ArmadilloSports
Friday’s 6-pack:
NBA scoring leaders:
29.5— Kevin Durant, Bkln
27.4— Steph Curry, GSt
26.7— Paul George, LAC
26.6— Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milw
26.5— Ja Morant, Mem
26.0— DeMar DeRozan, Chi
Quote of the Day
“I’m against it (pineapple on pizza). I’m staunchly opposed. It’s my mom’s favorite type of pizza — ham and pineapple — and I love pineapple, too.”
Mike Leach
Friday’s quiz
Who was coach of the Miami Dolphins last time they won a playoff game?
Thursday’s quiz
Before moving to Oakland in 1968, A’s played in Kansas City; before that, Philadelphia.
Wednesday’s quiz
Florida Gators won NCAA Tournament in 2006 and 2007, last time a college basketball team won consecutive national titles.
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Friday’s Den: Random stuff with weekend here, and NBA trends
13) Dolphins 22, Ravens 10:
— This was Ravens’ first road game since October 3rd.
— Baltimore punted eight times in this game.
— Ravens kicked FG on first drive, didn’t score again until 4:16 was left.
— Baltimore trailed at halftime in four of last five games.
— Last four games, opponents are 15-52 on third down
— Miami allowed 16-9-10 points in their wins.
— Dolphins scored defensive TD to make score 15-3.
— QB Brissett got hurt in 3rd quarter, Tagovailoa finished up.
— Last six years, Miami is 15-10-1 ATS as home underdogs.
— Dolphins held Baltimore to 94 rushing yards.
12) Aaron Rodgers got fined $14,650 by the NFL for mostly ignoring the COVID protocols when he wasn’t vaccinated; I’m not here to talk about that, I’m just wondering how they came up with that amount. Where does $14,650 come from? Why not just $15,000? $14,500?
11) I’ve said many times that as a Rams’ fan, I trust Sean McVay/Les Snead to do the right stuff, so I don’t stress out over decisions they make. I’ll stick with that today. I’ll just say this:
— Rams’ Super Bowl odds before signing Odell Beckham: 8-1
— Rams’ Super Bowl odds after signing Odell Beckham: 8-1
10) Carolina Panthers signed Cam Newton/Matt Barkley this week; unsure which of their three QB’s will start this week in Arizona.
Newton played nine years for Carolina, lead them to Super Bowl six years ago. He played for the Patriots last year, was released this summer.
9) Watched Heat-Lakers game Wednesday, good ballgame. Jeff Van Gundy is an excellent NBA analyst- so is his brother Stan.
Many moons ago, November 1980, I was student manager of our college team at Albany- the Great Danes. We were Division III and we had a strong team. The higher level of Division III was very good basketball. This was so long ago, ESPN had just signed on the airwaves.
We’re playing in a tournament at Brockport State in western NY, near Rochester. Coach for the host team was a short guy wearing a neck brace— he had been in a car accident. He had also been a junior college coach in California, now he was in Brockport, a decided downgrade in weather.
Coach’s name was Bill Van Gundy, father of Jeff/Stan. What are the odds that the two sons of a Division III coach in western NY would both wind up being NBA coaches, and TV stars?
8) Connecticut Huskies hired Jim Mora Jr to handle the big job of rebuilding their horrendous football program. UConn was underdog to an Ivy League team this year; they’re 0-7 vs I-A teams, 1-1 vs I-AA teams- they beat Yale. Jim Mora Jr has a lot of work to do.
Mora was 46-30 in six years at UCLA, 29-24 in Pac-12 games, 2-2 in bowls. He was 32-34 in four years as an NFL head coach, with Falcons/Seahawks.
7) Mike White will start at QB for the Jets this week against Buffalo. Joe Flacco will be his backup; Josh Johnson threw for 317 yards last week and gets demoted to 4th-string.
6) Underdogs are 78-56-1 ATS in the NFL so far this season; last year at this time, underdogs were…….. 77-56 ATS.
5) Astros’ OF Jake Meyers had surgery for a torn labrum, isn’t expected to be ready for the start of next season. Meyers hit .260 in 49 games for Houston this season.
4) John Beilein has been a highly successful college basketball coach, winning 754 games; he tried his hand at the NBA, but that didn’t go too well in Cleveland. Now, at age 68, Beilein is an assistant coach for the Detroit Pistons— first time in his life he’s been an assistant coach.
3) Good rule change in the NFL; the replay official can chime in and overrule an obviously wrong call, saving teams from using a challenge, while keeping the game going.
2) Cal-Riverside 66, Arizona State 65— Kid on Riverside drained a 65-footer at the buzzer to five the Highlanders (+8.5) one of the best wins in their program’s D-I history.
1) Pitt 30, North Carolina 23 OT:
— Pitt led 23-7 at halftime, didn’t score in second half.
— UNC kicked 20-yard FG with 0:57 left to force OT
— Carolina had 12 penalties for 104 yards; Pitt 6 for 55.
— Tar Heels (+6.5) were obviously a bad beat.