Tweet
Armadillo: Monday's six-pack
Over/under totals for six major league teams this season (Atlantis Casino).........
San Francisco Giants--90-- Highest number on the board
Chicago Cubs-- 89-- People are hopping on the Cub bandwagon.
New York Mets-- 88-- First four teams are all in National League.
Kansas City Royals-- 87-- Defending champs not getting lot of love here.
Milwaukee Brewers-- 71.5-- Total rebuild underway at Miller Park.
Cincinnati Reds-- 71-- Lowest number on the board.
**********
Armadillo: Monday's List of 13: Wrapping up a sports weekend......
13) Nine years ago, Georgetown made the Final Four-- long time ago. Since then, the Hoyas are 3-7 in NCAAs, with four first-round losses, no Sweet 16's. At 14-12 this season, they're likely to miss the tourney for the second time in three years. You wonder if JohnThompson III's job is shaky-- probably not, but you never know.
12) UNLV would like to hire Dayton's Archie Miller as its next basketball coach, but is UNLV a better job than Dayton? Lot of unrealistic expectations in Vegas- they always recruit well, but so many of their players leave too early for the NBA. If I'm Miller's friend advising him, I'd advise him to wait for something bigger.
11) Miller's brother Sean is 184-57 at Arizona, 88-33 in Pac-12 play, but he hasn't been to a Final Four-- he is 11-5 in NCAA games at Arizona, but 0-3 in regional finals. At most places they would throw him a parade, but they have high expectations in the desert and this year's Wildcat team isn't as good as previous teams.
10) There are rumors that Rick Pitino could be headed to Las Vegas; bringing his son with him as an assistant coach/heir apparent. Richard Pitino's Minnesota team is 0-13 in the Big 14-- their only win since Dec 1 was over #345 Chicago State. Pitino would have to be the greatest salesman ever to sell his son as his heir apparent in Vegas
9) Albany coach Will Brown is Mr March; his Great Danes have won the America East tournament five times in the last decade- during that time, his record in regular season conference games is 105-68, pretty good but not dominant. Albany was the #1 seed in only two of those five tournament wins- they also won as a #2, 4 and a 5.
For the record, Albany is winless in the NCAAs, but 4-1 against the spread and yes, I went to college there. Despite that, they have a good academic reputation.
8) Wisconsin's interim coach Greg Gard has proven he can coach at the Big 14 level, leading his Badgers to seven straight wins, including wins over Michigan State, Indiana and Maryland, but if I'm the Wisconsin athletic director, I have one question left, and it can't be answered before they have to decide on Gard's job status-- can he recruit at the Big 14 level, the way Bo Ryan did? It always takes good players to win games.
7) Golfer Vaughn Taylor won at Pebble Beach Sunday, his first PGA win since '05; Taylor had 14 top 10's in 85 events from 2004-06, winning twice- he was on Ryder Cup team in 2006, but from 2011-15, he had three top 10's in 84 events, as his game went south. Past successes do not guarantee future success.
Golf is tough-- ton of competition-- if you lose your confidence, can be difficult to get your game back. Was fun to see how happy he was when he won yesterday. Now he is back on Tour for the next three years, when he had no place to play before this.
6) Gonzaga hasn't missed the NCAAs since 1998; since 2002, Bulldogs are 199-23 in conference play- they're 24-4 in last 13 WCC tourneys, but in NCAA games, they are 12-12, with only two Sweet 16's, and no Elite 8's.
Next year the Zags add Washington transfer Nigel Williams-Goss, and Gonzaga will become more dominant in the league, with a great PG. They could be a Final Four team in the next couple years; anything they do this year would be a little supririsng.
5) Harvard won the Ivy League the last four years, but this year, they're 2-6 and haven't covered a conference game yet. Their PG got hurt and isn't playing this year. In the Ivy League, there are no redshirts, so the kid had to leave school for the year.
Ivy League has some weird rules, but there are murmurs that a conference tournament is on the horizon, which would help bring them closer to the 21st century.
4) Georgia State won the Sun Belt LY, with Ron Hunter coaching his son, but Ron Jr is in the NBA and the Panthers are struggling, losing seven of their last nine games, losing last two games by one point each. Sun Belt tournament is going to be fun, with both Louisiana schools, Little Rock and Tex-Arlington the favorites.
3) I have no idea if Boston College's move to the ACC has been profitable, but on the field of play, its been a disaster. This is the 11th year for BC in ACC- they have a conference record of 68-110, and haven't made the NCAAs since 2009. In their last four years in the Big East, Boston College was 41-23 in conference games.
2) St Mary's has five freshmen, three sophs and no seniors on its team; they're #335 in the country (out of 351) in experience, but they're 20-4, 11-3 in the WCC, so they're having an excellent season, but are the new kids tiring? Gaels split their last four games, are 1-8 vs spread in their last nine-- curious to see how they finish up.
1) Avery Johnson is going to be a force in the SEC; his Alabama team is 15-9, 6-6 in the SEC, a surprisingly good season. Crimson Tide beat Wichita State, Notre Dame, Clemson by a total of six points in pre-conference play-- now they've won their last four SEC games. and if they finish strong, could find themselves on the bubble at this time next month, a totally unexpected result.
Johnson played, coached in the NBA; Alabama made a great hire with him.
Over/under totals for six major league teams this season (Atlantis Casino).........
San Francisco Giants--90-- Highest number on the board
Chicago Cubs-- 89-- People are hopping on the Cub bandwagon.
New York Mets-- 88-- First four teams are all in National League.
Kansas City Royals-- 87-- Defending champs not getting lot of love here.
Milwaukee Brewers-- 71.5-- Total rebuild underway at Miller Park.
Cincinnati Reds-- 71-- Lowest number on the board.
**********
Armadillo: Monday's List of 13: Wrapping up a sports weekend......
13) Nine years ago, Georgetown made the Final Four-- long time ago. Since then, the Hoyas are 3-7 in NCAAs, with four first-round losses, no Sweet 16's. At 14-12 this season, they're likely to miss the tourney for the second time in three years. You wonder if JohnThompson III's job is shaky-- probably not, but you never know.
12) UNLV would like to hire Dayton's Archie Miller as its next basketball coach, but is UNLV a better job than Dayton? Lot of unrealistic expectations in Vegas- they always recruit well, but so many of their players leave too early for the NBA. If I'm Miller's friend advising him, I'd advise him to wait for something bigger.
11) Miller's brother Sean is 184-57 at Arizona, 88-33 in Pac-12 play, but he hasn't been to a Final Four-- he is 11-5 in NCAA games at Arizona, but 0-3 in regional finals. At most places they would throw him a parade, but they have high expectations in the desert and this year's Wildcat team isn't as good as previous teams.
10) There are rumors that Rick Pitino could be headed to Las Vegas; bringing his son with him as an assistant coach/heir apparent. Richard Pitino's Minnesota team is 0-13 in the Big 14-- their only win since Dec 1 was over #345 Chicago State. Pitino would have to be the greatest salesman ever to sell his son as his heir apparent in Vegas
9) Albany coach Will Brown is Mr March; his Great Danes have won the America East tournament five times in the last decade- during that time, his record in regular season conference games is 105-68, pretty good but not dominant. Albany was the #1 seed in only two of those five tournament wins- they also won as a #2, 4 and a 5.
For the record, Albany is winless in the NCAAs, but 4-1 against the spread and yes, I went to college there. Despite that, they have a good academic reputation.
8) Wisconsin's interim coach Greg Gard has proven he can coach at the Big 14 level, leading his Badgers to seven straight wins, including wins over Michigan State, Indiana and Maryland, but if I'm the Wisconsin athletic director, I have one question left, and it can't be answered before they have to decide on Gard's job status-- can he recruit at the Big 14 level, the way Bo Ryan did? It always takes good players to win games.
7) Golfer Vaughn Taylor won at Pebble Beach Sunday, his first PGA win since '05; Taylor had 14 top 10's in 85 events from 2004-06, winning twice- he was on Ryder Cup team in 2006, but from 2011-15, he had three top 10's in 84 events, as his game went south. Past successes do not guarantee future success.
Golf is tough-- ton of competition-- if you lose your confidence, can be difficult to get your game back. Was fun to see how happy he was when he won yesterday. Now he is back on Tour for the next three years, when he had no place to play before this.
6) Gonzaga hasn't missed the NCAAs since 1998; since 2002, Bulldogs are 199-23 in conference play- they're 24-4 in last 13 WCC tourneys, but in NCAA games, they are 12-12, with only two Sweet 16's, and no Elite 8's.
Next year the Zags add Washington transfer Nigel Williams-Goss, and Gonzaga will become more dominant in the league, with a great PG. They could be a Final Four team in the next couple years; anything they do this year would be a little supririsng.
5) Harvard won the Ivy League the last four years, but this year, they're 2-6 and haven't covered a conference game yet. Their PG got hurt and isn't playing this year. In the Ivy League, there are no redshirts, so the kid had to leave school for the year.
Ivy League has some weird rules, but there are murmurs that a conference tournament is on the horizon, which would help bring them closer to the 21st century.
4) Georgia State won the Sun Belt LY, with Ron Hunter coaching his son, but Ron Jr is in the NBA and the Panthers are struggling, losing seven of their last nine games, losing last two games by one point each. Sun Belt tournament is going to be fun, with both Louisiana schools, Little Rock and Tex-Arlington the favorites.
3) I have no idea if Boston College's move to the ACC has been profitable, but on the field of play, its been a disaster. This is the 11th year for BC in ACC- they have a conference record of 68-110, and haven't made the NCAAs since 2009. In their last four years in the Big East, Boston College was 41-23 in conference games.
2) St Mary's has five freshmen, three sophs and no seniors on its team; they're #335 in the country (out of 351) in experience, but they're 20-4, 11-3 in the WCC, so they're having an excellent season, but are the new kids tiring? Gaels split their last four games, are 1-8 vs spread in their last nine-- curious to see how they finish up.
1) Avery Johnson is going to be a force in the SEC; his Alabama team is 15-9, 6-6 in the SEC, a surprisingly good season. Crimson Tide beat Wichita State, Notre Dame, Clemson by a total of six points in pre-conference play-- now they've won their last four SEC games. and if they finish strong, could find themselves on the bubble at this time next month, a totally unexpected result.
Johnson played, coached in the NBA; Alabama made a great hire with him.
Comment