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Villanova coach’s joke about his assistants wasn’t cute during March Madness loss

Villanova coach’s joke about his assistants wasn’t cute during March Madness loss

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Kevin Willard is famously combative in the media. Last year, when he was head coach at Maryland leading the famed ‘Crab Five’ to the Sweet 16, Willard was obstinate to the press on a daily basis when asked about the rumors connecting him to the Villanova job. Willard would leave for ‘Nova days after Maryland’s season ended, and he got back to the NCAA tournament this season in his first season on his new job. Unfortunately, Willard’s debut March run with the Wildcats might be remembered more for an off-the-cuff comment he made during a season-ending loss than anything he did on the court.

No. 9 seed Utah State beat No. 8 seed Villanova, 86-76, on Friday afternoon. As the game was slipping away from the Wildcats, Willard used an interview with CBS to say he was going to “fire his staff” for “giving up eight points” on baseline out of bounds plays. The video went viral after Villanova’s loss. Watch Willard’s comments here:

After the loss, Willard again said he was going to fire his staff, but this time he was clearly doing it in jest. Willard said he was joking during the in-game interview, and didn’t care about any online criticism.

Call me a killjoy, but I just don’t think that joke is funny. During a moment of strife, Willard’s defense mechanism was some dry humor about blaming his staff, but not taking any responsibility for loss himself. A good head coach should credit his players and staff in public when things are going well, and take the blame when things are falling apart. Even if we take Willard at his word that it was all a joke, it’s still not that cool and pretty distasteful.

My advice to Kevin Willard is tell a funnier joke next time. Or, you know, just win the game.

What’s actually funny is that Willard’s staff is probably safer now after his bad joke. It will be a horrible look for Willard if he actually replaces staff members this offseason after joking about it during the elimination game.

Making the tournament is nothing to scoff at, so in that sense Willard’s first year at Villanova was a success. Hey, the Jay Wright era had a few early exits too before the program broke through with two national championships. Hopefully Willard learns some lessons on and off the court this season, or at least some better jokes.

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The Los Angeles Dodgers know they can count on Yoshinobu Yamamoto to throw a lot of innings, and that trait is of extra importance entering Saturday’s game against the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks.

The Dodgers used seven pitchers Friday after Shohei Ohtani (left knee) was scratched from his start, so the bullpen is a bit beleaguered entering the middle contest of a three-game series. Arizona took advantage with an easy 9-3 victory in the opener.

Yamamoto (9-5, 2.49 ERA) will look to restore order. The right-hander has put together quality starts in 13 of 16 outings this season.

“The good thing is we’ve got Yamamoto going (Saturday), so we feel good about him taking on a lot of the game,” Roberts said Friday before the implosion of the bullpen game.

The 27-year-old Yamamoto has Tuesday’s All-Star Game on the horizon, and his availability to pitch in that contest may depend on how taxed he is Saturday.

Yamamoto has tossed seven or more innings on seven occasions, topped by 8 1/3 innings against the Chicago White Sox on June 13. In that contest, Yamamoto took a no-hitter into the ninth before Tristan Peters led off the frame with a homer.

In his last outing, Yamamoto matched his season best of 10 strikeouts in a 3-0 victory over the San Diego Padres. He gave up three hits and two walks over seven innings.

Yamamoto has won six of his past seven starts.

Yamamoto’s first start of the season came against the Diamondbacks on March 26. He gave up two runs and five hits over six innings of an 8-2 victory.

Yamamoto has excelled against Arizona, going 4-1 with a 2.08 ERA in seven career starts.

Corbin Carroll (2-for-20, six strikeouts) and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (1-for-11) have struggled against Yamamoto. Geraldo Perdomo (4-for-13), Ketel Marte (5-for-18) and Gabriel Moreno (2-for-12) each have homered against Yamamoto.

Tim Tawa, who is 1-for-3 against Yamamoto, was the Diamondbacks’ lead man in Friday’s assault.

Tawa went 3-for-4 with a homer and matched his career high of four RBIs.


“It felt good. We scored early, which was nice,” Tawa said. “Then we got punched in the mouth a little bit but we were able to respond and did a good job.”

Gabriel Moreno added two hits and two RBIs as Arizona won its second straight game.

While Ohtani couldn’t answer the bell as a pitcher, he did serve as the designated hitter and he’s scheduled to do so again Saturday. He also withdrew from Tuesday’s All-Star game and is slated to undergo an injection next week.

“If affects more of my pitching than the hitting side of the game, that’s the reason why,” Ohtani said through an interpreter on why he can still DH.

Ohtani’s power was in full display when he led off the game with an opposite-field homer to left.

The leadoff blast was Ohtani’s 32nd of his career and 26th with the Dodgers. He trails Mookie Betts (32) and former star Davey Lopes (28) on the franchise’s all-time list.

Andy Pages had three hits and homered right after Ohtani, but Los Angeles lost for the fifth time in its past 17 games.

Arizona will start right-hander Brandon Pfaadt (2-1, 4.84) on Saturday.

Pfaadt, 27, is back in the rotation and has won consecutive starts against the San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres.

He gave up one run and three hits over 5 1/3 innings against the Giants on June 30 and blanked the Padres on four hits over five innings on Monday.

Pfaadt gave up two runs and three hits in an inning of relief against the Dodgers on June 3.

Pfaadt is 4-2 with a 5.32 ERA in nine career appearances (eight starts) against Los Angeles.

Betts (10-for-24, two homers) and Freddie Freeman (8-for-24, one homer) have fared well against Pfaadt.

–Field Level Media

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