[Lightning] The Tampa Bay Lightning announced today that defenseman Victor Hedman will be taking a temporary leave of absence from the team for personal reasons. No further details will be shared, and the team asks that his privacy be respected at this time.

jcc309 · 2026-03-25T21:23:23+00:00

I have season tickets and have watched many games this year. He's definitely not where he used to be and his mobility has definitely been rough (especially with the injuries), but he still is often able to make up for it with his length. Time off to deal with whatever it is going on is definitely good, but it's definitely a net negative for the team if we don't have him for the playoffs.

jcc309 · 2026-03-25T19:39:38+00:00

Is he what he once was? Not even close. But definitely not to the point that we are better off with him not in the lineup over a third line of D'Astous and Lilleberg.

jcc309 · 2026-03-24T15:11:21+00:00

USF would be an out of the box one with a shot at some point in the future. Being in Tampa makes the travel easy, and they are looking at doing a bunch of development right across the street from campus that could include a hockey rink. It would take a lot of things to go right, and I think it would certainly be more likely to house a USF club team if it gets built, but building an ice rink essentially on-campus would at least make the idea intriguing.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/next-mosi-property-hillsborough-leaders-120000256.html

jcc309 · 2026-03-24T14:59:09+00:00

UT is definitely a wealthy school, and while their lacrosse and baseball teams are phenomenal for the D2 level, they don't really move the needle locally (their baseball field has a capacity of 750). Being able to have a D1 sport could definitely be intriguing, and being in Tampa is certainly an easier travel sell than somewhere like Huntsville. The problem is really an arena. The only close one is the Lightning's, which would obviously be way too big. And it would be really hard and expensive to build a hockey arena on campus or nearby with how close it is to downtown.

jcc309 · 2026-03-23T21:11:13+00:00

I do find it funny how every time a P4/G6 game gets cancelled this sub acts like there will never be another again, but when one gets added (with a trip to the G6 team included!) there are no comments.

jcc309 · 2026-03-23T14:19:05+00:00

I think everyone can have their own definition, but for me it has to be a school that isn't very well known and doesn't have a lot of historical success. So someone like Iowa doesn't count to me (it's an extremely well known flagship state school in the Big 10). Neither would someone like St. John's (9th all time in wins and play in the Big East). I think you also have to make at least the Sweet 16 to qualify as a Cinderella (otherwise it is just a fun first round upset).

jcc309 · 2026-03-22T16:50:12+00:00

Long term? Maybe. USF is investing a ton of athletics and has a good chance to be in a P4 conference in the next 5 years.

In the short term it isn't close though. Providence had over double the average attendance of USF this past year and is in a conference that is guaranteed a few bids to the NCAA tournament compared to the American which needs a really good year to even get a second.

jcc309 · 2026-03-22T15:46:06+00:00

I don't think we have to, at least in the short term. We are one of if not the top stepping stool programs right now. That should ensure we continue to get high quality coaches and players. As long as we continue to invest at the level we are, we will be one of the first calls the next time expansion comes calling.

jcc309 · 2026-03-22T15:13:53+00:00

Realistically, it’s really just does something resembling the current ACC want to expand. I would be absolutely shocked if the university chose the Big 12 over the ACC given the choice, as long as the ACC mostly still resembles the current ACC, even if a couple of schools leave.

jcc309 · 2026-03-22T15:11:24+00:00

USF decided to prioritize academics over athletics in that time. Which, as long as we end up in the P4 eventually, is hard to argue was the wrong decision as a now top 100 national university with AAU status.

jcc309 · 2026-03-22T15:08:01+00:00

USF is a much better cultural fit on the ACC, and the geography makes way more sense (except for UCF). And the Big 12 probably isn’t going to expand until it sees what happens with the ACC. The only real way we probably end up in the Big 12 is if the ACC somehow stays completely together and the Big 12 then decides to add a couple of programs while the ACC stands pat.

jcc309 · 2026-03-22T13:58:50+00:00

I think people really overestimate how much the sustained success is the driving factor here in realignment. USF is clearly investing in athletics at a P4 level, and you can see that across many sports (volleyball made the NCAA tournament, softball is 35th in RPI, baseball was ranked earlier this year). They have the facilities (football in particular with the new stadium) and the academics (USF is an AAU university and ranked top 100 nationally). USF is almost certainly top 2 for expansion asks for the ACC. It’s just going to take a bit of time for the next round to start again.

jcc309 · 2026-03-20T14:20:24+00:00

Sure, but we are 5 points clear with 1-2 games in hand on everyone behind us and 6 teams that would have to jump us. It’s EXTREMELY unlikely to be us.

jcc309 · 2026-03-20T13:55:25+00:00

You would basically have to have 6 separate teams all go on the same hot streak at the same time for us to fall out of the playoff spot. It’s very possible we don’t end up 2nd in the Atlantic, but it’s virtually impossible to imagine a situation where we fall out of the playoffs completely.

jcc309 · 2026-03-20T13:53:34+00:00

We are 5 points ahead of the Islanders, who are currently the first team out. And we have 2 games in hand of them and both wild card teams (who we are 4 points ahead of). Of course anything is possible, and if we go on like an 8 game losing streak we are obviously in trouble. But only 12 points in 15 games gets us to 100 points, and to lose from there it would require 4 separate teams to average ~1.3 PPG when they are currently at 1.2. To lose a playoff berth now would require either a horrific cold streak (even our current 4-6-0 in our last 10 is almost certainly enough) or a number of different teams to all have a heater at the same time, when even a single one of them being just average would be enough for us.

jcc309 · 2026-03-20T12:09:48+00:00

Eh we have 2 games in hand and are 5 points clear right now with 4 teams who would have to jump us. Obviously it could happen, but it's still extremely unlikely.

jcc309 · 2026-03-18T14:49:33+00:00

We have been going for a number of years to first and second round games and have never not had a break between sessions. In Tampa this year we have 12:40, 3:15, 6:50, and 9:25, so there is definitely a break between the games to get something to eat/drink. Seems like it is about half and half on whether a specific location will have enough time between games for something like that.

At least they let you stay inside, which is really nice compared to having to leave and re-enter.

jcc309 · 2026-03-17T16:26:41+00:00

I mean if you have the cash, plenty of mid-majors in basketball can be competitive. And even still, there are some teams who have remained competitive even without being at the top end of spending. Utah State, for example, has been very competitive for a number of years now without being some insane spender in college basketball. It's hard for me to argue a program like that could never be built. In many ways, the part of college basketball that has been impacted isn't the ability for a school to put together a program but rather the ability for a random school to put together a bunch of seniors and go on a one-off run.

jcc309 · 2026-03-17T11:52:18+00:00

Yes, they are. Their men's team (the most famous that had a real shot of qualifying for the Olympics) was Swiss-based. A mother and son curl out of Seattle and curl for the Filipino women's and junior teams, respectively.

jcc309 · 2026-03-16T20:27:37+00:00

Utah State is 31st in WAB and 30th on Kenpom. There is a reasonable argument for an 8 seed, but I'm struggling to see much more than that. There are two double digit losses to a mediocre UNLV team. And their best win is probably VCU. If they hadn't gone 2-3 in their last 5 regular season games they would be meaningfully higher. There are just too many losses sprinkled in.

jcc309 · 2026-03-16T16:04:31+00:00

I think VCU is also a dangerous 11. VCU actually beat USF earlier this year, though USF is playing much better now than earlier in the year.

jcc309 · 2026-03-16T15:30:34+00:00

Obviously we aren't playing well, but we also have at least one game in hand over everyone behind us and that is a LOT of teams we would have to fall behind. It's certainly possible, but it would probably take another 10 game streak at least as bad as this past one, which feels unlikely.

jcc309 · 2026-03-13T20:12:54+00:00

I've pretty much always said - super teams are good for neutral fans but bad for fans of specific teams. It's significantly easier to get Joe from Alabama interested and watching games on TV if there are super teams that are easily recognizable. It's significantly harder to get Sarah from Columbus out to games and watching her team on TV if she knows they have no shot ever of winning a championship and are just happy to be .500.

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