Wednesday’s Den: Mid-week musings, and Big X basketball notes…….

— Couple of well-known receivers got traded Tuesday:
Jets acquired Davante Adams from Las Vegas, sending a 3rd round pick to the Raiders, a pick that could become a 2nd round pick if the Adams/Jets did really well the rest of this season. Move saves the Raiders $29.6M in dead money on next year’s salary cap. 

Cleveland Browns sent Amari Cooper to Buffalo, also for a 3rd round draft pick; Cooper had 53 targets with Cleveland, but caught only 24 of those passes.

— Sounds like Russell Wilson is going to get his first start at QB for Pittsburgh Sunday night, when Steelers host the Jets. Steelers are 4-2 with Justin Fields playing QB in all six games, but they were held under 300 total yards the last two weeks, and Wilson is healthier now.

— Over their last three games, LA Chargers have been outscored 39-3 in the second half.

— New York 6, Cleveland 3
Cleveland P Bibee allowed three runs, got only four outs.
Aaron Judge hit a 2-run home run.
New York leads best-of-7 series, 2-0

— 38.8% of major league pitchers this year have had Tommy John surgery, roughly three of every eight pitchers.

— South Alabama 25, Troy 9
South Alabama led 19-3 at halftime.
Jaguars outgained 1-6 Troy, 318-172.
Troy threw 3 INT’s, averaged only 3.8 yards/pass.

— Middle Tennessee 14, Kennesaw State 5
Blue Raiders ran a punt back 61 yards for a TD.
MTSU outgained the Owls, 284-234.
Kennesaw State is 0-6, in their first year at the I-A level.

Famous birthdays, October 16th:
Timothy Robbins, 66
John Mengelt, 75
Kevin McReynolds, 65
Adrian Murrell, 54

Kordell Stewart, 52
Jonathan Schoop, 33
Bryce Harper, 32
John Wolford, 29

Notes on Big X basketball teams:
— Arizona
Three years under Tommy Lloyd, they’re 88-20, 47-13 in Big X, 4-3 in NCAA’s
In those three years, Wildcats ranked #7-10-11 in the country on offense

— Arizona State
Last four years, Sun Devils were 62-62, 36-41 in Pac-12.
Last three years, ASU ranked #308-275-331 in 3-point FG%.

— Baylor
Bears won national title in 2021; since then, they’re 74-29, 36-18 in Big X.
Last three years, Baylor went WL in NCAA’s all three years, |
Last five years, Baylor was a top 20 offense all five years.

— Brigham Young
BYU hasn’t won an NCAA Tourney game since a play-in game in 2012.
In five years at BYU, Mark Pope was 110-52, 49-29 in WCC, 0-2 in NCAAs.
Pope has moved on to coach Kentucky.

— Central Florida
Last five years, UCF is 39-51 in conference games.
Last four years, Knights ranked #246 or worse in 2-point %age.
UCF’s last NCAA appearance was 2019.

— Cincinnati
Bearcats haven’t made NCAAs since Mick Cronin was coach in 2019
Three years under Wes Miller: 63-43, 25-29 in conference games.

— Colorado
Made NCAA’s twice in last four years.
Last six years, Buffs were 67-49 in Pac-12 games.
Boyle is 3-3 in first round NCAA Tourney games, 0-3 in second round.

— Houston
Last four years, they’re 61-10 in conference games, 11-4 in NCAA Tourney.
Went 32-5, 15-3 last year, their first year in Big X
Last four years, Houston has been a top 10 defensive team.

— Iowa State
In three years under Otzelberger, made NCAA’s last three years, going 4-3 in tourney.
Two years before Otzelberger got there, Cyclones were 5-31 in Big X games.
Iowa State has been a top 8 defensive team the last three years.

— Kansas
Jayhawks won national title is 2022.
Last five years, Kansas is 1-4 in second round of NCAA’s.
Last time Kansas lost a first round NCAA game: 2006.
LY, Jayhawks were 10-8 in Big X, their worst conference record since at least 1997. 

— Kansas State
K-State made NCAA’s once in last four years (got to Elite 8 in 2023).
Wildcats turned ball over 21.7% of time LY (#345)

— Oklahoma State
Steve Lutz is new coach (22-12 @ Western Kentucky, 44-23 @ A&M-Corpus Christi)
Last three years, Cowboys were 20-34 in Big X games
Last three years, Cowboys ranked #293-320-332 in turnover %age

— TCU
Last three years, TCU was 64-39, 26-28 in Big X, 2-3 in NCAA’s
Before 2022, Horned Frogs had been in NCAAs once since 1998.
Last three years, TCU ranked #44-23-13 in defense.

— Texas Tech
Tech has been in five of last six NCAA’s, but with 3 different coaches.
Red Raiders lost national title game in 2019.
LY, Tech was 23-11, 11-7 in Big X, their first year under McCasland.

— Utah
Utes last made the NCAA Tournament in 2016.
Utah picked up the pace LY; they were #57 in tempo LY, #237 the year before.l

— West Virginia
DeVries is Mountaineers’ third head coach in three years.
DeVries got Drake to the NCAA’s three of last four years.
Last three years, West Virginia was 15-39 in Big X games.

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.