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Carsen Edwards is awesome and deserves every preseason accolade he has been given. And Matt Haarms—whether he's still obsessively adjusting his hair or not—is a mountainous post presence who will help Purdue's defense remain strong.
But without Isaac Haas, Vincent Edwards, Dakota Mathias and P.J. Thompson, the Boilermakers have a lot of question marks.
Is Ryan Cline ready to finally become an impact player as a senior? Can Nojel Eastern contribute on offense after a dreadful freshman season? Will Dartmouth transfer Evan Boudreaux be able to put up similar numbers (17.6 PPG, 9.5 RPG) against much tougher competition?
There are more than enough concerns to keep Purdue from being seeded any higher than this.
It sure didn't take long for Mike Hopkins to turn this program around, did it? After Lorenzo Romar ended his tenure as Washington's head coach with five consecutive seasons of 19 or fewer wins, Hopkins won 21 games in his first season and could be headed for a number much closer to 30 in his second campaign.
Excluding Carlos Johnson (transferred out of the program with 3.8 PPG in the middle of last season), the Huskies did not lose a single player who averaged better than 1.3 points per game in 2017-18. And now—two years after going 9-22 with a painfully young roster—they have one of the most veteran squads in the country.
Noah Dickerson, David Crisp and Matisse Thybulle should all start as seniors, with Dominic Green playing a key role off the bench for a fourth straight season. The biggest star, though, should be sophomore lead guard Jaylen Nowell. He averaged 16 points per game as a freshman and should be special once again.
Kansas State shocked everyone by reaching the Elite Eight last March, but it won't be a surprise if this same cast of characters does it again this year. The Wildcats get back all six of their leading scorers, including big man Dean Wade, who was only healthy enough to play eight minutes during their tournament run.
To improve their seed considerably, they'll just need to beat some quality opponents before the tournament. K-State went 0-7 against Kansas, Texas Tech and West Virginia last year, and most of those games weren't even competitive. Coupled with a pithy nonconference schedule, Kansas State barely had a resume worthy of a spot in the field.
One year older, wiser and stronger, though, the Wildcats should be a Top 10 team and a fierce competitor to their in-state rivals for the Big 12 crown.
There aren't many teams who lost more this offseason than Xavier did.
Trevon Bluiett, J.P. Macura, Kerem Kanter and Sean O'Mara all graduated. Kaiser Gates unexpectedly declared for the draft. And former head coach Chris Mack took the same position with Louisville.
What's left is a first-time head coach (Travis Steele), an inefficient point guard (Quentin Goodin), a pair of part-time starters who need to step into much bigger roles (Naji Marshall and Tyrique Jones) and two mid-major grad transfers (Kyle Castlin and Ryan Welage). If Xavier didn't have an active 22-year streak of winning seasons, more people would be reading that as a formula for disaster.
I don't expect Xavier to be down for long, but this has "rebuilding year" written all over it.
There's no doubting the talent in Duke's starting lineup. RJ Barrett, Cam Reddish and Zion Williamson are all mortal locks to become 2019 lottery picks. Freshman point guard Tre Jones might be able to join them in that club. And don't rule out the possibility of Marques Bolden finally fulfilling the potential that made him a top-15 recruit in 2016.
The concerns are the lack of depth and lack of experience.
If Bolden doesn't come around or if any of the four freshmen struggles or suffers an injury, the hopes and prayers of the Blue Devils will hinge on the play of guys like Jordan Goldwire, Jack White and Antonio Vrankovic. With all due respect to those players, that's not a championship formula.
Stay healthy, though, and Duke should win the ACC and lock up a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament for just the second time in eight years.
Two years after playing in the national championship game, Gonzaga has the talent to get back there again.
The depth isn't the same as it was during the 2017 run, and that depth will be immediately put to the test with stretch 5 Killian Tillie expected to miss most of nonconference play following surgery to repair a stress fracture in his ankle. Tillie (6'10") is one of just two players on the roster taller than 6'8"; the other is a 6'11" freshman from Serbia (Filip Petrusev). It could be an interesting first two months.
Assuming Tillie eventually makes a full recovery, though, Gonzaga should be the best non-blue blood in the country. Rui Hachimura already had a breakout season last year, and he should be headed for an even bigger one. Josh Perkins and Zach Norvell Jr. give the Zags a strong backcourt. And transfers Brandon Clarke and Geno Crandall ought to play big roles in their new threads.
Even though Tennessee and Auburn split the SEC regular-season title last year and figure to be Final Four contenders once again this year, the conference still runs through Lexington.
Inconsistency due to inexperience is what doomed the Wildcats to a mediocre (by their standards) season last year. But with three key sophomores (PJ Washington, Nick Richards and Quade Green) returning and an excellent fifth-year senior grad transfer joining the mix (Reid Travis), that shouldn't be a problem for the Wildcats this time around.
In fact, this team is so deep that we could see the return of—dare we say it?—platoons. If redshirt freshman Jemarl Baker Jr. can work his way into the equation, Kentucky will legitimately run 10 deep with four combo guards, two wing-forwards and four big men. And that platoon approach resulted in 38 wins a few years ago.
There are several different formulas for building a title contender, but Kansas seems like the clear favorite thanks to a super potion involving all of them.
Veteran leadership in the backcourt? Lagerald Vick checks that box.
Highly touted recruits? Add three more checks for Quentin Grimes, Devon Dotson and David McCormack.
Immediate-impact transfers? Only Nevada can boast more checks here. Dedric Lawson might be the national POY, and both Charlie Moore and K.J. Lawson are sure to be key parts of the rotation.
A deep enough frontcourt to withstand injury? Even if Silvio De Sousa doesn't appear in a single game amid the whole FBI situation, the Jayhawks still have Udoka Azubuike, McCormack, both Lawsons and Mitch Lightfoot. They'll be just fine.
Put it all together and you've got a team that should win the fourth national championship in program history.
In case seeded regions aren't enough and you want to know where the "top" 68 teams stand in relation to one another, here is a list of each team's overall seed, broken down by conference.
Other (25): 3. Gonzaga; 9. Nevada; 25. Loyola-Chicago; 41. Saint Louis; 48. Western Kentucky; 49. Montana; 50. Buffalo; 51. Georgia State; 52. Harvard; 53. South Dakota State; 54. Northeastern; 55. Rider; 56. UC Irvine; 57. New Mexico State; 58. UNC Greensboro; 59. Stephen F. Austin; 60. Vermont; 61. Wright State; 62. Belmont; 63. Lipscomb; 64. Radford; 65. St. Francis (PA); 66. Lehigh; 67. Texas Southern; 68. North Carolina Central.
BBC outside broadcast cameras bring you the whole of football's great occasion.
FRANK BOUGH sets the scene inside Wembley Stadium.
JOHN MOTSON and BOB WILSON talk to the players of both teams at their hotels.
Goals, near misses, and lucky escapes - the Captains, MICK MILLS of Ipswich and PAT RICE of Arsenal, recall the outstanding moments of their team's progress to the Final.
Soccer experts from the Arsenal and Ipswich Supporters' Clubs match their wits at Mastermind. JOHN MOTSON asks specialist questions on the clubs concerned, and tests their general football knowledge for the Cup Final Mastermind Trophy.
TERRY NEILL of Arsenal and BOBBY ROBSON of Ipswich Town talking to DAVID COLEMAN.
Britain's major competition of the year between ten of the world's leading men and women gymnasts, for the coveted Champions All Trophy.
The Cup Final atmosphere mounts as the teams arrive at Wembley.
See the winning goals and find out who has won £300 of Premium Bonds in this popular annual competition.
BOB WILSON presents action profiles of today's players.
From JIMMY HILL, LAWRIE MCMEN EMY and TREVOR BROOKING.
The crowd, accompanied by the BANDS OF THE GUARDS DIVISION, sing the traditional Cup Final hymn.
3.55 The FA Cup Final Second Half.
The outstanding players of the match talk to BARRY DAVIES and watch the vital Cup Final action.
Calvine Rollins is president of the Georgia Association of Educators.
Claim on union bargaining rights gets muddy in the details.
Georgia public sector employees do not have a say in the conditions of their employment, do not have bargaining rights or a say in their working conditions.
Between the national debt, the nuclear crisis in Japan, labor unrest and U.S. intervention in Libya, current events give us plenty of reasons to lose sleep.
Rest assured. Like the trustiest of night lights, the Truth-O-Meter is here to comfort you. Last week, it sussed out the truth on statements about all those subjects.
And if you’re losing sleep over lost sleep -- well, knock it off. The Truth-O-Meter found that lost sleep can be hazardous to your health.
We recently accidentally pressed the Backspace key in Google Earth and discovered that it takes you back to the previous ‘view’ and even pops up a little help window to tell you what it did and also suggests Ctrl-Backspace has the opposite effect i.e. if you had pressed backspace and gone back to a previous view, Ctrl-Backspace will take you ‘forward’ to the view you just came from.
The interesting thing is that we couldn’t find this keyboard shortcut in any lists of keyboard shortcuts for Google Earth.
We did some experimenting and found that Google Earth remembers everything you have looked at in a given session. A ‘view’ counts as when the earth is stationary in the viewing pane. So, if you move around and zoom in and out stopping between each movement then Google Earth records each pause as a ‘view’. Pressing Backspace repeatedly takes you back through all the things you have looked at. Then if you don’t click anything, you can use Ctrl-Backspace to take you forwards again through the same sequence.
We found that in ‘historical imagery’ it is able to remember what date you were looking at. However, Ctrl-Backspace does not. This is a pity, as it would have made switching back and forth between dates in ‘historical imagery’ much easier. It also does not automatically switch between ‘historical imagery’ and normal view. In addition, it doesn’t remember other settings, such as what layers were selected, etc.
For it to work, it requires the ‘map’ area to be selected. So if, for example, you click something on the tool bar, such as switching to ‘historical imagery’, backspace will no longer work until you click on the map again. Also, if you have a placemark selected, backspace will offer to delete the placemark rather than the above functionality.
If any of our readers knows any other shortcuts not found on this list please let us know in the comments.
Ctrl-Shift-B causes network diagnostic information to be displayed (download rate from server, latency, etc.).
Ctrl-Shift-A displays graphics diagnostic information, such as FPS, triangle and vertices being displayed, and VRAM be used (nice!).
These are two lesser-know but interesting shortcuts, I suppose.
Ctrl-Shift-c copies the lat/long under the mouse pointer to the clipboard.
Thanks for a and b Kengrok!
"She was my upstairs neighbor on Salem Street, for 28 yrs. ..."
"My deepest sympathies to Carol's sisters, children, and..."
"Cindy & Sisters, so sorry to learn of Carol's passing. I..."
"Just saw her obit in the paper a few minutes ago, Jeff. My..."
"so very sorry for your loss i wish i had known her,i am a..."
PORTLAND - Carol Susan Hamel, 63, of Portland, and formerly of Winthrop, went to be with her Lord and Savior on Sunday Jan. 13, 2019 at Mercy Hospital, in Portland, after a brave battle with cancer.
She was born in Arlington, VA. on June 30, 1955, the daughter of the late Patricia (Thaanum-Hamel) Mazzacane and Richard Roland Hamel. A graduate of Winthrop High School, class of 1974.
She will be sadly missed by her children, Michelle and Jeffrey; her grandchildren Malikai Cerulli and Bryceson Staples; her sisters, Nancy (Hamel) Eichinger and her husband, John, of Indiana, Lauri (Hamel) Ayers and her husband, Mike, of Missouri, Cynthia Hamel of Montana, Jodi (Smith) Frei and her husband, Jim, of Vermont and Caren (Hamel) Nelson and her husband, Eric, of Tennessee; and four nieces and eight nephews.
A celebration of Carol's life will be in the spring at a day and time to be announced.
Arrangements are in the care of Knowlton & Hewins Funeral Home and Cremation Service, One Church St., Augusta.
Looks like the Kendall Jenner and A$AP Rocky romance rumors are true!
After months of speculation, a source close to the 21-year-old reality star tells ET that she's dating the "Fashion Killa" rapper.
"I don't think you will be seeing them make a public announcement anytime soon, but there is something going on there for sure," the source added. "It's been going on for a while. Kendall is happy."
Jenner and Rocky, 28, were recently spotted together at fashion's biggest night, the Met Gala in New York City on Monday. Though they didn't walk the red carpet together, they had no problem packing on the PDA inside the party.
In a photo posted to sister Kim Kardashian West's Snapchat, you can see Rocky grabbing Jenner's booty, which was on full display in her sheer La Perla gown and embellished black thong. Her youngest sister, Kylie Jenner, sneaked in a snapshot of the flirty moment, too!
The pair were also posing together in the lip kit maven's epic bathroom selfie, alongside stars like Paris Jackson, Brie Larson, P. Diddy and Frank Ocean.
Hear more on their fun night out in the video below!
(CNN) — There are many urges that fliers have to contend with while cooped up on a plane at 35,000 feet, but procuring a rare blue diamond typically isn't one of them.
For the wealthy few who do need to splash cash on high-end jewels though, it's now possible.
The catch: It's only possible if they're flying Etihad's top-tier route from London to Abu Dhabi.
In what some in the aviation industry have dismissed as a superficial gimmick, the UAE-based airline has teamed up with an upscale concierge service to cater for the whims of passengers using its luxurious Residence service.
The flight's $20,000 one-way ticket already buys them a three-room suite complete with inflight gourmet chef and a butler.
And now they won't have to wait until they land to shop for baubles, grab coveted reservations at Michelin star restaurants or tickets to sold-out shows.
Residence passengers can also instruct the concierges, provided by Ten Group, to hunt down rare handbags or fine art.
The service is a far cry from the cheap, cheerful and somewhat random selection of fripperies available in the inflight SkyMall catalog once ubiquitous on U.S. airlines.
"As long as it's moral and legal, we offer a whole assortment of weird and wonderful things," says Toby Gauvain, international managing director of Ten Group, which has offices in London, New York, Hong Kong and beyond.
He says he isn't allowed to disclose details of requests received so far, but says the service has proved popular since it launched at the end of August.
Passengers relay their wishes to the on-board butler who then calls Ten Group's concierge teams from a satellite phone.
If it works, everything is in place before the plane reaches its destination.
Bathroom of The Residence three-room suite.
The in-flight concierge is the latest move in what seems to be Etihad's quest to turn its airliners into fully-fledged luxury hotels.
Residence suites have a living room with a 32-inch flat-screen TV, a bedroom with a double bed draped in Egyptian cotton sheets, and a carpeted hallway which leads to an en-suite bathroom with a shower, bathrobes and high-end toiletries.
Etihad says the first person to fly on board The Residence had no complaints.
In fact, the airline's PR machine quoted Gino Bertuccio describing his trip, somewhat improbably, as "beyond anybody's imagination."
"When we launched The Residence by Etihad last year, we wanted to challenge the conventions in commercial air travel," says Peter Baumgartner, Etihad's chief commercial officer. "The Etihad Lifestyle Concierge service is a continuation of that ambition."
Baumgartner says it serves passengers who are stretched for time: "For example, if they were unable to make any preparations before traveling, or need something unexpectedly.
"It also suits passengers who are looking for something out of the ordinary, perhaps a unique gift for a loved one, such as a rare blue diamond, "he says.