Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5: Subject D
Some people have messaged me to ask if every case at the sleep laboratory was scary or strange in some way. I think I need to provide a little more background info, just so you can understand the logistics of the place and how it fit into my college at the time.
Our sleep lab was one of the best in the state when I was in college in the early aughts. It was federally funded, and entirely state of the art. There were three doctors of renown working there, of whom Dr. Sinclair was one. The other two ran the "normal" sleep labs. These were your standard, every day sleep studies. The only cases they dealt with were things like run of the mill insomnia. They had a grant to study sleep apnea, and some of the treatments people use today came about because of studies done by these doctors at my school. We were known for our sleep laboratory, but only for the work done by those other two doctors and their students. The studies done by Julie Sinclair were never made public. There were some stories put out by magazines and online news outlets after the lab closed down, but they were clearly skewed to make the whole thing look like an occult horror show after what happened.
Dr. Sinclair was allowed to use the lab one or two weekends every month. From what little I learned about her in my almost three years working there, I gathered that back in the late '60s she had been a psychology professor specializing in dream analysis and interpretation. She was later fired because of her unusual ideas and interests. She did not accept dreams at the Freud-level and instead prescribed to a more Jungian philosophy, that dreams were a collective unconscious network that could be interacted with as a kind of astral playground. She began doing studies on subjects with unusual dreaming abilities and eventually earned back some of the credit she had lost amongst her peers. Sometime in the mid '70s, she worked with a group of five people who were able to enter each others' dreams. Through observation and analysis, her paper on this rocketed her to a brief-lived semi-stardom in the burgeoning fringe science community. Despite the relative obscurity surrounding her name, she once had quite a paper trail. This seemed to dry up around 2007, when I graduated college and when the sleep lab was shut down.
The events from that year rocked my community greatly. I now live a few towns over from where I went to college, and it is still talked about. It's one of those town legends, like the homecoming queen who is murdered while in her tiara and gown and still haunts the gymnasium, or the sightings of a winged creature that everyone's grandparents swear was real. They recount the memories over iced tea, and newcomers press for details, hoping for a scare.
I was there when it happened. I don't walk around advertising it. I was investigated briefly, held in a jail cell for a night, still crying and in a deep state of shock. It's not a novelty act to me, something to pull out around a campfire.
Kids still talk about it. Current students tell the tale as a rite of initiation to all freshmen. They've since converted the laboratory into studios for music majors to practice or record. Some of them refuse to go down there. They swear it's haunted. A tuba player once ran out and told his professor he'd take the failing grade rather than go back to that place.
But no, not every night was like that one.
In fact, some were almost nice.
Here's one of those.
"Subject D: Tim Harriman" Name: Tim Harriman Age: 20 Occupation: College basketball player
(Present day note: I have changed Tim's name, as he was drafted to the NBA shortly after this study. He got injured in the mid '10s and has since switched over to commentary, but you might know who he is and I don't feel I have the right to out this secret of his. He did not want it getting out to anyone.)
Tim Harriman is tall. Standing at 6'7", he towers over Dr. Sinclair and Rajiv even when seated. He has to tilt back in his chair to keep his knees from bumping against the table. His eyes are kind and he speaks with a softer voice than I would have imagined him to have.
I am informed upon beginning my notes that we will not be observing Tim sleep tonight. We are just taking down his story. I ask Becky if this is common, and she tells me no.
Dr. Sinclair: Hello Tim. Thanks for coming in tonight. You didn't have a game?
Tim: No, ma'am. There's one tomorrow afternoon.
Dr. Sinclair: Do you know why we asked you to come in?
Tim: I think so. How'd you find out? (He laughs, a little bashfully)
Rajiv: I have some classes with the point guard, Nick. He told me about your dreams.
Tim: Man, Nick really has a big mouth. (His tone is light and playful, and he laughs again). Yeah, it's cool.
Dr. Sinclair: Tell us about these dreams.
Tim: Well, yeah, she shows up to tell me that maybe someday... she's just-
Dr. Sinclair: Could you start at the beginning? Pretend we know nothing about the dreams.
Tim: Yeah... yeah. So, I have these dreams about a girl named Delilah. I've known her since we were kids. She was a kid then too. But as I've grown up, so has she.
Dr. Sinclair: Tell us about the first time you can remember seeing Delilah.
Tim: I was... oh, wow, I was really young. Maybe five? She had pigtails. Anyway I'd dream about her once a week or so. It started to happen more when I got to be like twelve or thirteen.
Dr. Sinclair: Does she speak to you?
Tim: Delilah? Oh, yeah. She loves to talk. She's just like a real person. Do I sound crazy?
Rajiv: No. You're fine.
Tim: She... uh, it's weird but she's my best friend. When we were kids, we'd play and hang out. Go to the park, go sledding, whatever. It was so real, man. It's even clearer than my real memories.
Dr. Sinclair: When you'd wake up, would it be clear it was a dream? For instance, did the dreams seem to make linear, logical sense?
Tim: What do you mean?
Dr. Sinclair: Well, let's say we wake up from a dream about a pig holding a balloon. In the dream this could feel very real and normal, but when we wake up we realize it is actually an absurd concept. Could any of your experiences of Delilah be described this way?
Tim: Uh... probably not. It's never like a dream, I guess. It's normal. I'd meet her at her school and she'd come out and we'd go play. I mean, I'd get hungry and stuff. We'd go to her parents' house and her mom would make me PB&Js, and man, they tasted real! I even had to go to the bathroom sometimes.
Dr. Sinclair: Are all your dreams this lucid and vivid?
Tim: Nah, I have regular dreams too. Pig holding a balloon kinda dreams. (He laughs again) But never with Delilah. Any time she's there, it's real.
Rajiv: So, as you got older...
Tim: Yeah. (He gets really quiet and seems shy all of a sudden. He looks down at his brightly colored sneakers.)
Rajiv: Nick told me you were in love with her.
Tim: Hey, man... I'm not in love... (He trails off and seems slightly agitated) Look, I...
Rajiv: It's okay. We're not judging you at all. We want to hear your story.
Tim: You going to tell anyone I said any of this?
Rajiv: No.
Tim: Okay. Yeah, yeah, I love Delilah. Or something like it. She's beautiful. She's funny, and she calls me out on things. She's direct. Says whatever's on her mind. And she loves me too. I tell her about stuff that happens here, like with the team, and she helps me with my problems. I take her advice when I'm awake and everything works out. I swear if it weren't for Delilah, I would have never gotten that scholarship. She helped me through every part of it.
Dr. Sinclair: How often do you see her?
Tim: I'd see her every night if I could, but there's no way to force it. Usually two or three times a week. Maybe four.
Dr. Sinclair: There's no way to predict when she'll show up?
Tim: Not really. Only way is if it's been a few days. She never leaves me for longer than that.
Dr. Sinclair: Tell me, Tim, does Delilah know you have another life?
Tim: Well, yeah. She does too.
(I drop my pencil, surprised, and Becky stares at me.)
Dr. Sinclair: Please, go on.
Tim: So, I mentioned her mom made me a PB&J sandwich, that Delilah goes to school or whatever. But that's not her actual mom. That's not her actual school. Delilah's like me. She has another life, when she's awake. We meet up in these dreams. (He stops but the doctor and Rajiv are still looking at him expectantly, so he goes on.) Can I sign something that will say all of this is confidential?
Dr. Sinclair: The information is not confidential as this is a scientific research forum, but we will keep your identity private.
Tim: Alright. Well, let me try to explain. I'm still Tim in these dreams, but I'm like the best version of Tim. I'm a little taller (I made a note with some question marks here, and Rajiv later explained to me that 6'7" is not that tall for a basketball player), I'm a little better looking. My dad's still alive there. I went to a different high school, one I liked more. I played basketball as one of my classes. And Delilah's the same. She tells me she's better looking there, more athletic, she can sing better. Her mom is nicer, and even looks totally different. Her name's Kathy there, instead of Ruth, which I guess is what it is in real life. But Delilah kind of gets along better with her mom Kathy, than her real mom. So there are differences, but we're still kind of the same. So yeah, we talk about our other lives. I tell her about the basketball team, about school. I even told her I was coming here.
Dr. Sinclair: Do you believe Delilah is a real person?
Tim: (bites his lip, hesitates for maybe fifteen seconds) Look, I'm not crazy. I know I sound crazy but you gotta understand... this is just my life.
Rajiv: It's our lives too. We are not going to judge you as crazy.
Tim: I could lose my scholarship if people knew about this.
Rajiv: No one will find out.
Tim: Yeah. I know she is, man. I got a letter in the mail.
(I drop my pencil. The next piece of Tim speaking is taken from Becky's notes)
Tim: We have different last names there. I told her my real name, where I go to school, but she won't tell me stuff like that. She says I'm a big time basketball player, and in real life I would never take a second look at her. She didn't want to give me her info 'cause she knew I'd try to find her, and she thought I was gonna be disappointed. She won't even tell me what state she lives in. I do know she's in the US somewhere and once she mentioned the ocean, but man... she won't tell me. But one day her family went on vacation to the Bahamas and she sent me a postcard. You know, send me a postcard when she's on vacation, so I wouldn't know where she actually lives.
Dr. Sinclair: What did the postcard say?
Tim: She told me she hoped I would get it but she wasn't sure, and then she mentioned "lime soda". It's kind of an inside joke. She signed it "Love, D".
Rajiv: This is huge. (Rajiv looks visibly excited for the first time since I've met him. He is practically jumping in his seat.) We need to find her. (He turns to Dr. Sinclair) If we can track her down, then this would be further proof of your theory-
Dr. Sinclair: One moment please, Tim. (She gets up and moves to the far corner of the lab with Rajiv. Their voices are audible through our speakers in the observation room, but Tim cannot hear them.) I have conducted numerous studies that for all intents and purposes prove this theory. Even if we did manage to track down Delilah, there is no adequate way to convince the majority of skeptics that it is not some elaborate hoax.
Rajiv: But why give up now?
Dr. Sinclair: I am not giving up. I'm merely stating that proving this theory is not possible in the manner you're suggesting.
Rajiv: Two people who have never met. You interview them separately and see how their stories intersect.
Dr. Sinclair: That might have worked... twenty years ago. It's 2004, and the internet renders such things impossible. Skeptics would argue that Tim and Delilah had been chatting online for years and had come up with this fantasy life over instant message or email.
Rajiv: But a simple search would show that wasn't true.
Dr. Sinclair: It's so easy to remove all record of any correspondence. Anyone with more than a passing interest in computers could pull it off.
Rajiv: Okay, but putting the skeptics aside... don't YOU want to meet Delilah? Aren't YOU curious?
Dr. Sinclair: I'm curious, but not enough to interfere. If Delilah is real, she doesn't want to be found. It's not up to me or any of us to reveal her to Tim without her consent.
Rajiv: Well, what if we can convince him?
Dr. Sinclair: That's not part of our job. Don't you remember what I told you about influencing reality? (I wrote down several question marks here but no one ever filled me in on this part.)
Rajiv: Right. I just thought it might be nice. They really seem to be in love.
(They move back over to the table. Tim was texting while they were gone.)
Tim: Just telling Nick I'm gonna kill him. (He laughs again and puts his phone in his pocket)
Rajiv: Did you tell Nick you were in love with Delilah?
Tim: Hell no. I never told Nick or any of the guys that. They just kinda... figured it out.
Dr. Sinclair: How so?
Tim: I... don't really date. I've tried. Believe me, I've really tried. A lot of girls like basketball players, so it's not that there's a shortage of options, ya know? I've been with a couple, but the guilt eats me up. I'd tell Delilah and she'd be fine with it, but she also told me she's never really dated anyone in real life because she doesn't like anyone the way she's liked me. And I feel the same way. I do the bare minimum to not draw attention to myself. Dance with girls, maybe uh... a little more... but no love there. I've never loved another girl.
Rajiv: Do you want to find Delilah?
(Dr. Sinclair gives him a pointed, intense look)
Tim: Yeah. I really do. I ask her over and over to tell me how, but she refuses. I reassure her that I don't care what she looks like there, or how messed up her life is. I can help her, the way she helps me. But she never lets me. Lately she told me maybe someday, but not until she gets her life together. I say I'll help her with that, but she won't let me.
Rajiv: What if we could-
Dr. Sinclair: (Clears her throat) Thank you for coming in, Tim. We'll be in touch if we have any more questions.
Tim: Oh, yeah... uh, sure.
Rajiv: Good luck tomorrow, buddy.
Tim: Thanks, man. Gonna go all the way this year.
(There is some more banter about our school and the team which I will cut out so as not to expose Tim's identity.)
I kept thinking about Charlie. I had gone to see his band play the week before, and couldn't help but fixate on our possible shared dream. My mind went to all the places of the skeptics', just like Dr. Sinclair's persistent retorts to Rajiv's optimism about Tim and Delilah: I must have seen him before, the whole thing was bits and pieces from my day, this whole sleep laboratory job was just getting to me. All seemed like perfectly logical explanations, the kind you could comfortably slip into and spend a lifetime inside.
Charlie's band was pretty good. He played bass guitar. The music was so catchy and well-played that I even forgot about the strangeness of our meeting during some songs. But then the lights would come down in a certain way and I would remember being in the room, sitting on the fuzzy white chair, seeing Charlie for the first time.
I understood what Tim was saying. It really does make you feel crazy.
We never heard from Tim again, but I went on his wikipedia page a while back and saw that in 2011 he married a woman named Delilah Marin. (I changed her real name, which is very unique, to Delilah in order to protect both her and her husband's identities). They are still together to this day.

Ranking Sunday's games by watchability

I seem to remember someone doing this a few years back and really enjoying it, so I thought I'd give it a shot with the condensed schedule leaving so many games on the schedule each night. I'm ranking each game in three categories: competitiveness, importance, and style points/storylines (which includes star power, the style of basketball, and any intriguing stories to watch). I'll include a survey at the end where you can predict the winners of each game!
Let me know if this is something you'd like to see again!
10) Milwaukee Bucks (1-1) vs. New York Knicks (0-2) at 7:30 pm EST
Where to Watch: League Pass
Spread: Milwaukee -11
Last Meeting: January 14th, 2020. RJ Barrett drained five threes and Bobby Portis scored 20 off the bench, but the Bucks dominated the Knicks at Fiserv Forum 128-102. The two teams combined for a whopping 79 points in the third quarter.
The Bucks have won their last five meetings with the Knicks, with the last New York win coming in an overtime thriller at the Garden in December of 2018.
Competitiveness: A championship contender that dismantled the Warriors by 40 facing the Knicks on the tail end of a back-to-back. Not much else to say here. 1.5/10
Importance: This game is essentially a scheduled win for the Bucks, and a chance for the Knicks to test their young guys and let them grow up a little. Unfortunate that Obi Toppin will be on the sidelines for this one. 2/10
Style Points: The high-flying Bucks offense has been off to another hot start, topping the 120 point mark in both of their games. The Knicks' young guns have shown promise and made so flashy plays, but they also turn the ball over a lot. Neither team tends to foul a lot or shoot a ton of free throws, which will help game flow.
Some might keep an eye on Giannis' free throw shooting, but the real story to watch is RJ Barrett's three point accuracy. He lit it up from distance against Indiana, but struggled mightily against Philly. Can he take a step forward in that department this season?
Bonus points for the MSG crew calling this game. 6/10
Overall Rating: 3/10
9) Brooklyn Nets (2-0) vs. Charlotte Hornets (0-2) at 7:00 pm EST
Where to Watch: NBA TV
Spread: Brooklyn -7.5
Last Meeting: February 22nd, 2020. The Nets used a third quarter explosion to turn a comfortable win into a rout as they won 115-86. Luwawu-Cabarrot led the team in scoring with 21, while Garrett Temple of all people snagged eleven boards.
Competitiveness: The Nets have steamrolled over their competition so far, blowing out the Warriors and Celtics by 20+ points. The Hornets have struggled with two losses to non-contenders, and come into this game on the wrong end of a back-to-back. 1.5/10
Importance: A contending Nets team cannot afford to drop games like this one, especially in the early part of the season when there are so many eyeballs on KD and Kyrie. The Hornets could really use a positive performance to get their season headed in the right direction. 4/10
Style Points: The Nets have stars all over the court and have looked like a juggernaut early this season, making them one of the most intriguing teams to watch, and a fun one too, as they've played fast and made lots of threes. Charlotte ranked last in pace of play last season but seems to be trying to pick things up. You'll get the Charlotte crew for this game on NBA TV, and they call a fun game.
Terry Rozier and Gordon Hayward are two guys to pay attention to- Rozier dropped 42 on a Cavs team that sucks at defending point guards. Is he headed for a breakout season? Hayward was shut down by the Thunder last night and will look to get things going. Plus LaMelo Ball! 8/10
Overall: 4.4/10
8) Golden State Warriors (0-2) vs. Chicago Bulls (0-2) at 8:00 pm EST
Where to Watch: League Pass
Spread: Golden State -2.5
Last Meeting: December 6th, 2019. Glenn Robinson III made the go-ahead layup with a minute left and a very different looking Warriors team beat the Bulls 100-98 in Chicago. Denzel Valentine was ejected in the third quarter for yelling at the Warriors' bench.
Competitiveness: The Warriors have been blown out by two great teams so far. The Bulls have been blown out by two mediocre teams and just played a deflating contest against the Pacers last night. 4.5/10
Importance: Both teams could really use their first win of the season. The Warriors cannot afford to lose to teams like the Bulls if they're going to contend for the playoffs. This probably still figures as a matchup of two non-contenders, though. 5.5/10
Style Points: The Bulls have lots of exciting young players, but they seem turnover-prone and have struggled to score. Neither team has been able to stop literally anyone on defense so far (lol thanks Golden State for taking Wiggins), so there's a chance this turns into one of those ridiculous shootouts where both teams top 70 in the first half.
Patrick Williams looked good in his first game against the Hawks, but the Pacers were able to shut him down. Watching him adjust to the breakneck pace of games and the new level of competition will be interesting. The Warriors will need to find other sources of offense besides Curry and Wiseman, and this game is a perfect chance for them to do so. Definitely opt for the Chicago broadcast if you tune in. 4.5/10
Overall: 4.8/10
** 7)Philadelphia 76ers (2-0) vs. Cleveland Cavaliers (2-0) at 7:30 pm EST**
Where to Watch: League Pass
Spread: Philadelphia -6
Last Meeting: February 26th, 2020. The Sixers had to play most of the game without their two best players as Joel Embiid left in the first quarter with a sprained shoulder. The Cavs, then the worst team in the East, led the entire way and won 108-94.
Competitiveness: The Cavs look like a much better team this year as Sexton has another year under his belt and they have Drummond underneath. There's a long way to go to challenge the Sixers, though, and they played an exhausting two-overtime trench war with the Pistons last night while Philly coasted to an easy win over the Knicks. 5/10
Importance: Definitely a litmus test game for the Cavs- can they hang with Philly and prove that they can be that dangerous team no one wants to face in the east play-in tournament? The 76ers might be looking past this game as they have a big clash with Tampa Bay coming up on Tuesday. 4/10
Style Points: This game gives us two matchups between stars. Joel Embiid has been on a mission to start this season, following up his 29/14 against Washington with a 27/10 against the Knicks. His matchup with Andre Drummond will be one to watch. At point guard, Simmons-Sexton could be an even more exciting face-off. The Cavs have played a more fun style of basketball this season, using Sexton to ignite a high pressure defense that stole a win in Detroit. That double-overtime win might prove costly tonight, though, when they run out of gas against a deeper and more talented Sixers team. Bonus points for the Cavs having that really fun color guy, I guess. 6.75/10
Overall: 5.25/10
6) Minnesota Timberwolves (2-0) vs. Los Angeles Lakers (1-1) at 10:00 pm EST
Where to watch: NBA TV
Spread: Los Angeles -11
Last Meeting: December 8th, 2019. AD dropped half a hundred and LeBron put up 32 and thirteen assists as the Lakers won a 142-125 slugfest. The Wolves hung around and trailed by only seven after three quarters before LA pulled away.
Competitiveness: The Wolves are off to a surprising 2-0 start, including an impressive win in Utah last night. Most would write this off as a scheduled loss, though, with a back-to-back against the defending champs and KAT getting dinged up at the end of the Jazz game. Still, it will be interesting to see how this new-look Wolves team trades punches with AD and Bron in the first half. 6/10
Importance: The Lakers seem to finally be settling into the new season after a disappointing showing on opening night, and will be looking for another statement win. Some Wolves fans have speculated that they will rest KAT after his injury scare tonight. I'd expect him to play, but no one in Minnesota thinks they will win this game. 3/10
Style Points: Anthony Edwards going up against two of the best in the game? DLo back in LA? Upstarts against the defending champs? Top notch storylines for this game, where the first half will be a good litmus test for Minnesota, before fatigue probably sets in for guys like Edwards and Culver and the game gets pretty ugly.
Minnesota's defense looks much improved this season, and their explosive bench can keep this game fun. And you know what you're getting with the Lakers' stars. Unfortunately the NBA TV rights to this game mean most fans will get the LA crew and miss out on the top notch Fox Sports North announcers. 8/10
Overall: 5.6/10
5) San Antonio Spurs (2-0) vs. New Orleans Pelicans (1-1) at 7:00 pm EST
Where to Watch: League Pass
Spread: New Orleans -5
Last Meeting: August 9th, 2020. The Spurs and Pels faced off for a high-scoring showdown in the bubble that saw the two teams combined for 77 fourth quarter points. JJ Redick went off and hit eight threes and Zion chipped in 25, but the rest of their teammates shit the bed and the Spurs won 122-113.
Competitiveness: The Spurs are off to a fast start, most recently squeaking out an impressive win over the Raptors last night. The Pelicans have produced mixed results, but beat Tampa by a more impressive margin and have an extra day of rest. Expect a close one early, with New Orleans having a sizeable edge late. 6.5/10
Importance: Both teams figure to be in the hunt for the final playoff spots and will see each other plenty this season as they are both in the same division. I doubt the Spurs would sweat this B2B loss too much, though. 7/10
Style Points: Zion put up a highlight-worthy 32 and 14 on Christmas Day against the Heat, and the Pels look like a new team on defense, making them one of the most interesting squads to watch this year. Ingram, Redick, Hart, and Lonzo can combine for an offensive explosion at any time. The Spurs can play kind of a bland style sometimes, especially with 35 year old LaMarcus Aldridge playing on a back-to-back. Dejounte Murray, who just posted his first career triple double and looks much improved this season, will be an interesting to player to watch today. This one feels like it could be a snooze-fest or a barn-burner, with nothing in between. 6.75/10
Overall: 6.7/10
4) Boston Celtics (1-1) vs. Indiana Pacers (2-0) at 8:00 pm EST
Where to Watch: League Pass
Spread: Boston -2.5
Last Meeting: Tuesday March 10th, 2020. The Celtics were the last team the Pacers faced before Miss Rona stepped in and put a stop to the basketball for awhile. Marcus Smart made the go-ahead layup to rescue Boston in the final minute after they blew a 19 point lead, and they held on to win 114-111. Sabonis posted a 28-9-8 night for Indiana.
Competitiveness: The Celtics have the rest advantage, as they got the night off to lick their wounds after a Christmas Night Stomping at the hands of KD and Kyrie, while the Pacers had to take the floor last night and beat up on the Bulls. The Pacers figure to be in the middle of the playoff pack, while the Celtics would like to challenge the Bucks and Nets at the top, and this game will be a huge early measuring stick for both teams. The Pacers will have home floor, which makes this anyone's game. 8/10
Importance: It's never too early to have a big game for playoff seeding! The Celtics will be anxious to prove that their opening game win against Milwaukee was no fluke, while the Pacers need to show us that they can beat someone better than the Knicks and Bulls. 7.5/10
Style Points: This is where this game kind of falls short. Tatum, Kemba, Sabonis, Brown, and others all provide lots of star power, but aren't the big names featured elsewhere on this list, and both teams tend to play slower, more defensive-oriented basketball. The Celtics' thumping at the hands of the Nets is more of a story for Brooklyn than for Boston, and Indiana has maybe been the playoff team that jumped off the page less than anyone else so far. Add in a game that's only broadcast locally and that overlaps with every other game but two and this game takes a bump in a packed Sunday night slate.
Still, this should be a very good game between two playoff teams, and a fun one to tune in for down the stretch if the Pacers keep it close. 5.5/10
Overall: 7/10
T-2) Orlando Magic (2-0) vs. Washington Wizards (0-2) at 7:00 pm EST
Where to Watch: League Pass
Spread: Washington -1.5
Last Meeting: Last night! The Magic and Wizards squared off for their first of back-to-back games, which was an exciting back-and-forth contest. The Magic had the edge on the glass for much of the game, which only intensified late as they pulled away and the Wizards started pressing and taking bad shots. Beal went off for 39 points while Westbrook posted a triple-double, proving that they can in fact play together just fine.
Competitiveness: Last night's game was a see-sawing battle for most of the evening. Orlando looks like the better team and one of the more improved squads in the East, if their win against Miami is any indication. Still, beating a team on their home floor twice in a row is extraordinarily difficult, and the Wizards get to regroup and see if they can fix their rebounding woes against the same team. Expect another entertaining toss-up!9/10
Importance: Both teams are in roughly the same boat: improved squads who will likely find themselves sitting on the edge of the Eastern Conference playoff field. They won't see each other again in the first half of the season, and to pick up a quick two games on their competition would be an enormous boost for Orlando. 7.5/10
Style Points: The Wizards have been playing a fun new style with Russ and Bradley Beal sharing the load on offense, and early speculation about how the pair will get along on the court has been promising. The Magic get the job done with comparatively little star power, but Vucevic has always been one of the more underrated players in the league and deserves some recognition. Terrence Ross and Davis Bertans will be other players to keep an eye on- Ross has been extremely hot offensively in his first two games, while Bertans is a streaky shooter who can be the key to Washington winning or losing.
Perhaps the most interesting storyline, though, is the back-to-back baseball-style two game series. College leagues are trying this out across the country and we've seen in leagues like the MAAC, Mountain West, and others how hard it is for superior teams to beat the same team on consecutive nights. We've also gotten a glimpse of this in the NBA preseason. This time, the teams are very evenly matched. How will the Wizards adjust tonight? What effect will the wonky scheduling have? 8/10
Overall: 8.2/10
T-2) Dallas Mavericks (0-2) vs. Los Angeles Clippers (2-0) at 3:30 pm EST
Where to Watch: NBA TV
Spread: Los Angeles -5
Last Meeting: August 30th, 2020. The Clippers knocked the Mavs out of the first round of the playoffs, winning Game 6 after the game was moved back due to the player strike. Doncic dropped 38 and Dorian Finney-Smith chipped in 16, but only one other Dallas played cracked double digits. L.A. moved on to the next round where they cruised through the first four games against the Nuggets and...oh wait hahahahahahahahahaha.
Competitiveness: The Mavs need to get their shit together. They posted a close opening night loss against the Suns and then got their doors kicked in by the Lakers... neither of those are alarming results, but they're not the mark of a playoff team. The Clippers are angry at the way last season ended, ready to take it out on the league, and they've looked like a juggernaut with Nic Batum in their lineup, putting up convincing wins over the other top two teams in the West. Doncic can keep any game close, but he needs his teammates to carry some of the load, and the Clippers are still the clear favourites here. 6.5/10
Importance: Dallas needs to show that they can beat playoff teams, as their schedule for the next few weeks doesn't get any easier after tonight. They'll face the Heat, Rockets, Magic, Nuggets, and Pelicans. They'll have to figure out who their second and third best scoring options are in the process. Both teams will be looking for a statement win on a national stage- they're the only teams playing in the afternoon tomorrow and get a national broadcast on NBA TV. 8/10
Style Points: Kawhi... Luka... PG13.... could you really get any more star power? The Mavs looking for revenge on the team that knocked them out of the playoffs by beating them in a Sunday Showcase game (albeit on NBA TV) in their house provides a great story to go along with the stars. The Clippers have been red hot from three point range to start the season, and a Mavs defense that allowed 138 points to the Lakers will probably provide plenty of opportunities for more fireworks. If not for the potential of a lopsided final score, this would be the #1 game of the day. Tune into this instead of football on a relatively light NFL day. 10/10
Overall: 8.2/10
1) Phoenix Suns (1-1) vs. Sacramento Kings (2-0) at 9:00 pm EST
Where to Watch: League Pass
Spread: Phoenix -3.5
Last Meeting: Last night! Sacramento jumped out to a 15-2 lead, but the Suns almost immediately cut that in half, and tied the game early in the third quarter. The teams traded baskets for much of the second half, with DeAaron Fox and Buddy Hield carrying the offensive load for the Kings, who held on to win thanks to some timely offensive rebounding from Richaun Holmes.
Competitiveness: Aside from the early flurry from the Kings, these teams were as evenly matched as they come, trading punches for the entire second half. The Suns probably won't shoot 11-44 from three point range again tonight, and the Kings will probably take better care of the basketball. Regardless, we're in for a fascinating rematch of two Western Conference playoff hopefuls. 10/10
Importance: Both the Suns and the Kings are exciting young teams with opportunities to improve on last season, and both figure to end up in that 7-10 seed range in the Western Conference. These two teams won't see each other again in the first half of the season, and the Suns cannot afford to drop back-to-back contests against one of their competitors for the last couple of playoff spots. The Kings, meanwhile, were largely overlooked by fans and writers heading into the season and look poised to outperform expectations. Going 3-0 to start the season would do a lot to quiet the doubters. Regardless, this two game series will likely end up mattering down the road. 8/10
Style Points: The Suns were the talk of the NBA Bubble in August and have continued turning heads with their opening night win against the Mavs. Chris Paul's presence at point guard allows them to run a better offense than "just let Devin Booker chuck as many threes as he wants and hope Ayton rebounds enough to let us eke out a close win". They're still a fun, up-tempo team that shoots lots of threes, and finally play some good defense if that's your thing too. Sacramento announced themselves as a team not to be slept on with their opening night win against the Nuggets (thanks Will Barton), and the trend continued last night. They've attempted the fewest threes of any team through two games this year, and their game plan of Fox driving and everyone crashing the glass gives us an intriguing contrast of styles.
Like I mentioned for the Wizards game, the baseball-style series also presents us with interesting questions to answer in this game (how will the Suns adjust on the glass? can the Kings beat the same team twice in a row?), and a nerve-wracking two games between two teams who are very close in talent level and playoff hopes. Perhaps most importantly, Phoenix's broadcast is the only one on League Pass so far that has figured out their on-court audio and actually sounds normal. Keep that one in mind! 8/10
Overall: 8.7/10
I also made a Google Form where you can pick all the winners of today's games... I'll link that below. Thought it would be cool to see how Reddit does predicting the winners. I'll close the form at 3:30 when the Mavs and Clips tip off. I'll try to pare this down length-wise if and when I do this again. Thanks for reading!
Pick the winners here!

David Johnson vs Scottie Barnes in Louisville vs FSU

In a possibly misguided attempt to increase the proportion of posts on this sub that actually have to do with the upcoming NBA draft, I've decided to write another post about a matchup involving two potential first round picks, this time tonight's matchup of David Johnson of Louisville against Scottie Barnes of FSU. As with last time, the focus of this post is how they played in this game.
In case you're not familiar, David Johnson is a 6'5 sophomore who plays combo guard for Louisville and is currently projected to be taken in the mid to late first of the draft. He also kinda looks like Nick Kroll.
David Johnson performance pros tonight: Johnson has an NBA ready body right now. He weighs in at about 210, is strong as hell and can play above the rim. On defense he can (and did) defend bigs on the post on switches and if his man doesn't get the ball, he's capable of boxing out significantly taller players. He's also very good at using is strength in his favor when driving to the hoop - when getting shoulder to shoulder with his man he can bump them off with relative ease. Also a very good rebounder for his position. His foot speed is also a strong attribute on both sides of the ball - when given the opportunity he's tough for defenders to stay in front of and defensively he's capable of locking in and not getting beat at the point of attack 1v1. Definitely among Louisville's better one on one defenders in this one. Johnson's not just a body though, he's a proficient multi-level scorer. Not a shot doctor, but no clearly visibly flaws with his 3 point shooting in this game and he looked comfortable enough in catch and shoot situations. When forced into a tough finish, he pulled a running hook out of his bag that legitimately surprised and impressed me. He's a comfortable handler of the basketball and both beat ball pressure and snaked a pick and roll. Can work in fakes and hesitations as well. Knows when to push in transition and really looked like a load to stop when given the opportunity there but also not too aggressive in these situations. Defensively, his hands were fairly active (he did commit a handful of fouls as well) and he appeared to be consistently communicating on defense with switches and the like. Overall, the team was not impressive when he was on the bench in the first.
David Johnson performance cons tonight: David Johnson might be an active communicator, but Louisville but he might just be shit at words and/or an idiot because Louisville played some horrid team defense. Obviously that's a team thing so it is not possible to know how much of that to attribute to Johnson, but he abandoned someone under the hoop (not his man, he picked him up in transition), went under some actions he was likely supposed to go over, and pointed at a switch for someone else to make while totally missing his role. To be fair, Louisville plays an aggressive, switching pack line defense that was clearly tough to play as a unit against a well coached team like FSU. Then, FSU did a great job defending the rim, which caused Johnson (and the rest of FSU) to press pretty severely on offense. You could see this pressing in Johnson's offensive performance, launching two ill-considered midrange jumpers in the first half and letting fly two step-back 3s that didn't appear to be a consistent part of his arsenal. The mechanics were functionally alright (that I could tell, still not a shot doctor), but they didn't look particularly smooth in footwork. Other than the pressing, the issue with his performance was his extreme right hand dominance. You could tell every time he got the ball in his hands to score he was desperate to get right. His handle isn't currently advanced enough to support it - I didn't see him chain multiple moves together for instance (he was also very occasionally loose). When forced left, he had a bad habit of picking up his dribble in the midpost and then looking for the pass. Speaking of passing, while Johnson is a creative and often impressive passer with the ball picked up, he didn't show enough live dribble playmaking to run an NBA offense through for any extended period of time - nothing of note in screen/PnR situations for instance, clearly looking to score there.
Scottie Barnes pros tonight: The primary white jerseys, white shoes, and white high socks were a great look. Other than that, really put a great athletic display out there tonight, mostly on defense. Has both the quickness to move out on the perimeter and the strength/height to bang inside and be exceptional at both. The intricacies of perimeter defense almost look old hand to him at times - can for moments guard two on the perimeter by closing out and recovering with speed. Had active hands out there and a couple steals - really sharp. Like every guy in FSU's well oiled machine he is a lynch-pin communicator on defense as well. Able to pressure ball handlers due to size, even when beaten (which does happen) can speed guys up from behind. Obvious obvious obvious switch anything type. His playmaking gets a lot of hype and there is a reason for that. Threw a fairly nice skip pass to the corner early in the game, though the defense was already rotating. Also a fairly clean entry pass when dribbling at high speed (and an actually useful no-look from the top of the key). The handle is enough for him to perimeter type things at this stage as well - did well in terms of avoiding mistakes. Showed a willingness to take 3s and I have to say that overall it looked quite solid (still not a shot doctor). Motion was smooth for the most part and there was minimal hesitation. At times willing to exploit physical mismatches - called for a post-up (didn't happen) and twice drove through smaller defenders in an impressive and decisive manner.
Scottie Barnes cons tonight: He missed both of those layups and didn't look completely completely comfortable finishing as a ball handler, though that might be an outlier performance. When posting up Johnson, eventually threw up a fairly pathetic push shot. Also, for someone so lauded as a passer, so little of his passing was actual playmaking - it was minimally incisive and mainly involved passing around the perimeter. When asked to be the playmaker in an action (rare but it did happen) it was clearly the case that he had two options - a primary read or a pass out option, though this may have been coach imposed (I think he was actually seeing second options just fine, but it's not all together atm). Showed essentially nothing as an eventual PnR ballhandler. The handle was also loose and unimpressive as he was unable to beat L'ville ball pressure consistently. He also had one super random and disconcerting high dribble which felt like it could've gone anywhere. Although he avoided mistakes in general, there was the occasional thoughtless play/passing that is tbf quite common in freshmen used to just being really fucking good. This mindset extended to defense as well - at times he seemed almost too confident in his defensive qualities; he overextended chasing an ATO pass, took a dumb foul after locking up a drive, chased a steal too hard, and bit really fucking hard on a crossover after a closeout that nearly had him on his ass. While a potentially dominant rebounder when engaged, he fell asleep on at least one rebound that lead to an OREB for Johnson. This is less of a real "con" and more of me left wishing for a little more, but when playing big and given the opportunity, Barnes showed minimal rim protecting instincts and it feels like he could do that job to some degree as well given the profile. Offensively, he also doesn't have a very good feel for being a big man in screens or DHOs - doesn't really impede anyone's progress too much. While he looked smooth shooting 3s enough to go 2/4 on the night, one of the opportunities was a bit forced after he made one just before and on his other miss he notably had some off hand interference, including an off-thumb flick. He also made maybe the dumbest looking play of the night in which he committed to trying to take a charge when the offensive player was still like a dozen feet away and the other guy just pulled up short and drained a smol floater in his grill - hilarious.
Bonus watch - Samuell Williamson: At least one mock had the 6'7 perimeter-oriented big/wing of Louisville on the bubble of being picked in the second so what the hell (I also loved FSU's Euro sounding center, who was a ton of fun to watch). Williamson has at least two things going for him right now - first that athletically, he should have a legit shot at guarding almost any position for at least brief periods of time. Second, his "attack a closeout to short range floater over the rotating rim protection" move is fucking smooth as fuck. He straight up dusted whoever came out on him and then popped it in someone's face at least 4 times. Loved it. Didn't really show much else at all.
In conclusion: Scottie Barnes looked like a fascinating combination of future skills that frankly isn't all that close to maturity at the moment. The handle / playmaking were nowhere near NBA ready at the moment and the shot is even less developed than that. You can see impressive defensive potential, but he has a freshman type habit of occasional lapses in intensity. Caveat emptor, but depends on your tolerance for risk I suppose (also one game analysis). David Johnson kinda looked like (to me, just from this one) an off the bench bulldog type, though I would be inclined to view him more charitably in general, Louisville played like crap for much of the game and FSU was ultra-coordinated, playing on a string at times. With less quality interior defense, he might showcase inside scoring a little better and if the step-back comes along (or this was mostly just a bad night) there could be something. That or a serious improvement in PnR passing. Who knows I guess, because I surely don't - prediction is a hard game. Also I thought watching Williamson was fun, but he didn't look super draftable in this one, but I have 0 sense of how the second round is shaping up.

Cloudtemplar on Damwon vs Sunning + Reflection

translated from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_KnXHycF2s&t=689s

Damwon 3:1 Victory!

As of now because of Damwon's victory in World LCK are now the number 1 region this year. Of course next year we still have to see MSI and Worlds but for now LCK have reclaimed their number 1 region spot.

This was a very emotional moment for me. This took longer than I thought. When LCK first fell I thought they would do better next year but they kept faltering on the international stage. I even thought this day would never come. When I watched LPL to be really honest they were really good. Even at the finals they gave us a hard time. Damwon really won our confidence back.

General Ideas

To start I think Suning did better than I expected. Both side have something they regret/fell short and there are many points going for them both but in the end I thought Suning did better than I expected. I predicted a 3:1 but I predicted a much easier 3:1. The won games were all loseable and to be honest I am not sure what would happen if they went to game 5.

Looking at Suning it reminds me of the old(young?) Damwon. Overall Damwon are a better team but Suning was really able to play out their style. Just like the name 'Style of Me" Suning was able to play according to their strength and displayed a monstrous performance. To be honest it was really fun seeing them play. Of course it was fun because we won it probably won't be that funny if we lost(IG flashback).

This is going to be a short overview of the series. Let's not go too deep on the games itself since we have something else to talk about.

Game 1

SofM Shen Jungle

Last time I talked about Shen and how not everyone can play the champion. There are just some player unable to play the champioin. I don't think SofM was good with Shen but instead, he is just really good with jungling. When you see the game you don't really get the feeling that SofM or even Suning is good with Shen. I don't think Shen is a champion that mesh well with Suning. But SofM is really good with Jungling so in terms of farming and macro he is really good but I don't he played to Shen's strength.

Pick/Ban

Damwon picked a pretty traditional comp: Orianna, Ornn, and Graves reminiscent of the group stage and then Ashe/Pantheon. The analyst desk talked about this already but this comp is great even in blind pick(OGN B05 prepared us for this). This comp doesn't really have much weakness and it's a great game 1 comp.

Suning on the other hand chooses a very stylish(flavourful) comp which they will continue to do so the entire series. The comp is all about combos with Azir, Wukong, Leona going in while Ezreal deal damage in the back. Azir is good on paper(original: 'concept pick') but it was really hard to use him effectively in-game.

Suning's comp was really scary but to put it simply BeryL played out of his mind this game. He was good overall but specifically his positioning before teamfight/objective was really amazing. Because they have Ornn against Shen/Wukong they really can't break sidelines so they have to group around mid. What Suning want to do is catch them offguard with Leona/Azir but BeryL was able to stop them and even catch them before they catch Damwon.

You hear this and might think Damwon is unstoppable this game but in reality, it was a really close one. Biin played out of his mind this game. Specifically when Biin who was able to outplay Nuguri and Canyon who came to pick him off. But Biin was able to dodge their skill and survive till Angel and SofM came and clean them up. Wukong wasn't even that ahead. Overall however Damwon did have the advantage but Damwon made some mistakes and we realized that this isn't going to come easy.

Sunny Side Up

What is interesting about Suning is that they play around top which is rare and no other team do this. But because Biin is so good they were able to put out a great performance. SofM too was good on enabling Biin while making sure bot doesn't collapse.

So Nuguri was really important here. If there was ten ganks then he evaded nine of them. Since top side was Suning's win condition Nuguri did a really good job absorbing the pressure. Sometimes he doesn't even get help and was just expected to survive on his own.

Suning Roster on Paper vs Reality

I don't think Azir is a good pick overall and he is only okay in niche comp like this. But Angel isn't their star player and aside from that Syndra game he didn't really surprise anyone.

What is kind of funny is that if you look at Suning on paper they aren't really a scary team. Because one: they play around top side and who the heck play around topside today? Their mid and bot isn't that strong and they are not even that great at Macro. Don't they sound like a weak team? The problem is that you lose even if you know all that. Suning has a particular style and they perfected that style to a tee. (It's like that quote that the best swordman isn't afraid of man with hundred move but man who perfected one single move).

Shen pt. 2

So a lot of people was asking why Shen didn't fall behind like many other Shens. Shen is a level 6 champion and like many other level 6 champions he couldn't keep up the tempo in early game. Suning however played around it and let him grew in the jungle. It was a team effort to keep Shen in the game. Canyon however didn't just slack off. He was able to get many objectives and was really busy. On the other hand Shen was focusing on leveling. This is why Shen didn't fall behind.

Game 2

This is a world record game where we have the first pentakill in Worlds Final. This was a really good game from Suning who played almost perfectly. They gave Lucian and picked Syndra who is good against Lucian in exchange. Because Damwon picked Lucian Damwon picked an AP Jungler(Eve) which then they picked Rengar to counter. From a pick/ban point of view it was a work of beauty.

Looking at this comp you might have thought Damwon inted in pick/ban. They gave Angel Syndra who is almost a Syndra one trick, they gave Rengar who counters Eve, and they gave Suning Jhin/Leona two of the most contested pick in bot. But in reality, Damwon had the advantage. It was a winnable game for Damwon and there were many reasons why they lost but I think the biggest reason is their failure to adapt.

It seems Damwon struggled against Suning surprised picks. You have to play a little differently against Rengar and Showmaker especially seems to panic a bit. And Biin Fiora played flawlessly this game. Canyon and Showmaker to be hoenst made a lot of mistakes this game. There were times where Canyon died with summs and Showmaker didn't do well with Lucian. I wonder what would happen if they played with a bit more caution.

To be honest this game might have been a frustrating game for Nuguri. Because to be honest as long as Nuguri was able to hold Biin Damwon should've won. Ornn is really hard to break and they wasn't able to break Ornn but other lane collapsed. Nuguri said in interview that he was angry for playing weakside this game and other games. And to be honest this is a game he deserves to be angry because he was able to hold on his own against Fiora. He did his job but as a tank he can't really do anything when his team collapse. He is really good on Ornn but you can't win against Fiora as Ornn.

Lucian

This and Damwon giving G2 Lucian makes me think they are not ready with the pick. It is hard to get practice time with Lucian since he is so contested and if you picked Lucian you need an AP jungler which is also contested and hard to match with other champions. Lucian is a good pick I think everyone agrees with that. But sometime there is picks like that where because it is so contested not everyone are able play them(Like Kalista at her prime).

Why Eve Why Not Lillia?

Eve is really good at pressuring enemy team and are great in shutting down Fiora. I don't think the picks are the problem but the in game plays. But you can say that the comp they picked might not been bad but what they gave to enemy team is wrong. Syndra who is Angel best champion, Jhin and Leona the teir 1 bot lane champions. If you look at the game from this perspective then yeah the pick/ban isn't good from Damwon.

Millionaire Binn and Vietnam Rengar

But for people who watched the game Biin was insane this game and SofM showed us the peak of Rengar. The analyst desk talked about this but there is some freedom to Rengar. You can go lethality Rengar or Tank Rengar. Usually, for solo alne Lethality Rengar is perferred but SofM was insane with the ping pongs and stack management. Out of the three mustakteer champions: Camille, Fiora, Jax Fiora has the weakest team fighting but with that items, nothing really matter. No matter who you are if Fiora has that many items she has no equal.

Even I with that many items could've won.

"??????????????????" -Chat

Cloudtemplar is currently Plat 3 with a 42%(33 games) winrate on Fiora.

Game 3

If I have to describe this one game with one word it would be: Nuguri. If I have to do it in two then it would Nuguri and BeryL. I am oversimplifing a bit and of course other players did their part too and BeryL was really good but Nuguri was a whole another level. He was able to evade ganks, win lane, and win team fights. Usually it is almost impossible to evade ganks and win lane he really did everything he can do. BeryL also did really good job with Braum.

However this was also a close game. Biin picked Jax(one of the three sword champion), Angel on his Akali, and SofM on Nidalee. It was a close game and it could've been a frustrating game for Nuguri because he really everything he can. Especially that time when four of his team mates made bad judgment and died. It almost became the like second game where Nuguri lost because of his team mates when he was doing really well.

All Right, Then. Keep Your Secret

So... people have been asking about the Omnistone runes Biin and SofM used. The thing about Omnistone is that it could be unexpected to the enemy and surprise them of course sometime it also surprise you. It is a gamble and it is really fun to play around that randomness but at the end it is really just for fun. I am really unsure about this. If Wunder told us why then we could have known but Wunder said he is keeping as a secret for next year so... Use it with caution to your LP.

Damwon's Biggest Strength

One of the biggest strength Damwon have and also the most important thing in this meta is lane prioirity/dominace. Damwon's bot doesn't falter against HuanFeng/SwordArt and Nuguri is Nuguri so Mid is very important here. But Showmaker is on Syndra so he is able to get lane priority which creates a scenario where all three lane are winning which gives Canyon a lot of space. Because of this it wasn't huge to give Sunnin Nidalee.

RED vs BLUE

When you are Red Side you have to give them one pick so what Red usually does is they give the enemy one good pick and take two afterward. Usually Blue take Lucian and there are still many good picks leftover like Jhin, Leona, Syndra.

Let's make this simpler. If you are red side you are able to take 2 OP pick against their 1 OP pick. AND you have last pick so you can counter one of their pick. This is why everyone picks Red side. So why does people prefer blue side the early stage of Worlds? This is because not everything was solved. At that time Nidalee, Lillia, Graves was super contested and getting just one of them at the start gave you such big advantage in Jungle. But over time people started to figure out how to play around them so the OPness got smaller. BTW this is normal. Players always find counterpick/style against OP picks and find a way to counter the current meta.

Game 4

There isn't much to talk about this game. Suning seems a bit fatigued and mental seems... a bit down. Suning Pick/ban wasn't that good, their secret picks was already shown, and went into this game a bit worried and exited the game the same way. One important thing is that Showmaker is once again on Syndra and through many adc bans they picked Cait gaining lane priority, Pantheon and Leona has the same role but Pantheon was able to move faster than Leona, and once again they seek to play around top but Nuguri was able hold once again.

I think SofM regretted picking Graves this game. I think SofM didn't expect them to lose so much lane priority. Graves is a good pick when you have lane priority and when you don't have lane prioirity you want to pick a ganking jungler. Whether it is Lee sin, Jarvan, or any ganking jungler they would have worked better. As for Kindered wolf was basically in heaven with 3 lane priority giving them free reign. Graves can't gank can't make plays. Other picks would've been better.

As for Gankplank he doesn't have as much as outplay potential than Jax, Fiora, Camille so I think Damwon had an easier time dealing with him then the last three games. Of course Damwon did well in pick/ban but you don't win just off of pick/ban they also did well in-game. This is game that I expected to happen. But aside from game 4 all three games was really close and clutch.

Series MVP

So Canyon received the series MVP which continues the feeling that Junglers are dominating the mvp spot after Ning, Tian. Some fan asked me if I can choose who would I choose for MVP. I think I would've chosen Nuguri because to put it simply Nuguri didn't have a single bad game this series. Canyon was a bit... bad in that Evelynn game but Nuguri did well all four games. Even the game they lost he still did well. I think Nuguri was the most consistent player and Canyon did really good but he didn't do good that Evelynn game.

BeryL did well too, Ghost did good too and Showmaker. Guys to be honest MVP is really just for show, for celebration. This is a team game everyone did their part to win the trophy. Who held the trophy highter doesn't really matter.

Best Players in Each Role in Worlds

I have always believed that whoever win Worlds are the best in their role ^{If you know my history you would know that to be true} and this is especially true this year. Think of any player that is better than Damwon's roster. There is none. Damwon roster is the best this Worlds.

However, who is the second/third is a bit more complicated. I think it is much more interesting to pick 2nd/3rd than to pick first since it is just Damwon.

2nd Best Players

Biin
SofM
Caps
Guys Guys Guys. This isn't World top 20 this is my own list. This is my subjective opinion and you can pick whoever you want. This isn't a poll rank. I will explain why I pick Caps later.

Marksman is a bit tricky but my pick contenders are: HuanFeng, Ruler, Rekkles

Huanfeng

Guys come on aside from that final series what other games did Huangfeng did bad on? Yes, there was some adc gap between him and Ghost but- people who play marksman will know this. They played top side games what can you do when you are playing weakside marksman? Suning always play around top side so how can you expect a weak side marksman to super carry? I am getting frustrating saying this so I am going to pick Huanfeng(lol).
Huanfeng
SwordArt

Why Caps?

Caps isn't as lane dominant as let's say Knight who is the second contender but he is a great playmaker. He made a lot of plays and are crucial to G2 and even in games they struggled Caps still made the best possible choice to win. I picked him because of his game changing playmaking potential.

I was going to put Sword as a joke but as you guys are rioting down there I am going to stop here.

Q&A

1. Was there a party?

a. No

b. Yes, but I just stayed for a while

c. Yes, but I didn't know

d. Yes, but I was banned

It's one of those

2. Cake?

I don't knw what taste it is since I didn't get get to eat it. I was going to throw the cake to fellow caster's face but then it had Damwon on it so I didn't want to ruin it.

3. Seed Change?

A lot of people have been asking that since we won Worlds would that give us 4 seed? I am not the one in charge but I don't think winning one Worlds automatically gives us 4 seeds. I think it is more about past achievements so this is only the start.

4. Next year?

So people have been asking what LCK will look like next year with the Franchising change and such. I don't know much but I think the region will be more competitive with the influx of money and slot security.

Come on guys its only been a couple hours since Damwon won please don't ask where I think the players are going...

5. Cloudtemplar's Schedule

I am not sure how they are going to do All-Star if at all but if they do it I will probably be there.

Starting soon I am going on a college tour and will meet many college students interested in League. I have already done this a few times but I am going to do more starting on Monday. If you wanted to meet tell your student council because they are the one giving out invites.

To be hoenst student council are such Chads. Like even when I was in High school I would see my seniors playing basketball or soccer and I think they are so cool. I usually just sit in a corner and talked about video game with my friends. I remember we would talked about last night game and break the game down. We would do our own draft and compare it. I think this is something our fellow gamers could relate like we would gather around during Lunch and talked about draft, pick/ban, and where/what we should play tonight.

I enjoyed it. It was my childhood and to be honest it was fun. I remember before video game we would make our story and people role play(it's kind of like DnD). Like we would have one DM and one artist and we will play out our story. One would be mage one would be barabainians and then DM would be like "Ah a monster appeared what would you do?" and we will be "attack", "run", "poke his butt hole". The story would go on for weeks and every time we had break we would gather around and play. It was really fun. Some people are laughing but I know some here could relates to it.

6. Stage, Opening

So to give my honest opinion I was quite dissapointed at first but then I was like "it's okay" at the end. The Galio wasn't too bad and I think at the end it got better. I don't think it's not that bad. It picked up at the end.

7. Oberservor

To be really honest the Obseror was really meh. It was kind of frustrating because I am seeing so many things but they are not showing them. I am good at casting from watching minimap and it is something I am proud of but... At one point we just stopped talking about things because we know that the oberservor won't show them. It is not like they can hear us so we can't really do anything about it...

But it's okay cause Damwon won. These things happens time to time let's just move on. When we host it we will do better.

8. Crowd

A lot of people was complaining about the crowd and how it was a library. Let's be the better man here and let it slide. And to be honest LPL crowd didn't have obligation to cheer for us. Just like how LCK fan doesn't have to cheer for them they don't also have to cheer for us. These things sometime happens in Sport like people would go completely silent after a homerun from other team.

And someone pointed this out but at least they didn't boo'ed us. When I was playing against TPA the whole crowd was cheering for TPA. Like when they killed a ward they would chant "TPA, TPA, TPA"(because of screen sneak peak/cheating incident everyone hated Azu Frost at that time). As long as they don't cheer against or boo us I am okay with it. You guys are asking too much.

10. Hope for LCS?

I think they either have to grow their player domestically or they have to be more open to spending money. I said this before but I think having more S tier player in a region elvate the region as a whole. So they might want to get more S tier player to NA. They don't want to come? Slap them with so much money they are having a second thought, second house, and second wife.

To be honest though they are already spending way too much money. What they have to do is spend money on the right player and cut those who does not deserve it. They have to paint the region as a region that pay you a lot if you perform and not just give money for free. Right now they are just spending money they have to spend money more realistically and smartly.

I am not saying they should get more Korean but just imports in general.

11. Championship Skin

I wanted to see Nuguri pick Ornn but tank champion in general doesn't get much love. And Nuguri Kennen have always came out when they needed him the most so I think it is okay for him to pick Kennen.

Canyon said it is either Graves or Nidalee and I think those two are fine. Probably going to sell a lot once it come out. Oh he said he picked graves? That's pretty cool.

As for mid he said he is picking TF which is fine. Akali would have been good too since he got famous for the pick but I don't think he picked her this World. I am not sure about Syndra since she already have a skin. Picking TF is actually kind of huge since he was one of the oldest champion and was in and out of the meta quite often. He is quite popular too.

Hmm I wonder who Ghost is going to pick. Oh he is picking Jhin? Hmm I don't think Jhin fit quite well... Draven? I don't think that sell well so I am not sure... Ashe? Ashe is good too Ashe is also a beta champion like TF. She is also many people's first champion because of tutorial... Wait they changed it? It's no longer Ashe? I guess time changes but wow I can't beleive they changed it... I feel old now.

BeryL should just pick Pantheon. It is going to sell well too. What? He is picking Leona? Oh man Pantheon skin would have been nice because you flex him in any role so he is more versatille. I guess I have to respect his personal opinion. Hopefully the skin would look good.

Conclusion

I know it is easy to just say LCK won and celebrate but this didn't come in one day. This came with many hardworks and please don't think only Damwon contributed. A lot teams worked hard for this moment and they made each other strong doing so. So many of them were like "I don't want to fight cause we might lose" then the coaches will be like "fight cause that's the only way we can get better." The teams decided to change and this is the result of it.

The Future of Cloudtemplar channel

So I have been doing this kind of stuff for a while and this one marks the final episode of the year. I've done this with Pony, with guest speaker, and even just myself and I am thankful for the fans and the attention I have gotten. From a youtuber perspective it is really hard for a hours long video to get any view. In Youtube short video are the one that get attention and viewership. Even I don't want to watch hour long video so I really appreciate you guys watching.

I have said this before but I have many things to learn and improve on. I don't have talent, I don't have skill, and all I can really do is try my best. There is a lot of time where I just want to stop everything and I wonder do I really need to do this much? Do I really need to live a life where I get cussed everyday? I have confidence that I can do this but it is hard somtimes. Most people don't know how hard I work and to be honest that's just life. You work hard nobody notices and you make one mistakes everyone notices. I guess that's just something we have to overcome. Anyway thank you guys for the support see you guys next time.

Been on a tear at Win Daily

Opinions Wanted! I'm working on a new novel and I want to see if what I have for the first chapter so far is even any good. So please give me your opinions as you see fit.

Chris Ursul had always been a loser. He was the kid who nobody liked and he came from a broken home. Single father, and his mother died when he was little. His dad John worked hours and hours at a crappy job to bring in meager pay. When he was actually home he wasn’t exactly able to help his son with homework and stuff like normal dads would do.
Chris’s daily hell was spent in the evil clutches of Sanguine High School, and the meaning of the school’s name was was almost too close to literal since every day seemed like a bloodbath. If you weren’t in the top spots of brains, brawn, or looks, you were screwed. And Chris… Chris was none of those things, meaning most days the various jocks would shove him into his locker. Yeah… His life was just peachy.
Today was no exception, as he took a few steps inside of the school and was immediately pinned up against his locker by the main source of his pain, Jack. “Hey loser, hope you stretched this morning, because I’m about to—”
“Shove me in my locker, I know, I know,” Chris muttered half-heartedly. “Let’s just get this over with so I can be late to geometry. Again.”
Jack scowled and shook his head, “You think you’re so smart, don’t ya, Ursul?” he spat.
Chris winced, “Yeesh, Jack, say it, don’t spray it. And you also could use a mint.”
In the next instant Chris had been folded like a cafeteria table and ceremoniously shoved right into his locker, the door slamming and leaving only a small bit of light from the hall shining in on him. Great, he thought with a roll of his eyes, I’m right on schedule. And in fifteen minutes Mr. Gordon’s going to come get me out and give me detention for being late to his class.
Mr. Gordon, the devil incarnate in the form of a middle-aged, sparse-haired, pot-bellied man still clinging to his high school football glory days. Most of his lectures involved some sort of football reference like, if a football field is a triangular prism how high would you have to throw the ball to get it over to the other side and other things like that. He was also Jack’s dad, meaning Jack never got in trouble for making Chris his own personal punching bag.
While awaiting his daily doom, Chris was surprised when his locker was opened and he was pulled out and allowed to fall to the floor by… “Marissa?” he muttered in confusion.
Marissa was another outcast like Chris, the only difference being that she was intimidating and nobody messed with her. Most people assumed she was a witch and had dead cats hanging up in her closet. Chris never thought that, but he did still think she was kind of strange. She wore nothing but black, be it clothes, makeup, or even streaks in her brick red hair. She also rarely talked to anyone, and always seemed to have her nose stuck in her sketchbook. Still, she also somehow turned in her classwork on time and was at least in the top ten percentile at school. She was also… weirdly pretty. Chris had always thought so, anyway. Sure she was sort of dark and a little creepy, but… She also had very beautiful and sometimes intense army green with quite a bit of hazel in them. And she always sat right by the window, allowing the sun to hit her hair and give her this all-around almost angelic glow.
“Are you just going to sit there and stare at me or are you going to let me help you up?” she asked, clearly annoyed as she was currently holding out her hand to Chris, who abruptly took it and allowed her to pull him up. “Come on and let’s get to geometry before Gordon bites our heads off.”
She turned around and walked away, not even waiting for Chris to reply or say thank you. Weird. Why had she even done that? Either way Chris brushed the cobwebs off his jeans and out of his sand blonde hair before slowly jogging and making it to Mr. Gordon’s classroom. He seemed surprised that Chris was there on time for once and even shot a look at his son, who looked rather bewildered. As Chris made his was to his desk Jack stuck out his foot and caused him to fall on his face. The entire class excluding Marissa erupted into laughter, and as Chris got up wincing in pain he saw spots of blood on the floor and quickly discovered it was coming from his now possibly broken nose. “Go see the nurse, Ursul,” Gordon muttered, not even looking up from his attendance sheet.
Thoroughly understanding his day was now ruined, Chris did his best to get to the nurse’s office with his head tilted slightly forward and his vision impaired with the tissues. The nurse, a much-welcome angel in the hellhole he called school, was called Miss Anna. Miss Anna was on the older side, but she was just as bright and cheerful as a kid and was surprisingly good at relating to whoever was in her office. She also recognized that no matter how old you get you love candy, so she had a jar of lollipops on her desk. Chris was in her office a lot thanks to how often Jack beat him up, tripped him, and even occasionally shoved him in the basketball hoop from time to time and was very sympathetic to his situation. Sometimes she even slipped a homemade casserole into his backpack to take home for him and his dad.
Today was not one of those days, unfortunately, but Miss Anna was still just as sweet as ever, allowing him to wait out his nosebleed in her office before examining his nose. “Doesn’t look like it’s broken. That’s good. Do you want me to call your dad?” she asked, knowing full well what the answer would be. She just legally had to ask him that each time he came to her office.
“No thanks, Miss Anna,” Chris replied as he washed off his hands and cleaned any remnants of blood from his face.
Miss Anna gestured to the lollipop jar, “Go ahead and take a few. And keep your chin up. Only a couple more years and then you’ll be off to college, right?” she offered with a reassuring smile.
Chris forced himself to smile a little as he took some cherry lollipops and shoved them into the pocket of his hoodie, taking the wrapper off of one and popping it into his mouth. At least he’d had one good thing happen to him today. He waved goodbye to Miss Anna over his shoulder and stepped out into the hallway, coming face to face with Jack and his buddies, much to his chagrin. “Have fun in the nurse’s office, loser?” Jack asked with a smile. He pulled the lollipop roughly from Chris’s mouth and threw it on the ground before stomping on it and grinding it into the tile with his probably hundred dollar sneaker. Chris raised an eyebrow at him and crossed his arms. “Well good, because you’re about to go back there,” Jack sneered.
“Why, you gonna give me another swirly?” Chris asked with an eye roll. “And then leave me on the bathroom floor after I pass out from the blood rushing to my head?” He put up his hand as Jack was going to speak, “Or! Are you going to deck me in the face a few times until I’m knocked unconscious? And go home with a swollen black eye? No, no, no! I think I’ve got it! You’re going to string me up the flagpole again in the mascot costume like you’ve been doing on the first day of school every year!” he finished with mock enthusiasm
Jack scowled, “Well I was just gonna wail on you a little and then shove you in your locker, but since you’ve decided to act like a little punk I think I’ll just follow your suggestions. All of them.”
And so the senseless beatings proceeded, and after Chris woke up from the swirly he was knocked out again almost immediately, and finally shoved into the “phoenix” costume that everyone knew was just a chicken costume the school dyed orange and red and strung up the flagpole by the wings. And it wasn’t even lunchtime yet. He was ahead of schedule for the day. He also did manage to get after-school detention for being late to english, despite the fact that he tried to explain he was late because the janitor was busy getting him down from the flagpole. At least he’d have somewhere to get his homework done before he walked back to the apartment. First, though, he had a horrible and practically inedible lunch to get to.
The cafeteria smelled like the inside of a decomposing whale with a few million cartons of rotten eggs, and that was putting things nicely. It took all of Chris’s willpower not to barf each day and then some to stomach the disgusting slop they served as the free stuff. Of course all the good stuff cost money he didn’t have to spend, and he never had time to make himself lunch in the morning since he was always preoccupied with showering, getting dressed, and then making and eating breakfast. It could’ve been worse. Sometimes the cafeteria people were nice enough to include some seasoning in the shapeless and flavorless grey goop that shouldn’t have even been considered food that turned it into reddish-brown slightly less flavorless goop. They got cartons of milk… and Chris almost always got the one carton in the fridge that was expired. Today it seemed like it was more of the same as he sat down at a table by himself and opened his carton only to have the nasty scent of expired milk enter his nose. And the goop was grey and flavorless… Great. He mostly pushed around the stuff on his tray before holding his nose with one hand and shoveling his gross lunch into his mouth with the other. By the time all was said and done it felt like he’d eaten a block of cement. He tossed his tray into the trash and snuck out of the cafeteria so Jack and his goons didn’t see him.
Upon entering the guys’ room and taking in his jacked up face in the mirror, he sighed. His deep brown eyes were black and blue along with a few places on his arms where Jack and really laid into him. It hurt really bad, but as he always told himself, it could’ve been worse. He had a lot more lollipops in his pockets now, at least, one of which he shoved into his mouth right then. As he stepped out he bumped into… “Marissa?” That made twice in one day. Weird. She brushed a lock of hair out of her face and took in her art supplies scattered across the floor. She sighed and shook her head, squatting down to pick them all up. Chris smiled nervously, “Gah! Sorry! Let me help you with that,” he said, reaching for some fancy-looking metallic green pen. “Don’t touch that!” she exclaimed, eyes flashing with anger as she scooped it up and quickly gathered everything else up, retreating down the hall. Chris blinked and watched her disappear around a corner. Sheesh. Someone doesn’t like having their art stuff messed with he thought, feeling sort of weirded out as he started towards chemistry.
Chris’s chemistry teacher was no more superior than any of the others, but at least he was fair in the way he graded and his lessons were sort of fun… sometimes. Today, though, it seemed like the class would just be graced with a brief powerpoint presentation and a really boring worksheet and all the answers were contained in the powerpoint, meaning you had to pay attention or risk getting a zero. Despite his urges to start scribbling lightning bolts on his jean cuffs with his pencil out of boredom, Chris forced himself to pay attention and actually got the work done and turned it in. His teacher gave him a nod which meant, Do whatever you want just as long as it doesn’t involve blowing up the classroom. Chris settled for pulling out his dinky little iPod that never held a charge and put in his earbuds, listening to some music as he doodled in the margins of his notebook. He wasn’t much for full on art, but little stuff like this kept him entertained until the bell rang.
By the time the day ended Chris felt exhausted and really just wanted to go home, but of course he couldn’t until he served detention, which, as he luck would have it, was being run by Mr. Gordon that day. As he walked into the cafeteria the devil of geometry pointed a pudgy finger at the table furthest from the door. What? Like he was going to try running away from detention? He withheld an eye roll and took a seat, pulling out his homework assignments for the day and beginning to work on them. A few moments later Marissa wandered into the cafeteria and looked at Mr. Gordon, who only moved out of her way. She approached the table where Chris was sitting and took the seat across from him. Okay, so now she was showing up in detention with him? This was getting really weird.
“Uh, Marissa, can I ask you—”
“No talking in detention!” Gordon barked, silencing Chris almost immediately. He sighed and continued to work on his history assignment, but every so often glanced at Marissa to see what she was doing. Per the norm, she was drawing, sketching out a really beautiful hummingbird woman with some surprisingly vibrant colors. Chris thought she only used blacks, grays, and other assorted dark colors for her drawings, but these things in her sketchbook… These were wonderful. Suddenly she looked up at Chris, and he half-expected her to snap at him, but instead her brow furrowed and she pulled her sketchbook off the table, bringing out a black pencil and drawing furiously fast. He wondered just what she was doing, but didn’t think to ask. It wasn’t any of his business, after all. He’d already snooped enough.
After finishing his homework Mr. Gordon finally said everyone in detention could go home, much to Chris’s relief. He kicked a rock all the way home and climbed up the stairs to the apartment where he and his dad lived. His car had been in the parking lot, so he was home. “Dad, I’m home!” he called as he got into the door.
John poked his head out of the kitchen, “Hey, sport, glad to see you and… Oh my God, what happened to your face?”
Chris shrugged off his hoodie and hung it up, “Well, most of this happened when Jack and his buddies were punching me, but the big bruise on my cheek is from basically side-planting onto the concrete when the janitor was getting me down from the flagpole.”
“The flagpole? Again?” John asked in disbelief.
Chris laughed dryly and nodded, “Figured Jack wanted to keep that as a beginning of the year thing, but I guess not. Nobody ever seems to care about keeping with traditions anymore.”
“Chris, this is serious! I’m tired of seeing you all beat up like this all the time! I swear I’m going down to that school tomorrow to have a talk with your principal. How can they let things like this slide there?” John demanded angrily.
Chris snorted as he took a seat at the kitchen table, “Don’t even bother, dad, it won’t change anything. The principal is Jack’s uncle. He won’t punish him. Worst thing that’ll happen is me getting labeled as a snitch. And then maybe Jack’ll actually start doing things that aren’t predictable anymore.”
John gently rumpled his son’s hair and offered him the most comforting smile he could in his exhausted state, “I’m sorry, son. I wish there were something I could do but my hands are tied. Right now Sanguine is the closest high school to us and anywhere else would be at least a half hour away. And since I’m so swamped with work I wouldn’t be able to drive you.” He sighed, “You got your license over two months ago and I still haven’t been able to get you a car.”
Chris frowned, “Dad… I could always go back to my old job. Save up money for my own car.”
“No, no, no,” John said, putting up his hand. “I need you to do well in school. Do well in school so you can get a scholarship and get yourself a better life than mine.” He glanced at the family photo on the wall by the table and sighed, “I wish your mother were still here. She’d know how to get us out of this rut.”
Chris glanced at the photo and silently started wishing the same thing as his dad. His mother Annie was always the one who knew just what to do no matter how bad things were. Her sandy hair and sky blue eyes being shone on by the sun in that picture… She just radiated brightness and light. Meanwhile his dad… His dad actually looked really good. He didn’t have bags under his stormy eyes or stubble on his face, and his chestnut hair was neatly combed. Meanwhile there was little seven-year-old Chris being hugged by both of his parents. He really missed those days. Those days when his dad had a better job and both he and Annie we’re making good money. They lived in a nice house, albeit a small one, but his mom and dad had always said it was just cozy. And he was right. In spite of how small it was, Chris had loved that house and the memories he’d made in it. Making blanket forts in the living room… Having campouts in the backyard… His mom and dad singing Wouldn’t It Be Nice in the kitchen when they cooked. All of that… That had made Chris’s early childhood really special. But then there was the cancer, and it hit his mother like a truck. She went from smiling and laughing to stuck up in a hospital bed practically looking like a skeleton. It had broken Chris’s heart and his dad’s, and it only got worse after she died. Not a day went by that Chris didn’t miss her something awful.
“Hey, sport, guess what?” John said with that tired smile, bringing Chris back from his walk down memory lane. “Decided tonight was going be a special treat. So… Guess what I picked up for dinner?”
“Pizza?” Chris asked, having already smelled the cheese when he walked in the door.
John chuckled and brought the box out from under the table. “Lucky guess.” As the two grabbed plates and took slices of the cheesy greasy goodness, John muttered through his bites, “Do you have any homework?”
Chris shook his head, “Did it in detention.”
John nodded, “I was wondering why you were late today. What’d they get you for?”
Chris laughed, “Apparently being strung up the flagpole is not a good excuse for being late to english.” He finished up his pizza and wiped his mouth. “Thanks, dad. Want me to do the dishes tonight?”
John shook his head, “No, you just go on off to bed. I’ll clean up. Sleep well, okay?”
Chris nodded as he rose from the table and walked off to the bathroom to brush his teeth. Afterwards he traipsed sleepily to his room, shrugging off his jeans and replacing them with his pajama pants. Flopping onto the bed and covering himself with his old Tom and Jerry blankets, he let out a sigh. Today had been really terrible, but maybe tomorrow would be better. At least… He hoped so.
All through the night Chris’s mind was invaded by nightmares. Creatures of shadow and darkness all around him. It felt like he was awake, but he knew that wasn’t possible. Things like that didn’t really exist. Everyone knew that. Right? “Yes, keep telling yourself that, and see how far it gets you…” a voice hissed.
Chris’s eyes shot open and gazed into a pair of bright gold slitted-pupiled eyes of a man whose body was hidden in swirling amounts of shadow. He bared his shark-like teeth, and their glint was brighter than the light of the moon filtering in through Chris’s curtains. “Funny how things like this are always brushed off, eh?” he muttered, a forked tongue flicking in and out of his mouth like a snake sensing prey. “But then again… Some people don’t see what others can. That makes it much more… interesting.”
Chris’s mind began reeling, trying to come up with a logical explanation for what he was seeing and each time came up empty. What was this? Another nightmare? Yes. It had to be. What else could it have been? He was just dreaming and if he shut his eyes long enough and opened them… This guy would be gone. He clenched his eyes shut tightly and a few seconds later opened them. The guy was still there, and he looked very amused. “Ha ha ha ha! You think you can blink me away like some sort of boogeyman in your closet that’s really a sweater? You think if you turn on your nightlight I’ll disappear?” His smile fell, and it made him all the more chilling as he continued, “I’m not a figment of your imagination, boy. You cannot will me away back into your head from whence you’ve come. I could just kill you here and now…” he muttered, raising a claw-liked hand from the shadows and held it dangerously close to Chris’s throat, but then sighed and lowered it, shaking his head, his wicked grin returning, “… But that would take all the fun out of what’s to come. So go back to sleep, Chris. Pleasant nightmares…”
He disappeared as quick as he’d arrived, leading Chris to wonder what had even happened. And then he did something he hadn’t done since he was a little kid, “Dad!”
John burst into the room wielding a baseball bat, eyes wild as he looked around the room for some unseen intruder. When he noticed there was nothing he let out a sigh and shook his head, “Jesus Christ, Chris, you nearly gave me a heart attack. What’s wrong?”
Chris wasn’t sure what to say. Some crazy shadow creatures appeared out of nowhere and some guy threatened to kill me? No. No, all his dad would do is think he was crazy. Instead he forced himself to smile and shook his head, “S-Sorry, dad, I… I just had a really bad nightmare and, well… Guess it was about you? I can’t even remember what it was about, honestly, ha ha.”
John frowned, “You’re having the nightmares again?”
Chris blinked, “Wait, what? Again?”
John glanced away and shook his head, “Nevermind. You were little, and… It makes sense that you don’t remember. Just try to go back to sleep, alright? Tomorrow’s another day, okay? And you have about six more hours before you have to get ready for it. Sleep well, okay?”
Chris chuckled a little and nodded as his dad shut the door. “I will…” he murmured. Not, he added silently to himself, flopping back onto his pillow and staring up at his ceiling. He wasn’t going to be able to get back to sleep. Not any time soon. Not after all of… Well, whatever that had been. He still wasn’t a hundred percent sure, and it had literally just happened. His eyes stayed open no matter how hard he tried to close them, and even blinking felt nearly impossible at that point. By the time the sun had started to peek over the horizon he let out a sigh and shook his head, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. Time to get up and face another day in hell… he thought, trudging to the bathroom and jumping into the shower. After he got out and changed into a pair of clean jeans and a fresh tee shirt, he wandered into the kitchen where he saw his dad up and cooking breakfast. John glanced over his shoulder at his son and smiled, waving a little. “Morning, sport!” As Chris took a seat at the table his dad set a plate of Nutella stuffed waffles and bacon and eggs in front of him, and on the side, a glass of fresh orange juice. He placed an envelope into Chris’s hand, much to the surprise of his son. “What’s all this about?” he asked, a confused smile crossing his face.
“Happy birthday, kiddo,” John said, grinning and ruffling Chris’s hair. “Seventeen already. You’re making me feel old!” he joked.
Chris blinked, shaking his head and smiling a little, “Wow, I totally forgot. I guess life’s been so messed up for me right now that I didn’t have time to think about it. Thanks, dad.”
“Don’t thank me until you’ve opened the envelope,” John said cheerfully.
Chris tore open the envelope and pulled out a hundred dollar gift card to one of the stores in the mall. “Dad! This is… awesome! But…” he put down the card and looked up at John, “Can you afford this? I don’t want you to give me the money unless we’re okay.”
John put up his hand and shook his head, “Won it in a raffle at work. I didn’t think I’d win, but since I did… I couldn’t think of any better use to put it to then giving it to my son for his birthday. So today, first thing after you get out from school, you and me are gonna go to the mall and spend the whole afternoon together. How does that sound?”
Chris grinned and nodded, “That sounds great, dad. Thanks.”
John shook his head, “Don’t thank me. Now hurry up and eat so you can get to school. See you this afternoon. Love you, sport.”
Chris quickly finished his breakfast and then started for the door, shrugging on his backpack and heading outside. The day actually seemed like it wasn’t going to be as heinous as it had when he’d first gotten out of bed. But… That had been at home. Now he had to face the hellish beast that was school and the demons within its jaws. When he walked inside he was surprised that Jack wasn’t waiting to beat him up again. His swollen eye and bruised body were silently thankful for that fact. Still… He walked through the halls quietly and carefully, worried that at any moment Jack would jump out and toss him into the girls’ locker room with the words Happy Birthday Loser written across his forehead. The hair on the back of his neck was standing up and he shivered, but figured that was probably just because the school was so cold all the time.
As he entered geometry and took his seat, Mr. Gordon regarded him with a simple glance. Chris quickly noticed that Jack wasn’t in attendance today. What were the chances of that? Just how lucky was he going to get today? Marissa didn’t seem all that happy about it, though, as Chris glanced at her and saw that she was nervously tapping her combat-booted foot against the floor and scribbling furiously. What was her problem? Was she having some sort of anxiety attack? He considered going over and asking her if she was okay, but… He also had a feeling it was best to just leave her alone. Come to think of it… Something about the whole school today felt… off. He just hadn’t noticed it until looking at Marissa and realizing the hair standing up on the back of his neck wasn’t just because he was sort of cold. Something was really weird. Still, he didn’t want it to bother him too much. He just had to get through the day and then he could go to the mall with his dad. He was also determined to enjoy himself, no matter how strange things felt. After all, the night he’d had was way stranger than anything else.
After the blur that was his main classes, gym arrived, and Chris was very much looking forward to being able to play basketball without ending up in the hoop again. The other guys were actually being sort of decent to him and a few even wished him a happy birthday. That made for quite a nice change from the norm. He managed a few dunks before the bell rang and it was time for him to go to lunch, which, as it turned out, was the slightly seasoned red goo instead of the flavorless grey. He wouldn’t have to hold his nose while he ate it since it was at least somewhat palatable. And the carton of milk he’d grabbed wasn’t chunky and sour? Whoever was giving him such a great birthday, he was sure thankful for it. After he’d finished eating he was about to toss his tray and head to his next class early, but then he noticed a dollar bill stuck to the bottom of his sneaker. A dollar which he could use to buy an ice cream from the freezer. A really delicious ice cream, at that.
Man, screw having weird feelings, today’s been straight up awesome! he thought excitedly as he left the cafeteria. It was only then that he noticed the weird goth dude leaning against the lockers. The guy actually looked like he could’ve been Marissa’s brother with how similarly they dressed. He was scribbling something out in a sketchpad, making Chris wonder if he actually was related to Marissa. He raised his head, his raven hair falling away and revealing his eyes. Both the irises and the pupils were pitch black. He smiled wickedly and waved at Chris, “Hello, Mister Ursul. We meet at last, I see,” he muttered, his voice a deathly sort of calm that sent shivers Down Chris’s spine. “My father was very eager for me to be introduced to you, but, uh… Not until he decided. Still, I’ve never been one for patience. So let’s just cut to the chase. I’m here to transport you back to our center of operation, so do us both a favor and come quietly, hmm? I’d hate to do things the hard way.” He chuckled darkly, “Oh, who am I kidding? I’d love to do things the hard way. It’s always much more fun.” All around him shadows began to form from even the tiniest absence of light in the hall, and it swirled around him like some sort of inky nightmare tornado, pushing him right up to the top of it where in his hands he held fistfuls of the blackness. His eyes had turned completely black like that of a shark’s, lifeless and dark and spine-chilling.
Chris’s eyes widened, and he turned around and ran straight back into the cafeteria hoping he could get some help from anyone inside, and he didn’t care who. The goth boy followed suit, throwing open the doors and laughing loudly, “Chris Ursul! You think you can run away from me? I’m one of the most powerful shadow beings in the world! Son of the Lord of Darkness, himself! No one runs from me and escapes! It would be much better for you if you just came along quietly, and then nobody has to get hurt! What say you?”
Chris looked around at everyone, who were just eating as though nothing else was going on. He gestured wildly in the direction of the creepy guy and shouted, “Do none of you guys see that?!” to which he got a few snickers and whispers of “Ursul accidentally drank the expired milk again.”
Marissa, on the other hand, was the only one who seemed to not only notice, but be afraid of the boy dressed in black. From the pocket of her leather jacket she drew that fancy pen from the day before and opened her sketchbook. She clicked the pen and drew something in the air, gold glowing stuff coming from the tip and forming some sort of strange symbol. Marissa then grabbed the symbol and slammed it down onto her sketchbook page. Suddenly the entire book was enveloped in golden light and from it came the hummingbird woman Chris had seen her drawing the day before. Marissa’s eyes glowed with golden light as she pocketed the pen and tossed aside her sketchbook, the hummingbird woman mimicking her movements.
Goth boy clicked his tongue in clear disappointment as he looked at Chris with a raised eyebrow. “Wow. You won’t even fight your own battles? You leave that to a senior Abcreate. How pathetic. And here I thought you were better than that. Perhaps father made the wrong choice with you.”
“Hey!” Marissa shouted, drawing his attention back, “your fight is with me!”
Cracking his knuckles and letting out a sigh, goth boy sucked his teeth in disappointment, “How much duller this is going to be, but I suppose one must make do with what one has.” He threw up his hands, creatures from the inky black bursting from his fists, “Shadows! Destroy her avatar and take the boy!”
Creatures similar to the ones that had been in Chris’s room the night before all but filled the cafeteria, flying towards Marissa’s hummingbird woman while others went after Chris. Marissa dove towards him and shielded him with her body, her hummingbird woman blasting through the creatures like they were nothing more than puffs of smoke. She did daring combat moves that Chris had only seen in video games at the arcade and as more and more kept coming he noticed goth boy’s tornado was running out of steam until his feet were once again touching the floor. The white in his eyes had returned and he looked around in disbelief before letting out an angry growl. “Curse you! You might have foiled me this time, but I swear that I’ll be back! And next time…” He pointed at Chris, “You’re mine.” Swirling shadow formed around the boy and in the next moment it had dissipated, and he was gone.
Chris felt his mind going about a thousand miles a minute, and as he put his hand to his chest he realized that his heart was, too. The hummingbird woman disappeared in a shower of golden light, and Marissa turned around and glared at him before grabbing her sketchbook off the floor and using her free hand to seize Chris by the wrist. “Come with me,” she ordered sharply, dragging him out of the cafeteria and into the hall towards the front exit of the school. “Hey!” Chris exclaimed. “Where are you taking me?” he demanded as she pulled him out onto the street.
“I’ve been undercover at this school for years, and I never knew,” Marissa muttered, clearly to herself. “There were no signs. But there are always signs so this makes no sense!”
Chris managed to wrench himself from Marissa’s death grip and shouted, “Signs, what are you talking about?!” She turned on him and he threw his hands in the air. “Okay, these past twenty-four hours have been really stressful for me and so far I have received no explanations for any of the crazy stuff that’s happened to me! Who was that guy and why was he after me? What was with the crazy hummingbird lady and how did you even do all that glowy fighting stuff? And what was with the creepy shadow guy who showed up in my room with those dark monster things?! The day before yesterday my life was completely normal, or at least somewhat, and now it seems like everything’s going off the rails!” He planted his feet firm on the concrete and crossed his arms, “Now let’s get one thing straight. I am not going anywhere until I get some info.”
Marissa took in a breath and nodded, “I understand this might be really weird, but I promise once we get someone secure that I will explain everything. Chris, I know we don’t know each other that well at all but can you please just trust me for a minute? I wouldn’t be asking you this unless it was vital, okay?”
Chris was going to shoot back another remark, but seeing the concerned look in Marissa’s eyes was enough to convince him maybe he should just listen. He sighed reluctantly and dropped his arms, nodding, “Okay, let’s go wherever it is you’re trying to take me.”
Marissa took him by the hand and led him down street after street, making turn after turn, and after what seemed like forever they stopped at the side of a dilapidated building. Marissa opened her sketchbook and took out her pen, drawing a different symbol than previously and shoving it onto the page, then slamming her hand down onto the brick of the wall. A wooden door appeared under her palm and she stepped aside, gesturing for Chris to open the door and go inside. He was hesitant to do so, but all the same he wanted answers and he had a feeling this was the only way he was going to get any. He grabbed the knob and turned it, planting his foot on nothing as he fell down into a silvery shimmery lake. Weirdly enough he found he could breathe easily in the stuff and was actually floating down rather slowly with Marissa doing the same right beside him. As another door appeared in the distance below Marissa took his hand and grabbed the knob. The door fell sharply open sideways and Chris, not expecting that to happen, stupidly let go of Marissa’s hand and went tumbling right into a table of painter’s supplies. The jar of murky water that had been sitting there overturned and its contents were dumped right on top of Chris’s hair. It ran down the back of his hoodie and made him wince as he pulled it off. Marissa sighed and let go of the knob, elegantly sliding down and rolling right onto a couch.
As Chris stood up and gathered his bearings, he started to wonder just what sort of mess he’d gotten himself into. He was now in what looked like somebody’s home art studio. The smooth stone walls were lined with drawings and paintings and sculptures took up almost every flat surface. The green carpet was spattered with paint and remnants of clay. An empty fireplace sat in front of the couch, and on top of the mantle were various photos, one of which included Marissa, who was surprisingly blonde, and a slightly older woman who looked just like her. He figured it must’ve been her and her mom. On the table beside the couch was a lamp and craft magazines which looked super ancient. There were a few doors with each seeming to have muffled versions of different music genres along with varying decorations depending on the door. One had stickers with images from various fantasy novel and comic series, animals, and… a few for boy bands that had broken up years ago. Another had an entire nature scene painted on it that was so detailed Chris half expected the fawn in the grass to jump out at him. He also noticed one with a very intricate sketch of a house, and he could sort of make out actual measurements that the artist had done for the dimensions of the house.
He looked back at Marissa and noticed that she wasn’t there, now replaced by that woman in the picture before… who strangely enough had on the exact same outfit. She stood up and brushed herself off, “No, you are not imagining any of this. I am Marissa. This is the real me. A thirty-seven year-old woman with a daughter who’s seventeen,” she said, looking much more tired than she had before. “Of course I don’t actually dress like this these days. Just needed to blend in with the kids at your high school. And every high school has at least one resident goth.” She crossed her arms, “But right now we’re going to talk about you and why in all my years at that terrible institution I never noticed you were the Abcreate I was meant to go find.”
“Ab-what?” Chris muttered in confusion.
Marissa nodded, putting up her hand, “Right, one thing at a time, and I’m getting way too far ahead of myself. Abcreates, which is what I am and I suppose you, too, are certain people gifted with special abilities to do with art. Abcreate stands for Abnormally Creative, by the way. In my case I can draw things and literally have them leap off the page. Some other abcreates sculpt or paint and achieve the same result, bringing their creations to life to use them in combat. But one thing is consistent with every one of us. Whatever we bring to life our spirit inhabits until the battle is over, like an avatar of sorts, and everything is always one use only.” She opened her sketchbook to the page where the hummingbird woman had been and Chris was surprised to find it empty. She tossed it aside and continued, “We can also create special doors to our secret headquarters, one of which you and I just passed through. And we can allow our spirits to inhabit golems that can act as our physical bodies as long as we need, such as the one you were used to seeing which was crafted by our resident sculptor, Yu Yan. You’ll meet her later. Our jobs as Abcreates are to fight the Shadow Lord’s forces. Unfortunately it seems you’ve already been acquainted with him from what you shouted on the street. And he’s decided he wants to add you to his ranks. And now I need to find out why.”
Chris just barely managed to keep up with everything Marissa had loaded off on him, but he did get the gist. He looked down at his hands and frowned, “So… I’m one of these abcreates… And that creepy claw shadow guy who showed up in my room last night is after me. Well… This is one way to spend my birthday.”
Marissa’s eyes widened, “Birthday? It’s your birthday? And let me guess, today you turned seventeen?” Chris nodded and she smacked herself in the forehead, “Of course! No wonder he was planning on taking you today!” She clasped her hands together, “Abcreates develop the ability to use their powers when they turn seventeen. My daughter just got hers last year. But… That still doesn’t explain why you’re so important to the Shadow Lord and his idiot son Lysander. He could’ve tried to take me and would’ve been better off, meaning there’s something really special about you. But what I can’t seem to understand is what. Even when they can’t use their powers, abcreates are always dabbling in art one way or another, be it sculpting, painting, or drawing. But you… You never did any of that.”
Chris frowned, “Well… Sometimes I doodle in the margins of my notebook.”
“That’s not enough,” Marissa replied with a shake of her head. “Not enough to be an indicator of anything remarkable, anyway. However… Remarkable to the naked eye or not, you’re still in very major danger.” She pointed to a door labeled, Supplies, “But we’ll discuss more of that in there. We need to get you matched up with a spirit channeler.”

MSU Basketball

Thursday Night College Hoops: Back the Under in Lubbock

The college basketball season continues to march on as many teams across the country continue to kick off their conference schedule with many other teams starting to end their non-conference slates.
The Thursday Night college hoops slate looks to be the lightest schedule of a loaded week of games, but despite the smaller slate of action, there are still enticing games to jump in on.
Here are the plays I am backing tonight, including a pick from tonight’s Big 12 heavyweight matchup between 5th ranked Kansas and 14th ranked Texas Tech.

#5 Kansas at #14 Texas Tech

Spread: Texas Tech -3.5 Total: O/U 135.5 Time/TV: 7:00 PM ET, ESPN
The game of the evening takes us to Lubbock, Texas where 5th ranked Kansas meets 14th ranked Texas Tech in the Big 12 conference opener for both schools. Each team enters tonight’s contest with matching 6-1 records, with the Jayhawks playing the tougher schedule to date.
Rock Chalk Jayhawk has rattled off six straight wins after their opening loss to #1 Gonzaga, headlined by victories over #9 Creighton and a Kentucky team still finding their way, while Texas Tech lost their lone test of the season 64-53 to then #17 Houston and has wins over teams with a combined 9-20 mark to begin the new year.
While each team enters tonight’s game boasting offenses averaging 75 points per contest, the two teams are likely to play at a much slower pace tonight and defense will almost surely be the focal point of each team.
Texas Tech enters tonight’s Big 12 opener with the best defensive unit in the country, and Chris Beard’s crew has landed in the Top 10 for defensive efficiency in each of his four seasons in Lubbock. Their defensive numbers are downright beautiful through the first seven games of the schedule, as the Red Raiders are forcing turnovers on 30% of their opponent’s possessions and are holding teams to just 25% shooting from downtown. The Jayhawks are not lacking for defense either. So far this season they stake claim to the 6th overall defensive unit in college basketball and have held their opponents to just 29% shooting from three-point range.
This has all the makings of an all-out slugfest tonight and what else would you expect from two of the best teams in college basketball?

Kansas Players to Know

While Kansas lost a lot of talent when it watched Devon Dotson and Udoka Azubuike leave for the NBA, Bill Self has once again restocked his cupboard of talent this time with highly-touted freshman Jalen Wilson.
Wilson leads the Jayhawks in scoring with 15.3 points per contest and is shooting the three-ball at a 38 percent clip. Junior Ochai Agbaji (14.1 ppg, 46% 3PM) and Christian Braun (11.9 ppg, 44.4% 3PM) give Self even more range from outside, while 6-10 junior David McCormack is Kansas’ best rim protector and fourth Kansas starter currently averaging double digits in scoring at just over 10 points per game.
The most important player this evening, however, is likely to be that of senior Marcus Garrett. While Garrett is not the most dangerous scoring threat on the floor (8.6 ppg), he is Self’s best perimeter defender and a complete pest for the opposition to deal with.
Why will he be so important? Well, that’s a wonderful segue into the next section!

Texas Tech Players to Know

The Red Raiders’ best player of the young season has been that of former Georgetown product Mac McClung (14.1 ppg, 33.3% 3PM). McClung is the catalyst for the entire Texas Tech offensive attack, and how he’s able to handle the relentless defense from Marcus Garrett will tell us a lot of how this matchup figures to go.
If Garrett can lock down McClung in the same manner he’s locked down many other guards across college basketball, the onus to score will fall on the shoulders of sophomore Terrance Shannon (11.8 ppg) and junior Kyler Edwards (11.3 ppg, 38% 3PM).
Edwards is currently the teams’ most consistent shooter from long range, but collectively Texas Tech is a very poor outside shooting team (35% 3PM, 104th overall). And they’ve been poor against teams that they are noticeably far inferior to the talent Beard has on the floor.
The Red Raiders are also a smaller team, with no one in Texas Tech’s regular rotation being taller than 6-8 (Beard has a 7-1 freshman center who has only seen action in garbage time), but Kansas also has a roster comprised mostly of smaller players so their disadvantage in the frontcourt will not be as pronounced in this matchup as it could be further down the road.

Kansas-Texas Tech Prediction & Best Bet

With Baylor looking like the clear favorite to win the Big 12, this matchup will go a long way towards figuring out who the second-best team in the conference is. Both Kansas and Texas Tech should reside in the Top 15 of the polls for the majority of the season, and each team will once again be a very difficult out in March.
Tonight, however, is a total toss-up in terms of who will come out victorious. If I had to pick a winner I would lean with the oddsmakers here and take Texas Tech as home favorites, but I feel like the temperature of this game screams “under” as Texas Tech’s smothering defense should slow down the Jayhawks bevy of outside shooters, while Kansas’ tough perimeter defense will make offense for the Red Raiders hard to come by.
I will be taking the under and looking for windows to bet the game live. If you love defensive basketball, this will be the matchup for you.
Prediction: Texas Tech 68, Kansas 64 Best Bet: UNDER 135.5

#9 Creighton at St. John’s

Spread: Creighton -6.5 Total: O/U 157.5 Time/TV: 7:00 PM ET, FS1
If two Big 12 teams shooting sub 40% percent on the evening isn’t your thing, the Big East has a game for you.
9th ranked Creighton (4-2 overall, 0-1 Big East) looks to bounce back from an 89-84 home loss to Marquette when it pays a visit to conference foe St. John’s (5-3 overall, 0-2 Big East) tonight.
The Red Storm are also looking to bounce back from a recent skid, as they have dropped their first two conference games of the season, most recently a 97-94 OT loss to Georgetown this past Sunday.
The scoreboard should light up all evening as St. John’s plays at a blistering pace (14th overall tempo in the country per KenPom) under coach Mike Anderson, while Creighton has the 5th most efficient offense in college basketball, shoots nearly 60 percent from the floor and is averaging 85 points per game.
Neither team figures to play much defense tonight, hence why the total is pushing the 160 range, but that should keep the game entertaining, to say the least.

Creighton Players to Know

As we’ve discussed at length in recent pieces highlighting Creighton, the Bluejays have a treasure trove of three-point shooters that they unleash on their opposition seemingly from start to finish.
Greg McDermott’s Bluejays have five players averaging double-figures in scoring and all five players can shoot the three, each shooting better than 34% from distance. The catalyst of their offensive attack falls on the shoulders of senior guards Denzel Mahoney (16.2 ppg, 42.1% 3PM) and Mitch Ballock (10.7 ppg, 38.6 3PM). Marcus Zegarowski is the teams’ best distributor and is also a sniper from long range (13.8 ppg, 34.1% 3PM), and Christian Bishop is a 6-7 forward that is shooting the three-ball at a 50 percent clip.
It shouldn’t be a huge surprise that the team that has a roster of outside shooters is not exactly a team that also believes in relentless defense. The Bluejays enter tonight’s game with the 249th overall three-point defense and are outside of the top 160 in forced turnover percentage and offensive rebounding.
Teams also average about 17 seconds a possession when going against the Creighton defense (265th overall in college basketball), indicating that an open shot is not hard to come by when playing against the boys from Omaha.

St. John’s Players to Know

Mike Anderson is slowly rebuilding the Johnnies after the disastrous Chris Mullin regime, and while they struggle shooting the three (231st overall in NCAA), they have a stable of athletes that can shine in Anderson’s torrid style of basketball.
The main component of the Red Storm attack is sophomore guard and the team’s leading scorer and rebounder, Julian Champagnie. Champagnie is averaging nearly 21 points a game with eight rebounds chipped in, and he’s been especially dependable from the free-throw line where he’s converted on nearly 87 percent of his free throws.
Junior tandem Vince Cole (12.5 ppg, 35.5% 3PM) and Greg Williams Jr. (12.1 ppg, 36.8% 3PM) give the Johnnies their best role players and threats from outside, while 6-10 junior Isaih Moore (10.6 ppg, 6.1 rpg) is Anderson’s most dependable rim protector down low.
As could be expected with Anderson’s frenetic style of basketball, St. John’s is downright miserable on defense when they are unable to force a turnover. While the ’40 minutes of hell’ mantra does have St. John’s forcing turnovers on 25% of their opposition’s possessions (28th overall in NCAA), and the 8th best steal rate in the nation, when they do not force a turnover it typically ends in an easy bucket for the other side.
St. John’s boasts the 250th ranked three-point shooting defense and gives up a basket on 56% of their opponent’s possessions (285th in NCAA). That could post a great number of challenges for a team that happens to be facing one of the best offensive teams in the country.

Creighton – St. John’s Prediction & Best Bet

Everything about this matchup screams a prime bounce-back spot for the Bluejays. Despite the two recent setbacks to Missouri and Marquette, Creighton still very much remains as one of the most dangerous teams in all of college basketball.
St. John’s is gradually improving under Mike Anderson, but this is just a bad matchup for them all around. I am taking Creighton to cover the spread and also sprinkling some on the over as, despite the eye-popping 157.5 number, I think that’s kind of low for these two teams.
Prediction: Creighton 87, St. John’s 78 Best Bet: Creighton -6.5; OVER 157.5

Omaha at Wyoming

Spread: Wyoming -10.5 Total: O/U 146.5 Time/TV: 9:00 PM ET, N/A
For our final game on the Thursday betting card, we’re going a little off the beaten path for some quality Summit League vs. Mountain West action.
Omaha (2-6 overall) plays its sixth-consecutive road game, and second game in as many nights, when they visit Wyoming (5-1 overall) in Laramie.
The Mavericks are coming off of a 91-49 blowout at the hands of Colorado last night and have dropped five of their last six games with their lone victory being a two-point win over SIU Edwardsville (331st overall KenPom).
Meanwhile, Wyoming has been a pleasant surprise to date with a 5-1 record, but they have played the 306th overall schedule so that record is likely a bit misleading at this point in the season. Nonetheless, they do get another favorable draw tonight with an Omaha team that doesn’t do much of anything well.

Omaha Players to Know

The Mavericks best player and leading scorer through the first eight games of the season are that of bench player Marlon Ruffin (11.8 ppg), with starters Matt Pile (9.3 ppg, 9.1 rpg) and Wanjang Tut (8.1 ppg) being Omaha’s best secondary players. It’s rare to see the talent flipped to where their best bench player is outperforming every starter, but this is the Summit League and there are no rules here.

Wyoming Players to Know

Through the first six games of the season, the Cowboys boast a Top 50 program in both three-point shooting (46th overall) and shots inside the three-point stripe (48th overall), and they’ve shown a great ability to limit turnovers with the 18th best turnover rate in college basketball.
While Wyoming has certainly played a schedule full of cupcakes, they’ve made the most of it and are quietly one of the most efficient scoring units in all of college basketball, at least in these games against the bottom feeders of the college basketball world.
Wyoming is led by their trio of guards: Marcus Williams (18.3 ppg), Kenny Foster (15.8 ppg, 67% 3PM), and Hunter Maldonado (15.5 ppg). Collectively, the Cowboys as a whole love to create open looks from the outside, with three key contributors shooting the ball from the perimeter at better than a 40 percent rate from downtown.
That does not bode well for an Omaha team that has been away from home for a while and does not defend the three-ball whatsoever.

Omaha – Wyoming Prediction & Best Bet

Typically, I would be hard-pressed to lay a double-digit line on a team that went 7-23 in the regular season a year ago, no matter who they may be playing. But Omaha is in a very tough spot playing in their second game in as many nights in a place that’s hard enough to get a road win under normal circumstances, much less in the middle of a season being held during a pandemic.
Omaha only has one more non-conference game after this and then they can return to the comfort of playing Summit League teams at home. Tonight, however, they will endure yet another blowout. I will take Wyoming to cover the 10.5-point spread.
Prediction: Wyoming 84, Omaha 69 Best Bet: Wyoming -10.5
How

Butler at #7 Villanova Betting Preview

Your 2020 Season Survival Guide and R/Baseball Refresher!

Before we dive in, if you want to participate in the annual Call Your Shot season predictions contest, you can find it here.
It's FINALLY coming! Welcome to the 2020 MLB Season! We are so glad you are here. Don't let the length of this post scare you, we just wanted to consolidate all the relevant information that people have questions about into one place to start the season off. This is your survival guide for the 2020 season, it should have all the pertinent information to answer most of your questions!
If you are a brand new fan I'd recommend going through most of it, if you're a veteran you'll know which sections you'll want to read by their headings. My goal here is that both new and returning fans can learn how to better enjoy the season and know what's going on on Baseball this year. Okay, take some time and read through what you want to read through below!
This is the fourth year of doing this. Every year I go through the previous years comments to find things that should be added or corrected for the next edition, so if you have any great resources or information that you think would be beneficial to add, please comment it below!
Sections:

Introduction for new and renewed interest fans.
Rule changes for 2020
Finding a Team
Knowing Where Different Teams Stand
Baseball
Your Team's Sub
Twitter, Podcasts, and Other General News/Analysis Sources
The Statistical Titans: Baseball Reference and Fangraphs
Where to watch? Your TV and Streaming Guide
MLB.tv
MLB At Bat App
How to watch baseball.
Where to watch highlights and game recaps.
TL;DR: Find a way to enjoy the game.

Introduction for new and renewed interest fans.

Baseball normally has a long season. I don't just mean that in terms of time between opening day and the World Series (which can be considered long as it is), but also the 162 games played in 183 days, 18-20 times against the same 4 teams each. It can be daunting, and many people lose interest by "the dog days" of June and July. This year things are going to be a little different. With only 60 games on the schedule (assuming we make it through without a major clubhouse covid outbreak that cancels games versus that team) every game is going to matter about 3x as much as one in a normal regular season. Tensions will be high, but we might not feel it because there won't be that much crowd noise. THAT SAID - they're still playing 60 games in 66 days, which means almost every day for the next two months isn't just packed with baseball, they're packed with YOUR FAVORITE TEAMS baseball, which while exciting after months without any American sports in the regular season (MLS - a tournament is not the regular season) can end up feeling overwhelming when you just finished watching a late game go into extras then wake up to realize there's an afternoon game on in six hours.
This guide is meant to help you if you wish to avoid being one of those who feels overwhelmed and loses interest a couple weeks after Opening Day.
First and foremost if you are a new fan or newly returning, you must remember one thing: you do not need to watch every game. Many football fans, and even some basketball and hockey fans, find this difficult, they're used to setting aside a few nights a week to watch their team, and they can watch all the games. Baseball isn't like that. For the next two months, your team will only have 6 days where they won't be playing a game. And some of the games they play will start as early as 9:20am (Pacific Time), others will end after 1am (Eastern Time). If you miss a game it's okay, odds are there's another one tomorrow. If you miss a week, no big deal, hell if you get busy for a few months and aren't able to watch you team, that's not an issue, because you can still follow your team.
Baseball is a game to be followed. In the old days it meant picking up the morning paper and checking the box scores. Now it means being able to have a final score texted/tweeted/messaged/emailed/what-evered to you the minute the game ends, or rolling over in bed when you can't sleep and grabbing your phone to check the West Coast scores. It means being able to check reddit in the morning to see any breaking news from across the league, or catch a story you missed. We live in a time where you can go to MLB.com and get a recap of every game from last night in less than 10 minutes. Honestly, baseball was made to be consumed, and the technology age makes it easier than ever, whether you want to spend hours every day pouring over stats and analysis, or 15 seconds to see how your team and their playoff rivals did today.
The rest of this guide is mostly dedicated to ways that you can help yourself follow your team, and if you have time follow the entirety of MLB.
Anyways, enough rambling, TL;DR Don't worry if you miss games, there'll be one tomorrow.

Rule Changes for 2020

For this season only (or so they say...):

The NL will utilize the DH full time.
In extra innings the person in the batting order immediately before the lead off hitter will start on second base.
Games suspended due to rain will continue play at a later date rather than be washed out and restarted.
Arguing within six feet of an umpire or participating in a fight will be met with heftier fines and suspensions this yaer.
Pitchers will be allowed a wet rag to be brought out from the dugout in lieu of being able to lick their fingers for better grip.
Each team has a 20 extra players in their "taxi squad" in addition to their active roster and 40-man roster.
Active rosters will start at 30 players, then will be cut to 28 after two weeks, then 26 after four weeks.
Spitting is not allowed.
Non-social distanced celebrations are not allowed.

Permanent (as any rule change can be in baseball) rule changes for 2020 and beyond:

Three batter minimum - pitcher entering the game must face a minimum of three batters unless they complete an inning.
The MLB Active Roster is expanded from 25 players to 26 players.

Finding a Team

I always recommend following the local team since you'll have more access to news about them in the local media and should be able to get their radio broadcast, as well as TV broadcasts of them if you have cable/satellite/streaming, and depending on where you're at the occasional over the air game, but if you don't live by a team or don't want to follow the local team, or are just looking for a second team to follow, I wrote this in depth guide to picking a team that's the right fit for you.

Knowing Where Different Teams Stand

Every year ESPN, Sports Illustrated, FOX, NBS, and every other sports related site puts out their season previews. These are great for getting a basic rundown of what is going on with each team, and a simple google search will bring up a plethora of possible articles to read.
If what you really want is a fans perspective on what each team's expectations condensed into a few short comments, I'd highly recommend going through each teams day from our annual "Why will X team exceed expectations?" series. All the previous posts are linked in the Astros thread.

Baseball

Alright, so plugging baseball on baseball seems a bit redundant, but I think it's a good reminder that this is a great hub for all your MLB news throughout the season while still letting you see the occasional amazing college/minor league/foreign league performance.
During the season there are a number of features to keep you informed of all the goings on around baseball.
Every day of the season (and a portion of the offseason) we have General Discussion threads we call Around the Horn. These are great places to ask questions and discuss anything that you want to know about baseball but don't feel like it deserves it's own post. In the Around the Horn post you'll be able to see a full schedule of what is going on around Baseball every week.
Here are the weekly features:
Daily: Nightly Pick'Em - A six year running contest to pick the result of one game every day. Details can be found in this thread.
Monday: Power Rankings - A team of 30 fans from every team in baseball, led by ~~masochist~~ fearless leader kasutori_jack, releases their composite power rankings of the 30 teams. This leads to well thought out discussions and some in depth analysis, as well as salty fans crying about how their team is underrated (there may be more of the latter than the former, but it's still a great way to keep your finger on the pulse of how every team is doing).
Monday (Unofficial) - The last few years thekmanpwnudwn has posted a State of the Subreddits post that gives the top post from each team's subreddit from the last week. This is a great roundup post for staying up to date on what all the different team fandoms are feeling, and helps you catch any milestones you might have otherwise missed.
Tuesday: Weekly Awards - Led by lemcoe9 a different team of a fan from every team releases the results of their weekly (and monthly) voting for who the best position player and pitcher was since the last vote was taken. Once again, a great way to keep track of which players are on hot streaks, and who's dominating the league.
Wednesday: Wild Card Wednesday - Each week a new contest, trivia game, or just out of the box fun thread will be stickied! Got an idea? Let the mods know!
Thursdays: Division Discussions - We rotate between the Easts, Centrals, and Wests to do some more in depth talk about where the playoff races and teams stand. If you only have time for one baseball thread every week and want to keep up with the league, this is the thread to set aside time for.
Friday: Trash Talk/Compliment/Complaint - FRIDAYS ARE FUN DAYS, WE ROTATE BETWEEN TRASH TALK, COMPLIMENT, TRASH TALK, AND COMPLAIN THREADS! TRADITION STATES ALL COMMENTS BE IN ALL CAPS AND ENDING IN EXCLAMATION POINTS! WE ROTATE RATHER THAN HAVE A SET DAY FOR EACH ALL SEASON BECAUSE IT'S A LONG SEASON AND ANY ONE OF THE THREE THREADS CAN GET STALE FAST IF YOU DON'T LEAVE TIME FOR MORE AMMUNITION!
Saturday: Saturday is when we usually plug in occasional things that don't necessarily deserve weekly attention. Things like in depth stat discussions, memorobilia sharing, craft projects, etc.
Sunday: Game of the Week - Sunday is the one day a week where we get together as a subreddit to watch a baseball game together, since it's the one time every week where there's only one game going on and there's guaranteed to be a game. The Sunday Night Baseball game thread is usually posted a couple hours before the first pitch.
In addition the playoffs, and select premier match-ups (mostly at the very end of the season where there is a lot riding on a regular season game) we host game threads for all baseball users. These are neutral thread, for more info on less neutral ones skip to the next section. We may experiment with game threads in baseball for the MLB.tv Free Game of the Day this year.
In addition to all these features, it really is a great place to keep up with breaking news and highlights. It'll be posted here minutes after someone tweets it, and long before it's on MLB.com. Team beat writers get the stories first, and it's easier to check in here a couple times a day than follow every one of them. Plus there's something the kids are calling "dank memes" (but not too many, because us mods don't allow too much moisture to get into the servers).

Your Team's Subreddit (And other team subs as well)

The mods at baseball have one goal - help you have the best possible reddit baseball experience, and a LOT of that is helping you get connected to other fans of your team (which feels a little like a cop-out because it means less work for us if you're doing more on your team's sub, but your team's mods aren't complaining.)
One of the main draws of team subs (other than in depth discussion with like-fan-minded users, getting breaking news and analysis on your team, team-memes, and other reddit discussions that come up from a group of individuals who can agree on one thing) are game threads. At this time (to the best of my knowledge) every team sub hosts game threads for their team's games, and you can easily access them in the sidebar during the season by clicking on the team's logo in the schedule (we're working on getting that up to speed, MLB changed some parts of their RSS and background data and we've had to work around that to get our automated system back up). We like to keep the game threads in team subs for a few reasons, one of which is we want to support the team subs and send them relevant traffic when we can because they really do an amazing job, another is because with 15 games a day this place would look like crap if we had game threads for every game or let users post them as they please (we've tried it, it blots out news, discussion, and highlights and looks like crap, baseball doesn't have only a couple days set aside for games or focus on marquee match ups like many other sports, it's 2430 games played in 183 days and is better when it's spread out.)
Even if you're not a game thread person though, getting connected with a good team sub can make disappointing seasons more bearable, and great seasons more exciting, and I know plenty of users that said that their team's sub basically keeps them fans. Team subs are also a great place to get connected to...

Twitter, Podcasts, and other General News/Analysis Sources

Going to be honest here, I don't use twitter and I do not frequently read other people's blogs. I know many people do and enjoy it, and I believe the best way to find the people to follow/sites to visit that interest you the most are to hang around your team's sub and note which Tweets/Sites that are linked to that most often peak your interest. Your list of favorite baseball writers is going to be different than my favorite list, and finding the right twitter personalities, podcasts hosts, and bloggers can make game analysis more interesting for you even if your team is playing like crap and it's the middle of July.
Here are some common suggestions for some general baseball twitter accounts and podcasts to get you started, but like I said, find what you like and follow those:
Twitter

Account	Account	Account
@MLB	@Ken_Rosenthal	@Buster_ESPN
@jonmorosi	@mlbtraderumors	@MiLB
@JeffPassan	@MLBInjuryNews	@BNightengale
@keithlaw	@based_ball	@SamMillerBB
@jonahkeri	@BaseballAmerica	@brooksbaseball
@BenLindbergh	@ChrisCotillo	@mike_petriello
@MJ_Baumann	@FanRagSports	@TheAthleticMLB
@fangraphs	@baseballprospectus	@baseball_ref
@daynperry	@CBSSportsMLB	@CespedesBBQ
@GrantBrisbee	@JonHeyman	@cantpitch
@MLBRosterMoves	@darenw	@extrabaggs

Podcasts

Account	Account	Account
Effectively Wild	Baseball Tonight	The Ringer

The Statistical Titans: Baseball Reference and Fangraphs

Literally every day you will find a link or to BaseballReference.com or Fangraphs.com here, it's a given, and it's because these are the two most extensive free baseball databases that are easy to navigate. If you want to look up anything about baseball history, check Baseball Reference, if you want to look up how players stack up with non-proprietary advanced metrics or read an insightful blog post about why someone is overrated/underrated or overperforming/underperforming, check Fangraphs. With these two sites you have all the stats and figures you need to make a competent argument for basically anything you want with a little cherry picking.
A large part of the modern baseball world is statistics and you're going to find yourself getting more immersed in discussing the game if you can get a handle on all the terms getting thrown around. If you are brand new to baseball, take a little while to get to know the game before diving into these sites, but if you have a handle on the basics and are ready to know what this WAR everyone is talking about is, dive into the glossaries and find the statistics.
When you get the basics, creating your own analysis doesn't seem as daunting, and one of the reasons I love baseball is that I can deconstruct pretty much every play and find some meaning behind it. If you are like that and enjoy numbers, theoretical projections, and breaking things down into simple figures before reconstructing them into something long and beautiful, then learning the basics of sabrmetrics will make you a baseball fan for life. If, on the other hand, you just want to enjoy the game for the beautiful pastime that it is by watching, then we've got a little bit to go through...

Where to Watch? - Your TV and Streaming Guide

So a big part of baseball is, you know, actually being able to watch the games (though as I talk about at the end, it might not necessarily be the case for you, and that doesn't mean you can't enjoy baseball, skip down and see what I'm talking about in the final section).
First off, if you are looking for free games to watch, you are in luck! MLB.tv streams one game a day for free on MLB.com and Yahoo.com. These games are subject to local blackouts (details on those in the MLB.tv section) but are definitely worth watching if you're trying to see if you'll enjoy baseball, or just need a free baseball fix. Facebook is also streaming one game a week during the season for free. The other free games available are from May 18 to July 13 on Saturday night and Thursday nights in September when FOX airs games on their OTA affiliated networks. Believe it or not, TV antennas still work in most areas, and these games are free to watch. Some teams also broadcast select games on OTA networks in their region.
Okay, so now the more expensive stuff. If you have even the most basic cable package (or log in information) you probably have ESPN. ESPN airs games every Sunday Night as well as Wednesday Night and Opening Weekend. These games are also available on ESPN Go.
You also probably have a regional sports channel. This is where almost all of your local teams games will be aired. Here is a decent breakdown of every team and what network they are carried on.
TBS is also on even the most basic networks, they air games the final 13 Sundays of the regular season in the afternoon.
FS1 and FOX carry baseball games almost every Saturday of the season, and MLB Network carries games pretty much every day.
A list of currently scheduled national broadcasts is available here, not all games have been chosen so there will be more added to the list.
For all these networks (except for the Dodgers, Orioles, and Nationals regional networks) there are options to stream the games online provided you have cable login information for the channel. During the playoffs FS1, TBS, and MLB Network will carry most of the games, with ESPN carrying a wild card game and FOX carrying the World Series.
Now there are also streaming services that grant access to most of the previously mentioned channels:

Sling TV Orange package gets you ESPN, ESPN 2, and TBS.
Sling TV Blue package gets you FOX, FS1, FS2, TBS, and most regional sports networks.
Youtube TV gets you FOX, ESPN, ESPN 2, FS1, TBS, MLB Network, and some regional sports networks.
HULU Live gets you FOX, ESPN, ESPN 2, FS1, FS2, TBS, and your regional sports networks.
Playstation Vue Access gets you FOX, ESPN, ESPN 2, FS1, FS2, and TBS.
Playstation Vue Core adds MLB Network to the Access channels.
Playstation Vue Sports Extra adds regional sports networks in addition to your other channels.
AT&T TV Now Live a Little gets you FOX, ESPN, ESPN 2, FS1, and TBS and your regional sports networks.
AT&T TV Now Just Right adds MLB Network to the Live a Little channels.
AT&T TV Now Go Big adds FS2 to the Just Right channels.
FUBO Premier gets you FOX, FS1, and your regional sports networks

Also, ESPN+ will carry select games pretty much daily throughout the season.

MLB.TV - the Ultimate Fan Investment

Alright, so a few things to cover with this, first of all YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO LEGALLY STREAM IN MARKET GAMES IF YOU LIVE IN THE UNITED STATES. MLB.tv uses your IP address to see where you are located, and if it pings back that you are in a team's home market it will not let you watch the game LIVE. Here is where you can find what games MLB.tv will black you out from. National broadcasts on ESPN, FOX, and TBS are also subject to blackouts within the United States (MLB Network games are not). Before you ask, yes there are less than legal ways to get around this (spoofing your IP address, subreddit dedicated to mlb streams, etc.), but I won't be talking about those in detail here. IF YOU ARE OUTSIDE OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA, YOU WILL HAVE NO BLACKOUTS.
Even if you are blacked out, you will be able to watch the game 90 minutes after it finishes, so if you work a late shift or stay up late it might be worth it for you anyways even if you only want to follow one team.
Military members and college students, don't forget to apply your 35% discount!
"But I don't want to watch EVERY out of market game, I just want to watch MY team!" Cool, for $25 less there's a single team option that will allow you to watch all your team's non-blacked out games! Personally, I'd pay the extra $25 for the opportunity to watch every Kershaw, Bumgarner, and Scherzer start, or put the Cubs on in the background while working on a Friday afternoon, but to each their own.
"But I don't want to commit for a full year!" That's okay, there's a monthly option as well in case you know there are months where you can't watch as much.
Some of the fun features of MLB.tv include the ability to watch four games at once and quickly swap your audio from one to another (seriously, I'm never on commercial break when I'm watching baseball, unless there's only one game on I'm able to watch it all, and in September that's huge) and condensed games. What are condensed games? They go through and cut out all the time between pitches and innings, meaning if you want to watch a whole game in less than a half hour (or are searching desperately for a play to make a .gif or streamable out of that for some reason isn't considered a highlight) it's really easy. If you're someone who really wants to get into the game but can't figure out how to grind through watching a full game, Condensed Games are great for keeping up with a team while you learn the little details between pitches that somehow make watching the catcher twiddle his fingers exciting for some fans.
Also, new this year, MLB has added some great baseball documentaries to your MLB.tv subscription, giving you access to more than just games for the first time.
In addition, there are two great resources to enhance your total immersion into baseball if there are multiple games going on. Please note for both of these you must already be logged into MLB.tv to make them work. The first, and most basic, is Brooks Baseball's MLB.TV Redzone. It will automatically take you to the highest leverage game going on, and will automatically shift you to another game between innings OR if another game enters a higher leverage situation. For a more personalized touch, The Baseball Guage has MLB.TV Game Changer which lets you customize your preferences so MLB.tv will always switch to the game that is most relevant to you. This is great if you play fantasy and want to keep up with your players, are waiting for someone to hit a milestone, or if you want to make sure your action is broken into to follow a no-hitter in progress.
It also gives you a free subscription to...

MLB AtBat - The Most Underrated Way to Stay Connected to Baseball

MLB AtBat is MLB's official application. It comes in two versions, the free version which has ads but is useful for keeping up to date with all the scores, and the paid version ($19.99 for the year of $2.99 monthly) which gives you access to ad-free content, Gameday on your mobile device, and (most valuable) access to every team's radio stream for every game during the season and postseason completely blackout free. If there's a day game, you can bet I'm listening to it at work, if I'm mowing the lawn on a Saturday I'm listening to a game, when I can't sleep at night, on comes a West Coast game. To get the paid version you must download the free version, then subscribe within the app, or log into an MLB account that has MLB.tv.
Baseball was made to be on the radio, it's a sport that is very easy to follow the action with the right announcer. At work (or school) it's great because you can half listen, and when the announcer gets excited you can instantly tune back in to hear what's going on. This is the most underrated way to stay connected to your team throughout the year. Before I could afford MLB.tv, this was the way to go, and it honestly makes me question every year whether getting the MLB.tv package is worth is when I can get 80% of the entertainment value from listening to the games (and every year I manage to forget to unsubscribe, for many reasons listed above).
Gameday on mobile is also a great feature, it lets you quickly check in on the action during brief recesses in meetings (or under the table during meetings), or breaks between classes (or under a desk in classes). This is honestly my primary means of keeping track of Twins games throughout the year. My wife thinks I'm crazy when I could just watch the game, but instead am nervously checking my phone every couple minutes. IF I WATCH I JINX THE TEAM, HONEY!

How to watch baseball?

So this is a question that we get from many new fans who are just trying to figure out what the hell is going on and why people find this game so fascinating. I'll get the elephant in the room out of the way, yes there are some "boring" parts of watching baseball on TV. The camera fans to a batter spitting and adjusting his gloves, the pitcher adjusts his crotch then licks his fingers, random shots of a bored looking manager, etc. When you are actually at the ballpark you can be watching where the catcher and fielders set up to try to predict the pitch that is coming (read The Hidden Language of Baseball by Paul Dickson for some great insight into how to interpret this), but on TV it's not usually the case. This is where I have some suggestions for new fans trying to get into it.
First off, if you are looking for just a relaxing day, embrace the slow pace with a beer and veg out on the couch while watching. It's meant to be slow and relaxing (until it gets tense and exciting, usually with runners on). Seriously, when was the last time you just sat and did nothing? Mid July afternoon games are a perfect way to reach that zen of half-consciousness, until something happens to get you sucked into the action.
Another option to stay engaged is keeping score. I find keeping score relaxing and looking back through a scorebook can be fun to see what you were doing a few years ago (except for that damn unfinished scorecard from 2015 where A-Rod hit the most predictable home run in Twins-Yankees history and I sent my scorecard flying to the other side of the room). As NPR once put it, keeping score is a knowledge making activity, and if you have the time and patience for it it is a great way to learn the game. There are a couple different guides to keeping score, and most scorebooks/cards will have a brief example of how to do so. If you have any questions, the Around the Horn thread is a great place to ask!
Gamethreads are another way to get together with other baseball fans and pass the time between pitches, especially in team subs you get to know the regulars and conversations start to wonder away from baseball at times throughout the game, and that's fine. Baseball is an excuse to enjoy a summer day.
For those that want to actually understand what is going on during that time, though, there are some options. Watching Baseball Smarter by Zack Hample (who despite his reputation on this subreddit knows some stuff and actually pops in from time to time to comment on different things) is a good starting place for new fans. Baseball for Dummies and The Complete Idiots Guide to Baseball are also good starting points for those willing to sit and read for a little bit.
For those who don't want to read a book, I guess I can touch on what I'm looking for between pitches. A big part of baseball is pitch selection, so scouting out a pitchers repertoire of pitches is a good starting point, BrooksBaseball.net has great cheat sheets on every pitcher in the game, and PitcherList.com has a visual example of each pitcher's pitches so you can see what you can be looking for. Anyways, I mention that because the whole reason the catcher is twiddling his fingers behind the plate is to go over with the pitcher what pitch is going to be thrown. What I'm watching for between pitches is where the catcher is setting up behind the plate and guessing which pitch is going to be thrown. A 2-0 and 3-1 count are known as hitters counts because the pitcher needs to throw a strike or risk walking the batter, when the count reaches either of those pay attention, because the hitters going to be looking for his perfect pitch and there's probably going to be some action on the field. 0-1, 0-2, and 1-2 are pitcher's counts, look for curveball, slider or other somewhat nasty pitch to be thrown to get the batter to swing at a bad pitch, or a fastball inside to catch them off guard. If you have any questions about this, go ahead and ask in an around the horn thread.

Where to watch highlights and game recaps.

There are many many places to see highlights and game recaps, this is not an exhaustive list, but is a good start.
For highlights, bigger highlights will often be posed here on baseball a few minutes after they occur, if you wish to post them please familiarize yourself with the subreddit rules. They also appear relatively quickly on MLB.com in each games Gameday area. For a pretty slick collection of highlights from across MLB, https://baseball.theate is a great place to exclusively watch highlights.
There are a few ways to get great game recaps. If you have MLB Network, every day Quick Pitch is an hour-long show that recaps every game from the previous day. It usually starts after MLB Tonight (about 10pm EDT) or whatever game MLB Network is showing finishes up, and runs until 10am EDT the next day. MLB.com also puts out recaps of every game by the next morning, usually a 2-5 minutes quick rundown of highlights that can be found on the game recap. It also puts out Fastcast videos on youtube and their website every morning which has a brief rundown of all the games from the previous day. Here's an example of a Fastcast from two seasons ago.
If you want one concise place to see most of these, efitz11 was amazing last season and posted video links to every game recap and fastcast in the daily Around the Horn thread. Here's an example. I am unsure if they plan to continue it this year, but it would be surely appreciated!

TL;DR Finding what you enjoy about the game.

When it boils down to it, baseball is about finding entertainment and enjoyment, and don't let anyone try to tell you how to enjoy baseball. If you want nothing to do with statistical analysis and just want to enjoy what's going on on the field, don't let anyone tell you you aren't enough of a fan, and if you want to dissect a player into their strengths and components using statcast and advanced metrics don't let anyone tell you you're reading into the game too much. You can follow one team, and only one team, or you can follow multiple teams, don't let anyone tell you you're not a true fan for wearing another team's gear or enjoying their games. You might enjoy bat flips and flamboyance, or reserved speedy home run trots. You might not even enjoy physically watching a game (especially not if your team isn't playing), but find yourself loving keeping track of your team through the season and tracking your players or maybe just the thrill of the standings race and scoreboard watching or maybe you just love all the numbers that get thrown around and arguing about their relevancy. That's okay, eventually I believe enjoyment of the game itself will come, but even if it doesn't, the long baseball season is still creating a place of enjoyment for you, and that's what matters. If you have any questions, once again, feel free to ask them in our daily Around the Horn thread, or below in the comments, or if you really want to feel free to PM with questions and I'd be happy to answer.
So watch games this week and join in the discussion here, you'll naturally find yourself gravitating towards certain players or teams and enjoying different aspects of the game. Baseball is a long season, find what you enjoy, stick to it, dwell on it, and enjoy it.
TL;DR for the TL;DR - Baseball is fun

college basketball predictions tonight video

Free College Basketball Picks Against The Spread (ATS) One of the more popular college basketball wagers is betting against the spread (ATS). Against the spread betting isn’t about picking a winner of the basketball game, it’s about picking the team who will cover the spread. Let’s say you bet your money that Team A covers the spread (wins by a certain amount of points), Duke -6.5 for ... Free College Basketball Picks, NCAA Picks, Sports Predictions, Expert Predictions, Picks Against the Spread, Sports Picks, Winning Sports Picks, NCAA Basketball Picks For college basketball picks, Odds Shark has a supercomputer algorithm for picking sides and totals for every college basketball game. The table above displays computer-calculated picks based on the past 100 games of the college basketball season. When making college basketball picks, the algorithm factors in many variables like a team’s recent play, home/away splits, injuries, historical ... Below are our projections for all of the games in college basketball today. The projections that we provide are now at a “Level 3” (see more at our predictions disclaimer for details). Our proprietary algorithm takes a variety of factors into account that are all predictive in projecting the winner and score. Note that we are an information site, and this information should be used for ... Free College Basketball Picks, Expert Predictions & Parlays Against the Spread. The best free college basketball picks as well as parlays for all of today's games. College Basketball Picks & NCAA Predictions. If the college game is your specialty, then you’ve come to the right place. Picks and Parlays is the leading source of information and expert NCAA basketball picks – giving you the winners you need to dominate the sportsbooks. We provide the best college basketball predictions, covering you for all lined games all season long, from November ... College Basketball Tonight. If you’re looking for college basketball picks tonight, you’re in luck. SBR’s team of experts is across NCAAB action daily, offering previews and predictions on ... ProSoccer: Prognosis Basketball - Ice Hockey - Soccer - Tennis : Features: Free BASKETBALL predictions .NBA, NCAA, European Leagues and Cups ICE HOCKEY predictions for NHL, AHL, European Leagues and Cups TENNIS Prediction for all tournaments Single games Free Predictions for more than 100 Leagues and Cups, Score Prediction, Average Odds, Match Results. Predictions Methodology. The projections for all the NBA games that we provide above are at “Level 3” (see more at our predictions disclaimer for details). Our proprietary algorithm takes a variety of factors into account that are all predictive in projecting the winner and score of the game. Basketball; Hockey; Tennis; NFL; 09-02-2021. 10-02-2021. 11-02-2021. Below we listing a today's Basketball matches list with predictions. Matches are sorted by propability. Highest is better. Additional we selected correct bet when match is finished. L Time Match 1X2 % Under/Over% Spread% 1 2 Line Under Over Line 1 2; FI 16:30: Kataja -URA Basket: 89: 11--DE 18:00: Riesen Ludwigsburg ...

Predictions Basketball - today's betting tips

college basketball predictions tonight

college basketball predictions tonight - win

(NOV 15) Tonight - Gardner Webb +25 vs North Carolina -25 College Basketball Predictions and Early NFL Plays!

(NOV 15) Tonight - Gardner Webb +25 vs North Carolina -25 College Basketball Predictions and Early NFL Plays!

(NOV 15) Tonight - Gardner Webb +25 vs North Carolina -25 College Basketball Predictions and Early NFL Plays!

(NOV 15) Tonight - Gardner Webb +25 vs North Carolina -25 College Basketball Predictions and Early NFL Plays!

(NOV 15) Tonight - Gardner Webb +25 vs North Carolina -25 College Basketball Predictions and Early NFL Plays!

Tonight's College Basketball predictions including 1st round of the NCAA Tournament and NIT

I worked at an abnormal sleep lab in college. These are my notes. Part: Subject D

Ranking Sunday's games by watchability

David Johnson vs Scottie Barnes in Louisville vs FSU

Cloudtemplar on Damwon vs Sunning + Reflection

Damwon 3:1 Victory!

General Ideas

Game 1

SofM Shen Jungle

Pick/Ban

Sunny Side Up

Suning Roster on Paper vs Reality

Shen pt. 2

Game 2

Lucian

Why Eve Why Not Lillia?

Millionaire Binn and Vietnam Rengar

Game 3

All Right, Then. Keep Your Secret

Damwon's Biggest Strength

RED vs BLUE

Game 4

Series MVP

Best Players in Each Role in Worlds

2nd Best Players

Huanfeng

Why Caps?

Q&A

1. Was there a party?

2. Cake?

3. Seed Change?

4. Next year?

5. Cloudtemplar's Schedule

6. Stage, Opening

7. Oberservor

8. Crowd

10. Hope for LCS?

11. Championship Skin

Conclusion

The Future of Cloudtemplar channel

Been on a tear at Win Daily

Opinions Wanted! I'm working on a new novel and I want to see if what I have for the first chapter so far is even any good. So please give me your opinions as you see fit.

MSU Basketball

Thursday Night College Hoops: Back the Under in Lubbock

#5 Kansas at #14 Texas Tech

Kansas Players to Know

Texas Tech Players to Know

Kansas-Texas Tech Prediction & Best Bet

#9 Creighton at St. John’s

Creighton Players to Know

St. John’s Players to Know

Creighton – St. John’s Prediction & Best Bet

Omaha at Wyoming

Omaha Players to Know

Wyoming Players to Know

Omaha – Wyoming Prediction & Best Bet

Butler at #7 Villanova Betting Preview

Butler Players to Watch

Villanova Players to Watch

Butler – Villanova Prediction

Your 2020 Season Survival Guide and R/Baseball Refresher!

Introduction for new and renewed interest fans.

Rule Changes for 2020

Finding a Team

Knowing Where Different Teams Stand

Baseball

Your Team's Subreddit (And other team subs as well)

Twitter, Podcasts, and other General News/Analysis Sources

The Statistical Titans: Baseball Reference and Fangraphs

Where to Watch? - Your TV and Streaming Guide

MLB.TV - the Ultimate Fan Investment

MLB AtBat - The Most Underrated Way to Stay Connected to Baseball