Author: Armadillo Sports

— Odd Fact of the Day, part 1: In case you wondering, at the Masters last week, there were a total of 8,735 putts taken in the four-day tournament (95 players).

— Odd Fact of the Day, part 2: Had to be very taxing for whoever looked this one up, but over the last 14 years, Tampa Bay Rays are now 0-11 on April 15, Income Tax Day. 

Red Sox 7, Rays 4
Alex Bregman went 5-5, with two homers, 4 RBI. Now he goes home and on maternity leave for a couple days. This was Bregman’s 7th career game with two home runs/

— Orlando 120, Atlanta 95
Cole Anthony scored 26 points, had six assists off the bench.
Magic advances to play Boston in first round of the playoffs.
Atlanta hosts the winner of the Miami-Chicago game for the #8-seed.

— Golden State 121, Memphis 116
Curry/Butler were combined 25-31 on the foul line (rest of Warriors, 3-3)
Warriors advance to play Houston in first round of the playoffs.
Grizzlies host winner of Minnesota-Dallas for the #8-seed in West

— NBA star Chris Paul will be 40 years old next month; he started all 82 games for the Spurs this season, the oldest player ever to start all 82 games in a season. John Stockton started all 82 games when he was 39; Michael Jordan played in all 82 games when ht was 39, starting 67 of them.

— Detroit Tigers’ P Jackson Jobe is the son of former pro golfer Brandt Jobe, who won a couple tournaments on the PGA Tour. He also had three top 20 finishes in major tournaments.

— Famous birthdays, April 16th:
Jim Lonborg, 83
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, 78
Ellen Barkin, 71
Bruce Bochy, 70
Curt Young, 65

Jon Cryer, 60
Walt Williams, 55
Boris Diaw, 43
Luol Deng, 40
Nolan Arenado, 34

— Astros 2, Cardinals 0
Hunter Brown threw six shutout innings, for the second consecutive start.
Jake Meyers went 3-for-4, had the game-winning RBI

— Cubs 2, Padres 1 (10)
Nico Hoerner’s 10th-inning triple knocked in the game-winning run.
This was San Diego’s first loss in 12 home games.
Manny Machado homered in the 5th inning, after the Cubs dropped two foul pop-ups during his at-bat.

— A’s 12, White Sox 3
Tyler Soderstrom hit a pair of 3-run homers.
Game was 3-3 after the first inning.
Hitters 1-4 in the Sacramento order were 10-18, with 10 runs scored.

— Rangers 4, Angels 0
Tyler Mahle struck out nine games in his 6 IP.
Mahle has a 0.92 ERA in four starts this season.
Angels are 0-4 in Kikuchi starts, scoring total of 10 runs.

— Twins 6, Mets 3
Bailey Ober threw 6.1 IP, got his first win in his last 13 starts.
Only sixth win in 18 games for the Twins.
Soto/Alonso homered for the Mets,

— Blue Jays 6, Braves 3
Toronto broke a 1-1 tie with five runs in fifth inning.
Kevin Gausman threw 6 IP, allowed only six baserunners, 2 runs.
Braves are 5-12, 2-10 on the road.

— Guardians 6, Orioles 3
Steven Kwan hit a 2-run homer for the Guardians.
Cleveland won for sixth time in last seven games.
Charlie Morton (0-4) is the first pitcher with four losses this season.

— RIP to the great gameshow host Wink Martindale, who passed away at age 91; I remember him best as the host of Gambit, a blackjack-themed game. Back when daytime TV was a whole lot better than it is now, with ton of gameshows, Martindale was an iconic figure.

RIP, sir. 

— Sunday night in Los Angeles, Cubs OF Pete Crow-Armstrong went 3-for-4 with two home runs and a triple, really good night, especially for a guy hitting .257. Monday night against the Padres, Crow-Armstrong had three more hits in a 10-4 San Diego win.

PCA is the son of actress Ashley Crow, who was the mom in the 1994 movie Little Big League, when a 12-year old kid inherits the Minnesota Twins from his grandfather.

— PCA had 11 total bases Sunday night; all-time record for most total bases in a game belongs to Shawn Green, who in a 2002 game for the Dodgers, went 6-6, with four home runs and a double, with 6 RBI, scoring six runs in a 16-3 Los Angeles win.

— Cubs P Justin Steele is out for the year, will have surgery to fix the flexor tendon in his left elbow. It is unknown whether he will have Tommy John surgery or some other kind, but he is done for this season, and probably part of next year.

— NBA’s New Orleans Pelicans fired GM David Griffin Monday; they went 209-263 while he was the GM, during which time they traded Anthony Davis and drafted Zion Williamson, who has played  in only 45% of the Pelicans’ games in his career.

— Phoenix Suns fired coach Mike Budenholzer after only one season, after he signed up for five years, $50M last year, so he gets $40M to take a hike.

Suns were 36-46 this year, after making the playoffs the last four seasons; next year the Suns will have their fourth head coach in four years.

Budenholzer is 576-411 as an NBA head coach, 56-48 in playoff games. He won an NBA title with the Bucks four years ago. Maybe the problem wasn’t him.

— NBA playoffs start tonight, with pair of play-in games: 

Hawks @ Orlando
Grizzlies @ Golden State

— TV recommendation: Your Friends & Neighbors, with John Hamm— A hedge fund manager loses his job, then resorts to burglary, targeting wealthy neighbors to maintain his family’s lifestyle. The first episode was on Prime Video last week; too early to tell for sure, but that episode was very good.

— Famous birthdays, April 15th:
Julie Sommars, 85
Ted Kwalick, 78
Michael Cooper, 69
Emma Thompson, 66
Jeromy Burnitz, 56

Brock Huard, 49
Seth Rogen, 43
Antonio Cromartie, 41
Danny Jansen, 30
Eury Perez, 22

— Pirates 10, Nationals 3
Pittsburgh came into this game hitting .184 as a team, 16 points worse than any other team, but they had 14 hits in this game, in support of Paul Skenes.

Other teams with cruddy batting averages thru Sunday’s games:
.200 Reds
.201 White Sox
.208 Rangers

— Tigers 9, Brewers 1
Tarik Skubal allowed only four hits in seven shutout IP.
Detroit is 10-6, leads AL Central by 1.5 games.

— Rays 16, Red Sox 1
Tampa Bay led 14-1 in the third inning; rough night if you have Tanner Houck on your fantasy team- he gave up 12 runs in 2.1 IP. 12 of the 20 batters he faced scored. Last time a Red Sox pitcher gave up 12 runs in a game was in 1962, long time ago.

Kameron Misner homered twice for Tampa Bay.

— Giants 10, Phillies 4
2B Tyler Fitzgerald went 3-for 4, with a double, triple, home run— he scored three runs, knocked in three more.

Giants scored six runs in the second inning, off of Taijuan Walker.

— Braves 8, Blue Jays 4
Austin Riley homered twice, knocked in five runs.
Only second win in 11 road games for Atlanta.

— Mets 5, Twins 1
Minnesota is 5-12, tied for their worst start in team history, thru 17 games.
Twins score 2 or fewer runs in nine of their 17 games.
Juan Soto homered for the Mets.

— Dodgers 5, Padres 3
Ohtani/Betts both homered for the Dodgers.
Dustin May allowed three baserunners, one run in six IP.
Colorado has lost four games in a row, is now 3-13.

— Don’t get a lot of thunderstorms at 1am in April, but that’s what is going on here as I type this; of course, there was an earthquake in California, too. Weird weather. 

— Diamondbacks 5, Brewers 4
Milwaukee led 4-0 in the ninth inning; Arizona scored five runs in the bottom of the ninth for the dramatic win.

Milwaukee starting pitcher Chad Patrick threw 4.1 scoreless innings (77 PT) but they took him out in the fifth inning, after he struck out the leadoff hitter in the inning.

This is a stupid analytics thing that says pitchers shouldn’t face the same hitters three times in a game. Patrick allowed a run in 10 IP in his first two starts, both Milwaukee wins. How do you know if a guy is going to be really good unless you give him the chance?

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

— Reds 5, Pirates 2
Elly De La Cruz hit a grand slam on his bobblehead day.
Andrew Abbott gave up a run in 5 IP, in his 2025 debut.

— Braves 5, Rays 4
Tampa Bay led 2-0 after the sixth inning.
Michael Harris hit a 2-run homer for the Braves in the ninth inning.
First road win nine nine tries for Atlanta this season.

— A’s 3, Mets 1
Jacob Wilson has a 15-game hitting streak to start the season, the longest by an Oakland player to start a season, since Stan Javier in 1994.

A’s bullpen got 11 outs, allowed only two baserunners, no runs.

— Angels 4, Astros 1
Tyler Anderson didn’t allow a hit in the first five innings.
Astros loaded the bases with three walks in 4th inning, but didn’t score.
Angels are off to a 9-5 start; Houston is only 6-8.

— Orioles 5, Blue Jays 4
Toronto led 3-0 in the fifth inning.
Former Oriole Anthony Santander homered for the Blue Jays.
Baltimore turned five double plays in the game.

— Phillies 4, Cardinals 1
Cristopher Sanchez allowed one run in 6.1 IP
Phillies turned four double plays in the first five innings.
Nick Castellanos went 3-4, with two RBI

— Famous birthdays, April 13th:
Dennis Thurman, 69
Quinn Early, 60
Ricky Schroder, 55
Bo Outlaw, 54
Dan Campbell, 49

Baron Davis, 46
Quentin Richardson, 45
Hunter Pence, 42
Melvin Gordon, 32
Edward Cabrera, 27

— Former Tennessee Vols QB Nico Iamaleava will be in the transfer portal a few days from now, trying to earn more than the $2M Tennessee was paying him (Oregon has apparently already turned him down).

It is a free country; he can transfer if he likes, but my question is this— down the road, when it is time for him to go to the NFL and the big $$$, will this BS hang over his head like a dark cloud? Will teams be queasy about making him the key person in their organization? 

Maybe it won’t, maybe it will; I’m asking.

I always think of the Al Pacino speech in Any Given Sunday:
“………..You’re a goddamn quarterback! You know what that means? It’s the top spot, kid. It’s the guy who takes the fall. It’s the guy everybody’s looking at first – the leader of a team – who will support you when they understand you. Who will break their ribs and their noses and their necks for you, because they believe. ‘Cause you make them believe. That’s a quarterback.”

It is a fair question; if Tennessee had to play a game today, they’d only have two scholarship QB’s on their roster, so they’re going to have to poach at least one QB (probably more) from another team over the next four months, and those QB’s won’t have much time to develop chemistry with their new teammates.

— New Orleans Saints’ QB Derek Carr has a shoulder injury, his 2025 season may already be in jeopardy. Right now, the other QB’s on the New Orleans roster are Spencer Rattler, Jake Haener and Ben DiNucci.

Here’s the biggest part of that problem: in 2026, Carr has a $69M salary cap hit, with a $60M dead cap number, and now there’s a chance he’ll never play again.

Oy.

— Random NFL record: Brandon Marshall holds the NFL record for most passes caught in a game; he caught 21 passes for 200 yards and 2 TD’s in the Broncos 28-16 loss at Indianapolis, back in 2009.

— When Nebraska won the Crown college basketball tournament in Las Vegas couple weeks ago, their award for winning was $300K in NIL money for their program. Central Florida lost in the championship game; their program got $100K in NIL money.

— Getting back quickly to the football transfer thing, if a player wants to be eligible this year, he cannot transfer from one SEC team to another— they have a rule against that.

— If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Phil/NYM, Cubs, Padres. Wild Cards: Giants, Dodgers, Phil/NYM
AL: New York, Tigers, Texas/LAA. Wild Cards: Tex/LAA, Guardians, Blue Jays

— Thursday in Kansas City, umpire Mark Ripperger worked a perfect game behind the plate; he called 136 pitches, all of them correctly. Pretty awesome, very unusual.

In case you were wondering, he called 89 balls, 47 strikes.

— Mariners 5, Rangers 3
Cal Raleigh hit the decisive 2-run homer in the 8th inning.
Corey Seager is 0 for his last 28 against Seattle.

— Dodgers 3, Cubs 0
Tommy Edman’s 3-run homer were the game’s only runs.
Yamamoto allowed two hits in seven shutout innings.
Dodgers are 7-0 at home. 

— Rays 6, Braves 3
Danny Jansen homered, knocked in four runs.
Bradley allowed one run in six IP.
Braves are off to a horrendous 3-10 start.

— Giants 9, New York 1 (5)
San Francisco scored five runs in the first inning.
Game was called on count of rain in the sixth inning.
Giants won nine of their last eleven games.

— Tigers 7, Twins 6
Minnesota led 4-1 after five innings.
Dillon Dingler went 3-5 with an RBI, also scored a run.
Twins lost five of their last six games. 

— Cardinals 2, Phillies 0
Pallante threw 7 shutout IP, allowed only four baserunners.
Last two nights, Phillies were 0-15 with runners in scoring position.

— If the baseball playoffs started today (they do not):
NL- Mets, Brewers, Padres Wild Cards- Dodgers, Giants, Phillies
AL-  Blue Jays, Tigers, Rangers Wild Cards- Angels, Guardians, New York

— Famous birthdays, April 12th:
Mike Garrett, 81
Ed O’Neill, 79
Jerry Tagge, 75

Andy Garcia, 69
Devlin Hodges, 29
Paul LoDuca, 53

Brad Miller, 49
Claire Danes, 46
Cade Povich, 25

— Word of the Day– Integrity- the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness.

These days, our country needs more integrity. A lot more.

— Not a lot of happy news these days; the QB for the Tennessee Vols, Nico Iamaleava, skipped spring practice Friday; apparently he wants a raise in his NIL deal from $2M/year to $4M. This is for a college QB who has started for one year; they lost 41-17 to Ohio State in the first round of the college football playoff last fall.

Just stop calling it “college football”; give it a new name, a lower level version of the NFL. Have the players sign contracts, like the NFL guys do.

— Problem is, this likely will have a domino effect; if Iamaleava bolts Tennessee, then the Vols have to poach someone else’s QB and so on and so forth, until Coastal Carolina or Nevada loses its QB, all because Iamaleava is a greedy, disloyal human.

— Lucas Giolito, Jack Flaherty, Max Fried are all major league pitchers; they also all pitched on the same high school team, Harvard-Westlake in Los Angeles, in 2012. The pitching coach for that high school team was Ethan Katz, now the pitching coach for the Chicago White Sox.

— Speaking of a different Harvard, their point guard Evan Nelson will play for Arizona next year; Ivy League players can’t take redshirt years, and Nelson didn’t play in 2023-24, so he had to transfer in order to keep playing.

This past season, Nelson scored 9.1 ppg; he is from Tucson, so he’s coming home to finish his college career.

— Cleveland Browns signed 40-year Joe Flacco to be one of their QB’s next season; Flacco started six games for the Colts last year, throwing for 1,761 yards. His won-loss record in his 17-year NFL career is 115-92, 10-6 in playoff games.

Seattle Seahawks are expected to sign QB Drew Lock to back up newly-acquired Sam Darnold after Lock started five games for the Giants last year. Lock started two games for Seattle back in 2023, after starting 24 games for Denver before that. 

— Was pretty cool to see the reception Luka Doncic got when he returned to Dallas Wednesday night. Doncic played for Dallas for 6.5 years, was traded to the Lakers February 2nd, in a trade rattled the Interweb when it happened.

Wednesday, Doncic scored 45 points, grabbed 8 rebounds, had 6 assists; Lakers were +26 with him on the floor, in a 112-97 LA win. 

— Braves 4, Phillies 2 (11)
Game had a 2:45 rain delay after the 6th inning; game resumed at 11:30pm.
Marcell Ozuna ended the game with a walk-off home run in 11th inning.
Both teams have games in other cities tonight.

— Angels 11, Rays 1
Jo Adell homered twice (both in 5th inning), drove in four runs
Mike Trout homered twice, drove in three runs
Taylor Ward homered twice (both in 6th inning), drove in three runs

Third time in Angels history that three guys homered twice in same game.

— Red Sox 4, Blue Jays 3 (10)
Game was scoreless after five innings.
Red Sox tied game 2-2 in 8th inning on a wild pitch.
Boston has 14 errors this season, most in the major leagues.

— Guardians 6, White Sox 1
Steven Kwan went 4-5 with four RBI, two runs scored.
Gavin Williams got the win, giving up a run in five IP.
White Sox have now lost eight games in a row.

— Royals 3, Twins 2
Kansas City scored twice in 7th inning for the win.
Royals’ bullpen pitched 3.2 scoreless IP.
Twins SS Carlos Correa is hitting only .149 so far this season.

— Rockies 7, Brewers 2
Brenton Doyle went 3-5 with five RBI, including a home run.
Milwaukee was 1-13 with runners in scoring position.
Colorado won for only third time in 12 games.

— If the baseball playoffs started today (they do not):
NL- NYM/Phil, Cubs, Padres Wild Cards- Dodgers, Giants, NYM/Phil
AL-  New York, Tigers, Rangers Wild Cards- Angels, Royals, Blue Jays

— Famous birthdays, April 11th:
Peter Reigert, 78
Michael Ray Richardson, 70
Jim Breech, 69
Bret Saberhagen, 61

Jason Varitek, 53
Trot Nixon, 51
Mark Teixeira, 45
Kenta Maeda, 37

— Television legend Brent Musburger has won the 2025 Pete Rozelle radio-TV award from the Pro Football Hall of Fame; he’ll be inducted in Canton this summer.

— Tuesday night, Vancouver Canucks became the first NHL team ever to overcome a three-goal deficit in the last minute; they tied the game with 0:05.2 left in regulation, beat the Dallas Stars 6-5 in overtime.

— The whole thing with the Denver Nuggets firing their coach three games before the playoffs start seems weird. Why not just wait until after the playoffs? 

Since 1985, the only two teams to win an NBA title after an in-season coaching change:

2006- Miami replaced Stan Van Gundy with Pat Riley
2016- Cleveland replaced David Platt with Tyronn Lue.

— Florida’s win over Houston in the NCAA title game drew the best TV audience for this game since 2019; it was 22% higher than last year’s Purdue-UConn game.

— Unusual situation for Seattle Mariners, who have two staring pitchers named Luis Castillo; once George Kirby comes back from his injury, this situation should be fixed, but for now, it is a little confusing.

— Indianapolis Colts saved $2.75M on the salary cap by cutting kicker Matt Gay this week; Gay was the Rams’ kicker when they won the Super Bowl three years ago- he was 64-78 on field goals in two seasons for Indianapolis. In five of his six NFL seasons, his home games have been in domed stadiums.

— Cleveland State named Missouri assistant Rob Summers  as its new basketball coach; he was an assistant at Cleveland State from 2019-22.

High Point coach Alan Huss quit his job, is going back to Creighton as an assistant coach, with the promise that he will replace Greg McDermott as head coach when McDermott decides to retire.

High Point was 56-15 in two years under Huss, making the NCAA’s this season.

— When Colorado Rockies’ IF Kyle Farmer was in high school, he appeared in the movie The Blind Side, playing the Briarcrest Christian School quarterback.

— Speaking of The Blind Side, best wishes to Auburn football coach Hugh Freeze, who has been diagnosed with prostate cancer; the 55-year old Freeze is going to wait until January to decide whether or not to have an operation to hopefully correct the problem.

Freeze was the football coach  at Briarcrest when Michael Oher played there, so he also appears in the movie. 

— Long time ago, summer of 1999, my dad had bladder cancer; they actually removed his bladder, made a new one and after nine days in the hospital, he went home and was fine.

About halfway thru his stay in the hospital, I was sitting in his room on a Saturday afternoon watching the Mets. He was being fed thru a tube in his neck; the nurse was changing the dressing on that tube. It was Saturday, so there were different nurses than normal. 

It was quiet except for the TV; all of a sudden my dad flinched and grimaced as if he were in pain. The nurse started apologizing to him for hurting him, but he stopped her.

He pointed at the TV: “You didn’t hurt me; the Cubs have the bases loaded!!!”

The nurse quickly looked at me; my eyes kind of popped out of my head. My first thought was positive; if he cares about the ballgame, he feels better, that’s a plus. 

But I gave him a look and said “Seriously???” and got up went down the hall to the vending machines to get some junk food. As soon as I left the room I broke out laughing; it was genuinely funny, other than him scaring the nurse (I apologized to her later).

Was reminded of that story today; next month will be the 10th anniversary of his death. He was an awesome guy, a great dad, and he is missed every day.

— Denver Nuggets won the NBA title last year, went 57-25 last year and are 47-32 this year, albeit 11-13 since the All-Star break (they won their last eight games before the All-Star Game). Jamal Murray didn’t play the last five games for Denver.

Tuesday, Denver fired coach Michael Malone; the word “shocked/shocking” were used many times in every story about the firing. Nuggets also are dumping GM Calvin Booth; the story I read said the coach/GM weren’t getting along, so they both got told to take a hike, although GM Booth is going to finish this season with Denver.

— Weird stat: Four of the last six coaches to win the NBA Finals are no longer with the team they led to the championship.

— Famous birthdays, April 9th:
Michael Learned, 86
Stan Love, 76
Rob Scribner, 74
Dennis Quaid, 71
Klye Macy, 68

Kirk McCaskill, 64
Bo Kimble, 59
Raheem Mostert, 33
Luis Arraez, 28
Zac Stacy, 24

— It has been cold here in the northeast this spring, cold all over; lot of ballplayers are wearing hoodies under their caps out in the field. A’s were out in Denver over the weekend; RF Lawrence Butler looked like he was dressed to play at Lambeau Field in January. Can’t be much fun spending a couple months in Arizona, then starting the season in chilly temperatures.

— Red Sox DH Rafael Devers started the season 0-19, but is 11-26 since then.

— Toronto Blue Jays gave 1B Vladimir Guerrero Jr a 14-year, $500M contract after he hit .323 last year, with a .940 OPS. Guerrero was supposed to be a free agent next winter, but that ship has sailed now.

— There were three games Tuesday that were scoreless after five innings.
Under was 9-6 for the day.

— A’s 10, Padres 4
A’s scored six runs in first inning, got their first win in Sacramento.
Dylan Cease allowed nine runs in 4 IP (78 PT)
Rough day for the Padres: they put OF Jackson Merrill on the IL (hamstring) then lost both Fernando Tatis, Jake Cronenworth during the game when they got hurt while batting.

— Guardians 1, White Sox 0
Cleveland was last team to play its home opener.
Nolan Jones drew a walk-off walk from former Guardian Mike Clevinger.
White Sox have lost six games in a row, scoring total of 13 runs.

— Angels 4, Rays 3
Rays started a 13-game home stand, the longest home stand in the majors since 2011.
Angels are off to a 7-3 start; they won their first three series.
Tampa Bay has now lost five games in a row.

— Astros 2, Mariners 1 (12)
Seattle was 1-19 with men in scoring position.
Under is 8-1 in Mariners’ home games.
Under is 8-3 in Houston games this season.

— Reds 1, Giants 0
I wouldn’t want to be the Reds’ hitting coach; they’ve scored 2 or fewer runs in seven of their last eight games, but they didn’t allow a run the last two days.

— Nationals 8, Dodgers 2
Dodgers lost four of last five games, after their 8-0 start.

— Braves 7, Phillies 5
Big win for Atlanta, after their dismal 1-8 start.
Sean Murphy homered, drove in four runs.
Phillies’ utility guy Edmundo Sosa robbed Marcell Ozuna of a homer with a great catch, in his first game playing the outfield. 

— If the baseball playoffs started today (they do not):
NL- Mets, Cubs, Padres Wild Cards- Dodgers, Giants, Phillies
AL-  Blue Jays, Tigers, Angels Wild Cards- Rangers, Royals, New York

— Florida 65, Houston 63
Houston led by 12 with 15:34 left in the game.
Florida was 17-21 on the foul line, Cougars 9-14
Houston’s last four possessions ended in turnovers.
Florida trailed by 9+ points in each of its last three games.

— This was only the second time since the NCAA Tournament went to 64 teams that the Final Four was four #1-seeds; the other time was 2008, when the Final Four was also in San Antonio.

— 14 of 16 SEC teams made the tournament this year; this is the first time an SEC team won a national title since Kentucky did it, in 2012.

— Rick Pitino’s St John’s team was 31-5 this year, winning an NCAA Tourney game and the Big East tournament, both for the first time for St John’s since 2000.

St John’s went 18-2 in the Big East despite shooting only 26.8% on the arc in those games; they had the #6 eFG% defense in the country.

— Duke has now gone ten years since last tine they won a national title; in three years under Jon Scheyer, Duke has ranked 298-253-269 in tempo. Before that, last time Blue Devils were below #200 in tempo was 2010.

Last five years, ACC has been ranked the #5 or lower league every year; from 1997-2020, they were a top 4 league in 21 of 24 seasons.

— Louisville was 27-8/18-2 this year, in their first season under Pat Kelsey; the last three years, Cardinals were 25-71 overall, 11-49 in ACC games.

— West Coast Conference was the #7 league this season, their best rating this century; it helped that Washington State/Oregon State added to the league’s depth after the Pac-12 went away for a couple years.

Saint Mary’s won the WCC regular season by three games, but Gonzaga won the tournament; last time a team other than the Gaels or Zags won the WCC Tournament: San Diego, in 2003.

— Famous birthdays, April 8th:
Mark Clayton, 64
Terry Porter, 62
Robin Wright, 59
Kirk Dressendorfer, 56
Carlos Santana, 39

Jeff McNeil, 33
Dario Saric, 31
Zach Eflin, 31
CeeDee Lamb, 26
Jo Adell, 26

Tuesday would’ve been the 79th birthday for Jim (Catfish) Hunter, my all-time favorite baseball player. Hall of Famer helped the A’s win three consecutive World Series.

— In three years since Jay Wright retired, Villanova was 56-48, 31-29 in Big East games, which is why they fired their coach and brought in Kevin Willard from Villanova. Willard 65-39/32-28 in his three years at Maryland- his Terps made it to the Sweet 16 this year.

Last time a team from the Big 18 won a national title? Michigan State, in 2000.

— Last two years, Kansas was only 21-17 in Big X Conference games; this year was the first time since 2006 that they lost in first round of the NCAA Tournament. Since 2018, Jayhawks have been in only one Sweet 16, when they won the national title in 2022.

— Mountain West teams went 2-4 in the NCAA Tournament, an improvement over recent years, but the two coaches who won games both bolted to new jobs.

Richard Pitino left New Mexico for Xavier after a 27-8 season; Niko Medved bolted Colorado State for Minnesota after a 26-10 year.

Medved is a Minnesota alum, but that is a really hard job. Tough being a small fish in a very deep pond.

— #6-seed Wofford won the Southern Conference tournament, the sixth different team to win that event the last six years. SoCon teams made 45.2% of their 3’s in league games, the best %age of any league in the country. 

Chattanooga won the SoCon regular season, they also won the NIT.

— For first time in the league’s 12-year history, the AAC had only one team in the NCAA’s, Memphis. League was ranked #11 nationally, its lowest ranking ever.

Memphis made NCAA’s for third time in last four years under Penny Hardaway, but were only 1-3 in those games. Tigers haven’t made the Sweet 16 since 2009, under John Calipari.

— Cal-Irvine went 68-20 in Big West conference games the last five years, but went 4-5 in the Big West tournament, missing the NCAA’s all five years. Last four years, four different teams represented the Big West in the NCAA’s.

— Next season, Phil Martelli Jr will be VCU’s 8th basketball coach since 2002; weird thing about that is that during those 24 seasons, VCU hasn’t had one losing year.

Two of last three years, Atlantic 15 has been a one-bid league; before that, last time they were a one-bid league was 2005. 

— If the baseball playoffs started today (they do not):
NL- Phillies, Cubs, Padres Wild Cards- Dodgers, Giants, Mets
AL-  New York, Tigers, Rangers Wild Cards- Angels, Red Sox, Blue Jays

— Late Sunday night, Toronto Blue Jays/1B Vladimir Guerrero Jr inked a 14-deal worth around $500M, $36M a season. There are no deferrals in the contract. 

— Before a game, TV crews give a brief synopsis of the home plate umpire for that game; does he favor hitters/pitchers? lefties/righties? inside/outside?

CB Bucknor had the plate for the A’s-Rockies game Sunday; he is not viewed as one of the game’s better umpires. The Colorado TV people put this analysis up:

“Consistently inconsistent” a pretty stern criticism of an umpire, especially before a game.

— You can bet on whether or not a team will score in the first inning of a game; with the season 11 days old, here are each teams’ results for first inning scoring:

NL
Braves 2-9
Marlins 4-9
Mets 2-9
Phillies 2-9
Nationals 2-9

Cubs 4-12
Reds 3-10
Brewers 1-10
Pirates 1-10
St Louis 4-9

Arizona 4-10
Colorado 2-9
Dodgers 3-11
Padres 4-10
Giants 2-9

AL
Orioles 5-10
Red Sox 3-10
New York 5-9
Rays 2-9
Toronto 3-10

White Sox 5-9
Cleveland 4-9
Detroit 5-9
Royals 3-9
Twins 4-9

A’s 3-10
Astros 2-9
Angels 4-9
Seattle 2-9
Texas 3-10

— In the history of the major leagues, pitchers have thrown 326 no-hitters, batters have hit for the cycle 349 times.

— Dodgers put P Blake Snell (shoulder) on the IL; he allowed seven runs in 9 IP in his first two starts this season.

— Duke’s last 11 basketball seasons:
2015- 35-4, won national title
2016- 25-11, lost in Sweet 16
2017- 28-9, lost in 2nd round
2018- 29-8, lost in Elite 8

2019- 32-6, lost in Elite 8
2020- 25-6, NCAA Tournament cancelled
2021- 13-11, missed NCAA’s
2022- 32-7, lost in national semi-finals, then
Mike Krzyzewski retired

2023- 27-9, lost in second round
2024- 27-9, lost in Elite 8
2025- 35-4, lost in national semi-finals

— Famous birthdays, April 7th:
Bo Lamar, 74
Jackie Chan, 71
Thurl Bailey, 64
Russell Crowe, 61
Ricky Watters, 56

Ronde Barber, 50
Tiki Barber, 50
Adrian Beltre, 46
Eduardo Rodriguez, 32
Josh Hader, 31

— Lot of runs scored Sunday; over was 10-5 in Sunday’s baseball.

— Padres 8, Cubs 7
Cubs led this game 7-2 after the second inning.
Luis Arraez went 4-5 with a walk.
San Diego is off to an 8-2 start.

— Astros 9, Twins 7 (10)
Minnesota led 7-1 after the fourth inning.
Yordan Alvarez tied game with a 2-run homer in 9th inning.
Top three guys in Houston’s order went 8-16, with 7 RBI

— Red Sox 5-18, Cardinals 4-7
Boston scored 36 runs in its three-game series sweep.
Wilyer Abreu had a walk-off single in the opener.

— Tigers 4, White Sox 3
Spencer Torkelson’s 2-run double was a walk-off for Detroit.
Martin Perez got 19 outs for Chicago, giving up only one run.

— Phillies 8, Dodgers 7
Phillies blew a 6-2 lead, scored twice in 7th inning for the win.
Nick Castellanos hit a grand slam in the 3rd inning.

— Rangers 4, Rays 3
Jonah Heim had a walk-off homer for Texas.
Rangers have won five games in a row. 

— If the baseball playoffs started today (they do not):
NL- Phillies, Cubs, Giants Wild Cards- Dodgers, Padres, Mets
AL-  New York, Tigers, Rangers Wild Cards- Angels, Red Sox, Blue Jays

— Florida 79, Auburn 73
Auburn led 46-38 at halftime.
Florida has now won 11 games in a row.
Walter Clayton scored 34 points, the first 30+ point game in a Final Four since Carmelo Anthony, 22 years ago.
Gators are in the national title game for the first time since 2011.

Average age of Auburn’s starting 5 is a year younger than the starting 5 for the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder.

— Houston 70, Duke 67
Houston ended the game on an 11-1 run.
Cougars shot 10-22 on arc, out-rebounded Duke, 42-31.
LJ Cryer scored 26 points for Houston.

Florida-Houston play for the national title Monday night.

— I think there is opportunity in betting baseball totals, over/under for runs in a game, so I chart umpires. In couple weeks, when we gather some more numbers, I’ll be posting stuff about umpires several times a week. 

Friday night in Anaheim, Clint Vondrak had the plate for Guardians-Angels; if this was 2026 and the challenge system existed, there would have been a lot of challenges. Just about every marginal pitch went the hitters’ way.

Last year, over was 19-11 when Vondrak worked the plate; so far this season; his two games behind the dish ended 10-6/8-6. This will be interesting to follow.

— I won’t embarrass myself by telling you how many times I’ve watched Moneyball, but I had it on the other night, and decided to look up Art Howe’s record as a manager.

He managed the A’s for seven years, went 296-189 the last three years, but lost 3-2 in playoff series all three years. Winning 91-102-103 games three years in a row is really good. 

He obviously had the falling out with Billy Beane and bolted the A’s for the Mets, where he went 66-95/71-91 in two years, before they told him to take a hike.

In Moneyball, they made Howe look overweight, his character looked like Whitey Herzog, not Art Howe; he was a big league infielder for 11 years, hit .260. Pretty good athlete.

— Arizona Diamondbacks put 2B Ketel Marte on the IL (strained hamstring); sounded like the injury was fairly significant.

— Famous birthdays, April 6th:
John Ratzenberger, 78
Bert Blyleven, 74
Marilu Henner, 73
Sterling Sharpe, 60

Bret Boone, 56
Paul Rudd, 56
Tim Hasselbeck, 47
Spencer Dinwiddie, 32

— Mets 3, Blue Jays 2
Toronto led 2-0 in the 8th inning.
Jesse Winker tied the game with a 2-run triple.
Francisco Lindor’s sac fly was the 7th walk-off RBI of his career.

— Marlins 4, Braves 0
Cal Quantrill threw five shutout innings.
Matt Mervis homered twice for the Marlins.
Atlanta is off to a 1-8 start.

— Reds 11, Brewers 7
Cincinnati scored 14 runs Monday, 11 runs in this game.
In the four games in between, they scored a total of 2 runs, in four games.
TJ Friedl went 4-5, scored twice, had two RBI

— A’s 7, Rockies 4
Colorado led 3-1 after the fifth inning.
Jacob Wilson hit a 2-run double; earlier in the day, he hit into a triple play.
A’s are 4-2 on the road, 0-3 at home.

— In his 11 NBA seasons, Sacramento Kings’ G Zach LaVine has played in only four playoff games, the fewest of any player in the last 25 years amongst players who’ve averaged 20+ points/game.

— Word of the Day: kakistocracy- Government by the least suitable or competent citizens of a state.

— Stock market went down a combined 3,910 points Thursday/Friday; maybe we shouldn’t have elected a convicted felon president of the country, since he doesn’t seem to care much if the country succeeds or fails, he just wants to play golf.

One question before I go; how come Russia doesn’t have any tariffs?

(If you’re annoyed that I mentioned this, too bleepin’ bad. It would be nice if this country remained a democracy, I’d like to think you at least agree with that)

— Celtics 123, Suns 103
Boston set the all-time record for most 3-pointers made in a season when they sank their 1,364th 3-pointer in this game, passing the previous record, set by Golden State couple of years ago.

— Golden State is 20-2 when Steph Curry/Jimmy Butler both play; they’re 26-28 in all their other games. 

Lakers are 12-7 when Lebron James/Luka Doncic have both played, 35-23 when they didn’t.

— Detroit Pistons clinched a playoff spot Friday night, after they went 14-68 last year, one of the best turnarounds in NBA history.

Credit to coach JB Bickerstaff, in his first year coaching the Pistons.

— Saw a note that said since Christmas is on a Thursday this year, we’ll have three NFL games to watch while we drink egg nog and open presents.

— Los Angeles Chargers signed QB Trey Lance for one year, $6.2M; he was the 3rd overall pick in the 2021 draft, by the 49ers, but has started only five games (2-3) in four seasons for the 49ers and last year, with Dallas.

— Arizona Cardinals signed TE Trey McBride to a 4-year, $76M contract extension; he caught 111 passes for 1,146 yards last year, scoring two TD’s. $43M of that $$$ is guaranteed.

— Central Michigan fired basketball coach Tony Barbee, after the Chippewas went 14-17, 7-11 this season, Barbee’s fourth season there (they were 18-14/12-6 last year).

Central Michigan hasn’t made the NCAA Tournament since 2003, has had only two winning seasons in MAC play the last nine years.

— Texas A&M is expected to name Samford coach Bucky McMillan their new coach, replacing Buzz Williams, who bolted to Maryland.

McMillan won five state high school state titles coaching in Alabama, then coached at Samford for five years, going 93-43/52-20 the last four years, getting to the NCAA Tournament last year. The last two years, his Bulldogs played the #8/#24 tempos in the country- very fast.

— Famous birthdays, April 5th:
Michael Moriarity, 84
Oliver Luck, 65
Dale Hatcher, 62
Steven Bardo, 57

Tony Banks, 52
Marc Bulger, 48
Stephen Jackson, 47
Justin Holiday, 36

— Red Sox 13, Cardinals 9
Rafael Devers got on base four times, the top six hitters in Boston’s order all had 2+ hits as they won their home opener.

— Braves 10, Marlins 0
Spencer Schwellenbach allowed only two hits, struck out 10 in 8 IP, as Atlanta took out some frustrations from their 0-7 road trip. Ozuna/Olson hit back/back homers for the Braves.

— Giants 10, Mariners 9 (11)
Willie Adames had a walk-off single in 11th inning as San Francisco won its home opener.
Giants have won five games in a row.

— A’s 6, Rockies 3 (11)
Jacob Wilson homered, had a 2-run single in the 11th inning.
Colorado was 1-15 with runners in scoring position.
Under 3-0-1 in A’s road games; over is 3-0 in their home games.

— Brewers 3, Reds 2
Reds ended a 36-inning scoreless streak, but lost their fourth game in a row, all by one run.
Tyler Alexander didn’t allow a hit in 5.2 IP as Milwaukee’s starter.

— Mets 5, Blue Jays 0
Tylor Megill allowed five baserunners, no runs in 5.1 IP.
Pete Alonso hit a 2-run homer in the first inning.

— Phillies 3, Dodgers 2
Jesus Luzardo tossed 7 shutout IP, giving up two hits.
First loss of the season for the Dodgers, after an 8-0 start. 

Recent trends for major league teams……..
National League
Arizona- Missed playoffs six of last seven years, but in that one year, they got to the World Series, losing to Texas in five games. Last two years, Arizona was 84-78/89-73.

Atlanta- Made playoffs the last seven years, but made only one World Series in those years, beating Houston in six games in 2021. Braves’ last losing season? 2017. 

Cubs- Missed playoffs last four years, went 83-79/83-79 the last two years. From 2015-20, they made the playoffs five times in six years, winning 2016 World Series.

Cincinnati- Missed playoffs 10 of last 11 years, losing 2-0 to Atlanta in Wild Card round in 2020. Hiring Terry Francona as manager figures to be a huge upgrade for the Reds.

Colorado- Missed playoffs the last six years, losing 101/103 games the last two years. Since they got swept in the 2007 World Series, Rockies have made playoffs three times in 17 years.

Dodgers- Made playoffs the last 12 years, winning World Series in 2020/2024, losing Series in 2017/2018. Their last losing season was in 2010, when they were 80-82.

Miami- Marlins made playoffs twice in last four years, ending a 17-year drought; they went 62-100 last year, after making playoffs in 2023. They have their third manager in four years.

Milwaukee- Made playoffs six of last seven years; their last losing season in a 162-game schedule was 2016. Brewers won 92+ games in three of their last four seasons.

Mets- Made playoffs two of last three years, have made playoffs only four times since 2007. Mets fans are lucky to have a very wealthy owner who is also a fan and really wants to win.

Phillies- Made playoffs the last three years, ending a 10-year drought; From 2013-20, Phillies weren’t over .500 in any season. Phillies lost World Series to Houston in six games in 2022. 

Pittsburgh- Missed playoffs the last nine years, after making it three years in a row under Clint Hurdle, from 2013-15. Won 76/76 games last two years, after winning 61/62 in 2021-22.

St Louis- Missed playoffs last two years, after making it four years in a row before that; they’ve made the playoffs eight times in 13 years since winning the 2011 World Series.

San Diego- Made playoffs three of last five years, lost NLDS 3-2 to the Dodgers last year. Their owner died last year; is still unclear if the new ownership will still be spending $$$. 

San Francisco- Made playoffs once in last seven years; they were 107-55 in 2021, haven’t been over .500 since then. Made playoffs twice in last 10 years, since winning 3 WS in five years.

Washington- Won 2019 World Series, have had five losing seasons in a row since, but still have same manager/GM. They let Bryce Harper/Juan Soto/Trey Turner walk.

— Famous birthdays, March 27th:
Dick Ruthven, 74
Cliff Stoudt, 70
Randall Cunningham, 62
Quentin Tarantino, 62
Ed Pinckney, 62

Buster Posey, 38
Clay Holmes, 32
Brandon Nimmo, 32
Brycen Hopkins, 28
Tyler Kolek, 24

American League
Baltimore— Won 101-91 games the last two years; four years ago, they were 52-110, so a huge turnaround down by manager Brandon Hyde. Last World Series title: 1983.

Boston— Missed playoffs last three years, winning 78-78-81 games; they’ve made playoffs once in six years, since winning 2018 World Series- they’ve won four World Series since 2004.

White Sox— Were 41-121 last year, a historically bad season; they lost 101 games the year before, two years after they went 93-69, losing the ALDS. LY, they were 13-29 in one-run games.

Cleveland— Guardians made playoffs six of last nine years; they finished over .500 in 10 of their last 12 seasons. Cleveland was 10-3 in extra-inning games last year.

Detroit— Made playoffs last year for first time in 10 years; they were 21-12 vs lefty starters, 65-64 vs RHP. Detroit was 21-10 when Tarik Skubal was the starting pitcher.

Houston— Made playoffs the last eight years, winning World Series in 2017, 2022. Changed up some this year; Altuve will play LF, Christian Walker 1B, Paredes 3B. 

Kansas City— Made playoffs last year for first time since winning 2015 World Series; last year, Royals were 33-19 against AL Central rivals, 53-55 vs everyone else.

Angels— Have had nine straight losing seasons; Mike Trout has been in big leagues 14 years, has played in three playoff games. They still owe Anthony Rendon $77M+ the next two years.

Minnesota— Missed playoffs three of last four years; since 2006, they’re 3-18 in playoff games. Last year, Twins were 18-28 vs NL teams, 10-21 vs AL East, 29-23 vs AL Central rivals.

Bronx— Made playoffs 12 of last 16 years; lost World Series LY, their first WS since 2009. Last year, they were 73-46 vs lefty starters, only 21-23 vs lefties.

A’s— Last three years, lost 102-112-93 games; they were in the playoffs in 2020. .Will play home games the next three years in Sacramento. LY, from July 1st on, A’s were 39-37.

Seattle— Have made playoffs once since 2001; losing 3-0 to Astros in ALDS. Last year, Mariners were 32-20 vs AL West rivals, 53-57 vs everyone else- they missed the playoffs by a game.

Tampa Bay— Missed playoffs LY for first time in six years; they were 80-82, 30-22 in one-run games. This year, Rays are playing in a spring training stadium in Tampa; their dome got shredded by a hurricane this winter..

Texas— Made playoffs once in last eight years, winning 2023 World Series. Bruce Bochy has won four World Series, in his last 12 years as a manager. Rangers were 9-2 in extra innings LY.

Toronto— Made playoffs three of last five years, but went 0-6 in playoffs; last year, Blue Jays were 14-22 vs lefty starters, 19-30 in one-run games. 

— Baylor 75, Mississippi State 72
Baylor shot 55.3% inside arc, had 16 offensive rebounds.
Miss State shot 72.7% inside arc, only 10-30 on arc.
Baylor has won its last seven first round games.
Miss State lost its last six NCAA Tournament games.

— Ole Miss 71, North Carolina 64
Ole Miss led 44-26 at halftime.
Coach Beard is 6-0 in first round games, for four different schools.
Tar Heels shot only 5-24 on the arc.
UNC was 2-6 this year in non-ACC games vs top 100 teams.

— Saint Mary’s 59, Vanderbilt 56
Vandy led 29-22 at half 0f a slow-paced (59 possessions) game.
Saint Mary’s out-rebounded the Commodores, 41-28
Vandy finished 20-13, making their first NCAA since 2016.
Saint Mary’s-Alabama Sunday will definitely be worlds colliding.

— Colorado State 78, Memphis 70
Rams outscored Memphis 47-34 in second half.
Colorado State was 11-30 on arc, Tigers 6-23
Memphis star Haggerty was only 7-23 from the floor.
Rams have now won 11 games in a row.

This was first time since 2017 that a #12-seed was favored over a #5-seed.

— Iowa State 82, Lipscomb 55
Cyclones shot 68.3% inside arc, led 40-24 at halftime.
Last six years, #3-seeds are 16-8 ATS in first round.
Lipscomb was 0-3 vs top 100 teams, losing by 16-29-27 points.
Iowa State-Ole Miss will be fun to watch Sunday.

— Alabama 90, Robert Morris 81
Most points a #2-seed allowed in a 1st round win since Arizona in 2017..
Underdog Colonials led by a point with 7:01 left to play.
Alabama shot 75.7% (28-37) inside the arc.
Horizon teams have now covered their last six NCAA Tourney games.

This was the most points a #2-seed was favored by Arizona in 2015.

— Maryland 81, Grand Canyon 49
Dismal performance by the Antelopes, who shot 32.1%
Could’ve been worse; Terps were 12-24 on foul line.
Maryland has won 13 of its last 16 games.
Maryland plays Colorado State in the 2nd round Sunday.

— Duke 93, Mt St Mary’s 49
Awful game; Duke led 54-28 at halftime.
Duke had only two turnovers in 70 possessions.
#1-seeds went 4-0/2-2 in first round (wins by 20-38-44-26 points)
Blue Devils play Baylor Sunday.

— Famous birthdays, March 22nd:
William Shatner, 94
Matthew Modine, 66
Jimbo Covert, 65
Brian Shaw, 59

Ramón Martínez, 57
Shawn Bradley, 53
Marcus Camby, 51
Reese Witherspoon, 49

Marques Tuiasosopo, 46
Dexter Fowler, 39
Ike Davis, 38
JJ Watt, 36

— New Mexico 75, Marquette 66
Marquette led by 3 with 12:29 left in the game.
Lobos were 18-21 on foul line, Marquette 7-12.
Mountain West is 2-2 SU in NCAA’s this week; previous three years, they were 3-16.
Lobos play Michigan State in second round Sunday. 

— UConn 67, Oklahoma 59
Sooners led by a point with 9:03 left in the game.
UConn shot 58.1% inside arc, 6-25 on the arc.
Oklahoma shot 32.1% from the floor.
Huskies won 6 of last 7 games, after a 6-6 stretch.

— Kentucky 76, Troy 57
Kentucky led 35-27 at the half, pulled away in second half.
Amari Williams only had 5 points, but had 12 rebounds, 4 assists.
Troy took lot of 3’s, but made only 8-32.
Kentucky-Illinois should be a good game Sunday.

— Illinois 86, Xavier 73
Illini out-rebounded Xavier, 45-25.
Xavier was +9 in turnovers (14-5)
Illinois is in bottom 5 in country at forcing turnovers.
Illini shot 57.1% inside arc, scored 1.21 points/possession.
Last year was the first Sweet 16 for Illinois since 2005.

— Michigan State 87, Bryant 62
Bryant actually led 19-15 midway thru first half.
Spartans out-rebounded Bryant, 54-29.
Michigan State shot 10-26 on arc, scored 1.23 points/possession.
This was Bryant’s second trip to NCAA’s in last four years.

— Florida 95, Norfolk State 69
Gators won easily, led 53-32 at halftime.
Florida shot 67.9% inside arc, scored 1.44 points/possession.
Florida had 21 offensive rebounds, Norfolk 14 defensive rebounds.
Gators-UConn is an interesting matchup for Sunday.

— Arizona 93, Akron 65
Arizona out-rebounded the Zips, 53-22.
Wildcats outscored Akron 52-34 in second half.
Akron shot 33.3% from the floor.
Arizona shot 12-25 on the arc, scored 1.24 points/possession.

— Oregon 81, Liberty 52
Ducks sprinted out to 25-8 lead, jogged to an easy win. (do ducks jog?)
Oregon out-rebounded Liberty, 43-27
Liberty shot 8-37 on the arc.
Oregon won nine of last ten games; they play Arizona Sunday. 

Thursday was March 20, 2025, which reminded me of something………

Back in 1978, Warren Beatty starred in a movie, Heaven Can Wait; he played a QB for the Rams (Joe Pendleton) who got hit by a truck while riding his bicycle. An over-anxious angel sent his body to heaven but he hadn’t died in the accident, but by the time they realized this, it was too late. His body had to stay in heaven.

Buck Henry played the angel; James Mason was his supervisor. When the supervisor asked the angel to research when Joe Pendleton was supposed to die, the angel looked it up and came back with a sheepish look on his face.

“March 20, 2025”

In real life, Warren Beatty turns 88 on March 30th.

— McNeese State 69, Clemson 67
McNeese led 40-16 early in the second half.
Brandon Murray scored 21 for McNeese; he didn’t start.
McNeese coach Will Wade was a student manager in college……at Clemson.
Last 5+ years, #12-seeds are 9-12 SU vs #5-seeds.

— Purdue 75, High Point 63
Purdue out-rebounded the Panthers, 45-24.
Junior G Smith scored 20 points, had 6 assists, played all 40:00.
Purdue-McNeese State should be fun to watch Saturday.
Purdue is 6-2 ATS in last eight first round games.

— BYU 80, VCU 71
VCU was 15-38 on arc, only 4-6 on foul line, a bad combination.
BYU shot 58.8% inside the arc
BYU has the #6 eFG% offense in the country.
Cougars have won 10 of their last 11 games.

— Wisconsin 85, Montana 66
Wisconsin shot 72.7% inside the arc.
Badgers out-rebounded Montana, 41-29.
Big Sky teams haven’t won an NCAA game since Montana, in 2006.
BYU-Wisconsin will be one of the better games Saturday.

— Creighton 89, Louisville 75
Bluejays shot 11-24 on arc, scored 1.27 points/possession.
Creighton was 14-21 on foul line, Louisville 7-8.
6-5 senior Neal scored 29 points, had 12 rebounds, 6 assists.
Creighton wins its fifth straight first round game.

— Auburn 83, Alabama State 63
Auburn led 32-31, ended first half on a 9-0 run.
Auburn was only 18-32 on foul line, Alabama State 11-19.
Tigers were 11-35 on the arc, 16-25 inside the arc.
Last five years, #1-seeds are 17-3 SU/10-10 ATS in 2nd round. 

— Gonzaga 89, Georgia 68
Zags raced out to an early 27-3 lead.
Gonzaga shot 12-20 on the arc.
Zags are 24-0 in games decided by 9+ points, 2-8 in games decided by 8 or fewer points.
Georgia finished 20-13; this was their first NCAA Tournament since 2015.

— Houston 78, SIU-Edwardsville 40
#1-seed Houston led 52-24 at halftime.
Underdog SIU-E shot 2-24 on the arc.
Houston is 5-1 ATS in last six first round games.
Houston-Gonzaga is an interesting game on Saturday.

— Famous birthdays, March 21st
Tom Flores, 88
Manny Sanguillén, 81
Gary Oldman, 67
Matthew Broderick, 63

Shawon Dunston, 62
Scott Williams, 57
Tony Horne, 49
Carlos Carrasco, 38

Frankie Montas, 32
Sebastian Joseph-Day, 30
A’Shawn Robinson, 30
Nick Mullens, 30

— Drake 67, Missouri 57
Drake has four starters who were playing D2 basketball last year.
Drake has won 19 of its last 20 games.
Missouri shot only 33.3% from the floor.
Bulldogs had two starters play 40:00; no one else played more than 25:00.

— Michigan 68, Cal-San Diego 65
Michigan led 41-27 at halftime.
Tritons led 65-63, but didn’t score in last 2:29.
Michigan survived going 11-20 on foul line.
Wolverines play Texas A&M Saturday.

— Texas Tech 82, NC-Wilmington 72
Red Raiders led only 38-34 at halftime.
Tech shot 13-46 on arc, 14-23 inside arc.
First time in six years a CAA team covered in NCAA’s.
Texas Tech-Drake Sunday; the two head coaches are good friends.

— Arkansas 79, Kansas 72
Arkansas led by 11 early in second half.
Kansas led by 3 with 3:10 left in game.
Arkansas was +6 in turnovers (16-10)
Razorbacks have won six of their last eight games.

— Texas A&M 80, Yale 71
Just third win in last eight games for Texas A&M.
Aggies led 40-29 at halftime.
Texas A&M shot 71.4% inside the arc.
6-9 junior Payne had 25 points, 10 boards; he didn’t start.

— Tennessee 77, Wofford 62
Stress-free win for Vols, who shot 61.5% inside arc.
Senior G Lanier scored 29 points, shot 6-13 on arc.
Under Barnes, Tennessee is 3-2 in second round games.
SoCon teams are 1-3 SU/2-2 ATS so far this week.

— UCLA 72, Utah State 47
Stress-free win for Bruins, who led by 12 at halftime.
UCLA shot 10-24 on arc, scored 1.22 points/possession.
Mountain West is 2-17 ATS in its last 19 first round games.
UCLA-Tennessee Sunday should be quite the defensive struggle.

— St John’s 83, Omaha 53
St John’s shot 14-37 on arc, tied for most 3’s they made in a game this year.
3:07 into the game, Omaha led 7-0; Johnnies led 33-28 at halftime.
Omaha shot 5-36 on the arc.
St John’s-Arkansas should be the featured game Saturday. 

— Final Four by seed, the last five tournaments:
2024- 1-1-4-11 (NC State was #11)
2023- 4-5-5-9 (Florida Atlantic was #9)
2022- 1-2-2-8 (North Carolina was #8)
2021- 1-1-2-11 (UCLA was #11)
2019- 1-2-3-5

Last five tournaments, only six #1-seeds made the Final Four

— Final Four by conference, the last five tournaments:
2024- ACC, Big East, Big 18, SEC
2023- ACC, Big East, C-USA, Mountain West
2022- ACC (2), Big East, Big X
2021- AAC, Big X, Pac-12, WCC
2019- ACC, Big 18, Big X, SEC

5- ACC
3- Big East, Big X
2- Big 18, SEC
1- AAC, C-USA, Mountain West, Pac-12, WCC

First round trends…….
— Last four years, #1-seeds are 9-7 ATS in first round games.

— Last three years, #2-seeds are 8-4 ATS

A #2-seed has been upset in first round in three of last four years.

— Last five years, #3-seeds are 13-7 ATS.

Last seven years, only 2 of 28 #3-seeds lost in first round.

— Last six years, underdogs are 16-8 ATS in 4-13 first round games.

— Last five years, underdogs are 11-9 ATS in 5-12 games.

— Last six years, the underdog is 6-0 SU/ATS in the 6-11 game in the Midwest region; this year, #6-seed Illinois will play the Texas-Xavier play-in winner.

— Last six years, underdogs are 14-10 SU/20-4 ATS in 8-9 games.

— Famous birthdays, March 18
Jeff Mullins, 83
Dwayne Murphy, 70
Vanessa Williams, 62
Pat Terrell, 57
Andre Rison, 57

Rob Johnson, 52
Brian Griese, 50
Adam Levine, 46
JT Realmuto, 34
Trey Mancini, 33

Conference trends:
— Last three years, ACC teams are 11-4 ATS in first round
Since 2018, ACC teams are 18-8 ATS in second round.

— No team from the A-15 has made the Sweet 16 since Dayton in 2014.

— Last three years, Big East teams are 9-5 ATS in first round
Last three years, Big East had a team in Final Four (Villanova-UConn-UConn)

— Since 2006, Big Sky teams are 0-17 SU/3-13-1 ATS in first round games.
Last Big Sky team to win an NCAA game: Montana 87, Nevada 79 in 2006.

— Last three years, Big 18 teams are 13-8-1 ATS in first round
Last four years, Big 18 teams are 9-12 ATS in second round.

Last four years, only one Big 18 team made the Final Four (Purdue LY)

Last Big 18 team to win a national title? Michigan State, in 2000.

— Since 2019, Big X teams are 21-11 ATS in first round
Since 2021, Big X teams are 6-16 ATS in second round

— Since 2015, Big West teams are 7-3 ATS in first round

— Since 2013, CAA teams are 0-11 SU/5-6 ATS in first round
Last five years, CAA teams are 0-5 ATS

— Since 2015, U-USA teams are 6-3 ATS in first round

— Last three years, Horizon teams are 5-0 ATS in play-in/first round games.

— Since 2010, Ivy League teams are 10-3 ATS in first round.

— Since 2010, MAAC teams are 3-12 ATS in first round (3-2 in last five)

— Since 2017, MAC teams are 6-2 ATS in first round

— Last three years, MVC teams were 0-3 ATS in first round
From 2013-21, MVC teams were 11-3 ATS in first round

— Since 2019, Mountain West teams are 3-14 SU/2-15 ATS in first round

— Last three years, SEC teams are 9-12 ATS in first round
Since 2016, SEC teams are 11-18 ATS in second round

— Last six years, SoCon teams are 5-1 ATS in first round.

— Last five years, WAC teams are 2-3 SU?5-0 ATS in first roun

We’ll get into the games more as the week goes on, but here are some quick thoughts, facts after seeing the brackets/Field of 68.

— #8-seeds are a prominent group: UConn, Gonzaga, Louisville, Mississippi State.

How would you like to be a #1-seed and see the two-time champ Huskies in your bracket? 

Auburn-Louisville would be in Lexington, KY; Bruce Pearl must be thrilled with that, though that game being an afternoon tip-off probably helps Auburn a little bit.

Gonzaga has made nine straight Sweet 16’s; they’re going to have to upset Houston to make it ten in a row.

— Brackets came out out between 6-7 pm; Maryland coach Kevin Willard was on a CBS brackets show at 8:30- he said his team had already had a film session on Grand Canyon, their first round opponent in Seattle Friday.

These teams don’t waste any time studying their opponents.

— Iowa State point guard Keshon Gilbert is out for the NCAA Tournament; he missed four of the Cyclones’ last seven games, and Iowa State went 1-3 in those games.

— Clemson-McNeese State is a first round game; McNeese coach Will Wade was a student manager at Clemson, later a grad assistant coach there.

Wade’s Wikipedia page says that he is the new coach at NC State, which might be wishful thinking by whoever posted that note.

— Teams that played on Sunday who have a tournament game this Thursday:
VCU, Yale, Michigan, Wisconsin, all in Denver, in high altitude. Tennessee plays in Kentucky.

Sunday/Thursday is a quick turnaround, especially if a lot of travel is involved.

— Arkansas-Kansas; John Calipari vs Bill Self, with the winner probably playing against Rick Pitino’s St John’s team. Lot of Hall of Famers in that bracket. 

St John’s hasn’t won an NCAA Tournament game since 2000, which is also the last time they won the Big East tournament (before this week).

— With no Pac-12 this season or next, there was an extra at-large bid this season; two years from now, the Pac-12 will be back, and the tournament will have one fewer at-large team. 

— Famous birthdays, March 17th:
Cito Gaston, 81
Patrick Duffy, 75
Kurt Russell, 74
Gary Sinise, 70

Danny Ainge, 66
Arye Gross, 65
Sam Bowie, 64
Rob Lowe, 61

Kyle Korver, 44
Juan Lagares, 36
Cordarrelle Patterson, 34
Rhys Hoskins, 32

— 14 of 16 SEC teams made the tournament; Texas was the lowest ranked of the 14- they play Xavier in a play-in game in Dayton.

— #1-seeds won 17 of the 31 conference tournaments this year.

Some trends on conferences in the NCAA’s:
— Since 2019, Mountain West teams are 3-14 SU/2-15 ATS in first round games.

New Mexico, Utah State, Colorado State, San Diego State are in this year’s tournament.

— Since 2010, Ivy League teams are 10-3 ATS in first round games; Yale is a 7.5-point underdog against Texas A&M Thursday.

— CAA teams are 0-11 SU in the last 11 NCAA Tournaments, 0-5 ATS in the last five. NC-Wilmington is a 15.5-point underdog against Texas Tech Thursday night.

— Big West teams are 7-3 ATS in their last ten first round games; the last five years, five different schools have represented the Big West.

Was surprised to see that Cal-San Diego is only a 3.5-point underdog vs Michigan in their first round game. This is the first year the Tritons were eligible for March Madness- they’re 30-4 and have won their last 15 games. They’re 3-2 vs teams ranked in the top 100.

— There must be a lot of $$$ involved with the advertising involved in these bracket pools; ESPN pushes their contest pretty hard.

— I’m off to do more studying; will be back tomorrow with some more knowledge.