Wednesday’s 6-pack
Teams taking the shortest 2-point shots (most layups??):
— Saint Louis (18-1)
— Marquette (7-13)
— Texas A&M (14-4)
— St Thomas (15-5)
— South Florida (11-7)
— Youngstown State (9-13)
Quote of the Day
“Darius (Acuff) got pissed at me so he played better. I want him to be pissed at me if it makes him play like that!”
John Calipari, after his Arkansas team beat Vanderbilt, 93-68
Wednesday’s quiz
Where did Jimmy Butler play his college basketball?
Tuesday’s quiz
Matt Barkley has thrown for the most yards in the history of USC football.
Monday’s quiz
Jerod Mayo was head coach of the New England Patriots last year.
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Wednesday’s Den: Mid-week musings…….
— Over the last six years, the Buffalo Bills:
had the best record
went 8-6 in playoff games
scored the most points
allowed the fewest points
were +902 in point differential; during that time, no other team is over +600.
But they fired coach Sean McDermott Monday, while giving GM Brandon Beane a promotion to president of football operations. Pretty big slap in the face to McDermott, who didn’t get Buffalo to a Super Bowl, but he did just about everything else.
Very curious to see who they hire to be the next coach.
— When I was a kid, Rams had a coach named Chuck Knox who won five division titles in his first five years as coach- they went 54-15-1 in regular season, but only 3-5 in playoff games (too bad the Vikings didn’t have a dome back then) and the owner fired him, a situation that was kind of like Buffalo’s current thing.
Be careful what you ask for; change isn’t always a good thing.
— Tennessee Titans hired former Jets coach Robert Saleh as their new coach; Saleh was 20-36 in 3+ years coaching the Jets (2012-24). He was the 49ers’ defensive coordinator this year.
— Some successful coaches have gotten the boot this year:
Mike Tomlin (201-126-2, won a Super Bowl)
John Harbaugh (193-124, won a Super Bowl)
Pete Carroll (184-145-1, won a Super Bowl)
— Little weird that backup QB Jarrett Stidham will start for Denver in the AFC title game this week, against New England.
Stidham has started four NFL games (1-3), last of which was two years ago; he was a backup for the Patriots in 2019-20, throwing 48 passes in eight relief appearances. He is the first QB in the Super Bowl who will start a conference title game, without having thrown a pass that season.
Roger Staubach once started an NFC title game without having started a game that year, but he did play some in relief that season (1972) throwing 20 passes in four games.
— When Indiana Hoosiers won the national title Monday night, coach Curt Cignetti banked a $2M bonus. He’s having a very good year.
— Famous birthdays, January 21st:
Gary Garrison, 82
Mike Kurkow, 74
Geena Davis, 70
Robby Benson, 70
Hakeem Olajuwon, 63
Detlef Schrempf, 63
Dalton Hilliard, 62
Jake Diekman, 39
Brandon Crawford, 39
Jake Cronenworth, 32
— Mets acquired OF Luis Robert from the White Sox Tuesday, for two prospects; Robert hit 38 homers for Chicago in 2023, but his OPS last two years was .657/.661.
— RIP Wilbur Wood, the knuckleball pitcher for the White Sox who passed away Saturday at age 84. Wood pitched in the majors for 17 years, winning 164 games, mostly for the White Sox. From 1972-74, he went 64-56, starting 137 games over three years.
In 1973, Wood went 24-20, 3.46 in 48 starts; he started both games of a doubleheader in New York. Because he threw a knuckleball, he could pitch more often that normal pitchers.
RIP, sir.
— Congrats to Carlos Beltran, Andruw Jones on being voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame; one voter gave Rick Porcello a vote, not really sure why.
Porcello was 150-125 in a 12-year career; he had one great season, going 22-4 for the Red Sox in 2016, but kind of hard for a guy who was never an All-Star to get into the Hall of Fame, though he did win the Cy Young Award in 2016.
— Golden State Warriors star, 36-year old Jimmy Butler tore the ACL in his right knee and is out for the year. He is making $54.1M this year, will make $56.8M next year, the last year of his current contract. Golden State is 12-5 in last 17 games after Tuesday’s loss to Toronto,
— Apparently Bucs’ QB Baker Mayfield wasn’t happy with how he left the Browns; he took a swipe at Kevin Stefanski on social media Tuesday night. Stefanski is the new coach in Atlanta, a division rival of Tampa Bay, so they’ll play each other twice a year going forward.
Mayfield was 30-31 as QB in Cleveland; since they got rid of him, the Browns are 26-43.
— Movie of the Day: One on One (1977)- A small-town high school basketball star gets a scholarship to a big school, but struggles once he gets there, both on and off the court.
Robbie Benson is the star (today is his 70th birthday, which makes me feel old), Annette O’Toole is his tutor, GD Spradlin is his college coach, Melanie Griffith has a small role at the start of the movie. The movie hasn’t aged very well, but the game scenes were filmed in Colorado State’s gym, the one they still use.
I was in high school when this movie come out; I really liked it.
— UNLV 86, Utah State 76
Aggies led 58-44 with 12:44 left in the game.
UNLV is off to a 5-2 start in Mountain West games.
First time in ten years the Rebels won at Utah State
6-1 junior G Gibbs-Lawhorn is a really point guard.
— UCLA 69, Purdue 67
Loss snaps Purdue’s nine-game winning streak.
Bruins were only 2-3 on foul line, Purdue 6-7.
Both teams shot over 60% inside the arc.
Purdue’s subs played 56:00; UCLA’s bench played 20.
— Georgia 74, Missouri 72
Dawgs scored the winning hoop with 0:05.5 left.
74 points are the fewest Georgia has scored this season.
Mizzou is 5-6 in its last 11 games, after an 8-0 start.
— Miami OH 107, Kent State 101, OT
20-0 Miami is first team in country to get to 20 wins.
RedHawks have scored 87+ points in each of their last five games.
Their last two wins were both in overtime.
Miami shot 74.4% inside arc, only 22-34 on foul line.
— NC State 80, Clemson 76 OT
Loss ends Clemson’s nine-game winning streak.
Wolfpack led by 11 late in the first half.
NC State coach Will Wade is a Clemson alum, was a basketball manager.
— St John’s 65, Seton Hall 62
Seton Hall led by 15 early in the second half.
Pirates shot only 37.9% from the floor.
Fifth straight win for the Red Storm (14-5, 7-1 in Big East).
— Michigan State 68, Oregon 52
Oregon led by 3 with 14:00 left.
Spartans shot 72.4% inside the arc.
Fifth straight loss for the injury-riddled 8-11 Ducks.
