Why 76ers should just shut down Joel Embiid and tank; No. 4 Houston repeats as Big 12 regular-season champ

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🏀 Good morning to all, but especially to …

THE NO. 4 HOUSTON COUGARS

What, like it’s hard? No. 4 Houston captured its second Big 12 regular-season title in as many years in its new conference, clinching at least a share of the crown with a 69-61 win at No. 10 Texas Tech.

• Milos Uzan had 22 points — including a crucial 3-pointer with under a minute left — and the Cougars held the Red Raiders to 29.8% shooting, their worst since 2020.
• Texas Tech, it should be noted, was without its second- and third-leading scorers, Chance McMillian and Darrion Williams, but top-10 road wins are impressive no matter how you get them.
• Leading scorer JT Toppin scored just 14 points on 18 shots, hounded by Houston’s trademark relentless, physical defense.

Defense travels. Toughness travels. Guard play travels. That’s why Houston’s excellence has traveled from the AAC to the Big 12, Cameron Salerno writes.

👍 Honorable mentions

🏀 And not such a good morning for …

THE PHILADELPHIA 76ERS

A few months ago, the 76ers were seen as a potential championship contender. They had just completed, on paper, a wonderful offseason, extending Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey, signing Paul George, Caleb Martin and others, drafting Jared McCain and keeping several parts of their supporting cast.

Then life — or, more accurately, the always-looming specter of Embiid’s health — got in the way. Now, we’re here:

• The 76ers are 20-37 following a listless, Embiid-less 142-110 loss to the lowly Bulls. Chicago led by as much as 50!
• Embiid, who has played in just 19 games, is considering options for his balky knee.
• Only five teams are worse than the 76ers: the Raptors, Hornets, Jazz, Pelicans and Wizards.

It’s time for the 76ers to shut down Embiid (and maybe others) and tank, Jasmyn Wimbish says.

• Wimbish: “Their first-round pick this year will go to the Thunder if it falls outside the top six. … Two years ago, the Mavs tanked their final handful of games, missing the postseason entirely with the hopes of keeping their top-10 protected pick. It worked out incredibly well for the Mavericks, who kept their 2023 pick (No. 10) and managed to draft a rising star in Dereck Lively II to be their center for the future. Lively played a big role in Dallas’ run to the NBA Finals the following season.”

That’s probably the right call, but even then, can we really trust a 31-year-old Embiid, maybe coming off surgery, and a 35-year-old George likely coming off his worst season in a decade? It’s going to be rough for Philly — in both the immediate future and down the line.

👎 Not so honorable mentions

• The Packers proposed banning the “Tush Push.” I don’t have a huge opinion, but saying “There is no skill involved,” as Packers president and CEO Mark Murphy did, is just wrong. If it required no skill, why can’t everyone do it well? 
• The Browns will release Juan Thornhill.
• Sean Manaea (oblique strain) is the latest Mets pitcher dealing with injury.
• Kirby Smart took a shot at Johnny Manziel.
• More college football teams are ditching spring games.
• Utah fired men’s basketball coach Craig Smith.
• Broncos linebackers coach Michael Wilhoite was arrested and booked on suspicion of second degree assault of a police officer

🏈 NFL Draft Combine preview, plus stars who won’t participate

The NFL Draft Combine officially began Monday, though on-field workouts don’t begin until Thursday. And when it comes to on-field workouts, many big names aren’t participating.

To be clear, this is totally fine. They’re all at the combine, where they’ll meet with teams and undergo medicals — arguably the more important part of the proceedings considering they’ll all work out at their respective pro days. All three are top-12 picks in the latest mock draft from the “With the First Pick” podcast.

Of course, there will be plenty of guys who are participating, including Travis Hunter, the two-way superstar who leads Will Backus’ 13 players set to impress.

Jalen Milroe is also on that list. The physically gifted but inconsistent former Alabama quarterback had an iffy Senior Bowl, and in our combine burning questions, Ryan Wilson says a good combine can save or even raise Milroe’s draft stock.

• Wilson: “He might be one of the 2-3 best athletes at the combine but after a ho-hum Senior Bowl week, he could really change the narrative by throwing lasers in Indy and looking crisp in the passing drills. It’s worth remembering, however, that neither Michael Penix Jr. nor Bo Nix exactly set the world on fire during their Senior Bowl experience a year ago … and both were off the board by pick No. 12 in the 2024 draft.”

Milroe’s tantalizing upside places him as Chris Trapasso’s No. 2 quarterback. Chris has top fives at every offensive position and every defensive position heading into a crucial next few days.

Here’s more:

⚾ Top 10 MLB pitching rotations, plus key positional battles

Last week, the Dodgers topped Matt Snyder’s top 10 offenses in MLB. This week, it’s more of the same in Matt’s top 10 rotations.

• Snyder: “1. Dodgers — It has no surefire aces, but one could reasonably argue that Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow will all be aces this year. This doesn’t even mention the ace potential of Roki Sasaki and/or the returning-to-mound Shohei Ohtani. Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May are returning from major surgery and have shown All-Star upside in the past. Oh, and Clayton Kershaw is back. And Bobby Miller is very talented.”

This team. So. Much. Talent. But there’s another excellent NL squad right on the Dodgers’ heels.

Of course, spring training is a time of opportunity, a time to prove rankings wrong (or right). Mike Axisa examined 10 key positional battles across MLB, including …

• Axisa: “Yankees leadoff hitter | Candidates: Jazz Chisholm, Jasson Domínguez, DJ LeMahieu, Anthony Volpe —It’s sort of remarkable the Yankees employ the best hitter in the world (Aaron Judge) but do not have anyone who can reliably get on base in front of him. Volpe led the Yankees with 76 starts at leadoff last year. Give the Yankees a truth serum and I think they’d tell you they want Volpe to be the guy, but he has a career .288 on-base percentage and that’s just not going to cut it.”

Finally, in some sadder baseball news, Guardians owner Larry Dolan died at 94 years old. Dolan purchased the team in 2000 for $323 million. Its current estimated worth is $1.35 billion. Over the past dozen seasons, only the Dodgers and Yankees have won more games than Cleveland has.

📺 What we’re watching Tuesday

🏀 No. 2 Duke at Miami (M), 7 p.m. on ESPN
🏀 No. 3 Florida at Georgia (M), 7 p.m. on SEC Network
🏀 Cavaliers at Magic, 7:30 p.m. on TNT/truTV
🏀 No. 24 Mississippi State at No. 6 Alabama, 9 p.m. on ESPN2
🏀 Mavericks at Lakers, 10 p.m. on TNT/truTV