Friday?s 6-pack
? Washington State 91, Arizona State 70? There is no logical explanation for this score.
? Cincinnati 69, Memphis 64? Bearcats trailed by 11 early in second half.
? Iowa 77, Indiana 72? Hoosiers lost eight of their last nine games.
? Wofford 78, East Tennessee State 76 OT? Terriers stay unbeaten in SoCon.
? Western Kentucky 92, Rice 85, 2OT? Hilltoppers? coach Rick Stansbury missed this game with back problems; he has bulging disk(s). Bad beat if you had the Owls, +5.
? Wright State 76, Oakland 62? Grizzlies had covered nine in a row as a road underdog in Horizon League games.
Quote of the Day
?I never experienced anything like that in my career. You?re shocked. You?re surprised, but you want kids to be happy and you want them to chase their dreams. I think every kid growing up wants to play at Carolina, Duke, Kansas, Villanova. That?s the reality of it.?
Albany Great Danes? basketball coach Will Brown, who had his starting backcourt poached by big-time schools (Villanova, Florida State) last summer
Friday?s quiz
Which NBA team drafted Kobe Bryant?
Thursday?s quiz
Oklahoma City Thunder were the Seattle SuperSonics, before they moved to Oklahoma.
Wednesday?s quiz
TV analyst Bill Raftery used to be basketball coach at Seton Hall.
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Friday?s List of 13: Random stuff with weekend here?..
13) Most guys in the NBA seem unhappy; they?re all getting paid a ton of money to play ball, but they don?t seem happy about it. It is a little sad. Hell, I?m almost 60 years old and I still shoot baskets now and then when the weather is nice.
Just once, ONCE, I want to hear the media quiz a player on trade speculation and have a guy say, ?You know what, I make 20 million bleeping dollars a year. As long as the direct deposit in my bank works, I?ll play anywhere, because this sport is making me freakin? rich!!!?
The honesty would be refreshing.
12) NBA trade deadline was Thursday; biggest news was probably Memphis trading Marc Gasol to the Raptors, as Eastern Conference teams jockey for position to make the NBA Finals, so they can lose to Golden State in five or six games.
Memphis did keep PG Mike Conley, which was a little surprising.
11) From Ramona Shelburne of ESPN:
?Today?s Lakers-Clippers trade is the first between the teams since 1983! Norm Nixon, Eddie Jordan and a 1986 2nd-round pick that became Jeff Hornacek went from the Lakers to the Clippers for Byron Scott, Swen Nater and a pick (Bruce Dalrymple)?
10) Star in the making on TV: former Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy is very good doing SEC basketball games on the ESPN family of networks. He is low-key funny, honest, knows his stuff and is humble.
Several years ago, when I used to go to the AAU Nationals in Orlando for a couple weeks every summer and watch games for 10-12 hours a day, I spent an afternoon sitting near Kennedy and listened to him talk about ball for a few hours. He wasn?t funny that day, but he is smart and I learned some interesting stuff. Glad he is on TV now.
9) Miami Marlins traded catcher JT Realmuto to Philadelphia for catcher Jorge Alfaro, pitching prospects Sixto Sanchez, Will Stewart, and an international bonus slot.
Realmuto is only 27, figures to be a big upgrade for the Phillies behind the plate.
8) Feel bad for the people who sell preseason preview magazines for baseball; with 120+ guys still unsigned, and Realmuto getting traded Thursday, the preview magazines aren?t going to be as informative as they usually are.
7) Major League Baseball will rename the disabled list the ?injured list?; it has been called the disabled list since 1966. It is a cosmetic change for now; the rules of it remain the same.
6) Oklahoma QB Kyler Murray will leave spring training with the A?s to attend the NFL Combine at the end of March; hopefully he?ll do really well and will give up his baseball dream and the A?s can save the $4.66M they unwisely promised him last summer.
5) St Francis, PA gets a 5pm tipoff game on ESPNU, and the team known as the Red Flash wears???black uniforms. Go figure.
4) Harrison Barnes was sitting on the Mavericks? bench Wednesday night when he found out he had been traded to Sacramento, which had to be at least a little awkward.
Kind of like a few years ago when a Mets fan told Wilmer Flores he was getting traded while Flores was in the on-deck circle- when he went out in the field the next inning, he had tears on his face, he didn?t want to get traded, and it turns out, he didn?t get traded. The fan was wrong.
3) Washington 67, Arizona 60? Wildcats lost four straight games in Pac-12 for first time in ten years; given all their off-court issues, Sean Miller?s job has to be in jeopardy.
2) Now that the NBA trade deadline has passed, Anthony Davis will be back in the lineup for the New Orleans Pelicans. Pelicans will probably have to trade him this summer.
1) RIP Frank Robinson 83, the great outfielder who is the only guy ever to win the MVP in both leagues, and was also the first African-American manager in the major leagues.
