Weekend Hot Clicks: Sean Doolittle Rejects Trump's White House Invitation

Author:
Andrew Doughty
Publish date:
Nov 2, 2019

Sorry, UMES

There are 353 teams in Division-I men’s basketball. One of them is the best and one is the worst. Michigan State is the best, and Maryland Eastern-Shore is the worst, say SI’s Molly Geary and Joe Wilkinson, who ranked all 353 teams before the season tips off on Tuesday.

“Someone has to be last, right? UMES (No. 353) didn’t beat a Division I opponent until Jan. 19 last season, finishing with the third-least efficient offense in the country and one of the 15-worst defenses. New coach Jason Crafton will hope to start a turnaround, and inherits a decent number of returning pieces.”

Also: Predictions for Final Four (and Final Four darkhorse), national champion, overhyped teams, mid-majors to watch, and more.

New Threads

Boise State is wearing gorgeous all-white uniforms vs. San Jose State … Maryland’s throwback uniforms against Michigan … Arizona’s “Desert Swarm” uniforms vs. Oregon State … Colorado State’s “State Pride” uniforms vs. UNLV … Air Force’s all-blue uniforms vs. Army.

Doolittle Declines

“At the end of the day, as much as I wanted to be there with my teammates and share that experience with my teammates, I can’t do it. just can’t do it,” Nationals reliever Sean Doolittle said after rejecting Trump’s White House invitation. He is the first player to announce he won’t be visiting.

“There’s a lot of things, policies that I disagree with, but at the end of the day, it has more to do with the divisive rhetoric and the enabling of conspiracy theories and widening the divide in this country. My wife and I stand for inclusion and acceptance, and we’ve done work with refugees, people that come from, you know, the ‘s---hole countries.”