Monday’s 6-pack:
33.3— Luka Doncic, LAL
31.9— Shea Gilgeous-Alexander, OKC
30.7— Tyrese Maxey, Phil
29.8— Donovan Mitchell, Clev
29.6— Nikola Jokic, Den
29.5— Jaylen Brown, Bos
Quote of the Day
“When your quarterback’s that type of warrior, that type of competitor, it just goes through the whole team.”
Buffalo coach Sean McDermott, talking about QB Josh Allen
Monday’s quiz
Who was basketball coach at UConn, before Dan Hurley? He also won a national title, in 2014.
Sunday’s quiz
Tom Coughlin was the first coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Saturday’s quiz
Rex Grossman was quarterback for the Chicago Bears, last time they played in a Super Bowl.
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Buffalo drove 66 yards, scored game-winning TD with 1:04 left.
Jaguars had taken 24-20 lead on a TD with 4:03 left.
Bills get their first road playoff win since 1992.
Buffalo is 13-0 this year when they score 23+ points.
QB Allen threw for 273 yards and a TD.
Allen also ran ball 11 times for 33 yards, two TD’s.
Jaguars WR Washington caught 7 passes for 107 yards and a TD.
Buffalo will play the #1-seed Broncos in Denver next weekend.
— 49ers 23, Eagles 19
49ers drove 66 yards, scored game-winning TD with 2:54 left.
49ers grabbed 17-16 lead on a trick play; WR Jennings threw 29-yard TD pass.
Last 7 times they were in playoffs, 49ers won their first game.
49ers visit division rival Seattle next weekend.
WR Robinson caught six passes for 111 yards and a TD.
San Francisco was 6-11 on third down, Eagles 5-16.
Eagles were 4-7 this year when they scored less than 21 points.
Last nine years, underdog is 8-1 SU/9-0 ATS in #3-6 seed NFC game.
— Patriots 16, Chargers 3
New England gets its first playoff win since 2018.
QB Maye threw for 268 yards and a TD.
Patriots are 9-3 ATS as a favorite this year.
Opponents’ team total: under 14-2 last 16 games
New England outgained Chargers 381-207; Bolts were 1-10 on 3rd down.
Patriots ran ball 29 times for 146 yards (5.0 yards/carry)
Last six years, #2-seeds are 11-1 SU/9-3 ATS vs #2-seeds in this round.
New England hosts Texans-Steelers winner next weekend.
— Chicago Cubs signed 3B Alex Bregman for five years, $175M; he got a no-trade clause, and $70M of the money is deferred. Bregman hit 18 homers, had 62 RBI in 114 games for Boston; he had his best OPS since 2019, but Wrigley Field isn’t as good a hitters’ park as Fenway, so we’ll have to wait and see what 2026 brings.
— Detroit Tigers/P Tarik Skubal are going to arbitration; unless the two sides agree before the arbitrator decides, one side will win, one will lose.
Tigers are offering Skubal $19M; Skubal is asking for $32M, a huge difference. Arbitration hearings start January 26th. Skubal has won the Cy Young award the last two years, going 31-10 in 62 starts, with 469 strikeouts in 387.1 IP.
Skubal can be a free agent next winter; if he wins the arbitration and gets paid $32M this year, will Detroit trade him before he hits the open market?
Famous birthdays, January 12th:
Bob Dishy, 92
Drew Pearson, 75
Campy Russell, 74
Dominique Wilkins, 66
Oliver Platt, 66
Cade McNown, 49
— UCF 73, Cincinnati 72
Golden Knights shot 63.2% inside arc; they’re 13-2.
UCF is #27 experience team, #345 in continuity- they start three seniors.
Cincinnati lost six of last eight games; they’re 0-3 in the Big X.
— Florida Atlantic 89, Memphis 78
Owls shot 65.9% inside arc, improved to 11-6, 3-1 in AAC.
FAU out-rebounded Memphis, 46-29.
Memphis is #347 in continuity; they’re 1-7 vs top 100 teams.
— Illinois 75, Iowa 69
Illinois led by 18 midway thru first half.
Illinois shot 62.1% inside the arc.
Illinois is 13-3 vs schedule #18; all three losses are to top 20 teams.
— Green Bay 80, Northern Kentucky 78
Doug Gottlieb’s Green Bay team has won 6 of 7, is 5-2 in Horizon League.
Green Bay led by 19 with 13:43 left, hung on for dear life.
Green Bay shot 10-19 on the arc, scored 1.33 ppp.
— Washington 81, Ohio State 74
Buckeyes led by 7 early in the second half.
Washington shot 57.9% inside the arc.
Ohio State split its last 10 games, after a 6-0 start.
Why are Ohio State, Washington in the same freakin’ league??? It makes zero sense.
— Hawai’i 67, Cal-Irvine 66
Hawai’i hit a 10-foot jumper at the buzzer for a dramatic win late Saturday night.
Irvine is 5-1 in the Big West, Hawaii is 4-1.
Rainbows have the #2 eFG% defense in the country.
— USC 70, Minnesota 69 OT
Eric Musselman coaches USC; his father Bill Musselman was a really good coach at Minnesota a long time ago (1971-75), before his NBA days.
USC led 53-40 with 9:48 left in regulation; the game went to overtime.
Gophers only played seven guys; two of them played the whole 45:00
Chad Baker-Mazara scored 29 points, had 8 assists for USC.
— Nebraska is 16-0, its best start ever, under coach Fred Hoiberg; their point guard is Sam Hoiberg, the coach’s son, who is spending some of his free time preparing for his next job- he’s doing color commentary on some Nebraska’s women’s basketball games.
— Former NFL QB Matt Ryan is the Atlanta Falcons’ new president of football; he will lead the searches for both the open head coach and GM jobs and will have oversight of who gets hired.
Ryan had been working as an NFL analyst for CBS; he played 15 years in the NFL, going 128-115-1 as a starter.
33.3— Luka Doncic, LAL
31.9— Shea Gilgeous-Alexander, OKC
30.7— Tyrese Maxey, Phil
29.8— Donovan Mitchell, Clev
29.6— Nikola Jokic, Den
29.5— Jaylen Brown, Bos
Quote of the Day
“When your quarterback’s that type of warrior, that type of competitor, it just goes through the whole team.”
Buffalo coach Sean McDermott, talking about QB Josh Allen
Monday’s quiz
Who was basketball coach at UConn, before Dan Hurley? He also won a national title, in 2014.
Sunday’s quiz
Tom Coughlin was the first coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Saturday’s quiz
Rex Grossman was quarterback for the Chicago Bears, last time they played in a Super Bowl.
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Monday’s Den: Wrapping up a sports Sunday…….
— Bills 27, Jaguars 24Buffalo drove 66 yards, scored game-winning TD with 1:04 left.
Jaguars had taken 24-20 lead on a TD with 4:03 left.
Bills get their first road playoff win since 1992.
Buffalo is 13-0 this year when they score 23+ points.
QB Allen threw for 273 yards and a TD.
Allen also ran ball 11 times for 33 yards, two TD’s.
Jaguars WR Washington caught 7 passes for 107 yards and a TD.
Buffalo will play the #1-seed Broncos in Denver next weekend.
— 49ers 23, Eagles 19
49ers drove 66 yards, scored game-winning TD with 2:54 left.
49ers grabbed 17-16 lead on a trick play; WR Jennings threw 29-yard TD pass.
Last 7 times they were in playoffs, 49ers won their first game.
49ers visit division rival Seattle next weekend.
WR Robinson caught six passes for 111 yards and a TD.
San Francisco was 6-11 on third down, Eagles 5-16.
Eagles were 4-7 this year when they scored less than 21 points.
Last nine years, underdog is 8-1 SU/9-0 ATS in #3-6 seed NFC game.
— Patriots 16, Chargers 3
New England gets its first playoff win since 2018.
QB Maye threw for 268 yards and a TD.
Patriots are 9-3 ATS as a favorite this year.
Opponents’ team total: under 14-2 last 16 games
New England outgained Chargers 381-207; Bolts were 1-10 on 3rd down.
Patriots ran ball 29 times for 146 yards (5.0 yards/carry)
Last six years, #2-seeds are 11-1 SU/9-3 ATS vs #2-seeds in this round.
New England hosts Texans-Steelers winner next weekend.
— Chicago Cubs signed 3B Alex Bregman for five years, $175M; he got a no-trade clause, and $70M of the money is deferred. Bregman hit 18 homers, had 62 RBI in 114 games for Boston; he had his best OPS since 2019, but Wrigley Field isn’t as good a hitters’ park as Fenway, so we’ll have to wait and see what 2026 brings.
— Detroit Tigers/P Tarik Skubal are going to arbitration; unless the two sides agree before the arbitrator decides, one side will win, one will lose.
Tigers are offering Skubal $19M; Skubal is asking for $32M, a huge difference. Arbitration hearings start January 26th. Skubal has won the Cy Young award the last two years, going 31-10 in 62 starts, with 469 strikeouts in 387.1 IP.
Skubal can be a free agent next winter; if he wins the arbitration and gets paid $32M this year, will Detroit trade him before he hits the open market?
Famous birthdays, January 12th:
Bob Dishy, 92
Drew Pearson, 75
Campy Russell, 74
Dominique Wilkins, 66
Oliver Platt, 66
Cade McNown, 49
— UCF 73, Cincinnati 72
Golden Knights shot 63.2% inside arc; they’re 13-2.
UCF is #27 experience team, #345 in continuity- they start three seniors.
Cincinnati lost six of last eight games; they’re 0-3 in the Big X.
— Florida Atlantic 89, Memphis 78
Owls shot 65.9% inside arc, improved to 11-6, 3-1 in AAC.
FAU out-rebounded Memphis, 46-29.
Memphis is #347 in continuity; they’re 1-7 vs top 100 teams.
— Illinois 75, Iowa 69
Illinois led by 18 midway thru first half.
Illinois shot 62.1% inside the arc.
Illinois is 13-3 vs schedule #18; all three losses are to top 20 teams.
— Green Bay 80, Northern Kentucky 78
Doug Gottlieb’s Green Bay team has won 6 of 7, is 5-2 in Horizon League.
Green Bay led by 19 with 13:43 left, hung on for dear life.
Green Bay shot 10-19 on the arc, scored 1.33 ppp.
— Washington 81, Ohio State 74
Buckeyes led by 7 early in the second half.
Washington shot 57.9% inside the arc.
Ohio State split its last 10 games, after a 6-0 start.
Why are Ohio State, Washington in the same freakin’ league??? It makes zero sense.
— Hawai’i 67, Cal-Irvine 66
Hawai’i hit a 10-foot jumper at the buzzer for a dramatic win late Saturday night.
Irvine is 5-1 in the Big West, Hawaii is 4-1.
Rainbows have the #2 eFG% defense in the country.
— USC 70, Minnesota 69 OT
Eric Musselman coaches USC; his father Bill Musselman was a really good coach at Minnesota a long time ago (1971-75), before his NBA days.
USC led 53-40 with 9:48 left in regulation; the game went to overtime.
Gophers only played seven guys; two of them played the whole 45:00
Chad Baker-Mazara scored 29 points, had 8 assists for USC.
— Nebraska is 16-0, its best start ever, under coach Fred Hoiberg; their point guard is Sam Hoiberg, the coach’s son, who is spending some of his free time preparing for his next job- he’s doing color commentary on some Nebraska’s women’s basketball games.
— Former NFL QB Matt Ryan is the Atlanta Falcons’ new president of football; he will lead the searches for both the open head coach and GM jobs and will have oversight of who gets hired.
Ryan had been working as an NFL analyst for CBS; he played 15 years in the NFL, going 128-115-1 as a starter.
