Month: February 2025

— As I started writing this, Shohei Ohtani hit a home run in his first at-bat of the 2025 Cactus League; Ohtani was a 50-50 guy last year, but this year he figures to get back on the mound too.

Ohtani is 38-19, 3.01 in 86 MLB starts, with a 1.08 WHIP; he is coming back from Tommy John surgery.

Dodgers have spent a boatload of $$$; they’re favored to win the World Series again this year. It has been 25 years since a team won the World Series two years in a row.

— Juan Soto signed a 15-year, $765M contract with the Mets, who went 89-73 last year but lost the NLCS to the Dodgers in six games. Mets have Lindor-Soto-Alonso leading off their lineup, but how good is their batting order after that? 

— New York’s American League team hasn’t won a World Series since 2009, despite having a huge payroll every year; last year was first time since ’09 they were in a World Series. They’ve made the playoffs seven of last eight years, but now they lost Soto, but added Paul Goldschmidt, Cody Bellinger and Max Fried.

— Tampa Bay Rays will play their home games this year in a minor league stadium in Tampa, because the Trop was wicked by a hurricane last year. Rays will play ton of home games early in the season, to avoid the humid summer weather in Florida. 

A’s will be playing home games in Sacramento’s minor league stadium the next three years; hopefully they’ll move to Las Vegas for the ’28 season, but since their owner is a cheap bastard, no one knows for sure.

Summer weather in Sacramento is said to be a lot warmer than Oakland, so A’s home games figure to be more high scoring than previous years.

— Still unclear what the Red Sox lineup is going to look like; they signed Alex Bregman, but also have Rafael Devers- they both play third base. Devers is banged-up right now; when he gets back  in the lineup, does Bregman move to 2B? Does Devers move to 1B?

Boston seems to have an excess of hitters; will they trade one for a pitcher (Dylan Cease)?

— Pittsburgh haven’t had a winning season since 2018, haven’t made the playoffs since 2015, but their pitching rotation is pretty good; too bad they won’t spend $$$ on some hitters- they could compete for a playoff spot in a less-than-stellar NL Central.

— Wish they’d put in the ball/strike replay challenge thing in for this season; it seems to be a very good idea, from what I’ve seen in spring training. MLB and the players’ union could get together and make this happen right?

— Famous birthdays, March 1st:
Elvin Bethea, 79
Brian Winters, 73
Ron Howard, 71
Catherine Bach, 71
George Eads, 58

Chris Webber, 52
Trevor Cahill, 37
Michael Conforto, 32

Tyreek Hill, 31
Ja’Maar Chase, 25

— Watching spring training games is fun (to a point); watch lot of Dodger games, listen to Rick Monday do analysis- he does radio during the season. He is 79 years old, has a great voice.

When I was a little kid, Rick Monday was an outfielder for the A’s; he was the first player taken in the 1965 amateur draft, which was the first-ever amateur draft.

He played 19 years in the majors and since has had an excellent broadcasting career.

— Read that All-Stars will be wearing their team’s uniform during the All-Star Game this year, which is a good thing, a throwback to the old days.

— Jose Altuve is going to play LF for the Astros this year; Christian Walker will play 1B, Isaac Paredes will replace Bregman at 3B, and it looks like Brendan Rodgers will play 2B.

Altuve’s defensive metrics at 2B weren’t good last year, so they’re moving him to the outfield. Left field in Houston’s stadium isn’t big; am curious where he’ll play in road games.

— Will Nolan Arenado remain a Cardinal, or get traded to a contender? He is on the books for $32M this year, $27M next year, $15M in 2027; he said he wanted to get traded to a contender, but apparently vetoed a trade to Houston.

Cardinals don’t appear to be a contender this season, so unloading a big contract makes some sense for St Louis.

— Mike Trout is moving to right field this year, as he tries to stay healthier; Trout will be 34 in August, has played in only 266 games the last four years, 41% of the Angels’ games. Not ideal for a guy who is on the books for $37M a year through 2030.

— Terry Francona is the new manager in Cincinnati; Reds have made the playoffs only once since 2013, the short season in 2020, but Francona is a Hall of Fame-level manager, winning two World Series in Boston, winning an AL title in Cleveland.

Reds have had three winning seasons the last five years, but were 77-85 last year, going 15-28 in one-run games. Reverse that stat, and Cincinnati would’ve been a playoff team.

— Arizona Diamondbacks lost the World Series in 2023, then won five more games last year than they did in ’23, but narrowly missed the playoffs.

Arizona added P Corbin Burnes, 1B Josh Naylor, but lost Christian Walker; they’re trying hard to win, but being a division rival of the Dodgers can be discouraging. More than likely, they’ll be hunting for a Wild Card spot, like the one they got in 2023. 

— Sunday night, March Madness tips off with two games in the ASUN Tournament:

Stetson vs Central Arkansas @ Nashville, winner plays Lipscomb Monday

Austin Peay vs North Florida @ Florence, AL; winner plays North Alabama Monday

— Michigan 84, Rutgers 82
Rutgers led 57-49 at halftime; they scored 25 points in 2nd half.
Michigan shot 72.7% inside the arc.
Wolverines have won eight of their last nine games.

— UAB 80, Wichita State 72
UAB won 12 of its last 14 games.
Blazers were +8 in turnovers (17-9)
Loss snaps Wichita’s six-game winning streak.

— Wright State 82, Cleveland State 76
With this score, Robert Morris wins Horizon regular season for first time.
Cleveland State led 45-31 at halftime.
Wright State made 12-21 shots on the arc.

— Towson State 88, Wm & Mary 73
Towson shot 14-32 on arc, wins CAA regular season title.
Wm & Mary led by 15, early in second half.
Tigers out-rebounded Wm & Mary, 44-23

— North Texas 71, Florida Atlantic 61
North Texas shot 66.7% inside the arc.
Mean Green has won five in row, 11 of last 13 games.

— Warriors 121, Magic 115
Steph Curry scored 56 points, shooting 12-19 on the arc.
Rest of the Warriors were 7-26 on the arc.
Orlando led 66-52 at halftime.
Golden State is 7-1 since they acquired Jimmy Butler. 

— Famous birthdays, February 28th:
Bernadette Peters, 77
Mercedes Ruehl, 77
Adrian Dantley, 70
John Turturro, 68

Ken Whisenhunt, 63
Ickey Woods, 59
Tayshaun Prince, 45
Aroldis Chapman, 37

Alex Caruso, 31
Randy Arozarena, 30
Luka Doncic, 26
Lance McCutcheon, 26

— In its last three games, BYU’s basketball team has……
Scored 90+ points
Shot 50%+ from the floor
Made 12+ 3-pointers
Had fewer than 12 turnovers.

They’re the first team in the last 25 years to do that three game in a row.

— Utah fired basketball coach Craig Smith Monday, with only four games left in the regular season; they couldn’t have waited a couple weeks, until the regular season was over?

One of coach Smith’s son is a walk-on sub with the Utes; another son is Director of Operations for Utah. Seems kind of harsh to fire their dad, while his sons stick it out and finish the season.

— Right now, there are nine NFL QB’s with contracts that average $50M/year. Cowboys’ QB Dak Prescott is the highest-paid player right now, at $60M/year.

— Detroit Pistons have won eight games in a row, their longest winning streak since 2008.

— There is an NHL game in Ohio State’s football stadium Saturday night- Detroit-Columbus will play in Ohio Stadium, with ESPN showing the game. NHL has hit the jackpot with these outdoor games over the years- they’ll have a huge crowd for this game.

— White Sox OF Andrew Benintendi broke his hand when he was hit by a pitch, is out 4-6 weeks. Benintendi had a rough year last year, hitting .229, now he’s going to miss the first part of the season. 

— RIP to the great actor Gene Hackman, who passed away this week at age 95; in his long career, he won two Academy Awards, four Golden Globe awards.

I remember him most from Hoosiers, but he was in a ton of movies- Runaway Jury, The Firm, The Replacements, Class Action. 

What a great career. RIP, sir. 

— There’s a lot of BS going on in the world these days, let’s start with some good stuff.

Tuesday night in LA, the Lakers beat Dallas 107-99; Klay Thompson scored 22 points, had 8 rebounds for the Mavericks. After the game, Thompson gave a 2022 NBA championship ring to Dr. Richard Ferkel, who surgically repaired Thompson’s torn achilles tendon in 2020.

“Oh my gosh, this is unbelievable.” Dr. Ferkel said, when he saw the ring he was getting. NBA championship rings are very big, and very expensive.

Showing gratitude is simple enough, but needs to happen more often.

— For three years now, the NFL Players Association has done a report card that grades teams on 11 different categories as far as off-field things; treatment of families, food/cafeteria, nutritionist/dietician, locker room, training room, training staff, weight room, strength coaches, team travel, head coach and owner.

Arizona Cardinals were lowest-ranked team, after being 27th last year. 

League-wide, there were four F-minus grades given out:
1- Cardinals- locker room.
Players think the locker room and weight room are too small.

2- Bills- team travel
Only 35% of players said they had a comfortable amount of personal space on team flights. Players sit in smaller seats during travel while coaches/auxiliary staff sit in first class.

3- Bengals- treatment of families
Cincinnati is one of only three teams in the NFL that doesn’t offer daycare during home games, and one of 10 teams that does not offer a family room.

Also, the team’s dietitian only works two days a week; players want her hired full-time.

4- Browns- locker room
Cleveland upgraded its weight room last year; players gave it an A grade this year, but now they would like a bigger locker room, too.

— NFL Combine starts Thursday, lot of 40-yard sprints and interviews with Mel Kiper.

— Major league teams must make a decent amount of $$$ during spring training; Mets drew over 7,200 fans for their Grapefruit League opener last week. Cubs draw bigger crowds than that out in Arizona.

— Washington Nationals signed closer Kyle Finnegan for one year, $6M; Finnegan had 38 saves for Washington last year.

— Someone who needs to be in the Baseball Hall of Fame:

Charlie Finley was an insurance salesman who got rich selling group medical insurance to doctors; he bought the Kansas City A’s in 1960, moved them to Oakland in 1968, was the team’s general manager as well as a great promoter.

Finley’s A’s won three straight World Series from 1972-74, but then free agency became a thing and Finley couldn’t compete with the big $$$ owners who then infiltrated the game. He sold the A’s in 1980, but think about the impact Finley had/still has, actually.

Finley’s A’s were the first team to wear more colorful uniforms; think about how much $$$ teams make now from selling hats/jerseys/jackets. Billions of dollars; Finley helped that ball get rolling, over 50 years ago.

He wasn’t very well-liked, so he’ll probably never get inducted into Cooperstown, but he damn sure should be.

— Famous birthdays, February 27th:
Joanne Woodward, 95
James Worthy, 64
Greg Cadaret, 63

Matt Stairs, 57
Loy Vaught, 57
Duce Staley, 50

Devin Harris, 42
Aníbal Sánchez, 41
Chris Godwin, 29

— Michigan State 58, Maryland 55
Kid on Michigan State drained a 1/2-court shot at the buzzer.
Spartans had blown a 9-point lead with 5:24 left to play.
Teams combined to shoot 8-35 on the arc.

— San Francisco 74, Oregon State 72
Beavers’ tying basket came half-second after the horn sounded.
Oregon State was only 14-24 on the foul line.
San Francisco won seven of its last eight games.

— Arkansas 86, Texas 81 OT
Arkansas led by 14 with 10:15 left in the game.
Razorbacks played only seven guys.
Texas lost five of its last six games.

— Vanderbilt 86, Texas A&M 84
Lot of fouls; Vandy was 28-36 on line, Aggies 31-39
Bracketology has Vanderbilt as a #10-seed in NCAA’s.
Aggies lost last three games, after a 20-5 start.

— Villanova 59, Seton Hall 54
Seton Hall led 37-21 early in second half.
Pirates were only 8-17 on the foul line.
Wildcats won five of their last seven games.

— Kentucky 83, Oklahoma 82
6-4 junior Oweh scored 28 points, had no assists- his job is to shoot.
Both teams shot 63% inside the arc.
Sooners are 4-11 in SEC, after a 13-0 pre-conference mark.

— East Tennessee State 59, Mercer 58
ETSU beat Mercer twice TY, by total of three points.
ETSU survived shooting 7-13 on the foul line.
Buccaneers won six of their last eight games. 

— Georgia 88, Florida 83
Dawgs led this game 39-13 in first half.
Florida led 80-78 with 1:09 left in the game.
Dawgs got 10-18 on arc, 22-27 on foul line.

— Gonzaga 95, Santa Clara 76
Santa Clara made their first eight 3’s, but wound up 11-25 on arc
Gonzaga shot 57.8% inside the arc.
Zags play San Francisco Saturday, for #2 seed in WCC.

— Oklahoma State 74, Iowa State 68
Underdog Cowboys never trailed, forced 18 turnovers (+6)
Teams combined to shoot 14-50 on the arc.
Banged-up Cyclones are 4-5 in their last nine games.

— Louisville 71, Virginia Tech 66
Cardinals have won six in row, 16 of last 17 games.
Cardinals are shooting 57.5% inside arc (#14)
Louisville is 22-6/15-2; last three years, they were 25-71/11-49

— Upsets of the Night:
Oklahoma State (+9.5) 74, Iowa State 68
Georgia Tech (+8.5) 73, Pitt 67
Georgia (+7.5) 88, Florida 83
Western Michigan (+5.5) 82, Ohio U 73

— San Diego State 73, New Mexico 65
Aztecs won eight of their last ten games.
New Mexico shot 36.1% inside the arc.
Lobos/Utah State are tied for first with three games left.

— Lakers 107, Mavericks 99
Luka Doncic had 19 points, 15 rebounds, 12 assists against his old team.
Lakers are 8-2 in February. 

— Famous birthdays, February 26th:
Mac Percival, 85
Phil Villapiano, 76
Rolando Blackman, 66
JT Snow, 57

Marshall Faulk, 52
Jose Reyes, 42
Luis Rengifo, 28
Trevor Larnach, 28

— March Madness starts Sunday, when the Atlantic Sun tournament tips off; there are six teams within two games of first place in ASUN, so their tournament should be a good one.

— Last year, NC State went 9-11 in the ACC, finished 10th; then they won five games in five days, won the ACC Tournament, then won four more games in the NCAA’s to get to an unlikely Final Four, where they lost 63-50 to Purdue.

Last year, Clemson went 11-9 in ACC, tied for 5th; they lost their first ACC Tourney game to Boston College, but then won three games in the NCAA’s, getting to the Elite 8 before losing 89-82 to Alabama in the regional final.

Clemson was the #25 experience team, NC State was experience team, #14- my point is this:

When the brackets come out, don’t sleep on experienced teams from the big $$$ leagues. Sometimes they wake up at just the right time.

— This one is a little weird; the last eight years, in the A-15 conference, eight different teams have won their conference tournament. VCU is one of the teams that won, but they lost four of the other seven tournament finals.

Last team to win consecutive A-15 tournaments: Temple, in 2009/2010. Duquesne won last year’s tournament.

— Utah Utes fired basketball coach Craig Smith, a week after they swept Kansas/K-State, but the Utes are going to miss the NCAA’s for the 8th year in a row, with Smith the coach for the last four of those seasons.

Utah is 15-12 this year, 7-9 in the Big X; chances are the rich boosters got annoyed and wanted Smith gone, since rich boosters run college sports now.

Will be interesting to see who Utah hires as their new coach; it is a difficult job.

— Two years ago, Kellen Moore was offensive coordinator for Brandon Staley’s Charger team; now Moore is head coach of the Saints- last week he hired Staley as his defensive coordinator.

Saints also hired Doug Nussmeier as their new offensive coordinator; he was the Eagles’ QB coach this year, when they won the Super Bowl. Nussmeier was a QB for five games for the Saints back in the late 90’s— he’s been a QB coach for several teams over the years.

— Buffalo Bills signed WR Khalil Shakir to a 4-year deal worth $60.2M, with $32M of that guaranteed; Shakir caught 76 passes for 821 yards, four TD’s this past season.

— When the Denver Broncos started play in the AFL in 1960, their QB was Frank Tripucka, who played college ball at Notre Dame and had bounced around the NFL— he was 33 that first year in Denver. He started for the Broncos for three seasons.

Frank Tripucka’s son Kelly Tripucka also went to college at Notre Dame, but he was a basketball player. Kelly Tripucka played ten years in the NBA, scoring an average of 17.2 points/game for three different teams.

Kelly Tripucka has a son Jake who went to Duke and helped the Blue Devils win two national titles in lacrosse.

Three generations, all excellent athletes, but in three different sports. 

Information below is based on the last eight seasons of college basketball.
There are no absolutes, this we know, but sometimes trends develop, which is what we’re looking for.

— How did teams that made the Final Four do in their conference tournaments?

32 teams in last eight Final Four’s; 17 of them won their conference tournament.

Only 5 of the last 32 Final Four teams lost their first conference tournament game:
2024 Alabama- Beat 12-seed Grand Canyon in 2nd round.

2021 UCLA- Lost their last four games before the NCAA’s; two of their five wins in the NCAA’s came in overtime.

2019 Texas Tech- Played 32-4 Buffalo, coached by Nate Oats, in 2nd round

2017 South Carolina- Upset #2-seed Duke in 2nd round

2016 Syracuse- Beat 15-seed Middle Tennessee in 2nd round

When we’re filling out brackets in three weeks, I’ll be looking for teams that won their first first conference tournament game and, preferably, won the conference tournament

— What seeds get to the Final Four?
Last eight years, 10 #1-seeds, seven #2-seeds made the Final Four, only 17 of 32 teams.

Three #3-seeds, two #4-seeds, three #5-seeds.

— Six of the last seven national champs were #1-seeds; 2023 UConn is the exception; they were a #4-seed, in a season where the Final Four was: #4-seed, two #5-seeds and a #9-seed.

— How did Final Four teams do in their conference’s regular season? 

19 of 32 Final Four teams won the regular season, or tied for first.

— Famous birthdays, February 25th:
Danny Cater, 85
César Cedeño, 74
Bob Brenly, 71
Jeff Fisher, 67
Todd Blackledge, 64

Don Majkowski, 61
Scott Thompson, 60 (Carrot Top)
Tea Leoni, 59
Rashida Jones, 49
Joakim Noah, 40

Jimmer Fredette, 36
Jorge Soler, 33
Erick Fedde, 32
Fred VanVleet, 31
Bo Nix, 25

— In the last 21 years, 46 major league players have had 8+ RBI in a game; of those 21 games, only once has the player with 8+ RBI been on the losing side

June 21, 2002, Kansas City beat the Angels 12-11 in 11 innings, in Anaheim; Shohei Ohtani hit two home runs, knocked in eight runs for the Angels.

— Alex Rodriguez was at Bucknell’s basketball game over the weekend; during a break in the action, A-Rod took a half-court shot. If it went in, a student won $10,o00, and sure enough, A-Rod drained the shot and the kid got the $$$$.

A-Rod was at Bucknell to speak about his company Jump Platforms; his two partners in the company are affiliated with Bucknell— one is a trustee there, the other attended Bucknell.

— Baseball signings:
Pirates gave P Andrew Heaney $5M for one year
Brewers signed OF’s Mark Canha, Manuel Margot

— If I knew a football player who was attending the NFL Combine, I’d advise him to participate; I’m not really sure why you wouldn’t. There is no contact, you run sprints, do some drills, throw or catch passes. Lot of guys don’t do it though.

— NFL international games in 2025:
Chargers vs ??? in Brazil
Colts vs ??? in Germany
Dolphins vs ??? in Spain
Steelers vs ??? in Ireland
Jaguars vs ??? in England
Browns vs Jets in England

NFL schedule comes out in May.

— Basketball analyst Bill Raftery is 82 years old; this past weekend, he was busy:

Friday- Michigan State @ Michigan
Saturday- Oklahoma State @ Kansas
Sunday- Ohio State @ UCLA

Coach Raftery has a lot of energy; he is still fun to listen to.

— There is a kid on Texas A&M, CJ Wilcher, a 6-5 senior.
He is 3-5 shooting inside the arc this season.
He is 34-83 (41%) shooting on the arc.

83 of his 88 shots have been 3-pointers.

— Nebraska canceled two non-conference football games against Tennessee as part of a plan to recover lost revenue from reduced seating capacity during renovations in Memorial Stadium in 2027. Instead, Nebraska will play two MAC teams (Bowling Green/Miami) at home, instead of playing one of the games vs Tennessee in Knoxville. 

Tennessee’s administration wasn’t happy with this development. 

— Was shopping online late Saturday night, didn’t buy anything but was looking through some stuff. Sunday afternoon, I get a text saying “we saw you were shopping on our site, Still want to buy it? The price lasts for another 15 minutes”- then they have a link that takes you right back to that page.

Maybe I’m just old, but that creeps me out a little bit; not sure if it makes me more likely or less likely to shop on that site anymore.

— Modern basketball has gotten soft, both college and pro; any foul where there is contact above the neck is a flagrant foul now, even if it is incidental contact. 

To me, a flagrant foul needs to have some intent behind it. Guys have to learn how to play through some contact.

This ends the complaining part of today’s blog.

— Very good news; this summer at the baseball All-Star Game, players are going back to wearing their team’s uniform, the way it used to be. MLB tried to sell AL/NL uniforms, but having guys wearing their team’s uniforms is the right thing to do.

— The ball/strike challenge thing MLB is experimenting with this spring reminds me of the tennis instant replay system; it goes quickly, and seems to be pretty good. Challenges can’t come from the dugout, and have to be done quickly.

I’m guessing this will become a rule next season. One bad thing about it is that the ball/strike box that was always on TV appears to be a thing of the past now.

— Was great to watch spring training baseball games the last few days, alternate those games with college basketball games. For me personally, was fun listening to two Mets’ games, with Gary Cohen, Ron Darling, Keith Hernandez— it just reminds me of watching baseball with my dad, who was a huge Mets fan.

You don’t learn as much from early spring training games; the regulars sub out really early, lot of minor leaguers play.Once they open minor league camp, then the regulars play a lot more and you can figure some stuff out that might help your fantasy team.

— Cleveland Guardians have 35 pitchers in their major league camp; it is up to pitching coach Carl Willis to script all the innings those 35 pitchers are going to throw this spring. That must be a cumbersome job, especially since the guys who are going to be on the major league roster have to gradually amp up their innings as March moves along.

— Miami Marlins used 70 players last year, the most players any team has ever used in a season. Marlins were also 11-45 vs lefty starting pitchers, which is incredibly bad.

— Oakland A’s signed Gio Urshela to play 3B this year, because they used 10 different guys at the hot corner last year, and that ain’t good.

Urshela is a .273 career hitter; he’s played on five different teams that made the playoffs, so his leadership will be important for a young A’s team that will be trying to make the playoffs for the first time since 2020.

— Famous birthdays, February 24th:
Edward James Olmos, 78
Helen Shaver, 74
Tom Burleson, 73- my all-time favorite basketball player
Eddie Murray, 69- Orioles’ 1B, not the Lions’ kicker
Phil McConkey, 68

Nick Esasky, 65
Billy Zane, 59
Mike Lowell, 51
Miguel Rojas, 36
MacKenzie Gore, 26

— Indiana 73, Purdue 58
Indiana pushed coach Mike Woodson out the door, effective after the season, but Indiana is 16-11, 7-9 in a good Big 18- if they finish strong, they could get in the NCAA’s. Bracketology had them as the 6th team out of the field, BEFORE they won this game.

Say Indiana gets in the NCAAs, then wins a game or two; how do you let Woodson walk then? The guy is an alum, was an NBA player/coach; you want to be that cruddy with him?

— St John’s 89, UConn 75
Johnnies led 50-33 at halftime, had a fairly stress-free win.
St John’s is 13-1 since New Year’s Day; they’re eFG% defense is #20.
UConn is 6-6 in its last 12 games; Bracketology had them as an 8-seed, before this game.

— Drake 64, Northern Iowa 58 OT
Drake hit 2 of 3 on foul line with 0:00.1 left to force overtime.
Bulldogs out-rebounded UNI, 46-29
Drake is 25-3, 13-1 in their last fourteen games.

Misleading stat on KenPom: They have Drake listed as the #338 continuity team, but four of their starters came to Drake with coach McCollum from D-II Northwest Missouri State this season- they won a D-II national title together, so they’ve got great continuity, just not at the Division I level.

— UCLA 69, Ohio State 61
UCLA honored the late Bill Walton during this game; he passed away last spring, at age 71. Walton led UCLA to three Final Fours, two national titles, was a great college player.

He was also a total character; I grew to love listening to him broadcast college games- he did so much research, I always said that he taught me 2-3 things every game he worked, and none of them had anything to do with basketball. RIP, Bill. 

This game was also Mick Cronin’s 500th win as a college coach.

— Robert Morris 72, Milwaukee 59
Colonials have won six in row, 12 of last 13 games- they lead the Horizon by half a game, with one game left in regular season.

Senior guards are a good thing to have: Robert Morris PG Kam Woods had 15 points, 11 assists in this game.

— Quinnipiac 74, Manhattan 71
Jaspers led 38-21 late in the first half.
Manhattan lost despite going 12-24 on the arc.
Quinnipiac is 28-8 in MAAC games in two years under coach Pecora.

— Oakland 91, Cleveland State 86 OT
Vikings led by 13 midway thru the first half.
Oakland was 27-38 on foul line, Cleveland State 9-13.
Cleveland State is 2-4 in its last six games, after an 11-0 run. 

Selection Sunday is three weeks away; what information will you use to fill out your brackets? After studying the last five NCAA tournaments, here is some knowledge to ponder:

Stats that don’t seem to matter much:
Depth— Of the last 20 teams to make the Final Four, only 2 of 20 ranked in the top 100 in bench minutes. TV timeouts are longer in the NCAA’s; starters have more time to rest.

Playing fast- Only 5 of the last 20 Final Four teams were in top 100 in tempo; 11 of 20 were outside the top 200 in tempo.

Forcing turnovers- Only 4 of the last 20 Final Four teams were in top 100 in forcing turnovers; 8 of 20 were outside the top 200.

So what numbers should we be looking at in three weeks:
1) Who makes shots, and who prevents opponents from making shots

15 of last 20 Final Four teams were in top 100 in offensive efficiency.
14 of last 20 Final Four teams were in top 100 in defensive efficiency.

2) Experience
12 of last 20 Final Four teams were in top 100 in experience.

3) Being able to make 3-point shots
You don’t need to shoot a lot of them, but 17 of last 20 Final Four teams were in top 100 in 3-point shooting %age- 10 of 20 were in the top 50.

So, we’re looking for experienced teams with a good shooting percentage.

Top 8 teams in offensive efficiency:
Auburn
Duke
Alabama
Florida
Kentucky
Houston
Missouri
Gonzaga

Top 8 teams in defensive efficiency:
Tennessee
St John’s
Houston
Duke
Kansas
Texas A&M
San Diego State
Florida

Next week, we’ll look into whether or not winning/losing the conference tournament means anything, as far as success in the NCAA’s goes.

— Upsets of the Day:
Oregon (+8.5) 77, Wisconsin 73
Oral Roberts (+8.5) 71, St Thomas 66
Dartmouth (+7.5) 76, Princeton 61

Saint Mary’s (+6.5) 74, Gonzaga 67
Colorado (+6.5) 76, Baylor 74
Valparaiso (+6.5) 83, Southern Illinois 79

Hampton (+5.5) 83, NC-Wilmington 70
Marshall (+4.5) 69, Appalachian State 59
Eastern Illinois  (+4.5) 67, Morehead State 62

— SEC
Tennessee 77, Texas A&M 69
Tennessee shot 13-27 on the arc, Aggies were 5-30.
Vols have won five of their last six games.

Arkansas 92, Missouri 85
Arkansas was 28-37 on foul line, Mizzou 13-17
Ivsic scored 20 points for the Hogs; he was 0-10 from floor in the Hogs’ last game.

Bracketology has 12 SEC teams in the NCAA Tournament.

— WCC
Saint Mary’s 74, Gonzaga 65— Gaels clinch the WCC regular season title; they’re 5-3 in their last eight games vs Gonzaga.

Gonzaga is 2-7 in games decided by 8 or fewer points

Santa Clara 109, Washington State 79
Santa Clara took 38 3-point shots, made 23 of them; not bad.
Broncos led this game 61-33 at halftime.

— Big X
BYU 96, Arizona 95
Arizona scored 1.36 points/possession, but lost
BYU was 14-31 on arc, Wildcats 10-22.
BYU won eight of its last ten games. 

— Big 18
Oregon 77, Wisconsin 73
Badgers led by 14 with 6:15 left in the game.
Oregon was +9 in turnovers (17-8) in turnovers.
Ducks have won four in a row, after a 1-6 skid.

Bracketology has ten Big 18 teams in the NCAA Tournament.

— Atlantic 15
VCU 70, George Mason 54
Rams have won six in row, 12 of last 13 games.
These teams are tied first first in the A-15, with four games left.

This is first week in while that Bracketology has A-15 getting two bids to the NCAAs this year: VCU-George Mason would probably have to meet in A-15 final, for that to happen.

VCU has a well-traveled player, 6-10 senior Jack Clark:
2018-22- LaSalle
2022-23- NC State
2023-24- Clemson
2024-25- VCU

Clark is playing 27 minutes/game this year, is shooting 64.5% inside the arc; he had 12 points, nine rebounds in this game.

— Famous birthdays, February 23rd:
Jackie Smith, 85
Fred Biletnikoff, 82
Jim Youngblood, 75
Ed (Too Tall) Jones, 74
Paul McDonald, 67

Bobby Bonilla, 62
Jerod Mayo, 39
Andrew Wiggins, 30
D’Angelo Russell, 29
Jamal Murray, 28

— Ivy League
Yale 90, Columbia 64
Yale has won 12 games in a row, the longest active win streak in the country.

— Sun Belt
Texas State 93, South Alabama 92 OT
Jaguars scored 1.33 points/possession and lost. Unusual.
USA had an 8-point lead midway thru the second half.
Bobcats were 13-28 on arc, South Alabama was 12-27

Doesn’t matter so much, because the conference tournament is on a neutral floor in Pensacola, FL, but with two games left in the regular season, James Madison leads three other teams by a game atop the Sun Belt standings.

—  Mountain West
Utah State 79, San Diego State 71
Aztecs are tied for 4th with Boise State in the MW standings. Unusual.

Bracketology has three Mountain West teams in the NCAA Tournament.

— WAC
Texas-Arlington 67, Tarleton State 57
Saw something in this game I’ve never seen before, at least not in the shot clock era; Tarleton led 29-23 at halftime. Eight Texas-Arlington players had scored, but none of them had more than 3 points. The team’s leading scorer had 3 points at halftime, then they went out and scored 44 points in the second half.

March 1st is next week; conference tournaments are right around the corner. Here is an early look at some conference tournament trends……..

Teams that have done well in conference tournaments:

— WCC
Gonzaga is 27-4 in its last 31 WCC tournament games.
Saint Mary’s is 14-7 in its last 21 WCC tournament games.

— Big 18
Last four years, Illinois won the Big 18 conference tournament twice; they lost in the first round the other two years.

Last 12 years, Wisconsin is 9-3 in its first conference tournament game.

— Big X
Last 11 years, Iowa State has won the Big X tournament five times; the other six of those years, Cyclones were 1-6 in tournament games.

Since 2017, Arizona was 14-2 in the Pac-12 tournament, winning four tournaments, but they’re not in the Pac-12 anymore.

Since 2008, Kansas is 36-8 in conference tournaments.

Since 2018, Houston is 14-4 in conference tournament games, winning two tournaments.

Last 14 years, Colorado is 13-1 in its first conference tournament game.

Last seven years, Cincinnati is 7-0 in its first conference tournament game.

— Atlantic 15
Since 2007, VCU Rams are 35-12 in conference tournament games.

Last 12 years, Davidson is 11-1 in its first conference tournament game; they won the SoCon tournament in both 2012/2013, but since, they’ve only won one tournament (2018)

— AAC
Last three years, UAB Blazers are 8-1 in conference tournament games.

— Famous birthdays, February 22nd:
Paul Dooley, 97
Julius Erving, 75
Mike Hohensee, 64
Chris Dudley, 60
Jeri Ryan, 57

Drew Barrymore, 50
Rajon Rondo, 39
Chris Bassitt, 36
Khalil Mack, 34
Cody Bradford, 27

Today was my dad’s birthday, his and George Washington’s. My dad was an awesome guy; he passed away ten years ago. He is missed every day.

Teams that haven’t done as well in conference tournaments:
— ACC
2012-14, Louisville won three straight conference tournaments; since then, Cardinals are 3-8 in conference tournament games.

From 2004-12, Syracuse was 15-7 in Big East tournament games; since then, Orangemen are 5-9 in conference tournament games.

North Carolina has won the ACC tournament only once since 2008 (they won it in 2016).

— Atlantic 15
Dayton hasn’t won a conference tournament since 2003; since 2016, they’re 5-8 in A-15 conference tournament games.

— Big East
Butler is 3-10 in Big East tournament games; before that, they were 13-6 in their previous 19
conference tournament games.

Creighton won Arch Madness the last two years they were in the MVC; since then, Bluejays are 10-10 in Big East tournament games.

Georgetown won the Big East tournament in 2021, after going 7-9 in conference play during the regular season. Other than that unlikely run, since 2017, Hoyas are 0-7 in Big East tournament games.

Last eight years, St John’s went WL in six of eight Big East tournaments, going 1-1 the other two years. Despite playing the tournament on their home floor, St John’s hasn’t won the Big East tournament since 2000.

— Big 18
From 2016-21, Michigan was 13-3 in conference tournament games; the last three years, they went 0-3. 

UCLA hasn’t won a conference tournament since 2014; they’re 9-9 in tournament games since then.

— Big X
Since 2017, Baylor is 2-7 in conference tournament games.

Last four years, Central Florida went WL in all four conference tournaments.

Since 2004, TCU is 11-10 in its first conference tournament game; they’re 1-10 in their second conference tournament game. 

— Since I watch too much TV, I have two TV recommendations today:
1) Red Storm Rising- A Hard Knocks-type show about Rick Pitino/St John’s basketball, which airs on Vice TV. I found it on YouTube, since I don’t think I get Vice TV. Saw the first couple episodes; very well done. If you like college basketball, it is worth your time.

2) Underrated- Apple TV has a 90-minute show about Steph Curry, which focuses more on his college days at Davidson than his NBA career, but it shows both.

Curry is one of the best 10-15 players ever; he is the best shooter ever. It is interesting that he seems to be a fairly normal person. Wish they had shown the time he made 90+ 3-pointers in a row after a practice, but this was a really good show that I enjoyed watching.

Trivia; In his first college game ever, Curry had 13 turnovers, against Eastern Michigan; team had 30 turnovers overall, in an 81-77 win. There were skeptics that Curry would ever be a good Division I guard; those skeptics shut up a long time ago.

— Curry’s father Dell played 16 years in the NBA; he made 40.2% of his 3’s in his career. Dell Curry went to Virginia Tech; so did Curry’s mother.

Steph Curry wanted to play college ball at Virginia Tech, which had gone 19-29 in conference games the previous three seasons, but Curry was a pretty skinny kid, so the coach passed on giving him a scholarship.

That coach was Seth Greenberg, now one of ESPN’s college basketball studio guys.

— 9-time Pro Bowl guard Zack Martin has retired from the Cowboys/NFL after a great career. He will be get inducted into the Hall of Fame five years from now, that’s how good he was.

— Last year, Brett Baty wore number 22 for the Mets; this winter, Mets signed OF Juan Soto for $51M a year. Soto also wears number 22; Baty gave up number 22 to Soto and Thursday, Soto gifted Baty with a black Chevy SUV, which apparently cost $92,000, pocket change for Soto.

— LaSalle basketball coach Fran Dunphy is going to retire at the end of the season; the 76-year old Dunphy has made the NCAA Tournament 17 times in his career- he has a 623-376 record at Penn, Temple, La Salle— one of the three best coaches in Ivy League history.

— Famous birthdays, February 21st:
Tyne Daly, 79
William Petersen, 72
Kelsey Grammar, 70
Alan Trammell, 67

Steve Francis, 48
Jennifer Love Hewitt, 46
Andre Barrett, 43
Bo Naylor, 25

— Texas/USC cancelled their spring football games this year, like Nebraska/Florida State did. Texas/USC made up BS reasons for cancelling the games; Nebraska coach Matt Rhule was honest, citing teams watching the Cornhuskers’ spring game, then enticing players to enter the transfer portal and bolt Lincoln.

Florida State coach Mike Norvell: ”I would assume that you’re going to see less and less spring games just because of that part of it.”

— San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama is out for the year, with deep vein thrombosis in his right shoulder. The condition is typically treated with blood-thinning medication, which usually prevents a player from playing a contact sport like basketball.

Spurs are optimistic that Wembanyama will make a full recovery for the start of next season.

— Bronx Bombers gave manager Bret Boone a 2-year contract extension, through the 2027 season; Boone is 603-429 in the regular season, making the playoffs six of seven years. He is 22-23 in playoff games, getting to the World Series last year, for the first time.

In his seven years as manager, New York has paid out a total of $1,744,951,625 in salaries to their players, an average of $249,278,934/year.

— Kansas City Royals signed P Ross Stripling to a minor league deal; Stripling has pitched in the majors for nine years, for four different teams- he is 40-54, 4.17 in 248 games (129 starts).

— Term of the Day: robber baron- a person who becomes rich through ruthless and often unscrupulous business practices. 

— Cal-Northridge 84, Cal-Irvine 72
Matadors won their last six games; they’re 11-4 in Big West.
Irvine’s loss puts Cal-San Diego atop Big West standings.
CSUN plays #9 pace; they’re #4 in country on defensive boards.

— Appalachian State 79, Georgia Southern 74 OT
App State survived going 19-31 on foul line.
App State was 19-31 on foul line, Georgia Southern 10-11.
App State won five of last six games- they’re tied for 3rd in Sun Belt.

— Monmouth 68, Hofstra 61
Hofstra led 36-20 late in the first half.
Monmouth was 26-35 on foul line, Hofstra 12-20.
Hofstra lost its last six games.

— Louisiana 72, Troy 69
Cajuns were a 15-point underdog.
Troy led by 17 with 14:31 left in the game.
Louisiana was 21-23 on foul line.

— Wichita State 75, FAU 68
Shockers won their last five games, after a 1-7 skid.
Wichita’s five wins in a row were all by 8 or fewer points.
Wichita shot 6-10 on arc, scored 1.19 points/possession. 

— Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander fired his agent this week, will now represent himself. 

Next season, Gilgeous-Alexander is expected to make $38,333,050. Friend of mine told me an agent makes 5%, so that means by firing his agent, Gilgeous-Alexander will save himself an impressive $1,916,652.50, just for one season.

— There is an actual baseball game on TV Thursday; Cubs-Dodgers at 3:00, as Cactus League play begins. Temperatures here in beautiful upstate New York will actually get over freezing this weekend. Spring isn’t far away!!!

Spring training games have an extra twist this year, over 60% of spring training games will have an automated ball-strike (ABS) challenge system as MLB continues to move closer to using it during the regular season, which won’t happen this season, if ever.

Each team will be given two challenges per game and will retain successful challenges.

AAA minor league baseball will use the challenge system during the 2025 regular season, giving MLB as much information as possible before a decision is made on 2026.

— ESPN will have the Milwaukee-Bronx game on TV Opening Day; Joe Buck will do play/play, with Joe Girardi, Bill Schroeder doing analysis. Have always thought that Joe Buck is better on baseball than football (he is good at both), but ESPN says this is just a one-time deal.

— Sacramento/Las Vegas A’s gave manager Mark Kotsay a contract extension thru 2028, which is when the A’s are supposed to re-locate to Las Vegas.

Kotsay is a good manager; the A’s played .500 ball after the All-Star break last year.

— Random trivia: When Magic Johnson was the first pick of the 1979 NBA Draft, Larry Bird wasn’t in that draft- the NBA had different rules back then.

2nd pick in the 1979 draft was David Greenwood, a forward from UCLA who played 12 years in the NBA, mostly for the Bulls. He scored 10.2 ppg in his career.

Larry Bird was the 6th player taken in the 1978 draft; somehow he was eligible to be drafted in 1978, but if the Celtics hadn’t signed him before the ’79 draft, he would’ve gone back in the ’79 player pool. Bird had a great season, and the Celtics signed him.

Here are the five players drafted ahead of Bird in 1978:
1- Mychal Thompson, Portland (Klay Thompson’s father)
2- Phil Ford, Kansas City Kings
3- Rick Robey, Indiana
4- Michael Ray Richardson, NYK
5- Purvis Short, Golden State

— NFL salary cap is going to jump between $22-26M for 2025, meaning the league’s salary cap will have jumped roughly $55M over the last two years.

— Philadelphia Eagles started this past NFL season in Brazil, then won the Super Bowl; LA Chargers are going to open next season in San Paolo, on Friday night in Week 1.

— Famous birthdays, February 20th:
Clyde Wright, 84
Charles Barkley, 62
Liván Hernández, 50
Stephon Marbury, 48
Jay Hernandez, 47

Justin Verlander, 42
Brian McCann, 41
Rihanna Fenty, 37
Jurickson Profar, 32
Luis Severino, 31

— Missouri 110, Alabama 98
Mizzou led 59-46 at halftime.
Mizzou was 31-47 on foul line, Alabama 15-21.
Tigers scored 1.39 points/possession.

— Oregon 80, Iowa 78
Iowa lost eight of its last ten games.
Ducks out-rebounded Iowa 36-27
Oregon won its last three games, scoring 78.7 ppg.

— Furman 80, Samford 72
Paladins were 23-27 on foul line, Samford 9-11. At Samford.
Samford has lost three of its last four games.
Furman swept Samford this year, by 2-8 points.

— Boise State 86, New Mexico 78
Boise was 26-32 on foul line, Lobos were 13-17
Loss snaps New Mexico’s 8-game winning streak.
Broncos have won five of their last six games.

— South Florida 78, Tex-San Antonio 73
UTSA led by 20 with 9:04 left in the game.
USF was 20-30 on foul line, Roadrunners 14-16.
UTSA shot 7-27 inside the arc (25.9%)

— Northern Iowa 82, Belmont 79
Northern Iowa has won six games in a row.
Belmont led 29-10 early on.
UNI was 10-22 on foul line, Belmont 7-16. Not good.
Panthers out-rebounded Belmont, 47-28.

— Rutgers 89, Washington 85 OT
Dylan Harper scored 34 points for the Scarlet Knights.
Rutgers was 26-37 on foul line, Huskies were 9-15
These schools are 2,854 miles apart; WHY THE BLEEP are they in the same league???

— Spring training is a week old; the Red Sox already have a lot of drama, as the players are voicing their opinions as to which well-paid star should play third base this year.

Tuesday, 1B Triston Casas chimed in with his opinion:

“I think it’s Raffy Devers’ position. He’s done it for a really long time now and I think he’s only getting better at that position… I think he’s the best third baseman in the league. I wouldn’t take anybody over him.”

Someone needs to tell Cases that since coming to the major leagues, Devers has been the worst defensive third baseman in the big leagues- that includes all 103 players who have played 750+ innings at the hot corner.

— There is an interesting podcast on YouTube for two hours every weekday: Foul Territory, which has former big league catchers AJ Pierzynski, Erik Kratz, with host Scott Braun and an assortment of other people- Todd Frazier is on a decent amount.

Monday, they had agent Scott Boras on for an hour, which is unusual for this show, but Boras had a lot to say and it was interesting to listen to him talk about how teams spend/don’t spend their money. 

Boras is basically a scum weasel lawyer who screws over the cheap teams, but I’m bitter because I root for the A’s. He’s the best agent in baseball, for his clients, at least. 

Someone said Tuesday that this winter alone, with the new contracts Boras has negotiated for his clients, his company has banked $95M. Thats million, with an M

Tuesday, Foul Territory had Will Carroll on; he is a writer who specializes in the coverage of medical issues. He was interesting to listen to; he suggested that Giancarlo Stanton doesn’t actually have “tennis elbow” in both elbows, he has some other injury in the elbow that was just easier to describe as tennis elbow..

Anyway, the show is worth listening to; lot of stuff to learn.

— Chicago Cubs signed IF/DH Justin Turner to a one-year, $6M deal; Turner will be playing for his 7th major league team- he hit .259 with 11 homers LY in 139 games for Toronto/Seattle.

— Since 2012, San Diego State has made nine of 12 NCAA Tournaments; they’ve made the finals of the Mountain West tournament 11 times in those 12 seasons, but were only 3-8 SU in those 11 finals- they get at-large bids into the NCAA’s, so not a huge deal, just unusual.

Aztecs are 5-3 in the first round of their last eight NCAA tourneys; they were national runner-up two years ago, but for some reason, the finals of the conference tournament has been a problem.

— When Championship Week starts next month, no team will have more pressure on them than the Toledo Rockets in the MAC. 

The last four years, Toledo has won the MAC’s regular season every year, but never won the MAC tournament, which is the only way a MAC team is making the NCAA’s.

This year, Toledo is 8-4 in the MAC, in third place; Akron is 12-0 in the MAC, so for once, the Rockets won’t be favored to win the tournament.

Toledo hasn’t been in the NCAA Tournament since 1980.

— Cincinnati Bengals’ QB Joe Burrow has a $46.3M cap hit next season; now it is up to the Bengals’ front office to re-sign WR Ja’Marr Chase and fortify the team’s offensive line to make sure Burrow has the best chance to earn all that $$$.

— Carolina Panthers re-signed backup QB Andy Dalton for two years, $8M; Dalton was a mentor for young QB Bryce Young last fall. Young played way better in the second half of the season, and Dalton’s contract says he had a lot to do with it.

— Famous birthdays, February 19th:
Jackie Moore, 86
June Jones, 72
Jeff Daniels, 70
Dave Stewart, 68

Dwight Freeney, 45
Josh Reddick, 38
Nikola Jokic, 30
JP Sears, 29 

— Minnesota 64, UCLA 61
Gophers were an 11.5-point underdog.
Minnesota shot 58.3% inside the arc.
UCLA was only 9-19 on the foul line.

— BYU 91, Kansas 57
Ugly loss; Jayhawks trailed 46-26 at halftime.
Kansas is 3-5 in last eight games; they’re 8-7 in Big X.
BYU won seven of its last nine games.

— TCU 69, Texas Tech 66
TCU was 15-22 on foul line, Red Raiders 5-8
Horned Frogs won their last three games, by 1-4-3 points.
TCU had 15 offensive boards, out-rebounded Tech 37-29.

— Pittsburgh 80, Syracuse 69
Syracuse led 22-6 right off the bat.
Pitt outscored the Orangemen 46-28 in second half.
Syracuse shot 42.4% on the arc, 33.3% inside the arc.

— UConn 66, Villanova 59
Huskies outscored Villanova 27-6 over the last 11:11 of the game.
UConn shot 59.4% inside the arc; Villanova shot 35.2% from floor
Wildcats are 4-7 in their last eleven games.

— Michigan State 75, Purdue 66
Spartans shot 68.6% inside the arc.
State’s subs outscored Purdue’s bench, 35-11.
Purdue lost its last three games, after a 19-5 start.

— Toledo 67, Ball State 66
Rockets outscored Ball State 4-0 over the final 1:13.
Ball State led 35-28 at halftime.
6-7 senior Adams scored 18 points; he didn’t start. 

— Red Sox signed 3B Alex Bregman last week for three years, $120M; they’re not saying where Bregman will play in the field this year, but incumbent 3B Rafael Devers had a lot to say about the situation Monday. 

“No. Third base is my position. It’s what I play. I don’t know what their plans are. We had a conversation. I made it clear on what my desires were. Whatever happens from here, I don’t know.”

Devers is a three-time All-Star, has played third base for Boston since 2017 and got a big $$$ contract from the Red Sox two years ago.

Bregman could play second base, but they also have Kristian Campbell, a 2B who is a highly-thought of prospect.

— Kansas Jayhawks are 8-6 in Big X this season, 3-4 in their last seven games. They’re ranked 23rd by the AP this week, the lowest they’ve been ranked since 2009 (they were also #23 in February, 2021).

— Northern Iowa 74, Murray State 67
Game was moved to Nashville, after there was a power outage on the Murray State campus, which caused this game to be postponed Sunday.

Northern Iowa was 20-26 on foul line, Racers were 8-12. Panthers have won five in a row, nine of last 11 games. Murray State is 3-8 in its last eleven games.

— Duke 80, Virginia 62
Duke shot 61.1% inside the arc.
Blue Devils out-rebounded Virginia, 41-24.
Three of Duke’s five starters are freshmen.

— TV recommendation; Suits LA starts on NBC Sunday night, a spin off from the old USA Network show. It is about a former New York prosecutor who starts law firm in Los Angeles that specializes in criminal and entertainment law.

Aaron Korsh is the creator; he also did the original Suits, so this figures to be a very good show.

— Famous birthdays, February 18
Dal Maxvill, 86
John Travolta, 71
Chuck Long, 62
Matt Dillon, 61
Molly Ringwald, 57

Le’Veon Bell, 33
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, 32
Ryan Mountcastle, 28
Jake Irvin, 28
Isaac Paredes, 26

— Angels’ star Mike Trout is switching from center field to right field this year, as he tries to stay healthier as he gets older.

33-year old Trout has played in only 266 games the last four years. Angels haven’t made the playoffs since 2014; they haven’t won a playoff game since 2009.

Somehow, the Angels are actually paying 3B Anthony Rendon more than Trout, and now it looks like Rendon’s career might be over. If his Angels’ stint is over, Rendon will have played a total of 257 games, out of a possible 1,032, while banking $228M from the Halos.

— Things can fall apart quickly; four years ago, the White Sox over/under win total was 91.1 wins, for the 2021 season. This year, it is 61.5.

Last year, the Pale Hose went 41-121. No bueno.

— Mets P Frankie Montas has a high-grade lat strain, is likely out until Memorial Day— this is an injured muscle around the rib cage. Montas has been shut down for 6-8 weeks, and then will start his season over from scratch from there.

— Arizona Diamondbacks gave SS Geraldo Perdomo a 4-year, $45M contract extension; 25-year old Perdomo hit .273 with a .718 OPS last year, in 98 games.

— Kansas City Royals signed P Cole Ragans to a 3-year deal worth $13.25M; Ragans was 11-9, 3.14 in 32 starts for the Royals last year, helping the Royals make the playoffs for the first time since 2015.

— This will be the 21st year of our fantasy baseball league, a dynasty league with 14 teams in it. Our first draft took 81 days to finish. The first two players I drafted were Matt Holliday and Adam Dunn, two very different hitters.

Dunn walked a lot and hit a lot of home runs. From 2005-08, he hit exactly 40 home runs four years in a row, which doesn’t seem possible. He hit 462 home runs, had a career OPS of .854.

He was the kind of player Billy Beane talked about in Moneyball; when Dunn was 34, at the tail end of his career, he played 25 games for the A’s, but by then, he was washed up. He did help my fantasy team a lot though, when he played for Cincinnati. 

— St John’s 79, Creighton 73
St John’s has won 11 of its last 12 games.
Red Storm was +10 in turnovers (15-5)
Two games vs St John’s this year, Bluejays were only 17-56 on the arc. 

— Michigan 86, Ohio State 83
Michigan is 20-5; they were 8-24 last season.
Wolverines have won six games in a row, all by 4 or fewer points.
Michigan out-rounded the Buckeyes, 46-31.

— Nebraska 68, Northwestern 64
Northwestern led 41-21 early in the second half.
Nebraska was 22-28 on foul line, Wildcats were 5-8.
Cornhuskers have won five of their last six games.

— New Mexico 82, Utah State 79
Aggies led 42-36 at halftime.
Lobos were 27-34 on foul line, Utah State 13-16.
New Mexico’s subs played a total of only 23:00.

— Bradley 61, Drake 59
Bradley shot 61.5% inside the arc.
Loss snaps Drake’s 11-game winning streak.
Drake still leads Bradley by a game atop the MVC standings.

— South Dakota State 94, South Dakota 91
State’s big man Cluff had 21 points, 16 rebounds.
Jackrabbits out-rebounded South Dakota, 44-30.
State won eight of its last nine games. 

— Green Bay 79, Wright State 68
Green Bay snaps their 21-game losing streak.
Green Bay was 26-34 on foul line; frosh G Tweedy was 15-16.
Wright State is 4-7 in its last eleven games.

— Famous birthdays, February 17
Dick Bosman, 81
Rene Russo, 71
Neil Lomax, 66
Lou Diamond Phillips, 63

Michael Jordan, 62
David Klingler, 56
Jerry O’Connell, 51
Kelly Carlson, 49

Jeff Ulbrich, 48
Josh Willingham, 46
Case Keenum, 37
Sony Michel, 30

Monday would’ve been the great actor Hal Holbrook’s 100th birthday. 

— Wichita State 84, Memphis 79 OT
Memphis led by 4 with 0:38 left in regulation.
Loss snaps the Tigers’ eight-game winning streak.
Wichita won its last four games, by 8-5-5-5 points.

PJ Carter is a senior guard for Memphis; he played for Texas-San Antonio last year, and from 2020-22, he played for the Campbell Camels. He’s scoring 5.5 ppg in 14.5 minutes/game for Memphis this season. I’m guessing that sometime down the road, he’ll be able to write a very good book about his travels through college basketball.

— Want to buy 10% of an NFL team? New Jersey Giants are selling a 10% non-controlling stake in the team- they hired an investment bank and strategic adviser explore the sale.

Giants’ ownership has been split 50-50 between the Mara and Tisch families since 1991; it is unclear how much the Giants’ franchise is worth, but the Eagles were recently valued at $8.3B- most people think the Giants are with more than that.

10% of $8B is $800M, a healthy piece of change, so if you’ve got $800M to toss around, feel free to give the Giants a call.

— Remember when NFL Films miked Chiefs coach Hank Stram during Super Bowl IV? Chiefs were a big underdog, but they whacked Minnesota 23-7 and Stram became famous because of his quirky vocabulary— “Keep matriculating the ball down the field, boys!!!”

After his coaching days were done, Stram had a good career doing Monday night games on the radio with the great Jack Buck- they were an excellent combination.

Found out this week that when NFL Films wanted to mike Stram during the Super Bowl, he held out for some money— they wound up paying him $500, which in 1970 was a decent paycheck for doing something that hadn’t been done very often. Stram did it very, very well. 

— Boston College is having a rough season; they’re 10-15, 2-12 in ACC games. Three of their last five losses came in overtime, though; Eagles lost in triple OT at Syracuse February 8th, then lost the next game in double overtime at home to Notre Dame.

Eagles haven’t been in the NCAA’s since 2009; moving to the ACC hasn’t been good for their basketball program. Coach Earl Grant won a lot at Charleston; we’ll see if he can get BC over the hump.

— Bracketology has 14 SEC teams getting into the NCAA Tournament; I’m guessing it will be less than 14 teams. How can you justify a team that finished 14th in a 16-team league getting to play for a national title? Would rather see some teams who fared better in the regular season in a lesser league get to play in the NCAA’s.

— Draymond Green has made $203M in salary in his NBA career; he’s on the books for another $53M the next two seasons. He’s won four NBA championship rings. 

You’d think he’d be a little more upbeat about the state of the NBA, but he thinks “It’s just who can run faster, who can hit more 3s, it’s no substance. I think it’s very boring.”

Golden State Warriors are probably more responsible than any other team for leading the NBA into this spacing and shooting era, the kind of stuff Green thinks makes the NBA “boring” but it has also made Green famous and really, really rich.

In other words, he should play ball and keep his negative thoughts to himself. 

We’re four weeks away from Selection Sunday; spring training games start this week, now I just need it to stop snowing outside.

— SEC
Auburn 94, Alabama 85
There were 67 foul shots, only 11 turnovers in this game.
Game was 65-65 with 7:45 left to play.
Tigers were 12-30 on the arc, Alabama 5-26

Tennessee 81, Vanderbilt 76
Vandy led by 16 late in first half.
Vols shot 64.5% inside the arc.
Tennessee won four of its last five games.

LSU 82, Oklahoma 79
Sooners are 3-9 in the SEC, after a 13-0 pre-conference mark.

Mississippi State 81, Ole Miss 71
State is shooting 56% inside arc, 31.5% on the arc (#294)

Bracketology has 14 of 16 SEC teams in the Field of 68, which is unlikely to happen.

— Big 18
Underdogs were 4-0 SU/ATS in Big 18 games Saturday.

Michigan State 79, Illinois 65
Tom Izzo has now won 354 Big 18 games, the most of any coach.

Wisconsin 94, Purdue 84
Badgers outscored Purdue 58-47 in second half.
Wisconsin made 20 of 22 shots inside the arc (20 of 22- that’s 90.9%!!!)
Purdue scored 1.29 points/possession and still lost by 10.

This year is the first time since 2006 that the Badgers are in top 200 in tempo; they’ve adjusted to the times, and have done it very well.

Bracketology has ten Big 18 teams in the Field of 68

— Big East
Seton Hall (+14.5) 69, UConn 68 OT
UConn led by 7 with 0:45 left in regulation.
Seton Hall snaps its nine-game losing streak.
Pirates are 2-12 in Big East, with both wins in overtime.

Bracketology has four Big East teams in the Field of 68

— Big X
Houston 62, Arizona 58
Houston started season 4-3; they’re 17-1 since then.
Cougars have the #9 eFG% defense in the country.
Arizona led by 7 with 9:10 left in the game.

Bracketology has eight Big X teams in the Field of 68

— ACC
Clemson 72, Florida State 46
Clemson is #9 experience team in the country; they’re very good.
Tigers have won nine of their last ten games.
Clemson is shooting 38.4% on the arc (#14)

Bracketology has only three ACC teams in the Field of 68

— Upsets of the Day:
Seton Hall (+14.5) 69, UConn 68 OT
LSU (+8.5) 82, Oklahoma 79
Elon (+8.5) 81, NC-Wilmington 70
Wake Forest (+7.5) 77, SMU 66

Minnesota (+7.5) 69, USC 66
VMI (+7.5) 80, Mercer 71
Washington (+6.5) 75, Penn State 73
Utah (+6.5) 74, Kansas 67

— Sun Belt
Underdogs were 4-3 SU/7-0 ATS in the Sun Belt Saturday.

Troy 71, Arkansas State 70
Troy snapped the Red Wolves’ 15-game home winning streak.

There are four teams tied for first place in Sun Belt, with four games left.

— Atlantic 15
George Mason 58, St Joe’s 57
St Joe’s led by 8 with 7:57 left in the game.
George Mason has won its last eleven games.

George Mason has 20+ wins for third year in a row; they haven’t been in NCAA’s since 2011. Patriots have #3 eFG% defense in country.

— Mid-American
Underdogs were 3-2 SU/5-0 ATS in the MAC Saturday.

Akron 85, Central Michigan 82
Zips have won 13 games in a row; they’re 12-0 in the MAC

Be careful with the MAC team in NCAA’s; Akron is 0-2 vs top 100 teams, losing by 16 to Yale, by 19 at Saint Mary’s.

MAC is the #24 league, both this year and last, their lowest ranking in the last 28 years. 

— Summit
St Thomas 95, Omaha 84
St Thomas was 13-29 on arc, scored 1.36 points/possession
Tommies take over first place in the Summit, with four games left.

Summit is a league with good offense/bad defense; average total in their three games Saturday was 172.3. 

— Famous birthdays, February 16:
Tim Cullen, 83
Glenn Abbott, 74
LeVar Burton, 68

Tracy Marrow, 67 (Ice-T)
Herb Williams, 67
Kelly Tripucka, 66

Jerome Bettis, 53
Eric Byrnes, 49
Tommy Milone, 38

— Ivy League
Yale 72, Penn 71
Yale has won nine in a row, is 8-0 in Ivy games.
Bulldogs had only three turnovers (+9)

Four of eight Ivy teams make the conference tournament; Cornell is the #4-seed right now, at 5-4, leading Brown/Harvard by a game.

— Southern
VMI 80, Mercer 71
Keydets are 7-7 in SoCon; they haven’t finished over .500 in SoCon since 2014.
VMI is also 12-2 against the spread in SoCon games this season.

Samford 76, Wofford 68
Wofford has a big guy, Kyler Filewich, who at this time last week was 24-80 on the foul line this season; that is 30%, which is terrible.

Someone has apparently convinced the young man to shoot his foul shots underhanded, the way the great Rick Barry did. Barry/Steph Curry are the two best ever on the foul line.

The last two games, Filewich was 10-16 on the foul line; good for him. He’s scoring 12 points a game, a number that figures to go up now.

— CAA
Elon 81, NC-Wilmington 70
Loss snaps the Seahawks’ nine-game winning streak. 

Towson leads UNCW by two games atop the CAA; Tigers are 84-44 the last four years, but they haven’t been in the NCAA Tournament since 1991.

— Conference USA
Jacksonville State 70, Louisiana Tech 68
Jaren Pierre had 34 of Jax State’s 70 points.
Jax State was 26-30 on foul line; they were the road team.
Gamecocks have won nine of last 10 games, are 10-3 and atop the C-USA. 

NBA trends (thru All-Star break)

Hawks (26-29):
— 4-3 SU/7-0 ATS in their last seven games.
— 1-5 ATS as a road favorite, 8-1 last nine as a road dog.
— Under 3-1 last four games

Celtics (39-16):
— 7-1 SU/5-3 ATS last eight games.  
— covered their last six road games.
— 0-7-1 ATS on first night of a back/back
— under 12-6 last 18 road games.

Nets (20-34):
— won/covered six of last seven games.
— 5-2 ATS last seven as road underdog.
— under 10-1 last eleven games

Hornets (13-39):
— 1-9 SU/5-4-1 ATS last ten games.
— 4-1 ATS last five home games
— under 9-3 last 12 games.

Bulls (22-33)
— 1-5 SU/ATS in last six games.
— 1-6 ATS last seven as a road underdog.
— over 5-1 last six games
— 1-8 ATS if they played the night before.

Cavaliers (44-10):
— 8-1 SU/6-3 ATS last nine games.
— 4-1 ATS last five home games, 1-5 ATS last six as road favorite. 
— over 8-3 last eleven games.

Mavericks (30-26):
— 4-2 SU/6-0 ATS last six games.
— 5-1 ATS last six as a home underdog.
— over 10-3 last 13 games
— 7-2 ATS if they played the night before.

Nuggets (36-19):
— 8-0 SU last eight games, 6-0 ATS last six
— 12-1 ATS last 13 as a home favorite.
— over 18-5 last 23 home games.
— 7-3 ATS if they played the night before.

Pistons (29-26):
— 6-2 SU/ATS last eight games.
— 15-9 ATS on the road.
— 4-7 ATS as home favorite
— 5-2 ATS as road favorite

Warriors (28-27):
— 3-1 SU since they traded for Butler.
— 1-5 ATS last six as a home underdog
— over 9-4 last 13 games

Rockets (34-21):
— 2-7 SU/ATS last nine games
— 2-9 ATS last nine as a home favorite
— 3-7-1 ATS if they played night before
— over 10-4 last 14 road games.

Pacers (30-23):
— 6-3 SU/3-6 ATS last nine games.
— 6-2 ATS last eight as a home favorite.
— 0-4 ATS last four as a home underdog.
— under 8-2 last ten games.

Clippers (31-23):
— won last three games, scoring 126 ppg.
— 15-4 ATS as a home favorite
— 1-4 ATS last five as a road favorite.
— over 7-1 last eight games.

Lakers (32-20):
— 10-2 SU/9-2-1 ATS last 12 games
— 5-1 ATS last six as a road underdog
— over 7-1 last eight games.

Grizzlies (36-18):
— 11-3 SU/8-5-1 ATS last 14 games.
— 10-4 ATS last 14 games as a home favorite.  
— 7-2 ATS if they played the night before.
— over 13-2 last 15 road games

Heat (25-28):
— 0-4 SU since they traded Butler
— 1-6-1 ATS last eight games
— under 10-3 last 13 road tilts
— over 8-1 last nine home games.

Famous birthdays, February 15th:
Steve Preece, 78
Ron Cey, 77
Ken Anderson, 76
Jane Seymour, 74

Christopher MacDonald, 70
I.M. Hipp, 69
Marc Wilson, 69
Darrell Green, 65

David Archer, 63
Johnny Cueto, 39
Mark Canha, 36
Esteury Ruiz, 26

Bucks (29-24):
— 3-6 SU/2-7 ATS last nine games.
— 6-1 ATS last seven as a home favorite.
— 2-7-1 ATS if they played night before.
— over 6-1 last seven home games.

Timberwolves (31-25)
— 9-4 SU/7-6 ATS last 13 games.
— 7-4-1 ATS as an underdog.
— over 5-1 last six road games.

Pelicans (13-42):
— 1-10 SU/3-7-1 ATS last 11 games
— 4-2 ATS as a home favorite.
— 1-5 ATS last six as a road underdog.
— 2-10 ATS on first night of back/back
— over 6-2 last eight games

Knicks (36-18):
— 9-2 SU/6-5 ATS their last 11 games.
— 7-3 ATS last ten games as a road favorite.
— over 8-1 last nine games. 

Thunder (44-10):
— 7-1 SU/5-2-1 ATS last eight games.
— 2-6-1 ATS on first night of back/back
— 3-6 ATS on second night of back/back
— over 9-2 last eleven home games

Magic (27-29):
— 4-11 SU/3-12 ATS last 15 games
— 5-11 ATS as a road underdog
— under 6-2 last eight games. 

76ers (20-34):
— 1-7 SU/2-6 ATS last eight games 
— 1-11 ATS as a home favorite
— 5-0 ATS last five as a home underdog
— over 8-3 last 11 home games

Suns (26-28):
— 1-6 SU/2-5 ATS last seven games.
— 5-13-1 ATS as home favorite.
— 3-7-1 ATS if they played the night before
— over 7-2 last nine games

Trailblazers (23-32):
— lost last three games, by 16-29-11 points. 
— 8-0 ATS last eight home games.
— 7-2 ATS if they played the night before
— over 13-6 last 19 home games

Kings (28-27):
— 3-10 ATS last thirteen games
— 0-4 ATS last five as home underdog
— 3-8 ATS if they played the night before.
— over 12-5 last 17 games

Spurs (23-29):
— 3-7 SU/ATS last ten games
— 2-7 ATS last nine games as a home underdog.
— over 12-3 last fifteen games

Raptors (17-38):
— 1-5 SU/3-3 ATS last six games
— 6-0 ATS last six road games.
— over 5-2 last seven games

Jazz (13-41):
— 1-4 SU/2-3 ATS last five games.
— 5-0 ATS last five home games.
— 1-6 ATS last seven road games
— over 6-0 last six games.

Wizards (9-45):
— 6-1 ATS last seven games
— 4-1 ATS last five road games
— 2-6 ATS if they played the night before.
— over 5-1 last six games