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…….
Sunday- Watch basketball games, golf on 12 TV’s

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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Friday’s 6-pack
— Illinois 75, Washington 66- Illini have won ten games in a row.
— Montana 74, Portland State 70- Vikings’ first loss in eight Big Sky games.
— Liberty 81, MTSU 65- Flames are 18-3, 10-0 in Conference USA
— Iowa State 97, Colorado 67- Cyclones led this game, 30-4.
— Furman 78, Samford 73- Paladins shot 77.8% inside the arc.
— Cal-Northridge 84, Cal-Davis 78- Matadors shot 66.7% inside the arc.

Quote of the Day
“Atlanta is where I wanted to be. I wanted to be here. There was a pull to this job and a pull to this city, and it really started right at the top.”
Falcons coach Kevin Stefanski

Friday’s quiz
In the history of the New York Knicks, who has scored the most points? 

Thursday’s quiz

Hall of Fame baseball player Todd Helton was QB for the Tennessee Vols, just before Peyton Manning.

Wednesday’s quiz
Of all the baseball players who have hit 400+ home runs, Barry Bonds (514) stole the most bases.   

— Some leagues playing fastest-paced games:
1- Big West
4- Big 12
5- SEC
6- MAC

Some leagues playing slowest-paced games:
28- MAAC
27- Big 18
26- Conference USA
24- Southern Conference

— Some leagues with best offenses (eFG%):
2- Summit
3- Horizon
4- Southern Conference
5- MAC

Some leagues with worst offenses (eFG%):
31- Ohio Valley
30- MAAC
27- American
26- Sun Belt

— Leagues making the most foul shots:
76.5%- Ivy
76.4%- Big Sky
75.3%- Big 18
74.8%- Horizon

Leagues making the least foul shots:
70.5%- Ohio Valley
70.7%- Missouri Valley
70.8%- Conference USA
71.8%- CAA

— Some leagues making best %age of 3-pointers:
36.1%- Big Sky
35.9%- Conference USA
35.7%- Southern Conference
35.5%- Summit

Some leagues making worst %age of 3-pointers:
32.5%- Ohio Valley
32.8%- SEC
33%- MAAC
33.2%- Missouri Valley

— Some leagues with highest %age of close games:
33.9%- MAC
27.9%- Horizon
27.1%- Sun Belt
25.4%- CAA

Leagues with lowest %age of close games:
10.3%- Mountain West
13.6%- WCC
13.8%- WAC
14%- Atlantic 14

— Leagues where home teams have won the most:
69.5%- West Coast
69%- WAC
66.7%- Big Sky
66.7%- MAAC

Leagues where road teams have won the most:
56.6%- Atlantic 14
52.6%- Ivy
50%- Horizon
47.5%- ACC

— Some leagues with the fewest turnovers:
14.6% of possessions- Southern Conference
14.8%- SEC
14.8%- Ivy League
15.3%- Big 18

Some leagues with the most turnovers:
19.3%- WAC
18%- OVC
17.9%- Mountain West
17.6%- Big West

— Famous birthdays, January 30th:
Phil Collins, 76
Nolan Cromwell, 71
Michael Thompson, 71
Jalen Rose, 53

Christian Bale, 52
Lance Kendricks, 38
Kodai Senga, 33
Bryan Woo, 26

Some random trends for teams against the spread:
(All stats for conference games only)
— Michigan is 6-1 SU/0-7 ATS last seven games
UConn is 7-0 SU/0-7 ATS last seven games.

— ACC
Boston College/Duke are both 5-1 ATS last six games.
Clemson is 7-1 SU/ATS

Wake Forest is 2-6 SU/1-7 ATS
Syracuse is 0-4 SU/ATS last four games.

— American
Rice is 6-1 ATS last seven games.
Tulsa is 5-0 SU/4-1 ATS last five games.
Wichita State is 4-1 SU/ATS last five games. 

UAB is 1-5 ATS last six games.

— Atlantic 14
St Joe’s is 5-1 SU/6-0 ATS last six games.
Saint Louis is 8-0 SU/5-3 ATS

Davidson is 2-3 SU/1-4 ATS last five games.
Loyola Chi is 1-6 ATS last seven games.

— Big 18
Nebraska is 9-1 SU/8-2 ATS

Illinois/Washington both covered six of their last seven games.
Michigan State is 7-0 SU/5-2 ATS last seven games.
Rutgers is 6-2 ATS last eight games. 

USC/UCLA are both 5-1 ATS last six games. 

Maryland is 1-6 SU/ATS last seven games.
Minnesota is 0-6 SU/2-4 ATS last sis games.
Oregon is 0-7 SU/1-6 ATS last seven games.
Purdue is 0-7 ATS last seven games.

— Big X
Arizona is 8-0 SU/6-2 ATS
Iowa State/Kansas both won/covered last four games.
Texas Tech is 6-1 SU/5-2 ATS

Baylor is 1-7 SU/ATS
BYU is 3-2 SU/0-5 ATS last five games.
Kansas State is 1-7 SU/2-6 ATS

— Big East
DePaul is 4-6 SU/8-2 ATS
St John’s is 7-0 SU/5-2 ATS last seven games.
Xavier covered five of its last six games.

Creighton is 0-5 ATS last five games. 

— SEC
Favorites are 7-1 ATS in Arkansas games.
Florida covered six of its last seven games.
Texas A&M is 5-1 SU/6-0 ATS last six games.

Mississippi State/Missouri are both 1-5 ATS last six games.  

— Tennessee 86, Georgia 85 OT
Vols out-rebounded Georgia, 52-27
Tennessee has rebounded 44.7% of its missed shots, best in country.
Dawgs shot 66.7% inside the arc.

— Auburn 88, Texas 82
Longhorns led by 13 early, 42-34 at halftime.
Auburn shot 11-21 on arc, 29-39 on line, scored 1.38 ppp
Auburn won its last four games, scoring 78.3 ppg.

— Wisconsin 67, Minnesota 63
Gophers led this game by 20 late in first half.
Badgers shot 13-31 on the arc, only 6-17 inside the arc.
Minnesota has lost 6 in a row, 4 of them by 4 or less points, or in OT

— Iowa 73, USC 72
Hawkeyes led by 17 with 9:30 left in the game.
Kam Woods scored 33 for USC, 27 of them in the second half.
Iowa won its last three games, giving up 63.7 ppg.

— Belmont 78, Valparaiso 77
Belmont led by 10 late in first half.
Bruins have a 60.3 eFG%, best in the country.
Belmont has won 6 in a row; 4 of their last 5 wins were by 5 or fewer points.

— Drake 82, Evansville 78
Evansville led by 19 with 12:57 left in the game.
Drake was 28-38 on foul line, Purple Aces 7-12
Bulldogs won their last three games, scoring 86.3 ppg.

— Houston 79, TCU 70
Freshman G Flemings scored 27 points, had five assists.
Houston has won 12 of its last 13 games.
TCU is 2-5 in last seven games, after an 11-3 start. 

— Famous birthdays, January 29:
Katherine Ross, 86
Tom Selleck, 81
Terry Kinney, 72
Oprah Winfrey, 72

Tony Galbreath, 72
Steve Sax, 66
Mike Aldrete, 65
Andre Reed, 62

Aeneas Williams, 58
Heather Graham, 56
Jose Abreu, 39
Quentin Lake, 27

— It has been freakin’ cold here in upstate New York; had over a foot of snow over the weekend, so I wasn’t amused where the TV folks at the Australian Open tennis tournament were whining about how hot it is there. 95 degrees is better than paying people to plow your driveway (or doing it yourself when they don’t show up). Summer is better than winter!!!

— Was reading something last week where Robert Kraft said that eventually, the NFL is going to an 18-game regular season, where each team gets two bye weeks, and also, every team will play a game overseas every year.

That would place the Super Bowl on Sunday, Presidents Day weekend.

— Cleveland Browns hired Todd Monken as their new coach; Monken had been the OC for the Ravens, so now John Harbaugh needs a new OC in his new job with the Giants.

Monken turns 60 next week; he is the Browns’ 11th head coach since 1999. Only the Raiders (13) have had more during that time.

— New Jersey Jets fired offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand after only one year; they’ve now fired eight assistant coaches this year, but head coach Aaron Glenn remains.

— Eli Manning didn’t make the Hall of Fame this year; here are the resumes of two QB’s, neither of whom is in the Hall of Fame.

Player A: 72-72 regular season, 8-2 playoffs, won 2 Super Bowls. 164 TD’s, 198 INT’s
Player B: 117-117 regular season, 8-4 playoffs, won 2 Super Bowls. 365 TD’s, 244 INT’s

Player A is Jim Plunkett, Player B is Eli Manning.

— QB Darian Mensah made $10M the last two years at Duke; he’s now bolted to Miami, where he’ll make even more $$$. Mensah threw for 3,973 yards and 34 TD’s for Duke last year- they finished 9-5, winning their first ACC title since 1962.

— Fans are so fickle; only one team wins the Super Bowl every year, that doesn’t mean all the other teams are failures. People need to stay off social media with the “We’re with you, win or tie” mentality. 

— I‘m still trying to process this one; Bill Belichick didn’t get voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, in his first year of eligibility. Wow.

Belichick was 333-178 as an NFL head coach, won six Super Bowls, was an assistant coach with the Giants when they won two other Super Bowls. I figured this was a foregone conclusion, but off-field issues, like spying on opponents’ practices and filming opponents’ signals on the sidelines, are said to have been used against him in the voting.

Tom Brady gets into the Hall of Fame in 2028; will they make Belichick wait until then?

(By the way, I would’ve voted for him, as long as he let Ernie Adams introduce him in Canton).

— Buffalo Bills named offensive coordinator Joe Brady their new head coach; Brady has been with the Bills for four years, was OC the last two. Brady was an assistant coach at LSU when Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase were playing there.

Seven of nine candidates interviewed by Buffalo have a primarily offensive background.

— Denver Broncos fired their offensive coordinator and two other assistants Tuesday, two days after they lost the AFC title game 10-7 to New England. 

Let’s be real; Sean Payton is the head coach/offensive coordinator; Joe Lombardi worked for Payton for 15 years, and he gets fired? Oh by the way, Denver’s QB broke his ankle and didn’t play last week. Thats no one’s fault, just bad luck.

— Other coaching news:
LA Chargers named former Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel their new OC.
Detroit Lions hired former Giants assistant Mike Kafka as an offensive assistant.
Tennessee Titans hired former Giants head coach Brian Daboll as offensive coordinator.

— Former QB Matt Ryan calls the shots now for the Falcons; interesting that he hired a new coach (Kevin Stefanski) before he hired a new general manager.

— In baseball, San Francisco Giants signed OF Harrison Bader for two years, $20.5M; Bader hit .277 last year, with a .796 OPS for two teams. He is a very good defensive outfielder.

— Astros Jose Altuve/Carlos Correa are bypassing the World Baseball Classic, supposedly because they couldn’t get insurance on their contracts for the tournament.

Correa will make $31M this year, Altuve $33M. Three years ago, Altuve broke his thumb in the WBC, when he was hit by a pitch. He played in only 90 games that year.

— Famous birthdays, January 28th:
Alan Alda, 90
Larvell Blanks, 76
Harley Jane Kozak, 69
Michael Cage, 64

Tom Hodson, 59
Jermaine Dye, 52
Mark Madsen, 50
Daunte Culpepper, 49

Andre Iguodala, 42
Hunter Renfroe, 34
Ke’Bryan Hayes, 29
Payton Pritchard, 28

— Michigan 75, Nebraska 72
Michigan was 19-23 on foul line, Nebraska 3-4
Nebraska led by 7 with 8:10 left in the game.
Cornhuskers were missing two starters, still led most of the night.
First loss of season for Nebraska, after a 20-0 start.

— Arkansas 83, Oklahoma 79
Oklahoma led by 13 with 6:43 left in first half.
Hogs shot 71.7% inside arc, 2-17 outside arc.
Arkansas won seven of its last nine games.
Oklahoma has lost seven in a row, after an 11-3 start.

— Saint Louis 79, George Washington 76
GW led by 15 late in the first half.
Billikens won their last 14 games, are 8-0 in A-14.
Saint Louis won despite going 11-22 on foul line.

— Ill-Chicago 76, Indiana State 74
Ill-Chicago scored on steal/layup with 0:01.8 left for the win.
Indiana State led by a hoop with 0:16 left in game.
Flames have won seven in a row, after a 5-10 start.
Ill-Chicago was +10 in turnovers (21-11).

— Indiana 72, Purdue 67
Coach DeVries wins his first game against the Hoosiers’ in-state rival.
Indiana shot 12-33 on the arc, 11-17 inside arc.
Purdue lost its last three games, after a 17-1 start.

— Miami OH 86, UMass 84
Miami is 21-0, one of two unbeatens (Arizona) in country
UMass led this game by 10, late in first half.
RedHawks were 28-38 on foul line, UMass 13-17

Miami is 21-0; here are their last three games:
W105-102 OT vs Buffalo
W 107-101 OT @ Kent State
W 86-84 vs UMass………I don’t think they’d get an at-large bid to NCAA’s; their non-league strength of schedule is #363, 3rd-easiest in country.

— Virginia 100, Notre Dame 97, 2OT
Notre Dame led 39-20 in first half, by 6 with 2:13 left in regulation.
6-9 frosh DeRidder scored 32 points, had 8 rebounds.
Virginia has won 12 of its last 14 games. 

These are my favorite things in certain areas; we all have our own favorites, thats what makes life interesting. Make your own lists, see what you come up with.

13) Las Vegas hotels:
Westgate, MGM, SouthPoint, Vdara

12) TV shows:
Law & Order, Magnum PI, Odd Couple, CSI

11) Sports movies:
— American Underdog
— Moneyball
— Any Given Sunday
— The Rookie

10) Non-sports movies:
— A Star is Born
— Last Vegas
— The Bodyguard
— Rounders

9) Food:
Pizza, spaghetti/meatballs, scrambled eggs/bacon, chicken parm

8) Current college basketball coaches:
— John Calipari
— Mark Few
— Bill Self
— Dan Hurley

7) All-time college basketball coaches:
— John Wooden
— Dean Smith
— Mike Krzyzewski
— Jerry Tarkanian

— Famous birthdays, January 27th:
Mimi Rogers, 70
Cris Collinsworth, 67
Matt Stover, 58
Fred Taylor, 50

Julio Teheran, 35
Bryan Reynolds, 31
Jordan Addison, 24
Angel Martinez, 24

6) Actresses:
Gina Gershon, Mimi Rogers, Sela Ward, Susan Sarandon

5) Musicians:
Bob Seger, Billy Joel, Pat Benatar, Van Morrison

3) Best NFL coaches:
Chuck Noll, Bill Walsh, Bill Belichick, Tom Landry

4) Favorite NFL coaches:
Sean McVay, Dick Vermeil, John Robinson, Don Coryell

2) Events I saw, in person:
— 2000 NFC title game: Rams 11, Buccaneers 6
— 2008 World Series game: Rays @ Phillies
— Frank Sinatra concert in Albany, 1990
— 2008 Tennessee @ South Carolina football game

1) Bucket List:
— Spring training baseball, preferably in Arizona
— Be an extra in a TV show, maybe get in the credits at the end
— Rams’ game in SoFi Stadium
— LSU home football game, on a Saturday night

— Patriots 10, Broncos 7
Denver drove 59 yards for TD on their second drive, led 7-0
Broncos rest of game: 52 plays, 121 yards, no points.
New England is in Super Bowl for first time in seven years.

Second half of this game was played in snowy, windy weather.
Teams combined to miss a total of four field goals.
Total yardage: Patriots 206, Broncos 181

— Seahawks 31, Rams 27
QB Darnold threw for 346 yards, three TD’s.
Seattle took 24-13 lead on 17-yard drive after a fumbled punt.
Seahawks-Patriots is same Super Bowl matchup as 11 years ago.

QB Stafford threw for 374 yards, three TD’s.
Seattle was 7-13 on third down, Rams 1-8.
Rams finished 14-6 this year, 6-6 in games decided by 7 or less points.

— Opening line for the Super Bowl: Seahawks, -3.5, 46.5

— USC 73, Wisconsin 71
Badgers led by 12 with 12:00 left in the game.
Baker-Masera scored 29 points, had three assists.
Wisconsin shot 9-37 on arc, 14-37 inside arc.

— South Florida 89, Florida Atlantic 75
South Florida outscored Owls 56-39 in second half.
Bulls won five of last six games; they shot 56.1% inside arc.
Loss snaps Florida Atlantic’s five game win streak.

— Washington 72, Oregon 57
Washington led 34-19 at halftime.
Huskies shot 10-21 on the arc. 
Oregon has lost six in a row, is 1-8 in league games.

— Mercyhurst 61, Chicago State 59
2-19 Cougars lost 10th game in row; they led 28-26 at halftime.
Mercyhurst shot 10-25 on the arc.
Lakers won last three games, giving up 59 ppg.

Famous birthdays, January 26th
David Strathairn, 77
Jack Youngblood, 76
Brian Doyle, 72

Ellen DeGeneres, 68
Rick Schu, 64
Merril Hoge, 61

Vince Carter, 49
Joshua Dobbs, 31
Darius Garland, 26

Paul Newman was born on this day in 1925.
Bob Uecker was born on this day in 1934.

— It is common knowledge that Ted Williams is the last hitter to hit .406 for a season; until this week, I didn’t realize he hit .406 when he was only 22 years old.

The next year, Williams hit .356, then he missed the next three years because he was in the military. When he came back from serving in the military, Williams hit .342/.343 the next two seasons. His record is pretty amazing; he was actually underrated.

— Last week, there were three goals scored in a minute in a Penguins-Bruins game; it was the first NHL game since 1988 with three goals scored in less than a minute.

— Cleveland Guardians signed 3B Jose Ramirez to a 7-year contract extension worth $175M; Ramirez is 33; he hit .283 with 30 HR’s last year, an OPS of .863. He’s made the All-Star team the last five years, and seven of last nine years.

— Washington Nationals traded P MacKenzie Gore to Texas for five minor league prospects, as Washington’s new (and very young) front office starts another rebuild.

Gore was 5-15, 4.17 in 30 starts for Washington last year; he is 26-41, 4.19 in 102 major league starts, over four seasons.

— Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith is going to be the new OC at Ohio State.

— Former Arizona Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon is the new defensive coordinator for the Green Bay Packers; he replaces Jeff Hafley, the new head coach of the Dolphins.

— There are three unbeaten teams left in college basketball:
Arizona, Miami OH, Nebraska

— Big East
St John’s 88, Xavier 83
Rick Pitino gets his 900th win as a college coach.
He also won 198 games as an NBA coach.
Xavier led this game by 16 with 17:05 left to play.
St John’s has won six in a row, is 8-1 in the Big East.

UConn 75, Villanova 67 OT
Huskies have won 15 games in a row, are 9-0 in Big East.
UConn is 0-6 ATS in their last six games.
Villanova shot only 30.3% inside the arc.

Georgetown 81, Providence 78
Hoyas snapped a six-game losing skid.
Providence led 48-27 early in the second half.
Georgetown shot 62.2% inside the arc.
Friars lost 7 of last 9 games (8 of the 9 games were decided by 6 or fewer points)

DePaul 67, Seton Hall 60
Seton Hall has lost four in a row, after a 14-2 start.
DePaul was 25-34 on foul line, Pirates 10-17.
Blue Demons is 4-5 in Big East; last time they finished over .500 in Big East? 2007.

UConn is 9-0 in Big East, St John’s 8-1, Creighton/Villanova 6-3

— SEC
Missouri 88, Oklahoma 87 OT
Mizzou hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer for a walk-off win.
Sooners lost sixth game in a row, despite shooting 12-27 on arc.
Mizzou out-rebounded Oklahoma 41-29.

Auburn 76, Florida 67
Auburn won its third game in row, improves to 4-3 in SEC
Tigers led 43-28 at halftime.
Loss snaps Florida’s five-game winning streak; they’re 5-2 in SEC

Vanderbilt 88, Mississippi State 56
Vandy snaps the 3-game skid which followed their 16-0 start.
Commodores shot 67.5% inside the arc.
Vandy is #10 experience team in country.

Texas A&M leads SEC at 6-1; Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky are 5-2

— Big X
Texas Tech 90, Houston 86
Loss snaps Houston’s 11-game winning streak.
Houston led by 4 with 10:22 left in game.
Red Raiders won 9 of last 10 games, are 6-1 in Big X.
Tech out-rebounded the Cougars, 44-28

BYU 91, Utah 78
BYU won five in row, nine of last 10 games.
Freshman Dybantsa scored 43 points, had three assists.
Utah lost by 13, even though they shot 13-21 on the arc.

TCU 97, Baylor 90
TCU was 35-43 on foul line, Baylor 26-36. Lot of fouls.
Baylor shot 66.7% inside the arc, but fell to 1-6 in league.
First win for Horned Frogs this year in four true road games.

Arizona leads Big X at 7-0; Texas Tech is 6-1, Houston/BYU 5-1.

— Mountain West
New Mexico 80, Nevada 73
Lobos’ bench outscored Nevada’s subs, 26-6.
New Mexico shot 12-28 on arc, 35.3% inside arc.
Nevada split its last six games, after an 11-3 start.

San Diego State 80, UNLV 71
Miles Byrd scored 23 points, had five assists for San Diego State
Aztecs have won eight of their last nine games.
UNLV was only 12-22 on the foul line.

San Diego State is 8-1 in conference; Utah State, New Mexico are 7-2.

— Big 18
Illinois 88, Purdue 82
Illini shot 18-38 on arc, scored 1.39 ppp
Illini has won their last nine games, is 8-1 in league.
Frosh Wagler scored 46 points, made 9-11 on the arc.
He was one of five freshmen to score 30+ points Saturday.

Nebraska 76, Minnesota 57
Gophers led 36-30 at halftime.
Nebraska improves to 20-0, 9-0 in conference.
Nebraska has seven wins by less than nine points.
Minnesota lost its last five games, two of them in OT

Nebraska is 9-0 in conference; Michigan, Michigan St, Illinois are 8-1, Purdue 7-2

— Upsets of the Day:
Auburn (+9.5) 76, Florida 67
Florida International (+7.5) 81, New Mexico State 78
North Carolina A&T (+7.5) 80, Towson 73

North Carolina (+6.5) 85, Virginia 80
Green Bay (+6.5) 71, Robert Morris 67
Milwaukee (+6.5) 65, Youngstown State 64

Northern Arizona (+6.5) 81, Northern Colorado 77
Ill-Chicago (+6.5) 85, Bradley 71
Georgetown (+5.5) 81, Providence 78

— ACC
North Carolina 85, Virginia 80
Virginia led by 16 late in the first half.
Virginia out-rebounded Tar Heels, 44-28
In a 68-possession game, Tar Heels had only 4 turnovers (Virginia had 11)

Clemson 77, Georgia Tech 63
No Clemson player scored more than 13 points.
Tigers won for 10th time in their last 11 games.
Tech is shooting 45.4% inside arc in ACC games (last)

Duke is 7-0 in ACC, Clemson 7-1; Miami, NC State, Virginia are 5-2

— WCC
Gonzaga 68, San Francisco 66
Dons lose their 34th consecutive game at Gonzaga.
USF missed a 3-pointer, tip-in in last 0:05 in a near-miss.
Gonzaga has won 14 games in a row; their only loss was to Michigan.

Pacific 56, Seattle 54
Pacific never trailed, led by 16 in the first half.
Tigers won five of their last seven games.
Seattle is 3-6 in WCC, after an 11-2 pre-conference mark.

Saint Mary’s 75, Portland 69
Gaels won 10 of their last 11 games.
Gaels are 19-3, despite being #338 in country in experience.
Saint Mary’s is shooting 81.8% on foul line, best in country.

Gonzaga is 9-0 in WCC; Saint Mary’s/Santa Clara are 8-1.

— Missouri Valley
Ill-Chicago 85, Bradley 70
Flames have won six in a row, after starting season 5-10.
Ill-Chicago shot 12-24 on the arc.
Flames are forcing most turnovers in MVC games.

Northern Iowa 81, Murray State 76
6-4 senior Campbell scored 27 points, had five assists.
Panthers snap a five-game losing streak.
2nd loss in a row for Murray State, after 12-game win streak.

Belmont/Murray State are both 8-2. Bradley is 7-4.
MVC has been a one-bid league the last four years.

— Famous birthdays, January 25th:
Carl Eller, 84
Byron Beck, 81
Mark Duper, 67
Tim Kempton, 62

Mark Schlereth, 60
Chris Mills, 56
Scott Milanovich, 53
Patrick Willis, 41

— Atlantic 14
Rhode Island 74, George Mason 65
Loss snaps George Mason’s nine-game win streak.
George Mason is only team in country that has played a game this year where they didn’t commit any turnovers, New Year’s Eve they won 80-75 at LaSalle.

VCU 75, Davidson 69
Rams shot 65.7% inside the arc.
VCU has won three in row, eight of last ten games.
VCU is one of three A-14 teams (URI, Fordham) whose mascot is a Ram.

Saint Louis is 7-0, George Mason 6-1, VCU/Dayton 5-2
A-14 has been a one-bid league two of last three years; VCU could get an at-large TY.

— Sun Belt
Troy 83, Georgia Southern 78
Troy outscored Eagles 12-4 over the final 2:22 of game.
Trojans have won five in row, nine of last 10 games.
Troy is 3-2 in OT games; 1-0 in one OT, 2-1 in double OT, lost in triple OT at USC

Georgia State 82, Arkansas State 81
Panthers won their fourth straight game, making 12-27 on arc.
Arkansas State led 20-5 right off the bat.
Arkansas State out-rebounded the Panthers, 38-21

Troy is 8-1 in Sun Belt; Georgia State is 6-3, Marshall, South Alabama are 5-3.
Sun Belt has been a one-bid league the last 12 years.

— Big West
Cal-Santa Barbara 74, Long Beach State 71
Gauchos win their fourth game in a row.
UCSB led 44-29 at halftime, hung on for the win.
Gauchos are shooting 41.1% on arc in Big West games.

Cal-Irvine 61, Cal-San Diego 59
Irvine outscored Tritons 2-0 over final 3:30 of game.
Anteaters are 10-3 in their last thirteen games.
Brickfest; teams combined to shoot 13-49 on the arc.

Cal-Irvine is 7-2 in Big West; Hawai’i is 6-2, pending their late game Saturday. Santa Barbara is 6-3

— Southland
Stephen F Austin 88, Lamar 81
Lumberjacks have won five in a row, 10 of last 11 games.
Stephen F Austin shot 13-27 from arc, scored 1.31 ppp
6-1 senior Thompson scored 26 points, had 5 assists.

McNeese State 82, New Orleans 63
6-4 freshman Johnson scored 26 points, had five assists.
Cowboys won 10 of last 12 games; they have win at Rhode Island this year.
McNeese forces turnovers on 24.6% of possessions, most in country. 

Stephen F Austin is 10-1,  McNeese State 9-2; McNeese won first meeting, 66-64

— Horizon
Oakland 95, Detroit 87
Oakland shot 65% inside arc, scored 1.38 ppp.
5-11 senior Robinson played all 40:00, had 24 points, 10 assists
Grizzlies won six of their last eight games.

Green Bay 71, Robert Morris 67
Green Bay shot 60.6% inside the arc.
For season, Green Bay is shooting 59.1% inside arc in Horizon games.
Doug Gottlieb’s Phoenix has won six of its last eight games.

Wright State is 8-2, Oakland 8-3, Fort Wayne 7-3. Horizon has been a one-bid league every year since 2010. 

— East Carolina 63, North Texas 59
First win in seven AAC games for the Pirates.
East Carolina out-rebounded the Mean Green, 43-28
Pirates survived being minus-11 (18-7) in turnovers.

— Michigan 74, Ohio State 62
Michigan is 8-1 SU in league games; they’re 0-6 ATS last six games.
Buckeyes led by 6 early in the second half.
Wolverines shot shot 75.9% inside arc, had 36-27 edge on boards.

— Saint Louis 97, St Bonaventure 62
Billkens made 19 of 33 shots on the arc.
Saint Louis led 58-26 at halftime.
Saint Louis is the quietest 19-1 team in the country.

— Butler 87, Marquette 76
Butler was 23-31 on foul line, Marquette 9-14
Bulldogs led 66-65 with 6:04 left in the game.
Butler won its last three games, scoring 83.7 ppg.

— Furman 89, NC-Greensboro 66
Furman’s Tom House shot 7-10 behind the arc, scored 25 points.
Furman played only seven guys; they shot 14-27 behind the arc.
UNCG led by a point with 14:03 left in the game.

— UMass 68, Buffalo 67
UMass led 33-13 with 7:09 left in first half.
Buffalo led by 7 with 5:20 left in the game.
UMass won four of last five games, after starting 0-4 in the MAC.

— Utah State 65, Colorado State 61
Last game of the night; Utah State snaps a two-game losing skid.
Mike DeCourcy has Aggies as a 10-seed, if NCAA’s started today.
Colorado State led by 10 at halftime.
Utah State won first meeting this year, 100-58 in Logan. 

— Famous birthdays, January 24th:
Neil Diamond, 85
Michael Ontkean, 80
Tim Stoddard, 73
Atlee Hammaker, 68

Neil Allen, 68
Rob Dibble, 62
Matthew Lillard, 56
Ed Helms, 52

Scott Kazmir, 42
Sean McVay, 40
Jose Quintana, 37
Whit Merrifield, 37

— Movie of the Day: Weekend at Bernie’s (1989)- Two young employees tell their boss that someone is cooking the company’s books, but it is the boss that is doing it. He invites the two guys to his beach house so he can have them eliminated, but the mob kills the boss first, and no one seems to notice that the boss is dead.

Andrew McCarthy/Jonathan Silverman are the two employees, Terry Kiser is the boss in this funny movie that is more than a little weird.

— When Indiana QB Fernando Mendoza was in high school, he had no scholarship offers, he was going to go to Yale and play I-AA ball in the Ivy League. He sent his highlight reel to 100 different colleges but had no takers, until about a month before signing day, Cal Bears needed another body in the QB room so they offered Mendoza a scholarship.

Now he’s likely going to be the first pick in April’s NFL Draft. Go figure.

— Baltimore Ravens hired Jesse Minter as their new head coach; Minter was an assistant with the Ravens under John Harbaugh, from 2017-20, then he worked for Jim Harbaugh at both Michigan/Chargers the last four years. This is his first head coaching job.

— Eric Bieniemy is back in Kansas City as offensive coordinator of the Chiefs; he was with the Chiefs from 2013-22. He helped the Chiefs win two Super Bowls before moving on to other jobs.

— Former TCU coach Gary Patterson is the new defensive coordinator at USC; Patterson was 181-79 as the head coach of the Horned Frogs.

— Indianapolis Colts lost seven games this year that they left at halftime, the most of any team in the last 27 years.

Speaking of the Colts, their old QB Philip Rivers interviewed for the head coach’s job in Buffalo. Going from a high school head coach to an NFL head coach would be interesting, especially with him playing three games for the Colts in between there, at age 45.

— Tampa Bay Buccaneers hired Zac Robinson as their new offensive coordinator; next year will be Todd Bowles’ fifth year as Tampa’s head coach, Robinson will be his fifth OC.

— Los Angeles Chargers haven’t played a home playoff game since 2009. 

Trends for conference games this season…….
ACC
Home favorites 10-22 ATS
Home underdogs 10-13 ATS

Boston College covered 4 of last 5 games.
Clemson is 6-1 SU/ATS
Duke is 6-0 SU/3-3 ATS
Florida State is 1-5 SU/4-2 ATS
Road team is 5-1 ATS in Georgia Tech games.
Road team is 5-1 ATS in Louisville games.
Road team is 5-1 ATS in Miami games.

North Carolina is 3-3 SU/1-5 ATS, all as a favorite.
Notre Dame is 0-4 SU/ATS in last four games.
Pitt is 1-5 SU/2-4 ATS
Virginia won/covered its last five games.
Virginia Tech is 3-0 ATS as a road underdog.
Wake Forest is 2-4 SU/1-5 ATS, 0-3 ATS as a favorite.

Atlantic 14
Home favorites 9-17 ATS
Home underdogs 9-7 ATS

Davidson won 4 of last 5 games SU (road team 6-0 ATS)
Dayton is 5-1 SU/3-3 ATS
Road team is 6-1 ATS in Fordham games (0-3 ATS as home dog).
George Mason is 6-0 SU/4-2 ATS
Favorites are 5-1 ATS in George Washington games.
LaSalle is 4-1 ATS in last five games; they’re 4-0 ATS as a home dog.

Loyola Chi lost its last six games (2-4 ATS)
Road team is 5-1 ATS in Rhode Island games.
St Bonaventure is 1-5 SU/2-4 ATS
St Joe’s is 3-1 SU/4-0 ATS last four games.
Saint Louis is 6-0 SU/4-2 ATS
VCU is 4-2 SU/1-5 ATS

Big 18
Home favorites 23-21 ATS
Home underdogs 14-13 ATS

Illinois won last six games, covered last five.
Indiana lost last four games (1-3 ATS)
Maryland is 1-7 SU/2-6 ATS
Michigan is 7-1 SU; they’re 0-5 ATS last five games.
Michigan State won its last five games (4-1 ATS)

Minnesota lost last four games (1-3 ATS)
Nebraska is 8-0 SU/6-2 ATS
Northwestern is 1-7 SU/2-6 ATS
Oregon lost its last five games (1-4 ATS)
Penn State is 0-8 SU/4-4 ATS

Purdue is 7-1 SU; they’re 0-5 ATS last five games.
Rutgers covered five of last six games.
Home team is 7-1 ATS in UCLA games.
Washington is 2-6 SU/6-2 ATS
Wisconsin is 5-0 SU/4-1 ATS last five games. 

Big X
Home favorites 15-14 ATS
Home underdogs 9-8 ATS

Arizona is 6-0 SU/4-2 ATS
Arizona State is 1-5 SU/2-4 ATS
Baylor is 1-5 SU/ATS, 0-3 as home dog
BYU is 4-1 SU/2-3 ATS
Cincinnati is 1-5 SU/3-3 ATS
Colorado lost its last four games (0-3 ATS/last three)
Houston is 5-0 SU; they covered last three games.

Iowa State is 5-1 SU/4-2 ATS
Kansas won/covered its last three games.
Kansas State is 1-5 SU/ATS
Road team is 5-1 ATS in TCU games.
Texas Tech is 5-1 SU/4-2 ATS
Utah is 1-5 SU, 3-1 ATS in last four.
West Virginia won/covered four of last five games. 

Big East
Home favorites 7-23 ATS
Home underdogs 7-8 ATS

Butler is 3-5 SU/2-6 ATS
UConn is 8-0 SU, 0-5 ATS in last five.
Road team is 7-2 ATS in Creighton games.
DePaul is 3-5 SU/7-1 ATS
Georgetown lost its last seven games (2-5 ATS)

Marquette is 2-7 SU/ATS
Underdogs are 7-1 ATS in Providence games.
St John’s won its last five games (4-1 ATS)
Road team is 7-1 ATS in Seton Hall games.
Road team is 6-2 ATS in Villanova games.
Xavier covered its last four games. 

MAC
Home favorites 6-19 ATS
Home underdogs 9-12 ATS

Akron won its last five games (3-1 ATS last four)
Ball State covered its last four games.
Road team is 6-1 ATS in Bowling Green games.
Buffalo lost its last four games (1-3 ATS)
Central Michigan is 1-6 SU/4-3 ATS)

Eastern Michigan covered five of last six games.
Kent State is 5-2 SU/2-5 ATS
UMass is 1-5 ATS as a favorite.
Miami is 8-0 SU/6-2 ATS; their last two wins were in OT
Toledo is 1-4 SU/4-1 ATS in last five games.
Road team is 6-1 ATS in Western Michigan games.

Famous birthdays, January 23rd:
Kurt Bevacqua, 79
Pat Haden, 73
Gail O’Grady, 63

Mariska Hargitay, 62
Mark Wohlers, 56
Erubiel Durazo, 52

Phil Dawson, 51
Larry Hughes, 47
Jeff Samardzija, 41

Missouri Valley
Home favorites 14-17 ATS
Home underdogs 11-8 ATS

Belmont won last four games; they’re 2-6 ATS as a favorite.
Bradley won 4 of last 5 games (2-7 ATS in last nine)
Evansville is 1-8 SU/5-4 ATS
Ill-Chicago won/covered its last five games.

Indiana State is 2-5 SU/6-1 ATS last seven games.
Northern Iowa lost its last five games (1-4 ATS)
Southern Illinois is 0-4 SU/ATS last four games.
Valparaiso covered six of last seven games. 

Mountain West
Home favorites 12-14 ATS
Home underdogs 8-8 ATS

Air Force is 0-8 SU/4-4 ATS
Colorado State is 1-3 ATS as an underdog.
Fresno State covered six of its last seven games.
Grand Canyon is 4-1 ATS as an underdog.
Nevada is 7-1 SU/5-3 ATS

UNLV is 5-2 SU/ATS
New Mexico is 6-2 SU/ATS
Road team is 6-2 ATS in San Diego State games.
San Jose State is 1-7 SU/2-6 ATS
Wyoming is 2-6 SU/1-7 ATS

SEC
Home favorites 16-17 ATS
Home underdogs 6-7 ATS

Favorites are 6-0 ATS in Arkansas games.
Underdogs are 5-1 ATS in Auburn games.
Florida won/covered its last five games.
LSU is 1-5/4-2 ATS
Ole Miss won/covered three of last four games.
Miss State is 0-4 SU/ATS last four games.

Home team is 5-1 ATS in Missouri games.
Oklahoma is 0-5 SU/1-4 ATS last five games.
Tennessee is 2-3 SU/1-4 ATS
Underdogs are 5-1 ATS in Texas games.
Texas A&M is 4-1 SU/5-0 ATS last five games.
Vanderbilt lost its last three games, after a 16-0 start. 

— Nebraska 76, Washington 66
Nebraska is 19-0 in basketball.
Indiana won the national title in football; the world is upside down.
Nebraska is shooting 60.2% inside the arc (#11).
Cornhuskers are in top 30 in eFG%, both in offense/defense.

— Creighton 94, Xavier 93
Bluejays rebounded their own missed foul shot and scored a hoop at the buzzer
Xavier scored 1.28 ppp and still lost; unusual.
Creighton shot 13-24 on the arc, Xavier was 12-24

— Florida Atlantic 79, Tulane 74
Owls are 14-6, lead the AAC with a 6-1 record.
FAU has won five games in a row (3 wins by 6 or fewer points)
FAU is impressive because they’re #347 in country in experience.

— Kentucky 85, Texas 80
Game was 40-40 at halftime.
Kentucky was 30-35 on foul line, Texas 18-20
Brickfest; teams combined to shoot 7-36 on the arc.
Kentucky won its last four games, scoring 83 ppg.

— IU Indy 103, Oakland 85
Oakland was favored by 14.5 points.
IU Indy scored 103 points, only took 3 foul shots (2-3)
Jaguars shot 64.2% inside the arc.

— Citadel 77, Furman 75 OT
Furman was favored by 10.5 points.
Paladins led by 19 with 10:50 left in the game
Teams combined to shoot 12-57 on the arc.

— Gonzaga 84, Pepperdine 60
Zags have beaten Pepperdine 51 games in a row. Fifty-one.
Only streak that was longer; from 1961-86, UCLA beat Cal 52 times in a row.
Gonzaga has won its last 13 games, is 20-1 this season.

— Famous birthdays, January 22nd
Lester Hayes, 71
Jeff Rutledge, 69
Vince Newsome, 65
Diane Lane, 61
Gabriel Macht, 54

Chone Figgins, 48
Carlos Ruiz, 47
Tyrone Taylor, 32
Davis Webb, 31
Dillon Brooks, 30

— Cody Bellinger re-signed with the Bronx Bombers, will get $32.5M/year for five years; he hit 29 homers last year, had 98 RBI, an OPS of .813.

— It is January 22, it is freakin’ freezing out, and I’m watching podcasts trying to figure out where three of the guys on my fantasy baseball team are going to play this year:

Zac Gallen/Luis Arraez are free agents, Freddie Peralta is likely to be traded. Spring training starts in three weeks; time to figure it out, fellas.

As I typed this, Peralta got traded to the Mets:

Mets get Peralta, P Tobias Myers
Milwaukee gets P Brandon Sproat, SS/OF Jett Williams.

— It is kind of funny to listen to these podcasts and listen to nerdy analysts shredding guys who didn’t help their fantasy teams last year. I mean, I’m nerdy too, but if your team wasn’t good, it was your fault, not some guy who is banking million$$ of dollar$$ playing ball.

— There was a 7-year stretch when Indiana coach Curt Cignetti was a QB coach, for three years at Rice, then four years at Temple, not exactly football factories.

In 1998, Rice went 0-11; the whole staff got fired, then Temple went 11-33 the next four years, so if you told Cignetti in 1993 that he would wind up making $12M/year, he probably would’ve laughed at you.

— Before Indiana hired Cignetti away from James Madison, he applied for the head coaching job at Mississippi State, but he didn’t get an interview.

Whoops.

— In Kevin Stefanski’s six years coaching the Cleveland Browns, he started 13 different QB’s; he just hired Bill Callahan as his OL coach in Atlanta, brought OC Tommy Rees with him from the Browns, so if he starts Kirk Cousins, he should have more success with the Falcons.

— Best wishes to Kansas basketball coach Bill Self, who missed the Jayhawks’ game at Colorado Tuesday night; he has atrial fibrillation and was dehydrated.

He had two stents inserted into his heart back in July and also missed the NCAA Tournament and Big 12 Tournament in 2023 after undergoing a heart procedure.

— Over the last six years, the Buffalo Bills:
had the best record
went 8-6 in playoff games
scored the most points
allowed the fewest points
were +902 in point differential; during that time, no other team is over +600.

But they fired coach Sean McDermott Monday, while giving GM Brandon Beane a promotion to president of football operations. Pretty big slap in the face to McDermott, who didn’t get Buffalo to a Super Bowl, but he did just about everything else. 

Very curious to see who they hire to be the next coach.

— When I was a kid, Rams had a coach named Chuck Knox who won five division titles in his first five years as coach- they went 54-15-1 in regular season, but only 3-5 in playoff games (too bad the Vikings didn’t have a dome back then) and the owner fired him, a situation that was kind of like Buffalo’s current thing.

Be careful what you ask for; change isn’t always a good thing.

— Tennessee Titans hired former Jets coach Robert Saleh as their new coach; Saleh was 20-36 in 3+ years coaching the Jets (2012-24). He was the 49ers’ defensive coordinator this year.

— Some successful coaches have gotten the boot this year:
Mike Tomlin (201-126-2, won a Super Bowl)
John Harbaugh (193-124, won a Super Bowl)
Pete Carroll (184-145-1, won a Super Bowl)

— Little weird that backup QB Jarrett Stidham will start for Denver in the AFC title game this week, against New England.

Stidham has started four NFL games (1-3), last of which was two years ago; he was a backup for the Patriots in 2019-20, throwing 48 passes in eight relief appearances. He is the first QB in the Super Bowl who will start a conference title game, without having thrown a pass that season.

Roger Staubach once started an NFC title game without having started a game that year, but he did play some in relief that season (1972) throwing 20 passes in four games.

— When Indiana Hoosiers won the national title Monday night, coach Curt Cignetti banked a $2M bonus. He’s having a very good year.

— Famous birthdays, January 21st:
Gary Garrison, 82
Mike Kurkow, 74
Geena Davis, 70
Robby Benson, 70
Hakeem Olajuwon, 63

Detlef Schrempf, 63
Dalton Hilliard, 62
Jake Diekman, 39
Brandon Crawford, 39
Jake Cronenworth, 32

— Mets acquired OF Luis Robert from the White Sox Tuesday, for two prospects; Robert hit 38 homers for Chicago in 2023, but his OPS last two years was .657/.661.

— RIP Wilbur Wood, the knuckleball pitcher for the White Sox who passed away Saturday at age 84. Wood pitched in the majors for 17 years, winning 164 games, mostly for the White Sox. From 1972-74, he went 64-56, starting 137 games over three years.

In 1973, Wood went 24-20, 3.46 in 48 starts; he started both games of a doubleheader in New York. Because he threw a knuckleball, he could pitch more often that normal pitchers.

RIP, sir.

— Congrats to Carlos Beltran, Andruw Jones on being voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame; one voter gave Rick Porcello a vote, not really sure why.

Porcello was 150-125 in a 12-year career; he had one great season, going 22-4 for the Red Sox in 2016, but kind of hard for a guy who was never an All-Star to get into the Hall of Fame, though he did win the Cy Young Award in 2016.

— Golden State Warriors star, 36-year old Jimmy Butler tore the ACL in his right knee and is out for the year. He is making $54.1M this year, will make $56.8M next year, the last year of his current contract. Golden State is 12-5 in last 17 games after Tuesday’s loss to Toronto,

— Apparently Bucs’ QB Baker Mayfield wasn’t happy with how he left the Browns; he took a swipe at Kevin Stefanski on social media Tuesday night. Stefanski is the new coach in Atlanta, a division rival of Tampa Bay, so they’ll play each other twice a year going forward.

Mayfield was 30-31 as QB in Cleveland; since they got rid of him, the Browns are 26-43.  

— Movie of the Day: One on One (1977)- A small-town high school basketball star gets a scholarship to a big school, but struggles once he gets there, both on and off the court.

Robbie Benson is the star (today is his 70th birthday, which makes me feel old), Annette O’Toole is his tutor, GD Spradlin is his college coach, Melanie Griffith has a small role at the start of the movie. The movie hasn’t aged very well, but the game scenes were filmed in Colorado State’s gym, the one they still use. 

I was in high school when this movie come out; I really liked it.

— UNLV 86, Utah State 76
Aggies led 58-44 with 12:44 left in the game.
UNLV is off to a 5-2 start in Mountain West games.
First time in ten years the Rebels won at Utah State
6-1 junior G Gibbs-Lawhorn is a really point guard.

— UCLA 69, Purdue 67
Loss snaps Purdue’s nine-game winning streak.
Bruins were only 2-3 on foul line, Purdue 6-7.
Both teams shot over 60% inside the arc.
Purdue’s subs played 56:00; UCLA’s bench played 20.

— Georgia 74, Missouri 72
Dawgs scored the winning hoop with 0:05.5 left.
74 points are the fewest Georgia has scored this season.
Mizzou is 5-6 in its last 11 games, after an 8-0 start.

— Miami OH 107, Kent State 101, OT
20-0 Miami is first team in country to get to 20 wins.
RedHawks have scored 87+ points in each of their last five games.
Their last two wins were both in overtime.
Miami shot 74.4% inside arc, only 22-34 on foul line.

— NC State 80, Clemson 76 OT
Loss ends Clemson’s nine-game winning streak.
Wolfpack led by 11 late in the first half.
NC State coach Will Wade is a Clemson alum, was a basketball manager.

— St John’s 65, Seton Hall 62
Seton Hall led by 15 early in the second half.
Pirates shot only 37.9% from the floor.
Fifth straight win for the Red Storm (14-5, 7-1 in Big East).

— Michigan State 68, Oregon 52
Oregon led by 3 with 14:00 left.
Spartans shot 72.4% inside the arc.
Fifth straight loss for the injury-riddled 8-11 Ducks. 

— Indiana 27, Miami 21
Hoosiers win their first-ever national title.
Before this year, Indiana hadn’t won a bowl game since 1991.
Indiana blocked punt for a TD to go ahead 17-7.

— What does it say about Miami’s program that the national title game was on their home field, but Indiana had more fans there?

— ESPN had a great Film Room broadcast of this game, with four former coaches analyzing the game as they watched it. Learned a lot; it was an excellent listen.

Gene Chizik
Dave Clawson
Mike Gundy
Steve Addazio

— Indiana, Miami are both Adidas schools, which clinched Adidas having their first national champ in college football since Tennessee in 1998.

— Coaches come from all kinds of backgrounds:

Indiana coach Curt Cignetti didn’t become a head coach until he was 50; he is 146-37 as a head coach, 27-2 in two years at Indiana. He spent seven years as the QB coach at Rice, Temple, not exactly football factories. Now he’s a national champ.

Rams’ coach Sean McVay was an NFL head coach at age 30; he turns 40 on Saturday, is already 102-62 with the Rams. His grandfather was head coach of the Giants and later an executive with the 49ers. At one time, Sean McVay was an assistant coach for the Florida Tuskers in the UFL.

— I’m watching Rams-Bears Sunday and I’m wondering,”Who is Jared Goff rooting for?”

He played for McVay with the Rams for four years, then played for four years in Detroit with Ben Johnson as his offensive coordinator— he had great success playing for both guys. Maybe he didn’t watch, maybe he didn’t care, but would be fun to know.

By the way, makes me feel old that Goff has already been in the NFCL for 10 years.

— Caleb Williams is a lot better than I thought he was going to be, but maybe Ben Johnson is just a great offensive coach.

Next summer, some NFL analysts are going to predict the Bears are going to regress, because teams that win a lot of close games don’t always do that the next year. Minnesota Vikings have won a ton of last close games under Kevin O’Connell, but with QB injuries this year, Minnesota missed the playoffs, even though they were 5-3 in one-score games.

Such a fine line between winning and losing in the NFL. 

— Miami Dolphins hired former Boston College coach Jeff Hafley as their new coach, he was the defensive coordinator for Green Bay the last two years. Hafley was 22-26 in four years at BC, 12-22 in ACC games.

— Famous birthdays, January 20th:
Ron Harper, 62
Ozzie Guillen, 62
Terry Kirby, 56
Eddie Kennison, 53
David Eckstein, 51

Jason Richardson, 45
Nick Foles, 37
DeVante Parker, 33
Tyler Herro, 26
JJ McCarthy, 23

— I’m wondering if Gonzaga will still be a powerhouse when they leave the WCC after this year; they’re moving to the re-tooled Pac-12, which will mostly be like the current Mountain West, but it is going to be tougher than the current WCC.

In the 80’s/early 90’s, UNLV was a national power under Jerry Tarkanian, playing in the Big West Conference; when the NCAA forced Tarkanian out in 1992, Rebels played four more years in the Big West, before moving on to the Mountain West.

UNLV has slid into mediocrity; they haven’t made the NCAA Tournament since 2013, and they have had some good coaches: Lon Kruger, TJ Otzelberger, Charlie Spoonhour. 

— Saint Louis, Miami OH are both in the top 25, which is unusual; first time Miami has been in the top 25 since 1999.

— Marquette 105, Providence 104 OT
Marquette led 54-44 at halftime.
6-0 freshman James scored 38 points, had 8 assists.
Golden Eagles shot 62% inside the arc, only 19-30 on foul line.
Providence is 2-6 in last eight games; three of those losses were in OT.

— Towson 59, Drexel 58
Drexel led by 17 in first half, by 6 with 2:34 left.
Towson was 15-21 on foul line, Dragons 1-4
Towson out-rebounded Drexel, 42-29

— Harvard 64, Penn 63
Harvard shot 60% inside the arc.
6-5 senior Roberts scored 27 for Penn, had no assists.
Quakers were 13-17 on foul line, Harvard was 4-8.

— Quinnipiac 98, Manhattan 92 OT
Manhattan led by 15 with 12:59 left in the game.
6-2 senior Jones scored 30 points, had five assists.
Fifth lost in last six games for the Jaspers.

— Bracketology; seeds 1-4 according to ESPN:
1- Arizona, Michigan, UConn, Duke
2- Gonzaga, Nebraska, Purdue, Iowa State
3- Vanderbilt, Houston, BYU, Illinois
4- Alabama, Texas Tech, Florida, Michigan

— Rams 20, Bears 17 OT
Rams drove 54 yards, Mevis kicked 42-yard walk-off FG in OT.
Bears scored a TD with 0:18 left to force overtime.
Rams are 9-0 when they allow less than 26 points.
Rams advance to the NFC title game in Seattle next week.

Bears converted 9-19 on third down, LA 5-16, on a cold night
Chicago ran ball for 160 yards, but were minus-3 in turnovers.
In two playoff games, Bears converted only 5-12 fourth down plays.
Rams’ two TD drives were 91-85 yards, lasted 6:33/6:02.

— Patriots 28, Texans 16
Houston turned ball over on 4 of their first 8 drives.
Patriots scored on a pick-6 to take a 14-10 lead. 
In their history, Texans are 0-7 in this round of the playoffs.
Patriots move on to AFC title game in Denver next week.

Texans ran ball 22 times for only 48 yards.
Houston scored only one TD; that was on a short 27-yard drive.
QB Maye threw for 179 yards, 3 TD’s on a snowy/sleet day.
Texans completed only 20 of 47 passes, with four INTs. 

— Atlanta Falcons hired former Browns coach Kevin Stefanski as their new coach, the first hire for new Falcons boss Matt Ryan. Stefanski was 46-58 in six years in Cleveland, 1-2 in playoff games.

— Famous birthdays, January 19th:
Dolly Parton, 80
Terry Hanratty, 78
Jon Matlack, 76
Katy Segal, 72
Steve DeBerg, 72

Paul McCrane, 65
Chris Sabo, 64
Michael Adams, 63
Luc Longley, 57
Phil Nevin, 55

— Was laughing the other day when the Dodgers signed Kyle Tucker for four years at $60M a year; hearing New York fans complain how the Dodgers are ruining baseball by spending too much $$$ and I’m like, “Hey, I root for the A’s. Welcome to my world for the last 50 years”

That said, $60M/year for Tucker seems comically excessive; he isn’t Aaron Judge or Juan Soto but he is really good. At first, I thought it said $240 for six years; $40M/year seemed OK, but then I realized he’ll be making $60M/year. Yikes.

— Atlanta Braves made a $46M profit last year, which makes you wonder how high these teams are willing to go to sign stars. $46M is one superstar player or two really good ones. I’m not a big finance guy; this time next year, we’ll probably be hearing a lot more about the finances of major league teams, when the lockout is looming.

— Minnesota Twins signed C Victor Caratini for two years, $14M; with the new appeal system for ball/strike challenges, not sure if good pitch framers are as valuable as they have been, but the Twins think Caratini is. He’s had an OPS of .711+ the last three years.

— When actor Charlie Sheen was a kid, apparently he was really good at baseball; U of Kansas offered him a baseball scholarship, but then he got tossed out of high school for not going to this classes, so college was out of the question.

— Been watching a lot of fantasy baseball mock drafts on the Interweb, watched one the other day where Mike Trout was a 19th round pick. Jeez, how quickly they forget.

— Movie of the Day: Major League (1989)- Woman inherits the Cleveland Indians from her dead husband; she wants to move the team to Miami, so she puts together a roster that is really bad, so fans in Cleveland won’t come to see them play.

Tom Berenger, Charlie Sheen, Wesley Snipes, Corbin Bernsen are some of the players; former Dodger catcher Steve Yeager is Cleveland’s third base coach. James Gammon is the manager of the team; Rene Russo is also in this, but the late Bob Uecker steals the show as the announcer of the team.

Very funny movie, but moving a baseball team to Miami turned out to be a very bad idea.

— In college basketball, Florida Gators won consecutive national titles in 2007, 2008; since then, only one defending national champ made it to the Elite 8 in the NCAAs the next year, and that was UConn won their consecutive titles in 2023, 2024.

Florida is the defending champ this year; they’re 13-5 right now, 4-1 in the SEC, experience team #65. We’ll see how it goes for them.

— Florida Atlantic 79, Temple 73
Fast-paced game (79 possessions), was fun to watch.
Both teams are the Owls, by the way.
Brickfest for a high-scoring game; teams shot 9-41 on the arc.
FAU won its last four games, scoring 82.3 ppg.

— Wichita State 86, South Florida 85 OT
USF led by 13 early in the second half.
Both teams shot under 40% inside the arc.
Teams combined to shoot 24-51 (47.1%) outside the arc.

— Houston 103, Arizona State 73
Cougars led 56-29 at halftime.
Arizona State has lost six of its last seven games.
Houston has won 11 games in a row (only loss 76-73 to Tennessee)

— San Francisco 85, Washington State 80
Wazzu led by 7 with 6:06 left in the game.
USF was 15-18 on foul line, Wazzu 2-3.
Coogs lost last three games (Zags, St Mary’s, USF)
Dons made 12-22 shots on the arc.

— North Texas 71, Tulane 63
North Texas out-rebounded Tulane, 47-30.
Green Wave shot only 31.3% from the floor.
North Texas is 11-7; they have the #325 eFG% in the country. 

— Broncos 33, Bills 30 OT
Denver advances to AFC title game next week, at home.
Denver QB Bo Nix broke his ankle, is out for the year.
Backup Jarrett Stidham (1-3 as an NFL starter) is Denver’s new QB.
Stidham will be first QB in the last 60 years to start a conference championship game, without having thrown a pass up to that point in that season.

Denver scored 10 points in last 0:22 of first half to take 20-10 halftime lead.
Buffalo kicked a 50-yard FG with 0:05 left in regulation to force OT.
Broncos drove 75 yards before they kicked the game-winning FG.
Josh Allen is having a great career, but he is now 0-7 in overtime games.

— Seahawks 41, 49ers 6
Seahawks ran opening kickoff back 95 yards for a TD.
Seattle’s first seven drives: 48 plays, 271 yards, 34 points.
San Francisco lost fumbles on their first two drives.
Seattle will host the NFC title game next Sunday.

Seahawks won 11 of their last 12 home playoff games.
49ers were 2-5 ATS as an underdog this year.
49ers had won their previous four visits to Seattle.
Seahawks went over their team total in 12 of last 17 games.

— California 84, North Carolina 78
Cal led this game 54-37 at halftime.
Golden Bears shot 14-26 on arc; Justin Pippen scored 19 points.
Tar Heels are 0-3 in ACC road games, giving up 97-95-84 points.
Justin Pippen is the son of Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen

— Purdue 69, USC 64
USC led this game 22-8 midway thru the first half.
Trojans shot 61% inside the arc, only 3-20 outside arc.
Purdue has won nine in a row, is now 17-1 this year (lost to Iowa State)

— Kentucky 80, Tennessee 78
Tennessee led by 17 late in the first half.
2nd game in row Kentucky won after trailing by 15+ points.
Kentucky won seven of its last nine games, after a 5-4 start.

— College Basketball Upsets of the Day:
Georgia Tech (+17) 78, NC State 74
Northern Illinois (+8.5) 70, UMass 68
Cleveland State (+8.5) 80, Youngstown State 78
Wofford (+7.5) 74, Furman 70
Kennesaw State (+7.5) 81, Western Kentucky 65
SIU-Edwardsville (+7.5) 68, SE Missouri State 55

— Miami OH 105, Buffalo 102, OT
Miami improves to 19-0, one of three unbeaten teams in country.
RedHawks shot 67.6% inside arc, scored 1.26 ppp.
6-5 senior Suder scored 37 points, had no assists; his job is to shoot the ball.

— Clemson 69, Miami 59
Tigers are 6-0 in ACC, are quietest 16-3 team in the country.
Clemson is #30 experience team that has played schedule #40 so far.
Tigers have the #20 eFG% defense in the country.

— Santa Clara 62, Saint Mary’s 54
Huge win for Santa Clara’s chances of getting an at-large bid in March.
Broncos are 7-1 in WCC, with only loss by 12 at Gonzaga.
Brickfest; teams combined to shoot 7-36 on the arc.

— Florida 98, Vanderbilt 94
Florida shot 62.2% inside arc, scored 1.35 ppp.
Gators out-rebounded Vandy, 40-26.
Florida has won eight of last nine games, after a 5-4 start.

— Famous birthdays, January 18th:
Myron Pottios, 88
Scott McGregor, 72
Kevin Costner, 71
Larry Smith, 68

Bob Hansen, 65
Brady Anderson, 62
Jesse L Martin, 57
Julius Peppers, 46

Michael Pineda, 37
Leonard Fournette, 31
Tee Higgins, 27
Braden Fiske, 26

— Alabama 83, Oklahoma 81
Sooners led 44-33 at halftime.
Alabama shot 57.6% inside arc, only 15-26 on foul line.
Alabama is 13-5; up to this point, they’ve played toughest schedule in country.

— Texas Tech 84, BYU 71
BYU led 61-52 with 8:40 left in the game.
Tech used only three subs, for a total of 10:00.
Red Raiders are shooting 37.8% on arc this year (#24 in country)

— St John’s 86, Villanova 79
Red Storm shot 58.1% inside arc; they opened 2nd half with a 20-4 run.
Johnnies won their last four games, scoring 88 ppg.
Villanova slips to 14-4; they’ve played #24 schedule in country.

— San Diego State 83, New Mexico 79
Aztecs won their 7th game in row, lead Mountain West by a game.
San Diego State outscored Lobos 6-0 over final 1:11 for the win.
Just 2nd loss in last 12 games for New Mexico; they’ve played schedule #90.

— Grand Canyon 84, Utah State 74
Loss snaps Utah State’s 8-game winning streak.
Antelopes shot 60.6% inside arc, scored 1.28 ppp.
6-2 junior Williams scored 20 points in 27:00 off bench for Grand Canyon. 

There are seven NFL head coaches who have led more than one franchise to a Super Bowl; was surprised to learn that no coach has ever won a Super Bowl with two franchises.

— Don Shula (347-173-6 as NFL coach)
lost Super Bowl III with the Colts
was 2-3 in Super Bowls with Miami, winning Super Bowls VII and VIII

His grandson Chris is defensive coordinator for the Rams. 

— Dick Vermeil (126-114)
Won Super Bowl XXXIV with the Rams
Lost Super Bowl XiX with Philadelphia
He was 6-5 in playoff games, was 15-5-3 as a college coach

— Andy Reid (307-174-1)
Is 3-3 in Super Bowls, 28-17 in playoff games.
Lost Super Bowl XXXIX with the Eagles
Is 3-2 in Super Bowls with Chiefs, 18-8 in playoff games.

— Bill Parcells (191-141-1)
Won two Super Bowls with the Giants (XXI and XXV)
Lost Super Bowl XXXI with New England.
He was 11-8 in playoff games.

— Mike Holmgren (174-122)
Won Super Bowl XXXI with Green Bay
Lost Super Bowl XV with Seattle
Was 1-2 in Super Bowl, 13-11 in playoff games.

— John Fox (141-130)
Won Super Bowl XLVIII with the Broncos
Lost Super Bowl XXXVIII with Carolina
He was 8-7 in playoff games.

— Dan Reeves (201-174-2)
Got to three Super Bowls in four years with Denver, went 0-3
Lost Super Bowl XXXIII with the Falcons, against Denver.
Was 11-9 in playoff games. 

— Famous birthdays, January 17th:
Preston Pearson, 81
Pete LaCock, 74
Chili Davis, 66

Jim Carrey, 64
Dwyane Wade, 44
Tyler Zeller, 36

Trevor Bauer, 35
Nickell Robey-Coleman, 34
Kyle Tucker, 29

— Dodgers gave OF Kyle Tucker a four-year, $240M contract, $60M/year, which seems a bit excessive. Tucker has 147 career home runs, a career OPS of .865, but he played most of his career in a hitter-friendly ballpark in Houston.

— Mets responded to that by signing IF Bo Bichette for three years, $126M. He hit .311 last year, has a career OPS of .806. Bichette figures to play third base, after being a shortstop up until now, kind of what Alex Rodriguez did when he moved to the Bronx.

— Phillies re-signed C JP Realmuto for three years, $45M; he will be 35 in March, has a career OPS of .774.

— In college/minor league sports, QB Darian Mensah is in the transfer portal, again. After making $8M the last two years at Duke, he figures to land with the Miami Hurricanes. Mensah started his college career at Tulane. Duke went 18-9 in Mensah’s two years as QB.

— Word of the Day: Chiseler- A person who cheats/tricks people; a grifter.

— Providence 93, Creighton 88
Friars shot 56.8% inside the arc.
Creighton led 46-45 at halftime.
Just second win in seven Big East games for Providence

— Kansas 80, Baylor 62
Kansas shot 58.7% inside arc, had only four turnovers.
Jayhawks won last two games, by 21-18 points.
Baylor slips to 11-6, 1-4 in conference games.

— DePaul 80, Marquette 75
Marquette led 44-36 at halftime.
6-7 senior Gunn had 31 points for DePaul.
DePaul won last three home games, is 3-4 in Big East play.
Last time DePaul finished .500+ in conference play? 2007.

— Kent State 87, Toledo 84
Toledo led 41-35 at halftime.
Kent State was 26-36 on foul line, Rockets 20-29.
Kent State is 5-1 in MAC, game behind unbeaten Miami.

— Ball State 76, Ohio U 71
Cardinals never trailed, improved to 1-5 in the MAC.
Ball State was 25-31 on foul line, Bobcats 15-19.
Ohio U shot 57.9% inside arc, 4-16 outside arc.

— Dayton 78, Loyola Chi 51
Flyers led this game 31-30 at halftime.
Dayton is 5-0 in A-14, forcing turnovers 25% of time.
Loyola is 5-14 this year, after going 48-22 the last two years.