Wednesday’s Den: Mid-week musings……..

— Something to think about when filling out brackets next month.
Marquette is 17-5 this year, 8-3 in Big East; in 2.5 years under Shaka Smart, Marquette is 65-25, 36-14 in conference games. Very good.

In his career, Smart has done really well; he had VCU in the Final Four in his second year as their coach. Getting a CAA team to the Final Four is a tremendous accomplishment. But……

Since VCU lost to Butler in the national semifinals in 2011, Smart’s record in the NCAA tourney is 3-9, 3-6 in first round, 0-3 in second round- in those three years when they lost in the second round, they were a 12-seed, a 5-seed, a 2-seed.

Smart’s team are 2-6 in the NCAA’s when they’re the higher seeded team. Three of his six first round losses came in overtime.

Right now, Bracketology has Marquette as a #2-seed.

— Kansas State is 15-8 this year, 5-5 in Big X, nothing special, but they’re 6-0 in overtime games. In two years under Jerome Tang, K-State is 11-0 in overtime games, an amazingly good record.

Wildcats are turning ball over 22.9% of time in Big X games, which is bad; they have the #16 eFG% defense in country, which is very good. 

— Clemson 80, North Carolina 76
Tigers have now won two of last three visits to Chapel Hill, after losing their first 59 (yes, 59!!!) visits to UNC.
Joseph Girard scored 21 points for Clemson.
It was a trap game for North Carolina, coming three days after they beat Duke.

— South Florida 72, Charlotte 69
Bulls have won eight games in a row, lead the AAC.
Charlotte led by 17 points late in first half.
Selton Miguel scored 22 points for USF; he didn’t start.

— Toledo 91, Eastern Michigan 87
Toledo was 22-29 on foul line, EMU 3-9.
Rockets stay a game behind Akron in the MAC standings.

— Indiana 76, Ohio State 73
Buckeyes led by 12 with 7:27 left to play.
Ohio State has lost five in row, eight of last nine games.

— Minnesota 59, Michigan State 56
Spartans are 1-4 in conference road games.
Michigan State was 7-17 on the foul line.

— Five teams are still unbeaten in conference play:
Ivy- Cornell
Ivy- Yale (they play this Saturday)
Big South- High Point
WCC- Saint Mary’s
America East- Vermont

Baseball Note of the Day: Most career stolen bases, active players:
333- Elvis Andrus
317- Starling Marte
314- Billy Hamilton
296- Jose Altuve
260- Trea Turner

— Famous people who were born on February 7:
Matthew Stafford
Steve Nash
Chris Rock
Garth Brooks
James Spader
Ashton Kutcher

Super Bowl Fact of the Day: Five QB’s who started a Super Bowl against the Chiefs:
Bart Starr
Joe Kapp
Jimmy Garoppolo
Tom Brady
Jalen Hurts

— Houston Astros signed star 2B Jose Altuve to a 5-year, $125M contract extension; he hit .311 in only 90 games LY, with 15 homers, 51 RBI after he broke his thumb in the WBC last spring.

— Random NHL stat: When a team is playing at home for the second consecutive night, the over is 16-8 in that game.

— UFL starts on March 30, with eight teams. Birmingham at Arlington kicks this off, with the second game that day St Louis at Michigan. Spring football is a good thing.

— Philadelphia Eagles will open the 2024 season by playing a Friday night game in Brazil, the NFL’s first-ever game in Brazil.

— New Jersey Giants signed Titans defensive coordinator Shane Bowen to replace Wink Martindale.

Cleveland Browns hired Ken Dorsey to be their new offensive coordinator.

— Does Dan Quinn’s move from Dallas to division rival Washington mean that a Commanders-Cowboys game will be on the docket for Monday Night Football next year?

— Colleges with most players in this week’s Super Bowl:
6- Oklahoma
5- Clemson, Florida, Georgia
4- Michigan, Middle Tennessee, USC, TCU

— Unusual NBA fact- Over the next seven drafts, Oklahoma City Thunder has 35 draft picks, 14 in first round, 21 in the second. Thunder is already 35-15 this year, they’re really good. They’re probably going to package those picks to acquire a star player or two (or three). 

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.