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The Mets won another offseason title in 2024 when they signed Juan Soto to the largest contract in the history of professional sports. That is an awesome move and the Mets may become World Series contenders for years to come, but it won’t be only because of Soto. We’ve seen megastars struggle to qualify for the Postseason in baseball (most notably with Abe Miranda’s Anaheim Angels) and we’ve seen hyped Mets signings like Justin Verlander fail to convert offseason banners into real ones. What makes Soto different? Well, he might be a more talented slugger than the Mets have ever signed before with an on-base percentage above .400 in each one of his seven big league seasons. Most importantly, though, is the fact that Soto is joining a team that won a couple of Postseason series in 2024. He doesn’t have to be a savior, but I also can’t help but think that the Mets needed to do more over the winter to secure a bid in October.
If the Mets fall short this season, it will probably be because of the starting rotation. Two years ago, Kodai Senga and his Ghost Fork emerged as a star, but in 2024 he got hurt and missed 99 percent of the season. Fortunately, Sean Manaea put together a career year at age 32 and provided stability to the rotation alongside Luis Severino and Jose Quintana. Over the winter, the Mets brought back Manaea on a three-year deal, but they let Severino and Quintana walk while adding Frankie Montas, Griffin Canning, and Clay Holmes to replace them. Holmes was the Yankees’ closer last year, but he was demoted in October and hasn’t made a major league start since 2018.
Even with everyone healthy, I thought the 2025 rotation looked shaky with Senga seemingly made of glass and the Mets counting on Manaea to repeat his best year ever. Fast forward to the present, and Manaea is set to start the regular season on the injured list due to an oblique injury. Montas is also on the shelf with a strained lat, and I don’t feel good about the rotation at all. Senga needs to be the ace he was in 2023, David Peterson needs to build on his 2024 in which he posted a career-best 2.90 ERA despite a strikeout rate that shrunk to 7.51 per nine innings, and Clay Holmes needs to prove that he can be a mid-rotation starter after years of exclusively pitching out of the bullpen. That is a lot of question marks for the top three guys in the Mets’ rotation. Paul Blackburn should provide consistency at the back end, and Canning is fine for a fifth guy, but I think fans will miss having a horse like Jacob deGrom to turn to every fifth day.
.@_David_Peterson lookin' sharp 👀 pic.twitter.com/eWxzhMe7OG
— New York Mets (@Mets) March 4, 2025
The batting order figures to be the strength of the team with Francisco Lindor finally hitting like a superstar last year and Juan Soto hitting behind him. It took the Mets long enough, but they finally got a deal done with Pete Alonso, and he has shown he can be a feared power hitter even in a down season. If the Polar Bear can get back to hitting 40 home runs with a .260 average, he will look like a steal. I also think Brandon Nimmo will get on base more after a strange 2024 campaign in which he posted a BABIP below .300 for just the second time in his career. If some hits fall in for him, his walk rate is still good enough to get him to a .360 OBP, which will be useful wherever the Mets want to put him in the lineup. Mark Vientos should round out the top five of the order, but he could struggle if he doesn’t get his strikeouts under control. It will only be a matter of time before opposing pitchers spam outside breaking stuff against him. He needs to lay off the junk more and demand strikes.
The bottom of the order could get boosted from a Jeff McNeil resurgence or Francisco Alvarez refining his approach. The former top prospect has been exciting but wildly inconsistent over the past two seasons, while McNeil needs to rediscover his 2022 form after posting a career-high strikeout rate and career-low BABIP in 2024.
It will be tough for the Mets to top the magical Postseason run of 2024, especially with baseball’s final boss, the Los Angeles Dodgers, still standing in their way. For now, we’ll focus on getting ready for the regular season and winning a division title for the first time in a decade.
2SGBR85 Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle Milton Williams, left, stops a pass by Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) during the NFL Super Bowl 59 football game on Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025 in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong)
Feeling a bit let down, as cold February lingers and throws downers in your face like the NBA All-star game and the 4 Nations’ competition to nowhere. We’ll help you climb out of this groundhog day hole with the “CDST Superstar Superbowl Afterparty Show”. You’ll be seeing hhhhhelicopters, artifically enhanced lucky Lukas, delicious visions and vapors of a once-in-a-lifetime KC barbe-que, sacked, roasted and ready for brotherly love consumption, a 7 ft, 360 pound center from St. John’s Fisher who’s on a see food diet that commands attention, and, in honor of recently concluded National Hippo Day, it’s baby Charlie, who thinks he just one of the Rhinos. Plus, a look at two potential giant killer’s for this year’s touney… 10 and oh my in the Ivies, YALE… and the hot hot hot Tigers of Mizzou, who seek to undo the ghosts of Tyus Edney. Really, now, what could indeed by Feiner?!
… and with that, there’s wasn’t anything that anyone could do to stop the Chiefy-3-peat from being rudely expunged.
This team looked great in all phases of the game, from just after their nadir against Atlanta, which wrecked mine and many
other survivor pools. But these guys stayed sharp essentially thereafter, and tonight they were sharks, devouring that usually
productive KC short game, and turned Kermit into a troubled French quarter bullfrog, looking longingly for a lily pad to hide under.
And it didn’t hurt the underdogs, that their coach showed a burning motivation, to stick one to his former employers, along with a
fan base that probably spent most of the game with their collective mouths agape. This was indeed a beat down from start to finish.
The truth Hurts!
- As ChabDognoticated, it’s KC by 1.5 against the fierce Eagles.
- Just ask Washington… the truth hurts… No. 1 and his friends are definitely No. 1 in the NFC. Let’s see who is the prey and who is the predator in two weeks. As ChabDognoticated, it’s KC by 1.5 against the fierce Eagles.
- Dalton’s drop makes much of America sicker than the sickest man in America. .. as did the blown call on 4th and inches, but then again you know you have only yourself to blame when you need the ball back, and the game’s Patrick’s to cinch.
Getting hungry for more ChabDog Sports Talk?
We know you are, so we’re obliging with the sinfully delicious “2nd Annual, Sinner, Sinner, Pollo Parm Dinner” Show.
Yeah, we’ll cover the potentialities presented by Sunday’s Conference Championships…
Sure, it looks like we could have the usual red and yellow representatives as the “Refs’ Prefs” host
hard luck Buffalo at home. But weirder things have happened, and the Bills look as qualified as ever to move on
to their god-given destination. And speaking of red and yellow, what about those cardiac Commanders, who recently fed
the Lions to the lions, and know are in prime position to mount and stuff the favored Eagles. Is the 5 and then something spread
really justified, or is that proposition purely for the birds.
But our show goes much farther than a down and dirty playdate in the pigskin mosh pit. There’s also the first tennis major to be decided,
as an overgrown Carrot Top, with unusually big sneaks and a bit of a bowlegged gait, looks to repeat as Men’s winner… time to throw another title on the barbie mate?
For the Women, a first Major title for US’s favorite daughter Madison Keys, please?
Tune in tomorrow, with ChabDog, Well-read, Abe, A-ron and any comedic clips we can borrow (I think we’ve got some film noir and “W” from Oliver Stone on tap).
It’s been a tumultuous week at the AO, with Gael force winds putting Fritz on the fritz, and we hear the storm building on this weeks “CDST: Uekeranian Eulogy, Thunder Down Under” Show. Yeah we’ll discuss this week’s playoffs game, the weak prospects for the Texans standing tall, wherther the Eagles stay out of harm’s way against McStan’s Macvay, when Big Dan can eclipse Dan Quinn, and the Ravens-Bills thrillshow. But we’ll make sure you cast your ears on the sweet sound of Dan-yell Collins. And if we have some time left over, we may ponder the possibilities: Jeff Feagles as an Eagle (not a Giant), Haven Moses as a Raven, not a Bills. Bill Belichick as a Bill and not a Heel.
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Make your violent playoff Saturday complete with the “The Other Cleat Just Spiked Your Meat” CDST Show…
In a few hours, it’s gonna be the start of Wild Card Weekend, and things’ll be getting hot and heavy in the NFL Playoffs. Who’s about to become extinct and who’s putting their feet down with maximum authority…. we’ll banter the subject, and plenty more, on the “The Other Cleat Just Spiked Your Meat” CDST Show. Is Mike Tomlin about to take that Steeler 4-wheeler carreening down Lookout Mountain for another sadistic spill? Can Sam Darnold get the hawk tuah girl off his mind, long enough for the Vikings to stage a real fun desert funeral for the sacrificial Rams. We ponder this and other questions that have been left curiously unanswered for far too long…. like how our own Abe Miranda conquered Barb-fire in the spread pool, and why Karen “Big Mouth” Bass had so little to say at her recent press conference. And time permitting, there’s the college football BS (sorry BCS) finale to consider; ChabDog hasn’t checked, but perhaps making Notre Dame a 5 point dog (is that right?) is just what the joint doctor ordered in South Bend.
Notre Dame squeezes the life outta Penn St. in a peach of an Orange Bowl…
Thanks to a thrilling turn of events in the 2nd half, we’ll be hearing more from the Notre Dame Victory March in January! Terrific win for the never-say-die Fighting Irish, who kept on fighting and out-slugged a very game squad from Penn St. Ara is certaining looking down from Heaven and smiling as the Freeman era has officially begun.
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Abe’s Posts
Week 7: Abe’s Scrumdidilyumptious NFL Picks (ATS)
WALKING INTO WEEK 7 HAVING GOTTEN TEN PICKS RIGHT AGAINST THE SPREAD LAST WEEK! Ok, CAPS may have been too much but anytime you can get double-digit wins against the spread I think there’s nothing wrong with celebrating that! So lets look at my current picks record….please see Exibit a:
Exibit a.
WEEK 1: 10/16 (62.5%) WEEK 2: 8/15 + 1 Push (53.3%) WEEK 3: 8/16 (50%) WEEK 4: 9/16 (56%) WEEK 5: 7/14 (50%) WEEK 6: 10/14 (71%) SEASON RECORD (ATS): 52/91 + 1 Push (57%)
OK, now that we’re all caught up and you’re still willing to read my scumbag picks, lets fucking go NFL Week 7 (thank you for knowing that you still have a better shot with my picks below than LITERALLY flipping a quarter)!
THURSDAY NIGHTS GAME – TOOK THE CHALK
Need to explain that I was super slammed at work and simply didn’t make my pick before kickoff. However, here at Chabdog Sports, if you don’t make a pick, you take the “chalk” (favored to win). Somehow, our official “chalk” was the New Orlean Saints….WHY???…I STILL DONT KNOW! Feel free to entertain yourself with my Twitter/X exchange with our producer, Well Read.
Really wish I had tweeted this out earlier @NewportBest_ considering the chalk were the Saints (how???) since my pick would’ve been Denver 🥴 https://t.co/2v8rIVhBnP pic.twitter.com/3C04aR20V9
— Abe Miranda (@gawdbrudder) October 18, 2024
| | @gawdbrudder
Week 6: Abe’s Scrumdidilyumptious NFL Picks (ATS)
Before I get into all the excitement of Week 6, let’s talk about Week 5. So yeah, like my gawdbrudder Frank Fleming from Barstool Sports, I was locked out of chabdog.com as technology told me to go fuck myself last week. However, if you’re following me on social media, you probably came across my Week 5 picks in the form of a tweet. So here they are for transparency as we take great pride in our weekly/season records here at Chabdog Sports.
Can’t post my Week 5 #NFL ATS Picks online cause I’m currently locked out of https://t.co/kpuA1yoCcA because technology hates me & I’m fk’n cursed. Fortunately, I went to school in the 80s & 90s and know how to fill out a scantron using a #2 pencil pic.twitter.com/WxZFJ7KXr4
— Abe Miranda (@gawdbrudder) October 6, 2024
Therefore, with my Week 5 picks in, here are my current weekly/season stats before you decide if I’m worth reading any further down the page:
WEEK 1: 10/16 (62.5%) WEEK 2: 8/15 + 1 Push (53.3%) WEEK 3: 8/16 (50%) WEEK 4: 9/16 (56%) WEEK 5: 7/14 (50%) SEASON RECORD (ATS): 42/77 + 1 Push (54%)
OK, now that we’re all caught up and you’re still willing to read some rando’s internet scumbag picks, lets fucking go NFL Week 6 (thank you for knowing that you still have a better shot with my picks below than LITERALLY flipping a quarter)!
For Thursday’s Night Game, I was slammed at work and took the chalk which was 100% the right call.
❤️ @chabdogsports cause they have a policy that if you can’t make a pick before kickoff u automatically get da “chalk” (49s -3.5). Very accommodating policy for days like today when I was simply way too swamped at work to pick the Seahawks +3.5 💀 CHALK PLEASE ☝️ https://t.co/TWdb2rDjLv
— Abe Miranda (@gawdbrudder) October 11, 2024
| | @gawdbrudder
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Penn State’s thrilling win in Rec Hall and Indiana gets cooked
We’ve been saying for years that Penn State Basketball would be a more impressive television product if the home arena wasn’t the Bryce Jordan Center. The giant arena is way too big for a program that strives to be in the middle of the Big Ten standings in a good year. When Penn State plays in the Palestra or at Rec Hall, it looks like a proper basketball program, and sometimes it even plays like one. Wednesday night was one of those nights with Illinois in town. However, for most of the night, it looked like a typical 2024 Penn State loss. The Lions got off to a hot start on offense, but then fizzled and struggled to keep pace with the talented Illini because of their failure to grab a rebound on defense. Illinois often doesn’t need second chances, especially with Terrence Shannon Jr. playing like he did, but it got 19 of them, with the Swiss Army Knife Ty Rodgers grabbing five offensive boards. That helped make up for 18 Illinois turnovers that Penn State needed just to keep the game respectable while Shannon was going off for a career-high 35 points on 10-for-18 shooting.
Another reason why Penn State only trailed by 10 points with two and a half minutes left was Nick Kern Jr. He has shown some upside with his athleticism this season, but again Illinois he got to the basket at will. At one point in the second half, Kern scored 13 straight Penn State points, and he finished with a season-high 22. Now that Kanye Clary is out of the picture, I’m hoping that Kern can stick around for one or two more seasons and develop into a star, but to do that he needs to expand his range past 10 feet from the basket.
IT'S STORMING IN STATE COLLEGE ‼️@PennStateMBB takes down No. 12 Illinois. 🙌 pic.twitter.com/zq0GMzJNVk
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) February 22, 2024
Anyway, Zach Hicks hit a mid-range shot to cut the deficit to eight points, and then the Illinois collapse began. Shannon drove into the paint and kicked the ball to the corner to set up Luke Goode with a wide-open dagger three. With the way Goode shoots the ball, that should be a layup for him, but he missed, and Hicks answered with a triple for Penn State to cut the lead to five. However, Illinois was still in great shape after two free throws from Marcus Domask and a missed three by Ace Baldwin Jr. Now the Illini were up by seven points with less than a minute left. Shannon tried a runner in the paint, but it bounced out and Jameel Brown took advantage by crushing a three-point shot in transition. Brown’s next play was even bigger, though, because Penn State needed a turnover to make it a one-possession game. Brown came through by stripping Shannon of the ball, which led to an easy layup for Puff Johnson. All of a sudden, the Lions trailed by just two with 30 seconds left.
Purdue upset by Ohio State and Penn State loses Kanye Clary
I almost feel bad for Purdue fans even though they have a tremendous basketball team that will probably make the Final Four. No matter what the Boilers do in the regular season, there is nothing they can do to change their reputation as a team that collapses in the big moment. The only way to do that is to win in the NCAA Tournament. Whenever Purdue slips up this season, the doubters and haters (Indiana fans) come out of the woodwork to say “this is what will happen in March.”
I have said since November when Purdue won the Maui Invitational that this team reminds me of the 2019 Virginia team that bounced back and won the national championship after losing to a 16 seed the year before. Maybe Purdue will fulfill that prophecy, or maybe it will hilariously disappoint its rabid fans once again. On Sunday in Columbus, Matt Painter’s team gave us a preview of March or a blip on the radar, depending on your perspective. Despite shooting 20-for-20 from the free throw line and dominating the offensive glass like they always do, the Boilers lost 73-69 to an Ohio State team that was playing its first game since head coach Chris Holtmann was fired.
It didn’t help that Purdue turned the ball over 14 times, most notably when Zed Key poked the ball away from Zach Edey with less than a minute to play and the Boilers needing two points to tie the score. Purdue ended up fouling Jamison Battle, who helped put the game away at the charity stripe.
We're still thinking about Zed Key's impact in Ohio State's upset over then-No. 2 Purdue.
The F had a career-high 5️⃣ steals, to go along with nine points.@iamzedkey x @OhioStateHoops pic.twitter.com/XZBdxfJWt1
— Big Ten Men's Basketball (@B1GMBBall) February 20, 2024
Just moments before, Purdue rallied to overcome a seven-point deficit and tied the game 65-65 on Lance Jones’ clutch three-point jumper, but Battle answered with a 15-foot jumper to ensure that Ohio State would not fall behind. The Buckeyes were boosted by Battle’s 19 points on 6-for-8 shooting as well as 26 points from a bench effort led by Key and Dale Bonner. Purdue, meanwhile, got its usual great effort from Edey (22 points, 7-for-11 shooting, 13 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 blocks) but only four points from the bench. I still have no clue how Ethan Morton gets more than 10 minutes a game on team as talented as Purdue.
Ohio State interim head coach Jake Diebler made a great impression and he’ll have a case to keep the job full time with a few more wins down the stretch. I will feel very smart for talking about the potential of Ohio State’s young core if the team can upset Minnesota or Michigan State on the road.
Indiana blew a chance to join the bubble
Speaking of upsets, only one other Big Ten underdog won outright over the weekend. That was Northwestern defeating Indiana, but we can probably have a long argument over whether or not the Wildcats should have been considered the underdog in Bloomington. While they have been way more successful than Indiana this year and are projected to make the NCAA Tournament, Northwestern hasn’t impressed on the road. That’s why I saw this game as a great opportunity for Indiana to get a quality win and get into the bubble conversation. I should have known that the Hoosiers would waste it since they have shown so little heart and fight this season.
Ohio State fires Chris Holtmann and Maryland wins a bubble battle
Wisconsin finally broke its four-game losing streak in very Wisconsin-like fashion on Tuesday night. It used solid defense and three-point shooting by Max Klesmit to close the first half on a 16-3 run that turned an 18-18 tie into a 34-21 advantage. Ohio State got within five points in the second half, but Chucky Hepburn answered with a three-point shot followed by a steal and a breakaway layup while the Buckeyes failed to score for seven straight minutes. When Bruce Thornton finally got his team back on the scoreboard with 1:36 to play, Hepburn responded with another triple to put the game away. Perhaps the most thrilling part of the game was Jamison Battle not scoring all game until he hit a three with 16 seconds left to cover the 9.5-point spread for Ohio State. Klesmit had a chance to expand the lead back to 10 points, but he missed the front end of a one-and-one and the Badgers settled for a 62-54 victory.
Chucky Hepburn creates so much offense with his defense. 💥@ChuckyHepburn x @BadgerMBB
💻: Peacock pic.twitter.com/Pdu8gNTINj
— Big Ten Men's Basketball (@B1GMBBall) February 14, 2024
It wasn’t the most impressive win for Wisconsin since it came at home against Ohio State, but Greg Gard’s team will take what it can get after dropping games to Rutgers and Michigan on the road. The real excitement came on Wednesday when reports came out about Ohio State firing Chris Holtmann after six and a half seasons with the program. Holtmann made the NCAA Tournament four times (would have been five if not for the pandemic) in a row since taking over for Thad Matta in 2017. However, he never made the Sweet 16 and his highest seeded NCAA Tournament team was upset by Oral Roberts in the first round in 2021. 2023 was a disaster for Holtmann, as his team lost 14 of 15 games in the middle of conference play and finished 16-19 overall. It looked like everything would change this season, as Ohio State beat Alabama in November and improved to 12-2 when it defeated Rutgers on January 3. The Buckeyes have won just two games since, though, and athletic director Gene Smith has had enough of the losing.
I don’t blame Ohio State for expecting to make the NCAA Tournament every year. but I’m surprised Holtmann got fired when he has such a young and intriguing group of sophomores at the core of his team. Keeping a group of starters together for more than one season in today’s college basketball environment is rare, but I think Holtmann had something with Bruce Thornton, Roddy Gayle Jr., Felix Okpara, and Evan Mahaffey. They have not been winning much lately, but they are also playing in a league that’s full of fourth- and fifth-year players in the starting lineup. With the way they are all improving together as first-year starters, I wouldn’t be surprised if the group returned next season as juniors and finished in the top third of the Big Ten. With Holtmann gone, it’s more likely that the program will be reset under a new head coach who wants to bring in his own players.
Michigan State gets a big win and Bruce Thornton rescues Ohio State in double overtime
I thought Michigan State had a chance to be a home underdog against Illinois on Saturday afternoon. The Illini might be ranked 10th in the AP Poll, but Michigan State is not far behind in terms of talent and it was playing at home. I was ready to jump all over the Spartans if the line was close to zero. It’s hard to fool the books, though. Michigan State was favored by three and a half when I checked in on Saturday morning. I said “screw it” and took Sparty anyway. Tom Izzo’s team was rounding into form and needed this win for its NCAA Tournament resume.
Laying the points didn’t look like a great decision for much of the afternoon, especially when Marcus Domask knocked down a three-point shot to put Illinois ahead 72-64 with less than eight minutes to play. The Spartans owned the rest of the game, though. A.J. Hoggard stepped up with a three of his own in transition and then scored three the old fashioned way with a great head fake on Coleman Hawkins in the paint. The “and one” free throw tied the score at 72-72, but Michigan State wasn’t done. Malik Hall hit a big driving layup plus the foul to put Sparty ahead, and Tyson Walker stole the ball and put in a breakaway layup to help his team pull away and win 88-80. Great teams cover.
A.J. HOGGARD TIES IT UP AT 72 😤 pic.twitter.com/T1HYktWnb9
— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) February 10, 2024
It was a rare performance by Michigan State that saw the Big Three of Walker, Hoggard, and Hall all play like a Big Three at the same time. Hoggard and Hall combined for 45 points with Hall going 7-for-9 from the field and Hoggard adding five assists. That meant that Walker didn’t have to break his back carrying the offense. The effort by Sparty was enough to overcome a 28-point, 7-rebound effort from Terrence Shannon Jr. Illinois might have been a little too perimeter-oriented in this one with half of its field goal attempts coming from three-point range. While the Illini shot 11-for-30 from beyond the arc, Michigan State got work done in the paint while going 5-for-8 from downtown. Efficiency!
The only other exciting game on Saturday came from a surprising place: Columbus, Ohio! Maryland had a chance to pick up an impressive road win against an Ohio State squad that is every bubble team’s dream. That’s because the Buckeyes are a lousy team that for some reason has a strong NET rating. Beating them will look good to the nerds on the NCAA Tournament selection committee even though it’s not that hard to do so. Even my Nittany Lions beat Ohio State (although we also lost to them on the road). Sounds like a great opportunity for the Terps, right! That is correct, but Maryland blew it anyway even though Ohio State only led for five minutes during the game that ended up going into double overtime.
Penn State might be a wagon and Wisconsin stumbles at Michigan
I’m still not entertaining any NCAA Tournament talk with regards to my Penn State Nittany Lions. Too much damage has been done to the resume from inexplicably losing a buy game to Bucknell to going winless in Disney World to dropping overtime games against Maryland and Georgia Tech. It’s going to take way more than a Big Ten record that is one or two games above .500, even though that would be an impressive accomplishment for Mike Rhoades in his first season as head coach.
That said, the three-game winning streak that Penn State is on has been an awesome ride, and it was a lot of fun to watch it continue as the Lions pulled away from Iowa during the final four minutes on Thursday night. Ace Baldwin Jr. took over the game with 13 points and a pair of huge steals during the stretch and Penn State outscored Iowa 18-8 to finish with an 89-79 victory. I don’t expect seniors like Baldwin to take massive leaps with their game, but Baldwin looks like a different player than he was at the start of the season. He’s in control of the offense and red hot from three-point range. What’s crazy is that Baldwin was 0-for-13 from beyond the arc from the win against Rider on December 29 to the blowout loss at Purdue on January 13. Since then, he’s gone 16-for-26 in six games. It makes a big difference when opponents have to respect a point guard’s three-point shot. Opportunities for other players have opened up, and Baldwin has no problem sharing the rock when he needs to.
Ace Baldwin dishing dimes out like he’s a bank teller pic.twitter.com/uoVEWV4dw2
— Barstool Penn State (@PSUBarstool) February 9, 2024
One of those players with more opportunities has been Qudus Wahab. He’s averaging 13 points per game over his last four games after a three-game stretch in which he scored exactly four points in each one. With Zach Hicks living on the perimeter and Nick Kern operating with the dribble drive, Wahab is the only Penn State big man who is a post threat, but he’s been an excellent one lately with 13 of his 16 field goals going in. Thanks to Baldwin finding some range and Wahab executing down low, the Lions have a pretty deep and versatile offense that will hopefully continue giving opponents problems down the stretch.
The defense is a different story, though. I was pleasantly surprised by Penn State’s rebounding against Iowa, but the Hawkeyes still shot 56 percent from the field with Ben Krikke going 10-for-18 on his way to 22 points. Iowa might have won if not for Payton Sandfort getting banged up and going 2-for-7 from deep. Iowa as a team only shot 27 percent from three-point range compared to 52 percent for Penn State, and it’s safe to say that was a difference maker. We saw from the Indiana game that defending big centers is an issue for Penn State that probably won’t be going away, but the Lions have shot the three so well lately that it hasn’t mattered. It also helps when you win the turnover battle as often as Penn State has this season.