Tuesday’s 6-pack:
— Mets 2, Marlins 0- Francisco Lindor got his 1,500th career hit
— Pirates 8, Cardinals 4- St Louis is 4-2 at home, 0-4 on the road.
— Cubs 7, Rangers 0- Justin Steele allowed 3 hits in 7 shutout IP
— Mariners 4, Astros 3- Jorge Polanco hit a 2-run single in 8th inning.
— Reds 2, Giants 0- Hunter Greene got 26 outs, on 104 pitches.
— Tigers 6, New York 2- Casey Mize allowed a run in 6 IP.
Quote of the Day
“Not in a cocky or arrogant way, but I just feel that I’m one of the better quarterbacks in the NFL. I’m out to go out there and prove it.”
Las Vegas Raiders’ QB Geno Smith
Tuesday’s quiz
Billy Donovan won consecutive national titles coaching Florida in 2006, 2007; who replaced him as Florida’s coach?
Hint: He is still an active college coach, was in NCAA’s this year
Monday’s quiz
Houston lost consecutive national title games in 1983/1984; they lost to NC State, Georgetown in those two championship games.
Sunday’s quiz
Florida won consecutive national titles in 2006 and 2007; they beat UCLA, Ohio State in those championship games.
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— Florida 65, Houston 63
Houston led by 12 with 15:34 left in the game.
Florida was 17-21 on the foul line, Cougars 9-14
Houston’s last four possessions ended in turnovers.
Florida trailed by 9+ points in each of its last three games.
— This was only the second time since the NCAA Tournament went to 64 teams that the Final Four was four #1-seeds; the other time was 2008, when the Final Four was also in San Antonio.
— 14 of 16 SEC teams made the tournament this year; this is the first time an SEC team won a national title since Kentucky did it, in 2012.
— Rick Pitino’s St John’s team was 31-5 this year, winning an NCAA Tourney game and the Big East tournament, both for the first time for St John’s since 2000.
St John’s went 18-2 in the Big East despite shooting only 26.8% on the arc in those games; they had the #6 eFG% defense in the country.
— Duke has now gone ten years since last tine they won a national title; in three years under Jon Scheyer, Duke has ranked 298-253-269 in tempo. Before that, last time Blue Devils were below #200 in tempo was 2010.
Last five years, ACC has been ranked the #5 or lower league every year; from 1997-2020, they were a top 4 league in 21 of 24 seasons.
— Louisville was 27-8/18-2 this year, in their first season under Pat Kelsey; the last three years, Cardinals were 25-71 overall, 11-49 in ACC games.
— West Coast Conference was the #7 league this season, their best rating this century; it helped that Washington State/Oregon State added to the league’s depth after the Pac-12 went away for a couple years.
Saint Mary’s won the WCC regular season by three games, but Gonzaga won the tournament; last time a team other than the Gaels or Zags won the WCC Tournament: San Diego, in 2003.
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Famous birthdays, April 8th:
Mark Clayton, 64
Terry Porter, 62
Robin Wright, 59
Kirk Dressendorfer, 56
Carlos Santana, 39
Jeff McNeil, 33
Dario Saric, 31
Zach Eflin, 31
CeeDee Lamb, 26
Jo Adell, 26
Tuesday would’ve been the 79th birthday for Jim (Catfish) Hunter, my all-time favorite baseball player. Hall of Famer helped the A’s win three consecutive World Series.
— In three years since Jay Wright retired, Villanova was 56-48, 31-29 in Big East games, which is why they fired their coach and brought in Kevin Willard from Villanova. Willard 65-39/32-28 in his three years at Maryland- his Terps made it to the Sweet 16 this year.
Last time a team from the Big 18 won a national title? Michigan State, in 2000.
— Last two years, Kansas was only 21-17 in Big X Conference games; this year was the first time since 2006 that they lost in first round of the NCAA Tournament. Since 2018, Jayhawks have been in only one Sweet 16, when they won the national title in 2022.
— Mountain West teams went 2-4 in the NCAA Tournament, an improvement over recent years, but the two coaches who won games both bolted to new jobs.
Richard Pitino left New Mexico for Xavier after a 27-8 season; Niko Medved bolted Colorado State for Minnesota after a 26-10 year.
Medved is a Minnesota alum, but that is a really hard job. Tough being a small fish in a very deep pond.
— #6-seed Wofford won the Southern Conference tournament, the sixth different team to win that event the last six years. SoCon teams made 45.2% of their 3’s in league games, the best %age of any league in the country.
Chattanooga won the SoCon regular season, they also won the NIT.
— For first time in the league’s 12-year history, the AAC had only one team in the NCAA’s, Memphis. League was ranked #11 nationally, its lowest ranking ever.
Memphis made NCAA’s for third time in last four years under Penny Hardaway, but were only 1-3 in those games. Tigers haven’t made the Sweet 16 since 2009, under John Calipari.
— Cal-Irvine went 68-20 in Big West conference games the last five years, but went 4-5 in the Big West tournament, missing the NCAA’s all five years. Last four years, four different teams represented the Big West in the NCAA’s.
— Next season, Phil Martelli Jr will be VCU’s 8th basketball coach since 2002; weird thing about that is that during those 24 seasons, VCU hasn’t had one losing year.
Two of last three years, Atlantic 15 has been a one-bid league; before that, last time they were a one-bid league was 2005.
— If the baseball playoffs started today (they do not):
NL- Phillies, Cubs, Padres Wild Cards- Dodgers, Giants, Mets
AL- New York, Tigers, Rangers Wild Cards- Angels, Red Sox, Blue Jays
