Armadillo Sports

— Seton Hall 79, Indiana State 77
Pirates ended game on a 9-0 run to win the NIT
Game was 39-39 at halftime.
Seton Hall was +7 in turnovers (15-8)

— Going to be a tough few days for the Sycamores; ISU coach Josh Schertz is expected to leave Terre Haute this weekend, to take the vacant coaching job at Saint Louis.

— Voters in Kansas City rejected extending a sales tax this week, that would’ve paid for major renovations at Arrowhead Stadium along with a new downtown stadium for the Kansas City Royals. The sales tax is currently in place through 2031; Tuesday’s vote was asking the people of Jackson County to extend the tax through 2064.

Chiefs and Royals will now have to figure out what their next step is going to be; re-location is an option, especially for the Chiefs.

— Oakland A’s are going to play the 2025-27 seasons in Sacramento, before they move to a new stadium in Las Vegas in 2028. This is their last season in Oakland, where they started playing in 1968, after moving from, ironically, Kansas City.

— NBA’s Toronto Raptors have lost 15 games in a row, going 3-12 ATS in those games.

— Golden State Warriors are 26-12 ATS on the road, best road record in NBA this season.

— Detroit’s Malachi Flynn scored 50 points off the bench in Atlanta Wednesday, in the Pistons’ 121-113 loss to the Hawks. Flynn is just the third guy ever to score 50+ points coming off the bench, joining Nick Anderson (1993) and Jamal Crawford (2014). 

Coming into the game, Flynn was averaging 5.2 points/game.

— Guy sat next to me in the sportsbook and lit up a cigarette, blowing smoke in my direction. I’d forgotten that you can smoke in casinos here; smoking indoors in public isn’t allowed in New York State.

— Famous birthdays for April 5th
Michael Moriarity, 83
Oliver Luck, 64
Dale Hatcher, 61
Tony Banks, 51
Dane Looker, 48
Marc Bulger, 47
Stephen Jackson, 46

— USC hired Eric Musselman as its new basketball coach; Musselman went 111-59 coaching at Arkansas the last five years. Before that, he was 110-34 in four years coaching Nevada. He has also been a head coach in the NBA, for Golden State/Sacramento.

— Purdue big man Zach Edey has taken 424 foul shots this year, the most in one season by a college player since Pete Maravich, way back in 1970.

— UConn’s trip to the Final Four Wednesday night was delayed eight hours due to mechanical issues with the airplane; they finally landed in Arizona at 3:12am local time.

— If you like the NBA, you should be here in Las Vegas July 12-22, when they have the NBA’s Summer League at UNLV. It is fun to watch, it isn’t real expensive, lot of famous people in the arenas, and it is air conditioned— it’ll be over 100 degrees outside.

— On Opening Day of baseball season, there were 166 players on the Injured List, 5.5 players per team.

— Miami Marlins’ pitching prospect Eury Perez is going to have Tommy John surgery, is out for the season.

— Odd Fact of the Day: New York Mets have won two World Series, in 1969/1986.

In 1969, last out of the World Series was made by Baltimore 2B Davey Johnson.

In 1986, the Mets were managed by former Baltimore 2B Davey Johnson.

— Big trade in the NFL Wednesday; Buffalo Bills traded star WR Stefon Diggs to Houston, for three draft picks: 2nd/6th round picks later this month, then a 5th round pick in 2025.

Diggs put up 100+ yard receiving games in five of his first six games last year, then averaged only 51.2 yards/game the rest of the season. Buffalo takes a $31M dead cap hit this year, while the Texans are positioning themselves to be favored in the AFC South this fall.

— People here in Las Vegas have been looking at NFL totals bets every day, but how can you do that before the draft in three weeks? Rosters can/will change a lot between now and then. 

Teams like Vikings, Broncos don’t know who their QB will be this season; I’m told that QB is kind of an important position in football.

— Sun Coast hotel/casino here in Las Vegas has a 24-hour coffee shop, Du-Par’s, which has the best pancakes I’ve ever had, seriously, they’re excellent.

— Tigers-Mets got rained out the last two days in Queens, will try and play a doubleheader on Thursday, which means I’ll be waking up way earlier than I wanted to.

— In his last three games against New Orleans, Phoenix Suns’ star Devin Booker scored 52-52-58 points, making him only the second player ever to score 50+ points three games in a row against the same team.

Wilt Chamberlain is the other player, but he did it against nine different teams, not just one.

— Milwaukee Bucks were 30-13 when they fired coach Adrian Griffin earlier this season; they’re 15-15 since they hired Doc Rivers to replace him.

— Famous birthdays for April 4th:
Mike Epstein, 81
Craig T Nelson, 80
Christine Lahti, 74
Tommy Herr, 68
Jack Del Rio, 61
Scott Rolen, 49
Ben Gordon, 41
JP France, 29

— RIP to Joe Flaherty, the great comic actor who passed away at age 81; Flaherty was in Second City TV, where he played anchorman Floyd Robertson next to Eugene Levy’s Earl Camembert in the news skits on that excellent comedy show. RIP, sir. 

RIP to Barbara Rush, who passed way at age 97; she is one of six actors to appear in both the TV series Batman and the original Magnum PI, where she played Magnum’s Aunt Phoebe. She played Nora Clavicle on Batman. RIP, ma’am.

— College basketball’s Final Four is this weekend; there are already 1,360 names in the college basketball transfer portal, because that is how the sport works now. With 362 Division I teams, that works out to an average of 3.76 players per team in the portal. 

— Forgot to mention this earlier in the week, but lefty pitcher Shota Imanaga threw six shutout innings in his MLB debut Monday, not giving up any hits until the 6th inning. Imanaga didn’t get much hype when he signed; that was reserved for Yomamoto with the Dodgers, but so far, so good, although the wind was blowing in Monday and Imanaga is a fly ball pitcher.

— Dodgers 5, Giants 4- Shohei Ohtani hit his first home run for the Dodgers.

— Back in 1948 a guy named Fred Gehrke got paid a dollar a helmet to paint the LA Rams logo on all the Rams’ helmets— they were the first team to have their logo on a helmet, and for that, he is the Pro Football Hall of Fame, as an innovator.

Fred Gehrke has a well-known great-grandson; Christian Yelich, outfielder for the Brewers.

— This week marks the 48th anniversary of a cruddy day in A’s history, when they traded Reggie Jackson and Ken Holtzman to the Orioles, as they slowly dismantled what had been a great team, winning the World Series three years in a row (1972-74). By 1977, they were truly terrible, as free agency had started in the major leagues and the A’s couldn’t match up $$$-wise.

Now this year, the A’s are 1-6, and have been shut out three times already. It would be nice if a really, really rich person bought the team and they actually tried to win again.

— For second day in a row, a team lost its DH during a game, but this time, it came back to bite them, in an embarrassing way.

Arizona trailed 6-5 at home in the 11th inning- they had runners on 1st/3rd with two outs, but Bronx walked their next batter intentionally, because Arizona’s DH Ketel Marte went in to play shortstop after they pinch-ran for Geraldo Perdomo, which left the Snakes without a hitter when Perdomo’s spot in the order came around in the 11th inning.

Pitcher Scott McGough took a called third strike to end the game. Managing in the DH era is supposed to be easier, but two teams losing their DH in the first week of the season, both in close games, seems like managerial malpractice. 

I’m going to start posting daily baseball knowledge on the MLB page next Friday (April 12), but in the meantime, here are some trends to get you thru this week:

— Miami Marlins are 0-6; over is 5-1 in those games, their bullpen is 0-3. Marlins led two of the games 4-0/5-0 after the first inning.

— Cincinnati Reds are 3-2; all five games went over the total. Reds haven’t scored a run in the first inning yet.

— Detroit Tigers are 4-0; their bullpen got three of the four wins.

— New York Mets have been outscored 19-8 in their 0-4 start.

— Pittsburgh Pirates scored 39 runs in their 5-0 start, all road games.

— Bronx is off to a 5-1 start; their bullpen got four of the five wins.

— Famous birthdays for April 3rd:
Eric Braeden, 83
Gary Pettis, 66
Alec Baldwin, 66
Tim Conroy, 64
Eddie Murphy, 63
Pervis Ellison, 57
Rodney Hampton, 55
Jared Allen, 42
Kam Chancellor, 36

— Astros are off to a 1-6 start; game-winning run in four of the six losses came from the 7th inning on. Under is 5-1 in their last six games.

— Rockies are 1-5; they scored a total of seven runs in the five losses, nine runs in the one win.

Kris Bryant is off to an 0-16 start; the guy makes $28M a year, after playing in 122 out of a possible 324 games in 2022-23. Not good.

— Diamondbacks scored in the first inning in five of their six games.

— Cubs won their last three games, scoring 26 runs; their scored 3-2 runs in their two losses.

— Over is 4-0-1 in the Dodgers’ last five games.

— Giants lost their last three games; over is 6-0 in their games this season.

— Nationals lost three of their four games (over 4-0)

— Four of last five Seattle games stayed under the total.

— Word of the Day– Squander- waste an opportunity to succeed.

— Braves are 3-2; their starting pitchers are 1-0- four of their five games came down to their bullpen. Atlanta scored 30 runs in their three wins; 2-4 runs in their losses.

— Milwaukee Brewers are 4-0 (under 3-1).

— Philadelphia Phillies are 2-3; all five games went over the total. Phillies scored in the first inning in their last four games.

— San Diego Padres lost four of their last five games; over is 4-1-1 in their last six games.

— Los Angeles Angels won their last three games, after an 0-2 start.

— Boston Red Sox won their last three games, scoring 19 runs.

— Chicago White Sox lost four of first five games (under 3-1-1). 

— Something I’ve never seen before; Tuesday night, A’s-Red Sox are tied 4-4 in bottom of 10th, A’s have a guy on 3rd, one out. They score, they win.

Boston walks JJ Bleday intentionally; A’s have guys on 1st and 3rd.
Boston brings in a 5th infielder, but doesn’t load the bases with another walk. 

Next batter hits a ball right back to the pitcher but instead of getting an easy double play, he gets the runner trying to come home. The 5th infielder goes back to the outfield.

They strike out the next hitter, then win the game in the 11th inning. Had never seen a fifth OF used like that before. 

— Astros 10, Blue Jays 0
Ronel Blanco threw a no-hitter in his 8th major league start.
Kyle Tucker, Yainer Diaz both hit two home runs.
First win for Houston after an 0-4 start.

— Tigers 5, Mets 0 (10)
Olson threw 5.2 scoreless IP, Manaea 6 scoreless IP.
Kelly hit a 3-run homer in the 10th inning.
Mets have been outscored 19-8 in their 0-4 start.

— Reds 6, Phillies 3 (10)
Steer hit a grand slam in the 10th inning.
Reds’ bullpen threw 4.2 IP, didn’t allow an earned run.
Phillies lost three of first four games (over 4-0)

— Orioles 6, Royals 4
Westburg hit a walk-off homer in the bottom of the 9th.
Royals had tied game 4-4 in top of the 9th.
Baltimore is off to a 3-1 start.

— Famous birthdays for April 2nd:
Reggie Smith, 79
Linda Hunt, 79
Roy Gerela, 76
Christopher Meloni, 63
Adam Rodriguez, 49
Austin Riley, 27

— USC basketball coach Andy Enfield bolted to SMU; Trojans were 106-100 in Pac-12 play in their 11 years under Enfield, making five NCAA Tournaments. 

USC is bolting to the Big 14 next year, SMU (for some reason) will be in the ACC.

— Steve Lutz is the new basketball coach at Oklahoma State; he is 69-35 in three years as a head coach, two at A&M-Corpus Christi (47-23), one at Western Kentucky (22-12).

— QB Carson Wentz signed a deal to be Patrick Mahomes’ backup in Kansas City. Wentz is 47-46-1 in eight years as an NFL starter. 

— Peter Marshall, one of the best game show hosts ever, turned 98 years old over the weekend; there is a special about him on YouTube, including an old episode of Hollywood Squares, with Charley Weaver, Rose Marie, John Davidson.

— Word of the Day– Reunion- two or more people coming together again after being away from each other for a while.

— Rangers 9, Rays 3
Adolis Garcia hit his 100th career home run.
Josh Jung knocked in four runs, but later broke his wrist, is out indefinitely.

— Pirates 8, Nationals 4
Pirates are 5-0 for the first time since 1983.
Pittsburgh scored 43 runs in its first five games.
This game was 3-3 after the 7th inning.

— Angels 7, Marlins 4
Miami is 0-5, giving up 42 runs in those games.
Last two nites, Marlins led 5-0/4-0 after first inning, but lost both games.
Mike Trout hit two home runs for the Angels.

— Red Sox 9, A’s 0
In a 5-inning stretch from 8th inning Sunday thru 3rd inning of this game, the A’s made eight errors. 8 errors. 5 innings. No bueno. 

Tanner Houck tossed six shutout IP, striking out 10 guys. 

— There have been 55 baseball games so far this season; of the 110 starting pitchers, only four lasted 7+ innings:

Thursday- Pablo Lopez, Minnesota- 7 IP, 84 PT
Saturday- Logan Gilbert, Seattle- 7 IP, 91 PT
Sunday- Paul Blackburn, A’s- 7 IP, 88 PT
Brady Singer, Kansas City- 7 IP, 98 PT

Only 30 of the 55 starting pitchers finished the sixth inning.

— NC State 76, Duke 64
Duke led 27-18 with 1:39 left in first half.
Wolfpack is 9-0 since March 12.
NC State was 2-7 in its last nine regular season games.

— Purdue 72, Tennessee 66
Purdue is in Final Four for first time since 1980.
Tennessee’s entire team was 7-11 on foul line.
Zach Edey scored 40 points; he was 14-22 on foul line, by himself.

— Pointspreads for Final Four:
Purdue -9.5 vs NC State
UConn -11.5 vs Alabama

— San Antonio 27, DC Defenders 12
Defenders were 5-14 on 3rd down, Brahmas 1-8
San Antonio converted 3-4 fourth down plays.
Defenders’ only TD came on a 40-yard pass on a fake field goal.

— Memphis 18, Houston 12
Showboats’ QB Cookus threw for 204 yards and a TD.
Memphis was 9-15 on third down, Houston 3-8.
Time of possession: Memphis 39:32, Houston 20:28.

— Famous birthdays for April 1st:
Ali McGraw. 85
Willie Montanez, 75
Annette O’Toole, 72
Mark Jackson, 59
Daniel Murphy, 38
Brook and Robin Lopez, 36

— Torey Lovullo has been the Arizona Diamondbacks’ manager since 2017, winning the NL title last year; his father Sam was a producer on the old TV show, Hee Haw.

— Brewers 4, Mets 1- Mets’ GM David Stearns quit the Brewers to jump to New York, but the Mets start his tenure by getting swept at home by Milwaukee.

— Dodgers 5, Cardinals 4- Max Muncy’s 2-run homer in the 8th inning was a game-winner.

— Pirates 9, Marlins 7 (11)
Marlins scored five runs in the first inning.
Pittsburgh’s bullpen allowed two runs in 20.1 IP in the 4-game sweep.
Miami was the last MLB team to hit a home run. 

— Reds 6, Nationals 5
Will Benson tied game with a 2-out home run in the 9th inning.

Next batter, Christian Encarnacion-Strand, walked it off with another homer, his first hit in 13 at-bats this season.

— New York 4, Astros 3
Juan Soto’s 9th-inning single, his 3rd of the day, was the game-winner.
Houston is 0-4 for the first time since 2011.

— Tigers 3, White Sox 2
Andy Ibanez’ pinch-hit single in the 9th inning was the game-winning hit.
Both back-up catchers started this game, batted 9th; they both hit a home run.

— Cubs 9, Rangers 5
Chicago scored four runs in 9th, salvaged Game 4 of the series.
Cubs’ bullpen threw five shutout innings.

— A’s 4, Guardians 3
Abraham Toro’s bases-loaded walk gave the A’s their first win of the year.
Paul Blackburn tossed seven shutout innings. 

— UConn 77, Illinois 52
Game was 23-23 with 1:49 left in first half.
At that point, UConn went on a 30-0 run.
Huskies shot 65.1% inside the arc.
Last two years, UConn is 10-0 SU/ATS in NCAA Tournament.

— Alabama 89, Clemson 82
Alabama scored 1.25 ppp, grabbed 16 offensive rebounds.
Crimson Tide is in the Final Four for the first time.
Alabama shot 16-36 on the arc.
Clemson was 8-26 on the arc, 8-16 on foul line.

— Favorites were 2-0 ATS in Saturday’a basketball games; since 2013, underdogs are still 24-18 ATS in regional final games.

— Birmingham 27, Arlington 14
First UFL game of the season was 11-11 at halftime.
Stallions outgained Arlington, 409-262.
Birmingham converted 8-12 on third down.

— Michigan 18, St Louis 16
Bates kicked a 64-yard field goal with 0:08 left for the win.
St Louis led 3-0 at halftime.
Battlehawks were 5-15 on third down, Michigan 2-9.
Under was 2-0 on the first day of the season.

— In-game betting is popular here in Las Vegas; have listened to people talk about it all week. One guy the other night was chirping for about an hour, trying to hit middle on the Alabama-North Carolina total; he was convinced he was going to hit it, but he don’t.

In the sportsbook here at SunCoast, they have betting windows and they have kiosks and very comfortable chairs. The snack bar off to the side has good sausage, egg and cheese sandwiches.

— Famous birthdays for March 31:
Shirley Jones, 90
Christopher Walken, 81
Gabe Kaplan, 79
Rhea Perlman, 76
Ed Marinaro, 74
Mick Luckhurst, 66
Ron Brown, 63
Steve Smith, 55

— Cardinals 6, Dodgers 5 (10)
Yamamoto allowed only two baserunners in his five IP, but LA’s bullpen blew a 2-0 lead in the 7th inning. Good bounce back start for Yamamoto.

This game had the first rain delay at Dodger Stadium since 2015. 

— Braves 12, Phillies 4
Atlanta starter Fried threw 43 pitches, didn’t finish first inning.
Braves scored 21 runs in winning their first two games.

— Pirates 9, Marlins 3
Pittsburgh scored 22 runs in its 3-0 start.

— Brewers 7, Mets 6
Hoskins went 3-4 with a home run and four RBI.

— Did I mention the sportsbook here is next to a movie theater, and they sell Orville Redenbacher popcorn there? Tremendous!!!

— Guardians 12, A’s 3
Cleveland scored 26 runs in its 3-0 start.

— Twins 5, Royals 1
Kansas City led 1-0 after seven innings.
Twins scored four runs in the top of the 9th.

— New York 5, Houston 3
Astros are 0-3 for the first time since 2011.
Houston led this game 3-1 after six innings.
Season is three days old; Astros’ bullpen is 0-3.

My suggestion for a new rule in baseball; think about it for a minute before you scoff:

Guy hits a home run, he crosses the plate, is handed his bat and gets to hit again.

I’d like to see a minor league try that rule out for a year or two. 

— NC State 67, Marquette 58
Wolfpack lost seven of its last nine regular season games.
Wolfpack is 8-0 in postseason games; they start four seniors.
Marquette shot only 4-31 on the arc.
This year is 50th anniversary of NC State beating Marquette in the national title game.

— Duke 54, Houston 51
Houston star Shead sprained his ankle, sat out the second half.
Houston lost by 3; they shot 2-8 on the arc, 9-17 on the foul line.
Duke has allowed 51 ppg in its three NCAA Tourney wins.

Since 2000, there have been eight regional finals between conference rivals; the underdogs went 5-3 SU/6-2 ATS in those eight games.

— Tennessee 82, Creighton 75
Creighton led 35-34 at halftime.
Tennessee is in Elite 8 for second time, first time since 2010.
Teams combined to shoot 22-47 on the arc.

— Purdue 80, Gonzaga 68
Boilers beat Gonzaga by 10 points in November, by 12 here.
Zach Edey scored 27 points, had 14 rebounds. 

In 2018, Virginia was the first #1-seed to lose to a #16-seed.
In 2019, Virginia won the national title.
Last year, Purdue was the second #1-seed to lose to a #16-seed.
Boilers are three wins away from duplicating Virginia’s feat.

— Was sitting next to a guy in the sportsbook during the Creighton-Tennessee game; big guy missed a layup and the guy says “Hell, I would’ve made that one.”

He was on at least his third Corona; I was skeptical.

— Sitting in a sportsbook for last four days, with ton of TVs around, it is obvious that ESPN cares very little about baseball; there was more talk about NFL prop bets for the fall than there was about the first couple days of baseball season.

— Anyway, why would you bet on NFL season win totals before the draft, especially since there might be some big trades happening in the next 3-4 weeks?

— Famous birthdays for March 30:
John Astin, 94
Jerry Lucas, 84
Eric Clapton, 79
Celine Dion, 56
Richard Sherman, 36
Chris Sale, 35
Alex Bregman, 30

— RIP to the great actor Louis Gossett, who passed away this week at age 87; he won both an Oscar and an Emmy. I remember him best as a priest in Blue Chips; he taught at the school where Penny Hardaway’s character played ball. All the famous coaches were recruiting him.

RIP, sir.

— Braves 9, Phillies 3
Phillies led 2-0 after six innings. 

— Brewers 3, Metgs 1
Freddy Peralta allowed one hit in six IP.

— Giants 8, Padres 3
Matt Chapman hit two homers, knocked in five runs.

— Dodgers 6, Cardinals 3
Teoscar Hernandez homered twice for the Dodgers.

— Mariners 1, Red Sox 0
George Kirby got 20 outs, didn’t allow a run.

— There was a great article in The Ringer this week, about TV announcer Ian Eagle, who will be calling his first Final Four next week.

Eagle is the son of a comedian and a singer; when he was 6, he was on stage at a club in the Catskills, doing imitations of celebrities.

Back in the late 70’s, there was a very popular Xerox commercial, about a monk who copied his precious documents, instead of copying them by hand. Brother Dominic was the monk; the actor who played him was Ian Eagle’s father.

This article made it clear that Ian Eagle is universally respected/liked, an unusual combination these days. It was encouraging to read it. 

— Alabama 89, North Carolina 87
Tar Heels led 54-46 at halftime.
Alabama outscored UNC 43-33 in second half.
North Carolina star Davis was 0-9 behind the arc.
Crimson Tide is in Elite 8 for first time since 2004.

— Clemson 77, Arizona 72
Clemson is in the Elite 8 for the first time since 1980.
Tigers are 9-1 ATS as an underdog this season.
Since 2009, Arizona is 3-5 SU in Sweet 16 games.
Under coach Lloyd, Arizona is 88-18, but only 4-3 in NCAA Tourney games.

2022- was #1-seed, lost to #5-seed Houston
2023- was #2-seed, lost to #15-seed Princeton
2024- was #2-seed, lost 77-72 to #6-seed Clemson

— Illinois 72, Iowa State 69
Illini never trailed; they led by 13 early in game, then hung on.
Illinois survived going 15-29 on the foul line.
Illinois is in Elite 8 for first time since 2005.
Underdogs were 3-1 SU Thursday; they were 1-15 SU in second round.

— UConn 82, San Diego State 52
UConn is 23-1 since Christmas.
Huskies had 21 offensive rebounds, Aztecs 17 defensive boards.
UConn won/covered its last nine NCAA Tournament games.
San Diego State shot 36.2% from the floor, 5-22 on arc.

— Famous birthdays for March 29:
Denny McLain, 80
Walt Frazier, 79
Earl Campbell, 69
Billy Beane, 62
Brain Jordan, 57
Matt Olson, 30

— Pirates 6, Marlins 5 (12)
Miami led 5-2 after six innings.
Jake Burger was 3-4, with 3 RBI.
Pittsburgh batters struck out 17 times.

— Rangers 4, Cubs 3 (10)
Pinch-hitter Jankowski tied game with 9th inning home run,
Jonah Heim’s walk-off single ended the game in the 10th.
Cubs’ P Steele left game with a hamstring injury.

— Bronx 5, Astros 4
Houston led 4-0 after two innings.
Juan Soto threw out game-tying run at the plate in 9th inning.
Astros had 13 hits, were only 3-9 with runners in scoring position.

— Diamondbacks 16, Rockies 1
Arizona scored 14 runs on 13 hits…….just in the 3rd inning.
Lourdes Gurriel was 3-5, with three runs scored, 5 RBI
Arizona was 12-15 with runners in scoring position.

— Tigers 1, White Sox 0
Only run of game scored on a 3rd inning sac fly.
Tarik Skubal allowed only 3 baserunners in six IP.
White Sox had three hits, never got a runner to second base.

— Reds 8, Nationals 2
Cincinnati led 7-0 in the third inning.
Reds’ DH Martini hit two homers, knocked in five runs.
Frankie Montas tossed six shutout IP in his Cincinnati debut.

— Padres 6, Giants 4
Trailing 3-2, Padres scored four runs in 7th inning.
Xander Bogaerts had the g0-ahead single.
Yu Darvish allowed one run in 5 IP.

— Dodgers 7, Cardinals 1
Dodgers led 5-0 after three innings.
Tyler Glasnow allowed 3 baserunners in 6 IP in his Dodger debut.
Freddie Freeman was 2-3 with 2 runs scored, 3 RBI

— Orioles 11, Angels 3
Baltimore led 7-0 after four innings.
Corbin Burnes struck out 11 guys in 6 IP, in his Orioles debut.
Trout/Rengifo had the Angels’ only two hits.

— Blue Jays 8, Rays 2
Game was 1-1 after the fifth inning.
Springer, Biggio, Guerrero homered for Toronto.
Zach Eflin was tagged for six earned runs in 5.2 IP.

— Guardians 8, A’s 0
Shane Bieber struck out 11 batters in six shutout IP.
David Fry was 3-4, with two runs scored.
Attendance in Oakland’s last-ever home opener: 13,522

— Twins 4, Royals 1
Pablo Lopez allowed only four baserunners in 7 IP.
Royce Lewis homered, later left game with a leg injury.
Carlos Correa was 3-4, with two RBI.

— Red Sox 6, Mariners 4
Tyler O’Neill homered on Opening Day for 5th year in a row, an MLB record.
Rafael Devers was 2-4 with a homer and two RBI.
Mitch Haniger hit a home run for Seattle. 

— Happy Opening Day, everyone; they played couple of games in Korea last week, but today is the real Opening Day, except in NY/Philly, where those games have already been rained out.

I’ll be posting statistical knowledge on the baseball page every day starting next week sometime, after the teams have some games under their belt.

— They have a restaurant at my hotel, Du-Par’s, a 24-hour place that is very good, but tonight, they had this little robot/cart delivering the meals to the tables. I’m sitting there looking at my phone, and the cart pulls up next to me— its a little spooky.

—  Seton Hall 91, UNLV 68
Pirates never trailed; they shot 11-25 on the arc.
Seton Hall shot 64.9% inside the arc, scored 1.30 points/possession.
Pirates play Georgia in the NIT semi-finals next week.

— Utah 74, VCU 54
Utes jumped out to a 16-2 lead; Rams were 5-26 on the arc.
Only one guy on VCU scored more than 8 points.
Utah plays Indiana State in the NIT semi-finals, at Butler’s Hinkle Fieldhouse.

— Seattle 77, High Point 67
Seattle wins the CBI championship.
High Point led by 3 with 11:23 left in the game.
Redhawks finish season with the #12 eFG% defense in country.

— Norfolk State 75, Fort Wayne 67
Norfolk State wins the CIT championship.
Fort Wayne led 41-23 late in the first half.
Norfolk State put four guys in double figures; two of them were subs.

— If you’re in Las Vegas, check out the sportsbook at the MGM Grand; good place to bet on and watch games, with an excellent pizzeria around the corner to the left.

— Famous birthdays for March 28:
Rick Barry, 80
Len Elmore, 72
JK McKay, 71
Glenn Davis, 63
Jason Garrett, 58
Vince Vaughn, 54
Chris Long, 39
Stefani Germanotta, 38 (Lady Gaga)
Derek Carr, 33
Christian Walker, 33
Will Smith, 29 (Dodgers catcher)

— Purdue is 5-0 this season against the other teams in the Sweet 16.

— 7 of the teams in the Sweet 16 played in the Maui Classic, either this year or last year.

— College basketball coaching stuff:
Louisville hired Charleston coach Pat Kelsey (70-27 in three years there)

Florida Atlantic hired John Jakus as basketball coach; he was an assistant coach at Baylor, and has also worked at Gonzaga.

Long Beach State hired San Diego State assistant Sam Acker as its new head coach; had was with the Aztecs for five years, at Hawai’i/Boise State before that. 

Belmont hired Tennessee-Martin coach Ryan Ridder (40-25 the last two years) as its new coach.

Tennessee-Martin hired Jeremy Shulman, who was 346-107 in 14 years coaching at Eastern Florida State, a junior college.

Siena hired Syracuse assistant Gerry McNamara as its new coach.

— NFL’s Detroit Lions re-signed QB Nate Sudfeld, who played in six games over four seasons with the Eagles/Lions. He’s never started an NFL game, completing 25-37 passes, for 188 yards.

— Of all the active baseball players, Mike Trout/Jose Ramirez are the only two with five 20-20 seasons; 20+ home runs, 20+ stolen bases.

— Red Sox OF Tyler O’Neill has hit a home run on each of the last four Opening Days.

— Chicago White Sox have only one pitcher on their roster this year, who was also on the White Sox’ roster last year.

— Only five major league franchises have been sold in the last 12 seasons, Orioles being the fifth; it would be nice if some really rich person bought the A’s this year, so they can go to Las Vegas and compete for playoff spots.

— I was wearing my A’s cap in the sportsbook tonight; a guy comes up to me and asks how I think they’ll do in Las Vegas. He told that he had a friend who was Al Davis’ chauffeur back in the day, when Davis owned the Oakland Raiders. The guy has been to 33 Super Bowls, including 20 in a row at one point.

He is retiring from his job now and is moving from San Diego to Las Vegas; good guy. I’ve had some excellent conversations with total strangers in sportsbooks here; this was one of those. 

Greetings from Las Vegas, America’s favorite city. This was a long day, was in airplanes/airports all day, but the world doesn’t stop because I’m on vacation. Lot of stuff happened Tuesday.

— You’d think being in an airport at 4:45am on a Tuesday morning would be quiet, but today was anything but; they’re doing construction at Albany Airport, and the lines at the security checkpoint were long, very long. 45 minutes worth of long.

— Somehow, my luggage got to Las Vegas before I did; for a few minutes, I thought they lost my suitcase, but they paged me and told me it got to Las Vegas on a different flight than the one I was on, so that was a relief. 

— Lakers-Bucks NBA game was the feature attraction in the sportsbook tonight; guys yelling for both sides in a double overtime game. It was fun to listen to.

— Sportsbooks take bets on everything; they had soccer scores up on the board between countries I’ve never heard of.

— In Las Vegas hotels, if you put the “Do Not Disturb” sign on your door three days in a row, turning down housecleaning, they do a wellness check on you, to make sure you’re not dead, I guess. They actually told me that today when I checked in.

— Vancouver Canucks are 15-1 to win the Stanley Cup, even though they have 98 points, tied for most in the NHL. Vegas Golden Knights are 6-1, even though they only have 86 points, but they are the defending champs.

— New England Patriots are 150-1 to win the Super Bowl next season, which just seems wrong, but times change quickly.

— Peter Marshall, host of the Hollywood Squares and one of the best game show hosts ever, turns 98 years old Saturday; they’re doing a show on YouTube Saturday, some of the old shows from the Hollywood Squares. Should be fun.

Marshall’s son is Pete LaCock, who played in the major leagues for nine years, for the Cubs and Royals, hitting .257 for his career.

— Famous birthdays for March 27:
Randall Cunningham, 61
Ed Pinckney, 61
Danny Fortson, 48
Buster Posey, 37
Brandon Nimmo, 31

— Sweet 16 games are where Purdue coach Matt Painter has struggled; in his career, he is 1-5 SU/ATS in Sweet 16 games. Purdue plays Gonzaga; since 2015, the Zags are 5-3 in Sweet 16 games.

— Clemson is 8-1 against the spread as an underdog this year; they’re getting 7.5 points from Arizona Thursday.

— In the Big West, Cal Poly hired Mike DeGeorge as its new basketball coach; DeGeorge led Colorado Mesa to five NCAA Tournaments in his six years as the D-II school. Cal Poly hasn’t had a winning season since 2013; they were 30-117 in five years under the previous coach, 8-77 in conference games. Not good.

— In the NBA, Houston Rockets are 11-1 ATS in March.

— Sacramento Kings C Domantas Sabonis has had 55 games in a row with a double-double, the longest such streak since at least 1977.

— Arizona Diamondbacks signed P Jordan Montgomery for one year, $25M, getting agent Scott Boras off the hook for leaving his clients hanging this spring.

— Monday’s Cleveland-Arizona game got rained out, which is odd- the Diamondbacks play in a domed stadium. Game was called after six innings when an unexpected rainstorm hit Chase Field. Because of ongoing mechanical issues, the retractable roof at Chase Field can’t be opened or closed with fans in attendance.

— Colorado Rockies signed SS Ezequiel Tovar for seven years, $63.5M; if the Rockies exercise their option for 2031, the contract would be worth $84M.

— All the pro teams have social media accounts, but the Oakland A’s Twitter account is different; you can’t respond to their posts, because lot of us A’s fans despise the cheap bastard who owns the team. A’s seem to be a little bit better this year but seeing how they were 50-112 last year, that won’t take much.

— Actor Bryan Cranston is an avid baseball baseball fan, a Dodger fan; he named one of his dogs Vin Scully.

— Back in 1963, Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax started 42 games; Dodgers went 36-6 in those 42 games, as Koufax won the Cy Young Award, the MVP and the Dodgers won the World Series. Pretty good year.

Last year, Miles Mikolas started 35 games, Zac Gallen 34, the most of anyone in the big leagues.

— NFL Owners Meetings are going on this week; they changed the kickoff rule, making it more like the one the spring leagues use. It figures to double the amount of kickoff returns next year. 

— Christmas is on a Wednesday nine months from now; NFL will actually have two games that day, with those four teams also playing on Saturday the previous week, the 21st.

— Week 1 Friday night game will involve the Eagles and is being played in Brazil, because the NFL takes money from everywhere; apparently that game will be shown on Peacock, and only Peacock, which is disappointing, but there will be baseball on TV that night, too.

— NFL moved its 2024 trade deadline back a week, until the Tuesday after Week 10. 

Lot of activity in the coaching carousel:

— Utah State’s Danny Sprinkle bolts from Utah State to Washington; Aggies were 28-7 this season, in Sprinkle’s first year in Logan. He had to rebuild the entire roster; when he took the job, he didn’t have any players who scored a point for Utah State the previous year. 

Sprinkle is 80-25 as a coach the last three years; 52-18 at Montana State, 28-7 at Utah State.

— Toledo’s Tod Kowalczyk jumps from the Rockets to Utah State; he went 104-37 the last four years at Toledo, but never made the NCAA’s. Rockets haven’t made the tournament since 1980.

— Utah State will have its 4th coach in five years next year, its 6th coach in 11 years, and they had only one losing season during all that time.

— James Madison coach Mark Byington is now the coach at Vanderbilt; he went 82-36 in four years with the Dukes, after coaching Georgia Southern for seven years.

— Washington State is moving to the WCC next year because the Pac-12 doesn’t exist anymore; their coach Kyle Smith bolted to Stanford Monday. Smith went 94-71 in five years coaching the Coogs, after coaching San Francisco for three years, Columbia for six years.

Stanford is moving to the ACC next year (why!?!??), so Smith will get a lot of frequent flyer miles in his new job.

— Missouri State brought an old friend back, hiring Cuonzo Martin as its new coach;; Martin was 61-41 coaching the Bears from 2008-11, then moved on to Tennessee, Cal and Missouri.

Missouri State was 74-49 the last four years under Dana Ford, 45-31 in MVC games, but they haven’t made the NCAA’s since 1999, when Steve Alford was their coach. The rich people who control the purse strings in college sports aren’t very patient these days. 

— William & Mary hired Cornell coach Brian Earl; Big Red went 22-8 this year, winning the Ivy League regular season with a 13-3 mark. 

— Some coaching jobs that are still open: 

Louisville, Oklahoma State, Cornell, Drake, Duquesne, FAU, Fresno State, James Madison, Long Beach State, Pepperdine, Saint Louis, Siena, Washington State

Famous birthdays for March 26:
Diana Ross, 80
Marcus Allen, 64
John Stockton, 62
Keira Knightley, 39
Von Miller, 35
Cristian Javier, 27

Word of the Day:
Enthusiastic – having or showing intense and eager enjoyment.

— UNLV is in the NIT, where the schedule has been odd:
Wednesday, Rebels won 84-77 at Princeton, in New Jersey. Long trip.
Sunday, Rebels beat Boston College 79-70 at home. Long trip for BC.
This Wednesday, Rebels play at Seton Hall, again in New Jersey.

Final Four for the NIT this year is in Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, where they filmed the last few game scenes in Hoosiers.

— Lon Kruger, father of UNLV coach Kevin Kruger, led five different schools to the NCAA Tournament:
Kansas State, 1987-90
Florida, 1994-95
Illinois, 1997-98, 2000
UNLV, 2007-08, 2010-11
Oklahoma, 2013-16, 2018-21

Kruger also coached the Atlanta Hawks for three years (2000-03)

— Houston’s 100-95 overtime win over Texas A&M Sunday night was unusual:
4 Houston players fouled out; last time a team won an NCAA Tourney game when four of their players fouled out was 1987. 

A&M lost by 5 points; they missed 16 foul shots (29-45)

Aggies’ best player, Wade Taylor, shot 5-26 from the floor.

A&M had 26 offensive rebounds; Houston had 24 defensive rebounds.

Houston led by 13 with 3:49 left, won in overtime. Very unusual.

— Deion Sanders is babbling again, saying how he is going to pull strings to make sure his son plays for a certain NFL team(s). Colorado went 4-8 last year with Sanders coaching and his son playing QB (1-8 in Pac-12). The kid has never played for a coach other than his father.

If you ran an NFL franchise, and your 7-figure salary depended on winning, would you draft the Sanders kid? Seems like too much of a soap opera for me.

— UFL starts this week; the 8-team football league, combining teams from the USFL/XFL, will play a 10-game schedule, with the top two teams in each division making the playoffs. It looks like FOX, ESPN and ABC will be showing the games.

— Since 2000, four baseball players have been hit by a pitch twice in the same inning:
2008- Mike Hessman, Det
2010- Jose Guillen, SF
2012- David DeJesus, Cubs
2014- Brandon Moss, A’s

Favorites won 15 of 16 games in the second round of the NCAA Tournament Saturday/Sunday, going 12-4 ATS. Very unusual.

— Clemson 72, Baylor 64
#6-seed Tigers were the only underdog to win in the second round.
Clemson led wire-to-wire, shot 56.7% inside the arc.
Clemson plays Arizona in the Sweet 16.

— Houston 100, Texas Tech 95, OT
Tech hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer in regulation to force OT
Houston led by 13 with 3:49 left in regulation.
Tech lost by 5; they missed 16 foul shots (29-45).

— Marquette 81, Colorado 77
Marquette led 45-34 at half; game was tied with 3:33 left. 

Kolek scored 21 points, had 11 assists; he played all 40:00.
Golden Eagles shot 73.5% inside arc, Colorado 58.3%.

— Alabama 72, Grand Canyon 61
Antelopes led by 3, with 6:03 left to play.
Grand Canyon was 2-20 on the arc, 23-37 on foul line.
Alabama plays North Carolina in the Sweet 16.

— San Diego State 85, Yale 57
Aztecs came into game shooting 31% on arc; they made 13-27 in this game.
Aztecs led 45-21 at halftime of this stress-free win.
San Diego State plays UConn in the Sweet 16.

— Purdue 106, Utah State 67
Aggies led 20-19 after the first 10:00, then it went downhill, quickly.
Utah State shot 35.9% from the floor.
Zach Edey scored 23 points, had 14 rebounds.

— UConn 75, Northwestern 58
UConn won easily; they led 40-18 at halftime.
Huskies won their last nine games, seven of them by 14+ points.
Northwestern made NCAA’s the last two years, first time they ever did that.

— Duke 93, James Madison 55
Duke led the Dukes 47-25 at halftime.
Blue Devils made 14-28 shots on the arc.
Duke plays Houston in the Sweet 16.

Famous birthdays for March 25:
Elton John, 77
Bonnie Bedelia, 76
Lee Mazzilli, 69
Avery Johnson, 59
Tom Glavine, 58
Kyle Lowry, 38

— College basketball coaching hires:
West Virginia hired Drake coach Darian DeVries as its new coach; his son Tucker is expected to follow him to Morgantown. Tucker DeVries scored 21.6 ppg this year, grabbed 6.7 rebounds per game. Darian DeVries was 150-55 in six years coaching Drake.

Rice Owls hired former SMU coach Rob Lanier as their new coach; Lanier has been a head coach for 10 years at three different schools, making the NCAA’s in 2002 at Siena, 2022 at Georgia State. 

— Baltimore Orioles are 23-6 in spring training, which means very little.

— JD Martinez signed a one-year, $12M deal with the Mets; he mentioned how the Giants had offered him more $$$ than the Mets, but because San Francisco’s ballpark is bigger than Citi Field, he thought his numbers would go down with the Giants, and teams would think he was on the decline. 

— In the NBA, Portland Trailblazers started five rookies Saturday night, only the second team since 1971 to start five rookies in a game.

On April 26, 2012, Golden State started five rookies against San Antonio; one of the rookies was Klay Thompson.

— The starting five Grand Canyon used against Alabama Sunday averaged 23.0 years old, starting lineup for the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder averages 22.6 years old.

— NBA suspensions after a scuffle the other night:
Utah’s Kris Dunn got suspended for two games, a total of $35,678.

Houston’s Jabari Smith got suspended for one game, $53,601. 

— All eight #1 and #2-seeds made it to the Sweet 16, for the first time since 2019. 

Favorites won all eight games in the NCAA Tournament Saturday, going 6-2 ATS.

Creighton 86, Oregon 73, 2OT
Oregon led by 4 with 0:56 left in regulation.
Only two Ducks scored after halftime.
Creighton was 13-14 on the foul line, Oregon 4-5. 

Since 1994, Creighton has had only two basketball coaches; Greg McDermott and Oregon coach Dana Altman, who led the Bluejays from 1994-2010.

NC State 79, Oakland 73
Wolfpack is 7-0 over the last 12 days (won 5 games at ACC tourney LW)
Oakland sharpshooter Gohlke was only 6-17 on the arc.
All five starters for NC State scored in double figures.

Gonzaga 89, Kansas 68
Gonzaga is in the Sweet 16 for the ninth year in a row.
Zags outscored Kansas 46-24 in the second half.
Kansas lost five of its last seven games.

Weird coincidence; the two coaches in this game, Bill Self/Mark Few, were both born on December 27, 1962.

Iowa State 67, Washington State 56
Game was 27-27 at halftime.
Cyclones shot only 37.2% inside arc, were 7-14 on arc.
Wazzu was only 5-23 on the arc. 

Arizona 78,Dayton 68
Arizona shot 57.1% inside the arc.
Wildcats win their 7th straight second round game.
Arizona plays the Clemson-Baylor winner in the Sweet 16.  

North Carolina 85, Michigan State 69
Spartans led 26-14 early on.
Michigan State is 2-4 in its last six second round games.
North Carolina is 6-0 vs Michigan State in NCAA Tourney games.

Tennessee 62,, Texas 58
Tennessee won despite shooting 33.8% from floor.
Vols allowed 49-58 points in their first two tournament wins.
Tennessee-Creighton is an interesting Sweet 16 game.

Illinois 89, Duquesne 63
Illinois led 50-26 at halftime of this stress-free win.
Duquesne had nothing left after their upset win Thursday.
Illinois starts four seniors; they shot 73.7% inside the arc.

Famous birthdays for March 24:
Garry Templeton, 68
Bruce Hurst, 66
Mike Woodson, 66
Steve Karsay, 52
Peyton Manning, 48
Chris Bosh, 40

— Florida Atlantic coach Dusty May bolted to Michigan Saturday; May was at FAU for six years, getting to the Final Four LY; last two seasons, the Owls were 60-13. 

Speaking of May, when FAU lost to Northwestern Friday, one of the Wildcats’ players was Brooks Barnhizer, whose father was Dusty May’s high school coach.

— Saint Mary’s has won the WCC four times since 2010; in those four years, they went 1-3 in their first NCAA Tournament game.

— Indiana Pacers’ F Doug McDermott played college ball for his father Greg at Creighton; the McDermotts have another son, Nick, who is a caddy on the pro golf tour; he caddied for Nate Lashley last week at the PLAYERS Championship.

— Mets signed DH JD Martinez to a one-year, $12M deal. Martinez hit 33 homers for the Dodgers last year, with 103 RBI; unfortunately, he kicked my butt in the finals of our fantasy baseball league.

— Odd Fact of the Day: Only one team in NCAA Tournament history has gone a whole game without taking a foul shot; Illinois, in 1986. 

Saturday night, Oregon didn’t take a foul shot until there was 0:24 left in regulation.

— Former NBA coach Stan Van Gundy is a TV analyst on the NCAA’s; it is great to listen to him analyze games, it is like taking a masterclass on basketball. Always learn stuff listening to him.

— St Bonaventure’s athletic director quit suddenly this weekend, a week after the Bonnies opted out of playing in the NIT, but nobody told the players. Must be an interesting story there.

— Oakland coach Greg Kampe has an unusual dentist; the mom of one of his players is Kampe’s dentist, so I’m guessing that kid plays a lot, especially right before his annual checkup.

— Kind of stunning to hear the grief that John Calipari is getting from disgruntled Kentucky fans after the Wildcats lost in the first round, for the second time in three years.

Last five years, Kentucky is 105-52, 62-27 in SEC games, but only 1-3 in NCAA Tournament. 

Some nitwits want Calipari fired, but that would cost the school/boosters $33M; that’s the buyout on his contract, and who exactly would want to coach there if they ain’t happy with Calipari? 

If you love college basketball and betting on the NCAA Tournament, get ESPN+ and watch these mid-major teams play all winter long. ESPN only shows the big $$$ schools but ESPN+ has just about all the conferences. The $99 a year for ESPN+ is well worth it.

— Grand Canyon 75, Saint Mary’s 66
First-ever NCAA Tournament win for Grand Canyon.
Antelopes were 28-36 on foul line, Saint Mary’s 7-12.
Grand Canyon-Alabama Sunday should be a fast-paced tilt.
My thought watching this game: GCU is better than a 12-seed.

— James Madison 72, Wisconsin 61
Dukes ran out to a 33-16 lead and had a fairly stress-free win.
JMU has won 14 games in a row, is now 32-3.
Dukes get their first NCAA Tournament win since 2013.

— Utah State 88, TCU 72
Aggies get their first NCAA Tournament win since 2001.
Utah State shot 55% from the floor.
Since 2019, Mountain West teams other than San Diego State are now 2-13 in NCAAs.

— Alabama 109, Charleston 96
Alabama made 13-23 shots on the arc; they led 51-34 at half.
SEC teams went 3-5 in first round of the tournament.
This game had highest total of any NCAA game since 1995.

— Purdue 78, Grambling 50
Game was only 36-27 at halftime.
Zach Edey scored 30 points, grabbed 21 rebounds.
Purdue out-rebounded Grambling, 47-23.

— Duke 64, Vermont 47
Game was only 34-29 at halftime.
Duke was 20-29 on foul line, Vermont 2-6.
Vermont is now 1-9 all-time in first round games.

— Texas A&M 98, Nebraska 76
Aggies came into game shooting 28.4% on arc; they were 13-23 in this game.
Texas A&M led 58-44……..at halftime.
Wade Taylor scored 25 points, was 7-10 on the arc.

— Houston 86, Longwood 46
This was a total mismatch, 43-16 at halftime.
Cougars scored 1.39 ppp, shot 66.7% inside arc.
Houston will have a tougher game Sunday, against Texas A&M.

Famous birthdays for March 23:
Ron Jaworski, 73
Jason Kidd, 51
Mark Buehrle, 45
Maurice Jones-Drew, 39
Gordon Hayward, 34
Kyrie Irving, 32

— Yale 78, Auburn 76
Auburn led by 10 with 7:27 left in game.
Yale was 21-31 on foul line, Auburn 15-22.
Last 13 years, Ivy League teams are 10-3 ATS in first round game.

— Colorado 102, Florida 100
Colorado led by 13 with 4:28 left, blew the lead.
Junior G Simpson hit baseline jumper with 0:02 left for the win.
Buffs won 10 of their last 11 games.

— San Diego State 69, UAB 65
Aztecs outscored UAB 14-7 over final of the game.
Jaedon Ledee scored 32 of San Diego State’s 69 points.
UAB shot 37.7% from the floor. 

— Marquette 87, Western Kentucky 69
Marquette outscored the Hilltoppers 51-26 in second half.
Kolek returned from injury, scored 18 points, had 11 assists.
Marquette shot 60.6% inside arc, was +8 (18-10) in turnovers.

— Clemson 77, New Mexico 56
Tigers jumped out to 27-11 lead, had surprisingly easy win.
Clemson is only #6-seed to advance to second round.
New Mexico was 8-7 in its last 15 games, after an 18-3 start. 

— Northwestern 77, Florida Atlantic 65, OT
Northwestern hit jumper with 0:09 left to force overtime.
Wildcats had previously blown a 9-point lead with 6:30 left.
FAU went 5-4 in its last nine games, after a 20-5 start.

— Baylor 92, Colgate 67
Baylor made 16-30 shots on the arc, led 54-34 at halftime.
Baylor is 6-0 SU/5-1 ATS in last six first round games.
Colgate was in NCAA’s for 5th year in row (0-5 SU/2-3 ATS)

— UConn 91, Stetson 52
Huskies jumped out to 23-4 lead, jogged to an easy win.
UConn advances to play Northwestern Sunday.
Stetson’s famous alumni: Jacob deGrom and Ted Cassidy, the guy who played Lurch on The Addams Family. 

— Oakland 80, Kentucky 76
Jack Gohlke was 10-20 on the arc, scored 32 points.
For season, Gohlke is 131-347 on 3’s (37.8%), 4-8 on 2’s.
This is only 2nd time in last seven years a #14-seed won an NCAA game.

— NC State 80, Texas Tech 67
Wolfpack is 6-0 in postseason, after going 2-7 in last nine regular season games.

Oakland-NC State is an #11-14 2nd round game; here are all the #11-14 games, ever:
1989- Minnesota (-3) 80, Siena 67
1991- UConn (-4.5) 66, Xavier 50
1998- Washington (-3) 81, Richmond 66
2014- Tennessee (-7.5) 83, Mercer 63
2016- UCLA (-8) 92, UAB 85
2021- UCLA (-5.5) 67, Abilene Christian 47

— Washington State 66, Drake 61
Drake was only 6-14 on foul line, Wazzu 17-22.
Drake led 59-58 with 2:00 left in game.
DeVries, Drake’s best player, was only 6-18 from floor.

— Gonzaga 86, McNeese State 65
Zags led 48-25 at halftime, had a stress-free win.
Gonzaga has won 10 of its last 11 games.
Last eight years, Zags are 8-0 SU/4-4 ATS in 2nd round games.

— Iowa State 82, South Dakota State 65
Cyclones shot 64.7% inside the arc.
Iowa State won 12 of its last 14 games.
Cyclones force turnovers 25.6% of time, #2 in country.

— Texas 56, Colorado State 44
Longhorns led this game 27-11 at halftime.
Teams combined to shoot 7-38 on the arc.
Longhorns are 7-7 in their last 14 games.

— Kansas 93, Samford 89
Down 20 in second half, Samford fought back, got within two points.
Kansas won despite being minus-11 (18-7) in turnovers.
Jayhawks’ C Dickinson had 19 points, 20 rebounds with a bum shoulder.

— Tennessee 83, Saint Peter’s 49
Vols shot 11-24 on arc in this stress-free win.
Tennessee out-rebounded Saint Peter’s 47-21.
Vols’ next game is against Texas, Rick Barnes’ old team.
Barnes coached the Longhorns from 1999-2015.

Famous birthdays for March 22:
William Shatner, 93
Don Chaney, 78
Matthew Modine, 65
Brian Shaw, 58
Reggie White, 54
Marcus Camby, 50
Reese Witherspoon, 48
JJ Watt, 35

— Dayton 63, Nevada 60
Nevada led 56-39 with 7:39 left to play.
Wolf Pack ended first half on a 16-0 run.
Dayton ended game on a 24-4 run.
Dayton was 13-15 on foul line, Nevada 3-6.

— Duquesne 71, BYU 67
Dukes win in NCAA’s for first time since 1969.
Duquesne is 16-3 in last 19 games, after starting season 9-8 (0-5 in A-15)
BYU was 8-24 on arc; this year, they got 41% of their points on 3’s.

— Oregon 87, South Carolina 73
Oregon shot 67.7% inside arc, was 24-30 on foul line.
Under Dana Altman, Ducks are 8-0 in the first round.
South Carolina split its last 10 games, after a 21-3 start.

— Arizona 85, Long Beach State 65
Arizona’s lead was only 41-35 at halftime.
Wildcats shot 13-35 on the arc, 17-37 inside arc.
Arizona’s next game is against Dayton Saturday.

— Creighton 77, Akron 60
Bluejays made 10-17 shots on the arc.
Akron led 34-31 late in first half.
Creighton wins/covers despite being minus-9 in turnovers (14-5)

— Illinois 85, Morehead State 69
Illinois held slim 39-38 lead at halftime.
Illinois shot 1.33 points/possession (12-26 on arc)
Illini moves on to play Duquesne Saturday.

— North Carolina 90, Wagner 62
Game was 13-13 early on, but then reality set in.
Tar Heels shot 57.1% inside the arc.
North Carolina moves on to play Michigan State Saturday.

— Michigan State 69, Mississippi State 51
Spartans jumped out to 20-8 lead, and never trailed.
Michigan State won six of last seven first round games.
Miss State lost six of its last eight games.