Weekly Update December 2, 2024

Coming up this month: December

Basketball – NBA: NBA Group play updates. Other headlines.

Basketball – NCAAM: So many upsets in so many tournaments all over the world. UCLA overtakes South Carolina as the top NCAAW team.

Football – NCAAF: 6 losses in the Top 25. Georgia goes to 8OT! Some statement wins. Coaching carosal begins. Championship Week!

Football – NFL: Harbaugh Bowl on MNF. 3 games on Thanksgiving. Lots of close games this week. 3 teams already eliminated.

Olympic Sports: Shiffrin down in run 2 in chase for 100. Stolz wins 4 and is undefeated in the 500m. USA Luge crushed it in Beijing.

Quick Headlines: Soccer stampede kills 56. NCAA VB this week! RUS Friendship games cancelled.

Coming up this month:

December: World Weightlifting championships Dec 4-14, Figure Skating GP Final Dec 5-8, FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) Dec 10-15, NCAAF Bowl Season Dec 14-Jan 21, NCAA Volleyball tournament Dec 19-22, CFP Dec 21-Jan 21

Basketball-NBA:

• This week:
  • On Monday, Hornets star LaMelo Ball scored 44 points in their loss to the Magic. Those points along with his previous 3 games give him the most points scored in a 3-game span in franchise history. They still lost 95-84.
  • The Rockets went to their 2^nd OT in 2 days on Wed. The 76ers are only 3-14 but they had Houston on the ropes. Harden put up 23 points in the 1Q to help the Clippers beat the Wizards 121-96. He would score 43 points on Wed. Trae Young got a career-high 22 assist in the Hawks win over the Cavaliers. That handed the CLE team only their 2^nd loss of the season.
  • Giannis got a 42-point Triple Double in the Bucks win over the Wizards. The Washington team is not doing well this season only sitting at 2-18.
  • On Sunday, the Cavs beat the Celtics in what was one of the best matchups of the season so far. It was a close one too. The Cavs took the win in the 4Q scoring 43 (to Boston’s 27) to win 115-111.
  • The Magic have won 12 of their last 13 games!

• NBA Group Play:
  • The Rockets beat the Timberwolves in OT after a slow 2H led to tying it up. Wemby put up 24 points in the 1H alone for the Spurs to beat the Jazz 128-115.
  • On Friday, the Clippers tripped at the finish line to get upset by the Timberwolves who snap their 4 game losing streak. The Lakers loss to the Thunder means we will have a new NBA Cup champion as LA will not be moving on to tournament play.
  • The Rockets, Warriors and Hawks have all been guaranteed a spot in the quarterfinals.

Basketball – NCAA:

• Maui Inviational:
  • We started off the week with two big ones at the Maui Invitational! #2 UConn took their first loss of the season to Memphis. The two teams had identical scores at the end of the both halves and we went into OT. Memphis would beat the Huskies by 2. The Huskies then lost again the next day to unranked Colorado and again the next day to Dayton. That one wasn’t even that close, Huskies lose 85-67.

• • #4 Auburn and #5 Iowa State. Iowa State got rolling early leading by 16 at half. But Auburn had a 50-pointer 2H to hand the Cyclones their first loss of the season. The next day Auburn would also take down #12 UNC beating the TarHeels in both Hs. UNC would lose in the 3^rd place game to unrnaked Michigan State in OT. Auburn would beat Memphis on Wed for the Maui Invitational title. The Tigers were the first team to have two Top 5 AP wins in the first 5 games since 2001.

• The Players Era Festival Power Tournament also had some big losses. #20 Texas A&M lost after Oregon had a killer 2H, the Aggies would lose this game was 10 (sound familiar – just wait). San Deigo State beat #21 Creighton who has struggled lately. It wasn’t all that close, beating the Bluejays by 18. The #9 Alabama/#6 Houston matchup was awesome! It went back and forth with the leading scorer Cryer coming in at 30 points by himself. We were separated by 2 points at half (advantage UH) but Bama flipped the script on the Cougs and we went to OT. Houston would only get 2 points in OT to lose. Houston would turn around and lose another game on Saturday to give the 3^rd place game to San Deigo State again in OT! #20 Texas A&M would bounce back to beat #21 Creighton with a half hundred 2H performance. #9 Alabama would lose the Players Era title to Oregon in the final 4.4 seconds of the game.

• The Terry’s Chocolate Vegas Showdown also had some basketball blue bloods with #1 Kansas vs #11 Duke. The game was close but the undefeated Jayhawks pulled out the win after a crazy final bucket for Duke bounces out.

• Bad Boy Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis: #3 Gonzaga got taken to OT by West Virginia who had a big 2H to comeback to tie it up. They would continue that momentum in OT to beat the Bulldogs. #14 Indiana would take their first loss of the season in this tournament, falling spectacularly to Louisville who beat the Hoosiers by 28 points. The next day they would lose agin but to #3 Gonzaga so not quite an upset but still a loss. #24 Arizona just is getting a beating lately. They lost to Oklahoma on Thanksgiving for their 3^rd loss of the year. They would take their 4^th loss to West Virginia in the 3^rd place game in OT. Id be surprised if the Wildcats are ranked after this week.
• One offs: in the Fort Meyers Tip Off, #22 Xavier fell to Michigan by 25 points on Wednesday. #13 Purdue beat #23 Ole Miss in the Rady Children’s invitational. #25 Mississippi State lost to Butler by 10.
• Not an upset just a crazy score. #19 Arkansas beat Maryland Eastern Shore 109-35 on Monday. Yikes! They would then lose to unranked Illinois on Thanksgiving.
• NCAAW: South Carolina fell to #4 in this week’s AP poll. UCLA is the new #1 with UConn and Notre Dame also getting votes and ranked above the Gamecocks.

Football-NCAAF:

• Week 13 Top 25 Upsets.
  • I don’t think anyone saw this one coming. Michigan upset #2 Ohio State, who were favored by 20.5 points. Both teams had 2 turnovers but the Buckeyes had 2 missed FGs (38 and 34). The only points scored in the 2H was 3 by Michigan. Largest upset at home since 1998. Ryan Day is now 1-4 against Michigan and 47-1 against all others. Michigan tried to plant the flag and Ohio state wasn’t having it. There was fighting, and pepper spray.

• • #6 Miami was winning 21-0 against Syracuse but the Cuse went on a tear. We were tied at 3 diff times in the 2H. The orange would score with 9 to go and Miami would elect to kick a FG with 3:42 on the clock and the Canes would not get the ball back. Syrcause beats Miami 42-38. Miami is out of the ACC championship game.
  • Speaking of who IS going to the ACC Champ game, #12 Clemson and #15 SC were evenly matched. With nearly identical stats, the game was back and forth until SC QB Sellers had a killer 20 yard TD on 3&16 to go up by 3. Clemson was then driving and in FG range to tie it up but they threw an INT and gamecocks win by 3.
  • Upsets started on Thanksgiving and there was only 1 ranked team in play. #17 Tulane was trailing Memphis at half and they had a 27-10 lead at one point. Tulane had 3 turnovers in the 2H that would ult to a loss by 10 and end Tulane’s slim hopes for the CFP.

• • In the Gameday game of the week, a rivalry was renewed. #3 Texas and #20 Texas A&M hadn’t played since 2011 and this one was for a spot in the SEC champ game. Aggies offense struggled to get anything going and their only points would be a pick 6. But the Longhorns put up the first 17 points to win by 10.
  • In Farmgedon, newly re-ranked #24 K State traveled to #18 Iowa State, who had a strong showing in the 2Q to go up 24-14 at half. K ST would try to get something going but turnovers were costly and Iowa State gets their first 10 win season in school history.

• Some scaries that shouldn’t have been:
  • #7 UGA trailed Georgia Tech until the 4Q. It was all GT early who was up 17-0 at half. But the Bulldogs scored 21 points in the 4Q to tie it up and take this game to OT. We would have 8 OTs before we would get a result as the teams went back and forth evenly on success and failure. UGA would get the win barely!

• • #5 Notre Dame scored 21 points in the 3Q to pull away from USC. But USC scored at the beginning of the 4Q to draw back in a 1 score game. That ended very quickly as in the final 5 min of the game, ND got 2 interception returns (1 of 99 yards and they other of 100). ND wins 49-35.
  • #8 Tennessee trailed Vanderbilt 17-0 at one point but then turned on the jets in the 2Q, winning 36-23.
  • #21 Mizzou played their game in the snow and they needed a comeback in the 4Q. The Tigers scored 18 points to win 28-21.

• Some statements:
  • #1 Oregon finally managed to beat Washington after they were 0-3 in the last 3 meetings. It was easy at 49-21.
  • #4 Penn State showed they are ready for the Big Ten Championship game, putting on a show against Maryland to win 44-7.
  • #10 Indiana covered the O/U by themselves as they shutout Purdue 66-0.
  • #16 Arizona State was up 35-0 at half time and kept rolling to beat Arizona 49-7.
  • #25 Colorado shutout Oklahoma State who went winless in the Big 12. CU wins 52-0.

• Coaching changes:
  • UNC fired their HC Mack Brown – he will most likely retire after this. His final game was the rivalry game against NC State which the Tarheels lost. In the last 3 years he lost 6xs after being 17 point favorite.
  • West Virginia also fired their HC Neal Brown.
  • Purdue fired their HC as well. Ryan Walters
  • UCF HC Gus Malzan resigned from being their HC and will be the OC at Florida State. They need it after being now 1-11.
  • Stanford has hired alum Andrew Luck to be their new GM.

• Conference Championship games:
  • ACC: SMU vs Clemson
  • Big Ten: Penn St vs Oregon
  • Big 12: Iowa St vs Arizona St
  • SEC: Georgia vs Texas

Football – NFL:

• Wrapping up week 12 MNF which was the Harbaugh Bowl. John Harbaugh against brother Jim. It was a close game but the Charegrs were leading at the end of 1Q, 2Q and 3Q. But the Ravens scored 2 TDs in the 4Q to win 30-23. John is now 3-0 against his brother.

• Thanksgiving football:
  • The Lions dominated early, winning 16-0 at halftime. The Bears tried to mount a comeback and got close but would ultimately fall 3 points short. Lions are now 11-1.
  • It was a Thanksgiving miracle. The Cowboys won their first home game of the season. It was a closer game than it should’ve been with the 2-9 Giants but the Cowboys win by a TD.
  • The Packers game was not close. They easily handled the Dolphins. It was 24-3 at half! Miami would never be able to get close losing 17-30.

• Friday: The Chiefs would only get into the endzone once and that was enough to beat the Raiders. But barely! The Raiders took the lead at the start of the 4Q with a TD in just 2 plays. The Chiefs would answer with a FG and then go 3 & out on the next 2 drives. The Raiders would miss a 58 yard FG. Raiders were driving and in FG range (on the KC 32) when the QB fumbled the ball and that ends the game. Chiefs escape 19-17. KC is guaranteed a playoff berth.

• It was a good week to watch some NFL. There were 9 close games this week (week 13):
  • The Falcons/Chargers game was a low scoring one so hope you took the under. Atlanta would only score 13 points in the game but they also threw 4 INThad to win with that many. The Chargers would edge them out 17-13.
  • The Bengals/Steelers game was the exact opposite. It had a college football score! In the 2Q, the Steelers scored 4xs (2 FGs and 2 TDs). The Bengals had 3 turnovers and were still in this game. Ultimately that would cost them the game and the fact that the Steelers offense just went off with 520 total yards. Pittsburgh wins 44-38.

• • There were only FGs in the 1H of the Cardinals/Vikings game. Until the final 20 minutes of gameplay when the Cardinals put the first TD on the board. The Cards looked like they were going to upset the Viks when they scored again with just 3:20 to go in the game to take the lead 22-16. But Sam Darnold only needed 8 plays to go 70 yards and score in the final 1:13 for MN’s 5^th straight win.
  • The Jets scored 21 in the 1H and then wouldn’t score again. The Seahawks managed to squeak out a win 26-21.
  • The Saints finally managed to score a TD in the 4Q but that wasn’t enough to hold off the Rams who win 21-14.

• • There were 8 lead changes in the Pats/Colts game. This back and forth game would come down to the final minutes. The Pats scored a TD with 8:43 left to go up 24-17. The Colts threw an INT 2 plays later but the Pats did nothing with it (literally -3 yards on that gifted drive). The Colts got the ball back and ground in a 19 play 80 yard drive to score a TD with 12 seconds left. Instead of going for the tie with a PAT, they decided to go for the win. And it pays off. With a successful 2-point conversion, Colts shock the Pats by 1.
  • The 2-10 Jags put up a good fight against the Texans. Houston shut down the run game with the leading rusher for Jacksonville only getting 46 yards. It was 23-6 Texans in the 4Q but the Jags scored 2 TDs in garbage time to make this score closer than it was. A fight broke out after a nasty hit on QB Trevor Lawrence who went out on concussion protocol.

• • Although the Bucs had the ball for 12 more game time minutes than the Panthers and had more yards of offense, this game went into OT. Carolina scored a TD in the final 30 seconds and looked to have the game put away 23-20 but the Bucs would make a 50 yard FG to take the game into OT as time expired. But it looked like the Bucs were in trouble again when they missed their FG in OT. The Panthers were driving and in FG range when RB Hubbard fumbled the ball. The Bucs took advantage and got the winning FG to escape.
• The not so close ones: The Commanders killed the Titans 42-19. It was 28-7 at half.

• SNF was not close. One look at the stadium and you would know who hosted the matchup between the Niners and the Bills. It was super snowy and the players had fun in it – well the Bills players did. Bills would win this one easily 35-10. The are now the winners of the AFC-East.
• 3 teams have been eliminated from playoffs as of this week: Raiders, Patriots and Giants.

Olympic Sports:

• This one hurts…literally. Mikaela Shiffrin set the fastest first run during the giant slalom race in VT on Saturday by 0.32 seconds. She had won the last 6 of 7 races in VT. But during her second run with just 5 gates to go, she caught a ski which went flying and she tumbled in a bad crash into the safety netting. She was down for several minutes on course before she was transferred to a hospital with a puncture wound. She has only had 19 DNFs in her 275 starts, the last one was back in Jan 2018.

• A name to get to know: Jordan Stolz. He won 4 races at the ISU Speed Skating World Cup this weekend in Beijing, the 500m, 1000m (track record), 1500m and another 500m. He won all of the other 500m races in WCs this season following up his feat last season on the WC circuit where he won the all-around championship with the highest point total ever (144.740).
• Team USA Luge was on a roll this week at the first ever World Cup mixed races. Emily Sweeney and partner Jonny Gustafson got 2^nd in mixed singles while Chevonne Forgan and Sophie Kirby got 3^rd. Forgan and Kirkby won gold on Sat in women’s doubles, Sweeney also got silver in women’ s singles. This was the best WC weekend for Team USA on a foreign track in almost a decade.

Some quick highlights:

• 56 people were killed in a stampede after a soccer match in Guinea. The match ended in a controversial refing decision, a disputed red card in the 82^nd
• NCAA Volleyball tournament starts this week
• RUS Friendship Games has been dropped. This was originally set up as an alternative for the Olympics but has been discontinued.

What to watch this week

Basketball – NBA:

• Tues 12/3 – NBA Cup
  • Magic at Knicks @ 6:30pm on TNT
  • Warriors at Nuggets @ 9pm on TNT
• Fri 12/6
  • Bucks at Celtics @ 6:30pm on ESPN
  • Timberwolves at Warriors @ 9pm on ESPN

NCAAM: (only ranked teams and on normal TV)

• Tues 12/3
  • 16. Cincinnati at Villanova @ 5:30pm on FS1
  • 19. Arkansas at Miami 2 5:30pm on ESPN2
  • Syracuse at 7. Tennessee @ 6:30pm on ESPN
  • Sam Houston at 14 Indiana @ 6:30pm on BTN
  • Michigan at 15. Wisconsin @ 8pm on Peacock
  • Wake Forest at 20. Texas A&M @ 8pm on ESPN2
  • 23. Ole Miss at Louisville @ 8pm on ACC
  • 8. Kentucky at Clemson @ 8:30pm on ESPN
• Wed 12/4
  • 17. Baylor at 2. UConn @ 5:30pm on FS1
  • 9. Alabama at 12. UNC @ 6:15pm on ESPN
  • UVA at 18. Florida @ 6:30pm on ESPN2
  • 10. Marquette at 5. Iowa St @ 7pm on TBD
  • 1. Kansas at 21. Creighton @ 7:30pm on FS1
  • 4. Auburn at 11. Duke @ 8:15pm on ESPN
  • Pitt at 25. Mississippi ST @ 8:15pm on SEC
• Thurs 12/5
  • 13. Purdue at Penn ST @ 5:30pm on FS1
• Fri 12/6
  • Miami OH at 14. Indiana @ 6pm on BTN
• Sat 12/7
  • 15. Wisconsin at 10. Marquette @ 12:30pm on FOX
  • Georgia Tech at 12. UNC @ 1pm on ACC
  • Southern Utah at 24. Arizona @ 1pm on CBSSN
  • Butler at 6. Houston @ 4:30pm on ESPN2
  • UTSA at 19. Arkansas @ 7pm on ESPN+
  • Lindenwood at 23. Ole Miss @ 7pm on ESPN+
  • 8. Kentucky at 3. Gonzaga @ 9pm on ESPN2
• Sun 12/8
  • Richmond at 4. Auburn @ 11am on SEC
  • Maryland at 13. Purdue @ 11am on BTN
  • 1. Kansas at Mizzou @ 12pm on ESPN2
  • Howard at 16. Cincinnati @ 1pm on ESPN+
  • 20. Texas A&M at Texas Tech @ 2pm on ESPN2
  • 2. UConn at Texas @ 4pm on ESPN
  • Jackson St at 5. Iowa St @ 5pm on ESPN+
  • 11. Duke at Louisville @ 5pm on ACC

NCAAW: (ranked vs ranked only)

• Wed 12/4
  • 8. Oklahoma at 24. Louisville @ 4pm on ESPN2
• Thurs 12/5
  • 14. Kentucky at 16. UNC @ 4pm on ESPN2
  • 5. Texas at 3. Notre Dame @ 6pm on ESPN
  • 18. Ole Miss at 20. NC St @ 6pm on ESPN2
  • 13. Duke at 4. South Carolina @ 8pm on ESPN
• Sat 12/7
  • 6. USC at 21. Oregon @ 3pm on BTN
  • 24. Louisville at 2. UConn @ 8pm on FOX
• Sun 12/8
  • 19. Illinois at 11. Ohio St @ 3pm on BTN
  • 4. South Carolina at 17. TCU @ 6pm on ESPN2

Football – NCAAF:

• Tues 12/3
  • CFP Ranking Show @ 6pm on ESPN

Week 14 – Championship Week
Conference	Visitor	Home	Day	Time (CT)	TV	Stadium	Line
Conference USA Championship	Western Kentucky	Jacksonville St	Fri Dec 6	6:00 PM	CBSSN	AmFirst Stadium (AL)	JVSt -4.5
Mountain West Championship	19. UNLV	10. Boise St	Fri Dec 6	7:00 PM	FOX	Albertsons Stadium (ID)	Boise -4
American Athletic Championship	Tulane	24. Army	Fri Dec 6	7:00 PM	ABC	Michie Stadium (NY)	Tul -5.5
Big 12 Championship	16. Iowa State	12. Arizona St	Sat Dec 7	11:00 AM	ABC	AT&T (TX)	ASU -2
MAC Championship	Ohio	Miami (OH)	Sat Dec 7	11:00 AM	ESPN	Ford Field (MI)	MI OH -2.5
SEC Championship	5. Georgia	2. Texas	Sat Dec 7	3:00 PM	ABC	Mercedes-Benz (GA)	TX -2.5
Sun Belt Championship	Marshall	Louisiana	Sat Dec 7	6:30 PM	ESPN	Cajun Field (LA)	UL -5.5
Big 10 Championship	3. Penn St	1. Oregon	Sat Dec 7	7:00 PM	CBSSN	Lucas Oil (IN)	Ore -3.5
ACC Championship	18. Clemson	8. SMU	Sat Dec 7	7:00 PM	ABC	BoA (NC)	SMU -2.5

Football – NFL:

• Mon 12/2
  • Browns at Broncos @ 7:15pm on ESPN
• Thurs 12/5
  • Packers at Lions @ 7:15pm on Prime
• Sun 12/8
  • 7 games @ 12pm on CBS/FOX
    • CBS: Jags at Titans, Jets at Dolphins, Browns at Steelers, Raiders at Bucs
    • FOX: Falcons at Vikings, Saints at Giants, Panthers at Eagles
  • Seahawks at Cardinals @ 3:05pm on CBS
  • Bills at Rams – or – Bears at 49ers @ 3:25pm on FOX
  • Chargers at Chiefs @ 7:20pm on NBC
• Mon 12/9
  • Bengals at Cowboys @ 7:15pm on ESPN and ABC
• Byes: Broncos, Colts, Pats, Commanders, Ravens and Texans

Golf:

• Thurs 12/5
  • Hero World Challenge – Round 1 @ 12:30pm on Golf Channel
• Fri 12/6
  • Hero World Challenge – Round 2 @ 12:30pm on Golf Channel
• Sat 12/7
  • Hero World Challenge – Round 3
    • @ 11am on Golf Channel
    • @ 1:30pm on NBC
• Sun 12/8
  • Hero World Challenge – Final Round
    • @ 10:30am on Golf Channel
    • @ 12:30pm on NBC

Hockey:

• Tues 12/3
  • Red Wings at Bruins @ 6pm on hulu
  • Oilers at Golden Knights @ 9pm on hulu
• Wed 12/4
  • Bruins at Blackhawks @ 6:30pm on TNT
  • Stars at Kings @ 9pm on TNT
• Thurs 12/5
  • Kraken at Islanders @ 6:30pm on hulu
• Fri 12/6
  • Penguins at Rangers @ 6:30pm on hulu

Motor Sports:

• Sun 12/8
  • F1: Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi GP @ 7am on ESPN

Olympic Sports:

• Sat 12/7
  • Sailing: Dubai Sail GP @ 1:30pm on CBS

Soccer:

• Tues 12/3
  • Premier League: Leicester City vs West Ham @ 2:15pm on USA
• Thurs 12/5
  • Premier League: AFC Bournemouth vs Tottenham Hotspur @ 2:15pm on USA
• Sat 12/7
  • Premier League: Everton vs Liverpool @ 6:30am on USA
  • Premier League: Brentford vs Newcastle U @ 9am on USA
  • Serie A: Juventus vs Bologna @ 11am on CBS
  • MLS: LA Galaxy vs NY Red Bulls @ 8pm on FS1