Thursday’s 6-pack:
Top six rated college basketball conferences:
1) Big X
2) Big East
3) SEC
4) Big 14
5) ACC
6) Pac-12
Quote of the Day
“It’s outrageous. What happened tonight, this is completely B.S.. This is shame. Shame for the referees. Shame for the league to allow this. Twenty-three free throws for them, and we get two free throws in the fourth quarter? Like, how to play the game? I understand respect for All-Stars and all that, but we have star players on our team as well.”
Toronto Raptors’ coach Darko Rajakovic
Thursday’s quiz
Who was the coach of the Seahawks, before Pete Carroll?
Wednesday’s quiz
Campbell’s basketball team is known as the Camels; they play in the CAA.
Tuesday’s quiz
Jets were the first AFL/AFC team to win a Super Bowl; they upset the Baltimore Colts 16-7 in Super Bowl III.
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He’s had a winning season on this site in every year but one, and that ain’t easy to do.
— Seahawks fired Pete Carroll as head coach Wednesday; they tried to be nice about it, but Carroll had made it clear that he still wanted to be the coach. They say he’ll still be around as an advisor, but the guy went 147-98-1 with the Seahawks, 10-9 in playoff games, 1-1 in Super Bowls, and this is how they treat him?
Fact of the matter is, the last three years, Seattle went 25-26 in regular season, 0-1 in playoffs, and that wasn’t good enough. It ain’t easy being 72 years old in today’s world.
— Speaking of which, Nick Saban is out at Alabama, after 17 seasons; he went 206-29 with the Crimson Tide, 16-7 in bowl games.
Overall, Saban was 297-71-1 as a college coach with seven national titles (he won one at LSU); he also went 15-17 coaching the NFL’s Dolphins in 2005-06.
Good luck to the poor bastard that Alabama hires next; following the guy who might be the best college football coach ever is no easy task.
— Ever hear of Gene Bartow? Damn good coach, the guy went 491-253 as a college basketball coach, but he made the mistake of following John Wooden at UCLA. Wooden was/is the best college hoop coach ever; Bartow went 51-10 in two years at UCLA, but it wasn’t enough for the spoiled fan base/administration, so Bartow left Westwood after those two seasons.
Ironically, Bartow then moved to Alabama, where UAB was starting a new basketball program, and Bartow ran that team for 17 years, going 350-193 coaching the Blazers.
— Oh by the way, in 1980, Ohio State hired Nick Saban to be its defensive backs coach; the guy he replaced?
Pete Carroll.
— In the NBA, LA Clippers signed Kawhi Leonard to a three-year, $152.4M contract; do the math, and over an 82-game season, Leonard will make $61,951 per game over the length of that contract.
— Toronto Raptors lost 132-131 to the Lakers Tuesday night in LA; the Lakers shot 28-36 on the foul line, Toronto 8-13. Lakers took 23 of those foul shots in the decisive 4th quarter.
After the game, Raptors’ coach Darko Rajakovic wasn’t happy; he went on a tirade, slapping a table for emphasis while he ripped the officials and the NBA. Losing isn’t fun.
— I mentioned Tuesday that UNLV QB Jayden Maiava transferred to Georgia, but he changed his mind and is now transferring to USC. College football has gotten crazy.
— Baseball Fact of the Day: Babe Ruth holds the record for most innings pitched in a World Series game; he threw a 14-inning complete game in a 2-1 win in the 1916 World Series, and he also knocked in one of the runs his team scored.
— Movie of the Day: Blue Chips (1994)- A college basketball coach chooses to break the rules in order to recruit the players he needs to stay competitive.
Nick Nolte is great as the coach of fictional Western U; Bob Cousy is the athletic director of the school, Penny Hardaway and Shaquille O’Neal are two of his players. JT Walsh plays a wealthy booster, Alfre Woodard plays Penny Hardaway’s mom. Excellent cast.
I mention the movie today because Wednesday night, FS1 had their mike in a St John’s huddle, with Rick Pitino coaching his team; it is almost exactly the same as a scene in Blue Chips, when Pitino’s team is coaching against Western U, and Pitino is instructing his players.
That was 30 years ago, and Pitino is still an awesome coach.
— Central Florida 65, Kansas 60
UCF posts the upset in its first-ever Big X home game.
Kansas led by 16 in first half, 37-29 at halftime.
— St John’s 75, Providence 73
St John’s is 4-0 in Big East for first time since 2001.
Friars lost last three games, after an 11-2 start.
— Butler 69, Marquette 62
Marquette led 30-19 early on; they went 5-31 on the arc.
Last two games, Tyler Kolek is 2-19 from the floor.
— Memphis 107, Texas-San Antonio 101, OT
Roadrunners led by 4 with 1:16 left in regulation.
Memphis was 30-43 on foul line, UTSA 16-21.
— Saint Louis 88, St Joe’s 85
Billikens trailed 39-19 with 5:20 left in first half.
Saint Louis made 14-26 shots on the arc.
— California 82, Colorado 78
Buffaloes led by 20 with 1:38 left in first half.
Cal posted its 2nd straight upset; they were 10-23 on arc.
— Louisville 80, Miami 75
Cardinals were a 16.5-point underdog.
Miami led by 9 with 14:10 left in game.
— North Carolina 67, NC State 54
Last three games, Tar Heels allowed 57-55-54 points, all on the road.
Wolfpack shot 26.1% from floor, 2-21 on the arc.
— You don’t think the NFL Draft is a fascinating process?
Rams’ WR Puka Nucua just set the all-time receiving yardage record for a rookie, and he was the 20th receiver taken in the ’23 Draft.
— We’re starting something a little different today; on the college basketball page, I’ll post info on five of every day’s most interesting games.
Top six rated college basketball conferences:
1) Big X
2) Big East
3) SEC
4) Big 14
5) ACC
6) Pac-12
Quote of the Day
“It’s outrageous. What happened tonight, this is completely B.S.. This is shame. Shame for the referees. Shame for the league to allow this. Twenty-three free throws for them, and we get two free throws in the fourth quarter? Like, how to play the game? I understand respect for All-Stars and all that, but we have star players on our team as well.”
Toronto Raptors’ coach Darko Rajakovic
Thursday’s quiz
Who was the coach of the Seahawks, before Pete Carroll?
Wednesday’s quiz
Campbell’s basketball team is known as the Camels; they play in the CAA.
Tuesday’s quiz
Jets were the first AFL/AFC team to win a Super Bowl; they upset the Baltimore Colts 16-7 in Super Bowl III.
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Thursday’s Den: Doing some thinking out loud…….
Before we get into a busy news day, I’d like to thank the Big Dawg for picking NFL games on my blog this year; he went 30-23-1 (56.6%) against the spread. 17-5 over the last seven weeks!!! Lot of professional handicappers don’t do that well.He’s had a winning season on this site in every year but one, and that ain’t easy to do.
— Seahawks fired Pete Carroll as head coach Wednesday; they tried to be nice about it, but Carroll had made it clear that he still wanted to be the coach. They say he’ll still be around as an advisor, but the guy went 147-98-1 with the Seahawks, 10-9 in playoff games, 1-1 in Super Bowls, and this is how they treat him?
Fact of the matter is, the last three years, Seattle went 25-26 in regular season, 0-1 in playoffs, and that wasn’t good enough. It ain’t easy being 72 years old in today’s world.
— Speaking of which, Nick Saban is out at Alabama, after 17 seasons; he went 206-29 with the Crimson Tide, 16-7 in bowl games.
Overall, Saban was 297-71-1 as a college coach with seven national titles (he won one at LSU); he also went 15-17 coaching the NFL’s Dolphins in 2005-06.
Good luck to the poor bastard that Alabama hires next; following the guy who might be the best college football coach ever is no easy task.
— Ever hear of Gene Bartow? Damn good coach, the guy went 491-253 as a college basketball coach, but he made the mistake of following John Wooden at UCLA. Wooden was/is the best college hoop coach ever; Bartow went 51-10 in two years at UCLA, but it wasn’t enough for the spoiled fan base/administration, so Bartow left Westwood after those two seasons.
Ironically, Bartow then moved to Alabama, where UAB was starting a new basketball program, and Bartow ran that team for 17 years, going 350-193 coaching the Blazers.
— Oh by the way, in 1980, Ohio State hired Nick Saban to be its defensive backs coach; the guy he replaced?
Pete Carroll.
— In the NBA, LA Clippers signed Kawhi Leonard to a three-year, $152.4M contract; do the math, and over an 82-game season, Leonard will make $61,951 per game over the length of that contract.
— Toronto Raptors lost 132-131 to the Lakers Tuesday night in LA; the Lakers shot 28-36 on the foul line, Toronto 8-13. Lakers took 23 of those foul shots in the decisive 4th quarter.
After the game, Raptors’ coach Darko Rajakovic wasn’t happy; he went on a tirade, slapping a table for emphasis while he ripped the officials and the NBA. Losing isn’t fun.
— I mentioned Tuesday that UNLV QB Jayden Maiava transferred to Georgia, but he changed his mind and is now transferring to USC. College football has gotten crazy.
— Baseball Fact of the Day: Babe Ruth holds the record for most innings pitched in a World Series game; he threw a 14-inning complete game in a 2-1 win in the 1916 World Series, and he also knocked in one of the runs his team scored.
— Movie of the Day: Blue Chips (1994)- A college basketball coach chooses to break the rules in order to recruit the players he needs to stay competitive.
Nick Nolte is great as the coach of fictional Western U; Bob Cousy is the athletic director of the school, Penny Hardaway and Shaquille O’Neal are two of his players. JT Walsh plays a wealthy booster, Alfre Woodard plays Penny Hardaway’s mom. Excellent cast.
I mention the movie today because Wednesday night, FS1 had their mike in a St John’s huddle, with Rick Pitino coaching his team; it is almost exactly the same as a scene in Blue Chips, when Pitino’s team is coaching against Western U, and Pitino is instructing his players.
That was 30 years ago, and Pitino is still an awesome coach.
— Central Florida 65, Kansas 60
UCF posts the upset in its first-ever Big X home game.
Kansas led by 16 in first half, 37-29 at halftime.
— St John’s 75, Providence 73
St John’s is 4-0 in Big East for first time since 2001.
Friars lost last three games, after an 11-2 start.
— Butler 69, Marquette 62
Marquette led 30-19 early on; they went 5-31 on the arc.
Last two games, Tyler Kolek is 2-19 from the floor.
— Memphis 107, Texas-San Antonio 101, OT
Roadrunners led by 4 with 1:16 left in regulation.
Memphis was 30-43 on foul line, UTSA 16-21.
— Saint Louis 88, St Joe’s 85
Billikens trailed 39-19 with 5:20 left in first half.
Saint Louis made 14-26 shots on the arc.
— California 82, Colorado 78
Buffaloes led by 20 with 1:38 left in first half.
Cal posted its 2nd straight upset; they were 10-23 on arc.
— Louisville 80, Miami 75
Cardinals were a 16.5-point underdog.
Miami led by 9 with 14:10 left in game.
— North Carolina 67, NC State 54
Last three games, Tar Heels allowed 57-55-54 points, all on the road.
Wolfpack shot 26.1% from floor, 2-21 on the arc.
— You don’t think the NFL Draft is a fascinating process?
Rams’ WR Puka Nucua just set the all-time receiving yardage record for a rookie, and he was the 20th receiver taken in the ’23 Draft.
— We’re starting something a little different today; on the college basketball page, I’ll post info on five of every day’s most interesting games.
