Armadillo Sports

September’s Too……..is a good bar
1165 Central Avenue in Colonie, just west of Osborne Road

Wednesday- Open for lunch at noon
Thursday-  Open Mike Night, 7:00
Friday- Karaoke at 8:00
Saturday- Live music at 8:00…….

You can order food from them via Door Dash
There’s a pool table, only 25 cents/game.
Check it out, it’s a fun place

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Monday’s 6-pack
World Baseball Classic scores
— Japan 4, Australia 3- Masataka Yoshida hit a 7th-inning home run.
— Italy 7, Great Britain 4- Italians won their first two WBC games.
— Cuba 7, Colombia 4- Cuba scored four runs in the first inning.
— Panama 4, Canada 3- Panama scored three unearned runs in 6th inning.
— Israel 5, Nicaragua 0- Dean Kremer got 13 outs, allow only two hits.
— Dominican Republic 12, Netherlands 1- Four major leaguers homered for the DR.

Quote of the Day
“I might not leave, I might not leave college. … my mom wants me to graduate. Yeah, so I might not leave. But I might leave. The fans might get into my head, talking about one more year, maybe three more years. I don’t know. I’m going to have to talk to my mom.”
BYU star AJ Dybantsa, who will be a very high pick in June’s NBA Draft

Monday’s quiz
When was the last time a WCC team other than Gonzaga/Saint Mary’s won the conference tournament?
(Hint: It was San Diego)

Sunday’s quiz
In the movie A Few Good Men, Kevin Bacon played the losing lawyer in the climactic courtroom scene.

Saturday’s quiz
In the history of the Milwaukee Brewers, Ryan Braun has hit the most home runs. 

— Sun Belt tournament
This is kind of amazing…….

Georgia Southern 82, Marshall 78
#10-seed Eagles have won five days in a row, all as an underdog:

W88-84 Old Dominion
W80-77 Arkansas State
W94-85 South Alabama
W96-72 Coastal Carolina
W82-78 Marshall

Georgia Southern plays #1-seed Troy Monday night, for the Sun Belt title. 

— MVC tournament
Northern Iowa 84, Ill-Chicago 69
#6-seed beats the #5-seed for the conference title. Unusual.
Northern Iowa gets to the NCAA’s for the first time in ten years.
Panthers shot 12-23 on the arc, 73.1% inside arc, scored 1.43 ppp.

— Summit tournament
North Dakota State 70, North Dakota 62
Bison get to the NCAA’s for the first time since 2019.
North Dakota State has won 17 of its last 19 games.
Last four years, four different teams won Summit tournament.

— Southern Conference tournament
East Tennessee State 69, Western Carolina 67
Western Carolina led by 17 early in 2nd half, by 8 with 3:04 left in game.
ETSU’s best player Taylor played 35-40 minutes last two days.
Buccaneers play Furman for SoCon title Monday night.

— Big South tournament
High Point 91, Winthrop 76
High Point has won 14 games in a row, is 30-4.
Panthers are on their 4th coach in five years; they lost 75-63 to Purdue in NCAAs LY.
High Point forces turnovers 21.9% of time (#5 in country)

— ASUN tournament
Queens 98, Central Arkansas 93, OT
Royals are in NCAA’s in their fourth year as a D-I team.
Queens shot 16-38 on the arc, 14-27 inside arc.
Chris Ashby was 10-19 on the arc; he didn’t take a 2-point shot.

— WCC tournament
Oregon State 78, San Francisco 77
Beavers trailed 11-0 out of the gate; they shot 11-24 on the arc.
Oregon State plays Gonzaga in the WCC semi-finals Monday night.
Why did Oregon State fire Wayne Tinkle? He had them in Elite 8 in 2021.

— Famous birthdays, March 9th
Bert Campaneris, 84
Dennis Harrah, 73
Linda Fiorentino, 68
Shooty Babitt, 67

Darrell Walker, 65
Sean Salisbury, 63
Benito Santiago, 61
Brian Bosworth, 61

CJ Nitkowski, 53
Aaron Boone, 53
Matt Barnes, 46
Craig Stammen, 42

— CAA tournament
Campbell 85, NC-Wilmington 70
#1-seed Seahawks led 21-10, but got upset here.
Camels were 26-31 on foul line; they only played seven guys.
Top two seeds lost Sunday; Campbell plays Monmouth in semis Monday.

— MAAC tournament
Merrimack 58, Marist 57
Merrimack was +11 in turnovers (20-9)
Warriors allowed 48-57 points the last two days.
Merrimack only played six guys in this game (64 possessions, slow tempo)

Siena 76, Fairfield 61
Saints were 19-26 on foul line, Fairfield 5-5.
Siena is trying to make NCAA’s for first time since 2010.
Siena only played seven guys in this game (also 64 possessions)

— Big Sky tournament
Portland State 85, Idaho State 78
Game was 36-36 at halftime.
Portland State was 32-48 on foul line, Bengals were 19-28.
Vikings were +8 in turnovers (12-4)
Portland State advances to semi-finals Tuesday night.

— Patriot tournament
Boston U 53, Navy 52
Boston U shot 11-24 on the arc, upset top-seeded Midshipmen.
Terriers have won four in row, eight of last nine games.
Boston U @ Lehigh play in the finals Wednesday night.

— Nebraska 84, Iowa 75, OT
Iowa forced OT after trailing by 11 with 7:32 left to play.
Nebraska had balanced scoring; one guy had 14 points, three others had 15 each.
Cornhuskers finish regular season 26-5, in a 3-way tie for second place in Big 18.

— Michigan 90, Michigan State 80
Wolverines led 42-41 at halftime.
Loss snaps Michigan State’s five-game winning streak.
Michigan wins conference by four games; Spartans finished in 3-way tie for second.

— Illinois 78, Maryland 72
Illini shot 67.7% inside the arc.
Illinois is 16-4 in last 20 games; three of the four losses were in OT.
Rough year for Maryland, going 4-16 in conference games.

— NEC tournament
LIU 64, Wagner 56
Sharks are first team in the Field of 68; they’re playing Mercyhurst for the NEC title Tuesday, but Mercyhurst isn’t eligible to go to the NCAA’s yet, so LIU is in.

LIU’s coach is Rod Strickland, who played 17 years in the NBA, scoring 13.2 points/game.
LIU is the #29 team in the country in continuity, #347 in bench minutes. They’re 23-10, 17-3 since New Year’s Day. 

— OVC tournament
Tennessee State 93, Morehead State 67
Tigers are the second team in the Field of 68.
Tennessee State is in the NCAA’s for first time since 1994; they’ve won six games in a row and nine of last ten games.

— Texas A&M 94, LSU 91, 3OT’s
LSU led 26-11 midway thru the first half.
Aggies were +12 in turnovers (10-22)
Texas A&M is 21-10, their 5th year in row with 20+ wins.

— Duquesne 79, Richmond 77
Duquesne was losing this game 40-10. Forty. to. ten.
This is the 4th-biggest comeback in the last 40 years.
Dukes snap a four-game losing skid, shooting 64.7% inside arc.
Richmond has lost 11 of its last 13 games.

— Marquette 68, UConn 62
UConn shot 3-24 on arc, turned ball over 16 times. 
Huskies led by 7 late in the first half.
With the loss, St John’s gets the top seed in Big East tournament.

— Upsets of the Day:
North Dakota (+11.5) 67, St Thomas 66
Loyola Chi (+9.5) 68, George Washington 62
Marquette (+8.5) 68, UConn 62

Wisconsin (+8.5) 97, Purdue 93
Stanford (+8.5) 85, NC State 84
Oklahoma (+7.5) 88, Texas 85, OT

George Mason (+7.5) 86, Saint Louis 57
South Carolina (+7.5) 64, Ole Miss 61
Pitt (+6.5) 71, Syracuse 69, OT

— Wisconsin 97, Purdue 93
Only a 66-possession game; not much defense was played.
Badgers shot 18-34 on arc, scored 1.48 ppp.
Purdue is 6-7 in its last 13 games, after starting season 17-1.
Wisconsin is 13-4 in its last 17 games. 

— Louisville 92, Miami 89
Louisville shot 69% inside arc, scored 1.43 ppp. 
Cardinals outscored Miami 10-5 over last 2:33 of the game. 
Miami is 9-4 in its last 13 games (losses by 2-1-3-3 points).

— Cal-Irvine 79, Cal-Davis 69, OT
Very bad beat if you took the Aggies +7.5.
Cal-Davis led 38-28 at halftime.
Anteaters were 19-27 on foul line, Cal-Davis 6-9

Over the last seven years, Cal-Irvine is 96-30 in Big West conference games, but only 4-5 in Big West tournament games. Anteaters haven’t made it to the NCAA’s since 2019, when they upset Kansas State as a #13-seed. 

— WCC tournament
San Francisco 82, Portland 65
Game was 29-29 at halftime.
Dons 6-9 junior Fuchs scored 23 points, grabbed 16 rebounds.
USF advances to play Oregon State Sunday night.

— Famous birthdays, March 8th:
Susan Clark, 83
Jim Rice, 73
Buck Williams, 66
Lance McCullers Sr., 62
Kenny Smith, 61

Jason Elam, 56
Hines Ward, 50
Tommy Pham, 38
Robbie Hummel, 37
Kyle Allen, 30

— SoCon tournament:
Western Carolina 77, Mercer 73
Mercer led by 17 midway thru first half.
Western Carolina had 53-29 edge on boards.
Catamounts have won seven in a row after an 8-15 start; they play East Tennessee State in the SoCon semi-finals Sunday afternoon.

— MAAC tournament:
Siena 63, Mt St Mary’s 58
Saints led 35-21 at halftime, hung on for the win.
6-10 soph McEldon had 18 points, nine rebounds.
Other than McEldon, Siena was 6-28 inside the arc.
Siena advances to play Fairfield Sunday night.

Last five years, Siena was 0-5 in MAAC tourney, with all five losses by 6 or fewer points.

— Arkansas 88, Missouri 84 OT
Arkansas gets quality road win; their star Acuff didn’t play.
Mizzou led by 5 with 8:20 left in the game.
Razorbacks won 10 of their last 13 games. 

— Vanderbilt 86, Tennessee 82
Vandy never trailed, led 32-22 at halftime.
Commodores have #30 eFG% offense, #50 eFG% defense.
These teams wound up in a 3-way tie for 4th in SEC, with Texas A&M.

— Sun Belt tournament:
Georgia Southern 96, Coastal Carolina 72
#10-seed Eagles win for fourth day in a row, scoring 88-80-94-96 points.
Georgia Southern was 12-29 on 3-point shots; they were 23-44 Friday.
Georgia Southern plays Marshall in the semi-finals Sunday night.

— Missouri Valley tournament
Drake 100, Belmont 79
Bulldogs shot 76.9% inside arc, scored 1.39 ppp.
Drake was an 11-point underdog.
Bulldogs won last two nights, after losing last eight regular season games.
Belmont is first #1-seed in country to lose in its conference tournament. 

Bradley 90, Valparaiso 84, 2OTs
Braves were +8 (19-11) in overtime.
Valparaiso led by 3 with 0:48 left in the first overtime.
Bradley is 4-1 in overtime games this season.

— Miami OH 110, Ohio 108, OT
Redhawks finish regular season 31-0, with nine wins by 1 or 2 points, or in OT.
Miami’s last three wins were all by two points.
Miami was 31-41 on foul line, Ohio was 20-25.
Redhawks shot 56.1% inside arc, scored 1.32 ppp.

— Akron 94, Northern Illinois 55
Very quietly, in Miami’s shadow, Zips have won seven in row, 16 of last 17 games.
Akron shot 18-27 on the arc, scored 1.36 ppp.
Zips are 26-5, have the #9 eFG% in the country.

— St John’s 72, Seton Hall 65
St John’s shot 59.4% inside the arc.
Seton Hall finishes 10-10 in the Big East.
Red Storm is 16-1 in last 17 games, clinched #1-seed in Big East tourney.

— Southern Conference tournament
Citadel 88, Chattanooga 85
Citadel shot 15-31 on arc, scored 1.39 ppp.
Chattanooga lost despite scoring 1.34 ppp. 

— WCC tournament
Portland 74, Washington State 68
Wazzu led 29-25 at halftime.
This was Coogs’ last WCC game; they’re back in Pac-12 next year.
Pilots advance to play San Francisco Saturday.

— North Carolina star Caleb Wilson, who was already nursing a broken left hand, is now out for the year with a broken right thumb he suffered in practice this week. Wilson was averaging 19.8 ppg, grabbing 9.4 rebounds/game for the 24-6 Tar Heels.

— Famous birthdays, March 7th:
Pete Beathard, 84
Jeff Burroughs, 75
Lynn Swann, 74
Tommy Kramer, 71

Bryan Cranston, 70
Joe Carter, 66
Flipper Anderson, 61

Steve Beuerlein, 61
Ricky Proehl, 58
Jeff Kent, 58

Jenna Fischer, 52
Ian Clark, 35
Pharoh Cooper, 31
Michael Harris, 25

— VCU 68, Dayton 62
VCU shot 56.7% inside arc, had only 7 turnovers on 61 possessions.
Dayton shot 63.6% inside arc, only 4-22 outside arc.
Rams have won 13 of their last 14 games.

— San Diego State 89, UNLV 86
BJ Davis scored 30 points in 26:00 off San Diego State’s bench.
Aztecs led 42-39 at halftime.
Dravyn Gibbs-Lawhorn scored 32 points for UNLV.

— West Virginia 77, Central Florida 62
West Virginia shot 61.5% inside the arc.
Honor Huff was 10-10 on foul line; UCF’s whole team was 11-18.
Central Florida lost six of its last nine games.

— Patriot League tournament
Lehigh 69, Holy Cross 66
Forgot to mention this yesterday; kid on Lehigh nailed a half-court shot at the buzzer to win this game. Lehigh advances to play Colgate in the semi-finals Sunday.

— MAAC tournament:
Merrimack 70, Sacred Heart, 48
Top-seeded Warriors led 39-25 at halftime.
Merrimack has won 10 of its last 11 games.

Fairfield 74, Saint Peter’s 55
#7-seed Stags pull upset, after trailing 11-0 right off the bat.
Fairfield starts 4 freshmen; they’ve won 10 of their last 13 games.

— Sun Belt tournament:
Southern Miss 81, Texas State 77- Unusual game: there were 92 two-point shots taken in this game, only 14 three-point shots. Southern Miss was 28-37 on foul line. 

 Georgia Southern 94, South Alabama 85
#10-seed Eagles win for third day in a row, scoring 88-80-94 points.
Georgia Southern was 23-44 on 3-point shots, 6-8 on two-point shots.

— Michigan 71, Iowa 68
Wolverines won despite being minus-13 (18-5) in turnovers.
Michigan is 28-2, 18-1 in conference games.
Iowa is 20-10, but 2-5 in their last seven games. 

— Louisiana Tech 76, Liberty 71
6-3 soph Bates scored 34 points, had four assists for Tech.
Liberty was 16-39 behind the arc, only 7-16 inside arc.
Liberty lost three of last four games, after a 23-3 start.

— Valparaiso 63, Indiana State 62
Indiana State led by 7 with 4:24 left in the game.
Valparaiso was 13-22 on foul line, Sycamores 3-4.
Crusaders play Bradley in the next round Friday.

— South Florida 96, Memphis 89
USF shot 63.2% inside arc, scored 1.24 ppp.
Bulls have won 8 in a row, will be #1-seed in AAC tourney.
Memphis has lost 7 in a row; this is their first losing season since 2000.

— Fullerton 75, Cal-San Diego 71
Cal-San Diego led by nine with 9:01 left in the game.
Titans won eight of their last eleven games.
These two teams are part of a 4-way tie for 4th place in Big West.  

— Drake 67, Southern Illinois 63
Salukis shot 4-25 on the arc, 3-9 on foul line.
Drake had lost nine games in a row, was a 9-point underdog.
Drake has also won this tournament the last three years; they had better teams then.

— Fairfield 71, Manhattan 60
Stags win 20 games for only 2nd time in last 14 years.
Fairfield starts four freshmen; they’re 9-3 in last 12 games.
Fairfield plays Saint Peter’s in the next round Friday.

— Famous birthdays, March 6th:
Jerry Rhome, 84
Mike Boryla, 75
Sleepy Floyd, 66
Connie Britton, 59
Shaquille O’Neal, 54

Michael Finley, 53
Sage Rosenfels, 48
Jake Arrieta, 40
Edmundo Sosa, 30
Joe Milton, 26

— Saw something on TV; so far in spring training, when a catcher challenges a ball/strike call, 54% of those calls have been overturned. When batters have challenged calls, 46% have been overturned. Still early in the process, but the ABS seems like a good system.

— There are only five players who have hit 400+ home runs, stole 300+ bases:

Carlos Beltran, 435 HR’s, 312 SB
Alex Rodriguez, 696, 329
Barry Bonds, 762, 514
Andre Dawson, 438, 314
Willie Mays, 660, 339

Jose Ramirez is the one active player who has a decent shot at joining this list; he’s hit 285 home runs, stolen 287 bases.

— Houston Astros’ SS Jeremy Pena has a broken bone in his finger, will be re-evaluated in two weeks. He’ll miss the World Baseball Classic; major league season starts in 20 days or so, it remains to be seen if Pena will be back in the lineup for Opening Day.

— There are two Max Muncy’s in the major leagues:
Dodgers’ 3B Max Muncy was drafted by the A’s, has played 10 years in the majors.

A’s 3B Max Muncy was also drafted by the A’s, has played one year so far.

What makes it weird is this: the two guys have the same birthday, August 25th.

— Chicago Bears traded WR DJ Moore and a 5th-round draft pick to Buffalo, in exchange for a second-round draft pick. Moore caught 50 passes for 682 yards and six TD’s last year; he has scored 43 TDs’ in his eight-year career.

— Nuggets 120, Lakers 113- Lakers are now 0-12 ATS in their last 12 games as an underdog. 

— Sun Belt tournament:
Southern Miss 86, James Madison 80- Eagles were 28-34 on line; they play Texas State next.
Georgia Southern 80, Arkansas State 77- Eagles pull the first upset of the tournament. 

— Arkansas 105, Texas 85
Razorbacks led 56-34 at halftime.
Darius Acuff scored 28 points, had 13 assists.
Arkansas shot 11-19 on arc, scored 1.33 ppp.

— Florida State 75, Pittsburgh 74
Florida State led by 24 early in 2nd half, hung on for dear life.
Seminoles have quietly won eight of their last 10 games.
Pittsburgh lost seven of its last nine games.

— Colorado State 82, New Mexico 74
February 1st, Colorado State was 12-10.
Since then, Rams have won eight games in a row.
Colorado State shot 13-16 inside the arc.
Lobos slip into a tie for 2nd in MW with San Diego State.

— Purdue 70, Northwestern 66
Northwestern led by 11 late in the first half.
Purdue shot 68% inside arc, had 29-15 edge on boards.
Just second win in last five games for the Boilermakers.

— Famous birthdays, March 5th:
Phil Roof, 85
Joe Scarpati, 83
Rocky Bleier, 80
Kent Tekulve, 79

Michael Irvin, 60
Roman Phifer, 58
Grain Grant, 54

Eva Mendes, 53
Paul Konerko, 50
Wally Szczerbiak, 49

Kyle Schwarber, 33
Bo Bichette, 28
Tanner Bibee, 27
Justin Fields, 27

— College/minor league sports have become a little weird.

There are 16 teams in the SEC; on those 16 teams this season, there is only one senior who started his college career with that team- Shawn Jones at Mississippi State. No one stays in school four years, and if they do, they bolt for greener pa$ture$ at some point.

— College basketball coaching news
Tennessee Tech fired John Pelphrey, who had coached there seven years. Tech hasn’t been to the NCAA’s since 1963; they’re moving up to the Southern Conference next year.

Providence fired Kim English, who is 47-50 in three years with the Friars, 13-26 the last two years in conference games.

— NFL announced that Cardinals-Panthers will be the Hall of Fame Game in August.

— New England Patriots are going to release WR Stefon Diggs next week, saving them $16.8M on the salary cap. Diggs caught 85 passes for 1,013 yards with New England last year, scoring four touchdowns.

— Houston Astros SS Jeremy Pena went for X-rays today on an injured finger; he is meeting with a hand specialist Thursday in West Palm Beach.

Pena is playing for the Dominican Republic in the WBC; Astros lost Jose Altuve with a broken finger in the WBC three years ago.

— Australia 3, Chinese Taipei 0
First game in this year’s World Baseball Classic
Travis Bazzana homered for Australia.
Aussies play Czechia Thursday night at 10:00.

— Word of the Day:
Nefarious- Someone who is evil or immoral, or both.

— St Joe’s 70, Davidson 67
Hawks have won five in a row, 12 of last 15 games.
St Joe’s had 41-27 edge on the boards.
Davidson was only 9-31 on arc, 8-16 on the foul line.

— Miami 77, SMU 69
Hurricanes’ bench outscored SMU’s subs, 27-4.
Miami has won seven of its last eight games.
SMU lost its last three games, giving up 81.7 ppg.

— Horizon tournament:
Favorites won/covered three of the four games.
Only upset: #7-seed Northern Kentucky upset Oakland, 85-84.

— Sun Belt tournament:
James Madison 87, Louisiana 72- Dukes have won seven of their last eight games.
Georgia Southern 88, Old Dominion 84- Eagles play Arkansas State Thursday. 

— Miami OH 74, Toledo 72
Redhawks improved to 30-0, with one regular season game left.
6 of their last 12 wins were either by 2 points, or in overtime.
Miami never trailed; they led by one with 8:41 left to play.
Toledo is 10-7, #4-seed right now; these teams could meet in MAC semi-finals.

— North Carolina 67, Clemson 63
Tar Heels shot 12-27 on arc, 32.3% inside arc.
Carolina won 10 of its last 12 games.
Clemson lost five of last six games, after a 20-4 start.

— Georgia 98, Alabama 88
75-possession game, another Alabama track meet.
Georgia shot 13-29 on the arc, scored 1.31 ppp.
Alabama was 16-42 on the arc, 9-22 inside the arc.
Dawgs won four of their last five games.

— Vanderbilt 89, Ole Miss 86, OT
Big sigh of relief from Nashville; Commodores avoid a bad loss.
Tyler Tanner scored 34 points, had 7 assists.
Ole Miss led by 12 early on, by 4 with 1:17 left in regulation.
Vandy was +8 in turnovers, had 22 offensive rebounds.

— UNLV 92, Utah State 65
UNLV swept two games vs Utah State this year, first time since 2014.
Overall, Rebels have won six of their last eight games.
Howie Fleming had a triple-double for UNLV.

— Upsets of the Night:
TCU (+10.5) 73, Texas Tech 65
Oklahoma State (+8.5) 111, Central Florida 104, OT
Arizona State (+5.5) 70, Kansas 60
Ball State (+3.5) 74, Western Michigan 71, OT

— Braves’ DH Jurickson Profar got a 162-game suspension after a second failed PED test. Profar was suspended for 80 games last season for failing his first PED test. Profar his .245 with a .787 OPS in his half-season of play last year.

— Atlanta Falcons are going to play a “home” game in Spain this fall.

— The 2026 NFL league year starts on March 11th; sounds like QB’s Kirk Cousins, Kyler Murray are going to be free agents.

— Citadel finished 7-11 in Southern Conference this year, which doesn’t sound like much, but its the most conference games they’ve won since they went 9-9 in 2010.

— Famous birthdays, March 4th:
Tom Grieve, 78
Kay Lenz, 73
Doug Plank, 73
Patricia Heaton, 68
Steven Weber, 65

Kevin Johnson, 60
Robert Smith, 54
Draymond Green, 36
Nick Castellanos, 34
George Pickens, 25

— Oklahoma State 111, Central Florida 104, OT
Lot of fouls: OSU was 32-40 on foul line, UCF 33-45.
Central Florida led by 13, midway thru first half.
Cowboys are 2-6 in last eight games, with both wins in OT.

— Texas A&M 96, Kentucky 85
Aggies got their 20th win; they shot 13-28 on arc, 27-39 on line.
Kentucky led by 12 with 7:40 left in first half.
Wildcats lost four of their last six games.

— St John’s 72, Georgetown 69
Hoyas led by 12 with 13:50 left in the game.
St John’s has won 15 of its last 16 games.
Teams combined to shoot 11-44 on the arc; lot of long rebounds. 

— Green Bay 64, Fort Wayne 56
Green Bay advances to second round of the Horizon Tournament.
Green Bay improves to 18-14; last year, they were 4-28.
Green Bay was 15-20 on foul line, Mastodons were 5-9

— Sun Belt tournament:
Louisiana 84, Georgia State 75- Jaxon Olvera scored 29 points, had 9 rebounds.
Old Dominion 87, UL-Monroe 80- Monarchs advance to play Georgia Southern next. 

Teams that have been playing well vs spread recently…….
Arizona State 5-5 SU/8-2 ATS last 10 games

Charleston 10-2 SU/ATS

Cal-Davis 6-2 SU/ATS

Dayton 5-0 SU/ATS

Drexel 10-6 SU/13-3 ATS

Eastern Washington 8-2 SU/9-1 ATS

Florida State 8-4 SU/9-3 ATS

Michigan 8-0 SU/6-2 ATS

NC-Wilmington 8-2 SU/ATS

Providence 5-2 SU/ATS

South Florida 7-0 SU/5-2 ATS

TCU 6-1 SU/ATS

Texas Tech 6-1 SU/ATS

Wichita State 7-1 SU/6-2 ATS

Famous birthdays, March 3rd:
Dennis Shaw, 79
Randy Gradishar, 74
Eric Torkelson, 74
Herschel Walker, 64
Julie Bowen, 56

Trung Candidate, 49
Jessica Biel, 44
Santonio Holmes, 42
Kyle Isbel, 29
Maikel Garcia, 26

Teams that have NOT been playing well vs spread recently…….
BYU 5-9 SU/3-11 ATS last 14 games

Creighton 4-10 SU/1-13 ATS

Elon 2-6 SU/ATS

Georgia Tech 0-8 SU/2-6 ATS

Indiana 2-5 SU/1-6 ATS

Long Beach State 1-5 SU/ATS

Memphis 0-5 SU/ATS

NC State 3-5 SU/1-7 ATS

Oklahoma State 1-6 SU/ATS

Sacramento State 1-6 SU/ATS

USC 1-5 SU/ATS

Temple 0-6 SU/1-5 ATS

— Should be an interesting week; the first conference tournament in college basketball tips off tonight, with IU Indy visiting Cleveland State in the play-in game of the Horizon Tournament.

Cleveland State lost its last seven games, right after they won five games in a row. IU Indy plays the #4 tempo in America, so no matter what, it should be fun to watch.

— Later this week, the World Baseball Classic gets underway, highly competitive games with players who should be in spring training, getting ready for the major league season.

The bracket in Asia will have a game on TV at 5 or 6am six mornings in a row, so that’ll be bad for my sleep habits, but fun to watch.

One thing we don’t want this year is what happened in the last WBC: Jose Altuve getting hit by a pitch and breaking his thumb. Bad for the Astros, worse for my fantasy team and my freakin’ blood pressure!!! No injuries, please.

— Speaking of injuries, James Harden scored 22 points for Cleveland Sunday night, after he missed only two games after breaking his thumb. Impressive performance. Cavaliers are 38-24, right now the #4-seed in the Eastern Conference.

— Saint Mary’s beat Gonzaga Saturday; their regular season meetings had become an annual staple for 11:30 two Saturday nights a year- I’ll miss them. Will they keep playing each other in the future? Gonzaga is moving up to the Pac-12; the Gaels are staying in the WCC, which won’t be the same without Gonzaga.

Back when Jerry Tarkanian had UNLV where Gonzaga is these days, the Rebels’ main rivals in the Big West were Cal-Santa Barbara, New New Mexico State. When the Rebels moved on from the Big West, they stopped playing those teams, which hurt both of them.

Hopefully Saint Mary’s can still stay a big fish in a small pond; my question is this- the Pac-12 has eight football schools, plus Gonzaga as a basketball-only team, so nine basketball teams. Why didn’t they invite Saint Mary’s to join Gonzaga and make it a 10-team basketball league?

— USC has lost its last five games, is 7-11 in Big 18 and has fallen off the bubble. Sunday came news that Chad Baker-Mazara, who was scoring 18.5 ppg for the Trojans, is off the team, a large red flag.

Baker-Mazara is 26 years old; he had an interesting college career:
2020-21- Duquesne
2021-22- San Diego State (kicked off team)
2022-23- Northwest Florida State (junior college ball)
2023-25- Auburn
2025-26- USC (kicked off team)

— Famous birthdays, March 2nd:
Laraine Newman, 74
Terry Steinbach, 64
Jon Bon Jovi, 64
Ron Gant, 61

Sebastian Janikowski, 48
Ben Roethlisberger, 44
Bud Norris, 41
Reggie Bush, 41

Adolis Garcia, 33
Miguel Andujar, 31
Tua Tagovailoa, 28
Logan Henderson, 24

— Charleston 79, NC-Wilmington 76, OT
NC-Wilmington led 35-23 at halftime.
Seahawks out-rebounded Charleston 47-28.
Cougars were +9 in turnovers (6-15)

UNCW is 14-3 in CAA, half-game ahead of Charleston. UNCW needs to win their last game over Elon to win sole possession of first place in the CAA.

— Florida Atlantic 77, Charlotte 76, OT
Charlotte led 45-35 at halftime.
Brickfest: teams combined to shoot 14-55 on the arc.
FAU won three of last four games, after a six-game losing skid.

— Michigan State 77, Indiana 64
Spartans never trailed, shot 12-24 on the arc.
Michigan State won last four games, giving up 64.3 ppg.
Indiana has lost four in a row, is sliding off the bubble.
Hoosiers were 10-35 on arc; over half their shots this year have been 3’s.

— Illinois State 81, Belmont 74
Illinois State shot 12-27 on arc, scored 1.31 ppg.
Only second loss in last 15 games for Belmont.
Belmont still won the MVC by three games over Bradley.

— Movie of the Day: Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993)
A sportswriter in New York City discovers that his 7-year old son is a chess prodigy; he hires a coach for the kid, enters him in tournaments, and chaos ensues, as the coach clashes with a guy who plays street chess in the park. 

Joe Mantegna, Ben Kingsley, Laurence Fishburne, William Macy, Joan Allen, a great cast in a very good movie, which deals with how parents get stressed over their kids’ successes/failures as they grow up.

— Ohio State 82, Purdue 74
Buckeyes were 25-32 on foul line, Purdue 7-10
By far highest quality win for Ohio State this year.
Third loss in four games for Purdue, which is 5-6 in last 11 games.

— DePaul 62, Marquette 51
DePaul is 8-10 in Big East, their most conference wins since 2007.
Blue Demons out-rebounded Marquette, 41-28.
Big East is looking like a 3-bid league (UConn, St John’s, Villanova)

— Twins’ P Joe Ryan has a bad back, is being replaced on Team USA’s roster by Ryan Yarbrough; Ryan can re-join Team USA after each round, but not during a round.

— St Louis Cardinals gave manager Ollie Marmol a two-ear contract extension; Marmol is 325-323 in four years managing the Cardinals, who missed the playoffs the last three years.

— Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti signed another new contract; his annual salary is now up $13.2M/year. The contract runs through 2033. 

— I’m going to keep saying this until I go to my grave; assists on 3-point shots should count as 1.5 assists, assists on foul shots should count as half an assist apiece.

You make a great pass, the guy gets fouled, makes both free throws, that’s the same as him making a basket, yes? Glad you agree with me 🙂

— Alabama 71, Tennessee 69
Alabama wins its eighth game in a row.
Vols led by 13 with 12:16 left to play.
Tennessee out-rebounded the Crimson Tide, 47-30

— Texas Tech 82, Iowa State 73
Tech gets quality road win, even though star JT Toppin is out for year.
Red Raiders shot 14-29 on arc, scored 1.27 ppp.
Iowa State split its last six games, after a 22-2 start.

— Saint Mary’s 70, Gonzaga 59
Saint Mary’s shot 17-33 on arc in Zags’ last visit to Moraga.
Gonzaga led by 10 late in the first half.
Loss snaps Gonzaga’s six-game winning streak.
Fittingly, both teams wind up 16-2, tied atop the WCC.

— Minnesota 78, UCLA 73
Gophers used one sub the whole game; he played 9:00.
Minnesota shot 12-23 on arc, scored 1.4 points/possession.
UCLA is 1-6 outside the Pacific time zone.

— St John’s 89, Villanova 57
St John’s lost its last game 72-40 at UConn.
Red Storm led this game 48-23 at halftime.
St John’s has won 14 of its last 15 games.
Just second loss in last nine games for the Wildcats.

— Upsets of the Day:
Citadel (+12.5) 93, Wofford 90, OT
Ole Miss (+10.5) 85, Auburn 79
Penn State (+9.5) 71, Iowa 69

Texas Tech (+9.5) 82, Iowa State 73
Pepperdine (+7.5) 88, Washington State 79
Pittsburgh (+7.5) 72, California 56

Detroit (+7.5) 95, Oakland 89
Central Michigan (+6.5) 75, Buffalo 70
Notre Dame (+6.5) 96, NC State 90, OT

— Arizona 84, Kansas 61
Wildcats got Koa Peat back in lineup, had 48-26 edge on boards.
Arizona was 30-34 on foul line, Kansas was 10-11.
Jayhawks are 2-3 in last five games, after an 8-game win streak.

— Clemson 80, Louisville 75
Clemson gets much-needed win, snapping four-game skid.
Tigers were 24-34 on foul line, Louisville 7-12.
Louisville lost three of last four games, is 9-7 in ACC.

— New Mexico 81, San Diego State 76
6-9 frosh Buljan scored 24 points, had 18 rebounds.
New Mexico was 25-36 on foul line, Aztecs 13-22.
These teams are tied for second in the Mountain West.

— Providence 79, Creighton 76
Bluejays lost 8 of last 10 games, including last 3 at home.
Creighton had won 20+ games the last ten years in a row.
Providence won five of its last seven games.

— Michigan G LJ Cason tore the ACL in his right knee, will miss the rest of the season; he was scoring 8.4 ppg, averaging 2.4 assists/game off the bench for the 27-2 Wolverines.

— Famous birthdays, March 1st:
Elvin Bethea, 80
Nick Mike-Mayer, 76
Brian Winters, 74
Ron Howard, 72

Catherine Bach, 72
Tim Daly, 70
George Eads, 59
Chris Webber, 53

Trevor Cahill, 38
Michael Conforto, 33
Tyreek Hill, 32
Ja’Marr Chase, 26

— UNLV 85, Nevada 83, OT
Gibbs-Lawhorn scored 42 of UNLV’s 85 points.
You’re reading armadillosports.com
Kimani Hamilton fouled out for 12th time, most of anyone in country.
Rebels won five of their last seven games. 

— Liberty 81, Jacksonville State 78
Gamecocks led 50-42 with 13:42 left in the game.
Liberty shot 11-25 on arc, 68% inside arc, scored 1.28 ppp
Liberty is 6-2 in last eight games; 5 of their last 6 wins were by 6 or fewer points.

— Florida 111, Arkansas 77
Florida wins 9th game in a row, is 14-2 in SEC.
Gators led 53-34 at halftime.
Florida had 51-31 edge on boards, scored 1.37 ppp.

— Montana 74, Portland State 68
Money Williams scored 27 points, had 7 assists for Montana.
Portland State shot 9-34 on the arc.
Vikings lost 4 of last 5 games, still lead Big Sky by a game, with one game left.

— West Virginia 79, BYU 71
West Virginia had 39-29 edge on the boards.
BYU is 4-8 in its last 12 games, after a 16-1 start.
Cougars lack a third scorer with Richie Saunders out for the year. 

— Miami OH 69, Western Michigan 67
Redhawks were down by 9 with 6:38 left in game.
Miami is 29-0, only unbeaten team in country.
Miami was only 15-25 on foul line, was out-rebounded 39-28. 

— Akron 92, Kent State 70
Zips shot 14-28 on arc, scored 1.31 ppp.
Akron is 24-5, 15-1 in MAC; they lost 76-73 at Miami January 3rd.
Zips have the #8 eFG% in the country.

— Michigan 84, Illinois 70
Wolverines shot 62.2% inside the arc.
Michigan is 27-2, leads Big 18 by three games.
Illinois lost four of last six games, after starting year 20-3.

— Dayton 68, George Washington 66
Dayton led 19-5 midway thru first half; they’ve won five in a row.
Flyers shot 11-24 on arc, George Washington 6-20
GW out-rebounded Dayton 35-22.

— Canisius 67, Merrimack 62
Canisius was an 8.5-point home underdog.
Merrimack had won 8 in a row; their last two wins were in OT.
Merrimack only played 7 guys; depth could be a problem in MAAC tourney.

— Cornell 72, Yale 69
Cornell pulls upset, moves into 4th place in Ivy League.
Top four teams in Ivy League make their conference tournament.
Yale/Harvard are tied for first place, with two games left.

— Harvard 58, Princeton 56
Princeton led by 17 early in second half.
Harvard has won nine of last 11 games.
Crimson won despite shooting only 6-30 on the arc.

— Famous birthdays, February 28
Bernadette Peters, 78
Mercedes Ruehl, 78
Adrian Dantley, 72
John Turturro, 69
Ickey Woods, 60

Aroldis Chapman, 38
Alex Caruso, 32
Randy Arozarena, 31
Luka Doncic, 27
Lance McCutcheon, 27

— Coastal Carolina 69, James Madison 68
JMU led by seven early in second half.
6-3 senior Beadle scored scored 29 points, grabbed seven rebounds.
Chanticleers finish in a six-way tie for second place in Sun Belt. 

— Sun Belt tournament is going to be weird; with six teams tying for second place, the #2-seed and #7-seed will have the same record in league games, but the #2-seed gets a pass into the semi-finals, while the #7-seed has to play three days earlier than that, then keep winning to stay alive. It isn’t a great system.

— Texas State 60, Appalachian State 57
Texas State outscored 9-2 App State over the last 4:14 of the game.
Seventh win in last eight games for the Bobcats.
Brickfest; teams combined to shoot 8-38 on the arc.

— Interesting team to follow is going to be Bethune-Cookman, whose coach is former NBA star Reggie Theus. Bethune-Cookman played a lot of big-time teams in November/December, which probably funds their program/NIL deals- they were 3-10 on New Year’s Day, but they’ve gone 13-3 in the SWAC and are the #1-seed in that league.

Bethune-Cookman played the #6 non-conference schedule in the country. They’re experience team #56; if they win the SWAC tournament, don’t think they’re a 16-seed in March Madness.

— In baseball, Dodgers P Blake Snell hasn’t started throwing off a mound yet, so likely he’ll start the season on the Injured List.

Next couple of weeks will be little chaotic for major league teams, with World Baseball Classic going on, and teams that lose getting back to their big league teams before guys that play on the teams that get to the finals of the WBC.

— Former Jets’ QB Mark Sanchez was the answer to our trivia question the other day; he had an odd career.

First two years in the NFL, Sanchez was 19-12 as a starter in the regular season, going 2-1 in the playoffs both years, when the Jets lost the AFC title game both years. Very promising start to his career, but it didn’t last.

After that, Sanchez was 18-24 as a starter the rest of his career, playing for the Eagles, Dallas and Washington; the Jets haven’t made the playoffs since 2010.

— NFL salary cap next season will be $301M, up $22M from this past season. 

— Michigan State 76, Purdue 74
Spartans shot 63.9% inside the arc.
Michigan State is 13-4 in Big 18, in 3-way tie for 3rd place.
Purdue is 5-5 in last ten games, after a 17-1 start.
Unusual game; no one scored more than 15 points.

— Cal-Irvine 68, Cal-Northridge 67
Irvine got layup on an out of bounds under play at the buzzer to win game.
Irvine led 36-24 at halftime.
Matadors were only 13-21 on foul line.
Anteaters win in Northridge for 11th year in a row.

— Hawaii 77, Cal-Davis 73
Hawaii shot 10-22 on arc; they led 43-31 at halftime.
Hawaii has #11 eFG% defense in the country.
Rainbows are tied with Cal-Irvine atop Big West standings.

— Montana State 84, Portland State 69
Bobcats shot 15-30 on arc, won for only third time in last eight games.
Montana State is shooting 38.7% in Big Sky games, best in league.
Vikings lost three of last four games, still lead Big Sky by a game.

— Wichita State 88, Memphis 82
Shockers were 26-33 on foul line, Memphis 13-27
Wichita had a 44-27 edge on the boards.
Shockers won four in row, nine of last 11 games.
Memphis is 12-16, 7-8 in AAC; their last losing season was 2000.

— Kennesaw State 74, Liberty 65
Kennesaw made 11-18 on arc; they’re only #176 in country in 3-point %age.
Liberty loses second game in row, after starting 15-0 in C-USA.
Flames still lead Conference USA by three games, with three games left.

— St Thomas 84, North Dakota State 62
Tommies made 14-35 on arc, shot 81.8% inside arc, scored 1.29 ppp.
Carter Bjerke shot 7-9 on arc, his only shots of game, scored 21 points.
North Dakota State is still going to be top seed in the Summit tournament.

— Famous birthdays, February 27th:
James Worthy, 65
Greg Cadaret, 64
Matt Stairs, 58

Duce Staley, 51
Tony Gonzalez, 50
Anibal Sanchez, 42

— Santa Clara’s basketball team is 23-7 this year, 14-3 in WCC; they’re a bubble team to make the NCAA’s, a place they haven’t been in 30 years, back when Steve Nash played there. As I type this, Bracketology has Santa Clara as one of the last four teams in the Field of 68.

— Oregon State fired basketball coach Wayne Tinkle Friday, after he coached the Beavers for 12 years. Oregon State made the Elite 8 five years ago, but the last two years, they were 19-16 in the WCC, after the Pac-12 was put on hold by re-alignment.

Pac-12 starts up again next year; Corvallis, OR isn’t exactly a recruiting hot bed; unless they can get alum Gary Payton to coach his alma mater, not sure how they’ll made a splash when they hire a new coach. Oregon State paid Tinkle $3M to terminate his contract.

— Phoenix Suns owner Mat Ishbia suggested the NBA sweeten the pot for the Dunk Contest and 3-point contest, offering a $1M first prize for each event; Ishbia wants more star players taking part in All-Star weekend events next year, when Phoenix hosts the All-Star weekend.

— 37 years ago this week, Jerry Jones bought the Dallas Cowboys for $150M; these days, 37 years later, the Cowboys are worth $12.8B, that’s billion, with a B.

— College sports isn’t college sports anymore, it is minor league sports.

Former Cincinnati Bearcats QB Brendan Sorsby bolted to Texas Tech to play next year; the Bearcats want him to pay the school a $1M buyout in liquidated damages, which Cincinnati says Sorsby was contractually obligated to pay within 30 days of transferring.

Sorsby reportedly signed an NIL agreement with the Red Raiders that will pay him $5M next year; he is basically giving Cincinnati the finger, refusing to pay the buyout.

— World Baseball Classic starts next Thursday; from March 5-10, there will be a ballgame live on TV at 5 or 6am here in New York, the games in Asia.

— Max Scherzer signed a deal with the Blue Jays, with a $3M base salary; he gets another $1M when he reacher 65 innings pitched, then another $1M for each 10 innings he pitches until he gets to 155 innings pitched. 

If he gets to 155 innings pitched, he maxes out at $13M this season. 

— UConn 72, St John’s 40
St John’s shot 19.6% from the floor in an epic beatdown.
St John’s had won 13 in a row; their last loss was January 3rd.
UConn avenged an 81-72 loss at St John’s three weeks ago.
These teams are now tied in the loss column atop Big East standings.

— Florida 84, Texas 71
Longhorns led 39-36 at halftime, by 2 with 7:14 left.
Florida shot 66.7% inside the arc.
Gators have won eight in row, 17 of last 19 games.

— Vanderbilt 88, Georgia 80
Vandy never trailed, shot 65.7% inside the arc.
Commodores are 9-6 in SEC, 2nd time in last 9 years they’ll at .500 in SEC.
Georgia has lost six of its last nine games.

— LSU 106, Ole Miss 99 2OT
LSU didn’t lead at all in the 2nd half or first overtime.
LSU snaps a five-game losing streak.
Ole Miss lost for the 10th game in a row.
LSU is only 15-13, but they’re 3-0 in overtime games.

— DePaul 72, Creighton 71
Creighton led 38-30 at halftime.
DePaul shot 10-20 on arc, are now 7-10 in Big East.
Last time Blue Demons won 8+ league games in a season? 2007.
Creighton has lost seven of its last nine games.

— Arkansas 99, Texas A&M 84
Arkansas shot 60.4% inside arc, scored 1.29 ppp.
Razorbacks have won seven of their last nine games.
Aggies lost five of their last seven games.

— Famous birthdays, February 26th:
Mac Percival, 86
Phil Villapiano, 77
Kelly Gruber, 64

JT Snow, 58
Marshall Faulk, 53
Jose Reyes, 43

PJ Walker, 31
Trevor Larnach, 29
Dylan Crews, 24

— Jacksonville Jaguars are going to play two “home” games in England this fall, with the games on consecutive Sundays. Washington Commanders will also host a game in England; NFL will play nine games in seven different countries in 2026.

— Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton isn’t going to call plays this coming season; assistant coach Davis Webb will call plays for the first time.

Denver fired their offensive coordinator after a 10-7 home loss to New England in the AFC title game, when the Broncos had only one first down after halftime and didn’t have a possession in the third or fourth quarter longer than 17 yards.

— NFL’s highest-paid kicker last year was the Chiefs’ Harrison Butker, who made $6.4M; Dallas Cowboys kicker Brandon Aubrey wants to become the NFL’s highest paid kicker and he wants $10M a year, 56% higher than Butker’s contract.

Aubrey is a restricted free agent right now, the Cowboys will have to place a tender on him if a long-term deal doesn’t get done by the start of free agency on March 11. If the Cowboys place a 2nd-round tender on him, that means that other teams will be able to make him an offer, and if he leaves, his new team will have to send a 2nd-round pick to Dallas.

— Atlanta Braves P Chris Sale signed a one-year contract extension worth $27M; Sale turns 37 at the end of March; he was 7-5, 2.58 in 20 starts for Atlanta last year. In his 15-year career, he is 145-88, 3.01 in 312 starts.

— St Louis Cardinals are re-building; they were 78-84 last year, missing the playoffs for the third year in a row. Cardinals haven’t had two years in a row under .500 since 1994-95, and 1994 was a strike-shortened season. 

Last time the Cardinals has consecutive losing years in full seasons, was 1958-59.

— Several fantasy baseball analysts have convinced themselves that Alex Bregman’s numbers are going to suffer with Bregman now playing for the Cubs.

Bregman played nine years in Houston, played for the Red Sox last year, two home ballparks that are friendly for righty hitters who like to pull the ball. Bregman has 209 career home runs, 293 doubles; his career OPS is 846. 

Bregman figures to bat 2nd in the Cubs’ lineup this year, ahead of Ian Happ, Seiya Suzuki. Will be interesting to see how he fares with his new team.

— Atlanta Braves announced this week that BravesVision is their local TV home, beginning with this season. Braves chose to control the BravesVision plan instead of having the telecasts produced by Major League Baseball. MLB will produce broadcasts for 14 teams this season.

— Central Florida 97, BYU 84
Late-night stunner; Knights led 52-28 at halftime.
Central Florida shot 14-24 on the arc.
BYU is now 4-7 in its last 11 games, after a 16-1 start.

— Arizona 87, Baylor 80
Baylor led 41-34 at halftime, was outscored 53-41 in second half.
Baylor played really well, still lost for 5th time in last six games.
Freshman G Burries had 24 points, four assists for Arizona.

— Dayton 77, Saint Louis 62
Dayton led 44-28 at halftime.
Billikens lost 2 of last 3 games, after a 24-1 start.
Dayton has won four in a row; they only used seven guys.

— Northwestern 72, Indiana 68
Bubble teams shouldn’t lose at home to Northwestern.
Indiana led by 13 late in first half.
Hoosiers lost their last three games, this is a bad time to do that.

— Texas Tech 80, Cincinnati 68
Red Raiders shot 63% inside arc, scored 1.31 ppp.
Christian Anderson scored 31 points, had 11 rebounds, 7 assists.
Loss snaps Cincinnati’s four-game winning streak.

— Missouri 73, Tennessee 69
Mizzou shot 57.9% inside arc; they’re 5-2 in last seven games.
Brickfest; teams combined to shoot 11-41 on the arc.
Only second loss in last ten games for Tennessee.

— Ball State 74, UMass 73 OT
UMass led by 18 with 12:12 left in the game.
Fifth straight loss for UMass, three of them in overtime.
Davion Hill scored 26 points for Ball State. 

— Colorado State 74, Fresno State 70
Fresno led by 10 with 10:20 left in the game.
Colorado State shot 58.6% inside the arc.
Rams have won six in a row, after starting 3-8 in Mountain West. 

— Famous birthdays, February 25th:
Cesar Cedeno, 75
Bob Brenly, 72
Ed Lynch, 70
Kurt Rambis, 68

Todd Blackledge, 65
Don Majkowski, 62
Tea Leoni, 60

Jeff Fisher, 57
Rashida Jones, 50
Joakim Noah, 41

Jimmer Fredette, 37
Jorge Soler, 34
Erick Fedde, 33
Bo Nix, 26

— NFL Combine starts Thursday; NFL Draft is April 23-25, in Pittsburgh.

Quarterback prospects don’t always throw at the Combine, I don’t get that. What could it hurt? Some guys just throw at the “pro days” at their college, throwing to their college teammates, but teams have to have a pretty good idea by now of who a player is.

NFL Network will be busy the rest of the week; lot of 40-yard dashes.

— Detroit Lions are going to play a game in Munich, Germany this fall; NFL leaks these games out every so often. Amon-Ra St. Brown is the Lions’ star WR; his mother is from Germany, so he is fired up about this game.

— Gunner Rivers, son of future Hall of Fame QB Philip Rivers, is going to follow in his father’s footsteps and go to college at NC State in the fall of 2027. These days, Philip Rivers coaches his son’s high school team in Alabama. Gunner is the team’s quarterback.

— UFL, the spring football league, starts its games in about a month; they’re being used to test some new rules experiments. This year, here are some of their new rules:

a) Field goals of 60+ yards will be worth 4 points
b) You only need one foot inbounds for a completed pass; this would be a big change.
c) You can’t punt if you have the ball in the other team’s territory, except in the last 2:00 of each half.

— World Baseball Classic starts next week, at various places around the world; 4am games from Asia could be interesting. Mets have 17 players representing different countries.

— So far in spring training, when you look at the ABS pitch-challenge system, it seems to favor the pitchers. More catchers’ challenges have been won than hitters’ challenges.

— Pirates 16, Red Sox 7- SS Konnor Griffin, the #1 prospect in baseball, homered twice for the Pirates, drove in four runs. Griffin hasn’t played in AAA yet; no word on where he’ll start the season. 

Conference tournament trends:
— ACC
Last year was first time in six years ACC Tourney champ was seeded higher than #3.
Last 12 tournaments, nine teams have won an ACC title.
Duke is 13-2 in last fifteen ACC Tournament games. 

— American
Last nine years, six teams have won an AAC tournament
Last four years, UAB is 10-2 in conference tournaments
Last four years, North Texas went WL in their conference tournament.

— Atlantic 14
Last 15 years, #1-seed has won this tournament only four times.
Last 10 tournaments, eight teams have won an A-14 tournament

— Big 18
#1-seed has won this tournament twice in last nine years.
Last six tournaments, five teams have won an Big 18 tournament
Last four years, Purdue is 7-3 in this tournament

— Big X
Last four years, four different teams won an Big X tournament
Iowa State has won this tournament five of last 11 years.
Last three years, Kansas is 3-3 in Big X tournament games.

— Big East
#1-seed won three in row, six of last ten Big East tournaments.
Last five years, five different teams won a Big East tournament
Last year, St John’s won this tournament for first time since 2000.

— Big Sky
#1-seed won this tournament 11 of last 14 years.
Montana State won this tournament three of last four years.
Last 3 years, Eastern Washington is 37-16 in regular season, 0-3 in tournament.

— Big West
#1-seed won this tournament four of last six years.
Last five years, Cal-Irvine is 68-25 in regular season, 4-5 in tournament.
Since 2015, Cal-Northridge is 1-8 in this tournament

— CAA
#1-seed has won this tournament 7 of last 11 years.
Last three years, Charleston is 7-1 in this tournament
Last four years, NC-Wilmington is 7-3 in this tournament

— Conference USA
C-USA has re-aligned a lot, lot of different teams have won the tournament
Last four years, C-USA tourney winner was combined 53-19 in regular season
Last eight years, Liberty is 16-5 in its conference tournament. 

— Horizon
#1-seed has won Horizon tourney four of last six years.
Last five years, five different teams have won the tournament
Last five years, Cleveland State is 9-4 in the tournament

— Ivy
Only top four teams make this tournament
Yale is 10-3 in tournament, winning four of the seven years.
Harvard is going to make tournament for first time since 2019.

— Famous birthdays, February 24th:
Edward James Olmos, 79
Tom Burleson, 74
Eddie Murray, 70

Phil McConkey, 69
Nick Esasky, 66
Billy Zane, 60

Mike Lowell, 52
Bronson Arroyo, 49
MacKenzie Gore, 27

— MAAC
#1-seed has won this tournament twice in last 14 years.
Since 2016, Iona is 23-4 in this tournament
Last five years, Siena is 47-49 in regular season, 0-5 in tournament

— Mid-American
Last five years, #1-seed has won tournament once.
Akron won this tournament the last two years.
Since 2019, Miami OH is 3-6 in this tournament

— Missouri Valley
Last five years, either #1 or #2-seed has won this tournament
Drake won this tournament last three years.
Last five years, Belmont is 3-5 in Arch Madness.

— Mountain West
Last four years, four different teams won this tournament.
Last three years, Grand Canyon won the WAC tournament.
UNLV hasn’t won this tournament since 2008.
Since 2014, San Diego State is 26-9 in this tournament

— Ohio Valley
Another league that has changed teams a lot.
Last four years, four different teams won this tournament.
Last four years, SE Missouri State is 6-2 in this tournament

— SEC
Last four years, four different teams won this tournament.
Last five years, Arkansas has gone WL in this tournament
Last two years, Florida is 6-1 in this tournament
Last five years, Kentucky is 2-5 in this tournament

— Southern
Last year was first time in last 10 years #1-seed didn’t win this tournament
Last five years, Furman is 8-4 in this tournament, 3-2 in OT games.
Last four years, Mercer went WL in this tournament

— Summit
#1-seed won this tournament the last four years.
Last five years, South Dakota State is 8-4 in this tournament
Last seven years, North Dakota State is 12-5 in this tourney (0-2 last 2 years)

— Sun Belt
Last five years, five different teams won this tournament.
Last four years, Georgia Southern went WL in this tournament
Last four years, Appalachian State is 2-4 in this tournament

— WAC
Grand Canyon won this tourney last three years; they’re gone now.
Last four years, Cal Baptist went WL in this tournament
Since 2014, Utah Valley is 7-4 in first tourney game, 1-6 in second game.

— WCC
This is Gonzaga’s last year in the WCC.
Since 2004, Gonzaga is 44-5 in WCC tourney; yes, 44-5.
Since 2016, Saint Mary’s in 15-8 in WCC tourney
Since 2018, Santa Clara is 4-8 in WCC tourney