Michigan, Halo Baseball, Roman Anthony

Michigan won the Men’s Basketball NCAA Championship. No starter on the team was enrolled with Big Blue as a freshman and the Wolverines continued a trend of transfer heavy, older rosters dominating the NCAA tournament. No shame in that game! It’s a well compensated team of successful basketball players who are actually getting diplomas from an esteemed institution. Kind of a win-win-win (except for UCONN).

On the same night, the Grizzlies tied the NBA single game record with 29 made threes (but in a losing effort). Backup Grizz Guard Dariq Whitehead contributed six of those. Whitehead was the Naismith National High School Player of the Year in 2022. He’d go on to Duke for a season before jumping to the pros. At the time, Whitehead had a lingering foot injury, but was still considered a probable late first round pick. Despite a very average freshman season (8pt per game in 8 starts), Whitehead’s high school pedigree and a weak draft helped him land 22nd overall to the Brooklyn Nets. Since then, he’s been cut by Nets, signed and waived by OKC, and is now playing on a 10-day contract in Memphis. Why are we talking about Dariq? Fair question. Because of his 1st rd selection, Dariq earned a guaranteed $9.5m over three years. Ain’t nobody went broke walkin to the bank, but could he perhaps have earned more spending time in college? He has enough game to put up 20pts in a meaningless NBA contest, and I’m convinced he could be helping a Final Four team. Whitehead’s gravy train in the NBA is up. At just 21 (a year younger than Michigan’s avg starter), he has no more guaranteed money coming his way. He’ll have to grind 10-day contracts across the league until someone has enough faith in him to hand over a 1yr contract. Michigan’s 23yr old star transfer Yaxel Lendeborg reportedly took home $3m this year. Dariq Whitehead isn’t the actual point of the story. Rather, he’s an example that burning out in the NBA as a late first round pick isn’t necessarily a financial gamble worth taking anymore. The gap is narrowing. As college budgets expand, players like Whitehead will earn more than $9m over 4 years of eligibility. Sure, they might have to hop around, but not anymore than a typical G-Leaguer. And wouldn’t it be more fun hopping from Ann Arbor to say, Knoxville, than from the Nets to the Grizzlies?

We’re 10ish games into Sport’s longest regular season so clearly no one will remember anything that’s happened thus far, and that’s why it’s important to write it down! Hopefully, I’ll revisit this piece, fondly, as the calendar flips to fall and baseball sets its sun on the 2026 season. For now, Things That Matter are happening. Let’s record them in stone:

- Jo Adell robbed three guaranteed home runs in one game. His efforts preserved a 1-0 Anaheim win over the Seattle Mariners on Saturday night. Adell’s most dramatic robbery occurred in the ninth inning as he crashed over the right field wall and into the first row of the stands. Angel Stadium has a tall right field wall split in half by a yellow line. Hit it above the yellow and it’s a home run. The line was added in 2018 to juice offense, and it couldn’t be more ridiculous. Unable to forfeit any advertising revenue, the wall is effectively two pieces: one for ads, and one for the physical boundary of the field. Why not carry that logic all around the outfield? Stupid. STUPID STUPID STUPID. We can’t let that distract from Adell’s efforts though. 3 robberies in one game was a once in a lifetime performance.

- Mike Trout took a fastball to the hand in Sunday’s tilt. He left with a contusion and will likely miss a few games. Previously in the series, Trout was buzzed with an up-and-in fastball and then plunked on the shoulder in the same at-bat. 97% of the time batters are overly sensitive to pitchers trying to own the insane corner. This is not one of those times. If the spray chart of your fastball is 3ft by 3ft then you don’t get to pitch inside. Basketball has flagrant fouls. Football has roughing the passer, unnecessary roughness, etc… Baseball doesn’t have the same level of penalty and I’m not advocating for an arbitrary rule. I’m just suggesting that MLB players have really long memories for these types of things and the Mariners return to Anaheim in September. I would imagine Julio Rodriguez will be a little uncomfortable in the box that weekend.

- Roman Anthony isn’t the first Boston Red Sox left fielder to have a noodle arm. The Green Monster is so close to the infield that Boston can deploy anyone with a functioning elbow and expect them to hit the cutoff man. UNTIL NOW. The nightmare start for the Red Sox is somehow best manifested by their franchise savior being unable to throw runners out from the outfield. Is this actually why they’re losing? No. But Anthony’s throws are so pitiful, that someone needs to check whether he’s hurt or not. He doesn’t have the yips. He could functionally throw the ball last year. He can’t send the baseball more than 90ft right now. What’s happening? Anthony is the entire engine for this team and KMARK’s concerned that the elbow and shoulder just aren’t right. Boston is 2-8.