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Monday’s Hot Clicks: Selection Committee Makes North Carolina Central Coach’s Nightmare a Reality
Good luck with that
North Carolina Central head coach LeVelle Moton has turned his alma mater into a perennial power in the MEAC, leading the Eagles to their third straight NCAA tournament this year. Moton is realistic about his team’s status on the national level, though, and he’s not going to lie about his team’s chances against the best teams in the country. In an interview Saturday on Raleigh’s WRAL, Moton specificially said he wanted no part of Duke.
“Zion [Williamson]? That’s like me playing with my six-year-old son in his bedroom,” Moton said.
And when the brackets came out on Sunday, where did the Eagles land? In the First Four against North Dakota State. If they win, they’ll face Duke on Friday.
That was pretty much unavoidable, though. NCCU is easily the worst team in the tournament field this year. The committee ranked it dead last in the field of 68. Duke got the No. 1 overall seed after winning the ACC tournament, so the committee gave the Blue Devils the winner of the play-in game between the two worst teams in the field.
At least now Moton may get to see Zion up close and see how apt his comparison to his six-year-old is.
It’s been that kind of season for LeBron
How many times have we seen LeBron James with the ball in his hands in the closing seconds, his team trailing by one score? How many times have we seen him get stopped by Mario Hezonja?
That’s basically how this Lakers season has gone, and LeBron is so obviously fed up with it all. His apparent disinterest caught the eye of Knicks broadcaster Clyde Frazier, who made a pretty good point.
Cincinnati welcomed MLS in grand fashion
MLS expansion club FC Cincinnati had its first home match last night and saw a sold-out crowd set a new club attendance record (breaking the previous mark set last year in USL play). The sight of the fans marching down the street to the stadium was something to behold.
Everything you need to know about March Madness
It’s finally here, the NCAA tournament. A few teams got snubbed, others didn’t get the sort of seed they probably deserved. Teams on the bubble celebrated their asses off after finding out they got the nod. We even have breakdowns of all 68 teams in the field. The best two days in sports are Thursday and Friday with 16 games each day. If you’re old school and want to print off your bracket, you can do that here. SI also has a way to create a bracket that is incapable of being busted.
The best of SI
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Around the sports world
There’s a surprisingly simple explanation for why there are so many bats at Spurs games. ... A Las Vegas bettor placed $67,000 on the Warriors making the playoffs and will now collect his winnings of $670. ... Johnny Manziel signed with the AAF team in Memphis after getting kicked out of the CFL. ... Yale’s women’s soccer coach reportedly had his players write portions of his own grad school papers.
What a photo
Michigan State’s Kyle Ahrens injured his ankle and the whole Spartans team was overcome with emotion. Luckily for Ahrens, X-rays came back negative.
How the GM reacts when you get blown out by the worst team in the league
Drink responsibly
It’s big ball chunky time
Bring this to America
He wasn’t happy to get showed up
I did not know this about college hoops
I’m glad Curtis Granderson is still in baseball
Not sports
A New York brewer made a beer with yeast recovered from an 1886 shipwreck. ... The guy who police think killed a New York mobster wasn’t a gangster himself and now the mob wants to kill him.
This monkey will kick your ass
Would you rather have lizards in your house or spiders?
Idris Elba teaches you British slang
A good song
Email dan.gartland@simail.com with any feedback or follow me on Twitter for approximately one half-decent baseball joke per week. Bookmark this page to see previous editions of Hot Clicks and find the newest edition every day. By popular request I’ve made a Spotify playlist of the music featured here. Visit our Extra Mustard page throughout each day for more offbeat sports stories.
