— They have an NFL survivor pool at the Circa Casino in Las Vegas, with a winner-take-all prize pool of $14,266,000. Cost $1,000 a pop to enter.
Heading into Week 12, there are 99 players left, out of 14,266 who started.
— Alabama 100, Illinois 87
Alabama had only 7 turnovers, shot 68% inside the arc.
Alabama-Houston in Las Vegas next week should be quite a game. Contrast in styles.
— Texas-El Paso 79, Cal-Santa Barbara 76
Miners never trailed, led by 15 late in first half.
UTEP made 11-22 shots on the arc.
— Jacksonville 74, Virginia Tech 64
ACC teams aren’t supposed to lose to Atlantic Sun teams.
Dolphins outscored Tech 45-25 in second half.
Long time ago (I was 10 years old) Jacksonville actually played in the national title game, losing 80-69 to UCLA. Dolphins had a great center, Artis Gilmore, who went on to play 17 years in the NBA. Jacksonville hasn’t made the NCAA Tournament since 1986.
— Cal-Davis 75, Grand Canyon 68
TY Johnson had 21 points, 3 assists, 8 turnovers. He must have the ball a lot.
Aggies start four seniors, are #64 in continuity.
Grand Canyon is 2-2; their opponents are shooting 42.3% on the arc (#352).
— Arizona State 93, Cal Poly 89
79-possession game, a very fast pace.
ASU was 27-41 on foul line, Cal Poly 10-15.
Cal Poly is 3-3; they haven’t had a winning season since 2013, but the new coach has invigorated the program, playing this fast tempo.
— DePaul is 5-0 this season, under new coach Chris Holtmann, after going 3-29 last year under the previous coach. Blue Demons have played stiffs (schedule #354) but they’ve beaten the stiffs, a big step forward.
This year, DePaul is experience team #63, continuity team #355- lot of transfers; they made 15-39 shots on the arc in Tuesday’s 78-69 win over Eastern Illinois. DePaul doesn’t play a good team until December 4th at Texas Tech, but they appear to be vastly improved.
— Famous birthdays, November 21:
Marlo Thomas, 87
Earl Monroe, 80
Goldie Hawn, 79
Cedric Maxwell, 69
Troy Aikman, 58
Ken Griffey Jr, 55
Michael Strahan, 53
Danny Kanell, 51
Miles Simon, 49
Jena Malone, 40
Justin Tucker, 35
Cooper Rush, 31
Thursday would’ve been the 80th birthday for the great Harold Ramis, who was an actor and a director; he was in Ghostbusters and Stripes. His writing/directing credits include Caddyshack, Second City TV, Groundhog Day, Animal House, among many others. Very funny man.
— Chicago Bears changed offensive coordinators last week; if you have DJ Moore on your fantasy team, you might be happy about that.
Last week, Brown caught 7 passes for 62 yards, with 56 of those yards after that catch- he ran shorter patterns.
In Chicago’s first nine games, Moore had only 176 yards after the catch, 19.6 yards/game.
Looks like the Bears are going to get him the ball quickly and let him do his thing.
— P Nick Martinez was the only potential free agent to accept his $21.05M qualifying offer, turning down the chance to hit the free agent market. Martinez was 10-7, 3.10 in 142.1 IP for the Reds last year, starting in 16 of his 42 appearances.
— There is another Japanese pitcher other than Roki Sasaki who is coming to America next year for his MLB debut.
23-year old Sasaki is highly touted, but 35-year old Tomoyuki Sugano also has an impressive resume, and he will be a lot cheaper to sign, because of his age.
— Ten years ago, 34 major league pitchers threw 200+ innings; this past season, only four pitchers threw 200+ innings.
Logan Gilbert, Seth Lugo, Logan Webb, Zack Wheeler
— San Francisco Giants have a new general manager, Zack Minasian; his brother Perry is the Angels’ GM, his other brother Calvin is the clubhouse manager for the Atlanta Braves.
— Nine years ago, Golden State Warriors started the season 24-0, the best start ever by an NBA team. This year’s Cleveland Cavaliers are 16-1, the 2nd-best start.
— John Stockton was a great point guard for the Utah Jazz; he dished out 17,645 assists in his 19-year Hall of Fame career. His son David Stockton also played at Gonzaga, played in six NBA games several years ago— he is still playing in the G-League, and has given out the 4th-most assists in the history of that league.
