Armadillo Sports
Saturday?s 6-pack
Regional finals between #4-seeds and #2-seeds:
1991? #2 Duke (-6.5) 78, St John?s 61
1995? #4 Ohio State (+3.5) 68, UMass 54
1995? #2 Arkansas (-2) 68, Virginia 61
1996? #4 Syracuse (+6) 60, Kansas 57
2006? #4 LSU (+3) 70, Texas 60, OT
2011? #4 Kentucky (-1.5) 76, LSU 69
Quote of the Day
?It eats at you. These guys won 29 games and then you feel awful.?
Purdue coach Matt Painter
Saturday?s quiz
When was last time North Carolina was in a Final Four?
Friday?s quiz
When Ben Simmons played his one season at LSU, one of his teammates was the son of a 3-time Grammy award-winning musician? Bruce Hornsby.
Thursday?s quiz
In the movie The Hangover, the four friends stay in Caeser?s Palace.
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Saturday?s Den: Wrapping up a busy Friday
13) Saint Peter?s 67, Purdue 64:
? February 20: Saint Peter?s lost 84-70 at Siena; they were 12-11 overall, 10-6 in MAAC. Since then, they?re 10-0, the first 15-seed EVER to make the Elite 8.
? Peacocks held Purdue star Jaden Ivey to nine points.
? March 25 is National Peacock Day (seriously).
12) Kansas 66, Providence 61:
? Kansas was 20-26 on foul line, Friars 11-16.
? Teams combined to go 6-37 on the arc.
? Kansas is only #1-seed left in the tournament.
11) If you?re in New Jersey and you wagered on North Carolina to win the East Region, you?ve already won; New Jersey sports books can?t take bets on Saint Peter?s.
10) North Carolina 71, UCLA 66:
? Caleb Love scored 30 points, was 6-13 on arc.
? Tar Heels played four starters 37:00+.
? UCLA stars Juzang/Jaquez shot combined 10-31 from floor.
9) Miami 70, Iowa State 56:
? Hurricanes shot 56.7% inside arc; they?re in Elite 8 for first time.
? Cyclones were 4-22 on arc, 2-4 on foul line.
? Miami played all five starters 34:00+.
8) Elite 8 by conference:
1 each? AAC, Big East, Big X, MAAC, SEC.
7) Coaching carousel:
? Steve Prohm returns to Murray State (he was 104-29 there from 2012-15)
? Ball State hired UCLA assistant Michael Lewis
? UMass hired former K-State/South Carolina coach Frank Martin.
6) They?re not calling as many fouls in the tournament as they do during the season; the phrase ?play thru contact? is very important.
In practices, teams do drills where coaches disrupt players with foam pads while they shoot close to the basket, just for this reason. This is partly why teams with older players are doing better; they?re more physically mature, play thru contact better.
5) Tampa Bay Rays acquired OF Harold Ramirez from the Cubs, in exchange for a minor league infielder. Ramirez is a .271 hitter over parts of three seasons with Miami and Cleveland.
4) Dodgers gave manager Dave Roberts a 3-year contract extension; he has a 542-329 over the last six years, best in majors during that time.
3) If you have HBO Max, I recommend watching the old TV series Without a Trace; great show about the FBI division assigned to find people who go missing, for various reasons. Anthony LaPaglia was terrific as Jack Malone, head of the unit.
2) The Price Is Right has been on TV for 50 years? Damn, I?m old; remember watching that as a kid; Price is Right at 3:00, Match Game at 3:30, every weekday.
1) Cleveland Browns ran a classic news dump Friday, doing the Deshaun Watson introductory press conference on Friday of the Sweet 16?s, when most sports fans are distracted by other stuff. When you introduce your new star player and his most consequential sentence is ?I am innocent? that?s probably not a good thing.
