This year they didn’t make it, but 4 players still have hope for the Hall
Three baseball legends were elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday. There were also certain Hall hopefuls who, even though they didn’t get the 75% needed to be inducted, did a lot to improve their chances in the future.
One player came just a few votes short in his second-to-last year of being on the ballot, two renowned outfielders saw an increase in the number of votes they received, and a franchise icon did well in his first appearance on the Baseball Writers’ Association of America’s ballot.
Next year will be Wagner’s last chance to be included in the BBWAA ballot, yet things are still looking good for him.
Wagner’s vote share stayed around 10% for the first three years he was on the ballot (10.5% in 2016, 10.2% in 2017, and 11.1% in 2018). In 2019, he made a small jump to 16.7%.
But in 2020, that number almost doubled, reaching 31.7%. It has kept going up every year since then, reaching 46.4% in 2021, 51% in 2022, and 68.1% in 2023.
This year, Wagner’s 73.8% vote total was just five votes short of the 75% needed to be inducted. Now, in his last year on the ballot, he is beating on the entrance of Cooperstown.
On Tuesday night, Purdue senior center Zach Edey made a turnaround jumper for his 30th point. Indiana coach Mike Woodson pointed his right hand down.
Woodson seemed to be waiving the ball away, which was a metaphor for the fact that his team’s chances of making the NCAA tournament were also in danger.
With a little over seven minutes left in the game, Indiana was down 73–56. Their comeback attempt failed, and the score kept going downhill from there.
The most important thing is that it’s another chance lost to add a big win to a resume that needs one.
The No. 2 Boilermakers beat the No. 12 Indiana Hoosiers 87-66 at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. The teams are now 12-6 and 4-3 in the Big Ten. It’s the worst home loss Indiana has ever had against Purdue.
They’ve now played four ranked teams. The Hoosiers have lost all four of these games, and the only time they lost by less than 20 points was on December 16 at home against No. 3 Iowa State.
It wasn’t looking good for the Hoosiers before Tuesday. They were ranked No. 98 in NET along with No. 95 in KenPom.
Indiana had a chance to beat one of the best teams in the country on Tuesday night. Instead, it was behind 51–29 at halftime, and the white-out public in Assembly Hall was booing loudly.
“They deserve credit for beating us in the first half,” Woodson said. “I believed they were stronger. Yes, there were many fouls against us, nevertheless, they set the stage.
In a very close rivalry game, Indiana only made 35.1% of their shots from the floor in the first half. Purdue, on the other hand, made 50% of its shots, like 41.7% from long range, while Indiana only made 16.7%.
As Woodson said, Indiana got called for 11 fouls while Purdue only got five. However, the Hoosiers’ shots just weren’t going in.
It’s just as scary that Woodson criticized Indiana for being too tough. If you can’t physically compete at your best against your biggest rival, then when can you?
After the game, Indiana sophomore guard Trey Galloway said he was disappointed that the team wasn’t physical from the beginning to the end.
Galloway said, “I mean, especially for a big game like this, you’ve got to find ways to fight and be tough.”
Woodson was especially unhappy with how sophomore center Kel’el Ware played against Edey, who scored 33 points and grabbed 14 rebounds.
Ware, on the other hand, only scored 5 points and grabbed 6 rebounds in the first half because he was getting fouled a lot. He played 26 minutes in total.
Ware represents Indiana’s problems in big games. The 7-footer has scored 10 points per game on average in Indiana’s four ranked games, but he has only made 34.6% of his shots from the floor. He’s making 54.5% of his shots this season and scoring 14.2 points per game.
Think back to last season, when Indiana played Edey against Trayce Jackson-Davis, who was in the running for National Player Award of the Year. Even though Edey scored a lot, the Hoosiers won both games in the end.
On offense, the Hoosiers just didn’t have enough power to keep up with the Boilermakers this time.
Another big difference between the NCAA Tournament team from last year and the teams that are just hoping to make it this year.