Tuesday’s 6-pack, Quote, Quiz of the Day

On college hoop page: Tuesday-Thursday’s NCAA Tournament games

Tuesday’s 6-pack:
Interesting first round games in the NIT:
— South Florida-Central Florida
— Kansas State-Iowa
— North Texas-LSU
— Cornell-Ohio State
— Richmond-Virginia Tech
— Cal Irvine-Utah

Quote of the Day 
“It’s like riding with Helen Keller!!!”
Overheard at lunch Monday, an older woman complaining about her husband’s driving

Tuesday’s quiz
Rangers’ manager Bruce Bochy has led three teams to a World Series; Texas and what other two teams? 

Monday’s quiz
In the movie Oceans Eleven, Julia Roberts played George Clooney’s wife.

Sunday’s quiz
NFL teams recovered only one of 31 onside kicks last year; Arizona Cardinals recovered the one onside kick. 

Tuesday’s Den: Nobody asked me, but…….

— Late Monday night, Giants signed P Blake Snell for two years, $62M. Snell has won two Cy Young awards; he was 14-9, 2.25 for the Padres last year.

Here’s the thing about Snell; 32 starts last year, only 180 IP, 17 outs per game. You pay a guy $31M a year, you expect him to finish the 6th inning. At least. 

In 2022, he threw 128 IP in 24 starts, 16 outs/start. He doesn’t give the bullpen a night off.

— A few weeks ago, 3B JD Davis won his salary arbitration case with the Giants, was set to bank $6.9M this year, but contracts won in arbitration aren’t guaranteed. Giants dumped Davis and signed free agent Matt Chapman, paying Davis $1.1M to take a hike. 

Davis then signed with the Oakland A’s for $2.5M, meaning he lost $3.3M and is now on a much worse team, although he’ll play every day now.

— Tampa Bay Rays’ over/under win total this year is 84.5; over the last five years, Tampa Bay has averaged 95.4 wins/season, despite having a small budget.

— In the NBA, Indiana Pacers have scored 120+ points in 45 games, the most times an NBA team has done that in a season since the Denver Nuggets, 40 years ago.
 — In the NHL, the Pittsburgh Penguins were supposed to have a Jaromir Jagr bobblehead giveaway last week, but had to cancel when the shipment of bobbleheads got stolen. People who had tickets for the giveaway night got vouchers to get the bobbleheads, when they re-appear. 

Some of the vouchers have already surfaced on E-Bay.

— NHL rule I never heard of: If teams are in overtime/shootout, the losing team gets a point, but if a team were to pull its goalie in overtime to try and win the game, they don’t get the point if they don’t win.

— Alabama gave its new football coach Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer a contract worth $10.875M a year. Good luck replacing Nick Saban, maybe the greatest college football coach ever.

Movie of the Day: Autumn in New York (2000)- An aging playboy falls for a sweet, but terminally ill young woman. 

Excellent cast: Richard Gere is the playboy, Winona Ryder is the young woman, JK Simmons is the surgeon who tries to save her. Anthony LaPaglia, Jill Hennessy, Sherry Stringfield are also in the movie, which is a sad movie, but a very good one.

Famous birthdays for March 19:
Glenn Close, 77
Bruce Willis, 69
Mike Norris, 69
Andre Miller 48
Casey Jacobsen, 43
Clayton Kershaw, 36

— On the Hoops page of this blog, we have write-ups on all the NCAA games for the play-in games, plus all of Thursday’s games. I’ll post write-ups on Friday’s games late Wednesday night.

Some other college basketball notes:
— Some prominent college hoop programs passed on playing in the NIT; truth is, no one gives a rat’s ass about the NIT, but there’s another reason, a new reason.

The college basketball transfer portal opened Monday; fact of the matter is, coaches have to make the NCAA’s to keep their jobs, and the transfer portal is a hell of a lot more important to a program than playing in the obscurity of the NIT.

Improving your roster now means that a team can play in next year’s NCAA Tournament, which will help the coach’s job security.

— Tennessee coach Rick Barnes is 8-18-1 against the spread in first round NCAA games.

— The four #10-seeds who are in the play-in games Tuesday/Wednesday are Colorado State, Boise State, Colorado and Virginia.

There have been two teams who won play-in games and then made it to the Final Four: VCU in 2011 and UCLA three years ago.

— 2008 is the only time all four teams in the Final Four were #1-seeds; the last two years, only one #1-seed made the Final Four.

— Last three years, not only did a #15-seed upset a #2-seed, the #15-seed also won their next games and made it to the Sweet 16.

— Last six defending national champs missed the Sweet 16; if UConn gets beat this year, by Stetson, FAU or Northwestern, it would be a huge upset.

— Last time Gonzaga missed the NCAA Tournament was 1998; last time they lost a first round game was 2008, when Davidson beat them- they had a pretty good guard, Steph Curry. 

— Last three years, the team that won the Big 14 Tournament went 1-3 in the NCAA’s; overall, Big 14 teams went 17-7 in first round, 4-13 in 2nd round, 1-3 in Sweet 16, 0-1 in Elite 8. 

Last Big 14 team to make the Final Four was Michigan State in 2019. Last Big 14 team to win the national title? Also the Spartans, in 2000. 

— Last Pac-12 team to win the national title? Arizona, in 1997.

— November 2018, Vanderbilt was off to a 4-0 start, but then their star player Darius Garland got hurt, missed the rest of the season and Vandy finished 9-23. Vanderbilt fired Bryce Drew, who had made the NCAA’s two years earlier, and hired former NBA star Jerry Stackhouse.

Five years later, Garland is a solid NBA player, Vanderbilt just fired Stackhouse, who went 70-92 in five years with the Commodores, with no NCAA bids.

Meanwhile, Bryce Drew is in the NCAA’s with his Grand Canyon team; it is the third time in four years the Antelopes are in the NCAA’s.

Bottom line is, lot of college administrators are over-educated morons. 

Monday’s Den: Quick thoughts after seeing the brackets…….

Some quick thoughts on each of the four play-in games, and the 28 first round games where we know the matchups. After this, I’m off to study………

Tuesday’s games
Colorado State-Virginia
Since 2019, Virginia has been in the NCAA’s four times:
In 2019, Virginia won the national title.
The other three years, Virginia lost in the first round.

Wagner-Howard
NEC teams are 5-5 in play-in games.
MEAC teams are 4-4 in play-in games.
Wagner went 7-9 in the 2nd-worst league in the country.

Wednesday’s games
Colorado-Boise State
All-time, Boise State is 0-9 in NCAA Tournament games, the most tournament games any team has played without getting a win.

Grambling-Montana State
Montana State is in NCAA’s for 3rd year in a row, but this year, they went 9-9 in Big Sky games. The last two years, Bobcats were 31-7 in Big Sky games.

This is Grambling’s first-ever NCAA Tournament game.

Thursday’s games
South Dakota State-Iowa State
Since 2012, Jackrabbits are 0-6 in NCAA Tournament games, 2-3-1 ATS.

From 2017-19, Iowa State coach Otzelberger went 70-33 coaching South Dakota State.

Saint Peter’s-Tennessee
Since 2003, MAAC teams are 6-13 ATS in first round games, but 3-1 the last four years. Peacocks  were in the Elite 8 two years ago, but the coach/players from that team have moved on.

Last five years, Tennessee is 4-1 SU/2-3 ATS in first round games. 

Long Beach State-Arizona
From 1983-2007, Lute Olson went 589-187 coaching Arizona, winning a national title in 1997. Olson also coached Long Beach State for a year; he replaced Jerry Tarkanian there in 1973-74, going 24-2; he left after a year to coach Iowa. 

Dan Monson has coached Long Beach State for 17 years (275-272), but got fired last week; he made the NCAA’s at Long Beach one other time, in 2012.

Morehead State-Illinois
Illinois coach Underwood has made NCAA’s seven times, for three different schools; he is 4-3 SU/ATS in first round games.

Oakland-Kentucky
Oakland is in NCAA’s for first time since 2011; over last 11 years, Horizon teams are 4-7 ATS in first round games.

Under John Calipari, Kentucky is 5-6 ATS in first round games. 

Akron-Creighton
Last seven years, MAC teams are 3-4 SU/6-1 ATS in first round games.

Under McDermott, Creighton is 6-2 SU/4-4 ATS in first round games. This is second time Bluejays have been a #3-seed, tied for best seed Creighton has been under McDermott.

Samford-Kansas
Jayhawks have injury issues: Dickinson/McKullar didn’t play in the Big X tournament. Kansas lost four of its last five games.

14 of the last 15 years, a #4-seed lost in the first round. Is Samford good enough to pull an upset?

McNeese State-Gonzaga
While coaching at VCU/LSU, McNeese coach Will Wade was 3-2 SU in first round games. This season, his first at McNeese, Wade has the Cowboys at 30-3, their first winning season since 2012- they’ve won games at VCU, UAB and Michigan.

Since 2003, Gonzaga is 18-2 SU/9-11 ATS in first round games; last time they lost a first round game was 2008, as a #7-seed, to Seth Curry’s Davidson team. 

Duquesne-BYU
Duquesne is in NCAA’s for first time since 1977; their coach is Keith Dambrot, who was Lebron James’ high school coach. 

BYU is in NCAA’s for only 2nd time since 2015; they haven’t won an NCAA Tournament game since 2012.

NC State-Texas Tech
Wolfpack won five games in five days to win ACC Tournament, and get to this point; they went 2-7 in their last nine regular season games.

Texas Tech is shooting 36.5% on the arc (#38), getting 33.9% of their points on 3’s (#84).

Oregon-South Carolina
Much like NC State, Ducks were a surprise winner of their conference tournament. Under Dana Altman, Oregon is 7-0 SU in first round games in the NCAA’s. 

This is South Carolina’s 2nd NCAA bid since 2004; they made the Final 4 as a #7-seed in 2017, when Frank Martin was coach.

Drake-Washington State
Bulldogs have #27 eFG% in country, they get good shots. Their best player is Tucker DeVries, the coach’s son; he is shooting 36.4% on arc. Drake is #1 team in country on defensive boards. 

Washington State is in NCAA’s for first time since 2008; they’ve got the #35 eFG% defense.

Nevada-Dayton
Nevada won 7 of its last 8 games; CBS left them hanging a little when they announced the brackets- they have to be relieved to be in the tournament. In his coaching career, Steve Alford is 7-5 in first round games.

Dayton split its last four games, after a 21-4 start; they’re shooting 40.2% on the arc, #3 in the country.

Michigan State-Mississippi State
Spartans got in tournament despite losing five of their last seven games. Coach Izzo won five of his last six first round games.

Mississippi State also lost five of its last seven games; coach Jans is in NCAA’s for 5th time in last six years. Bulldogs are #21 team in country on the offensive boards.

Friday’s games
Northwestern-Florida Atlantic
Northwestern is in NCAA’s for 2nd year in row, 3rd time in 8 years; they went 10-2 outside the Big 14, with a #355 non-conference strength of schedule.

FAU was in the Final Four LY, as a #9-seed; they have wins this year over Arizona, Texas A&M and Virginia Tech- they lost 98-89 to Illinois.

Colgate-Baylor
Last 10 years, Patriot League teams are 4-6 ATS in first round games; Colgate went 2-2 ATS the last four years, with losses by 7-17-7-20 points.

Since 2016, Baylor is 5-1 SU/4-2 ATS in first round games.

Alabama-Birmingham-San Diego State
UAB won its last five games; they’re only in because they won the AAC Tournament. Blazers are 8-6 vs top 100 teams this season.

San Diego State lost the national title game LY, after losing in first round the first two years before that.

Western Kentucky-Marquette
Hilltoppers play the fastest tempo of any team in country; they won the C-USA Tournament, after losing their last four regular season games. WKU split two games with #95 Louisiana Tech, the best team they played this season.

Marquette’s star G Kolek (oblique) missed the last six games, which Marquette split. Shaka Smart got VCU to the Final Four in 2011; since 2014, he is 1-6 in first round games (beat Vermont 78-61 last year).

Stetson-UConn
Stetson (Jacob deGrom’s alma mater) is in NCAA’s for first time. Over last 10 years, A-SUN teams are 4-6 SU/7-3 ATS in first round games.

UConn won national title last year, after losing in first round the first two years before that. Last six years, #1-seeds are 10-14 ATS in first round games.

New Mexico-Clemson
New Mexico allowed 76+ points in seven of its eight losses. Last eight years, underdogs are 18-14 ATS in first round games between #6-11 seeds.

Clemson lost three of its last four games; since 1998, Tigers are 1-6 SU in first round games.

Yale-Auburn
Yale was down 6 with 0:27 left Sunday, rallied to pull out the win and the Ivy League title. Bulldogs are in NCAA’s for third time in five years; since 2010, Ivy League teams are 9-3 ATS in first round games. 

Auburn won its last six games, five of them by 14+ points; in his career, Bruce Pearl is 8-4 SU/5-7 ATS in first round games, 3-7 as a favorite. 

Texas A&M-Nebraska
Aggies have #345 eFG% in country; they’re #1 in country on offensive boards. A&M won five of its last six games, after an 0-5 skid.

Nebraska has #15 eFG% defense in country.

This year, SEC teams are 9-4 SU/ATS against Big 14 opponents. 

Vermont-Duke
Vermont is in NCAA’s for 5th time in last seven tournaments; they went 2-2 ATS in previous four NCAA games.

Duke is 4-2-1 ATS in its last seven 1st round games. Last five years, #4-seeds are 6-14 ATS in first round games.

Charleston-Alabama
Charleston won its last 12 games; LY, they had won 10 in row before losing 63-57 to San Diego State in first round. CAA teams lost their last 10 first-round games (0-4 ATS last four). 

Alabama lost four of its last six games, giving up 100+ points three times.

Early total on this game is 171.5; Alabama plays pace #9, Charleston #59.

Longwood-Houston
Big South teams haven’t won a first round game since 2007 (Winthrop); since 2008, they’re 4-9 ATS in this round. Longwood went 6-10 in Big South this year; they played #344 non-conference schedule.

Houston has #2 eFG% defense in country; they’re #13 team on offensive boards.

James Madison-Wisconsin
Dukes won their last 13 games, longest current win streak in country; they’ve got #24 eFG% defense, #34 eFG%, but that was against schedule #293.

Under Gard, Wisconsin is 4-1 SU/ATS in first round games. Badgers went 3-1 in Big 14 tournament, after losing 8 of last 11 regular season games. 

TCU-Utah State
TCU won first round games last two years, 69-42/72-70. Horned Frogs are forcing turnovers 20.8% of time (#22); they’re #20 team on offensive boards.  

Utah State won six of its last seven games; they’re 12-1 out of conference, vs schedule #141. Aggies were in three of last four NCAA’s, but lost in first round all three times.

Grand Canyon-Saint Mary’s
Grand Canyon is in NCAA’s for 3rd time in four years; they lost other two games, by 12 points each. Antelopes have #10 eFG% defense in country. WAC teams are 4-2 SU/6-0 ATS against WCC opponents, but none of games were against Gonzaga/Saint Mary’s.

Saint Mary’s is best rebounding team in country; since 2017, Gaels are 3-1 in first round games, winning last two years in first round, by 29-12 points.

Sunday’s Den: Wrapping up a Saturday full of basketball…….

Big West
Long Beach State 83, Cal-Davis 68
Monday, Long Beach fired coach Dan Monson, who has been at Long Beach for 17 years.

Long Beach goes out and wins the Big West tournament, getting to NCAA’s for first time since 2012. Last three years, Long Beach is 43-22 in conference games; the AD looks like a jackass.

Long Beach actually paid a lot of Monson’s salary by playing guarantee games in November (Michigan, DePaul, USC, San Diego State this year); most of the $$$ they got for playing those games went to Monson. Long Beach wasn’t actually paying him that much out of their pocket.

Big 14
Wisconsin 76, Purdue 75
Badgers shot 59.5% inside arc.
Wisconsin was 3-8 in its last 11 regular season games.
Purdue was 24-32 on foul line, Badgers 5-9.

Illinois 98, Nebraska 87
Illinois outscored Nebraska 58-34 in second half.
Terrence Shannon scored 40 points (13-16 on foul line)
Illini won eight of its last ten games.

Big X
Iowa State 69, Houston 41
Iowa State outscored Houston 39-18 in second half.
Cyclones have won 11 of their last 13 games.
Iowa State forces turnovers 25.7% of time (#2)

American
Temple 74, Florida Atlantic 73
11th-seed Temple has posted upset wins four nights in a row.
Temple is 8-2 in last ten games, which followed an 0-10 streak.
FAU looks like they’re still solidly in the Field of 68.

UAB 93, South Florida 83
UAB shot 61% inside arc.
Bulls won AAC regular season with a 16-2 mark, but they’re on bubble now.
Temple-UAB winner Sunday is a bid-stealer from a bubble team.

SEC
Auburn 73, Mississippi State 66
Auburn shot 61.3% inside the arc.
Auburn has best eFG% defense in country.
Miss State had 17 offensive boards, but was 3-15 on the arc.

Florida 95, Texas A&M 90
Florida made 14-26 shots on the arc.
Gators scored 94 ppg in winning the last three days.
There were 67 foul shots in this game; lot of whistles.

ACC
NC State 84, North Carolina 76
Wolfpack wins five games in five days to win its first ACC tournament since 1987.
State shot 59.5% inside the arc.
Tournament title kicks in a multi-year contract extension for coach Keatts. 

Word of the Day: Sláinte- means “health” in both Irish and Scottish Gaelic. It is commonly used as a drinking toast in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man.

Happy St Patrick’s Day. 

Big East
UConn 73, Marquette 57
First time UConn won a conference tournament since 2016 AAC tourney.
Huskies are 20-1 since Christmas.
UConn has #6 eFG% in country, #4 eFG% defense.

Mountain West
New Mexico 68, San Diego State 61
Lobos won four days in a row, giving up 61 ppg.
New Mexico wins MW tournament for first time since 2014.
San Diego State was in MW tourney final for 7th straight year (3-4)
Ledee (25 points) was only Aztec to score more than 8 points.

Ivy League
Brown 90, Princeton 81
#1-seed Princeton gets upset here.
Brown has only been in NCAA’s once (1986)

Yale 69, Cornell 57
Yale never trailed, held Big Red to 32.8% from floor.
Yale has won two of last four Ivy League tournaments.
 
Pac-12
Oregon 75, Colorado 68
Ducks’ big man Dante was 12-12 from floor, scored 25 points.
Oregon won its last four games, is in NCAA’s for first time since 2021.
Colorado had its 8-game win streak snapped.

Famous birthdays for March 17:
Cito Gaston, 80
Kurt Russell, 73
Gary Sinise, 69
Danny Ainge, 65
Sam Bowie, 63
Rob Lowe, 60
Rhys Hoskins, 31

MAAC
Saint Peter’s 68, Fairfield 63
Fairfield led this game by 10 points early in 2nd half. 
Saint Peter’s has won seven of its last nine games.
Stags missed their last 15 shots behind the arc.

Mid-American
Akron 62, Kent State 61
Kent State scored to go ahead by a point with 0:06 left; one of their guys thought they were still losing. When Akron inbounded the ball, Kent State kid fouls the guy with the ball on purpose, giving the Zips foul shots with 0:04.8 left, which they made. 

Kent PG Santiago played all 40:00 for third night in a row.

Conference USA
Western Kentucky 78, Texas-El Paso 71
Hilltoppers trailed by 6 with 13:18 left in game.
WKU shot 57.1% inside the arc.
Hilltoppers are in NCAA’s for first time since 2013. 

America East
Vermont 66, UMass Lowell 61
Catamounts win America East tourney for 5th time in seven years.
Vermont was +8 in turnovers (14-6).
Vermont beat St John’s in November, lost to Virginia by 6.

MEAC
Howard 70, Delaware State 67
Bison won 7 of last 8 games, after an 11-15 start.
Howard is in NCAA’s for second year in a row (22-13 LY)

Howard has a 6-9 graduate student, Seth Towns:
2016-17- scored 12.3 ppg at Harvard
2017-18- was Ivy League Player of Year at Harvard
2018-19- medical redshirt
2019-20- medical redshirt
2020-21- scored 3.8 ppg at Ohio State
2021-22- medical redshirt
2022-23- voluntarily took last year off
2023-24- is scoring 14.2 ppg for Howard.

SWAC
Grambling 75, Texas Southern 66
Grambling is in the NCAA’s for the first time ever.
Tigers won nine of their last ten games. 

Saturday’s Den: Wrapping up a Friday full of basketball…….

Since 1985, every team that won the college basketball national championship also made it to the semi-finals of their conference tournament.

Last 12 years, only 4 of 48 Final Four teams lost their first conference tournament game. 

This week……..
Alabama, Creighton, Kentucky, Tennessee all lost their first conference tournament game.

SEC
It was an upsetting day in Nashville; three of four favorites got beat.
Mississippi State 73, Tennessee 56
Bulldogs never trailed, led 38-19 at halftime.
Tennessee is #29 experience team, but they shot 30.6% from the floor.

Texas A&M 97, Kentucky 87
Aggies had only 6 turnovers, scored 1.28 points/possession.
Texas A&M has won five in a row, is now 20-13.
This win would appear to put Texas A&M in the NCAA’s.

Florida 102, Alabama 84
Alabama thinks de-fence is what you put around de-garden.
Crimson Tide gave up 100+ points in three of last six games.
Gators shot 58.1% inside arc, made 31-36 on foul line.

ACC
NC State 73, Virginia 65, OT
12th-seed Wolfpack is in ACC Final for first time since 2007.
Kid on NC State hit a desperation 28-footer at the buzzer, to force OT.

North Carolina 72, Pitt 65
Carolina has won 8 games in a row, is looking like a #1-seed next week.
Panthers have won 10 of their last 13 games; is it enough to get in NCAA’s?

Big X
Iowa State 76, Baylor 62
If Iowa State’s uniforms said “Duke” on the front, they might be a #1-seed next week.
Cyclones have won 10 of their last 12 games.
Iowa State forces turnovers 25.9% of time (#2)

Houston 82, Texas Tech 59
This game was tied with 17:40 left to play.
Houston was +11 (19-8) in turnovers.
Cougars have the best eFG% defense in the country. 

American
Temple 58, Charlotte 54
11th-seed Owls have posted upset wins three nights in a row.
Temple is 7-2 in last nine games, which followed an 0-10 streak.

Florida Atlantic 77, North Texas 71
Bubble teams need FAU to win this tournament.
FAU outscored North Texas 26-16 over final 7:51 of game.

Big 14
Nebraska 93, Indiana 66
Nebraska has won seven of its last eight games.
Cornhuskers are going to NCAA’s for first time in ten years.

Illinois 77, Ohio State 74
Buckeyes led 56-46 with 11:00 left in game.
Illinois is 24-8, looking like a #3-seed in NCAA’s.
Bubble teams liked this score.

Big East
UConn 95, St John’s 90
UConn shot 11-22 on arc, scored 1.40 points/possession in spirited game.
Huskies are 19-1 since Christmas.

It is possible that St John’s-New Mexico will be a First Four game: Pitino vs Pitino

Marquette 79, Providence 68
Marquette shot 8-15 on arc, Friars were 7-31.
Shaka Smart is now 24-9 in conference tournament games.
Bracketology has Providence on wrong side of the bubble.

Famous birthdays for March 16:
Chuck Woolery, 84
Kate Nelligan,, 73
Ozzie Newsome, 68
Rodney Peete, 58
Blake Griffin, 35
Tim Hardaway Jr, 32
Joel Embiid, 30
Vladimir Guerrero Jr, 25

Mountain West
San Diego State 86, Utah State 70
Utah State led 39-36 at halftime.
Aztecs are in final of MW tourney for 7th straight year (3-3 previous six)

New Mexico 74, Colorado State 61
Colorado State didn’t score for last 6:45 of first half.
Rams shot 34.3% from the floor.
This win probably puts New Mexico in the NCAA’s.
 
Pac-12
Oregon 67, Arizona 59
Ducks upset #1-seed Arizona.
Game was 33-33 at halftime.
Bubble teams are rooting hard against the Ducks Saturday night. 

Colorado 58, Washington State 52
Buffaloes have won eight games in a row.
Colorado is shooting 40.2% on the arc (#3).
Buffaloes start four seniors and a junior.

MAAC
Saint Peter’s 62, Quinnipiac 60
Peacocks upset the MAAC’s #1-seed.
Saint Peter’s has won seven of its last nine games.
Both teams shot under 40% inside the arc.

Fairfield 65, Marist 61
Stags started season 1-6; they’re 21-5 since then.
Marist led by 9 with 10:10 left in the game.
Fairfield hasn’t made the NCAA’s since 1997. 

Mid-American
Kent State 73, Bowling Green 60
Kent State made 12-18 shots on the arc.
Senior PG Santiago played all 40:00 two nights in a row.
Golden Flashes were only 8-10 in MAC regular season, but play for MAC title tonight.

Akron 65, Ohio U 62
Bobcats led by 10 early in 2nd half, but shot 5-23 on the arc.
Akron is shooting 54.6% inside arc in MAC games, best in league.

WAC
Grand Canyon 80, Seattle 72
Seattle led 34-32 at halftime.
Antelopes are 28-4; they’ve got #8 eFG% defense in country.

Tex-Arlington 87, Tarleton State 84
Tex-Arlington shot 67.6% inside the arc
Mavericks have won eight games in a row. 

Weird thing here; Tarleton State isn’t eligible for NCAA’s this year; had they won this game, Grand Canyon would’ve won the automatic bid to NCAA’s Friday night. Now, they need to beat Tex-Arlington Saturday to make the Field of 68.

Big West
Cal-Davis 68, Hawai’i 65
Cal-Davis led 22-8 early on, then held on for dear life.
Aggies won their last four games.
Cal-Davis hasn’t made the NCAA’s since 2017.

Long Beach State 83, Cal-Irvine 79
Long Beach upsets the #1-seed Anteaters.
Irvine was only 10-19 on the foul line.
This happened three days after Long Beach fired coach Dan Monson, who is coaching the team thru the end of this season- he’s been at Long Beach for 17 years.

Conference USA
Tex-El Paso 65, Sam Houston State 63
UTEP upsets the #1-seed Bearkats.
Sam Houston led by 14 with 12:44 left in game.
Sam Houston lost by 2, was 19-34 on foul line.

Western Kentucky 85, Middle Tennessee 54
WKU led 46-27 at half; they shot 11-22 on the arc.
Hilltoppers scored 89-85 points the last two nights. 

Two Lists for Friday: List #1, wrapping up a great day of hoop

Thursday of Champ Week is the best basketball day of the year.
First two games on Thursday were #1-seeds getting upset in their tournaments.

Mid-American
Kent State 67, Toledo 59
Last four years, Toledo is 62-13 in MAC regular season games, but only 4-4 in MAC Tournament games. Rockets haven’t been to the NCAA’s since 1980.

Atlantic 15
St Joe’s 66, Richmond 61
Spiders led by 10 with 11:27 left in the game.
Hawks out-rebounded Richmond, 40-29.

Duquesne 65, Dayton 57
This is a disaster for bubble teams; Dayton is going to be in the NCAA’s, so now the winner of this tournament becomes a bid-stealer from a bubble team.

St Bonaventure 75, Loyola 74, 2OT
Bonnies were down 10, with 6:06 left in the game.
St Bonaventure won the last two days, by total of 3 points.
Daryl Banks scored 22 points in 42:00, and he didn’t start.

Coaches who win (South Carolina, Florida) get new contracts.

Coaches who don’t win enough lose their jobs; this is a tough week for that.
Fresno State
Oklahoma State
Rice
Saint Louis
Texas-San Antonio
Vanderbilt…….all these schools fired their coach in the last day or two.

ACC
NC State 74, Duke 69
12th-seed Wolfpack are first double-digit seed since 2010 to make the semi-finals of the ACC Tournament.
Last time Duke lost its first ACC Tourney game was 2013 (18-3 since 2003). 

Pitt 81, Wake Forest 69
Panthers have won 10 of their last 12 games.
Wake Forest went 4-6 in its last ten games.

Big East
St John’s 91, Seton Hall 72
Red Storm scored 1.32 points/possession; in their two losses to Seton Hall during the season, they scored 0.97/0.85 points/possession.

St John’s has won six in a row; their Selection Sunday will be stress-free.

Providence 78, Creighton 73
Friars held Creighton to 37.9% from the floor.
Bracketology suggests that Providence still needs a win Friday to make the NCAA’s.

Marquette 71, Villanova 65 OT
Loss figures to send Villanova to the NIT.
Wildcats shot 9-35 on the arc.

Big X
Iowa State 76, Kansas State 57
Iowa State was 24-40 inside arc, 1-14 on arc, 25-31 on foul line.
Cyclones were +14 in turnovers; they’ve won nine of their last 11 games. 

Mountain West
Both afternoon games went to overtime.
Utah State 87, Fresno State 75, OT
Aggies have won six games in a row, two of them in OT.
Utah State’s Great Osobar was 15-24 on the foul line; Fresno’s whole team was 11-14.

San Diego State 74, UNLV 71, OT
Aztecs have won nine in a row vs UNLV in the MW Tournament.
San Diego State out-rebounded UNLV, 50-31.
Aztecs survived shooting 6-23 on arc, 16-26 on foul line. 

SEC
Mississippi State 70, LSU 60

Bulldogs outscored LSU 48-31 in second half.
Miss State snaps a 4-game losing skid; they’re on right side of the bubble, for now.

Pac-12
Oregon 68, UCLA 66

UCLA’s last 26 games this season:
1-8 from December 9-January 11
8-1 from January 14-February 15
2-6 from February 18-today.

Arizona 70, USC 49- Because ESPN is ESPN, they have a story on the front page of their website about Bronny James’ NBA prospects. The kid started 6 of USC’s 33 games this season; let him progress at his own pace.

American
Wichita State 71, Memphis 65
Shockers shot 56.8% inside arc.
Penny Hardaway said Memphis would pass on playing in the NIT; in his six years coaching the Tigers, Memphis is 133-62, but only 1-2 in NCAA Tournament games. 

Big 14
Ohio State 90, Iowa 78
Buckeyes are 6-1 since they fired their coach; that coach, by the way, got hired Thursday by DePaul to be their new coach.

MAAC

Saint Peter’s 50, Rider 48
Teams combined to shoot 5-28 on the arc. No bueno.
Peacocks never trailed; they were up 14 at one point, hung on for dear life. 

Conference USA
Texas El-Paso 66, Liberty 57
Thursday would’ve been Don Haskins’ 94th birthday; he was UTEP’s coach when they won the 1966 national title. UTEP has won four games in a row, after starting out 4-9 in C-USA.

WAC
Tex-Arlington 109, Stephen F Austin 78
Mavericks have won seven games in a row; they led 48-27 at halftime.
Tex-Arlington made 19-40 shots on the arc.

Seattle 81, Cal Baptist 57
Seattle snaps a 3-game losing skid.
Redhawks made 12-23 shots on the arc. 

Big West
Hawai’i 75, Northridge 68
Rainbows won eight of their last ten games.

Long Beach State 86, Cal-Riverside 67
Long Beach snaps a 5-game losing skid.

— Oakland Griizlies have a player, Jack Gohlke, who this season has taken:
121-327 on 3-pointers (37%)
4-8 on 2-point shots
45-57 on foul shots (78.9%)

Turns out that Gohlke is a graduate student who played four years at D-II Hillsdale College, and wasn’t starting there until January 15 of his junior year. Hillsdale made the Elite 8 of the D-II tournament for the first time in 2022.

Shooting is marketable.

Friday’s Den #2: Some non-basketball thoughts……..

This den is about anything but basketball…….

— Saw something last week I haven’t seen in years; on Wolf Road, one of the main streets around here, a middle-aged guy was hitch-hiking, around 3:00 on a weekday afternoon.

Can’t remember the last time I saw a hitchhiker; kids today probably don’t even know what it is.

The world has become a stranger place. Giving total strangers a ride in your car seems like a potentially bad idea these days.

— NFL schedule makers probably scrambled to adjust their 2024 schedule when Russell Wilson went to the Steelers; Denver-Pittsburgh wouldn’t normally be a big primetime draw, but you have to think now that it’ll be a Sunday or Monday night game.

As far as Wilson’s departure goes, Denver will take a $53M cap hit this year, $32M in 2025

— There have been some free agents who jumped to divisional rivals; those games figure to get some attention on national TV this fall:

Eagles-Giants (Saquon Barkley)
Aaron Jones (Vikings-Packers)
Steelers-Ravens (Patrick Queen)
Dolphins-Bills (Jordan Poyer)

Also, Panthers-Buccaneers (Baker Mayfield)

— When he was coach of the Houston Texans, Boston College coach Bill O’Brien once told his team “…….welcome to the most competitive business in the world.” There is such a fine line between winning and losing, but some teams are smarter than others.

Take the Carolina Panthers…..in the past three years, they’ve traded/given away:
RB Christian McCaffrey
WR DJ Moore
EDGE Brian Burns

QB Baker Mayfield
Their first-round draft pick in 2023, 2024 AND 2025.
2nd round pick in 2023.

In return, they’ve gotten……
QB Bryce Young
LB DJ Johnson
Two 5th round picks
An extra year of Brian Burns, who they wound up trading away anyway.

In December, 2022, Carolina released Mayfield; their division rival Tampa Bay just gave Mayfield a 3-year contract worth $100M. Slight difference of opinion there.

— Over the last five seasons, Washington Commanders have started 10 different QB’s, the most of any NFL team during that time.

— After signing free-agent QB Kirk Cousins, Atlanta Falcons traded QB Desmond Ridder to Arizona, for WR Rondale Moore.

— NFL Network is going to show 30 or so Arena Football games this spring.

— NFL awarded compensatory draft picks for next month’s draft, 34 in all:
5- Rams, 49ers
4- Eagles
3- Saints, Packers, Jets
2- Jaguars, Cowboys, Bengals
1- Bills, Ravens, Chiefs, Bucs, Chargers

— Milwaukee Brewers’ closer Devin Williams is out for 10-12 weeks with a couple of stress fractures in his back.

— 1B/OF Adam Duvall signed with the Braves, for one year, $3M. Duvall hit .247 with 21 home runs last year for the Red Sox.

— It is March 15; Blake Snell, JD Martinez and Jordan Montgomery are still unsigned; those three players can’t be real happy.

— I’m an A’s fan; how about they pretend they’re trying to win and sign Trevor Bauer to a one-year deal? He can’t be very expensive, at this point, and if he did well for the A’s this year, he could make a whole lot of $$$ next year.

— Arizona doesn’t do Daylight Savings Time, so while spring training games start at 3:00 here in the east early in spring training, after the clocks spring ahead in most of the country, they start at 4:00 from that point on.

— Major League Baseball hasn’t expanded since 1998, when Arizona/Tampa Bay came aboard, but they’ll be going to 32 teams in the next few years. Would be smart if they scrapped the current American/National League set-up and went to geographic realignment.

— Los Angeles Angels’ TV guys were talking the other day how it’ll help their starting pitchers this season to be back in a 5-man rotations, something they never would’ve said last year, when they had a 6-man rotation, because Shohei Ohtani only pitches once a week.

— In case you were wondering, the last villain on the old Batman TV series as Zsa Zsa Gabor, who played Minerva; she then went on to co-star on Green Acres, one of my favorite TV shows when I was a kid.

— I’m off to Las Vegas next month for a vacation, which reminds me…….

In the movie Last Vegas, Morgan Freeman wins $87,000 playing blackjack at Aria.
In The Hangover, Zach Galifianakis wins $85,000 playing blackjack at Caeser’s Palace.

I’m looking forward to sitting down at a table and cashing in……..(ha!!!)

Thursday’s Den: Wrapping up a busy Wednesday

Big X
Cincinnati 72, Kansas 52
Playing without its two best players, Kansas shot 3-20 on the arc.
Jayhawks lost four of their last five games.

Kansas State 78, Texas 74
K-State was only team Wednesday that was outside the Field of 68, and beat a team that is (right now) in the Field of 68.

ACC
Boston College 76, Clemson 55
BC won decisively the last two nights, by 16-21 points.

Wake Forest 72, Notre Dame 59
Wake Forest-Pitt Thursday seems like an elimination game.

SEC
Arkansas 90, Vanderbilt 85 OT
Vandy led by 15 with 16:55 left in game.
Arkansas’ Khalif Battle was 13-14 on foul line.
Vandy’s whole team was 13-21 on foul line.

Big East
Xavier 76, Butler 72
Bulldogs lost six of their last eight games.
Subs in this game scored a combined total of only 5 points.

Pac-12
USC 80, Washington 74
USC is 14-12 when Collier plays, 1-5 when he doesn’t.
Trojans shot 56% inside the arc.

Big Sky
Montana State 85, Montana 70
Montana State was +12 in turnovers (15-3)
Bobcats win Big Sky tournament for third year in a row.
Favored Montana led 38-32 at halftime.

Patriot
Colgate 74, Lehigh 55
Raiders shot 74.3% inside the arc.
Colgate has won this league five of last six years.

Southland
McNeese State 92, Nicholls State 76
Cowboys are in NCAAs for first time since 2002.
McNeese has won 25 of its last 26 games- they won at VCU, UAB.

Big West
Cal-Riverside 83, Cal-Bakersfield 78
Bakersfield led 40-21 late in first half.
Riverside was 24-34 on foul line, Roadrunners 9-11.

MAAC
Fairfield 68, Iona 63
Gaels had won six of previous eight MAAC tournaments.
Fairfield started season 1-6, is 20-5 since then.

— Only two teams have won 25+ games the last four years:
Houston and………..the Drake Bulldogs.

— Good news/bad news for Marquette basketball:
Marquette coach Shaka Smart is 22-9 SU in conference tournament games.
Marquette’s star G Tyler Kolek (oblique) isn’t playing this week, so they’re a long shot to win the Big East tournament this year.

Famous birthdays for March 14:
Michael Caine, 91
Billy Crystal, 76
Dave McKay, 74
Larry Johnson, 55
Corey Stoll, 48
Steph Curry, 36

Albert Einstein was born on this day, 145 years ago.

— Knicks are first NBA team since 2012 to hold three straight opponents under 80 points.

— A #5-seed has never won the NCAA Tournament:
#4’s- UConn 2023, Arizona 1997
#6’s- Kansas, 1988
#7’s- UConn 2014
#8’s- Villanova, 1985

— 14 conference tournaments are finished; here are the winners, by seeds:
#1-seeds- 7
#2’s- 3
#3’s- 1 (Morehead State, OVC)
#5’s- 2 (Longwood Big South, Montana State Big Sky)
#6’s- 1 (Wagner, NEC)

Word of the Day: Integrity- being honest and having strong moral principles.

Baseball stuff……
— White Sox traded P Dylan Cease to San Diego, for three prospects and another player.

— Bronx ace Gerrit Cole has an elbow issue, is out at least 1-2 months.

— With all the pitching injuries, I’m surprised an older pitcher or two hasn’t tried to become a knuckleball pitcher, to prolong his big league career.

Tim Wakefield, RA Dickey are the most recent pitchers who had success with the knuckler; Matt Waldron of the Padres dabbles with it these days.

NFL stuff…….

— backup QB happenings……..
Jets signed Tyrod Taylor
Colts signed Joe Flacco
Titans signed Mason Rudolph
Bears signed Brett Rypien

— Tennessee also signed WR Calvin Ridley, for four years, $92M.

— Chargers released WR Mike Williams, saving $20M on the salary cap. Williams was a Charger for seven years, catching 309 passes for 4,806 yards and 31 TD’s.

— Washington signed LB Bobby Wagner for one year, $8.5M ($6M guaranteed). 

— Rams signed CB Darious Williams, who helped LA win a Super Bowl three years ago, before going off to Jacksonville. 

Wednesday’s Den: Mid-week musings……..

WCC
Saint Mary’s 69, Gonzaga 60
Gaels win WCC tournament for first time since 2019.

How did Saint Mary’s do in NCAA’s, after winning WCC title?
2010- #10-seed, made Sweet 16, lost 72-49 to Baylor in Sweet 16.
2012- #7-seed, lost 72-69 (-2) to Purdue in first round.
2019- #11-seed, lost 61-57 (+4) in first round, to Villanova

Horizon
Oakland 83, Milwaukee 76
Grizzlies win Horizon title for first time.
Last time Oakland made NCAA’s was 2011; they were in Summit League then. 

Oakland is 17-3 in its last 20 games, after a 6-8 start.

Summit
South Dakota State 76, Denver 68
Jackrabbits are in NCAA’s for 7th time in last 13 years.
South Dakota State has won eight games in a row.
Opponents get 40.8% of their points on 3’s, the most against anyone in country.

CAA
Charleston 82, Stony Brook 79 OT
Charleston has won 12 games in a row, 2 CAA titles in a row.
Cougars won, after blowing a 10-point second half lead.
Good shooting: Charleston was 13-30 on arc, Stony Brook 15-35.

NEC
Wagner 54, Merrimack 47
Seahawks win NEC title, after losing 4 of last 5 regular season games.
Wagner is in the NCAA’s for first time since 2003, when Dereck Whittenberg was coach.

Atlantic 15
Saint Louis 74, Rhode Island 71
URI led 64-59 with 5:47 left in the game.
Billikens advance to play Duquesne tomorrow.

Big X
Cincinnati 90, West Virginia 85
Bearcats trailed 64-48 with 11:45 left in game.
Cincinnati advances to play banged-up Kansas tomorrow.

Famous birthdays for March 13:
William H Macy, 74
Dana Delany, 68
Will Clark, 60
Johan Santana, 45
Trent Dilfer, 52
Caron Butler, 44
Coco Gauff, 20

— College basketball coaching carousel:
Coastal Carolina hired Western Carolina coach Justin Gray.
Hampton fired Edward Joyner; they went 17-48/8-28 in two years in the CAA
Louisville is going to fire Kenny Payne, after going 12-52 the last two years.
Missouri State fired Dana Ford; Bears were over .500 the last four years.

— One of Colgate’s subs is the son of former NBA coach PJ Carlesimo.

— Stetson coach Donnie Jones is in the NCAA’s for first time in his 14 years as a head coach, but Jones was an assistant at Florida when they won back-to-back national titles in 2006/2007.

Word of the Day: Enthusiasm- a feeling of excitement, passion for something.

NFL knowledge…….
— New England signed QB Jacoby Brissett to a 1-year deal, with base salary of $8M. This suggests that the Patriots will draft a QB, and Brissett will start the rookie is ready to roll. 

— Minnesota signed QB Sam Darnold to a one-year deal; he’s already played for three teams in his first six NFL seasons. Vikings will be his 4th team. Darnold is 21-35 as an NFL starter.

Vikings also signed RB Aaron Jones for one year, $7M.

— Baltimore Ravens signed RB Derrick Henry to a 2-year, $16M deal.

— Bengals traded RB Joe Mixon to Houston, saving $6.1M on the salary cap.

— Cleveland Browns signed QB James Winston.

— Washington Commanders signed QB Marcus Mariota.

— Underdogs were 11-6 ATS in Tuesday’s college basketball tournament games; they have a 72-62 lead ATS in conference tournaments this month. 

Tuesday’s Den: Nobody asked me, but……

— It is March 12 and the NFL is in the headlines, with free agency starting. NFL is genius at promoting their sport, unlike baseball, which does a terrible job giving their sport exposure.

Friday afternoon, Bronx-Toronto game is on MLB Network, but the game is blacked out on DirecTV, at the bar where I’m having lunch. Game must be on the YES Network, right? 

Ummm…..no. Game couldn’t be found anywhere. Why?!?!?

1) baseball needs exposure, so people can see what a great game it is.
2) baseball needs to promote its stars (Judge, Guerrero, Soto, Bichette in this game)
3) There was nothing else good on TV Friday afternoon; you had a captive audience!!!
4) Stop with the blackouts; your sport needs exposure!!!

Oy.

An explanation I read Monday: the salary cap creates a buzz for signing earlier in the free agent process. Baseball has no salary cap, thus less urgency to get deals done early in the off-season.

Lot of stuff actually happened Monday; here are some highlights:

— Atlanta Falcons gave Kirk Cousins a 4-year, $180M contract; Cousins tore his achilles last year; he is 77-70 record as an NFL starter, 1-3 in playoff games.

Baltimore Ravens re-signed DL Justin Madubuike for four years, $98M.

Carolina Panthers traded DE Brian Burns to the Giants for 2nd/5th round picks; Giants then paid Burns $150M for five years.

New Jersey Jets gave K Greg Zuerlein a 2-year, $8.4M contract.

Philadelphia Eagles gave RB Saquon Barkley a 3-year, $37.75M contract. 

Las Vegas Raiders gave DL Christian Wilkins $110M for four years.
Raiders also gave QB Gardner Minshew a 2-year, $25M contract.

Washington Commanders gave RB Austin Ekeler a 2-year, $11.4M deal.
Commanders also gave C Tyler Biadasz a 3-year, $30M contract.
Commanders gave K Brandon McManus a one-year, $3.6M deal.
Washington was $91.5M under the salary cap, so they’re going to be aggressive.

Green Bay Packers gave RB Josh Jacobs a 4-year, $48M deal.

Good day for offensive linemen:
LA Rams gave G Jonah Jackson a 3-year, $51M contract.

Carolina Panthers gave G Robert Hunt a 5-year, $100M deal.

Famous birthdays for March 12:
Jake Kupp, 83 (played OL for Saints; Cooper Kupp’s grandfather)
Liza Minelli, 78
James Taylor, 76
Mark Moseley, 76
Dale Murphy, 68
Darryl Strawberry, 62
Aaron Eckhart, 56

— Cy Young champ Gerrit Cole will have an MRI on his pitching elbow; he threw 39 pitches in a game March 1st, hasn’t appeared in game since.

Good news for fans of Blake Snell, Jordan Montgomery, two free agent pitchers who still don’t have a home for the coming season, which starts next week.

JD Martinez, Adam Duvall, Michael Lorenzen, Tommy Pham are also still available.

— San Francisco Giants signed 3B Matt Chapman last week, then they waived 3B JD Davis, after he beat the Giants last month in salary arbitration. Davis will get just over $1.1M in termination pay rather than a $6.9M salary. Whoops.

— 1B Joey Votto signed on with Toronto, after playing 17 years for the Reds. Votto was born and raised in Toronto.

— Red Sox gave P Brayan Bello a 6-year deal worth $55M.

Word of the Day: Shenanigans- secret, dishonest activity; mischief, trickery.

— Something to think about this week: over the last 12 NCAA Tournaments, the 48 teams who made the Final Four went 44-4 in their first conference tournament game, 33-11 in their second conference tournament game.

Overall, 22 of the last 48 Final Four teams won their conference tournament.

— Kansas Jayhawks’ two best players are banged up, won’t play in the Big X tournament this weekend in Kansas City.

Hunter Dickinson dislocated his shoulder over the weekend.
Kevin McCullar has a nagging bone bruise that has bothered him for weeks.

Sun Belt
James Madison 91, Arkansas State 71
Dukes have won 13 in a row; they get to the NCAAs for first time since 2013.
Playing for third night in a row, Dukes made 11-19 on the arc.

SoCon
Samford 76, East Tennessee State 69
Samford gets to the NCAA’s for first time since 2000.
Bulldogs are 29-5, playing tempo #14; they’re shooting 39.3% on arc (#7)

CAA
Charleston 61, Towson 56
Charleston had a 13-1 run over final 3:13 of the game.
Cougars won their last 11 games.

Stony Brook 63, Hofstra 59
#7-seed Seawolves were an 8.5-point underdog.
Their three games with local rival Hofstra (1-2) were decided by 6-1-4 points.

Horizon
Oakland 74, Cleveland State 71
Jack Gohlke was 7-14 on arc, scored 21 points off bench.
For season, Gohlke is 116-315 on 3-point shots, 4-8 on 2-point shots. 

Milwaukee 82, Northern Kentucky 75
Northern Kentucky led by 15 points in first half.
Milwaukee out-rebounded the Norse, 50-28.
Panthers won their last six games.

Summit
South Dakota State 59, St Thomas 49
Only 59 possessions in this game; very slow pace.
Jackrabbits have won seven games in a row.
St Thomas finishes 20-13, in their 3rd season as a Division I team.

Denver 66, Omaha 63
Omaha led by 4 with 6:50 left in the game.
Pioneers survived going 8-17 on foul line.

Big Sky
Montana State 91, Weber State 82
MSU outscored Weber State 66-48 in second half.
Bobcats made 13-27 shots on the arc.
Bobcats were an 8.5-point underdog.

Montana 87, Portland State 81
Teams were tied with 14:33 left in the game.
Montana starts five seniors; they’ve got #34 eFG% in country.

Final Four of the Big Sky had the #’s 3-5-8-10 seeds.

WCC
Saint Mary’s 79, Santa Clara 65
Gaels shot 65.6% inside the arc.
Alex Ducas shot 7-11 on the arc for Saint Mary’s.

Gonzaga 89, San Francisco 77
Zags have won nine in a row, 14 of last 15 games.
Zags’ last seven wins were all by 12+ points.

For 12th time in last 16 years, WCC tournament final is Saint Mary’s-Gonzaga.

— Underdogs were 8-6 ATS in Monday’s tournament games; they have a 61-56 lead ATS in conference tournaments this month. 

Two Dens for Monday; Den #1, wrapping up a sports Sunday

Lot of stuff going on these days…….
Southern Conference
East Tennessee State 85, Chattanooga 84 OT
#7-seed ETSU was down 20 with 14:18 left, down 7 with 1:28 left.

#3-seed Chattanooga lost despite going 30-40 on the foul line. 
East Tennessee plays #1-seed Samford for the SoCon title Monday.

Arch Madness
Drake 84, Indiana State 80
Drake outscored ISU 10-4 over the last 3:34 of the game to win the MVC title.
Tucker DeVries, the coach’s son, led Drake with 27 points.

American Sun
Stetson 94, Austin Peay 91
Hatters scored 1.31 points/possession, are going to NCAA’s for first time.
Jalen Blackmon scored 43 points, was 14-17 on foul line.

Sun Belt
Arkansas State 67, Appalachian State 65
Top-seeded App State survived in OT Saturday, got ousted here.
Arkansas State has won 8 of last 9 games; they only played 7 guys in this game.

James Madison 73, Texas State 68
Dukes have won 12 games in a row, are 30-3 this season.
Texas State was playing its 4th game this week, JMU only its second.

Big Sky
Idaho State 83, Northern Colorado 76
#8-seed Bengals went 7-11 in Big Sky, but are in the semi-finals now.
Last time Idaho State won two games in a Big Sky Tournament was 1987, when they won the tournament as a #7-seed. Back then, Walk Like an Egyptian was the #1 song.

Sacramento State 74, Eastern Washington 69
#1-seed EWU goes down here; Eagles shot only 6-26 on the arc.
Since 2003, Sac State is 0-7 in their 2nd Big Sky tourney game of a season.

Both #1/#2 seeds lose; the Big Sky champ is likely headed to Dayton, for a play-in game.

Big South
Longwood 85, NC-Asheville 59
Lancers make NCAA’s for second time in three years.

Patriot League
Lehigh 84, Boston U 79 OT
#6-seed Lehigh was down 46-25 late in first half.
Both teams shot under 40% inside the arc, over 40% on the arc.

Baseball Note of the Day: Kyle Schwarber’s over/under for home runs this year: 38.5

Word of the Day: Shrinkflation- When stores charge you the same amount for a product, but they make the product smaller, to increase their profits.

— New England Patriots traded QB Mac Jones to the Jaguars, for a 6th round draft pick. Jones went 18-25 as the Patriots’ QB. He’ll be Trevor Lawrence’s backup in Jacksonville.

— Tampa Bay Buccaneers gave QB Baker Mayfield a 3-year deal worth $100M, $50M of it guaranteed. Mayfield has a 42-48 record as an NFL QB, 9-8 with the Bucs this past year.

— As I type this, the Interweb is telling me that the Pittsburgh Steelers are going to sign QB Russell Wilson to a one-year deal. Steelers will pay him $1.21M, Denver picks up the other $37.79M that he is owed next season.

— Denver Broncos traded WR Jerry Jeudy to Cleveland, for 5th/6th round draft picks. Jeudy caught 54 passes this past season, for 758 yards and two TD’s. He played for Denver for four seasons, catching 211 passes for 3,053 yards, 11 TD’s.

— With the Pac-12 disappearing after this year, that means one less automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, starting next season. The greedy morons who run college sports better not ruin March Madness, one of the most fun events every year.

— Arkansas Razorbacks are 15-16 this year, their worst season since 2010, but they’ve tried a lot of different things. 31 games, 17 different starting lineups. Unusual.

— Dayton Flyers have sold out their last 59 home games, which helps explain why they host the First Four games every March. People in Dayton love their basketball.

— Favorites went 18-9 ATS in conference tournament games Saturday, only 5-14 Sunday. Right now, underdogs have a slim 53-50 lead ATS in conference tournaments. 

Monday’s #2 Den: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not with Champ Week here…..

This is just straight up wins/losses the last few weeks……
ACC
Hot:
North Carolina won its last six games.
Pitt 9-2 in last 11 games.
Duke 8-2 in last ten games.
Syracuse 4-1 in last five games.

Not:
Miami lost last nine games.
Louisville lost last seven games.
NC State lost last four games.

American
Hot:
South Florida 15-1 in last sixteen games.
FAU 13-3 in last sixteen games.
Memphis 4-1 in last five games.

Not:
East Carolina lost its last five games.
Rice lost its last four games. 
Tulane lost seven of last eight games.
SMU lost three of last four games.

Atlantic 10
Hot:
Loyola won 10 of last 11 games.
Richmond won six of last seven games.
Duquesne won six of last seven games.
UMass won four of last five games.

Not:
Davidson lost its last five games.
VCU lost its last three games.
George Washington lost 13 of last 14 games.
Rhode Island lost seven of last eight games.
Fordham lost seven of last nine games.

Big East
Hot:
UConn won 18 of last 19 games.
Creighton won seven of last eight games.
St John’s won its last five games.

Not:
DePaul lost its last 19 games.
Georgetown lost 15 of last 16 games.
Xavier lost six of last eight games.
Providence lost three of last four games. 

Big 14
Hot:
Purdue 14-1 last 15 games.
Indiana won its last four games.
Ohio State won its last four games.
Nebraska 6-1 last seven games.
Illinois 4-1 last five games. 

Not:
Michigan lost its last eight games.
Maryland 2-8 last 10 games.
Wisconsin 3-7 last 10 games.
Rutgers 1-6 last seven games.
Michigan State 1-4 last five games.
Minnesota 1-4 last five games.

Big X
Hot:
Houston won its last nine games.
Iowa State 8-2 in last ten games.

Not:
Oklahoma State lost its last five games.
West Virginia lost nine of last ten games.
Kansas lost three of last four games.
Oklahoma lost five of last seven games.
TCU lost four of last six games.

Big West
Hot:
Cal-Irvine 6-1 in last seven games.
Cal-Davis 4-1 in last five games.
Hawai’i 7-2 in last nine games.
Cal-Riverside 7-2 in last nine games.

Not:
Long Beach State lost its last five games.
Cal-Santa Barbara 3-6 in last nine games.
Cal-Northridge 1-5 in last six games.

Conference USA
Hot:
Sam Houston won its last seven games.
Louisiana Tech 6-1 in last seven games.
Texas-El Paso won its last three games.

Not:
Western Kentucky lost its last four games.
Jacksonville State lost five of last seven games.

MAAC
Hot:
Rider won its last seven games.
Quinnipiac won its last four games.
Fairfield 8-2 in last ten games.

Not:
Niagara 1-4 in last five games.
Iona lost five of last seven games.
Mt St Mary’s lost five of last seven games.
Siena lost 14 of last 15 games. 

MAC
Hot:
Ohio U won its last six games.
Toledo won its last three games.
Central Michigan 7-4 last 11 games (4 of 7 wins in OT)

Not:
Akron 3-5 in last eight games.
Ball State 3-6 in last nine games.

Mountain West
Hot:
Nevada won its last seven games.
Utah State won its last five games.
UNLV 10-2 in last 12 games.
Boise State 6-1 last seven games.

Not:
Fresno State lost last seven games.
San Jose State lost 13 of last 14 games.
Air Force lost 19 of last 21 games.
New Mexico 4-6 last 10 games.

Pac-12
Hot:
Colorado won its last six games.
Arizona 10-2 last 12 games.
Washington State 9-2 last 11 games.
USC 4-1 last five games.

Not:
UCLA 1-5 in last six games.
Utah 4-8 in last 12 games.
Stanford 1-6 in last seven games.
Arizona State 3-10 in last 13 games.
Oregon State 2-9 last 11 games. 

SEC
Hot:
Tennessee 7-1 last eight games.
Kentucky 7-1 last eight games.
Auburn 4-1 last five games.
South Carolina 4-1 last five games.

Not:
Missouri went 0-18 in the SEC this year.
Mississippi State lost last four games.
Georgia 2-10 last 12 games.
Ole Miss 2-8 last 10 games.

WAC
Hot:
Texas-Arlington won its last six games.
Tarleton State 11-1 last 12 games.
Grand Canyon 10-2 last 12 games.
Utah Valley 7-1 last eight games.
Abilene Christian 7-1 last eight games.

Not:
Seattle lost its last three games.
Cal Baptist 1-8 last nine games. 

Sunday’s Den: Wrapping up a full day of basketball…….

Ohio Valley
Morehead State 69, Little Rock 55
#3-seed Eagles win OVC tourney, are first team in the Field of 68.

SEC
It was an upsetting day in the SEC…….
Kentucky 85, Tennessee 81
Sheppard was 7-11 on arc, scored 27 points in 33:00 off bench.
Tennessee’s 7-game win streak ends.

Vanderbilt 79, Florida 78
Vandy had 20 offensive rebounds.
Gators led by 12 late in first half.
Florida split its last six games.

South Carolina 93, Mississippi State 89 OT
Carolina is 13-5 in SEC; previous three years, they were 17-35.
Bubble team Bulldogs picked lousy time to lose four games in a row.

Tennessee won regular season title; four teams tied for 2nd.

ACC
North Carolina 84, Duke 79
Tar Heels jumped out to a 30-15 lead, then held on for dear life 

UNC took 47 2-point shots, only 15 3-pointers, an old-school approach.

Cormac Ryan scored 31; he was 6-8 on the arc. He has an interesting history:
2018-19- Stanford
2020-23- Notre Dame
2023-24- North Carolina

Shooting is marketable.

Big X
Houston 76, Kansas 46
Not just an ugly loss; Kansas big man Dickinson hurt his shoulder.
Jayhawks are 4-5 in their last nine games.
Kansas is #333 in bench minutes, and they have injury issues.

Central Florida 79, TCU 77
Horned Frogs are 2-4 in last six games, are going to be close to the bubble.

Houston won its last nine games, won Big X by two games in its first year there. 

Southern Conference
Furman 79, Western Carolina 76, OT
Pegues was 6-11 on arc, scored 29 points.
Paladins were +7 in turnovers (13-6)

East Tennessee State 73, NC-Greensboro 62
ETSU was 12-24 on arc; for year, they’re shooting 31.3% on arc (#308)

Semi-finals Sunday: Samford-Furman, ETSU-Chattanooga.

Mountain West
Utah State 87, New Mexico 85
Lobos are 4-6 in their last ten games, may be slipping off the bubble.

Nevada 75, UNLV 65
Wolf Pack has won seven games in a row.
UNLV is 10-2 in its last 12 games; they’re 19-11, but they’re going to have to win the Mountain West tournament to make the Field of 68.

Utah State is the #1-seed in the Mountain West tournament, Nevada is #2, Boise State #3.

Big East
Creighton 69, Villanova 67
Creighton led this game 32-8 early on.
Bluejays won seven of their last eight games.
There were a total of 7 foul shots in this game, the whole game.

Villanova is 17-14, 10-10 in Big East, 2-3 in last five games; they’re a bubble team. I’d much rather see the Drake-Indiana State loser make the NCAA’s instead of this mediocre team.

Pac-12
USC 78, Arizona 63
Just 2nd loss in last 12 games for Arizona, but I’m a skeptic on their NCAA chances.

USC won five of last seven games; they’re pretty good with Collier in lineup.

Upsets of the Day:
Saint Louis (+11.5) 73, St Bonaventure 65
Brown (+11.5) 84, Yale 81 OT
Vanderbilt (+9.5) 79, Florida 78
Central Florida (+8.5) 79, TCU 77
Kentucky (+7.5) 85, Tennessee 81
Rhode Island (+7.5) 58, Fordham 50
USC (+7.5) 78, Arizona 63
Texas State (+6.5) 74, Troy State 68
East Tennessee State (+6.5) 73, NC-Greensboro 62

Missouri Valley
Indiana State 94, Northern Iowa 72
Sycamores made 15-29 on arc, had stress-free win.
Indiana State won 15 of its last 17 games.

Drake 72, Bradley 67
Bradley led 23-9 early on; it was 38-38 at the half.
Drake made 11-24 shots on the arc. 

Indiana State/Drake play for MVC title Sunday; it looks like it is winner-take-all. Bracketology doesn’t see the MVC getting two teams in the NCAA’s.

Big South
Longwood 80, High Point 79 OT
Top-seeded High Point loses, after leading by 15 with 12:28 left in game.
Longwood went 6-10 in Big South this year, but they play NC-Asheville in Sunday’s final.

Ivy League
Brown 84, Yale 81 OT
Yale led by 11 with 4:12 left in game. 

Both teams shot 10-25 on the arc.
Brown has won six in a row; they don’t start any seniors, so they should be good again next year.

MAAC
Fairfield 96, Mt St Mary’s 92
Mt St Mary’s led 54-38 at halftime.
Stags won eight of last ten games; they’re #2-seed in the MAAC tournament.
Fairfield was 21-22 on foul line, Mt St Mary’s 7-11.

CAA
All four favorites won Saturday; William & Mary (+11.5) was only underdog that covered and they covered by half a point.

American
Tulsa 76, South Florida 70
Bulls had won 15 games in a row; their last loss was January 7 at UAB.
USF is 23-6, but Bracketology doesn’t have them in the Field of 68. 

Saturday’s Den: Conference tournament trends…….

Some conference tournament trends……..
ACC
Last five ACC tournaments, four different teams have won the tournament; Duke won it in 2019 and last year. Since 2017, they’re 15-2 in ACC tourney games.

North Carolina hasn’t won an ACC tournament since 2016; in two years under Hubert Davis, they went WL in both ACC tournaments.

Since joining the ACC, Syracuse is 5-8 in conference tournament games.

Atlantic 15
Winners of last seven A-15 tournaments:
2016- St Joe’s (13-5, 4th)
2017- Rhode Island (13-5, T3)
2018- Davidson (13-5, 3rd)
2019- Saint Louis (10-8, T6th)
2020- COVID year
2021- St Bonaventure (11-7, T5)
2022- Richmond (10-8, 6th)
2023- VCU (15-3, 1st)

Big 14
Winners of last five Big 14 tournaments:
2018- Michigan (13-5, T4th)
2019- Michigan State (16-4, T1st)
2020- COVID year
2021- Illinois (16-4, 2nd)
2022- Iowa (12-8, T4th)
2023- Purdue (15-5, 1st)

Big X
Since 2013……
Kansas has won four Big X tournaments.
Iowa State has won four Big X tournaments.
Texas has won two Big X tournaments.

Thats it, those three teams are only champs in last 11 years.

Big East
Winners of last three Big East tournaments:
2021- Georgetown (7-9, 8th)
2022- Villanova (16-4, 2nd)
2023- Marquette (17-3, 1st)

From 2015-19, Villanova won the tournament 4 of 5 years, so they’ve won 5 of last 8 Big East tournaments, overall, but those were all with Jay Wright as coach.

Big Sky
#1-seed won 10 of last 12 Big Sky tournaments; #2-seed won the other two. 

Montana State won the tournament the last two years.

Big West
First place team won three of last four Big West tournaments
Last eight Big West tourney champs:
2015- Cal-Irvine (11-5, T2nd)
2016- Hawai’i (13-3, T1st)
2017- Cal-Davis (11-5, 2nd)
2018- Cal-Fullerton (10-6, 4th)
2019- Cal-Irvine (15-1, 1st)
2020- COVID year
2021- Cal-Santa Barbara (13-3, 1st)
2022- Cal-Fullerton (11-4, 2nd)
2023- Cal-Santa Barbara (15-5, T1st)

CAA
Winners of last five Big 14 tournaments:
2019- Northeastern (14-4, 2nd)
2020- Hofstra (14-4, 1st)
2021- Drexel (4-5, 6th)
2022- Delaware (10-8, T4th)
2023- Charleston (16-2, T1st)

Word of the Day: bamboozle- to fool or cheat someone.

— Stetson 88, Jacksonville 87 (Thursday night)
Hatters trailed by 10 with 4:53 left in the game.
Stetson made 13-22 on the arc, scored 1.38 points/possession.
Last year (17-14) was Stetson’s first winning season since 2001.
21-12 Hatters play Austin Peay for A-Sun title Sunday afternoon.

— Washington Huskies fired basketball coach Mike Hopkins; Huskies made the NCAA’s once in his seven years coaching there. Washington was 62-72 in Pac-12 games under Hopkins, who also spent 22 years as an assistant coach at Syracuse.

Hopkins was under contract at Washington thru next season, so he will bank $3.1M on his way out the door.

— Southern Illinois fired basketball coach Bryan Mullins, despite going 23-10/19-13 the last two years (25-15 in MVC games). At some of these mid-major schools, you don’t make the NCAA’s, they tell you to take a hike. Salukis haven’t been in the Big Dance since 2007.

Famous birthdays on March 9th:
Bert Campaneris, 82
Dennis Harrah, 71
Linda Fiorentino, 64
Brian Bosworth, 59
Aaron Boone, 51
Matt Barnes, 44

Saturday would’ve been the 81st birthday for Bobby Fischer, the great chess master.

MAAC
Iona won six of last seven MAAC tournaments; Saint Peter’s won the other one two years ago, and they wound up in the Elite 8 in the NCAA’s.

MAC
Winners of last five MAC tournaments:
2019- Buffalo (16-2, 1st)
2020- COVID year
2021- Ohio U (9-5, 4th)
2022- Akron (14-6, T3rd)
2023- Kent State (15-3, and)

Mountain West
San Diego State played in MW tournament final the last six years, going 3-3; Utah State beat the Aztecs in two MW finals, Boise State won the other one.

#1-seed won last three Mountain West tournaments.

Pac-12
Arizona won four of last six Pac-12 tournaments. Oregon/Oregon State won the other two.

UCLA hasn’t won the Pac-12 tournament since 2014.

This is the last year of the Pac-12; Oregon State/Washington State got left behind by the rest of the league, for $$$ reasons.

SEC
Winners of last five SEC tournaments:
2018- Kentucky (10-8, T4th)
2019- Auburn (11-7, T$th)
2020- COVID year
2021- Alabama (16-2, 1st)
2022- Tennessee (14-4, T2nd)
2023- Alabama (16-2, 1st)

Southern
Last nine SoCon tournaments were won by a #1-seed (2 of the 9 were tied for 1st)

Summit League
since 2012…….
South Dakota State has won six Summit tournaments
North Dakota State has won four Summit tournaments
Oral Roberts has won two Summit tournaments, but Max Abmas plays for Texas now.

WCC
since 2004, Gonzaga is 41-4 in the WCC Tournament.
since 2010, Saint Mary’s is 19-12 (3-9 against Gonzaga).

Last time someone other than Gonzaga/Saint Mary’s won the WCC Tournament was 2008, when #3-seed San Diego won.

Two Dens for Friday: Den #1, wrapping up a busy Thursday

Horizon League
Three of the four higher seeds got upset Thursday:
Oakland 75, Fort Wayne 65- Grizzlies were only top seed to advance.

Northern Kentucky 99, Wright State 97 OT
Wright State led by 17 in first half.
Wright State led by 3 with 0:04.4 left, fouled intentionally, but NKU got the rebound and scored at the buzzer to force overtime.
Over was 23-7 in Wright State games this season.

Cleveland State 82, Youngstown State 70
Penguins were only 5-31 on the arc.
Youngstown was favored by 10.5 points.

Milwaukee 95, Green Bay 84
Panthers shot 59.6% inside arc, were 27-35 on foul line.
Green Bay lost five of last six games, after a 17-9 start.
Green Bay is 18-14, after going 16-71 the last three years, but this one hurts.

Semi-finals in Horizon aren’t until Monday, so the survivors get to rest up.

Missouri Valley
Ill-Chicago 84, Southern Illinois 82, 2OTs
#11-seed UIC blew a 41-27 halftime lead, but pulls a big upset here.
Three Flames played 46:00+; they play #3-seed Bradley Friday. 

West Coast
Pepperdine 102, Pacific 43
Waves led this game 56-9 at halftime, 56. to. 9.
Both coaches in this game have been fired, although Pepperdine coach Romar is finishing the season.

Pac-12
Arizona 88, UCLA 65
Last time these teams will play as conference rivals.
Arizona led 44-27 at the half; they’ve won 10 of their last 11 games.
UCLA lost its last five games; they’ve got the #333 eFG% in country.

Very difficult for me to process that the Pac-12 won’t exist after this season. The greedy, over-educated morons who run college sports are killing the Golden Goose.

Colorado 79, Oregon 75
Ducks ran out to an early 18-6 lead.
Colorado has won five in a row; they start four seniors. Hmmm..……

Big West
Cal-Irvine 82, Cal Poly 68- Anteaters clinch the regular season title.

UCSB 76, Long Beach State 74- Long Beach shot 5-19 on the arc, 13-22 on the line and lost by a basket, at home; they’ve lost four games in a row.

Movie of the Day: The Great Santini (1979)- A Marine pilot who is aggressively competitive moves his family to South Carolina, where his teenage son struggles to win his approval.

Robert Duvall plays the father, Michael O’Keefe the son, Blythe Danner the mother; Duvall’s character is cringeworthy.; this movie is disturbing in more ways than one, but it is a good movie.

This movie was made in 1979; Michael O’Keefe’s next acting job was the next year, playing Danny Noonan in the classic movie Caddyshack. Two very different movies.

— Last three years, a #15-seed has upset a #2-seed in the first round- #2-seeds are 9-3 the last three years; in the 41 years before that, #2-seeds were 157-7 in the first round

— Under is 15-2 in Milwaukee games since Doc Rivers became the Bucks’ coach.

— Two NFL teams that have never picked first in an NFL Draft:
Denver Broncos, Seattle Seahawks……Baltimore Ravens haven’t either, but they did back when they were in Cleveland, the original Cleveland Browns.

Famous birthdays on March 8th:
Dick Allen, 72
Jim Rice, 71
Kenny Smith, 59
Hines Ward, 48
James Van Der Beek, 47

— Detroit Mercy fired basketball coach Mike Davis Thursday, after a 1-31 disaster of a season; 22 years ago, Davis’ Indiana team lost the national title game to Maryland.

Davis has been a head coach for 24 years; coached the Hoosiers for six years, UAB for six years, Texas Southern for six more (he made the NCAA’s four times there), and then the last six for the Titans.

— New Mexico has a 6-5 guard, Jemarl Baker, who has had an interesting career:
2018-19- Kentucky
2019-21- Arizona
2021-23- Fresno State
2023-24- New Mexico

He already has two college degrees, including a Masters Degree. Some day he will write a very interesting book.

— In 2018, Virginia became the first #1-seed to lose a first round NCAA Tourney game; the next year, they won the national title.

Last year, Purdue became the 2nd #1-seed to lose a first round NCAA Tourney game; think they can match Virginia and win a national title the next year?

Big 14 hasn’t won a national title since Michigan State in 2000, so there’s that, too.

— How favorites/underdogs are faring in conference tournaments:
A-SUN underdogs 6-2 ATS
Big South favorites 1-0 ATS
Horizon underdogs 4-3 ATS
MVC underdogs 3-1 ATS

NEC underdogs 3-1 ATS
OVC favorites 3-1 ATS
Patriot favorites 4-2 ATS
Sun Belt underdogs 4-2 ATS
WCC favorites 1-0 ATS

So far this month, underdogs are 23-18 ATS in conference tournaments.