Weekly Update – December 9, 2024

Basketball – NBA: NBA Cup this week.

Basketball – NCAAM: Lots of upsets. SEC and Big dominate their challenges.

Football – NCAAF: Conference Championship week recap. CFP is set!

Football – NFL: Some great games this week. Very little blowout games.

Golf: Scheffler wins his 9th of the season.

Olympic Sports: Team USA looks strong at GP Final. Vonn is back!

Quick Headlines: Baseball. Soccer. F1.

Basketball-NBA:

• This week: There were only 4 games in action on Monday. On Wed, we returned to regular play. The Heat beat the Lakers in every Q to absolutely destroy the LA team by 41 points. Not a good week for them as they would lose again on Friday in OT to the Hawks. Nuggets star Jokic would get his 139^th triple-double on Thursday to move him to 3^rd All-time on the list of NBA players (behind Oscar Robertson at 181 and Russell Westbrook at 200). The killer part was that they would still lose to the Cavs 126-114. In a huge upset, the Wizards broke their 16 game losing streak with an unlikely win against the Nuggets. And that was with Jokic putting up 56 points! He would put up 48 points on Sunday against the Hawks. ATL was on a 6 game winning streak until they ran into the Nuggets who beat them 141-111. Sunday saw the return of Joel Embiid for the 76ers who beat the Bulls. The Warriors/Timberwolves played each other in back to back nights. MN got the better of GS in game one by 27 but GS would return the favor on Sunday winning by 8 to split the series.

• NBA Group Play is now over! Tuesday was the final day. The Knicks upset the Magic to win Group A which was a bigger upset especially with the run the Magic have had. The 7-15 Raptors beat the Pacers 122-111. The Nuggets beat the Warriors 119-115 with the help of Jokic’s 38 double-double. The Mavs/Grizzlies game was close and awesome! The Mavs ended up getting the better of Memphis outscoring them 39-21 in the 4^th. The Kings upset the Rockets 120-111.

Basketball – NCAA:

• #1 and #2 lost in the same night to start the week!

• This past week was the SEC/ACC Challenge by Continental Tire and it wasn’t even close! Last year this tied (7-7) between the two teams. This year it was almost a sweep by the SEC who won 14-2. The SEC women also won 10-6. One of the big wins by the ACC was unranked Clemson’s upset of #4 Kentucky on Tuesday. They would win by 4. That is Clemson’s 4^th straight win against a top 5 team. #9 Duke would upset #2 Auburn in Cameron (Duke) 84-78. But the SEC would win easily winning a lot of the games they were supposed to (SEC 8 ranked teams compared to 3 in ACC). The SEC would upset 2 of them – unranked Mississippi State would kill #18 Pitt 90-57. #10 Bama would beat #20 UNC and knock the Tar Heels out of the rankings.

• It was also the Big East/ Big 12 Battle which started on Tuesday and ran through Sunday. The Big 12 won this one but barely! Villanova started it off hot for the Big East with a big upset over #14 Cincinnati, winning by 8. With the #25 UConn upset over #15 Baylor on Wed, the Big East would sweep the first 3 games. Creighton also beat #1 Kansas by a hefty margin (13 points) in Nebraska. #6 Iowa State would upset #5 Marquette as the Big 12’s first win. St. Johns would be the only other Big East school to win after a killer start though. Big 12 wins 6-5.
• Big Ten Upsets: #11 Wisconsin lost after Michigan would score 41 points in 2H to win by 3. The only ranked game in action on Thursday was a Big Ten matchup between #8 Purdue and Penn State. The Nittany Lions would put up 40+ in both halves to upset the Boiler Makers by 11. #19 Illinois would be dropped from the rankings after losing to Northwestern in OT on Friday. It was a low scoring game with both teams not being able to score over 70 points. NW takes the W this time. #11 Wisconsin was having a bad week, losing again to #5 Marquette on Saturday by 14. Technically not an upset but still a loss. They are now ranked 20.

• Other upsets: #7 Gonzaga started hot in the Battle for Seattle, putting up 50 points in the 1H against #4 Kentucky. However the Wildcats would comeback on the bulldogs in the 2H to tie it up and take the game to OT. OT was also close with KT just squeaking out the win by 1. #1 Kansas would do something they have never done as #1, lose twice in a row. The second one was to an undefeated at home Mizzou team. The Jayhawks dug themselves in a 14 point hole and just couldn’t get out. They are not ranked #1 anymore. UCLA had a wild buzzer beater to upset #12 Oregon at home by 2! #16 Memphis got killed by Arkansas St in the 1H and tied the 2H but they couldn’t come back.

Football-NCAAF:

• Conference Championship week:
  • Mountain West: #20 UNLV going to Boise to play #10 Boise State. It is hard to beat the same team twice but Boise made it look easy. The first time it was 29-24 Boise and this time all Boise. The Broncos put up 21 in the 1H and held on to win. The only TD that the Rebels scored was in the final 9 minutes. RB Ashton Jeanty rushed for 209 yards and tied the FBS record for TDs over 70 yards (5). He is now just 103 yards away from Barry Sanders record. Boise State is in the playoff!
  • American: #24 Army showed why they were the higher ranked team handing Tulane their 4^th loss of the season, beating the Green Wave 35-14. They were the home team and were unbeaten at home with only 1 loss to Notre Dame all season.

• • Big 12: In a crazy year for the conference, it is fitting that a newcomer won the title. #15 Arizona State has been one of the hottest team lately and it was a continuation of that on Saturday morning. We were tied at the end of the 1Q and then the Sun Devils went off against #16 Iowa State who struggled with turnovers in the 2H. Their first 3 drives in the 2H were fumble, int, fumble and ASU got TDs off all 3. That was the death blow. Arizona State went from being the team that was supposed to be last in the Big 12 to its champion, winning 45-19.

• • The SEC Championship was the lone game in the afternoon slot and it lived up to expectation (well in the 2H – the 1H was boring with only FGs on the board – Texas leading at half). Importantly UGA QB Carson Beck got hit throwing a hail mary on the final play before halftime and was helped off the field. He would not return so Georgia was on their backup QB. You wouldn’t know it with the start the Bulldogs had in the 3Q. First drive out was a TD (first one of the game) and the team rallied behind Stockton. UGA would be in the lead entering the 4Q 13-6. But then Texas would get its first TD of the game at the start. UGA took the lead by grinding out a FG drive taking 9 min off the clock. Texas then went 3 plays and threw an INT looking like that was it. But UGA was on their backup QB who returns the favor just 3 plays later. That set up Texas to make a game tying FG in the final 18 seconds (Texas fans had to breathe a sigh of relief with 2 prev missed FGs). We then went to OT for the first time ever. Texas would only go 10 yards in 7 plays but make their FG to put point on the board. Stockton threw 3 completions and ran for a first down and Etienne punched it in a play later. Georgia is SEC Champs for the 2^nd time in 3 years but htye move to just 5-7 in SEC championship games.

• • Big Ten: Hope you took the over which is weird to say with the Big Ten (51 and it ended up 82). It was back and forth in the 1Q then Oregon kinda took off, leading 28-10 which I feel like looked worse than it was. But Penn State was not going to stay down scoring back-to-back TDs. At half the score was 31-24. 2H didn’t start off great for the Nittany Lions with a missed FG and then Oregon scoring in just 5 plays. Penn State would return the favor to start the 4Q with a 97 yard drive in just 6 plays trailing 30-38. For some reason Penn State went for the 2 point conversion. Then they exchanged TDs again. Oregon leads 45-37. Oregon went 3& out and it looked like Penn State would get their opportunity with 2 minutes to go but just 2 plays later, QB Allar threw the game sealing INT. Newcomer to the Oregon wins the Big Ten and remains undefeated. #1 in the CFP baby.

• • ACC: #17 Clemson has been here many times and #8 SMU has not. It showed as it was an ugly start for SMU. Clemson went up 24-7 at half with 2 SMU turnovers and a missed FG. SMU would have 5 drops in his game when they had 6 all season. But SMU has only lost 1 game for a reason. They didn’t panic and just chipped away at the lead. Clemson would punt the ball 5xs. The ponies would score a TD and tie it up in the final 16 seconds. Looked like we were going to OT. That was until 1 crucial Mustang mistake. They should’ve kicked the ball out of bounds but they didn’t and Clemson ran it back 41 yards and another play set up a 56 yard FG to win. They nailed it to be the ACC champion for the 8^th time in 10 years.
• The others:
  • Jacksonville State won the CUSA easily beating Western Kentucky 52-12. Quite a turn of events as the week before they lost to the Hilltoppers 19-17.
  • Ohio beat their in state MAC rival (Miami OH) for the championship, 38-3.
  • Marshall kept Louisiana completely out of the endzone, beating the Ragin Cajuns 31-3 at home!

• The CFP is set!
• Transfer Portal is open as of today! You have prob seen a bunch of announcements last week and that might have caused confusion, that is the athletes saying they WILL be entering the portal. Now they can actually enter. The NCAA changed the portal dates and decreased the timing so they will have 20 days to declare (through Dec 28^th). As always there are exceptions to the rule, any player where a HC change has been made can enter for the next 30 days. If they are on track to graduate in the current academic year, they can put their names in as of Oct 1. If you are a CFP playing team, you can enter the transfer portal for a 5-day window after the final day of season.
• National Signing Day was last week and Texas currently sits at #1 for the best football recruiting class. Be ready to see lots of recruiting graphics on your insta feed.

Football – NFL:

• Wrapping up week 13 MNF: The Browns had 500+ yards of offense and LOST! The win prob chart changed teams 21xs. We were tied at the end of 1Q, 2Q the Broncos were leading 21-17. But the Browns took the lead with under 9 min to go. But Denver scored a FG in the final 3 to take the lead and then would get a pick 6 to put the game away. To add insult to injury, the Browns would throw another INT on the next drive too. Broncos win 41-32 and are now 8-5.

• TNF: The Lions clinched a playoff spot with their win on TNF. But it wasn’t easy. The Packers and Lions are 2 of the best teams in the league and it showed. The Lions started well, scoring first and leading at half 17-7. But the Packers would pull ahead with an opening TD and another after Goff threw an INT just 2 plays into the first drive of the 2H. We then traded scores and ended up tied 31-31 in the final 3:40. A ballsy 4^th down was successful on the next drive to set up the Lions game winning 35 yard FG as time expired and DET escapes. The Lions went for it on 4^th down 5xs.

• There were 6 close games this week (week 14):
  • The Jags hadn’t managed to score a single point until the 4Q when they put up 10 points and WIN! The Titans had only scored 2 FGs before that. Jacksonville was on their backup QB as Trevor Lawrence is on IR and likely out for the season after last week’s hit.
  • The Jets/Dolphins game went into OT! The Dolphins led at half but the Jets were leading going into the 4Q. They would only get a FG where MIA would score 11 to tie it all up in the final 7 seconds of the game. They would win the toss and score a TD in OT to not allow the Jets rebuttal and they are now just 1 game away from .500.
  • The Saints/Giants game only had one score in each Q and it alternated teams. The Giants went to score a game-tying FG in the final seconds (35 yards) but it gets blocked and the Saints hold on to win 14-11.
  • Eagles QB Jalen Hurts only threw for 109 yards, total offense was only 292 yards and they still won the game. Scores alternated all game. The Panthers led going into the 4Q 16-14 but Phili would get a TD at the start of the 4Q and a successful 2-point conversion to win by 6. It wasn’t pretty but it’s a W.
  • The Bills/Rams game was the highest scoring game in the NFL this season. Hope you weren’t playing Josh Allen in fantasy because he went off (scoring 51 points in most leagues). He had 3 passing TDs and 3 rushing TDs – the first time in the NFL that mark has ever been hit. He also has had 5 games of 2 and 2 – another NFL record. So would you be surprised if I tell you that the Bills lost? Despite the surge of 21 points in the 4Q, the Rams had built a lead that the Bills just couldn’t overcome. Rams win 44-42.

• The not so close ones:
  • The Vikings showed out against its former QB Kirk Cousins who returned to Minneapolis. Viks QB Sam Darnold had 5 passing TDs to win 42-21 over Cousins’ new team the Falcons.
  • The Bucs did all their scoring in 1^st and 4^th with 14 points in each. The 2-10 Raiders could not keep up. Bucs win 28-13.
  • The Steelers were the opposite. They scored the majority of their points in the middle Qs to beat the Browns 27-14.

• • It was 24-0 at half for the Niners over the Bears. It wouldn’t get much better but the CHI did manage to put some points on the board, still losing 38-13.
  • The Seahawks took off in the 1Q, scoring 17 and kept adding on a little at a time to beat the Cardinals 30-18.

• SNF: The Chiefs escape again! They led 13-0 at halftime but the Chargers would score 14 to take the lead at the end of the 3Q. Both teams would score a FG apiece in the 4Q but KC had the ball last and set up a 31 yard FG to win and clinch the division. It doinked off the left upright but bounced in and the Chiefs win 19-17. What luck!
• The Bills clinched the AFC East, the Chiefs clinched the West. The Lions and Eagles have clinched playoff berths. 4 other teams have now been eliminated from playoffs this week: Jets, Browns, Titans, Jags, joining the Raiders, Patriots and Giants.

Golf:

• Scottie Scheffler might’ve taken a 2 month break since the end of the PGA Tour season but you wouldn’t have known. He came out and did what he did all season, he won the Hero World Challenge, making his win percentage for the year 36.8%. He tied the course record of 9-under in his final round to win by 6 shots over the field. To put that win % in perspective for you, Tiger’s best year was in 2006 with 53% (8 wins in just 15 starts). Scottie has had the 4^th ever best season on record (since 1983 – current PGA format) and you know who the other 4 are…
• This week is the final week of Q-School on the Korn Ferry Tour. This will change some men’s lives as the Top 5 and ties earn PGA Tour cards for next season.

Olympic Sports:

• Such great news for Team USA figure skating. Amber Glenn took the first women’s Grand Prix Final title for an American woman since 2010. She is unbeaten this season and beat all other competition by almost 4 points. 3x world champion, Kaori Sakamoto, got 3^rd. Not a surprise with this one but Ilian Malinin won the men’s GP Final title after attempting 6 different quad jumps. He is the 2nd US man to win back to back gold and 3 straight medals. Nathan Chen was the other and he did it from 2017-2019 and 4 straight from 2016-2019. Team USA also won the the ice dance with famous duo Madison Chock and Evan Bates. 3 junior Americans also claimed medals. The future looks strong for US Figure Skating!
• Lindsey Vonn has officially made her comeback. At age 40 she competed in her first race since she retired 6 years ago. She got 24^th in run 1 and 27^th in run 2 (downhill). The next stop is Beaver Creek, where she used to live.
• 14 international athletes will be trying their hand at making it in the NFL. The NFL has a program called the International Player Pathway program where they work with different countries to get athletes tryouts for the NFL. Among those is JAM gold medalist in the discus Roje Stona and AUS rugby standout Jordan Petaia. 41 athletes have signed with teams through this program since its inception with 23 on rosters and 5 on active rosters.
• The USA will host the 2026 Pan Pacific Games. That means swimmers from AUS, CAN, JPN and USA will all compete in California (basically non-European countries) will compete in this meet once very 4 years.

Some quick highlights:

• Juan Soto made history on Sunday. The Mets offered him a 15 year $765mm contract – the largest deal in sports history. The deal also has a $75MM signing bonus and an opt out after 5 years. So there isn’t any moving for Juan has he was already in NY but that is quite the change in allegiance.
• Carli Lloyd got voted into the HoF on her first year of eligibility.

• Lionel Messi wins the MVP award for the MLS.
• Blackhawks fired their HC Luke Richardson. He went 57-118 in his 3 year tenure with the CHI team.

• Lando Norris won the Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi GP, aka the final F1 race of the year. That also solidified that McLaren would win the Constructors Championship for the first time since 1998. This was also the end of an era as Lewis Hamilton took his last laps around in the Mercedes. Carlos Sainz is also leaving Ferrari so there will be some changes on the grid next season. Next years season will begin in March in AUS. Also in F1 news, Pierre Gasly made F1 history with $0 damaged incurred all season – now that’s an accomplishment.

What to watch this week

Basketball – NBA:

• Tues 12/10 – NBA Cup Quarterfinals
  • Magic at Bucks @ 6pm on TNT
  • Mavericks at Thunder @ 8:30pm on TNT
• Wed 12/11 – NBA Cup Quarterfinals
  • Hawks at Knicks @ 6pm on ESPN
  • Warriors at Rockets @ 8:30pm on TNT
• Sat 12/14 – NBA Cup Semifinals
  • TBD vs TBD @ 3:30pm on TNT
  • TBD vs TBD @ 7:30pm on ABC

NCAAM: (only ranked teams and on normal TV)

• Tues 12/10
  • Miami at 1. Tennessee @ 5:30pm on ESPN
  • Incarnate Word at 4. Duke @ 6pm on ACC
  • 14. Michigan at Arkansas @ 8pm on ESPN
  • 20. Wisconsin at Illinois @ 8pm on peacock
• Wed 12/11
  • Colgate at 5. Kentucky @ 7pm on ESPN2
• Thurs 12/12
  • 3. Iowa St at Iowa @ 6:30pm on FS1
• Sat 12/14
  • Memphis at 16. Clemson @ 1am n ESPN2
  • 17. Texas A&M at 11. Purdue @ 11am on CBS
  • Ohio St at 2. Auburn @ 12pm on ESPN2
  • 20. Wisconsin at Butler @ 1:30pm on BTN
  • 24. UCLA at Arizona @ 2pm on ESPN2
  • NC St at 10. Kansas @ 2:15pm on ESPN
  • Arizona St at 9. Florida @ 2:30pm on SEC
  • Louisville at 5. Kentucky @ 4:15pm on ESPN
  • 1. Tennessee at Illinois @ 4:30pm on FOX
  • 6. Marquette at Dayton @ 6pm on CBSSN
  • 8. Gonzaga at 18. UConn @ 7pm on FOX
  • 13. Oklahoma at OSU @ 7pm on ESPNU
  • Creighton at 7. Alabama @ 7:30pm on SEC
• Sun 12/15
  • Omaha at 3. Iowa St @ 12pm on CBSSN
  • SFA at 12. Oregon @ 5pm on BTN

NCAAW: (ranked on TV only)

• Tues 12/10
  • Fresno St at 5. USC @ 8pm on BTN
• Wed 12/11
  • Davidson at 22. NC St @ 6pm on ACC
  • 18. Iowa St at 21. Iowa @ 8pm on FS1
• Thurs 12/12
  • 2. UConn at 8. Notre Dame @ 6pm on ESPN
• Sun 12/15
  • 21. Iowa at 17. Michigan St @ 11am on BTN
  • 22. NC St at Louisville @ 12pm on ABC
  • USF at 3. South Carolina @ 1pm on SEC
  • 25. Georgia Tech at 14. UNC @ 1pm on ACC
  • 15. West Virginia at Temple @ 1pm on ESPN2

Football – NCAAF:

• Sat 12/14
  • Navy at 22. Army @ 2pm on CBS
  • Heisman Trophy presentation @ 7pm on ESPN
  • IS4S Salute to Veterans Bowl Game: South Alabama vs Western Michigan (AL) @ 8pm on ESPN

Football – NFL:

• Mon 12/9
  • Bengals at Cowboys @ 7:15pm on ESPN and ABC
• Thurs 12/12
  • Rams at 49ers @ 7:15pm on Prime
• Sun 12/15
  • 7 games @ 12pm on CBS/FOX
    • CBS: Chiefs at Browns, Ravens at Giants, Dolphins at Texans
    • FOX: Bengals at Titans, Commanders at Saints, Cowboys at Panthers, Jets at Jags
  • 3 games @ 3:25pm on CBS
    • Colts at Broncos
    • Bills at Lions
    • Pats at Cardinals
  • Steelers at Eagles – or – Bucs at Chargers @ 3:25pm on FOX
  • Packers at Seahawks @ 7:20pm on NBC
• Mon 12/16
  • Bears at Vikings @ 7pm on ABC
  • Falcons at Raiders @ 7:30pm on ESPN

Golf:

• Fri 12/13
  • Grant Thorton Invitational @ 12pm on Golf Channel
• Sat 12/14
  • Grant Thorton Invitational
    • @ 1pm on Golf Channel
    • @ 2pm on NBC
  • Q School Finals @ 2pm on Golf Channel
• Sun 12/15
  • Grant Thorton Invitational
    • @ 1pm on Golf Channel
    • @ 2pm on NBC
  • Q School Finals @ 2pm on Golf Channel

Hockey:

• Tues 12/10
  • Maple Leafs at Devils @ 6pm on hulu
  • Wild at Jazz @ 8:30pm on hulu
• Wed 12/11
  • Rangers at Sabres @ 6pm on TNT
• Thurs 12/12
  • Oilers at Wild @ 7:30pm on hulu

Soccer:

• Mon 12/9
  • Premier League: West Ham vs Wolves @ 2pm on USA
• Tues 12/10
  • UEFA Champions: Teams TBA @ 2pm on CBSSN
• Wed 12/11
  • UEFA Champions: Teams TBA @ 2pm on CBSSN
• Thurs 12/12
  • UEFA Europa: Teams TBA @ 11:45am on CBSSN
  • UEFA Europa: Teams TBA @ 2pm on CBSSN
• Sat 12/14
  • English League: Bristol City vs Queens Park @ 6:30am on CBSSN
  • English League: Wrexham vs Cambridge @ 9am on CBSSN
  • Premier League: NewcatleU vs Leicester City @ 9am on USA
• Sun 12/15
  • Premier League: Brighton vs Crystal Palace @ 8am on USA
  • Premier League: Manchester City vs ManU @ 10:30am on USA
  • Premier League: Chelsea vs Brentford @ 1pm on USA
  • Serie A Femminile: Inter vs Sassuolo @ 6pm on CBS