West had a a #1 seed represented in 1990 in UNLV. The Big West will likely never have a team #1 seed ever again.  

 

Past Horrible Trades Created the Canucks Quiet Day

I was expecting the Canucks to make a move at the trade deadline. It didn't have to be a blockbuster trade but the team isn't perfect. There are 4-6 players that would be getting more playing time on other teams, there are a few blooming prospects in Abbotsford that Vancouver for understandable reasons don't want to give up on. 

I would call the Canucks a hybrid of All-in with the understanding that the Canucks only have to win a Cup in the next nine years. I think they wanted to pull the trigger on a couple of moves but they lacked what other teams wanted. 

There are a few reasons why the Canucks are in this conundrum. In 2019, Jim Benning had to get aggressive in 2019 to try and save his job. He traded for J.T. Miller and he was already down a 2020 1st round pick. 

J.T Miller

June 22, 2019

Marek Mazanec 2019 3rd round pick 2020 conditional 1st round pick

 So Vancouver has no 1st round pick in 2020 and in 2021 Benning again makes a blockbuster trade to get Connor Garland. (Who I thought had requested to be traded) On the day of the 2021 draft the Canucks trade their 1st round pick and others. 

Oliver Ekman-Larsson Conor Garland

July 23, 2021

Antoine Roussel Jay Beagle Loui Eriksson 2021 1st round pick 2022 2nd round pick 2023 7th round pick

At the time, I thought this was a bipolar trade. If you make the playoffs in 2022 its a great trade but if you miss the 2022 playoffs this trade comes back to hunt you. Connor Garland isn't making the Canucks better right now. The three picks they lost that day could have been traded yesterday. 

The next thing that happens is that Canucks trade more picks to get out of cap problems again. 

Riley Stillman

October 7, 2022

Jason Dickinson 2024 2nd round pick

The 2024 2nd is another asset that I wish was moved today and not two years ago. To add to the other trades that they made earlier this year the Canucks were traded out without wanting to give up their untouchables. 

At this point, I wish we could have signed Kessel as last resort but the fact that it didn't happen leads me couldn't pass the conditioning test or something. I doubt they ran out of time. 

If it were me, I would try to trade Miller for a draft pick. Even if it's a 5th rounder. The reasoning is I would rather have Lindholm because he is younger and might be able to do less term. I don't think that would happen but something to consider because the Canucks farm system isn't going to just jump to #1 at this time next year. The three untouchables aren't going to magically be easy to give up next year. 

My expectations for the Petterson contract is 6 playoff appearances, 4 second round, 2 Conference Finals and 1 Stanley Cup win. 

With a 9 year window, I expect management to get busy replenishing the prospects. It will take a outside the box approach as the Canucks only have three picks in 2024, 6 in 2025 and 5 in 2026. 

If they make the playoffs in all three years than that's fine but if they don't, how can Vancouver reverse the trend and ask these prices that buyers were overpaying for this year to add more under 24 players.  

The other thought is that management wants to see how the players play in the playoffs before doing anything to crazy. 

The disappointments today go back to Bennings failures that made today impossible for new management.