The TCU Horned Frogs and UT-Arlington Lady Mavs bowed out of their respective NCAA tournaments after near misses, Athletes Unlimited volleyball got underway, and the Mavericks nabbed their most exciting win of the season on Spencer Dinwiddie’s buzzer-beater in Brooklyn.
With that in the rearview, here’s what I’m watching this week:
Monday, 3/21: The NHL Trade Deadline—The internet, now through 2 p.m.
The Stars made their first deadline move last night, shipping a conditional fourth-round pick in 2023 to Phoenix for backup goalie Scott Wedgewood (I’ll spare all of you the annoyance of me being 4786th person to make the “Wait, how did the Stars need goaltending depth, of all things?” joke). Will there be more? Don’t expect anything earth-shattering, especially after Jim Nill publicly took John Klingberg off the market last week. No matter what goes down, we’ll have thoughts on it.
Monday, 3/21: Timberwolves at Mavericks—7:30 p.m., Bally Sports Southwest
The Timberwolves—yes, the usually hapless Timberwolves—have quietly been among the best teams in the NBA since mid-November. No, really:
Now they’re tied with Denver at a game-and-a-half behind fifth-place Dallas in the Western Conference playoff standings, which makes tonight’s game and Friday’s rematch in Minnesota crucial for the Mavs’ bid to escape the play-in games. Winning both gives Dallas breathing room heading into Sunday’s game matchup against Utah, the team directly ahead of them in the standings. Losing both might slam the door on any chance of a top-four seed and possibly have them scrambling to stay in the top six.
Sometime this week, probably: Does Jon Gray pitch in his first Rangers spring training game?—TBD, Bally Sports Southwest
The first full week of Rangers spring training is upon us, and while the big-money middle infield of Corey Seager and Marcus Semien made its Texas debut last week, we’re still waiting to see presumptive Opening Day starter Jon Gray on the hill. As our Jamey Newberg wrote back in January, recent history says Gray is exactly the sort of pitcher Texas can transform from good to great. With seven games in the next seven days, we shouldn’t have to wait much longer for our first glimpse at what to expect.
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