Month: March 2026

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Charleston 10-2 SU/ATS

Cal-Davis 6-2 SU/ATS

Dayton 5-0 SU/ATS

Drexel 10-6 SU/13-3 ATS

Eastern Washington 8-2 SU/9-1 ATS

Florida State 8-4 SU/9-3 ATS

Michigan 8-0 SU/6-2 ATS

NC-Wilmington 8-2 SU/ATS

Providence 5-2 SU/ATS

South Florida 7-0 SU/5-2 ATS

TCU 6-1 SU/ATS

Texas Tech 6-1 SU/ATS

Wichita State 7-1 SU/6-2 ATS

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

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

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

Creighton 4-10 SU/1-13 ATS

Elon 2-6 SU/ATS

Georgia Tech 0-8 SU/2-6 ATS

Indiana 2-5 SU/1-6 ATS

Long Beach State 1-5 SU/ATS

Memphis 0-5 SU/ATS

NC State 3-5 SU/1-7 ATS

Oklahoma State 1-6 SU/ATS

Sacramento State 1-6 SU/ATS

USC 1-5 SU/ATS

Temple 0-6 SU/1-5 ATS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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