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Tag: sean keeler

  • Keeler: Broncos won’t just be playing in Super Bowls. Thanks to Burnham Yard, we’ll be hosting them

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    Second stadium down, one Yard to go.

    Before you blow your top over the lid at Burnham Yard, the prospective home of the Denver Broncos starting in 2031, did you know that, since 1990, the average temperature of a playoff home game in the Mile High City was 40 degrees?

    And that of the Broncos’ last 15 postseason games in Denver, eight of them — per Pro-Football-Reference.com — were played in temperatures 37 degrees or warmer? The last five Empower Field playoff temps: 43, 46, 40, 41, 63.

    Snow down, Broncomaniacs.

    Denver won’t just be playing in Super Bowls over the next decade.

    We’ll be hosting them.

    “The Broncos have been, since Day 1 of the franchise, an important fabric and part of the community in Denver,” Broncos CEO Greg Penner told The Denver Post’s Parker Gabriel in an exclusive interview. “Finding a site of that size that we could weave into the downtown area and all that just was incredibly unique, combined with the historic nature of the site. …

    “We have the bones of the old railyard and a couple of buildings and a unique site that we think enables us to create something unique and special, both with the stadium and the mixed-use development around it.”

    The Walton-Penner Group just raised the roof without raising taxes. Despite overtures from Lone Tree and Aurora, they’re keeping the Broncos in Denver. Where they belong.

    In other words, Penner and his wife Carrie Walton-Penner read the room the way Peyton Manning read defenses at the line of scrimmage.

    “We’re really thrilled that they came with that partnership mentality and not, like we’ve seen in other cities, ‘You give us a bunch of money or we’ll leave,’” Colorado Gov. Jared Polis told The Post. “I think the Walton-Penner Family Ownership Group is deeply committed to Denver and deeply committed to the community.”

    No overt public money.

    No political campaign.

    No drama.

    No games.

    Well, except the big stuff. The biggest. For decades, the Super Bowl, the Final Four, the College Football Playoff, the World Cup or WrestleMania had a reason to fly over the Front Range and wave to us while they were taking their respective parties elsewhere.

    Not anymore. You want a venue with 60,000-plus seats that can host Taylor Swift in March or April? Check. You want a venue where football fans can still feel the elements on an autumn gameday? Got that, too. Open that bad boy up and let the Colorado sunshine in.

    We don’t need the cool kids on the coasts to tell us Denver is the best darn sports city in America. But building a multi-purpose stadium at Burnham Yard gives the Front Range many more chances to prove it — and on the largest stages imaginable.

    New Orleans officials recently estimated that Super Bowl LIX was worth more than $1.25 billion in economic impact to the Crescent City. San Antonio boasted an economic bump of $440 million from hosting the Men’s Basketball Final Four this past April.

    You wouldn’t want a piece of that?

    The Penners do. And thank goodness.

    “The goal is to create something that is active on gameday,” Penner stressed to The Post, “but also (for) the rest of the year.”

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    Sean Keeler

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  • Keeler: Coach Prime shouldn’t dream of starting any other CU Buffs QB at Houston than Ryan Staub

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    BOULDER — Julian Lewis couldn’t cross the Delaware.

    Not the Delaware 35-yard line, at any rate.

    Kaidon Salter couldn’t throw on the run.

    Or past the sticks.

    CU’s Big 12 opener is Friday night. Dink and dunk in Houston, under the lights, and the Cougars will have you for brisket.

    Which means the best option head coach Deion Sanders has at QB1, right now, is the guy nobody had on their bingo cards on Saturday morning.

    Welcome to the party, Ryan Staub.

    Sorry.

    “Martin Luther Staub,” Coach Prime called him during a postgame chat with FOX Sports after the sophomore powered CU to a 31-7 rout of Delaware at Folsom Field.

    Staub is one of those O.B.s — “Original Buffs,” Karl Dorrell holdovers who stuck it out while Deion portaled in people to push them off the roster.

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    Sean Keeler

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  • Keeler: Yo, CU Buffs! Pat Shurmur without Shedeur Sanders was painful to watch

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    BOULDER — Is that Byron Leftwich warming up on the sideline?

    Ralphie, you didn’t miss much. Take away Shedeur Sanders from a Pat Shurmur offense, and you’re left with a CU attack that, at times, looked like a pencil with no lead.

    Friday night’s opener against Georgia Tech had a Baylor 2024 feel. Minus the Baylor ending. After two CU Hail Marys fell incomplete, the Yellow Jackets escaped with a 27-20 win inside a packed Folsom Field.

    New Buffs starting quarterback Kaidon Salter will take some flak, but this wasn’t all his burden. No. 3 was as advertised, at least, in that he isn’t Shedeur. Down 20-13 with 9:23 left in the tilt, the Buffs’ transfer QB stepped up in the pocket to elude pressure (which was good), spotted a wide-open Simeon Price near the front right pylon (also good) … and overthrew him by a yard-and-a-half.

    Yet he can do this, too. As the pocket collapsed again, forcing another step-up, Salter spotted a lane, tucked the rock, and pinballed his way 7 yards into the end zone to pull the hosts to within an extra point.

    As Buffs QB debuts go, No. 3’s was fine, if rough around the edges. Salter sometimes sprinted into danger as often as he ran away from it. Stretching out a play from east to west may buy time against Conference USA defenses. The ones he’s going to see in the Big 12 close too quickly. Pick a lane and get north.

    And to the social media peanut gallery calling for 5-star super freshman Julian Lewis, ask yourself this: How many times did Salter have to create an escape route all by himself?

    Lewis can move, sure. Not like that. Even if “Ju Ju” has taken steps forward this month, it remains to be seen whether this offensive line’s ready to keep him upright for 60 minutes. Delaware awaits on Sept. 6. If we haven’t seen Lewis on the field by Week 3, fire up the flares.

    At the moment, the Buffs have bigger problems. Unfortunately, CU’s run defense was less what was advertised and more what was feared. The elephant in the room still struggles to stop anybody between the hashmarks.

    Yes, the Buffs tightened up late, and thank goodness. Yes, Tech is the Waffle House version of Iowa, a Southern sledgehammer. Yet Georgia Tech also converted on third-and-3-or-less five times in the first three quarters. They converted four of those on the ground, and the other one was a willing surrender on a spiked Haynes King pass to stop the clock.

    If Tech wasn’t busy Nebrasking the heck outta that first half with three consecutive turnovers, the Buffs would’ve been hurting deep.

    The Jackets were outrushing CU two minutes into the second quarter by a count of 112-33. Tech was getting 6.3 yards per pop on its first 18 carries.

    And yet … the hosts somehow still led 7-3, spitting in the face of the football gods and the pop-up showers.

    In hindsight, the Buffs couldn’t have scripted the first five minutes any better, could they? Tech’s Malik Rutherford got loose for a 13-yard gain on the first play of the evening. On the second, King butterfingered the ball to CU linebacker Martavious French at the Buffs’ 38. Five plays and three Micah Welch runs later, Salter found DeKalon Taylor in the end zone for an 8-yard score and a 6-0 CU lead.

    Funny thing? Those two plays were pretty much a harbinger for the rest of the Jackets’ first half. The Ramblin’ Wreck alternated between gashing the Buffs on the ground or putting the ball on the turf.

    Tech drove past midfield on five of its first six cracks on offense. Tries No. 2 and 3 ended on a fumble recovery by French at the Buffs’ 48 and a pick by D.J. McKinney at the CU 34, respectively. The Jackets turned their last three possessions into 13 points, with kicker Aidan Birr’s 32-yard field goal putting the visitors up 13-10 as the dying seconds of the second quarter expired.

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    Sean Keeler

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  • Grading The Week: Nuggets star Nikola Jokic dished out almost $400,000 in gifts to Serbian teammates, because of course he did

    Grading The Week: Nuggets star Nikola Jokic dished out almost $400,000 in gifts to Serbian teammates, because of course he did

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    Nikola Jokic isn’t just the best hoops player on the planet when it comes to dishing out dimes.

    The Big Honey might be the best when it comes to dishing out bling, too.

    Despite our crack staff being in the writing biz, Team Grading The Week believes actions speak louder than all the words on this page.

    And GTW is firmly in the camp of backing up your brags.

    Is anybody — certainly not anybody in the basketball sphere — conquering both fronts better than the Joker is, right here and now?

    The NBA’s three-time MVP didn’t just help carry the Serbian hoops squad to a bronze medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics. According to the Blic newspaper in his native country, Jokic purchased Rolex watches for every one of his teammates on the national team.

    Jokic’s Serbian gifts — A

    The kicker? Those timepieces were reportedly worth $32,500 each. Which puts the Joker’s total purchase at an estimated $357,500 for 11 watches.

    Jokic and Serbia won the men’s hoops bronze in Paris thanks to a 93-83 win over Germany in the tourney’s third-place game. The Nuggets star posted a very Jokic stat line, too — 19 points, 12 boards and 11 assists.

    The Joker averaged 18.8 points, 10.7 rebounds and 8.7 assists for his homeland, which finished 4-2 at the tourney. He led all tournament players in points, boards and dimes — the first Olympian to ever top all three categories in one campaign.

    Apparently, nobody gives like Jokic gives when it comes to the gift department, either. At least the fantastic gesture was one the Joker could afford: The Nuggets center, per Spotrac.com, is slated to take up $51.4 million in cap space in ’24-’25, and $55.2 million in ’25-’26.

    If you’re like the GTW staff, you don’t just want Jokic as your franchise centerpiece now. You kind of want him as your secret Santa, too.

    Big Russ’ debut — D

    Russell Wilson’s Steelers stats after preseason Week 2: One appearance, five drives led, zero points, three sacks taken.

    Bo Nix’s Broncos stats after preseason Week 2: Two appearances, seven drives led, 30 points, zero sacks taken.

    It’s early, and we’ll know in a month whether Sean Payton won the Broncos-Steelers game, head-to-head. But the coach is off to a flying start in terms of winning the argument. And in justifying one hellaciously expensive football divorce.

    Valor’s Friday — A

    Love ’em or hate ’em, this past Friday was a pretty good day to be an Eagle.

    Earlier in the day, Valor alum and PGA star Wyndham Clark pulled himself back into the BMW Championship title picture by shooting a 68 during his second round at Castle Pines — including five birdies. Later that evening, his alma mater’s football team opened its season with a 31-14 victory over Pine Creek. The latter had beaten Valor in last September’s meeting, 31-17.

    Originally Published:

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    Sean Keeler

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  • Keeler: Broncos put QB Bo Nix third on their depth chart? Sean Payton needs to stop trolling Broncos Country and get on with the rebuild

    Keeler: Broncos put QB Bo Nix third on their depth chart? Sean Payton needs to stop trolling Broncos Country and get on with the rebuild

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    Why does Sean Payton have to be such a pain in the ash?

    Jarrett Stidham is ballast. Zach Wilson is insurance. Any meaningful Broncos snap in 2024 that isn’t devoted to Bo Nix is a snap wasted, a dollar burned. A pile of cinders, right next to the smoldering $53 million you just gave Russell Wilson to hurt himself in Pittsburgh.

    Can we just get on with it? Please? Declaring Steady Stiddy as your starter, as Payton more or less did for Sunday’s preseason opener at Indianapolis, is just delaying the inevitable. It’s cute for cute’s sake. It’s either an epic troll job or a backdoor message to Nix, picked 12th in this past spring’s draft to be your franchise quarterback, that his present isn’t promised.

    “I’m not ready for a depth chart, but I have to get (the league) a depth chart,” Payton said after Tuesday’s practice. “So it’s easy to push the (younger) players to the back of the line and then make sure it’s kind of where we sit right now.

    “And that’s really it. No, it’s a good question, but I’m not trying to send messages at all.”

    Whatever. No. 10 turns 25 in February. Start the meter or get a different cab.

    This isn’t 2021. This isn’t about Drew vs. Teddy, about dividing the family and picking a side. This isn’t about an unproven coach who desperately needs to win now, the way Uncle Vic Fangio had to and didn’t.

    Broncos Country should be united around Nix, until he gives them ample cause, gives them enough evidence, to cut bait and turn the page. Which might be never.

    But dang it, there’s only one way to find out.

    It’s about 2025. And 2026. And 2027. Until then, you’re thumb-wrestling with the Raiduhs for third in the AFC West.

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    Sean Keeler

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  • Keeler: If Nuggets coach Michael Malone, Calvin Booth aren’t on same page, they’ll burn another year of Nikola Jokic’s MVP peak

    Keeler: If Nuggets coach Michael Malone, Calvin Booth aren’t on same page, they’ll burn another year of Nikola Jokic’s MVP peak

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    Michael Malone didn’t just shorten his bench. He strangled it.

    Christian Braun played a valiant 20 minutes in that scarring, jarring Game 7, much of it spent badgering the heck outta Anthony Edwards. After that, though, the alms dwindled. Justin Holiday got nine minutes for the Nuggets; Reggie Jackson, five.

    The Timberwolves, meanwhile, received 22 minutes and 11 points from Naz Reid, a stretch-4-type post who gave Aaron Gordon and Nikola Jokic more real estate to defend. Nickeil Alexander-Walker played 17 minutes.

    Hindsight makes geniuses of us all, granted. But while Jokic huffed and Gordon puffed Sunday, Peyton Watson became more noticeable — by his absence. As Minnesota chipped away at a 20-point Nuggs lead, one of the best defenders on the roster was nowhere to be found.

    Now in a do-or-die, win-or-else Game 7, you could understand Malone’s reluctance to trust his second-year wing in a pinch. P-Swat was 0-for-7 from the floor in this series going into Sunday night. The Nuggets lined up the chess pieces as if they could afford only one true defense-first option down the stretch — and again, Braun brought plenty of juice.

    Malone said before Game 5 that this was about matchups, and that Minnesota’s defense demands shooters at every spot. That’s not in P-Swat’s arsenal right now, and Holiday brought flashes of brilliance, on the road, when Denver needed it most.

    Mind you, Watson also posted a plus-15.9 net rating over 23 minutes against the Wolves in a seeding showdown at Ball Arena last month, blocking six shots and grabbing four boards.

    Because as the eulogies are read and ballads sung and postmortems written about where a repeat run at an NBA title went sadly off the rails, P-Swat feels like something of a nexus point. Not just for what happened. But for where the Nuggets go from here. And how.

    Nuggets general manager Calvin Booth raised eyebrows this past October when he told The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor that he “want(s) dudes that we try to develop, and it’s sustainable. If it costs us the chance to win a championship (in 2024), so be it. It’s worth the investment. It’s more about winning three out of six, three out of seven, four out of eight than it is about trying to go back-to-back.”

    Booth walked back those comments (among others) later, but it sure did very neatly explain an off-season of attrition — no more Bruce Brown or Jeff Green, thanks CBA — that came on the heels of the first title in franchise history. If ’22-23 was the masterpiece, then ’23-24 would be the experiment. Namely, can we replace Brown and Green with kids and still reach the NBA Finals?

    Well, no. Heck, no. Not this year, at any rate.

    Booth’s stated masterplan was also curious given that Malone, a stickler for eternal verities such as defense and selflessness, suffers neither fools nor rookies gladly. If Malone doesn’t trust you, you don’t play. Period. The Minnesota series, which started with the Nuggets dropping Games 1 and 2 at home, threw development out a 35-story window.

    I’m not suggesting Malone and Booth aren’t on the same page here, although it’s fair to wonder. However, I would humbly advise the powers that be to pick a lane and stick with it going forward. For the window’s sake. For Joker’s sake.

    The MVP needs help. Now. Jokic, owner of the greatest hands in modern NBA annals, snatched 15 boards in the first half. He finished with 19. Following one misfire in the third quarter, what looked like four Minnesota bodies went up for the carom while No. 15 was stranded at the top of the arc. The Joker seemed positively crestfallen.

    Since April 1 through Game 7, the Big Honey logged 732 minutes in 19 games, or 38.5 per game. From April 1 through the end of the Suns series last spring, he’d played 467 minutes in 13 appearances (35.9 per tilt).

    The Nuggs danced with history last week. And landed on the wrong side of it, face-first. Malone’s had better days. He’ll have better ones in the future. But Game 7’s epic collapse felt an awful lot like coaching not to lose. Which, more often than not, gets you beat on this stage.

    The Wolves, meanwhile, were built by Tim Connelly to dethrone the dynasty he’d started in Denver. See KAT? See Ant, waving and mugging for the cameras? They’re the bar now.

    It’s on Booth and Malone to volley Connelly’s serve. Together. Because the Joker has a ton of MVP seasons left in him. But only so many springs of what-ifs. And only so many summers of doubt.

     

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    Sean Keeler

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  • Keeler: Avalanche gave Valeri Nichushkin a second chance. He blew it. It’s time to move on.

    Keeler: Avalanche gave Valeri Nichushkin a second chance. He blew it. It’s time to move on.

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    Sleepless in Seattle, Doomed in Denver. Two straight postseasons. Two straight playoff exits for Valeri Nichushkin.

    It’s been real, Val. Lord, it’s been glorious. But this is your stop.

    The Avalanche title train needs engines it can rely on.

    You weep for the man. You rage at the loss. You wonder about the Avs front office, which circled the wagons, protected and enabled their troubled winger. Only to be burned again.

    It’s over. It’s time.

    The championship window won’t wait.

    Nathan MacKinnon turns 29 in September. Mikko Rantanen’s 28th birthday falls a month later. Gabe Landeskog will be 32 a month after that.

    The Avs are on the clock.

    And the timing couldn’t be worse.

    Roughly an hour before Colorado dropped the puck on a pivotal Game 4 at home in their second-round Stanley Cup Playoffs series Monday night with the Dallas Stars, the NHL and NHLPA jointly dropped the bomb on the player nicknamed Nuke.

    Nichushkin, the announcement read, had been placed in Stage 3 of the NHL Player Assistance Program but did not disclose why. Which means he’s suspended without pay for six months, and eligible to apply for reinstatement after that.

    In other words, not just whatever’s left of this year’s postseason run — but at least a month into the regular season of 2024-25 as well.

    Tick. Tick. Tick.

    The clock doesn’t just apply to the window, either.

    Nichushkin has a whopping six seasons left on an eight-year, $49-million deal inked after he lifted Lord Stanley high. It’s turned into Kris Bryant minus the laugh track, bad money wasted by a good organization.

    The kicker? Val’s got a 12-team no-trade clause that kicks in on June 15, 2025.

    If he can’t help you reel in another Cup, it’s time to cut bait.

    Let someone else take this challenge on.

    Nichushkin’s got too much talent to give up, you say. Absolutely true. He’s also too unreliable to lean on anymore as a piece of this championship puzzle, too much of a risk to be a pillar for the core.

    After the mysterious departure in Seattle, his absence for treatment this past winter and Monday’s suspension, can the Avs, his brothers, trust him? Can MacKinnon, who tolerates fools about as much as he tolerates defenders? Can Colorado fans?

    Because it’s the brilliance that breaks your heart. The Choo Choo Train, who spent much of the winter in the NHL’s Player Assistance Program, was exemplary this postseason. His nine playoffs goals as of Monday afternoon were tied for the most in the league. His six-game streak of lamp-lighting to open a Cup run is an Avalanche record and fell one shy of the league mark.

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    Sean Keeler

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  • Keeler: O, Captain! Avalanche needs leader to deliver message to Stars goon Jamie Benn that Gabe Landeskog can’t

    Keeler: O, Captain! Avalanche needs leader to deliver message to Stars goon Jamie Benn that Gabe Landeskog can’t

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    DALLAS — Jamie Benn needs to “feel” you, as Nuggets coach Michael Malone likes to say. Right between the ears.

    If the NHL won’t send a message to Benn, the Dallas Stars’ goon in green, then the Avalanche must. Starting with Game 3 Saturday night at Ball Arena.

    Legal hit? More like calculated assault. At worst, the Dallas captain should’ve seen five minutes in the sin bin for his cheap shot of Avs defender Devon Toews some 2:43 into the second period of Game 2.

    Benn launched. He left his feet. Toews’ head snapped like a crash test dummy. Officials declared it a shoulder-on-shoulder crime and suggested we all move on. To paraphrase my best pal Deion Sanders, that’s some bull junk, right there.

    For one, even if the Stars winger was aiming for Toews’ shoulder, at least one angle showed him connecting directly with No. 7’s neck. Which, last I checked, is connected to and immediately south of the head.

    “I mean, does he catch a piece of his shoulder? Yeah, I guess you could argue that,” Avs coach Jared Bednar, whose team returns to Denver after a road split at American Airlines Center, replied when I asked about the collision. “But the target is high and it’s at his head, and he makes contact with the head. And I’ve seen, many times, guys get called for the head shot and penalty with a lot less than that. But I guess they didn’t think so.”

    Two, Benn knew exactly what he was doing. The Stars knew what he was doing. Dallas coach Pete DeBoer, whose Vegas teams delighted in pushing the Avs around in the postseason, knew darn well.

    “Benner has been outstanding in this playoff. I thought against Vegas he did and he did (it) smart,” the Stars boss said late Thursday night. “He did it at the right times and he did it clean. But his presence physically is having an impact for us in these playoffs in a real positive way.’’

    Kareem Jackson, my man, you chose the wrong sport. DeBoer woulda loved you.

    In the NFL, Benn’s shot is an ejection, a fine, a suspension and a chat with the safety cops.

    In the NHL, it’s a “real positive” presence, a strategic wrinkle in a no-holds-barred, merciless bracket.

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    Sean Keeler

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  • Keeler: Avalanche can’t stop scoring. Alexandar Georgiev can’t stop winning. Mea culpa, Georgie. You got right.

    Keeler: Avalanche can’t stop scoring. Alexandar Georgiev can’t stop winning. Mea culpa, Georgie. You got right.

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    Lazarus of Bethany’s got nuttin’ on Alexandar Georgiev of Bulgaria. Tough times don’t last. Tough goalies do.

    “I think in Game 1, we didn’t give him a lot of chances to make quality saves,” Avalanche defenseman Josh Manson told me before Colorado and Georgie wiped out the Whiteoot in Winnipeg with a 6-3 victory late Tuesday. “I felt like a lot of (shots) were going in from the backside or (to) his right, which is tough.

    “And then that can rattle your confidence a little bit. But he’s stepped up and just playing like how he can.”

    He grounded the Jets for four straight games. He won twice in Manitoba. He rose to the moment. He blocked out the jeers. He stiffed the haters.

    Forgive me, Georgie.

    This is how Lord Stanley comes home.

    Down 3-1 in a best-of-seven series Tuesday, Winnipeg threw everything at the crease that wasn’t nailed down. The Jets blistered Georgiev with 19 shots in the second period alone. They came away with one goal to show for it.

    Game 1: Seven goals against. Games 2-5: Eight goals. Combined.

    Forgive me, Georgie.

    This is starting to look familiar.

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    Sean Keeler

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  • Keeler: Broncos landing Zach Wilson at QB? Smart. Settling on Wilson if Bo Nix, Michael Penix are available? Dumb.

    Keeler: Broncos landing Zach Wilson at QB? Smart. Settling on Wilson if Bo Nix, Michael Penix are available? Dumb.

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    Rescuing Zach Wilson is smart. Stopping at Zach Wilson is hubris.

    As a quarterback, Wilson’s merely appetizer material. If the NFL draft is still serving Bo Nix or Michael Penix Jr. as a main course, and at a reasonable cost, the Broncos would be crazy not to bite.

    A QB room consisting of Wilson, Jarrett Stidham, Ben DiNucci and a seventh-round flier to be named late would be the worst in the division (pending Raiderfoonery ). And arguably the worst in an AFC that’s still loaded with franchise signal-callers.

    In isolation, though, you get it. Landing Wilson from the Jets with a seventh-round pick for a sixth-rounder is a solid, low-cap, low-risk move. It just better not be the only one, at least where the quarterback is concerned.

    After Russell Wilson took the money and ran, the best thing the Broncos could do at QB1 right now is open this competition to the masses. Bring in as many bodies as you can afford until one of them actually sticks.

    And, on paper, this body’s got more upside than most. Maybe. The draftniks at NFL.com three years ago described the 24-year-old Wilson, the No. 2 overall pick in the ’21 draft, as a “blend (of) Jake Plummer and Johnny Manziel coming out of (BYU).” Which is both awesome (the Plummer part) and terrifying (the Manziel part) in the same sentence.

    On one hand, the kid did beat Russell Wilson, head-to-head, at Empower Field as a visiting QB with the Jets twice in two trips since September 2022.

    On the other, what the heck does that say?

    If you look at Zach Wilson’s 30 career starts against anyone not named the Broncos, he’s sported a 10-20 record, thrown 23 touchdowns and 22 picks, and completed 17 passes per game at a clip of 56.5%.

    Also, he got benched for Trevor Siemian. 2023 Trevor Siemian.

    Wiser football heads, old coaches and scouts texted me Monday to say they still see a spark in Zach Wilson, that nobody could’ve walked away from the dumpster fire that is the J-E-T-S without some second-degree burns. That maybe Broncos QB Whisperer Sean Payton — Russell Wilson notwithstanding — is the sensei who winds up bringing it out of the guy, the way he brought it out of Drew Brees, Teddy Bridgewater and Kerry Collins, another top-5 bust in his early days with Carolina.

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  • Keeler: Avalanche, Jared Bednar have no choice: goalie Justus Annunen, if healthy, needs to start Game 2 vs. Jets

    Keeler: Avalanche, Jared Bednar have no choice: goalie Justus Annunen, if healthy, needs to start Game 2 vs. Jets

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    Avalanche fans deserve Justus.

    Do whatever it takes, Jared Bednar. Nyquil. Mucinex. Voodoo. Anything that gets Avalanche backup goaltender Justus Annunen healthy and ready to start Game 2 of this Avs-Jets series. Anything that gets No. 1 netminder Alexandar Georgiev away from the crease and out of the firing line.

    Love Georgie.

    He’s toast.

    The Winnipeg Jets know it. John Buccigross knows it. The moose wandering around south Manitoba know it. Over his last six appearances, dating back to April 5, Georgiev’s given up 29 goals. Bednar, the Avs’ venerated coach, isn’t just running out of options here. He’s running out of time.

    Winnipeg put seven more past No. 40 in Game 1 of their Stanley Cup Playoff series Sunday, roughly a week after peppering him for a touchdown and extra point at Ball Arena.

    This time, it took two periods for Georgiev to become Fourgiev. It took three for him to become Sevengiev.

    Yes, when the other guys put seven on your tab, it’s a group fail. The hope was that the Burgundy and Blue had a postseason gear they could shift to. That Bednar’s porous, sloppy defense over the last three weeks would flip a switch.

    Guess what? No gear. No switch. They are what they were. They need a guy between the pipes who can bail them out.

    Georgie ain’t it.

    With 5:20 left, down 7-5, the Avs had outshot Winnipeg 36-19, per NaturalStatTrick.com, and produced 10 “high-danger” chances to the Jets’ 8. What does all that mean? In terms of “expected goals,” per the site’s metrics, with a typical netminder, the Avs should’ve been leading 3-1 or 3-2 at the time.

    Nothing about this is typical anymore. What doubles the hurt is that the Avs came out firing right from the jump, getting off 11 shots in the first 10 minutes to Winnipeg’s one. They managed a 1-0 lead for their trouble. It lasted all of 112 seconds.

    More galling is that Colorado had a pivotal road game — since 2018, the Avs have won six of seven series in which they’ve notched a Game 1 victory — rocking at their pace of choice. Up and down, PlayStation style. “NHL 94” with the  “icing” and “fatigue” sliders switched to off.

    Alas, this is reality, not your frat bro’s basement. Although Game 1’s first period was so crazy, both goaltenders played as if they were wearing straitjackets. Six goals, seven giveaways, 22 shots and zero sanity.

    What happens when a team with playoff scars and playoff skill but leaky goaltending (the Avs) meets a team with postseason nerves but one of the best net-minders on the planet (the Jets)? The opening 16 minutes of Colorado-Winnipeg, a ride with more twists than a David Fincher flick.

    Down 1-0, the hosts scored twice in 3:55 to take a 1-goal lead. The Avs scored twice in 18 seconds for a 3-2 cushion. Which lived on for about 48 seconds until Mark Scheifle, camping out in front of Georgiev, slipped behind Josh Manson and slotted past the Colorado goalie to square things at 3-all.

    Annunen, a Game 1 scratch, posted a 2-1 record and 2.42 goals-against average over four games in April. Even at 65-70%, could the kid have been any worse than what transpired Sunday?

    “I don’t know if he’s going to be healthy enough to play or not,” Bednar told reporters Sunday. “He wasn’t healthy enough to play (Game 1). We’ll see what we see (Monday) morning.”

    The more you think about it, the more depressing it becomes. The Avs pounded Winnipeg goalie Connor Hellebuyck, your likely Vezina winner, with six goals — on his home ice. It was the first time Bucky’s ever been tagged for more than five in the postseason. And only the third time over his last 130 starts.

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    Sean Keeler

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  • Keeler: NCAA Tournament selection committees did CU Buffs, CSU Rams dirty

    Keeler: NCAA Tournament selection committees did CU Buffs, CSU Rams dirty

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    BOULDER — The NCAA still can’t read a room. But man, can they ever kill one.

    Kindyll Wetta and her teammates on the CU women’s basketball team were belles of the ball inside the Dal Ward Center. You shoulda seen it. Balloons. Cheerleaders. Catering. One of the sweetest pep rallies to grace the Touchdown Club since Coach Prime got injected into the Buffs’ bloodstream here some 16 months ago.

    As the NCAA Tournament brackets came on the screen, the party hushed. Then when Kansas State came up as a 4 seed and as a host for the first weekend of the women’s Big Dance, it sank.

    “It’s definitely a bummer for me because I wanted to play at home and I wanted to be in front of my family,” Wetta, the firebrand of a Buffs guard and former Valor Christian star, told me after CU found out its first stop in Bracketville would be as a 5 seed opposite K-State in the Little Apple of Manhattan, Kan. “I thought this year we really had a great shot of doing that. It’s disappointing in that sense.”

    There was a lot of that going around here Sunday night. The mood was even less jovial a few hours earlier up in Fort Collins, where the men’s selection committee decided to take its annual dose of stupid out on the Mountain West as a whole — and on the Rams in particular.

    Want a laugh? Committee member Bubba Cunningham contended on CBS that teams selected from the Mountain West, save for San Diego State, got strapped to double-digit seedings because their best wins were over one another.

    “(That) made it more challenging for us,” Cunningham explained.

    Not half as challenging, apparently, as trying to stay up past 10 p.m. Eastern to do homework on teams west of Lincoln. Poor guy.

    At least five teams — lookin’ at you, Oregon, NC State and New Mexico — “stole” bids from more worthy at-larges by winning their respective conference tourneys. But any ‘S’ curve that’s got CSU as the “last team in” gets an automatic F.

    Do you watch the games, Bubba? Or do you watch “X” and Instagram and hope for the best? CSU beat Creighton by 21 on a neutral court. The Jays were slotted as a No. 3 seed Sunday. The Rammies (24-10) were unveiled as a 10.

    Boise State, who’ll take on Tad Boyle’s CU men on Wednesday night, beat Saint Mary’s on a semi-neutral floor by three. The Gaels are dancing as a 5 seed. The Broncos, like CSU and CU, are a 10 seed having to scrap their way over to the Big Kids’ Bracket by winning in Dayton first.

    “To be honest, I was really surprised how most of the Mountain West was seeded,” stunned CSU coach Niko Medved, who’ll face Virginia on Tuesday in Ohio, told reporters.

    “But you know what? That’s fine. They always disrespect our league. And now it’s time to go out and do something about it.”

    Amen. If there’s a silver lining, it’s that the Cavaliers (23-10), on paper, are certainly in the Rammies’ weight class. For one thing, unlike Michigan in 2022, UVa doesn’t have a Hunter Dickinson down low, taking up a duplex’s worth of space in the paint. On the surface, it’s the irresistible force (CSU’s shooters) against the immovable object (Tony Bennett’s trademark tire-iron defense), a classic Clark Kellogg “contrast-in-styles” scrum between a Rams offense ranked 42nd nationally by KenPom.com in adjusted offensive efficiency and a Cavs D that’s seventh in adjusted defense. If you’re hopping over to Dayton, take the under and take your pizza square-cut.

    If the Oppenheimers on the men’s committee dinged CSU for its 4-7 mark away from Moby Madness, their counterparts on the women’s side docked the Buffs (22-9) for losing six of their last eight, including a maddening, come-from-ahead loss to Oregon State in the Pac-12 tourney.

    In March, you make your own luck. The Buffs women — despite being one of the best draws in all of college basketball, male or female — didn’t.

    “I mean, (it’s) definitely frustrating,” Wetta said. “But like (Coach JR Payne) said, you can’t dwell on that, because (now) it’s completely different conferences, completely different teams, styles of play.”

    CU women’s basketball players react to being selected as the fifth seed for the NCAA tournament during a watch party in the Touchdown Club at Dal Ward at the University of Colorado at Boulder in Boulder, Colorado on March 17, 2024. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)

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  • Keeler: Nuggets star Jamal Murray could ruin LeBron James’ record-setting night. But is that worth risking Murray’s bad ankle?

    Keeler: Nuggets star Jamal Murray could ruin LeBron James’ record-setting night. But is that worth risking Murray’s bad ankle?

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    Michael Adams’ heart did a one-handed push shot right past his chest, then sank straight into his hands.

    There he was, baseline royalty, right under the basket. First time back at Ball Arena in about six years, and Jamal Murray lands like a dead fish three feet in front of him, rolling on the floor.

    Suddenly, in a cruel twist of irony and a crueler twist of an ankle, one of the greatest shooters in Nuggets history had a front-row seat to watch the Blue Arrow, his spiritual successor, writhe in agony.

    “I just heard him say, ‘Oh my God,’” Adams, the Nuggets’ 3-point ace from 1987-91, said of the Blue Arrow’s sprain just before halftime, the one that cast a pall over the Nuggets’ scrappy 103-97 victory over the Miami Heat in an NBA Finals rematch.

    “So when (Murray) grabbed his ankle, I was like, ‘OK, it’s his ankle … it wasn’t his knee.’”

    Join the club, brother.

    I know what you’re thinking: Man, the Lakers are next. Is there a better, sweeter feeling for Nuggets faithful than watching Murray prop his feet up on the couch in The House Kobe Built and drop daggers all over Tinseltown? Especially on LeBron’s big night? Over his last six regular-season appearances against the Lake Show, the Blue Arrow’s averaged 23.5 points, 6.3 assists and 3.2 treys.

    But by the same token, did you see the anguish on the guy’s face as he staggered off the baseline and limped to the locker room? Why push your luck? Especially when that luck is as fickle as Jamal’s?

    “Injuries happen,” Adams told me, “but in this situation, you want the Nuggets to be healthy toward the end of the season … if he’s not ready to go, they’ll sit him down and let him get healthy. They’ve still got some time (to finish) the season with him on the floor.”

    This ain’t about want-to. Or toughness. Murray was raised like a basketball ninja in chilly Ontario, a childhood montage that included push-ups in the snow and balancing cups of hot tea on his thigh during squats. The Arrow would sooner swim through shark-infested waters wearing a chum suit than accept defeat.

    Still, if I’m Nuggets coach Michael Malone, I’m overriding Murray’s inner Bruce Lee and reaching for the bubble wrap.

    The NBA Playoffs, the land of bright lights, big stages and swollen egos where No. 27 reigns supreme, is seven weeks away yet. The No. 1 seed in the West is a heck of a target, yes, and the Nuggets went into Friday trailing the Wolves by a game-and-a-half.

    Everything’s on the table now. Including disaster. And you sure as heck don’t get a parade in June by redlining Murray in early March.

    “When Jamal realizes, ‘Hey, man, we’ve got 23 games to go, this (ankle) is not feeling great right now,’ I think it’s great for him to realize being cautious right now is probably the really prudent decision,” Malone said late Thursday night. “And that shows also (his) maturity. He’s growing and realizing that we (need him long-term) …

    “(People insist), ‘You should be the No. 1 seed.’ Yeah, that’d be great. I want to be healthy. Because I know if we’re healthy, that we can beat anybody, anywhere.”

    Dang straight.

    Murray ended the first quarter Thursday by draining a 3-pointer at the buzzer with four Miami hands in his face. He ended the second in the bowels of Ball Arena, getting treatment on a right ankle that got rolled during an accidental collision with teammate Aaron Gordon.

    The tumble happened, as kismet would have it, right in front of Adams, now 61 and working with the Washington Wizards, and his son.

    “I actually wanted to bring my All-Star ring here to let him hold onto it until he actually made one,” said Adams, who represented Washington at the NBA’s mid-winter classic back in 1992. “And to (tell Murray), ‘You deserve to be on an All-Star team.’ I didn’t do it. But I wanted to.”

    In his salad days, Adams was Steph Curry before Steph, 5-foot-10 with a funky release, cold-blooded to the core, a shooter ahead of his time. Especially once ex-Nuggets coach Doug Moe gave him the green light.

    “I’m a big fan of Murray — obviously, him and Nikola (Jokic) are just out-of-this-world players,” said Adams, who averaged 18.2 points and 7.2 dimes over four seasons with Denver. “I love watching him play. I was just telling my son, ‘If I was backing up Jamal Murray, and he just went out of the game, I’d be happy to be on the floor with the rest of those guys right now.’”

    He’d be happier still to see Murray rest that ankle until the Arrow’s closer to 100%. And like Malone, he’d rather have the Nuggets healthy come mid-April than exhaust their stars in a seeding chase.

    “You want (those starters) on the floor, but health is No. 1,” Adams said. “I think the Nuggets can beat anybody on the road (in the playoffs) if they had to.”

    Nine solid weeks of Murray in the spring is worth its weight in gold. At least 29 pounds of it, last we checked.

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    Sean Keeler

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