Armadillo Sports
Sunday?s 6-pack
Sports betting handle for February, 2022:
$1.53B? New York
$985.6M? New Jersey
$780.8M? Nevada
$597M? Pennsylvania
$440.5M? Colorado
$423.8M? Michigan
Quote of the Day
?You do what?s in your heart son, you?ll be fine.?
Robin Williams, in Good Will Hunting
Sunday?s quiz
Chicago Bulls have had a player score 50+ points in a game 36 times; Michael Jordan had 30 of those 36 games. Who is the only other player with more than one?
Hint: he is active in the NBA now, but isn?t on the Bulls
Friday?s quiz
Shannon Sharpe caught the longest TD pass in NFL postseason history, 96 yards in 2020.
Thursday?s quiz
Terry Collins was manager of the Mets the last time they made the playoffs, in 2016.
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Sunday?s Den: Wrapping up a sports Saturday
13) Just researched an excellent NFL trend, and can?t hold it back until the 2022 schedule comes out.
Last four years, NFL coaches in their first year with a new team are 0-10 ATS as Week 1 favorites. Last one who covered? Sean McVay?s Rams, in 2017.
Just for the record, since 2013, NFL coaches in their first year with a new team are 13-7-1 ATS as Week 1 underdogs.
NFL schedule should be out in a couple weeks, so we?ll get busy with that then.
12) North Carolina 81, Duke 77:
? Duke led by 7 with 18:51 left in game.
? Caleb Love scored 28 points to lead the Tar Heels.
? Carolina?s bench played total of 13:00 in this game.
? January 22, UNC lost 98-76 at Wake Forest; they were ranked #37 in country after that game, but are 17-3 since then.
11) Kansas 81, Villanova 65:
? Villanova isn?t deep; losing Moore (achilles) last week was a huge blow.
? Kansas has won its last ten games.
? Three of Jayhawks? five NCAA tourney wins are against Big East teams.
? Next 48 hours, Roy Williams is going to get lot of interview requests, having coached both teams.
10) Previous #8-seeds to make the championship game:
2014? #8-seed Kentucky lost 60-54 to #7-seed UConn
2011? #8-seed Butler lost 83-41 to #3-seed UConn.
UConn is lowest seed to win a national title; Kansas was a #6-seed when they won the ?88 national title, beating conference rival Oklahoma in the final.
9) Speaking of Butler, they fired basketball coach LaVall Jordan this week; he coached the Bulldogs for five years, going 14-26 in Big East play the last two seasons. Jordan got screwed over by the pandemic; Butler was 22-9 two years ago, was headed to the NCAA?s before the tournament got cancelled because of COVID.
Brad Stevens made the national title game two years in a row at Butler, an amazing job, but he bolted for the NBA just as the Bulldogs moved up to the Big East, where they?re now a small fish in a big pond. Hard to be a small fish in a big pond after you just played for the national title two years in a row.
8) LSU was supposed to have 11 basketball players back next season, but after they fired coach Will Wade, all 11 are in the transfer portal. New coach Matt McMahon has his hands full coming up with an entirely new roster, or re-recruiting some of last year?s players.
7) Is Golden State?s Jordan Poole the Most Improved Player in the NBA?
Poole has scored 20+ points in 16 consecutive games, giving the Warriors a third scoring threat to go with Steph Curry, Klay Thompson.
6) Detroit Pistons are 22-56, a bad team, but they?re getting better. In their last 21 games, Pistons are 18-2-1 ATS, so they keep competing/falling short.
5) Los Angeles Angels ate $28M when they told OF Justin Upton to take a hike Saturday; Upton hit .215, .204, .211 the last three years. He is 34 years old; Angels have young OF Jo Adell ready to step into Upton?s place, so he became expendable.
4) Mets? pitching ace Jacob deGrom has a problem with a bone in his shoulder, has been shut down for the next four weeks.
3) LA Dodgers traded OF AJ Pollock to the White Sox for reliever Craig Kimbrel, a trade that figures to help both sides.
2) Guy sitting in front of me on the airplane flying from Las Vegas to Baltimore Friday had a Washington Commanders? cap on, first one of those I?ve seen.
1) One of the best parts of going to Las Vegas is that, every once in a while, you realize you?re in the big leagues of gambling.
Thursday night, I?m sitting in the Aria sportsbook watching the Xavier-Florida State NIT final; two guys come in, one sits to my left, the other in front of us. We exchanged a few comments but didn?t say a whole lot to each other; with 1:30 or 2:00 left in the first half, the guy next to me leans forward and shows a betting ticket to his friend, then he shows it to me.
He had $3,200 on Florida State in the first half. Thirty-two hundred dollars!!!! He also had bets on the Boston Bruins (winner) and 76ers (loser) but this guy is a big-time gambler, and he was as calm as could be watching the game (at least outwardly).
Like I said, Las Vegas is the big leagues.