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-- Big 14-- Indiana (13-3) leads Iowa and Maryland by a game.
-- Big East-- Villanova (13-2) leads; half the league is either 7-8 or 8-7.
-- Pac-12-- Oregon (11-4) is in first place; Utah-Arizona-Cal are game behind.
-- ACC-- North Carolina (12-3) leads; Louisville and Miami are game behind.
-- Big X-- Kansas (12-3) has two-game lead; they'll win 12th league title in row.
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Armadillo: Saturday's List of 13: Clearing out a cluttered mind.........
13) Watching the Gonzaga reality show on HBO earlier this week, you realize how much the success of a basketball team can help the entire profile of a school, increasing applications to a college- normal students see the great atmosphere at the games, and they want to be a part of it. People are generally frontrunners.
12) As I type this, I'm sitting here watching HBO's special on UNLV basketball, one of my favorite hours of television ever. Lot of great memories, but the success of those teams has also made it so much harder for the current Rebels. It can be hard to compete against ghosts, to live up to unrealistic expectations.
11) Three college basketball teams who make the most 3-point baskets per game:
North Florida 12.5, Akron 11.5, The Citadel 11.4.
10) Most fun college team to watch this season: the Oakland Grizzlies, who run like hell, have a great point guard and a kid named Max Hooper who has taken 229 shots this season, all 3-pointers. Hooper's dad has cancer; he came to his son's Senior Night Friday night in his hospital bed- a touching moment when his son ran up the stairs to hug his dad after the game.
9) Monmouth signed hoop coach King Rice to a 5-year college extension, which is high comedy, since there is no way Rice will still be at Monmouth five years from now-- some big money school will come and scoop him up. Monmouth was 48-105 in five years before Rice got there- now they're 42-21 the last two years.
8) I watch the NFL Combine and these workouts are great and I'm sure the teams find them very useful, but at the end of the day, I only want to know one thing about each player that tries out-- CAN HE PLAY??????
Lifting weights is impressive, running fast is good, but Tom Brady ran like me at his Combine workout and he's turned out OK. Brady can lead a team, and there is nothing that measures that in February workouts-- it only gets measured in actual games.
7) Memphis QB Paxton Lynch is working with the former CFL head coach Charlie Taaffe as he tries to get up to speed with NFL terminology. Taaffe was at UCF when Blake Bortles played there; he is very good at developing QBs, so that has to be a big help for a young man like Lynch, who hopes to be drafted in the first round.
Sidebar; Charlie Taaffe is from Albany; I've met his brother Bob a few times. Charlie was head coach of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats for a couple years; he knows his stuff.
6) Kyle Lowry had 43 points, nine assists as Toronto beat the Cavaliers at buzzer in a fun game to watch. Raptors are 39-18, currently the #2 team in the East.
5) Get well soon, golfer Jason Bohn, the 71st-ranked golfer in the world, who suffered a mild heart attack after his round on Friday. Bohn is 42 years old.
4) San Jose Sharks lost 3-1 to Buffalo last night, the first game in Sharks' history with no penalties for either side.
3) I thought the Astros were getting rid of that hill they had in centerfield at Minute Maid Park, but I heard yesterday they're keeping it for one more year. Originally, it was put there because there used to be a hill like that at old Crosley Field in Cincinnati, but it was a bad idea then and it still is.
2) College baseball saw home runs go up about 30% last year after they switched to baseball with lower seams. College baseball teams bunt too much, by the way. Kid on Texas Tech last night hit a homer, then squared to bunt on first pitch of his next AB.
1) Tuesday at 1:00 on MLB Network: Blue Jays-Phillies. Then at 4:00 from out in Arizona, Indians-Reds. Real live major league baseball. Can't wait.
-- Big East-- Villanova (13-2) leads; half the league is either 7-8 or 8-7.
-- Pac-12-- Oregon (11-4) is in first place; Utah-Arizona-Cal are game behind.
-- ACC-- North Carolina (12-3) leads; Louisville and Miami are game behind.
-- Big X-- Kansas (12-3) has two-game lead; they'll win 12th league title in row.
**********
Armadillo: Saturday's List of 13: Clearing out a cluttered mind.........
13) Watching the Gonzaga reality show on HBO earlier this week, you realize how much the success of a basketball team can help the entire profile of a school, increasing applications to a college- normal students see the great atmosphere at the games, and they want to be a part of it. People are generally frontrunners.
12) As I type this, I'm sitting here watching HBO's special on UNLV basketball, one of my favorite hours of television ever. Lot of great memories, but the success of those teams has also made it so much harder for the current Rebels. It can be hard to compete against ghosts, to live up to unrealistic expectations.
11) Three college basketball teams who make the most 3-point baskets per game:
North Florida 12.5, Akron 11.5, The Citadel 11.4.
10) Most fun college team to watch this season: the Oakland Grizzlies, who run like hell, have a great point guard and a kid named Max Hooper who has taken 229 shots this season, all 3-pointers. Hooper's dad has cancer; he came to his son's Senior Night Friday night in his hospital bed- a touching moment when his son ran up the stairs to hug his dad after the game.
9) Monmouth signed hoop coach King Rice to a 5-year college extension, which is high comedy, since there is no way Rice will still be at Monmouth five years from now-- some big money school will come and scoop him up. Monmouth was 48-105 in five years before Rice got there- now they're 42-21 the last two years.
8) I watch the NFL Combine and these workouts are great and I'm sure the teams find them very useful, but at the end of the day, I only want to know one thing about each player that tries out-- CAN HE PLAY??????
Lifting weights is impressive, running fast is good, but Tom Brady ran like me at his Combine workout and he's turned out OK. Brady can lead a team, and there is nothing that measures that in February workouts-- it only gets measured in actual games.
7) Memphis QB Paxton Lynch is working with the former CFL head coach Charlie Taaffe as he tries to get up to speed with NFL terminology. Taaffe was at UCF when Blake Bortles played there; he is very good at developing QBs, so that has to be a big help for a young man like Lynch, who hopes to be drafted in the first round.
Sidebar; Charlie Taaffe is from Albany; I've met his brother Bob a few times. Charlie was head coach of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats for a couple years; he knows his stuff.
6) Kyle Lowry had 43 points, nine assists as Toronto beat the Cavaliers at buzzer in a fun game to watch. Raptors are 39-18, currently the #2 team in the East.
5) Get well soon, golfer Jason Bohn, the 71st-ranked golfer in the world, who suffered a mild heart attack after his round on Friday. Bohn is 42 years old.
4) San Jose Sharks lost 3-1 to Buffalo last night, the first game in Sharks' history with no penalties for either side.
3) I thought the Astros were getting rid of that hill they had in centerfield at Minute Maid Park, but I heard yesterday they're keeping it for one more year. Originally, it was put there because there used to be a hill like that at old Crosley Field in Cincinnati, but it was a bad idea then and it still is.
2) College baseball saw home runs go up about 30% last year after they switched to baseball with lower seams. College baseball teams bunt too much, by the way. Kid on Texas Tech last night hit a homer, then squared to bunt on first pitch of his next AB.
1) Tuesday at 1:00 on MLB Network: Blue Jays-Phillies. Then at 4:00 from out in Arizona, Indians-Reds. Real live major league baseball. Can't wait.
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