Know Thy Enemy: Who Scheduled UConn vs NC State During Revs-CLT Edition

No really, why can't this game get flexed to like two in the afternoon?

Here in Connecticut it is the final week of March, which means the UConn are still playing per standard operating procedure at the time of this writing Friday afternoon.

However, the dedicated disciples of the patron saints of Valvano and Yow are also still playing deep into March and while we TBM’s CT HQ can only acknowledge the Wolfpack are our least hated team of the well known triangle of schools in the state that shall not be named… they still play in the city that stole our hockey team and that does count against them.

Editors Note: Tarheel Nation let's rise

But they’re still better than Duke, cause DJ Burns is a tank.

Regardless, this shameful lack of re-scheduling by the powers that be to play a meaningless April MLS game during the March Final Four is sure to get used as motivation by Dan Hurley in his post game press conference - that the last place, one point in 2024 New England Revolution dare attempt to play at a timeslot anywhere near the second best team in region (Geno and the women are still first). Also the Huskies could’ve used that Patriots plane a couple of days ago, just saying.

Matt Polster "Angry" About 4-0 Loss To Club America

But no, seriously, I’m highlighting this specifically for the Revs-Charlotte game because why is MLS going up against the Men’s Final Four? Saturday afternoon is wide open as is Sunday evening (to avoid the NCAAW Final at 3 pm on ABC, RIP to the Women’s Huskies-Wolfpack final, my pick is the same as Diani Taurasi) which would seem like a wiser option than going up against some of the most highly anticipated games on the sporting calendar.

Good luck to the El Trafico LAFC-Galaxy derby on big FOX at 7:45 pm, going right into the teeth of the Purdue-NC State game up first followed by the Huskies-Bama right after. Why is a marque matchup like that not getting it’s own timeslot for everyone to watch it? In the words of the great Taylor Twellman, what are we doing?

The inflexibility of the Apple block times, and selective scheduling practices, only being in the evening prevents your hardcore league fans from watching more than two games a week, and significantly harder for casual/international fans to catch more games at reasonable times. Choosing to go up against March Madness, the MLB Playoffs, anything NFL, etc., is something I still don’t think MLS should be doing. But they have their Apple subscription dollars so they don’t have to care about making their product and production levels better.

I hope everyone who treks to Gillette in the sub-50 degree weather and scheduled light rain in the evening just in time for a 730 pm kickoff sees a wonderful soccer game and three Revs points. I will be watching my second UConn game in as many nights and be relegating soccer to either a muted stream or statcast…assuming my laptop is working tomorrow.

Because I’m making a choice that a lot of other sports fans are going to do this weekend - watch college basketball. Because MLS didn’t have the foresight to plan more afternoon games and give their league a chance to shine in its own spotlight. Is the league losing all that much by doing so? Probably not, but they certainly aren’t gaining anything either.

As always we are joined by our good friend turned basketball analyst Brian Maurer of TopBin90 - be sure to head on over to their site for all their New England-Charlotte coverage.

Caleb Porter Has Lineup Decisions to Make Ahead of Charlotte Game

TBM: Any chance we see one NC State-UConn National Championship game this weekend? I know the Wolfpack have the harder assignments to get there.

Wolfpack are the longshot and have been this whole time but at this point can you really count them out? I'd say they have given themselves as good a shot as any. That would be a wild Championship game.

Dean Smith had a bold statement to counter Caleb Porter's guarantee this week, give us a reason why and why not you share that confidence. Also nice work from TopBin90 on the memes.

I'd say Dean Smith has every reason to respond that way. Porter promised a win. All Dean Smith has to do to stop that promise is a draw or win. The odds are more likely for those two outcomes than a NE Revs win.

Charlotte has only scored six goals so far this year, and only tallied multiple goals once in a win over Columbus. What is the biggest factor to the low output this year and how concerning is the attack right now long term for 2024?

They haven't gotten the goals, but they have had some quality looks. They are averaging around a 1 v 1 a game and they have missed two PKs. They should he creating more. But they should also have finished some of their chances that they have missed. If they start getting more clinical with their finishing they should score more regardless if the chances increase. They have created enough for more goals.

Give us an under the radar player that's been a solid contributor so far for CLT and/or a young player to look out for down the road.

Andrew Privett - last year he was the teams 3rd round SuperDraft pick. He's now locked in as a starting CB. He stops at least one good chance a game and has a good defensive IQ which helps reduce poor positioning and mistakes.