CNOTES NBA BEST BETS THRU FEBUARY !
02/12/2026.....................5 - 1 - 0..............83.33%..................+ 19.50
02/11/2026.....................7 - 3 - 0..............70.00%..................+ 18.50
02/10/2026.....................2 - 6 - 0..............25.00%..................- 23.00
02/09/2026.....................5 - 9 - 0..............35.71%..................- 24.50
02/08/2026.....................6 - 1 - 0..............85.71%.................+ 24.50
02/07/2026...................10 - 2 - 0..............83.33%.................+ 39.00
02/06/2026....................5 - 3 - 0...............62.50%..................+ 8.50
02/05/2026....................7 - 4 - 0...............63.63%..................+ 13.00
02/04/2026.....................3 - 4 - 0..............47.85%..................- 7.00
02/03/2026.....................8 - 7 - 0..............53.33%..................+ 1.50
02/02/22026..................3 - 1 - 0...............75.00%.................+ 9.50
02/01/2026....................7 - 6 - 0................53.84%.................+ 2.00
TOTALS........................68 -47 - 0................64.76%..................+ 81.50
02/12/2026.....................5 - 1 - 0..............83.33%..................+ 19.50
02/11/2026.....................7 - 3 - 0..............70.00%..................+ 18.50
02/10/2026.....................2 - 6 - 0..............25.00%..................- 23.00
02/09/2026.....................5 - 9 - 0..............35.71%..................- 24.50
02/08/2026.....................6 - 1 - 0..............85.71%.................+ 24.50
02/07/2026...................10 - 2 - 0..............83.33%.................+ 39.00
02/06/2026....................5 - 3 - 0...............62.50%..................+ 8.50
02/05/2026....................7 - 4 - 0...............63.63%..................+ 13.00
02/04/2026.....................3 - 4 - 0..............47.85%..................- 7.00
02/03/2026.....................8 - 7 - 0..............53.33%..................+ 1.50
02/02/22026..................3 - 1 - 0...............75.00%.................+ 9.50
02/01/2026....................7 - 6 - 0................53.84%.................+ 2.00
TOTALS........................68 -47 - 0................64.76%..................+ 81.50
Friday’s 6-pack
Hitters who swung/missed the most times last year:
462— Cal Raleigh
456— Rafael Devers
440— Riley Greene
438— Eugenio Suarez
431— Shohei Ohtani
423— Kyle Schwarber
Quote of the Day
“After being taken out of a close ball game in front of my friends and family, I brought a Presidente into the dugout. I then sat right next to Rob (Thomson) and let him know that too much slack in some areas and too tight of restrictions in others was not conducive to us winning.”
Nick Castellanos, who was cut by the Phillies Thursday
Friday’s quiz
Where did Patrick Mahomes play his college football?
Thursday’s quiz
Over the last five years, Toronto Blue Jays have the best batting average.
Wednesday’s quiz
Before he became coach at Kansas, Bill Self was the coach at Illinois.
**************************************************
Chambliss played D2 ball at Ferris State, then transferred to Ole Miss and won the starting QB job last fall, leading the Rebels to the national semifinals.
— Caleb Wilson, North Carolina’s best basketball player, is out with a broken left hand; it is not known how long he’ll be out for. He is scoring 19.8 ppg, grabbing 9.4 rebounds/game for the 19-5 Tar Heels.
— Los Angeles Dodgers gave 3B Max Muncy a $7M contract extension for 2027 that includes a $10 team option for 2028. Muncy played in only 173 games the last two years; he hit 19 HR’s last year, with an .846 OPS.
Dodgers also signed utility guy Kike Hernandez for $4.5M this season.
— Philadelphia Phillies released OF Nick Castellanos, then said he was benched last year after bringing beer into the dugout during a game. Phillies still have to pay Castellanos for 2026; he hit .250 with 17 homers and 72 RBI last year- he’ll be 34 next month.
— Cal Poly 79, Cal-Irvine 73
Anteaters led by 15 late in the first half.
Cal Poly outscored Irvine 50-31 in second half.
Irvine’s loss lets Hawaii slip into first place in the Big West
— Louisiana Tech 79, Missouri State 78, 2OT
Missouri State led by 12 midway thru first half.
Teams combined to shoot 13-51 on the arc.
Tech won six of their last nine games.
— Cal-Fullerton 86, Long Beach State 82
Fullerton won five of last six games, after a 5-1 start.
Titans outscored Long Beach 45-34 in second half.
Long Beach has lost six in a row, four of them by 7 or less points.
— Famous birthdays, February 13th
Bo Svenson, 85
Stockard Channing, 82
Mike Krzyzewski, 79
Peter Gabriel, 76
Mats Sundin, 55
Randy Moss, 49
Aqib Talib, 40
Nathan Eovaldi, 36
— Nebraska-Omaha 98, St Thomas 94
St Thomas led by 5 with 5:10 left in the game.
Omaha shot 25-28 on foul line, St Thomas 6-14
St Thomas shot 74.2% inside arc, scored 1.27 ppp and still lost.
— North Texas 76, Memphis 69
North Texas outscored Tigers 14-2 over the last 4:57 of this game.
Mean Green was 31-41 on foul line, Memphis 13-15
Memphis is turning ball over 20% of time in AAC games.
— Cal-San Diego 68, Cal-Davis 51
Hard to describe how badly Cal-Davis played in this game.
Aggies were 6-20 on arc, 1-7 on foul line, forced 21 turnovers, still lost by 17
Tritons shot 60.6% inside the arc.
— Utah Tech 81, Utah Valley 77
Tech led 42-25 at halftime, hung on for dear life.
Utah Valley shot 70.3% inside arc, 5-22 outside arc.
Teams are tied for second place in the WAC, behind Cal Baptist.
— NC-Wilmington 65, Elon 54
Seahawks shot 11-25 on the arc, led 33-24 at halftime.
UNCW is 10-2 in CAA, leads Charleston by two games.
LY, UNCW won CAA tourney as #2-seed, was 14-seed in NCAAs.
— Belmont 91, Northern Iowa 86
Belmont has won 10 of its last 11 games, leads MVC by tw0 games.
Bruins shot 14-30 on arc, scored 1.28 ppp.
Belmont’s Tyler Lundblade is 92-231 on arc, 32-55 inside arc. Lot of 3’s.
— Ohio Valley Conference will have a great conference tournament; these are the first six teams in their standings:
11-4 Tenn-Martin
11-4 Tennessee State
10-5 SIU-Edwardsville
10-5 Lindenwood
10-5 SE Missouri State
10-5 Morehead State
Hitters who swung/missed the most times last year:
462— Cal Raleigh
456— Rafael Devers
440— Riley Greene
438— Eugenio Suarez
431— Shohei Ohtani
423— Kyle Schwarber
Quote of the Day
“After being taken out of a close ball game in front of my friends and family, I brought a Presidente into the dugout. I then sat right next to Rob (Thomson) and let him know that too much slack in some areas and too tight of restrictions in others was not conducive to us winning.”
Nick Castellanos, who was cut by the Phillies Thursday
Friday’s quiz
Where did Patrick Mahomes play his college football?
Thursday’s quiz
Over the last five years, Toronto Blue Jays have the best batting average.
Wednesday’s quiz
Before he became coach at Kansas, Bill Self was the coach at Illinois.
**************************************************
Friday’s Den: Random stuff with the weekend here…….
— Ole Miss QB Trinidad Chambliss was granted a temporary injunction that will allow him to play for the Rebels in 2026; he missed the 2022 season because of complications from tonsillitis and chronic fatigue, but had already red-shirted in 2021.Chambliss played D2 ball at Ferris State, then transferred to Ole Miss and won the starting QB job last fall, leading the Rebels to the national semifinals.
— Caleb Wilson, North Carolina’s best basketball player, is out with a broken left hand; it is not known how long he’ll be out for. He is scoring 19.8 ppg, grabbing 9.4 rebounds/game for the 19-5 Tar Heels.
— Los Angeles Dodgers gave 3B Max Muncy a $7M contract extension for 2027 that includes a $10 team option for 2028. Muncy played in only 173 games the last two years; he hit 19 HR’s last year, with an .846 OPS.
Dodgers also signed utility guy Kike Hernandez for $4.5M this season.
— Philadelphia Phillies released OF Nick Castellanos, then said he was benched last year after bringing beer into the dugout during a game. Phillies still have to pay Castellanos for 2026; he hit .250 with 17 homers and 72 RBI last year- he’ll be 34 next month.
— Cal Poly 79, Cal-Irvine 73
Anteaters led by 15 late in the first half.
Cal Poly outscored Irvine 50-31 in second half.
Irvine’s loss lets Hawaii slip into first place in the Big West
— Louisiana Tech 79, Missouri State 78, 2OT
Missouri State led by 12 midway thru first half.
Teams combined to shoot 13-51 on the arc.
Tech won six of their last nine games.
— Cal-Fullerton 86, Long Beach State 82
Fullerton won five of last six games, after a 5-1 start.
Titans outscored Long Beach 45-34 in second half.
Long Beach has lost six in a row, four of them by 7 or less points.
— Famous birthdays, February 13th
Bo Svenson, 85
Stockard Channing, 82
Mike Krzyzewski, 79
Peter Gabriel, 76
Mats Sundin, 55
Randy Moss, 49
Aqib Talib, 40
Nathan Eovaldi, 36
— Nebraska-Omaha 98, St Thomas 94
St Thomas led by 5 with 5:10 left in the game.
Omaha shot 25-28 on foul line, St Thomas 6-14
St Thomas shot 74.2% inside arc, scored 1.27 ppp and still lost.
— North Texas 76, Memphis 69
North Texas outscored Tigers 14-2 over the last 4:57 of this game.
Mean Green was 31-41 on foul line, Memphis 13-15
Memphis is turning ball over 20% of time in AAC games.
— Cal-San Diego 68, Cal-Davis 51
Hard to describe how badly Cal-Davis played in this game.
Aggies were 6-20 on arc, 1-7 on foul line, forced 21 turnovers, still lost by 17
Tritons shot 60.6% inside the arc.
— Utah Tech 81, Utah Valley 77
Tech led 42-25 at halftime, hung on for dear life.
Utah Valley shot 70.3% inside arc, 5-22 outside arc.
Teams are tied for second place in the WAC, behind Cal Baptist.
— NC-Wilmington 65, Elon 54
Seahawks shot 11-25 on the arc, led 33-24 at halftime.
UNCW is 10-2 in CAA, leads Charleston by two games.
LY, UNCW won CAA tourney as #2-seed, was 14-seed in NCAAs.
— Belmont 91, Northern Iowa 86
Belmont has won 10 of its last 11 games, leads MVC by tw0 games.
Bruins shot 14-30 on arc, scored 1.28 ppp.
Belmont’s Tyler Lundblade is 92-231 on arc, 32-55 inside arc. Lot of 3’s.
— Ohio Valley Conference will have a great conference tournament; these are the first six teams in their standings:
11-4 Tenn-Martin
11-4 Tennessee State
10-5 SIU-Edwardsville
10-5 Lindenwood
10-5 SE Missouri State
10-5 Morehead State
Sunday’s 6-pack
Teams who won the last six Southern Conference tournaments:
2025— Wofford
2024— Samford
2023— Furman
2022— Chattanooga
2021— NC-Greensboro
2020— No tournament, because of COVID
2019— Wofford
Quote of the Day
“You’re not supposed to come off the bench, but you can’t let your players get beat up. You can’t fight. Back when I was the Kentucky coach we fought almost every SEC game, and it was not a big deal. But you can’t fight any more, so toughness has to come between the lines.”
Rick Pitino
Sunday’s quiz
New York Nets won two of the last three ABA titles; who was their coach?
(Hint: He became better known coaching another team 8-9 years later)
Saturday’s quiz
Pat Boone is the singer/actor who was part owner of the ABA’s Oakland Oaks.
Friday’s quiz
Patrick Mahomes played his college football at Texas Tech.
*******************************************
Arizona loses second game in row, after a 23-0 start.
Arizona led by 7 with 3:29 left in regulation.
JT Toppin had 31 points, 13 rebounds for Tech.
— Gonzaga 94, Santa Clara 86
Misleading score; this was a highly competitive game.
Santa Clara led by 5 with 12:10 left in the game.
Gonzaga shot 71.7% inside the arc.
Loss snaps Santa Clara’s nine-game winning streak.
— Miami 77, NC State 76
Miami outscored Wolfpack 7-0 in last 1:07 of the game.
Hurricanes won despite shooting 10-20 on the foul line.
Miami has won 5 of last 6 games, is a surprising 20-5, 9-3 in ACC.
— Iowa State 74, Kansas 56
Kansas shot 37.3% from floor; Darryn Peterson scored 10 points in 23:00.
Iowa State won six of last seven games, is 22-3, 9-3 in Big X.
Cyclones are #8 team in country at forcing turnovers.
— St John’s 79, Providence 69
Seven players got tossed after a fight caused by a cheap shot foul by Providence.
Red Storm wins their 11th game in a row.
PG Darling had 23 points, 8 rebounds off the bench.
— Upsets of the Day:
Texas Tech (+9) 78, Arizona 75
Southern Utah (+8.5) 78, Tex-Arlington 73
South Alabama (+7.5) 92, Arkansas State 88 OT
Western Michigan (+7.5) 76, Eastern Michigan 62
Delaware (+7.5) 76, Missouri State 67
Elon (+7.5) 81, Wm & Mary 78
Florida State (+6.5) 92, Virginia Tech 69
Samford (+6.5) 82, East Tennessee 72, OT
— Cal-Northridge 84, Hawaii 60
Loss drops Rainbows into a first place tie with Cal-Irvine.
Matadors have won five in a row, after an 11-10 start.
Larry Hughes Jr scored 27 points for Northridge.
— Liberty 73, UTEP 64
UTEP led by 10 late in first half.
Liberty has won 16 games in row, leads C-USA by five games.
Flames have #4 eFG% in country; they’ll need to win C-USA tourney to make NCAA’s.
— VCU 78, Richmond 67
VCU has won nine games in a row, is 11-2 in A-14.
Rams led 47-27 at halftime.
Richmond has lost seven of its last eight games.
— Michigan 86, UCLA 56
This was Michigan’s 10th win this year by 30+ points.
Wolverines led by 2 at the half, outscored UCLA 46-18 in second half.
Michigan shot 77.4% inside the arc.
— Famous birthdays, February 15th:
Steve Preece, 79
Ron Cey, 78
Ken Anderson, 77
Jane Seymour, 75
Christopher McDonald, 71
Marc Wilson, 69
Irv Pankey, 68
Darrell Green, 66
Russell Martin, 43
Johnny Cueto, 40
Mark Canha, 37
Kyle Teel, 24
Cesar Romero, the Joker on the Batman TV series, was born on this day in 1907.
— South Alabama 92, Arkansas State 88 OT
Jaguars were down 18 with 6:37 left in regulation.
South Alabama shot 16-36 on arc, only 33.3% inside arc.
Jaguars won six of last seven games, are 9-4 in Sun Belt.
— Virginia 70, Ohio State 66
Virginia was 22-32 on foul line, Buckeyes 6-9.
Cavaliers had a 40-26 edge on the boards.
Virginia won 11 of its last 12 games.
— Yale 76, Harvard 75 OT
Harvard led by 11 late in the first half.
Jordan Brathwaite was 5-9 on arc, scored 17 points in 26:00 off bench.
With the win, Yale now leads the Ivy League by a game.
— Northern Colorado 77, Portland State 65
Just second loss in last 13 games for Portland State.
Vikings still lead Big Sky by two games over Montana State.
6-3 senior Denker had 23 points, 7 assists for Northern Colorado
— Samford 82, East Tennessee State 72, OT
Samford was 31-40 on foul line, ETSU 17-22.
Loss snaps ETSU’s 4-game win streak; they lead SoCon by two games.
Last six years, six different teams have won the SoCon Conference Tournament.
Teams who won the last six Southern Conference tournaments:
2025— Wofford
2024— Samford
2023— Furman
2022— Chattanooga
2021— NC-Greensboro
2020— No tournament, because of COVID
2019— Wofford
Quote of the Day
“You’re not supposed to come off the bench, but you can’t let your players get beat up. You can’t fight. Back when I was the Kentucky coach we fought almost every SEC game, and it was not a big deal. But you can’t fight any more, so toughness has to come between the lines.”
Rick Pitino
Sunday’s quiz
New York Nets won two of the last three ABA titles; who was their coach?
(Hint: He became better known coaching another team 8-9 years later)
Saturday’s quiz
Pat Boone is the singer/actor who was part owner of the ABA’s Oakland Oaks.
Friday’s quiz
Patrick Mahomes played his college football at Texas Tech.
*******************************************
Sunday’s Den: Wrapping up a college basketball Saturday…….
— Texas Tech 78, Arizona 75 OTArizona loses second game in row, after a 23-0 start.
Arizona led by 7 with 3:29 left in regulation.
JT Toppin had 31 points, 13 rebounds for Tech.
— Gonzaga 94, Santa Clara 86
Misleading score; this was a highly competitive game.
Santa Clara led by 5 with 12:10 left in the game.
Gonzaga shot 71.7% inside the arc.
Loss snaps Santa Clara’s nine-game winning streak.
— Miami 77, NC State 76
Miami outscored Wolfpack 7-0 in last 1:07 of the game.
Hurricanes won despite shooting 10-20 on the foul line.
Miami has won 5 of last 6 games, is a surprising 20-5, 9-3 in ACC.
— Iowa State 74, Kansas 56
Kansas shot 37.3% from floor; Darryn Peterson scored 10 points in 23:00.
Iowa State won six of last seven games, is 22-3, 9-3 in Big X.
Cyclones are #8 team in country at forcing turnovers.
— St John’s 79, Providence 69
Seven players got tossed after a fight caused by a cheap shot foul by Providence.
Red Storm wins their 11th game in a row.
PG Darling had 23 points, 8 rebounds off the bench.
— Upsets of the Day:
Texas Tech (+9) 78, Arizona 75
Southern Utah (+8.5) 78, Tex-Arlington 73
South Alabama (+7.5) 92, Arkansas State 88 OT
Western Michigan (+7.5) 76, Eastern Michigan 62
Delaware (+7.5) 76, Missouri State 67
Elon (+7.5) 81, Wm & Mary 78
Florida State (+6.5) 92, Virginia Tech 69
Samford (+6.5) 82, East Tennessee 72, OT
— Cal-Northridge 84, Hawaii 60
Loss drops Rainbows into a first place tie with Cal-Irvine.
Matadors have won five in a row, after an 11-10 start.
Larry Hughes Jr scored 27 points for Northridge.
— Liberty 73, UTEP 64
UTEP led by 10 late in first half.
Liberty has won 16 games in row, leads C-USA by five games.
Flames have #4 eFG% in country; they’ll need to win C-USA tourney to make NCAA’s.
— VCU 78, Richmond 67
VCU has won nine games in a row, is 11-2 in A-14.
Rams led 47-27 at halftime.
Richmond has lost seven of its last eight games.
— Michigan 86, UCLA 56
This was Michigan’s 10th win this year by 30+ points.
Wolverines led by 2 at the half, outscored UCLA 46-18 in second half.
Michigan shot 77.4% inside the arc.
— Famous birthdays, February 15th:
Steve Preece, 79
Ron Cey, 78
Ken Anderson, 77
Jane Seymour, 75
Christopher McDonald, 71
Marc Wilson, 69
Irv Pankey, 68
Darrell Green, 66
Russell Martin, 43
Johnny Cueto, 40
Mark Canha, 37
Kyle Teel, 24
Cesar Romero, the Joker on the Batman TV series, was born on this day in 1907.
— South Alabama 92, Arkansas State 88 OT
Jaguars were down 18 with 6:37 left in regulation.
South Alabama shot 16-36 on arc, only 33.3% inside arc.
Jaguars won six of last seven games, are 9-4 in Sun Belt.
— Virginia 70, Ohio State 66
Virginia was 22-32 on foul line, Buckeyes 6-9.
Cavaliers had a 40-26 edge on the boards.
Virginia won 11 of its last 12 games.
— Yale 76, Harvard 75 OT
Harvard led by 11 late in the first half.
Jordan Brathwaite was 5-9 on arc, scored 17 points in 26:00 off bench.
With the win, Yale now leads the Ivy League by a game.
— Northern Colorado 77, Portland State 65
Just second loss in last 13 games for Portland State.
Vikings still lead Big Sky by two games over Montana State.
6-3 senior Denker had 23 points, 7 assists for Northern Colorado
— Samford 82, East Tennessee State 72, OT
Samford was 31-40 on foul line, ETSU 17-22.
Loss snaps ETSU’s 4-game win streak; they lead SoCon by two games.
Last six years, six different teams have won the SoCon Conference Tournament.
Monday’s 6-pack
Teams who get the highest %age of their points on foul shots:
— Dayton (16-9)
— Tulane (15-10)
— Sacramento State (9-16)
— Nevada (17-8)
— Oregon State (14-14)
— Cal-Bakersfield (8-18)
Quote of the Day
“These dudes do not deserve to wear this uniform. There will be very few of them in it next year. I’m embarrassed for the university, I’m embarrassed for our fans, our student section. It is ridiculous … I have no answer. No words.”
Jerome Tang; this rant helped get him fired this weekend
Monday’s quiz
Who led the major leagues in hits last season?
Sunday’s quiz
New York Nets won two of the last three ABA titles; Kevin Loughery was their coach.
Saturday’s quiz
Pat Boone is the singer/actor who was part owner of the ABA’s Oakland Oaks.
*****************************************************
Woke up Sunday morning to a text saying that the CBS website that hosts our league eliminated all the rosters; 30 players on 14 teams went bye-bye. For the next six or seven hours, I managed to get 378 of those 420 players back on the correct team, but there is still work to do.
Not the best way to start the day.
— NBA star Cade Cunningham will make $52M a year for the next four years; that $1M a week, if you’re scoring at home, and he’s only 24 years old.
Cade Cunningham is from Arlington, TX; couple weeks ago, he bought a minority ownership stake in the Texas Rangers. He threw out a first pitch before a Rangers home game last summer.
Cunningham is among the athlete investors in Sportsology Capital Partners, which recently completed the minority investment in the Rangers. Must be pretty cool to be 24 years old and be a part-owner of a major league team.
— Friend of mine’s son plays baseball for Mississippi State; was watching their game on TV Friday- they had a crowd of 12,824 for Opening Night in Starkville.
— This winter, players went 8-4 against the owners in arbitration cases; since abritration started in 1974, owners have a 362-278 advantage in arbitration.
— P Zac Gallen agreed to a one-year, $22M contract to stay with the Arizona Diamondbacks; $14M of that money is deferred; Gallen had a rough season last year, going 13-15, 4.83, but he was 6-3, 3.00 in 11 August/September starts.
— San Diego Padres signed OF/DH Nick Castellanos and P Griffin Canning. Castellanos might platoon at first base with Gavin Sheets; he hit .250 with a .694 OPS for the Phillies last year. Canning was 1-3, 3.77 in 16 starts for the Mets last year.
— Blue Jays/Astros traded outfielders; Toronto acquired Jesús Sánchez, dealt Joey Loperfido back to Houston.
Sanchez hit .237 with 14 homers for the Marlins/Astros last year; his career OPS is .727.
Astros traded Loperfido to Toronto during the ’24 season; he hit .333 in 41 games for the Blue Jays last year.
— Famous birthdays, February 16th:
Tim Cullen, 84
Glenn Abbott, 75
Tracy Marrow, 68 (Ice-T)
Kelly Tripucka, 67
Craig Neal, 62
Jerome Bettis, 54
Tommy Milone, 39
— Prime Video has an interesting four-hour program on the history of the ABA; the basketball parts of it are tremendous, lot of excellent history. The ABA lasted nine years, changed the way a lot of us watched basketball.
— Kevin Loughery played 11 years in the NBA, for three different teams; he scored 15.3 in his career, pretty good player. Then he became a coach. He won two ABA titles with the Nets, with Julius Erving as their star, but things went south after the Nets traded Erving to the 76ers with the Nets having $$$ problems.
Loughery then coached the Atlanta Hawks for two years, including Dominique Wilkins’ rookie season. From there he coached the Chicago Bulls, where he coached Michael Jordan when he was a rookie.
Pretty interesting career; he coached Dr J, Dominique Wilkins and Michael Jordan, and got fired in all three places. He was replaced in Chicago by Stan Albeck, who was fired after one year, replaced by Doug Collins. Phil Jackson didn’t become Chicago’s coach until Jordan’s sixth season in the NBA.
— Nevada Wolf Pack lost to San Diego State Saturday night; they are now 0-14 at Viejas Arena.
— BYU retired Jimmer Fredette’s number 32 over the weekend; he was Player of the Year during the 2010-11 college season, was the 10th pick in the first round of the 2011 Draft. Fredette grew up in Glens Falls, NY, an hour north of where I live. He was a hell of a scorer.
— Kansas State fired basketball coach Jerome Tang; Wildcats are 10-15 this year, 1-11 in the Big X, after going 18-32 in conference games the last three years. Tang led K-State to the Elite 8 in his first season coaching the Wildcats.
K-State will try to fire Tang for cause. Tang has a buyout of more than $18M, per the terms of his contract, but Taylor believes Tang’s recent public criticisms of the players and the response a press conference spurred in the national media violated the terms of his contract.
— Caden Pierce, the 2024 Ivy League Player of the Year, will transfer to Purdue and play for the Boilermakers next season. Pierce is sitting out this season to finish his degree at Princeton; he is a 6-7 forward whose brother is a receiver for the Indianapolis Colts.
Pierce was hobbled by an ankle injury last year, but still scored 11 ppg, grabbed seven rebounds a game. He scored 16.6 ppg, grabbed 9.2 rebounds/game two years ago.
— Bracketology gives us the top 16 seeds, as of Sunday:
#1 seeds- Michigan, UConn, Duke, Arizona
#2 seeds- Iowa State, Houston, Illinois, Purdue
#3 seeds- Florida, Nebraska, Kansas, Gonzaga
#4 seeds- Texas Tech, Vanderbilt, Alabama, Michigan State
Teams who get the highest %age of their points on foul shots:
— Dayton (16-9)
— Tulane (15-10)
— Sacramento State (9-16)
— Nevada (17-8)
— Oregon State (14-14)
— Cal-Bakersfield (8-18)
Quote of the Day
“These dudes do not deserve to wear this uniform. There will be very few of them in it next year. I’m embarrassed for the university, I’m embarrassed for our fans, our student section. It is ridiculous … I have no answer. No words.”
Jerome Tang; this rant helped get him fired this weekend
Monday’s quiz
Who led the major leagues in hits last season?
Sunday’s quiz
New York Nets won two of the last three ABA titles; Kevin Loughery was their coach.
Saturday’s quiz
Pat Boone is the singer/actor who was part owner of the ABA’s Oakland Oaks.
*****************************************************
Monday’s Den: Wrapping up a sports weekend…….
— This will be the 22nd year of the fantasy baseball league I’m in; it is a keeper league, you have mostly the same roster every year.Woke up Sunday morning to a text saying that the CBS website that hosts our league eliminated all the rosters; 30 players on 14 teams went bye-bye. For the next six or seven hours, I managed to get 378 of those 420 players back on the correct team, but there is still work to do.
Not the best way to start the day.
— NBA star Cade Cunningham will make $52M a year for the next four years; that $1M a week, if you’re scoring at home, and he’s only 24 years old.
Cade Cunningham is from Arlington, TX; couple weeks ago, he bought a minority ownership stake in the Texas Rangers. He threw out a first pitch before a Rangers home game last summer.
Cunningham is among the athlete investors in Sportsology Capital Partners, which recently completed the minority investment in the Rangers. Must be pretty cool to be 24 years old and be a part-owner of a major league team.
— Friend of mine’s son plays baseball for Mississippi State; was watching their game on TV Friday- they had a crowd of 12,824 for Opening Night in Starkville.
— This winter, players went 8-4 against the owners in arbitration cases; since abritration started in 1974, owners have a 362-278 advantage in arbitration.
— P Zac Gallen agreed to a one-year, $22M contract to stay with the Arizona Diamondbacks; $14M of that money is deferred; Gallen had a rough season last year, going 13-15, 4.83, but he was 6-3, 3.00 in 11 August/September starts.
— San Diego Padres signed OF/DH Nick Castellanos and P Griffin Canning. Castellanos might platoon at first base with Gavin Sheets; he hit .250 with a .694 OPS for the Phillies last year. Canning was 1-3, 3.77 in 16 starts for the Mets last year.
— Blue Jays/Astros traded outfielders; Toronto acquired Jesús Sánchez, dealt Joey Loperfido back to Houston.
Sanchez hit .237 with 14 homers for the Marlins/Astros last year; his career OPS is .727.
Astros traded Loperfido to Toronto during the ’24 season; he hit .333 in 41 games for the Blue Jays last year.
— Famous birthdays, February 16th:
Tim Cullen, 84
Glenn Abbott, 75
Tracy Marrow, 68 (Ice-T)
Kelly Tripucka, 67
Craig Neal, 62
Jerome Bettis, 54
Tommy Milone, 39
— Prime Video has an interesting four-hour program on the history of the ABA; the basketball parts of it are tremendous, lot of excellent history. The ABA lasted nine years, changed the way a lot of us watched basketball.
— Kevin Loughery played 11 years in the NBA, for three different teams; he scored 15.3 in his career, pretty good player. Then he became a coach. He won two ABA titles with the Nets, with Julius Erving as their star, but things went south after the Nets traded Erving to the 76ers with the Nets having $$$ problems.
Loughery then coached the Atlanta Hawks for two years, including Dominique Wilkins’ rookie season. From there he coached the Chicago Bulls, where he coached Michael Jordan when he was a rookie.
Pretty interesting career; he coached Dr J, Dominique Wilkins and Michael Jordan, and got fired in all three places. He was replaced in Chicago by Stan Albeck, who was fired after one year, replaced by Doug Collins. Phil Jackson didn’t become Chicago’s coach until Jordan’s sixth season in the NBA.
— Nevada Wolf Pack lost to San Diego State Saturday night; they are now 0-14 at Viejas Arena.
— BYU retired Jimmer Fredette’s number 32 over the weekend; he was Player of the Year during the 2010-11 college season, was the 10th pick in the first round of the 2011 Draft. Fredette grew up in Glens Falls, NY, an hour north of where I live. He was a hell of a scorer.
— Kansas State fired basketball coach Jerome Tang; Wildcats are 10-15 this year, 1-11 in the Big X, after going 18-32 in conference games the last three years. Tang led K-State to the Elite 8 in his first season coaching the Wildcats.
K-State will try to fire Tang for cause. Tang has a buyout of more than $18M, per the terms of his contract, but Taylor believes Tang’s recent public criticisms of the players and the response a press conference spurred in the national media violated the terms of his contract.
— Caden Pierce, the 2024 Ivy League Player of the Year, will transfer to Purdue and play for the Boilermakers next season. Pierce is sitting out this season to finish his degree at Princeton; he is a 6-7 forward whose brother is a receiver for the Indianapolis Colts.
Pierce was hobbled by an ankle injury last year, but still scored 11 ppg, grabbed seven rebounds a game. He scored 16.6 ppg, grabbed 9.2 rebounds/game two years ago.
— Bracketology gives us the top 16 seeds, as of Sunday:
#1 seeds- Michigan, UConn, Duke, Arizona
#2 seeds- Iowa State, Houston, Illinois, Purdue
#3 seeds- Florida, Nebraska, Kansas, Gonzaga
#4 seeds- Texas Tech, Vanderbilt, Alabama, Michigan State
Tuesday’s 6-pack
How much $$$ Nevada sports books banked on last six Super Bowls:
2026— $9,892,055
2025— $22,134,104
2024— $11,182,973
2023— $4,361,646
2022— $11,063,412
2021— $12,574,125
Quote of the Day
“We haven’t won. I really want to win. Each year that goes by, I get a little more annoyed.”
Mets’ owner Steve Cohen
Tuesday’s quiz
Which major league team used to be owned by the same guy who owned the McDonald’s fast food franchise?
Monday’s quiz
Bobby Witt Jr led the major leagues in hits last season.
Sunday’s quiz
New York Nets won two of the last three ABA titles; Kevin Loughery was their coach.
*******************************************
Just a great career. RIP, sir.
— Memo to ESPN: Your Monday night college basketball schedules suck; Syracuse isn’t good anymore, stop putting them in stand alone games.
Back in the day, ESPN had Big Mondays, which were good
7:30- Big East game
9:30- Big 10 game
midnight- Big West game
The smaller leagues out west would be good with a national TV game on Mondays.
— Big West conference tournament will be fun to watch; they are the 11th-ranked league right now, their highest rank in the last 30 years.
Here are the last few tourney champs:
2025- Cal-San Diego
2024- Long Beach State
2023- Cal-Santa Barbara
2022- Cal State-Fullerton
2021- Cal-Santa Barbara
2019- Cal-Irvine
2018- Cal State-Fullerton
2017- Cal-Davis
2016- Hawaii
Last nine tournaments, seven different champs. Competitive league.
— Michigan Wolverines’ basketball team has six student managers, guys who help out the team by doing lot of the little things that make life easier for coaches/players.
Back in the day, I was a student manager in college, but I was our team’s only manager, being a Division III team. Big-time coaches who were student managers:
Will Wade, NC State
Mark Daigneault, Thunder
Frank Vogel, head coach of four NBA teams
Buzz Williams, Maryland
— World Series of Poker will be in Las Vegas, from May 26-July 15; I went to this once, watched people play cards for about a half hour, then realized it isn’t that much fun to watch if you can’t see their hole cards, and watch the decisions they’re making.
Picture a big gym jammed with card tables; the only sound is chips clicking together, unless one of the players goes all-in on a hand, then they called a hand-held camera over to film the hand.
— Dodgers’ utility guy Tommy Edman (ankle) will start the season on the IL; he’s played for the Dodgers for two years, and they won the World Series both years.
— San Diego Padres signed GM AJ Preller to a multi-year contract extension; Padres made the playoffs four of the last six years. Preller has run the San Diego organization since late 2014; this year Craig Stammen will the Padres’ 6th full-time manager in 12 years, which seems like a lot for a team that has been winning.
— Famous birthdays, February 17th:
Dick Bosman, 82
Jamie Easterly, 73
Rene Russo, 72
Neil Lomax, 67
Lou Diamond Phillips, 64
Michael Jordan, 63
Jerry O’Connell, 52
Kelly Carlson, 50
Case Keenum, 38
Sony Michel, 31
— NBA All-Star Game was good to watch; the players actually tried. Not sure if the new format helped, or the fact that President Obama was sitting in the front row, but when players who are that good are competitive, it is fun to watch.
— Baseball needs to market itself better; MLB Network should host a 12-team fantasy league, with celebrities/former players the team managers, and the league could have a weekly show, featuring a different celebrity every week.
The show where they draft the team would be great TV.
How much $$$ Nevada sports books banked on last six Super Bowls:
2026— $9,892,055
2025— $22,134,104
2024— $11,182,973
2023— $4,361,646
2022— $11,063,412
2021— $12,574,125
Quote of the Day
“We haven’t won. I really want to win. Each year that goes by, I get a little more annoyed.”
Mets’ owner Steve Cohen
Tuesday’s quiz
Which major league team used to be owned by the same guy who owned the McDonald’s fast food franchise?
Monday’s quiz
Bobby Witt Jr led the major leagues in hits last season.
Sunday’s quiz
New York Nets won two of the last three ABA titles; Kevin Loughery was their coach.
*******************************************
Tuesday’s Den: Nobody asked me, but…….
— We lost one of our greatest actors Monday; Robert Duvall, who has 388 acting credits on IMDB, passed away at age 95. What an epic career he had, from the sportswriter in The Natural, to Frank Burns in M*A*S*H (the movie), the race car pit boss in Days of Thunder, a musician in Tender Mercies, and the father of a great poker player in Lucky You.Just a great career. RIP, sir.
— Memo to ESPN: Your Monday night college basketball schedules suck; Syracuse isn’t good anymore, stop putting them in stand alone games.
Back in the day, ESPN had Big Mondays, which were good
7:30- Big East game
9:30- Big 10 game
midnight- Big West game
The smaller leagues out west would be good with a national TV game on Mondays.
— Big West conference tournament will be fun to watch; they are the 11th-ranked league right now, their highest rank in the last 30 years.
Here are the last few tourney champs:
2025- Cal-San Diego
2024- Long Beach State
2023- Cal-Santa Barbara
2022- Cal State-Fullerton
2021- Cal-Santa Barbara
2019- Cal-Irvine
2018- Cal State-Fullerton
2017- Cal-Davis
2016- Hawaii
Last nine tournaments, seven different champs. Competitive league.
— Michigan Wolverines’ basketball team has six student managers, guys who help out the team by doing lot of the little things that make life easier for coaches/players.
Back in the day, I was a student manager in college, but I was our team’s only manager, being a Division III team. Big-time coaches who were student managers:
Will Wade, NC State
Mark Daigneault, Thunder
Frank Vogel, head coach of four NBA teams
Buzz Williams, Maryland
— World Series of Poker will be in Las Vegas, from May 26-July 15; I went to this once, watched people play cards for about a half hour, then realized it isn’t that much fun to watch if you can’t see their hole cards, and watch the decisions they’re making.
Picture a big gym jammed with card tables; the only sound is chips clicking together, unless one of the players goes all-in on a hand, then they called a hand-held camera over to film the hand.
— Dodgers’ utility guy Tommy Edman (ankle) will start the season on the IL; he’s played for the Dodgers for two years, and they won the World Series both years.
— San Diego Padres signed GM AJ Preller to a multi-year contract extension; Padres made the playoffs four of the last six years. Preller has run the San Diego organization since late 2014; this year Craig Stammen will the Padres’ 6th full-time manager in 12 years, which seems like a lot for a team that has been winning.
— Famous birthdays, February 17th:
Dick Bosman, 82
Jamie Easterly, 73
Rene Russo, 72
Neil Lomax, 67
Lou Diamond Phillips, 64
Michael Jordan, 63
Jerry O’Connell, 52
Kelly Carlson, 50
Case Keenum, 38
Sony Michel, 31
— NBA All-Star Game was good to watch; the players actually tried. Not sure if the new format helped, or the fact that President Obama was sitting in the front row, but when players who are that good are competitive, it is fun to watch.
— Baseball needs to market itself better; MLB Network should host a 12-team fantasy league, with celebrities/former players the team managers, and the league could have a weekly show, featuring a different celebrity every week.
The show where they draft the team would be great TV.
Wednesday’s 6-pack
Teams getting highest %age of their points on 2-point shots;
62%— Southern Illinois (12-15)
61.1%— Gonzaga (25-2)
60.7%— Texas State (17-11)
58.9%— Rider (3-22)
58.4%— Miami FL (21-5)
58.4%— Arizona (23-2)
Quote of the Day
“I did not come to Kansas State to be the head coach. Coach Tang and I are thicker than thieves. He is an amazing human being. He did amazing things at Kansas State.”
Kansas State interim coach Matthew Driscoll, who won his first game Tuesday
Wednesday’s quiz
In the movie The Natural, what uniform number did Robert Redford’s character wear for the New York Knights?
Tuesday’s quiz
San Diego Padres used to be owned by Ray Kroc, the same guy who owned the McDonald’s fast food franchise.
Monday’s quiz
Bobby Witt Jr led the major leagues in hits last season.
****************************************
Michigan shot 13-23 on the arc, scored 1.31 ppp
Wolverines led 48-28 late in the first half.
Michigan has won eleven games in a row.
— NC State 82, North Carolina 58
Tar Heels played without their top two scorers.
Wolfpack shot 9-20 on the arc, Carolina 5-33.
This was State’s biggest win over UNC since 1962.
— Michigan State 82, UCLA 59
UCLA has lost consecutive games by 20+ points for first time since 1945.
Spartans shot 14-27 on arc, led 43-23 at halftime.
Bruins are 1-5 SU outside of the Pacific time zone this season
— Villanova 92, Xavier 89 OT
Villanova was +10 (6-16) in turnovers.
Wildcats have won six in a row, are 12-3 in Big East.
Xavier lost 6 of last 8 games; their last two losses were in OT.
— Iowa 57, Nebraska 52
Nebraska is 2-4 in last six games, after a 20-0 start.
Cornhuskers only played seven guys the whole game.
Hawkeyes had 37-24 edge on the boards.
— Miami OH 86, UMass 77
Redhawks improve to 26-0, country’s only unbeaten team.
Miami was 24-33 on foul line, Minutemen 9-16
In its MAC games, Miami is shooting 63.9% inside the arc.
— Upsets of the Night:
Rhode Island (+11.5) 81, Saint Louis 76
San Jose State (+10.5) 87, Nevada 71
Northern Illinois (+8.5) 72, Buffalo 70
Grand Canyon (+7.5) 73, San Diego State 63
Georgia (+7.5) 86, Kentucky 78
Arizona State (+7.5) 72, Texas Tech 67
Kansas State (+4.5) 90, Baylor 74
This has been a rough week, with Robert Duvall dying and now this……
— Dwight (Bo) Lamar, who scored 3,493 points at Southwestern Louisiana (now Louisiana-Lafayette) before the 3-point shot was a thing, passed away this week at age 74. Lamar was a first team All-American in 1972 and 1973.
Only Pete Maravich (3,667) and Antone Davis (3,664) scored more points in Division I.
Lamar then played three years in the ABA, scoring 19.7 ppg and one year with the Lakers; too bad he played before ESPN existed. Would have been fun to watch him play. RIP.
— Doug Moe, who played at North Carolina and in the ABA, then later had a very good coaching career, passed away at age 87.
Moe went 628-529 over 15 seasons as a head coach; he was the NBA Coach of the Year in 1988, three years after his best Nuggets team lost in the Western Conference finals to the Lakers. His Nuggets led the NBA in scoring over five straight years in the early ’80s, and he rarely ran a set play, instead stressing movement and a lot of passing.
Moe was from Brooklyn; he was irreverent, kind of a character in a good-natured way. When he was playing in the early 60’s, afraid of flying, Moe would read books to distract himself from the ongoing flight.
On one flight, with North Carolina’s team, there was a famous passenger on the flight (Richard Nixon) who went to the back of the plane to talk to the players. Nixon saw Moe reading the book and said to him “You must be the student in the group”
Moe didn’t know it was Richard Nixon talking to him; he looked up at hm and replied “What are you, a wise guy?”
Doug Moe was a really good coach and a unique personality. RIP, coach.
— Famous birthdays, February 18th:
Cybill Shepherd, 76
John Travolta, 72
Gary Reasons, 64
Chuck Long, 63
Molly Ringwald, 58
Le’Veon Bell, 34
Isaac Paredes, 27
Jordan Westburg, 27
— P Walker Buehler signed a free agent deal with San Diego; he pitched for the Phillies/Red Sox last year, after pitching eight years for the Dodgers. In his career, Buehler is 57-29, 3.52 in 146 career starts, 4-4, 3.04 in 18 playoff starts.
— Twins P Pablo López has a “significant tear” in the UCL in his pitching arm, and is expected to need Tommy John surgery. He was 5-4, 2.74 in 14 starts LY, is 59-53, 3.81 in 172 career starts.
— A reminder about the NBA Draft: Stephen Curry was the 7th player taken in the 2009 NBA Draft, being luminaries like Hasheem Thabeet and Jonny Flynn.
Shea Gilgeous-Alexander was the 11th pick in the 2018, taken behind Mo Bamba, Kevin Knox and Marvin Bagley.
Much like the NFL Draft, smarter NBA teams gain an advantage thru the draft.
— Hannah Storm has been on TV for 40+ years now; these days, she works on ESPN.
Back in the day, her father was Mike Storen, who once ran the Atlanta Hawks, two ABA teams and was also commissioner of the ABA for a while. He was the first general manager of the Indiana Pacers, who were originally an ABA team.
— Miami Dolphins are cutting their payroll; they’re now $13M under the salary cap after letting WR Tyreek Hill go, and releasing DE Bradley Chubb, WR Nick Westbrook-Ihkine and OL James Daniels.
Last week the Dolphins admitted that QB Tua Tagovailoa’s future in Miami is undecided, and Miami has publicly let it be known that Tagovailoa, who is due $54M in 2026, is available via trade. If they can’t trade him, his contract will greatly hamper their salary cap situation.
Teams getting highest %age of their points on 2-point shots;
62%— Southern Illinois (12-15)
61.1%— Gonzaga (25-2)
60.7%— Texas State (17-11)
58.9%— Rider (3-22)
58.4%— Miami FL (21-5)
58.4%— Arizona (23-2)
Quote of the Day
“I did not come to Kansas State to be the head coach. Coach Tang and I are thicker than thieves. He is an amazing human being. He did amazing things at Kansas State.”
Kansas State interim coach Matthew Driscoll, who won his first game Tuesday
Wednesday’s quiz
In the movie The Natural, what uniform number did Robert Redford’s character wear for the New York Knights?
Tuesday’s quiz
San Diego Padres used to be owned by Ray Kroc, the same guy who owned the McDonald’s fast food franchise.
Monday’s quiz
Bobby Witt Jr led the major leagues in hits last season.
****************************************
Wednesday’s Den: Mid-week musings…….
— Michigan 91, Purdue 80Michigan shot 13-23 on the arc, scored 1.31 ppp
Wolverines led 48-28 late in the first half.
Michigan has won eleven games in a row.
— NC State 82, North Carolina 58
Tar Heels played without their top two scorers.
Wolfpack shot 9-20 on the arc, Carolina 5-33.
This was State’s biggest win over UNC since 1962.
— Michigan State 82, UCLA 59
UCLA has lost consecutive games by 20+ points for first time since 1945.
Spartans shot 14-27 on arc, led 43-23 at halftime.
Bruins are 1-5 SU outside of the Pacific time zone this season
— Villanova 92, Xavier 89 OT
Villanova was +10 (6-16) in turnovers.
Wildcats have won six in a row, are 12-3 in Big East.
Xavier lost 6 of last 8 games; their last two losses were in OT.
— Iowa 57, Nebraska 52
Nebraska is 2-4 in last six games, after a 20-0 start.
Cornhuskers only played seven guys the whole game.
Hawkeyes had 37-24 edge on the boards.
— Miami OH 86, UMass 77
Redhawks improve to 26-0, country’s only unbeaten team.
Miami was 24-33 on foul line, Minutemen 9-16
In its MAC games, Miami is shooting 63.9% inside the arc.
— Upsets of the Night:
Rhode Island (+11.5) 81, Saint Louis 76
San Jose State (+10.5) 87, Nevada 71
Northern Illinois (+8.5) 72, Buffalo 70
Grand Canyon (+7.5) 73, San Diego State 63
Georgia (+7.5) 86, Kentucky 78
Arizona State (+7.5) 72, Texas Tech 67
Kansas State (+4.5) 90, Baylor 74
This has been a rough week, with Robert Duvall dying and now this……
— Dwight (Bo) Lamar, who scored 3,493 points at Southwestern Louisiana (now Louisiana-Lafayette) before the 3-point shot was a thing, passed away this week at age 74. Lamar was a first team All-American in 1972 and 1973.
Only Pete Maravich (3,667) and Antone Davis (3,664) scored more points in Division I.
Lamar then played three years in the ABA, scoring 19.7 ppg and one year with the Lakers; too bad he played before ESPN existed. Would have been fun to watch him play. RIP.
— Doug Moe, who played at North Carolina and in the ABA, then later had a very good coaching career, passed away at age 87.
Moe went 628-529 over 15 seasons as a head coach; he was the NBA Coach of the Year in 1988, three years after his best Nuggets team lost in the Western Conference finals to the Lakers. His Nuggets led the NBA in scoring over five straight years in the early ’80s, and he rarely ran a set play, instead stressing movement and a lot of passing.
Moe was from Brooklyn; he was irreverent, kind of a character in a good-natured way. When he was playing in the early 60’s, afraid of flying, Moe would read books to distract himself from the ongoing flight.
On one flight, with North Carolina’s team, there was a famous passenger on the flight (Richard Nixon) who went to the back of the plane to talk to the players. Nixon saw Moe reading the book and said to him “You must be the student in the group”
Moe didn’t know it was Richard Nixon talking to him; he looked up at hm and replied “What are you, a wise guy?”
Doug Moe was a really good coach and a unique personality. RIP, coach.
— Famous birthdays, February 18th:
Cybill Shepherd, 76
John Travolta, 72
Gary Reasons, 64
Chuck Long, 63
Molly Ringwald, 58
Le’Veon Bell, 34
Isaac Paredes, 27
Jordan Westburg, 27
— P Walker Buehler signed a free agent deal with San Diego; he pitched for the Phillies/Red Sox last year, after pitching eight years for the Dodgers. In his career, Buehler is 57-29, 3.52 in 146 career starts, 4-4, 3.04 in 18 playoff starts.
— Twins P Pablo López has a “significant tear” in the UCL in his pitching arm, and is expected to need Tommy John surgery. He was 5-4, 2.74 in 14 starts LY, is 59-53, 3.81 in 172 career starts.
— A reminder about the NBA Draft: Stephen Curry was the 7th player taken in the 2009 NBA Draft, being luminaries like Hasheem Thabeet and Jonny Flynn.
Shea Gilgeous-Alexander was the 11th pick in the 2018, taken behind Mo Bamba, Kevin Knox and Marvin Bagley.
Much like the NFL Draft, smarter NBA teams gain an advantage thru the draft.
— Hannah Storm has been on TV for 40+ years now; these days, she works on ESPN.
Back in the day, her father was Mike Storen, who once ran the Atlanta Hawks, two ABA teams and was also commissioner of the ABA for a while. He was the first general manager of the Indiana Pacers, who were originally an ABA team.
— Miami Dolphins are cutting their payroll; they’re now $13M under the salary cap after letting WR Tyreek Hill go, and releasing DE Bradley Chubb, WR Nick Westbrook-Ihkine and OL James Daniels.
Last week the Dolphins admitted that QB Tua Tagovailoa’s future in Miami is undecided, and Miami has publicly let it be known that Tagovailoa, who is due $54M in 2026, is available via trade. If they can’t trade him, his contract will greatly hamper their salary cap situation.
Thursday’s 6-pack
Teams with best eFG% defense in the country:
43.0%— Saint Louis (24-2)
43.2%— Michigan (25-1)
44.8%— Kansas (20-6)
44.8%— Virginia (23-3)
44.9%— Arizona (24-2)
44.9%— Cal-Irvine (17-9)
Quote of the Day
“That locker room is still healing, and they needed a shot in the arm. We have been through a lot as a group; we’ve shed a lot of tears, and they needed something like this. It’s a great win for us. I’m not sure I’ve ever been prouder of a group.”
Creighton coach Greg McDermott; the mom of one of Creighton’s players recently passed away
Tuesday’s quiz
Who is the all-time leading scorer (points/game) for the Seattle SuperSonics/Oklahoma City Thunder franchise?
Wednesday’s quiz
In the movie The Natural, Robert Redford’s character (Roy Hobbs) wore number 9 for the New York Knights.
Tuesday’s quiz
San Diego Padres used to be owned by Ray Kroc, the same guy who owned the McDonald’s fast food franchise.
*********************************
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.
Teams with best eFG% defense in the country:
43.0%— Saint Louis (24-2)
43.2%— Michigan (25-1)
44.8%— Kansas (20-6)
44.8%— Virginia (23-3)
44.9%— Arizona (24-2)
44.9%— Cal-Irvine (17-9)
Quote of the Day
“That locker room is still healing, and they needed a shot in the arm. We have been through a lot as a group; we’ve shed a lot of tears, and they needed something like this. It’s a great win for us. I’m not sure I’ve ever been prouder of a group.”
Creighton coach Greg McDermott; the mom of one of Creighton’s players recently passed away
Tuesday’s quiz
Who is the all-time leading scorer (points/game) for the Seattle SuperSonics/Oklahoma City Thunder franchise?
Wednesday’s quiz
In the movie The Natural, Robert Redford’s character (Roy Hobbs) wore number 9 for the New York Knights.
Tuesday’s quiz
San Diego Padres used to be owned by Ray Kroc, the same guy who owned the McDonald’s fast food franchise.
*********************************
Thursday’s Den: Doing some thinking out loud……
— Alabama 117, Arkansas 115, 2OTArkansas 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.
NBA
Thursday, February 19[/ B]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trend Report
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Indiana VS Washington
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Indiana's last 7 games.
Indiana is 2-4 SU in its last 6 games.
Indiana is 6-1 SU in its last 7 games against Washington.
Indiana is 5-15 SU in its last 20 games on the road.
Washington is 1-4 ATS in its last 5 games.
The total has gone OVER in 6 of Washington's last 7 games.
Washington is 1-4 SU in its last 5 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Washington's last 7 games against Indiana.
Houston VS Charlotte
Houston is 1-6 ATS in its last 7 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 9 of Houston's last 11 games.
Houston is 10-5 SU in its last 15 games.
Houston is 4-8 ATS in its last 12 games against Charlotte.
Charlotte is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Charlotte's last 6 games.
Charlotte is 10-1 SU in its last 11 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 8 of Charlotte's last 12 games against Houston.
Brooklyn VS Cleveland
Brooklyn is 2-4 ATS in its last 6 games.
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Brooklyn's last 5 games.
Brooklyn is 4-16 SU in its last 20 games.
Brooklyn is 4-2 ATS in its last 6 games against Cleveland.
Cleveland is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games.
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Cleveland's last 6 games.
Cleveland is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games.
Cleveland is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games at home.
Atlanta VS Philadelphia
Atlanta is 1-6 ATS in its last 7 games.
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Atlanta's last 6 games.
Atlanta is 2-5 SU in its last 7 games.
Atlanta is 5-2 ATS in its last 7 games against Philadelphia.
Philadelphia is 6-3 SU in its last 9 games.
The total has gone OVER in 9 of Philadelphia's last 10 games against Atlanta.
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Philadelphia's last 7 games at home.
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Philadelphia's last 6 games when playing at home against Atlanta.
Detroit VS New York
Detroit is 5-2 ATS in its last 7 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 15 of Detroit's last 20 games.
Detroit is 6-1 SU in its last 7 games.
Detroit is 7-13 SU in its last 20 games against New York.
New York is 10-2 ATS in its last 12 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 10 of New York's last 14 games.
New York is 10-2 SU in its last 12 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of New York's last 5 games against Detroit.
Toronto VS Chicago
The total has gone UNDER in 6 of Toronto's last 9 games.
Toronto is 1-4 SU in its last 5 games against Chicago.
Toronto is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games on the road.
Toronto is 1-8 SU in its last 9 games when playing on the road against Chicago.
Chicago is 0-6 ATS in its last 6 games.
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Chicago's last 5 games.
Chicago is 0-6 SU in its last 6 games.
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Chicago's last 5 games against Toronto.
Phoenix VS San Antonio
Phoenix is 2-4 ATS in its last 6 games.
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Phoenix's last 7 games.
Phoenix is 2-4 SU in its last 6 games.
Phoenix is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games against San Antonio.
San Antonio is 6-0 ATS in its last 6 games.
The total has gone OVER in 5 of San Antonio's last 5 games.
San Antonio is 6-0 SU in its last 6 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of San Antonio's last 6 games against Phoenix.
Boston VS Golden State
Boston is 5-2 ATS in its last 7 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 9 of Boston's last 10 games.
Boston is 6-1 SU in its last 7 games.
Boston is 2-7 ATS in its last 9 games against Golden State.
Golden State is 1-5 ATS in its last 6 games.
Golden State is 2-4 SU in its last 6 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 7 of Golden State's last 9 games against Boston.
Golden State is 0-5 ATS in its last 5 games at home.
Orlando VS Sacramento
Orlando is 4-8 ATS in its last 12 games.
Orlando is 4-2 ATS in its last 6 games against Sacramento.
Orlando is 2-6 SU in its last 8 games against Sacramento.
Orlando is 1-9 ATS in its last 10 games on the road.
Sacramento is 4-10 ATS in its last 14 games.
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Sacramento's last 6 games.
Sacramento is 0-10 SU in its last 10 games.
The total has gone OVER in 10 of Sacramento's last 12 games against Orlando.
Denver VS Los Angeles
Denver is 2-4 ATS in its last 6 games.
The total has gone OVER in 6 of Denver's last 8 games.
Denver is 2-4 SU in its last 6 games.
Denver is 5-0-1 ATS in its last 6 games against LA Clippers.
LA Clippers is 12-6 ATS in its last 18 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of LA Clippers' last 5 games.
LA Clippers is 13-5 SU in its last 18 games.
The total has gone OVER in 5 of LA Clippers' last 5 games against Denver.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday, February 19[/ B]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trend Report
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Indiana VS Washington
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Indiana's last 7 games.
Indiana is 2-4 SU in its last 6 games.
Indiana is 6-1 SU in its last 7 games against Washington.
Indiana is 5-15 SU in its last 20 games on the road.
Washington is 1-4 ATS in its last 5 games.
The total has gone OVER in 6 of Washington's last 7 games.
Washington is 1-4 SU in its last 5 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Washington's last 7 games against Indiana.
Houston VS Charlotte
Houston is 1-6 ATS in its last 7 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 9 of Houston's last 11 games.
Houston is 10-5 SU in its last 15 games.
Houston is 4-8 ATS in its last 12 games against Charlotte.
Charlotte is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Charlotte's last 6 games.
Charlotte is 10-1 SU in its last 11 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 8 of Charlotte's last 12 games against Houston.
Brooklyn VS Cleveland
Brooklyn is 2-4 ATS in its last 6 games.
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Brooklyn's last 5 games.
Brooklyn is 4-16 SU in its last 20 games.
Brooklyn is 4-2 ATS in its last 6 games against Cleveland.
Cleveland is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games.
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Cleveland's last 6 games.
Cleveland is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games.
Cleveland is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games at home.
Atlanta VS Philadelphia
Atlanta is 1-6 ATS in its last 7 games.
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Atlanta's last 6 games.
Atlanta is 2-5 SU in its last 7 games.
Atlanta is 5-2 ATS in its last 7 games against Philadelphia.
Philadelphia is 6-3 SU in its last 9 games.
The total has gone OVER in 9 of Philadelphia's last 10 games against Atlanta.
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Philadelphia's last 7 games at home.
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Philadelphia's last 6 games when playing at home against Atlanta.
Detroit VS New York
Detroit is 5-2 ATS in its last 7 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 15 of Detroit's last 20 games.
Detroit is 6-1 SU in its last 7 games.
Detroit is 7-13 SU in its last 20 games against New York.
New York is 10-2 ATS in its last 12 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 10 of New York's last 14 games.
New York is 10-2 SU in its last 12 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of New York's last 5 games against Detroit.
Toronto VS Chicago
The total has gone UNDER in 6 of Toronto's last 9 games.
Toronto is 1-4 SU in its last 5 games against Chicago.
Toronto is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games on the road.
Toronto is 1-8 SU in its last 9 games when playing on the road against Chicago.
Chicago is 0-6 ATS in its last 6 games.
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Chicago's last 5 games.
Chicago is 0-6 SU in its last 6 games.
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Chicago's last 5 games against Toronto.
Phoenix VS San Antonio
Phoenix is 2-4 ATS in its last 6 games.
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Phoenix's last 7 games.
Phoenix is 2-4 SU in its last 6 games.
Phoenix is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games against San Antonio.
San Antonio is 6-0 ATS in its last 6 games.
The total has gone OVER in 5 of San Antonio's last 5 games.
San Antonio is 6-0 SU in its last 6 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of San Antonio's last 6 games against Phoenix.
Boston VS Golden State
Boston is 5-2 ATS in its last 7 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 9 of Boston's last 10 games.
Boston is 6-1 SU in its last 7 games.
Boston is 2-7 ATS in its last 9 games against Golden State.
Golden State is 1-5 ATS in its last 6 games.
Golden State is 2-4 SU in its last 6 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 7 of Golden State's last 9 games against Boston.
Golden State is 0-5 ATS in its last 5 games at home.
Orlando VS Sacramento
Orlando is 4-8 ATS in its last 12 games.
Orlando is 4-2 ATS in its last 6 games against Sacramento.
Orlando is 2-6 SU in its last 8 games against Sacramento.
Orlando is 1-9 ATS in its last 10 games on the road.
Sacramento is 4-10 ATS in its last 14 games.
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Sacramento's last 6 games.
Sacramento is 0-10 SU in its last 10 games.
The total has gone OVER in 10 of Sacramento's last 12 games against Orlando.
Denver VS Los Angeles
Denver is 2-4 ATS in its last 6 games.
The total has gone OVER in 6 of Denver's last 8 games.
Denver is 2-4 SU in its last 6 games.
Denver is 5-0-1 ATS in its last 6 games against LA Clippers.
LA Clippers is 12-6 ATS in its last 18 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of LA Clippers' last 5 games.
LA Clippers is 13-5 SU in its last 18 games.
The total has gone OVER in 5 of LA Clippers' last 5 games against Denver.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday, February 19
| Game | Time(ET) | Pick | Units |
|---|---|---|---|
| HOU at CHA | 07:00 PM | CHA +4.5 O 218.5***** | +500 +500 |
| IND at WAS | 07:00 PM | IND -2.5 O 232.5***** | +500 +500 |
| ATL at PHI | 07:00 PM | ATL +1.5***** U 240.5***** | +500 +500 |
| BK at CLE | 07:00 PM | CLE -16.5 O 229.5***** | +500 +500 |
| DET at NY | 07:30 PM | DET +3.5 O 219.5***** | +500 +500 |
| TOR at CHI | 08:00 PM | TOR -6.5 O 233.5***** | +500 +500 |
| PHO at SA | 08:30 PM | SA -7.5***** U 229.5 | +500 +500 |
| BOS at GS | 10:00 PM | GS +5.5 U 212.5***** | +500 +500 |
| ORL at SAC | 10:00 PM | SAC +8.5 O 225.5***** | +500 +500 |
| DEN at LAC | 10:30 PM | DEN -4.5 O 225.5***** | +500 +500 |
CNOTES NBA BEST BETS THRU FEBUARY !
02/19/2026.....................6 - 4 - 0.............60.00%..................+ 8.00
02/12/2026.....................5 - 1 - 0..............83.33%..................+ 19.50
02/11/2026.....................7 - 3 - 0..............70.00%..................+ 18.50
02/10/2026.....................2 - 6 - 0..............25.00%..................- 23.00
02/09/2026.....................5 - 9 - 0..............35.71%..................- 24.50
02/08/2026.....................6 - 1 - 0..............85.71%.................+ 24.50
02/07/2026...................10 - 2 - 0..............83.33%.................+ 39.00
02/06/2026....................5 - 3 - 0...............62.50%..................+ 8.50
02/05/2026....................7 - 4 - 0...............63.63%..................+ 13.00
02/04/2026.....................3 - 4 - 0..............47.85%..................- 7.00
02/03/2026.....................8 - 7 - 0..............53.33%..................+ 1.50
02/02/22026..................3 - 1 - 0...............75.00%.................+ 9.50
02/01/2026....................7 - 6 - 0................53.84%.................+ 2.00
TOTALS........................74 -51 - 0...............59.20%..................+ 89.50
02/19/2026.....................6 - 4 - 0.............60.00%..................+ 8.00
02/12/2026.....................5 - 1 - 0..............83.33%..................+ 19.50
02/11/2026.....................7 - 3 - 0..............70.00%..................+ 18.50
02/10/2026.....................2 - 6 - 0..............25.00%..................- 23.00
02/09/2026.....................5 - 9 - 0..............35.71%..................- 24.50
02/08/2026.....................6 - 1 - 0..............85.71%.................+ 24.50
02/07/2026...................10 - 2 - 0..............83.33%.................+ 39.00
02/06/2026....................5 - 3 - 0...............62.50%..................+ 8.50
02/05/2026....................7 - 4 - 0...............63.63%..................+ 13.00
02/04/2026.....................3 - 4 - 0..............47.85%..................- 7.00
02/03/2026.....................8 - 7 - 0..............53.33%..................+ 1.50
02/02/22026..................3 - 1 - 0...............75.00%.................+ 9.50
02/01/2026....................7 - 6 - 0................53.84%.................+ 2.00
TOTALS........................74 -51 - 0...............59.20%..................+ 89.50
Friday’s 6-pack
Teams with worst eFG% defenses in the country:
58.1%— Penn State (11-16)
57.9%— IU Indy (7-22)
57.0%— VMI (6-22)
56.8%— Northeastern (6-19)
56.7%— San Jose State (7-19)
56.6%— North Dakota (16-14)
Quote of the Day
“I feel great about the progress. You heard Tyler’s comments in terms of where they are on the schedule, and we’ve pretty much hit every deadline. The county has been great to work with. I feel great about that.”
A’s President Marc Badain, on the progress of the team’s new ballpark in Las Vegas
Friday’s quiz
Who is the New York Mets’ all-time leader in stolen bases?
Thursday’s quiz
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the all-time leading scorer (points/game) for the Seattle SuperSonics/Oklahoma City Thunder franchise.
Wednesday’s quiz
In the movie The Natural, Robert Redford’s character (Roy Hobbs) wore number 9 for the New York Knights.
*****************************************
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.
Teams with worst eFG% defenses in the country:
58.1%— Penn State (11-16)
57.9%— IU Indy (7-22)
57.0%— VMI (6-22)
56.8%— Northeastern (6-19)
56.7%— San Jose State (7-19)
56.6%— North Dakota (16-14)
Quote of the Day
“I feel great about the progress. You heard Tyler’s comments in terms of where they are on the schedule, and we’ve pretty much hit every deadline. The county has been great to work with. I feel great about that.”
A’s President Marc Badain, on the progress of the team’s new ballpark in Las Vegas
Friday’s quiz
Who is the New York Mets’ all-time leader in stolen bases?
Thursday’s quiz
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the all-time leading scorer (points/game) for the Seattle SuperSonics/Oklahoma City Thunder franchise.
Wednesday’s quiz
In the movie The Natural, Robert Redford’s character (Roy Hobbs) wore number 9 for the New York Knights.
*****************************************
Friday’s Den: Random stuff with the weekend here…….
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.
NBA
Friday, February 20[/ B]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trend Report
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Indiana VS Washington
Indiana is 2-4 ATS in its last 6 games.
Indiana is 2-5 SU in its last 7 games.
Indiana is 2-4 ATS in its last 6 games against Washington.
Indiana is 6-2 SU in its last 8 games against Washington.
Washington is 2-4 ATS in its last 6 games.
The total has gone OVER in 6 of Washington's last 8 games.
Washington is 5-14 SU in its last 19 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Washington's last 5 games against Indiana.
Cleveland VS Charlotte
Cleveland is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games.
Cleveland is 6-0 SU in its last 6 games.
Cleveland is 1-4 ATS in its last 5 games against Charlotte.
Cleveland is 6-1 SU in its last 7 games against Charlotte.
Charlotte is 6-1 ATS in its last 7 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 6 of Charlotte's last 7 games.
Charlotte is 10-2 SU in its last 12 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Charlotte's last 5 games against Cleveland.
Utah VS Memphis
Utah is 6-1 ATS in its last 7 games.
Utah is 4-13 SU in its last 17 games.
Utah is 9-4 ATS in its last 13 games against Memphis.
Utah is 1-6 SU in its last 7 games against Memphis.
Memphis is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games.
The total has gone OVER in 6 of Memphis' last 7 games.
Memphis is 2-10 SU in its last 12 games.
The total has gone OVER in 15 of Memphis' last 20 games against Utah.
Miami VS Atlanta
Miami is 4-2 ATS in its last 6 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Miami's last 6 games.
Miami is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games against Atlanta.
Miami is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games against Atlanta.
Atlanta is 1-4 ATS in its last 5 games.
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Atlanta's last 5 games against Miami.
Atlanta is 2-5 ATS in its last 7 games at home.
Atlanta is 3-6 ATS in its last 9 games when playing at home against Miami.
Dallas VS Minnesota
Dallas is 0-5 ATS in its last 5 games.
Dallas is 0-9 SU in its last 9 games.
Dallas is 1-4 SU in its last 5 games against Minnesota.
Dallas is 2-13 ATS in its last 15 games on the road.
Minnesota is 2-4 ATS in its last 6 games.
The total has gone OVER in 6 of Minnesota's last 8 games.
Minnesota is 7-3 SU in its last 10 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 14 of Minnesota's last 19 games at home.
Milwaukee VS New Orleans
Milwaukee is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games.
Milwaukee is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games.
Milwaukee is 6-2 ATS in its last 8 games against New Orleans.
Milwaukee is 7-1 SU in its last 8 games against New Orleans.
New Orleans is 2-4 ATS in its last 6 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 8 of New Orleans' last 12 games.
New Orleans is 2-4 SU in its last 6 games.
The total has gone OVER in 16 of New Orleans' last 19 games against Milwaukee.
Brooklyn VS Oklahoma City
Brooklyn is 2-5 ATS in its last 7 games.
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Brooklyn's last 6 games.
Brooklyn is 4-16 SU in its last 20 games.
Brooklyn is 2-5 ATS in its last 7 games against Oklahoma City.
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Oklahoma City's last 5 games.
The total has gone OVER in 7 of Oklahoma City's last 10 games against Brooklyn.
Oklahoma City is 1-5 ATS in its last 6 games at home.
Oklahoma City is 7-2 SU in its last 9 games when playing at home against Brooklyn.
Denver VS Portland
Denver is 1-4 ATS in its last 5 games.
The total has gone OVER in 7 of Denver's last 9 games.
Denver is 2-5 SU in its last 7 games.
Denver is 3-6 ATS in its last 9 games against Portland.
Portland is 3-6 ATS in its last 9 games.
The total has gone OVER in 7 of Portland's last 7 games.
Portland is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games.
The total has gone OVER in 6 of Portland's last 7 games against Denver.
Los Angeles VS Los Angeles
LA Clippers is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of LA Clippers' last 6 games.
LA Clippers is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games.
LA Clippers is 2-4 ATS in its last 6 games against LA Lakers.
LA Lakers is 4-2 ATS in its last 6 games.
LA Lakers is 4-2 SU in its last 6 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of LA Lakers' last 6 games against LA Clippers.
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of LA Lakers' last 6 games at home.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, February 20[/ B]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trend Report
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Indiana VS Washington
Indiana is 2-4 ATS in its last 6 games.
Indiana is 2-5 SU in its last 7 games.
Indiana is 2-4 ATS in its last 6 games against Washington.
Indiana is 6-2 SU in its last 8 games against Washington.
Washington is 2-4 ATS in its last 6 games.
The total has gone OVER in 6 of Washington's last 8 games.
Washington is 5-14 SU in its last 19 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Washington's last 5 games against Indiana.
Cleveland VS Charlotte
Cleveland is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games.
Cleveland is 6-0 SU in its last 6 games.
Cleveland is 1-4 ATS in its last 5 games against Charlotte.
Cleveland is 6-1 SU in its last 7 games against Charlotte.
Charlotte is 6-1 ATS in its last 7 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 6 of Charlotte's last 7 games.
Charlotte is 10-2 SU in its last 12 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Charlotte's last 5 games against Cleveland.
Utah VS Memphis
Utah is 6-1 ATS in its last 7 games.
Utah is 4-13 SU in its last 17 games.
Utah is 9-4 ATS in its last 13 games against Memphis.
Utah is 1-6 SU in its last 7 games against Memphis.
Memphis is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games.
The total has gone OVER in 6 of Memphis' last 7 games.
Memphis is 2-10 SU in its last 12 games.
The total has gone OVER in 15 of Memphis' last 20 games against Utah.
Miami VS Atlanta
Miami is 4-2 ATS in its last 6 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Miami's last 6 games.
Miami is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games against Atlanta.
Miami is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games against Atlanta.
Atlanta is 1-4 ATS in its last 5 games.
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Atlanta's last 5 games against Miami.
Atlanta is 2-5 ATS in its last 7 games at home.
Atlanta is 3-6 ATS in its last 9 games when playing at home against Miami.
Dallas VS Minnesota
Dallas is 0-5 ATS in its last 5 games.
Dallas is 0-9 SU in its last 9 games.
Dallas is 1-4 SU in its last 5 games against Minnesota.
Dallas is 2-13 ATS in its last 15 games on the road.
Minnesota is 2-4 ATS in its last 6 games.
The total has gone OVER in 6 of Minnesota's last 8 games.
Minnesota is 7-3 SU in its last 10 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 14 of Minnesota's last 19 games at home.
Milwaukee VS New Orleans
Milwaukee is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games.
Milwaukee is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games.
Milwaukee is 6-2 ATS in its last 8 games against New Orleans.
Milwaukee is 7-1 SU in its last 8 games against New Orleans.
New Orleans is 2-4 ATS in its last 6 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 8 of New Orleans' last 12 games.
New Orleans is 2-4 SU in its last 6 games.
The total has gone OVER in 16 of New Orleans' last 19 games against Milwaukee.
Brooklyn VS Oklahoma City
Brooklyn is 2-5 ATS in its last 7 games.
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Brooklyn's last 6 games.
Brooklyn is 4-16 SU in its last 20 games.
Brooklyn is 2-5 ATS in its last 7 games against Oklahoma City.
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Oklahoma City's last 5 games.
The total has gone OVER in 7 of Oklahoma City's last 10 games against Brooklyn.
Oklahoma City is 1-5 ATS in its last 6 games at home.
Oklahoma City is 7-2 SU in its last 9 games when playing at home against Brooklyn.
Denver VS Portland
Denver is 1-4 ATS in its last 5 games.
The total has gone OVER in 7 of Denver's last 9 games.
Denver is 2-5 SU in its last 7 games.
Denver is 3-6 ATS in its last 9 games against Portland.
Portland is 3-6 ATS in its last 9 games.
The total has gone OVER in 7 of Portland's last 7 games.
Portland is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games.
The total has gone OVER in 6 of Portland's last 7 games against Denver.
Los Angeles VS Los Angeles
LA Clippers is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of LA Clippers' last 6 games.
LA Clippers is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games.
LA Clippers is 2-4 ATS in its last 6 games against LA Lakers.
LA Lakers is 4-2 ATS in its last 6 games.
LA Lakers is 4-2 SU in its last 6 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of LA Lakers' last 6 games against LA Clippers.
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of LA Lakers' last 6 games at home.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
