— 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.
