Armadillo Sports

Conference tournament trends:
— ACC
Last year was first time in six years ACC Tourney champ was seeded higher than #3.
Last 12 tournaments, nine teams have won an ACC title.
Duke is 13-2 in last fifteen ACC Tournament games. 

— American
Last nine years, six teams have won an AAC tournament
Last four years, UAB is 10-2 in conference tournaments
Last four years, North Texas went WL in their conference tournament.

— Atlantic 14
Last 15 years, #1-seed has won this tournament only four times.
Last 10 tournaments, eight teams have won an A-14 tournament

— Big 18
#1-seed has won this tournament twice in last nine years.
Last six tournaments, five teams have won an Big 18 tournament
Last four years, Purdue is 7-3 in this tournament

— Big X
Last four years, four different teams won an Big X tournament
Iowa State has won this tournament five of last 11 years.
Last three years, Kansas is 3-3 in Big X tournament games.

— Big East
#1-seed won three in row, six of last ten Big East tournaments.
Last five years, five different teams won a Big East tournament
Last year, St John’s won this tournament for first time since 2000.

— Big Sky
#1-seed won this tournament 11 of last 14 years.
Montana State won this tournament three of last four years.
Last 3 years, Eastern Washington is 37-16 in regular season, 0-3 in tournament.

— Big West
#1-seed won this tournament four of last six years.
Last five years, Cal-Irvine is 68-25 in regular season, 4-5 in tournament.
Since 2015, Cal-Northridge is 1-8 in this tournament

— CAA
#1-seed has won this tournament 7 of last 11 years.
Last three years, Charleston is 7-1 in this tournament
Last four years, NC-Wilmington is 7-3 in this tournament

— Conference USA
C-USA has re-aligned a lot, lot of different teams have won the tournament
Last four years, C-USA tourney winner was combined 53-19 in regular season
Last eight years, Liberty is 16-5 in its conference tournament. 

— Horizon
#1-seed has won Horizon tourney four of last six years.
Last five years, five different teams have won the tournament
Last five years, Cleveland State is 9-4 in the tournament

— Ivy
Only top four teams make this tournament
Yale is 10-3 in tournament, winning four of the seven years.
Harvard is going to make tournament for first time since 2019.

— Famous birthdays, February 24th:
Edward James Olmos, 79
Tom Burleson, 74
Eddie Murray, 70

Phil McConkey, 69
Nick Esasky, 66
Billy Zane, 60

Mike Lowell, 52
Bronson Arroyo, 49
MacKenzie Gore, 27

— MAAC
#1-seed has won this tournament twice in last 14 years.
Since 2016, Iona is 23-4 in this tournament
Last five years, Siena is 47-49 in regular season, 0-5 in tournament

— Mid-American
Last five years, #1-seed has won tournament once.
Akron won this tournament the last two years.
Since 2019, Miami OH is 3-6 in this tournament

— Missouri Valley
Last five years, either #1 or #2-seed has won this tournament
Drake won this tournament last three years.
Last five years, Belmont is 3-5 in Arch Madness.

— Mountain West
Last four years, four different teams won this tournament.
Last three years, Grand Canyon won the WAC tournament.
UNLV hasn’t won this tournament since 2008.
Since 2014, San Diego State is 26-9 in this tournament

— Ohio Valley
Another league that has changed teams a lot.
Last four years, four different teams won this tournament.
Last four years, SE Missouri State is 6-2 in this tournament

— SEC
Last four years, four different teams won this tournament.
Last five years, Arkansas has gone WL in this tournament
Last two years, Florida is 6-1 in this tournament
Last five years, Kentucky is 2-5 in this tournament

— Southern
Last year was first time in last 10 years #1-seed didn’t win this tournament
Last five years, Furman is 8-4 in this tournament, 3-2 in OT games.
Last four years, Mercer went WL in this tournament

— Summit
#1-seed won this tournament the last four years.
Last five years, South Dakota State is 8-4 in this tournament
Last seven years, North Dakota State is 12-5 in this tourney (0-2 last 2 years)

— Sun Belt
Last five years, five different teams won this tournament.
Last four years, Georgia Southern went WL in this tournament
Last four years, Appalachian State is 2-4 in this tournament

— WAC
Grand Canyon won this tourney last three years; they’re gone now.
Last four years, Cal Baptist went WL in this tournament
Since 2014, Utah Valley is 7-4 in first tourney game, 1-6 in second game.

— WCC
This is Gonzaga’s last year in the WCC.
Since 2004, Gonzaga is 44-5 in WCC tourney; yes, 44-5.
Since 2016, Saint Mary’s in 15-8 in WCC tourney
Since 2018, Santa Clara is 4-8 in WCC tourney

— It is snowing here in upstate New York as I type this; it was 85 degrees in Florida for the Mets’ first spring training game Friday. This winter can’t end soon enough.

— Spring training games are popular; Cubs drew a total of 27,000 fans for their first two games in Arizona this week. This is one thing I’ve never done, spring training games, partially because it is during the busy time for college basketball, but it seems like it would be fun.

— Colorado Rockies have 12 of their player headed to the World Baseball Classic, representing 10 different countries. Baseball’s regular season starts 12-14 days after the WBC winds down, I’m wondering if it is disruptive to teams getting ready for the major league season.

— Baltimore Orioles 3B Jordan Westburg is out until at least May with an elbow injury; he has a partial ligament tear in his throwing arm. Westburg hit .265 with 17 HR’s, 41 RBI in 85 games last year; he missed two months last year with a broken hand.

— I have a pretty good hat collection, was looking at the spring training hats online, but good grief, they’re $55 apiece on Fanatics. No thank you!!! Hats for teams in the World Baseball Classic are anywhere from $45-52, but they all have flags of the country on the right side of the hat, and the flags are kind of big, so once again, no thanks.

— Am watching a few fantasy baseball drafts on YouTube; it is interesting to hear what other people think about players. Some of these guys are obsessed with younger players, trying to tout players who break through and become a star, so they can pat themselves on the back.

Some of these guys are also in a lot of leagues, like 12-14 leagues. Not sure how you keep track of all of that, without having a nervous breakdown. I’m in one league, a 14-team keeper league, and I’m pretty sure I spend too much time running that team.

— RIP to Hall of Fame 2B Bill Mazeroski, who passed away this week at age 89. Mazeroski was an excellent fielder (8 Gold Gloves) who became famous for hitting a walk-off home run that ended the 1960 World Series. He played 17 years in the major leagues, all for the Pirates.

RIP, sir.

— Famous birthdays, February 23rd:
Jackie Smith, 86
Fred Biletnikoff, 83
Jim Youngblood, 76
Ed (Too Tall) Jones, 75

Paul McDonald, 68
Bobby Bonilla, 63
Jerod Mayo, 40
Jamal Murray, 29

— Virginia Commonwealth/Utah State are two college basketball programs that win a lot, but also change coaches a decent amount. 

VCU:
2025-26- Phil Martelli Jr, 21-7
2023-25- Ryan Odom, 52-21 (left for Virginia)
2017-23- Mike Rhoades, 129-61 (left for Penn State)
2015-17- Will Wade, 51-20 (left for LSU)
2009-2015- Shaka Smart, 163-56 (left for Texas)
2006-09- Anthony Grant, 76-25 (left for Alabama)
2002-2006- Jeff Capel, 79-41 (left for Oklahoma)

Utah State
2024-26- Jerrod Calhoun, 49-12
2023-24- Danny Sprinkle, 28-7 (left for Washington)
2021-23- Ryan Odom, 44-25 (left for VCU)
2018-21- Craig Smith, 64-24 (left for Utah)

— Aidan Mahaney is a senior guard for Cal-Santa Barbara who has had an interesting journey:

2022-24- Two years at Saint Mary’s, where the Gaels went 53-16, 29-3 in WCC games, but only 1-2 in NCAA games. He played roughly 32:00/game there, was a big star

2024-25- Transferred to UConn, which had just won back/back national titles. He only started five games, played roughly 12 mpg for a 24-11 UConn team that lost in the second round of the NCAA’s, as a #8-seed.

20-25-26- Transferred to Cal-Santa Barbara, which 17-11, 10-7 in the Big West; they’ve got the #41 eFG% in the country, but they’re not good on defense. Mahaney is playing 33 mpg, I’ll be curious to see him at the NBA Summer League in July. 

— Sunday is March 1st, so it is getting to be that time of year; here is some Bracketology stuff:

Four of the top eight seeds in the country lost Saturday.

Last four teams in Field of 68: Missouri, Ohio State, TCU, Santa Clara
First four teams out of Field of 68: USC, New Mexico, California, Virginia Tech

NCAA Tournament teams by conference:
11- SEC
10- Big 18
8- Big X, ACC
3- Big East, West Coast

— Merrimack 88, Iona 86, 2OT
Merrimack is 16-2 in MAAC, has won eight in a row, the last two in OT.
Unusual for a 20-9 team to be the worst team in country on defensive boards.
Merrimack played two guys all 50:00 in this game, two others 46:00 each.

Am I wrong to think that it might be tough to win a conference tournament if you play your bench a total of 18:00 in a double OT game?

— Robert Morris 81, Wright State 68
Robert Morris has won five in row, improves to 11-7 in Horizon.
Wright State split its last six games, after a 10-1 streak.
Wright State is going be the #1 seed in Horizon tourney, but they lost twice to Robert Morris this season.

— Wisconsin 84, Iowa 71
Hawkeyes led 41-40 at halftime.
Senior G Boyd had 27 points, 10 assists, 9 rebounds for the Badgers.
Iowa has lost three of its last four games.

— Michigan State 66, Ohio State 60
Buckeyes led by 6, early in second half.
Spartans had a 43-26 edge on the boards.
Ohio State is 17-10, but 0-9 vs Quad 1 teams (the best teams)

— Today would’ve been my dad’s 100th birthday; he was my best friend, a good soul, an honest person who loved the Mets, the Knicks, playing golf and he loved his family.

We lost him 11 years ago; he is missed every day. Happy birthday, dad.

This was also my Aunt Jo’s birthday, one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. Never went in her house without getting offered a piece of pie, good pie too. 

— Duke 68, Michigan 63
Weird time of year to play a non-league game like this one.
11th straight Duke game with fewer than 70 possessions; they’re #296 in pace.
Loss ends Michigan’s 11-game winning streak
Duke had a 41-28 edge on the boards.

— Arizona 73, Houston 66
This was Arizona’s 4th straight game against a top 25 team.
Houston shot only 35.7% from the floor.
6-6 senior Dell’Orso scored 22 points in 34:00 off the bench.
Second straight loss for Houston, after a 23-2 start.

— UCLA 95, Illinois 94 OT
Illinois led this game 33-10 midway thru first half.
Illini is 2-3 in last five games; all three losses were in overtime.
UCLA had only five turnovers in a 73-possession game.
Illinois had a 43-27 edge on the boards.

— Cincinnati 84, Kansas 68
Bearcats’ 4th straight win, after starting 3-7 in Big X.
Cincinnati shot 12-31 on arc, scored 1.24 points/possession.
Kansas shot only 4-18 behind the arc.
Bearcats had a 40-29 edge on the boards.

— Upsets of the Day:
Cincinnati (+10.5) 84, Kansas 68
Wyoming (+9.5) 70, Grand Canyon 65
Florida State (+8.5) 70, Clemson 65
Western Kentucky (+7.5) 94, Liberty 73

Valparaiso (+7.5) 71, Ill-Chicago 67
Buffalo (+7.5) 86, UMass 82 OT
North Carolina A&T (+7.5) 102, Elon 82
Dartmouth (+6.5) 64, Columbia 63

Oregon (+6.5) 71, USC 70
UCLA (+6.5) 95, Illinois 94 OT
Eastern Washington (+6.5) 67, Portland State 55
Southern Illinois (+6.5) 59, Northern Iowa 57

— Auburn 75, Kentucky 74
Auburn put in a rebound with 0:01.4 left for the win.
Kentucky led by nine early in second half.
KeShawn Murphy had 25 points, 10 rebounds for Auburn.
Win ends Auburn’s five-game losing streak.

— Western Kentucky 94, Liberty 73
Liberty slips to 15-1 in Conference USA; their last loss was December 10th.
Hilltoppers shot 10-21 on arc, scored 1.36 ppp.
Fourth straight win for Western Kentucky (9-7 in C-USA)
Liberty lost despite shooting 79.2% inside the arc.

— New Mexico 80, Fresno State 78
Bulldogs led 40-18 with 5:20 left before halftime.
New Mexico has won seven of its last nine games.
Fresno was only 5-9 on the foul line; Lobos were 11-13.

— Virginia 86, Miami 83
Miami led by 11 midway thru first half.
Both teams made half their 3-point shots.
Virginia is 24-3, 12-2 in ACC; Miami is 21-6, 10-4 in ACC.

— Famous birthdays, February 22nd:
Paul Dooley, 98
Julius Erving, 76
Mike Hohensee, 65
Jeri Ryan, 58
Mark Chmura, 57

Drew Barrymore, 51
Khalil Mack, 35
Chris Bassitt, 37
Ben Rice, 27
Caleb Durbin, 26

— Colorado State 83, San Diego State 74
San Diego State shot only 39.5% inside the arc.
Fifth straight win for the Rams (8-8 in Mountain West)
Aztecs made last five NCAA tourneys; they’re on bubble this year.

— Arkansas 94, Missouri 86
Hogs shot 55.8% inside arc, scored 1.37 ppp.
Arkansas has won seven of its last nine games.
Arkansas is shooting 58.8% inside arc in SEC games.

— Tennessee 69, Vanderbilt 65
Commodores led 35-31 at halftime.
Tennessee has won four in row, eight of its last nine games.
Vandy is 5-6 in its last 11 games, after starting season 16-0.

— Gonzaga 71, Pacific 62
Game was tied 29-29 at halftime.
Zags were +11 in turnovers (4-15) in a 61-possession game.
Pacific lost five of last seven games, after starting 6-4 in WCC.

— Southern Miss 86, Old Dominion 81
Old Dominion led by 18 with 3:35 left in first half.
USM shot 55.8% inside arc, survived turning ball over 26 times.
 Southern Miss had a 39-25 edge on the boards. 

All trends are for conference games:

— ACC
Boston College 8-3 ATS last 11 games
Cal 5-2 ATS road underdog
Duke/NC State are both 1-4 ATS last five games
Florida State 7-2 ATS last nine games

Georgia Tech 1-5 ATS last six games
Miami 1-6 ATS home favorite.
Syracuse 5-1 ATS last six games
Virginia Tech 6-1 ATS road underdog

— American
UAB 4-0 ATS road underdog, 0-6 ATS home favorite
East Carolina/Tex-San Antonio both 5-2 ATS last seven games
Florida Atlantic 2-6 ATS last eight games.

Rice 9-3 ATS last 12 games
Temple 2-5 ATS last seven games
Tulsa 0-5 ATS last five games

— Atlantic 14
Duquesne 7-2 ATS last nine games
Fordham 6-2 ATS last eight games
George Mason 1-4 SU/0-5 ATS last five games
George Washington 1-5 ATS last six games

Home team is 10-3 ATS in LaSalle games
Loyola Chi 3-9 ATS last 12 games
St Bonaventure 1-6 ATS at home
St Joe’s 10-1 ATS last 11 games.

— Big 18
Illinois 10-3 ATS last 13 games
Maryland 4-10 ATS as an underdog
Michigan 5-1 ATS last six games
Michigan State 6-1 ATS home favorite

Nebraska 1-4 ATS last five games
Oregon 3-9 ATS last 12 games.
Purdue 1-5 ATS home favorite
Rutgers 10-3 ATS last 13 games

USC 4-0 ATS last four games as road underdog
UCLA 0-4 ATS as road underdog
Washington 6-2 ATS last eight games
Wisconsin 4-1 ATS last five games

— Big X
Arizona 1-4 ATS last five games
Arizona State 6-1 ATS last seven games.
Baylor 0-4 ATS home underdog.

BYU 2-9 ATS last 11 games
Iowa State 7-2 ATS last nine games.
Kansas 8-2 ATS last ten games.

Oklahoma State 0-4 SU/ATS last four games.
Utah 6-2 ATS last eight games.
West Virginia 2-5 ATS last seven games.

— Big East
Butler 2-5 ATS last seven games.
UConn 2-10 ATS last 12 games (2-6 as HF)
Creighton 1-10 ATS last eleven games.
DePaul 10-3 ATS last 13 games.

Georgetown 5-2 ATS as road underdog.
Marquette 5-1 ATS last six games.
St John’s 5-2 ATS road favorite.
Villanova 6-2 ATS last eight games.

— Famous birthdays, February 21st:
Tyne Daly, 80
William Peterson, 73
Rob Hertel, 71
Alan Trammell, 68

Steve Francis, 49
Jennifer Love Hewitt, 47
Sam Hilliard, 32
Dalton Rushing, 25

— Missouri Valley
Bradley 2-5 ATS as home favorite
Drake 1-7 SU/0-8 ATS last eight games
Ill-Chicago 10-3 ATS last 13 games.
Illinois State 0-5 ATS road favorite. 

Indiana State covered last seven road games.
Murray State 2-9 ATS last 11 games.
Northern Iowa 8-1 ATS last nine games.
Southern Illinois 2-6 ATS home favorite.

— Mountain West
Air Force 1-7 ATS last eight games.
Boise State 1-4 ATS last five games.
Colorado State 4-0 SU/3-1 ATS last four games.
Fresno State 11-3 ATS last 14 games.
Grand Canyon 1-4 ATS home favorite
 
Underdogs 7-1 ATS in Nevada road games
UNLV 2-6 ATS last eight games
San Diego State 5-1 ATS road favorite.
Utah State 3-7 ATS last ten games.
Wyoming 4-1 ATS last five games.

— SEC
Alabama 2-5 ATS home favorite.
Arkansas 6-2 ATS last eight games
Auburn 0-4 SU/ATS last four games.
Florida 5-1 ATS on the road.
Georgia 2-5 ATS last seven games

Kentucky 4-1 ATS last five games
LSU 6-1 ATS road underdog
Ole Miss 1-4 SU/ATS last five games.
South Carolina 1-5 ATS home underdog.
Vanderbilt 1-4 ATS last five games.

— Southern
Citadel 8-4 ATS last 12 games.
Furman 1-7 ATS home favorite
Mercer 5-2 ATS home favorite.

NC-Greensboro 4-1 SU/ATS last five games.
Samford 7-1 SU/ATS last eight games.
VMI 2-10 ATS last 12 games

— Sun Belt
Appalachian State 6-2 ATS on the road.
Arkansas State 5-2 ATS road favorite.
Georgia Southern 1-10 ATS last 11 games
Georgia State 10-4 ATS last 14 games.
James Madison 1-5 ATS home favorite.

UL-Monroe 6-1 ATS last seven games.
Marshall 4-1 SU/1-4 ATS last five games.
Old Dominion 9-2 ATS last 11 games.
South Alabama 1-4 ATS home favorite.
Texas State 7-2 ATS last nine games

— WCC
Gonzaga won/covered last four games.
LMU 2-8 ATS last ten games.
Pacific 1-4 ATS road underdog.
Pepperdine 2-5 ATS home underdog.
Portland 1-4 ATS road underdog, 5-1 ATS home underdog

Saint Mary’s won/covered five of last six games.
San Diego 1-4 SU/ATS last five games.
San Francisco 1-7 ATS at home
Seattle 5-2 ATS at home
Washington State 5-2 ATS last seven games. 

Basketball has gotten soft; they call a lot of flagrant fouls now. Kid takes a jumper and falls down, chances are they’re calling a foul. God forbid someone takes a random elbow, even if it isn’t intentional, it will be a flagrant foul. Soft.

Understood, I sound like an old guy whining, but it is true……

— Marshall 94, Appalachian State 93
Marshall is #84 tempo team, App State #358; game only had 66 possessions.
App State led by 13 with 16:47 left in the game.
Marshall shot 67.6% inside arc, scored 1.41 ppp.
App State was 28-40 on foul line, Marshall 15-21.

Back in the day, when ESPN first started, Sun Belt was the first league they showed on a regular basis. ESPN should give the Sun Belt a regular Thursday night slot on their schedule. 

— Cal-Northridge 85, Cal-Santa Barbara 83 OT
UCSB led by five with 0:30 left in regulation.
Matadors were 28-63 inside arc, 3-17 outside arc.
UCSB was 13-40 on arc, only 9-25 inside arc.
CSUN has won six in a row, is now 10-5 in Big West games.
Northridge was +10 in turnovers (6-16)

— Texas State 90, South Alabama 82 OT
Bobcats were 24-33 on foul line, South Alabama 13-19.
Texas State’s bench outscored Jaguars’ subs, 45-6.
South Alabama split its last four games, all decided by 6 or fewer points.

— Campbell 84, Wm & Mary 83
Camels got over the hump, hit runner at the buzzer for the win.
Wm & Mary led by 10 late in first half.
Jeremiah Johnson played all 40:00, scored 32 points, had 7 assists.
Campbell has won four of its last five games.

— Tulane 77, North Texas 71
North Texas led by 15 with 11:33 left to play.
Tulane won four of its last five games.
Green Wave covered six of their last eight games.

— Weber State 82, Montana State 79
Weber State’s bench outscored Montana State’s subs, 34-17
Bobcats lost 4 of last 6 games; they trail Portland State by 3 games.
Montana State lost despite shooting 64.7% inside arc.

— Little Rock 67, Tenn-Martin 65
Skyhawks led by 6 with 2:52 left in the game.
Tenn-Martin lost four of last five games, after starting 10-2 in OVC.
Just second win in last nine games for Little Rock. 

— Famous birthdays, February 20th:
Bill Gullickson, 67
Charles Barkley, 63
Stephon Marbury, 49
Jay Hernandez, 48

Justin Verlander, 43
Robyn Fenty, 37 (Rihanna)
Jurickson Profar, 33
Luis Severino, 32

— Kansas City Chiefs re-structured Patrick Mahomes’ contract this week, creating $43.56M in salary cap space. Chiefs converted $54.45M of Mahomes’ 2026 salary into a signing bonus. Mahomes is under contract to the Chiefs through 2031; his salary cap number next year will be around $85M.

Chiefs, by the way, were 1-9 this past season in games decided by 8 or less points. In 2024, they were 11-0 in one-score games.

— Penn State’s football team has 16 returning starters next fall, but 13 of those 16 players started at Iowa State last year, for new coach Matt Campbell. Only three guys who started for Penn State last year will be on the team next fall.

— Iowa State’s basketball team beat Kansas/Houston Saturday/Monday, a pretty good three-day span; Cyclones had only three turnovers in a slow-paced (58 possessions) game. 

— Northern Illinois football coach Thomas Hammock quit this week, to become running backs coach for the Seattle Seahawks. Hammopck was 35-47 at Northern Illinois, 3-9 last year; they’re leaving the MAC for the Mountain West next fall.

— David Blough is the new offensive coordinator for the Washington Commanders; back in 2024, Blough was a backup QB for Detroit when the team was featured on HBO’s Hard Knocks. 

One of the better scenes that year was when Blough’s wife, Melissa Gonzalez, ran in the 400-meter hurdles in the Olympics in France. Several of Blough’s teammates/coaches gathered in a meeting room to watch the race on a big screen TV.

— Which reminds me baseball needs a Hard Knocks-type program, to show younger people how cool baseball is.

Here’s the thing: the NFL is expert at promoting itself, so baseball needs to do the same stuff the NFL does to promote their sport. This seems kind of simple.

—Interesting team to follow in spring training would be the Cincinnati Reds, who made the playoffs last year for the first time in five years, the first year for manager Terry Francona.

Reds haven’t won a playoff series since 1995, but they appear to be on an upward trajectory. 

— Alabama 117, Arkansas 115, 2OT
Arkansas led by 13 with 12:44 left in the game.
Alabama was 27-34 on foul line, Arkansas 16-19
Razorbacks had four guys foul out; they used two subs who almost never play.
Darius Acuff scored 49 points for Arkansas.

— Creighton 91, UConn 84
Creighton was 27-32 on foul line, UConn 11-18.
Just second win in last seven games for the Bluejays.
UConn split its last four games, after a 22-1 start.

— Texas A&M 80, Ole Miss 77
Ole Miss led by 13 with 11:47 left in the game.
Rebels have now lost eight games in a row.
Win snaps Aggies’ four-game losing skid.

— DePaul 69, Seton Hall 57
Big East underdogs were 3-1 SU/4-0 ATS Wednesday
Blue Demons had 35-22 edge on the boards.
Seton Hall has 45.9 eFG% in Big East games, worst in league.

— St John’s 76, Marquette 70
Marquette led by 6 with 11:53 left in the game.
6-7 senior Hopkins scored 23 points, had 10 rebounds.
Red Storm have now won 12 games in a row.

— Wake Forest 85, Clemson 77
Wake Forest led by 20 late in the first half.
Deacons shot 62.1% inside arc, scored 1.28 ppp.
Third straight loss for Clemson, after a 20-4 start.

— Arizona 75, BYU 68
6-6 senior Dell’Orso scored 22 points in 26:00 off bench.
Arizona snaps a two-game skid, which followed its 23-0 start.
Wildcats have the 5th-best eFG% defense in the country.

— Upsets of the Night:
Creighton (+16.5) 91, UConn 84
Utah (+10.5) 61, West Virginia 56
DePaul (+8.5) 69, Seton Hall 57
Butler (+6.5) 93, Georgetown 89
Mississippi State (+4.5) 91, Auburn 85
St Joe’s (+4.5) 71, St Bonaventure 65

— Famous birthdays, February 19th:
Paul Krause, 84
June Jones, 73
Jeff Daniels, 71
Rudy Macklin, 68

Mike Miller, 46
Dwight Freeney, 46
Josh Reddick, 39
JP Sears, 30

— Injuries are starting to take their toll:
Texas Tech lost their best player (JT Toppin) for the year with a torn ACL. Toppin scored 21.8 ppg this season for the 19-7 Red Raiders.

BYU lost Richie Saunders for the year with a torn ACL; he scored 18 ppg for the 19-7 Cougars, who are 3-6 in the last nine games. 

Random trivia: Saunders’ grandfather is the guy who invented Tater Tots.

— San Diego Toreros fired basketball coach Steve Lavin after four years on the job. San Diego is 11-17 this year, 5-10 in the WCC. They’re 18-47 in WCC games under Lavin.

San Diego hasn’t been in the NCAA’s since 2008; Lavin is a good guy who was a very good TV analyst. Hope he goes back on TV next season.

— Iowa State only had 3 turnovers in their win over Houston Monday; in a slow-paced, 58 possession game, Cyclones took good care of the ball, and improved to 10-3 in the Big X

— Saint Mary’s 72, Seattle 70
Gaels narrowly avoid what would’ve been a damaging loss.
Teams combined to shoot 8-32 on the arc.
Saint Mary’s has won five in a row, is 13-2 in the WCC.

— Mississippi State 91, Auburn 85
MSU’s Josh Hubbard scored 46 points, 35 in first half.
Miss State led by 18 early in second half.
Auburn rallied to lead 80-73 with 3:56 left in the game.
Bulldogs shot 16-30 on arc, scored 1.35 ppp.

—  Western Kentucky 88, Delaware 87 OT
Blue Hens led by 16 late in the first half.
Delaware lost despite shooting 64.3% inside the arc.
Hilltoppers won four of their last five games.

— Missouri 81, Vanderbilt 80
Mizzou led by 21 with 8:33 left, hung on for dear life.
Tigers were 25-32 on foul line, Vandy 14-18
Both teams are 8-5 in SEC games. 

— Los Angeles Dodgers are looking to win the World Series for the third year in a row; six of their top seven hitters in their lineup are over 30 years old, but if they stay healthy, would be hard to bet against them again this year.

— Bronx Bombers haven’t won the World Series since 2009; was funny listening to their fans whining when they Dodgers signed Kyle Tucker; welcome to my world fellas, I root for the A’s, almost everyone spends more than the A’s.

Someone posted a list of who they thought the best GM’s are, and they listed Brian Cashman #3, which is a tremendous load of crap. If you play checkers, and you start 95% of your games with more checkers than the other guy, then you shouldn’t go 16 years without winning.

— Boston Red Sox have made the playoffs in only two of last seven seasons; they run their team like they’re a small market team like the A’s. Hello??!?!? Boston is a big city, freakin’ act like it and pay your players. It was stunning when they let Alex Bregman get away this winter.

— Remember the Jonah Hill character in Moneyball? In real life, that person is Paul DePodesta, and he now runs the Colorado Rockies’ front office. He had been working for the Cleveland Browns in the NFL; he’s the genius who recommended giving QB Deshaun Watson the huge contract with all the guaranteed money in it. Whoops.

I’ve been trying to figure out who will/won’t play for the Rockies this year; I’ve decided that they will probably platoon a lot, which makes their players less attractive for fantasy teams. They will be interesting to follow this season.

— Tampa Bay Rays are back at Tropicana Field this season; popular wisdom is that this will help their pitchers, hurt their hitters. The spring training stadium they played in last year was a very good hitter’s park.

— Pittsburgh Pirates haven’t finished over .500 since 2018, haven’t made the playoffs since 2015, but they’ve added Marcell Ozuna, Ryan O’Hearn to their lineup this year, they’ve got pretty good starting pitching, and the NL Central ain’t that great. Can the Pirates contend this year?

— Arizona has missed playoffs seven of last eight years; they re-signed P Zac Gallen Friday night for one year, $22M, which helps them. Arizona finished over .500 five of the last nine years, lost the World Series three years ago. They need OF Corbin Carroll to recover from his hand injury.

— Famous birthdays, February 14th:
Dave Dravecky, 70
Jim Kelly, 66
Meg Tilly, 66
Drew Bledsoe, 55

Richard Hamilton, 48
Darius Songaila, 48
Nick Pivetta, 33
Jadeveon Clowney, 33

Gabriel Moreno, 26
Brooks Lee, 25
Nolan Schanuel, 24
Jaxon Smith-Njigba, 24

— Last three years, White Sox lost 101-121-102 games, pretty dismal; they traded for Mets’ prospect Luisangel Acuna, signed Japanese 1B Munetaka Murakami, OF Austin Hays, can they make a big leap and contend this year?

I’d be more confident in the White Sox if their general manager actually knew that Acuna isn’t a switch-hitter. In four different interviews last week, their GM was saying how Acuna bats from both sides of the plate, which would be great, except that he only hits right-handed.

Oy.

— Minnesota Twins finished 70-92 last year; their payroll is $30M less than it was three years ago, and the new person in charge of the franchise doesn’t seem eager to increase the payroll.

Derek Shelton is the Twins’ new manager; he was the Pirates’ manager for six losing seasons, he is used to working for cheapskates. No bueno.

— Last year, Houston Astros missed the playoffs for the first time in nine years; this year, they have five infielders, but only four spots in the lineup for those guys, since Yordan Alvarez will probably DH most of the time.

Interesting problem; I have Isaac Paredes on my fantasy team, so it would be great if he was in their lineup every day. He needs to play somewhere where the left field foul pole is kind of closer than normal to home plate- he pulls a lot of fly balls. We’ll see what happens; sounds like there were no takers for 1B Christian Walker.

— Milwaukee Brewers have been in the playoffs seven of last eight years; they were 97-75 last year, but they let P Freddy Peralta go to the Mets, which figures to hurt them.

— Kansas City Royals moved some of the fences closer to home plate, lowered some of them too, how much does that help their hitters/hurt their pitchers? Kansas City finished over .500 the last two years; they’ve only made the playoffs once since winning the 2015 World Series.

— Most interesting part of the early season will be the new ball/strike challenge system, which is a real thing this year; everyone liked it in spring training last year. Will be fascinating to see how different teams handle their challenges; who they let challenge pitches, and when. 

— Seahawks 29, Patriots 13
Seattle wins their second Lombardi Trophy.
Kenneth Walker carried ball 27 times for 135 yards.
Jason Myers kicked five FG’s, outscored New England by himself.
Seahawks were +3 in turnovers, scored a defensive TD.

Patriots’ first nine drives: 38 plays, 79 yards, zero points.
Seattle’s first six drives: 42 plays, 183 yards, three FG’s.
Seahawks sacked Drake Maye six times, for 43 yards.
NE was first team since 1974 not to score in first 3 quarters of a Super Bowl

— Weird stat: last ten times New England was in the Super Bowl, they were outscored 27-3 in the first quarter of those games. 

— Prop bet update: national anthem was done in 1:57, the under hits.

— I’m oblivious about certain things, and I had never watched the halftime show of any Super Bowl before. Before this week, I’d never heard of Bad Bunny, so I looked him up.

Real name: Benito Ocasio; he is 32 years old
For a while couple years ago, he was a pro wrestler.
He has helped make rap music more popular, world-wide.

During the halftime show, they had a couple on stage getting married, looked like it was part of the act, but apparently, that was an actual marriage ceremony that happened during halftime.

— Thursday night in Week 1 this coming September, Seahawks will be the home team.

— Jim Schwartz was defensive coordinator for the Browns this year; he interviewed for the head coach’s job in Cleveland when it opened, and when he didn’t get it, he bolted, even though he has two years left on his contract.

— Former Browns coach Kevin Stefanski was quickly hired by the Atlanta Falcons, who were 5-3 with Kirk Cousins starting this year, 3-6 when he didn’t start, but rumor has it that the Falcons are going to cut him this spring. If he gets cut, he won’t be on the market very long.

— Famous birthdays, February 9th:
Joe Pesci, 83
Jim Nash, 81
Vince Papale, 80
Judith Light, 77

Danny White, 74
Mookie Wilson, 70
John Kruk, 65
Todd Lyght, 57

Vladimir Guerrero Sr, 51
Michael B Jordan, 39
Saquon Barkley, 29
Cobie Durant, 28

— Joe Pompliano posted the following info:
The average TV ad for the Super Bowl was $8M
5-10 ads sold for as much as $10M
For 40% of advertisers, this was their first Super Bowl ads. 

NBC requires brands to match the $$$ they spend on Super Bowl on other events too
All in all, NBC was expected to rake in $800M in advertising revenue.

— USC 77, Penn State 75
Freshman G Arenas scored the game-winning hoop with 0:00.7 left.
Penn State shot 60% inside arc, led by 12 early in second half.
Trojans have won three in row, prove to 18-6, 7-6 in conference.
USC. Penn State. Why the bleep are these teams in the same league?!?!?!

— Coastal Carolina 94, UMass 91, 3OT’s
UMass led by 14 with 14:39 left in regulation.
Chanticleers shot 16-34 on the arc, only 8-16 on foul line.
K’Jei Parker scored 31 points in 34:00 for UMass; he didn’t start.

— Texas Tech 70, West Virginia 63
Red Raiders never trailed, shot 13-24 on the arc.
Tech only used two subs, who played 12-3 minutes.
West Virginia shot 66.7% inside arc, 2-22 outside arc.
Tech improves to 17-6, 7-3 in Big X

— South Florida basketball coach Bryan Hodgson used to be an assistant coach at Fredonia State in western New York. I was the student manager of our basketball team in college; we played at Fredonia once, it is a long freakin’ way from Albany, about an hour west of Buffalo.

Very cold there; the young lady who sang the national anthem was very good, that’s all I can remember from that night, 45 or so years ago. Other than thinking, why would anyone want to live here for four years? It was like ten miles past the middle of nowhere.

But coach Hodgson became an assistant to Nate Oats at Buffalo, and moved up the ladder from there. He was 45-28 in two years at Arkansas State and this year his USF Bulls are 16-8, 8-3 in the AAC, so Hodgson is apparently a very good coach.

— North Dakota State is moving up to I-A football and will play in the Mountain West, starting this fall; the move is going to cost the school $17M. Bison have been D-I in basketball for couple decades, but this is a big jump for them. 

— NBC is going back to broadcasting baseball this year; Clayton Kershaw, Joey Votto, Anthony Rizzo are going to be their studio analysts.

— Pitchers and catchers report on Tuesday; let’s play ball!!!! 

A sportsbook in Las Vegas put out its menu of Super Bowl prop bets; it is 53 pages full of bets. Here is a sampling of some of the things you can bet on:

— Total for the first half: 21.5 points.

— Total touchdowns scored in the game: 5.5 touchdowns

— Coin toss: Heads or tails? (Yes, people bet on that)

— Team to score first in the game.

— Team to score last in the game.

— Which team will use a replay challenge first?

— Highest scoring quarter by both teams: over/under 19.5

— Longest touchdown scored: over/under 36.5 yards

— Will either team score in the first 6:30 of the game?

— Total number of sacks in the game: over/under 5.5

— Total completions by Sam Darnold: 20.5

— Total receiving yards by Jaxon Smith-Njigba: 95.5

— Longest reception by Cooper Kupp: 15.5 yards

— Total rushing yards by Kenneth Walker: 75.5 yards

— Longest gross punt by Michael Dickson: 55.5 yards

— Total first downs by the Seahawks: 19.5

— Total yards by both teams: 637.5 yards

— Famous birthdays, February 4th:
John Schuck, 86
Steve O’Neal, 80
Keith Krepfle, 74
Lawrence Taylor, 67
Dan Plesac, 64

Gabrielle Anwar, 56
Rob Corddry, 55
Ramiel Tapia, 32
George Kirby, 28
RJ Harvey, 25

— Total passing yards by Drake Maye: 224.5 yards

— Total receiving yards by Stefan Diggs: 46.5 yards

— Longest reception by Kayshon Boutte: 17.5 yards

— Total rushing yards by Rhamondre Stevenson: 49.5 yards

— Shortest gross punt for Bryce Baringer: 39.5 yards

— Total first downs by the Patriots: 19.5

— Who will complete more passes, Darnold or Maye?

— Who will make a field goal first?

— Jersey number of the first player to score a touchdown? Over/under 11.5

— Who will win the game?

That is a small sampling of the things you can bet on Sunday. 

— Bills 27, Jaguars 24
Buffalo drove 66 yards, scored game-winning TD with 1:04 left.
Jaguars had taken 24-20 lead on a TD with 4:03 left.
Bills get their first road playoff win since 1992.
Buffalo is 13-0 this year when they score 23+ points.

QB Allen threw for 273 yards and a TD.
Allen also ran ball 11 times for 33 yards, two TD’s.
Jaguars WR Washington caught 7 passes for 107 yards and a TD.
Buffalo will play the #1-seed Broncos in Denver next weekend.

— 49ers 23, Eagles 19
49ers drove 66 yards, scored game-winning TD with 2:54 left.
49ers grabbed 17-16 lead on a trick play; WR Jennings threw 29-yard TD pass.
Last 7 times they were in playoffs, 49ers won their first game.
49ers visit division rival Seattle next weekend.

WR Robinson caught six passes for 111 yards and a TD.
San Francisco was 6-11 on third down, Eagles 5-16.
Eagles were 4-7 this year when they scored less than 21 points.
Last nine years, underdog is 8-1 SU/9-0 ATS in #3-6 seed NFC game.

— Patriots 16, Chargers 3
New England gets its first playoff win since 2018.
QB Maye threw for 268 yards and a TD.
Patriots are 9-3 ATS as a favorite this year.
Opponents’ team total: under 14-2 last 16 games

New England outgained Chargers 381-207; Bolts were 1-10 on 3rd down.
Patriots ran ball 29 times for 146 yards (5.0 yards/carry)
Last six years, #2-seeds are 11-1 SU/9-3 ATS vs #2-seeds in this round.
New England hosts Texans-Steelers winner next weekend. 

— Chicago Cubs signed 3B Alex Bregman for five years, $175M; he got a no-trade clause, and $70M of the money is deferred. Bregman hit 18 homers, had 62 RBI in 114 games for Boston; he had his best OPS since 2019, but Wrigley Field isn’t as good a hitters’ park as Fenway, so we’ll have to wait and see what 2026 brings.

— Detroit Tigers/P Tarik Skubal are going to arbitration; unless the two sides agree before the arbitrator decides, one side will win, one will lose. 

Tigers are offering Skubal $19M; Skubal is asking for $32M, a huge difference. Arbitration hearings start January 26th. Skubal has won the Cy Young award the last two years, going 31-10 in 62 starts, with 469 strikeouts in 387.1 IP.

Skubal can be a free agent next winter; if he wins the arbitration and gets paid $32M this year, will Detroit trade him before he hits the open market?

Famous birthdays, January 12th:
Bob Dishy, 92
Drew Pearson, 75
Campy Russell, 74

Dominique Wilkins, 66
Oliver Platt, 66
Cade McNown, 49

— UCF 73, Cincinnati 72
Golden Knights shot 63.2% inside arc; they’re 13-2.
UCF is #27 experience team, #345 in continuity- they start three seniors.
Cincinnati lost six of last eight games; they’re 0-3 in the Big X.

— Florida Atlantic 89, Memphis 78
Owls shot 65.9% inside arc, improved to 11-6, 3-1 in AAC.
FAU out-rebounded Memphis, 46-29.
Memphis is #347 in continuity; they’re 1-7 vs top 100 teams.

— Illinois 75, Iowa 69
Illinois led by 18 midway thru first half.
Illinois shot 62.1% inside the arc.
Illinois is 13-3 vs schedule #18; all three losses are to top 20 teams.

— Green Bay 80, Northern Kentucky 78
Doug Gottlieb’s Green Bay team has won 6 of 7, is 5-2 in Horizon League.
Green Bay led by 19 with 13:43 left, hung on for dear life.
Green Bay shot 10-19 on the arc, scored 1.33 ppp.

— Washington 81, Ohio State 74
Buckeyes led by 7 early in the second half.
Washington shot 57.9% inside the arc.
Ohio State split its last 10 games, after a 6-0 start.

Why are Ohio State, Washington in the same freakin’ league??? It makes zero sense.

— Hawai’i 67, Cal-Irvine 66
Hawai’i hit a 10-foot jumper at the buzzer for a dramatic win late Saturday night.
Irvine is 5-1 in the Big West, Hawaii is 4-1.
Rainbows have the #2 eFG% defense in the country. 

— USC 70, Minnesota 69 OT
Eric Musselman coaches USC; his father Bill Musselman was a really good coach at Minnesota a long time ago (1971-75), before his NBA days.

USC led 53-40 with 9:48 left in regulation; the game went to overtime.
Gophers only played seven guys; two of them played the whole 45:00
Chad Baker-Mazara scored 29 points, had 8 assists for USC.

— Nebraska is 16-0, its best start ever, under coach Fred Hoiberg; their point guard is Sam Hoiberg, the coach’s son, who is spending some of his free time preparing for his next job- he’s doing color commentary on some Nebraska’s women’s basketball games.

— Former NFL QB Matt Ryan is the Atlanta Falcons’ new president of football; he will lead the searches for both the open head coach and GM jobs and will have oversight of who gets hired.

Ryan had been working as an NFL analyst for CBS; he played 15 years in the NFL, going 128-115-1 as a starter. 

— Rams 34, Panthers 31
Future Hall of Fame QB Stafford threw 19-yard TD pass with 0:38 left for the win
Rams led 14-0 early, after TD drives of 45-48 yards.
Stafford threw for 304 yards, three TD’s.
WR Nacua caught 10 passes for 111 yards and a TD.

Carolina converted 27-40 4th down plays this year, but they were 0-3 this game. 
Panthers led 31-27 after a 30-yard TD drive set up by a blocked punt.
WR Coker caught nine passes for 134 yards and a TD.
Rams outgained Carolina 411-333, but were only 3-13 on third down.

This was Rams’ 50th playoff game in the Super Bowl era; they’re 25-25.

— Bears 31, Packers 27
Green Bay led 21-6 after the third quarter.
Chicago’s first six drives: 50 plays, 245 yards, 6 points.
Chicago’s last four drives: 30 plays, 210 yards, 25 points.
This was Chicago’s first playoff win since 2011.

Packers’ first three drives: 27 plays, 204 yards, 21 points.
Packers’ last eight drives: 45 plays, 177 yards, 6 points.
Green Bay missed PAT, a 44-yard FG, lost a fumble in last 6:36.
Green Bay ends season losing its last five games, giving up 28.8 ppg

— Nebraska 83, Indiana 77
Hoosiers led by 16 with 16:54 left in the game.
Nebraska shot 14-34 on the arc, shot 57.7% inside arc.
Cornhuskers are 16-0, 5-0 in conference games.

— Wisconsin 91, Michigan 88
Badgers shot 15-33 on the arc, hand Michigan their first loss.
Wolverines led by 14 midway thru first half.
Wisconsin is 11-5, 3-2 in Big 18; they’ve played schedule #24.

— Texas 92, Alabama 88
Texas shot 10-24 on the arc, scored 1.29 ppp
Longhorns out-rebounded Alabama, 48-38
Crimson Tide is 11-5; they allowed 87+ points in all five losses. 

— College basketball Upsets of the Day
Wisconsin (+19) 91, Michigan 88
Texas (+12.5) 92, Alabama 88
Ill-Chicgo (+11.5) 63, Illinois State 59 OT
Central Michigan (+9.5) 87, Kent State 85
Dartmouth (+8.5) 102, Cornell 91
Princeton (+8.5) 76, Yale 60
Evansville (+7.5) 72, Indiana State 69

— Belmont 78, Drake 76
Drake led 50-25 early in the second half.
Belmont is 15-3, 5-2 in conference games.
Belmont has the best eFG% in the country (60.5%)

— NC-Wilmington 75, Stony Brook 71
Stony Brook led by 24 early in the second half.
UNCW shot 12-25 on the arc, only 7-15 on foul line.
UNCW is 16-2, has won its first five CAA games.

— Idaho 92, Montana State 89
Bobcats led by 21 late in the first half.
Vandals outscored Montana State 62-41 in the second half.
Idaho shot 13-29 on the arc, scored 1.35 ppp.

— James Madison 70, Old Dominion 69
ODU led by 19 in first half, by 9 with 1:59 left in the game.
6-7 junior McBride scored 29 points in 29:00 for JMU.
10th loss in last 12 games for Old Dominion.

— Famous birthdays, January 11th
George Mira, 84
Lloyd McClendon, 67
Ali Haji-Sheikh, 65
Chris Jent, 56
Rey Ordóñez, 55

Marc Blucas, 54
Amanda Peet, 54
Damien Wilkins, 46
JP Crawford, 31
Elly De La Cruz, 24

If today is your 15th birthday, you were born on 1/11/11 (January 11, 2011)

— Auburn 95, Arkansas 73
Auburn shot 63.2% inside arc, scored 1.33 ppp
Just third win in last seven games for Auburn.
Only second loss in last seven games for Arkansas.

— George Mason 86, VCU 80
George Mason shot 68.3% inside the arc.
George Mason has won seven in a row, is 16-1, 4-0 in A-14.
VCU is 1-6 against top 100 teams.

— Texas A&M 83, Oklahoma 76
Aggies shot 55.2% inside arc, improve to 13-3, 3-0 in SEC
Texas A&M scored 82.8 ppg in its three SEC wins.
Oklahoma out-rebounded A&M, 43-32.

— Florida 91, Tennessee 67
Gators shot 64.7% inside arc, led 41-28 at halftime.
6-10 junior Chinyelu had 17 points, 16 rebounds for Florida.
Tennessee is 4-5 in its last five games, after a 7-0 start.

— West Virginia 86, Kansas 75
Mountaineers outscored Kansas 47-32 in second half.
Jayhawks are in bottom 20 in country at forcing turnovers.
Kansas is only 6-5 against top 100 teams; they’re 1-3 in true road tilts. 

— Indiana 56, Oregon 22
Indiana scored on a pick-6 on the first play of the game.
Hoosiers were +3 in turnovers, ran ball 40 times for 185 yards.
Indiana’s first six TD’s were scored by six different players.
Hoosiers move on to play Miami, in Miami for the national title.

— Concession prices for this game in Atlanta were pretty good:
$5 beer
$5 cheeseburger
$3 slice of pizza
$2 hot dog
$2 popcorn

— Last time there was a bowl game with a pick-6 on the very first play was the 2013 Sugar Bowl, when Louisville scored against Florida, and went on to win, 33-23.

— Miami has banked $20M from its run to the national title game; they don’t have to split it with their ACC rivals. Miami also collects $3M in travel expenses for the title game, even though the game is on their home field. Go figure

— Ole Miss QB Trinidad Chambliss applied for a 6th year of eligibility from the NCAA, but that application was denied, which will make some NFL team very happy in April.

— SEC teams went 4-10 in bowl games this year, but two of those games were SEC vs SEC, so SEC teams were 2-8 in bowls, against non-SEC teams. This was third year in a row the national title game didn’t have an SEC team playing in it.

— March 21, 2022, this trade was made:
Cleveland Browns got:
QB Deshaun Watson
5th round draft pick

Houston Texans got:
three 1st round picks
3rd round draft pick
5th round pick

Since then…….
Cleveland is 26-42, 0-1 in playoffs
Houston is 35-32-1, 2-2 in playoffs

— Famous birthdays, January 10th
Richard Dotson, 67
Janet Jones, 65
Glenn Robinson, 53

Jake Delhomme, 51
Deshaun Foster, 46
Ryon Healy, 34

— Last year, Eagles’ RB Saquon Barkley had 1,763 rushing yards, just in the SECOND HALF of games. This year, Barkley has only has 508 rushing yards in second half of games.

— Miami Dolphins hired Jon-Eric Sullivan as their new general manager; he had been working for Green Bay, as VP of Player Personnel.

— Las Vegas Raiders are now paying five guys who used to coach for them, a total of $50M:

$16M- Pete Carroll
$10M- Jon Gruden
$10M- Josh McDaniels
$8M- Antonio Pierce
$6M- Chip Kelly

— Oklahoma Sooners hired former Cowboys’ star Jason Witten as their tight ends coach; since 2021, he has been the head coach at Dallas’ Liberty Christian School, where his son plays.

— Fairfield 68, Rider 62
Stags led 34-22 at halftime.
Brickfest: teams combined to shoot 12-42 on the arc.
Rider is 1-13, 0-5 in MAAC games.

— Miami OH 87, Toledo 73
Redhawks shot 12-31, improved to 17-0 this season (vs schedule #349)
Miami led 56-36 at halftime.
First loss for Toledo in four MAC games.

— Playoff teams’ records against playoff teams this year:
6-2- Seattle
5-3- Jacksonville
4-2- Denver

4-4- Rams, Houston, San Francisco
3-3- Buffalo, Philadelphia, LA Chargers
2-2- New England

2-4- Green Bay
2-5- Carolina
1-5- Pittsburgh

— Miami 31, Ole Miss 27
Miami drove 75 yards, scored game-winning TD with 0:18 left.
Hurricanes ran 88 plays from scrimmage, Ole Miss 60.
Miami converted 11-19 third down plays, Rebels 2-10.
Miami will play the Indiana-Oregon winner for the national title January 19.

— All four semi-final teams in the College Football Playoff have Australian punters. 

— Miami Dolphins fired coach Mike McDaniel, who was 35-35 in four years coaching the Dolphins- he went 20-16 the first two years, 15-19 the last two, missing playoffs the last two seasons. Curious to see who they hire as their next coach; that person will be Miami’s ninth head coach since the last time they won a playoff game, in 2000.

QB Tua Tagovailoa is a $$$ problem; Miami can’t cut him this year, or he would be a $99.2 dead cap hit, a huge number, so they’ll have to keep him, at least for another year.

— Tampa Bay Buccaneers kept head coach Todd Bowles, but they fired seven assistant coaches, which means that next year, Baker Mayfield will have his sixth different offensive coordinator in the last six years.

— Miami Marlins traded P Edward Cabrera to the Cubs, for OF prospect Owen Caissie and two lesser outfield prospects. Cabrera was 8-7, 3.53 in 26 starts for the Marlins last year.

— In the NBA, Atlanta Hawks traded G Trae Young to Washington Wizards, for CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert. Young is averaging 19.3 ppg this year, first time in the last seven years he is scoring less than 20 points/game.

— Random trivia; Jets were the only NFL team this season to start the same five offensive linemen in every game.

— Famous birthdays, January 9th
ML Carr, 75
JK Simmons, 71
Otis Nixon, 67
Stan Javier, 62
Joely Richardson, 61

David Costabile, 59
Chad Johnson, 48
Michael Beasley, 37
Marcus Peters, 33
Kerris Dorsey, 29

— Cal-Davis 93, UCSB 86
Gauchos led 33-15 midway thru the first half.
Cal-Davis shot 65.4% inside arc, scored 1.31 ppp
6 of the 8 guys who played for Cal-Davis scored in double figures.

— Gonzaga 89, Santa Clara 77
Game was tied 37-37 at halftime.
Graham Ike scored 34 points, had 11 rebounds.
Gonzaga shot 65.1% inside the arc.
Zags won 52 of their last 56 games against Santa Clara.

— Northridge 95, Cal Poly 90
Cal Poly led by 14 with 12:49 left in the game.
Matadors’ PG Davis scored 23 points, had 15 assists.
Cal Poly shot 16-44 on arc, 13-26 inside arc.

— Portland 90, Pacific 89 OT
Portland outscored Pacific 9-3 in last 0:22 of overtime.
Pilots shot 13-23 outside the arc.
First win in five WCC games for Portland.

— LMU 84, San Francisco 82, 2OT
McBride had 18 points in 38:00 for LMU; he didn’t start.
LMU had 50 points in paint, San Francisco had 26.
Ryan Beasley scored 32 points for USF.

— Tennessee-Martin 76, Morehead State 68
Morehead led by 16 late in the first half.
Tennessee-Martin shot 58.6% inside the arc.
Skyhawks are 12-4, with wins at Bradley, at UNLV

— Ohio State 72, Oregon 62
All five OSU starters scored between 10-14 points.
Buckeyes are shooting 61% inside the arc (#9) this year.
Ducks are struggling, off to an 8-8 start, 1-4 in the league. 

— In the NBA, Bulls-Heat game was postponed because of condensation on the floor; it will be made up down the road. During the delay before they postponed the game, the Bulls’ mascot stood at half court, flung the ball over his head with his back to the basket and swished it. Pretty impressive. 

— Vanderbilt 96, Alabama 90
Vandy was 35-50 on foul line, Alabama 29-38; lot of fouls.
Crimson Tide was 9-40 on the arc, 17-30 inside arc.
Commodores are 15-0, one of six unbeaten teams in the country.

— UConn 103, Providence 98 OT
Providence led by 11 with 3:12 left in regulation.
UConn shot 18-32 on the arc; Friars were 14-24.
Silas Demery had 23 points, 15 assists for UConn

— Saint Louis 71, VCU 62
Saint Louis outscored VCU 10-0 over last 2:30 of the game.
VCU only shot 28.6% from the floor, at home.
Billikens are 14-1; they lost by a point to Stanford.

— Creighton 76, Villanova 72
Bluejays shot 62.9% inside the arc.
Villanova led by 10 points in the first half.
Creighton is 4-1 in Big East; they’re 6-5 in non-league games.

— Marquette 66, Xavier 65
Golden Eagles snapped a six-game losing skid.
Marquette out-rebounded Xavier, 47-34
Xavier shot 31.4% inside arc, 11-24 on the arc.

— Clemson 74, SMU 70
Clemson never trailed; they’re 13-3, 3-0 in ACC games.
Tigers have #25 eFG% defense in country.
SMU is 12-3, 1-3 on road, with only win at Mississippi State

— Arkansas 94, Ole Miss 87
Arkansas shot 14-30 on arc, scored 1.30 ppp.
Arkansas won its last three games, scoring 97.7 ppg
Razorbacks are 12-3; all three losses are to teams in top 12 in country.

— BYU 104, Arizona State 76
Cougars shot 70% inside arc, 14-31 on the arc, scored 1.34 ppp.
BYU scored 59 points in the second half.
Arizona State lost its last four games, giving up 91.8 ppg. 

— Famous birthdays, January 8th:
Calvin Natt, 69
Mark Herrmann, 67
Jason Giambi, 55

Billy Joe Hobert, 55
Mike Cameron, 53
Jeff Francouer, 42

Jeff Hoffman, 33
Chris Paddack, 30
Jhoan Duran, 28

— More and more, college basketball teams prefer that all their shots either be layups or 3-pointers; 15-foot jumpers are pretty much frowned upon.

These are the teams whose 2-point shots are the shortest in the country:
Saint Louis
Texas A&M
Marquette
George Washington
South Florida
St Thomas

— One thing about college basketball the next few weeks; this is Gonzaga’s last year to beat the tar out of WCC opponents- they’re moving up to the new/improved Pac-12 next year.

— In-game interviews with coaches are useless; none of them ever say anything, they’re mainly spouting cliches and trying to get back to their bench.

— Colorado Rockies signed P Michael Lorenzen for one year, $8M; Lorenzen was 7-11, 4.64 in 26 starts for the Royals last year. Colorado will be his 7th big league team.

— Three of 14 teams in the Atlantic 14 are nicknamed the Rams; VCU, Rhode Island, Fordham all have Ram mascots.

— Random observation: NFL kickers are way better than they used to be. Jaguars’ Cam Little has made field goals of 67, 68 yards this year; he made a 70-yarder in an exhibition game.

— Indianapolis Colts ran a successful fake punt last week, then on the very next play, they kept the punt team on the field and ran another fake punt. Other team was so confused they got a penalty for having too many men on the field.

— Matt Campbell is the new football coach at Penn State; he’s already poached 19 players from Iowa State, his old team. 

— Baltimore Ravens fired coach John Harbaugh after 18 years; Harbaugh was 190-124 as Ravens’ coach, 13-11 in playoff games- they won the Super Bowl in 2012. 

Ravens made the playoffs six of the last eight years, would have gotten there again this year had their rookie kicker made a 44-yard field goal at the end of Sunday’s game in Pittsburgh.

Something to tuck away: Jim Harbaugh’s Chargers play at Baltimore next fall.

— There were 63 Venezuelan-born ballplayers in the major leagues last year; five of them are on my fantasy team. The chaos in Venezuela could screw up this spring’s World Baseball Classic; there is still enough time for all the major leaguers to get back here in time for spring training and the WBC.

— Philadelphia Phillies hired Don Mattingly as bench coach; his son Preston is the Phiilies’ general manager. Mattingly was bench coach with the Blue Jays the last three years.

— Texas Tech poached QB Brendan Sorsby from the Cincinnati Bearcats, are apparently paying him $5M next year.

— One wish for next football season; Pete Carroll in a TV booth somewhere, think he would provide good energy and a lot of knowledge.

— Famous birthdays, January 7th:
Erin Gray, 76
David Caruso, 70
Brian Baldinger, 65
Ron Rivera, 63

Nicolas Cage, 62
Todd Day, 56
Frank Menechino, 55
Francisco Rodriguez, 44

Jhoulys Chacin, 38
Dean Kremer, 30
Ozzie Albies, 29
Lamar Jackson, 29

— Detroit Lions fired offensive coordinator John Morton after only one season; Detroit went 9-8 this year, missed the playoffs for first time in three years.Lions scored 28.3 ppg; they scored 33.2 ppg last year, when Ben Johnson was the OC.

— Washington Commanders let both their coordinators go, a year after they played in the NFC title game. OC Kliff Kingsbury should’t be unemployed very long. Washington’s defense finished last in yards allowed, 27th in points given up, so firing the DC was expected.

QB Jayden Daniels played four full games; Washington was 5-12 this year, after going 12-5 LY.

— New Jersey Jets had only four takeaways all season, are the first NFL team EVER not to intercept a pass all season. Jets wound up minus-19 in turnovers.

— Dallas Cowboys fired DC Matt Eberflus; next season Dallas will have their fourth different DC in four years. Cowboys traded their best defensive player to Green Bay before the season, then went 7-9-1, 1-8 when they scored less than 30 points. Dallas allowed the most points in the league, were 30th in yards allowed.

— Movie of the Day: Tequila Sunrise (1988)- A retired drug dealer in Los Angeles tries to go straight but his past and his underworld connections bring him into the focus of the DEA, the Mexican feds and the Mexican drug cartels.

Mel Gibson is the dealer, Michelle Pfeiffer runs the restaurant where he eats, Kurt Russell and JT Walsh are cops trying to bust drug dealers. Raul Julia is an old friend of the dealer.

Good movie; I found it the other day on YouTube.

— Nebraska’s basketball team is 15-0; they’re ranked in top 10 for the first time since 1966. 

— Texas A&M 90, Auburn 88
Auburn hit 3-pointer at buzzer that was waved off after a replay review.
Auburn led by 16 points with 13:29 left in the game.
Texas A&M shot 61.3% inside the arc.
Aggies have won won five in row, 10 of last 11 games.

— Kansas 104, TCU 100, OT
TCU led by 9 with 1:14 left in the game.
Kansas was 30-40 on foul line, Horned Frogs 15-24.
Jayhawks avoided their first 0-2 start in league play since 1991.

— Wisconsin 80, UCLA 72
Badgers led 33-13 midway thru first half.
UCLA shot 1-17 on the arc, 15-23 on foul line.
Bruins are 1-4 on the road, with only win at Washington.

— Duke 84, Louisville 73
Louisville led by 12 late in the first half.
Duke outscored Cardinals 46-26 in second half.
Blue Devils shot 64.7% inside the arc. 

— South Carolina 78, LSU 68
Gamecocks led this game 43-15 in the first half.
Carolina shot 12-21 from the arc.
6-4 junior Strong scored 30 points in 25:00