— Back-to-back trends in the NHL
Road teams that won at home night before: 7-14
Road teams that lost at home night before: 9-4
Road teams that won on road night before: 14-17
Road teams that lost on road night before: 21-32
Home teams that won at home night before: 7-6
Home teams that lost at home night before: 5-4
Home teams that won on road night before: 13-13
Home teams that lost on road night before: 14-7
— Last two nights in the NBA, favorites are 15-0 SU, 12-3 against the spread.
— In 2017, Chiefs took Patrick Mahomes with the 10th pick in the NFL Draft; since then, Kansas City is 99-34, winning two Super Bowls.
That same year, Chicago Bears traded up from the 3rd pick to the 2nd pick so they could draft QB Mitch Trubisky; since then, the Bears are 49-68, 0-2 in playoff games.
— In his career, Mahomes is 10-1-1 ATS as an underdog.
— Carolina Panthers’ new head coach is Dave Canales, who has never been a head coach:
2004-05- offensive coordinator, Carson HS
2006-08- special teams coach/TE coach, El Camino College
2009- assistant strength coach, USC
2010-17- WR’s coach, Seahawks
2918-19- QB’s coach, Seahawks
2020-21- passing game coordinator, Seahawks
2022- QB’s coach, Seahawks
2023- offensive coordinator, Buccaneers
— I like watching the VCU-Richmond basketball games; underrated crosstown rivalry, always pretty intense. Teams are both pretty good, too.
— There will be seven Kentucky alums playing in the NBA All-Star Game this year.
When was the last time Kentucky/Kansas were home underdogs on the same day? They were on Saturday.
— If you go to a basketball game at Ole Miss, one of the fans in the front row opposite the benches is Morgan Freeman. That has to be pretty cool.
— SEC has five of the top 17 teams in this week’s top 25.
— Baseball Note of the Day: Royals signed SS Bobby Witt to an 11-year, $288.8M contract extension; good to see a team spend some $$$ to try and improve. Royals are also campaigning for a new ballpark in their downtown area, so that is a part of this move.
— Other baseball stuff:
Twins signed 1B Carlos Santana
Mets signed P Shintaro Fujiyami
— Football coaching stuff:
Liam Coen is the offensive coordinator in Tampa Bay; he was the OC at Kentucky the last couple years, after working for the Rams before that.
Kliff Kingsbury is the new OC in Washington, fueling speculation that Caleb Williams will wind up as Washington’s 1st round pick. Kingsbury/Williams worked together at USC this past year.
Raiders were expected to sign Kingsbury, but instead former Bears’ OC Luke Getsy is the new offensive coordinator in Las Vegas.
Bill Callahan is the new OL coach for the Titans; his son is Tennessee’s new head coach. Bill Callahan had been the OL coach in Cleveland.
Leslie Frazier signed on as a defensive assistant with the Seahawks; he sat out 2023, after being the defensive coordinator in Buffalo.
Miami Dolphins’ new defensive coordinator is Anthony Weaver, who comes to Miami from the Ravens. Weaver is from Saratoga, NY, half-hour north of Armadillo World HQ. Remember seeing him play high school basketball; he set very good screens.
— Bill Walton was on the USC-Oregon game on ESPN Thursday night in LA; he and Dave Pasch sat right near the USC bench. It was interesting to hear them say how coach Andy Enfield and guard Boogie Ellis were having a running dialogue while the game was going on, apparently not a very pleasant one.
They went on to say how USC’s players “weren’t on the same page” which is a euphemism for a team with bad chemistry. Trojans need injured guard Isaiah Collier back soon; they snapped their 6-game losing skid Saturday vs Oregon State, but they’re 9-13 this year, 3-8 in their last year in the Pac-12.
— Former NFL QB Teddy Bridgewater retired this year, he will be the new football coach at his alma mater, Miami Northwestern HS. Bridgewater played nine years in the NFL for six teams, with a 33-33 career record as a starter.
— Bad Beat of the Month: Temple (+10.5) lost 92-80 at Tulane Sunday. In OVERTIME!!!
— Steph Curry has scored 20+ points in a quarter 40 times in his career; Golden State went 34-6 in those forty games.
— Magic 111, Pistons 99— Franz Wagner scored 38 points for Orlando, without taking a foul shot; someone scores 38 without taking a foul shot, that means the other team isn’t being as physical as they should be on defense.
— Celtics were favored by 19.5 points against Memphis Sunday; it was the biggest spread in any NBA game this season. Boston won 131-91.
— They were telling a story on TV this weekend, about a guy applying for a job as an assistant for Michigan State coach Tom Izzo; the guy bought a mannequin in a store, chopped off the right hand and mailed the hand with his application to Izzo, with a note: “I’ll give my right hand to be your assistant coach.”
It worked. Go figure.
