Author: Armadillo Sports

Seven Top 25 teams lost Saturday……

— Big 12
Houston 82, Baylor 76, OT
Cougars led 29-12 early on.
Four Baylor subs played, but totaled only 21:00.
Houston was +11 in turnovers (19-8).

Oklahoma 84, Oklahoma State 82 OT
Cowboys led by 11 late in first half.
Both teams shot 62%+ inside the arc.
Both teams had a sub score 20 points.

Houston leads Iowa State by a game, Kansas by two games.

— ACC
Wake Forest 83, Duke 79
Neither team led by more than six points.
Both teams shot 62%+ inside the arc.
Duke scored 1.30 points/possession but lost; a red flag.

North Carolina 54, Virginia 44
Tar Heels had lost eight in a row in Charlottesville.
UNC won despite star G Davis going 1-14 from the floor.
UNC G Ryan made 6-11 shots on the arc. 

North Carolina leads Duke by a game, Virginia/Wake Forest by 3 games.

— SEC
Kentucky 117, Alabama 95
Wildcats scored a ridiculous 1.46 points/possession.
Kentucky led by 37 with 8:37 left in game.
Alabama allowed 85+ points in all eight of their losses.

Auburn 97, Georgia 76
Auburn was 14-26 on arc, Georgia 3-14.
Tigers scored 1.43 points/possession.
Auburn is 21-6, 0-4 in games decided by less than 10 points.

Alabama/Tennessee lead the SEC at 11-3; Auburn/South Carolina are 10-4.

— Pac-12
Arizona State 73, Washington State 61
Coogs beat Arizona, then lose to the Sun Devils. Oy.
Loss ends Wazzu’s 8-game winning streak.

USC 62, UCLA 56
This game was 34-34 at halftime, after USC led 33-19 early on.
Trojans snap a 7-game road losing streak.
Bruins are 14-13, 9-7 in the Pac-12; they’ll need a great Pac-12 tournament to get into the NCAA’s for the fourth year in a row.

Arizona leads Washington State by a half-game, Oregon by 2 games.
ESPN’s Bracketology has only two Pac-12 teams getting in the NCAA’s.

— Big West
Cal-San Diego 92, Cal-Irvine 88 OT
Both teams had double-digit leads in this game.
Tritons have won four in row, 13 of last 16 games.

These teams are tied for first in Big West, but Cal-San Diego isn’t eligible for the Big West tournament; this is only their 4th season as a D-I team.

— WAC
Abilene Christian 79, Grand Canyon 73
Antelopes lost last two games, after a 24-2 start.
Wildcats were 29-36 on foul line, Grand Canyon was 19-24.

Tarleton State 82, Cal Baptist 65
Tarleton State was +12 in turnovers (17-5)
Texans have won eight games in a row.
Tarleton only played 7 guys; they’re #354 in bench minutes.

Grand Canyon/Tarleton are tied in loss column for the WAC lead; their conference tournament should be very interesting.

— Upsets of the Day:  
Air Force (+18.5) 78, New Mexico 77
Tex-San Antonio (+13.5) 64, North Texas 62
Brown (+11.5) 78, Cornell 74
Oregon State (+10.5) 85, Stanford 73
Eastern Michigan (+10.5) 58, Ball State 56
Abilene Christian (+8.5) 79, Grand Canyon 73
Georgia Tech (+8.5) 80, Miami 76
Sacramento State (+7.5) 66, Montana State 63

— Word of the Day: Voracious- someone who has a huge appetite, whether for reading, knowledge or food.

— Famous people with birthdays on February 25
Ric Flair, 75
Carrot Top, 59 (real name Scott Thompson)
Bob Brenly, 70
Cesar Cedeno, 73
Rashida Jones, 48
Jeff Fisher, 66

— Missouri Valley
Northern Iowa 91, Drake 77
This loss probably makes Arch Madness a must-win for Drake.
Both teams shot over 60% inside the arc.
Tytan Anderson had 18 points, 18 rebounds for UNI.

Indiana State 88, Ill-Chicago 73
Sycamores have won 11 of their last 13 games.
Larry Bird’s alma mater has the #1 eFG% in the country.

Indiana State leads Drake by a game.
Bracketology is saying the MVC is a one-bid league.

— Ivy League
Brown 78, Cornell 74
Cornell loses as an 11-point favorite, after beating Yale Friday.
Cornell, Yale, Princeton are tied for first, at 9-2.

Brown/Harvard are tied for 4th in Ivy with three games left; only four teams make it to the Ivy League tournament.

— Southern
Samford 87, East Tennessee State 71
Bulldogs led 53-27 at halftime.
Samford shot 75% (18-24) inside the arc.

Samford leads SoCon by three games, which will only put pressure on them in conference tournament, since the SoCon is a one-bid league.

— Mid-American is the #24 league this season, the lowest it has been ranked in this century; they were #20 two years ago, their next lowest ranking.

— Big Sky
Eastern Washington 85, Northern Colorado 76
Northern Colorado led by 12 midway thru first half.
Cedric Coward scored 30 points, had one assist; his job is to shoot.
Eastern Washington has a 2-game lead in Big Sky, with three games left.

— WCC
Gonzaga 94, Santa Clara 81
Zags have won six in row, 11 of last 12 games.
Despite that, Bracketology has Gonzaga as a bubble team; they play Saint Mary’s Saturday, then probably again in the WCC tournament- they better at least split with the Gaels.

Saint Mary’s 88, San Diego 62
Gaels have won 15 games in a row, after an 8-6 start.
Bracketology has Saint Mary’s as a 6-seed, so they’re pretty much in the NCAA’s.

WCC is the 11th-ranked conference this year, its lowest rank in six years. BYU bolting for the Big X this year hurt the WCC’s rating. 

— Idea of the Day– ESPN or NFL Network needs to bring Jon Gruden back to TV, so he can do those interviews he used to do with college QB’s before the NFL Draft. Learned a lot watching those, and this year especially is a very interesting year for QB’s in the draft.

— NFL’s salary cap is going up 13.6% next season, up to $255.4M/team.

— New Orleans Saints are restructuring QB Derek Carr’s contract, giving them $23M or so in salary cap relief for 2024, but Carr’s 2025 salary cap hit is up to $50.13M, including a $10M bonus that guarantees in three weeks.

In other words, the Saints kicked their cap woes down the road a year.

Right now, Saints are still $40,071,454 over the 2024 salary cap; Buffalo Bills are $41,742,609  over the cap, so those teams still have some work to do, cap-wise.

— Rams signed WR Demarcus Robinson for one year, $5M; Robinson caught 26 passes for 371 yards this season, with four TD’s, all of which came from Week 13 on.

— Golden State Warriors signed coach Steve Kerr for two years, $35M, which coincides with what’s left on Steph Curry’s contract. Kerr has won four NBA titles coaching the Warriors.

— Minnesota Golden Gophers are 17-9, 9-7 in conference this year, but they’re an impressive 23-3 against the spread this season. This is Minnesota’s first winning season since Richard Pitino led the Gophers to a 22-14 record five years ago.

— Was surprised to read that Thursday night’s Law and Order was the last episode for the great actor Sam Waterston, whose character Jack McCoy was on the show for 405 episodes. Thanks for all your work, sir. You’ll be missed.

The three TV shows I watch the most: CSI, Law and Order, Magnum PI, So many famous actors have been on Law and Order before they hit it rich. Great show.

— Baseball Stuff: Colorado Rockies have 33 pitchers in their major league camp this spring.

— Word of the Day: Mensch- a person of integrity and honor.

— Famous people with birthdays on February 24:
Hall of Fame 1B Eddie Murray, 68
actor Edward James Olmos, 77
actor Billy Zane, 58
singer George Thorogood, 73
former NC State/NBA center Tom Burleson, 72

— Spring training baseball started Thursday; great to watch baseball on TV again, its like welcoming old friends back into your house, after a 4-5 month lull.

Now the games themselves don’t mean so much; it isn’t about winning, it is just the players getting back in shape, preparing for the regular season, but it is still fun to watch.

— Fairfield 85, Quinnipiac 81
Fairfield is 17-10, after starting the season 1-6.
Stags made 13-26 on the arc in this game.
Quinnipiac has lost three in a row, after a 10-0 run.

— Cornell 65, Yale 62
Cornell outscored Yale 13-4 over the final 3:23.
Yale was only 11-26 on the foul line.
Big Red now leads the Ivy League by a game over Yale/Princeton.

— Bowling Green 76, Toledo 68
Toledo’s loss puts Akron atop the MAC standings.
Marcus Hill scored 31 points for Bowling Green, which starts four seniors.

— Fort Wayne 85, Green Bay 59
Mastodons led 47-23 at halftime.
Fort Wayne shot 60.5% inside arc, had only 4 turnovers.
Green Bay’s loss puts Oakland atop the Horizon standings.

— Teams shooting the best %age on 3’s this season:
40.6%- Purdue (24-3)
40.5%- Kentucky (18-8)
40.4%- Baylor (19-7)

Teams shooting the worst %age on 3’s this season:
25.2%- IUPUI (6-22)
26%- Buffalo (4-22)
26.4%- Coppin State (2-21)

— Idea of the Day– NBA should run a 1-on-1 tournament in the summer, with players playing for the charity of their choice. 64 players, voted on by fans. It would be very popular, and it would make a boatload of $$$ for deserving charities.

50 years ago, the NBA did this for a couple years; they showed clips of the games at halftime of regular season games on Sunday afternoons. Bob Lanier won in 1972, Geoff Petrie won the next year. It died out when some agents discouraged their clients from playing. Too bad.

— When the Dodgers-Padres start baseball’s regular season in Korea next month, the games will start at 5:30am here in the East. March 21 is going to be a busy day; the second of the two games in Korea at 5:30am, then the NCAA Tournament starts at noon.

Imagine working in a sportsbook in Las Vegas? Baseball games start at 2:30am in Las Vegas; pity the people who have to take the bets before those games, then the NCAA’s start at 9am local time in the desert.

— Three years ago, Georgetown won four games in the Big East tournament, after a 9-12 regular season. In three years since then, the Hoyas are 3-51 in conference games, 21-68 in all games. Ed Cooley will eventually get Georgetown back on track. But they’ve got a big hill to climb.

— In the NHL, Toronto Maple Leafs have gone 200 games in a row without being shut out, only the 11th team to do that, the first team since the 1989 Rangers.

— Michigan Wolverines will have 18 players at the NFL Combine next week, five more than any other school; Washington is next, with 13 players.

— Kansas City Chiefs signed punter Matt Araiza to a contract, after Araiza’s legal issues in San Diego were dismissed. He was accused of a crime, then counter-sued the person for defamation, but now the slate has been wiped clean both ways.

Araiza was a great punter/kicker for San Diego State, so much so that Buffalo drafted him in the 6th round of the 2022 draft. He hasn’t played in the NFL yet.

— Baseball Stuff:
Pirates re-signed P Mitch Keller for five years, $77M.

SS Tim Anderson signs with the Marlins for one year, $5M.

3B Gio Urshela signed with the Tigers for one year, $1.5M.

Mets P Kodai Senga (shoulder) will start the season on the IL. 

— Word of the Day: Mentor- an experienced and trusted adviser.

— Famous people with birthdays on February 23:
Fred Biletnikoff, 80- great WR for the Raiders.
Ed (Too Tall) Jones, 72- defensive lineman for the Cowboys
actress Emily Blunt, 41
singer Howard Jones, 69
Jamal Murray, 26- star for the Denver Nuggets
Andrew Wiggins, 28- Golden State Warriors
Tom Osborne, 86- longtime football coach at Nebraska

— Washington State 77, Arizona 74
Arizona was only 17-27 on foul line.
Coogs won 8th straight game; they’re 12-4 in Pac-12.

— Tarleton State 77, Grand Canyon 74
Tarleton was 29-40 on foul line, Grand Canyon 12-17
Antelopes led by 15 with 11:45 left in the game.
Tarleton moves within a game of Grand Canyon atop the WAC.
Loss snaps the Antelopes’ 7-game winning streak.

— Northern Arizona 78, Eastern Washington 71
Big upset in the Big Sky.
Lumberjacks outscored EWU 14-0 over final 3:05 of the game.
Eagles’ PG Magnuson played 27:00; he had 8 assists, didn’t take a shot.

— Washington 84, Arizona State 82 OT
Huskies led by 25 early in second half.
ASU led by 3 with 3:14 left in overtime.
Sun Devils lost nine of their last 12 games.

— Florida Atlantic 80, SMU 70
Owls won 10 of their last 12 games.
Loss snaps SMU’s 6-game winning streak.

— Upsets of the Night:
Washington State (+12.5) 77, Arizona 74
Northern Arizona (+9.5) 78, Eastern Washington 71
Hampton (+9.5) 72, Campbell 68
FIU (+6.5) 76, Liberty 71
UL-Monroe (+6.5) 66, Louisiana 59

— Cal-Davis 66, Cal-Northridge 65
Davis outscored Northridge 7-1 over final 1:59 of the game.
Northridge was only 16-29 on the foul line. 

— Today is/was my dad’s birthday, and also my Aunt Josephine’s. Two of the nicest people I’ve ever met, I was lucky to know them. Hopefully they’re up in heaven having a good laugh today.

— Pet Peeve Department:
a) “He’s a winner” You hear this on TV and it makes my blood boil, because for every winner, there is a loser, and no way in hell is anyone automatically “a loser”

b) College basketball analysts tend to call games in the same leagues, and they become shills for that league. 

The Big X analysts: “Teams in the Big X play harder than any league in the country”

The SEC analysts: “The SEC is deeper than it has ever been; best league in the country”

Not good. Just announce the game; stop being a shill.

— You can make this wager at Circa in Las Vegas:
UConn or Purdue to win the college hoop national title: +260
Any other team in the country to win the college hoop national title: -320

— Baseball futures bets for this season:
Ronald Acuna stolen bases: over/under 56.5
Oakland A’s wins: over/under 56.5 

Hopefully for my sake, Acuna won’t get more steals than the A’s get wins, or it’ll be another long summer for me (A’s fan since 1965). Oakland has improved its starting pitching, they figure to be a little better, but they were 50-112 last year. No bueno.

— MLB Network re-played a show about Hall of Fame pitcher Dennis Eckersley the other day; I was reminded that he threw a no-hitter for the Cleveland Indians in 1977, his third year in the major leagues. I listened to that game on the radio, with the great Joe Tait on the mike.

In that game……..from 1977
Eckersley allowed only one baserunner (he walked Tony Solaita)

Rick Manning was the Indians’ CF: he is still an analyst on Guardians games.

Duane Kuiper was the Indians’ 2B: he is still a play-by-play guy on Giants games.

Jerry Remy was the Angels’ 2B that day; he wound up in the same TV booth with Eckersley, doing Red Sox games for years.

Ray Fosse was the Indians’ catcher that day; he worked A’s games on TV for 30 years.

Bobby Bonds played for the Angels that day; Barry Bonds’ dad, and a hell of a ballplayer.

Stressful no-hitter; Cleveland scored a run in the first inning, the only run of the game. Time of the game: 2:02.

— Over the last 2.5 years, NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder is 126-85-7 (.597) against the spread.

— New Jersey Giants went 6-11 this past season, despite a +12 turnover ratio; they’re only NFL team in the last 20 years to have a +12 or better turnover ratio, and finish with a losing record.

— For some reason this weekend, ESPN showed a buzzer beater in a D-3 game between Cortland-Plattsburgh, two schools in New York State where it gets very cold at this time of year. When I was in college, spent a few nights in those two gyms; we never got on ESPN.

— Baseball Stuff: Salt Lake City, Nashville are frontrunners for baseball’s next round of expansion, which should happen in the next few years.

1B Eric Hosmer retired Tuesday; he played 13 years in the big leagues, hit 198 home runs with an OPS of .762. He won three Gold Gloves, was an All-Star in 2016.

SS Amed Rosario gets a one-year, $1.5M deal with the Tampa Bay Rays.

P Hyun Jin-Ryu went home to Korea to finish up his baseball career; he pitched in the big leagues for 10 years, went 78-48, 3.27 in 185 career MLB starts.

— Movie of the Day: Last Vegas (2013)- Four senior citizens who’ve been best friends since childhood head to Las Vegas, for the bachelor party of the one friend (Michael Douglas) who has never been married. He is marrying someone who is half his age, which complicates things.

Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman, Robert DeNiro, Kevin Kline, Mary Steenburgen; obviously an epic cast of characters.

— Washington State is in the college basketball top 25 for the first time since 2008; Coogs have won seven in a row, 10 of last 11 games- they have the #2 eFG% defense in the country. 

— Penn State 90, Illinois 89
Illinois led by 7 with 0:37 left in the game.
Penn State was +12 (18-6) in turnovers.
Illinois’ Shannon was 13-19 on foul line.
Penn State’s whole team was 12-20 on the line.
 
— Alabama 98, Florida 93 OT
Florida led by 9 with 6:11 left in game.
Brickfest: teams combined to shoot 17-62 on the arc.
Alabama had 21 offensive rebounds, beat Gators 54-44 on boards.
Crimson Tide won 13 of its last 15 games.

— St John’s 90, Georgetown 85
Red Storm led 35-14 early on, hung on for dear life.
St John’s shot 62.8% inside the arc.
Last four games, St John’s allowed 78.5 ppg.

— George Mason 71, Dayton 67
Dayton led 33-27 at halftime.
Mason was 24-29 on foul line, Dayton 10-14.
Dayton is 5-3 in last eight games, after a 16-2 start.

— Rice 94, UAB 71
Owls were 11-19 on arc, scored a ridiculous 1.47 points/possession.
Blazers had won five of six games, before this debacle.

— LSU 75, Kentucky 74
LSU scored a hoop off a broken play at the buzzer for the win.
Kentucky led by 15 points early in second half.

— New Mexico 68, Colorado State 66
Donovan Dent drove in for game-winning hoop with 0:02.8 left.
Lobos were +8 (12-4) in turnovers.
New Mexico is now 9-5 in Mountain West, tied for 3rd with San Diego State.

— There are four college basketball teams who don’t have a senior this year:
Air Force (8-17, 1-12)
Louisiana (17-10, 9-5)
Rhode Island (11-15, 5-8)
Wofford (15-13, 8-7)

NBA trends (thru All-Star break)

Hawks (24-31):
— 2-4 last six games SU 
— 4-18 ATS as a home favorite
— over 6-2 last eight home games
— 3-7 ATS if they played night before.

Celtics (43-12):
— won last six games SU (3-6 ATS last nine)
— 2-7 ATS last nine as a home favorite.
— under 7-3 last ten home games.
— 5-4 ATS if they played night before.

Nets (21-33):
— lost five of their last six games.
— 10-4 ATS as home favorite.
— 2-11 ATS last 13 road games.
— under 5-1 last six games
— 2-6 ATS if they played night before.
— fired their coach during All-Star break.

Hornets (13-41):
— won last 3 games, covered 5 of last 6 games.
— 7-18 ATS as a road underdog.
— under 8-3 last eleven road games.
— 5-4 ATS if they played night before.

Bulls (26-29)
— 3-2 SU last five games, 9-4 ATS last 13 games.
— 5-2 ATS as a home dog, 6-2 as road favorite.
— over 6-1 last seven games.
— 4-5 ATS if they played night before.

Cavaliers (36-17):
— won 18 of their last 20 games SU (4-5 ATS last nine).
— 12-9 ATS as home favorite, 8-5 as road favorite.
— You’re reading armadillosports.com
— under 8-3 last eleven games.
— 3-4 ATS if they played the night before.

Mavericks (32-23):
— won their last six games (5-1 ATS).
— 8-11 ATS as home favorites, 9-2 as road favorites.
— under 6-2 last eight games.
— 6-3 ATS if they played night before.

Nuggets (36-19):
— lost last three games (1-5 ATS last six games)
— 7-13 ATS as a road favorite  
— under 11-2 last 13 games.
— 2-8 ATS if they played night before.

Pistons (8-46):
— 3-2 SU in last five games, 12-4 ATS last 16.
— 8-3 ATS last 11 as a home dog, 7-3 last 10 as road dog.
— under 5-1 last six home games
— 2-8 ATS on first night of a back/back.

Warriors (27-26):
— won eight of last ten games SU 
— 6-15 ATS as a home favorite
— 17-8 ATS on the road.
— under 7-3 last ten games
— 7-4 ATS if they played night before.

Rockets (24-30):
— lost five of last six games SU
— 17-10 ATS at home, 8-14 as road dogs.
— under 3-1 last four games.
— 5-3 ATS if they played night before.

Pacers (31-25):
— won four of last six games SU.
— 9-5 ATS as a home underdog.
— under 4-1 last five road games.
— 1-8 ATS if they played night before.

Clippers (36-17):
— 11-3 SU in last 14 games (9-5 ATS)
— 12-5 ATS as a road favorite. 
— over 6-2 last eight road games.
— 5-3 ATS if they played night before.

Lakers (30-26):
— 6-1 SU last seven games (5-2 ATS)
— 2-8 ATS as a road favorite.
— over 10-4 last 14 games.
— 3-7 ATS if they played night before.

Grizzlies (20-36):
— won last two games SU, after an 0-9 skid.
— 11-15 ATS at home.  
— over 6-1 last seven games
— 6-4 ATS if they played night before.

Heat (30-25):
— won six of last eight games SU (7-1 ATS).
— 11-10 ATS as home favorites, 1-6 as home underdogs.
— under 8-1 last nine games.
— 3-5 ATS if they played the night before.

Bucks (35-21):
— lost 7 of their last 10 games.
— 11-16-1 ATS as home favorites.
— under 8-2 last ten games.
— 4-5-1 ATS if they played the night before.

Timberwolves (39-16)
— won/covered five of their last six games.
— 12-10 ATS as a home favorite.
— over 6-1 last seven games.
— 3-4 ATS if they played the night before.

Pelicans (33-22):
— won seven of last eight games SU
— 16-8 ATS as an underdog.
— under 6-1 last seven road games. 
— 5-2 ATS if they played the night before

Knicks (33-22):
— lost five of their last six games (0-6 ATS)
— 20-8 ATS as a favorite, 7-11 as a road underdog
— You’re reading armadillosports.com
— under 6-1 last seven road games
— 2-6 ATS if they played night before.

Thunder (37-17):
— won five of their last seven games (3-6 ATS last nine). 
— 15-7 ATS as a home favorite, 8-3 as a road dog.
— over 6-0 last six games
— 6-2 ATS if they played night before.

Magic (30-25):
— 6-2 SU/5-3 ATS last eight games
— 11-4 ATS as home favorite, 4-2 as road favorite. 
— under 5-0 last five games.
— 6-5 ATS if they played night before.

76ers (32-22):
— 3-9 last 12 games SU.  
— 22-13 ATS as a favorite, 8-10 as an underdog.
— under 4-2 last six games.
— 4-8 ATS if they played night before.

Suns (33-22):
— 7-2 SU/ATS last nine games.
— 11-15 ATS as a home favorite, 7-10 road favorite.
— under 5-2 last seven home games
— 4-3 ATS if they played night before.

Trailblazers (15-39):
— 0-6 SU/2-4 ATS in last six games.
— 4-1 ATS last five road games
— under 6-3 last nine road games
— 7-2 ATS if they played night before.

Kings (31-23):
— lost four of last six games SU.
— 11-4 ATS as an underdog. 
— over 7-1 last eight games
— 3-5 ATS if they played night before.

Spurs (11-44):
— 1-8 SU/2-7 ATS last nine games
— 9-13 ATS as a home underdog, 13-18 as a road dog.
— under 10-1 last eleven games.
— 3-3 ATS if they played night before.

Raptors (19-36):
— 3-16 SU/7-12 ATS last 19 games
— 5-8 ATS as a home dog, 11-12 as road dogs.
— over 5-1 last six home games.
— 3-7 ATS if they played night before.

Jazz (26-30):
— 2-7 SU/ATS last nine games
— 18-9 ATS at home, 9-16 as a road dog.
— over 4-1 last five games
— 3-6 ATS if they played night before.

Wizards (9-45):
— 0-8 SU last eight games (4-1 ATS last five). 
— 8-15 ATS as a home underdog.
— under 7-1 last eight home games.
— 4-3 ATS if they played night before.

— Major League Baseball needs to promote itself better; here’s an idea:

Someone runs a 12-team (or 14) fantasy league, with celebrities as team owners; the draft would be live on MLB Network during spring training, probably via Zoom.

Then, during the season, a weekly Hard Knocks-type show would air, with trade negotiations and owners discussing their teams, and other projects they’re working on.

People like watching celebrities; find 12 of them who like baseball and like to gamble some, and just like that, you have an interesting TV show.

Each celebrity would be playing for a charity of their choice. Who would the celebrities be? 

You’d need a cross-section of younger/older celebs…….MLB Network doesn’t work very hard promoting the sport; the fantasy league would be a big upgrade to their current programming. 

— Cleveland Guardians have their home opener April 8th; problem is, there is going to be a total solar eclipse that day, an event that hasn’t happened in northeast Ohio since 1806 and won’t again until 2444.

Because of the eclipse, the Guardians-White Sox game will start at 5:10, moving it back an hour- the eclipse is supposed to be at its peak from 3:13-3:17.

Officials are saying 200,000+ visitors will be coming to the area to witness the eclipse; most schools in the area will be closed that day.

The Guardians should be creative and get Bonnie Tyler to sing the national anthem; she sang Total Eclipse of the Heart, a big hit back in the 80’s.

— Virginia Tech 75, Virginia 41
Awful game; Hokies led 36-16 at halftime.
Virginia shot 32.7% from the floor.
Tech had lost four of last five games, before this one.

— Texas 62, K-State 56
Longhorns had only one player in double figures (Disu, 20 points)
Brickfest: teams combined to shoot 8-38 on the arc.
K-State has lost seven of its last eight games.

— Houston 73, Iowa State 65
Cougars never trailed; they led 28-23 at halftime
Houston was 24-32 on foul line; Iowa State was 10-15
Cyclones were 9-17 on arc, only shot 36.8% inside arc.

— Nebraska Cornhuskers are 8-0 SU at home in Big 14 games, 0-7 on the road; the home team is 14-1 ATS in their conference games.

— Pitt Panthers won seven of their last eight games, covering all eight.

— Arizona Wildcats’ basketball coach Tommy Lloyd signed a 5-year contract extension that will keep him with the Wildcats until at least 2029; he will earn around $5.5M/year. 

— Baseball Notes of the Day:
Red Sox signed P Liam Hendriks for two years, $10M; he will miss most of this season with an injury.

Arizona Diamondbacks signed OF Randal Grichuk for one year, $2M.

Cubs signed OF David Peralta, 1B Dom Smith to minor league deals.

Mets signed DH Luke Voit to a minor league deal.

— Word of the Day: Fraud- wrongful or criminal deception intended to result in financial or personal gain. A person or thing intended to deceive others, typically by unjustifiably claiming or being credited with accomplishments or qualities.

— Brooklyn Nets are 21-33 this year; they fired coach Jacque Vaughn Monday, hired Kevin Ollie as interim coach- he won a national title at UConn ten years ago.

— As of right now, only nine NFL teams have the same two coordinators they had this past season; 14 teams have a new offensive coordinator, 16 have a new DC.

— QB Jimmy Garoppolo is suspended for the first two games next season; for violating the NFL’s performance enhancing substances policy. Las Vegas Raiders are expected to release Garoppolo in mid-March; his $11.25M salary for next year could be voided because of this.

— I’m not sure why, but flag football is going to be a sport in the 2028 Olympics.

— There should be a rule; each writer on the Interweb is allowed only one mock NFL draft; you do more than one, you’re just making stuff up to create content.

— John Grisham is a great writer; seven of his books have been turned into movies. Most of his work deals with lawyers and the legal profession. 

These days, Grisham probably just sits on his couch with a legal pad, watching MSNBC and taking notes for his next book. Real life is stranger than fiction.

— Happy 67th birthday to the great pitcher Dave Stewart, who went 84-45 for the A’s in a 4-year span, from 1987-90, a period when the A’s won three AL titles.

— Ohio State 73, Purdue 69
Buckeyes fired their coach Wednesday, pull a big upset four days later.
Ohio State was 2-9 in its last 11 games, coming into Sunday.
Purdue was minus-8 in turnovers (14-6), shot 3-9 on the arc.

— Seton Hall 68, St John’s 62
Johnnies led 38-19 with 3:09 left in first half.
St John’s lost 8 of its last 10 games, blowing halftime leads in last three. After the game, Rick Pitino wasn’t happy with his team’s defense.

— Utah 70, UCLA 69
Utah scored off an offensive rebound at the buzzer for the win.
Utes had lost their previous six road games.
UCLA’s last three games (2-1) were decided by total of six points.

— South Florida 90, Florida Atlantic 86
USF led by 25 with 8:38 left, hung on for dear life.
Bulls won 17 of last 18 games, after a 2-4 start.
USF leads Charlotte by a game, FAU/SMU by two games.

LY, South Florida coach Amir Abdur-Rahim led Kennesaw State to a 26-9 record, made the NCAA’s; this year, his Bulls are 19-5, 12-1 in AAC in his first year at USF. Previous four years, Bulls were 45-62, 21-47 in conference games. Great coaching job.

— SMU 106, Memphis 79
Mustangs led 58-36 at halftime; dismal effort by Memphis.
Tigers lost six of their last nine games, after a 15-2 start.
SMU won its last six games, is 19-7, 10-3 in conference games.

— Niagara 80, Quinnipiac 66
Niagara has won its last eight road games, longest active streak in country.
Purple Eagles made 9-17 on arc, 27-27 on foul line.
Quinnipiac lost its last two games, after a 19-4 start. 

— Baseball Note of the Day: Players went 9-6 against the owners in contract arbitration cases this year, first time since 2019 the players had the advantage.

OF/2B Whit Merrifield signed a one-year, $8M deal with the Phillies.

— Word of the Day: Subterfuge- Deceit used in order to achieve a goal.

— Rider 104, Manhattan 62
Broncs shot 77.8% from the floor, the highest shooting %age in a D-I game by any team since January 24, 2005.

— Thursday in Utah, Golden State’s Klay Thompson came off the bench for the first time since his rookie season, 12 years ago; he scored 35 points (13-22 from floor, 7-13 on arc) as the Warriors beat the Jazz, 140-137.

— LA Chargers are paying Jim Harbaugh $16M a year? Really? Wow. Sean Payton is the only coach in the NFL making more $$$ than Jim Harbaugh. John Harbaugh makes $12M a year.

— Four guys were teammates with both Michael Jordan and Lebron James:
Brendan Haywood
Larry Hughes
Jerry Stackhouse
Scott Williams

— Rangers-Islanders played hockey outdoors at Giants Stadium in New Jersey Sunday; they drew 79,690 fans, a day after the Flyers-Devils drew 70,328 fans in the same stadium Saturday night. 150,000 fans for two games; pretty, pretty good.

No way the NHL knew what a gold mine they had on their hands when they started these outdoor games. 

— NBA All-Star Game: East 211, West 186- Somewhere, some poor soul bet the under in this game, which had no chance of winning. None.

Teams combined to shoot 67-168 (39.9%) on the arc
Teams combined to shoot 96-121 (79.3%) inside the arc

— RIP to Charles (Lefty) Driesell, the great college basketball coach who passed away over the weekend, at age 92. He had a great career. 

Driesell coached at four colleges:
1960-69- Davidson- 176-65
1969-86- Maryland- 348-159
1986-97- James Madison- 159-111
1997-2003- Georgia State- 103-59

Driesell was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018; he made the Elite Eight four times, but his best team was probably his 1974 Maryland team, which was ranked #3 in the country but lost the ACC title game in overtime- back then, only one team from each league made it to the NCAA’s.

Today, that team would’ve been a #1-seed in the tournament, but they didn’t even get in- they won the NIT very easily that season. Bad timing; NC State had David Thompson that year.

Driesell was known as much for his personality as coaching; he promised to make Maryland “the UCLA of the East” back when the Bruins won the NCAA’s every year. He won a lot of games and he was fun to listen to.

RIP, sir. 

Only 17 days until the first conference tournament starts.
Four weeks until Selection Sunday

— SEC
Kentucky (+8.5) 70, Auburn 59
Wildcats held Auburn to 30.9% from the floor.
Auburn’s first loss at home this season.
Antonio Reeves took 20 shots, had one assist; his job is to shoot.

LSU 64, South Carolina 63
Tigers had lost six of last seven games coming in.
Carolina led 41-25 early in second half.

Alabama leads Tennessee by a game atop SEC standings.
Bracketology has SEC with nine teams in NCAA’s right now.

— Pac-12
Washington State 72, Stanford 59
Coogs are very quietly 20-6; they’ve won seven games in a row.
Wazzu has #20 eFG% defense in country.
Coogs had great balance; four guys had between 13-15 points.

Colorado 92, USC 89, 2OT
Buffs overcame being minus-12 (21-9) in turnovers.
USC led 65-49 in second half.
Colorado shot 56.4% inside the arc.

Arizona leads Washington State by half a game, Oregon/UCLA by 2 games.
Bracketology has the Pac-12 as a 3-bid conference.

— ACC
NC State 78, Clemson 77
Clemson led by 12 with 10:19 left in game.
Tigers’ last three losses were all by one point.

Virginia 49, Wake Forest 47
Cavaliers somehow won, despite going 1-11 on foul line.
Virginia has won nine of its last ten games.
Bracketology has Wake Forest as first team out of the field of 68.

North Carolina, Duke are tied for first; Virginia is a game behind.
Bracketology has the ACC as a 4-bid league.

— Horizon
Cleveland State 81, Youngstown State 73
Vikings shot 66.7% inside arc, were +8 in turnovers (18-10)
Youngstown led by 6 with 12:37 left in game.

Wright State 101, Robert Morris 71
Wright State has won six of its last eight games.
Raiders have the #2 eFG% in the country.

Oakland/Green Bay are tied in loss column atop the Horizon.
This is a one-bid league; their conference tournament will be fun to watch.

— Big East
UConn 81, Marquette 53
Huskies have won 14 games in a row (9-4 ATS in last 13)
UConn had 18 offensive rebounds; Eagles had 17 defensive boards.

Creighton 79, Butler 57
Creighton shot 65.7% inside the arc.
Bluejays outscored Butler 45-22 in second half.
Creighton was 9-10 on foul line, Butler 3-3. For the whole game.

UConn has three-game lead over Marquette, four games over Creighton.
Bracketology has four Big East teams in the Field of 68.

— Big 12
TCU 75, Kansas State 72
Jameer Nelson hit a 3-pointer with 0:01.1 left for the win.
K-State shot 66.7% inside arc, 1-15 on arc, 25-29 on foul line.
Wildcats led by 8 with 12:30 left in the game. 

Kansas 67, Oklahoma 57
Dickinson had 20 points, 16 rebounds for Kansas.
Jayhawks snap a 4-game road losing streak.
Oklahoma led 34-29 at halftime.

Houston/Iowa State are tied for 1st; Baylor is a game behind.
Bracketology has Big X with nine teams in NCAA’s right now.

— Upsets of the Day:
Hampton (+11.5) 67, Towson 61
Elon (+11.5) 73, NC-Wilmington 72
Mercer (+10.5) 88, Samford 84
Abilene Christian (+9.5) 63, SF Austin 62
Kentucky (+8.5) 70, Auburn 59
NC State (+7.5) 78, Clemson 77
California (+7.5) 82, Washington 80
LaSalle (+6.5) 82, UMass 81
Northern Colorado (+6.5) 80, Sacramento State 75
Eastern Michigan (+6.5) 69, Bowling Green 60
LSU (+6.5) 64, South Carolina 63

— Word of the Day: Tenuous- uncertain, flimsy, likely to change.

Wake Forest’s 49-47 loss Saturday makes their status as an NCAA Tournament team very, very tenuous.

— Atlantic 15
St Bonaventure 81, Davidson 80 OT
Bonnies were 23-30 on foul line, Davidson 13-18.
Davidson is 12-18 in A-15 since Bob McKillop retired; his son took over.
Wildcats are 0-3 in overtime games this season.

LaSalle 82, UMass 81
LaSalle led 71-53 with 10:22 left in game, then held on.
Explorers had lost 9 of last 10 games coming into this game.

Dayton, Richmond, Loyola are all tied for 1st in loss column; VCU is a game behind.
Bracketology has the A-15 as a one-bid league, for 2nd year in a row.

— Missouri Valley
Southern Illinois 74, Indiana State 69
Indiana State led by 13 in first half.
Teams combined to shoot 13-52 on the arc.
Sycamores lost last two games, after a 22-3 start.

Indiana State/Drake are now tied for first, two games ahead of Bradley.

— Southern Conference
Mercer 88, Samford 84
Samford had won 23 of its last 24 games, before this game.
Samford was 28-36 on foul line; Mercer shot 62.5% inside arc.

Samford leads Chattanooga by a game in SoCon standings.

— Ivy League
Princeton 73, Yale 62
Tigers avenged an earlier loss to Yale, hand Bulldogs their first Ivy loss.
Princeton shot 65.5% inside the arc.

Yale/Cornell are now tied for first, with Princeton a game behind.
Harvard/Columbia are tied for 4th; Ivy League tournament has only 4 teams in it.

— Mountain West
Colorado State 75, Utah State 55
Rams out-rebounded Utah State, 45-32.
Aggies are 2-3 in last five games, after a 19-2 start.

Nevada 69, UNLV 66
Wolf Pack out-rebounded UNLV, 41-20
Rebels led by 7 with 3:45 left in the game.

San Diego State, Utah State, Boise State are all tied for first.
7 of the 11 teams in the Mountain West have either 4 or 5 MW losses.
Bracketology has this league with six teams (6!!!) in the NCAA’s.

— Ohio Valley
UT-Martin 88, Morehead State 82
Junior G Sears scored 31 points, he played all 40:00.
Morehead loses second game in a row, after a 20-5 start.
UTM outscored Morehead 7-0 over final 1:38 of the game.

Western Illinois 68, Tennessee State 61
Leathernecks are 10-4 in OVC; their last winning conference season was 2013.
This is also their first season in the OVC; Summit League is a better league.
Tennessee State shot only 33.3% from the floor. 

Morehead State leads three teams by a game: (Little Rock, UT-Martin, WIU).

NHL trends (thru Thursday)

Anaheim 19-32-2
— split their last six games overall.
— 8-18-1 at home, 11-14-1 on road.
— under 5-2 last seven home games
— 6-2 in shootout/OT

Arizona 23-25-4
— lost their last seven games
— 15-11 at home, 8-14-4 on road.
— over 4-1 last five road games.
— 5-4 in shootout/OT

Boston 32-12-10
— 1-4 since All-Star break
— 17-7-4 at home, 15-5-6 on road.
— under 8-1 last nine games
— 6-10 in shootout/OT

Buffalo 23-26-4
— 1-3 since All-Star break. 
— 12-15-1 at home, 11-11-3 on road.
— under 8-3 last eleven games
— 2-5 if they played the night before.
— 2-4 in shootout/OT

Calgary 25-24-5
— won four of their last six games
— 12-12-1 at home, 13-12-4 on road.
— over 3-1 last four games
— 0-5 if they played the night before.
— 4-5 in shootout/OT

Carolina 30-17-5
— won 13 of their last 18 games.
— 17-6-4 at home, 13-11-1 on road.
— under 7-2 last nine games.
— 6-2 on first night of back/back.
— 6-5 in shootout/OT

Chicago 14-37-3
— lost their last eight games
— 10-14-2 at home, 4-23-1 on road.
— under 13-5 last 18 games
— 1-6 if they played the night before.
— 5-3 in shootout/OT

Colorado 33-18-4
— 1-5 since All-Star break, all on road.
— 19-5 at home, 14-13-4 on road.
— over 13-4 last 17 games.
— 3-2 if they played the night before.
— 4-4 in shootout/OT

Columbus 16-26-10
— lost 11 of their last 15 games
— 9-14-4 at home, 6-10-5 on road.
— under 6-3 last nine road games
— 5-10 in shootout/OT

Dallas 34-14-6
— won 12 of their last 16 games
— 17-8-2 at home, 17-6-4 on road.
— over 19-3 last 22 home games
— 4-3 if they played the night before.
— 9-6 in shootout/OT

Detroit 27-20-6
— won six of their last nine games
— 15-8-5 at home, 12-12-1 on road.
— under 9-5 last 14 games
— 4-1 if they played the night before.
— 7-6 in shootout/OT

Edmonton 31-18-1
— 2-3 since All-Star break
— 17-6-1 at home, 14-12 on road.
— under 12-3 last 15 games
— 5-1 in shootout/OT

Florida 35-15-4
— won 8 of their last 9 games.
— 16-8-2 at home, 19-7-2 on road.
— under 20-5 last 25 games
— 4-1 if they played night before.
— 5-4 in shootout/OT

Los Angeles 25-16-10
— lost 15 of their last 20 games.
— 9-9-6 at home, 16-7-4 on road.
— over 5-3 last eight games
— 1-5 if they played the night before.
— 2-10 in shootout/OT

Minnesota 25-23-5
— 4-0 since All-Star break
— 13-11-3 at home, 12-12-2 on road.
— under 5-1 last six games 
— 2-6 if they played the night before.
— 6-5 in shootout/OT

Montreal 22-24-8
— 3-7 in their last ten games.
— 11-14-3 at home, 11-10-5 on road.
— over 4-1 last five road games
— 1-9 if they played the night before.
— 9-8 in shootout/OT

Nashville 27-25-2
— 2-7 in their last nine games.
— 14-15 at home, 13-10-2 on road.
— over 4-1 last five games
— 5-0 if they played the night before.
— 7-2 in shootout/OT

New Jersey 27-22-4
— 3-5 in their last eight games
— 12-13-2 at home, 15-9-2 on road.
— under 4-0 last four games.
— 2-6 if they played the night before.
— 5-4 in shootout/OT

NY Islanders 22-18-13
— lost 11 of last 15 games. 
— 13-7-8 at home, 9-11-5 on road.
— under 5-3 last eight games
— 0-6 if they played the night before.
— 6-13 in shootout/OT

NY Rangers 35-16-3
— won their last six games
— 19-7 at home, 16-9-3 on road.
— over 6-3 last nine road games.
— 8-0 if they played the night before.
— 7-3 in shootout/OT

Ottawa 22-26-2
— won six of their last nine games.
— 15-13-2 at home, 7-13 on road.
— over 10-5 last 15 games.
— 5-2 in shootout/OT

Philadelphia 29-19-7
— 4-1 since All-Star break
— 14-12-2 at home, 15-7-5 on road.
— over 6-2 last eight home games.
— 5-1 on first night of a back/back.
— 8-7 in shootout/OT

Pittsburgh 24-20-7
— lost eight of their last 12 games 
— 13-9-3 at home, 11-11-4 on road.
— under 11-3 last 14 games
— 6-1 if they played the night before.
— 4-7 in shootout/OT

St Louis 29-22-2
— won eight of their last ten games.
— 16-9-1 at home, 13-13-1 on road.
— over 9-5 last 14 games
— 7-2 in shootout/OT

San Jose 15-33-5
— 5-3 in their last eight games
— 9-13-2 at home, 6-20-2 on road.
— under 4-2 last six games
— 4-5 in shootout/OT

Seattle 23-21-10
— lost eight of their last 12 games.
— 11-9-4 at home, 12-12-6 on road. 
— under 16-5 last 22 games
— 0-4 on first night of back/back.
— 5-10 in shootout/OT

Tampa Bay 30-20-5
— won 11 of their last 14 games.
— 18-5-3 at home, 12-15-2 on road.
— under 9-3 last 12 road games
— 6-5 in shootout/OT

Toronto 28-16-8
— won six of their last eight games.
— 14-10-2 at home, 14-6-6 on road. 
— under 5-3 last eight games
— 1-5 on first night of back/back
— 10-8 in shootout/OT

Vancouver 37-12-6
— 13-4 in their last 17 games. 
— 19-4-2 at home, 18-8-4 on road.
— over 7-4 last eleven home games
— 4-6 in shootout/OT

Vegas 31-16-6
— won seven of their last ten games. 
— 19-6-2 at home, 12-10-4 on road.
— under 5-2 last seven home games
— 7-6 in shootout/OT

Washington 23-21-8
— lost 8 of their last 9 games.
— 13-9-5 at home, 10-12-3 on road.
— under 3-1 last four games.
— 4-3 if they played the night before.
— 6-8 in shootout/OT

Winnipeg 32-14-5
— lost five of their last seven games.
— 18-7-2 at home, 14-7-3 on road.
— under 15-2 last 17 games.
— 4-0 if they played the night before.
— 3-5 in shootout/OT

— So far this offseason, 30 college football teams have changed head coaches, the most in the last 12 years.

Georgia State coach Shawn Elliott quit this week to become the tight ends’ coach at South Carolina, on the surface an odd move; he led the Panthers to five bowl games in seven seasons, winning four of them.

This situation seems to be unique; Elliott’s family still lives in Columbia, SC from his previous job with the Gamecocks (2010-16), and apparently he promised his daughter that he would be there for her senior year of high school, which is this coming year.

— In the NBA, Memphis Grizzlies-Houston Rockets have made 16 trades with each other over the last 29 years, making them the most frequent trade partners in the league.

— Wednesday night in San Francisco, Detroit Pistons F Isaiah Stewart was arrested after a scuffle with Phoenix Suns’ Drew Eubanks that happened before the game. The two men were separated by police; the investigation is ongoing as to what actually happened.

— So far this season, BYU’s basketball team has taken 774 3-point shots (36%), 762 2-point shots (58.4%). Very unusual for a team to take more 3’s than 2’s for a whole season, but BYU has the #13 eFG% in the country, plus they’re 18-6, 6-5 in the Big X, so it is working for them.

— The last four years, DePaul’s basketball team is a combined 33-84, 11-53 in Big East games; last time the Blue Demons had a winning season in conference play? 

Try 2007, when Jerry Wainwright was the coach; DePaul hasn’t made the NCAA’s since 2004. Isn’t Chicago supposed to be a high school basketball hotbed? Why are they always so bad?

— Thursday night in Brooklyn, Fairleigh Dickinson’s basketball team got stuck in an elevator before their game at LIU; FDU wound up winning 84-82 in overtime, but not before they were stuck in the elevator for 10 minutes, with the lights out. 

— Baseball Note of the Day: Baltimore Orioles already have injury issues:
P Kyle Bradish (elbow strain) is on the IL
3B Gunnar Henderson (oblique)
P John Means (elbow) is behind in his recovery from a previous injury
Rookie C Samuel Basallo (stress fracture in elbow) is also going to the IL

— Movie of the Day: Runaway Jury (2003)- A juror on the inside and a woman on the outside manipulate a court trial involving a major gun manufacturer.

Excellent cast: John Cusack is a corrupt juror, Gene Hackman works for the plaintiff’s lawyers as a consultant, Dustin Hoffman is the winning lawyer, Bruce McGill is the lawyer.

John Grisham wrote the book this movie is based on; Brian Koppelman/David Levien wrote the screenplay- they’ve also written Rounders, Billions.

— North Texas 76, Memphis 66
Mean Green made 16 of 28 shots on the arc.
Jason Edwards was 1-7 inside the arc, 7-9 outside the arc.
Memphis is 3-5 in last eight games, after a 15-2 start.

— Purdue 84, Minnesota 76
Zach Edey had 24 points, 15 rebounds.
Golden Gophers led 43-35 at halftime.
Minnesota covered its last seven games, is 11-2 ATS in Big 14 games.

— UCLA 64, Colorado 60
UCLA was +9 in turnovers (14-5).
Bruins have won 8 of last 9 games, after a 6-10 start.

— Drexel 79, Hofstra 77
Hofstra led by 13 in first half, scored 1.20 points/possession, but still lost.
Drexel starts four seniors; they’re 9-4 in the CAA.

— Middle Tennessee 76, New Mexico State 69
Aggies led 44-27 early in second half.
Blue Raiders were 19-23 on foul line, New Mexico State 6-11.

— Tarleton State 80, Texas-Arlington 78
Tarleton shot 61.3% inside the arc.
Texans have won six in row, are 11-3 in the WAC.

— It is February 16, and already, three guys on my fantasy baseball team are on the injured list. Season doesn’t start for six weeks!!! No bueno.

— San Francisco 49ers fired defensive coordinator Steve Wilks Wednesday, three days after the 49ers lost the Super Bowl in overtime. 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan had said Tuesday that he expected all of his coaches to be back next year, which tells you it wasn’t his decision to fire Wilks.

49ers were #8 in NFL in yardage allowed this year, #3 in points allowed; obviously they won a lot of games, damn near won the Super Bowl. Surprising to see a coordinator from a very good team get fired.

— Ohio State is 9-25 in its last 34 conference games; they fired basketball coach Chris Holtmann Wednesday. Holtmann was in his 7th year at Ohio State; his team made four of last five NCAA Tournaments, but only went 4-5 in those events.

Buckeyes have to pay Holtmann $12.5M to go away.

— One of the quirks of the college basketball season is that bubble teams need the teams they beat to do really well, so their wins look better to the Selection Committee.

For example, Gonzaga is a bubble team right now; they beat Kentucky, so they need the Wildcats to finish strong, so that win impresses people next month.

— Why are Central Florida and BYU in the same league? Teams played Tuesday night in Provo; according to MapQuest, the schools are 2,324 miles apart. It is nonsensical for these schools to be in the same league, not to mention very expensive.

— JJ Redick is replacing Doc Rivers on ESPN’s NBA broadcast team, after Rivers left three months into his first season of a 3-year contract to return to coaching with the Milwaukee Bucks.

— Retired P Adam Wainwright is going to work games for both MLB Network and FS1 this coming season, after an excellent 18-year career on the mound. 

— Baseball Note of the Day: Michael Wacha is pitching for Kansas City this season, his 6th team in the last six seasons; he’s done really well the last two years, but he keeps moving around.

— Word of the Day: Prognosticate- predicting the outcome of a future event.

— Detroit 81, IUPUI 66
Detroit was favored by 5.5 points, despite being 0-26 coming into the game.
Detroit only played seven guys; four of them are seniors. Not much hope for the future.

— Auburn 101, South Carolina 61
Auburn shot 61% inside arc, 12-20 on the arc.
Auburn is 6-0 SU/ATS in SEC home games.
Loss ends South Carolina’s 7-game winning streak.

— Michigan State 80, Penn State 72
Malik Hall scored 29 points, had 10 rebounds.
Penn State made 12-23 on the arc, still got beat at home.

— Milwaukee 71, Cleveland State 68
Panthers won despite being minus-11 (19-8) in turnovers.
Cleveland State led by 11 points late in first half.

— UMass 69, Richmond 59
UMass held Richmond to 33.3% from the floor.
Only second loss in last 14 games for the Spiders.

— Northern Kentucky 58, Green Bay 57
Loss ends Green Bay’s 5-game winning streak.
Teams combined to shoot 13-54 on the arc.
Green Bay is 12-4 in the Horizon, but NKU swept their two meetings.

— Wednesday was supposed to be a really happy day in Kansas City, with a parade to honor the Super Bowl champion Chiefs. Instead, a person was murdered, and 21 others injured, 11 of them children, in this country’s 48th mass shooting in the first 45 days of 2024.

The people who make the laws in this country suck at their jobs, to allow things like this to keep happening. 11 kids got shot Wednesday!!! at a freakin’ parade……..horrendous.

— This is the age of transfers in college sports; of the top 20 scorers in the Big 6 conferences, 14 of them started their college careers at another school.

— When I was in high school, I took Spanish for three years, but apparently, I didn’t maintain a lot of the stuff I learned. Was watching the Caribbean World Series on ESPN+ last week- they broadcast it in Spanish. Couldn’t understand a freakin’ thing they said, except that izquierda is left. At least they had good graphics, so it was easy to follow what was going on.

— Total of $185.6M was wagered in Nevada on the Super Bowl this year, beating the previous record by $6M. Sportsbooks posted a profit of $6.8M on the game.

This year’s Super Bowl was also the most-watched TV show ever.

— Orlando Magic retired Shaquille O’Neal’s number 32 Tuesday night; O’Neal played the first four years of his career for the Magic- they went 208-120 in regular season with Shaq, losing 4-0 in the 1995 NBA Finals, to Houston.

— Two things I’m curious about:
How much $$$ does Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter make?

How much $$$ did Christopher Walken get for that BMW commercial during the Super Bowl?

— Since 2018, major league teams who spent the most draft bonus $$$ on pitchers:
Royals, Pirates, Rangers

Since 2018, major league teams who spent the least draft bonus $$$ on pitchers:
Red Sox, Astros, A’s

— San Francisco Giants signed OF Jorge Soler for three years, $42M. Soler hit 36 homers for Miami last year, had an .853 OPS.

— Baseball Note of the Day: There were 16 times last year when a player had 7 plate appearances in one game; Jose Altuve is the only guy who had two of those.

— Word of the Day: Callous- someone who does not feel or show any concern about the problems or suffering of other people.

— Syracuse 86, North Carolina 79
Tar Heels have now lost three of their last five games, after a 10-0 run.
Syracuse shot 71% inside the arc.
Three players in this game played all 40:00.

— Illinois State 80, Indiana State 67
Sycamores get in top 25 for first time since 1979, then lose as 17-point favorites.
Indiana State had won 10 games in row; they still lead MVC by a game.

— San Diego State 71, Colorado State 55
Colorado State led 44-30 at half; they got outscored 41-11 in 2nd half.
Aztecs are 5-1 ATS as a Mountain West home favorite.
Bill Vinovich was a ref in this game; he was the referee in Super Bowl Sunday,

— Pitt 74, Virginia 63
Panthers made 14-32 shots on the arc.
Loss snaps Virginia’s 8-game winning streak.

— Kentucky 75, Ole Miss 63
Kentucky snaps their 3-game home losing streak.
Wildcats played nine guys 13:00+; unusual depth for this era.

— Baylor 79, Oklahoma 62
Jayden Nunn scored 27 points, on only 12 shots from floor.
Baylor made 11-21 shots on the arc.

— Drake 78, Evansville 75
Atin Wright banked in a 40-foot runner at the buzzer for the win.
Drake made 13-27 on arc; they’re 21-5, 12-3 in the Valley. 

— New Mexico 83, Nevada 82
Lobos outscored Nevada 6-2 over the final 1:43.
New Mexico led this game 45-35 at halftime.
Both teams scored over 1.2 points/possession. 

— If you want to bet on next year’s Super Bowl, the AFC team is -1, with a total of 48.5. 

Next year’s Super Bowl is in New Orleans, the 11th Super Bowl on Bourbon Street.

— Patrick Mahomes is 3-1 in Super Bowls; Chiefs trailed by 10+ points in all four games.

— San Francisco 49ers have now been in the postseason six times since 2012; all six times, 49ers went WWL in the playoffs.

Was little surprised to read that the 49ers’ players didn’t know the new overtime rules for the playoffs; Kansas City’s players had gone thru the new rules during training camp.

— Dallas Cowboys are hiring Mike Zimmer as their new (old?) defensive coordinator; Zimmer was the Cowboys’ DC from 2000-06. He was the Vikings’ head coach from 2014-21. 

— Pittsburgh Steelers told QB Mitch Trubisky to take a hike, saving them $3M on next year’s salary cap, leaving Kenny Pickett as the only QB on their roster, fueling speculation that they might trade with Chicago for Justin Fields.

— UCLA hired Deshaun Foster as its new football coach; he had just taken a job as running backs coach for the Las Vegas Raiders. Foster played at UCLA, then played seven years in the NFL, before working the last 10 years as an assistant with the Bruins; he’ll help as far as keeping the current roster intact. 

— Baseball Note of the Day: Pittsburgh Pirates signed C Yasmani Grandal for one year, $2.5M.

— Word of the Day: Prescient- having knowledge of things or events before they exist or happen. A good handicapper needs to be prescient.

— Tennessee Vols are 17-6 this season, 7-3 in the SEC; last 3.5 years, Tennessee is 87-34, 42-21 in SEC games. 

Rick Barnes has been a college head coach since 1987. Here is some of his March resume:

15-12 SU in first round games, 8-18-1 ATS. 8-18-1 es no bueno.
8-7 SU in second round (7-8 ATS)

3-5 in Sweet 16 games (3-5 ATS)
1-2 in Elite 8 games, 0-1 in national semifinals (2003, with Texas)

Breaking down his first round record, Barnes is 7-0 SU if a #3-seed or better, 8-12 if he isn’t.
Overall, he is 15-28-1 ATS as an NCAA Tournament favorite, 4-6 as an underdog.

— Indiana State is in the top 25 this week, for the first time since 1979, when Larry Bird played there.

— Duke 77, Wake Forest 69
Duke shot 63.3% inside the arc.
Teams combined to shoot 13-51 on the arc.
Duke has won 14 of its last 16 games.

— Texas Tech 79, Kansas 50
Tech was 10-26 on the arc, Kansas 3-16.
Jayhawks are 1-5 in Big X road games.
Kansas coach Self got ejected with about 6:00 left. 

— Charlotte 49ers named Aaron Fearne their full-time basketball coach, taking the interim tag off his title. Fearne was hired as interim coach last June, when Ron Sanchez quit as head coach to become an assistant at Virginia.

Charlotte is 15-8 this year, 9-2 in the AAC. Fearne has been at Charlotte for five years, after spending 17 years with the Cairns Taipans of the Australian Basketball League.

— A basketball hoop is exactly two basketballs wide.

— Only three weeks until the first college basketball conference tournament gets started.

— Spring training starts this week; never a bad thing. 

— There are two outdoor hockey games at Giants Stadium in New Jersey this weekend; Devils play Philadelphia Saturday night, Rangers-Islanders play Sunday afternoon.

— Monday was Abraham Lincoln’s 214th birthday; always enjoyed February 12 when I was working, since it was a day off. Happy birthday, sir. 

Chiefs 25, 49ers 22, OT
Second overtime game in Super Bowl history; Kyle Shanahan was the OC for Atlanta in the other overtime game, when the Falcons blew a 28-3 lead and lost to New England.

Chiefs’ first four drives: 15 plays, 89 yards, no points.
Chiefs’ last four drives: 37 plays, 224 yards, 15 points.

Chiefs are first team in 20 years to win back/back Super Bowls.

49ers were 0-6 this season when they scored less than 24 points.

Chiefs were 9-19 on third down, San Francisco 3-12.

Over the last 23 Super Bowls, #1-seeds are 2-10 when playing an opponent who wasn’t a #1-seed.

Mahomes threw for 333 yards, ran for 66 more; he is 89-25 SU as an NFL starter, 15-3 in playoff games.

AFC won seven of the last ten Super Bowls.

Underdogs are 9-4 ATS in last 13 Super Bowls.

This was the 15th Super Bowl with a scoreless first quarter.

There has never been a punt returned for a TD in a Super Bowl.

49ers’ WR Jauan Jennings joins Nick Foles as the only two players with a TD pass and a TD catch in a Super Bowl.

— Word of the Day: Pinnacle- the most successful point, the highest point of a person’s career.

Not to be confused with pinochle, a card game for 2+ players using a 48-card deck.

— Seattle Seahawks are hiring Ryan Grubb as their offensive coordinator; he was supposed to have that job at Alabama next season, but now that isn’t happening. Grubb is expected to being offensive line coach Scott Huff with him from Tuscaloosa.

— Tom Brady is expected to own 7% of the Las Vegas Raiders fairly soon; my calculator tells me that his share of the team will be worth $406M.

— Baseball Note of the Day: Tampa Bay Rays signed manager Kevin Cash, MLB’s longest-tenured manager, to a contract extension. Cash is 754-636 managing the small-market Rays, going 15-19 in playoff games.

— Movie of the Day: The Rainmaker (1997)- An underdog lawyer takes on a fraudulent insurance company; Matt Damon is the lawyer, Danny DeVito also works for the firm. Jon Voight is the opposing lawyer in a wrongful death suit; Danny Glover is the judge.

John Grisham is a great story teller; this movie is no exception.

— Here are the 11 Big East teams, and their national rankings, as far as the %age of their points they get on the foul line. Apparently there aren’t a lot of fouls called in Big East games. 

#85- DePaul
#88- Georgetown (#333 on 2-point shots)
#143- Seton Hall
#157- Xavier
#190- Villanova
#209- UConn
#214- Butler
#224- Providence
#300- St John’s
#345- Marquette
#347- Creighton (there are 362 teams in Division I)

Weird thing is, top two teams on the list are the two worst teams in the league.

— Georgia Tech has beaten both Duke/North Carolina in ACC games this season, but despite that, Yellow Jackets are 3-10 in the ACC- they beat Clemson in a double overtime game.

— Creighton is 4-1 ATS as a Big East road favorite; they’re 0-6 ATS as a home favorite.

— In his last five games, Virginia senior Jake Groves is 16-22 on 3-point shots.

— 17 of the top 25 teams in last week’s college basketball poll lost this week.

— Clemson G Joe Girard played in 125 games in his four years at Syracuse; had to be weird for him when the Tigers visited the Carrier Dome Saturday. Girard scored 18 points in Clemson’s 77-68 win Saturday.

This season, Girard is making 43.9% of his 3-point shots; Clemson is 16-7 and is likely headed to the NCAA’s for the first time since 2017, and third time since 2012.

— Referee Doug Shows’ itinerary so far this month:
2/1- Appalachian State @ Georgia State
2/2- St Bonaventure @ Dayton
2/3- Tennessee @ Kentucky
2/4- UAB @ Southern Methodist

2/6- Ole Miss @ South Carolina
2/7- Alabama @ Auburn
2/10- Mississippi State @ Missouri
2/11- UAB @ Tulsa

Shows worked eight games in the first 11 days of February; he’s in his 50’s. 

— Gonzaga 89, Kentucky 85
Kentucky has lost 3 in row at home, for first time since 1966.
Wildcats led by 6, with 12:30 left in game.
Zags shot 56% inside arc; this is a huge win for their NCAA resume.

— SEC
Alabama 109, LSU 92
Bama starts four seniors; they were 18-44 on the arc.
Crimson Tide has won 11 of its last 13 games.
This was a 78-possession game, NBA-level tempo. 

Florida 81, Auburn 65
Riley Kugel scored 22 points in 29:00; he didn’t start.
Gators have won five of their last six games.
Auburn never led; they were only 14-26 on foul line.

Texas A&M 85, Tennessee 69
Aggies were 11-28 on arc; for year, they’re shooting 27.2% on arc (#357)
A&M had 14 offensive rebounds; they’re #1 in country on offensive boards.

— Big East
Marquette 86, St John’s 75
There were 59 3-pointers taken in this game, only 15 foul shots
Tyler Kolek scored 27 points, dished out 13 assists.
St John’s led by 15 late in first half.
Marquette shot 59.4% inside arc, made 14-27 on the arc.

— Big X
Kansas 64, Baylor 61
Jayhawks star McCullar didn’t play.
Kansas was +13 (21-8) in turnovers, only won by 3.
Baylor was 8-26 on the arc, 11-20 inside the arc.

Houston 67, Cincinnati 62
Cincinnati led this game 32-29 at halftime.
J’Wan Roberts was 10-15 from floor; rest of Cougars were 17-54 (31.5%)
Houston has the best eFG% defense in the country.

— Pac-12
UCLA 61, California 60
UCLA won, despite shooting 36.2% from the floor.
Bruins won 7 of their last 8 games, after a 6-10 start.

— AAC
South Florida 69, Rice 65
Bulls made 12-27 shots on the arc.
USF has won nine in row, 15 of last 16 games.
Last 3 years, Bulls were 21-47 in AAC play; they’re 10-1 this year.

— Horizon League
Green Bay (+11.5) 84, Youngstown State 83
Green Bay made 14-29 on arc; they were down 8 early in 2nd half.
Green Bay is 12-2 in its last 14 games; last 3 years, they were 16-71.

— Upsets of the Day:
UNLV (+12.5) 80, New Mexico 77
Green Bay (+11.5) 84, Youngstown State 83
Arizona State (+11.5) 85, Utah 77
Cal-Riverside (+8.5) 88, Cal-Irvine 78
Buffalo (+8.5) 82, Georgia Southern 81 OT
Pepperdine (+7.5) 72, LMU 63
Tarleton State (+7.5) 82, Seattle 77
Kansas City (+6.5) 65, North Dakota 47
Canisius (+6.5) 73, Iona 69

— Baseball Note of the Day: Last year, Blake Snell was the first Cy Young Award winner in 64 years to lead the major leagues in walks allowed.

— Movie of the Day: The Big Short (2015)- In 2006-07, a group of investors bet against the United States mortgage market, because they discovered how flawed and corrupt the market is. They wound up making a lot of $$$.

Brad Pitt, Ryan Gosling, Steve Carell, Marisa Tomei, Christian Bale lead a stellar cast; the guy who wrote the book, Michael Lewis, is same guy who wrote Moneyball.

— Appalachian State 109, Toledo 104, 2OT
App State was down 9 with 2:19 left in regulation.
Four Toledo starters played 41:00+.
Sun Belt went 9-2 against the MAC in their inter-league challenge Saturday

— Yale 80, Cornell 78
Cornell led by 15 with 4:53 left in first half.
Yale was 21-27 on foul line, Cornell 8-11.
Both teams entered the day 6-0 in Ivy League games.

— UNLV 80, New Mexico 77
Rebels swept New Mexico this year, 83-73/80-77
UNLV won its last four games, after a 9-9 start.

— Cal-Riverside 88, Cal-Irvine 78
Ben Griscti, a 6-11 Australian, hit 6-10 on arc, scored 26 off bench.
Cal-Davis also lost, so Anteaters still lead Big West by a game.

— Vermont 72, UMBC 70
UMBC led this game 25-5 with 9:40 left in first half.
Vermont started week 8-0 in league, lost by hoop Thursday.
Catamounts’ win keeps them a game ahead of Bryant in America East.

— Lehigh 94, Lafayette 90, 2OT’s
Lafayette led 33-12 midway thru first half.
Lehigh was 28-33 on foul line, Lafayette 10-14
Lafayette is 9-3 in Patriot League, 1-12 in non-conference games. 

— Rutgers 78, Wisconsin 56
Scarlet Knights made 10-17 on the arc.
Wisconsin has lost four in a row, after a 16-4 start.
Badgers are 4-8 when they allow 72+ points, 12-0 when they allow less than 72.