Weekly Update January 22, 2024

Basketball – NBA: NBA updates. Green is back. Warriors coach dies.

Basketball – NCAAM: Big 12 gets hit hard this week. So does Memphis. Clark gets hit in court storming. Stanford HC most wins ever.

Football – NCAAF: Bama athletes hitting the portal.

Football – NFL: Finishing up Wild card. Divisional rounds. Championship games set.

Golf: Amateur Dunlap wins AMEX.

Olympic Sports: Vhlova out for season. Shiffrin wins again.

Soccer: Dallas is WC final? Racist issues.

Tennis: AUS open updates. Final this weekend.

Basketball – NBA:

• This week in the NBA: Embiid started off the week strong in the 76ers game vs Rockets. He scored 41 points on both Monday and Tuesday. Mavs Irving and Hardaway put up 83 points together to barely beat the Pelicans by 5. Draymond Green made his return after his suspension the Warriors game against the Grizzlies on Monday. He got booed by the Memphis crowd. The Heat/Nets game went into OT after a very slow start by the Heat. They were down 31-47 at half. But they came back to take the game into OT and clinched the win after Bridges airballed the last attempt to score. They won by 1.

• The Suns were down by 17 at half. They started the comeback in the 3Q but still had to comeback 22 points in the final Q to beat the Kings by 2. The Hawks beat the Magic by 2 with a buzzer-beater; they did the same thing 2 days later with a 3-pointer to beat the Heat. The Lakers upset the Mavs while AD balled out putting up a triple-double. The 21-21 LA team beat Dallas by 17. The Nuggets/Celtics game was a close one and back and forth. The final Q was low scoring by both teams. Tatum missed at the buzzer to save their home win streak. This was the Celtics first home loss of the season.

• Suns star Booker had a great game on Friday, putting up 52 points to beat the Pelicans by 14. The Jazz/Rockets game went into OT. The Rockets got the win to be 16-6 at home after the Jazz missed the winning shot. Hawks star G Trae Young is out with a concussion after their loss to the Cavs 116-95 on Saturday. There is no timeline for his return. To wrap up the week on Sunday, the Clippers ended their game against the Nets with a 22-0 run to take the W. the Nets only put up 15 points the entire 4Q. The Suns beat the Pacers – not super noteworthy but that is their 5^th straight win. We will have to see if that continues next week.

• Warriors assistant coach Dejan Milojevic died of a heart attack at age 46. He attended a private team dinner in SLC. Their game vs the Jazz was understandably postponed. Milojevic was instrumental in Nuggets SRB Nikola Jokic’s development.

• The Heat retired jersey #40 in honor of Udonis Haslem. He is the 6th Heat player to have his jersey number retired.

 

Basketball – NCAAM:

• NCAAM: Monday was tame – no news to report. Tuesday though we got some action. #9 Baylor went into OT with K State. The Wildcats pulled it off in OT by 4 points. This is Baylor’s 1^st loss in the Big 12. The were 2 other big Big 12 games that day. #19 TCU and Cincinnati also went into OT after a back-and-forth game. Cincinnati got the last laugh, beating the Horned Frogs by 4. Then we had a ranked vs ranked game in #24 Iowa St and #20 BYU. This one technically isn’t an upset but it’s still a Top 25 loss. BYU beat the Cyclones in both halves. They ultimately won by 15 points. Penn State may be 9-9 on the season but they pulled off the big upset against #11 Wisconsin. This is Penn State’s first ranked win for their HC. New Mexico is on a roll. After beating #19 San Diego last week, they beat #16 Utah St handily. The Aggies lost by 13 points. We had a couple ranked games on Wednesday. #1 UConn beat #18 Creighton in a low scoring game, 62-48. Creighton only managed to score 21 points in the 1H. Yikes. They would manage to beat Seton Hall in 3OT to avoid another upset later in the week.

• #5 Houston destroyed newly ranked #25 Texas Tech. The Coogs won by 23. LSU then beat #22 Ole Miss after a great 2H, putting up 54 points. They would also lose again on Saturday to #13 Auburn by 23. The only upset on Thursday was a big one! #10 Memphis started off well, beating USF by 15 at half. But then the Bulls came back scoring 42 points. Memphis had the ball at the buzzer but they missed the 3 pointer and they lose by 1. The Big 12 has been beat up this week. Saturday was no different. West Virginia and #3 Kansas were tied at 51 apiece going into halftime. Ultimately though, the Mountaineers pulled off the upset at home, beating the Jayhawks by 6. Then #9 Baylor lost again, this time to the Longhorns by 2. #19 TCU lost to #24 Iowa State for their second loss this week. They only lost by 1. Quite a turnaround after beating 2 top 10 teams last week. #25 Texas Tech then beat #20 BYU after the Red Raiders put up 53 points in the 2H. Like I said rough week. Pitt is 2-5 in the ACC but they upset #7 Duke by 4. Sunday only had one upset but man #10 Memphis is going to fall in the rankings after this week. They lost to Tulane who stormed the court after that big win.
• Speaking of storming the court, Caitlin Clark was hit hard by a fan accidently after Ohio State fans stormed their court when they beat #2 Iowa 100-92. She is fine but it’s a scary moment that reminds you of the dangers when people do storm the court.

• Stanford Women’s HC Tara Vanderveer is now the winningest coach in NCAA history. She has surpassed Duke’s Coach K with 1,203 wins, 37 trips to the NCAA tournament, 3 NCAA Championships and an Olympic gold medal. Quite a career and she’s still coaching. Stanford women are ranked 8^th in the AP poll in week 11.

Football – NCAAF:

• You might’ve seen some Alabama players entering the transfer portal. That’s because they have 30 days after their coach leaves.
• Florida is being investigated for the recruitment for QB Jaden Rashada and the shady NIL promises that were made. He was supposed to be a Gator but then was released from his letter of intent after a supposed $13MM NIL deal fell apart.

Football – NFL:

• Going back to what feels like forever ago to MNF to finish the wild card games.
  • The Bills got out a hot start putting up 14 in the 1Q. From that point on the teams were completely equal scoring the same points in each Q. So the Bills win by 14 to advance.
  • The Eagles have fallen from the best in the NFL to needing a wildcard spot to get into the playoffs. And it wouldn’t get better. The Phili team only put up 9 points in the entire game and bad tackling ran rampant during this game. While the Bucs and QB Baker Mayfield had themselves a game. They scored 32 points, Mayfield threw for 337 yards and 3 TDs to knock out the Eagles 32-9. Big upset!

• The playoffs continued on Saturday and Sunday.
  • The first game of the weekend was the Ravens vs Texans. It was a close game and we were tied 10-10 at half. The Texans scored their TD off a punt return for 67 yards. They also missed a 47-yard FG with 32 seconds left. But after half, it was all Ravens. Baltimore came out firing. It only took 6 plays for them to score a TD on their first possession and they didn’t stop there. They would score on every possession they had in the 2H. In contrast, the Texans punts every single time. Ravens win and move on to the AFC Championship game with a 34-10 win.

• • Unlike the first game, the Packers 49ers game was close the entire time. The two teams were almost exactly split on total yards, 1^st downs and time of possession. The Packers scored first with a FG and that was the only score in the 1Q. by the end of the 1H, the 49ers were up 7-6. 3Q the Packers made their move putting up 15 points and the 49ers added a TD as well. But the end of the Q, QB Love threw an INT. The 49ers only got a FG off of it but that was the start of the comeback. The Packers missed a 41 yard FG and then the 49ers scored a TD to go up 24-21. The Packers were trying to score in the final minute but another INT would end their playoff run.

• • Sunday brought us two great games. The Bucs/Lions game was back and forth. The Bucs D got a 3 & out but then they threw an INT. The Lions only got a FG off of that turnover. Then the Bucs got a FG. We ended the half tied 10-10 including a missed FG by the Bucs. The 2H was streaky. 3 straight punts, 5 TDs in the next 6 drives. That would take us to 4:37min left in the game and the Bucs drew within 8 points so it’s a one score game. The Bucs D again held the Lions and so they got the ball back just inside the 2 minute warning. 2 plays later, Mayfield threw another INT to seal the game.

• • With Taylor Swift in attendance of course, Kelce would score twice. Got to do it for the TSwift. 1Q was tied 3-3. After 2Q the Bills were up 17-13 but it is a close one. 3Q, the teams exchanged TDs. The Chiefs would then score another TD at the beginning of the 4Q to take the lead 27-24 and then both offenses stalled. The Bills went for it on the next drive on 4^th & 5 from their own 32 as the chiefs only had 10 players on the field but they failed to get it. The Chiefs had a short field but the football gods smiled on the Bills Mafia. Just 2 plays later, Chiefs WR Hardman caught a pass, ran towards the endzone but fumbled the ball and the fumble rolled into the endzone which results in a touchback. So the ball goes back to the Bills – huge sigh of relief for them. But they went 3 & out and the chiefs also punted. So with the Bills down 3, they get the ball back with plenty of time 8:23 left in the game. They would use all but 1:47 of that time left in their drive. They got to the 26 yard line before they got stopped and lined up for a 44 yard FG to tie the game and hopefully go to OT. But the kicker missed wide right and that ends the Bills season. The Chiefs are headed to their 6^th AFC Championship in a row. Mahomes has never not been to the game.

Golf:

• This was special. College sophomore Nick Dunlap won the American Express over Christian Bezuidenhout by 1 shot. He is the first amateur to win a PGA Tour event since Phil Mickelson in 1991 and only the 7^th amateur to win since the end of WWII. Dunlap is only 20 years old, playing in his 4^th tour event and still a Sophomore at Alabama. However he cannot keep the $1.5MM winnings as he is an amateur and he still had homework. Needless to say I don’t think he will be finishing it this weekend.

Olympic Sports:

• The big news from the weekend on the World Cup circuit was that SLO Petra Vlhova is out for the rest of the season. She suffered a knee injury that was tore ligaments in her first run of the Giant Slalom in her hometown. She slid all the way into the safety fence after losing her footing 14 seconds into her run. Sara Hector won that event. Mikaela Shiffrin won the World Cup slalom event on Sunday in the same location. That is her 95^th

• CAN World Champion pole vaulter Shawn Barber has died at 29 years old with no cause of death yet. He holds the CAN record and made the final in the 2016 Rio Olympic games. He was back-to-back indoor NCAA champion while competing for Akron.
• Some athletes are retiring: GER skier Thomas Dressen has decided to retire at the age of 30. He has had lingering injuries. His best year was 2020 when he placed 2^nd and he has won 5 WC titles. AUS 2016 Rio Olympics gold medalist in the 400m free Mack Horton announced his retirement just months out from the Paris Olympics. He said he does not have the motivation to continue. The 27 year old was the swimmer who had a nasty rivalry with CHN Sun Yang and made a big stink when Yang won after he had been accused of doping.

Soccer:

• FIFA’s president Gianni Infantino has called for teams who fans are apart of racist abuse should forfeit their game. There have been incidents in the ITA Serie A and England’s Championship league. AC Milan’s goalkeeper left the game after repeated racist chants and Coventry midfielder Palmer also said he was the victim of racist comments in their game against Sheffield on Wednesday.

Tennis:

• The Australian Open will end this weekend.
  • On the men’s side, there are no unranked players left in the Quarterfinals. We only have one American still in, #12 Taylor Fritz but he has to play reigning champion, #1 Novak Djokovic in the Quarterfinals. Fritz took down #7 Tsitsipas. He was the highest ranked player to be knocked out so far. RUS Rublex, Medvedev, GER Zverev and ESP Alcaraz are still in. A great Quarterfinal will be #4 ITA Sinner vs #5 Rublev on Tuesday.

• • On the women’s side, in the 2nd round we saw the longest tie breaker in GS singles history. That was during the Rybakina and Blinkova match which went to 22 points in the final set. #1 Iga Swiatek lost in the 3^rd round to CZE Noskova in a big upset. 2 Americans were still in for the Round of 16, Amanda Anisimova and #4 Coco Gauff. However Anisimova lost to #2 Sabalenka in straight sets. Coco beat her opponent also in straight sets, POL Frech. She is set for the Quarterfinals as the first player in the round to advance in just 63 minutes. She will play UKR Kostyuk. Kostyuk is one of two UKR left. Unlike the men’s side, there are still 4 unranked players in the tournament in the Quarterfinals. Only 2nd, 4th, 9th and 12th are still in for the ranked players.

What to watch this week

Basketball – NBA:

• Tues 1/23
  • Knicks at Nets @ 6:30pm on TNT
  • Lakers at Clippers @ 9pm on TNT
• Wed 1/24
  • Suns at Mavericks @ 7:30pm on ABC
  • Thunder at Spurs @ 8:30pm on ESPN
• Thurs 1/25
  • Celtics at Heat @ 6:30pm on TNT
  • Kings at Warriors @ 9pm on TNT
• Sat 1/27
  • Heat at Knicks @ 2pm on ABC
  • 76ers at Nuggets @ 4:30pm on ABC
  • Kings at Warriors @ 7:30pm on ABC

Basketball – NCAAM:

• Mon 1/22
  • Wake Forest at 3. UNC @ 6pm on ESPN
  • Cincinnati at 7. Kansas @ 8pm on ESPN
• Tues 1/23
  • 16. Dayton at La Salle @ 5:30pm on ESPN+
  • 12. Duke at Louisville @ 6pm on ACC
  • 6. Kentucky at South Carolina @ SEC
  • 13. Wisconsin at Minnesota @ 6pm on BTN
  • Texas at 11. Oklahoma @ 6pm on ESPN
  • Xavier at 17. Creighton @ 7:30pm on FS1
  • Michigan at 2. Purdue @ 8pm on Peacock
  • 4. Houston at 21. BYU @ 8pm on ESPN+
• Wed 1/24
  • 8. Auburn at Alabama @ 6:30pm on ESPN
  • 22. FAU at Rice @ 7pm on ESPN+
  • 10. Illinois at Northwestern @ 8pm on BTN
  • 14. Marquette at DePaul @ 8pm on CBSSN
  • Kansas St at 23. Iowa St @ 8pm on ESPN2
  • 24. Colorado St at Nevada @ 9:30pm on FS1
  • 25. New Mexico at San Jose St @ 10pm on CBSSN
• Thurs 1/25
  • 9. Arizona at Oregon St @ 10pm on PAC12
• Fri 1/26
  • Michigan St at 13. Wisconsin @ 7pm on FS1
• Sat 1/27
  • Kansas St at 4. Houston @ 11am on ESPN
  • Seton Hall at 14. Marquette @ 12pm on FS1
  • 7. Kansas at 243 Iowa St @ 12:30pm on CBS
  • 3. UNC at Florida ST @ 1pm on ESPN
  • 20. Texas Tech at 11. Oklahoma @ 1pm on ESPN+
  • Texas at 21. BYU @ 1pm on ESPN2
  • Indiana at 10. Illinois @ 2pm on FOX
  • 8. Auburn at Mississippi St @ 2:30pm on SEC
  • Clemson at 12. Duke @ 3pm on ESPN
  • TCU at 15. Baylor @ 3pm on ESPN2
  • 18. Utah St at Boise St @ 3pm
  • 24. Colorado St at Wyoming @ 3pm
  • 9. Arizona at Oregon @ 4:30pm on FOX
  • 5. Tennessee at Vanderbilt @ 5pm on SEC
  • 6. Kentucky at Arkansas @ 5pm on ESPN
  • 16. Dayton at Richmond @ 5pm on CBSSN
  • DePaul at 17. Creighton @ 6pm on FS1
• Sun 1/28
  • Xavier at 1. UConn @ 11am on FS1
  • 2. Purdue at Rutgers @ 12pm on FOX
  • North Texas at 22. FAU @ 12pm on ESPN2
  • 19. Memphis at UAB @ 4pm on ESPN
  • Nevada at 25. New Mexico @ 9pm on FS1

Basketball – NCAAW: (only reporting ranked vs ranked)

• Mon 1/22
  • 2. UCLA vs 16. Utah @ 6pm on ESPN2
  • 4. Kansas St at 13. Baylor @ 7:30pm on FS1
• Thurs 1/25
  • 22. Syracuse at 15. Notre Dame @ 6pm on ACCX
  • 1. South Carolina at 9. LSU @ 7pm on ESPN
• Fri 1/26
  • 3. Colorado at 25. Oregon St @ 9pm
• Sat 1/27
  • 15. Notre Dame at 8. UConn @ 7pm
• Sun 1/28
  • 19. VTech at 22. Syracuse @ 11am on ACC
  • 16. Utah at 25. Oregon St @ 2pm

Football-NFL:

• Sun 1/28
  • AFC Championship: Chiefs vs Ravens @ 2pm on CBS
  • NFC Championship: Lions vs 49ers @ 5:30pm on FOX

Golf:

• Thurs 1/25
  • Farmers Insurance Open – Round 1 @ 2pm on Golf Channel
• Fri 1/26
  • Farmers Insurance Open – Round 2 @ 2pm on Golf Channel
• Sat 1/27
  • Farmers Insurance Open – Round 3
    • @ 2pm on Golf Channel
    • @ 4pm on CBS
• Sun 1/28
  • Farmers Insurance Open – Final Round
    • @ 1pm on Golf Channel
    • @ 3pm on CBS

Hockey:

• Tues 1/23
  • Sabres at Ducks @ 9pm on hulu
• Wed 1/24
  • Hurricanes at Bruins @ 6:30pm on TNT
  • Blackhawks at Kraken @ 9pm on TNT
• Fri 1/26
  • Golden Knights at Rangers @ 6pm on ESPN

Olympic Sports:

• Thurs 1/25
  • Figuring Skating: Pairs Short Program @ 1pm on USA
  • Figuring Skating: Rhythm Dance @ 4pm on USA
  • Figuring Skating: Women’s Short Program @ 7pm on USA
• Fri 1/26
  • Figuring Skating: Men’s Short Program @ 3pm on USA
  • Gymnastics: W NCAA – Alabama vs Florida @ 6pm on ESPN2
  • Gymnastics: W NCAA – Georgia at Kentucky @ 6pm on SEC
  • Gymnastics: W NCAA – LSU at Mizzou @ 7:30pm on SEC
• Sat 1/27
  • Figuring Skating: Pairs Free Skate @ 7pm on USA

Soccer:

• Mon 1/22
  • Premier League: Brighton vs Wolves @ 2:45pm on USA
  • CONMEBOL Men’s Olympic Qualifier: ARG vs PAR @ 9:30pm on FS1
• Tues 1/23
  • Premier League: Aston Villa vs Newcastle @ 3:15pm on USA
• Wed 1/24
  • Premier League: Tottenham Hotspur vs Brentford @ 2:30pm on USA
• Thurs 1/25
  • Premier League: Wolves vs ManU @ 3:15pm on USA
• Fri 1/26
  • CONMEBOL Men’s Olympic Qualifier: PER vs ARG @ 3am on FS1
  • CONMEBOL Men’s Olympic Qualifier: BRA vs COL @ 11pm on FS1

Tennis:

• Mon 1/22
  • Australian Open – Round of 16
    • @ 2am on ESPN2
      • M: Miomir Kecmanovic vs 2. Carlos Alcaraz
      • W: 12. Zheng Qinwen vs Oceane Dodin
    • @ 11am on ESPN2
  • Australian Open – Quarterfinals
    • @ 8pm on ESPN2
• Tues 1/23
  • Australian Open – Quarterfinal
    • @ 2am on ESPN2
    • @ 11am on ESPN2
    • @ 8pm on ESPN
• Wed 1/24
  • Australian Open – Quarterfinal
    • @ 2:30am on ESPN2
    • @ 11am on ESPN2
• Thurs 1/25
  • Australian Open
    • Women’s Semifinal @ 2:30am on ESPN
    • Women’s Semifinal @ 11am on ESPN2
    • Men’s Semifinal @ 9:30pm on ESPN
• Fri 1/26
  • Australian Open
    • Men’s Semifinal @ 2:30am on ESPN
    • Men’s Semifinal @ 11am on ESPN2
• Sat 1/27
  • Australian Open
    • Women’s Final @ 2:30am on ESPN
      • Replay @ 7am on ESPN2
• Sun 1/28
  • Australian Open
    • Men’s Final @ 2:30am on ESPN
      • Replay @ 8:30am and 7pm on ESPN2
    • Highlights @ 3pm on ABC