The Question Is: Who are the Gonzaga Bulldogs?

 Of course, in honour of the late great Alex Trebek, a fellow Canadian, the answer is: Who will win the 2021 NCAA Men's Basketball championship in Indianapolis the first week of April.

Now, as things go, this is about the least unlikely champion pick in the tournament that I have ever made. Which should worry you. It's been 45 years since the Little General, Bobby Knight, guided his Indiana Hoosiers to a perfect season. Five times since then, schools have stumbled after perfect regular seasons. This time, the sixth sense says bet the Zags.

Along with 60 per cent of the betting public in all likelihood. 

I haven't done a deep dive, looking for defensive teams with senior point guards, a pair of good three point shooters (if not more), good defense, GREAT rebounding and having momentum. THAT's the definition of an upset school. So, a LOT of my upset picks are gut shots. And for a change, I'm entering in my true picks in the Gontram Architecture pool that welcomes this Canuck into the free pool every year. And I've never come close to winning a free meal at the local diner of choice. Not once. So, I'm not filling in a lot of pools this year AND I'm starting with Eddie Gontram's pool first. With my best guess. 

First Four games starting tomorrow? The one that everybody wants to see is Tom Izzo and Michigan State against UCLA (and Mick Cronin, a guy I like quite a lot). But everybody knows I think Izzo is one of the best coaches in the college ranks, ever. Sooooo, the Spartans to party. And I like the game to be a great tourney lid-lifter. Drake over Wichita State despite me being a Shocker supporter generally. Mount St. Mary's over Texas Southern is another wish pick, mostly because I think MSM can give Michigan a tussle in what is usually a 1-16 bore, Lastly, I've got Norfolk St. beating Appalachian St on a pure coin toss. 

So, that's my field. And I've got a chalk board to go, with a total of 14 upsets, eight of which go in the first round Friday and Saturday. I'm upset-light in the West compared to some of the upset darlings of the big name prognosticators. Just UC Santa Barbara, who will fulfill everybody's hopes by downing Creighton. As far as Ohio, VCU and Mizzou? Nope. But in the SECOND round, and even-numbered round that I traditionally mark chalk and be done with it, I have UCSB taking out Virginia AND USC bouncing Kansas. Just not that convinced the COVID-belaboured Jayhawks, one of my usual picks, are going to be ready for the USC size, due to lack of practice time.  But other than those upsets, Gonzaga will have an issue working up a sweat getting to the Final Four.

My most upsetting region is the East. I like St. Bonaventure over LSU in an 8-9 match-up and Michigan State will go on a bit of a run by adding BYU to it's victim list. It'll end with BYU, 'cuz Texas is going to end the party in the second round. And then we come to Georgetown who are one of the reasons Louisville didn't make the field. The Hoyas stole berth 68 or even 67 from the Cardinals when they ran the list in the Big East tourney at Madison Square Gardens, the newest version of which, Patrick Ewing had some part in building. His defensive monsters will swarm Colorado in a defensive showdown and then add Florida State in round two to the run. And it won't end there. Yep, Georgetown will take down Juwan Howard's Michigan top seeds in the region before meeting it's match in Alabama. The Crimson Tide will have had some practice with defence first basketball when dispatching Rick Pitino's Iona squad in the first round. Think it sticks in the Cardinal's craw that Louisville is out and Pitino is in?

The staid South will see Winthrop bounce the Wildcats of Villanova in the first round to give the tournament THREE #12 seeds advancing, and I like Utah State to do in Texas Tech. Why? I think western teams are generally under-seeded and this was a team that gave the Pacific sides competition all year long. And aside from Baylor, the top seed in this region, I just don't have Big 12 supporter-itis this year. Or ACC devotion either. So, go figure. Only OTHER upset in the region, I have Arkansas doing in Ohio State in a mini-upset before bowing out to Baylor in the regional final. 

Leaves me with the MidEast which starts with two upsets in the opening round and ends with Houston upsetting Illinois in the regional final. The first-rounders are the usual 8-9 game where I expect the rapidly improving Georgia Tech Rambling Wreck to take down the Loyola Chicago Ramblers (sorry Sister Jean, I truly respect anybody who can travel at age 101 to support her boys, but not this time) and I think Tennessee is reeling as the season finishes and the Oregon State Beavers will win the battle of the Orange. (San Diego St. will takedown Syracuse in another battle of the Orange, but that won't be an upset ... unless Buddy Boeheim, one of my favourite players in the event, goes truly off, which he IS able to do). The Beavers are the partners of the Hoyas in sidelining Louisville, stealing the auto bid in the Pac 12.

Final Four will end with Gonzaga taking down Baylor in the long-delayed showdown between the two best teams of not only this year, but of the last two years (in total).  I think it will be a comfortable win, but I just don't think there is a weal-point Baylor can expose in the Gonzaga game. Andrew Nembhard gets to hoist the cut-down twine and that's all right with me. 

Player-wise, enjoy Cade Cunningham, who can't improve his draft position, as he leads the Cowboys of Oklahoma State past Liberty (a must-watch first round game) and then Oregon State before Illinois finishes his college career. Evan Mobley and USC will make noise as I noted. Jay Suggs won't be the best Zag, maybe not in any of the team's games. But he's the third of my NBA top picks I think bears watching. 

I want to see Zach Edey with Purdue and the Oregon Duck Canucks, especially Chris Duarte. I have Purdue winning twice, Oregon once. Luka Garza isn't Canadian, but I have an appreciation of great college players who won't be great NBA players. He'll end his career with yet another loss to Gonzaga, but three wins leading up to the loss will gild his legacy. 

And those won't be the only players that are must see. The others? Well, a fortnight plus from now, you and I will both know. Enjoy.

Pascal Siakam and Al Brown, Together in My Mind

 The Toronto Raptors' Pascal Siakam is one of the most likable players in the NBA. He is a self-made multi-millionaire who has taken moderate talents (it appeared) as a late first-round draft choice out of New Mexico, worked diligently with high-level coaching with the Raptors organization and summers at UCLA in the off-season and has become an all-star. This from a guy who wasn't interested in basketball much growing up in Cameroon and only started a path towards NBA stardom a continent and an ocean away because he tagged along to a basketball camp with a friend as something to do during a hot summer weekend.

He's a goofy guy who is one of the few Raptors to star in local commercials (along with the make-good idol of the undrafted, Fred VanVleet) because he doesn't have to talk to make people feel good. He does talk though and his punchlines bring smiles and laughs. 

So, I do not come here to bury Siakam. Far from it. If I had a daughter, he's exactly the kind of guy I would hope she brings home for the 'talk' with her parents. But there IS a thing Siakam does that drives me to extraction. He has a propensity for jumping in the air looking for someone, ANYONE, to pass the ball to. A lot of those times, he passes behind himself, frequently to poor effect. Other times, he actually gets the pass off to a fellow Raptor and then CRASHES into a defender, standing there ready to take the charge. And those fouls/turnovers are doubly hurtful for the Toronto team. 

My old high school coach at the junior level was Gerry (T-Tough) Thompson, who had a long and distinguished career coaching Bramalea Secondary Bronco junior boys' teams. Good coach, one of three I would think of, when asked who were the best basketball coaches in town. But I watched him learn a real tough lesson one year in the region final against Applewood Heights. There was a game plan that day. Shooting guard Bob Hamilton was going to be the ball distributor, throwing a curve ball at the Axemen in their gym. Coach Thompson figured Hamilton, the leading scorer on that team, would do a good job distributing the ball. And he was wrong.

Just like Siakam, Hamilton drove into the paint as often as he could, planning to distribute the ball. But his way of doing it was to jump in the air, and when that happened, the well-coached Applewood Heights team just sloughed off him or stood their ground. A good shooter isn't necessarily a good passer and on that day, Hamilton looked like a flopping fish before fouling out late in a one-sided loss. Hamilton's play that night violated what I thought had been a cardinal Thompson rule. "Never leave your feet to make a pass without knowing where that pass is going."

It's one of the rules that became foundational to my understanding of the game as a rarely-used, undersized, and slow, back-up point guard. And later a sports reporter and an announcer for pro basketball in Toronto. You don't leave your feet to make a pass without good reason (and virtually guaranteed success). I had been provided with the proof and in my own play, the difference between jumping and not leaving my feet was only a few inches anyways. I was living proof of the stereotype, white men can't jump.

Which brings me to Al Brown, the principal at J.A. Turner Secondary and it's senior girls' basketball coach. Brown was the silver fox of the coaching set and created a mini-dynasty at the school on the other side of Brampton from Bramalea. It took me until after I was done being a sports reporter and he'd retired from the teaching of our young for me to add Brown to my pantheon of best school coaches I knew. He wasn't self-effacing, but at the same time he wasn't a big talking self-promoter. It was my understanding that he was an outstanding administrator and a better teacher. He had some ... let's call them interesting ... training routines that he mandated be run early and late in practices and in warm-ups before games. The germane one here was his jab-step, stop and jump for a short range shot. Not the raindrop extended layup popular today. He had his ladies come to a stop by jabbing hard and jumping backward and maintaining good proper shooting form for a ten-foot shot attempt. 

This was extraordinary successful as the Hamilton sisters, Janet Weaver and a host of other players scored consistently in the (semi) fast break, rarely charging and hitting a high percentage of their shots, no matter the size of the opponents. And it wasn't just the guards. Tracey Gerber, the lion-maned power forward was equally adept at the art. The key was arresting the forward momentum with a hard step, falling back and depending on form and two changes in angular momentum to actually create a fairly good up-and-down shooting posture. 

Brown coached technique as well as any of the coaches in the boy's game did during that era, the 70s to the early 90s. The game at that time was changing in town as the town became a city became a mega-city. The complexion changed and schools in town became more athletic. There were strong runs at several schools over the next 25 years, putting Brampton on the map as a source of NBA-calibre talent. 

But I don't think the coaching in town is any better than the last quarter century if the 20th century. In fact, I could argue in some ways that it isn't as good. Better athletes, more year-round roundball players. Yes. But better coached?? I think Al Brown would have a credible argument to the contrary.

Back to Siakam. He's a devout disciple of the DeMar DeRozan school of adding a skill each summer. I fervently hope the skill he adds this summer is the jab-step jump stop. It's more difficult for him, given his racing horse speed and there's always the worry his joints won't agree with his decision to bring himself to a sudden stop. But he can't keep taking charges, costing him a foul that might put his butt on the bench AND turnover the ball at the same time. It's a double-whammy. He's got to stop doing that. If it means curling out when there's more than one defender between him and the basket, so be it. Better to pull it back under control. 

Wish there were some tapes of J.A. Turner's old warmups. Sure, it's a bunch of under-sized white girls, but I'm sure Siakam would benefit from the viewing.

IF My Last Name Was Bettman ...

I'm going to give the new Blogger interface a whirl today with some meanderings about the NHL Draft lottery last night. Although it means my beloved Montreal Canadiens will PROBABLY have a 12.5 percent chance of winning the lottery (aka Alexis Lafreniere), I'm in the camp with Brian Burke thinking my namesake from the Bettman branch of the United Gary's of the World, screwed this up.

Burke believes in the lottery. The worst should draft first. Or close to it. He thinks a lottery is okay ... providing there are no outside interlopers. Like the mystery team, still to be determined after the play-in round of the playoffs, commencing some time between now and the end of everything. Might be the worst of those teams, my Habs, or the best of those teams, the Pittsburgh Penguins. Heck, it could even be the horrible local team around these parts, the Toronto Maple Leafs. Ugh! No, make that QUADRUPLE UGH!!!!

I'm hardly an Ottawa Senators fan. Still think the idea that they wear a centurion on their chest is REALLY STUPID. But I grew up in a family that grammatically didn't shudder supporting the Maple Leafs. Took me till grade TWO before I realized what a bobo that was. But I would have liked the Senators to draft one-two, take Lafreniere and Tim Stutzle, leaving Detroit, hopefully, with Quinton Byfield. Keep all the studs in Montreal's division cuz I like watching great hockey players. Except in the Blue of the Maple Leafs. And really, not that fond of the other blue team, the Tampa Bay Lightning. Or the Rangers. They wear blue too. Hmmmmm, a journey of self discovery just found a profound place. Yep, no blues in hockey. Although, I have to admit, sorta liked the St. Louis Blues ever since their inception.. Glenn Hall, three Plagers and the best uniform not worn in Chicago. Montreal's third, if you are wondering.

Where was I? Meandering, that's right. Back to the lottery.

All pro sports leagues are struggling with the lottery. You have to do things to prevent squads tanking in the hopes of landing the Next Great Hope. Thus was born the lottery. The lotteries used to be one ball/envelope/whatever, but have mostly become three chances at the winning ticket. And in the time of Covid19, it's become two lotteries in one, an NHL invention. And it is a bad scheme made very much worse by the fact that the worst fears were realized. NOW, we have eight to TWELVE teams potentially thinking of TANKING. You know, the idea the lotteries were invented to STOP!!! Habs stars were already thinking of not playing. If the squad gets down two, where's the strength of resolve for them to go for a triple upset and win three straight elimination games in a row??? Just to play Boston and face the shame of losing to the Black and Gold. Hold on, maybe it's blue AND black? Have to add that to the pondering list.

Here's two ideas for my fellow Gary to ponder for the next NHL Lottery season. Let the losers EARN the top pick. Think of it as an in-season tournament of equals. On the day AFTER the team is eliminated from the playoffs, the team gets to start earning points in the Draft Tournament. Obviously, the worse teams will start accumulating points earlier than say, the Habs, who rated to finish as the ninth team to enter the pool, maybe with only two or three games left on the schedule. Might even finish the Draft Tournament with ZERO points. Tied with, say, Carolina. But Ottawa and Detroit might have a dozen points, having started earning them a month before. If two or more teams tie in the Draft Tournament, you break the tie in reverse order of where they would have finished in the overall standings. And the Draft Tournament ONLY dictates the order of the first round of the upcoming Draft of Eligible Juniors. After the first round, strict adherence to the reverse Regular Season standings.

What else would change in this system??? Glad you asked. No more selling off of players that might help YOUR TEAM be competitive in the Draft Tournament. If it's a good deal, go ahead. But no more fourth to sixth defenceman suddenly becoming eighth defencemen on playoff-bound teams. No more getting sixth and seventh round picks in the future for them. If a team comes around and offers you a boatload for your soon-to-be free agent centre, you weigh what that guy could help you with in the Draft Tournament and what the boatload could do for the GM that gets hired after you're fired after the season. And if you think it's a good HOCKEY trade, you take the boatload and wish your successor well, having done him a solid. (I HATE, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY HATE the buyout crap that goes on in the NBA. I'd want this Draft Tournament for the NBA more than any sports league.)

Yeah, Trade Deadline Day might be a REAL downer with all the semi-unknown names no longer switching around to give the two hundred commentators something to yak about. But the real movements would be dissected with much more intensity merely for the fact that it's impact on TWO events would be that much more to talk about. Less chaff and more wheat. And imagine a late-season game between Detroit and Ottawa NOT being a tank fest, but a playoff-intesity match to see who drafts first ... and lands Lafreniere!!! You want the WHOLE season to mean something. The WHOLE season to have value with NO meaningless games. The WHOLE season to consider when moving players. NO MORE letting players BLACKMAIL you into buyouts on their terms, maybe for a savings of a few thousand dollars in savings. The players would play for SOMETHING. Maybe not a title (of which one or two of the moving players would earn, the rest WILL FAIL). But SOMETHING.

By the way, the idea is not original to me. Just repeating it since it seems to have faded from view over the last little while.

My other idea is not original either. It has it's origins in the long gone early years of the ... NHL Lottery. One ball, one team, one chance to move up by as many as three spots. If, say the tenth place team wins, it gets draft slot seven. Lottery done. Or at least that was HOW IT USED TO BE.

So, revive the same idea. But with the understanding there's three numbers coming out of the magic ball machine now. Place the Too Good to Luck Into Top Spot bar where ever you want. I think Burke wants it at five, with NO CHANCE for teams higher than that. I say, put the bar at five, to resolve Burke's biggest complaints and allow the first number to move up three spots or less, the second one two spots and the last one, well, you guessed it, one spot.

So, let's go through the repercussions this would have on this year's bifurcated snafu. The To Be Lucky team that sits above the bar at five, gets to move up THREE spots from nine to six. Los Angeles with the second number goes from four to two and Ottawa goes from two forward to ONE, leapfrogging Detroit in doing so (with their San Jose pick). The draft now goes Ottawa, Los Angeles, Detroit, Ottawa ... with the Lucky team getting six. The rest of the draft fills in around the lottery winners. That's ONE way to look at the results of the lottery.

Maybe, we stick with the ABSOLUTE top picks in play. Mystery team still only does the nine to six move because of the bar rule, limiting teams HIGHER than that to a three-spot jump. (And let's say the winner IS the nine pick originally, regardless of whether they were the nine going into the lottery). But give LA the top pick thanks to getting the next most golden number. And Ottawa gets two, cuz that's the best of what's left. Hmmm, LA, Ottawa, Detroit, Ottawa. Better than the actual lottery. Not as good as the play-in Draft Tournament.

Last refinement that will bug Burkie but might appease the lords of the NHL in my imaginary turning back of the clock to before my fellow Gary hatched this plan. Give the mystery team OR teams, the slots STARTING right behind the bar. Sixth through eighth would be the best available starter spots, but the three-spot jump would come from their position POST bar. In my scenario with only ONE golden number to a mystery team AND that golden number being triple gold, the draft order in my scenario would be LA, Ottawa, Mystery team, Detroit, Ottawa. Burke would HATE, absolutely HATE a team like Pittsburgh lucking into a Byfield or a Stutzle after choking against Montreal, but c'est la vie. Maybe moving the bar back to six works well enough for Burke. SOOOOOO many drafts are top three drafts when it comes to franchise altering players, that I think six is the right number. Negotiations start on the left.

An adjunct to why the draft lottery has failed in this wacko pandemic-driven year is that the mystery team is going to be one of the play-in series' losers with EACH team getting equal odds, supposedly to stop tanking. Every team has an equal shot. And in a five-game series, a hot goalie means a good team might very well 'earn' the one and eight shot at Lafreniere. Ridiculous. It's why Carey Price is such a pivotal player in making this Lottery scheme fraught with danger. Imagine Pittsburgh with Lafreniere on a rookie-scale contract for the next three years???? Or just as bad, the scheme could very well hand Les Habitants the next great French Canadian player. Think some fans will yell "FIX!!!" Ummm, sure. But a man can dream, can't I??

It's hard to screw up an idea meant to help the poor (in terms of talent) by potentially adding the Next Great Hope to a team that was in contention for a title all season long. Just after a bad two week stretch. The NHL has succeeded in failing all logic. Gary ... Bettman, you need to step up and prevent future screw-ups. Our name demands better.

The Don Cherry Legend: R.I.P.

Every piece, be it written or spoken, over the last three and a half days regarding Don Cherry's final Hockey Night in Canada Coach's Corner segment follows a fairly standard template. First, the person excoriates the commentary regarding 'You people,' and then launches into their own personal saga of acceptance as an open-minded person. Finally, a fair percentage salute Sportsnet for having the courage to 'fire' the seventh greatest Canadian of all time according to the 2004 poll CBC ran.

I want to go in a slightly different direction, although I end up in the same place. And I worry that it will come off as an apologist. It isn't. It's an explanation and an appreciation for years of public service by Cherry. But I assure you, I don't condone his words. Or many of his words of the past two decades.

Many a moons ago ... about 37 years ago, give or take three months, I was working as the Sports Information Director for a radio station that has been gone for awhile now. There suddenly developed a hole in the syndicated market when a weekly show about the NHL went under. Ken Mackenzie of the Hockey News and I had a conversation and I pitched a quiz show set in a pub with a celebrity quizmaster. Even wrote the pilot episode. The man I wanted behind the bar dispensing quips and questions was none other than Donald S. Cherry. He had his own pub-based hockey commentary and interview show on at the time. I thought 'easy set to transform' and a star with proven ability to tell a joke.

So, off to see Don at his then-home in Mississauga. As a guest in his house, Don made every attempt to treat me as well as Ken (a legend that possibly eclipsed Cherry at the time, at least in the media). We didn't stay long enough for libations, but it was a pleasurable meeting. If Don had decided to do the job, I think he would have been a breeze to work with, even though he was as far right as possible and I'm a small C (as in conservative) Liberal--like the majority of Canadians.

Sadly, Don passed on the show, making the task of bringing it into life immeasurably harder. We eventually landed Dave Hodges to be the emcee/quiz guy. But I never felt comfortable with him and the meeting at CHCH TV in Hamilton to pitch the show went ... disastrously. Hodges made more than a few 'change' suggestions and I felt that, plus the incredibly tight schedule to pull it all together, doomed the show. And yes, I never liked Hodges subsequently. Hodges probably doesn't even remember ever having met me.

Now, over the years, Don Cherry was very predictable in his behaviour and his commentary. Never strayed an inch. He loves the people who serve this country. Putting their life on the line immediately makes that person a hero in Cherry's mind. His support of the military, the police, the firefighters, has never wavered a second. And when he tears up talking about a fallen hero, Don, is as genuine as the definition of the word. That support prompts comments from the heart, not the head. As in this past weekend. And the ugly words he spouted Saturday are Donald S. Cherry at his least finest.

Not that Cherry's commentaries on immigrants need reinforcing as examples of him at the core of his being. He supports Canadian-born hockey players at the expense of all non-Canadian born players. That's always been the case. When Cherry, who famously mangles foreign names, states his admiration for a player like Alex Ovechkin, I guarantee it's grudging admiration. He hates, absolutely hates, something that promotes foreign involvement in the NHL over a Canadian. By the way, those mangled names? Absolutely not planned out. I laugh when I think of Cherry and my father both trying to handle Yvon Cournoyer. A hero from Canada, from MY favourite team, the Montreal Canadiens. Ivan Corn-you're-yer. (It's actually Eevahn Corn-why-ay) They'd both go that route, almost in rhythm.

Hockey-playing kids are next dearest to Don's heart to his family and the service. In 'CBC/Sportsnet' retirement, I expect Don to see even more kid's hockey, where he is adored. There might be some parents and some old enough kids to be perceptive that some of what he says is puerile. But the kids? If they'd had a vote back in 2004, he would have been named the top Canadian ever, not just seventh.

When I think of the sudden end of Don S. Cherry, media icon, I wondered immediately who to compare it to. Woody Hayes, the great Ohio State football couch, and the perpetrator of an attack on an opposing player in a moment of madness beyond the pale. Joe Paterno, maybe the greatest college football coach, and a man oblivious to the sexual predation done under his nose by an assistant coach, turned into pariah when the story broke. Bill Cosby, if you want to include non-sports folks, although his days at Temple included being a part of the Track and Field squad. Any number of people who didn't censor themselves sufficiently to hide dark, ugly sides.

And who knows, maybe a President of the USA can fall, through the means test of his own words. Lies revealed through the pomposity of an enfant terrible's own boastful accounts that nothing was wrong here.

In a different time, at a younger age, Don would be able to apologize (completely out of character and he's already refused to do so), spend some time hanging around hockey players of a younger age (not in a creepy way, but in a supportive way that they almost all appreciate), and then come back, probably on Sportsnet's competitor TSN. But the 85 year old Cherry will not do that. He'll go to his grave thinking he got a real raw deal supporting the troops who gave their lives in muddy fields in Normandy, France all those years ago. He won't understand.

And that's the sad part. His greatness was his weakness, the inability to be impartial, to see everybody NOT on his side by his own definition, as the other side, the enemy.

And as Jeff Blair said so eloquently on Monday's Writer's Bloc on Sportsnet, EVERYBODY, either personally or through ancestors, has been "You people, the others." What Don missed and still misses, is "We Canadians" ALWAYS supersedes "You People."

Every time.

A Secret Kept Until Now

This week's announcement that Big Ned, Vlaclav Nedomansky, had been named to the Hockey Hall of Fame stirred up some memories and I guess it won't harm anybody that I'm going to break my vow of secrecy now that some 45 years have passed.

I think, although I am not positive, that I was the third person in North America who knew Nedomansky had successfully defected from the then Czechoslovakia. But I was sworn to secrecy about that, that night, and stuffed it away in the back of my mind as an interesting oddity. Here's what happened.

The memory is that it was a Sunday night. I was an established cub reporter for the Bramalea/Brampton Guardian weekly newspaper at that time, although I was approaching the end of my high school years. By that time, I was three years into my reporting career. That's why it's a little fuzzy. I had been used to going in Sunday nights to write up minor hockey league results for my tenure there. I started off making FIFTEEN DOLLARS A WEEK, going in Sundays for the duty my boss Ken Giles felt was mind numbing. Collect the weekly report sheets shoved through the door at the Guardian offices, located comfortably at the bottom of my street, and turn them into pages of newscopy with little Johnnies and Jills and their goals and assists for various House League teams, like Matti's Opticians.

As an aside, I developed a nervous typing tick for a spell in that stretch, spelling Opticians "Optitions" for about a three-week period before it was brought to my attention. Oops. Easily fixed, but that SHOULD explain spelling errors seen here. Oh, and I have worn glasses since I was five years old.

Okay, I'd passed through that glorified typist phase and was now actually doing reporting for my 40 bucks weekly, frequently covering the Bramalea Blues junior hockey team, who played at the also-conveniently located Victoria Park Arena, across the ball fields from the Guardian offices. So that's why I question whether it was a Sunday night. It might have very well been a night of covering hockey and then back to the office to write it up some time between 10 and midnight.

I do know that publisher Bob Maxwell was in his office, sharing a drink with the man who co-owned the company that owned the Guardian. That man's name was Johnny F. Bassett. It was not a common thing to have somebody there with me while I clattered away at the keys of my beloved sixty-year old Remington typewriter at the end of the building in the reporter wing. In fact, the back office there consisted of my boss' desk and my own. Bob's office was a well-appointed one, just to this side of the Editor's office and across the hallway from the regular writer's bullpen. Prior to the night in question, I had been in Bob's office exactly once ... when I got hired on the recommendation of my Grade 10 Math teacher (and basketball coach) Freddy Chalk. I recall that Bob knew my father, but my father didn't remember him.

For no reason in particular, I decided to get some water from the fountain at the front of the building and was seen walking back to my desk by Bob, who motioned me into the room. That's where I met Bassett. Now, as history would then play out, I had my issues with the Bassets other than Johnny F. I got along famously with the Eatons, who were the other big-name co-owners. But Bassetts and I were slated not to get along. That would have changed in a major way if Johnny F. hadn't died so early in life. He was a good guy, a man of the people in many ways. He loved being in the pro sports business. He'd bought the Ottawa Nationals and had moved them to Toronto to anchor the World Hockey Association as the Toros. Of course, he took great pleasure in the move, his dad being at one point a co-owner of the NHL Toronto Maple Leafs. But there's nothing like being a co-owner when Harold Ballard was also one. The long time in coming exit of John Sr. from the Maple Leafs was not ... let's call it pleasant. And Ballard, being the small man he was, stuck it to Johnny Jr. when he came a-calling to have his Toros play in the fabled Maple Leaf Gardens.

The Toros needed a jolt and Johnny Jr. came up with the plan to import some otherwise unattainable talent to his team in an effort to be the best pro Toronto hockey team. The idea? Raid the Soviet-controlled Eastern Bloc for one of their greatest players, Vaclav Nedomansky of Czechoslovakia. They sent a scout with connections in Europe to sound out Nedomansky. I have tried valiantly to remember the scout's name. I think it was Martin something or other. It might have been Martin Madden, but honestly, I can't say for sure. I can picture the guy, who I later saw in the business of my work, but that picture keeps coming back as Gilles Leger. At any rate, after a little dickering on money and the process for defection, the decision to move forward was made. George Gross of the Toronto Sun was the only other media person in the know and that because Gross was born over there and had connections to help things along.

Late that night (even later over in Czechoslovakia), the defection had been accomplished. In the wee hours of the morning locally, Nedomansky made it to Switzerland. The call for success was made to our offices because that was where Johnny F. Basset was ... stationed. I can't say it was hiding out. But it feels like that all these years later. Remember, there were no cell phones in those days. If you were going to receive a call, the other side better have the number you were at. No call forwarding either. So, the call came in and Bob snatched up the phone (I assume that, I wasn't in the office that second). And soon enough, the phone was handed over to Johnny F. Seconds later, I was passing the door to the office and Bob snapped his fingers and indicated I should come in.

An impromptu party was the response to the short phone call. Except I don't drink. Never have. The other two men in the office were otherwise inclined and were happy to toast each other over the good news. I was happy too. I was well aware of Nedomansky and the fact that he was coming to Toronto made me anxious to go see him play. (I later did when the Toros played the Calgary Cowboys, two teams that moved/folded before I finished high school).

I was sworn to secrecy of course. And, of course I kept my promise until now. It's possible George got a heads up before the call was made to Johnny F. Bassett. So I can't claim for sure that I was the third person in North America to know that the defection had become a reality. But if I wasn't third, I was probably fourth.

Bob didn't live much longer. He was a gruff kind of guy who never had a harsh word for me. That wasn't true of everybody, but he liked me. Johnny F. Bassett was one of the great entrepreneurs in the world of professionals sports. He died of brain cancer too early in life at age 47, on the day the USFL started it's suit against the NFL over it's monopolistic practices. Had the other owners of the USFL listened to Bassett, who owned the Tampa Bay franchise, the league might have had a long run before an accommodation with the NFL. Instead the league listened to the idiotic rantings of the owner of the New Jersey Generals, a blowhard real estate mogul named Donald J. Trump. He goaded his league into the suit and, to his credit, the league won the suit and got treble damages. An episode of ESPN's 30 for 30 show, had a reporter show the buffoon the cheque for the damages. Three dollars and 76 cents, the pennies being for interest. Trump had led the league into non-existence. It also helps explain his insane hatred for the NFL from his bully pulpit. But enough of that blight on humanity. 

This entry is in celebration of Big Ned being named what he was for most of the last 45 years. A Hall of Famer. No longer just in fact, now in name too. Congratulations go to him back in Slovakia where he now resides.

NOW, the Hall of Fame must do one more thing. Induct Fran Rider in the Builder's category.  She had as much effect on Women's hockey as Nedomansky did by piercing the Iron Curtain.

It's March, So Here's the Expected

It's that time of the year again. Once again, I have to peer into the Crystal Ball, seek out Solomon, and find a wise choise to win the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. However, even before I turned on the hidden light below the con man's table to light up the cheap plastic 'crystal ball,' a ghostly voice shouted, "Duke, you fool. Duke!'

Who am I to argue the obvious. So, that's the name you want. Go forth and bracket yourself to your heart's limit.

The Tournament Committee did a LOT of great work this year, making for some interesting matchups. Cheers for including Belmont when Alabama or TCU would have been a politically expedient choice. The final four in were reasonable and, other than a plea for UNC Greensboro, nobody should have been too despondent that they didn't get in. But imagine if the Committee had decided Greensboro and Lipscomb were deserving of an upset chance and Arizona State and Syracuse could enjoy a good run in the N.I.T.? Honestly, wouldn't a rule that you couldn't be eligible to play in the NCAA tournament without a winning league record or a quarter-final victory in your league championship be a good rule?

We've had teams win the NCAA tournament after starting their league tournament with a .500 record. And teams with losing records (but with interesting stories) make the tourney with good league tournament runs. So, there are always going to be good seventh, eighth, dare I say ninth-place teams to make March Madness fun. That said, there are another few steps before we can declare the Committee 'woke.' Shouldn't the nation deserve seeing some of these small school stars, rather than yet one more loss by a tenth seed from a major conference, who've been on TV all year long? But getting Belmont in this year and increasing the number of at-large bids for non-Power Six leagues for the second straight year is something to nod approval over.

For all that, the ... choice to ditch Michigan State in Duke's regional is beyond comprehension. The Spartans are better today than they were last week as Nick Ward health improves. The Spartans have, arguably, the best game coach in the biz in Tom Izzo. The Spartans proved tourney tough, taking out Michigan ... no small task that ... for the THIRD TIME this year, in the Big Ten finale. And yet, rather than write a fantastic fantasy for this year (Stick State in with either Virginia or North Carolina, have them beat their region-mates in the elite eight, the other one in the semi-finals and then see Duke in the final ... with Ward to physically contend with Zion Williamson ...) but chose to hose the Spartans for WINNING the Big Ten. Apparently the two Michiganders were slotted into the tourney depending on who won. Yeah, Izzo's going to reconsider this coaching to win thing in the future.

So, it's Duke over Gonzaga in the Final four and then taking out North Carolina in Tobacco Road Brawl IV in the final. I love the way Virginia plays, but it's really apparent that if you are properly prepared for them, and any ONE of the disparate parts that make Virginia great doesn't show up ... the Cavaliers are beatable. Granted, Duke and Florida State have sole rights to say they're beatable. But school is all about lessons learned. And I can't see Roy Williams not learning what Florida State taught him.

Let's see, hmmmm, four number one seeds in the final four. How very ... adventurous of me. Hmmmm, actually it is. The odds are significantly against the four ones making the Minny road trip to finish the year. So, I'm ALLLLL about the upsets ... 'cept in the Regional finals.

Now, March Madness requires upsets. And the Committee has certainly raised expectations for some floor-storming contingents from the lesser schools. In fact, I saw one prominent Bracketologist pick all four 12 seeds to beat the respective 5 seeds and spent zero time speculating that he might be wrong. It was like he pre-determined all five seeds (theoretically, each are top 20 teams!!) were dead on arrival.

Upsets in the NCAA occur when the lower seeded team manages to control the tempo of the game. Usually by playing tough belly to belly defence with perimeter protecting ballhawks being assisted by some tough paint play by the big men. And they have to have three-point bombers since SOMEBODY has to provide offence. Occasionally, a run-and-gun upset-minded school gets the coach from their intended victim to play along. And we have some opportunity to see that this year. But the upset darlings are going to be the tough defensive teams that can hang in there until the final minute, either making the requisite free throws to protect a lead, or hitting a buzzer-beater to eliminate whatever hero play came from the better seeded team second(s) before.

Let's take a look at where I think upsets are there for the taking. The defensive battles PROBABLY won't include Syracuse and Syracuse West (aka Washington). I used to think their zones were so tough to play for, that no team could do it on short notice in a weekend game. But familiarity has bred content over the years. Ohhh, the zone works. It keeps teams as talented as Syracuse and Washington IN games their talent might not otherwise have them competitive. But eventually, attacking the free throw line with better talent prevails. So, despite my pre-Championship Week thinking that Washington might be a dark horse, I'm not going down that track. Championship Week DID change my opinions ... about six times over the five days leading up to Selection Sunday. The opinions are still changing ... based on injury reports for the likes of Markus Howard of Marquette or Dean Wade of Kansas State or the coaching availability of Will Wade for LSU, for instance (Mark Benford's coaching job in LSU's loss in the SEC quarter-finals was among the worst I have ever seen. Without Wade at the helm for LSU, I don't see much chance the Bayou Bengals see the second week).

Let's talk upsets in the non-upset 8/9 games first. Oddly enough, who pops up here? Why both Syracuse AND Washington!!! Let's stop the hysteria and declare Syracuse off-limits for upset by Baylor, in a battle of zone teams. First, Baylor's Big 12 and that's NOT a good thing this year. (Oh, the Pac 12 was worse, but the Big 12 had BIG dreams to start the year and from Kansas on down, tripped over those dreams). Second, both Tyus Battle and Frank Howard were missing in action for several Syracuse defeats. The Orange went from bubble to 8 when Buddy Boeheim went career game crazy in the ACC Tournament and he'll go back to a little used sub this week. So, Syracuse is through. With a chance to beat Gonzaga? No. Not with the Orange front line trying to deal with Rui Hachimura and one of the unsung Canucks in the tournament, Brandon Clarke. Shutout to 'cuse's Oshae Brissett, also a proud Canadian.

Whither Washington? Yeah, I'm going to buck some general perception and say that Utah State, bruited to have SOME chance against North Carolina, will be thinking about the Tarheels and overlook Washington, owner of the saddest of the regular-season crowns and a series of poor, poorer and poorest performances in the Pac 12 Tournament. Still, this is a team who's leader Matisse Thybulle is a spiritual successor to Gary Payton as a ballhawk. And even in wins and defeats, Washington tended to slow down teams. So, take Washington for the upset, ONE upset mind you, in the Mid West. The other two 8/9 games almost bore me. Oklahoma is Big 12, so, despite some enthusiasm for the Sooners from some Bracketologists, I'll take Ole Miss from the SEC. And VCU SHOULD take out Central Florida to hold the line ... BUT watching the Rams contend with the Knights' Tacko Fall, who's a FOOT taller than any VCU player he will go up against (or close enough), that I'm interested in SEEING the game. Problem is, VCU plays tough D and Central Florida just doesn't have the long-range howitzers to unpack the Ram defence. But it'll be interesting.

Moving on ... the 7/10 games start with the most interesting kick off to a tournament in some time. And it has nothing to do with the teams. Richard Pitino's Minnesota Gophers will tangle with the Louisville Cardinals, the home of his father for many, many years ... before he was fired last year in the ripples of the FBI College Recruiting Scandal. Rick, the Senior, eventually went off to Europe to coach (and win back some acclaim). But he'll be sure to be there in Gopher colours in spirit when the tourney tips off. I'd have taken Minnesota against many teams JUST LIKE Louisville, but the extra energy 'winning one for Coach' will bring to THIS matchup has me thinking Louisville is the better pick. They've already been through the Pitino tumult. I expect them to be calmer and more concentrated. Plus, on paper, they are a better team. (And by the way, I agree with the boos for the Committee in setting up this distraction)

Having dissed the Committee for that one, let me tell ya, the other three are going to be fun. The Committee heard all the Little Guy talk and gave Swofford some real props with a 7 seed. Then turned Seton Hall loose on them. Sorry, but the Pirates are playing REAL good basketball against REAL good teams of late. Swofford can only say the first half of that. So, Seton Hall for the upset. I almost wanted to repeat the same thing with Iowa against Cincinnati, but the Bearcats are not a big bad bullfrog in with guppies. So, I will take Cincy to hold chalk. Which leaves me with the most really delicious of the head to heads in this seeding, Nevada vs Florida in the West (where all the action is). Granted, Florida is part of my personal Kryptonite (along with Kansas and Michigan State). It just seems like I ALWAYS pick them, and outside of the championship years, it's been a mistake every time. And add the fact that Canuck Andrew Nembhard is the reason why Florida is IN the tournament and I have bias written all over my face as I type Florida WILL upset Nevada. The Gators are a team of pluggers while Nevada has the Martin boys, Caleb and Cody, plus another backcourt ace in Jordan Caroline, but the Wolfpack are going to get in trouble from the perimeter. The memories of last year's tourney run might have Nevada stuck between reliving glory and expecting respect that a single year doesn't get them ... yet. On the other hand neither team's beating John Beilein's mad as hell Michigan team featuring the burbling personality of Canuck Izzy Bradeikis on the weekend anyway. So, much ado about an upset.

The 6/11 games are ALMOST yawn-inducing with the exception of everybody's favourite upset pick, Belmont, to sidle past Temple tonight and then dispatch the overly-youthful Maryland Terrapins in the round of 64. The Bruins are aged in leadership, athletic in youth and will be able to off-set the one Maryland strength, rebounding. Belmont is a disciplined team and when that crunch moment arrives, the Bruins will be able to prevail. And with nobody fearing LSU or Yale in the weekend matchup, it might be smart of Belmont's fans and players to bring some extra luggage.

Buffalo is going to beat in-state opponent St. John's. Sure, it would be interesting if the Red Storm failed to beat the Arizona State Sun Devils merely because the State coach is Bobby Hurley, but St. John's SEEMS like a probable winner of the First Four play-in. The Bulls are sneaky good and have been for awhile after having Hurley revive the program. But he left the program in good hands as Nate Oats seems to be ready for some national recognition, as is star C.J. Massinburg. The real fun for Buffalo won't end until Michigan does them in next week. Iowa State (with some primo Canadian talent in Mariel Shayock and Lindell Wigginton) is going to be happy and sad all within a three-day period. Happy to beat Ohio State in a battle of midwest State schools. Sad that Houston looms on the weekend. Well, it will be the end of a good whirlwind year for the Cyclones. Which brings us to the OTHER 6/11 game that has fans all atwitter. Like Belmont, the winner of this Villanova-Saint Mary's game has a fair chance of playing next week. Nobody thinks Purdue's a three-seed. So, do you pick the guys that keep winning at this time of the year, Villanova, winners of two of the last three national crowns, or Saint Mary's, who dispatched the number one team in the country a week ago, BY THIRTEEN points, in it's tournament final? On one level, it doesn't matter. This is going to be a great game. On the other hand, 'Nova has Jay Wright coaching them. And in the end, thumbs down on an upset ... but it'll be fun to watch.

Now, the dreaded and anticipated 5/12 seeds get their examination. First off, NO SWEEP by the 12's. Ain't gonna happen. The fact that 12's are ALMOST a 50-50 proposition this century is mind-boggling. That all of that boggling is in the past needs being reminded of. Still...

Never saw Liberty play this year. Saw Ole Miss play. If Liberty is as good as some say, then Liberty to chalk one up for the non-chalk crowd. Murray State vs Marquette (in one of the MUST see games this year). Ja Morant, the likely second pick in the coming NBA draft, vs. Markus Howard. The still team-oriented Murray State Racers vs the Marquette One-Man Band. And Howard's hand injury is certainly going to be a topic of consideration. So, on the narrowest of margins, note a nose, but a sore hand, it's Murray State to add to the rotten state of Chalk. Wisconsin and the monster year Ethan Happ is having vs Oregon, the pre-season national contenders, turned pretenders when Bol Bol's college career ended before it really began, turned red-hot Pac 12 Tournament champions on the weekend. Remember my bell-to-belly admonishment? It applies here. Oregon makes it three 12's to break Chalk. Wait, didn't I say no sweep by the 12's. Yep, I did.

Auburn will run the Aggies of New Mexico State back to the plains with the kind of furious attack that harkens back to the Marymount Lions heydays. No, NOT the 140+ heyday, but this might be the highest-scoring game of the tournament. And isn't Bruce Pearl doing a great coaching job. He's got his Tigers believing. And I can't believe the 5 seeds will go oh-fer. Auburn will hold the line. But it IS amazing how unhappy the Committee makes teams by giving them the 5 seed, isn't it. Oh, and Auburn just won't defend the honour of 5's everywhere, they are booked to play next week, too.

Only 4/13 game worth talking about is Kansas State and UC Irvine. And sad to say, the Anteaters will trample The Wildcats if Dean Wade isn't back. Might anyways. But his likely unavailability takes a regular-season team that had something to be proud of and turned them into an overseed. Still, it takes a lot for a 13 seed to win. Except the odds are that one does most years this century. And since none of the other ones make any sense as an upset pick, I'll play the math and call for UC Irvine to hold the honour of the 13's and send K-State packing.

Going from boring to not boring at all, at all, we now look at the 3/14 matchups and wonder just what the Committee saw that I don't. Starting with LSU. A VERY GOOD team with woeful coaching and a penchant to blow up ... which explains why the presence or the lack thereof of Will Wade thanks to that FBI thing, makes a world of difference. I have NO faith in LSU beating a disciplined (is their any OTHER kind out of the Ivy League) Yale team. Oh, they can still do it on sheer talent. But even if they do talent themselves past Yale, Belmont awaits. Nope, I'll take the easy route and call for Yale to knock off the Tigers. I'm not suggesting Texas Tech will have any issues with Northern Kentucky out West. But I AM saying Buffalo beats them on the weekend. The BEST of the 3's, Houston, might be playing in the Final Four, so forget upsets chances with the Cougars vs Georgia State, although it's nice to see Ron Hunter back in the tournament without the danger of son R.J. inflicting any physical harm upon him. Which brings me to Purdue, overseeded, against Old Dominion. I've got my one first round upset in this seed. I don't HAVE to pick Old Dominion. I WANT to pick the Monarchs. But I think Carsen Edwards has one more great college game in him. So, chalk to Purdue, doom against Oregon on the weekend.

NO, just NO! No 15's and especially NO 16's brought their bathing suits to the first round. They'll towel off at home. I'd love to see Abilene Christian upend Kentucky because, well, it's Kentucky. And my favourite three coaches to rag on are John Calipari, John Calipari and John Calipari. He's a lousy in-game coach, but off-sets that by being a great recruiter. How much of that great is Kentucky's home court advantage and how much is Jocular John is anybody's guess. But he recruits successfully. Now, eventually, I expect Kentucky's program, like those of UMass and Memphis, to rue the day he was hired. But he's on a long, long run of ruining my enjoyment of college basketball. I'm hoping Houston can do him in, but if they don't, then I expect North Carolina to win the Battle of Blue in the regional final. Still, wouldn't it be GREATTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!! if Abilene Christian did us all a favour?!?!

I think that's eleven total first week upsets. Out of 48 games. Close enough to one in four. And THAT is why March Madness is, or should be, a National Holiday in North America. Fans, and people who KNOW fans, should be at home or down at the local purveyor of beverages to watch this miracle of entertaining TV.

As most of you know, I stay with chalk most of the rest of the way in the tournament. Trying to suss out upsets in the second week can be a fool's errand. Prior unforeseen upsets, injuries, horrible officiating ... it makes a mug out of anyone, let alone somebody with the last name Mugford, to pretend he KNOWS destiny's outcome. Still, by staying with chalk you won't be far wrong.

Who do I think might step into the Final Four I have seeded to the 1's? Michigan State still has to be feared. Izzo is the game's best game coach (although Florida's Mike White is a comer). Ward and Xavier Tillman provide the heft and height to make Zion Williamson at least think a BIT about charging to the hoop. And Cassius Winston sure makes Izzo look prophetic when he predicted great things three years ago for his then frosh guard. But no, I just don't think Duke's ready to be beat by the Spartans. If they get Marques Bolden back next week, it will be a full-strength Duke squad. Lights out. The fun regional is the West, but all the fun will evaporate next week. Chalk all the way with Michigan not the type of team I expect Gonzaga to fear.

Virgina will waltz into the Final Four after dancing with Tennessee in the regional final. Virgina is the most upset-available of the 1's because their offence needs everybody clicking when they play good teams. Problem is, nobody in the region other than the Volunteers qualifies as a good enough team. UNC has plenty of people to trip over in the Region of Death, the Midwest. The Tarheels COULD lose to Utah State (NOT BLOODY LIKELY), Auburn (the game will be closer than Roy Williams would like) and then either Houston (unlikely) or Kentucky (the Evil Empire looms as a SERIOUS threat depending on how PJ Washington gets out of bed that day). Still, to have a Tobacco Road Brawl IV, me must have a North Carolina-Duke finals.

Can Gonzaga, the sole team in the country to beat a full-strength Duke squad, pose a semi-final threat? Of course they can. But at the time of the loss, Duke was R.J. Barrett's team. It's Zion's team now (much as I would like Barrett, a credit to my country and a spectacularly good kid be THE star). And that's a difference with a distinction. Barrett's still there, having largely held up his end of the dynamic duo, while Zion was away getting new shoes. And what about Virgina and their regular season superiority over North Carolina? Why not an intra-state ACC final? Sure, it could happen and anybody who likes basketball likes Virginia's team play, but I want that BRAWL in the final. So, logic dictates Virgina falling on its sword to do so.

There you have it. The million-dollar bracket.

Mr. Bergevin, Line 1 is for You

I'd like to call Marc Bergevin and tell him  how to go about his business because his business has been hurting. And when the Montreal Canadiens hurt, so do I. Don't quite have the chutzpah though.

Bergevin has managed himself and his team into a corner. There's a lot of talk about taking advantage of the third pick in the draft because the Habs went through all kinds of unhappy to earn the pick. Just as they did the year they made Alexander Galchenyuk their solution for the future and for the past unhappiness of THAT season. Galchenyuk never realized the potential he showed in his first year and was shipped off to the Desert Gulag of Arizona in return for Max Domi, seen by many as Galchenyuk-lite. I actually think the swap works out well for Montreal. I think Domi's determination makes him a better end of a "New Start" trade. I like the worker over the artiste most times. And maybe Max CAN play centre. Or maybe not. The evidence that Jonathan Druin can seems even more ephemeral.

So here's the off-season advice for Bergevin to stumble upon as he strolls through blog after blog telling him ... well ... stuff! I'll be more compassionate. Although if he FAILS to do EXACTLY as I say, I will join the chorus to have his hide astride a pole somewhere in the depths of Hell. Or worse.

I do NOT stake my whole draft on a reach for a kid from Finland who won't be in Montral Blue, Blanc et Rouge for at LEAST another season. The ticking clock on the careers of Shea Weber and Carey Price simply won't permit that strategy. So, I reach out and let Paul Statsny know he can come home to his home province of Quebec. I'm hoping 5.5 for four years gets his signature on a free-agent contract. If it's six by four, so be it. I have my second-line centre, a defensively-responsible defender who scores. And that's just too rare in Montreal this decade. I also bring back Tomas Plekanec for a year-by-year contract arrangement. He'll play the fourth centre spot and can cover up a line or two for brief periods of time. And he is a Montreal lifer, despite doing hard time in Toronto post trade deadline in the spring. We'll ignore that blot on his record, as most Montrealers ignore Toronto anyways. I'd think 2.5 for the season would get him, but I'd still buy in at 3. And by doing that, some of the pain over the loss of Andrei Markov before last season might be repaired. Montreal SHOULD honour those that honour it.

Montreal still needs a bit more help on defence and I'd like to take a flyer on John Moores, a three-year 2.5M kind of guy who might add some scoring back to the back-line and he's sneaky tough too. So, we are talking 10.5M annually for the three, which is less than John Tavares will get. Of course, I'd TALK to Tavares, but I think he stays in Long Island with (probable) in-coming coach Barry Trotz and the Lou Lamoriello touch in the head office.

Which STILL leaves a considerable bit of payroll space and I use it all up PDQ with a three-team trade that I think works for all three teams. Naturally, it resolves most of Montreal's problems and DOES include a division-mate who might not want to help Montreal all that much, but the Habs DO have some candy to deal and relatively new GMs in rebuilding situations have been told ad nauseum that draft picks are the King's Gold of hockey assets. So, here it goes:

Montreal gets Ryan O'Reilly and Risto Routsalainen from Buffalo, along with a third rounder this year from Vancouver and a seventh rounder from Vancouver next year.

Vancouver gets that third pick in the first round from Montreal, as well as Montreal's sixth rounder and Buffalo's seventh rounder next year.

Buffalo (the linchpin of course) gets Max Pacioretty from Montreal, Vancouver's first round pick this year (seventh overall) and the THREE BEST second round draft picks this year from Montreal (which starts with four).

Hmmmmm, the Habs get their first-line centre (or second, it's semantics, given Stastny) and a defenceman to add to the mix of bounce-back candidates, plus some lottery tickets. In losing the captain, Montreal takes on long term commitment of 12M a year, where as Pacioretty is on a sterling 4.5M for one more year. A net add-on of 7.5M. And with it, the remainder of the Habs' payroll. It also means Drouin is a winger. And so is Domi. And so is Brett Gallagher and Arturri Lehkonen and Paul Byron and Charles Hudon and Nicolas Deslauriers and Andrew Shaw. Phillip Danault gets the third-line centre spot. Not a great dozen, but one that makes sense in the NHL. Lots of speed, maybe a lack of proven goal-scoring. But a decent dozen. There's a BIT of disaster insurance in Laval, hopefully made better by new coaching. Can you imagine power plays with both Gallagher and Domi in front of the net?

As for defence, Ristolainen was highly thought of (just look at his contract) as recently as two years ago. If the Habs are selling low on Pacioretty, so are the Sabres with Ristolainen. But not too low. Buffalo gets a boatload of picks to make after the kick off the draft Friday with Rasmus Dahlin. The club clears the way for Casey Mittelstadt to play second-line minutes behind Jack Eichel. They add leadership and a power-play asset in Pacioretty, paving the way for a potential contract extension if the two sides think it's a good fit. If not, they are saving maybe lost dollars for Ristolainen and awkward dollars for O'Reilly. And the larders will be freshly filled with second-rounders plus that pick six picks after Dahlen and likely to be another defenceman. I think this makes enough sense for Buffalo to trade two roster players for one and to trade intra-division.

Vancouver now moves up and can draft the last of the B level players. Dahlin is alone in the A class this year, but the B class isn't much bigger with just the two players, Andrei Svechnikov and Filip Zadina. Both seem gilt-edged. Now Vancouver will be able to claim one or the other. Not that having a pick from the next six or so would be unpleasant. In fact, I wanted Montreal to take winger Brady Tkachuk third, before hatching this trade and sign plan. But all of the six next best players have some doubts attached to their game. Adding two lottery tickets AND moving up into guaranteed slotting seems a good price to pay for their own pick at seven and a third this year, plus that seventh round swap next year.

This is a trade with legs. It has to be paired with the free agent signings. But if Bergevin wants to keep his job, something similar to this has to be done. Or else the trident is at hand.

Nice Guys Finish Last

Dwane Casey is a good man, bordering on being a great man. He was a black man playing on a still VERY WHITE Kentucky team when he was in college. He continued in the game after that by becoming an assistant coach. A good one. But he got falsely labeled as a coach who got caught paying off a player to come to Kentucky. The NCAA, in a rare moment of acting in the actual 'best' interests of the college game, kicked him out of avocation and passion. That the NCAA ended up being wrong is also par for the course. Outside of cashing cheques, there is little that the NCAA does right.

Casey was wronged. Exiled to Japan to continue his quest to coach back in America. Brought back to the States as an assistant coach in the NBA, Casey developed a reputation as a defence guru, and a good one at that. Everywhere he went, he was popular with the rest of the coaching staff, players, team support personnel and the media. By seepage, it also became something of a given that even the great unwashed masses, the fans, also liked him. He eventually got the head gig with Minnesota and then was dunkirked by an owner too new to the post-Kevin Garnett world to allow Casey to develop. His mistake ended up being Toronto's fortune as Casey was free to take over from Jay Triano who took over from  another Coach of the Year type, Sam Mitchell, himself a former Minnesota player and coach. The circle of the coaching life.

In Toronto, while in a historically good run, Casey has been exposed for what he's not. A good head coach. And his signature defence has failed to make the leap from good to great. Casey's rep has grown this year thanks to the revamped offensive attitude of the team, but Nick Nurse basically designed that change and it was ordered from on high by Masai Ujiri, the GM. Getting credit for extracting better offence from BASICALLY the same team as was available the year before ... when HE should have noted the failures and made changes... ANY changes... in the Raptor hero-ball offence where Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan pounded the ball before going solo waaaaaaaaay to often, seems like sneaking a peak at somebody else's paper and getting an A where only a B was deserved. NO, Casey didn't cheat, but NO, Casey doesn't get credit in this quarter for Nurse's work implementing Ujiri's command.

Coach of the Year? Ahhhhh, NO. Wouldn't even make my top three, with Brad Stevens, Quinn Snyder and Mike D'Antonio (hey, YOU try mixing two alpha dog ball-handlers on the same team and not have it blow up in your face). Nate McMillan also might be a better choice for the award.

Casey has proven, as a HEAD COACH, incapable of making the in-game adjustments winners have to make. He's won series, more than any other coach in Raptors' franchise history, but a lot of the wins were with better talent. He gets some credit for NOT SCREWING UP the better team, but too many of those games were too close to give him MUCH credit. His coaching, save for a single quarter in game 3 against Cleveland, rates as abysmal. His insertion of Lucas Noguiera, too often ignored because of his flaws and injury issues, suddenly put into that final game at a critical juncture ... with Jonas Valanciunas' dominating first quarter a seeming memory, ranks as one of the most curious coaching moves in recent memory. Casey, the fine man, and I'm NOT being sarcastic here, then LOST ME, when he explained the move as something the assistant coaches wanted. Under the bus is a bad spot to be.

Toronto will have to find a new head coach. And the irony that he MIGHT win the Coach of the Year in a sort of lifetime achievement sort of thing, is not lost on me nor on the Raptor management. The situation is similar to the one Golden State faced when they realized Mark Jackson had a limit to what he could do with the assemblage of young talent they had gathered. It was a bit of a tempest when they replaced Jackson with Steve Kerr. An announcer replacing ... well the future announcer. It was a trade of positions. Nothing I've heard OF Jackson or FROM Jackson since then makes me think it was a mistake. Ohhh, the World Championships MIGHT have occurred with Jackson at the helm. But I don't believe that. Jackson has a lot of supporters, not the least of which was because he's considered a good man. Where have I heard THAT before? Think, think, think ... yeah, right here.

In the best of times, Casey gets another job and maybe uses the experiences here in Toronto to learn and excel elsewhere. I actually hope that happens to him. Maybe in college, maybe in the NBA. He also could go back to the role that I think he's actually quite suited for: head assistant for defence. I think he KNOWS the game and can COACH defence. Just like players who range from sub-par to average to good to great, coaches have different levels of talent. Why would it be surprising that an expert on coaching defence might NOT be able to handle the subtleties of offence and of managing a roster of players? That's NOT the same expertise. And yes, many specialists DO learn other areas, but many just don't. But Casey is not a good enough head coach right now to lead a team on the VERGE of being GREAT into actually BEING GREAT.

I coached softball at significant levels. But I was flawed enough that the teams I was involved with that had the most success had me as an assistant coach. I knew the game and could teach it. But I was always stuck with the problem of thinking that I was a baseline as a player and that everybody should be able to do as well as me ... at a minimum. I didn't have talent, just a brain. And, yet, that brain could not assimilate that others couldn't think at the speeds I did. I still don't really get it. But it was true despite me ignoring the truth right in front of me. As a head coach, that flaw was magnified. As an assistant, my intensity was like a tool in a drawer. Useful in some places, not called for in others.

Reluctantly, I join the chorus to oust Casey. I've never actually been a FAN of his professional work, but I'm a fan of him, the person. Still, I place Raptor needs over his. The many rather than the few. The Raptors have to make changes. Somebody else, who won't ignore DeRozan's rather bizarre history of offensive improvements each season against a declining (from an originally pretty low intensity) interest in defence. The rationale? You can't practice defence all by yourself. All those hours DeRozan puts in the gym honing one offensive skill after another (his ball-handling and decision-making in crowds, shows even offensive skills that involve other players), can't be improved upon ENOUGH. A new coach, a new approach, might yet pull the complete player out of DeRozan. A new coach won't make DeRozan the principal ball-handler in pressure situations. That remains one of the most bizarre of Casey's decisions.

A new coach might not come from the obvious candidates, Nurse, Jerry Stackhouse or less likely Rex Kalamian. Tainted by association or too new to coaching (Stackhouse), makes any of them a risky choice. Me? I take Stackhouse in a New York second before he goes to Orlando. I wouldn't get too upset if Nurse is elevated. The coaching choices out there include a pair of Van Gundy's that I would be happy with. Jeff before Stan, by the way. NO to Jackson. I'm not sold on Mike Budenholzer as anything other than Casey redux. A guy to get TO the greatness line, but no evidence he'd bounce the squad past it. David Blatt interests me. A more experienced Jay Triano is available and Toronto has has sooooooo many reunions with players and coaches that I would hardly be surprised if he took a second tour with the team. Would Ujiri have the guts to pick Becky Hammon from San Antonio's bench? Hopefully, Jason Kidd's name doesn't float up to the top. I'm pretty sanguine about him as a person.

However, the time has come for Dwane without the Y to become EX-coach of the Raptors.

The Answer to the Burning Question of the Day

Who's going to win March Madness. I dunno. And if anybody says THEY know, then start the comparisons to other pathological liars we know and don't much love. This is NOT a year for unequivocal predictions.

Who do I THINK is going to win? I entered in 13 pools at ESPN/TSN and picked EIGHT DIFFERENT WINNERS. But the one I entered in first had Virginia ripping down the nets.

I corresponded with my friend Frank last night and I had this to say: "It's going to be Virginia over Michigan State in the final. The Wahoos become team number four to go from unranked to the penthouse game, and will be the second to actually win the thing. ONE of the other three is the legendary Loyola Ramblers who beat Mississippi St in the first whites vs blacks game for an SEC team before losing to Cinncinati team in the final. Fitting that that team is back in the dance this year. 

Virgina has coaching, three guards, tough defence, three-point shooting and are coming in on a roll. Outside of NBA lottery draft talent, they check all the boxes. They DO have a chip on their shoulders. Unranked pre-season and all. Michigan State has coaching, tough defence, three-point shooting and a bigger chip. Having Miles Bridges get out of the spotlight by paying 40 bucks to charity takes ALLLLLL the mental pressure off of a school that's been nothing but bad news for six months. Their guard play will hurt them, but having two lottery picks sort of off-sets that. 

Arizona (coaching, three-point shooting, HUUUUUGE chip and lottery talent) makes sense for a final four, if Virginia wasn't on the itinerary. That said, the Wildgattos de Zona are my number two pick, NOT the Spartans. What about Villanova? The problem with THOSE Wildcats is the lack of a chip, which is odd for the normally junkyard dog Philly school. The 'cats won the whole thing too recently. And their draft talent is a lottery ticket AND Jalen Brunson. Not the other way round. I just think they are vulnerable to big teams and the Spartans are REAL big. Big enough to handle the Dukies before that.  

I'm leaning Gonzaga over North Carolina. Xavier doesn't impress me at ALL. The ONE GAME I want to see is the one that creates Xavier's vanquisher on the weekend. I am VERY interested in Missouri with Porter, Michael back in the line-up. I liked Missouri the last time I saw them and if Porter is the guy who people thinks he is (hopefully NOT the chucker from his first game back), then Missouri MIGHT be the story of the tournament. If not, Florida State going to the second week would qualify. But I BADLY want to see the Mizzou-Seminole game. "

I'm REALLY off first week upsets. Maybe Xavier, as I said. And that really depends on Missouri and both Porters being what people thought the Tigers might be at the beginning of the year. I think Florida State CAN beat Xavier, but I'm more hopeful it will be Mizzou. Texas is sort of in the same boat with the recent return of Mo Bamba, who I thought might be THE guy this year ... until I saw Deandre Ayton of Arizona. Put Texas as a maybe, along with potential one-guy star shows resulting in upsets for Oklahoma (Trae Young) and Alabama (Collin Sexton). But honestly, the only first-round upsets I see are #10 Butler over Arkansas in the East and #9 NC State as the obligatory 9/8 winner over Seton Hall in the MidWest. On the weekend, Florida and West Virginia feel like teams to go upsetting in the East. Beyond that, bupkus.

Which gets you to the second week of the tournament and sixteen teams with championship dreams, half of them legitimate. I'd be hugely disappointed to see Kentucky make it there, even with a good Canadian kid Shai Gilgeous-Alexander running the point. Oily John Calipari did his schtick on ESPN Bracketology Sunday night and reminded me how much I dislike the guy. Given his track record and Memphis and UMass, how in the world does this whole FBI investigation into bad things in college basketball game NOT INVOLVE HIM? Arizona is a team on a mission to finish out the careers of Ayton, Alonzo Trier, Rawle Atkins and coach Sean Miller with a vengeance. IF Miller's voice is matched against his real voice on that tape discussing money and Ayton, he's going to be cashiered out of the NCAA, probably for life. He'll get the Dwane Casey treatment in spite of being from coaching royalty (brother, father). That will be because he will be guilty of the one crime the NCAA can't overlook, getting caught by real law enforcement. And given Casey got five years DESPITE BEING INNOCENT, I figure the Miller penalty will be life plus a day. That is why I have Arizona as my number two choice.

The second and third week's of this year's NCAA will be the best in recent memory. THAT I PROMISE YOU.

Last thought: Jalen Brunson, Wendell Carter Jr., Miles Bridges, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Gary Trent Jr., Grayson Allen, Hamidou Diallo, Devonte Graham, Allonzo Trier, Rawle Atkins. Stars or pretty good players all. Not one of them is the player the NBA expects to call from their team FIRST when the draft goes this summer. One more reminder of why the pro game and the college game are so different.

Advice to Mark Shapiro, a LITTLE more publicly this time

When asked in May what I would do with the then-hot Toronto Blue Jays, my response was “Trade ‘em, all and rebuild for the arrival of Vlady Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette in 2019!” Obviously, Shapiro and Atkins failed to telepathically heed my advice and instead stuck with the group as is. So, what to do THIS off-season. Trade most of ‘em and rebuild for the arrival of Guerrero and Bichette in 2019. Obviously!

I start the off-season with the stunner, setting the stage for the re-emergence of the Philadelphia Phillies as a contender and acquiring talent, youth and payroll space in return. Marcus Stroman, one of the five best AL pitchers this year and controllable until the next decade, gets paired with what is PROBABLY JUST the Troy Tulowitzki contract (and eminence grise), plus ex-Pirate prospects and now ex-Blue Jay prospects Harold Ramirez and Reese McGuire to bring back outfielder Nick Williams, 3B Mikael Franco and young pitching prospects Harold Arauz (gotta keep our Harold holdings consistent) and Austin Davis. Arauz is something of a comer and Davis is pure lottery ticket, code for left-handed. Having re-upped ALMOST Ex-Blue Jay Marco Estrada, the Jays would then also bring back Ryan Goins on another one-year deal.

I’ll explain why about the trades later. Now, Shapiro has to dial up St. Louis and get them to take Josh Donaldson, Roberto Osuna and Max Pentecost off their hands for SS Paul DeJong, catcher Carson Kelly and almost major-league ready pitching prospect Mike Mayers. The Cardinals would have to ship another mid-level prospect in the deal, but would hasten to acquire Donaldson, pairing him then on the Redbird's left side of the infield with newly- signed Zack Cosert, a free agent fresh from the Cincy Reds. Cosert, who was looking at slim pickings in free agency would sign so quickly, the pen would burn through the contract parchment. Toronto would respond by re-signing Brett Anderson. Hmmm, some ‘splaining to do on that one.

Lastly, the team management would then try for lottery team luck by sending Kevin Pillar, senior super-sub Steve Pearce and veteran bullpen lefty Aaron Loup to the New York Mets for unable-bodied pitcher Matt Harvey, prospect corner infielder Jhoan Urena (seems Urena’s go well in T.O.) and years-away pitching prospect Nabil Crismat.

Okay, here come the how-come’s/why-fors.

Stroman is the sole big long-term loss for the team. Simply put, he’s worth a lot on the open market and I think the Jays would be over-joyed to make the proposed Phil trade. His increasingly antagonistic attitude might bring back fond memories of Kyle Lowry, but do the Jays have time to wait for his maturing? The team loses Tulowitzki and his Goins-esque offence and par to sub-par defence, plus that massive locker-room presence would seem a loss. But that $20 million pay cheque for THREE more seasons is just a LITTLE TOO RICH for Canadian blood and bucks. And Stroman isn’t going to be cheap much longer, as he enters arbitration. Still, by giving up Stroman and the ‘seemingly easy to replace’ Tulowitzki’s field presence, the Jays get a starting outfielder in Nick Williams. Plus a starting 3B in Franco, although the mercurial Franco might end up in LF, 1B or somewhere other than in Toronto. Bluntly, Franco is a major-league lottery ticket who might be a reasonable Donaldson clone or Buffalo-bound or a trade dump to some OTHER team that thinks he still has potential. As for the pitching prospects, neither should see Toronto coming out of spring training this decade. Next decade? Maybe.

As for Philadelphia, the price here for Stroman appears to be Williams and an exchange of hoped-for comeback kids in Franco for Tulowitzki. Yes, there’s cash to pay out, but Philadelphia is out from under the horrid contracts that saw the once-powerful Phillies descend into irrelevance due to unmovable contracts. That day has ended, the new Ryan Howard, Rhys Hoskins, has arrived and a new TV deal lets the club acquire Tulo’s contract and not blanch. Ramirez probably doesn’t replace Williams, but the team will go for a big-name add in the outfield that already includes Oudebel Herrera and Aaron Altherr. Moving Williams creates space. As for the former Pirates headed their way? Organizational fodder, although McGuire fills a catching slot. For the Blue Jays, Arauz will probably make the bigs, Davis probably won’t. But that’s what prospect roulette is all about.

Now, over to St. Louis, who has a catching prospect ready for the big-leagues in Kelly, but is blocked til the next decade by Yadier Molina. And rookie phenom DeJong still has to outlive his sophomore season and the potential jinx (Aledmys Diaz anyone?). And the constant stream of Cardinal pitching prospects will barely notice a dip into the waters to lose Mayers. And in return, one of the three best third-baseman in baseball, Donaldson, plus their new closer in Osuna and a catcher to replace Kelly, but with a new best-arrival date of next decade, in Pentecost. In different times, Donaldson and Pentecost get the deal done. Probably. If the Cardinals can work out an extension with Donaldson first. But to NOT have the guarantee in place with Donaldson costs the long-term controllable Osuna. St. Loo might have to throw in another prospect, with Austin Gomber, a left-handed hurler at the AA level making some sense.

DeJong immediately fills the bill for Tulowitzki’s replacement, giving Richard Urena more time to mature with a full season in Buffalo. Urena, Bichette and Guerrero percolate for another year. And infield group of those three, DeJong and Delicate Devon Travis means having good, young talent, enhanced by one more year of Goins for some guidance. Plus, there’s Lourdes Gourriel en route and he’s an all-rounder who hopefully comes along at the plate, in which case, the Jays will have a LOT of interchangeable parts to man the infield and cover as fifth outfielders.

Carson Kelly jumps the Jays’ queue of catchers, giving Dan Jansen a season in Buffalo to get better. Once he proves his offensive dream season this season is sustainable, the Blue Jays could be looking at a Kelly-Jansen tandem with Russell Martin around for guidance, to act as a third catcher and do a little backing up at DH, 3B and maybe 2B, if necessary. Or, a Martin tandem with one of the kids might play for two or three years. The Jays also might be able to replace Stroman in the starting line-up with Mayers, or he might head to the bullpen to compete with the likes of Tom Koehler or he might be the plug-in starter awaiting problems in Buffalo. But he’s close. And that counts in the winter.

Which leaves me trying to explain giving the New York Mets three members of their starting 25 on opening day next year, without getting possibly anything in the deal. It’ll be tough losing Pillar, he of the Superman-quality catches. But all highlights aside, he’s NOT the gold-glove centre fielder he’s portrayed as. In fact, he trails Kevin Keiermayer again and has fallen behind Byron Buxton. Add in his in ability to get his offence going, and now’s the time to sell. Another season at the end of the Blue Jays’ batting line-up, with little reason to move him up, might leave Toronto with an untradeable, but popular, trade asset. And the Jays have outfielders in the pipeline. The same reason can be applied to Pearce, who’s rep is better than we saw this year, and to Loup, who is an example of the old Branch Rickey saw, “Better to trade a player a year too soon than a year too late.” Loup regained some of his mojo this year, and remember, it’s LEFT-handed mojo. Out now, before the trade idea starts to stink.

Harvey, the possible Stroman replacement and possible new Brett Anderson, is the lottery ticket here. He’s an ace a year away from free agency (and given who his agent is, it’s almost guaranteed free agency). A good year and the Jays recoup a prospect in the 30’s. Something less than a good year, then the Jays didn’t spend much money. C’est la vie. Jhoan Urena is a corner guy and Crismat a pitcher. Neither should show up before Russell Martin retires. But both are good bets to at least make The Show. But this whole trade is about selling declining assets for a shot at Harvey for a season and a draft pick. And who knows, maybe Harvey succeeds and likes Toronto enough to want to stay. Hey, ask Marco Estrada if that’s possible. 

So, what line-up does John Gibbons trot out in 2018? Martin will catch and Justin Smoak will play first base. Beyond that? Well, it’s nice to think Travis will man second all year long. Not a great bet, but a big winner if it comes true. DeJong will start at shortstop and Franco at third. The outfield will have Teoscar Hernandez in centre, with Nick Williams in right. In left? One of Anthony Alford, Dwight Smith Jr. or Dalton Pompey will be in that spot come season’s start. Pompey’s in a make or leave situation. The other two can be in Buffalo. Which means I think Pompey might have an inside edge, if only he can stay healthy. The DH will be Kendrys Morales. He was an asset this year, barely. Next year he won’t be. And he’ll finish his contract as a pinch-hitter. He is what he is, a mistake that’s nowhere as huge as has been portrayed, but a mistake indeed. His switch-hitting power doesn’t play given his slothfulness on the base-paths. The subs? Kelly to play 60 cames as catcher, Goins, Ezequiel Carrerra as the fourth outfielder (and possible LF starter) and a 3B-type free agent who might get at bats in a platoon with Franco. Or Urena, who would be better off playing full-time in Buffalo at every infield spot. But I’ll stick with a one-year free agent. That’s the 13 slots for offence.

The pitching staff will be J.A. Happ, Aaron Sanchez, Marco Estrada, Brett Anderson and Joe Biagini/Matt Harvey. The loser of THAT battle will battle Tom Koehler for the long-man on the relief staff. The new closer will be Carlos Ramirez. He’ll probably give up a run in 2018. Probably. Ryan Tepera, Danny Barnes and Dominic Leone seem like a decent trio of righties. The left-handed alternatives are a little … young … in Tim Mayza and Matt Dermody. But having shown they CAN pitch in the majors this year, hopefully the bullpen will remain a strength. If not, bullpens can be rebuilt on the fly. The key is Ramirez coming in and doing a reasonable impression of Osuna at a fraction of the price.

In all, the Jays will lose the contracts of Donaldson, Tulowitzki and Jose Bautista, as well as Loup, Osuna, Pilar, Pearce and Stroman. That’s something approaching $80 million in 2018 potential compensation. The incoming players won’t total a fourth of that. The Shapiro-Atkins tandem COULD immediately start spending some of that money themselves. Getting sixth, seventh and eighth starters wouldn’t be a bad idea. The talent clock HAS been reset to 2019-2020, with enough pitching to make Gibbons feel comfortable about that. And the newly athletic and multi-postional capable squad would be fun to let run and rip.

In fact, what WOULD 2019 look like if Guerrero and Bichette over-achieve again? The catching duo would probably be Kelly and Jansen. If not, Martin would back-up there, at third, maybe at second and take the occasional turn through the DH spot. The 1B would be Smoak and Travis would still be at second. The left-side of the infield would be best buddies Guerrero and Bichette, with DeJong and Franco being delegated to back-up duties along with Martin. The OF would be Alford, Hernandez and Williams. The extra outfielder would be Gourriel. And Morales would pinch-hit. (Actually, Franco would probably be traded if both Kelly and Jansen make the team). The DH? Rowdy Tellez. The starting five pitchers would be Sanchez, (the perpetually re-signing) Estrada, Ryan Borucki, Mayers and Biagini/Anderson. The relievers would be the same set or some combination that includes about the same mount of talent and payroll. And one OTHER guy would be signed. Either a big bucks starting pitcher (or two) or a closer (assuming Ramirez fails in next year’s audition). As I said earlier, maybe Harvey likes Toronto.

And the pitching talent would be starting to arrive. Sean Reid-Foley, Connor Greene, Jon Harris, Tom Pannone, Justin Maese, Crismat, TJ Zeuch, Luis Perdomo and Arauz. Jordan Romano, Francisco Rios and Shane Dawson have their fans. The big bet on Ramirez is hedged by Nate Pearson, who merely turned in a sub 1.00 ERA in leading Vancouver to a title. He’s pitching starting pitcher innings right now, but profiles as a closer … if that position is open.

Logan Warmouth, Richard Urena, Jhoan Urena, Tim Lopes and Smith, Jr. would be potential backups. On a viable Major League team. With a payroll that beggars the addition of a big-time Free Agent. Or three. Alas, no spot for should be Blue-Jay lifer Goins. Sigh. But DeJong, Bichette, Warmouth and even Gourriel are shortstops by vocation. So's Richard Urena.

All for the price for a learning season this coming year. An EXCITING season.

I Think I Smell Tobacco Road Smoking

It's time for that most important time of the year, March Madness. It comes at a time when I need total immersion into something that isn't health-related and sitting around munching chips, guzzling sugar-free and sodium-free Mandarin Orange soda while watching what I hope will be a steady procession of exciting games is enough to put me to bed happy tonight.

And, it's a year where ANYBODY in the top THIRTY in this bracketologist's nightmare has a chance to get past this weekend. Win a championship? Well, that's another thing.

A week ago, I was all over Oregon to dark horse their way to the title. Admittedly, the Canadian content, including local kid Dylan Ennis, had something to do with that. But I saw an Oregon team that was ready for the NCAA's before the year turned over. Sure, the Ducks got bored to the point of losing to non-title contenders. But the talent and the 'arrogance' that a title team needs was in plenty evidence. But this past weekend dealt the Ducks a cruel blow. Chris Boucher out for the rest of the season with a blown-out knee. Quack!!!!

So, if not Oregon, who? The guard theory certainly made me immediately think of Kansas. Then Josh Jackson did whatever he did and Kansas lost in the Big 12. There will be extra motivation for Jackson to atone for his ... whatever he did. And Frank Mason III has been other-worldly this year. But here's the thing. Like my previous infatuation with Florida, Kansas tends to disappoint with the notable exception of Mario Chalmer's comeback kings back in the 'Aughts. I think it's time to move Rock, Chalk, Jayhawk back to the Bin of Dreams I keep in the attic. Oh, this undoubtedly makes them almost automatically the favourite, but over time, I think it's best not to let my heart get broken into even smaller bits.

Can Malik Monk go all Aaron Harrison on the tournament and play six top-calibre games? I'm guessing not. So, not Kentucky, which somehow got drawn into the Region of Death, the South, with heavyweight road-blocks in UCLA and (if I am wrong) North Carolina in the way. Besides, John Calipari (The Grayson Allen of coaching) is still coaching there and his in-game coaching is .... NOT NEAR A MATCH for his recruiting.

Defending champs Villanova, the team after a short man's heart? Again, save for the Florida Repeatin' Gators from earlier this century, defending champ means "which round do they lose in?" And I think I have the one Big 10/16 team that will be a surprise this year. Wisconsin doesn't shoot free throws all that well, which will be okay for the first 37 minutes of the second-round game between the Wildcats and the Badgers. I think the Wisconsin lead at that point will be large enough to survive the intentional foul onslaught. 'Nova is worthy of the top overall seed. But with the Curse of the Champeen hanging like the Sword of Damocles, I'm calling on Wisconsin to dispose of the Champs.

Hmmmmm, North Carolina? Certainly from the Tobacco Road neighbourhood in the dominant ACC. Experienced up and down the roster. Joel Berry II might only be two-thirds of Mason III, but he's been very, very good ... most of the time. Justin "I'm not Josh and was NOT going to be confused with him ... until THIS year when all things JJ were great!" Jackson gives the Tar Heels TWO honourable mentions in the coming Mason III coronation as Player of the Year. But North Carolina needs Isaiah Hicks to play six relatively foul-free games in a row. Well, make that five. Sorry Texas Southern fans, both of you. Hicks and the UCLA front-line are not a match in Tar Heel heaven. So that's, what, three number one seeds down?

The fourth to fall and the one to go the farthest (well, tied with Kansas for the farthest), is the "finally-respected by the Bracket committee" Zags/Bulldogs of Gonzaga. They have major league front-court talent, which will have the needed neutralizing effect on Arizona when they meet in the West Region final. But an unfunny thing will happen in Phoenix in the Final Four. The Zags will discover that height matters ... unless the opponent can shoot over that height.

Which means a Duke-UCLA championship final. Which feels right in this year of bad, REALLY BAD pre-season rankings. Sure, injuries had an incredibly negative effect throughout the nation, including taking Harry Giles out of the Player of the Year discussion. And off the starting five for Coach K's Dookies. He'd be smart to stay in school and earn an even BIGGER pay cheque in the summer of 2018. But, history keeps banging us over the heads to take the money when you can. Losing one season means that BIG free agent contract is just another year away. All that said, Giles HAS to play big for the ... let's call them height-challenged Blue Devils.

And that's because the UCLA front-line is NBA-sized. And T.J. Leaf and his NOT height-challenged teammates will have Lonzo Ball creating lay-ups. Ball, however reminds me of Chris Paul. And Paul's exit from the college game was messy piled upon messy. And that was despite having more experience than Ball. Plus, it's not really Ball that I have issues with. It's his lightning rod of a father who will somehow dominate the Final Four stage from off-stage by saying something bizarre thanks to a willingly complicit Media. In fact several somethings in an unacknowledged battle with Comrade Donald for attention. The task of staying focused amidst the pressure of "CBS' One Shining Moment in the making," along with trying to neutralize his father's fodder of foolishness will prove a step too far.

Which brings me back to Duke. The "why nots" for Duke are easy to figure out. A bit of a tallness issue. The issues with Grayson Allen. That swoon when Coach K left the team for pain-relieving surgery. And EVERYBODY in the country seems to have a long-term dislike for the confidence (read AIR-oh-gantz) that seems to permeate every Blue Devil once the kid accepts the scholarship.

To me, surviving the injury bugs (Allen, Giles and Amile Jefferson, as well as The Coach), the ACC tournament, and yes, the confidence, combined with the experience, makes me think the Blue of Duke will outlast the Blue of UCLA in an entertaining final, 81-77. Why? I love Luke Kennard's game. With Allen back, the Bruins cannot swarm Kennard to force the ball out of his hands. Allen is the release valve for that plan. (and yes, Allen's well documented dirty play difficulty will dominate the media scrums in Phoenix for the rest of the questions beyond Mr. Ball.). I wouldn't relish playing Kennard straight up. And that is why I think this is yet another banner/pennant to rise to the rafters at Cameron, Duke's Tobacco Road home.

So, beyond UCLA and Duke upsetting their ways to the Final Four, what other water-cooler upsets do I see making tongues wag? I honestly, rarely go against chalk on the weekends. But in this year of multiple teams getting to that top ranking, I think I have to throw away tired old ideals. It's also the year of the Virginia commonwealth popping up in near-record numbers.

I think that the sweetheart that gets past the first weekend will be Middle Tennessee (knocking off Minnesota in a 5-12 game, and then Butler. Wisconsin's weekend whacking of Villanova (an honorary V-school) will be the upset of most importance as the tournament quarters the field. Otherwise, there's a LOT of Virginia action that will make the wahoos proud of their state. Virginia getting past UNC Wilmington won't be an upset, but a win over Florida WILL be, albeit a slight one. Vanderbilt, an honorary V-School, will win the 8-9 West matchup with Northwestern.

Virgina Tech will be Wisconsin's first victim, falling to the Badgers in an 8-9 game. VCU's loss to Saint Mary's is expected in a 7-10 clash. But I think that game might be amongst the tourney's best in the round of 64.

I like Marquette to top South Carolina in a 7-10 pairing. That, and the Wisconsin toppling of Villanova accounts for all the East upsets. I'm passing on the popular picks of SMU to down Baylor this weekend and East Tennessee beating Florida because everybody picks on Florida ... including me. But not THIS round.

The West upsets are positively going to be rare. Vandy over Northwestern and then pfft! Maybe it's the Xavier Rathan-Mayes fan in me, but I can't see Florida Gulf Coast beating Florida State, although it'll be fun to watch. The FGC Eagles do have upset momentum in a LOT of brackets. Not mine.

Lots of opening upsets in the MidWest. Michigan State gets the 8-9 nod over the higher-seeded Miami for no other reason than picking against Tom Izzo is dumb. If they weren't playing Kansas in the second round, I'd like the Spartans to make a run. Michigan, not to be confused with Izzo's squad, will drop a decision to 10th-seeded Oklahoma State. And in keeping with the upsets that will dominate talk Saturday morning, will be Rhode Island taking out Creighton. I passed on the trendy Nevada over Iowa State 5-12 upset. Other-wise, it's Rock, Chalk, Jayhawk to the Final Four. Literally.

Now, the South is going to be uber-entertaining. Not only do the Blue Raiders of Middle Tennessee back their supporters in taking the 5-12 game, but also eliminate 4th-seeded Butler before succumbing to North Carolina. The last of the opening round upsets is the usual 8-9 pot boiler as Seton Hall stops Arkansas. I wanted to have Wake Forest in the 6-11 game with Cincinnatti, but the Deamon Deacons failed in a First Four matchup with Kansas State. So, I will take the Bearcats over the Wildcats. Lastly, I passed on another trendy pick, 10th-seeded Wichita State, which will be shocked by the 7th-seeded Dayton Flyers. Shocked, if you go by the Hail, Mary pickers who believe explicitly in the KenPom ratings. After the games Thursday and Friday, UCLA does the upsetting, nabbing 2nd-seeded Kentucky, top-seeded North Carolina and then ANOTHER One seed in Kansas. 

Duke wins, and I already have the shirt for that.