THE PALLILOG

Charlie Pallilo: It was a long time coming for UH in the NCAA Tournament

Charlie Pallilo: It was a long time coming for UH in the NCAA Tournament
Rob Gray twists for his final, game-winning shot Thursday night. Jamie Squire/Getty Images

In a college basketball equivalent to a Halley’s Comet sighting, the University of Houston won an NCAA Tournament game! It only took almost 34 years since the last victory. It also took Rob Gray being for one day the best college basketball player in America. Gray’s beautiful up and under layup through traffic with one second left gave the Cougars the 67-65 final margin, though since it was a 34-year wait I guess it was fair that UH had to survive San Diego’s way-too-good a look at a game-winning shot off of a 70 foot inbounds pass.

Gray finished with a career-high 39 points. Only Elvin Hayes has ever scored more for UH in an NCAA Tourney game (the Big E went for 49 vs. Loyola-Illinois in 1968). If you’re curious, Akeem (no H in those days) Olajuwon’s tourney high was 29. Clyde Drexler’s was only 21, which sounds low because it seemed like he had 21 dunks in the famed semifinal win over Louisville in 1983.

The Cougars have a very tough assignment with Michigan in round two Saturday but they’re playing with house money now, and it’s not as if #6 seeds ousting #3 seeds is highly uncommon.

The list of schools with an NCAA victory more recently than the Coogs before Thursday night was preposterously long: five of the eight Ivy League schools, Bucknell, Hampton, Montana, Siena, Southern, Vermont, Winthrop, Norfolk St., Coppin St., Morehead St., and North Dakota St. To name some of the more than 180 in all.

Tigers in tough

If Texas Southern beats Xavier Friday night it would be merely the biggest upset in the history of the tournament. It’s house money play for TSU too, which won a play-in game over North Carolina Central to qualify for the main draw as a 16th seed. It comes with an asterisk (or at least a footnote) but counts for the Tigers as their first ever NCAA Tourney win. TSU began the season playing 13 straight road games, and lost all of them. From an 0-13 start to the Big Dance. Knocking off Xavier basically would require a basketball miracle. Since 16 seeds came into existence with the expansion of the field to 65 teams in 1985, they are 0-134 against #1 seeds.

Not an upset?

If my team played your team twice during the regular season and in one of the games your team beat mine 57-50 and in the other yours beat mine 52-50 in overtime, would my team beating yours in a third meeting be a monstrous upset?

Upsets are a tremendous part of the history of the NCAA Tournament. Probably the two considered the most stunning are the 1983 and 1985 championship games. North Carolina State 54-52 over the Phi Slama Jama Houston team was a shocker. Two years later Villanova upending Georgetown 66-64 was an upset, but it is overrated as “one of the greatest upsets of all-time.”

The Hoyas were the reigning National Champions, and still anchored by Patrick Ewing. They had lost only two games all season, they occurred back-to-back by a combined three points (by one at St. John’s and by two at Syracuse). Georgetown and Villanova were Big East rivals with the familiarity with each other that comes with being conference foes who played twice per season. The Hoyas beat the Wildcats in the two regular-season matchups, by scores of 57-50 and 52-50 in overtime. So the third time being the charm for ‘Nova shouldn’t be considered some mind-blowing outcome. That it occurred in the NCAA Final makes it the stuff of legend, as does the fact that Villanova shot 79 percent from the field for the game. But it was not David felling Goliath.

Net Gaine?

The Texans have not opened free agency with a bang under new General Manager Brian Gaine, but at least they didn’t open with a whimper. Their pathetic offensive line has been upgraded, provided guard Zach Fulton is a much better addition then the last free agent offensive lineman the Texans signed away from the Chiefs. He should be. Jeff Allen should be a candidate to be released, especially with the Texans also adding former-Saint Senio Kelemete. At minimum the Xavier Su’a-Filo error should be finished. That was not a typo. Su’a-Filo was one of ex-GM Rick Smith’s hallmark lousy second and third round picks. He was the first pick of the second round and never became an adequate player. Among those drafted after Su’a-Filo in the second round of the 2014 Draft: Demarcus Lawrence, Joel Bitonio, Lamarcus Joyner, Jimmy Garoppolo, and Jarvis Landry. Oops.

Buzzer Beaters

1. The Rockets are now 85-90 percent to be the #1 seed in the Western Conference   2. If UH knocks out Michigan, it will be knocking out Wolverine point guard Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman   3. Other best names in this year’s Tournament: Bronze-Lourawls Nairn, Michigan St. Silver-Admiral Schofield, Tennessee   Gold-Seventh Day’Vonte Woods, North Carolina

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Get your popcorn ready! Composite image by Brandon Strange.

Filed the column early this week with Astros’ baseball that counts arriving Thursday! Ideally that arrival occurs with Minute Maid Park’s roof open under sunny skies with temperature in the mid-70s and only moderate humidity (that’s the forecast).

As they ready for their season-opening four game series, the Astros and Yankees enter 2024 with streaks on the line. The Astros take aim at an eighth consecutive American League Championship Series appearance while obviously aiming ultimately higher than that. The Yankees are a good bet to fail to make the World Series for the 15th consecutive season, which would be a new Yankees’ record! At its origin in 1903 the franchise was known as the New York Highlanders. The name became the Yankees in 1913, with the first franchise World Series appearance coming in 1921. So that was 18 years of play without winning a pennant. Maybe that gives the Yanks something to shoot for in 2027.

On the more immediate horizon, the Astros and Yankees both start the season with question marks throughout their starting rotations. It’s just that the Astros do so coming off their seventh straight ALCS appearance while the Yankees are coming off having missed the postseason entirely for the first time in seven years. Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole can spend time Thursday chit-chatting about their days as Astro teammates because they won’t be pitching against one another. Cole’s absence hurts the Yankees more than Verlander’s should the Astros. Cole was the unanimously voted AL Cy Young Award winner last season, and at eight years younger than Verlander the workload he was expected to carry is greater. Cole is gone for at least the first two months of the season, the Astros would be pleased if Verlander misses less than one month.

Whoever does the pitching, the guy on the mound for the Astros has the benefit of a clearly better lineup supporting him. The Yankees could have the best two-man combo in the game with Aaron Judge batting second ahead of offseason acquisition Juan Soto. Two men do not a Murderers’ Row make. Gleyber Torres is the only other guy in the Yankees’ projected regular batting order who was better than mediocre last season, several guys were lousy. The Astros have six guys in their lineup (Jose Altuve, Yordan Alvarez, Kyle Tucker, Alex Bregman, Chas McCormick, and Yainer Diaz) who were better in the batter’s box than was Torres last season. The Yanks have hopes for a healthy and huge bounce back season from the brittle and 34-years-old Giancarlo Stanton. Good luck with that.

Man with a plan

We have to see how things play out over the season of course, but it is exciting to see new manager Joe Espada’s progressive outlook on a number of things. Acknowledging that Astros’ baserunning has too often been deficient, Espada made improving it a spring training priority. The same with Astros’ pitchers doing a better job of holding opposing base runners at first with base stealing having occurred with the highest success rate in MLB history last season. Tweaking the lineup to bat Alvarez second behind Altuve is a strong choice. Having your two best offensive forces come to the plate most frequently is inherently smart.

Opting to bat Tucker third ahead of Bregman rather than the other way around also seems wise business. Let’s offer one specific circumstance. An opposing pitcher manages to retire both Altuve and Alvarez. Tucker walking or singling is much more capable of stealing second base and then scoring on a Bregman single than the inverse. Or scoring from first on a ball hit to the corner or a shallow gap. I suggest in a similar vein that is why the much older and much slower Jose Abreu should bat lower in the lineup than Chas McCormick and Yainer Diaz. Though Espada giving Abreu veteran deference to get off to a better season than Abreu’s largely lousy 2023 is ok. To a point.

Eye on the prize

The ceiling for the 2024 Astros is clear. Winning a third World Series in eight years is viably in play. The floor is high. Barring an utter collapse of the starting rotation and/or a calamitous toll of injuries within the offensive core there is no way this is only a .500-ish ballclub. That does not mean the Astros are a surefire postseason team. The Rangers may again have a better offense. The Mariners definitely begin the season with a better starting rotation. In the end, other than when it impacts team decision-making, prognostication doesn’t matter. But these two words definitely matter: PLAY BALL!

To welcome the new season we’ll do a live YouTube Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast about 30 minutes after the final out is recorded in Thursday’s opener.

Our second season of Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast is underway. Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and I discuss varied Astros topics weekly. On our regular schedule the first post goes up Monday afternoon. You can get the video version (first part released Monday, second part Tuesday, sometimes a third part Wednesday) via YouTube: stone cold stros - YouTube with the complete audio available at initial release Monday via Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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