Baseball: Spring training has begun!
Basketball-NBA: Kings vs Clippers game 2nd highest ever. James out for 2 weeks. KD now Suns. Westbrooks now Clippers. Hawks fire HC.
Basketball-NCAA: Big 12 had a lot of ranked showdowns. Michigan St wins first game back from shooting. Lots of 2x losses for the Top 25.
Football – NCAA: Possible rule changes?
Golf: Kirk wins Honda Classic. LIV event not great on CW.
Olympic Sports: Richards PV gold medalist died. Serbia in Bball WC.
Soccer: SheBelieves Cup – Morgan sets mom record.
Baseball:
- It is spring training this week so that’s why you are seeing more baseball stories in the news.
Basketball – NBA:
- The Kings vs Clippers on Friday went into 2OT and became the 2nd highest scoring of all time. The Sacramento team won 176 vs 175. The Clippers may have lead in -point percentage and Field Goal percentage but they also led in total turnovers.
- LeBron James is out for 2 weeks due to his injured right foot. He suffered the injury against the Mavericks on Sunday night. The Lakers did get the W though but how many more will they get with him out. The Lakers are sitting 2 teams out of the Western conference playoffs but are sitting just 1 win behind the Pelicans (currently 10th).
- It’s likely that KD will make his Suns debut on Wednesday. He’s been out with an MCL sprain since Jan 8th and was traded to the PHX team on Feb 9th. On a similar note, Westbrook is now in LA playing for the Clippers.
- The Hawks have fired their HC Nate McMillan who went 99-80 at ATL. He only took over the head job in the 2nd half of the 2020/2021 season.
- Also Brittany Griner is back at practice last week.
Basketball-NCAA:
- NCAAM Losses in Top 25 this week: The Big 12 had a crazy start to the week. We started out Monday with #3 Kansas taking down #24 TCU 63-58. #23 Iowa St lost to #8 Texas after outscoring the Cyclones 47-29 first half then both scored 25 in 2H. #14 Kansas St upset #9 Baylor by 10. #10 Marquette played #13 Creighton in a big game on Tuesday and it was a close one. Ultimately Marquette pulled it out. #25 Texas A&M was newly ranked and then upset #11 Tennessee! Unranked Villanova beat #16 Xavier by 1. #17 Indiana fell to Michigan St by 15. All of those were just the first 2 days of the week. #6 UVA got destroyed by Boston College only scoring 48 points in the whole game and then lost to UNC on Saturday for a bad week. #18 UConn put up 50 in 2H to beat #20 Providence. #21 Northwestern broke into the rankings after all their crazy upsets and then got upset by Illinois and then Maryland in the same week. 4-12 Oklahoma beat #23 Iowa St for the 2nd loss for the Cyclones this week as well. After Indiana lost to Michigan St, the Hoosiers turn around to beat #5 Purdue on Saturday. This was the first Michigan St game back from the shootings so a nice feel good story for you! Arizona St upset their in-state rivals #7 Arizona by 1 by an incredible buzzer beater. #9 Baylor and #8 Texas had a top 10 showdown and this time the Bears got the win. #12 Gonzaga beat their ranked WCC rivals #15 Saint Mary’s 77-68. #13 Miami fell to Florida St by 1 and on a buzzer beater. #19 Creighton lost for the 2nd time this week to Villanova on Saturday. Man Villanova had a good week beating 2 ranked teams back to back. #25 Texas A&M lost to their maroon rivals Mississippi St.
Football – college:
- NCAA is considering rule changes to make games shorter. That would mainly be that the clock would keep running when moving the chains except the last 2 minutes of the halves. Games average 3h21m the last 3 seasons. They would not be able to call consecutive team timeouts. That would eliminate the ‘ice the kicker’ timeouts 2-3xs.
Golf:
- Chris Kirk won the Honda Classic after the first playoff hole against Eric Cole. Kirk hadn’t won a PGA Tour event in 8 years. He will be the final Honda Classic winner as after 42 years, the car company is ending their sponsorship of the tournament. Cole shot 67 during the final round to take the two players to a playoff. Both players shot -14. Cole has yet to win a PGA Tour title since he went pro in 2009.
- LIV’s first event in Mexico was inarguably not a TV success. Only an average of 289k people watched Saturday and Sundays coverage. Although CW’s parent company CEO said it exceeded expectations with 1.4MM people watched at least a few minutes. To put it in perspective, PGA Tour’s Honda Classic brought in an average of 593k viewers on Golf Channel and 2MM on NBC. To be fair, the playoff win at Honda was more exciting than Charles Howell III winning by 4 and his team (Crushers) winning the team competition by 9 strokes.
Olympic Sports:
- American Pole Vaulter 2x Gold Medalist, Bob Richards, died at age 97 on Sunday. He was an ordained minster and competed in the 1948 Olympics (Bronze), before taking back-to-back gold in 1952 and 1956. He also competed in the Decathlon in 1956. He is in the US Olympic HoF in 1983 and was a 6x NCAA Champion for Illinois.
- Serbia is the final team into the Basketball World Cup. Of the 32 teams, 10 of the top 11 in the world are in. ARG was the one who didn’t make it. Team USA will likely use G League players. We have to wait til August to find out what happens.
Soccer:
- Alex Morgan made history or should that be herstory as the most goals scored by a mom in international competition at 14. The USA won the SheBelieves Cup for the 4th time in a row.
What to watch this week
Baseball – MLB:
- Wed 3/1
- Nationals at Yankees @ 12pm on ESPN
- Thurs 3/2
- Phillies at Red Sox @ 11am on ESPN
Baseball/Softball – NCAA:
- Sun 3/5
- Baseball: 22. Miami vs 6. Florida @ 11am on SEC
- Baseball: Georgia Tech vs Georgia @ 2pm on SEC
Basketball – NBA:
- Tues 2/28
- Lakers at Grizzlies @ 6:30pm on TNT
- Timberwolves at Clippers @ 9pm on TNT
- Wed 3/1
- Cavaliers at Celtics @ 6:30pm on ESPN
- Pelicans at Trail Blazers @ 9pm on ESPN
- Thurs 3/2
- 76ers at Mavericks @ 6:30pm on TNT
- Clippers at Warriors @ 9pm on TNT
- Fri 3/3
- Nets at Celtics @ 6:30pm on ESPN
- Grizzlies at Nuggets @ 9pm on ESPN
- Sat 3/4
- 76ers at Bucks @ 7:30pm on ABC
- Sun 3/5
- Suns at Mavericks @ 12p on ABC
- Warriors at Lakers @ 2:30pm on ABC
- Knicks at Celtics @ 6:30pm on ESPN
- Grizzlies at Clippers @ 9pm on ESPN
Basketball – NCAA:
Some of the smaller conferences start championship week this week.
- Tues 2/28
- 6. Marquette at Butler @ 6pm on FS1
- Clemson at 13. UVA @ 6pm on ACC
- Iowa at 15. Indiana @ 6pm on ESPN2
- Texas Tech at 3. Kansas @ 8pm on ESPN
- Arkansas at 12. Tennessee @ 8pm on ESPN2
- 18. San Diego St at Boise St @ 8pm on CBSSN
- 24. Texas A&M at Ole Miss @ 8pm on ESPNU
- Wed 3/1
- 19. Xavier at 20. Providence @ 5:30pm on FS1
- Auburn at 2. Alabama @ 6pm on ESPN2
- DePaul at 14. UConn @ 6pm on CBSSN
- 21. Maryland at Ohio St @ 6pm on BTN
- Vanderbilt at 23. Kentucky @ 6pm on SEC
- 25. Pitt at Notre Dame @ 6pm on ESPNU
- 9. Texas at 22. TCU @ 8pm on ESPN2
- Thurs 3/2
- Arizona St at 4. UCLA @ 8pm on ESPN
- 5. Purdue at Wisconsin @ 8pm on FS1
- 8. Arizona at USC @ 10pm on ESPN
- Sat 3/4
- 2. Alabama at 24. Texas A&M @ 11am on CBSN
- Iowa St at 7. Baylor @ 11am on ESPN2
- Seton Hall at 20. Providence @ 11am on FOX
- St. John’s at 6. Marquette @ 1pm on FOX
- 12. Tennessee at Auburn @ 1pm on ESPN
- Louisville at 13. UVA @ 1pm on ESPN2
- 23. Kentucky at Arkansas @ 1pm on CBS
- 3. Kansas at 9. Texas @ 3pm on ESPN
- 25. Pitt at 16. Miami @ 5pm on ACC
- Butler at 19. Xavier @ 6pm on FS1
- 14. UConn at Villanova @ 6:30pm on FOX
- 8. Arizona at 4. UCLA @ 9pm on ESPN
- Wyoming at 18. San Diego St @ 9pm on CBSSN
- Sun 3/5
- 1. Houston at Memphis @ 11am on CBS
- 21. Maryland at Penn St @ 11am on BTN
- Illinois at 5. Purdue @ 11:30am on FOX
- Michigan at 15. Indiana @ 3:30pm on CBS
Football – XFL:
- Sat 3/4
- Seattle Sea Dragons at Vegas Vipers @ 6pm on FX
- Sun 3/5
- Battlehawks at DC Defenders @ 12pm on FX
- Guardians at Renegades@ 3pm on FX
- Brahamas at Houston Roughnecks @ 7pm on ESPN2
Golf:
- Thurs 3/2
- PR Open – Round 1 @ 10am on Golf Channel
- Arnold Palmer Invitational – Round 1 @ 2pm on Golf Channel
- Fri 3/3
- PR Open – Round 2 @ 10am on Golf Channel
- Arnold Palmer Invitational – Round 2 @ 2pm on Golf Channel
- Sat 3/4
- Arnold Palmer Invitational – Round 3
- @ 12:30pm on Golf Channel
- @ 1:30pm on NBC
- PR Open – Round 3 @ 2:30pm on Golf Channel
- Arnold Palmer Invitational – Round 3
- Sun 3/5
- Arnold Palmer Invitational – Final Round
- @ 12:30pm on Golf Channel
- @ 1:30pm on NBC
- PR Open – Final Round @ 2:30pm on Golf Channel
- Arnold Palmer Invitational – Final Round
Hockey:
- Wed 3/1
- Rangers at Flyers @ 6:30pm on TNT
- Hurricanes at Golden Knights @ 9pm on TNT
- Sat 3/4
- Rangers at Bruins @ 12pm on ABC
- Avalanche at Stars @ 2:30pm on ABC
- Sun 3/5
- Lightning at Hurricanes @ 2pm on TNT
Motorsports:
- Sun 3/5
- F1: Bahrain GP @ 9am on ESPN
Olympic Sports:
- Fri 3/3
- Gymnastics W: Florida at Oklahoma @ 8pn on ESPN
- Sat 3/4
- Alpine Skiing: M Downhill & Slalom @ 9am on CNBC
- Sun 3/5
- Alpine Skiing: M Super G @ 11am on CNBC
Soccer:
- Sat 3/4
- Premier League: Manchester City vs Newcastle @ 6:30am on USA
- Premier League: Wolves vs Tottenham @ 9am on USA
- Premier League: Teams TBA @ 11:30am on NBC
- Sun 3/5
- Premier League: Nottingham vs Everton @ 8am on USA
- Premier League: Liverpool vs ManU @ 10:30am on USA
