Monday’s 6-pack
Conference record in first two rounds of NCAA tournament:
— ACC: 10-2 SU, 5-7 vs spread.
— Big 14: 10-5 SU, 10-5 vs spread
— Big X, 5-5 SU, 7-3 vs spread
— Big East: 1-3 SU, 0-3-1 vs spread (also lost play-in game)
— Pac-12: 3-2 SU, 3-2 vs spread (also won play-in game)
— SEC: 9-3 SU, 4-8 vs spread
Tweet of the Day
“In the kindest way possible, the man is crazy. He’s got enough energy for like 10 people, all bottled up into one little human.”
Washington Huskies’ G Matisse Thybulle, talking about coach Mike Hopkins
Monday’s quiz
When was the last time a Big 14 basketball team won the national championship?
Sunday’s quiz
In 1990, Michigan lost 149-115 to Loyola Marymount, the year after it won the national championship, the worst loss ever by a defending national champ.
Saturday’s quiz
Liberty University is located in Lynchburg, Virginia.
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Monday’s List of 13: Wrapping up a sports Sunday……
13) Duke 77, Central Florida 76— When you lose a game like this and your season or career end, you will remember that game for the rest of your life. UCF played its hearts out, the game was there for them to take but it slipped away. Their effort was exceptional.
Duke was 309th in country in 3-point %age before this game; they made 10-25 Sunday, and scored off a missed free throw with 0:09 left to win this interesting game.
Aubrey Dawkins scored 32 points for UCF; this game had to be personal for him, living in Durham until he was 11 years old when his father was an assistant coach at Duke. He played at Michigan, then UCF; he was excellent in this game.
12) Tennessee 83, Iowa 77 OT— Volunteers led this game 44-19, so if you laid eight points, this was a sad ending. If you had the under, this was a sad ending. If you had Iowa and the over, then be thankful. Tennessee survived and it advances, and that is all that matters this time of year.
For the first time since 1996 the SEC has four teams in the Sweet 16. Tennessee has zero points this season from freshmen, which in modern times is really unusual.
CBS had the father of one of the Iowa players miked during this game; this is a bad idea. Parents should be seen and not heard during these games. Let the kids be the show.
11) North Carolina 81, Washington 59— Tar Heels are in Sweet 16 for 4th time in five years; this wasn’t a good game. Huskies shot 36.7% from the floor.
Washington is 48-21 in Mike Hopkins’ first two years as coach, so things are looking up for them, though they graduate three starters this spring.
10) Texas Tech 78, Buffalo 58— Bulls hadn’t lost since February 1st; over last six years, they’re 138-62, 75-31 in MAC games. Five of their top seven players graduate; will coach Nate Oats leave for green$r pa$ture$? Now would be a good time.
Texas Tech moves on to Anaheim, will play Michigan in the next round.
9) Virginia Tech 67, Liberty 58— Hokies beat Duke 77-72 at home Feb 26; now they get another shot at the Blue Devils Friday night in Washington. Justin Robinson played 29:00 Sunday, so his foot must be OK. He looked a little gimpy late in Friday’s game.
Liberty has a 5-9 freshman named Darius McGhee who played 27:00, and was 5-11 from floor, all 3-pointers, with no assists. Sounds like a good gig, take a 3-pointer every 2:00 or so.
8) Virginia 63, Oklahoma 51—Starting center Jack Salt isn’t playing much; he has back/ankle issues. Cavaliers are basically playing six guys; Kyle Guy was 0-10 on the arc in this game but Virginia still covered a double digit spread.
Oklahoma finished 20-14 this year, after going 18-14 LY, when they had Trae Young. Go figure.
7) Houston 74, Ohio State 59— Cougars move on and play Kentucky Friday in Kansas City. Indiana fans who might be watching will be conflicted; they didn’t like Kelvin Sampson much when he was coach of the Hoosiers, but they really dislike Kentucky.
6) Oregon 73, Cal-Irvine 54— Ducks are in Sweet 16 for third time in last four years; they missed their first ten shots of 2nd half as Irvine came back from down 12 at the half to the game, but Oregon pulled away late. Kenny Wooten had seven blocks; he is a force in the paint.
5) Coaching carousel:
— Ron Hunter bolts Georgia State for Tulane. Interesting decision; his Georgia State team would’ve clobbered Tulane this year, but AAC is a step up from the Sun Belt.
— California fires Wyking Jones; Cal alum Jason Kidd is a possible replacement.
4) Bryce Harper is from Las Vegas and goes to some UNLV basketball games in the winter; he has posted stuff on social media imploring UNLV to hire Memphis assistant coach Mike Miller as its new basketball coach.
3) Two baseball players have had ten seasons with 20+ homers and 20+ stolen bases; they are father/son, Bobby and Barry Bonds. Bobby Abreu is next, with nine.
2) They had 38,031 fans in Anaheim Stadium Sunday night for Dodgers-Angels exhibition game; they drew 23,967 in Oakland for a Giants-A’s game. Baseball season starts Thursday; we’ll have information every day from then until October.
Russell Martin caught all eight innings for the Dodgers, which is really unusual for a spring training game.
1) Cubs-Colorado exhibition game drew 14,022 fans Saturday night in Arizona. These games are more affordable and to lot of people, their best chance to see big league baseball.
Conference record in first two rounds of NCAA tournament:
— ACC: 10-2 SU, 5-7 vs spread.
— Big 14: 10-5 SU, 10-5 vs spread
— Big X, 5-5 SU, 7-3 vs spread
— Big East: 1-3 SU, 0-3-1 vs spread (also lost play-in game)
— Pac-12: 3-2 SU, 3-2 vs spread (also won play-in game)
— SEC: 9-3 SU, 4-8 vs spread
Tweet of the Day
“In the kindest way possible, the man is crazy. He’s got enough energy for like 10 people, all bottled up into one little human.”
Washington Huskies’ G Matisse Thybulle, talking about coach Mike Hopkins
Monday’s quiz
When was the last time a Big 14 basketball team won the national championship?
Sunday’s quiz
In 1990, Michigan lost 149-115 to Loyola Marymount, the year after it won the national championship, the worst loss ever by a defending national champ.
Saturday’s quiz
Liberty University is located in Lynchburg, Virginia.
*******************************
Monday’s List of 13: Wrapping up a sports Sunday……
13) Duke 77, Central Florida 76— When you lose a game like this and your season or career end, you will remember that game for the rest of your life. UCF played its hearts out, the game was there for them to take but it slipped away. Their effort was exceptional.
Duke was 309th in country in 3-point %age before this game; they made 10-25 Sunday, and scored off a missed free throw with 0:09 left to win this interesting game.
Aubrey Dawkins scored 32 points for UCF; this game had to be personal for him, living in Durham until he was 11 years old when his father was an assistant coach at Duke. He played at Michigan, then UCF; he was excellent in this game.
12) Tennessee 83, Iowa 77 OT— Volunteers led this game 44-19, so if you laid eight points, this was a sad ending. If you had the under, this was a sad ending. If you had Iowa and the over, then be thankful. Tennessee survived and it advances, and that is all that matters this time of year.
For the first time since 1996 the SEC has four teams in the Sweet 16. Tennessee has zero points this season from freshmen, which in modern times is really unusual.
CBS had the father of one of the Iowa players miked during this game; this is a bad idea. Parents should be seen and not heard during these games. Let the kids be the show.
11) North Carolina 81, Washington 59— Tar Heels are in Sweet 16 for 4th time in five years; this wasn’t a good game. Huskies shot 36.7% from the floor.
Washington is 48-21 in Mike Hopkins’ first two years as coach, so things are looking up for them, though they graduate three starters this spring.
10) Texas Tech 78, Buffalo 58— Bulls hadn’t lost since February 1st; over last six years, they’re 138-62, 75-31 in MAC games. Five of their top seven players graduate; will coach Nate Oats leave for green$r pa$ture$? Now would be a good time.
Texas Tech moves on to Anaheim, will play Michigan in the next round.
9) Virginia Tech 67, Liberty 58— Hokies beat Duke 77-72 at home Feb 26; now they get another shot at the Blue Devils Friday night in Washington. Justin Robinson played 29:00 Sunday, so his foot must be OK. He looked a little gimpy late in Friday’s game.
Liberty has a 5-9 freshman named Darius McGhee who played 27:00, and was 5-11 from floor, all 3-pointers, with no assists. Sounds like a good gig, take a 3-pointer every 2:00 or so.
8) Virginia 63, Oklahoma 51—Starting center Jack Salt isn’t playing much; he has back/ankle issues. Cavaliers are basically playing six guys; Kyle Guy was 0-10 on the arc in this game but Virginia still covered a double digit spread.
Oklahoma finished 20-14 this year, after going 18-14 LY, when they had Trae Young. Go figure.
7) Houston 74, Ohio State 59— Cougars move on and play Kentucky Friday in Kansas City. Indiana fans who might be watching will be conflicted; they didn’t like Kelvin Sampson much when he was coach of the Hoosiers, but they really dislike Kentucky.
6) Oregon 73, Cal-Irvine 54— Ducks are in Sweet 16 for third time in last four years; they missed their first ten shots of 2nd half as Irvine came back from down 12 at the half to the game, but Oregon pulled away late. Kenny Wooten had seven blocks; he is a force in the paint.
5) Coaching carousel:
— Ron Hunter bolts Georgia State for Tulane. Interesting decision; his Georgia State team would’ve clobbered Tulane this year, but AAC is a step up from the Sun Belt.
— California fires Wyking Jones; Cal alum Jason Kidd is a possible replacement.
4) Bryce Harper is from Las Vegas and goes to some UNLV basketball games in the winter; he has posted stuff on social media imploring UNLV to hire Memphis assistant coach Mike Miller as its new basketball coach.
3) Two baseball players have had ten seasons with 20+ homers and 20+ stolen bases; they are father/son, Bobby and Barry Bonds. Bobby Abreu is next, with nine.
2) They had 38,031 fans in Anaheim Stadium Sunday night for Dodgers-Angels exhibition game; they drew 23,967 in Oakland for a Giants-A’s game. Baseball season starts Thursday; we’ll have information every day from then until October.
Russell Martin caught all eight innings for the Dodgers, which is really unusual for a spring training game.
1) Cubs-Colorado exhibition game drew 14,022 fans Saturday night in Arizona. These games are more affordable and to lot of people, their best chance to see big league baseball.
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