Armadillo: Thursday's six-pack
Some of the college basketball teams who take the most 3?s:
1) Wofford 54.9% of their shots are 3?s; they make 37.1%
2) Evansville 53.7%, make 37.6%
4) Akron 51.7%, make 32.5%
5) San Francisco 50.8%, make 36.3%
7) Rice 50.0%, make 36.2%
9) St Joe?s 49.3%, make 30.2%
Americans who have died from COVID-19: 405,117
PLEASE wear a mask (over your nose/mouth) when you go out.
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Armadillo: Thursday's Den: Doing some thinking out loud??
13) Georgia 63, Kentucky 62:
? Wildcats went 1-13 on arc, lost third game in a row- they?re 4-9.
? Georgia scored on an OB under play in last 0:03 for the win.
? Kentucky led by 6 with 1:50 left.
12) They take college basketball very seriously in the state that somehow elects Rand Paul and Mitch McConnell all the time. To illustrate this, I?ll flash back to 1979:
In my college days, I was student manager for the Albany Great Danes; we were a D-3 team back then. We made the NCAA Tournament in ?79, but we get sent out of the region, to Centre College in Danville, Kentucky.
Four teams at each regional site; normally, the home team plays the nightcap, but Centre played the first game, and we played Savannah State in the nightcap. Centre had a high school-like gym, seated at most 1,000 people, but it was packed for Centre?s game.
Why did Centre play the first game? Kentucky had the 8:30 game in the SEC tournament that night, so when we came upstairs for our game, there were like 20-25 people left in the stands. Everyone went home to watch the Wildcats play on TV.
11) Other random items from that weekend, 42 years ago:
? Danville was in a dry county; the drinking age was 18 back then. There were some disappointed people in our traveling party.
? We lost to Savannah State in OT;l their best player, Harold Hubbard, would up playing for the Harlem Globetrotters.
? Watching TV in the hotel Saturday afternoon, we saw Larry Bird play for the first time, in the Missouri Valley tournament. This was just before ESPN started, so lot fewer games on TV.
10) NCAA Tournament schedule was announced today; it?ll be a little different, no idea if these changes will be permanent, or if they?re just trying something new this year:
Thursday, March 18? First Four games
March 19-20? First round
March 21-22? Second round, so there will be 8 games on a Monday
March 27-28? Sweet 16 games, Saturday and a Sunday
March 29-30? Elite 8 games on a Monday/Tuesday
April 3, 5? Final Four
9) Colts? QB Philip Rivers retired Wednesday, after a 17-year career where he went 134-106 in regular season games, 5-7 in playoff games, with 66,435 passing yards, 421 TD passes. He is a lock for the Hall of Fame, though it may/may not be in his first year of eligibility.
8) Still unclear if Drew Brees will retire; his wife posted something on Instagram Wednesday, saying how this season alone, he played with a torn rotator cuff, a torn fascia in his foot, and half his ribs broken. Tough freakin? guy.
7) Astros signed OF/DH Michael Brantley to a 2-year, $32M deal, but not before it was rumored that Toronto had signed him- FanGraphs even had Brantley listed in Toronto?s lineup when I was looking on my phone at lunch yesterday.
6) NFL playoffs trend; last seven years, #1-seeds are 10-2 SU, 8-4 ATS in conference finals. Both #1 seeds lost at home in two years ago, when the Rams/Patriots both won.
5) Odd fact that I learned this week; Once you?re President of the United States, you?re not allowed to drive anymore, ever, for security reasons. Secret Service guys drive you around.
4) People were actually betting on how long Joe Biden?s inaugural address would last; 20-25:00 was the winning wager, at +$200.
3) When teams get fined by a league, where does that money go? NHL?s Washington Capitols were fined $100,000 this week; who benefits from that? A charity of the Caps? choice?
2) Cavaliers 147, Nets 135, 2OT:
? Hey, Kyrie Irving showed up and played- he scored 37 points (15-28 FG)
? James Harden only took 14 shots, Kevin Durant took 25.
? Collin Sexton torched the Nets for 42 points.
? Cavaliers played only eight guys in a 58:00 game.
1) Arkansas 75, Auburn 73:
? Tigers led by 19 at one point.