CNOTES 2023-2024 NBA TRENDS, NEWS, BEST BETS AND OPINIONS THRU THE PLAYOFFS !

[Udog]

NBA

Monday, March 18

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Trend Report
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Cleveland @ Indiana
Cleveland
The total has gone UNDER in 11 of Cleveland's last 13 games on the road
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Cleveland's last 5 games
Indiana
Indiana is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games when playing Cleveland
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Indiana's last 5 games when playing at home against Cleveland

Miami @ Philadelphia
Miami
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Miami's last 5 games on the road
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Miami's last 5 games
Philadelphia
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Philadelphia's last 5 games
The total has gone UNDER in 6 of Philadelphia's last 8 games at home

Detroit @ Boston
Detroit
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Detroit's last 5 games when playing on the road against Boston
The total has gone UNDER in 7 of Detroit's last 8 games on the road
Boston
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Boston's last 5 games when playing at home against Detroit
Boston is 5-0 ATS in its last 5 games

Portland @ Chicago
Portland
Portland is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games on the road
Portland is 6-2 ATS in its last 8 games when playing on the road against Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games when playing Portland
Chicago is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games when playing Portland

Minnesota @ Utah
Minnesota
Minnesota is 5-0 ATS in its last 5 games when playing on the road against Utah
Minnesota is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games when playing Utah
Utah
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Utah's last 7 games
The total has gone UNDER in 7 of Utah's last 10 games when playing at home against Minnesota

Memphis @ Sacramento
Memphis
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Memphis's last 5 games when playing Sacramento
The total has gone OVER in 6 of Memphis's last 7 games on the road
Sacramento
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Sacramento's last 5 games when playing Memphis
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Sacramento's last 6 games at home

New York @ Golden State
New York
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of New York's last 5 games
The total has gone UNDER in 8 of New York's last 9 games on the road
Golden State
Golden State is 14-4 SU in its last 18 games when playing New York
The total has gone UNDER in 10 of Golden State's last 13 games

Atlanta @ LA Lakers
Atlanta
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Atlanta's last 5 games when playing LA Lakers
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Atlanta's last 6 games
LA Lakers
The total has gone OVER in 5 of LA Lakers's last 5 games when playing Atlanta
The total has gone OVER in 6 of LA Lakers's last 7 games at home


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[Udog]

NBA
Dunkel

Monday, March 18

 

[Udog]

NBA
Long Sheet

Monday, March 18

 

[CNOTES]

MONDAY, MARCH 18​

Game	Time(ET)	Pick	Units
CLE at IND	07:00 PM	IND -6.5 O 225.5	+500 +500
MIA at PHI	07:30 PM	MIA +2.0 U 208.0	+500 +500
DET at BOS	07:30 PM	DET +15.5 O 223.5	+500 +500
POR at CHI	08:00 PM	CHI -8.5 O 214.0	+500 +500
MIN at UTA	09:00 PM	MIN -6.5 U 223.5	+500 +500
MEM at SAC	10:00 PM	SAC -10.5 U 221.5	+500 +500
NY at GS	10:00 PM	GS -6.0 U 211.5	+500 +500
ATL at LAL	10:30 PM	ATL +9.0 O 225.5	+500 +500

 

[Udog]

Armadillo Sports

Tuesday’s 6-pack:
Interesting first round games in the NIT:
— South Florida-Central Florida
— Kansas State-Iowa
— North Texas-LSU
— Cornell-Ohio State
— Richmond-Virginia Tech
— Cal Irvine-Utah

Quote of the Day
“It’s like riding with Helen Keller!!!”
Overheard at lunch Monday, an older woman complaining about her husband’s driving

Tuesday’s quiz
Rangers’ manager Bruce Bochy has led three teams to a World Series; Texas and what other two teams?

Monday’s quiz
In the movie Oceans Eleven, Julia Roberts played George Clooney’s wife.

Sunday’s quiz
NFL teams recovered only one of 31 onside kicks last year; Arizona Cardinals recovered the one onside kick.

*****************************************

Tuesday’s Den: Nobody asked me, but…….​

— Late Monday night, Giants signed P Blake Snell for two years, $62M. Snell has won two Cy Young awards; he was 14-9, 2.25 for the Padres last year.
Here’s the thing about Snell; 32 starts last year, only 180 IP, 17 outs per game. You pay a guy $31M a year, you expect him to finish the 6th inning. At least.
In 2022, he threw 128 IP in 24 starts, 16 outs/start. He doesn’t give the bullpen a night off.

— A few weeks ago, 3B JD Davis won his salary arbitration case with the Giants, was set to bank $6.9M this year, but contracts won in arbitration aren’t guaranteed. Giants dumped Davis and signed free agent Matt Chapman, paying Davis $1.1M to take a hike.
Davis then signed with the Oakland A’s for $2.5M, meaning he lost $3.3M and is now on a much worse team, although he’ll play every day now.

— Tampa Bay Rays’ over/under win total this year is 84.5; over the last five years, Tampa Bay has averaged 95.4 wins/season, despite having a small budget.

— In the NBA, Indiana Pacers have scored 120+ points in 45 games, the most times an NBA team has done that in a season since the Denver Nuggets, 40 years ago.

— In the NHL, the Pittsburgh Penguins were supposed to have a Jaromir Jagr bobblehead giveaway last week, but had to cancel when the shipment of bobbleheads got stolen. People who had tickets for the giveaway night got vouchers to get the bobbleheads, when they re-appear.
Some of the vouchers have already surfaced on E-Bay.

— NHL rule I never heard of: If teams are in overtime/shootout, the losing team gets a point, but if a team were to pull its goalie in overtime to try and win the game, they don’t get the point if they don’t win.

— Alabama gave its new football coach Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer a contract worth $10.875M a year. Good luck replacing Nick Saban, maybe the greatest college football coach ever.

— Movie of the Day: Autumn in New York (2000)- An aging playboy falls for a sweet, but terminally ill young woman.
Excellent cast: Richard Gere is the playboy, Winona Ryder is the young woman, JK Simmons is the surgeon who tries to save her. Anthony LaPaglia, Jill Hennessy, Sherry Stringfield are also in the movie, which is a sad movie, but a very good one.

— Famous birthdays for March 19:
Glenn Close, 77
Bruce Willis, 69
Mike Norris, 69
Andre Miller 48
Casey Jacobsen, 43
Clayton Kershaw, 36

— On the Hoops page of this blog, we have write-ups on all the NCAA games for the play-in games, plus all of Thursday’s games. I’ll post write-ups on Friday’s games late Wednesday night.
Some other college basketball notes:

— Some prominent college hoop programs passed on playing in the NIT; truth is, no one gives a rat’s ass about the NIT, but there’s another reason, a new reason.
The college basketball transfer portal opened Monday; fact of the matter is, coaches have to make the NCAA’s to keep their jobs, and the transfer portal is a hell of a lot more important to a program than playing in the obscurity of the NIT.
Improving your roster now means that a team can play in next year’s NCAA Tournament, which will help the coach’s job security.

— Tennessee coach Rick Barnes is 8-18-1 against the spread in first round NCAA games.

— The four #10-seeds who are in the play-in games Tuesday/Wednesday are Colorado State, Boise State, Colorado and Virginia.
There have been two teams who won play-in games and then made it to the Final Four: VCU in 2011 and UCLA three years ago.

— 2008 is the only time all four teams in the Final Four were #1-seeds; the last two years, only one #1-seed made the Final Four.

— Last three years, not only did a #15-seed upset a #2-seed, the #15-seed also won their next games and made it to the Sweet 16.

— Last six defending national champs missed the Sweet 16; if UConn gets beat this year, by Stetson, FAU or Northwestern, it would be a huge upset.

— Last time Gonzaga missed the NCAA Tournament was 1998; last time they lost a first round game was 2008, when Davidson beat them- they had a pretty good guard, Steph Curry.

— Last three years, the team that won the Big 14 Tournament went 1-3 in the NCAA’s; overall, Big 14 teams went 17-7 in first round, 4-13 in 2nd round, 1-3 in Sweet 16, 0-1 in Elite 8.
Last Big 14 team to make the Final Four was Michigan State in 2019. Last Big 14 team to win the national title? Also the Spartans, in 2000.

— Last Pac-12 team to win the national title? Arizona, in 1997.

— November 2018, Vanderbilt was off to a 4-0 start, but then their star player Darius Garland got hurt, missed the rest of the season and Vandy finished 9-23. Vanderbilt fired Bryce Drew, who had made the NCAA’s two years earlier, and hired former NBA star Jerry Stackhouse.
Five years later, Garland is a solid NBA player, Vanderbilt just fired Stackhouse, who went 70-92 in five years with the Commodores, with no NCAA bids.
Meanwhile, Bryce Drew is in the NCAA’s with his Grand Canyon team; it is the third time in four years the Antelopes are in the NCAA’s.
Bottom line is, lot of college administrators are over-educated morons.

 

[Udog]

HOUSTON is 12-1 ATS (10.9 Units) as a favorite of 3.5 to 9.5 in the current season.

ORLANDO is 12-2 ATS (9.8 Units) in home games after having won 5 or 6 of their last 7 games in the current season.

BROOKLYN is 7-0 ATS (7 Units) in a home game where the total is 210 to 219.5 in the current season.

DALLAS are 15-3 ATS (11.7 Units) in road games as a favorite in the current season.

DENVER is 30-14 ATS (14.6 Units) in road games versus poor foul drawing teams - attempting <=24 free throws/game - 2nd half of the season over the last 3 seasons.




NBA
Dunkel

Tuesday, March 19

NBA

Tuesday, March 19

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Trend Report
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Houston @ Washington
Houston
Houston is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games
Houston is 8-1 ATS in its last 9 games
Washington
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Washington's last 5 games when playing Houston
The total has gone UNDER in 10 of Washington's last 13 games at home

Charlotte @ Orlando
Charlotte
The total has gone UNDER in 6 of Charlotte's last 7 games when playing Orlando
The total has gone UNDER in 9 of Charlotte's last 11 games on the road
Orlando
Orlando is 6-1 ATS in its last 7 games at home
Orlando is 6-1 SU in its last 7 games at home

New Orleans @ Brooklyn
New Orleans
New Orleans is 6-1 SU in its last 7 games on the road
The total has gone UNDER in 6 of New Orleans's last 7 games on the road
Brooklyn
The total has gone OVER in 7 of Brooklyn's last 8 games
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Brooklyn's last 6 games when playing at home against New Orleans

Dallas @ San Antonio
Dallas
Dallas is 5-0 ATS in its last 5 games
Dallas is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games when playing on the road against San Antonio
San Antonio
The total has gone OVER in 8 of San Antonio's last 9 games when playing Dallas
The total has gone UNDER in 10 of San Antonio's last 12 games at home

Denver @ Minnesota
Denver
Denver is 11-2 SU in its last 13 games
Denver is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games on the road
Minnesota
Minnesota is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games when playing at home against Denver
Minnesota is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games when playing at home against Denver


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NBA
Long Sheet

Tuesday, March 19

 

[CNOTES]

TUESDAY, MARCH 19​

Game	Time(ET)	Pick	Units
HOU at WAS	07:00 PM	HOU -9.5 O 227.5	+500 +500
CHA at ORL	07:00 PM	ORL -13.0 O 203.5	+500 +500
NO at BK	07:30 PM	NO -7.5 U 215.5	+500 +500
DAL at SA	08:00 PM	SA +8.5 O 233.0	+500 +500
DEN at MIN	09:00 PM	MIN +7.5 U 213.0	+500 +500

 

[Udog]

Armadillo Sports

Wednesday’s 6-pack:
Leading rebounders in the NBA:
13.7/game— Domantas Sabonis, Sac
12.9— Rudy Gobert, Minn
12.3— Anthony Davis, Lakers
12.3— Nikola Jokic, Den
11.9— Jalen Duren, Det
11.2— Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milw
Quote of the Day
“I like recruiting transfers; their cars are already paid for.”
The late Jerry Tarkanian, who coached UNLV to national prominence in the 70’s/80’s
Wednesday’s quiz
In the movie Bull Durham, what did Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) do in his first at-bat with the Bulls?
Tuesday’s quiz
Rangers’ manager Bruce Bochy has led three teams to a World Series; Texas, San Francisco and San Diego. He’s won four World Series, three of them with the Giants.
Monday’s quiz
In the movie Oceans Eleven, Julia Roberts played George Clooney’s wife.

********************************************************************

Wednesday’s Den: Mid-week musings…….​

NCAA play-in games:
— Wagner 71, Howard 68
Wagner jumped out to a 21-10 lead, led 38-27 at halftime.
Seahawks advance to lose to North Carolina in their next game.
Wagner is 0-2 vs top 100 teams, losing by 21 to Seton Hall, by 34 to Providence.

— Colorado State 67, Virginia 42
Cavaliers shot 25% from floor, an ugly performance.
This is 7th time this season Virginia lost by 20+ points.
Rams shot 63.6% inside arc, led 27-14 at halftime.
Part of me thinks the four play-in games should be the last eight at-large teams; teams that win their conference tournament should get to play on Thursday/Friday, giving them a couple more days to enjoy the experience.
Another part of me thinks that the national TV exposure they get during the play-in games has to help their recruiting, so that is good, too.

NIT games:
— Ohio State 88, Cornell 83
Cornell was up 10 early, led 81-79 with 1:04 left.
Buckeyes were 13-22 on foul line, Cornell 5-6.

— Minnesota 73, Butler 72
Golden Gophers shot 57.1% inside the arc.
Butler led 70-67 with 1:24 left.

— South Florida 83, Central Florida 77
USF shot 13-24 on arc, led 49-35 at halftime.
Bulls have won 23 of their last 26 games.

— Boston College 62, Providence 57
Eagles have won five of their last six games.
Three guys on Providence played 39 or 40 minutes.

— Georgia 78, Xavier 76
Dawgs led 65-42 with 13:25 left, then held on for dear life.
Georgia’s bench outscored Xavier’s, 35-7.

— Word of the Day: Transition- a change from one state or condition to another.

— Famous birthdays for March 20:
Pat Riley, 79
Rick Langford, 72
Steve McCatty, 70
Amy Aquino, 67
Kathy Ireland, 61
Mookie Blaylock, 57

— Abilene Christian 73, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 63
Wildcats have won eight of their last 10 games.
Corpus Christi shot 2-24 on arc, 19-30 on foul line.

— Tarleton State 82, Texas Southern 71
Tarleton State put five players in double figures.
Texans have won 12 of their last 14 games.

— North Texas 84, LSU 77
Mean Green had lost 66-62 to LSU back in November.
North Texas shot 11-26 on the arc.

— Iowa 91, Kansas State 82
Payton Sandfort made 7-11 shots on the arc.
Iowa was 22-30 on foul line, K-State 8-16.

— Virginia Tech 74, Richmond 58
Spiders led 22-13 early on, then it went south on them.
Hokies have won four of their last five games.

— Utah 84, Cal-Irvine 75
Utes start four seniors; PG Smith had 13 points, 10 assists.
Utah hosts Iowa in its next game, Sunday.

— Kansas star Kevin McCullar is out of the NCAA Tournament with a bone bruise in his knee.

— Note of the Day: The last 36 NCAA Tournament teams that were seeded #1 or #2, who were unranked in the preseason top 25? None of those 36 teams made the Final Four. Iowa State falls into that category this year.

 

[Udog]

INDIANA is 12-2 ATS (9.8 Units) off a home loss in the current season.

MIAMI is 11-1 Under (9.9 Units) in road games in the second half of the season in the current season.

MILWAUKEE is 7-0 Under (7 Units) versus horrible foul drawing teams - attempting <=21 free throws/game - 2nd half of the season in...

SACRAMENTO is 9-0 ATS (9 Units) in road games after failing to cover the spread in 2 or more consecutive games over the last 2 sea...

OKLAHOMA CITY is 7-0 ATS (7 Units) in home games after 2 straight games where they made 50% of their shots or better in the current season.

MEMPHIS are 7-0 Over (7 Units) in road games revenging a blowout loss vs opponent of 20 points or more in the current season.

PORTLAND is 11-31 ATS (-23.1 Units) in home games in the second half of the season in the last 3 seasons.

Frank Vogel is 45-80 ATS (-43 Units) in home games after a non-conference game (All games)

 

[Udog]

NBA
Dunkel

Wednesday, March 20

 

[Udog]

NBA

Wednesday, March 20

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Trend Report
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Miami @ Cleveland
Miami
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Miami's last 5 games
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Miami's last 5 games on the road
Cleveland
The total has gone OVER in 8 of Cleveland's last 11 games at home
Cleveland is 13-5 SU in its last 18 games at home

Indiana @ Detroit
Indiana
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Indiana's last 6 games
The total has gone UNDER in 18 of Indiana's last 22 games on the road
Detroit
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Detroit's last 5 games
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Detroit's last 5 games at home

Milwaukee @ Boston
Milwaukee
The total has gone UNDER in 12 of Milwaukee's last 15 games on the road
The total has gone UNDER in 17 of Milwaukee's last 22 games
Boston
Boston is 5-0 ATS in its last 5 games
Boston is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games

Sacramento @ Toronto
Sacramento
Sacramento is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games on the road
Sacramento is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games on the road
Toronto
The total has gone UNDER in 12 of Toronto's last 15 games at home
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Toronto's last 5 games when playing at home against Sacramento

Utah @ Oklahoma City
Utah
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Utah's last 6 games when playing Oklahoma City
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Utah's last 5 games when playing on the road against Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City is 5-0 ATS in its last 5 games when playing at home against Utah
Oklahoma City is 10-1 SU in its last 11 games at home

LA Clippers @ Portland
LA Clippers
LA Clippers is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games when playing Portland
LA Clippers is 6-1 SU in its last 7 games when playing on the road against Portland
Portland
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Portland's last 5 games when playing LA Clippers
Portland is 8-3 ATS in its last 11 games

Philadelphia @ Phoenix
Philadelphia
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Philadelphia's last 5 games
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Philadelphia's last 6 games on the road
Phoenix
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Phoenix's last 5 games at home
Phoenix is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games when playing at home against Philadelphia

Memphis @ Golden State
Memphis
The total has gone OVER in 7 of Memphis's last 8 games on the road
Memphis is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games when playing Golden State
Golden State
Golden State is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games when playing at home against Memphis
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Golden State's last 5 games when playing at home against Memphis


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[Udog]

NBA
Long Sheet

Wednesday, March 20

 

[CNOTES]

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20​

Game	Time(ET)	Pick	Units
IND at DET	07:00 PM	DET +10.0 U 235.0	+500 +500
MIA at CLE	07:00 PM	MIA +2.0 U 204.0	+500 +500
SAC at TOR	07:30 PM	TOR +11.0 O 233.5	+500 +500
MIL at BOS	07:30 PM	BOS -10.5 U 224.0	+500 +500
UTA at OKC	08:00 PM	OKC -15.5 O 232.5	+500 +500
LAC at POR	10:00 PM	POR +12.0 O 217.5	+500 +500
PHI at PHO	10:00 PM	PHI +9.0 U 222.5	+500 +500
MEM at GS	10:00 PM	MEM +11.0 U 219.0	+500 +500

 

[CNOTES]

Thursday’s 6-pack:
Some 2nd round NIT matchups:
— Minnesota @ Indiana State
— North Texas @ Seton Hall
— Georgia @ Wake Forest
— VCU @ South Florida
— Virginia Tech @ Ohio State
— Iowa @ Utah

Quote of the Day
“We haven’t had any discussion and I think at this point, for Pete, it’s best for him to go and have a great year and not be distracted.”
Mets owner Steve Cohen, talking about 1B Pete Alonso, who is a free agent next winter

Thursday’s quiz
Since the NCAA Tournament went to 64 teams in 1985, how many times has a #15-seed beaten a #2-seed in the first round?

Wednesday’s quiz
In the movie Bull Durham, Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) struck out in his first at-bat with the Bulls.

Tuesday’s quiz
Rangers’ manager Bruce Bochy has led three teams to a World Series; Texas, San Francisco and San Diego. He’s won four World Series, three of them with the Giants.

***********************************************

Thursday’s Den: Happy March Madness, everyone…….​

NCAA play-in games:
— Grambling 88, Montana State 81 OT
Montana State led 55-39 with 14:04 left to play.
Grambling had 13 offensive boards, out-rebounded the Bobcats 41-27.
Grambling advances to play Purdue Friday.

— Colorado 60, Boise State 53
Teams combined to shoot 6-33 on the arc.
Buffs have won nine of their last ten games.
Colorado advances to play Florida Friday.

NIT games:
— UNLV 84, Princeton 77
Rebels shot 67.6% inside the arc.
UNLV was 14-19 on foul line, Princeton 3-6.
Rebels have won 11 of their last 14 games.

— Wake Forest 87, Appalachian State 76
Deacons were 25-31 on foul line, App State 7-8.
App State shot 60% inside arc, 7-27 on the arc.

— Indiana State 101, SMU 92
SMU led 57-42 early in second half.
Sycamores scored 1.36 points/possession- they were 30-35 on foul line.

— Bradley 74, Loyola, Chi 62
Bradley jumped out to 22-6 lead, never trailed.
Braves shot 58.3% inside the arc.

— Fort Wayne 77, Bowling Green 75
Mastodons blew 49-35 second half lead, but they survive/advance.
Bowling Green shot 60.5% inside arc, 5-20 on the arc.

— Seton Hall 75, St Joe’s 72 OT
St Joe’s led by 3 with 0:41 left in regulation.
Seven players in this game played 40:00+.

— Tarleton State 86, Abilene Christian 59
These teams won their first round games Tuesday, played again Wednesday.
Tarleton State shot 61% inside the arc.
Cowboys have won 13 of their last 15 games.

— VCU 70, Villanova 61
Senior G Basimile came off bench, scored 17 points.
Villanova was 6-23 on arc; they lost four of last five games.

— Cincinnati 73, San Francisco 72 OT
Simas Lukosius made 8-10 shots on the arc.
Bearcats won four of their last five games.

— The last two SEC teams that made the Final Four were #5-seed Auburn in 2019, #7-seed South Carolina in 2017. Last three NCAA tournaments, nine SEC teams were seeded #1-4; none of them made the Final Four.

— Arizona has been a #1 or #2-seed 15 times; they made the Final Four in only three of those 15 tournaments.

— Famous birthdays for March 21:
Tom Flores, 87
Manny Sanguillen, 80
Mike Dunleavy, 70
Matthew Broderick, 62
Rosie O’Donnell, 62
Adrian Peterson, 39

— Dodgers 5, Padres 2
Season opener started at 6am here in the East Wednesday, 3am in LA/San Diego.
Dodgers scored four runs in 8th inning for the come-from-behind win.
Ohtani went 2-5 with an RBI in his Dodger debut.

— Speaking of Ohtani, his interpreter got fired by the Dodgers; there are questions about $4.5M in wire transfers sent from Ohtani’s bank account to a bookmaking operation in California, where sports gambling isn’t legal.

— When the Dodgers/Padres played exhibition games against KBO teams in Seoul earlier this week, different baseballs were used, depending on which team was hitting.
Major League baseballs are bigger than KBO baseballs

— Minnesota Twins have a giveaway on April 4, their home opener; first 10,000 fans there will get a wool ski cap with the Twins logo on it. If they put a damn dome on their new stadium a few years back, their fans wouldn’t need a freakin’ ski cap to go watch a baseball game.

— Buck Showalter is going to be on MLB Network, a wise move; he’s very good on TV. Always good to learn from smart people.

— Term of the Day: March Madness- Last week and this week are two of my favorite weeks of the year. Lot of stuff going on. Enjoy the games this weekend.

— New Jersey Jets signed WR Mike Williams, giving Aaron Rodgers a good receiver to throw to. Williams played seven years for the Chargers, catching 309 passes for 15.6 yards/catch, with 31 touchdowns.

— Rams moved from St Louis to Los Angeles in eight years ago; there are still five active players who played for the St Louis Rams:
QB Case Keenum, Hst
T Rob Havenstein, Rams
S Rodney McLeod, Blev
K Greg Zuerlein, NJJ
P Johnny Hecker, Colo

— Bucky Badger is the U of Wisconsin mascot, a pretty popular mascot.
Back in the late 80’s, some enterprising Wisconsin students marketed a line of condoms, with Bucky’s picture on them. Their pitch was: “Get lucky with Bucky!!!”

 

[Udog]

NEW ORLEANS are 11-2 Under (8.8 Units) in road games in March games over the last 2 seasons.

SACRAMENTO is 46-29 Under (14.1 Units) in road games versus good shooting teams - making >=46% of their shots in the last 3 season...

HOUSTON is 9-0 ATS (9 Units) in home games revenging a same season loss vs opponent in the current season.

BROOKLYN is 12-27 ATS (-17.7 Units) after failing to cover 4 of their last 5 against the spread in the last 3 seasons.

DALLAS are 7-0 Under (7 Units) in home games after covering 4 of their last 5 against the spread in the current season.

DENVER is 14-4 Over (9.6 Units) in home games revenging a straight up loss vs opponent as a road favorite in the last 3 seasons.

ATLANTA is 13-35 ATS (-25.5 Units) in road games after a non-conference game in the last 3 seasons.

 

[Udog]

NBA
Dunkel

Thursday, March 21

 

[Udog]

NBA

Thursday, March 21

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Trend Report
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Sacramento @ Washington
Sacramento
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Sacramento's last 6 games
Sacramento is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games on the road
Washington
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Washington's last 5 games
The total has gone UNDER in 6 of Washington's last 8 games when playing at home against Sacramento

New Orleans @ Orlando
New Orleans
New Orleans is 7-1 SU in its last 8 games on the road
The total has gone UNDER in 7 of New Orleans's last 8 games on the road
Orlando
Orlando is 7-1 ATS in its last 8 games at home
Orlando is 7-1 SU in its last 8 games at home

Brooklyn @ Milwaukee
Brooklyn
The total has gone UNDER in 8 of Brooklyn's last 9 games when playing on the road against Milwaukee
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Brooklyn's last 6 games on the road
Milwaukee
Milwaukee is 8-1 SU in its last 9 games when playing at home against Brooklyn
The total has gone UNDER in 8 of Milwaukee's last 9 games when playing at home against Brooklyn

Chicago @ Houston
Chicago
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Chicago's last 5 games when playing Houston
Chicago is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games on the road
Houston
Houston is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Houston's last 5 games when playing Chicago

Utah @ Dallas
Utah
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Utah's last 5 games
Utah is 4-2 ATS in its last 6 games when playing Dallas
Dallas
Dallas is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games when playing at home against Utah
The total has gone UNDER in 7 of Dallas's last 8 games at home

New York @ Denver
New York
New York is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games on the road
The total has gone UNDER in 11 of New York's last 13 games
Denver
Denver is 14-1 SU in its last 15 games when playing at home against New York
Denver is 13-2 SU in its last 15 games at home

Atlanta @ Phoenix
Atlanta
Atlanta is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games when playing Phoenix
Atlanta is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games when playing Phoenix
Phoenix
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Phoenix's last 5 games at home
The total has gone UNDER in 12 of Phoenix's last 15 games


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[Udog]

NBA
Long Sheet

Thursday, March 21

 

[CNOTES]

THURSDAY, MARCH 21​

Game	Time(ET)	Pick	Units
SAC at WAS	07:00 PM	SAC -11.5 U 237.0	+500 +500
NO at ORL	07:00 PM	ORL +3.0 U 207.0	+500 +500
BK at MIL	08:00 PM	BK +9.5 U 220.0	+500 +500
CHI at HOU	08:00 PM	CHI +4.0 O 219.5	+500 +500
UTA at DAL	08:30 PM	UTA +14.0 U 237.5	+500 +500
NY at DEN	09:00 PM	DEN -9.5 U 207.5	+500 +500
ATL at PHO	10:30 PM	ATL +9.5 U 225.5	+500 +500

 

[CNOTES]

Friday’s 6-pack:
Most NCAA Tournament wins:
101— Mike Krzyzewski
79— Roy Williams
65— Dean Smith
62— Jim Boeheim
57— John Calipari, Bill Self
56— Tom Izzo

Quote of the Day
“Obviously, we come in, we’re the underdog by all measures, but as a player you can’t think that way. You got to go out there and think you have the same talent level as them. I know they have draft picks, and I know I’m not going to the NBA, but I know on any given night I can compete with those guys — and our team can. That’s why I say we’re not a Cinderella, because when we play our A-game, we can be the best team on the floor.”
Oakland’s Jack Gohlke

Friday’s quiz
How many major league baseball teams have never won a World Series?

Thursday’s quiz
Since the NCAA Tournament went to 64 teams in 1985, a #15-seed beaten a #2-seed 11 times in the first round.

Wednesday’s quiz
In the movie Bull Durham, Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) struck out in his first at-bat with the Bulls.

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2 Dens for Friday; Den #1, Wrapping up the first day of the NCAA’s​

— Oakland 80, Kentucky 76
Jack Gohlke was 10-20 on the arc, scored 32 points.
For season, Gohlke is 131-347 on 3’s (37.8%), 4-8 on 2’s.
This is only 2nd time in last seven years a #14-seed won an NCAA game.

— NC State 80, Texas Tech 67
Wolfpack is 6-0 in postseason, after going 2-7 in last nine regular season games.
Oakland-NC State is an #11-14 2nd round game; here are all the #11-14 games, ever:
1989- Minnesota (-3) 80, Siena 67
1991- UConn (-4.5) 66, Xavier 50
1998- Washington (-3) 81, Richmond 66
2014- Tennessee (-7.5) 83, Mercer 63
2016- UCLA (-8) 92, UAB 85
2021- UCLA (-5.5) 67, Abilene Christian 47

— Washington State 66, Drake 61
Drake was only 6-14 on foul line, Wazzu 17-22.
Drake led 59-58 with 2:00 left in game.
DeVries, Drake’s best player, was only 6-18 from floor.

— Gonzaga 86, McNeese State 65
Zags led 48-25 at halftime, had a stress-free win.
Gonzaga has won 10 of its last 11 games.
Last eight years, Zags are 8-0 SU/4-4 ATS in 2nd round games.

— Iowa State 82, South Dakota State 65
Cyclones shot 64.7% inside the arc.
Iowa State won 12 of its last 14 games.
Cyclones force turnovers 25.6% of time, #2 in country.

— Texas 56, Colorado State 44
Longhorns led this game 27-11 at halftime.
Teams combined to shoot 7-38 on the arc.
Longhorns are 7-7 in their last 14 games.

— Kansas 93, Samford 89
Down 20 in second half, Samford fought back, got within two points.
Kansas won despite being minus-11 (18-7) in turnovers.
Jayhawks’ C Dickinson had 19 points, 20 rebounds with a bum shoulder.

— Tennessee 83, Saint Peter’s 49
Vols shot 11-24 on arc in this stress-free win.
Tennessee out-rebounded Saint Peter’s 47-21.
Vols’ next game is against Texas, Rick Barnes’ old team.
Barnes coached the Longhorns from 1999-2015.

Famous birthdays for March 22:
William Shatner, 93
Don Chaney, 78
Matthew Modine, 65
Brian Shaw, 58
Reggie White, 54
Marcus Camby, 50
Reese Witherspoon, 48
JJ Watt, 35

— Dayton 63, Nevada 60
Nevada led 56-39 with 7:39 left to play.
Wolf Pack ended first half on a 16-0 run.
Dayton ended game on a 24-4 run.
Dayton was 13-15 on foul line, Nevada 3-6.

— Duquesne 71, BYU 67
Dukes win in NCAA’s for first time since 1969.
Duquesne is 16-3 in last 19 games, after starting season 9-8 (0-5 in A-15)
BYU was 8-24 on arc; this year, they got 41% of their points on 3’s.

— Oregon 87, South Carolina 73
Oregon shot 67.7% inside arc, was 24-30 on foul line.
Under Dana Altman, Ducks are 8-0 in the first round.
South Carolina split its last 10 games, after a 21-3 start.

— Arizona 85, Long Beach State 65
Arizona’s lead was only 41-35 at halftime.
Wildcats shot 13-35 on the arc, 17-37 inside arc.
Arizona’s next game is against Dayton Saturday.

— Creighton 77, Akron 60
Bluejays made 10-17 shots on the arc.
Akron led 34-31 late in first half.
Creighton wins/covers despite being minus-9 in turnovers (14-5)

— Illinois 85, Morehead State 69
Illinois held slim 39-38 lead at halftime.
Illinois shot 1.33 points/possession (12-26 on arc)
Illini moves on to play Duquesne Saturday.

— North Carolina 90, Wagner 62
Game was 13-13 early on, but then reality set in.
Tar Heels shot 57.1% inside the arc.
North Carolina moves on to play Michigan State Saturday.

— Michigan State 69, Mississippi State 51
Spartans jumped out to 20-8 lead, and never trailed.
Michigan State won six of last seven first round games.
Miss State lost six of its last eight games.

****************************************************

Friday’s 2nd Den: Some random knowledge…….​

— Padres 15, Dodgers 11
Teams split their two games in Korea.
Yamamoto’s LA debut: 1 IP, 43 pitches, 5 runs allowed.
Jake Cronenworth was 4-4 with 4 RBI for the Padres.

— Texas Rangers signed P Michael Lorenzen for one year, $4.5M with incentives that could take the contract up to $7M.

— Congrats to Mets P Jose Quintana, who became an American citizen this week.

— Happy 91st birthday to former big league OF George Altman, the only left-handed hitter ever to hit two home runs in a game against Sandy Koufax (two righty hitters did it).

— Oklahoma City Thunder fan banked in a half-court shot during a timeout the other night, and banked a $20,000 check for his efforts.

— Akron’s 6-7 Enrique Freeman was in college on an academic scholarship; he went to an open tryout to play for the Zips’ basketball team, and now he’s their best player.

— Illinois hasn’t been in a Sweet 16 since 2005; if they beat Duquesne Saturday, they’ll end that drought.

— When Duquesne beat BYU Thursday, the best player in Dukes’ history was there. Norm Nixon played 10 years in the NBA, scored over 12,000 points; he was on the last Duquesne team to play in the NCAA’s, back in 1977. He won two NBA championship rings playing for the Lakers.

— Detroit Pistons have used 30 players this year, tied for most players ever used in one season by an NBA team.

— SMU fired basketball coach Rob Lanier, after the Mustangs went 20-13 this year; they did lose six of their last seven games, but 20-13 is pretty good, especially after they went 10-22 last year.
Rich people run things in college sports, and rich people aren’t patient. SMU moves into the ACC next season; am curious to see who’ll they’ll hire as the Mustangs move way up in class.

— Lady on The Price Is Right Thursday was only $900 off on her showcase bid, which is great, but her bid went over, so she lost to a lady whose bid missed by $11,000.

Some 2nd round trends for the NCAA’s:
— Arizona is 5-1 ATS in its last six second round games.

— North Carolina is a #1-seed; last four times they were a #1-seed, they went 3-1 ATS in their second round game (they went 2-4 ATS in last six 2nd round games, when they weren’t a #1-seed).

— Michigan State is 2-3 SU in their last five second round games. Since 2012, Spartans are 2-2 ATS as an underdog in second round games.

— Since 2017, #11-seeds who posted upsets in the first round, are 9-2 ATS in their second round game. Duquesne/Oregon are #11-seeds who play again Saturday.

— Last six years, #1-seeds are 9-13 ATS in second round.

— Last six years, #2-seeds are 8-12 ATS in second round.

— Last six years, #3-seeds are 7-16 ATS in second round.