Two Lists for Friday: List #1, wrapping up a great day of hoop

Thursday of Champ Week is the best basketball day of the year.
First two games on Thursday were #1-seeds getting upset in their tournaments.

Mid-American
Kent State 67, Toledo 59
Last four years, Toledo is 62-13 in MAC regular season games, but only 4-4 in MAC Tournament games. Rockets haven’t been to the NCAA’s since 1980.

Atlantic 15
St Joe’s 66, Richmond 61
Spiders led by 10 with 11:27 left in the game.
Hawks out-rebounded Richmond, 40-29.

Duquesne 65, Dayton 57
This is a disaster for bubble teams; Dayton is going to be in the NCAA’s, so now the winner of this tournament becomes a bid-stealer from a bubble team.

St Bonaventure 75, Loyola 74, 2OT
Bonnies were down 10, with 6:06 left in the game.
St Bonaventure won the last two days, by total of 3 points.
Daryl Banks scored 22 points in 42:00, and he didn’t start.

Coaches who win (South Carolina, Florida) get new contracts.

Coaches who don’t win enough lose their jobs; this is a tough week for that.
Fresno State
Oklahoma State
Rice
Saint Louis
Texas-San Antonio
Vanderbilt…….all these schools fired their coach in the last day or two.

ACC
NC State 74, Duke 69
12th-seed Wolfpack are first double-digit seed since 2010 to make the semi-finals of the ACC Tournament.
Last time Duke lost its first ACC Tourney game was 2013 (18-3 since 2003). 

Pitt 81, Wake Forest 69
Panthers have won 10 of their last 12 games.
Wake Forest went 4-6 in its last ten games.

Big East
St John’s 91, Seton Hall 72
Red Storm scored 1.32 points/possession; in their two losses to Seton Hall during the season, they scored 0.97/0.85 points/possession.

St John’s has won six in a row; their Selection Sunday will be stress-free.

Providence 78, Creighton 73
Friars held Creighton to 37.9% from the floor.
Bracketology suggests that Providence still needs a win Friday to make the NCAA’s.

Marquette 71, Villanova 65 OT
Loss figures to send Villanova to the NIT.
Wildcats shot 9-35 on the arc.

Big X
Iowa State 76, Kansas State 57
Iowa State was 24-40 inside arc, 1-14 on arc, 25-31 on foul line.
Cyclones were +14 in turnovers; they’ve won nine of their last 11 games. 

Mountain West
Both afternoon games went to overtime.
Utah State 87, Fresno State 75, OT
Aggies have won six games in a row, two of them in OT.
Utah State’s Great Osobar was 15-24 on the foul line; Fresno’s whole team was 11-14.

San Diego State 74, UNLV 71, OT
Aztecs have won nine in a row vs UNLV in the MW Tournament.
San Diego State out-rebounded UNLV, 50-31.
Aztecs survived shooting 6-23 on arc, 16-26 on foul line. 

SEC
Mississippi State 70, LSU 60

Bulldogs outscored LSU 48-31 in second half.
Miss State snaps a 4-game losing skid; they’re on right side of the bubble, for now.

Pac-12
Oregon 68, UCLA 66

UCLA’s last 26 games this season:
1-8 from December 9-January 11
8-1 from January 14-February 15
2-6 from February 18-today.

Arizona 70, USC 49- Because ESPN is ESPN, they have a story on the front page of their website about Bronny James’ NBA prospects. The kid started 6 of USC’s 33 games this season; let him progress at his own pace.

American
Wichita State 71, Memphis 65
Shockers shot 56.8% inside arc.
Penny Hardaway said Memphis would pass on playing in the NIT; in his six years coaching the Tigers, Memphis is 133-62, but only 1-2 in NCAA Tournament games. 

Big 14
Ohio State 90, Iowa 78
Buckeyes are 6-1 since they fired their coach; that coach, by the way, got hired Thursday by DePaul to be their new coach.

MAAC

Saint Peter’s 50, Rider 48
Teams combined to shoot 5-28 on the arc. No bueno.
Peacocks never trailed; they were up 14 at one point, hung on for dear life. 

Conference USA
Texas El-Paso 66, Liberty 57
Thursday would’ve been Don Haskins’ 94th birthday; he was UTEP’s coach when they won the 1966 national title. UTEP has won four games in a row, after starting out 4-9 in C-USA.

WAC
Tex-Arlington 109, Stephen F Austin 78
Mavericks have won seven games in a row; they led 48-27 at halftime.
Tex-Arlington made 19-40 shots on the arc.

Seattle 81, Cal Baptist 57
Seattle snaps a 3-game losing skid.
Redhawks made 12-23 shots on the arc. 

Big West
Hawai’i 75, Northridge 68
Rainbows won eight of their last ten games.

Long Beach State 86, Cal-Riverside 67
Long Beach snaps a 5-game losing skid.

— Oakland Griizlies have a player, Jack Gohlke, who this season has taken:
121-327 on 3-pointers (37%)
4-8 on 2-point shots
45-57 on foul shots (78.9%)

Turns out that Gohlke is a graduate student who played four years at D-II Hillsdale College, and wasn’t starting there until January 15 of his junior year. Hillsdale made the Elite 8 of the D-II tournament for the first time in 2022.

Shooting is marketable.

Friday’s Den #2: Some non-basketball thoughts……..

This den is about anything but basketball…….

— Saw something last week I haven’t seen in years; on Wolf Road, one of the main streets around here, a middle-aged guy was hitch-hiking, around 3:00 on a weekday afternoon.

Can’t remember the last time I saw a hitchhiker; kids today probably don’t even know what it is.

The world has become a stranger place. Giving total strangers a ride in your car seems like a potentially bad idea these days.

— NFL schedule makers probably scrambled to adjust their 2024 schedule when Russell Wilson went to the Steelers; Denver-Pittsburgh wouldn’t normally be a big primetime draw, but you have to think now that it’ll be a Sunday or Monday night game.

As far as Wilson’s departure goes, Denver will take a $53M cap hit this year, $32M in 2025

— There have been some free agents who jumped to divisional rivals; those games figure to get some attention on national TV this fall:

Eagles-Giants (Saquon Barkley)
Aaron Jones (Vikings-Packers)
Steelers-Ravens (Patrick Queen)
Dolphins-Bills (Jordan Poyer)

Also, Panthers-Buccaneers (Baker Mayfield)

— When he was coach of the Houston Texans, Boston College coach Bill O’Brien once told his team “…….welcome to the most competitive business in the world.” There is such a fine line between winning and losing, but some teams are smarter than others.

Take the Carolina Panthers…..in the past three years, they’ve traded/given away:
RB Christian McCaffrey
WR DJ Moore
EDGE Brian Burns

QB Baker Mayfield
Their first-round draft pick in 2023, 2024 AND 2025.
2nd round pick in 2023.

In return, they’ve gotten……
QB Bryce Young
LB DJ Johnson
Two 5th round picks
An extra year of Brian Burns, who they wound up trading away anyway.

In December, 2022, Carolina released Mayfield; their division rival Tampa Bay just gave Mayfield a 3-year contract worth $100M. Slight difference of opinion there.

— Over the last five seasons, Washington Commanders have started 10 different QB’s, the most of any NFL team during that time.

— After signing free-agent QB Kirk Cousins, Atlanta Falcons traded QB Desmond Ridder to Arizona, for WR Rondale Moore.

— NFL Network is going to show 30 or so Arena Football games this spring.

— NFL awarded compensatory draft picks for next month’s draft, 34 in all:
5- Rams, 49ers
4- Eagles
3- Saints, Packers, Jets
2- Jaguars, Cowboys, Bengals
1- Bills, Ravens, Chiefs, Bucs, Chargers

— Milwaukee Brewers’ closer Devin Williams is out for 10-12 weeks with a couple of stress fractures in his back.

— 1B/OF Adam Duvall signed with the Braves, for one year, $3M. Duvall hit .247 with 21 home runs last year for the Red Sox.

— It is March 15; Blake Snell, JD Martinez and Jordan Montgomery are still unsigned; those three players can’t be real happy.

— I’m an A’s fan; how about they pretend they’re trying to win and sign Trevor Bauer to a one-year deal? He can’t be very expensive, at this point, and if he did well for the A’s this year, he could make a whole lot of $$$ next year.

— Arizona doesn’t do Daylight Savings Time, so while spring training games start at 3:00 here in the east early in spring training, after the clocks spring ahead in most of the country, they start at 4:00 from that point on.

— Major League Baseball hasn’t expanded since 1998, when Arizona/Tampa Bay came aboard, but they’ll be going to 32 teams in the next few years. Would be smart if they scrapped the current American/National League set-up and went to geographic realignment.

— Los Angeles Angels’ TV guys were talking the other day how it’ll help their starting pitchers this season to be back in a 5-man rotations, something they never would’ve said last year, when they had a 6-man rotation, because Shohei Ohtani only pitches once a week.

— In case you were wondering, the last villain on the old Batman TV series as Zsa Zsa Gabor, who played Minerva; she then went on to co-star on Green Acres, one of my favorite TV shows when I was a kid.

— I’m off to Las Vegas next month for a vacation, which reminds me…….

In the movie Last Vegas, Morgan Freeman wins $87,000 playing blackjack at Aria.
In The Hangover, Zach Galifianakis wins $85,000 playing blackjack at Caeser’s Palace.

I’m looking forward to sitting down at a table and cashing in……..(ha!!!)

Thursday’s Den: Wrapping up a busy Wednesday

Big X
Cincinnati 72, Kansas 52
Playing without its two best players, Kansas shot 3-20 on the arc.
Jayhawks lost four of their last five games.

Kansas State 78, Texas 74
K-State was only team Wednesday that was outside the Field of 68, and beat a team that is (right now) in the Field of 68.

ACC
Boston College 76, Clemson 55
BC won decisively the last two nights, by 16-21 points.

Wake Forest 72, Notre Dame 59
Wake Forest-Pitt Thursday seems like an elimination game.

SEC
Arkansas 90, Vanderbilt 85 OT
Vandy led by 15 with 16:55 left in game.
Arkansas’ Khalif Battle was 13-14 on foul line.
Vandy’s whole team was 13-21 on foul line.

Big East
Xavier 76, Butler 72
Bulldogs lost six of their last eight games.
Subs in this game scored a combined total of only 5 points.

Pac-12
USC 80, Washington 74
USC is 14-12 when Collier plays, 1-5 when he doesn’t.
Trojans shot 56% inside the arc.

Big Sky
Montana State 85, Montana 70
Montana State was +12 in turnovers (15-3)
Bobcats win Big Sky tournament for third year in a row.
Favored Montana led 38-32 at halftime.

Patriot
Colgate 74, Lehigh 55
Raiders shot 74.3% inside the arc.
Colgate has won this league five of last six years.

Southland
McNeese State 92, Nicholls State 76
Cowboys are in NCAAs for first time since 2002.
McNeese has won 25 of its last 26 games- they won at VCU, UAB.

Big West
Cal-Riverside 83, Cal-Bakersfield 78
Bakersfield led 40-21 late in first half.
Riverside was 24-34 on foul line, Roadrunners 9-11.

MAAC
Fairfield 68, Iona 63
Gaels had won six of previous eight MAAC tournaments.
Fairfield started season 1-6, is 20-5 since then.

— Only two teams have won 25+ games the last four years:
Houston and………..the Drake Bulldogs.

— Good news/bad news for Marquette basketball:
Marquette coach Shaka Smart is 22-9 SU in conference tournament games.
Marquette’s star G Tyler Kolek (oblique) isn’t playing this week, so they’re a long shot to win the Big East tournament this year.

Famous birthdays for March 14:
Michael Caine, 91
Billy Crystal, 76
Dave McKay, 74
Larry Johnson, 55
Corey Stoll, 48
Steph Curry, 36

Albert Einstein was born on this day, 145 years ago.

— Knicks are first NBA team since 2012 to hold three straight opponents under 80 points.

— A #5-seed has never won the NCAA Tournament:
#4’s- UConn 2023, Arizona 1997
#6’s- Kansas, 1988
#7’s- UConn 2014
#8’s- Villanova, 1985

— 14 conference tournaments are finished; here are the winners, by seeds:
#1-seeds- 7
#2’s- 3
#3’s- 1 (Morehead State, OVC)
#5’s- 2 (Longwood Big South, Montana State Big Sky)
#6’s- 1 (Wagner, NEC)

Word of the Day: Integrity- being honest and having strong moral principles.

Baseball stuff……
— White Sox traded P Dylan Cease to San Diego, for three prospects and another player.

— Bronx ace Gerrit Cole has an elbow issue, is out at least 1-2 months.

— With all the pitching injuries, I’m surprised an older pitcher or two hasn’t tried to become a knuckleball pitcher, to prolong his big league career.

Tim Wakefield, RA Dickey are the most recent pitchers who had success with the knuckler; Matt Waldron of the Padres dabbles with it these days.

NFL stuff…….

— backup QB happenings……..
Jets signed Tyrod Taylor
Colts signed Joe Flacco
Titans signed Mason Rudolph
Bears signed Brett Rypien

— Tennessee also signed WR Calvin Ridley, for four years, $92M.

— Chargers released WR Mike Williams, saving $20M on the salary cap. Williams was a Charger for seven years, catching 309 passes for 4,806 yards and 31 TD’s.

— Washington signed LB Bobby Wagner for one year, $8.5M ($6M guaranteed). 

— Rams signed CB Darious Williams, who helped LA win a Super Bowl three years ago, before going off to Jacksonville. 

Wednesday’s Den: Mid-week musings……..

WCC
Saint Mary’s 69, Gonzaga 60
Gaels win WCC tournament for first time since 2019.

How did Saint Mary’s do in NCAA’s, after winning WCC title?
2010- #10-seed, made Sweet 16, lost 72-49 to Baylor in Sweet 16.
2012- #7-seed, lost 72-69 (-2) to Purdue in first round.
2019- #11-seed, lost 61-57 (+4) in first round, to Villanova

Horizon
Oakland 83, Milwaukee 76
Grizzlies win Horizon title for first time.
Last time Oakland made NCAA’s was 2011; they were in Summit League then. 

Oakland is 17-3 in its last 20 games, after a 6-8 start.

Summit
South Dakota State 76, Denver 68
Jackrabbits are in NCAA’s for 7th time in last 13 years.
South Dakota State has won eight games in a row.
Opponents get 40.8% of their points on 3’s, the most against anyone in country.

CAA
Charleston 82, Stony Brook 79 OT
Charleston has won 12 games in a row, 2 CAA titles in a row.
Cougars won, after blowing a 10-point second half lead.
Good shooting: Charleston was 13-30 on arc, Stony Brook 15-35.

NEC
Wagner 54, Merrimack 47
Seahawks win NEC title, after losing 4 of last 5 regular season games.
Wagner is in the NCAA’s for first time since 2003, when Dereck Whittenberg was coach.

Atlantic 15
Saint Louis 74, Rhode Island 71
URI led 64-59 with 5:47 left in the game.
Billikens advance to play Duquesne tomorrow.

Big X
Cincinnati 90, West Virginia 85
Bearcats trailed 64-48 with 11:45 left in game.
Cincinnati advances to play banged-up Kansas tomorrow.

Famous birthdays for March 13:
William H Macy, 74
Dana Delany, 68
Will Clark, 60
Johan Santana, 45
Trent Dilfer, 52
Caron Butler, 44
Coco Gauff, 20

— College basketball coaching carousel:
Coastal Carolina hired Western Carolina coach Justin Gray.
Hampton fired Edward Joyner; they went 17-48/8-28 in two years in the CAA
Louisville is going to fire Kenny Payne, after going 12-52 the last two years.
Missouri State fired Dana Ford; Bears were over .500 the last four years.

— One of Colgate’s subs is the son of former NBA coach PJ Carlesimo.

— Stetson coach Donnie Jones is in the NCAA’s for first time in his 14 years as a head coach, but Jones was an assistant at Florida when they won back-to-back national titles in 2006/2007.

Word of the Day: Enthusiasm- a feeling of excitement, passion for something.

NFL knowledge…….
— New England signed QB Jacoby Brissett to a 1-year deal, with base salary of $8M. This suggests that the Patriots will draft a QB, and Brissett will start the rookie is ready to roll. 

— Minnesota signed QB Sam Darnold to a one-year deal; he’s already played for three teams in his first six NFL seasons. Vikings will be his 4th team. Darnold is 21-35 as an NFL starter.

Vikings also signed RB Aaron Jones for one year, $7M.

— Baltimore Ravens signed RB Derrick Henry to a 2-year, $16M deal.

— Bengals traded RB Joe Mixon to Houston, saving $6.1M on the salary cap.

— Cleveland Browns signed QB James Winston.

— Washington Commanders signed QB Marcus Mariota.

— Underdogs were 11-6 ATS in Tuesday’s college basketball tournament games; they have a 72-62 lead ATS in conference tournaments this month. 

Tuesday’s Den: Nobody asked me, but……

— It is March 12 and the NFL is in the headlines, with free agency starting. NFL is genius at promoting their sport, unlike baseball, which does a terrible job giving their sport exposure.

Friday afternoon, Bronx-Toronto game is on MLB Network, but the game is blacked out on DirecTV, at the bar where I’m having lunch. Game must be on the YES Network, right? 

Ummm…..no. Game couldn’t be found anywhere. Why?!?!?

1) baseball needs exposure, so people can see what a great game it is.
2) baseball needs to promote its stars (Judge, Guerrero, Soto, Bichette in this game)
3) There was nothing else good on TV Friday afternoon; you had a captive audience!!!
4) Stop with the blackouts; your sport needs exposure!!!

Oy.

An explanation I read Monday: the salary cap creates a buzz for signing earlier in the free agent process. Baseball has no salary cap, thus less urgency to get deals done early in the off-season.

Lot of stuff actually happened Monday; here are some highlights:

— Atlanta Falcons gave Kirk Cousins a 4-year, $180M contract; Cousins tore his achilles last year; he is 77-70 record as an NFL starter, 1-3 in playoff games.

Baltimore Ravens re-signed DL Justin Madubuike for four years, $98M.

Carolina Panthers traded DE Brian Burns to the Giants for 2nd/5th round picks; Giants then paid Burns $150M for five years.

New Jersey Jets gave K Greg Zuerlein a 2-year, $8.4M contract.

Philadelphia Eagles gave RB Saquon Barkley a 3-year, $37.75M contract. 

Las Vegas Raiders gave DL Christian Wilkins $110M for four years.
Raiders also gave QB Gardner Minshew a 2-year, $25M contract.

Washington Commanders gave RB Austin Ekeler a 2-year, $11.4M deal.
Commanders also gave C Tyler Biadasz a 3-year, $30M contract.
Commanders gave K Brandon McManus a one-year, $3.6M deal.
Washington was $91.5M under the salary cap, so they’re going to be aggressive.

Green Bay Packers gave RB Josh Jacobs a 4-year, $48M deal.

Good day for offensive linemen:
LA Rams gave G Jonah Jackson a 3-year, $51M contract.

Carolina Panthers gave G Robert Hunt a 5-year, $100M deal.

Famous birthdays for March 12:
Jake Kupp, 83 (played OL for Saints; Cooper Kupp’s grandfather)
Liza Minelli, 78
James Taylor, 76
Mark Moseley, 76
Dale Murphy, 68
Darryl Strawberry, 62
Aaron Eckhart, 56

— Cy Young champ Gerrit Cole will have an MRI on his pitching elbow; he threw 39 pitches in a game March 1st, hasn’t appeared in game since.

Good news for fans of Blake Snell, Jordan Montgomery, two free agent pitchers who still don’t have a home for the coming season, which starts next week.

JD Martinez, Adam Duvall, Michael Lorenzen, Tommy Pham are also still available.

— San Francisco Giants signed 3B Matt Chapman last week, then they waived 3B JD Davis, after he beat the Giants last month in salary arbitration. Davis will get just over $1.1M in termination pay rather than a $6.9M salary. Whoops.

— 1B Joey Votto signed on with Toronto, after playing 17 years for the Reds. Votto was born and raised in Toronto.

— Red Sox gave P Brayan Bello a 6-year deal worth $55M.

Word of the Day: Shenanigans- secret, dishonest activity; mischief, trickery.

— Something to think about this week: over the last 12 NCAA Tournaments, the 48 teams who made the Final Four went 44-4 in their first conference tournament game, 33-11 in their second conference tournament game.

Overall, 22 of the last 48 Final Four teams won their conference tournament.

— Kansas Jayhawks’ two best players are banged up, won’t play in the Big X tournament this weekend in Kansas City.

Hunter Dickinson dislocated his shoulder over the weekend.
Kevin McCullar has a nagging bone bruise that has bothered him for weeks.

Sun Belt
James Madison 91, Arkansas State 71
Dukes have won 13 in a row; they get to the NCAAs for first time since 2013.
Playing for third night in a row, Dukes made 11-19 on the arc.

SoCon
Samford 76, East Tennessee State 69
Samford gets to the NCAA’s for first time since 2000.
Bulldogs are 29-5, playing tempo #14; they’re shooting 39.3% on arc (#7)

CAA
Charleston 61, Towson 56
Charleston had a 13-1 run over final 3:13 of the game.
Cougars won their last 11 games.

Stony Brook 63, Hofstra 59
#7-seed Seawolves were an 8.5-point underdog.
Their three games with local rival Hofstra (1-2) were decided by 6-1-4 points.

Horizon
Oakland 74, Cleveland State 71
Jack Gohlke was 7-14 on arc, scored 21 points off bench.
For season, Gohlke is 116-315 on 3-point shots, 4-8 on 2-point shots. 

Milwaukee 82, Northern Kentucky 75
Northern Kentucky led by 15 points in first half.
Milwaukee out-rebounded the Norse, 50-28.
Panthers won their last six games.

Summit
South Dakota State 59, St Thomas 49
Only 59 possessions in this game; very slow pace.
Jackrabbits have won seven games in a row.
St Thomas finishes 20-13, in their 3rd season as a Division I team.

Denver 66, Omaha 63
Omaha led by 4 with 6:50 left in the game.
Pioneers survived going 8-17 on foul line.

Big Sky
Montana State 91, Weber State 82
MSU outscored Weber State 66-48 in second half.
Bobcats made 13-27 shots on the arc.
Bobcats were an 8.5-point underdog.

Montana 87, Portland State 81
Teams were tied with 14:33 left in the game.
Montana starts five seniors; they’ve got #34 eFG% in country.

Final Four of the Big Sky had the #’s 3-5-8-10 seeds.

WCC
Saint Mary’s 79, Santa Clara 65
Gaels shot 65.6% inside the arc.
Alex Ducas shot 7-11 on the arc for Saint Mary’s.

Gonzaga 89, San Francisco 77
Zags have won nine in a row, 14 of last 15 games.
Zags’ last seven wins were all by 12+ points.

For 12th time in last 16 years, WCC tournament final is Saint Mary’s-Gonzaga.

— Underdogs were 8-6 ATS in Monday’s tournament games; they have a 61-56 lead ATS in conference tournaments this month. 

Two Dens for Monday; Den #1, wrapping up a sports Sunday

Lot of stuff going on these days…….
Southern Conference
East Tennessee State 85, Chattanooga 84 OT
#7-seed ETSU was down 20 with 14:18 left, down 7 with 1:28 left.

#3-seed Chattanooga lost despite going 30-40 on the foul line. 
East Tennessee plays #1-seed Samford for the SoCon title Monday.

Arch Madness
Drake 84, Indiana State 80
Drake outscored ISU 10-4 over the last 3:34 of the game to win the MVC title.
Tucker DeVries, the coach’s son, led Drake with 27 points.

American Sun
Stetson 94, Austin Peay 91
Hatters scored 1.31 points/possession, are going to NCAA’s for first time.
Jalen Blackmon scored 43 points, was 14-17 on foul line.

Sun Belt
Arkansas State 67, Appalachian State 65
Top-seeded App State survived in OT Saturday, got ousted here.
Arkansas State has won 8 of last 9 games; they only played 7 guys in this game.

James Madison 73, Texas State 68
Dukes have won 12 games in a row, are 30-3 this season.
Texas State was playing its 4th game this week, JMU only its second.

Big Sky
Idaho State 83, Northern Colorado 76
#8-seed Bengals went 7-11 in Big Sky, but are in the semi-finals now.
Last time Idaho State won two games in a Big Sky Tournament was 1987, when they won the tournament as a #7-seed. Back then, Walk Like an Egyptian was the #1 song.

Sacramento State 74, Eastern Washington 69
#1-seed EWU goes down here; Eagles shot only 6-26 on the arc.
Since 2003, Sac State is 0-7 in their 2nd Big Sky tourney game of a season.

Both #1/#2 seeds lose; the Big Sky champ is likely headed to Dayton, for a play-in game.

Big South
Longwood 85, NC-Asheville 59
Lancers make NCAA’s for second time in three years.

Patriot League
Lehigh 84, Boston U 79 OT
#6-seed Lehigh was down 46-25 late in first half.
Both teams shot under 40% inside the arc, over 40% on the arc.

Baseball Note of the Day: Kyle Schwarber’s over/under for home runs this year: 38.5

Word of the Day: Shrinkflation- When stores charge you the same amount for a product, but they make the product smaller, to increase their profits.

— New England Patriots traded QB Mac Jones to the Jaguars, for a 6th round draft pick. Jones went 18-25 as the Patriots’ QB. He’ll be Trevor Lawrence’s backup in Jacksonville.

— Tampa Bay Buccaneers gave QB Baker Mayfield a 3-year deal worth $100M, $50M of it guaranteed. Mayfield has a 42-48 record as an NFL QB, 9-8 with the Bucs this past year.

— As I type this, the Interweb is telling me that the Pittsburgh Steelers are going to sign QB Russell Wilson to a one-year deal. Steelers will pay him $1.21M, Denver picks up the other $37.79M that he is owed next season.

— Denver Broncos traded WR Jerry Jeudy to Cleveland, for 5th/6th round draft picks. Jeudy caught 54 passes this past season, for 758 yards and two TD’s. He played for Denver for four seasons, catching 211 passes for 3,053 yards, 11 TD’s.

— With the Pac-12 disappearing after this year, that means one less automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, starting next season. The greedy morons who run college sports better not ruin March Madness, one of the most fun events every year.

— Arkansas Razorbacks are 15-16 this year, their worst season since 2010, but they’ve tried a lot of different things. 31 games, 17 different starting lineups. Unusual.

— Dayton Flyers have sold out their last 59 home games, which helps explain why they host the First Four games every March. People in Dayton love their basketball.

— Favorites went 18-9 ATS in conference tournament games Saturday, only 5-14 Sunday. Right now, underdogs have a slim 53-50 lead ATS in conference tournaments. 

Monday’s #2 Den: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not with Champ Week here…..

This is just straight up wins/losses the last few weeks……
ACC
Hot:
North Carolina won its last six games.
Pitt 9-2 in last 11 games.
Duke 8-2 in last ten games.
Syracuse 4-1 in last five games.

Not:
Miami lost last nine games.
Louisville lost last seven games.
NC State lost last four games.

American
Hot:
South Florida 15-1 in last sixteen games.
FAU 13-3 in last sixteen games.
Memphis 4-1 in last five games.

Not:
East Carolina lost its last five games.
Rice lost its last four games. 
Tulane lost seven of last eight games.
SMU lost three of last four games.

Atlantic 10
Hot:
Loyola won 10 of last 11 games.
Richmond won six of last seven games.
Duquesne won six of last seven games.
UMass won four of last five games.

Not:
Davidson lost its last five games.
VCU lost its last three games.
George Washington lost 13 of last 14 games.
Rhode Island lost seven of last eight games.
Fordham lost seven of last nine games.

Big East
Hot:
UConn won 18 of last 19 games.
Creighton won seven of last eight games.
St John’s won its last five games.

Not:
DePaul lost its last 19 games.
Georgetown lost 15 of last 16 games.
Xavier lost six of last eight games.
Providence lost three of last four games. 

Big 14
Hot:
Purdue 14-1 last 15 games.
Indiana won its last four games.
Ohio State won its last four games.
Nebraska 6-1 last seven games.
Illinois 4-1 last five games. 

Not:
Michigan lost its last eight games.
Maryland 2-8 last 10 games.
Wisconsin 3-7 last 10 games.
Rutgers 1-6 last seven games.
Michigan State 1-4 last five games.
Minnesota 1-4 last five games.

Big X
Hot:
Houston won its last nine games.
Iowa State 8-2 in last ten games.

Not:
Oklahoma State lost its last five games.
West Virginia lost nine of last ten games.
Kansas lost three of last four games.
Oklahoma lost five of last seven games.
TCU lost four of last six games.

Big West
Hot:
Cal-Irvine 6-1 in last seven games.
Cal-Davis 4-1 in last five games.
Hawai’i 7-2 in last nine games.
Cal-Riverside 7-2 in last nine games.

Not:
Long Beach State lost its last five games.
Cal-Santa Barbara 3-6 in last nine games.
Cal-Northridge 1-5 in last six games.

Conference USA
Hot:
Sam Houston won its last seven games.
Louisiana Tech 6-1 in last seven games.
Texas-El Paso won its last three games.

Not:
Western Kentucky lost its last four games.
Jacksonville State lost five of last seven games.

MAAC
Hot:
Rider won its last seven games.
Quinnipiac won its last four games.
Fairfield 8-2 in last ten games.

Not:
Niagara 1-4 in last five games.
Iona lost five of last seven games.
Mt St Mary’s lost five of last seven games.
Siena lost 14 of last 15 games. 

MAC
Hot:
Ohio U won its last six games.
Toledo won its last three games.
Central Michigan 7-4 last 11 games (4 of 7 wins in OT)

Not:
Akron 3-5 in last eight games.
Ball State 3-6 in last nine games.

Mountain West
Hot:
Nevada won its last seven games.
Utah State won its last five games.
UNLV 10-2 in last 12 games.
Boise State 6-1 last seven games.

Not:
Fresno State lost last seven games.
San Jose State lost 13 of last 14 games.
Air Force lost 19 of last 21 games.
New Mexico 4-6 last 10 games.

Pac-12
Hot:
Colorado won its last six games.
Arizona 10-2 last 12 games.
Washington State 9-2 last 11 games.
USC 4-1 last five games.

Not:
UCLA 1-5 in last six games.
Utah 4-8 in last 12 games.
Stanford 1-6 in last seven games.
Arizona State 3-10 in last 13 games.
Oregon State 2-9 last 11 games. 

SEC
Hot:
Tennessee 7-1 last eight games.
Kentucky 7-1 last eight games.
Auburn 4-1 last five games.
South Carolina 4-1 last five games.

Not:
Missouri went 0-18 in the SEC this year.
Mississippi State lost last four games.
Georgia 2-10 last 12 games.
Ole Miss 2-8 last 10 games.

WAC
Hot:
Texas-Arlington won its last six games.
Tarleton State 11-1 last 12 games.
Grand Canyon 10-2 last 12 games.
Utah Valley 7-1 last eight games.
Abilene Christian 7-1 last eight games.

Not:
Seattle lost its last three games.
Cal Baptist 1-8 last nine games. 

Sunday’s Den: Wrapping up a full day of basketball…….

Ohio Valley
Morehead State 69, Little Rock 55
#3-seed Eagles win OVC tourney, are first team in the Field of 68.

SEC
It was an upsetting day in the SEC…….
Kentucky 85, Tennessee 81
Sheppard was 7-11 on arc, scored 27 points in 33:00 off bench.
Tennessee’s 7-game win streak ends.

Vanderbilt 79, Florida 78
Vandy had 20 offensive rebounds.
Gators led by 12 late in first half.
Florida split its last six games.

South Carolina 93, Mississippi State 89 OT
Carolina is 13-5 in SEC; previous three years, they were 17-35.
Bubble team Bulldogs picked lousy time to lose four games in a row.

Tennessee won regular season title; four teams tied for 2nd.

ACC
North Carolina 84, Duke 79
Tar Heels jumped out to a 30-15 lead, then held on for dear life 

UNC took 47 2-point shots, only 15 3-pointers, an old-school approach.

Cormac Ryan scored 31; he was 6-8 on the arc. He has an interesting history:
2018-19- Stanford
2020-23- Notre Dame
2023-24- North Carolina

Shooting is marketable.

Big X
Houston 76, Kansas 46
Not just an ugly loss; Kansas big man Dickinson hurt his shoulder.
Jayhawks are 4-5 in their last nine games.
Kansas is #333 in bench minutes, and they have injury issues.

Central Florida 79, TCU 77
Horned Frogs are 2-4 in last six games, are going to be close to the bubble.

Houston won its last nine games, won Big X by two games in its first year there. 

Southern Conference
Furman 79, Western Carolina 76, OT
Pegues was 6-11 on arc, scored 29 points.
Paladins were +7 in turnovers (13-6)

East Tennessee State 73, NC-Greensboro 62
ETSU was 12-24 on arc; for year, they’re shooting 31.3% on arc (#308)

Semi-finals Sunday: Samford-Furman, ETSU-Chattanooga.

Mountain West
Utah State 87, New Mexico 85
Lobos are 4-6 in their last ten games, may be slipping off the bubble.

Nevada 75, UNLV 65
Wolf Pack has won seven games in a row.
UNLV is 10-2 in its last 12 games; they’re 19-11, but they’re going to have to win the Mountain West tournament to make the Field of 68.

Utah State is the #1-seed in the Mountain West tournament, Nevada is #2, Boise State #3.

Big East
Creighton 69, Villanova 67
Creighton led this game 32-8 early on.
Bluejays won seven of their last eight games.
There were a total of 7 foul shots in this game, the whole game.

Villanova is 17-14, 10-10 in Big East, 2-3 in last five games; they’re a bubble team. I’d much rather see the Drake-Indiana State loser make the NCAA’s instead of this mediocre team.

Pac-12
USC 78, Arizona 63
Just 2nd loss in last 12 games for Arizona, but I’m a skeptic on their NCAA chances.

USC won five of last seven games; they’re pretty good with Collier in lineup.

Upsets of the Day:
Saint Louis (+11.5) 73, St Bonaventure 65
Brown (+11.5) 84, Yale 81 OT
Vanderbilt (+9.5) 79, Florida 78
Central Florida (+8.5) 79, TCU 77
Kentucky (+7.5) 85, Tennessee 81
Rhode Island (+7.5) 58, Fordham 50
USC (+7.5) 78, Arizona 63
Texas State (+6.5) 74, Troy State 68
East Tennessee State (+6.5) 73, NC-Greensboro 62

Missouri Valley
Indiana State 94, Northern Iowa 72
Sycamores made 15-29 on arc, had stress-free win.
Indiana State won 15 of its last 17 games.

Drake 72, Bradley 67
Bradley led 23-9 early on; it was 38-38 at the half.
Drake made 11-24 shots on the arc. 

Indiana State/Drake play for MVC title Sunday; it looks like it is winner-take-all. Bracketology doesn’t see the MVC getting two teams in the NCAA’s.

Big South
Longwood 80, High Point 79 OT
Top-seeded High Point loses, after leading by 15 with 12:28 left in game.
Longwood went 6-10 in Big South this year, but they play NC-Asheville in Sunday’s final.

Ivy League
Brown 84, Yale 81 OT
Yale led by 11 with 4:12 left in game. 

Both teams shot 10-25 on the arc.
Brown has won six in a row; they don’t start any seniors, so they should be good again next year.

MAAC
Fairfield 96, Mt St Mary’s 92
Mt St Mary’s led 54-38 at halftime.
Stags won eight of last ten games; they’re #2-seed in the MAAC tournament.
Fairfield was 21-22 on foul line, Mt St Mary’s 7-11.

CAA
All four favorites won Saturday; William & Mary (+11.5) was only underdog that covered and they covered by half a point.

American
Tulsa 76, South Florida 70
Bulls had won 15 games in a row; their last loss was January 7 at UAB.
USF is 23-6, but Bracketology doesn’t have them in the Field of 68. 

Saturday’s Den: Conference tournament trends…….

Some conference tournament trends……..
ACC
Last five ACC tournaments, four different teams have won the tournament; Duke won it in 2019 and last year. Since 2017, they’re 15-2 in ACC tourney games.

North Carolina hasn’t won an ACC tournament since 2016; in two years under Hubert Davis, they went WL in both ACC tournaments.

Since joining the ACC, Syracuse is 5-8 in conference tournament games.

Atlantic 15
Winners of last seven A-15 tournaments:
2016- St Joe’s (13-5, 4th)
2017- Rhode Island (13-5, T3)
2018- Davidson (13-5, 3rd)
2019- Saint Louis (10-8, T6th)
2020- COVID year
2021- St Bonaventure (11-7, T5)
2022- Richmond (10-8, 6th)
2023- VCU (15-3, 1st)

Big 14
Winners of last five Big 14 tournaments:
2018- Michigan (13-5, T4th)
2019- Michigan State (16-4, T1st)
2020- COVID year
2021- Illinois (16-4, 2nd)
2022- Iowa (12-8, T4th)
2023- Purdue (15-5, 1st)

Big X
Since 2013……
Kansas has won four Big X tournaments.
Iowa State has won four Big X tournaments.
Texas has won two Big X tournaments.

Thats it, those three teams are only champs in last 11 years.

Big East
Winners of last three Big East tournaments:
2021- Georgetown (7-9, 8th)
2022- Villanova (16-4, 2nd)
2023- Marquette (17-3, 1st)

From 2015-19, Villanova won the tournament 4 of 5 years, so they’ve won 5 of last 8 Big East tournaments, overall, but those were all with Jay Wright as coach.

Big Sky
#1-seed won 10 of last 12 Big Sky tournaments; #2-seed won the other two. 

Montana State won the tournament the last two years.

Big West
First place team won three of last four Big West tournaments
Last eight Big West tourney champs:
2015- Cal-Irvine (11-5, T2nd)
2016- Hawai’i (13-3, T1st)
2017- Cal-Davis (11-5, 2nd)
2018- Cal-Fullerton (10-6, 4th)
2019- Cal-Irvine (15-1, 1st)
2020- COVID year
2021- Cal-Santa Barbara (13-3, 1st)
2022- Cal-Fullerton (11-4, 2nd)
2023- Cal-Santa Barbara (15-5, T1st)

CAA
Winners of last five Big 14 tournaments:
2019- Northeastern (14-4, 2nd)
2020- Hofstra (14-4, 1st)
2021- Drexel (4-5, 6th)
2022- Delaware (10-8, T4th)
2023- Charleston (16-2, T1st)

Word of the Day: bamboozle- to fool or cheat someone.

— Stetson 88, Jacksonville 87 (Thursday night)
Hatters trailed by 10 with 4:53 left in the game.
Stetson made 13-22 on the arc, scored 1.38 points/possession.
Last year (17-14) was Stetson’s first winning season since 2001.
21-12 Hatters play Austin Peay for A-Sun title Sunday afternoon.

— Washington Huskies fired basketball coach Mike Hopkins; Huskies made the NCAA’s once in his seven years coaching there. Washington was 62-72 in Pac-12 games under Hopkins, who also spent 22 years as an assistant coach at Syracuse.

Hopkins was under contract at Washington thru next season, so he will bank $3.1M on his way out the door.

— Southern Illinois fired basketball coach Bryan Mullins, despite going 23-10/19-13 the last two years (25-15 in MVC games). At some of these mid-major schools, you don’t make the NCAA’s, they tell you to take a hike. Salukis haven’t been in the Big Dance since 2007.

Famous birthdays on March 9th:
Bert Campaneris, 82
Dennis Harrah, 71
Linda Fiorentino, 64
Brian Bosworth, 59
Aaron Boone, 51
Matt Barnes, 44

Saturday would’ve been the 81st birthday for Bobby Fischer, the great chess master.

MAAC
Iona won six of last seven MAAC tournaments; Saint Peter’s won the other one two years ago, and they wound up in the Elite 8 in the NCAA’s.

MAC
Winners of last five MAC tournaments:
2019- Buffalo (16-2, 1st)
2020- COVID year
2021- Ohio U (9-5, 4th)
2022- Akron (14-6, T3rd)
2023- Kent State (15-3, and)

Mountain West
San Diego State played in MW tournament final the last six years, going 3-3; Utah State beat the Aztecs in two MW finals, Boise State won the other one.

#1-seed won last three Mountain West tournaments.

Pac-12
Arizona won four of last six Pac-12 tournaments. Oregon/Oregon State won the other two.

UCLA hasn’t won the Pac-12 tournament since 2014.

This is the last year of the Pac-12; Oregon State/Washington State got left behind by the rest of the league, for $$$ reasons.

SEC
Winners of last five SEC tournaments:
2018- Kentucky (10-8, T4th)
2019- Auburn (11-7, T$th)
2020- COVID year
2021- Alabama (16-2, 1st)
2022- Tennessee (14-4, T2nd)
2023- Alabama (16-2, 1st)

Southern
Last nine SoCon tournaments were won by a #1-seed (2 of the 9 were tied for 1st)

Summit League
since 2012…….
South Dakota State has won six Summit tournaments
North Dakota State has won four Summit tournaments
Oral Roberts has won two Summit tournaments, but Max Abmas plays for Texas now.

WCC
since 2004, Gonzaga is 41-4 in the WCC Tournament.
since 2010, Saint Mary’s is 19-12 (3-9 against Gonzaga).

Last time someone other than Gonzaga/Saint Mary’s won the WCC Tournament was 2008, when #3-seed San Diego won.

Two Dens for Friday: Den #1, wrapping up a busy Thursday

Horizon League
Three of the four higher seeds got upset Thursday:
Oakland 75, Fort Wayne 65- Grizzlies were only top seed to advance.

Northern Kentucky 99, Wright State 97 OT
Wright State led by 17 in first half.
Wright State led by 3 with 0:04.4 left, fouled intentionally, but NKU got the rebound and scored at the buzzer to force overtime.
Over was 23-7 in Wright State games this season.

Cleveland State 82, Youngstown State 70
Penguins were only 5-31 on the arc.
Youngstown was favored by 10.5 points.

Milwaukee 95, Green Bay 84
Panthers shot 59.6% inside arc, were 27-35 on foul line.
Green Bay lost five of last six games, after a 17-9 start.
Green Bay is 18-14, after going 16-71 the last three years, but this one hurts.

Semi-finals in Horizon aren’t until Monday, so the survivors get to rest up.

Missouri Valley
Ill-Chicago 84, Southern Illinois 82, 2OTs
#11-seed UIC blew a 41-27 halftime lead, but pulls a big upset here.
Three Flames played 46:00+; they play #3-seed Bradley Friday. 

West Coast
Pepperdine 102, Pacific 43
Waves led this game 56-9 at halftime, 56. to. 9.
Both coaches in this game have been fired, although Pepperdine coach Romar is finishing the season.

Pac-12
Arizona 88, UCLA 65
Last time these teams will play as conference rivals.
Arizona led 44-27 at the half; they’ve won 10 of their last 11 games.
UCLA lost its last five games; they’ve got the #333 eFG% in country.

Very difficult for me to process that the Pac-12 won’t exist after this season. The greedy, over-educated morons who run college sports are killing the Golden Goose.

Colorado 79, Oregon 75
Ducks ran out to an early 18-6 lead.
Colorado has won five in a row; they start four seniors. Hmmm..……

Big West
Cal-Irvine 82, Cal Poly 68- Anteaters clinch the regular season title.

UCSB 76, Long Beach State 74- Long Beach shot 5-19 on the arc, 13-22 on the line and lost by a basket, at home; they’ve lost four games in a row.

Movie of the Day: The Great Santini (1979)- A Marine pilot who is aggressively competitive moves his family to South Carolina, where his teenage son struggles to win his approval.

Robert Duvall plays the father, Michael O’Keefe the son, Blythe Danner the mother; Duvall’s character is cringeworthy.; this movie is disturbing in more ways than one, but it is a good movie.

This movie was made in 1979; Michael O’Keefe’s next acting job was the next year, playing Danny Noonan in the classic movie Caddyshack. Two very different movies.

— Last three years, a #15-seed has upset a #2-seed in the first round- #2-seeds are 9-3 the last three years; in the 41 years before that, #2-seeds were 157-7 in the first round

— Under is 15-2 in Milwaukee games since Doc Rivers became the Bucks’ coach.

— Two NFL teams that have never picked first in an NFL Draft:
Denver Broncos, Seattle Seahawks……Baltimore Ravens haven’t either, but they did back when they were in Cleveland, the original Cleveland Browns.

Famous birthdays on March 8th:
Dick Allen, 72
Jim Rice, 71
Kenny Smith, 59
Hines Ward, 48
James Van Der Beek, 47

— Detroit Mercy fired basketball coach Mike Davis Thursday, after a 1-31 disaster of a season; 22 years ago, Davis’ Indiana team lost the national title game to Maryland.

Davis has been a head coach for 24 years; coached the Hoosiers for six years, UAB for six years, Texas Southern for six more (he made the NCAA’s four times there), and then the last six for the Titans.

— New Mexico has a 6-5 guard, Jemarl Baker, who has had an interesting career:
2018-19- Kentucky
2019-21- Arizona
2021-23- Fresno State
2023-24- New Mexico

He already has two college degrees, including a Masters Degree. Some day he will write a very interesting book.

— In 2018, Virginia became the first #1-seed to lose a first round NCAA Tourney game; the next year, they won the national title.

Last year, Purdue became the 2nd #1-seed to lose a first round NCAA Tourney game; think they can match Virginia and win a national title the next year?

Big 14 hasn’t won a national title since Michigan State in 2000, so there’s that, too.

— How favorites/underdogs are faring in conference tournaments:
A-SUN underdogs 6-2 ATS
Big South favorites 1-0 ATS
Horizon underdogs 4-3 ATS
MVC underdogs 3-1 ATS

NEC underdogs 3-1 ATS
OVC favorites 3-1 ATS
Patriot favorites 4-2 ATS
Sun Belt underdogs 4-2 ATS
WCC favorites 1-0 ATS

So far this month, underdogs are 23-18 ATS in conference tournaments. 

Friday’s 2nd List: NBA trends………

NBA trends (thru Wednesday, March 6)

Hawks (28-34):
— 4-3 SU since All-Star Game
— 7-19 ATS as a home favorite
— under 3-0 last three home games
— 4-7 ATS if they played night before.

Celtics (48-13):
— won 11 of last 12 games SU (7-1 ATS last eight)
— 4-0 ATS last four as a home favorite.
— under 4-1 last five games.
— 5-4 ATS if they played night before.

Nets (25-37):
— lost three of their last four games.
— 11-5 ATS as home favorite.
— 3-14 ATS last 17 road games.
— under 5-0 last five road games
— 3-7 ATS if they played night before.

Hornets (15-47):
— lost last five games SU; 9-5 ATS last 14 games.
— 5-2 ATS last seven as a home underdog.
— under 9-1 last ten games.
— 6-5 ATS if they played night before.

Bulls (30-32)
— 4-2 SU last six games, 12-8 ATS last 20 games.
— 6-4 ATS as a home dog, 6-3 as road favorite.
— under 3-1 last four road games.
— 3-7 ATS on first night of back/back.

Cavaliers (40-22):
— 4-5 SU since All-Star break.
— 1-6 ATS last seven as a home favorite.
— under 4-0 last four games.
— 2-7 ATS if they played the night before.

Mavericks (34-28):
— 2-5 SU since All-Star break.
— 2-6 ATS last 8 as as home favorites, 10-3 as road faves.
— over 4-1 last five games.
— 7-3 ATS if they played night before.

Nuggets (42-20):
— 6-1 SU since All-Star break.
— 2-5 ATS last 7 as as home favorites, 9-13 as road faves.
— under 7-2-1 last ten home games.
— 3-9 ATS if they played night before.

Pistons (9-52):
— lost nine of last ten games SU.
— 7-2 ATS last nine as a home dog.
— under 9-1 last ten games
— 3-8 ATS on first night of back/back, 6-5 on 2nd night.

Warriors (33-28):
— won seven of last nine games SU 
— 9-16 ATS as a home favorite
— 20-9 ATS on the road.
— under 8-0 last eight games
— 10-4 ATS if they played night before.

Rockets (27-35):
— lost 10 of last 14 games SU
— 5-1 ATS last six home games.
— under 6-1 last seven games.
— 7-3 ATS if they played night before.

Pacers (35-28):
— 8-5 in last 13 games SU.
— 10-5 ATS as a home underdog.
— under 8-3 last eleven games.
— 1-9 ATS if they played night before.

Clippers (40-21):
— won three of last four games (3-9 ATS in last 12)
— 1-5 ATS last six home games.
— under 5-2 last seven games.
— 5-5 ATS if they played night before.

Lakers (34-30):
— 7-4 SU last 11 games (2-6 ATS last eight)
— 10-15 as home favorite, 2-8 ATS as a road fave.
— over 4-1 last five home games.
— 3-9 ATS if they played night before.

Grizzlies (22-41):
— 7-2 ATS last nine road games.
— 12-18 ATS at home.  
— over 4-1 last five games
— 6-5 ATS if they played night before.

Heat (35-27):
— won nine of last 11 games SU (11-3 ATS last 14).
— 11-12 ATS as home favorites, 1-6 as home underdogs.
— under 7-3 last ten games.
— 4-5 ATS if they played the night before.

Bucks (41-22):
— 6-1 SU/ATS since All-Star break
— 5-2 ATS last seven home games.
— under 10-1 last eleven games.
— 4-5-1 ATS if they played the night before.

Timberwolves (43-19)
— 4-3 SU/1-6 ATS since All-Star break
— 3-9 ATS last 12 games as a home favorite.
— over 5-0 last five road games.
— 4-6 ATS if they played the night before.
— Karl-Anthony Towns is out for rest of regular season.

Pelicans (37-25):
— won 12 of last 16 games SU
— 16-9 ATS as an underdog.
— under 8-2 last ten road games. 
— 5-4 ATS if they played the night before

Knicks (36-26):
— 4-9 SU/2-11 ATS last 13 games.
— 0-9 ATS in last nine home games.
— under 5-1 last six home games
— 2-7 ATS if they played night before.

Thunder (43-19):
— won eight of their last ten games SU. 
— 18-7 ATS as a home favorite, 8-3 as a road dog.
— over 4-1-1 last six home games
— 7-3 ATS if they played night before.

Magic (37-26):
— 8-1 SU last nine games, 5-0 ATS last five.
— 14-4 ATS as home favorite, 6-3 as road favorite. 
— under 6-1 last seven games.
— 7-6 ATS if they played night before.

76ers (35-27):
— 6-14 SU last 20 games.  
— 1-10 ATS last 11 home games.
— under 6-3 last nine home games.
— 5-9 ATS if they played night before.

Suns (36-26):
— 3-4 SU since All-Star break.
— 12-17 ATS as a home favorite, 7-11 as road favorite.
— under 5-0 last five home games
— 4-4 ATS if they played night before.

Trailblazers (17-44):
— lost 11 of last 13 games SU.
— 0-8 SU/1-7 ATS last eight home games.
— over 3-1 last four games
— 8-3 ATS if they played night before.

Kings (35-26):
— 4-3 SU since All-Star break.
— 14-5 ATS as an underdog. 
— over 4-1 last five road games
— 3-6 ATS if they played night before, 0-4 at home.

Spurs (13-49):
— 3-13 SU in last 16 games
— 5-3 ATS last eight home games.
— under 6-2 last eight road games.
— 4-3 ATS if they played night before.

Raptors (23-39):
— 4-3 SU since the All-Star break.
— 1-6 ATS last seven home tilts.
— under 9-3 last 12 home games.
— 4-7 ATS if they played night before.

Jazz (28-35):
— lost nine of last 11 games SU
— 9-6 ATS last 15 home games.
— over 10-5 last 15 home games
— 4-5 ATS if they played night before.

Wizards (9-53):
— 0-16 SU last eight games (2-6 ATS last eight). 
— 9-17 ATS as a home underdog.
— over 6-0 last six road games; under 9-2 last 11 at home.
— 4-5 ATS if they played night before.

Thursday’s Den: Doing some thinking out loud…….

Underrated Fact of the Day: Since 1976, Michigan State has had only TWO basketball coaches, Jud Heathcote and Tom Izzo. Two coaches in 48 years.

By way of comparison, over the last 10 years, UNLV has had five coaches, and they had winning seasons in eight of those ten years.

— Iowa State 68, BYU 63
BYU led this game 38-27 at halftime.
Cyclones won 8 of last 9 games; they went undefeated at home this season.
Iowa State is 24-6/13-4 this year; three years ago, they went 0-18 in Big X.

— Texas A&M 75, Mississippi State 69
A&M came into game shooting 26.7% on arc (#361); they were 8-21 in this game, an improvement.

— Tennessee 66, South Carolina 59
Vols win the outright SEC regular season title for first time since 2008.
Dalton Knecht scored 26 points, had one assist; his job is to score points.

Knecht played at Northern Colorado the last two years; Bears went 34-36 in those two years, 19-19 in Big Sky games.

Plus, they’re 19-12/12-6 this season, without Knecht. That doesn’t seem possible.

— Seton Hall 66, Villanova 56
Pirates played only two subs, for total of 21:00.
Seton Hall did a lot here to get themselves off the bubble.
Villanova shot 32.8% from floor; they still have work to do, to make NCAA’s.

— Florida Atlantic 80, North Texas 76
Owls led 12-0 early, but were down 7 early in 2nd half.
FAU is 23-7/13-4; they shot 56.2% inside arc.

— LeMoyne 82, FDU 61- Dolphins win a conference tournament game in their first season as a Division I team.

Word of the Day: Apopleptic- infuriated, overcome with anger.

— Magic 119, Wizards 109
Orlando is 14-4 ATS in its last 18 games.
Washington has lost 16 games in a row (2-6 ATS in last eight)

— Washington Commanders signed TE Zach Ertz for one year, $5M; Ertz played for Kliff Kingsbury in Arizona. Kingsbury is the Commanders’ new offensive coordinator.

— Buffalo Bills saved $47M in cap space with a flurry of roster moves:
They cut six players, one of whom won’t be cut until after June 1st.
They restructured two other contracts, including LB Von Miller’s.
Bills also signed QB Mitch Trubisky to back up Josh Allen.

After the flurry of moves, Buffalo is now only $1,177,381 over the salary cap.

Baseball stuff:
Astros’ P Justin Verlander (shoulder) will open the season on IL
Rockies OF Nolan Jones left Wednesday’s game (back spasms)
Padres 2B Ha-Seong Kim is out until Friday (back spasms)
MRI on Orioles’ CF Cedric Mullins’ hamstring came back negative.
A’s SS Nick Allen has a mild back strain.
Cubs’ 3B Nick Madrigal had an MRI on his hamstring

Famous birthdays on March 7th:
Lynn Swann, 72
Bryan Cranston, 69
Tommy Kramer, 69
Joe Carter, 64
Willie (Flipper) Anderson, 59
Ricky Proehl, 56
Jenna Fischer, 50
Michael Harris, 23

— I try to listen to podcasts about fantasy baseball, to learn things that can make my team better; this week, one of the guys on a podcast said he has teams in 12 different leagues.

That would be overwhelming to me, to keep track of 12 different teams. As it is, I probably spend too much time tracking my one team, can’t imagine doing it with 11 more.

— How favorites/underdogs are faring in conference tournaments:
A-SUN underdogs 5-1 ATS
Big South favorites 1-0 ATS
Horizon favorites 2-1 ATS

NEC underdogs 3-1 ATS
OVC favorites 2-0 ATS
Patriot favorites 1-1 ATS

So far this month, underdogs are 10-8 ATS in conference tournaments. 

Wednesday’s Den: Mid-week musings…….

Atlantic Sun tournament:
— Jacksonville 67, Eastern Kentucky 65
So this year, the first #1-seed to play in a conference tournament loses its first game, against a team that played last night. EKU was only 14-14 against Division I teams this season.

— Northern Alabama 77, Lipscomb 75
The first #3-seed to play in a conference tournament also loses its first game; chances are, the winner of this tournament is heading to Dayton for a play-in game.

Kid on Northern Alabama hit a 20-foot runner for the win at the buzzer, after Lipscomb had tied the game with a 3-pointer.

— Stetson 83, Queens 71- Hatters are the #2-seed in the A-Sun; now they’re the favorite to win this tournament, and get to the NCAA’s for the first time. Stetson is one of 45 D-I teams that has never played in March Madness.

Horizon tournament:
— Higher seed won all three games; Detroit finishes its horrific season 1-31 with an 83-79 loss at Milwaukee.

Patriot League tournament:
— Holy Cross 84, Army 68- Back in the late 70’s, when the Big East was first being formed, Holy Cross was really good in basketball; they turned down a chance to join the original Big East. 

Over the last 45 years, how much $$$ you think that cost their school/athletic department?

Sun Belt tournament:
— Texas State 92, Old Dominion 83 OT
Old Dominion led by 11 points in second half.
Texas State won its last four games, the last two in OT.

Elsewhere in the world……..
— Purdue 77, Illinois 71
Illinois led this game 40-34 at halftime.
Purdue shot 8-10 on the arc in the second half.

— Georgia Tech 70, Wake Forest 69
Georgia Tech’s big guy hit a jumper with 0:00.4 left for the win.
Tech led this game, 26-4.
Terrible loss for Wake Forest, which is squarely on the bubble.

— Oklahoma 74, Cincinnati 71 OT
Sooners were 28-34 on foul line, Cincinnati 9-11
Both teams shot under 40% from the floor.

— UNLV 62, San Diego State 58
UNLV has won 10 of its last 11 games.
San Diego State started game 2-27 from the floor.
Aztecs had beaten UNLV eight times in a row in Las Vegas.

— Nevada 76, Boise State 66
Wolf Pack won their last six games.
Boise’s loss puts Utah State in first place, for now. 

Word of the Day: Imbecile— a stupid person.

— Gonzaga/Saint Mary’s domination of the WCC has cost lot of other coaches their jobs; this week Pepperdine fired basketball coach Lorenzo Romar, who went 75-112 the last six years, 29-64 in WCC games. He previously had gone 42-44 in three years at Pepperdine in the late 90’s, and also coached at Saint Louis/Washington.

Romar went 298-195 in 16 years at Washington, making three Sweet 16’s in the NCAA’s.

— Cardinals 5, Twins 4- Paul Goldschmidt hit a home run for the St Louis, the Cardinals’ first home run in nine exhibition games.

— NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks won their last six games, all of which stayed under the total.

— In the NHL, New Jersey Devils have trailed 1-0 in 45 of their 62 games; Devils are 30-32 this season, so they’ve bounced back well after usually falling behind early.

Famous birthdays on March 6th:
Sleepy Floyd, 63
Shaquille O’Neal, 52
Michael Finley, 49
Jake Arrieta, 38

— Stumbled across a station on Pluto that shows the old game show Hollywood Squares 24 hours a day; not the original Peter Marshall version, but one that ran from 1998-2004.

Martin Mull, Gabe Kaplan, Eartha Kitt, Brad Garrett, Rita Rudner, Jeffrey Tambor. Good stuff.

I’m a big game show fan; think that daytime TV these days would be better with more game shows and fewer contrived discussion/argument shows.

— Red Sox signed P Lucas Giolito for two years, $38.5M; now he has an elbow injury and might be out for the entire 2024 season.

Jeff Montgomery/Blake Snell are still out there on the free agent market. 

Tuesday’s Den: Nobody asked me, but…….

— Denver Broncos are going to cut QB Russell Wilson next week, take an NFL-record $85M cap hit for next season. Denver signed Wilson to a 5-year, $242.6M contract two years ago, but the Broncos went 11-19 in his starts, and now they’re moving on without him. 

Wilson has a career record of 124-79-1, 9-7 in playoff games, 1-1 in Super Bowls. Last three years however, Wilson was 17-27. He turns 36 in November.

— Five biggest salary cap hits in the NFL:
$85M- Russell Wilson, Den, 2024
$40.5M- Matt Ryan, Atl, 2022
$40.3M- Aaron Rodgers, GB, 2023
$35.1M- Tom Brady, TB, 2023
$33.8M- Carson Wentz, Phil, 2021

— Former NFL QB’s Matt/Tim Hasselbeck both used to work for ESPN; next fall, they’ll be coaching high school ball together at The Ensworth School in Nashville.

— Tampa Bay Bucs re-signed WR Mike Evans with a 2-year, $52M deal; $35M of that money is guaranteed. He’s had 1,000+ receiving yards in all ten of his seasons in the NFL.

— Philadelphia Phillies re-signed P Zack Wheeler with a 3-year, $126M deal; in four years with the Phillies, Wheeler is 43-25, 3.06 in 101 starts.

— Most starting pitchers used last season: A’s 24, Royals 23
Fewest starting pitchers used last season: Giants, Nationals, Blue Jays, all with 8.

Word of the Day: Discombobulate- to confuse or disorient someone.

When you’re filling out your brackets in two weeks, some things to think about:
Last six years, 18 of the 24 Final Four teams were in the top 35 in country in eFG%, either offense or defense. Making shots/forcing missed shots is very important.

One of the six teams that wasn’t in either top 35 was North Carolina in 2017, but they were #1 in country on the offensive boards; it helps to be great at SOMETHING.

#1-seed won seven of last 10 NCAA Tournaments.

Five of the last six years, a #7-seed or lower made it to the Final Four.

Two stats that don’t appear to mean much:
1) Bench minutes- TV timeouts are longer in NCAA’s, depth seems less important. Two years ago, all four Final Four teams were outside the top 300 in bench minutes.

2) % of points scored on foul line- Last six years, only one of the 24 Final Four teams was ranked above #96 in this category, and they were a fluke-ish #7-seed.

— Pacific fired basketball coach Leonard Perry, who went 29-65 in three years with the Tigers, 10-36 in WCC games. Pacific has had one winning season the last 10 years; their last NCAA Tournament appearance was in 2013.

— Marquette G Tyler Kolek won’t play in the Golden Eagles’ last two regular season games; he has an oblique injury, and will be reevaluated before next week’s Big East tournament.

Famous birthdays on March 5th:

Rocky Bleier, 78
Rob Reiner, 77
Kent Tekulve, 77
Scott Skiles, 60
Michael Irvin, 58
Connie Britton, 57
Wally Szczerbiak, 47
Bo Bichette, 26
Justin Fields, 25

Atlantic Sun tournament:
— Jacksonville 92, Kennesaw State 86
Dolphins made an astounding 13-21 on the arc.
Kennesaw won A-Sun last year, but lost 10 of their last 12 games this year.

— Queens 69, Florida Gulf Coast 63
Queens was 18-22 on the foul line, FGCU 7-14.
Royals made 11-25 on arc; they’ve won four of last five games.

Both higher-seeded teams lost in the A-Sun Tournament games Monday.
Winners get to play again Tuesday night.

— Duke 79, NC State 64
NC State led 9-0; it was all downhill from there.
Duke shot 33% from floor in first half, 63% in second half.

— Baylor 93, Texas 85
Longhorns led 48-40 at halftime.
Baylor was 34-42 on foul line, Texas 16-21

— RIP to Ed Ott, the former major league catcher, who died at age 72. Ott played eight years in the majors, mostly for the Pirates- he was on their 1979 World Series championship team. 

RIP to UL Washington, the former major league shortstop, who died at age 70. Washington played 11 years in the majors, mostly for Kansas City; he stole 40 bases for the Royals in 1983. 

Monday’s Den: Wrapping up a busy weekend…….

— March Madness starts tonight, when the Atlantic Sun tournament tips off with a couple of games. Three other conferences start their tournaments Tuesday. One of the best times of the year; the next two weeks will be full of conference tournament games, with the Field of 68 announced March 17.

— March 2010, I’m at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas for the NCAA Tournament; excellent sportsbook there. I’m watching a second round game with Northern Iowa-Kansas; there were lot of Jayhawk fans around- they were a #1-seed, with high expectations.

Early in the game, before the second TV timeout, kid on Northern Iowa makes a basket, and three young guys sitting next to me start hugging each other. I ask one of them if the kid who scored the basket was their brother or something…….

“No, they got to 15 first!!! We had Northern Iowa to be the first team to 15!!!”

This was the first NCAA Tournament I had seen in Las Vegas, I had no idea you could bet on which team got to 15 points first.

You learn something new every day.

— Memphis 106, UAB 87
UAB led this game 61-46…….at halftime.
Memphis was +9 in turnovers; they scored 1.39 points/possession.
Tigers have won seven of their last nine games.

— Indiana State 89, Murray State 77
Sycamores win MVC regular season title for first time since 2000.
Indiana State is shooting 62.1% inside arc, #2 in country.
Indiana State is #359 in bench minutes; could be tough for them in MVC tournament when they have to win three games in three days to win the title.

— Drake 74, Bradley 66
Darian DeVries has been Drake’s coach for six years; Bulldogs are 147-54 under DeVries, 79-33 in MVC games, with two NCAA appearances.

Drake’s best player is Tucker DeVries, the coach’s son, who is a junior; will he come back for his senior season, and if not, will his dad bolt for a job in a bigger conference? 

— Indiana 83, Maryland 78
Hoosiers trailed 51-35 early in the second half.
Indiana shot 61.9% inside the arc.
Maryland lost seven of its last nine games.

Movie of the Day: The Client (1994)- A young boy who witnessed the suicide of a mafia lawyer hires an attorney to protect him when the District Attorney tries to use him to take down a mob family.

Great cast; Susan Sarandon becomes the boy’s lawyer, Tommy Lee Jones is the District Attorney, Anthony LaPaglia is a mobster.

William H Macy, Mary Louise Parker, JT Walsh Anthony Edwards and Bradley Whitford are all in this movie, adapted from one of John Grisham’s books.

— San Francisco Giants signed 3B Matt Chapman, for three years, $54M.

— Arizona Diamondbacks signed SS Elvis Andrus to a minor league deal; he hit .251 with six HRs, 44 RBIs for the White Sox last year. 35-year old Andrus has 2,091 career hits; Arizona will be his fourth MLB team.

— Saturday night, Lebron James became the first NBA player to score 40,000 career points; he scored 26 points in the Lakers’ 124-114 loss to Denver.

— Luka Doncic has 14 technical fouls this season, most in the NBA.

— NBA unders went 8-0 Sunday night, are now 61-25-1 since the All-Star break

Famous birthdays on March 4th:
Patricia Heaton, 66
Steven Weber, 63
Draymond Green, 34
Nick Castellanos, 32

— There are murmurs that the NFL is going to go to an 18-game schedule when the next TV contract comes up, which would put the Super Bowl on Presidents’ Day weekend.

— San Francisco 49ers hired former Chargers’ coach coach Brandon Staley as assistant head coach; they also named Nick Sorensen their new defensive coordinator.

— Bill Vinovich was the referee at the Super Bowl February 11th in Las Vegas; two nights later, he worked a Colorado State-San Diego State basketball game. He’s worked six other basketball games since then, including another visit to Las Vegas Saturday, when the Rebels beat San Jose State.

Vinovich has worked 26 basketball games this season, in addition to his NFL games. Busy guy.

— RIP to ESPN reporter Chris Mortensen,, who passed away this week at age 72; the tributes he’s gotten tonight from friends/co-workers at ESPN tell you what a good guy he was.

Mortensen joined ESPN in 1991 and was a regular contributor to the network’s NFL shows for 30 years; in 2016, he received the Pro Football Writers of America’s Dick McCann Award and was honored during the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s enshrinement ceremony.

RIP, sir.