Stanford Basketball Revival; CFP Championship Preview; Bowl Ratings Surprise; QBs Rule in NFL; ABL Gets Some Credit
Saturday afternoon in Chapel Hill, in one of the best basketball games Stanford has played in a long time, the Cardinal upset ACC powerhouse North Carolina, 72-71.
The game proved to a national audience that Stanford center Maxime Raynaud (below) is for real. Raynaud is the leading scorer and rebounder in the ACC this year, but few people on the East Coast had seen or heard of him before this season. He scored 25 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and blocked 4 shots in a phenomenal performance.
The game-winning shot was a fallaway jumper with 1.5 seconds to go by guard Jaylen Blakes, who had 20 points and 7 assists. It was a particularly sweet moment for Blakes, who transferred to Stanford this season from Duke where, over three years, he averaged only 9 minutes of playing time and 2.2 points. At Stanford, he's averaging just under 15 points per game.
Blake is one of several Stanford players who've blossomed under first-year coach Kyle Smith.
Smith, who has won wherever he's coached--Columbia, USF, Washington State, and now Stanford--is quickly showing Cardinal fans what a difference a coach can make.
Smith didn't inherit a deep and talented roster when he arrived at the Farm, as all the top players other than Raynaud had departed, either to graduation (Spencer Jones and Michael Jones) or to other schools (Andrej Stojakovic to Cal, Kanaan Carlyle to Indiana and Brandon Angel to Oregon).Â
But Smith convinced Raynaud to stay, after the Frenchman had initially entered the transfer portal, and brought in Blakes, Oziyah Sellers (USC), Chishom Okpara (Harvard) and freshman Donavin Young. Sellers averaged 3.4 points in two years at USC. He's putting in 14 points per game at Stanford.
Smith has instilled a new culture, a new system, and a new focus on taking care of the basketball and making free throws.
Stanford's teams under Jerod Haase were characterized by stagnant offense, silly turnovers, an inability to win close games, and poor free throw shooting in clutch situations.
Against North Carolina, Stanford had only eight turnovers and made 13 of 14 free throws.Â
The Cardinal are now 12-6 on the year and 4-3 in ACC play. They've made 78% of their free throws on the season, 89% in ACC play. They're turning the ball over only 10 times per game. And for the first time in years, they're fun to watch.
CFP Prediction: The College Football Playoff concludes tonight with the National Championship game matching Ohio State and Notre Dame.
The oddsmakers have made Ohio State an 8 1/2-point favorite, and I think they've got it about right.
I'll be rooting for Notre Dame. I think what head coach Marcus Freeman has accomplished in the wake of the Brian Kelly mess is truly impressive. Freeman has created a confident, physical, winning culture in South Bend. He's also beefed up the Irish offensive and defensive lines, brought in talented players in the transfer portal, and assembled a terrific coaching staff.
To get here, the Irish had the toughest road in the tournament. They had to get past Indiana, No. 2 Georgia, and No. 4 Penn State.Â
But Ohio State is a more complete, more talented team. They have the nation's best defense, one that makes dramatic, goal line stands seem routine. They have the nation's top receiver corps, two excellent running backs, and a solid quarterback.
Yet their arrogance, unlikable head coach, and prolific spending ($20M for the players, over $1M for each of six assistant coaches) make them easy to root against.
To keep it close, Notre Dame must slow down the Buckeye running game, limit big plays, and force multiple turnovers.
They'll make a game of it, but (unfortunately), Ohio State should win. Say 24-17.
Bowls Pull Big Ratings: Post-season college football bowl games are primarily television inventory now. The good news is that the games are still drawing lots of eyeballs.
Many of us believed that the expanded playoff, combined with the increasing number of players opting out of bowls to prepare for the NFL draft or enter the transfer portal, would result in declining interest in the non-playoff bowls.
Well, that definitely wasn't the case, at least in terms of TV ratings, which suggest that there is no end to the public's appetite for college football.
According to ESPN President of Content Burke Magnus, the 33 non-CFP bowls on ESPN and ESPN2 this year averaged 2.7 million viewers, a 14% increase over last year and the highest ratings since 2019. Over on ABC, 6.8 million people watched the Pop Tarts Bowl and 8 million viewed the Colorado-BYU Alamo Bowl, the game's biggest audience ever.
Unfortunately, while TV numbers are trending upwards, the crowds at bowl games have gone in the opposite direction.
There were more empty seats than fans at most bowl games. The Holiday Bowl, which moved to San Diego State's Snapdragon Stadium this year, drew 23,920, the smallest crowd in the bowl's 46-year history for Syracuse-Washington State.
Going forward, given the declining crowds and strong TV numbers, bowis will have to negotiate higher TV rights fees to compensate for lower ticket sales revenues.
QBs Rule NFL: The weekend's NFL Divisional Playoffs were a blast. The story, as usual, was the play of the respective quarterbacks.
On Saturday, Jaylen Daniels, the presumtive Rookie of the Year, led the surprising Washington Commanders (I hate that name) over the No. 1 seed Detroit Lions, whose quarterback, former Cal star Jared Goff, had a miserable day. The KC Chiefs won another close game, with more magic from Patrick Mahomes.
Yesterday featured a classic matchup between the league's two MVP candidates, Buffalo QB Josh Allen and Baltimore QB Lamar Jackson, and a thrilling Philadelphia Eagles win over the LA Rams and veteran QB Matthew Stafford.
The Eagles prevailed, 28-22, not because of their QB but because of a brilliant performance by running back Saquon Barkley.
How in the world did the Giants let Barkley walk in free agency?
ABL's 15 Minutes of Fame: Twenty-nine years ago, Anne Cribbs, the late Steve Hams, and I co-founded the American Basketball League, a professional opportunity for women in the USA.
The ABL did a lot of things right, but lost out to the power, leverage and deep pockets of the WNBA.
Last week, ESPN published a very nice article on the ABL and our contribution to the growth of women's basketball. Of particular interest to me were the positive comments from former ABL players.
I thought some of you might like to check it out. The link is pasted below.
Gary
Another enjoyable column. I think Barkley played for Giants and not Jets. The story was well told on Hard knocks. Hope all is going well.
Excellent piece, Gary! I especially appreciate how, A.) you nailed the OSU-Notre Dame outcome and, B.) the article about the ABL...and you resisted sullying the blog with any mention of what we're going to have to contend with for the next four years.