Inside Yolk

The NBA Draft is more than a little ridiculous. As sports fans, we hate when great players get stuck on bad teams, but every year we stand by and watch dysfunctional franchises get rewarded with the cream of the amateur basketball crop. Sometimes it works out with teams like Oklahoma City and Philadelphia building strong teams with multiple top-five picks. Other times, you get a complete bust like Anthony Bennett or a case like Anthony Davis in which the team that drafted him can’t build a decent squad and ends up having to field trade offers, resetting the cycle of suck.

The Knicks figure to be big players in the free agent market if they are lucky enough to draft Zion Williamson in June. That comes down to their 14-percent shot at the top pick coming up golden in tonight’s NBA Draft Lottery. Williamson looks like the kind of can’t-miss prospect that we only see come around every few years. He’s one guy who it isn’t crazy to talk about as the next LeBron James. He’s got the size, strength, and athleticism. Plus, he’s skilled around the rim and appears to be getting better at shooting the ball. Finally, the Knicks have been the right amount of bad at the right time.

Still, thanks to the new lottery rules, there is an 86-percent chance that New York will be drafting someone else next month. That is a little sobering, but Murray State’s Ja Morant looks like a point guard that you can build a franchise around. There’s also Williamson’s teammate RJ Barrett, a small forward who is doesn’t not have Zion’s intimidating size, but might be a little more skilled. The Knicks are almost certain to end up with an incredibly exciting prospect, but it will seem like a lost chance if that man isn’t Williamson. The hype train has built the big man up to where he’s on another level than all the other draftees.

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While working at SiriusXM on Barstool Radio, I sometimes put together 30-second spots that are played on other stations to promote the channel. It’s sometimes challenging to squeeze down a very funny segment or rant into the time frame provided, but the result can be satisfying. I love being able to share the weird stuff that the Barstool talent says on a daily basis. Here are some of my favorite examples.

KFC compares the 76ers and Markelle Fultz to a failing marriage

KFC’s thoughts on the strange people who eat the Filet-O-Fish at McDonald’s

Ria from Chicks in the Office struggles with the concept of a leap year

Also from CITO, Fran and her date got Diet Cokes, but Ria thought they were going hard

I’m annoyed with the Mets. They got off to a decent enough start this season. Beat the Nationals a couple of time, beat up on the Marlins, split with the Braves on the road. Nothing mind-blowing, but it was a solid start to a campaign that we needed a good start for. With so much competition in the National League East and the Central threatening to hog both Wild Card spots, the Mets needed to start hot in order to compete with a roster that’s not top-to-bottom as talented as Washington’s or Philadelphia’s.

The weird part is how the Mets won 10 of their first 16 games. They did it by allowing a bunch of runs but also scoring a bunch. It’s a template that the opposite of how the team was built to win. With Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Zack Wheeler, and Steven Matz headlining the rotation, this is a team that’s supposed to win with strong starting pitching. Instead, Syndergaard and Wheeler have struggled while deGrom and Matz fell down to Earth after dominating in their first two outings. The bullpen has been worse, with none of the middle relief options emerging as a reliable entity.

My instinct is that the pitching will stay the same — it’s impossible for deGrom to be as good as he was last year anyway, and Syndergaard has always been more about style than substance — while the hitting comes crashing down. Maybe that won’t happen, though. This team hasn’t even needed Robinson Cano to play well in order to score almost six runs per game. Instead, Jeff McNeil has just kept on raking and Pete Alonso is hitting moon bombs all over the yard. Wilson Ramos has given the Mets a legitimate offensive threat at catcher and Michael Conforto could be beginning the consistently great season we’ve been waiting so long for.

Can it continue? McNeil is a contact machine who legitimately looks like another Daniel Murphy, and Conforto is making more contact than he usually does as well. Those are both good signs, but Alonso I could see slumping because he’s already striking out in 30 percent of his plate appearances and it doesn’t seem like opposing pitchers have figured him out yet. In a key spot against Philadelphia on Wednesday, he struck out on a ball in the dirt, but he’s also shown enough willingness to take walks that him mashing all year like Aaron Judge’s rookie season isn’t out of the question.

The emergence of J.D. Davis is truly weird, but maybe not insane since he did mash Triple-A pitching in Houston’s system. Hopefully he’ll stay hot long enough to cause issues when Jed Lowrie is ready for action. Or, more realistically, Cano or someone else will be hurt when that happens.

Speaking of getting hurt, the latest news out of New York is that Jacob deGrom is getting an MRI for his “barking” elbow.

That’s not great! And New York’s pitching rotation is already so paper-thin that the brass is trying to convince fans that Jason Vargas is still fit to take the hill every fifth game. Seth Lugo is someone who could shift from the bullpen to the rotation quickly, but that would only weaken the relief corps. Beyond Lugo and Vargas, the call-up options are guys like Corey Oswalt and Chris Flexen who were never hot prospect to begin with and have already proven lousy at the major league level.

If deGrom’s injury is as serious as fans are already assuming, the Mets are in big trouble. The only good thing that could come out of it would be ownership getting desperate enough to sign Dallas Keuchel, the former Houston ace who has been worth at least two WAR in each of the last five seasons. With the way the rest of the staff has pitched, deGrom is perhaps the most important player on the Mets, and replacing him with Keuchel might be the only way to keep opponents from scoring five or six runs every game.

But that’s all hinging on the MRI result. Maybe it won’t be as bad as we’re all fearing? Nah, this is the Mets we’re talking about.

What’s going on tonight

It’s the first night of Passover! As soon as I can get away from the Seder, I’ll have to check on how the Mets are doing in their series opener in St. Louis. Jason Vargas is starting for New York, and if he struggles again, fans will probably riot. Classic Mets villain Adam Wainwright will be toeing the rubber for the Cardinals.

Brandon Nimmo will miss his second straight game due to a stiff neck. Having McNeil at the top of the order is even better, but it was fun seeing Nimms start to heat up. Juan Lagares in center field hasn’t been as fun lately.

The top of that St. Louis order is scary, especially considering how seriously Marcell Ozuna is raking lately. Paul Goldschmidt is still a superstar, and Paul DeJong is one of the most underrated players in the majors… just not to Mets fans.

Elsewhere, the Yankees host Kansas City and the Dodgers are in Milwaukee for an NLCS rematch. Los Angeles took the first game last night thanks to a dominant Julio Urias performance.

It almost freaking happened. Penn State almost blew a 20-point lead to Rutgers on Wednesday, but in the end, a dominant first half — after which the Lions led 37-19 — was enough to propel this team to victory. Penn State did a great job controlling the glass and forcing Rutgers turnovers during the first half. With the way the Knights were providing fast-break opportunities and missing bad shots, it seemed like the rest of the game would be a breeze. You know how it is with Penn State, though. The Lions were bullied by Rutgers in offensive rebounding in the second half, the turnovers dried up, and the Knights finally started hitting some shots.

If it wasn’t for a few clutch buckets by Lamar Stevens and Josh Reaves, along with a defensive stand in the final seconds in which Rutgers’ freshman center Myles Johnson appeared to pass up a game-winning layup opportunity, the result might have been different. But Penn State did just enough to win and even the season series with Rutgers. That sets up an opportunity for the Lions to snag a first-round bye in the Big Ten Tournament with a win against Illinois at home and a Rutgers loss to Indiana.

I know, I didn’t think it was possible either, but the tiebreaker scenarios will favor Penn State if it finishes at 7-13 alongside Rutgers and Illinois. If that happens, Penn State’s sweep of the Illini and 1-1 record against the Knights will give it a 3-1 record among tied teams and a ticket to 10th place in the Big Ten. That’s good enough to get a day off when the league tournament tips off on Wednesday night. Not bad for a team that lost its first 10 Big Ten games this season.

Since dropping a home game to Penn State on February 23, Illinois has a win over Northwestern, but it’s also been blown out by Purdue and Indiana. Even better, the Illini have been dreadful on the road this season, going 2-7 in Big Ten play, and one of those wins was a Maryland “home” game at Madison Square Garden.

Defense has been an issue for Illinois lately, with both Purdue and Indiana each shooting 55 percent from the field. When Penn State last visited Champaign, Lamar Stevens had himself a day, scoring 25 points on just 12 shots, and the Lions won 83-76 despite turning the ball over 17 times. With the way Penn State has been playing lately, failing to sweep Illinois today would come as a pretty big disappointment.

A lot has happened since Penn State embarrassingly lost to Rutgers at home back on January 26. Pat Chambers finally got his team to execute properly, and that led to a whopping five Big Ten wins in the month of February, including a pair over ranked foes Michigan and Maryland.

Whoop dee freaking do. All this means is that athletic director Sandy Barbour has more excuses to keep Chambers around for eight more mediocre years, right? Well, maybe. There are reason to believe that this team is building into something sustainable, though it’s not like we haven’t been here before with Penn State. Lamar Stevens is playing like a First Team all-conference player, and we’re finally starting to see more disciplined player from freshman combo guard Rasir Bolton. Better yet, Myles Dread is a legit sniper from three-point range and Jamari Wheeler has settled into his role as someone who should never ever shoot the ball.

Add in some great defense to that improving offense, and you’ve got the recipe for a decent basketball team. Not bad considering where this program was a month ago. There’s still hope that all the key pieces — save for the graduating Josh Reaves — return next season and that incoming four-star recruit Seth Lundy gives the team a little something while Bolton and Dread continue to improve. If all that happens, Penn State might be a tournament team. In reality, someone gets injured and Chambers makes a deep NIT run to secure a contract extension.

Back to this season, though. Penn State’s second crack at Rutgers comes tonight in Piscataway. Back in January, both sides were equally brutal on offense, which makes sense given the solid defenses at play. To get the revenge win on the road, the Lions are going to need big contributions from the freshmen guards while Wheeler and Reaves smother Geo Baker and Eugene Omoruyi on the other end.

Even with a win in New Jersey on Wednesday and another at home over Illinois on Sunday, it’s looking impossible for the Lions to get out of the bottom four of the Big Ten. That means playing on the first day of the Big Ten Tournament next week and probably getting eliminated before the big dogs even hit the floor. Sigh. It’s all about building for next year anyway, and that means not losing to Rutgers twice in the same season. The Knights aren’t the doormat they’ve been in the past, but losing too often to a school so close to Philadelphia can’t be good for the little bit of clout Chambers maintains in the city. In other words, just freaking win tonight.

It’s been a while since fans of Penn State Basketball even entertained the idea of the team playing beyond the Big Ten Tournament in March. Eight straight conference losses will do that to a fan base. At this point, we just want to see improvement; a spark from a young player or an inspired performance from a vet. Something that will convince — at least those of us who aren’t there already — that athletic director Sandy Barbour shouldn’t just rocket Pat Chambers into deep space at the end of the campaign.

It’s a good sign that Lamar Stevens seemed to rediscover his three-point shot during last week’s game against Minnesota that Penn State should have won on the road. It’s nice that three freshman guards — Rasir Bolton, Myles Dread, and Myreon Jones — are all getting playing time. But this team should have been so much more this year.

Josh Reaves occasionally flashes his ability on offense, but with so many greenhorns in the backcourt, Penn State needs him to be the floor general and get to the basket more often. Mike Watkins has done a great job to work his way back into the fold given his off-court issues, but after an inspiring performance against a super tough Michigan team, he’s faded into the background.

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It’s Friday night and I feel alright. That’s what happens when you get your food shopping done during the day and get to watch speed runs of Pokemon Gold all afternoon. The NFL Playoffs continue tomorrow with a couple of hot games that will keep this guy glued to the action all night. Tonight, though? There’s Big Ten basketball action. Gotta get down on Friday, people.

I don’t know why it took this long for one of the major conferences to start putting their hoops games on Friday night. Saturday is already saturated with college basketball as well as the NFL football this time of year, so why not put your games in more friendly waters?

Big Ten basketball: Indiana at Maryland (-5.0) and Purdue at Wisconsin (-3.5), both games on FS1

The Hoosiers are tough to figure out because they haven’t played many teams on their level. Two of their three losses are to Duke and Michigan — perhaps the top two teams in the nation — while their best win is over Marquette, a team that isn’t quite at the top of the Big East. No one is super jacked about Indiana’s three Big Ten triumphs over Penn State, Northwestern, and Illinois. The attitude around this team can get a huge boost with a win over Maryland.

The Terps are 3-0 in January with wins over Nebraska, Rutgers, and Minnesota. They haven’t been tested as tested as Indiana and might not have the top two players on the court in this game — IU’s Romeo Langford and Juwan Morgan are pretty damn impressive — but Maryland’s team is deeper and it’s getting some great performances from its own freshmen in Jalen Smith and Aaron Wiggins. I like Maryland to win by a bucket at home.

I’m thinking the Badgers also get a home win tonight. Wisconsin lost back-to-back games against Western Kentucky and Minnesota recently, but they rebounded with a shellacking of my Nittany Lions. On the other side, Purdue took its lumps during a tough non-conference slate, but also has Big Ten win over Iowa and Maryland to brag about. Most recently, the Boilermakers were blown out by Michigan State on Tuesday.

This game will be billed as a battle between the two top players in the Big Ten, Ethan Happ and Carsen Edwards. That alone will make this game fun to watch, but Wisconsin’s home-court advantage and its superior supporting talent should be enough to get the win by about five or six points. Look for Wisconsin point guard D’Mitrik Trice to rediscover his scoring touch after being held under 10 points in each of his last two games.

NBA: Indiana at New York (+8.0) and Lakers at Utah (-8.0), both games on ESPN

The Knicks are without Enes Kanter tonight because he went too hard on cheat day. That doesn’t give New York much of a chance against a very good Pacers squad. However, Indiana will be missing a big man of its own, as Myles Turner is out with a shoulder injury. I still think the Pacers win by double digits.

Over in Salt Lake City, the Lakers are big underdogs without LeBron James, but they’ve won two in a row and Kyle Kuzma seems to be emerging as the secondary go-to guy that Los Angeles needs. The Jazz have been playing down the middle all season; they haven’t won or loss more than two games in a row since November. I’ll take Utah to win but not cover.

Big Ten Hockey: Michigan State at Penn State, BTN

College hockey is awesome, but I’m only going to watch this because it’s a PSU game.

Have a great night!

Even an NIT bid is starting to look out of reach for Penn State basketball. The team is now 0-5 in Big Ten play and 7-9 overall after losing to Nebraska on Thursday night. Yes, it was nice to see the Lions compete for 40 minutes against a veteran squad on the road, but Pat Chambers is supposed to have some experienced talent of his own, and said talent has not performed consistently enough to grind out wins against — we hear this from announcers time after time — the deepest league in the country.

If Penn State is going to take a step forward and start winning some of these Big Ten games in January, Josh Reaves needs to approach 20 points more often. He reached 20 against Nebraska, but that was following five straight instances of him scoring below 10 points. It’s not as though there’s a wealth of options to hand the ball to after Lamar Stevens gets doubled-teamed, which happens on every other possession.

The key for Reaves seems to be his three-point shot. At times, it looks dreadful, but when it’s falling, the senior looks to take it and becomes a much more aggressive player. His 4-for-7 night from beyond the arc was his best since going 3-for-8 to key another close road loss against Maryland on December 1.

Mike Watkins had his second double-double in three games, which is good because it means less John Harrar on the floor. Harrar is a decent enough defender, but he’s painfully clumsy on offense, and Penn State can just not deal with that when it’s playing form a deficiency at the perimeter spots.

Like Harrar, Trent Buttrick and Myreon Jones also scored zero points on Thursday. Since the Alabama game in which they both received expanded playing time, both players have gone back to being insignificant contributors. That’s disappointing, especially when you consider that the main guy Penn State counts on for three-point shots, Rasir Bolton, has made one of his last 14 from long range, a span ranging all three January games.

Penn State kept the game close in Lincoln by frustrating James Palmer Jr. (11 points on 3-for-12 shooting), but Isaiah Roby and Glynn Watson Jr. picked up the slack by combining for 41 points on just 25 shots. The Cornhuskers are even more shallow than Penn State, as they only got one point from their bench, but their starters proved a little more capable.

Next up for Penn State is Michigan State on Sunday afternoon. It’s a 4:30 p.m. start that is running against an Eagles playoff game, so you can bet your tush that there will be a very sparse crowd around to see the Lions take their shot against one of the conference’s best teams.