— One of the surprising things that has happened the last year or so is the amount of time I spend watching podcasts on YouTube, whether it is college basketball or fantasy baseball.
Not all of the podcasts are great, you have to decide that for yourself, but it is good to learn from smart people and I think it helps in making this blog better. Usually if the podcast has BetMGM as a sponsor, that’s a good sign.
That said, there are some podcasts that are comically bad, like a guy sitting in his mom’s basement running his mouth about whatever. You need to avoid those.
— Arkansas 89, Louisville 80
Louisville never led, was 8-37 on the arc.
Arkansas was 27-35 on foul line, Cardinals 14-18
Arkansas is 6-2, 1-2 against top 100 teams.
Coming into this game, Louisville…….
was shooting 37.3% on the arc
was getting 41.2% of their points on 3’s
54.5% of their shots were 3’s
— Minnesota 73, Indiana 64
Gophers snap three-game skid, win Big 18 opener under coach Medved.
Minnesota used only three subs, who played total of only 21:00.
First loss for 7-1 Indiana; it was also their first true road game.
— Alabama 90, Clemson 84
Alabama led 45-30 at halftime.
Clemson led by 2 with 2:41 left in the game.
Alabama is 6-2 against the toughest schedule in the country so far.
— LSU 78, Boston College 69 OT
LSU played three starters 39:00+.
Boston College shot 36.8% inside the arc.
Tigers are 8-0 vs schedule #294; their last 3 opponents are in top 125.
— Auburn 83, NC State 73
Auburn shot 12-22 on arc, shot 63.6% inside arc.
That good shooting overcame 20 Auburn turnovers.
Auburn is 7-2 vs schedule #52, they’re 3-2 vs top 100 teams.
— SEC won their challenge against the ACC 9-7, winning six of seven games Wednesday; last year, SEC was 14-2 in the challenge.
— Big Sky won their challenge against the Summit League, 6-3.
— Furman 97, Elon 88
Elon led by 18 midway thru the first half.
Furman shot 74% inside the arc, scored 1.35 points/possession.
Furman is #24 continuity team; they’re 5-4 vs schedule #88.
— North Alabama 65, San Francisco 63
USF led 24-6 out of the gate; this is an ugly loss.
North Alabama out-rebounded the Dons, 46-31
Teams combined to shoot 12-46 on the arc.
— Famous birthdays, December 4th:
Jeff Bridges, 76
Bernard King, 69
Lee Smith, 68
Frank Reich, 64
Stan Gelbaugh, 63
Marisa Tomei, 61
Jeff Blake, 55
Tyra Banks, 52
Blake Snell, 33
Joe Musgrove, 33
Paul Blackburn, 32
Jackson Holliday, 22
— Something I’ve never typed before: Five-star QB Jared Curtis, the #5 recruit in this year’s class, flipped his commitment from Georgia to Vanderbilt. The kid lives in Nashville, but not many elite players choose the Commodores over blue-blood programs like Georgia.
— These schools have hired new football coaches in the last few days:
South Florida hired Ohio State OC Brian Hartline
Kansas State is hiring Texas A&M OC Collin Klein, a former Wildcat QB
North Texas hired Texas assistant Neal Brown; he was 35-16 coaching Troy State, 37.35 at West Virginia.
UCLA is hiring former James Madison coach Bob Chesney, who has a 131-51 career record, coming up thru the small college ranks. He was 20-5 in two years at James Madison.
— Head coaches at BYU, Texas Tech got raises/contract extensions for staying where they are.
— WR Adam Thielen got asked for/got his release from the Vikings, hooked up with the Steelers, as he tries to make the playoffs in his last NFL season. Thielen is 35; Steelers have the #24 passing game in the NFL right now, so they can use the help.
— Former Orioles manager Brandon Hyde has signed on with the Tampa Bay Rays as senior adviser of baseball operations. Hyde managed Baltimore for six years, going 421-497- they were 0-5 in the playoffs, in 2023/2024.
— Former Orioles’ OF Cedric Mullins signed on with Tampa Bay, for one year, $7M; Mullins was a 30-30 guy back in 2021, but hit under .240 the last three years.
