Time is now for Aztecs, Padres
The Aztecs remain a winning basketball team, despite the continuing search for the next gear that clearly exists. There should be extra incentive to find it, since the chase for this season’s NCAA Tournament title seems so wide open.
Someone could make credible arguments for more than a dozen teams, San Diego State being among them. The scent of possibility seems similar to 2020, when the Aztecs climbed to 30-2 before the pandemic wiped out the dreaming.
Tournament history says you need to win one game in the bracket, something the Aztecs haven’t done since 2015, before you can win six. But in a season where Houston, Purdue and Alabama have sat atop The Associated Press poll, the stranglehold of teams like Duke, Kentucky and North Carolina seems over.
How can San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher best position his team to make a big run when big runs seem more possible for more teams?
“We just have to win as many games as we can to get the best seed we can,” he said. “Then it’s a matchup of styles. If you shake up the NCAA Tournament (bracket) with the same teams, you’d have a different champion every time.
“We tell our guys, March is for players. You can’t shy away from the moment.” …
Speaking of the Aztecs, no team has played fewer Quad 4 “gimme” games than their one. They have zero bad losses. The early résumé, though, has been losing sheen as of late.
San Diego State beat routinely solid BYU, but the Cougars are slumping after three straight losses that includes one to now 9-18 Pepperdine. Stanford is sub.-500. Ohio State 3-12 in the Big Ten. Forty-nine
teams own more Quad 1 wins than the Aztecs (two), despite an aggressive nonconference schedule.
You get chances to pile up those types of wins every week in the Big 12, Big Ten and SEC, but it’s the kind of thing NCAA button-pushers watch.
There’s a lot more proving to do down the stretch. …
Confirmation that
Manny Machado will exercise his opt-out clause to chase more money should surprise no one. It’s business, plain and simple.
There are plenty of arguments for him staying. This is Machado’s team, without a doubt. This is his city. He built a home in Coronado. He’s surrounded by Dominican players like Fernando Tatis Jr., Juan Soto and, for now, Nelson Cruz.
There’s a comfort level with owner Peter Seidler, along with his willingness to spend at record levels, and manager Bob Melvin. Winning at big levels means he gets to do it against the Dodgers, an enticing competitive carrot.
The whole of it seems the perfect fit intersecting with a roster built to win. …
There are interesting what-ifs surrounding the possibility of Machado leaving, too. You’re already invested long-term in Tatis,
Xander Bogaerts and, to a lesser extent, pitchers Yu Darvish and Joe Musgrove.
If you think the Padres are serious about trying to lock up Soto beyond next season (he’s 24, Machado is closer to 31) and believe they’ll take another big run at two-position superstar
Shohei Ohtani of the Angels, that money has got to come from somewhere. …
Baseball analyst Tim McCarver, who died Thursday at 81, was more than a baseball mind. He was a voice, the soundtrack to so many mammoth games of my youth. When you heard him, you knew it was big.
His uncanny prediction of the fisted blooper by the Diamondbacks’ Luis Gonzalez off Yankees’ Hall of Famer closer Mariano Rivera to win Game 7 of the 2001 World Series — on the
next pitch, no less — belongs in a broadcasting time capsule. …
All of that initial carping about whether Eagles cornerback James Bradberry truly held JuJu SmithSchuster late on a penalty that sealed the Chiefs’ 38-35 Super Bowl win? It was a penalty. Photos and video prove it.
But why were people still talking about it after Bradberry admitted to doing it?
That did not decide the game, by the way. Patrick Mahomes doing things you should not be able to do on an injured ankle did. The Chiefs coming back from 10-down at halftime did. …
The Padres signing 39-year-old Cole Hamels to a minor-league deal is the ultimate “why not?” decision. There’s no risk and a shot at some reward if he finds himself in the bigleague clubhouse chewing up innings that provide a bit of depth.
The franchise has not done particularly well in “why not” moments as of late, from pitcher Jake Arrieta to longtime star Robinson Cano. Again, what’s the risk? …
Whose numbers can jump most for the Padres in 2023? For me, it’s Soto. No hitter in baseball might benefit more from the banning of the infield shift. Soto hits rockets to short right field.
Stir in the addition of Bogaerts and the return of Tatis, increasing lineup protection throughout, and
he’s positioned for a huge season. …
A federal judge on Friday denied Del Mar training regular Bob Baffert’s request to lift a two-year suspension by Churchill Downs, meaning he will miss a second consecutive Kentucky Derby.
The discipline stems from late Medina Spirit, the initial winner of the 2021 Derby, who tested positive for a banned race-day substance. The dominoes are coming for a trio of likely contenders, including Arabian Knight, who will need to be transferred to another trainer by Feb. 28.
Baffert will not represent Southern California at the sport’s biggest race. But he’ll leave his stamp on things, as always. …
Torrey Pines Golf Course got its close-up in the fourth episode of the Netflix series “Full Swing.” The episode follows grinder Joel Dahmen and his caddie-slashlongtime-friend Geno Bonnalie.
While traversing the San Diego cliffside during the 2022 Farmers Insurance Open, Bonnalie jokingly threatens to punch his boss in the ribs after he says, “I’m going to miss all the West Coast cuts again.” Then he reminds Dahmen that he promised him they would make $1 million in the next month.
He missed the cut. Torrey Pines? It looked spectacular, as always.