CNOTES 2024-2025 NBA TRENDS, NEWS, BEST BETS AND OPINIONS THRU THE PLAYOFFS !

[Udog]

NBA
Dunkel

Thursday, February 27

NBA

Thursday, February 27

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Trend Report
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Golden State vs Orlando
Golden State is 6-1 ATS in its last 7 games
Golden State is 6-1 SU in its last 7 games
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Orlando's last 5 games
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Orlando's last 5 games at home

Denver vs Milwaukee
Denver is 10-1 SU in its last 11 games
Denver is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games when playing on the road against Milwaukee
Milwaukee is 9-2 ATS in its last 11 games at home
Milwaukee is 9-2 SU in its last 11 games at home

Charlotte vs Dallas
Charlotte is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games when playing Dallas
Charlotte is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games when playing on the road against Dallas
Dallas is 5-0 ATS in its last 5 games at home
Dallas is 8-1 ATS in its last 9 games

New Orleans vs Phoenix
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of New Orleans's last 5 games
The total has gone OVER in 7 of New Orleans's last 9 games when playing Phoenix
The total has gone OVER in 7 of Phoenix's last 9 games when playing New Orleans
The total has gone UNDER in 13 of Phoenix's last 17 games at home

Minnesota vs LA Lakers
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Minnesota's last 5 games on the road
The total has gone UNDER in 11 of Minnesota's last 15 games when playing LA Lakers
LA Lakers is 8-1 SU in its last 9 games at home
LA Lakers is 9-2 SU in its last 11 games


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[Udog]

Thursday’s 6-pack:
Baseball teams whose attendance went down last year:
-24.1%— White Sox
-20.1%— A’s
-16.7%— Mets
-11.2%— Cardinals
-10.7%— Angels
-7.7%— Blue Jays

Thought of the Day
“Without you, I would not have been the second-leading scorer on a championship team. … I can’t thank you enough, are you kidding me? I didn’t even think that was possible.”
Klay Thompson, thanking the doctor who operated on his injured achilles tendon in 2020

Thursday’s quiz
Where did Klay Thompson play his college basketball?

Wednesday’s quiz
Blake Snell is the last pitcher to throw a complete game no-hitter in the major leagues.

Tuesday’s quiz
Oakland A’s have won four World Series, under Dick Williams (2), Alvin Dark, Tony LaRussa.

***********************************************

Thursday’s Den: Doing some thinking out loud…….​

— There’s a lot of BS going on in the world these days, let’s start with some good stuff.
Tuesday night in LA, the Lakers beat Dallas 107-99; Klay Thompson scored 22 points, had 8 rebounds for the Mavericks. After the game, Thompson gave a 2022 NBA championship ring to Dr. Richard Ferkel, who surgically repaired Thompson’s torn achilles tendon in 2020.
“Oh my gosh, this is unbelievable.” Dr. Ferkel said, when he saw the ring he was getting. NBA championship rings are very big, and very expensive.
Showing gratitude is simple enough, but needs to happen more often.

— For three years now, the NFL Players Association has done a report card that grades teams on 11 different categories as far as off-field things; treatment of families, food/cafeteria, nutritionist/dietician, locker room, training room, training staff, weight room, strength coaches, team travel, head coach and owner.

Arizona Cardinals were lowest-ranked team, after being 27th last year.
League-wide, there were four F-minus grades given out:

1- Cardinals- locker room.
Players think the locker room and weight room are too small.

2- Bills- team travel
Only 35% of players said they had a comfortable amount of personal space on team flights. Players sit in smaller seats during travel while coaches/auxiliary staff sit in first class.

3- Bengals- treatment of families
Cincinnati is one of only three teams in the NFL that doesn’t offer daycare during home games, and one of 10 teams that does not offer a family room.
Also, the team’s dietitian only works two days a week; players want her hired full-time.

4- Browns- locker room
Cleveland upgraded its weight room last year; players gave it an A grade this year, but now they would like a bigger locker room, too.

— NFL Combine starts Thursday, lot of 40-yard sprints and interviews with Mel Kiper.

— Major league teams must make a decent amount of $$$ during spring training; Mets drew over 7,200 fans for their Grapefruit League opener last week. Cubs draw bigger crowds than that out in Arizona.

— Washington Nationals signed closer Kyle Finnegan for one year, $6M; Finnegan had 38 saves for Washington last year.

— Someone who needs to be in the Baseball Hall of Fame:
Charlie Finley was an insurance salesman who got rich selling group medical insurance to doctors; he bought the Kansas City A’s in 1960, moved them to Oakland in 1968, was the team’s general manager as well as a great promoter.

Finley’s A’s won three straight World Series from 1972-74, but then free agency became a thing and Finley couldn’t compete with the big $$$ owners who then infiltrated the game. He sold the A’s in 1980, but think about the impact Finley had/still has, actually.

Finley’s A’s were the first team to wear more colorful uniforms; think about how much $$$ teams make now from selling hats/jerseys/jackets. Billions of dollars; Finley helped that ball get rolling, over 50 years ago.

He wasn’t very well-liked, so he’ll probably never get inducted into Cooperstown, but he damn sure should be.

— Famous birthdays, February 27th:
Joanne Woodward, 95
James Worthy, 64
Greg Cadaret, 63
Matt Stairs, 57
Loy Vaught, 57
Duce Staley, 50
Devin Harris, 42
Aníbal Sánchez, 41
Chris Godwin, 29

— Michigan State 58, Maryland 55
Kid on Michigan State drained a 1/2-court shot at the buzzer.
Spartans had blown a 9-point lead with 5:24 left to play.
Teams combined to shoot 8-35 on the arc.

— San Francisco 74, Oregon State 72
Beavers’ tying basket came half-second after the horn sounded.
Oregon State was only 14-24 on the foul line.
San Francisco won seven of its last eight games.

— Arkansas 86, Texas 81 OT
Arkansas led by 14 with 10:15 left in the game.
Razorbacks played only seven guys.
Texas lost five of its last six games.

— Vanderbilt 86, Texas A&M 84
Lot of fouls; Vandy was 28-36 on line, Aggies 31-39
Bracketology has Vanderbilt as a #10-seed in NCAA’s.
Aggies lost last three games, after a 20-5 start.

— Villanova 59, Seton Hall 54
Seton Hall led 37-21 early in second half.
Pirates were only 8-17 on the foul line.
Wildcats won five of their last seven games.

— Kentucky 83, Oklahoma 82
6-4 junior Oweh scored 28 points, had no assists- his job is to shoot.
Both teams shot 63% inside the arc.
Sooners are 4-11 in SEC, after a 13-0 pre-conference mark.

— East Tennessee State 59, Mercer 58
ETSU beat Mercer twice TY, by total of three points.
ETSU survived shooting 7-13 on the foul line.
Buccaneers won six of their last eight games.

 

[Udog]

Friday’s 6-pack:
Most 3-point shots made, in NBA/ABA history:
3,969— Steph Curry
3,101— James Harden
2,973— Ray Allen
2,774— Damian Lillard
2,642— Klay Thompson
2,560— Reggie Miller

Thought of the Day
“I took the film at a time that I was desperate for money. I took it for all the wrong reasons, and it turned out to be one of those films that stick around. I was from that area of the country and knew of that event, strangely enough. We filmed fifty miles from where I was brought up. So it was a bizarre feeling. I never expected the film to have the kind of legs it’s had.”
Gene Hackman, on why he played Coach Dale in Hoosiers

Friday’s quiz
Which former NFL head coach played in lowest-scoring NBA (yes, NBA) game ever played?
(Hint: He was a head coach in a Super Bowl)

Thursday’s quiz
Klay Thompson played his college basketball at Washington State.

Wednesday’s quiz
Blake Snell is the last pitcher to throw a complete game no-hitter in the major leagues.

*****************************************************************

Friday’s Den: Random stuff with the weekend here……..​

— Sunday night, March Madness tips off with two games in the ASUN Tournament:
Stetson vs Central Arkansas @ Nashville, winner plays Lipscomb Monday
Austin Peay vs North Florida @ Florence, AL; winner plays North Alabama Monday

— Michigan 84, Rutgers 82
Rutgers led 57-49 at halftime; they scored 25 points in 2nd half.
Michigan shot 72.7% inside the arc.
Wolverines have won eight of their last nine games.

— UAB 80, Wichita State 72
UAB won 12 of its last 14 games.
Blazers were +8 in turnovers (17-9)
Loss snaps Wichita’s six-game winning streak.

— Wright State 82, Cleveland State 76
With this score, Robert Morris wins Horizon regular season for first time.
Cleveland State led 45-31 at halftime.
Wright State made 12-21 shots on the arc.

— Towson State 88, Wm & Mary 73
Towson shot 14-32 on arc, wins CAA regular season title.
Wm & Mary led by 15, early in second half.
Tigers out-rebounded Wm & Mary, 44-23

— North Texas 71, Florida Atlantic 61
North Texas shot 66.7% inside the arc.
Mean Green has won five in row, 11 of last 13 games.

— Warriors 121, Magic 115
Steph Curry scored 56 points, shooting 12-19 on the arc.
Rest of the Warriors were 7-26 on the arc.
Orlando led 66-52 at halftime.
Golden State is 7-1 since they acquired Jimmy Butler.

— Famous birthdays, February 28th:
Bernadette Peters, 77
Mercedes Ruehl, 77
Adrian Dantley, 70
John Turturro, 68
Ken Whisenhunt, 63
Ickey Woods, 59
Tayshaun Prince, 45
Aroldis Chapman, 37
Alex Caruso, 31
Randy Arozarena, 30
Luka Doncic, 26
Lance McCutcheon, 26

— In its last three games, BYU’s basketball team has……
Scored 90+ points
Shot 50%+ from the floor
Made 12+ 3-pointers
Had fewer than 12 turnovers.
They’re the first team in the last 25 years to do that three game in a row.

— Utah fired basketball coach Craig Smith Monday, with only four games left in the regular season; they couldn’t have waited a couple weeks, until the regular season was over?
One of coach Smith’s son is a walk-on sub with the Utes; another son is Director of Operations for Utah. Seems kind of harsh to fire their dad, while his sons stick it out and finish the season.

— Right now, there are nine NFL QB’s with contracts that average $50M/year. Cowboys’ QB Dak Prescott is the highest-paid player right now, at $60M/year.

— Detroit Pistons have won eight games in a row, their longest winning streak since 2008.

— There is an NHL game in Ohio State’s football stadium Saturday night- Detroit-Columbus will play in Ohio Stadium, with ESPN showing the game. NHL has hit the jackpot with these outdoor games over the years- they’ll have a huge crowd for this game.

— White Sox OF Andrew Benintendi broke his hand when he was hit by a pitch, is out 4-6 weeks. Benintendi had a rough year last year, hitting .229, now he’s going to miss the first part of the season.

— RIP to the great actor Gene Hackman, who passed away this week at age 95; in his long career, he won two Academy Awards, four Golden Globe awards.
I remember him most from Hoosiers, but he was in a ton of movies- Runaway Jury, The Firm, The Replacements, Class Action.
What a great career. RIP, sir.

 

[Udog]

 

[Udog]

NBA

Friday, February 28

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Trend Report
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Denver vs Detroit
Denver is 9-1 SU in its last 10 games when playing Detroit
Denver is 10-2 SU in its last 12 games
Detroit is 5-0 ATS in its last 5 games
Detroit is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games

Oklahoma City vs Atlanta
Oklahoma City is 10-2 SU in its last 12 games
The total has gone OVER in 12 of Oklahoma City's last 15 games when playing Atlanta
The total has gone OVER in 12 of Atlanta's last 15 games when playing Oklahoma City
Atlanta is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games when playing at home against Oklahoma City

Cleveland vs Boston
Cleveland is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games
Cleveland is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games on the road
Boston is 6-1 SU in its last 7 games
Boston is 6-1 SU in its last 7 games when playing at home against Cleveland

Portland vs Brooklyn
Portland is 7-2 SU in its last 9 games when playing on the road against Brooklyn
Portland is 13-5 ATS in its last 18 games
The total has gone UNDER in 13 of Brooklyn's last 15 games
The total has gone UNDER in 11 of Brooklyn's last 13 games at home

Toronto vs Chicago
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Toronto's last 5 games when playing on the road against Chicago
Toronto is 6-1 ATS in its last 7 games on the road
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Chicago's last 5 games when playing at home against Toronto
Chicago is 6-1 SU in its last 7 games when playing at home against Toronto

New York vs Memphis
New York is 5-0 ATS in its last 5 games when playing on the road against Memphis
The total has gone OVER in 8 of New York's last 10 games when playing Memphis
Memphis is 7-1 SU in its last 8 games at home
The total has gone OVER in 8 of Memphis's last 10 games when playing New York

Indiana vs Miami
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Indiana's last 5 games when playing Miami
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Indiana's last 6 games when playing on the road against Miami
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Miami's last 5 games when playing Indiana
The total has gone OVER in 9 of Miami's last 10 games at home

New Orleans vs Phoenix
The total has gone OVER in 8 of New Orleans's last 10 games when playing Phoenix
New Orleans is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games
The total has gone OVER in 8 of Phoenix's last 10 games when playing New Orleans
The total has gone UNDER in 13 of Phoenix's last 18 games at home

Minnesota vs Utah
Minnesota is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games when playing Utah
Minnesota is 5-0 ATS in its last 5 games when playing on the road against Utah
The total has gone OVER in 8 of Utah's last 10 games
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Utah's last 5 games when playing Minnesota

LA Clippers vs LA Lakers
LA Clippers is 12-2 ATS in its last 14 games when playing on the road against LA Lakers
LA Clippers is 16-4 SU in its last 20 games when playing on the road against LA Lakers
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of LA Lakers's last 5 games
LA Lakers is 9-1 SU in its last 10 games at home


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[Udog]

NBA
Dunkel

Friday, February 28

 

[CNOTES]

Friday, February 28​

Game	Time(ET)	Pick	Units
DEN at DET	07:00 PM	DET -1.0 U 239.0	+500 +500
OKC at ATL	07:30 PM	ATL +11.0 U 246.0	+500 +500
POR at BK	07:30 PM	POR -2.5	+500
CLE at BOS	07:30 PM	CLE +1.0	+500
IND at MIA	08:00 PM	MIA +3.5 O 224.0	+500 +500
TOR at CHI	08:00 PM	TOR +2.5 U 232.0	+500 +500
NY at MEM	08:00 PM	NY +3.5 O 243.5	+500 +500
NO at PHO	09:00 PM	NO +9.0 O 230.5	+500 +500
MIN at UTA	09:30 PM	MIN -4.5 U 226.0	+500 +500
LAC at LAL	10:00 PM	LAC -4.5 U 220.0	+500 +500

 

[Udog]

Armadillo Sports

Saturday’s 6-pack:
— Purdue 76, UCLA 66- Boilermakers shot 11-22 on the arc.
— UNLV 68, Nevada 55- Rebels won five of their last six games.
— Akron 77, Kent State 72- Zips are 15-1 in the MAC
— Manhattan 77, Canisius 72- 3-25 Canisius led by 17 midway thru first half.
— Yale 72, Dartmouth 67- Yale has won 13 in a row; their last loss was December 21.
— Texas State 102, James Madison 93, 2OT- Sun Belt regular season finishes in a 4-way tie for first place.

Quote of the Day
“The call is surprisingly correct.”
Umpire Mike Muchlinski, announcing to the crowd that an instant replay challenge showed that his call was right.

Saturday’s quiz
Who is the only major league ballplayer who played 162 games in each of the last three seasons?

Friday’s quiz
Former Vikings’ head coach Bud Grant played in the lowest-scoring NBA (yes, NBA) game ever, when he played for the Minneapolis Lakers in 1951.

Thursday’s quiz
Klay Thompson played his college basketball at Washington State.

**********************************************************

Saturday’s Den: Baseball issues for 2025, now that March is here…….

— As I started writing this, Shohei Ohtani hit a home run in his first at-bat of the 2025 Cactus League; Ohtani was a 50-50 guy last year, but this year he figures to get back on the mound too.

Ohtani is 38-19, 3.01 in 86 MLB starts, with a 1.08 WHIP; he is coming back from Tommy John surgery.

Dodgers have spent a boatload of $$$; they’re favored to win the World Series again this year. It has been 25 years since a team won the World Series two years in a row.

— Juan Soto signed a 15-year, $765M contract with the Mets, who went 89-73 last year but lost the NLCS to the Dodgers in six games. Mets have Lindor-Soto-Alonso leading off their lineup, but how good is their batting order after that?

— New York’s American League team hasn’t won a World Series since 2009, despite having a huge payroll every year; last year was first time since ’09 they were in a World Series. They’ve made the playoffs seven of last eight years, but now they lost Soto, but added Paul Goldschmidt, Cody Bellinger and Max Fried.

— Tampa Bay Rays will play their home games this year in a minor league stadium in Tampa, because the Trop was wicked by a hurricane last year. Rays will play ton of home games early in the season, to avoid the humid summer weather in Florida.

A’s will be playing home games in Sacramento’s minor league stadium the next three years; hopefully they’ll move to Las Vegas for the ’28 season, but since their owner is a cheap bastard, no one knows for sure.

Summer weather in Sacramento is said to be a lot warmer than Oakland, so A’s home games figure to be more high scoring than previous years.

— Still unclear what the Red Sox lineup is going to look like; they signed Alex Bregman, but also have Rafael Devers- they both play third base. Devers is banged-up right now; when he gets back in the lineup, does Bregman move to 2B? Does Devers move to 1B?

Boston seems to have an excess of hitters; will they trade one for a pitcher (Dylan Cease)?

— Pittsburgh haven’t had a winning season since 2018, haven’t made the playoffs since 2015, but their pitching rotation is pretty good; too bad they won’t spend $$$ on some hitters- they could compete for a playoff spot in a less-than-stellar NL Central.

— Wish they’d put in the ball/strike replay challenge thing in for this season; it seems to be a very good idea, from what I’ve seen in spring training. MLB and the players’ union could get together and make this happen right?

— Famous birthdays, March 1st:
Elvin Bethea, 79
Brian Winters, 73
Ron Howard, 71
Catherine Bach, 71
George Eads, 58

Chris Webber, 52
Trevor Cahill, 37
Michael Conforto, 32

Tyreek Hill, 31
Ja’Maar Chase, 25

— Watching spring training games is fun (to a point); watch lot of Dodger games, listen to Rick Monday do analysis- he does radio during the season. He is 79 years old, has a great voice.

When I was a little kid, Rick Monday was an outfielder for the A’s; he was the first player taken in the 1965 amateur draft, which was the first-ever amateur draft.

He played 19 years in the majors and since has had an excellent broadcasting career.

— Read that All-Stars will be wearing their team’s uniform during the All-Star Game this year, which is a good thing, a throwback to the old days.

— Jose Altuve is going to play LF for the Astros this year; Christian Walker will play 1B, Isaac Paredes will replace Bregman at 3B, and it looks like Brendan Rodgers will play 2B.

Altuve’s defensive metrics at 2B weren’t good last year, so they’re moving him to the outfield. Left field in Houston’s stadium isn’t big; am curious where he’ll play in road games.

— Will Nolan Arenado remain a Cardinal, or get traded to a contender? He is on the books for $32M this year, $27M next year, $15M in 2027; he said he wanted to get traded to a contender, but apparently vetoed a trade to Houston.

Cardinals don’t appear to be a contender this season, so unloading a big contract makes some sense for St Louis.

— Mike Trout is moving to right field this year, as he tries to stay healthier; Trout will be 34 in August, has played in only 266 games the last four years, 41% of the Angels’ games. Not ideal for a guy who is on the books for $37M a year through 2030.

— Terry Francona is the new manager in Cincinnati; Reds have made the playoffs only once since 2013, the short season in 2020, but Francona is a Hall of Fame-level manager, winning two World Series in Boston, winning an AL title in Cleveland.

Reds have had three winning seasons the last five years, but were 77-85 last year, going 15-28 in one-run games. Reverse that stat, and Cincinnati would’ve been a playoff team.

— Arizona Diamondbacks lost the World Series in 2023, then won five more games last year than they did in ’23, but narrowly missed the playoffs.

Arizona added P Corbin Burnes, 1B Josh Naylor, but lost Christian Walker; they’re trying hard to win, but being a division rival of the Dodgers can be discouraging. More than likely, they’ll be hunting for a Wild Card spot, like the one they got in 2023.

 

[Udog]

NBA

Saturday, March 1

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Trend Report
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Washington vs Charlotte
Washington is 5-0 ATS in its last 5 games when playing Charlotte
Washington is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games when playing on the road against Charlotte
Charlotte is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games at home
The total has gone UNDER in 11 of Charlotte's last 14 games at home

Brooklyn vs Detroit
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Brooklyn's last 5 games when playing on the road against Detroit
Brooklyn is 6-1 SU in its last 7 games when playing on the road against Detroit
Detroit is 5-0 ATS in its last 5 games when playing Brooklyn
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Detroit's last 5 games when playing at home against Brooklyn

San Antonio vs Memphis
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of San Antonio's last 5 games
San Antonio is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games when playing on the road against Memphis
Memphis is 17-1 SU in its last 18 games when playing San Antonio
Memphis is 7-1 SU in its last 8 games when playing at home against San Antonio

Sacramento vs Houston
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Sacramento's last 6 games when playing on the road against Houston
The total has gone OVER in 9 of Sacramento's last 11 games when playing Houston
Houston is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games at home
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Houston's last 6 games when playing at home against Sacramento

Milwaukee vs Dallas
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Milwaukee's last 5 games on the road
Milwaukee is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games when playing Dallas
Dallas is 6-1 ATS in its last 7 games at home
Dallas is 6-1 SU in its last 7 games at home

Golden State vs Philadelphia
Golden State is 5-0 ATS in its last 5 games
Golden State is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games
The total has gone UNDER in 7 of Philadelphia's last 9 games when playing Golden State
Philadelphia is 13-4 ATS in its last 17 games when playing at home against Golden State


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[Udog]

 

[Udog]

NBA
Dunkel

Saturday, March 1

 

[CNOTES]

Saturday, March 1​

Game	Time(ET)	Pick	Units
WAS at CHA	06:00 PM	WAS +4.0 O 219.0	+500 +500
BK at DET	07:00 PM	DET -11.0 O 217.0	+500 +500
SA at MEM	08:00 PM	SA +9.0 O 244.0	+500 +500
SAC at HOU	08:00 PM	HOU -5.0 O 230.5	+500 +500
MIL at DAL	08:30 PM	DAL +3.5 U 228.0	+500 +500
GS at PHI	08:30 PM	GS -8.0 O 227.0	+500 +500

 

[CNOTES]

NBA BEST BETS FOR MARCH !

03/01/2025..............................3 - 6 - 0..........................33.33%..................- 16.50

TOTALS......................................3 - 6 - 0..........................33.33%...................- 16.50

 

[CNOTES]

Sunday’s 6-pack:
Teams that play the fastest tempo in the country:
1) Alabama 23-6
2) Cal Poly 12-18
3) South Dakota 18-13
4) New Mexico 23-6
5) Winthrop 21-10
6) USC Upstate 6-25

Quote of the Day
“People handle stress differently. I’ve seen my grandmother and mom handle stress and pressure. They didn’t blink.”
Missouri basketball coach Dennis Gates, whose team is is 21-8/10-6 this year, they went 8-24/0-18 last season

Sunday’s quiz
Steph Curry’s father Dell scored 12,670 points in his NBA career; where did he play his college basketball?

Saturday’s quiz
Braves’ 1B Matt Olson is the only major league ballplayer who played 162 games in each of the last three seasons.

Friday’s quiz
Former Vikings’ head coach Bud Grant played in the lowest-scoring NBA (yes, NBA) game ever, when he played for the Minneapolis Lakers in 1951.

*************************************************

Sunday’s Den: Wrapping up a college basketball Saturday……​

Quick note that I didn’t know until tonight: college athletes from foreign countries aren’t eligible for NIL money. How is that possible? Oregon State has players from nine different countries, lot cheaper than recruiting American kids.

— Tennessee 79, Alabama 76
Tennessee nailed a 40-foot jumper at the buzzer for a walk-off win.
Vols outscored Alabama 7-0 over the final 0:36.
Tennessee has won seven of its last eight games.

— Texas Tech 78, Kansas 73
Red Raiders were 13-19 inside arc, 15-43 on arc; lot of 3’s.
Texas Tech is 11-3 in its last fourteen games.
Jayhawks are 5-6 in last 11 games, are in 6th place in Big X.

— Vanderbilt 97, Missouri 93 OT
Vandy hit a contested 3-pointer with 0:04 left to force overtime.
Commodores won last three games, by 5-2-4 points.
Bracketology has Vandy as a 9-seed in NCAA’s; last time they were in the NCAA’s was 2017.

— St John’s 71, Seton Hall 61
St John’s won its first outright Big East crown since 1985.
Pitino’s team has won 15 of its last 16 games.
Red Storm was 21-33 on foul line, Seton Hall 9-21.

— Colorado State 93, Utah State 66
Colorado State led this game 48-22 at halftime.
Rams made 14-21 shots on arc, scored 1.48 points/possession.
Colorado State won its last five games, giving up 59.4 ppg.

— Upsets of the Day:
Harvard (+9.5) 74, Yale 69
Minnesota (+8.5) 67, Nebraska 65
Denver (+7.5) 78, South Dakota State 62
Buffalo (+6.5) 87, Toledo 74
Stony Brook (+5.5) 71, Elon 66
Abilene Christian (+5.5) 70, Tex-Arlington 59
Georgia (+5.5) 83, Texas 67

— Cal-Irvine 70, Long Beach State 60
Beach has lost 13 games in a row, but they’re 5-1 ATS in last six.
Six of their last nine losses were by 5 or less points, or in OT.
Anteaters have won 15 of their last 18 games.

— Saint Mary’s 74, Oregon State 64
Gaels finish 17-1 in WCC, their best conference record ever.
Saint Mary’s out-rebounded the Beavers 39-22.
Augustas Marciulionis scored 25 points on his Senior Night.

— Towson 75, Hampton 72
Towson has won 17 of its last 19 games; they’re #1 seed in CAA tourney.
Tigers are #1 team in country in continuity.
Hampton lost, but they’re 7-0 ATS in their last seven games.

— Eastern Illinois 73, SE Missouri State 58
Loss snaps the Redhawks’ 10-game winning streak.
SE Missouri State shot 28% (7-25) inside the arc.
Streaky Eastern Illinois’ last 18 games: 7L-3W-4L-4W

— Famous birthdays, March 2nd:
Cassie Yates, 74
Terry Steinbach, 63
Jon Bon Jovi, 63
Ron Gant, 60
Sebastian Janikowski, 47
Ross Tucker, 46
Ben Roethlisberger, 43
Reggie Bush, 40
Bud Norris, 40
Jason Smith, 37
Miguel Andujar, 30
Tua Tagovailoa, 27

— South Carolina 72, Arkansas 53
Arkansas trailed 40-16 at half; damaging loss for a bubble team.
Razorbacks shot 28.8% from the floor.
South Carolina is only 2-14 in the SEC this season.

— Virginia Tech 101, Syracuse 95 OT
Syracuse led by 13 with 8:45 left in the game.
Hokies shot 69% inside the arc.
Last four years, Syracuse is 36-42 in ACC games.

— Florida 89, Texas A&M 70
Gators were 14-33 on arc, scored 1.24 points/possession.
Florida has won seven of its last eight games.
Aggles have lost four in a row, after a 20-5 start to the season.

— Portland State 79, Montana 76 OT
Loss drops Grizzlies into a first-place tie with Northern Colorado.
Soph Williams scored 36 for Montana; he didn’t start.
Portland State survived going 21-35 on the foul line.

— Duquesne 85, George Mason 68
Duquesne shot 15-31 on the arc, scored 1.24 points/possession.
Dukes scored 85 against team with the #7 eFG% defense in country.
Patriots lost two of last three games, slip out of first place tie with VCU.

 

[Udog]

NBA
Dunkel

Sunday, March 2

 

[Udog]

NBA

Sunday, March 2

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Trend Report
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Denver vs Boston
Denver is 11-2 SU in its last 13 games
Denver is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games on the road
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Boston's last 6 games when playing at home against Denver
Boston is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games when playing at home against Denver

Portland vs Cleveland
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Portland's last 6 games when playing Cleveland
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Portland's last 5 games on the road
Cleveland is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games
Cleveland is 6-0-1 ATS in its last 7 games

Chicago vs Indiana
Chicago is 5-0 ATS in its last 5 games
The total has gone UNDER in 17 of Chicago's last 23 games when playing on the road against Indiana
The total has gone UNDER in 17 of Indiana's last 23 games when playing at home against Chicago
Indiana is 5-2 SU in its last 7 games at home

New York vs Miami
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of New York's last 5 games
New York is 13-4 SU in its last 17 games on the road
The total has gone OVER in 10 of Miami's last 11 games at home
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Miami's last 6 games

Toronto vs Orlando
The total has gone UNDER in 14 of Toronto's last 16 games when playing on the road against Orlando
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Toronto's last 5 games when playing Orlando
The total has gone UNDER in 14 of Orlando's last 16 games when playing at home against Toronto
The total has gone UNDER in 6 of Orlando's last 7 games

Oklahoma City vs San Antonio
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Oklahoma City's last 5 games
Oklahoma City is 11-2 SU in its last 13 games
The total has gone UNDER in 6 of San Antonio's last 7 games
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of San Antonio's last 7 games when playing Oklahoma City

New Orleans vs Utah
The total has gone OVER in 5 of New Orleans's last 6 games on the road
New Orleans is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games when playing Utah
Utah is 5-0 ATS in its last 5 games when playing at home against New Orleans
Utah is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games when playing at home against New Orleans

LA Clippers vs LA Lakers
LA Clippers is 12-3 ATS in its last 15 games when playing on the road against LA Lakers
LA Clippers is 16-5 SU in its last 21 games when playing on the road against LA Lakers
LA Lakers is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of LA Lakers's last 5 games

Minnesota vs Phoenix
Minnesota is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games when playing Phoenix
The total has gone OVER in 7 of Minnesota's last 8 games on the road
The total has gone OVER in 6 of Phoenix's last 7 games when playing Minnesota
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Phoenix's last 5 games


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[Udog]

 

[CNOTES]

Sunday, March 2​

Game	Time(ET)	Pick	Units
DEN at BOS	01:00 PM	BOS -4.0 U 234.0	+500 +500
POR at CLE	03:30 PM	CLE -11.5	+500
CHI at IND	05:00 PM	U 241.0	+500
NY at MIA	06:00 PM	O 220.5	+500
TOR at ORL	06:00 PM	U 209.5	+500
OKC at SA	07:00 PM	OKC -13.5 U 236.0	+500 +500
NO at UTA	08:00 PM	UTA +7.5 O 231.0	+500 +500
LAC at LAL	09:30 PM	U 220.5	+500
MIN at PHO	09:30 PM	O 231.5	+500

 

[CNOTES]

NBA BEST BETS FOR MARCH !

03/02/2025..............................6 - 3 - 0..........................66.66%..................+ 13.50
03/01/2025..............................3 - 6 - 0..........................33.33%..................- 16.50

TOTALS......................................9 - 9 - 0..........................50.00%...................- 3.00

 

[CNOTES]

Monday’s 6-pack:
Teams that play the slowest tempo in the country:
364) Drake 27-3
363) Wagner 14-15
362) North Texas 21-6
361) Houston 25-4
360) Virginia 14-15
359) Saint Mary’s 27-4

Fact of the Day
“Kirk Cousins’ $10M 2026 roster bonus becomes fully guaranteed on March 16.”
Dan Graziano, ESPN

Monday’s quiz
Of all the baseball players who have played since 1970, who has the most RBI in a single season?

Sunday’s quiz
Steph Curry’s father Dell scored 12,670 points in his NBA career; he played his college basketball at Virginia Tech, which didn’t recruit Steph Curry. Whoops.

Saturday’s quiz
Braves’ 1B Matt Olson is the only major league ballplayer who played 162 games in each of the last three seasons.

*******************************************

Monday’s Den: Wrapping up a sports weekend……..​

— First conference tournament tipped off Sunday, the Atlantic Sun:

Central Arkansas 77, Stetson 71
Hatters led 37-32 at half, were outscored 40-29 in second half.
Freshman Turner had 37 points, 11 rebounds for the Bears.
Central Arkansas came into this game on a 3-13 skid.
Central Arkansas plays Lipscomb in second round Monday night.

Austin Peay 90, North Florida 69
North Florida led 45-38 at halftime.
Governors were +8 in turnovers (14-6)
Ospreys started year 3-0, beating South Carolina/Ga Tech- they wind up 15-17.
Austin Peay plays North Alabama Monday night.

— Memphis 88, UAB 81
UAB led by 9 with 12:00 left in game.
Memphis shot 60.8% inside the arc.
Tigers won 11 of their last 12 games.

— FAU 69, South Florida 63
FAU never trailed, led 34-25 at halftime.
Win snaps the Owls’ threegame losing skid.
USF shot 32.3% from the floor.

— Bradley 73, Northern Iowa 56
Braves won 6 of last 7 games, are #2-seed in Arch Madness.
Bradley is shooting 40.9% on arc, best in the country.
Northern Iowa lost 2 of last 3 games, is #3-seed in MVC tournament.

— Drake 68, Missouri State 60 OT
Bears lost despite shooting 10-19 on the arc.
Three guys on Drake played the whole 45:00.
Drake is 27-3, with four starters who played D-2 ball last year.

— Cornell 102, Princeton 70
Big Red shot 20-33 on the arc, scored 1.46 points/possession.
Cornell won its last three games, scoring 92.3 ppg.
Princeton has one-game lead for last spot in Ivy tournament, with one game left.

— Illinois 93, Michigan 73
Illini outscored Michigan 62-43 in second half.
Illinois is shooting 57.4% inside arc (#15), 30.8% on arc (#319)
Wolverines lost for only second time in their last ten games.

— Famous birthdays, March 3rd:
Willie Wise, 78
Dennis Shaw, 78
Randy Gradishar, 73
Eric Torkelson, 73
Herschel Walker, 63
Trung Canidate, 48
Jessica Biel, 43
Santonio Holmes, 41
Jayson Tatum, 27
Maikel Garcia, 25

— San Francisco 49ers traded WR Deebo Samuel to Washington, getting a 5th-round draft pick in return. Commanders are taking on the remainder of Samuel’s contract and paying his full $17.55M salary next season.

— Speaking of the Commanders, they were 20-23 on 4th down conversions last year, the best %age ever on 4th down conversions. All of that, with zero QB sneaks on the 23 plays. None.

— If HBO/Max puts Bill Belichick’s North Carolina team on their spring Hard Knocks program, I’ll be cancelling HBO in my house. This is an NFL Films show, and Belichick isn’t in the NFL anymore.
Tennessee Titans have the #1 pick in the draft; they’re eligible to be on Hard Knocks. This seems to be an easy decision.

— Philadelphia Eagles hired Bowling Green head coach Scot Loeffler as their new QB coach; Loeffler was the coach at Bowling Green for five years, going 20-19 the last three seasons.
That’s the state of mid-major college football now; guys who are head coaches quit to become a position coach, not even a coordinator, for an NFL team.

— If you have Colorado Rockies’ OF Brenton Doyle on your fantasy team, check this out: here are Doyle’s home/away splits from last season:
Home: .313 with a .900 OPS. Impressive
Away: .211, with a .636 OPS. No bueno.

— Ohio Valley Conference has their conference tournament in Evansville, IN, even though only one of their 11 teams (Southern Indiana) is located in Indiana, and the Screaming Eagles have been a D-I team for only three years.

— Alabama-Birmingham has a basketball player Bradley Ezewiro, who is a 6-9 with an interesting history:
2021-22- played for LSU- coach was fired after season for NCAA violations after a 22-11 year
2022-23- played for Georgetown- coach was fired after a 7-25 season
2023-24- played for Saint Louis- coach was fired after a 13-20 season

Given that history, UAB coach Andy Kennedy had to be pretty confident in his coaching abilities to sign this kid up. UAB is 19-10 this year, so Kennedy won’t get fired, but they’ll need to win the AAC tournament to make it into the NCAA’s.