Kudos to the IUP women’s basketball team on a terrific weekend. The Crimson Hawks have looked unstoppable on their way to tonight’s Atlantic Regional title game. They held Glenville State, a team that had won thirty straight games, to 31 points below their season average in their semifinal win on Saturday. IUP is clicking on all cylinders. Now, after a much needed day off, they get a chance to punch their ticket to the next round. This might be the best team Tom McConnell has had at IUP. It will take a really good team to knock them off.
• The Penguins have every reason to be upset by the goalie interference call against Brian Dumoulin in Toronto over the weekend. It cost the Pens a goal in what had been a tight game. More importantly, it added to all the discussion around the NHL as to what is and isn’t interference. It sure looked like Dumoulin was pushed into the Toronto goaltender. As the playoffs get ready to start, it’s time for the NHL to clear up what has become a very controversial rule.
• I’m beginning to think that Steelers’ running back Le’Veon Bell is more trouble than he’s worth. He’s now had the franchise tag applied to him for the second year in a row and is already threatening to skip training camp if he doesn’t get a long-term deal. Bell is clearly a very talented and versatile back, but he’s not worth the money he’s asking. And if he shows up in week one, like he did last year, he probably won’t help the Steelers early in the season. If this drags on, and I’m guessing it will, the Steelers might be better off yanking the franchise tag, something they’ve never done, and invest the money they’ve offered Bell in another running back and on the defensive side. I doubt the Steelers will do it, but maybe they should.
• Don’t look for the Steelers to do much when free agency starts this week. They simply don’t have the cap space to spend big. The Steelers also aren’t overly active in free agency. They’ll wait for teams to throw around big money and then look for bargains once the dust settles. The Steelers still have some needs on defense. I’m just wondering if they can make any mores given their salary cap limitations.
• I don’t often agree with firing a coach after only two years on the job, but have to agree with Pitt’s decision to move on from Kevin Stallings. His hiring was never embraced from the beginning, and a 4-34 ACC record in two years and winless ACC mark this last year made it hard to believe he was the guy to lead the Panthers. Furthermore, the average attendance at Pitt games this past year was a little over four thousand fans a game. That doesn’t pay the bills. Pitt basketball at The Pete used to be a hot ticket. Now, it’s one nobody wants. Pitt needs to hit a home run with this hire. It’s a very important one for all involved. There’s no reason Pitt Basketball can’t be great again.
• I don’t know if Tiger Woods is good enough to win another major, but he sure looked good over the weekend at the Valspar. No one in golf moves the needle like Tiger. He’s great for the game. Woods is suddenly one of the favorites to contend at the upcoming Masters. That would be some comeback. Woods hasn’t won a major in nine years and trails Jack Nicklaus by four major championships. Masters tickets, which are already hard to get and incredibly expensive on the secondary market, just got more expensive.
