CNOTES MLB NEW-NOTES-BEST BETS THRU THE WORLD SERIES !

[CNOTES]

Friday’s 6-pack:
Top six picks in April’s NFL Draft:
1) Chicago Bears (from Carolina)
2) Washington Commanders
3) New England Patriots
4) Arizona Cardinals
5) Los Angeles Chargers
6) New Jersey Giants

Quote of the Day
“You only live once, but if you work it right, once is enough.”
Joe E. Lewis

Friday’s quiz
In the movie Good Will Hunting, Matt Damon plays a janitor at MIT who has a gift for Math; what famous actor played the psychologist who helped him find direction in his life?

Thursday’s quiz
Thomas Jefferson was the third President of the United States.

Wednesday’s quiz
When the United States won the gold medal in hockey at the 1980 Olympics, they beat Finland 4-2 in the gold medal game. (they beat Russia in the semi-finals).

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

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

— Idea of the Day– NBA should run a 1-on-1 tournament in the summer, with players playing for the charity of their choice. 64 players, voted on by fans. It would be very popular, and it would make a boatload of $$$ for deserving charities.
50 years ago, the NBA did this for a couple years; they showed clips of the games at halftime of regular season games on Sunday afternoons. Bob Lanier won in 1972, Geoff Petrie won the next year. It died out when some agents discouraged their clients from playing. Too bad.

— When the Dodgers-Padres start baseball’s regular season in Korea next month, the games will start at 5:30am here in the East. March 21 is going to be a busy day; the second of the two games in Korea at 5:30am, then the NCAA Tournament starts at noon.
Imagine working in a sportsbook in Las Vegas? Baseball games start at 2:30am in Las Vegas; pity the people who have to take the bets before those games, then the NCAA’s start at 9am local time in the desert.

— Three years ago, Georgetown won four games in the Big East tournament, after a 9-12 regular season. In three years since then, the Hoyas are 3-51 in conference games, 21-68 in all games. Ed Cooley will eventually get Georgetown back on track. But they’ve got a big hill to climb.

— In the NHL, Toronto Maple Leafs have gone 200 games in a row without being shut out, only the 11th team to do that, the first team since the 1989 Rangers.

— Michigan Wolverines will have 18 players at the NFL Combine next week, five more than any other school; Washington is next, with 13 players.

— Kansas City Chiefs signed punter Matt Araiza to a contract, after Araiza’s legal issues in San Diego were dismissed. He was accused of a crime, then counter-sued the person for defamation, but now the slate has been wiped clean,
Araiza was a great punter/kicker for San Diego State, so much so that Buffalo drafted him in the 6th round of the 2022 draft. He hasn’t played in the NFL yet.

— Baseball Stuff:
Pirates re-signed P Mitch Keller for five years, $77M.
SS Tim Anderson signs with the Marlins for one year, $5M.
3B Gio Urshela signed with the Tigers for one year, $1.5M.
Mets P Kodai Senga (shoulder) will start the season on the IL.

— Word of the Day: Mentor- an experienced and trusted adviser.

— Famous people with birthdays on February 23:
Fred Biletnikoff, 80- great WR for the Raiders.
Ed (Too Tall) Jones, 72- defensive lineman for the Cowboys
actress Emily Blunt, 41
singer Howard Jones, 69
Jamal Murray, 26- star for the Denver Nuggets
Andrew Wiggins, 28- Golden State Warriors
Tom Osborne, 86- longtime football coach at Nebraska

 

[CNOTES]

Saturday’s 6-pack:
— Raptors 123, Hawks 121- Toronto was +13 in 17:00 Agbaji played.
— 76ers 104, Cavaliers 97- Maxey had 24 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists.
— Rockets 114, Suns 110- Houston is 20-9 at home, 5-22 on road.
— Clippers 101, Grizzlies 95- Mann scored 23 points, grabbed 12 rebounds.
— Heat 106, Pelicans 95- Miami was minus-8 in 21:00 Jimmy Butler sat out.
— Thunder 147, Wizards 106- Wizards are 9-47; they trailed 80-57 at the half.

Quote of the Day
“It is a very bad thing to become accustomed to good luck.”
Pubilius Syrus

Saturday’s quiz
Where did Steve Kerr play his college basketball?

Friday’s quiz
In the movie Good Will Hunting, Matt Damon plays a janitor at MIT who has a gift for Math; Robin Williams played the psychologist who helped him find direction in his life.

Thursday’s quiz
Thomas Jefferson was the third President of the United States.

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

Saturday’s Den: Random stuff on a winter night…….​

— Idea of the Day– ESPN or NFL Network needs to bring Jon Gruden back to TV, so he can do those interviews he used to do with college QB’s before the NFL Draft. Learned a lot watching those, and this year especially is a very interesting year for QB’s in the draft.

— NFL’s salary cap is going up 13.6% next season, up to $255.4M/team.

— New Orleans Saints are restructuring QB Derek Carr’s contract, giving them $23M or so in salary cap relief for 2024, but Carr’s 2025 salary cap hit is up to $50.13M, including a $10M bonus that guarantees in three weeks.
In other words, the Saints kicked their cap woes down the road a year.
Right now, Saints are still $40,071,454 over the 2024 salary cap; Buffalo Bills are $41,742,609 over the cap, so those teams still have some work to do, cap-wise.

— Rams signed WR Demarcus Robinson for one year, $5M; Robinson caught 26 passes for 371 yards this season, with four TD’s, all of which came from Week 13 on.

— Golden State Warriors signed coach Steve Kerr for two years, $35M, which coincides with what’s left on Steph Curry’s contract. Kerr has won four NBA titles coaching the Warriors.

— Minnesota Golden Gophers are 17-9, 9-7 in conference this year, but they’re an impressive 23-3 against the spread this season. This is Minnesota’s first winning season since Richard Pitino led the Gophers to a 22-14 record five years ago.

— Was surprised to read that Thursday night’s Law and Order was the last episode for the great actor Sam Waterston, whose character Jack McCoy was on the show for 405 episodes. Thanks for all your work, sir. You’ll be missed.
The three TV shows I watch the most: CSI, Law and Order, Magnum PI, So many famous actors have been on Law and Order before they hit it rich. Great show.

— Baseball Stuff: Colorado Rockies have 33 pitchers in their major league camp this spring.

— Word of the Day: Mensch- a person of integrity and honor.
— Famous people with birthdays on February 24:
Hall of Fame 1B Eddie Murray, 68
actor Edward James Olmos, 77
actor Billy Zane, 58
singer George Thorogood, 73
former NC State/NBA center Tom Burleson, 72

— Spring training baseball started Thursday; great to watch baseball on TV again, its like welcoming old friends back into your house, after a 4-5 month lull.
Now the games themselves don’t mean so much; it isn’t about winning, it is just the players getting back in shape, preparing for the regular season, but it is still fun to watch.

— Fairfield 85, Quinnipiac 81
Fairfield is 17-10, after starting the season 1-6.
Stags made 13-26 on the arc in this game.
Quinnipiac has lost three in a row, after a 10-0 run.

— Cornell 65, Yale 62
Cornell outscored Yale 13-4 over the final 3:23.
Yale was only 11-26 on the foul line.
Big Red now leads the Ivy League by a game over Yale/Princeton.

— Bowling Green 76, Toledo 68
Toledo’s loss puts Akron atop the MAC standings.
Marcus Hill scored 31 points for Bowling Green, which starts four seniors.

— Fort Wayne 85, Green Bay 59
Mastodons led 47-23 at halftime.
Fort Wayne shot 60.5% inside arc, had only 4 turnovers.
Green Bay’s loss puts Oakland atop the Horizon standings.

— Teams shooting the best %age on 3’s this season:
40.6%- Purdue (24-3)
40.5%- Kentucky (18-8)
40.4%- Baylor (19-7)

-Teams shooting the worst %age on 3’s this season:
25.2%- IUPUI (6-22)
26%- Buffalo (4-22)
26.4%- Coppin State (2-21)

 

[CNOTES]

Sunday’s 6-pack:
Six of the best prospects for the Washington Nationals:
1) Dylan Crews, OF
2) James Wood, OF
3) Brady House, 3B
4) Cade Cavalli, P
5) Yohandy Morales, 3B
6) Jackson Rutledge, P

Quote of the Day
“Success in life comes not from holding a good hand, but in playing a poor hand well.”
Denis Waitley

Sunday’s quiz
Marcus Camby led UMass to the Final Four in 1996; who was their coach back then?

Saturday’s quiz
Steve Kerr played his college basketball at Arizona.

Friday’s quiz
In the movie Good Will Hunting, Matt Damon plays a janitor at MIT who has a gift for Math; Robin Williams played the psychologist who helped him find direction in his life.

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

Sunday’s Den: Wrapping up a sports Saturday……​

Seven Top 25 teams lost Saturday……

— Big 12
Houston 82, Baylor 76, OT
Cougars led 29-12 early on.
Four Baylor subs played, but totaled only 21:00.
Houston was +11 in turnovers (19-8).

Oklahoma 84, Oklahoma State 82 OT
Cowboys led by 11 late in first half.
Both teams shot 62%+ inside the arc.
Both teams had a sub score 20 points.
Houston leads Iowa State by a game, Kansas by two games.

— ACC
Wake Forest 83, Duke 79
Neither team led by more than six points.
Both teams shot 62%+ inside the arc.
Duke scored 1.30 points/possession but lost; a red flag.

North Carolina 54, Virginia 44
Tar Heels had lost eight in a row in Charlottesville.
UNC won despite star G Davis going 1-14 from the floor.
UNC G Ryan made 6-11 shots on the arc.
North Carolina leads Duke by a game, Virginia/Wake Forest by 3 games.

— SEC
Kentucky 117, Alabama 95
Wildcats scored a ridiculous 1.46 points/possession.
Kentucky led by 37 with 8:37 left in game.
Alabama allowed 85+ points in all eight of their losses.

Auburn 97, Georgia 76
Auburn was 14-26 on arc, Georgia 3-14.
Tigers scored 1.43 points/possession.
Auburn is 21-6, 0-4 in games decided by less than 10 points.
Alabama/Tennessee lead the SEC at 11-3; Auburn/South Carolina are 10-4.

— Pac-12
Arizona State 73, Washington State 61
Coogs beat Arizona, then lose to the Sun Devils. Oy.
Loss ends Wazzu’s 8-game winning streak.

USC 62, UCLA 56
This game was 34-34 at halftime, after USC led 33-19 early on.
Trojans snap a 7-game road losing streak.
Bruins are 14-13, 9-7 in the Pac-12; they’ll need a great Pac-12 tournament to get into the NCAA’s for the fourth year in a row.
Arizona leads Washington State by a half-game, Oregon by 2 games.
ESPN’s Bracketology has only two Pac-12 teams getting in the NCAA’s.

— Big West
Cal-San Diego 92, Cal-Irvine 88 OT
Both teams had double-digit leads in this game.
Tritons have won four in row, 13 of last 16 games.
These teams are tied for first in Big West, but Cal-San Diego isn’t eligible for the Big West tournament; this is only their 4th season as a D-I team.

— WAC
Abilene Christian 79, Grand Canyon 73
Antelopes lost last two games, after a 24-2 start.
Wildcats were 29-36 on foul line, Grand Canyon was 19-24.

Tarleton State 82, Cal Baptist 65
Tarleton State was +12 in turnovers (17-5)
Texans have won eight games in a row.
Tarleton only played 7 guys; they’re #354 in bench minutes.
Grand Canyon/Tarleton are tied in loss column for the WAC lead; their conference tournament should be very interesting.

— Upsets of the Day:
Air Force (+18.5) 78, New Mexico 77
Tex-San Antonio (+13.5) 64, North Texas 62
Brown (+11.5) 78, Cornell 74
Oregon State (+10.5) 85, Stanford 73
Eastern Michigan (+10.5) 58, Ball State 56
Abilene Christian (+8.5) 79, Grand Canyon 73
Georgia Tech (+8.5) 80, Miami 76
Sacramento State (+7.5) 66, Montana State 63

— Word of the Day: Voracious- someone who has a huge appetite, whether for reading, knowledge or food.

— Famous people with birthdays on February 25
Ric Flair, 75
Carrot Top, 59 (real name Scott Thompson)
Bob Brenly, 70
Cesar Cedeno, 73
Rashida Jones, 48
Jeff Fisher, 66

— Missouri Valley
Northern Iowa 91, Drake 77
This loss probably makes Arch Madness a must-win for Drake.
Both teams shot over 60% inside the arc.
Tytan Anderson had 18 points, 18 rebounds for UNI.

Indiana State 88, Ill-Chicago 73
Sycamores have won 11 of their last 13 games.
Larry Bird’s alma mater has the #1 eFG% in the country.
Indiana State leads Drake by a game.
Bracketology is saying the MVC is a one-bid league.

— Ivy League
Brown 78, Cornell 74
Cornell loses as an 11-point favorite, after beating Yale Friday.
Cornell, Yale, Princeton are tied for first, at 9-2.
Brown/Harvard are tied for 4th in Ivy with three games left; only four teams make it to the Ivy League tournament.

— Southern
Samford 87, East Tennessee State 71
Bulldogs led 53-27 at halftime.
Samford shot 75% (18-24) inside the arc.
Samford leads SoCon by three games, which will only put pressure on them in conference tournament, since the SoCon is a one-bid league.

— Mid-American is the #24 league this season, the lowest it has been ranked in this century; they were #20 two years ago, their next lowest ranking.

— Big Sky
Eastern Washington 85, Northern Colorado 76
Northern Colorado led by 12 midway thru first half.
Cedric Coward scored 30 points, had one assist; his job is to shoot.
Eastern Washington has a 2-game lead in Big Sky, with three games left.

— WCC
Gonzaga 94, Santa Clara 81
Zags have won six in row, 11 of last 12 games.
Despite that, Bracketology has Gonzaga as a bubble team; they play Saint Mary’s Saturday, then probably again in the WCC tournament- they better at least split with the Gaels.

Saint Mary’s 88, San Diego 62
Gaels have won 15 games in a row, after an 8-6 start.
Bracketology has Saint Mary’s as a 6-seed, so they’re pretty much in the NCAA’s.
WCC is the 11th-ranked conference this year, its lowest rank in six years. BYU bolting for the Big X this year hurt the WCC’s rating.

 

[CNOTES]

MLB Futures Picks: 3 Best Bets for the 2024 Season​

Andrew Caley has scoured the MLB futures betting board looking for underlays in various markets, including the MLB hits leader department. Find out why our MLB betting picks are all over Bo Bichette to pace the majors in hits at a big price.

Andrew Caley
Feb 20, 2024 • 16:22 ET • 4 min read

Photo By - USA TODAY Sports
It's a little crazy to wrap your head around, but MLB Opening Day is just a little over a month away. As all 30 teams prepare for the season in Spring Training, there is no better time to slide headfirst into the MLB odds as we search for betting value in season-long player futures markets.
There are more baseball betting options than ever before with odds for MVP, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year, regular season leaders, and player totals. But don’t worry, I dug through the MLB futures and am sitting on my three best MLB picks for the 2024 season like a power hitter sits on a hanging breaking ball — ready to knock it out of the park.

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Jesus Luzardo — NL Cy Young (+3,000)​

The National League Cy Young odds landscape has drastically changed over the past few years. No longer is the senior circuit dominated by guys like Clayton Kershaw, Jacob deGrom, and Max Scherzer. And the race to win the award for the NL’s top pitcher seems more wide open than ever.
Yes, the Spencer Striders, Zach Wheelers, and Zac Gallens and alike are all still there, and they are the favorites. But it doesn’t feel like there is an elite tier of pitchers that has separated itself from the pack anymore. And to me, that means there is betting value to be found in this market.
So, scanning the list of names to win the NL Cy Young, one that immediately stood out to me was Jesus Luzardo of the Miami Marlins at +3,000.
Luzardo will be the Marlins de facto ace in 2024 with Sandy Alcantara sidelined thanks to Tommy John surgery. But don’t be mistaken, the 26-year-old has the stuff to be an ace all on his own and is coming off a breakout season where he pitched to a 3.58 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP over 32 starts.
Luzardo is a power left-hander. And I mean he brings the gas. He is one of the hardest-throwing left-handed starters in baseball and ranked in the 90th percentile overall in fastball velocity. He combines that fastball with a wipeout slider and a devastating changeup that drops off the table.
The result of those pitches? Strikeouts. A lot of them. Luzardo racked up 208 Ks in just 178 2/3 innings pitched last season. That was good for fourth in the NL in strikeout rate. What will help his case further is that his command is getting better and better as he enters his prime. Luzardo has slashed his walk rate each of the last three seasons and his 7.4% walk rate in 2023 ranked in the 65th percentile.
Cy Young voters don’t care too much about 200 innings pitched anymore it seems with four of the six winners since 2021 having fallen below that number. But they still love strikeouts. And a sub 3.00 ERA of course.
Luzardo has dominant stuff and is still getting better. If he continues on this trajectory, Cy Young contention is not far off. At this price, I’m betting the Lizard King follows in Alcantara’s footsteps and grabs the National League Cy Young Award.

Jesus Luzardo pick: To win NL Cy Young (+3,000 at DraftKings)

MLB
World Series Odds
By: Jason Wilson

Dylan Cease — MLB strikeout leader (+3,500)​

The Chicago White Sox are a perfect example of how quickly a contention window can close in baseball, because 2023 was one hell of a dumpster fire.
This team won 93 games and the AL Central crown in 2021, and just two seasons later they managed only 61 victories. Now, to pull off a collapse like that, basically everyone on the team has to have regressed last year, even ace Dylan Cease.
The right-handed fireballer finished the year with an ERA of 4.58, his worst since his rookie season in 2019. But while there were some bad patches last year, there were stretches where the 28-year-old looked great. And despite the rough patches, Cease still finished the season ranked eighth in the MLB in strikeouts with 214 and sixth in strikeout rate.
So, when I look at the odds board for who will be the MLB strikeout leader in 2024 and I see a +3,500 by Cease’s name, that seems flat out disrespectful. That is behind 16 other starters.
Remember this is a guy who pitched to a 3.01 ERA, limited opponents to a .207 batting average, and stuck out 11.7 batters per nine innings over 64 starts between 2021 and 2023. And he has struck out at least 214 batters in each of the last three seasons.
Just because his team sucks does not mean this guy is not a good pitcher, and I think he’s in a great spot to bounce back this season. Cease also clearly knows his name has been mentioned in plenty of trade rumors recently, so what better way to up your trade value than by mowing down opposing hitters?
Part of me still hopes Cease gets traded to a better situation before this year’s trade deadline, but even if he doesn’t this season, a bounce back does nothing but improve his value and it doesn’t hurt that he gets to pitch against the worst division in baseball.
At +3,500, there is plenty of value in Cease to lead the MLB in strikeouts in 2024.
Dylan Cease pick: To lead MLB in strikeouts (+3,500 at FanDuel)

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Bo Bichette — MLB hits leader (+1,400)​

Bo Bichette will lead Major League Baseball in hits at some point in his career. Full stop. He’s just that good a hitter. So, could 2024 be the year that the Toronto Blue Jays’ shortstop accomplishes that feat?
What makes Bichette such a dangerous hitter is that he has great plate coverage and is willing to take the ball to the opposite field. That allows him to hit every type of pitch well. Simply put, Bichette is one of the purest hitters in the game today and the numbers through his first handful of seasons reflect that.
For starters, when it comes to expected batting average, Bichette has ranked in the 90th percentile or better in each of his last four seasons, which includes him finishing in the Top 2% of MLB hitters last season. He is also a .299 hitter for his career, never hitting worse than .290 in a season.
Bichette also led the American League in hits in both 2021 and 2022. In 2023, he ended the year with 175 hits. But he also had two uncharacteristic trips to the injured list last season and ended up playing just 135 games after suiting up for 159 in each of the two previous campaigns.
Take away the IL stints and Bichette was on pace for a 207-hit season, which would have given him the third-most in the big leagues and just 10 behind MLB leader Ronald Acuna Jr.
On top of that, Bichette will also almost always be hitting second or third in a Blue Jays lineup that will need the most out of him this season if they hope to return to the postseason. And if Vladimir Gurrero Jr. can get back on track following a somewhat down season, watch out, because Bichette could get even more pitches to hit.
There is no reason Bo can’t challenge for the league lead in hits in 2024, and at +1,400 he looks like one of the best values on the board.
Bo Bichette pick: To lead MLB in hits (+1,400 at DraftKings)

 

[CNOTES]

Monday’s 6-pack:
Some of the college hoop teams getting highest %age of their points on foul line:
25.5%- Rio Grande Valley
25.1%- Arkansas
24.7%- Maryland
24.6%- Grand Canyon
24.4%- Lindenwood
24.1%- Texas El Paso

Quote of the Day
“We must either find a way or make one.”
Hannibal

Monday’s quiz
Last time the Knicks were in the NBA Finals was 1999; who was their coach then?

Sunday’s quiz
Marcus Camby led UMass to the Final Four in 1996; John Calipari was their coach back then.

Saturday’s quiz
Steve Kerr played his college basketball at Arizona.

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

Monday’s Den: Wrapping up a busy weekend……​

— Chicago Cubs re-signed OF Cody Bellinger for three years, $80M

— Stat of the Day: Last year, Braves’ OF Ronald Acuna had 41 at-bats where the at-bat ended when he was behind 0-2 in the count; he got hit by a pitch once, hit one sac fly, and went 15-39 on the other 39 at-bats. Hitting .385 when you’re done is impressive.
Overall, Acuna was down 0-2 in a total of 105 plate appearances; he hit .340 in those at-bats, with five walks.

— MLB is getting greedy; teams not only have spring training caps you can buy, they have a different set of batting practice caps, which will be worn during the season. High quality hats, but they cost freakin’ $45, which saves me lot of $$$.
I have a nice hat collection, but I’m not buying any more Oakland A’s stuff until they start trying to win again. The A’s batting practice cap is a good one, too.
Separate question on a sore subject: Why would own own a pro sports franchise if you’re not going to try to win? The A’s franchise is so mis-managed that it can’t possible go up in value. I’d be very happy if the guy who owns the Golden State Warriors bought the A’s- he’d try to win.
— Cubs have an OF prospect Pete Crow-Armstrong; his mother is the actress Ashley Crow, who was the mom in the movie Little Big League.

— Eight major league teams have new managers this year.

— Houston Astros used only 41 players all of last season, fewest of any team in the major leagues.

— Word of the Day: Disgruntled- someone who is angry or dissatisfied.

— One of the things about the transfer portal in college basketball is that teams come together at a different pace; one team that is hot right now are the Loyola Ramblers in the A-15. After a 6-5 start, Loyola has gone 14-2, winning/covering their last seven games in a row. Opponents are shooting 43% inside the arc, the #5 rate in the country.

— Arizona Wildcats have 18 basketball players listed on their roster; eight of them are from other countries. Only three of their players are from Arizona.

— Alabama has four lefties on its team, which is a little unusual.

— Atlanta Hawks’ G Trae Young tore ligaments in the pinky on his left hand; he is out for at least four weeks.

— Oklahoma beat Oklahoma State 84-82 Saturday, possible the last time these rivals will ever play basketball against each other. Oklahoma is bolting to the SEC and there are no scheduled pre-conference meetings in the future.
In this age of college sports where greed is good, it is inconceivable that the teams won’t eventually schedule an annual meeting— the games would sell out, and probably get on ESPN or Fox or something. But for now, the two rivals are going their separate ways.

— UCLA is hiring former NFL offensive coordinator Eric Bienemy was its OC; he coached at UCLA back from 2003-05, and won two Super Bowl rings as an assistant with the Chiefs.

— Famous people with birthdays on February 26
Phil Villapiano, 75
Wayne Gretzky, 63
JT Snow, 56
Marshall Faulk, 51
Jose Reyes, 41
Monday would’ve been Paul Newman’s 99th birthday.

— St John’s 80, Creighton 66
Johnnies were +10 in turnovers (13-3).
St John’s was 32-64 inside arc, 2-8 on 3’s; old-school approach.
Creighton forces fewer turnovers than any team in country.

— Memphis 78, FAU 74
Both teams shot 58%+ inside the arc.
Teams combined to shoot 12-55 on the arc.
FAU split its last six games; they need to right the ship to stay above the bubble.

— South Florida 79, SMU 68
Bulls have won 13 games in a row, 20 of last 21.
SMU was only 15-31 on the foul line.
South Florida shot 63.6% inside the arc.

— Wright State 96, Oakland 75
Oakland led 38-37 at halftime.
Raiders are 8-2 in last ten games, after a 9-10 start.
Wright State is shooting 59.2% inside the arc (#4).

— Ohio State 60, Michigan State 57
Spartans led by 12 with 11:07 left in the game.
Teams combined to shoot 7-33 on the arc.
Michigan State is 1-7 in games decided by 7 or less points.

— Was watching A’s-Dodgers spring training game Sunday; the TV analyst was Rick Monday, who played for the A’s back when I was a little kid- they traded him for P Ken Holtzman after the 1971 season, which made the A’s pitching championship-level. A’s won three World Series in a row after they acquired Holtzman.

Rick Monday played 19 years in the majors, had a career OPS of .804, was a darn good player who is now a terrific analyst with a great voice. He does radio for the Dodgers but in the spring, they do simulcasts on TV. Was excellent listening to him Sunday.

 

[CNOTES]

Monday, February 26, 2024​

TEAM	PLAYER	TRANSACTION
LAD	Enrique Hernandez	Signed as Free Agent ( 2024)(one-year contract)
MIN	Manuel Margot	Traded From Los Angeles (for SS Noah Miller)
SF	Nick Ahmed	Signed to a Minor League Contract
STL	Brandon Crawford	Signed as Free Agent ( 2024)(one-year contract)

Sunday, February 25, 2024​

TEAM	PLAYER	TRANSACTION
CHC	Garrett Cooper	Signed to a Minor League Contract
CHC	Cody Bellinger	Signed as Free Agent ( 2024-2026)(three-year contract)
DET	T.J Hopkins	Outrighted to Minors
LAA	Francisco Mejia	Released
NYM	Kolton Ingram	Acquired Off Waivers From Detroit
NYM	David Peterson	Placed on 60-Day IL (Recovery from left shoulder surgery)
PHI	Cam Gallagher	Signed to a Minor League Contract

​

 

[CNOTES]

Monday, February 26, 2024​

TEAM	PLAYER	TRANSACTION
LAD	Enrique Hernandez	Signed as Free Agent ( 2024)(one-year contract)
MIN	Manuel Margot	Traded From Los Angeles (for SS Noah Miller)
SF	Nick Ahmed	Signed to a Minor League Contract
STL	Brandon Crawford	Signed as Free Agent ( 2024)(one-year contract)

Sunday, February 25, 2024​

TEAM	PLAYER	TRANSACTION
CHC	Garrett Cooper	Signed to a Minor League Contract
CHC	Cody Bellinger	Signed as Free Agent ( 2024-2026)(three-year contract)
DET	T.J Hopkins	Outrighted to Minors
LAA	Francisco Mejia	Released
NYM	Kolton Ingram	Acquired Off Waivers From Detroit
NYM	David Peterson	Placed on 60-Day IL (Recovery from left shoulder surgery)
PHI	Cam Gallagher	Signed to a Minor League Contract

​

 

[CNOTES]

Tuesday’s 6-pack:
— Kansas State 94, West Virginia 90 OT- Wildcats led by 22 at the half.
— K-State has now won its last 12 overtime games.
— North Carolina 75, Miami 71- Miami kept it close, going 14-30 on arc.
— St Louis Cardinals signed SS Brandon Crawford.
— Dodgers traded OF Manuel Margot to the Twins, for a minor leaguer.
— UMass is joining the Mid-American Conference, starting in 2025-26.

Quote of the Day
“The one stat that doesn’t show up on the stat sheet is heart and poise and togetherness and just fight.”
Ole Miss basketball coach Chris Beard

Tuesday’s quiz
Steph Curry’s father Dell Curry played in the NBA for 16 years, scoring 12,670 points; where did he play his college basketball?

Monday’s quiz
Last time the Knicks were in the NBA Finals was 1999; Jeff Van Gundy was their coach.

Sunday’s quiz
Marcus Camby led UMass to the Final Four in 1996; John Calipari was their coach back then.

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

Tuesday’s Den: Conference tournament trends…….​

Conference tournament trends……..
— ACC
Duke- since 2017, they’re 15-2 in ACC tourney games.
From 2012-14, Louisville won 3 straight conference tourneys; since joining the ACC, they’re 3-7 in conference tournament games.
Miami- since 2006, they’re 15-3 in their first ACC Tourney game each year.
North Carolina hasn’t won an ACC Tournament since 2016; they’ve gone WL in five of seven tournaments since then.
Syracuse- since joining the ACC, they’re 5-8 in conference tournament games.

— Big East
Since joining the Big East…….
Butler is 3-9 in the Big East Tournament
Creighton is 9-9
DePaul is 5-15
Marquette is 14-16 (won tournament LY)
Xavier is 8-11 (4 of last 5 tournament losses were in OT)
Midwestern teams haven’t fared too well in this event (Creighton is 0-4 in Finals)
Tournament is played in Madison Square Garden, one of St John’s’ home floors; they haven’t won a Big East tournament since 2000.

— Big 14
since 2011, Illinois is 8-11 (won ’21 tournament)
since 2014, Indiana is 6-9 (0-1 all-time in tournament finals)
since 2007, Iowa is 9-15 (was 4-0 in winning ’22 tournament)
since 2012, Michigan State is 18-7, won four tournaments (last one, 2019)
last two years, Purdue is 5-1; they won the tournament last year.

— Big X
since 2006, Kansas Jayhawks are 36-7 in the Big X Tournament.
since 2015, Baylor is 112-60 in regular season Big X games, 3-8 in Big X tourney.
since 2014, Iowa State won four Big X Tournaments; the other six years, they were 1-5 in the first round.
since 2003, Kansas State is 12-19 in the Big X Tournament.
since 2017, Oklahoma is 1-6.
Since 2014, Texas Tech is 3-9.

— Pac-12
Arizona won five of the last eight Pac-12 Tournaments.
since 2011, Colorado is 11-1 in its first tourney game (2-8 in last 10 second games)
since 2013, Oregon is 20-7 in Pac-12 Tournaments (won 3 tournaments).
USC has gone WL in six of last seven tournaments, WWL in the other.
UCLA hasn’t won Pac-12 Tournament since 2014 (WWL each of the last two years).
Utah is 1-7 in last seven tournaments.

— SEC
Alabama won two of last three tournaments.
Arkansas went WL the last three years.
You’re reading armadillosports.com
Mississippi State went WL the last six years.
Missouri went WL the last four years.
since 2010, Auburn is 7-11 (3-1 in ’15, 4-0 in ’19, 0-10 the other 10 years).
from 2015-18, Kentucky won four straight tournaments; since then, they’re 2-4.
since 2016, South Carolina is 1-6.
Since 2018, Tennessee is 9-5.

— Atlantic 15
since joining the A-15, VCU is 16-8, winning the tournament twice.
since 2011, #1-seed has won only three of the 13 tournaments.

— Big West
Last 11 tournaments, eight different schools have won a title.

— CAA
Last seven years, six different teams have won this tournament; Charleston is only team with two tournament titles in that span.

— MAAC
Iona won this tournament six of last eight years; since 2013, they’re 27-4.

— MAC
Last four tournaments, four different teams won a tournament title.

— Mountain West
This event is played in Las Vegas; UNLV hasn’t won it since 2008, and is 2-5 since 2019.
since 2014, San Diego State is 25-7, 3-6 in tournament title game.
#1-seed won this tournament the last three years.

— WCC
since 2004, Gonzaga is 41-4 in the WCC Tournament.
since 2010, Saint Mary’s is 19-12 (3-9 against Gonzaga).
Last time someone other than Gonzaga/Saint Mary’s won the WCC Tournament was 2008, when #3-seed San Diego won.

 

[CNOTES]

Wednesday’s 6-pack:
— Cavaliers 121, Mavericks 119- Strus hit a 60-footer at the buzzer for the win.
— Warriors 123, Wizards 112- Curry was 4-17 on arc; other Warriors were 17-30.
— Celtics 117, 76ers 99- Boston shot 65.4% inside the arc.
— T’wolves 114, Spurs 105- SA’s starters were +6, their subs minus-51.
— Pistons 105, Bulls 95- Chicago was 2-29 on the arc.
— Dodgers 9, White Sox 6- Some guy named Ohtani hit a home run.

Quote of the Day
“If we had better quarterback play, I may not be standing here at the podium.”
new Atlanta Falcons coach Raheem Morris

Wednesday’s quiz
Who is the only coach to win both an NBA championship and a college national title?

Tuesday’s quiz
Steph Curry’s father Dell Curry played in the NBA for 16 years, scoring 12,670 points; he played his college basketball at Virginia Tech, which don’t recruit his two sons, both of whom are in the NBA.

Monday’s quiz
Last time the Knicks were in the NBA Finals was 1999; Jeff Van Gundy was their coach.

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

Wednesday’s Den: Mid-week musings……..​

— From 2006-10, UConn went 0-5 in the Big East Tournament; during that time, they went 55-31 in Big East regular season games, but they came up empty at MSG in March, even losing a 6-overtime game to Syracuse in 2009.
UConn made it to the Final Four in 2009, after that 6-overtime loss, but the next two years, Huskies were 16-20 in Big East games- the natives were restless. Jim Calhoun had won two national titles, but it had been six years since the last one.
So what happened? UConn, after losing four of its last five regular season games, goes 5-0 and wins the Big East Tournament, then as a #3-seed, they won the national championship, in coach Calhoun’s 2nd-to-last season at UConn.
My point? March Madness is great because…..you never know what’s going to happen.

— NFL Combine is this week; ESPN/NFL Network will show lot of guys running the 40-yard dash and doing drills. Best part of the Combine we don’t see; the interviews teams do with players, as they try to figure out which players they should draft.
By the way, it has been 52 years since New Orleans Saints drafted a QB in the first round; they drafted Archie Manning that year, Peyton Manning’s father.

— There were six NBA games Tuesday with a double-digit favorite, the most of any night so far this season.

— In the NFL, of the 14 players with the biggest salary cap hit for 2024, four of them play for the LA Chargers.

— In college football, Boise State is bringing back former HC (1998-2000) Dirk Koetter as offensive coordinator; he’s been a head coach at Boise, Arizona State, Tampa Bay Bucs.
UMass is jumping from the A-15 to the MAC, which is very bad news for its basketball program; A-15 is the #8 basketball league in country, MAC is #24 league. UMass isn’t the first school to sacrifice its basketball team to try and save its football program.
Last five years, the Minuteman are 6-46 on the gridiron, as an independent.

— In baseball……..
LA Dodgers signed utility guy Kike Hernandez for one year, $4M.
San Francisco Giants signed SS Nick Ahmed.
Speaking of the Giants, the last 17 years on Opening Day, San Francisco started a different left fielder every year, and this year figures to make it 18 in a row.
Switching from DirecTV to YouTube TV last year has mostly been a plus for me; one of the best parts is I can watch replays of baseball games all night long, if I want, which is really good during spring training. Not great for my sleeping habits, but whatever……

— Movie of the Day: Against All Odds (1984)- A gangster hires an ex-football player to find his girlfriend. When he finds her, they fall in love, and then things get complicated.
Jeff Bridges is the football player, James Woods is the gangster, Rachel Ward is his wife. Also in this movie: Richard Widmark, Alex Karras.

— Famous people with birthdays on February 28:
Mario Andretti, 84
Bubba Smith, 79
Bernadette Peters, 76
Brian Billick, 70
John Turturro, 67
Ickey Woods, 58
Luka Doncic, 25

— Kansas State’s basketball team has won its last 12 overtime games.

— North Carolina (2016/2017) is the last team to make the Final Four two years in a row.

— Old Dominion basketball coach Jeff Jones retired; he had a 560-418 career record as a coach, after his playing days at Virginia.
— 34 of the last 46 national champs in college basketball (73.9%) were 10-1 or less to win the national title when the tournament started.

— BYU 76, Kansas 68
Jayhawks led by 12 early in 2nd half; their 19-game home win streak ends.
Kansas is 6-5 in last 11 games, after a 13-2 start.
Kansas is 3-2 when McKullar doesn’t play.

— Kentucky 91, Mississippi State 89
Bulldogs led by 13 early in second half.
Reed Sheppard hit a 14-foot runner with 0:00.5 left for the win.
Loss snaps Miss State’s 5-game winning streak.

— Indiana 74, Wisconsin 70- There was a 15-minute delay in second half, when a fire alarm went off in the arena. Game was tied when that happened. Badgers are 2-6 in their last eight games.

— UNLV 75, Wyoming 69 OT
Rebels have won eight of their last nine games.
Kalib Boone had 24 points, 12 rebounds (7 offensive)

— Northern Illinois 75, Toledo 72
Rockets were a 15-point home favorite.
Toledo led by 9 with 14:33 left to play.
NIU was 10-23 on the arc, Toledo 6-19.

— Clemson 69, Pittsburgh 62
Pitt was +8 in turnovers, led by 10 midway thru first half.
Clemson starts four seniors; they’re 6-1 in last seven games.

 

[CNOTES]

Thursday’s 6-pack:
Highest payrolls for the 2024 baseball season:
$290,541,666— New York (A)
283,801,859— New York (N)
237,303,141— Houston
237,182,617— Philadelphia
222,601,784— Toronto
221,315,000— Atlanta

Dodgers are #9, at $209,121,666- $68M of Ohtani’s salary is deferred.

Quotes of the Day
“My problems aren’t superficial. They just pour out of me. My (comedy) act is therapy for other people. They can all go away feeling they’re better off than me.”
comedian Richard Lewis, back in 1990
“Richard and I were born three days apart in the same hospital and for most of my life he’s been like a brother to me. He had that rare combination of being the funniest person and also the sweetest. But today he made me sob and for that I’ll never forgive him.”
Larry David

Thursday’s quiz
Who is the New Orleans/Utah Jazz’s all-time leader in triple-doubles?

Wednesday’s quiz
Larry Brown is the only coach to win both an NBA championship and a college national title.

Tuesday’s quiz
Steph Curry’s father Dell Curry played in the NBA for 16 years, scoring 12,670 points; he played his college basketball at Virginia Tech, which don’t recruit his two sons, both of whom are in the NBA.

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

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

If you’re reading this, that means the power/internet in my house stayed on, despite it being hideously windy outside.

— Where do baseball teams get their prospects from? The following info is from the Baseball America Prospect Handbook, which lists the top 30 prospects for each team.

Of the Tampa Bay Rays’ 30 top prospects, only 19 of them are home-grown, the fewest of any major league team. 11 of their top 30 prospects were acquired via trade, the most of any team; St Louis Cardinals are next, with eight prospects acquired via trade.

— Atlanta Braves are only team that doesn’t have a top 30 prospect that was acquired via trade.

— Cardinals/Oakland A’s are only teams that don’t have an international player among their top 30 prospects.

— Who has the most international prospects in their top 30?
15- Bronx
14- Angels
13- Red Sox
12- Rockies

— Houston Astros/Baltimore Orioles both have 19 college players in their top 30; Cardinals and Royals both have 18, Braves have 16.
Red Sox have only 5 college players in their top 30; Guardians have 6, Angels 8.

— Red Sox, Padres, Blue Jays have 9 high school players in their top 30, the most of any team; Tigers/Mariners have 8.
Bronx has only two top 30 prospects who went pro out of high school; Orioles-Cardinals-Astros have three each.

— Teams approach their prospects differently; the big $$$ teams will try and trade them to cheaper teams for star players, the cheap teams will promote their prospects, and play them until they hit their arbitration years, then they trade them to the big $$$ teams.

— Word of the Day: Corrupt- acting dishonestly in return for money or personal gain.

— Pretty cool baseball record that I never knew about, until Monday night; former Seattle 1B Alvin Davis reached base safely in his first 47 major league games, which is the all-time high for any player at the start of their career.

— Stolen bases were up 41% last year from 2022; the rule changes worked.

— Under is 38-12-1 in NBA games, since the All-Star break.

— Minnesota Vikings named former NFL QB Josh McCown their new QB coach.

— Famous people with birthdays on February 29:
Tony Robbins, 64
Terrence Long, 48
Tyrese Haliburton, 24
February 29 has to be the worst day to have a birthday right? You only have a birthday once every four years.

— Drake 107, Ill-Chicago 105, 3OTs
DeVries, the coach’s son, scored 39 points, with 13 boards, 7 assists.
Drake won six of its last seven games.
UIC shot 16-35 on the arc, only 15-42 inside the arc.

— Tennessee 92, Auburn 84
Dalton Knecht scored 39 points for the Vols.
Auburn led by 8 with 12:17 left in game.
Tennessee has won five in row, 11 of last 13 games.

— Iowa State 58, Oklahoma 45
Cyclones are 22-6, 11-4, in 2nd place in the Big X.
Iowa State forces turnovers 25.8% of time (#2 in country)
Teams combined to shoot 7-33 on the arc.

— Fort Wayne 79, Wright State 77 OT
Neither team led by more than six points.
Fort Wayne’s bench outscored Wright State’s subs 25-4.

— Illinois 105, Minnesota 97
Gophers lost despite shooting 14-20 on the arc.
There were a TOTAL of only 9 turnovers in this game.
Minnesota is 17-11 SU this year, but 24-4 against the spread.
Minnesota scored 1.48 points/possession; over the last 15 years, teams that scored that many points/possession are now 310-2.

— Alabama 103, Ole Miss 88
Crimson Tide outscored Ole Miss 64-46 in second half.
Both teams shot 60%+ inside the arc.
Alabama gets 38% of their points on 3’s, #22 in country.

— Upsets of the Night:
Wichita State (+7.5) 74, UAB 66
Green Bay (+7.5) 69, Cleveland State 61
Fort Wayne (+6.5) 79, Wright State 77 OT
South Carolina (+5.5) 70, Texas A&M 68
Northwestern (+5.5) 68, Maryland 61
Wofford (+5.5) 91, Samford 69

— RIP to Richard Lewis, a stand-up comedian and a star of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” who passed away at age 76. Known for his self-deprecating humor and acerbic wit, he was very funny.

RIP, sir.

 

[CNOTES]

Friday’s 6-pack:
Lowest payrolls for the 2024 baseball season:
$45,525,000- Oakland A’s
$68,014,000- Pittsburgh Pirates
$84,433,928- Cleveland Guardians
$84,648,333- Cincinnati Reds
$86,535,000- Miami Marlins
$88,458,712- Tampa Bay Rays

Quote of the Day
“I want a guy that can lead, that wants to compete. I want a guy that’s not afraid of a challenge because this is a big challenge that we have in front of us. We’ve got the world champs in our division again.”
Las Vegas Raiders’ coach Antonio Pierce, talking about the Raiders’ next QB

Friday’s quiz
Butler Bulldogs lost the national title game two years in a row, when Brad Stevens was their coach. What league was Butler in back then (2010/2011)?

Thursday’s quiz
Pete Maravich is still the New Orleans/Utah Jazz’s all-time leader in triple-doubles, with seven.

Wednesday’s quiz
Larry Brown is the only coach to win both an NBA championship and a college national title.

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

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

— I can’t put my finger on why, maybe it is because I’m getting older, but if I was an NFL team with a high draft pick, no way in hell would we draft USC QB Caleb Williams. Just a feeling in my gut that he ain’t worth the trouble.
I’m not a big fan of starting QB’s who transfer; he bolted from Oklahoma to USC, then USC lost five of its last six games last year, Williams skipped the Trojans bowl game (they won 42-28). Too much drama; after a loss to Washington; he was sobbing in the stands with his parents after the game.
By the way, I feel the same way about Wake Forest/Notre Dame QB Sam Hartman; you don’t start at QB for a team for four years, then jump ship to another college. You want to jump ship, go to the NFL; that would’ve made a lot more sense.
Now this week in Indianapolis, Williams isn’t working out, and he declined the medical exams, which are considered to be one of the most essential elements of the combine.
An NFL source thinks Williams is the first player to attend the NFL Combine after declining the medical exam. He isn’t doing any passing at the Combine, either.
NFL Draft is April 25; it should be interesting.

— Old Dominion is hiring Maryland assistant Mike Jones as its new basketball coach; Jones is an Old Dominion alum who led the Monarchs to NCAA tournaments as a player in 1992, 1995. He’s also worked as an assistant coach at Virginia Tech.

— There was a lot of complaining about court storming after the Duke-Wake Forest debacle the other night, when Kyle Filipowski limped off the floor while the Wake Forest students ran on the court to celebrate the Deacons’ win.
Four nights later, after a lot of complaining on TV, Filipowski played 30:00, had 9 points, 10 rebounds, six assists in an easy win over Louisville, so he survived the incident.
For the record, there is a way to have court storming while making sure the visiting team gets off the floor safely; set the clock at 1:00 or 1:30 when the game ends, get the visitors off the floor, then the fans can run on the court when the clock hits 0:00.

— One of the cool parts of spring training is that some teams bring in retired players to mentor the younger players on skills. Mets had Darryl Strawberry in camp this week; Reds had former big league OF Brett Butler teaching their players how to bunt for base hits.

— Time flies, man; Atlantic Sun basketball tournament starts Monday; three other conference tournaments start Tuesday. One of the best times of the year is almost here.

— Word of the Day: Quirk- an unusual habit or way of behaving.

— Of the fifteen teams in the Atlantic 10 (Atlantic 15???), three of them have Rams as their mascot; Fordham, Rhode Island, Virginia Commonwealth.

— People who run college sports should keep the NCAA Tournament the way it is; it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

— 41 years ago this week, the last episode of M*A*S*H aired on CBS; 105.9M people watched it, the end of one of the best TV shows ever.

— Utah State is 8-0 this season in games decided by 5 or less points; four of their five losses were by 13+ points. Aggies are 23-5 this season, despite not having any players on their team who scored a point for Utah State last year.

— In his last 11 games, Edmonton Oilers’ star Connor McDavid has 26 points, but only one goal- he scored the game-winner in overtime against St Louis Wednesday night.

— Famous people with birthdays on March 1st:
Roger Daltrey, 79
Ron Howard, 70
Chris Webber, 51
Trevor Cahill, 36
Michael Conforto, 31
Tyreek Hill, 30
Justin Bieber, 30

— Charleston 96, Campbell 73
Cougars win the CAA regular season title for the first time.
Charleston has won 8 in a row; they still need to win CAA tourney to get in the field of 68.

— Ohio State 78, Nebraska 69
Buckeyes are 3-1 since they fired their coach, including a win over Purdue.
Ohio State was 24-28 on foul line, Nebraska 7-8.

— South Dakota State 72, North Dakota 62
Jackrabbits were down 3 at half; they shot 12-26 on the arc.
South Dakota State clinches the Summit League regular season title.

— Saint Mary’s 83, Pepperdine 57
On December 2, Saint Mary’s was 3-5, a very, very disappointing start.
On March 1, Saint Mary’s is 24-6, 15-0 in WCC; they’re the ONLY team in the country that hasn’t lost a conference game this season.

— Gonzaga 86, San Francisco 68
Zags outscored USF 51-34 in the second half.
Gonzaga shot 71.1% inside the arc.
Gonzaga hasn’t lost to the Dons since 2012.
USF made some extra $$$; this game was in the Warriors’ arena.

— Washington 94, UCLA 77
Huskies shot 15-24 on the arc.
UCLA lost its last three games, they’re 14-14, 9-8 in Pac-12.
Bruins have the #334 eFG% in the country.

— Eastern Washington 89, Montana 79
Eagles lost their first six D-I games this season, but they’re 18-4 in last 22 games.
EWU will be the #1-seed in Big Sky Tournament; they’ve got #8 eFG% in country.

 

[CNOTES]

Saturday’s 6-pack:
Major League leaders in runs scored last year:
149— Ronald Acuna
131— Freddie Freeman
127— Matt Olson
126— Mookie Betts
122— Marcus Semien
117— Austin Riley

Quote of the Day
“Your job, thought your entire life, is to disappoint as many people as it takes to avoid disappointing yourself.”
Glennon Doyle

Saturday’s quiz
Atlanta Braves have won the NL East six years in a row; what was the last team other than the Braves to win the NL East?

Friday’s quiz
Butler Bulldogs lost the national title game two years in a row, when Brad Stevens was their coach. Butler was in the Horizon League back then (2010/2011).

Thursday’s quiz
Pete Maravich is still the New Orleans/Utah Jazz’s all-time leader in triple-doubles, with seven.

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

Saturday’s Den: Clearing out a cluttered mind…….​

— Long time ago, I went to Colonie High School here in beautiful upstate New York; our mascot was a Garnet Raider, a Native American guy riding on a horse.
Found out this week that the NY State Board of Regents voted to drop all mascots that were tied to Indigenous people; more than a dozen schools in this area are changing their nickname.
Now a Raider isn’t necessarily a native American (see Las Vegas Raiders) but the powers that be announced this week that Colonie teams will now be the Wolfpack (one of the main streets near the high school is Wolf Road).
No one asked me, but I would’ve kept “Raiders” and just changed the picture of the mascot, but that isn’t going to happen. Strange times we live in.

— When you’re making our your college basketball brackets in a couple weeks, remember that Gonzaga has been in the Sweet 16 the last nine years, but when the Zags have been lower than a #4-seed under Mark Few, they’ve only made the Sweet 16 three of ten times.
Gonzaga will almost definitely be lower than a #4-seed this year.

— 20 of the last 22 national champs in college basketball were a #3-seed, or better; the two exceptions were both UConn, in 2014 (#7-seed) and last season (#4-seed).

— Out in the Big West, Cal Poly fired hoop coach John Smith, who in five years is 30-114 coaching the Mustangs, 8-74 in conference games. Cal Poly has been in the NCAA’s once in this century, back in 2014.

— Prop Bet of the Week: You could bet on whether someone will get a hole-in-one at the PGA Tour’s Cognizant Classic this weekend:
Yes, -130
No, +120
Nick Dunlap got a hole-in-one on the 7th hole Friday, cashing the win tickets.

— Three weeks ago, Bill Vinovich was the referee at the Super Bowl, a game watched on TV by 123.7M people; Thursday night, he was one of the refs at the Stephen F Austin-Cal Baptist basketball game, where the attendance was 2,111.

— Average salary in major league baseball last year was $4,525,719, a 7.1% raise over 2022.

— Philadelphia Phillies are ditching their popular promotion “dollar hot dog nights” because of rowdy fans and long lines at concession stands.
Instead of $1 hot dogs every Thursday, Phillies will run a 2-for-1 frankfurt promotion on certain days, April 2nd/16th being the first two.

— Diego Castillo is a 26-year old shortstop who had an interesting winter:
December 22- DFA’d by Arizona
January 5- claimed by the Mets
January 12- DFA’d by the Mets.
January 19- claimed by Bronx.
January 29- DFA’d by Bronx.
February 5- claimed by the Phillies.
February 13- DFA’d by the Phillies.
February 16- claimed by the Orioles.
February 20- sent to AAA by the Orioles.
He’ll start the season playing for AAA Norfolk.

— Famous people with birthdays on March 2nd:
Terry Steinbach, 62
Jon Bon Jovi, 62
Ben Roethlisberger, 42
Reggie Bush, 39
Adolis Garcia, 31
Tua Tagovailoa, 26

 

[CNOTES]

Sunday’s 6-pack: Major league leaders in RBI last year:
139— Matt Olson, Atl
118— Pete Alonso, NYM
112— Kyle Tucker, Hst
109— Ozzie Albies Atl/Juan Soto SD
107— Mookie Betts LAD/Adolis Garcia Tex
106— Nick Castellanos Cin/Ronald Acuna Atl

Quote of the Day
“Thankfully, perseverance is a great substitute for talent.”
Steve Martin

Sunday’s quiz
Which Division I college basketball coach was Lebron James’ high school coach?

Saturday’s quiz
Atlanta Braves have won the NL East six years in a row; Washington Nationals in 2017 were the last team other than the Braves to win the NL East.

Friday’s quiz
Butler Bulldogs lost the national title game two years in a row, when Brad Stevens was their coach. Butler was in the Horizon League back then (2010/2011).

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

Sunday’s Den: Wrapping up a Saturday full of basketball…….​

— WCC
Gonzaga 70, Saint Mary’s 57
Zags sweep the USF/Saint Mary’s road trip; they’re off the bubble.
Gonzaga has won eight games in a row, seven of them by 13+ points.
Saint Mary’s loses for first time since December 23, when they were 8-6.

Santa Clara 69, San Francisco 62
Teams combined to shoot 9-40 on the arc.
USF lost three of its last four games; they’re #3 seed in WCC, Santa Clara is #4.

— Big X
Baylor 82, Kansas 74
Both teams shot 62% inside the arc.
Kansas is 2-6 SU in Big X road games.
Baylor passes the Jayhawks, is now in 3rd place in Big X.

Iowa State 60, Central Florida 52
UCF led 50-49 with 3:31 left in the game.
Knights were 1-19 on the arc.
Iowa State won seven of last eight games, is in 2nd place in Big X.

Houston 87, Oklahoma 85
Houston hit an off-balance jumper at the buzzer for the win.
Cougars shot 10-19 on the arc, Oklahoma 12-25.
Houston led by 15 with 12:04 left in the game.
Bracketology has nine of 14 Big X teams getting in the NCAA’s.

— Big 14
Minnesota 75, Penn State 70
Penn State led 41-18 late in first half.
Gophers were 24-27 on foul line, Penn State 9-11

Illinois 91, Wisconsin 83
Illini was 9-16 on arc, scored 1.30 points/possession.
Illinois starts four seniors; they’re #10 experience team.
Wisconsin is 2-7 in last nine games, after a 16-4 start.
Bracketology has six Big 14 teams in the tournament.

— American
South Florida 76, Charlotte 61
Bulls have won 14 in a row; their last loss was January 7th.
USF has #35 eFG% defense in the country.
USF is #54 in experience, #281 in continuity; they used the portal very well.

Tex-San Antonio 77, SMU 73
Third straight loss for the Mustangs, who were favored by 17.5 points.
SMU led 21-8 early on.
11-19 Roadrunners have won 3 in a row; they were 12-28 on arc.
Bracketology has South Florida/FAU in the Field of 68, but barely.

— SEC
Tennessee 81, Alabama 74
Vols were 12-40 on the arc, 12-26 inside the arc.
Alabama led by 6 with 9:15 left in the game.
Crimson Tide was 9-37 on the arc.

Kentucky 111, Arkansas 102
Kentucky won its last three games, scoring 106.3 ppg.
Seven Wildcats (seven!!!) scored in double figures.
Bracketology has seven SEC teams in the NCAA Tournament.

— Pac-12
Forgot to mention this Friday, but UCLA coach Mick Cronin got a technical foul 20 seconds into the Bruins loss at Washington Thursday. Never heard of that before.

Washington State 77, UCLA 65
Coogs are going to the NCAA’s for the first time since 2008.
Wazzu was 24-33 on the foul line, UCLA was 9-11.
Bruins lost their last four games, are 9-9 in Pac-12.
Bracketology has Arizona/Washington State as the only Pac-12 teams in the NCAA’s.

— Upsets of the Day:
Tex-San Antonio (+17.5) 77, SMU 73
Mercer (+9.5) 82, Furman 75
SE Missouri State (+7) 70, Southern Indiana 66
Western Michigan (+6.5) 78, Ball State 76
Minnesota (+6.5) 75, Penn State 70
Tulsa (+6.5) 72, Temple 67
Notre Dame (+6.5) 69, Clemson 62

— Famous birthdays on March 3rd:
Eric Torkelson, 72
Herschel Walker, 62
Jessica Biel, 42
Jayson Tatum, 26
Wee Willie Keller was born on March 3, 1872.
Alexander Graham Bell was born on March 3, 1922

— MAC
Western Michigan 78, Ball State 76- Ball State tied game on a foul shot with 0:01.6 left; kid on WMU overthrows a teammate on a full-court pass, the ball bounces untouched to another teammate who lays the ball in at the buzzer for an unlikely win. Big kid on Ball State let the ball bounce right past him; no idea what he was thinking.
MAC is a one-bid league; neither one of these teams figures to win the MAC Tournament, but this was a hell of a way to win/lose a game.

— Mountain West
Boise State 89, New Mexico 79
Broncos won their last five games, scoring 86.4 ppg.
New Mexico is 3-5 in last eight games, is probably beneath the bubble.

— WAC
Grand Canyon 80, Stephen F Austin 58
Antelopes are tied for first with Tarleton State, with one game left.
Grand Canyon was 22-22 on the foul line.
Antelopes get 24.3% of their points on foul line (#9)

Tarleton State 88, Southern Utah 83
Texans are coached by Billy Gillispie, the old Kentucky coach.
Tarleton State has won 10 games in a row.

— Atlantic 15
Richmond 79, VCU 76
VCU led by 7 with 13:32 left in this inner-city rivalry.
Spiders win their first-ever regular season title in the A-15.
Richmond won 17 of its last 19 games, after a 5-5 start.

— Ivy
Princeton 79, Cornell 77
Cornell shot 69% inside arc, 9-32 on the arc.
Princeton is tied atop Ivy League with Yale, with one game to go.

Brown 89, Dartmouth 67
Bears clinched the 4th and final slot in the Ivy League tournament.

— Southern
Samford 92, Citadel 80
Bulldogs win the SoCon by 3 games; they haven’t been in NCAA’s since 2000, when they won the TAAC (Trans-American Conference).

 

[CNOTES]

Monday’s 6-pack:
Some teams who get the highest %age of their points on 3’s:
41.1%— BYU (21-8)
41.1%— Chattanooga (20-11)
40.9%— NC-Greensboro (21-10)
40.2%— Hofstra (19-12)
40.2%— St Joe’s (18-11)
39.9%— Princeton (23-3)

Quote of the Day
“If they don’t take Caleb (Williams), they don’t want to keep their jobs.”
An AFC executive, talking about the Chicago Bears’ front office

Monday’s quiz
Chicago Bears split the two Super Bowls they played in; Jim McMahon played QB in the game they won. Who played QB in the Super Bowl they lost?

Sunday’s quiz
Duquesne coach Keith Dambrot was Lebron James’ high school coach.

Saturday’s quiz
Atlanta Braves have won the NL East six years in a row; Washington Nationals in 2017 were the last team other than the Braves to win the NL East.

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

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

— March Madness starts tonight, when the Atlantic Sun tournament tips off with a couple of games. Three other conferences start their tournaments Tuesday. One of the best times of the year; the next two weeks will be full of conference tournament games, with the Field of 68 announced March 17.

— March 2010, I’m at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas for the NCAA Tournament; excellent sportsbook there. I’m watching a second round game with Northern Iowa-Kansas; there were lot of Jayhawk fans around- they were a #1-seed, with high expectations.
Early in the game, before the second TV timeout, kid on Northern Iowa makes a basket, and three young guy sitting next to me start hugging each other. I ask one of them if the kid who scored the basket was their brother or something…….
“No, they got to 15 first!!! We had Northern Iowa to be the first team to 15!!!”
This was the first NCAA Tournament I had seen in Las Vegas, I had no idea you could bet on which team got to 15 points first. You learn something new every day.

— Memphis 106, UAB 87
UAB led this game 61-46…….at halftime.
Memphis was +9 in turnovers; they scored 1.39 points/possession.
Tigers have won seven of their last nine games.

— Indiana State 89, Murray State 77
Sycamores win MVC regular season title for first time since 2000.
Indiana State is shooting 62.1% inside arc, #2 in country.
Indiana State is #359 in bench minutes; could be tough for them in MVC tournament when they have to win three games in three days to win the title.

— Drake 74, Bradley 66
Darian DeVries has been Drake’s coach for six years; Bulldogs are 147-54 under DeVries, 79-33 in MVC games, with two NCAA appearances.
Drake’s best player is Tucker DeVries, the coach’s son, who is a junior; will he come back for his senior season, and if not, will his dad bolt for a job in a bigger conference?

— Indiana 83, Maryland 78
Hoosiers trailed 51-35 early in the second half.
Indiana shot 61.9% inside the arc.
Maryland lost seven of its last nine games.

— Movie of the Day: The Client (1994)- A young boy who witnessed the suicide of a mafia lawyer hires an attorney to protect him when the District Attorney tries to use him to take down a mob family.
Great cast; Susan Sarandon becomes the boy’s lawyer, Tommy Lee Jones is the District Attorney, Anthony LaPaglia is a mobster.
William H Macy, Mary Louise Parker, JT Walsh Anthony Edwards and Bradley Whitford are all in this movie, adapted from one of John Grisham’s books.

— San Francisco Giants signed 3B Matt Chapman, for three years, $54M.

— Arizona Diamondbacks signed SS Elvis Andrus to a minor league deal; he hit .251 with six HRs, 44 RBIs for the White Sox last year. 35-year old Andrus has 2,091 career hits; Arizona will be his fourth MLB team.

— Saturday night, Lebron James became the first NBA player to score 40,000 career points; he scored 26 points in the Lakers’ 124-114 loss to Denver.

— Luka Doncic has 14 technical fouls this season, most in the NBA.

— Famous birthdays on March 4th:
Patricia Heaton, 66
Steven Weber, 63
Draymond Green, 34
Nick Castellanos, 32

— There are murmurs that the NFL is going to go to an 18-game schedule when the next TV contract comes up, which would put the Super Bowl on Presidents’ Day weekend.

— San Francisco 49ers hired former Chargers’ coach coach Brandon Staley as assistant head coach; they also named Nick Sorensen their new defensive coordinator.

— Bill Vinovich was the referee at the Super Bowl February 11th in Las Vegas; two nights later, he worked a Colorado State-San Diego State basketball game. He’s worked six other basketball games since then, including another visit to Las Vegas Saturday, when the Rebels beat San Jose State.
Vinovich has worked 26 basketball games this season, in addition to his NFL games. Busy guy.

— RIP to ESPN reporter Chris Mortensen,, who passed away this week at age 72; the tributes he’s gotten tonight from friends/co-workers at ESPN tell you what a good guy he was.
Mortensen joined ESPN in 1991 and was a regular contributor to the network’s NFL shows for 30 years; in 2016, he received the Pro Football Writers of America’s Dick McCann Award and was honored during the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s enshrinement ceremony.

RIP, sir.

 

[CNOTES]

Tuesday’s 6-pack:
Teams who get the highest %age of their points on foul shots:
27.3%- Alabama A&M (9-20)
25.5%- Winthrop (17-14)
25.5%- High Point (24-7)
25.4%- Arkansas (14-15)
24.8%- Rio Grande Valley (6-23)
24.5%- Norfolk State (20-10)

Quote of the Day
“I’ll never forget Nick Foles having the game of his life on the biggest stage possible and the biggest (bleep) on the team, going up to Doug Pederson and asking for the Philly Special. And Doug Pederson having the biggest balls in the stadium, to say ‘Yeah, let’s do it.'”
Eagles center Jason Kelce, who retired Monday

Tuesday’s quiz
Russell Wilson played college football for which two schools?

Monday’s quiz
Chicago Bears split the two Super Bowls they played in; Jim McMahon played QB in the game they won. Rex Grossman played QB in the Super Bowl they lost.

Sunday’s quiz
Duquesne coach Keith Dambrot was Lebron James’ high school coach.

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

Tuesday’s Den: Nobody asked me, but…….​

— Denver Broncos are going to cut QB Russell Wilson next week, take an NFL-record $85M cap hit for next season. Denver signed Wilson to a 5-year, $242.6M contract two years ago, but the Broncos went 11-19 in his starts, and now they’re moving on without him.
Wilson has a career record of 124-79-1, 9-7 in playoff games, 1-1 in Super Bowls. Last three years however, Wilson was 17-27. He turns 36 in November.

— Five biggest salary cap hits in the NFL:
$85M- Russell Wilson, Den, 2024
$40.5M- Matt Ryan, Atl, 2022
$40.3M- Aaron Rodgers, GB, 2023
$35.1M- Tom Brady, TB, 2023
$33.8M- Carson Wentz, Phil, 2021

— Former NFL QB’s Matt/Tim Hasselbeck both used to work for ESPN; next fall, they’ll be coaching high school ball together at The Ensworth School in Nashville.

— Tampa Bay Bucs re-signed WR Mike Evans with a 2-year, $52M deal; $35M of that money is guaranteed. He’s had 1,000+ receiving yards in all ten of his seasons in the NFL.

— Philadelphia Phillies re-signed P Zack Wheeler with a 3-year, $126M deal; in four years with the Phillies, Wheeler is 43-25, 3.06 in 101 starts.

— Most starting pitchers used last season: A’s 24, Royals 23
Fewest starting pitchers used last season: Giants, Nationals, Blue Jays, all with 8.

— Word of the Day: Discombobulate- to confuse or disorient someone.

— When you’re filling out your brackets in two weeks, some things to think about:
Last six years, 18 of the 24 Final Four teams were in the top 35 in country in eFG%, either offense or defense. Making shots/forcing missed shots is very important.
One of the six teams that wasn’t in either top 35 was North Carolina in 2017, but they were #1 in country on the offensive boards; it helps to be great at something.

#1-seed won seven of last 10 NCAA Tournaments.
Five of the last six years, a #7-seed or lower made it to the Final Four.

Two stats that don’t appear to mean much:
1) Bench minutes- TV timeouts are longer in NCAA’s, depth seems less important. Two years ago, all four Final Four teams were outside the top 300 in bench minutes.

2) % of points scored on foul line- Last six years, only one of the 24 Final Four teams was ranked about #96 in this category, and they were a fluke-ish #7-seed.

— Pacific fired basketball coach Leonard Perry, who went 29-65 in three years with the Tigers, 10-36 in WCC games. Pacific has had one winning season the last 10 years; their last NCAA Tournament appearance was in 2013.

— Marquette G Tyler Kolek won’t play in the Golden Eagles’ last two regular season games; he has an oblique injury, and will be reevaluated before next week’s Big East tournament.

— Famous birthdays on March 5th:
Rocky Bleier, 78
Rob Reiner, 77
Kent Tekulve, 77
Scott Skiles, 60
Michael Irvin, 58
Connie Britton, 57
Wally Szczerbiak, 47
Bo Bichette, 26
Justin Fields, 25

Atlantic Sun tournament:
— Jacksonville 92, Kennesaw State 86
Dolphins made an astounding 13-21 on the arc.
Kennesaw won A-Sun last year, but lost 10 of their last 12 games this year.

— Queens 69, Florida Gulf Coast 63
Queens was 18-22 on the foul line, FGCU 7-14.
Royals made 11-25 on arc; they’ve won four of last five games.
Both higher-seeded teams lost in the A-Sun Tournament games Monday.
Winners get to play again Tuesday night.

— Duke 79, NC State 64
NC State led 9-0; it was all downhill from there.
Duke shot 33% from floor in first half, 63% in second half.

— Baylor 93, Texas 85
Longhorns led 48-40 at halftime.
Baylor was 34-42 on foul line, Texas 16-21

— RIP to Ed Ott, the former major league catcher, who died at age 72. Ott played eight years in the majors, mostly for the Pirates- he was on their 1979 World Series championship team.

RIP to UL Washington, the former major league shortstop, who died at age 70. Washington played 11 years in the majors, mostly for Kansas City; he stole 40 bases for the Royals in 1983.

 

[CNOTES]

Wednesday’s 6-pack:
— Cavaliers 105, Celtics 104- Boston’s 11-game win streak comes to an end.
— Nets 112, 76ers 107- Nets were +29 in 30:00 with Walker on floor.
— Heat 118, Pistons 110- Butler had 26 points, eight assists.
— Pacers 137, Mavericks 120- Pacers outscored Dallas 32-18 in 3rd quarter.
— Rockets 114, Spurs 101- Houston was 22-60 LY; they’re 27-34 this year.
— Suns 117, Nuggets 107 OT- Grayson Allen was 8-12 on the arc.

Quote of the Day
“It’s imperative that we realize there was some luck involved last year and we got hot at the right time. I don’t want this to be a one-and-out type of thing.”
Diamondbacks’ pitching coach Brent Strom

Wednesday’s quiz
Who has scored the most points in Boston Celtics’ history?

Tuesday’s quiz
Russell Wilson played college football at NC State, Wisconsin.

Monday’s quiz
Chicago Bears split the two Super Bowls they played in; Jim McMahon played QB in the game they won. Rex Grossman played QB in the Super Bowl they lost.

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

Wednesday’s Den: Mid-week musings…….​

Atlantic Sun tournament:
— Jacksonville 67, Eastern Kentucky 65
So this year, the first #1-seed to play in a conference tournament loses its first game, against a team that played last night. EKU was only 14-14 against Division I teams this season.

— Northern Alabama 77, Lipscomb 75
The first #3-seed to play in a conference tournament also loses its first game; chances are, the winner of this tournament is heading to Dayton for a play-in game.
Kid on Northern Alabama hit a 20-foot runner for the win at the buzzer, after Lipscomb had tied the game with a 3-pointer.

— Stetson 83, Queens 71- Hatters are the #2-seed in the A-Sun; now they’re the favorite to win this tournament, and get to the NCAA’s for the
first time. Stetson is one of 45 D-I teams that has never played in March Madness.

Horizon tournament:
— Higher seed won all three games; Detroit finishes its horrific season 1-31 with an 83-79 loss at Milwaukee.

Patriot League tournament:
— Holy Cross 84, Army 68- Back in the late 70’s, when the Big East was first being formed, Holy Cross was really good in basketball; they turned down a chance to join the original Big East.
Over the last 45 years, how much $$$ you think that cost their school/athletic department?

Sun Belt tournament:
— Texas State 92, Old Dominion 83 OT
Old Dominion led by 11 points in second half.
Texas State won its last four games, the last two in OT.
Elsewhere in the world……..

— Purdue 77, Illinois 71
Illinois led this game 40-34 at halftime.
Purdue shot 8-10 on the arc in the second half.

— Georgia Tech 70, Wake Forest 69
Georgia Tech’s big guy hit a jumper with 0:00.4 left for the win.
Tech led this game, 26-4.
Terrible loss for Wake Forest, which is squarely on the bubble.

— Oklahoma 74, Cincinnati 71 OT
Sooners were 28-34 on foul line, Cincinnati 9-11
Both teams shot under 40% from the floor.

— UNLV 62, San Diego State 58
UNLV has won 10 of its last 11 games.
San Diego State started game 2-27 from the floor.
Aztecs had beaten UNLV eight times in a row in Las Vegas.

— Nevada 76, Boise State 66
Wolf Pack won their last six games.
Boise’s loss puts Utah State in first place, for now.

— Word of the Day: Imbecile— a stupid person.

— Gonzaga/Saint Mary’s domination of the WCC has cost lot of other coaches their jobs; this week Pepperdine fired basketball coach Lorenzo Romar, who went 75-112 the last six years, 29-64 in WCC games. He previously had gone 42-44 in three years at Pepperdine in the late 90’s, and also coached at Saint Louis/Washington.
Romar went 298-195 in 16 years at Washington, making three Sweet 16’s in the NCAA’s.

— Cardinals 5, Twins 4- Paul Goldschmidt hit a home run for the St Louis, the Cardinals’ first home run in nine exhibition games.

— NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks won their last six games, all of which stayed under the total.

— In the NHL, New Jersey Devils have trailed 1-0 in 45 of their 62 games; Devils are 30-32 this season, so they’ve bounced back well after usually falling behind early.

— Famous birthdays on March 6th:
Sleepy Floyd, 63
Shaquille O’Neal, 52
Michael Finley, 49
Jake Arrieta, 38

— Stumbled across a station on Pluto that shows the old game show Hollywood Squares 24 hours a day; not the original Peter Marshall version, but one that ran from 1998-2004.
Martin Mull, Gabe Kaplan, Eartha Kitt, Brad Garrett, Rita Rudner, Jeffrey Tambor. Good stuff.
I’m a big game show fan; think that daytime TV these days would be better with more game shows and fewer contrived discussion/argument shows.

— Red Sox signed P Lucas Giolito for two years, $38.5M; now he has an elbow injury and might be out for the entire 2024 season.
Jeff Montgomery/Blake Snell are still out there on the free agent market.

 

[CNOTES]

Thursday’s 6-pack:
— Hawks 112, Cavaliers 101- Atlanta outscored Cavs 25-12 in 4th quarter.
— Grizzlies 115, 76ers 109- Memphis outscored Sixers 34-16 in 4th quarter.
— Clippers 122, Rockets 116- Houston led 57-44 at halftime.
— Bulls 119, Jazz 117- DeRozan scored 29 points, had 7 assists
— Warriors 125, Bucks 90- Curry scored 29 points, was 6-10 on the arc.
— Kings 130, Lakers 120- Fox scored 44 points, had four assists.

Quote of the Day
“That’s the culture — to show up every day and be ready to do whatever we can to win a game. And that culture is built over a period of time of people holding each other accountable to that standard and that culture. That’s what we’re working on now.”
Blue Jays’ SS Bo Bichette

Thursday’s quiz
In the history of the Oakland A’s (since 1968), who has knocked in the most runs?

Wednesday’s quiz
John Havlicek has scored the most points (26,395) in Boston Celtics’ history.

Tuesday’s quiz
Russell Wilson played college football at NC State, Wisconsin.

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

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

— Underrated Fact of the Day: Since 1976, Michigan State has had only TWO basketball coaches, Jud Heathcote and Tom Izzo. Two coaches in 48 years.
By way of comparison, over the last 10 years, UNLV has had five coaches, and they had winning seasons in eight of those ten years.

— Iowa State 68, BYU 63
BYU led this game 38-27 at halftime.
Cyclones won 8 of last 9 games; they went undefeated at home this season.
Iowa State is 24-6/13-4 this year; three years ago, they went 0-18 in Big X.

— Texas A&M 75, Mississippi State 69
A&M came into game shooting 26.7% on arc (#361); they were 8-21 in this game, an improvement.

— Tennessee 66, South Carolina 59
Vols win the outright SEC regular season title for first time since 2008.
Dalton Knecht scored 26 points, had one assist; his job is to score points.
Knecht played at Northern Colorado the last two years; Bears went 34-36 in those two years, 19-19 in Big Sky games.
Plus, they’re 19-12/12-6 this season, without Knecht. That doesn’t seem possible.

— Seton Hall 66, Villanova 56
Pirates played only two subs, for total of 21:00.
Seton Hall did a lot here to get themselves off the bubble.
Villanova shot 32.8% from floor; they still have work to do, to make NCAA’s.

— Florida Atlantic 80, North Texas 76
Owls led 12-0 early, but were down 7 early in 2nd half.
FAU is 23-7/13-4; they shot 56.2% inside arc.

— LeMoyne 82, FDU 61- Dolphins win a conference tournament game in their first season as a Division I team.

— Word of the Day: Apopleptic- infuriated, overcome with anger.

— Magic 119, Wizards 109
Orlando is 14-4 ATS in its last 18 games.
Washington has lost 16 games in a row (2-6 ATS in last eight)

— Washington Commanders signed TE Zach Ertz for one year, $5M; Ertz played for Kliff Kingsbury in Arizona. Kingsbury is the Commanders’ new offensive coordinator.

— Buffalo Bills saved $47M in cap space with a flurry of roster moves:
They cut six players, one of whom won’t be cut until after June 1st.
They restructured two other contracts, including LB Von Miller’s.
Bills also signed QB Mitch Trubisky to back up Josh Allen.
After the flurry of moves, Buffalo is now only $1,177,381 over the salary cap.

— Baseball stuff:
Astros’ P Justin Verlander (shoulder) will open the season on IL
Rockies OF Nolan Jones left Wednesday’s game (back spasms)
Padres 2B Ha-Seong Kim is out until Friday (back spasms)
MRI on Orioles’ CF Cedric Mullins’ hamstring came back negative.
A’s SS Nick Allen has a mild back strain.
Cubs’ 3B Nick Madrigal had an MRI on his hamstring

— Famous birthdays on March 7th:
Lynn Swann, 72
Bryan Cranston, 69
Tommy Kramer, 69
Joe Carter, 64
Willie (Flipper) Anderson, 59
Ricky Proehl, 56
Jenna Fischer, 50
Michael Harris, 23

— I try to listen to podcasts about fantasy baseball, to learn things that can make my team better; this week, one of the guys on a podcast said he has teams in 12 different leagues.
That would be overwhelming to me, to keep track of 12 different teams. As it is, I probably spend too much time tracking my one team, can’t imagine doing it with 11 more.

— How favorites/underdogs are faring in conference tournaments:
A-SUN underdogs 5-1 ATS
Big South favorites 1-0 ATS
Horizon favorites 2-1 ATS
NEC underdogs 3-1 ATS
OVC favorites 2-0 ATS
Patriot favorites 1-1 ATS

So far this month, underdogs are 10-8 ATS in conference tournaments.

 

[CNOTES]

Two Dens for Friday: Den #1, wrapping up a busy Thursday

— Horizon League
Three of the four higher seeds got upset Thursday:
Oakland 75, Fort Wayne 65- Grizzlies were only top seed to advance.
Northern Kentucky 99, Wright State 97 OT
Wright State led by 17 in first half.
Wright State led by 3 with 0:04.4 left, fouled intentionally, but NKU got the rebound and scored at the buzzer to force overtime.
Over was 23-7 in Wright State games this season.
Cleveland State 82, Youngstown State 70
Penguins were only 5-31 on the arc.
Youngstown was favored by 10.5 points.
Milwaukee 95, Green Bay 84
Panthers shot 59.6% inside arc, were 27-35 on foul line.
Green Bay lost five of last six games, after a 17-9 start.
Green Bay is 18-14, after going 16-71 the last three years, but this one hurts.
Semi-finals in Horizon aren’t until Monday, so the survivors get to rest up.

— Missouri Valley
Ill-Chicago 84, Southern Illinois 82, 2OTs
#11-seed UIC blew a 41-27 halftime lead, but pulls a big upset here.
Three Flames played 46:00+; they play #3-seed Bradley Friday.

— West Coast
Pepperdine 102, Pacific 43
Waves led this game 56-9 at halftime, 56. to. 9.
Both coaches in this game have been fired, although Pepperdine coach Romar is finishing the season.

— Pac-12
Arizona 88, UCLA 65
Last time these teams will play as conference rivals.
Arizona led 44-27 at the half; they’ve won 10 of their last 11 games.
UCLA lost its last five games; they’ve got the #333 eFG% in country.
Very difficult for me to process that the Pac-12 won’t exist after this season. The greedy, over-educated morons who run college sports are killing the Golden Goose.
Colorado 79, Oregon 75
Ducks ran out to an early 18-6 lead.
Colorado has won five in a row; they start four seniors. Hmmm..……

Big West
Cal-Irvine 82, Cal Poly 68- Anteaters clinch the regular season title.
UCSB 76, Long Beach State 74- Long Beach shot 5-19 on the arc, 13-22 on the line and lost by a basket, at home; they’ve lost four games in a row.

— Movie of the Day: The Great Santini (1979)- A Marine pilot who is aggressively competitive moves his family to South Carolina, where his teenage son struggles to win his approval.
Robert Duvall plays the father, Michael O’Keefe the son, Blythe Danner the mother; Duvall’s character is cringeworthy.; this movie is disturbing in more ways than one, but it is a good movie.
This movie was made in 1979; Michael O’Keefe’s next acting job was the next year, playing Danny Noonan in the classic movie Caddyshack. Two very different movies.

— Last three years, a #15-seed has upset a #2-seed in the first round- #2-seeds are 9-3 the last three years; in the 41 years before that, #2-seeds were 157-7 in the first round

— Under is 15-2 in Milwaukee games since Doc Rivers became the Bucks’ coach.

— Two NFL teams that have never picked first in an NFL Draft:
Denver Broncos, Seattle Seahawks……Baltimore Ravens haven’t either, but they did back when they were in Cleveland, the original Cleveland Browns.

— Famous birthdays on March 8th:
Dick Allen, 72
Jim Rice, 71
Kenny Smith, 59
Hines Ward, 48
James Van Der Beek, 47

— Detroit Mercy fired basketball coach Mike Davis Thursday, after a 1-31 disaster of a season; 22 years ago, Davis’ Indiana team lost the national title game to Maryland.
Davis has been a head coach for 24 years; coached the Hoosiers for six years, UAB for six years, Texas Southern for six more (he made the NCAA’s four times there), and then the last six for the Titans.

— New Mexico has a 6-5 guard, Jemarl Baker, who has had an interesting career:
2018-19- Kentucky
2019-21- Arizona
2021-23- Fresno State
2023-24- New Mexico
He already has two college degrees, including a Masters Degree. Some day he will write a very interesting book.

— In 2018, Virginia became the first #1-seed to lose a first round NCAA Tourney game; the next year, they won the national title.
Last year, Purdue became the 2nd #1-seed to lose a first round NCAA Tourney game; think they can match Virginia and win a national title the next year?
Big 14 hasn’t won a national title since Michigan State in 2000, so there’s that, too.

— How favorites/underdogs are faring in conference tournaments:
A-SUN underdogs 6-2 ATS
Big South favorites 1-0 ATS
Horizon underdogs 4-3 ATS
MVC underdogs 3-1 ATS

NEC underdogs 3-1 ATS
OVC favorites 3-1 ATS
Patriot favorites 4-2 ATS
Sun Belt underdogs 4-2 ATS
WCC favorites 1-0 ATS

So far this month, underdogs are 23-18 ATS in conference tournaments.

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

Friday’s 2nd List: NBA trends………​

NBA trends (thru Wednesday, March 6)

Hawks (28-34):
— 4-3 SU since All-Star Game
— 7-19 ATS as a home favorite
— under 3-0 last three home games
— 4-7 ATS if they played night before.

Celtics (48-13):
— won 11 of last 12 games SU (7-1 ATS last eight)
— 4-0 ATS last four as a home favorite.
— under 4-1 last five games.
— 5-4 ATS if they played night before.

Nets (25-37):
— lost three of their last four games.
— 11-5 ATS as home favorite.
— 3-14 ATS last 17 road games.
— under 5-0 last five road games
— 3-7 ATS if they played night before.

Hornets (15-47):
— lost last five games SU; 9-5 ATS last 14 games.
— 5-2 ATS last seven as a home underdog.
— under 9-1 last ten games.
— 6-5 ATS if they played night before.

Bulls (30-32)
— 4-2 SU last six games, 12-8 ATS last 20 games.
— 6-4 ATS as a home dog, 6-3 as road favorite.
— under 3-1 last four road games.
— 3-7 ATS on first night of back/back.

Cavaliers (40-22):
— 4-5 SU since All-Star break.
— 1-6 ATS last seven as a home favorite.
— under 4-0 last four games.
— 2-7 ATS if they played the night before.

Mavericks (34-28):
— 2-5 SU since All-Star break.
— 2-6 ATS last 8 as as home favorites, 10-3 as road faves.
— over 4-1 last five games.
— 7-3 ATS if they played night before.

Nuggets (42-20):
— 6-1 SU since All-Star break.
— 2-5 ATS last 7 as as home favorites, 9-13 as road faves.
— under 7-2-1 last ten home games.
— 3-9 ATS if they played night before.

Pistons (9-52):
— lost nine of last ten games SU.
— 7-2 ATS last nine as a home dog.
— under 9-1 last ten games
— 3-8 ATS on first night of back/back, 6-5 on 2nd night.

Warriors (33-28):
— won seven of last nine games SU
— 9-16 ATS as a home favorite
— 20-9 ATS on the road.
— under 8-0 last eight games
— 10-4 ATS if they played night before.

Rockets (27-35):
— lost 10 of last 14 games SU
— 5-1 ATS last six home games.
— under 6-1 last seven games.
— 7-3 ATS if they played night before.

Pacers (35-28):
— 8-5 in last 13 games SU.
— 10-5 ATS as a home underdog.
— under 8-3 last eleven games.
— 1-9 ATS if they played night before.

Clippers (40-21):
— won three of last four games (3-9 ATS in last 12)
— 1-5 ATS last six home games.
— under 5-2 last seven games.
— 5-5 ATS if they played night before.

Lakers (34-30):
— 7-4 SU last 11 games (2-6 ATS last eight)
— 10-15 as home favorite, 2-8 ATS as a road fave.
— over 4-1 last five home games.
— 3-9 ATS if they played night before.

Grizzlies (22-41):
— 7-2 ATS last nine road games.
— 12-18 ATS at home.
— over 4-1 last five games
— 6-5 ATS if they played night before.

Heat (35-27):
— won nine of last 11 games SU (11-3 ATS last 14).
— 11-12 ATS as home favorites, 1-6 as home underdogs.
— under 7-3 last ten games.
— 4-5 ATS if they played the night before.

Bucks (41-22):
— 6-1 SU/ATS since All-Star break
— 5-2 ATS last seven home games.
— under 10-1 last eleven games.
— 4-5-1 ATS if they played the night before.

Timberwolves (43-19)
— 4-3 SU/1-6 ATS since All-Star break
— 3-9 ATS last 12 games as a home favorite.
— over 5-0 last five road games.
— 4-6 ATS if they played the night before.
— Karl-Anthony Towns is out for rest of regular season.

Pelicans (37-25):
— won 12 of last 16 games SU
— 16-9 ATS as an underdog.
— under 8-2 last ten road games.
— 5-4 ATS if they played the night before

Knicks (36-26):
— 4-9 SU/2-11 ATS last 13 games.
— 0-9 ATS in last nine home games.
— under 5-1 last six home games
— 2-7 ATS if they played night before.

Thunder (43-19):
— won eight of their last ten games SU.
— 18-7 ATS as a home favorite, 8-3 as a road dog.
— over 4-1-1 last six home games
— 7-3 ATS if they played night before.

Magic (37-26):
— 8-1 SU last nine games, 5-0 ATS last five.
— 14-4 ATS as home favorite, 6-3 as road favorite.
— under 6-1 last seven games.
— 7-6 ATS if they played night before.

76ers (35-27):
— 6-14 SU last 20 games.
— 1-10 ATS last 11 home games.
— under 6-3 last nine home games.
— 5-9 ATS if they played night before.

Suns (36-26):
— 3-4 SU since All-Star break.
— 12-17 ATS as a home favorite, 7-11 as road favorite.
— under 5-0 last five home games
— 4-4 ATS if they played night before.

Trailblazers (17-44):
— lost 11 of last 13 games SU.
— 0-8 SU/1-7 ATS last eight home games.
— over 3-1 last four games
— 8-3 ATS if they played night before.

Kings (35-26):
— 4-3 SU since All-Star break.
— 14-5 ATS as an underdog.
— over 4-1 last five road games
— 3-6 ATS if they played night before, 0-4 at home.

Spurs (13-49):
— 3-13 SU in last 16 games
— 5-3 ATS last eight home games.
— under 6-2 last eight road games.
— 4-3 ATS if they played night before.

Raptors (23-39):
— 4-3 SU since the All-Star break.
— 1-6 ATS last seven home tilts.
— under 9-3 last 12 home games.
— 4-7 ATS if they played night before.

Jazz (28-35):
— lost nine of last 11 games SU
— 9-6 ATS last 15 home games.
— over 10-5 last 15 home games
— 4-5 ATS if they played night before.

Wizards (9-53):
— 0-16 SU last eight games (2-6 ATS last eight).
— 9-17 ATS as a home underdog.
— over 6-0 last six road games; under 9-2 last 11 at home.
— 4-5 ATS if they played night before.

 

[CNOTES]

Saturday’s 6-pack:
— Boise State 79, San Diego State 77 OT- Broncos were 11-27 on arc.
— Dayton 91, VCU 86 OT- VCU led by 17 midway thru first half.
— Western Michigan 90, Akron 84- WMU was 26-35 on line, Zips 11-14.
— Morehead State 84, UT-Martin 78- Eagles shot 16-35 on the arc.
— Portland 78, LMU 70- Pilots advance to play San Francisco Saturday.
— San Diego 57, Pepperdine 52- Toreros were 0-16 inside arc in 2nd half, still won.

Quote of the Day
“I think that, specific to Gavin (Lux), it gives him an opportunity to get to the other side of the diamond. … So to get him back over there, shorten the throw, it should be less of a toll on his body overall and give him an opportunity to have success.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, talking about moving Mookie Betts to SS

Saturday’s quiz
Who was coach of the Golden State Warriors before Steve Kerr?

Friday’s quiz
Over the last 35 years, only one college basketball team has lost twice as a #2-seed in the first round of the NCAA Tournament- Arizona.

Thursday’s quiz
In the history of the Oakland A’s (since 1968), Mark McGwire has knocked in the most runs.

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

Saturday’s Den: Conference tournament trends…….​

Some conference tournament trends……..
— ACC
Last five ACC tournaments, four different teams have won the tournament; Duke won it in 2019 and last year. Since 2017, they’re 15-2 in ACC tourney games.
North Carolina hasn’t won an ACC tournament since 2016; in two years under Hubert Davis, they went WL in both ACC tournaments.
Since joining the ACC, Syracuse is 5-8 in conference tournament games.

— Atlantic 15
Winners of last seven A-15 tournaments:
2016- St Joe’s (13-5, 4th)
2017- Rhode Island (13-5, T3)
2018- Davidson (13-5, 3rd)
2019- Saint Louis (10-8, T6th)
2020- COVID year
2021- St Bonaventure (11-7, T5)
2022- Richmond (10-8, 6th)
2023- VCU (15-3, 1st)

— Big 14
Winners of last five Big 14 tournaments:
2018- Michigan (13-5, T4th)
2019- Michigan State (16-4, T1st)
2020- COVID year
2021- Illinois (16-4, 2nd)
2022- Iowa (12-8, T4th)
2023- Purdue (15-5, 1st)

— Big X
Since 2013……
Kansas has won four Big X tournaments.
Iowa State has won four Big X tournaments.
Texas has won two Big X tournaments.
Thats it, those three teams are only champs in last 11 years.

— Big East
Winners of last three Big East tournaments:
2021- Georgetown (7-9, 8th)
2022- Villanova (16-4, 2nd)
2023- Marquette (17-3, 1st)
From 2015-19, Villanova won the tournament 4 of 5 years, so they’ve won 5 of last 8 Big East tournaments, overall, but those were all with Jay Wright as coach.

— Big Sky
#1-seed won 10 of last 12 Big Sky tournaments; #2-seed won the other two.
Montana State won the tournament the last two years.

— Big West
First place team won three of last four Big West tournaments
Last eight Big West tourney champs:
2015- Cal-Irvine (11-5, T2nd)
2016- Hawai’i (13-3, T1st)
2017- Cal-Davis (11-5, 2nd)
2018- Cal-Fullerton (10-6, 4th)
2019- Cal-Irvine (15-1, 1st)
2020- COVID year
2021- Cal-Santa Barbara (13-3, 1st)
2022- Cal-Fullerton (11-4, 2nd)
2023- Cal-Santa Barbara (15-5, T1st)

— CAA
Winners of last five Big 14 tournaments:
2019- Northeastern (14-4, 2nd)
2020- Hofstra (14-4, 1st)
2021- Drexel (4-5, 6th)
2022- Delaware (10-8, T4th)
2023- Charleston (16-2, T1st)

— Word of the Day: bamboozle- to fool or cheat someone.

— Stetson 88, Jacksonville 87 (Thursday night)
Hatters trailed by 10 with 4:53 left in the game.
Stetson made 13-22 on the arc, scored 1.38 points/possession.
Last year (17-14) was Stetson’s first winning season since 2001.
21-12 Hatters play Austin Peay for A-Sun title Sunday afternoon.

— Washington Huskies fired basketball coach Mike Hopkins; Huskies made the NCAA’s once in his seven years coaching there. Washington was 62-72 in Pac-12 games under Hopkins, who also spent 22 years as an assistant coach at Syracuse.
Hopkins was under contract at Washington thru next season, so he will bank $3.1M on his way out the door.

— Southern Illinois fired basketball coach Bryan Mullins, despite going 23-10/19-13 the last two years (25-15 in MVC games). At some of these mid-major schools, you don’t make the NCAA’s, they tell you to take a hike. Salukis haven’t been in the Big Dance since 2007.

— Famous birthdays on March 9th:
Bert Campaneris, 82
Dennis Harrah, 71
Linda Fiorentino, 64
Brian Bosworth, 59
Aaron Boone, 51
Matt Barnes, 44
Saturday would’ve been the 81st birthday for Bobby Fischer, the great chess master.

— MAAC
Iona won six of last seven MAAC tournaments; Saint Peter’s won the other one two years ago, and they wound up in the Elite 8 in the NCAA’s.

— MAC
Winners of last five MAC tournaments:
2019- Buffalo (16-2, 1st)
2020- COVID year
2021- Ohio U (9-5, 4th)
2022- Akron (14-6, T3rd)
2023- Kent State (15-3, and)

— Mountain West
San Diego State played in MW tournament final the last six years, going 3-3; Utah State beat the Aztecs in two MW finals, Boise State won the other one.
#1-seed won last three Mountain West tournaments.

— Pac-12
Arizona won four of last six Pac-12 tournaments. Oregon/Oregon State won the other two.
UCLA hasn’t won the Pac-12 tournament since 2014.
This is the last year of the Pac-12; Oregon State/Washington State got left behind by the rest of the league, for $$$ reasons.

— SEC
Winners of last five SEC tournaments:
2018- Kentucky (10-8, T4th)
2019- Auburn (11-7, T$th)
2020- COVID year
2021- Alabama (16-2, 1st)
2022- Tennessee (14-4, T2nd)
2023- Alabama (16-2, 1st)

— Southern
Last nine SoCon tournaments were won by a #1-seed (2 of the 9 were tied for 1st)

— Summit League
since 2012…….
South Dakota State has won six Summit tournaments
North Dakota State has won four Summit tournaments
Oral Roberts has won two Summit tournaments, but Max Abmas plays for Texas now.

— WCC
since 2004, Gonzaga is 41-4 in the WCC Tournament.
since 2010, Saint Mary’s is 19-12 (3-9 against Gonzaga).
Last time someone other than Gonzaga/Saint Mary’s won the WCC Tournament was 2008, when #3-seed San Diego won.

 

[CNOTES]

Sunday’s 6-pack:
Average home attendance in college hoop this year:
20,593— North Carolina
20,288— Syracuse
19,904— Kentucky
19,494— Tennessee
19,100— Arkansas
17,269— Creighton

Quote of the Day
“I just want to be good again.”
Dodgers pitcher Walker Buehler, recovering from his 2nd Tommy John surgery

Sunday’s quiz
What was the last team to lose the World Series in consecutive years?

Saturday’s quiz
Mark Jackson was coach of the Golden State Warriors before Steve Kerr.

Friday’s quiz
Over the last 35 years, only one college basketball team has lost twice as a #2-seed in the first round of the NCAA Tournament- Arizona.

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

Sunday’s Den: Wrapping up a full day of basketball…….​

— Ohio Valley
Morehead State 69, Little Rock 55
#3-seed Eagles win OVC tourney, are first team in the Field of 68.

— SEC
It was an upsetting day in the SEC…….
Kentucky 85, Tennessee 81
Sheppard was 7-11 on arc, scored 27 points in 33:00 off bench.
Tennessee’s 7-game win streak ends.

Vanderbilt 79, Florida 78
Vandy had 20 offensive rebounds.
Gators led by 12 late in first half.
Florida split its last six games.

South Carolina 93, Mississippi State 89 OT
Carolina is 13-5 in SEC; previous three years, they were 17-35.
Bubble team Bulldogs picked lousy time to lose four games in a row.
Tennessee won regular season title; four teams tied for 2nd.

— ACC
North Carolina 84, Duke 79
Tar Heels jumped out to a 30-15 lead, then held on for dear life
UNC took 47 2-point shots, only 15 3-pointers, an old-school approach.
Cormac Ryan scored 31; he was 6-8 on the arc. He has an interesting history:
2018-19- Stanford
2020-23- Notre Dame
2023-24- North Carolina
Shooting is marketable.

— Big X
Houston 76, Kansas 46
Not just an ugly loss; Kansas big man Dickinson hurt his shoulder.
Jayhawks are 4-5 in their last nine games.
Kansas is #333 in bench minutes, and they have injury issues.

Central Florida 79, TCU 77
Horned Frogs are 2-4 in last six games, are going to be close to the bubble.
Houston won its last nine games, won Big X by two games in its first year there.

— Southern Conference
Furman 79, Western Carolina 76, OT
Pegues was 6-11 on arc, scored 29 points.
Paladins were +7 in turnovers (13-6)

East Tennessee State 73, NC-Greensboro 62
ETSU was 12-24 on arc; for year, they’re shooting 31.3% on arc (#308)
Semi-finals Sunday: Samford-Furman, ETSU-Chattanooga.

— Mountain West
Utah State 87, New Mexico 85
Lobos are 4-6 in their last ten games, may be slipping off the bubble.

Nevada 75, UNLV 65
Wolf Pack has won seven games in a row.
UNLV is 10-2 in its last 12 games; they’re 19-11, but they’re going to have to win the Mountain West tournament to make the Field of 68.
Utah State is the #1-seed in the Mountain West tournament, Nevada is #2, Boise State #3.

— Big East
Creighton 69, Villanova 67
Creighton led this game 32-8 early on.
Bluejays won seven of their last eight games.
There were a total of 7 foul shots in this game, the whole game.
Villanova is 17-14, 10-10 in Big East, 2-3 in last five games; they’re a bubble team. I’d much rather see the Drake-Indiana State loser make the NCAA’s instead of this mediocre team.

— Pac-12
USC 78, Arizona 63
Just 2nd loss in last 12 games for Arizona, but I’m a skeptic on their NCAA chances.
USC won five of last seven games; they’re pretty good with Collier in lineup.

— Upsets of the Day:
Saint Louis (+11.5) 73, St Bonaventure 65
Brown (+11.5) 84, Yale 81 OT
Vanderbilt (+9.5) 79, Florida 78
Central Florida (+8.5) 79, TCU 77
Kentucky (+7.5) 85, Tennessee 81
Rhode Island (+7.5) 58, Fordham 50
USC (+7.5) 78, Arizona 63
Texas State (+6.5) 74, Troy State 68
East Tennessee State (+6.5) 73, NC-Greensboro 62

— Missouri Valley
Indiana State 94, Northern Iowa 72
Sycamores made 15-29 on arc, had stress-free win.
Indiana State won 15 of its last 17 games.

Drake 72, Bradley 67
Bradley led 23-9 early on; it was 38-38 at the half.
Drake made 11-24 shots on the arc.
Indiana State/Drake play for MVC title Sunday; it looks like it is winner-take-all. Bracketology doesn’t see the MVC getting two teams in the NCAA’s.

— Big South
Longwood 80, High Point 79 OT
Top-seeded High Point loses, after leading by 15 with 12:28 left in game.
Longwood went 6-10 in Big South this year, but they play NC-Asheville in Sunday’s final.

— Ivy League
Brown 84, Yale 81 OT
Yale led by 11 with 4:12 left in game.
Both teams shot 10-25 on the arc.
Brown has won six in a row; they don’t start any seniors, so they should be good again next year.

— MAAC
Fairfield 96, Mt St Mary’s 92
Mt St Mary’s led 54-38 at halftime.
Stags won eight of last ten games; they’re #2-seed in the MAAC tournament.
Fairfield was 21-22 on foul line, Mt St Mary’s 7-11.

— CAA
All four favorites won Saturday; William & Mary (+11.5) was only underdog that covered and they covered by half a point.

— American
Tulsa 76, South Florida 70
Bulls had won 15 games in a row; their last loss was January 7 at UAB.
USF is 23-6, but Bracketology doesn’t have them in the Field of 68.