Armadillo Sports
Friday’s 6-pack:
College basketball teams playing slowest tempo so far:
358) Virginia
357) Air Force
356) Evansville
355) Texas
354) Campbell
353) NC-Greensboro
Quote of the Day
“I think it’s (taunting) being over-officiated. I don’t think any of us who discussed it [on the competition committee] saw it going where it is now.”
Sean Payton
Friday’s quiz
After leaving UNLV, Jerry Tarkanian coached 20 games in the NBA; what team did he coach?
Thursday’s quiz
Falcons’ QB Matt Ryan played his college football at Boston College.
Wednesday’s quiz
Roy Williams retired last spring as North Carolina’s basketball coach; he coached Kansas before he went to North Carolina.
********************************
Friday’s Den: Random stuff with weekend here…….
13) I like to surf the web and find articles that will help me in handicapping and in fantasy baseball; back in 2019, read an article in The Athletic about a Toronto pitcher named Trent Thornton.
Won’t mention the writer’s name, but he was effusive in his praise for Thornton, how the spin rate on his curveball was so good and that he was such a good prospect. I was skeptical, but hey, this guy writes for The Athletic while I’m eating Doritos on my couch, so I picked Thornton up, since my squad needed pitching.
It didn’t go well.
His first two starts were very good (2 runs in 10.2 IP) but then the roof fell in. 13 runs in 12.2 IP in his next three starts; one of the home runs he gave up in SkyDome almost went through the empty seat it hit. If someone had been sitting there, they would’ve broken a bone.
Can’t remember how long it took me to cut Thornton, but I stopped reading that guy’s articles. Just because you get paid to do something doesn’t mean you’re good at it.
12) New England 25, Atlanta 0:
— Patriots had one offensive TD; they had a pick-6 with 1:22 left.
— Patriots won five in row, six of last seven games.
— New England has 18 takeaways in last seven games (+10)
— Since 2016, New England is 22-15 ATS as road favorites.
— Three Falcon QB’s threw an INT in this game.
— Atlanta is 0-4 SU at home, losing by 26-4-6-25 points.
— Falcons gained 165 total yards, had two empty trips to red zone.
— Atlanta has been outscored 165-82 in second half.
11) Mac Jones was the fifth QB taken in last spring’s draft. This is why the NFL Draft is such an interesting process; in a business where the average franchise is worth $3B, some teams are just knuckleheads where the draft is concerned.
10) Good news: ESPN announced that Dick Vitale will be the analyst for Tuesday’s Gonzaga-UCLA game in Las Vegas. The 82-year old Vitale has been getting treatment for lymphoma, but his doctor gave his blessing for the former coach to travel to call games. Glad to hear it.
9) New Mexico State 76, Davidson 64:
— This is Chris Jans’ 5th year with the Aggies; they’ve gone 98-25 under his tutelage, beating a good Davidson team here.
— New Mexico State has 13 new players this season, basically a whole new team.
8) Charleston Cougars are going to be an interesting team to follow this winter; they changed coaches last spring, with Earl Grant jumping to Boston College. In seven years under Grant, Charleston went 68-50 in CAA games, 57-25 the last five years.
In those seven years, Charleston NEVER ranked higher than #289 in pace; they played slower tempo, were a good defensive team, and hey, they won a lot of games.
Enter Pat Kelsey, Charleston’s new coach.
In nine years at Winthrop, Kelsey went 110-46 in conference games; in his last six years with the Eagles, Winthrop never ranked lower than #47 in pace. Kelsey likes his team to play fast.
So far this season, Charleston is #1 in country in pace. Not sure how good they’ll be, but they’ll sure as hell be fun to watch.
7) Still believe that one weekend every season, the NBA should honor the old ABA by playing games with red, white and blue basketballs, and having the four ABA survivors play each other that weekend. Nets-Spurs-Pacers-Nuggets. The ABA made basketball more fun; that’s where the 3-point shot came from.
6) Brooklyn Nets just played eight games in 13 nights, going 6-2 in those games.
5) This is how screwed up college sports have become; DePaul-Rutgers in the Big East-Big 14 challenge, a team from Chicago against a team from New Jersey. The thing is, DePaul is the Big East team, and Rutgers is the Big 14 team.
If I was a kid today, I’d flunk geography.
4) Dayton Flyers already have home losses to Mass-Lowell and Lipscomb, scoring 58-59 points in those games. Atlantic 14 is pretty good league. Flyers are 2nd-least experienced team in country, playing a bottom 10 pace. Against Lipscomb, seven of nine Flyers who played were freshmen. Could be a long winter in Dayton.
3) St Bonaventure 67, Boise State 61:
— Bonnies are supposed to be the best team in A-14; they allowed 56 ppg in their first three games.
— Bonnies have six international players on their roster.
— St Bonaventure is #28 in experience; they’ve made only 21.7% of their 3’s so far.
2) Other interesting college basketball scores:
— Xavier 71, Ohio State 65
— Samford 78, Oregon State 77
— Marquette 78, Ole Miss 72
— Saginaw Valley 80, Western Michigan 63— Oy.
— San Diego State 65, Arizona State 63
1) Do cellphones cause people to talk less?
I’m at the mall Monday, getting my booster shot; after the shot, you sit in an area for 15 minutes, then you go home, or wherever. There are seven other people sitting in the area; I look around, and all eight of us are scrolling on our phones. Makes the time go quicker, but in the old days, maybe you’d strike up a conversation with someone. Didn’t happen Monday.
