Armadillo Sports
Thursday’s 6-pack
Conference records (SU/ATS) in this year’s NCAA Tournament:
ACC— 8-2/8-2
Big East— 4-4/5-3
Big 14— 9-7/6-9-1
Big X— 9-3/8-4
Pac-12— 4-1/1-4
SEC— 4-5/2-7
Quote of the Day
“You can use moments during the season to catapult you. You can galvanize together over frustration and disappointment. Teams can also go the other way. I don’t see that with our group. I don’t see that with our locker room. But we have needed a kick in the butt.”
Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra
Thursday’s quiz
In the movie The Hangover, which Las Vegas hotel do the four friends stay in?
Wednesday’s quiz
Trae Young played his college basketball at Oklahoma.
Tuesday’s quiz
Matt Ryan played his college football at Boston College.
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Thursday’s Den: Doing some thinking out loud……..
13) Next time you’re in Las Vegas, I’m suggesting you have dinner at Maggiano’s, which is in the Fashion Show Mall across the Strip from Wynn and Encore. Excellent Italian place; if you get a seat by the window, you can watch people walk up/down the Strip, which is also fun.
12) Since 2015, #1-seeds in NCAA Tournament are 14-4-1 ATS in Sweet 16 games.
11) Since 2012, double digit favorites are 2-5 ATS in Sweet 16 games
10) Last four years, underdogs are 4-2 ATS when a #2-seed plays a #3-seed in Sweet 16.
9) Since 2000, Duke is 7-8 SU in Sweet 16 games.
8) Teams that win the NCAA Tournament tend to be teams that covered early round games; last time a team won the tournament after going 0-2 ATS in rounds 1-2 was 1997, when Arizona won it all. That is also the last season a Pac-12 team won the championship.
7) Mississippi State hired New Mexico State coach Chris Jans as its new coach; Jans was raking in $640,000 in Las Cruces, now he’ll be making $2.2M, where is he a small fish in a very deep SEC pond, as opposed to being one of the big fish in the shallow WAC pond.
6) Listening to the Braves-Rays game yesterday, Atlanta play-by-play guy Chip Caray has gotten so much better as an announcer; his grandfather Harry Caray was a legend, a total character. Skip Caray had a quirky sense of humor that he used often, but Chip Caray is more basic, and he has become very good behind the mike. Lot of pressure with some famous relatives preceding him.
5) Padres pitching prospect MacKenzie Gore wears number 1; weird seeing a pitcher wearing number one.
4) Kansas City Chiefs traded WR Tyreek Hill to the Dolphins for five draft picks; a first, a second, two fourths and a sixth round pick. Miami then gave Hill $30M a year for four years, as they commit to offense under new coach Mike McDaniel.
Over last three years, WR’s with most TD catches:
69— Davante Adams
60— Mike Evans
56— Tyreek Hill
Hill used to catch passes from Patrick Mahomes; now he’ll catch passes from Tua Tagovailoa, which is a huge downgrade. Miami will be an interesting team next fall.
3) NFL backup QB news:
— Dolphins brought in Teddy Bridgewater to back up Tagovailoa.
— Buffalo brought in Case Keenum to back up Josh Allen,
— Cleveland replaced Keenum with Jacoby Brissett, who figures to get 6+ starts once the NFL gives Watson his inevitable suspension, assuming that they’re going to deal Baker Mayfield..
Saints, Seahawks, Panthers still need a starting QB.
2) I’ve talked before how Major League Baseball has a marketing issue, as in, they suck at marketing their own product, which is a very good one.
I’m on my way out the door of my hotel Wednesday, and while there is a live spring training game on TV, the hotel bar, with three TV’s, has ESPN talk shows on, when you can’t even hear what they’re saying.
Baseball needs to promote itself to restaurant/hotel chains, to show their product to the public.
1) Two weeks to go until baseball season starts; Cubs had 55 players on their roster as of yesterday, which means they need to cut 27 guys pretty soon. Rosters will be 28 until May 1st, then drop to 26 the rest of the way.
Thursday’s 6-pack
Conference records (SU/ATS) in this year’s NCAA Tournament:
ACC— 8-2/8-2
Big East— 4-4/5-3
Big 14— 9-7/6-9-1
Big X— 9-3/8-4
Pac-12— 4-1/1-4
SEC— 4-5/2-7
Quote of the Day
“You can use moments during the season to catapult you. You can galvanize together over frustration and disappointment. Teams can also go the other way. I don’t see that with our group. I don’t see that with our locker room. But we have needed a kick in the butt.”
Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra
Thursday’s quiz
In the movie The Hangover, which Las Vegas hotel do the four friends stay in?
Wednesday’s quiz
Trae Young played his college basketball at Oklahoma.
Tuesday’s quiz
Matt Ryan played his college football at Boston College.
*****************************
Thursday’s Den: Doing some thinking out loud……..
13) Next time you’re in Las Vegas, I’m suggesting you have dinner at Maggiano’s, which is in the Fashion Show Mall across the Strip from Wynn and Encore. Excellent Italian place; if you get a seat by the window, you can watch people walk up/down the Strip, which is also fun.
12) Since 2015, #1-seeds in NCAA Tournament are 14-4-1 ATS in Sweet 16 games.
11) Since 2012, double digit favorites are 2-5 ATS in Sweet 16 games
10) Last four years, underdogs are 4-2 ATS when a #2-seed plays a #3-seed in Sweet 16.
9) Since 2000, Duke is 7-8 SU in Sweet 16 games.
8) Teams that win the NCAA Tournament tend to be teams that covered early round games; last time a team won the tournament after going 0-2 ATS in rounds 1-2 was 1997, when Arizona won it all. That is also the last season a Pac-12 team won the championship.
7) Mississippi State hired New Mexico State coach Chris Jans as its new coach; Jans was raking in $640,000 in Las Cruces, now he’ll be making $2.2M, where is he a small fish in a very deep SEC pond, as opposed to being one of the big fish in the shallow WAC pond.
6) Listening to the Braves-Rays game yesterday, Atlanta play-by-play guy Chip Caray has gotten so much better as an announcer; his grandfather Harry Caray was a legend, a total character. Skip Caray had a quirky sense of humor that he used often, but Chip Caray is more basic, and he has become very good behind the mike. Lot of pressure with some famous relatives preceding him.
5) Padres pitching prospect MacKenzie Gore wears number 1; weird seeing a pitcher wearing number one.
4) Kansas City Chiefs traded WR Tyreek Hill to the Dolphins for five draft picks; a first, a second, two fourths and a sixth round pick. Miami then gave Hill $30M a year for four years, as they commit to offense under new coach Mike McDaniel.
Over last three years, WR’s with most TD catches:
69— Davante Adams
60— Mike Evans
56— Tyreek Hill
Hill used to catch passes from Patrick Mahomes; now he’ll catch passes from Tua Tagovailoa, which is a huge downgrade. Miami will be an interesting team next fall.
3) NFL backup QB news:
— Dolphins brought in Teddy Bridgewater to back up Tagovailoa.
— Buffalo brought in Case Keenum to back up Josh Allen,
— Cleveland replaced Keenum with Jacoby Brissett, who figures to get 6+ starts once the NFL gives Watson his inevitable suspension, assuming that they’re going to deal Baker Mayfield..
Saints, Seahawks, Panthers still need a starting QB.
2) I’ve talked before how Major League Baseball has a marketing issue, as in, they suck at marketing their own product, which is a very good one.
I’m on my way out the door of my hotel Wednesday, and while there is a live spring training game on TV, the hotel bar, with three TV’s, has ESPN talk shows on, when you can’t even hear what they’re saying.
Baseball needs to promote itself to restaurant/hotel chains, to show their product to the public.
1) Two weeks to go until baseball season starts; Cubs had 55 players on their roster as of yesterday, which means they need to cut 27 guys pretty soon. Rosters will be 28 until May 1st, then drop to 26 the rest of the way.