By TERRY LYONS
NEW YORK – There are few things that join death and taxes as the guarantees in life. With that in mind, we add:
- Steph Curry’s jump shot
- Gregg Popovich leading NBA coaches in career victories
- The famed Island Green (17th) at TPC Sawgrass bringing PGA Tour pros to their knees, especially with winds at 20 mph and gusts 44+ mph.
- The annual BIG EAST Tournament at Madison Square Garden – the World’s Most Famous Arena – playing host to some of the best postseason college basketball any fan would want to experience in a community of like-minded opponents. Every March.
Right from the beginning this week, the BIG EAST did not disappoint. In the opening game, a 4:30pm (ET) afternoon start of a BIG EAST triple-header, Butler (14-19) upset Xavier (18-13) in a 89-82 overtime thriller. As the tournament progressed at New York’s Madison Square Garden, Providence and Butler were tied (31-all) at the half until the Friars outlasted Butler, 65-61 after a last minute 3-point FG by Providence’s Al Durham iced the victory.
With 15:38 left in the 2nd half on Thursday evening, St. John’s led Villanova 44-27. At 2:08 mark, after several lead changes, St. John’s was barely holding on, 65-64, but could not convert the win, eventually losing to ‘Nova, 66-65.
At the Friday night semifinals, No. 8-ranked Villanova took care of business against the No. 20 UConn, 63-60, in a game that had old-school BIG EAST fans lighting up The Garden with sound. But, No. 11 ranked Providence, the regular season BIG EAST Champion and tournament No. 1 seed dropped their semifinal game to an impressive Creighton team, 85-58. Included in that one-sided tally was the fact Creighton held Providence to 27 points in the first half.
After a terrible start (trailed 0-7), Creighton gave Villanova everything it could handle in the Saturday night BIG EAST Final. Villanova’s team leader, Collin Gillespie was held scoreless in the first half but finished the game with 17 points, seven rebounds and five assists, including a pair of pressure three-point FGs and the game-clinching rebound with seven seconds remaining. Gillespie went to the line and hit two clutch FTs to close out the victory, 54-48, while securing Villanova’s fifth BIG EAST title in the past seven years.
The tournament brought forth an amazing sense of normalcy for the old-time BIG EAST fans, not the ultra-annoying “new-normal” spoken by talking heads, health care professionals and political talking heads. Just as the timing of the 2020 BIG EAST Tournament couldn’t have been worse, the 2022 edition, the 40th held at The Garden since the conference kicked its tires in Providence, Syracuse and Hartford to start things off in 1980-81-82, came about at a time when COVID-19 restrictions are being eased at public arenas, bars, restaurants and at schools.
There’s talk of the BIG EAST receiving seven invites to the NCAA’s Big Dance, with Xavier having a possible NIT invite awaiting after their early exit this week. What’s certain, as sure as that Curry 30-footer, is the depth and competitiveness of the BIG EAST’S men’s basketball teams.
The conference play is physical and, to the credit of the officiating staffs, the BIG EAST seems to have found the ability to call games in a ‘no harm, no foul’ professional style, rather than the annoying ticky-tack foul calls out on the perimeter. The refs have mastered the art of the non-call, to let play to continue. It has allowed an intense up & down style of play, less frequent foul trouble by the star players and better preparation for the upcoming Big Dance for Big East contenders.
HERE NOW, THE NOTES: The new NBA coaching record for most career victories was set Friday and mentioned above. While it’s easy to define the best coaches by the sheer number of victories, NBA coaches often chalk-it-up such honors due to longevity.
Here are the winningest coaches in the four major North American sports leagues:
NHL Ice-Hockey – Scotty Bowman – (1,244 wins, nine Stanley Cup championships)
NFL American Football – Don Shula – (347 wins, two Super bowl wins)
MLB Baseball – Connie Mack – (3,731 wins)
NBA Basketball – Gregg Popovich – (1,336 victories, five NBA titles)
NCAA Basketball – Coach Mike Krzyzewski of Duke and coach John Wooden of UCLA both deserve mention.
In addition to this lofty list of winners, there’s also a common sense list of the greatest coaches, one that is a bit more subjective.
NHL – Al Arbour, Coach of the New York Islanders, Toe Blake of Montreal, Joel Quenneville of multiple NHL teams.
NFL – George Halas of Chicago Bears and Bill Belichick of New England Patriots
MLB – John McGraw, Tony La Russa, Joe Torre, Bobby Cox and Sparky Anderson all deserve mention.
NBA – Red Auerbach, Boston Celtics.
DIAMOND DUST-UP RESOLVED: Thank goodness. Major League Baseball and its players Association came to terms this week and the baseball season will begin with players reporting today (March 13) and Spring Training games beginning March 17. As you would expect, it’ll be toughest on the pitchers stretching out, especially free agent pitchers.
Opening Day will be April 7, and MLB is planning to play a full 162-game schedule, allowing for players to make up on previously lost salary.
The MLB Postseason will expand to 12 teams.
The National League will adopt the Designated Hitter.
Free agency might be the most newsworthy item as Baseball comes back to life after its loss of three months. The lock-out began December 2 but starting this week, there will be a frenzy of free agent signings, maybe some 10-12 a day as teams re-stock.
Freddie Freeman, the Atlanta Braves star first baseman is high on the list of the potentially most valuable and sought after free agents. While some believe he will re-sign in Atlanta, there’s already talk of a mega-deal with one of the big market teams.
LA Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw already signed a one-year deal with the only club he’s played for on the major league level. The Dodgers’ California rival and neighbor to the north, the San Francisco Giants, signed left-hander Carlos Rodon to a reported two-year $44 million deal. Saturday, the Oakland A’s sent Chris Bassitt to the New York Mets in a muti-player deal to begin an Oakland roster-stripping list of expensive player sales.
For additional information, the reporters at ESPN are following the Free Agent market and post all transactions HERE.
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