Weekly Update January 29, 2024

Baseball: Hall of Fame 2024. Robinson statue stolen.

Basketball – NBA: High scoring Monday. Luka tops Embiid. Steph vs LeBron.

Basketball – NCAAM: Updates. 3 double loss ranked teams. Rivalry games. NCAAW SC beats LSU.

Football – NCAAF: ACC schedule. Michigan new HC.

Football – NFL: Championship weekend. HC changes.

Golf: First Frenchmen wins PGA Tour.

Olympic Sports: Lots of winter sports. Valieva DQ’d! US Figure skating nationals. Skiing WC updates.

Tennis: Australian Open final! Big upsets but not on the women’s side.

*Side note: No post next week as I will be out of town*

Baseball – MLB:

• The new inductees into the baseball Hall of Fame have been decided. Adrian Beltre, Todd Helton and Joe Mauer were the only 3 to reach the 75% voting threshold and thus will be the new entries into the HoF. Beltre is a member of the 400 HR club and played 3B for a number of clubs. He was with the Dodgers from 1998-2004 then Mariners for 4 years, Red Sox for one before ending his career with the Rangers 2011-2018. He was a 4x All-Star and his number 29 is retired with the Rangers. Tom Helton was with the Rockies for his entire 17 year career where he held down 1B for them. He is a 5x All-Star, 3x Gold Glove Award winner, 2000 batting champion, MLB RBI leader in 2000 and his #17 is also retired by the team. Joe Mauer played for his hometown team of the Twins for his whole career of 14 years. He was a 6x All-Star, AL MVP in 2009, 5x silver slugger award winner, 3x AL batting champion and his #7 was retired by the team. He is also known for only striking out once in his entire high school baseball career.

• A statue of Jackie Robinson was stolen from McAdams park in Wichita, Kansas on the 25^th. That statue weighed 300-400lbs and was erected in 2021. However the artist did 7 statues of the baseball icon and has since died in 2022. Kansas officials are just hoping it wont end up like the Tulsa statue of the Native American ballerina that was stolen a couple of years ago which was sold for scrap.

Basketball – NBA:

• This week in the NBA: Well we know someone started off the week with a bang. 76ers star Embiid scored a franchise record and career high 70 points in their game against the Spurs on Monday. The game was still close despite the domination by Embiid. Wemby put up 33. The 76ers only won by 10. Timberwolves KAT (Towns) also had a career high Monday with 62 points. The MN team still lost even with that by 3 to the Hornets – that’s a huge upset. Suns’ KD put up 43 to beat the Bulls. Celtics Tatum was also over 35 points with 39 of his own in their win over the Mavs. All of those high point scores were all on Monday!

• Tuesday was tame by comparison. The Pelicans got the W over the Jazz, scoring 153 points in regulation, although Zion Williamson hit his head on a nasty alley-oop. Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard got a triple-double in their win over the Lakers who were without LeBron who missed the game with left ankle pain. He would return on Thursday. The Grizzlies got 17 3-pointers in their win over the Heat on Wednesday. The Trail Blazers got a big upset thanks to a strong showing in the 3Q to take Houston to OT. Then the Rockets would score half the amount of points the Portland team would. Good upset for the TB. Warriors PG Kuminga went 11-for-11 from the paint in their game against the Hawks. They took the W by 22.

• Mavericks PG Luka Doncic would do one better than Embiid (or 3 anyway). He put up 73 points in their game against the Hawks in ATL. He is now tied-4^th all time in NBA history. The only people above him are Wilt Chamberlin and Kobe Bryant. Entering the game, Doncic had 6 straight 30 point games and he had 41 points by half. Dallas needed all of that as well. They only won by 5!

• LeBron and Steph Curry were split 10-10 in regular season matchups going into Saturday’s game. And just like the record, this one was a great close game. The Lakers started well, up 5 at half but then the Warriors went on a 24-5 run at the beginning of the 3Q. That Q was all Warriors outscoring the Lakers by 13, leading by 8 into 4Q. The Lakers came back by exactly that much to take it to OT. The first OT in the stars’ series history. There were 22 lead changes in this game and OT would be no different. We end that tied after 12 points a piece. Curry had 46 points in this game including a 28 foot three point jumper in the final 6 seconds to go up by 1. But then Draymond Green fouls LeBron who makes both free throws. Lakers take the win by 1.

• The Suns won 7 games in a row before finally falling to the Pacers in a close one. They lost that game by 2 but then got destroyed by the Magic the very next game 113-98 last night. That lose was despite Devin Booker’s best efforts putting up 44 points. The Knicks have tallied up 7 games in a row including theirs today. They have won the last 13 of 15 games to now have a season record of 30-17.

• The Bucks have a new HC and his first game with the team is tonight. Doc Rivers replaced Adrian Griffin who was fired just 43 games into his time with the team. Rivers was previously the HC for the 76ers after they lost their 3^rd straight 2-round playoff loss. This will be Rivers’ 25^th year coaching in the NBA. On the flip side of that, on Thursday the Wizards have fired their HC Wes Unseld Jr after hiring him in 2021. Probably because their record so far this season is 7-36. Brian Keefe has been named interim and they won their first game with him.

Basketball – NCAAM:

• NCAAM: #6 Kentucky may be ranked higher but they didn’t look it against South Carolina on Tuesday. The Gamecocks came out swinging and finished even better, beating the Wildcats in both halves. SC won 79-62 and has the better record now at 16-3 for the season. #4 Houston beat their Big 12 mascot rival #21 BYU. Good thing they started off well scoring 41 as both Cougar teams scored 34 in the 2H. Let’s stick with rivals for a couple of games, Texas got the better of #11 Oklahoma with a huge upset, beating the Sooners by 15. OU struggled in the 2H only putting up 27 to Texas’ 43.

• Wednesday, Iron Bowl rivals #8 Auburn and Bama faced off. And just like football, Bama got the last laugh here. Even though the Tigers are ranked in the Top 10, Bama beat them in close one by 4. Unranked Northwestern took #10 Illinois into OT in another close game. Northwestern’s Buie had an impressive 29 points by himself and took them onto the W in OT by 5. Similarly but in a lower scoring game, Nevada’s G Lucas scored 28 points for their upset over the #24 Colorado State Rams by 13. Thursday only had one ranked team in action and they lost. #9 Arizona went to Coravallis. The Beavs had a comeback 2H scoring 47 and it was a tied game with 11 seconds left. Oregon State threw up a 3 pointer at the buzzer to win!

• Saturday was busy: 3 ranked teams added a second loss to their week – Yikes! #8 Auburn added another unranked loss after only scoring 58 points the entire game against Mississippi St. The Bulldogs have a losing record in the SEC but get the better of Auburn here by 6. #11 Oklahoma lost to another Texas team but at least this time they were ranked. #20 Texas Tech beat the Sooners in a back-and-forth game, winning by 1. #24 Colorado State also lost again to Wyoming and in OT by 3. The Big 12 had another ranked matchup between #7 Kansas and #23 Iowa State. The Cyclones had the lead at halftime, only up by 4 but it was enough. Iowa State nailed a 3-pointer as the shot clock ran out with 40 seconds left to go up by 5. Good thing he did that as KU drilled a 3 at the buzzer but still lose. #16 Drayton lost to undefeated in the conference Richmond by 5. Sunday was much tamer with just one upset. #19 Memphis and UAB were locked in a good battle and they were even in almost every stat category. But UAB had a better 2H, winning by 9.

• This one needed its own bullet. Going back to rivals, TCU and #15 Baylor hate each other and this game didn’t help. It was epic! Baylor had the lead at half and the biggest lead of the game at 10 early in the 2H. TCU then had an awesome comeback to tie it and take it into OT. I cant even count how many times the win probability chart changed teams. TCU then starts OT with a three-point jumper but we end tied again after scoring 12 apiece. Again TCU starts with a jumper in 2OT and again we end up tied. Now we got to 3OT. TCU missed a jumper to start the time so you just felt like this was going to be different and we were right. Baylor scored first with 2 free throws and then a jumper to go out to an early ‘lead’. But despite that, TCU came back and we were back and forth again. In the final 10 seconds, Baylor down by 1, Ja’Kobe Walter goes up and makes a basket to take the lead but he stepped out of bounds so it’s a turnover and that seals it. TCU gets the upset!

• NCAAW: #1 South Carolina remains undefeated taking down #9 LSU in a huge game this week. The Gamecocks were down 7 at half and were still trailing at the start of the 4Q. But they aren’t ranked #1 for a reason. They outscored LSU by 10 in the final Q to win by 6.

Football – NCAAF:

• The ACC has announced its full 17 team football schedule for this fall. Remember this includes the addition of Cal, Stanford and SMU. The teams knew the teams they would be playing but not the dates. Florida State and Georgia Tech will play in Dublin to start the season. The Noles will also play BC Labor Day night. Cal will play SMU on the final weekend and that will be that way every season until 2030. No one team has to play the top 3 ACC teams – most will play 2 and no one escapes all 3 either. The top 2 teams at the end of the season will play in the ACC Championship game.
• After Jim Harbaugh left to take the Chargers job, that opened up a big coaching job in the Big 10. But Michigan decided to promote from within. Sherone Moore is the new HC of the Wolverines. It’s not a surprise after this season where he was acting HC when Harbaugh was banned from the sidelines for different violations.

Football – NFL:

• The Super Bowl is set! But first let’s go back to the Championship Weekend results before I ruin it.
  • The first game was the Chiefs playing on the road at Ravens. Ironically the Ravens were favored by a TD. But that’s how much the Chiefs ended up winning by. The Chiefs put up a strong showing in the 1H scoring 17 points to Ravens’ 7. TE and Taylor Swift’s bf Travis Kelce ended the game with 11 receptions for 116 yards and 1 TD – I think he hit every single player prop on him. Lamar Jackson still played well throwing for 272 yards and he even caught one of his own passes after it was batted into the air. It could’ve been better as the Ravens had some big time drops and 3 turnovers in the game including 2 in the endzone. They needed those points but on the bright side, the Chiefs got 0 points off of those turnovers. They didn’t need them though. The Chiefs win 17-10. Moral of the AFC Championship game, never bet against Mahomes in playoffs.

• • America’s darling team, the Lions hadn’t made the championship game since 1991. It was a dream start for them as it only took 4 plays to score a TD then the Niners missed a FG. The Lions then scored again and the running game was working for them. They were up 24-7 at half. The same score as the last time they were here but reversed. After that though, things started to go downhill for Detroit. The Niners got a FG, the Lions went for it on 4^th & 2 on the 28 and failed. Then the Niners only needed 5 plays to score. Then it gets worse. The Lions fumbled on the next play, that of course led to a TD and suddenly that’s a 14 point swing. The 2H was all the 49ers as they would go on to score on all of their offensive possessions (except the last one where they waited for the clock to run out). The Lions did score a TD in the final minute to bring it back to a one score 3 point game but they failed to get the onside kick. The SF team scored 27 unanswered points and the Cinderella story comes to an end.

• Coaching changes: the Pats have hired Jerod Mayo. He is the first black HC for the franchise and youngest in the league at 37. Then the one we all thought was coming but finally came to fruition. Michigan HC Jim Harbaugh has taken the HC for the Chargers. Harbaugh leaves his alma mater after 3 straight wins over Ohio state and the first natty since 1997. It’s a great story. Harbaugh goes from his alma mater success now to the final NFL team he played for as well. He joins his brother in the league.

Golf:

• Saturday endings brought a first on the PGA Tour. The Farmers Insurance Open ended on Saturday and for the first time ever a Frenchman claimed the title. Mattheiu Pavon made an 8-foot birdie on 18 to win by 1 stroke over Nicolai Hojgaard. He was just 3 starts into his PGA Tour rookie season. The tournament moved their final round up a day so that they wouldn’t interfere with the NFL Championship weekend.

Olympic Sports:

• We got lots of winter sports updates. Starting with the biggest one of all. RUS Kamila Valieva has officially been DQ’d from the 2022 Beijing Olympic games. The CAS (Court of arbitration for Sport) ruled that she was not able to establish that she had taken the drug unintentionally and should be tried as an adult. It was no different than an adult athlete taking the drug under similar circumstances. Remember she tested positive for a banned heart medication and that came out in the middle of the competition! This would mean that RUS would be stripped if the team gold and thus relinquish it to the 2^nd place team, the Americans. No team medals were given out at the games due to this exact issue. She also competed individually but was off the podium due to her error riddled routine (who could blame her). The IOC will officially vote on the medal reallocation in March.

• Sticking with Figure Skating, it was US Nationals for Figure Skating this weekend. Ilia Malinin had such a dominant performance in his short program that even though he didn’t complete 3 (and fell on one) of his planned quads in his free skate, he still won by just short of 30 points. His lead after the short program was the largest in this scoring system’s history. He is known as the Quad God for a reason. The women’s side was a completely different story. Texas native Amber Glenn trailed the defending champion, Isabeau Levito by less than .5 points after the short programs. But then Glenn faltered in her 2H of her free skate. Two big mistakes in the latter half cost her huge points and she was crying after she got of the ice. But then the leader fell 3xs handing the title right back to her! Madison Chock and Evan Bates won their 5^th national dance title despite fighting the flu. Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea won the pairs.

• US Speed Skater Jordan Stolz broke the men’s 1000m WR in SLC on Friday by 0.32 seconds. This replaces RUS Pavel Kulizhnikov from 2020.

• SUI skier Marco Odermatt has now tied USA Bode Miller’s 33 career WC total after winning the super-G on Sunday. He won his 9^th title in the last 16 races just 1 day after he failed to make the podium for the first time in 13 races. On the women’s side, Lara Gut-Behrami took the super-G title for the 6^th time in Cortina (ITA). That is just halfway to Lindsey Vonn’s record at that exact course and what will be the next Olympic course in 2 years. There were a lot of crashes on the course including Mikaela Shiffrin who seems to have escapes serious injury unlike some of the other women on this course. Next weekend’s WC round in GER has been cancelled due to warm weather.

Tennis:

• The Australian Open was one for the books.
  • On the men’s side, the last American Fritz fell to defending champ Djokovic in 4 sets with the first one going to tiebreakers. #3 RUS Medvedev had an epic battle with POL Hurkacz going to 5 sets with no one taking back to back sets. Medvedev did get the last laugh and advanced. The biggest upset was #6 GER Zverev upsetting #2 Alcaraz with Carlos only winning 15 games in 4 sets. In the Semifinals it was #1, #3, #4 and #6. In a huge shocker, ITA Jannik Sinner beat Djokovic, ending his 33 match streak. Not only did he win, he won in convincing fashion winning 6-1, 6-2, 6-7 (6 tiebreakers) and 6-3. Sinner had looked great throughout the tournament, spending 4 less hours on the court so far than Djokovic had. The other semi was much closer, #3 Medvedev vs Zverez went to all 5 sets with two going into tiebreakers. The two were nearly equal in every stat category. Medvedev fought his way back from down 2 sets to win the next 3 straight (2 into tiebreakers). That is incredibly difficult! Ultimately those two facts, took its toll in the final. Medvedev came out swinging winning the first two sets this time. But then Sinner had an epic come back. The ITA takes his first GS title with a score of 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3. Oh and this is the first Australian Open final without the big 3 since 2005.

• • On the women’s side, we knew Coco was in the semi as of last episode. Every other Quarterfinal match was decided in straight sets with no big upsets. The same was true in the Semifinals. #12 CHN Zheng put away the final unranked player (UKR Yastremska) in straight sets. #2 BLR Sabalenka took on #4 Coco Gauff in a rematch of the US Open. This time though Sabalenka got her revenge. She took the first set in tiebreakers and then finished off Coco’s run 6-4. Sabalenka would easily finish off Zheng 6-3, 6-2 in the final to defend her Australian open title! She came off a great year in GS last year making at least the Semi in every GS, final in US open and winning the AUS. I’d say her momentum is continuing.

What to watch this week

Basketball – NBA:

• Tues 1/30
  • Pacers at Celtics @ 6:30pm on TNT
  • 76ers at Warriors @ 9pm on TNT
• Wed 1/31
  • Suns at Nets @ 7:30pm on ABC
  • Bucks at Trail Blazers @ 9pm on ESPN
• Thurs 2/1
  • Lakers at Celtics @ 6:30pm on TNT
  • Cavaliers at Grizzlies @ 7pm on TNT
  • 76ers at Jazz @ 9pm on TNT
• Sat 2/3
  • Lakers at Knicks @ 7:30pm on ABC
• Sun 2/4
  • Clippers at Heat @ 5pm on ESPN

Basketball – NCAAM:

• Mon 1/29
  • 7. Duke at Vtech @ 6pm on ESPN
  • 4. Houston at Texas @ 8pm on ESPN
• Tues 1/30
  • South Carolina at 5. Tennessee @ 5:30pm on SEC
  • 3. UNC at Georgia Tech @ 6pm on ESPN
  • 9. Marquette at Villanova @ 6pm on FS1
  • 14. Illinois at Ohio St @ 6pm on Peacock
  • 15. Texas Tech at 25. TCU @ 6pm on ESPN2
  • George Washington at 21. Drayton @ 6pm on ESPN+
  • 23. Oklahoma at Kansas St @ 7pm on ESPN+
  • Oklahoma St at 8. Kansas @ 8pm on ESPN
  • San Jose St at 17. Utah St @ 8pm
  • San Diego St at 24. Colorado St @ 8pm on CBSSN
• Wed 1/31
  • Northwestern at 2. Purdue @ 5:30pm on BTN
  • 24. Alabama at Georgia @ 5:30pm on SEC
  • 18. Baylor at UCF @ 6pm on ESPN+
  • Florida at 10. Kentucky @ 7pm on ESPN
  • Providence at 1. UConn @ 7:30pm on FS1
  • Vanderbilt at 16. Auburn @ 8pm on ESPN2
  • Boise State at 19. New Mexico @ 9:30pm on FS1
• Thurs 2/1
  • 6. Wisconsin at Nebraska @ 7:30pm on BTN
  • Cal at 11. Arizona @ 7:30pm on PAC12
• Fri 2/2
  • Bonaventure at 21. Drayton @ 6pm on ESPN2
  • Butler at 13. Creighton @ 8pm on FS1
• Sat 2/3
  • 1. UConn at St. John’s @ 11am on FOX
  • 9. Marquette at Georgetown @ 1pm on FS1
  • Texas at 25. TCU @ 1pm on ESPN2
  • 17. Utah St at San Diego St @ 2:30pm on FOX
  • 4. Houston at 8. Kansas @ 3pm on ESPN
  • 23. Oklahoma at UCF @ 3pm on ESPN+
  • Cincinnati at 15. Texas Tech @ 5pm on ESPN+
  • 16. Auburn at Ole Miss @ 5pm on SEC
  • Tulsa at 20. FAU @ 5pm on ESPN+
  • 22. BYU at West Virginia @ 5pm on ESPN+
  • 7. Duke at 3. UNC @ 5:30pm on ESPN
  • 12. Iowa St at 18. Baylor @ 7pm on ESPN2
  • 5. Tennessee at 10. Kentucky @ 7:30pm on ESPN
  • Mississippi St at 24. Alabama @ 7:30pm on SEC
  • 24. Colorado St at Fresno St @ 9pm on CBSSN
• Sun 2/4
  • 2. Purdue at 6. Wisconsin @ 12pm on CBS
  • Nebraska at 14. Illinois @ 5:30pm on BTN
  • Stanford at 11. Arizona @ 7pm on FS1

Basketball – NCAAW: (only reporting ranked vs ranked)

• Thurs 2/1
  • 21. Syracuse at 16. Louisville @ 6pm on ACCX
  • 24. UNC at 5. NC St @ 7pm on ACC
  • 12. Texas at 13. Baylor @ 7:30pm on ESPN
• Fri 2/2
  • 15. USC at 4. Stanford @ 9pm on Pac12
• Sun 2/4
  • 10. Indiana at 8. Ohio St @ 11am on FS1
  • 17. VTech at 24. UNC @ 11am on ESPN2
  • 2. K State at 12. Texas @ 1pm on FS1
  • 7. UCLA at 4. Stanford @ 3pm on ESPN2

Football-NFL:

• Sat 2/3
  • Pro Bowl Games @ 1pm on ABC
• Sun 2/4
  • All-Star Game: AFC vs AFC @ 2pm on ABC
• Sun 2/11
  • Super Bowl LVIII: Chiefs vs 49ers @ 5:30pm on CBS

Golf:

• Thurs 2/1
  • AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am – Round 1 @ 2pm on Golf Channel
• Fri 2/2
  • AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am – Round 2 @ 2pm on Golf Channel
• Sat 2/3
  • AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am – Round 3
    • @ 12pm on Golf Channel
    • @ 2pm on CBS
    • @ 6pm on Golf Channel
• Sun 2/4
  • AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am – Final Round
    • @ 12pm on Golf Channel
    • @ 2pm on CBS
    • @ 5pm on Golf Channel

Hockey:

• Wed 1/31
  • Rangers at Predators @ 6:30pm on TNT
• Sat 2/3
  • All-Star Semifinal: Teams TBA @ 2pm on ABC
  • All-Star Semifinal: Teams TBA @ 3pm on ABC
  • All-Star Final: Teams TBA @ 4pm on ABC

Olympic Sports:

• Fri 2/2
  • Gymnastics NCAAW: Florida vs Georgia @ 6pm on SEC
  • Gymnastics NCAAW: Kentucky at Alabama @ 7:30pm on SEC

Soccer:

• Tues 1/30
  • Premier League: Aston Villa vs Newcastle @ 2:15pm on USA
• Wed 1/31
  • Premier League: Tottenham vs Brentford @ 2:30pm on USA
• Thurs 2/1
  • Premier League: Wolves vs ManU @ 2:15pm on USA
• Fri 2/2
  • CONMEBOL Men’s Olympic Qualifier: VEN vs BRA @ 1am on FS1
  • CONMEBOL Men’s Olympic Qualifier: ARG vs CHI @ 3am on FS1
• Sat 2/3
  • CONMEBOL Men’s Olympic Qualifier: ARG vs PAR @ 12am on FS1
  • Premier League: Everton vs Tottenham @ 6:30am on USA
  • Premier League: Brighton vs Crystal Palace @ 9am on USA
• Sun 2/4
  • Premier League: Chelsea vs Wolves @ 8am on USA