Saturday’s Den: Clearing out a cluttered mind…….

— Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh has been suspended for three games, as a result of the sign-stealing shenanigans involving the Wolverines. Michigan responded with a temporary restraining order request against the Big 14; by the time you read this, the lawyers will have billed a few more hours and the judge will have made a decision.

Michigan’s next three games are Penn State, Maryland, Ohio State, big games.

— Arizona 78, Duke 73
All five Arizona starters scored scored between 11-14 points.
Wildcats out-rebounded Duke, 45-33.
High-level game; these teams play in Tucson next year.

— Memphis 70, Missouri 55
Mizzou led this game 33-26 at half, got outscored 44-22 in second half.
Mizzou shot 32.1% from floor, 6-28 on arc.
Memphis out-rebounded Mizzou, 47-33.

— Missouri has a guard named Caleb Grill, who has had an interesting career:
2020— Iowa State- Cyclones were 12-20 that year.
2021— UNLV— Rebels went 12-15, the coach quit and bolted to Iowa State, where he used to be an assistant.
2022— Iowa State— back to the Cyclones with the coach- they went 22-13, made Sweet 16.
2023— Iowa State— Cyclones went 19-14, after a 13-2 start.
2024— Missouri— he’s scored 21 points in the Tigers’ first two games.

— Texas A&M 73, Ohio State 66
SEC is supposed to be loaded this year; this game is a good example of this.

— Tennessee 80, Wisconsin 70
Another good game for the SEC, a solid road win.

— Uh-oh scores— games that could signal a long year for the losers:
Chattanooga 81, Louisville 71
Nicholls State 68, LSU 66
Monmouth 73, West Virginia 65

— Word of the Day: Litigation— the process of taking legal action.

— SMU 45, North Texas 21
Mustangs led 17-14 at halftime.
8-0 Mustangs ran ball 58 times for 318 yards, threw for 234 more.

— Princeton 74, Hofstra 67— Good start for Tigers, beating Rutgers/Hofstra this week, as they look to build on their Sweet 16 appearance last year.

— Oregon State 81, Troy 80, 2OT
Trojans had 23 turnovers, OSU had 21.
Beavers were 26-39 on foul line, Troy was 22-29.

— Surprising Item of the Day: Baseball announcer Jason Benetti, who grew up in Chicago as a big White Sox fan, is jumping from the White Sox to the Detroit Tigers. Very surprising, and disappointing for White Sox fans, because Benetti/Steve Stone were a great team.

There are rumors that White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf isn’t a fan of Benetti’s, which fueled his departure, but Benetti is an awesome announcer. Born with cerebral palsy, he graduated from Syracuse, then he got a law degree from Wake Forest while broadcasting minor-league ball.

He also works on a national stage for football/basketball, hard to believe someone wouldn’t want him to be their announcer. Friday was a good day for Detroit Tiger fans.

— QB Kyler Murray is starting for the Cardinals, his first action since tearing up his knee last year. Arizona went 1-13 in the fourteen games since Murray got hurt.

— Oakland A’s claimed 3B/OF Miguel Andujar off waivers from Pittsburgh, a good move. Andujar had a .776 OPS in 30 games with the Pirates last year.

— If you like to bet NBA first half props, the Lakers are now 0-9 ATS in the first half of their games this season.

— 76era G Tyrese Maxey is the only NBA player this season who has two games with 10+ assists and no turnovers.

— Random trivia; on the great old TV show M*A*S*H, the actors wore dog tags, because their characters were in the Army. Some of the characters wore their own dog tags, from when they were in the service, but the star of the show, Alan Alda, wore two dog tags from real soldiers who served in wars.

Years later, those dog tags and the boots Alda wore on the show sold at an auction for $125,000, with the proceeds going to charity. 

Author: Armadillo Sports

I've been involved in sports my whole life, now just write about them. I like to travel, mostly to Las Vegas- they have gambling there.