Monday Morning Media Roundup: March 27th, 2017

Let’s go ahead and start out this week’s roundup by acknowledging that, yes, I did in fact predict the Bucks to go 3-1 on the week. They successfully ran the Monday through Friday gauntlet of Portland, Sacramento, and Atlanta, but somehow decided to drop their Sunday afternoon matinee to the Chicago Bulls.

With my prognosticating credentials fully established, we can all now even more eagerly await these weekly posts for what I am sure will be a perfect record of predictions from here on out.

In this week’s roundup, we’re going to do a bit of crossing over. I don’t mean the type where someone ends up on their rear; instead, we’ll begin by reading a piece focused on Giannis Antetokounmpo’s hidden role with one player’s success in the NCAA tournament, check in on an injury update, and see how that Rookie of the Year race is going.

Let’s roundup!

Giannis Antetokounmpo helped Oregon's Tyler Dorsey become a March Madness star (SB Nation)

Ahhh yes, is there anything so pure as translating success at the national-team level down to the NCAA tournament? Tyler Dorsey of Oregon fame has family roots in Greece, and as such he has performed for their U19 team and also practiced recently with the senior team.

The player he gravitated towards immediately on and off the court? Giannis Antetokounmpo, of course. It was the challenge of having to score against Giannis and a slew of other lessons from the Bucks star that helped Dorsey exponentially mature his game.

Now he’s in the Final Four, and the sky is the limit. Just another sign that Giannis has a coaching career waiting for him once his playing days are wrapped up, no?

Lowe's 10 things: How about those Milwaukee Bucks? (ESPN)

ESPN’s Zach Lowe begins his weekly column about the NBA at-large by heaping praise on the great run of play Milwaukee has been having in March. Players in particular that he likes? Pretty much everyone from John Henson to Mirza Teletovic. He states that the recent 4-2 road trip was one of the most crucial in the NBA all season, and we generally have to agree.

John Henson expected to miss week with left thumb sprain (ESPN)

It is the news we were all waiting on the edge of our seats for: John Henson will be sidelined thanks to a left thumb sprain. Hopefully he’ll take this opportunity to slam down a few more burritos in preparation of the unleashing of the vaunted playoff-Henson.

Here’s hoping the Spencer Hawes experiment doesn’t burst into flames in his absence.

Milwaukee Bucks’ Malcolm Brogdon Raises His Game In NBA Rookie Of The Year Race (The Undefeated)

Yup, another week, another piece about the ROY buzz surrounding Malcolm Brogdon. The catch on this one, though? It is a long-form read about the process that led Brogdon to a contributing position on a (hopefully) playoff-bound team.

His story is simply phenomenal, from his completing both a bachelor’s and also a master’s degree at Virginia, to his desire to found a NGO to alleviate poverty and hunger in developing nations, to his other nickname “Humble Moses” (what a name!), there’s just so much to like about the guy.

And now it is time for your favorite segment of the week: it is time to do some Playoff tracking. As we sit here this Monday morning, the Bucks sit at a record of 37-36, good enough to continue to share the fifth seed with Atlanta.

At this point, a run at the four-seeded Toronto Raptors is, obviously, not the goal sitting eight games back. Thus, it is a matter of positioning and hanging tough to get into the playoffs that matters here on out. If the season ended today, the Bucks would find themselves in the first round with the Wizards, and if they got out alive from that, they’d face either the Boston Celtics or the Indiana Pacers in the second round. Potentially a more ideal draw than having to face the Cavaliers should they make it to the second round, but let’s focus on getting to the playoffs first.

This week, the Bucks begin Tuesday evening heading to Charlotte to take on the Hornets, go up to Boston Wednesday to face the Celtics, and then return home to host the Detroit Pistons and Dallas Mavericks on Friday and Sunday, respectively. Since I’ve leaned consistently on 3-1 predictions these past two weeks, we’re sticking with what works. Keep me to it, but not too seriously, okay?

Again, we come to the conclusion of this week’s roundup. Looking at the weather in Milwaukee, it looks like a good bit of sunshine and some consistent highs in the 40s. Let’s take that good news and make the most of it, shall we?

Happy Monday!