The Next Play: The madness continues, Canes’ schedule heats up, and baseball at DBAP
The Madness continues this week, even though we bid a fond farewell to March.
After a tumultuous week that saw a handful of Triangle area teams compete in the men’s and women’s NCAA tournament, the focus now shifts to the Final Four.
The women will go first, on Friday night in Minneapolis, while the men will take center stage on Saturday in New Orleans.
The women’s championship game will follow on Sunday, and the men’s on Monday.
Here’s what else is happening”
No days off
The NHL schedule really is relentless.
The Hurricanes’ coaches and players are playing it off, like it’s part of the expected grind of the NHL, of a playoff race, or a divisional race. And that is a great public message.
But the reality is, the schedule before the Canes for the final month of the season is compressed compared to normal. They’ll wedge their final 18 games into 32 days, beginning Monday. Basic math tells us that’s more than one every other day and, in fact, the Hurricanes have only two occasions remaining this season during which they’ll get to have two days off in a row, which is offset by three instances of back-to-back games.
Buckle your seat belts.
And not that any game in the NHL should be considered easy, but the number of playoff-caliber teams the Canes will face during this stretch is, at least, mitigated. Eight of the Canes’ final 18 games are against teams currently holding down a playoff position, but among them are doozies: Like this week, when they travel to Washington and Tampa Bay for a back-to-back against two of the top teams in the NHL.
That’s Monday and Tuesday. On Thursday, the Canes are back at PNC to face the Montreal Canadiens, and cap the week at home against the Minnesota Wild.
On the big stage
In the final ACC college baseball series at Durham Bulls Athletic Park before the minor league season begins, the Duke baseball team will host Miami for a three-game set at DBAP starting Friday, April 1 at 4 p.m. The Blue Devils are the reigning ACC tourney champs, and are hovering at about .500 for the season thus far.
Duke will have a couple more home games at DBAP the following week, but will then shift home games to Jack Coombs Field for the rest of the season as the Bulls return to regular action.
And speaking of last year’s NCAA baseball darlings, the N.C. State Wolfpack debuted with a flash this season, but has since been up and down, searching for some consistency with a very different lineup.
After opening the season 8-0, the Pack went 4-8. It will look for a rebound series this week against a tough Clemson team on the road after a quick stop at East Carolina on Tuesday.
