— USC 107, Troy 106 3OT
This was an amazing game, with a devastating ending for Troy, which led by six in the third overtime. I’ll post more about this game tomorrow.
This was Troy’s 4th game in seven days in SoCal….it ended after 1am, here in the East.
Friday- lost 74-63 at LMU
Sunday- lost 94-85 at Cal-Northridge
Tuesday- won 108-107 in 2 OT’s at San Diego State
Thursday- battle of Trojans at USC.
Troy is a good team; They don’t have a D-I home game until December 20th.
— Texans 23, Bills 19
Bills had ball on Houston 22-yard line on last drive, but didn’t score.
Texans were outgained 326-261, but were +3 in turnovers.
Houston is 6-2 in last eight games, after an 0-3 start.
Texans are 5-0 when they score 20+ points.
Bills only scored one offensive TD on 10 drives; they kicked two FG’s.
Buffalo led 16-13 after a 97-yard kick return for a TD.
Buffalo scored 28+ points in wins, 20-14-13-19 in losses.
Bills are 0-6 SU/1-5 ATS in last six visits to Houston.
— Cal Poly 92, Utah 85
Mustangs were a 14-point underdog.
Cal Poly shot 14-25 on the arc in a fast (84 possessions) game.
Mustangs are playing the #2 pace in country so far this month.
Cal Poly is 3-3; they don’t play a D-I home game until December 6th.
— Kansas State 98, Mississippi State 77
Wildcats made 14-30 on the arc, scored 1.31 ppp.
PJ Haggerty scored 37 points, had 8 assists.
K-State is 5-0, with top 100 wins over Miss State, Cal.
— Central Florida 77, Pittsburgh 67
Knights shot 60.5% inside the arc.
UCF is 5-1, with top 100 wins over Pitt, Texas A&M
Pittsburgh is 0-2 vs teams ranked in the top 150.
Baha Mar tournament
— Purdue 80, Memphis 71
Boilermakers shot 54.3% inside the arc, scored 1.18 ppp.
Memphis was 17-25 on foul line, Purdue 9-11
Purdue- Texas Tech is final of this tournament Friday night.
— Texas Tech 84, Wake Forest 83
Wake led by 7 with 13:16 left inn the game.
Deacons were only 13-22 on the foul line.
Tech is 4-1, with an 81-77 loss at Illinois.
Tech had 16 offensive boards, out-rebounded Wake 44-33.
— One of the quirks of the NIL era, especially in basketball, has to be team chemistry; Player A transferred in and got $2M to play, will Player B resent that money? Player C?
Watching the games may be more critical than ever before; stats/numbers are important, but observing how teams work together can tell you a lot.
— These days, college basketball in November is about gathering knowledge, figuring out who is where, who did the best raiding the transfer portal. It has been suggested that coaches who have been junior college coaches have an advantage— JC coaches re-stock their rosters every year, that is the nature of the job at that level. More and more, D-I ball is becoming like that.
— Famous birthdays, November 21st:
Marlo Thomas, 88
Goldie Hawn, 80
Bill Almon, 73
Troy Aikman, 59
Ken Griffey Jr, 56
Michael Strahan, 54
Danny Kanell, 52
Stromile Swift, 46
Jena Malone, 41
Brice Turang, 26
— Louisiana 34, Arkansas State 30
Cajuns stopped Ark State on the 1-yard line on last play of the game.
Louisiana ran ball 46 times for 202 yards.
ULL had 11 penalties for 76 yards, Red Wolves 1 for 15.
Both teams need to win their last game to become bowl eligible.
— Sounds like the MLB.TV package is moving to the ESPN app; pretty soon we’ll need a scorecard to tell which leagues are televised on which channels.
— Phillies-Twins are going to play a Field of Dreams game in Iowa next summer.
— Astros traded utility guy Mauricio Dubon to Atlanta for SS Nick Allen; Dubon is versatile, Allen is a slick fielder who can’t hit a lick.
— Good program on Netflix; Last Chance U, about junior colleges and players who play there, trying to get scholarships to four-year schools. There is a football version and one for basketball that provide insight on what kids/coaches go through, behind the scenes.
— Ben DiNucci/Chase Daniel were both backup QB’s in NFL who have a presence on social media now; this week, they’ve both been talking about how backup QBs don’t get many practice reps with the first team offense, which makes it tougher for them when they become starters.
— Jay Bilas has gotten better (less annoying) as a TV analyst since Mike Krzyzewski retired as coach of Duke; less critiquing of refs, more normal analysis, but when he works a Duke game, like he did this week, it is still the basketball equivalent of fingernails on a chalkboard.
— There’s a chance I watch too much TV; there are an incredible amount of podcasts posted on YouTube, on a wide variety of subjects. You have to pick/choose to find the good ones, but once you do, there is good information to be had.
Late Tuesday night I watched a fantasy baseball draft; 15 teams, 23 rounds, was interesting to hear opinions about the 345 players who were drafted.
