Saturday?s 6-pack
Six most experienced teams in college basketball this year:
6) Georgia Tech
5) Nicholls State
4) North Carolina Central
3) Detroit Mercy
2) Cal-Bakersfield
1) Eastern Illinois
Americans who have died from COVID-19: 329,792
PLEASE wear a mask (over your nose/mouth) when you go out.
Quote of the Day
?This is a bad defense. The worst one I?ve ever had.?
Vikings? coach Mike Zimmer
Saturday?s quiz
Stan Kroenke owns the Los Angeles Rams; which NBA team does he own?
Friday?s quiz
In the movie Draft Day, where Kevin Costner is GM of the Cleveland Browns, Denis Leary plays the coach of the Browns.
Thursday?s quiz
Coming into this season, Stephen Curry had the all-time career-best free-throw %age in the NBA (90.6%)
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Saturday?s Den: Random stuff with the weekend here??.
13) New Orleans 52, Minnesota 33
? Vikings lost four of last six games; they?ve been eliminated.
? Minnesota is 0-6 ATS in their last six games.
? Minnesota allowed 32.2 ppg in its last six games.
? Minnesota is 9-14-1 ATS in last 24 games as a road dog.
? New Orleans had 36 first downs, ran ball for 264 yards.
? Kamara is first player since 1929 to rush for six TD?s in a game.
? Saints are 6-1-1 ATS in their last eight games.
? New Orleans clinched NFC South title for 4th year in a row.
12) Troy Aikman was saying on TV how tackling in the NFL has gotten a lot worse, because teams don?t practice much in pads anymore, because of the collective bargaining agreement. Like any other skill, tackling takes practice.
11) Friday was the 50th anniversary of the Miami-Kansas City playoff game that went to double OT, the longest game in NFL history. Dolphins won 27-24; there were 16 future Hall of Famers in that game.
There were a total of 149 plays in that game; 61 passes, 87 runs, one sack. The game has changed a lot over the last fifty years.
10) Favorites covered five of the first seven college bowl games this fall; five of the seven games stayed under the total.
9) There are four unbeaten hoop teams in the SEC:
? Arkansas is 8-0, all home games, vs schedule #296.
? Missouri is 6-0, with 4 home games, vs schedule #54
? Tennessee is 6-0, all home games, vs schedule #244.
? Georgia is is 7-0, all home games, vs schedule #282.
Tough to project which of these teams will wind up the best, but Tennessee/Missouri would appear to be the favorites there- they?ve been tested more so far.
8) Wisconsin 85, Michigan State 76:
? Badgers start five seniors, only play eight guys. Their future is now.
? Wisconsin was 23-30 on line in this game, Spartans 14-16.
7) Western Carolina is off to a 7-2 start in basketball; coached my Mark Prosser, son of the late Wake Forest coach Skip Prosser, the Catamounts have already won four overtime games- their last three wins have all come in OT.
6) Purdue 73, Maryland 70:
? Terps never led in a game that was tied in last minute.
? Purdue was 10-22 on the arc; Maryland had only five turnovers.
5) it is a pleasure to listen to NBA games with Mark Jackson/Jeff Van Gundy as analysts; it is like eavesdropping on two friends talking ball. To me, that is the ultimate compliment when you?re talking about game analysts.
4) Nets 123, Celtics 95:
? Brooklyn won its first two games by 26-28 points.
? Steve Nash is going to think this coaching stuff is easy.
3) Golden State Warriors lost their first two games this season by 26-39 points, not a good sign that they?re any better than last year?s 15-50 disaster.
From 2013-19, Golden State averaged 62.2 wins a year. Now? Not so much.
2) Warriors have a player named Marquese Chriss; at age 23, he?s done a lot of moving:
2014-15: Pleasant Grove HS, Elk Grove, CA
2015-16: U of Washington, scored 13.7 ppg in 24.9 mpg.
2016-17: scored 9.2 ppg in all 82 games for the Phoenix Suns.
2017-18: scored 7.7 ppg in 77 games for the Suns.
2018-19: split season between Houston/Cleveland, scored 4.3 ppg in 11.6 mpg
2019-20: scored 9.3 ppg in 59 games for Golden State
At 6-foot-9, Chriss has a chance to eventually make himself a lot of money, but he needs to lock himself inside a gym and become a shooting threat. He has the ability; will he do the work?
1) Miami 111, New Orleans 98:
? Miami G Duncan Robinson scored 23 points in this game, made 7-13 3-pointers.
? Robinson started his college career a D-III Williams, before transferring to Michigan. The odds of a D-III player making it to the NBA are very, very long. He has an interesting story.
If Duncan Robinson can make a living in the NBA, Marquese Chriss should also be able to.
