Weekly Update March 31, 2025

Basketball – NBA: Games this week. Standings.

Basketball – NCAAM: Sweet 16 and Elite 8.

Basketball – NCAAW: Not a lot of upsets here. USC’s Juju out!

Golf: Min Woo Lee won first title. TGL Finals.

Olympic Sports: Skating Worlds and Snowboarding Worlds.

Quick Headlines: Open Day. Hockey. NFL. NCAAF. Softball. Golf?

Basketball-NBA:

• This week’s games:
  • On Monday, the Magic beat the Lakers after LA had an 18 point 3Q. Two stars from Orlando combined for 62 points which helps. The Pelicans beat up on the 76ers for their 20^th win of the season. They won by 13. The Bulls came back from a strong start by the Nuggets to beat them by double digits. The Suns never scored 30 points in a ssingle Q but they still managed to edge out the Bucks by 2. KD had 38 points in that game. The Celtics beat the Kings – nothing newsworthy about that but Jayson Tatum went down with an ankle injury in this game. He would get back on the court later in the week.
  • The Warriors lost to the Heat on Tuesday with 2 Qs not hitting 20 points. It was a beatdown with MIA winning by 26. The Mavs didn’t stand a chance after KAT and Hart both got triple-doubles for the Knicks in their game. Needless to say, they would win but only by 15. The Grizzlies had a monster game, putting up 140 on the Jazz.

• • The Wizards got their 16^th win of the season starting with a 45 point 1Q against the 76ers. Jokic would put up 39 points in his triple double over the Bucks to be the highest scorer of the week. LeBron’s record of 18 years scoring 10+ points was in jeaopardy when he had 0 points at half but he would come back to make up for it as the Lakers beat the Pacers and the streak continues! Other than that nothing too crazy on Wed.
  • The Pacers set their NBA franchise record for the most points scored ever in a game with 162 over the Wizards! Hope you took the over in that one as Washington had 109 for itself. The Heat edged out the Hawks thanks to their middle two Qs of play. The Bulls nailed a half court buzzer beater to beat the Lakers with a 44 point 4Q to complete the comeback.

• • The Pistons scored 30+ in every Q to beat the Cavs by 11 on Friday. No usets on Saturday. On Sunday, the Hawks beat the Bucks by 21! Other than that no upsets but lots of ejections. Dillon Brooks of the Rockets got ejected in their win over the Suns after getting tangled up with KD. Not that it mattered as Houston would win by 39! Yikes. Then 7 players got ejected after a brawl broke out between the Pistons and Timberwolves. It went into the crowd with 8:36 to go in the 1H. Started with a normal foul then a finger wag and then the pushing started. The Timberwolves would take this weird one 123-104.
• The 76ers and Nets have now been eliminated in the East. While the Cavs and Celtics have both clinched their respective divisions. The Knicks have also secured their spot in the playoffs. In the West, the Thunder have clinched the conference, now 10+ wins over the next team (Rockets). The Pelicans and Jazz are out.

Basketball – NCAAM:

• Sweet 16: This tied for the lowest combined seeding in tournament history.
  • Thursday began with the dismantling of Maryland by Florida. The Gators won in both halves, really piling on in the 2H despite freshman Queen going off with the Terps with 27 points. Easy advance for #1 seed FL. Remember Maryland had that buzzer beater in the last round. Teams who hit a buzzer beater are 1-11 in the game following – make that 1-12 now. #2 Alabama also made easy work of #6 BYU. It was an offensive game as we expected from these two teams. The Tide hit 25 3s, shooting 49%(3 point line and 53 FG) in this game! Sears put up 34 and Bama wins 113-88. #1 Duke played #4 Arizona and the big story here was Caleb Love (AZ’s star) who ended Coach K’s career on a loss, taking a loss from the Blue Devils. It was a great game though with both Flagg and Love getting 30 points or more. Duke would win by 7. The final game of the night was a thriller! Arkansas controlled the game early leading by double digits until 4 min left in the game. Texas Tech wouldn’t tie up the game until the final 9 seconds! And we headed to OT. We were still tied in OT until the final 7 seconds when TT Darrion Williams made a layup to send the final Cinderella team home. It was an epic meltdown by Arkansas and HC Calipari who was 35-0 when leading by 6 or more at halftime. Not anymore.

• Friday also had some great ones. #1 Auburn put away #5 Michigan in the 2H, outscoring the Wolverines 48-36. #3 Kentucky started slow which was enough to hand #2 Tennessee the game. Both teams won by 13 points with the same score no less 78-65. #6 Ole Miss looked to have out schemed #2 Michigan St. They were playing better ball but the Spartans came back fin the final 4 minutes, flipping the script. They have now won 7 of their last 8 when trailing after halftime. #1 Houston vs #4 Purdue was close the entire time. UH led by 10 at one point was the widest margin. Purdue would tie it back up with 35 sec left. But Uzan would land a layup in the final second to crush the dreams of the Boilermakers and advance the Cougs to the Elite 8.

• Saturday had 2 of the 4 games in the Elite 8. Cooper Flagg started the game for Duke with a 3-pointer 19 seconds into the game. The Blue Devils led the entire game after that putting away #2 Alabama easily, winning in both halves by 9 and 11 respectively. #3 Texas Tech took on #1 Florida in the other game that night and man it was crazy. Tech led by 10 in the final 6 minutes of the game. But star Walter Clayton hit 3 after 3 sometimes one footed and falling back. He would rally for FL and complete the comeback to win by 5.

• #2 Tennessee struggled against #1 Houston. You hate to see good player’s college careers end this way. The Vols only scored 15 points through 20 minutes which is the lowest points ever scored by a #1 or #2 seed in any tournament game ever. Damage was done after that. UH wins this on by 19. Houston held all teams it has played to 12 points under their average scoring. Oh and UH hasn’t lost in regulation since Nov 9^th. #1 Auburn looked like their old selves again putting on a clinic against #2 Michigan St. Their star Johni Broome would go out of the game with an injury and give all the Auburn fans a huge scare where you could read his lips saying ‘im done’ only to return to the game not long awfterward. The Tigers wins 70-64 to complete the final 4 teams.
• For only the 2^nd time in tournament history, all 4 #1 seeds have advanced to the Final Four and both times it has happened in San Antonio!

Basketball – NCAAW:

• Going back to Monday to round out the 2nd round. Nothing too crazy happened until #1 USC handily beat #9 Miss St but that’s not what was noteworthy. Juju Watkins, one of the best players in women’s hoops was carried off the court with an ACL tear. She is now out for the rest of the tournament. #4 Maryland and #5 Alabama went into 2OT before the Terps would win by 3. Funnily enough they had just seen the men’s side do it.

• On the women’s side, the only upset on day 1 of the Sweet 16 was that LSU’s Aneesah put up 30 points in their upset of #2 NC St. Paige Bueckers dropped a career high 40 points in #2 UConn’s decimation of #3 Oklahoma on Sat. #1 UCLA and South Carolina would handle business on Sunday to advance to the Final Four. The remaining 2 1-seeds play tonight Texas and USC against their #2 seeds in the region. LSU was the last #3 in the tournament.

Golf:

• TGL Championships: Xander Schauffle missed a 6-foot putt to give ATL the match 1 win so all ATL needed to do was win in Match 2 to clinch the first title. NY was up 3-0 early in the night of match 2. But Patty Ice certainly lived up to his name with a clutch shot near the pin to take the win for Atlanta in the TGL Finals. Cameron Young put in a terrific effort geting it so close but would fall just short.
• PGA: Min Woo Lee held off World #1 Scottie Scheffeler to win his first career title at the Houston Open. Scheffler came home with a final round of 63 after a round 2 score of 62 – tying his own course record. That was after he had to finish his 2^nd round on Saturday due to a 2-hour rain delay on Fri. Gary Woodland also had a great final round of 62.

Hockey:

• Standings: in the East, the Capitals have secured their spot in playoffs but in the West both the Jets and the Stars are already in. Also in the West, the Kraken, Predators, Blackhawks and Sharks have been eliminated. As you can see the West is a lot more spread out whereas the East is much more close together.

Olympic Sports:

• World Skating Championships: The US cleaned up winning 3 of the 4 skating disciplines at their home Worlds! No surprise Ilia Malinin defended his world title with a season’s best score of 318.56, which would take the title by more than 31 points. He would only complete 6 quads though which he had said his goal was 7 all season. Guess we can always find something to improve on. Madison Chock and Evan Bates racked up their 3^rd straight world title – becoming the first ice dancers to so in 30 years. But the big shock was on the women’s side. Alysa Liu edged out defending champ Sakamoto by 5 points. Liu was the youngest ever champ at the age of 13 back in 2019 but then she retired from the sport for almost 2 years before making her comeback. JPN took silver and bronze but 2 other Americans were 4^th and 5^th. Needless to say, the USA is looking strong coming up to an Olympic year!
• Snowboarding: Chloe Kim won the halfpipe gold with a 93.5 on her first run over a JPN 15 year old phenom. AUS Scotty James won the men’s title for the 4^th.
• New sports being added to LA 28 will be flag football, lacrosse will make a come back, baseball/softball will also return and cricket and squash round out the 5 new sports on the program.

Some quick highlights:

• Baseball: The Yankees were the first winners of the MLB season (in the USA anyway) with their win over the Brewers to kick off Opening Day. They were also the highest scoring so far of the season. In their game (also against the Brewers) on Saturday, the Yankees put up 20 runs! They put up 9 HRs which is a franchise record.
• Hockey: Capitals captain, Alex Ovechkin is only 5 goals away from Wayne Gretzky’s NHL scoring record. He sits at 890 after Washington’s loss Sunday. I haven’t been updating yall as we weren’t that close but 5 could absolutely happen this week!

• NCAAF: Coach Deion Sanders has agreed to a 5-year extension with Colorado for $54MM. He will be there through the 2029 season (but I will say the buyout is smaller than I expected $12MM in 2025). If he retires, there is no penalty.
• NCAAF: Speaking of Coach Prime, he suggested a scrimmage against another team instead of a spring game. Syracuse said they were willing to play Colorado! OSU HC Mike Gundy said the same thing about playing the Sooners twice – a home and home. NCAA has not approved any of this and says it is against bylaws to play another team in the spring. Cool thought though! Oklahoma, Nebraska, Texas, Ohio St and USC have all canceled their normal spring game so I imagine we will be seeing something change here.

• NFL: Russell Wilson has been signed to the NY Giants for 1 year and a $21MM contract.

• Softball: Tennessee’s softball P Pickens recorded the fastest pitch ever at 78.2mph in their win over Bama last week. Pickens had no idea until her dugout was going crazy!
• Tiger Woods is dating Trump’s ex DIL.

What to watch this week

Baseball – MLB:

• Tues 4/1
  • Diamondbacks at Yankees @ 6:05pm on TBS
• Sat 4/5
  • Dodgers at Phillies @ 3:05pm on FS1
  • Reds at Brewers @ 6:10pm on FS1
• Sun 4/6
  • Cardinals at Red Sox @ 6pm on ESPN

Baseball/Softball – NCAA:

• Mon 3/31
  • Softball: Mizzou vs 21. Ole Miss @ 6pm on SEC
• Tues 4/1
  • Softball: Mizzou vs 21. Ole Miss @ 12pm on SEC
  • Baseball: Mercer vs 25. GT @ 7pm on ACC
• Wed 4/2
  • Softball: Mercer vs 17. UGA @ 5pm on SEC
• Thurs 4/3
  • Softball: Mercer vs 17. UGA @ 11:30am on SEC
  • Baseball: 8. LSU vs 9. Oklahoma @ 6pm on ESPN2
  • Baseball: Duke vs 21. UNC @ 6pm on ACC
  • Baseball: 15. Ole Miss vs Kentucky @ 6pm on SEC
• Fri 4/4
  • Softball: 12. VTech vs NC St @ 5pm on ACC
  • Softball: 18. Mississippi St vs 10. Tennessee @ 5pm on SEC
  • Baseball: Texas A&M vs 1. Tennessee @ 6pm on ESPNU
  • Baseball: Mizzou vs 2. Arkansas @ 7pm on SEC
  • Baseball: 16. Wake Forest vs 4. Florida State @ 7pm on ACC
• Sat 4/5
  • Baseball: 12. Alabama vs 11. Auburn @ 7pm on SEC
• Sun 4/6
  • Softball: 21. Ole Miss vs 11. South Carolina @ 11am on SEC
  • Baseball: 14. Vanderbilt vs Florida @ 11am on SEC
  • Baseball: Texas A&M vs 1. Tennessee @ 2pm on ESPN2
  • Softball: 18. Mississippi St vs 10. Tennessee @ 3pm on SEC
  • Softball: 5. Texas A&M vs 17. UGA @ 3pm on ESPNU
  • Softball: 14. Arkansas vs 4. Florida @ 4pm on ESPN2
  • Softball: 1. Texas vs Mizzou @ 5pm on SEC
  • Softball: 25. Alabama vs 3. LSU @ 6pm on ESPN2
  • Baseball: 23. Arizona vs Arizona St @ 7pm on ESPN2

Basketball – NBA:

• Mon 3/31
  • Celtics at Grizzlies @ 6:30pm on TNT
  • Rockets at Lakers @ 9pm on TNT
• Tues 4/1
  • Suns at Bucks @ 6:30pm on TNT
  • Timberwolves at Nuggets @ 9pm on TNT
• Wed 4/2
  • Knicks at Cavs @ 6pm on ESPN
  • Pistons at Thunder @ 8:30pm on ESPN
• Thurs 4/3
  • Grizzlies at Heat @ 6:30pm on TNT
  • Warriors at Lakers @ 9pm on TNT

NCAAM: (only ranked teams and on normal TV)

• Sat 4/5
  • Final Four: 1. Florida vs 1. Auburn @ 5:09pm on CBS
  • Final Four: 1. Houston vs 1. Duke @ 7:49pm on CBS
• Sun 4/6
  • College Basketball Crown Championship @ 8:30pm on FS1
• Mon 4/7
  • National Championship @ 7:50pm on CBS

NCAAW:

• Mon 3/31
  • Elite 8: 2. TCU vs 1. Texas @ 6pm on ESPN
  • Elite 8: 2. UConn vs 1. USC @ 8pm on ESPN
• Fri 4/4
  • Final Four: TBD vs 1. UCLA @ TBD on ESPN/ESPN2
  • Final Four: TBD vs 1. South Carolina @ TBD on ESPN/ESPN2
• Sun 4/6
  • National Championship @ 2pm on ABC and ESPN

Football:

• Fri 4/4
  • UFL: Birmingham Stallions v MI Panthers @ 7pm on FOX
• Sat 4/5
  • UFL: Memphis Showboats vs DC Defenders @ 7pm on ABC
• Sun 4/6
  • UFL: Houston Roughnecks at Arlington Renegades @ 11am on ESPN
  • UFL: San Antonio Brahmas vs St. Louis Battlehawks @ 5:30pm on FS1

Golf:

• Thurs 4/3
  • PGA: Valero TX Open – Round 1 @ 3pm on Golf Channel
• Fri 4/4
  • PGA: Valero TX Open – Round 2 @ 3pm on Golf Channel
  • LIV: Miami – Round 1 @ 8pm on FS1
• Sat 4/5
  • National Women’s Amateur at Augusta – Round 3 @ 11am on NBC
  • PGA: Valero TX Open – Round 3
    • @ 12pm on Golf Channel
    • @ 2:30pm on NBC
  • LIV: Miami – Round 2 @ 1pm on FS1
• Sun 4/6
  • PGA: Valero TX Open – Final Round
    • @ 12pm on Golf Channel
    • @ 1:30pm on NBC
  • LIV: Miami – Final Round @ 10:30pm on FS1

Hockey:

• Tues 4/1
  • Lightning at Islanders @ 6:30pm on hulu
• Wed 4/2
  • Capitals at Hurricanes @ 6pm on TNT
  • Avalanche at Blackhawks @ 8:30pm on TNT
• Thurs 4/3
  • Oilers at Sharks @ 9:30pm on hulu
• Sat 4/5
  • Rangers at Devils @ 11:30am on ABC
  • Penguins at Stars @ 2pm on ABC
• Sun 4/6
  • Capitals at Islanders @ 11:30am on TNT
  • Stars at Wild @ 2pm on TNT
  • Panthers at Red Wings @ 4:30pm on TNT
  • Golden Knights at Canucks @ 9pm on ESPN

Motorsports:

• Sat 4/5
  • F1: JPN GP Qualifying @ 12:55am on ESPN2
  • F1: Lenovo JPN GP @ 11:55pm on ESPN

Soccer:

• Tues 4/1
  • Premier League: Wolves vs West Ham @ 1:45pm on USA
• Wed 4/2
  • Premier League: Manchester City vs Leicester City @ 1:45pm on USA
  • CONCACAF Champions: LA FC vs Inter Miami @ 10:30p on FS1
• Sat 4/5
  • Premier League: Everton vs Arsenal @ 6:30am on USA
  • Premier League: Ipswich Town vs Wolves @ 9am on USA
  • Serie A: Parma vs Inter Milan @ 11am on CBS
  • Premier League: Aston Villa vs Nottingham Forest @ 11:30am on USA
• Sun 4/6
  • Premier League: Brentford vs Chelsea @ 8am on USA
  • Premier League: Teams TBA @ 10:30am on NBC
  • USL: San Antonio FC vs PHX Rising @ 3pm on CBS