Wednesday’s 6-pack:
Six most experienced teams in college basketball:
— Kansas (12-3, 3-1)
— Xavier (11-7, 3-4)
— Ole Miss (15-2, 4-0)
— Kentucky (14-3, 3-1)
— Memphis (13-3, 3-0)
— Louisville (13-5, 6-1)
Quote of the Day
“I never split 9’s.”
Wayne Gretzky, playing blackjack in a Bet MGM commercial.
Sunday’s quiz
Baltimore Ravens came into being in 1996; they weren’t an expansion team. Where did the Ravens call home, before they moved to Baltimore?
Tuesday’s quiz
In the movie
Oceans Thirteen, Ellen Barkin played Al Pacino’s assistant, running the new Bank Casino.
Monday’s quiz
Hall of Fame QB Kurt Warner played his college football at Northern Iowa.
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— Missouri 83, Florida 82 OT
Mizzou survived going 18-29 on foul line.
Caleb Grill had 22 points for Mizzou; he didn’t start.
Loss ends Florida’s 16-game home winning streak.
— Marquette 85, DePaul 83 OT
DePaul led by 4 points with 0:54 left in regulation.
DePaul is 0-7 in Big East; three of the losses were in overtime.
Blue Demons have lost their last 40 Big East regular season games.
Marquette is 6-0 in Big East, with four wins by 8 or fewer points.
— Ole Miss 74, Alabama 64
Ole Miss was +14 in turnovers (21-7)
Alabama had scored 96.3 ppg in its first three SEC games.
Malik Dia scored 23 points, had 19 rebounds for Ole Miss.
Crimson Tide was only 5-20 on the arc.
— Central Florida 95, Arizona State 89
Keyshawn Hall scored 29 points……in the first half.
UCF was 12-26 on the arc, Sun Devils were 12-24.
Arizona State is 2-5 in its last seven games; they’re 1-4 in Big X.
— St John’s 63, Georgetown 58
St John’s has won four in row, 10 of last 11 games.
Hoyas led by 15 with 2:43 left in first half.
St John’s was +9 in turnovers (19-10)
Red Storm was 8-24 on arc (21.3% in seven Big East games)
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Famous birthdays, January 15:
Andrea Martin, 79
Bobby Grich, 76
Ernie DiGregorio, 74
Randy White, 72
Delino DeShields, 56
Eddie Cahill, 47
Drew Brees, 46
Matt Holliday, 45
Mitch Garver, 34
Triston Casas, 25
— Arizona 81, Baylor 70
Arizona has won seven in a row, after a 4-5 start.
Wildcats led this game 42-19 at halftime.
Baylor is 1-4 in true road games; the win was in OT at Arizona State.
— LSU 78, Arkansas 74
LSU was 26-28 on foul line, Razorbacks 11-13.
Arkansas led by 12 points, midway thru first half.
Arkansas is 0-4 in SEC games, after going 11-2 out of conference.
— Wisconsin 70, Ohio State 68
Badgers led this game 37-20 at halftime.
Wisconsin was 25-28 on foul line, Buckeyes 13-15.
Ohio State lost three of last four games, is 2-4 in Big 18.
— USC 99, Iowa 89
Trojans are 3-3 in Big 18, scoring 85-82-99 points in the wins.
In their conference losses, USC was held to 60-74-69 points.
USC shot 10-15 on the arc; they led 48-32 at halftime.
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Upsets of the Day:
Western Michigan (+13) 94, Kent State 83
Ole Miss (+12) 74, Alabama 64
Missouri (+10.5) 83, Florida 82
Central Florida (+5.5) 95, Arizona State 89
San Jose State (+8.5) 71, New Mexico 70
Tex-San Antonio (+4) 90, Rice 84
— The other night I stumbled upon an NFL Films show on the Roku Channel, about the 2023 draft. The show featured on the draft rooms of Panthers, Jaguars, Colts, Cowboys.
It was startling that two of Jerry Jones’ grandsons were sitting just behind him near the head of the table, and that he asked them questions a couple times. He pays his scouts/coaches a ton of money, not sure why he was asking the young people questions, though one of them had gone to school with a player that Dallas was considering taking.
Anyway, if you have the Roku Channel and you like the NFL, it is worth watching.
— Troy Aikman said something startling on SportsCenter after the Wild Card Game Monday night; Scott Van Pelt called the Cowboys’ head coaching job “a coveted job” but Aikman didn’t agree, saying it wasn’t a coveted job, inferring that the front office interferes enough that it makes the coach’s job more difficult than it should be.
— Minnesota Vikings went 14-4 this year; two different times, they lost consecutive games to the Lions/Rams- they were 0-4 against those teams, 14-0 against everyone else.
— As I type this, Ravens are a 1-point road favorite in Buffalo Sunday night; this would be the first time in 19 home NFL playoff games that the Bills have been an underdog.
— Ex-UNLV QB Matthew Sluka, who played at Holy Cross before transferring to UNLV, has now transferred to James Madison, where he re-unites with coach Bob Chesney, who coached him at Holy Cross.
Sluka played three games for UNLV this year but bolted after three games because of a dispute over NIL money; Rebles played better when Hajj-Malik Williams became UNLV’s QB.
— Cleveland Browns named TE coach/tight ends coach pass game specialist Tommy Rees their new offensive coordinator, replacing Ken Dorsey, who was fired after one season.