Coming up this month – March edition!
Baseball/Softball: Oklahoma loses for the first time since Feb 2023.
Basketball – NBA: Cavs/Mavs buzzer beater. Wizards never win in Feb. Celtics 11 game win streak. Destroy the Warriors. LeBron hits 40k points.
Basketball – NCAAM: Not as many upsets as usual for the final week of regular season games. UConn wins Big East. Caitlin Clark surpasses Pistol Pete!
Football: Manziel boycotting the Heisman until Bush gets his back. Jason Kelce retiring.
Golf: Neimann takes LIV Jeddah. Eckroat wins Cognizant.
Olympic Sports: World Championship results – USA dominates! Johnson to start track league.
Quick headlines: Baseball. NCAA. Skiing.
Coming up this month – MARCH:
World Track & Field Championships March 1-3, F1 season begins March 2, World Championships Speed Skating March 7-8, PLAYERS Championship March 14-17, World Figure Skating Championships March 18-24, NCAAM March Madness March 19-April 8, NCAAW March 19 – April 7, NCAA Wrestling Championship March 21-23; MLB season begins March 29 – Sept 29,
Baseball/Softball – NCAA:
- Well talk about a huge upset. Louisiana traveled to #1 Oklahoma’s new Love’s Field and upset the Sooners. This ends their 71 game winnings streak, the longest in NCAA history. Oklahoma scored 2 in the final 7th inning to tie the game up at 4 apiece. In extra innings the 8th, Louisiana put up 3 to take their score to 7. But it looked like the Sooners were going to make a comeback as well after a solo HR put another one on the board but the comeback would end there. Louisiana is 10-12 on the season compared to 18-1 Oklahoma. The last loss for OU was 2/19/23 to Baylor. They are going for an unprecedented 4th straight national championship this year.
Basketball – NBA:
- This week in the NBA: Tuesday had a killer buzzer beater. In the Cavs/Mavs game, the Mavs were up by 1 in the final seconds but Max Stus heaved the ball from beyond half court. And it falls in! Doncic had 45 points for the Mavs in that game but it wasn’t enough. Cavs win by 2. Chris Paul returned to the court for the Warriors in their game against the Wizards. They won by 11. The next day, Luka Doncic got a triple-double on his bday and the W over Raptors. The Cavs was on the other side of the W/L column on Wednesday. The Bulls took them into 2OT before winning by 9. The Lakers win the Battle for LA over the Clippers despite being down 19 points going into the 4Q. But they put the hammer down, putting up 39 points to the Clippers’ 16. The Thunder have been having a good season, winning 41 games so far. But that didn’t stop them from losing to one of the worst teams in the league on Thursday. The Spurs got the better of the OKC team by 24. The Wizards would go on to lose again. This time to the Lakers in OT after AD scored 40. On Friday, the Kings pulled off an upset, taking the Timberwolves to OT and winning by 4. That would drop the MN team into 2nd in the West. Giannis put up the most points of the week by any one player with 46 points in their game against the Bulls on Friday. Milwaukee won 113-97. On Saturday, the Trail Blazers/Grizzlies game went into OT. Both teams have been struggling so this win was going to be big for whomever took it. Portland gets the W by 7. On Sunday, the Timberwolves got upset again, this time to the Clippers in a lower scoring game 89-88.
- The Wizards did not win a single game in the month of February. That’s 14 straight losses with their last win coming on Jan 29th against the Spurs. On the flip side of that, the Celtics have won 11 games in a row. They beat the Mavs on Friday and then destroyed the Warriors on Sunday. I mean destroyed – like 50 points over the GS team. And the Warriors were on their own streak, winning their 8th straight road game on Friday. That obviously ended in Boston.
- LeBron has now surpassed 40,000 points in his NBA career. He is the most in NBA history since surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at 38k. He will continue adding to his record until he retires. The next person that is still active on the all-time list is KD at #9 with 28k.
- Standings:
- East: The Celtics have a hold on the top spot with 48 wins over the Bucks with 40 and the Cavs with 39. The bottom is a tie between the Wizards and Pistons both with 9 wins for the entire season.
- West: This one is much tighter. The Thunder, Timberwolves and Nuggets are all sitting at 42 wins. The Thunder have one less loss so technically they claim the top spot. The Spurs are the bottom with 13 wins but if they keep up the good week they just had, they might catch the Trail Blazers who sit at 17 wins.
Basketball – NCAAM:
- NCAAM: This week was scarily tame when it came to upsets this week, way less upsets than normal. #9 UNC G RJ Davis had a career-high 42 points in their win over Miami. This wasn’t a loss but still a noteworthy headline. #7 Kansas started off normally against unranked BYU, up 6 at half. But the Cougars came back with a vengeance putting up 47 in 2H to upset the Jayhawks. On Wednesday, there was a big SEC matchup between #11 Auburn and #4 Tennessee. It was a high scoring event. Tennessee had a 4 point lead at half and then continued to pile on to win 92-84. Vols G Dalton Knecht was responsible for 39 points by himself. No upsets on Thursday at all. Friday had one. #21 Dayton fell by 5 to Loyola Chicago. Sister Jean was happy. Tennessee had a tough week taking on both teams in the Iron Bowl rivalry. Saturday, the Vols were trailing in a close game to #14 Bama. But they came back nicely to win by 7.
- Then there was a ranked game in the Big East #5 Marquette vs #12 Creighton. The game was close at half but 2H was all Blue Jays. Creighton put up 47 points to Marquette’s 35. That doesn’t change the standings in the Big East but it bring them closer. #7 Kansas did not have a good week, losing twice. The second time was at least to a ranked team on Saturday. #15 Baylor beat them in both halves (although barely 1H). Baylor won at home by 8. In the WCC, #23 Gonzaga took down #17 Saint Mary’s handily. The Bulldogs put up 44 in 1H and ultimately won by 13. Newly ranked #24 Florida was leading by 6 into the locker room. But the #18 Gamecocks scored 51 in the 2H to beat FL by 6.
- #3 UConn routed Seton Hall on Sunday winning by 30. That secured the Huskies their first Big East conference title since 1999. Even though they won the entire tournament last year and are defending champs, they hadn’t taken the conference title with teams like Seton Hall, Creighton, Marquette and Villanova in their way.
- Caitlin Clark broke two records this week. She first took down the all-time women’s scoring record and then the ultimate LSU’s Pete Maravich top NCAA all-time scoring record of 3,667 points. Pistol Pete’s record stood for 54 years. She entered Senior Night needing just 18 points to get the record and she scored 35. It also added to the sweetness that #6 Iowa beat #2 Ohio State in the process. That ended a 15 game winning streak for the Buckeyes as well. She has also declared for the draft after this season.
Football:
- Johnny Manziel has decided to boycott the Heisman Trophy ceremony until USC’s Reggie Bush gets his reinstated. Bush had his Heisman revoked after it was found that he and his family had received gifts estimated over $250k. However in today’s NIL era, where that is legal, it seems silly.
- There is a new NFL combine 40 yard dash record. Texas WR Xavier Worthy broke Washington’s John Ross’ record of 4.22 from 2017 by .01 seconds. It was blistering and you could hear the crowd. But remember football speed is different than track speed. Christian Coleman showed us that when he ran 4.12.
- T-Swift fans – don’t worry. It’s the other Kelce brother that announced his retirement today. Jason Kelce made it official. Originally from Ohio, both Kelce brothers played for Cincinnati before turning their sights to the NFL. Jason was drafted to the Philadelphia Eagles in 2011 in the 6th round as a Center. He played his entire 12 year career for them. He was a 7x Pro Bowler and a Super Bowl Champion. He started in every game he played in in the NFL. he’s hilarious and has a great personality, even producing a Christmas album.
Golf:
- Joaquin Niemann stole the LIV event in Jeddah, winning by 4 strokes. That is also his 2nd win in 3 starts. He is only ranked #72 in the world however after the vote fell against giving LIV golfers world ranking points. The Crushers won the team event. Anthony Kim who stole the headlines finished last, 33 shots off the lead but he was encouraged by the play.
- In just his 2nd season and 50th start on the PGA Tour, Austin Eckroat captured his first PGA Tour win at the Cognizant Classic on Monday morning. Sunday’s final round was delayed by rain for 3 hours and thus had to be finished on Monday. 16 players were within 4 shots of the lead going into the final round. Eckroat had a 1 shot lead going to bed on Sunday and was never caught. Ultimately he won by 3 over Erik van Rooyen and Min Woo Lee. The Oklahoma State Cowboy has now qualified for the Masters, the Players and Bay Hill.
Olympic Sports:
- World Championships were dominated by some very familiar names and the USA who took home the most meals and gold with 20 and 6 respectively. USA Ryan Crouser finally won his first Indoor World Championship in the shot put. USA Grant Holloway destroyed the field in the 60m hurdles as expected. He hasnt lost a race since 2016. USA Christian Coleman set the world leading time of 6.41 to win the 60m over fellow USA Noah Lyles. SWE Armand Duplantis won the PV… duh but USA Sam Kendricks got silver.
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- WRs: NED Femke Bol broke the indoor WR again just a week or two after setting it at her home countries championships. Now the 400m WR is 49.17. USA was left off the podium in the W 60m hurdles which has to be the first time that has happened in a long time. BAH Devynne Charlton broke the WR with a 7.65. That original WR was set back in 2008 by SWE Susanna Kallur.
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- Some big turnarounds in the middle/distance events for the Americans. GBR Josh Kerr took the M 3000m but USA Yared Nuguse took silver. The USA has come back in the M 800m, which was a disappointment outdoors. Bryce Hoppel took the gold in indoors with a 1:44.92. The American women didn’t have someone in the final. The 1500m was a good event for the Americans taking home 4 medals, spread evenly between the men and women but no gold (both went 2 & 3). Huge upset in 3000m, ETH Tsegay was leading in the final lap of the 15 lap race when USA Elle St. Pierre started pushing. Elle outkicked the WR holder to win America’s first world championship in the indoor 3000m.
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- Another big upset was BEL Alexander Doom won the M 400m over the phenom NOR Karsten Warholm. Texas alum but St. Lucian Julien Alfred took the W 60m over POL Ewa Swoboda by .02. The USA women went 1 & 2 in the long jump with Tara Davis-Woodhall taking her first championship, besting Monae Nichols with a jump over 23 feet. BEL edged out the USA for the gold in the M 4x400m relay by .06 seconds! The NED took the women’s relay but I wouldn’t say that’s an upset since they went 1 & 2 in the individual 400m.
- Sticking with T&F news, Olympic champion and T&F star Michael Johnson will be starting a new track league. He hopes to bring new exposure to the sport and money for athletes. He will partner with Winning Alliance who is known for their tennis for-profit arm.
- Following up on a story from last week, UGA sophomore Christopher Morales Williams set the WR in the indoor 200m at the SEC Championships. However that was revoked as there was an issue with the starting blocks, they were not connected to the start information system which detects false starts. His time no longer counts.
- It was a great weekend for gymnastics with some of the best teams facing off. #5 Florida upset #2 LSU in a close one. FL’s Leanne Wong got her first 10 on floor when she needed 9.825 to seal the victory for the Gators. That also put her as the 15th gymnast in NCAA history to complete a perfect 10 in every event in her collegiate career. Haliegh Bryant for LSU hit her 14th perfect 10 this weekend as well. #1 Oklahoma broke their highest team score in program history with 198.675. That puts them just .2 away from the highest of all time which was set by Stanford and UCLA in 2004. Ragan Smith, the Beam Queen from OU, put up her 8th perfect 10 on the Beam to set another program record for the Sooners. Current top 5: Oklahoma, Cal, LSU, Florida and Utah.
Quick Headlines:
- Baseball: The Giants signed Matt Chapman to a 3-year deal for $54MM, similar to Cody Bellinger.
- NCAA: NCAA has put a pause on the investigation into TN. A federal judge gave a primary injunction as asked by the attorneys for VA and TN. The antitrust suit combats the NCAA rules against recruiting inducements arguing that it inhibits athletes ability to NIL cash.
- Skiing: SUI Lara Gut-Behrami won another Super-G race on Saturday to add to her overall WC lead over Shiffrin. But she better take advantage now as Shiffrin is set to return this week in Sweden.
What to watch this week
Baseball/Softball-NCAA:
- Sat 3/9
- Softball: 5. LSU at 14. Kentucky @ 11am on SEC
- Sun 3/10
- Softball: 5. LSU at 14. Kentucky @ 11am on SEC
- Softball: 22. South Carolina vs 18. Texas A&M @ 1pm on SEC
- Softball: 23. Mississippi St vs Ole Miss @ 3pm on SEC
- Softball: 20. Vtech at Louisville @ 3:30pm on ACC
- Softball: 15. Florida at 11. Alabama @ 5pm on SEC
Basketball – NBA:
- Tues 3/5
- Celtics at Cavaliers @ 6:30pm on TNT
- Suns at Nuggets @ 9pm on TNT
- Wed 3/6
- Clippers at Rockets @ 6:30pm on ESPN
- Bucks at Warriors @ 9pm on ESPN
- Thurs 3/7
- Heat at Mavericks @ 6:30pm on TNT
- Celtics at Nuggets @ 9pm on TNT
- Fri 3/8
- Timberwolves at Cavaliers @ 6:30pm on ESPN
- Bucks at Lakers @ 9pm on ESPN
- Sat 3/9
- Celtics at Suns @ 7:30pm on ABC
- Sun 3/10
- 76ers at Knicks @ 6pm on ESPN
- Timberwolves at Lakers @ 8:30pm on ESPN
Basketball – NCAAM:
- Mon 3/4
- 9. Duke at NC St @ 6pm on ESPN
- Texas at 11. Baylor @ 8pm on ESPN
- Tues 3/5
- 3. Purdue at 12. Illinois @ 6pm on Peacock
- Notre Dame at 7. UNC @ 6pm on ACC
- 18. Alabama at Florida @ 6pm on ESPN
- Tulane at 25. USF @ 6pm on ESPN+
- 13. Auburn at Mizzou @ 8pm on SEC
- Kansas St at 14. Kansas @ 8pm on ESPN
- 25. Dayton at Saint Louis @ 8pm on CBSSN
- 21. San Diego St @ 10pm on CBSSN
- Wed 3/6
- 1. Houston at UCF @ 6pm on ESPN+
- 4. Tennessee at 17. South Carolina @ 6pm on ESPN2
- 2. UConn at 8. Marquette @ 7:30pm on FS1
- 20. BYU at 6. Iowa St @ 8pm on ESPN2
- Vanderbilt at 15. Kentucky @ 8pm on SEC
- 22. Utah St at San Jose St @ 8:30pm on CBSSN
- Thurs 3/7
- Washington at 18. Washington St @ 8pm on FS1
- 5. Arizona at UCLA @ 8:30pm on ESPN
- Fri 3/8
- VCU at 25. Dayton @ 6pm on ESPN2
- Boise St at 21. San Diego St @ 9pm on FS1
- Sat 3/9
- Arkansas at 16. Alabama @ 11am on ERSPN
- 6. Iowa St at Kansas St @ 1pm on ESPN2
- 10. Creighton at Villanova @ 1:30pm on FOX
- 17. South Carolina @ Mississippi St @ 1:30pm on SEC
- 25. South Florida at Tulsa @ 2pm on ESPN+
- 14. Kansas at 1. Houston @ 3pm on ESPN
- 15. Kentucky at 4. Tennessee @ 3pm on CBS
- 8. Marquette at Xavier @ 4pm on FOX
- 11. Baylor at Texas Tech @ 5pm on ESPN2
- 7. UNC at 9. Duke @ 5:30pm on ESPN
- Georgia at 13. Auburn @ 5:30pm on SEC
- 2. UConn at Providence @ 7pm on FOX
- New Mexico at 22. Utah St @ 7:30pm on CBSSN
- Oklahoma St at 20. BYU @ 8pm on ESPN+
- 5. Arizona at USC @ 9pm on ESPN
- Sun 3/10
- Wisconsin at 3. Purdue @ 11:30am on FOX
- MVC Tournament Final @ 1pm on CBS
- 12. Illinois at Iowa @ 6pm on FS1
Basketball – NCAAW: (only reporting ranked vs ranked)
- Thurs 3/7
- ACC Tournament – 2nd round: TBD vs 24. Louisville @ 10am on ACC
- Fri 3/8
- ACC Tournament – Quarterfinal: TBD vs 14. Notre Dame @ 10am on ACC
- SEC Tournament – Quarterfinal: TBD vs 1. South Carolina @ 11am on SEC
- Big Ten Tournament – Quarterfinal: TBD vs 4. Ohio St @ 11:30am on BTN
- ACC Tournament – Quarterfinal: TBD vs 11. Vtech @ 12:30pm on ACC
- ACC Tournament – Quarterfinal: TBD vs 10. NC St @ 4pm on ACC
- SEC Tournament – Quarterfinal: TBD vs 8. LSU @ 5pm on SEC
- Big Ten Tournament – Quarterfinal: TBD vs 3. Iowa @ 5:30pm on BTN
- ACC Tournament – Quarterfinal: TBD vs 20. Syracuse @ 6:30pm on ACC
- Big Ten Tournament – Quarterfinal: TBD vs 12. Indiana @ 8pm on BTN
- Sat 3/9
- Big East Tournament – Quarterfinal: TBD vs 9. UConn @ 11am on FS1
- SEC Tournament – Semifinal @ 3:30pm on ESPNU
- SEC Tournament – Semifinal @ 6pm on ESPNU
- Big East Tournament – Quarterfinal: TBD vs 21. Creighton @ 6pm on FS2
- Sun 3/10
- Big Ten Tournament – Final @ 11am on CBS
- SoCon Tournament – Final @ 11am on ESPNU
- ACC Tournament – Final @ 12pm on ESPN
- Big East Tournament – Semifinal 1 @ 1:30pm on FS1
- SEC Tournament – Final @ 2pm on ESPN
- Atlantic 10 – Final @ 3pm on ESPN2
- Big East Tournament – Semifinal 2 @ 4pm on FS1
- Pac 12 Tournament – Final @ 4pm on ESPN
- Big South Tournament – Final @ 5pm on ESPN2
- Mon 3/11
- Big 12 Tournament – Semifinal @ 1:30pm on ESPN2
- Big 12 Tournament – Semifinal @ 4pm on ESPN2
- Tues 3/12
- Big 12 Tournament – Final @ 8pm on ESPN2
Golf:
- Thurs 3/7
- The Arnold Palmer Invitational – Round 1 @ 1pm on Golf Channel
- Fri 3/8
- The Arnold Palmer Invitational – Round 2 @ 1pm on Golf Channel
- Sat 3/9
- LIV: Hong Kong – Round 2 @ 11:30am on CW
- The Arnold Palmer Invitational – Round 3
- @ 11:30am on Golf Channel
- @ 1:30pm on NBC
- Sun 3/10
- The Arnold Palmer Invitational – Final Round
- @ 11:30am on Golf Channel
- @ 1:30pm on NBC
- LIV: Hong Kong – Round 3 @ 12pm on CW
- The Arnold Palmer Invitational – Final Round
Hockey:
- Tues 3/5
- Blues at Islanders @ 6:30pm on hulu
- Wed 3/6
- Sabres at Maple Leafs @ 6pm on TNT
- Red Wings at Avalanche @ 8:30pm on TNT
- Thurs 3/7
- Blues at Devils @ 6pm on ESPN
- Fri 3/8
- Sat 3/9
- Hurricanes at Devils @ 11:30am on ABC
- Penguins at Bruins @ 2pm on ABC
- Sun 3/10
- Oilers at Penguins @ 12pm on TNT
- Predators at Wild @ 2:30pm on TNT
Motorsports:
- Sat 3/9
- F1: STC Saudi Arabian GP @ 11am on ESPN2
Soccer:
- Mon 3/4
- Premier League: Sheffield U vs Arsenal @ 2pm on USA
- Wed 3/6
- CONCACAF Champions Cup: Phil Union vs CF Pachuca @ 2:30am on FS1
- Thurs 3/7
- CONCACAF Champions Cup: HOU Dynamo vs Columbus Crew @ 4am on FS1
- Fri 3/8
- CONCACAF Champions Cup: Nashville SC vs Inter Miami CF @ 12am on FS1
- Sat 3/9
- Premier League: ManU vs Everton @ 6:30am on USA
- Premier League: Crystal Palace vs Luton Town @ 9am on USA
- Premier League: Teams TBD @ 11:30am on NBC
- Sun 3/10
- Premier League: Ashton Villa vs Tottenham @ 8am on USA
- Premier League: Liverpool vs Manchester City @ 10:45am on USA
