I was all set to write a POSITIVE post about SPORTS yesterday morning. But then I realized that it was Saturday and it would’ve had a shelf life of about six hours. The gist: Today is a huge sports day in Philly. I can’t remember the last time this city had a huge sports day. It may have been the day of the Eagles’ first game of the season. So, it felt good to be back in the saddle for games that actually mattered. How did it all work out? Let’s go in order that local news went last night.

[Sunday writing mode, so please excuse any typos, I don’t feel like editing]

 

Villanova (!!!)

Finally, the Wildcats lead a sportscast… and, derp, they lost to the UNDERRATED Pirates. That’s fine. Lots of top teams don’t win their conference tournaments. No harm. BUT. But I don’t think they deserve a one seed. Wait, what? What’s wrong with me? I don’t know. A wave of honestly has come over me. [I believe Chase Utley is kind of a dick– gah!] Before I regret my objectivity, let me explain: Kansas and North Carolina are near locks. Michigan State is the number 2-3 team in the country and they didn’t play until 3 p.m.  Their seeding was likely determined before their game and it will likely be a one seed. Their resume is more impressive than Villanova’s and they play in a tougher conference. That’s three. That leaves Villanova, Oregon and Virginia. Villanova is 1-3 against the top 10– they’ve lost to Oklahoma, Virginia and Xavier. They’ve continuously failed their tests against other top 10 teams, except when they crushed Xavier without their star freshman Edmond Sumner in the first game of the conference season. Oregon just won the Pac 12 and has won eight in a row. Virginia beat Villanova and plays in a tougher conference. If they get a one, Villanova will likely be the two seed playing in the East. If they don’t, and Oregon hops up there, Virginia might get the two seed in the East. I honestly can’t see a scenario in which you put Villaova ahead of Virginia. That’s fine, though. Nova probably gets a 2 in the East, which is virtually the same as a 1.

 

St. Joe’s 

Hey, Phil Martelli and your granddad’s suit won the A-10. Good for them. I’m sure school VP of Communications Joe Lunardi is scrambling to move them up a few lines to the biggest troll spot of all-time after their win against VCU today:

Voila_Capture 2016-03-13_03-20-27_PM

SJU folks make it so, so hard to be impartial:

Voila_Capture 2016-03-13_04-16-55_PM Voila_Capture 2016-03-13_04-17-05_PM

Like, reader Ryan here was crazy enough to save my Tweet from a month ago and wait for this moment to use it. Well, don’t worry, reader Ryan, you’ll get this one coming back to you soon.

But all joking aside, St. Joe’s is good enough to win a game OR TWO in the tournament. Hell, in this scenario, all three Philly teams couldn’t potentially play in Brooklyn and on Villanova’s home floor in the regionals. But:

 

Temple

I don’t think they deserve to make the tournament. That’s not an anti-Temple take. I just don’t think they’re good enough. They got waxed yesterday by a team that just played a 4-OT thriller. Come on. Losses to East Carolina and Tulsa don’t help. Neither does that 63 RPI.

 

Official prediction: Nova 2 seed in Philly (East), St. Joe’s 7 seed somewhere in middle of bumblefuck (Midwest), Temple Not In Tournament (again).

 

Flyers

Suddenly the Flyers are good again and effectively two points out of the Wild Card spot with five games against the two teams ahead of them – the Red Wings and Penguins – remaining. They drew only a tie against the Panthers last night after beating the Lightning back-to-back. But can we talk about this wrister from Ghost:

https://twitter.com/myregularface/status/708846413254361088

 

Sixers

They played a game last night, who cares if they won. But they retired Dolph Shayes’ number 4, currently worn by Nerlens Noel, making this picture they tweeted out so perfectly ironic:

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Weird.