Wednesday’s 6-pack:
— Cavaliers 121, Mavericks 119- Strus hit a 60-footer at the buzzer for the win.
— Warriors 123, Wizards 112- Curry was 4-17 on arc; other Warriors were 17-30.
— Celtics 117, 76ers 99- Boston shot 65.4% inside the arc.
— T’wolves 114, Spurs 105- SA’s starters were +6, their subs minus-51.
— Pistons 105, Bulls 95- Chicago was 2-29 on the arc.
— Dodgers 9, White Sox 6- Some guy named Ohtani hit a home run.
Quote of the Day
“If we had better quarterback play, I may not be standing here at the podium.”
new Atlanta Falcons coach Raheem Morris
Wednesday’s quiz
Who is the only coach to win both an NBA championship and a college national title?
Tuesday’s quiz
Steph Curry’s father Dell Curry played in the NBA for 16 years, scoring 12,670 points; he played his college basketball at Virginia Tech, which don’t recruit his two sons, both of whom are in the NBA.
Monday’s quiz
Last time the Knicks were in the NBA Finals was 1999; Jeff Van Gundy was their coach.
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UConn made it to the Final Four in 2009, after that 6-overtime loss, but the next two years, Huskies were 16-20 in Big East games- the natives were restless. Jim Calhoun had won two national titles, but it had been six years since the last one.
So what happened? UConn, after losing four of its last five regular season games, goes 5-0 and wins the Big East Tournament, then as a #3-seed, they won the national championship, in coach Calhoun’s 2nd-to-last season at UConn.
My point? March Madness is great because…..you never know what’s going to happen.
— NFL Combine is this week; ESPN/NFL Network will show lot of guys running the 40-yard dash and doing drills. Best part of the Combine we don’t see; the interviews teams do with players, as they try to figure out which players they should draft.
By the way, it has been 52 years since New Orleans Saints drafted a QB in the first round; they drafted Archie Manning that year, Peyton Manning’s father.
— There were six NBA games Tuesday with a double-digit favorite, the most of any night so far this season.
— In the NFL, of the 14 players with the biggest salary cap hit for 2024, four of them play for the LA Chargers.
— In college football, Boise State is bringing back former HC (1998-2000) Dirk Koetter as offensive coordinator; he’s been a head coach at Boise, Arizona State, Tampa Bay Bucs.
UMass is jumping from the A-15 to the MAC, which is very bad news for its basketball program; A-15 is the #8 basketball league in country, MAC is #24 league. UMass isn’t the first school to sacrifice its basketball team to try and save its football program.
Last five years, the Minuteman are 6-46 on the gridiron, as an independent.
— In baseball……..
LA Dodgers signed utility guy Kike Hernandez for one year, $4M.
San Francisco Giants signed SS Nick Ahmed.
Speaking of the Giants, the last 17 years on Opening Day, San Francisco started a different left fielder every year, and this year figures to make it 18 in a row.
Switching from DirecTV to YouTube TV last year has mostly been a plus for me; one of the best parts is I can watch replays of baseball games all night long, if I want, which is really good during spring training. Not great for my sleeping habits, but whatever……
— Movie of the Day: Against All Odds (1984)- A gangster hires an ex-football player to find his girlfriend. When he finds her, they fall in love, and then things get complicated.
Jeff Bridges is the football player, James Woods is the gangster, Rachel Ward is his wife. Also in this movie: Richard Widmark, Alex Karras.
— Famous people with birthdays on February 28:
Mario Andretti, 84
Bubba Smith, 79
Bernadette Peters, 76
Brian Billick, 70
John Turturro, 67
Ickey Woods, 58
Luka Doncic, 25
— Kansas State’s basketball team has won its last 12 overtime games.
— North Carolina (2016/2017) is the last team to make the Final Four two years in a row.
— Old Dominion basketball coach Jeff Jones retired; he had a 560-418 career record as a coach, after his playing days at Virginia.
— 34 of the last 46 national champs in college basketball (73.9%) were 10-1 or less to win the national title when the tournament started.
— BYU 76, Kansas 68
Jayhawks led by 12 early in 2nd half; their 19-game home win streak ends.
Kansas is 6-5 in last 11 games, after a 13-2 start.
Kansas is 3-2 when McKullar doesn’t play.
— Kentucky 91, Mississippi State 89
Bulldogs led by 13 early in second half.
Reed Sheppard hit a 14-foot runner with 0:00.5 left for the win.
Loss snaps Miss State’s 5-game winning streak.
— Indiana 74, Wisconsin 70- There was a 15-minute delay in second half, when a fire alarm went off in the arena. Game was tied when that happened. Badgers are 2-6 in their last eight games.
— UNLV 75, Wyoming 69 OT
Rebels have won eight of their last nine games.
Kalib Boone had 24 points, 12 rebounds (7 offensive)
— Northern Illinois 75, Toledo 72
Rockets were a 15-point home favorite.
Toledo led by 9 with 14:33 left to play.
NIU was 10-23 on the arc, Toledo 6-19.
— Clemson 69, Pittsburgh 62
Pitt was +8 in turnovers, led by 10 midway thru first half.
Clemson starts four seniors; they’re 6-1 in last seven games.
— Cavaliers 121, Mavericks 119- Strus hit a 60-footer at the buzzer for the win.
— Warriors 123, Wizards 112- Curry was 4-17 on arc; other Warriors were 17-30.
— Celtics 117, 76ers 99- Boston shot 65.4% inside the arc.
— T’wolves 114, Spurs 105- SA’s starters were +6, their subs minus-51.
— Pistons 105, Bulls 95- Chicago was 2-29 on the arc.
— Dodgers 9, White Sox 6- Some guy named Ohtani hit a home run.
Quote of the Day
“If we had better quarterback play, I may not be standing here at the podium.”
new Atlanta Falcons coach Raheem Morris
Wednesday’s quiz
Who is the only coach to win both an NBA championship and a college national title?
Tuesday’s quiz
Steph Curry’s father Dell Curry played in the NBA for 16 years, scoring 12,670 points; he played his college basketball at Virginia Tech, which don’t recruit his two sons, both of whom are in the NBA.
Monday’s quiz
Last time the Knicks were in the NBA Finals was 1999; Jeff Van Gundy was their coach.
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Wednesday’s Den: Mid-week musings……..
— From 2006-10, UConn went 0-5 in the Big East Tournament; during that time, they went 55-31 in Big East regular season games, but they came up empty at MSG in March, even losing a 6-overtime game to Syracuse in 2009.UConn made it to the Final Four in 2009, after that 6-overtime loss, but the next two years, Huskies were 16-20 in Big East games- the natives were restless. Jim Calhoun had won two national titles, but it had been six years since the last one.
So what happened? UConn, after losing four of its last five regular season games, goes 5-0 and wins the Big East Tournament, then as a #3-seed, they won the national championship, in coach Calhoun’s 2nd-to-last season at UConn.
My point? March Madness is great because…..you never know what’s going to happen.
— NFL Combine is this week; ESPN/NFL Network will show lot of guys running the 40-yard dash and doing drills. Best part of the Combine we don’t see; the interviews teams do with players, as they try to figure out which players they should draft.
By the way, it has been 52 years since New Orleans Saints drafted a QB in the first round; they drafted Archie Manning that year, Peyton Manning’s father.
— There were six NBA games Tuesday with a double-digit favorite, the most of any night so far this season.
— In the NFL, of the 14 players with the biggest salary cap hit for 2024, four of them play for the LA Chargers.
— In college football, Boise State is bringing back former HC (1998-2000) Dirk Koetter as offensive coordinator; he’s been a head coach at Boise, Arizona State, Tampa Bay Bucs.
UMass is jumping from the A-15 to the MAC, which is very bad news for its basketball program; A-15 is the #8 basketball league in country, MAC is #24 league. UMass isn’t the first school to sacrifice its basketball team to try and save its football program.
Last five years, the Minuteman are 6-46 on the gridiron, as an independent.
— In baseball……..
LA Dodgers signed utility guy Kike Hernandez for one year, $4M.
San Francisco Giants signed SS Nick Ahmed.
Speaking of the Giants, the last 17 years on Opening Day, San Francisco started a different left fielder every year, and this year figures to make it 18 in a row.
Switching from DirecTV to YouTube TV last year has mostly been a plus for me; one of the best parts is I can watch replays of baseball games all night long, if I want, which is really good during spring training. Not great for my sleeping habits, but whatever……
— Movie of the Day: Against All Odds (1984)- A gangster hires an ex-football player to find his girlfriend. When he finds her, they fall in love, and then things get complicated.
Jeff Bridges is the football player, James Woods is the gangster, Rachel Ward is his wife. Also in this movie: Richard Widmark, Alex Karras.
— Famous people with birthdays on February 28:
Mario Andretti, 84
Bubba Smith, 79
Bernadette Peters, 76
Brian Billick, 70
John Turturro, 67
Ickey Woods, 58
Luka Doncic, 25
— Kansas State’s basketball team has won its last 12 overtime games.
— North Carolina (2016/2017) is the last team to make the Final Four two years in a row.
— Old Dominion basketball coach Jeff Jones retired; he had a 560-418 career record as a coach, after his playing days at Virginia.
— 34 of the last 46 national champs in college basketball (73.9%) were 10-1 or less to win the national title when the tournament started.
— BYU 76, Kansas 68
Jayhawks led by 12 early in 2nd half; their 19-game home win streak ends.
Kansas is 6-5 in last 11 games, after a 13-2 start.
Kansas is 3-2 when McKullar doesn’t play.
— Kentucky 91, Mississippi State 89
Bulldogs led by 13 early in second half.
Reed Sheppard hit a 14-foot runner with 0:00.5 left for the win.
Loss snaps Miss State’s 5-game winning streak.
— Indiana 74, Wisconsin 70- There was a 15-minute delay in second half, when a fire alarm went off in the arena. Game was tied when that happened. Badgers are 2-6 in their last eight games.
— UNLV 75, Wyoming 69 OT
Rebels have won eight of their last nine games.
Kalib Boone had 24 points, 12 rebounds (7 offensive)
— Northern Illinois 75, Toledo 72
Rockets were a 15-point home favorite.
Toledo led by 9 with 14:33 left to play.
NIU was 10-23 on the arc, Toledo 6-19.
— Clemson 69, Pittsburgh 62
Pitt was +8 in turnovers, led by 10 midway thru first half.
Clemson starts four seniors; they’re 6-1 in last seven games.
