Irish Links: MARCH MADNESS IS BEGINNING

Happy Wednesday, y’all!

Here are some links.

MARCH MADNESS IS ALMOST HERE!

Michael Jordan is saying weird things about the ceiling

At halftime of the UNC-Duke basketball game on Saturday, Michael Jordan announced that the UNC football team will be wearing Jordan brand uniforms, and then went on to declare that for the football team, “the ceiling is the roof.”

Jordan was ridiculed mercilessly on social media for this...

...but some have already made it clear that his statement was indeed correct.

The ceiling is the roof, y’all. People forget that.

It’s Time for Conference Tournaments

Every conference in college basketball is in the midst of conference tourneys, and so The Ringer’s Mark Titus gave us a few storylines to watch. Titus also makes a point in the beginning of his article about how conference tournaments are money-grabs that don’t make sense logically in terms of deciding conference champions that get automatic bids to the NCAA Tournament.

SB Nation’s Alex Kirshner agrees, using the example of Monmouth, who dominated its conference in the regular season but was forced to play a road game in the semifinals and fell to Siena, likely ending its NCAA Tournament hopes.

Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images

This Week’s Edition of “What Did Lonzo Ball’s Dad Say Now?”

On this week’s episode, Charles Barkley called out Lavar Ball for making foolishly confident statements about his freshman-in-college son, and so Ball fired back less than 24 hours later saying that Barkley could have won a championship if he thought more like him.

“If Charles thought like me, maybe he’d win a championship,” Ball said. “He says sometimes when stuff comes out of people’s mouths, it’s just stupid. Guess what? You talking, too. Everybody has an opinion on how things work. ... I know what my boy’s about. I know what work he put it in. It’s not a 1-on-1 sport, but if it is 1-on-1, I’m going to take the taller, faster, stronger guy.”

I simultaneously love and can’t stand this guy so much. I can’t take it.

Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports

Other Cool Basketball Links

• Here’s a v. good story on Matt Farrell, and here’s an awesome story on Mike Brey
• Some college basketball coach told a recruit that Ohio State coach Thad Matta was dying, so that’s one way to negatively recruit against a rival
• Tom Izzo is in denial about how bad the Big Ten has been this season, so that’s pretty neat
• The Arizona State student section is on point

NFL Combine Stuff

With the NFL Combine taking place last week/weekend, everyone is abuzz with talk of John Ross running the fastest official 40-yard dash in the event’s history, Myles Garrett tearing the place apart, and which players improved or hurt their draft stock.

Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

In the above article, from Bleacher Report’s Chris Simms (yes, THAT Chris Simms), he outlines that Garrett is the definite number-one pick, DeShone Kizer did not impress, this running back draft class is ridiculous, and a few other points.

His assessment of Kizer is the opposite of Matt Miller, who currently projects him to be drafted 25th overall by the Houston Texans. Can you imagine a reunion of that Kizer-to-Fuller deep ball???

Other interesting stories of note from the NFL Combine include Joe Mixon and Chad Kelly being banned from it (and how that wasn’t really a punishment), and Reuben Foster being sent home for freaking out at the hospital.

Other College Football News

• Bleacher Report’s Brad Shepard offered his predictions on where different college football graduate transfers will land, including former ND QB Malik Zaire and former Clemson DT Scott Pagano, who just visited Notre Dame last weekend

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

• SB Nation’s Bud Elliott explained what happens on a Junior Day, which is nice to know considering a bunch of schools are hosting such events right around now (Notre Dame held theirs a little while back)
• Western Kentucky football players are being investigated about an alleged attack on a fraternity
• Sports Illustrated ranked the best coordinator hires of the offseason, and Irish fans will recognize a few names on the list
• Check out this monster recruit that everyone is talking about despite the fact that he’s never played a down of football
• The Oregon Ducks mascot is not actually named “Puddles,” despite what you’ve heard

Cole Elsasser-USA TODAY Sports

Okay that’s all I’ve got for ya...

BYE