— All the NFL’s head coaching vacancies have been filled; Arizona Cardinals hired Mike LaFleur as their new head coach- he had been offensive coordinator with the Rams. LaFleur’s brother Matt is the head coach in Green Bay- he hired ex-Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon as the Packers’ new DC last week.
— This signals that after the Super Bowl, Las Vegas Raiders will hire Seattle OC as its new coach; Klint Kubiak is the son of former Broncos’ QB/coach Gary Kubiak. Raiders interviewed 15 guys for this job.
— San Francisco 49ers hired former Falcons coach Raheem Morris as their new DC; Morris was DC for the Rams when they won the Super Bowl four years ago, now he is an assistant for their arch-rival. Morris will be the 49ers’ fifth DC in five years, after Robert Saleh left to become the head coach in Tennessee.
— Buffalo Bills hired Jim Leonhard as their new DC; Leonhard had been working as an assistant in Denver. He coached for several years in college, after a 10-year playing career in the NFL.
— In the last 11 Super Bowls where the spread was more than four points, the underdog was 10-1 against the spread. Right now, Seattle is favored by 4.5 points next Sunday.
— I know very little about business, but apparently the NFL now owns 10% of ESPN; in return, ESPN gets NFL Network, NFL Fantasy and the rights to distribute the RedZone channel to cable and satellite operators. Viewers are not expected to notice changes on NFL Network until April.
— San Francisco Giants signed IF Luis Arraez for one year, $12M; he is expected to play second base for the Giants. Arraez won a batting title three of last four years, but last year, he slumped to .292, with a .719 OPS.
— Cincinnati Reds signed 3B/DH Eugenio Suarez for one year, $15M; he is expected to mostly DH for the Reds, a team he hit 49 home runs for in 2019. Suarez homered 49 times last year for Arizona/Seattle, hitting .228.
— Famous birthdays, February 2nd:
Wayne Fontes, 86
Dave Casper, 74
John Tudor, 72
Pat Tabler, 68
Sean Elliott, 58
Scott Erickson, 58
Shakira Ripoli, 49
Matthew Boyd, 35
Adrian Houser, 33
Josh Lowe, 28
— Former Maryland coach Mark Turgeon will be the new coach at Kansas City next year; Turgeon played/coached at Kansas- he led Maryland to five NCAA tournament appearances, including a Sweet 16 run in 2016.
Last four years, Kangaroos are 22-37 in Summit League games
— Illinois 78, Nebraska 69
Nebraska led 39-33 at halftime.
Illini was 21-26 on foul line, Cornhuskers 4-5.
Second top 5 loss in row for Nebraska, after a 20-0 start.
— Florida 100, Alabama 77
Gators shot 56.9% inside arc, led 46-36 at halftime.
Alabama is 3-4 in its last seven games; they were out-rebounded, 44-33.
53.2% of Alabama’s shots this year have been 3-pointers; no team that won the national title has ever taken more than half their shots behind the arc.
— Tulsa 93, Wichita State 83
Tulsa shot 71.4% inside the arc.
Golden Hurricanes have won six in row, are 19-3, 7-2 in AAC play.
Tulsa is shooting 40.8% on the arc (#4 in country).
— Tulane 78, Memphis 76
Tulane snaps 5-game skid; they led by 15 midway thru first half
Memphis out-rebounded the Green Wave, 40-25.
Memphis is 10-11 this year, 5-4 in the AAC.
— Eastern Carolina 76, FAU 75
Florida Atlantic led by 12 midway thru first half.
Jordan Riley scored 35 points, had 9 rebounds, 5 assists.
Owls have lost three in row, after starting AAC play 6-1.
— Cleveland State 90, Milwaukee 88
Cleveland State led by 12 with 10:56 left, hung on for the win.
Vikings shot 70% inside the arc, scored 1.29 ppp.
Cleveland State has won four in row, after starting season 5-14.
— Colorado 87, TCU 61
Colorado shot 11-23 on arc, scored 1.32 ppp.
Win snapped Buffaloes’ six-game losing streak.
TCU has lost six of its last eight games.
