Weekly Update December 23, 2024

Basketball – NBA: NBA Cup Final. Not a ton of games this past week.

Basketball – NCAAM: Not a bad upset week but a couple of ranked matchups.

Football – NCAAF: CFP first round went as expected.

Football – NFL: 6 close games.

Golf: The Match. PNC Woods mania continues.

Olympic Sports: Vonn’s return. New NCAA Volleyball Champ.

Basketball-NBA:

• This week’s regular games:
  • 76ers star Paul George scored 33 points in Monday’s win over the Hornets. He is now 10^th all time on the NBA 3-pointers list with 2285. 5 of the players in front of him though are still currently playing in the NBA. The Pistons took the Heat to OT after Cunningham got his 6^th triple-double this season and would get the W by just 1 point. Clippers star Harden put up 24 points in the 1Q, outscoring the entire Jazz team by himself. LA would go on to win scoring 144! All Monday was a high scoring day with the lowest winning score of 121.

• • There were no regular season games on Tues or Wed. Thursday we return to normal. The Spurs beat the Hawks in OT and now both teams have 14 wins a piece. Wemby put up 42 points in the game and was one of the high scorers of the week. The Jazz/Pistons game got tense after Jordan Clarkson and Ron Holland squared up and both got ejected. The Jazz would go on to win by 7. KD scored 37 points for the Suns who still lost to the Pacers 120-111.

• • Friday had only 3 games and all 3 went as expected with the favorites winning. Also Embiid is back for the 76ers. The high scorer of the week was Celtics Jayson Tatum who was responsible for 43 points in Boston’s easy win over the Bulls. He would tie KD who scored 43 as well in the Suns’ LOSS to the Pistons by 8. The Pistons put up 41 in the 1Q and never gave up the lead.
  • There were also only 3 games on Sunday. Again all 3 favoirites won but the Pelicans who only have 5 wins all season took the Nuggets to OT. And the Nuggets had to come back in the 4Q to tie it up. They would get the W in OT by 3.

• NBA Cup Final was played on Tuesday and the 1H was great. The Thunder we leading after 1Q but the Bucks took the lead by 1 at halftime. In the 2H though the Thunder just looked like they ran out of steam. They only scored 14 points in the 3Q and 17 in the 4Q. That allowed the Bucks to pull away. Final score wasn’t super impressive though at 97-84. The Bucks shot 42% for 3s while the Thunder had a cold 15%. Hard to win a game like that. The Bucks are the new NBA Cup Champion.

Basketball – NCAA:

• NCAAM:
  • The week started a little slow. Nothing on Monday. Tuesday had a lot of Top 25 teams in action but only one upset and its barely one. #25 Clemson scored 54 points in the 2H to comeback and tie up the game to take South Carolina to OT. SC would get the last laugh and probably knock the Tigers out of the rankings this next week.
  • Wednesday had a big ranked matchup between #24 Michigan and #14 Oklahoma. The Wolverines were even in both halves with 43 points in both and even though the Sooners started slower, they came back in the 2H. They were still down by 3 with 13 seconds left until Fears hit a 3-pointer and got fouled all in the same shot. That 4-point play would take the Sooners over the Wolverines. OU stays undefeated. The lady Sooners also beat #20 Michigan on the women’s side. No games on Thursday. #22 Dayton only scored 17 points in the 1H needless to say they lost their game to #19 Cincinnati.

• • Saturday we finally had some action. #2 Auburn had a strong 1H over #16 Purdue and they would hold on to win their matchup. Ohio State crushed #4 Kentucky by 20! In what usually wouldn’t seem like an upset but UNC is unranked now and they managed to upset #18 UCLA in a close one. Mississippi State had a strong 1H scoring 48 and that would be enough to beat #21 Memphis but more than 10 points.

•  NCAAW:
  • #4 UConn destroyed Iowa State 101-68 but the newsworthy part was that they also destroyed their old 3-point record. The Huskies nailed 20 3-pointers in that game, their prev record was 14!
  • Caitlin Clark will have her #22 retired at Iowa.

Football-NCAAF:

• Losses in the Top 25:

• • In the most highly anticipated CFP first round games, 9. Tennessee traveled to 8. Ohio state for a night game. But it’s wasn’t what we thought – it was a very streaky game. The buckeyes were up 21-0 at the end of the first. Then TN scored the next 10 so make it 21-10 at half. Ohio st would score the next 21 to make it 42-10 to put the game away in the early 4Q.
  • #10 Indiana was put away by the#7 fighting Irish. While the Hoosiers had been impressive all year, they couldn’t keep up with notre dame. They were up 27-3 in the 4Q. Indiana did manage to tack on some points at the end to make it look better than it was. Final score 27-17 but again that was misleading.

• • #12 SMU also looked like they were new to the playoff scene. Which of course they were. But man it looked that way with a white out in happy valley Sat morning on front of 100k. #6 Penn state would score 28 straight and leading by that at half. Smu only had 1 drive over 30 yards in the 1H. Helps when they have 3 turnovers. It was not a good day for the ponies who lost 10-38

• • #5 Texas had the coveted ‘easiest road to the cfp final’ but that was without 12 Clemson getting that auto bid to get them in. the tigers have been here more times than the longhorns have so it looked like we would have a good match up. And we did! With exception of the 2Q where UT out scored Clemson 21-3. That was enough to win the game at the end 38-24.

• Coaching changes:
  • Dan Mullen (who you might recognize from College Football Final) has decided to get back to coaching by taking the HC of UNLV job.
  • Wake Forest hired Jake Dicker.

Football – NFL:

• Wrapping up week 15 MNF:
  • The Vikings put away the Bears easily 30-12. CHI didnt even get into the endzone in the 1H, in fact the only TD they would get was in the final 5:20 of gametime. They are in a tie for the lead in the NFC North.
  • In the NFC South, the Falcons are still keeping up with the Bucs after Atlanta managed to hold on and I mean hold on to a win over the Raiders. It was harder than it should’ve been as LV has only won 2 games all season but the Falcons didnt do a lot of scoring. The final in this one was 15-9. Cousins also was announced that he got benched after this game.

• TNF: The Broncos were up 21-13 at halftime. And this is a weird one (something we haven’t seen in the NFL since 1976) but the Chargers get a 57-yard FG on a fair catch kick to end the half. But the Broncos couldn’t do anything on offense in the 2H besides FGs. That allowed the Chargers to comeback and take the win 34-27.

• We had 2 games on Saturday this week. The Chiefs continue to roll and Mahomes was back after a lot of rehab on his ankle this past week. The Texans kept it close but couldn’t manage to hand KC their first loss at home all season. The Ravens doubled the Steelers score to win 34-17. Now both teams have 10 wins.

• There were 6 close games this week (week 16):
  • The Colts scored 24 points in the 2Q alone and then added 14 more in the 3^rd. That would be enough to hold off the Titans by 8.
  • The Eagles scored 21 in the 1Q but then couldn’t get back into the endzone for the rest of the game. The Commanders did the exact opposite going off in the 4Q with 3 TDs the last one in the final 6 seconds to take the lead (and a successful 2-point conversion for good measure). They would get the win despite having 5 turnovers and only having the ball for 23 minutes of gametime.
  • The Cardinals scored 17 in the 2Q and ended the half down 3 to the Panthers. The two teams went back and forth and ended regulation tied. After 2 unsuccessful drives the Panthers got the ball back. Then they would only need 2 plays to score the game winning TD.
  • The Vikings/Seahawks game was back and forth (and tied twice) but the Seahawks would take their first lead of the game in the final 5 minutes. The Viks would score in 4 plays to win the game by 3.
  • The Pats scored a TD in every Q except the 3^rd which they needed to do as the Bills beat them by 3. Buffalo remains undefeated at home.
  • The Raiders beat the Jags in a race to not be the bottom team by just 5 points.

• The not so close ones:
  • The Giants only managed to score a TD but the Falcons put up 34 and that is with their new QB (from Washington last year) Michael Penix Jr. The team benched Kirk Cousins who it looks like will get cut this season.
  • The Lions also scored 34 in their win over the Bears who got 17. Again a slower 2H with only 10 points scored between both teams.
  • The Bengals killed the Browns 24-6.
  • The Rams pulled away in the 4Q scoring 13 to win by 10.
  • The Dolphins have really started to turn around their season with another win this week. The opposite of the team they played, the 49ers who had headed the wrong direction. Mia wins 29-17.

• SNF had an exciting 1H with the Cowboys leading 23-14 and then the 2H was a lot less scoring with only 1 TD – that was not enough for the Bucs to make up the score. They were driving in the final 2 minutes down 2 when a pitch and run goes wrong ending in a Bucs fumble recovered by Dallas to get their 2^nd win at home all season.

Golf:

• The Match Showdown was a matchup between the PGA Tour and LIV. Brooks Koepka and unlikely partner Bryson DeChambeau facing off with world #1 Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy. McIlroy and Scheffler won both pairs and Scheffler beat Koepka in his singles match to take the win for the PGA Tour.

• The PNC Championship was this weekend and it is a family affair. Bernhard Langer won the tournament again (but a different son this time) but that’s not what everyone is talking about. Tiger Woods played with his son, Charlie and Charlie got his first hole-in-one of his career! The Woods and Langer played for the title in a playoff where Langer would come away successful. This is Langers 6^th PNC title (4 with son Jason and 2 with Stefan).

Olympic Sports:

• We have a new national champion in Volleyball, Penn State beat Louisville 3-1 to get their 8^th national championship but their first one since 2014. The sets were close with the first and 2^nd set being split between the two teams and each only being won by the required 2 points. The Nittany Lions beat Louisville almost at home as the tournament was hosted in Louisville – what are the odds? Last time that happened it was 2015 and Nebraska beat Texas in Omaha.
• Lindsey Vonn’s comeback was not the best but was respectable. She finished 14^th in the Super G losing time at the start of the run but was competitive at the bottom. Her second race was cancelled due to weather. She was happy with her run just hoping to get a solid finish.

What to watch this week

Basketball – NBA:

• Wed 12/25
  • Spurs at Knicks @ 11am on ABC & ESPN
  • Timberwolves at Mavericks @ 1:30pm on ABC & ESPN
  • 76ers at Celtics @ 4pm on ABC & ESPN
  • Lakers at Warriors @ 7pm on ABC & ESPN
  • Nuggets at Suns @ 9:30pm on ABC & ESPN

NCAAM: (only ranked teams and on normal TV)

• Mon 12/23
  • Middle Tennessee at 1. Tennessee @ 6pm on SEC
• Wed 12/25
  • Hawaii tournament: all TBD
    • @ 12:30pm & 2:30pm on ESPNU
    • @ 5:30pm & 7:30pm on ESPN2
• Sat 12/28
  • 16. Ole Miss at 21. Memphis @ 1pm on ESPN2
  • ACU at 13. Texas A&M @ 3pm on SEC
  • 22. UCLA at 14. Gonzaga @ 3pm on FOX
  • Utah St at 20. San Diego St @ 5pm on FOX
• Sun 12/29
  • Chicago St at 24. Illinois @ 1pm om BTN
  • Toledo at 21. Purdue @ 5pm on BTN

NCAAW: (ranked on TV only)

• Sun 12/29
  • UVA at 3. Notre Dame @ 11am on ACC
  • 19. Michigan St at 8. Maryland @ 12pm on BIG+
  • Wofford at 2. South Carolina @ 1pm on SEC
  • UTRGV at 5. Texas @ 3pm on SEC
  • 17. UNC at Miami @ 3pm on ACC
  • Clemson at 22. NC St @ 5pm on ACC
  • 23. Michigan at 4. USC @ 9pm on BTN

Football – NCAAF:

Bowl Game Schedule

Football – NFL:

• Mon 12/23
  • Saints at Packers @ 7:15pm on ESPN/ABC
• Wed 12/25
  • Chiefs at Steelers @ 12pm on Netflix
  • Ravens at Texans @ 3:30pm on Netflix
• Thurs 12/26
  • Seahawks at Bears @ 7:15pm on Prime
• Sat 12/28
  • Chargers at Pats @ 12pm on NFL
  • Broncos at Bengals @ 3:30pm on NFL
  • Cardinals at Rams @ 7pm on NFL
• Sun 12/29
  • 6 games @ 12pm on CBS/FOX
    • CBS: Jets at Bills, Panthers at Bucs, Titans at Jags
    • FOX: Packers at Vikings, Raiders at Saints, Colts at Giants
  • Dolphins at Browns @ 3:05pm on CBS
  • Cowboys at Eagles @ 3:25pm on FOX
  • Falcons at Commanders @ 7:20pm on NBC
• Mon 12/30
  • Lions at 49ers @ 7:15pm on ESPN & ABC

Hockey:

• Fri 12/27
  • Blackhawks at Sabres @ 6pm on ESPN2
  • Avalanche at SLC @ 8:30pm on ESPN2
• Sun 12/29
  • Stars at Blackhawks @ 7:30pm on ESPN

Olympic Sports:

• Sat 12/28
  • Skiing: Women’s GS @ 3am on Peacock
• Sun 12/29
  • Skiing: Women’s Slalom @ 3:30am on Peacock

Soccer:

• Mon 12/23
  • UEFA Nations: ITA vs FRA @ 12am on FS1
  • Coupe de France: RC Lens vs PSG @ 2am on FS1
• Thurs 12/26
  • Premier League: Manchester City vs Everton @ 6:30am on USA
  • Premier League: NewcastleU vs Aston Villa @ 9am on USA
  • Premier League: Wolves vs ManU @ 11:30am on USA
  • Premier League: Liverpool vs Leicester City @ 2pm on USA
  • UEFA Nations: GRE vs ENG @ 6:30pm on FS1
• Fri 12/27
  • Premier League: Arsenal vs Ipswich Town @ 2:15pm on USA
• Sun 12/29
  • Premier League: Everton vs Nottingham Forest @ 9am on USA
  • Premier League: West Ham vs Liverpool @ 11:15am on USA