Armadillo: Monday's six-pack
— Spurs 119, Lakers 98— San Antonio is a very quiet 45-13.
— Clippers 124, Hornets 121 OT— Blake Griffin had 43 for the Clippers.
— Thunder 118, Pelicans 110— DeMarcus Cousins got his 18th technical, has to sit out the next game.
— Northern Kentucky 82, Valparaiso 78— Valpo’s best player is on crutches.
— Monmouth 79, Iona 73- Hawks’ last loss was January 2 to St Peter’s.
— Washington State 79, Washington 71— Markelle Fultz missed his third game with a bad knee.
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Armadillo: Monday's List of 13: Wrapping up a sports Sunday
13) Pretty soon the college basketball coaching carousel will start spinning, which begs the question: is it better to be a big fish in a small pond, or a smaller fish in a big pond?
Shaka Smart bolted VCU for Texas and more $$$, but now he is 30-32 in two years, 15-19 in conference games and Longhorn fans are wondering why Rick Barnes got fired.
Guys like Gregg Marshall (Wichita St), Eric Musselman (Nevada) and Archie Miller (Dayton) are winning big in smaller leagues and will surely get offers from schools like NC State, Missouri, Illinois or whatever other jobs open up, but they all make a lot of money now.
Is it worth it to coach in deeper waters for more money, when it is harder to win there?
12) Watching Gonzaga lose at home to BYU late Saturday night, it occurs to you that they haven’t been tested enough by the lame WCC, which was way down this year, other than St Mary’s—even BYU is very young and isn’t as good as usual.
Gonzaga’s guards looked lost in the last few minutes, when the game was tight and a loss seemed possible. Zags hadn’t played a single-digit game since Dec 3, when they won by 7 over Arizona in Los Angeles. 84 days between close games isn’t that healthy for a team.
11) San Antonio Spurs have had 20 consecutive seasons with a winning road record; that is really a great accomplishment.
10) Arizona State 83, USC 82— ASU played starters 199 out of 200 minutes in their loss to UCLA Thursday; I’ve never seen that before. In this game, they played two subs, one 11:00, another 12:00, but they pulled out a win and improved to 7-10 in the Pac-12.
9) Big West Conference is way down this year, but three of their four games Saturday went to overtime, and the fourth game ended 83-80, so solid night of entertainment in that league.
8) Champ Week starts tonight, with four first-round games in the Atlantic Sun tourney at campus sites. Florida Gulf Coast is the #1 seed, Lipscomb the #2 seed.
Ohio Valley tournament will be next, starting on Wednesday.
7) A U of Louisville sophomore thought he won $38,000 at a women’s basketball game Thursday by hitting a layup, foul shot, 3-pointer and half-court shot during a time-out, but he has been told he is ineligible to receive the prize because he played high school ball and the fine print of the contest says no one can collect if they played organized basketball within the last six years. Too bad- the sponsor would win back the $38K in goodwill if they gave the kid the $$$.
6) San Diego State had a great running back this season, Donnel Pumphrey; the school honored the young man during a timeout in the Aztecs’ basketball game Wednesday, but there was one small problem.
Mr Pumphrey showed up wearing a Dodgers’ hat.
People in San Diego don’t like Los Angeles, and since the Chargers just bolted to LA, that feeling has ramped up a little bit, so Mr Pumphrey took some grief on social media for the hat. Took until the second half for someone at the arena to get him a red Aztecs’ cap.
5) I’m a big fan of college basketball adopting the 8-second half-court rule; would encourage teams to press more and also to run the ball up the floor, instead of walking it up.
4) Do you think Jack Nicklaus sits at home and quietly celebrates because Eldrick Woods’ career is in the dumper, which preserves Nicklaus’ record for most majors won?
3) Toughing moment at Michigan State Sunday; senior Eron Harris blew his knee out earlier this year- his career is over, but he suited up for his last home game Sunday and with 0:11 left and the Spartans safely ahead, Harris checked into the game to get one last ovation.
He knelt down, which wasn’t easy with the big knee brace he had on, and kissed the Spartan logo at midcourt. I’m not sure the average fan realizes how much effort these kids put into their playing careers and how much it means to them. It was a pretty cool moment.
2) I was trying to explain to a young person the other day what basketball was like before the shot clock; in short, it wasn’t as fun. Coaches could dominate the game; the game could have almost no flow at all. The shot clock and 3-point shot have made basketball a way better game.
Example: February 22, 1980— While the US Olympic hockey team was beating the Russians in the Miracle on Ice in Lake Placid, my college team was playing in the semifinals of their conference tournament, in Buffalo. People in the corner of the small gym were watching the hockey game on Canadian TV in the corner of the gym.
We lost the game that night in four overtimes; the team that won the tip of all four 5:00 OT’s held the ball for the last shot. I’m not kidding, it was that boring— tense is a better word.
In 1979, a North Carolina-Duke basketball game was 7-0 at halftime. Seriously.
1— Watching college hoop games this weekend, one thing is clear; people are tired. Season is a long one; players, coaches, and maybe most of all the officials are tired. Getting to Champ Week gives everyone a little jolt of energy.
