Weekly Update January 5, 2025 – First 2025 post!

Coming up this Month: January!

Basketball – NBA: Lots of games. 53 points was the highest scorer of the week.

Basketball – NCAAM: Not a lof of good matchups until Sat!

Football – NCAAF: CFP Quarterfinals. Bowl games end.

Football – NFL: Final week of the regular season. 2 in OT. 2 on Sat. Wild Card games set.

Golf: Matsuyama wins Sentry.

Quick Headlines: T&F. Luge. Rugby. Soccer. Hockey.

Coming Up this Month: January

Australian Open Jan 12-26, CFP National Championship Jan 20, US Figure Skating Championships Jan 20-26, Winter X Games Jan 23-25, European Figure Skating Championships Jan 28-Feb 2

Basketball-NBA:

• This week’s games:
  • We started off Monday with a OT game. The Hornets who only have 7 wins took the Bulls to OT after a slow start for CHI. But the Bulls won out in the end. Nuggets star Jokic went off with a 36-22-11 triple double to beat the Jazz. Not super impressive team wise but that’s a good triple-double. Joel Embiid got his season high 37 points to help the 76ers over the Trail Blazers by 22.
  • There were only 6 games on Tuesday. The Thunder beat the Timberwolves 113-105 and SGA put up 40 points. The Cavs beat the Lakers 122-110 despite Austin Reeves scoring 35 points for LA. The Grizzlies won a close one over the Suns by 5. Jackson Jr scored 38 points going off for Memphis.
  • The Wizards finally got their 6^th win by beating the Bulls 125-107. Jordan Poole scored 30 points and 3 steals. The Raptors also got their 8^th win by beating the Nets by 17! The Kings beat the 76ers 113-107 with a 15-0 run in the 4^th.
  • In the 6 games on Thurs, Tatum and White combined for 59 points in the Celtics narrow win against the Timberwolves. The two big stars in the NBA both had a good day. Steph Curry went 8/8 from the 3-throw line. The Warriors killed the 76ers by 34! LeBron went off with a 38 point game over the Trail Blazers.

• • The Celtics/Rockets matchup was a showdown between two 20+ win teams. The Celtics got the better of the Rockets 109-86. Similar between the Thunder and the Knicks. The Thunder continue to look impressive, winning by 10 for their 14^th straight win. We then had a matchup of the bottom teams between the Wizards and Pelicans. CJ McCollum had himself a day, scoring 50 points. During the Lakers/Hawks game, LeBron surpassed MJ for the most 30-point games in NBA history with 563. MJ set that record in 2003.

• • The highest point scorer of the week was not CJ on Friday with 50, Anthony Edwards put up 53 in the Timberwolves LOSS to the Pistons by 14. Trouble was no one else on the team had more than 17 points to help him. Jazz Brice Sensabaugh got a career-high 34 points in the Jazz’s upset win 136-100. The Knicks have now lost 2 games in a row after their 9 game win streak. The loss to the Thunder wasn’t too bad but the one of the Bulls on Saturday wasn’t great as they have a losing record. Jokic scored 46 in the Nuggets OT win over Wemby and the Spurs.
  • Sunday only had 6 games in action again. The Thunder beat the Celtics to become the 2nd team to hit 30 wins this season. But half of those are in a row – current streak sits at 15. The #1 team, the Cavs beat the Hornets only by 10 that same night. The Jazz upset the Magic who struggled in the middle two Qs. They would lose by double digits and now Utah is just 1 win short of double digits. The Kings crushed the Warriors by 30 and yes that was with Steph playing. Sacarmento had 3Qs at 30+points.
• Jimmy Butler has been suspended for 7 games on Friday and will seek a trade from the Heat. He will miss out on $336k per game.

Basketball – NCAA:

• NCAAM:
  • There was only 1 upset on Monday. #16 Cincinnati fell in a close one to K State to lose their first Big 12 conference game. They would also lose again on Friday to unranked Arizona. On Tuesday, WV beat #7 Kansas by 1. In the 1H, the Mountaineers outscored the Jayhawks by 13. But KU came back scoring 41 to bring the game back in hand. They would fall 1 point short. No upsets on Wed or Fri. Thursday we got a huge one! #22 Illinois vs #9 Oregon looked like it was going to be a great game. However the Illini owned that game from 15 min left in the 1^st. they scored 64 in the 2H alone to kill the Ducks by 32.

• • There were a bunch of ranked matchups on Sat. 3 in the SEC. #5 Alabama faced off against undefeated #12 Oklahoma. The Sooners had a terrible 1H, getting outscored 48-29. The 2H was much closer but the damage was done. The Sooners suffer their first loss 107-79. #1 Tennessee beat #23 Arkansas in a low scoring game 76-52. The Vols remain undefeated. #10 Kentucky upset #6 Florida in a close one. the Wildcats were winning by 10 after the 1H but the Gators came back in the 2H but would still fall 6 points short. There was also one in the Big 12. #3 Iowa State crushed #25 Baylor by almost 20 points. They won in both halves. Now just back to other upsets: #15 UCLA/Nebraska were tied at half at 24 apiece but then the Cornhuskers pulled ahead.
  • No upsets Sunday.

• Bryce James, LeBron’s younger son committed to Arizona.

Football-NCAAF:

• CFP:
  • #3 Boise State and #6 Penn State had a showdown in the Fiesta Bowl. Boise St played well, despite being down 14-0 to start the game. They miss 2 FGs and had 4 turnovers but those led to no Penn State points. Penn State crushed it in the run game and on defense. They had only let one RB get more than 100 yards all season. Ashton Jeanty did manage to get triple digits but barely. He also fumbled twice. Penn State wins 31-14. A Penn State player had a dirty late hit on Jeanty when he wasn’t involved in a play. It was absolutely disgusting.

• • The big show down we were all looking forward to as the CFP natty preview, #8 Ohio St and #1 Oregon was the worst game of the 4. Ohio State jumped out to a 34-0 lead in the 1H. Oregon didn’t make it to the 50 yard line until the every end of the half. The 2H was much closer but damage was done. Ohio St wins the rematch 41-21.

• • On the flip side, the best game of the weekend was #4 Arizona St and #5 Texas. It looked like the Longhorns would win an easy one, up 17-3 at half. Arizona State scored a FG to start, 2 plays is all UT needed to score a TD then they ran back a punt return to be up 14-3. The tide started to turn in the 3Q when Texas went 3&out, ASU had a long drive (but no points) then got a safety on the next play. In the 4Q, TX scored a TD then Arizona state went on a roll with a TD (on a 4^th & 2 pass from the RB Skattebo) and a INT->TD to tie it up at 24 a piece! Texas then gets in FG range and misses a 48 yarder. ASU punts and TX gets back into chip shot FG range and misses again as time expired! ASU then scored a TD in OT. TX was sitting at 4^th & 13 in OT. And they get it. That’s when I knew the game was over. TX needed 1 play to score in 2OT and they seal the win with an INT.

• • The Sugar Bowl was moved after the horrible tragedy in NOLA on NYE. Our thoughts and prayers to those victims! Back to game, because I will not justify acts of violence with saying the killers name. #2 UGA played #7 Notre Dame and the game was close. Until 54 seconds made a huge difference. ND scored 17 points during that time. Notre Dame just did all the right things and no big mistakes to win 23-10. They won on the lowest amount of yards of any winning playoff game. ND is now 6-0 against ranked teams.

• Losses in the Top 25:
  • Michigan scored 16 straight points in the 1Q over #11 Alabama. 3 turnovers in the 1Q by Bama help! The game was close but Alabama couldn’t make up those points and would lose 19-13.
  • Another Big Ten team beat an SEC that same day in the Cheez-It Bowl. #20 Illinois beat #15 South Carolina in a close one. SC couldn’t get into the endzone in the 1H but Illinois did. That was the difference in the game. Illini win 21-17. That is their first 10 win season since 2001.
• Bowl season: The SEC and Big Ten both won 8 bowl games with the Big Ten having 2 teams left in the CFP while the SEC has 1. The ACC is 2-11 this post season – the worst of any conference (including going 0-3 against Group of 5 teams). The conference was tied with the SEC with 13 bowl teams but the SEC faired a little better record wise although not great at 8-6. Independent teams went 3-0. American went 6-2. Mac went 4-2. Big Ten 9-5. Big 12 4-5.
• Coaching changes: Arizona St gave HC Kenny Dillingham a new 5-year contract.

Football – NFL:

• Wrapping up the final MNF week 17: The Lions and 49ers was back and forth. The 49ers drew first blood after their first drive ended in a TD. Brock Purdy being back helps! After the first Lions TD, the PAT was blocked and that looked like it could be trouble as they kept going back and forth on scores until 5 min left in the 3Q when DET scored 18 points. They got a 2-point conversion on one of those scores as well. The Lions managed to break the cycle with 20 straight points. DET ended up winning 40-34.

• Sat: There were two games on Saturday. 1 was entertaining and 1 was not. The Ravens dominated the Browns who only managed a FG in the first 3Qs. They did score a TD with 11 min left. The Ravens had the leading rusher, passer, 437 yards of offense and scored 35 points. The Bengals/Steelers game was much closer. The Bengals started off with 19 points to the Steelers only could get into the endzone once. But Pittsburgh put up a fight at the end scoring 10 points in 6 mins but they would still be 2 points short of Cinci. The Bengals are still alive in the playoffs 19-17.

• There were 7 close games on Sunday (week 18 – final week of the regular season). 2 went to OT:
  • The 2Q of the Panthers/Falcons game was crazy! Bryce Young was back as QB for the Panthers. 35 points were scored with every drive ending in a TD. Falcons up 24-17. The Panthers then tied it up and took the lead in the 3Q with 2 TDs. But the Falcons weren’t done. The two teams exchanged TDs back and forth and ended up tied at 38 a piece after the Falcons scored in the final minute. Carolina won the coin toss and would score a TD to steal the win, their 5^th of the season.

• • The Colts and Jags were both eliminated from playoffs but they both wanted to win their final game. The Colts did score 2 TDs but FGs were the key to this game, with 6 successful ones. The Colts hit a chip shot to be up at half 20-13. The Jags scored the only TDs in the 2H on their first drive on a recovered fumble to tie it up at 20. Then the teams exchanged FGs with the Jags getting their 53 yarder in in the final 2 min. We head to OT. The Colts only got a FG it OT but it was enough as the Jags could only get 8 yards in 4 downs.

• • The Commanders went to their backup Marcus Mariota and it was a close game with the Cowboys. Only FGs first half by both teams. Dallas then took the lead back at the beginning of the 4^th with a FG. Washington scored a TD in 8 plays going 70 yards to take it back 16-12. Then next drive, Cowboys returned the favor, up 19-16. But then the Commanders scored in the final 3 seconds to win 23-19.

• • In a huge upset, the Bears came back to score 10 points including a walk-off 51 yard FG to beat the Packers. Granted the Packers were also resting their main players but still that’s a nice win for the Bears who were winless in away games before this one.
  • The Eagles (backups) narrowly beat the Giants 20-13.

• The not so close ones:
  • The Cardinals had themselves a day on offense scoring 47 with QB Murray throwing 4 TDs. The 49ers only managed to put up 24 points in contrast. They end the season with only 6 wins.
  • The Texans had the Titans handled. The only TD that TN scored was in garbage time (final 3 min). Houston hits 10 wins with a 23-14 win.

• • Jets QB Aaron Rodgers threw his 500^th TD of his career in NY’s win over the Dolphins. Both teams scored 14 in the final Q but the Jets upset Miami 32-20. TBD what Rodger’s future holds as he has hinted as retiring.

• • The Broncos demolished the Chiefs – what an unlikely title. Except that the Chiefs played all of their backups to rest their starters. They shutout KC 32-0.

• • The Chargers managed to score 2 TDs to the Raiders 1 in both the 2Q and 4Q to get their 34-20 win.
• 
  • The Seahawks got their 10^th win with a 30-25 lead over the Rams despite QB Garoppolo’s 334 yard passing day.

• SNF: The Vikings/Lions is a playoff preview and if so, it doesn’t bode well for Minnesota. The Vikings didn’t manage to get into the endzone at all! They only got 3 FGs during the entire game. The Lions scored points in every Q although just a FG in the 2^nd as time expired. The Lions won this one handily 31-9 to solidify their #1 seed and the NFC North title.

Golf:

• Hideki Matsuyama shot an amazing -35 at the Sentry this weekend. That score has never been matched in a 72 hole PGA Tour event. He shot 3 days of 65s and a 62 in the 3^rd That impressive feat led to him winning by 3 over Collin Morikawa.

Some quick highlights:

• US Olympic sprinter Fred Kerley was arrested after an altercation with police on Thursday. He was wrestled to the ground and tased after an argument that led to a physical confrontation. He was charged with battery, resisting an officer and disorderly conduct.
• UKR won its first World Cup luge medal since 2009 in the team relay.
• Ilona Maher made her Bristol rugby debut for the Bears.
• Denver is getting 16^th NWSL franchise.
• Sacramento Kings fired their HC.
• Ovechkin is back and playing and now just 23 goals away from Wayne Gretzky’s record.

What to watch this week

Basketball – NBA:

• Tues 1/7
  • Lakers at Mavericks @ 6:30pm on TNT
  • Celtics at Nuggets @ 9pm on TNT
• Wed 1/8
  • Thunder at Cavaliers @ 6pm on ESPN
  • Spurs at Bucks @ 8:30pm on ESPN

NCAAM: (only ranked teams and on normal TV)

• Mon 1/6
  • TCU at 14. Houston @ 8pm on ESPN2
• Tues 1/7
  • 1. Tennessee at 6. Florida @ 6pm on ESPN2
  • Pitt at 4. Duke @ 6pm on ESPN
  • 10. Kentucky at UGA @ 6pm on SEC
  • Georgetown at 8. Marquette @ 7pm on CBSSN
  • 2. Auburn at Texas @ 8pm on ESPN2
  • 17. Mississippi St at Vanderbilt @ 8pm on ESPNU
  • Michigan at 15. UCLA @ 9pm on Peacock
• Wed 1/8
  • 11. UConn at Villanova @ 5:30pm on FS1
  • 5. Alabama at South Carolina @ 6pm on SEC
  • 24. Ole Miss at 23. Arkansas @ 6pm on ESPN2
  • Arizona St at 7. Kansas @ 8pm on ESPN2
  • 13. Texas A&M at 12. Oklahoma @ 8pm on SEC
  • Penn St at 22. Illinois @ 8pm on BTN
• Thurs 1/9
  • 9. Oregon at Ohio St @ 5pm on BTN
  • 20. Purdue at Rutgers @ 5pm on FS1
• Fri 1/10
  • 15. UCLA at Maryland @ 7pm on FOX
• Sat 1/11
  • Notre Dame at 4. Duke @ 11am on ESPN
  • USC at 22. Illinois @ 11am on BTN
  • 3. Iowa St at Texas Tech @ 1pm on ESPN
  • 7. Kansas at 16. Cincinnati @ 1pm on ESPN+
  • 6. Florida at 23. Arkansas @ 3pm on ESPN
  • LSU at 24. Ole Miss @ 5pm on SEC
  • 5. Alabama at 13. Texas A&M @ 7pm on ESPN
  • 10. Kentucky at 17. Mississippi St @ 7:30pm on SEC
• Sun 1/12
  • 18. Michigan St at Northwestern @ TBD on FOX
  • Nebraska at 20. Purdue @ 11am on BTN
  • 9. Oregon at Penn ST @ 3pm on BTN

NCAAW: (ranked on TV only)

• Tues 1/7
  • 1. UCLA at Purdue @ 6pm on BTN
• Wed 1/8
  • 10. Ohio St at 24. Michigan @ 6pm on BIG+
  • 4. USC at 8. Maryland @ 7:30pm on FS1
• Thurs 1/9
  • Texas A&M at 2. South Carolina @ 4pm on ESPN2
  • 16. Kentucky at Florida @ 4pm on SEC
  • 6. LSU at 15. Tennessee @ 5:30pm on SEC+
  • 14. Duke at 17. UNC @ 6pm on ACC
  • 19. Alabama at 5. Texas @ 7pm on SEC+
  • 22. NC St at 20. Cal @ 9pm on ACC+
• Fri 1/10
  • 8. Maryland at Wisconsin @ 1:30pm on BTN
• Sun 1/12
  • 14. Duke at UVA @ 11am on ACC
  • 5. Texas at 2. South Carolina @ 12pm on ESPN
  • 15. Tennessee at Arkansas @ 12pm on SEC
  • Boston College at 17. UNC @ 1pm on ACC
  • Auburn at 16. Kentucky @ 2pm on SEC
  • 22. NC St at Stanford @ 2pm on ESPN
  • Indiana at 23. Iowa @ 2pm on Peacock
  • 13. Georgia tech at Louisville @ 3pm on ACC
  • 19. Alabama at 25. Ole Miss @ 3pm on SEC+
  • Texas A&M at 9. Oklahoma @ 4pm on ESPN2
  • Penn St at 4. USC @ 7pm on BTN

Football – NCAAF:

Bowl Game Schedule

• Thurs 1/9
  • Orange Bowl: 7. Notre Dame vs 6. Penn St @ 6:30pm on ESPN
    • ND-2
• Fri 1/10
  • Cotton Bowl: 8. Ohio St vs 5. Texas @ 6:30pm on ESPN
    • OSU -6

 

Football – NFL:

• Sat 1/11
  • AFC: Chargers at Texans @ 3:30pm on CBS
    • LAC -2.5
  • AFC: Steelers at Ravens @ 7pm on Prime Video
    • BAL -10
• Sun 1/12
  • AFC: Broncos at Bills @ 12pm on CBS
    • BUF -8.5
  • NFC: Packers at Eagles @ 3:30pm on FOX
    • PHI -4.5
  • NFC: Commanders at Bucs @ 7pm on NBC
    • TB -3
• Mon 1/13
  • NFC: Vikings at Rams @ 7pm on ESPN & ABC
    • MIN -1.5

Golf:

• Thurs 1/9
  • Sony Open – Round 1 @ 6pm on Golf Channel
• Fri 1/10
  • Sony Open – Round 2 @ 6pm on Golf Channel
• Sat 1/11
  • Sony Open – Round 3
    • @ 3pm on NBC
    • @ 5pm on Golf Channel
• Sun 1/12
  • Sony Open – Final Round
    • @3pm on NBC
    • @ 5pm on Golf Channel

Hockey:

• Tues 1/7
  • Maple Leafs at Flyers @ 6:30pm on hulu
• Wed 1/8
  • Avalanche at Blackhawks @ 6:30pm on TNT
  • Panthers at Utah @ 9pm on TNT
• Thurs 1/9
  • Maple Leafs at Hurricanes @ 6:30pm on hulu
• Sat 1/11
  • Bruins at Panthers @ 12pm on ABC

Olympic Sports:

• Thurs 1/9
  • Volleyball: PVF: San Diego Mojo vs Orlando Valkyries @ 10pm on FS1
• Fri 1/10
  • NCAA Gymnastics: Sprouts Farmers Mkt Quad 1: Michigan, NC St, Arizona and Clemson @ 8pm on ACC
• Sat 1/11
  • Skiing: Women’s Downhill @ 4:15am on Peacock
  • NCAA Gymnastics: Sprouts Farmers Mkt Quad 2: LSU, Cal, Utah and Oklahoma @ 3pm on ABC
  • NCAA Gymnastics: Sprouts Farmers Mkt Quad 3: Arkansas, Kentucky, Ohio St and UCLA @ 7pm on ESPN2
• Sun 1/12
  • Skiing: Women’s SuperG @ 4:15am on Peacock
  • Volleyball: PVF: Omaha Supernovas at Grand Rapids Rise @ 5pm on FS1

Soccer:

• Mon 1/6
  • Premier League: Wolves vs Nottingham Forest @ 2pm on USA