Basketball-NBA: Ja Morrant suspended for gun in da club. Knicks > Celtics in 2OT. KD debuted.
Basketball-NCAA: Conference tournament week! Regular season champs crowned. TT HC suspended.
Football – NCAA: Carter arrested for racing and drinking.
Football- NFL: Combine.
Golf: 2 new PGA Tour winners.
Olympic Sports: Stolz American Speed Skating Golds 3xs over. Ledecky 9 year streak over. Diggins wins gold. NCAA W Gym regular season ends with high powered matchups. Paris Olympic ticket trouble.
Coming up this month:
Power 5 NCAA basketball tournaments March 8th, World Baseball Classic March 8th, THE PLAYERS March 9th, World Short Track Speed Skating March 10th, March Madness March 14th , Figure Skating World Championships March 22nd , MotoGP season begins March 26th, NCCA Gymnastics Regionals March 29th , MLB season opener March 30th and W NCAA basketball Final Four March 31st
Basketball – NBA:
- Ja Morant has been suspended for at least 2 games after showing a gun in a night club on social media Friday. Already under scrutiny for 2 other security concerns. It is illegal to possess a gun under the influence of alcohol. The NBA prohibits possessing a firearm while on team property (which he was not) and while traveling on team business. He is under investigation now.
- The Knicks outlasted the Celtics in a 2OT thriller on Sunday night, winning 131-129. Immanuel Quickley had a career high night of 38 points (he replaced starter Jalen Brunson). This win was the 9th in a row for the NY team, a season high streak.
- KD did indeed debut for the Suns on Wednesday and came out scoring 23 points.
Basketball-NCAA:
- NCAAM Losses in Top 25 this week: This is the last week of the regular season so regular season champions are being/have been crowned but I will get to that. Tuesday only saw 2 upsets with #18 San Diego St falling to Boise St. Also Iowa destroyed #15 Indiana 90-68. #22 TCU had a great start to the week beating #9 Texas by 2 and fans storm the court. However on Saturday the Horned Frogs lost to Oklahoma by 14. #19 Xavier beat their ranked conference rival #20 Providence by 5. 13-17 Ohio St beat #21 Maryland by 11. The Terps lost again on Sunday to unranked Penn St by 1 as well. #23 Kentucky fell to Vanderbilt. #25 Pitt tried to come back from a low scoring first half (28 points) with a 2H 53 but it wasn’t enough to beat 11-19 Notre Dame. No upsets til Saturday. #2 Alabama only scored 22 points and lost to #24 Texas A&M in a lower scoring game 67-61. #9 Texas had a nice bounce back win over #3 Kansas. #4 UCLA took down #8 Arizona and ended the conference season 17-0 at home. #7 Baylor fell to Iowa St 58-73. #11 Kansas St fell to West Virginia making the Big 12 a mess. Auburn beat #12 Tennessee by 9. #16 Miami beat #25 Pitt and their fans stormed the court as that solidified the ACC championship for them. #20 Providence took their 2nd L of the week, being upset by Seton Hall on Saturday by 24 points. Yikes!
- Power 5 Conference Regular Season Champions: Purdue won their 25th Big Ten regular season conference championship. UCLA beat Colorado on Sunday as well to tie taking home the first Power 5 regular season conference championship. The Kansas Jayhawks clinched the title on Wednesday after Texas lost to TCU. Alabama won SEC’s on Wednesday after they took down Auburn. Miami sealed the final Power 5 conference after beating #25 Pitt on Saturday.
- It’s championship week! Here are the schedules.
- Texas Tech men’s bball coach has been suspended the week of the Big 12 tournament for racially insensitive comments.
Football – College:
- Ga DL Jalen Carter arrested for drag racing while drinking and driving. The ensuing crash killed 2 (teammate and staffer). Staffer, Lecroy was drunk and was driving one car and Carter was driving the other. They raced each other. This is the 2nd time Carter was charged with speeding once in sept for going double the speed limit (90).
Football – NFL:
- The NFL Combine was this past week so as we gear up for the NFL draft, keep in mind how those players did.
Golf:
- We had a new PGA Tour winner in both events on the Tour this weekend. We expect that from the PR Open but we also had one at the Arnold Palmer. Kurt Kitayama has played on the Asian Tour, Web.com, PGA Tour Canada, PGA Tour China, the Asian Development Tour, the European Tour and now the PGA Tour since he turned pro in 2015. And now is the champion of one of the big events on the PGA Tour, beating a field with the 2022 winner Scottie Scheffler, 2020 winner Viktor Hovland, Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth all within spitting distance.
- Also the Puerto Rico Open saw a rookie winner in Colombian Nico Echavarria. Nico won by 2 shots over Akshay Bahatia and is just the 3rd Colombian ever to win on the PGA Tour. This win gets him into the PLAYERS this weekend and a 2 year exemption to play on the PGA Tour and into the PGA Championship. He actually lives near TPC Sawgrass so now he will actually be able to play instead of watching from his house!
Olympic Sports:
- An American took the 500m speedskating world title at the age of 18 so now Jordan Stolz is the youngest world single distances champ ever. He won the 500m in 34.10, winning by 0.38 seconds beating defending world champ and defending Olympic bronze medalist. That was just the beginning. He went on to win the 500m, 1000m, and 1500m becoming the first individual to win 3 single world championships. In the 500m and 1000m he skated the 2nd fastest time in history. This is a big jump from his Olympic finishes of 13th and 14th
- Katie Ledecky’s 9 year winning streak in the US is over now thanks to CAN Summer McIntosh. Summer touched the wall first in the 200m free at the Pro Series in Florida this weekend. The last time Ledecky lost on home soil was to Allison Schmidt in 2014. As a huge swimming fan, it’s not super surprising as the 200m is her weakest event on her schedule. She tends to go for the longer distances.
- NCAA W Gymnastics regular season ends on Monday between #1 Oklahoma and #4 Michigan. But this weekend was a big test for the Sooners as they hosted #2 Florida, who they beat for the NCAA championship last year. Between the 2 programs, the schools have won 7 of the last 9 nCAA championships, 9 of last 10 NCAA All-Around Champs and both have been in the top 4 in 9 of the last 10 seasons. Oklahoma outscored the Gators by .2, setting the tone in the first 2 rounds. There was a scary moment during the Vault when Florida Victoria Nguyen slipped and fell on her head. The entire stadium went silent but she was ok! It was a great matchup. We begin the post season next week.
- Jessie Diggins became the first American to win an individual cross country skiing world championship title in the 10km race on Tuesday. She won by 14 seconds and is the first person not from Europe to win since 2017. You might remember her name from the best finish by an American ever in an Olympics in Beijing when she took 2nd.
- Paris Olympic ticket trouble with the first round of Olympic tickets. Although Paris bragged that there would be tickets for $26, the first round saw not a lot at that price range. Over 30% of tickets have been sold in this first round. On to the next!
What to watch this week
Baseball/Softball – NCAA:
- Wed 3/8
- Softball: 21. Auburn vs GT @ 1pm on ACC
- Softball: NC Central at NC St @ 6pm on ACC
- Sat 3/11
- Softball: 21. Auburn at 16. Georgia @ 11am on SEC
- Softball: 16. Kentucky at 23. Mizzou @ 1pm on SEC
- Softball: 1. Oklahoma vs Mississippi St @ 3pm on SEC
- Softball: VTech at UNC @ 5pm on ACC
- Softball: 15. LSU at South Carolina @ 5pm on SEC
- Softball: 25. Texas A&M at 7. Arkansas @ 7pm on SEC
- Sun 3/12
- Softball: Ole Miss vs 6. Tennessee @ 11am on SEC
- Softball: 16. Kentucky at 23. Mizzou @ 1pm on SEC
- Softball: Louisville at 14. Duke @ 1pm on ACC
- Softball: 15. LSU at South Carolina @ 3pm on SEC
Basketball – NBA:
- Tues 3/7
- 76ers at Timberwolves @ 6:30pm on TNT
- Grizzlies at Lakers @ 9pm on TNT
- Wed 3/8
- Mavericks at Pelicans @ 6:30pm on ESPN
- Raptors at Clippers @ 9pm on ESPN
- Thurs 3/9
- Warriors at Grizzlies @ 6:30pm on TNT
- Knicks at Kings @ 9pm on TNT
- Sat 3/11
- Bucks at Warriors @ 7:30pm on ABC
- Sun 3/12
- Knicks at Lakers @ 8pm on ESPN
Basketball – NCAA:
- Mon 3/6
- BYU at 17. Saint Mary’s @ 8pm on ESPN
- San Francisco at 10. Gonzaga @ 10:30pm on ESPN2
- Tues 3/7
- ACC: Florida St vs Georgia Tech @ 1pm on ACC
- ACC: Boston College vs Louisville @ 3:30pm on ACC
- Wed 3/8
- ACC: TBD vs Pitt @ 1:30pm on ESPN
- Pac 12: Washington vs Colorado @ 2pm on Pac12
- Pac 12: Washington St vs Cal @ 4:30pm on Pac12
- Big 10: Ohio St vs Wisconsin @ 5:30pm on BTN
- Big 12: West Virginia vs Texas Tech @ 6pm on ESPNU
- ACC: TBD vs UNC @ 6pm on ESPN2/U
- SEC: Ole Miss vs South Carolina @ 6pm on SEC
- Pac 12: Utah vs Stanford @ 8pm on Pac12
- Big 10: Minnesota vs Nebraska @ 8pm on BTN
- Big 12: Oklahoma St vs Oklahoma @ 8:30pm on ESPNU
- SEC: LSU vs Georgia @ 8:30pm on SEC (25m after game 1)
- ACC: TBD vs NC St @ 8:30pm on ESPN2/U
- Pac 12: ASU vs Oregon St @ 10:30pm on Pac12
- Thurs 3/9
- Big 10: Rutgers at Michigan @ 11am on BTN
- TBD at 6. Marquette @ 11am on FS1
- ACC: TBD at 14. Miami @ 11am on ESPN/2
- Big 12: 10. Baylor vs Iowa St @ 11:30am on ESPN2
- SEC: Mississippi St vs Florida @ 12pm on SEC
- ACC: 21. Duke vs TBD @ 1:30pm on ESPN/2
- Big 10: TBD vs Iowa @ 2pm on BTN
- Big East: Providence at 11. UConn @ 1:30pm on FS1
- Big 12: TBA at 3. Kansas @ 2pm on ESPN2
- Pac 12: TBD at 2. UCLA @ 2pm on PAC12
- SEC: TBD at 17. Tennessee @ 2pm on SEC
- TBD at 20. San Diego at @ 2pm on CBSSN
- Pac 12: Oregon vs TBD @ 4:30pm on Pac12
- Big 10: Penn St vs Illinois @ 5:30pm on BTN
- Big 12: TBD at 7. Texas @ 6pm on ESPN2
- ACC: TBD at 13. UVA @ 6pm on ESPN/2
- Big East: TBD at 15. Xavier @ 6pm on FS1
- SEC: Arkansas vs Auburn @ 6pm on SEC
- Big 10: TBD vs Maryland @ 7pm on BTN (25m after prev game)
- Pac 12: TBD at 8. Arizona @ 8pm on Pac12
- SEC: TBD vs Vanderbilt @ 8pm on SEC
- ACC: Clemson vs TBD @ 8:30pm on ESPN/2
- Big East: 24. Creighton vs TBD @ 8:30pm on FS1
- Big 12: 22. TCU at 12. Kansas St @ 8:30pm on ESPN2
- Pac 12: TBD vs USC @ 10:30pm on ESPN
- Fri 3/10
- Big 10: TBD vs 5. Purdue @ 11am on BTN
- American: TBD at 1. Houston @ 12pm on ESPN2
- SEC: TBD at 4. Alabama @ 12pm on ESPN
- Big 10: TBD vs Michigan St @ 2pm on BTN (25m after prev game)
- SEC: TBD vs 25. Mizzou @ 2pm on ESPN
- Big 10: Northwestern vs TBD @ 5:30pm on BTN
- Big East: Semifinal 1 @ 5:30pm on FS1
- SEC: TBD at 18. Texas A&M @ 6pm on SEC
- Big 12: Semifinal 1 @ 6pm on ESPN2
- ACC: Semifinal 1 @ 6pm on ESPN/2
- Big 10: TBD vs 19. Indiana @ 7:30pm on BTN (25m after prev game)
- SEC: TBD at 23. Kentucky @ 8pm on SEC
- Big East: Semifinal 2 @ 8pm on FS1
- Pac 12: Semifinal 1 @ 8pm on Pac12
- Big 12: Semifinal 2 @ 8:30pm on ESPN2
- ACC: Semifinal 2 @ 8:30pm on ESPN/2
- Pac 12: Semifinal 2 @ 10:30pm on ESPN
- Sat 3/11
- SEC Semifinal 1 @ 12pm on ESPN
- Big 10 Semifinal 1 @ 12pm on CBS
- SEC Semifinal 2 @ 2pm on ESPN (25m after semi1)
- Big 10: Semifinal 2 @ 2pm on CBS (25m after semi1)
- Big 12 Final @ 5pm on ESPN
- Big East Final @ 5:30pm on FOX
- ACC Final @ 7:30pm on ESPN
- Pac 12 Final @ 9:30pm on ESPN
- Sun 3/12
- SEC Final @ 12pm on ESPN
- American Final @ 2:15pm on ESPN
- Big 10 Final @ 2:30pm on CBS
Football – XFL:
- Sat 3/11
- Houston Roughnecks at Orlando Guardians @ 6pm on FX
- San Antonio Brahamas at Seattle Sea Dragons @ 9pm on FX
- Sun 3/5
- Arlington Renegades at St. Louis Battlehawks @ 3pm on ESPN2
- Vegas Vipers at DC Defenders @ 6pm on ESPN2
Golf:
- Thurs 3/9
- The PLAYERS – Round 1 @ 11am on Golf Channel
- Fri 3/10
- The PLAYERS – Round 2 @ 11am on Golf Channel
- Sat 3/11
- The PLAYERS – Round 3 @ 12pm on NBC
- Sun 3/12
- The PLAYERS – Final Round @ 12pm on NBC
Hockey
- Tues 3/7
- Sabres at Islanders @ 6:30pm on hulu
- Ducks at Kraken @ 9pm on hulu
- Wed 3/8
- Blackhawks at Red Wings @ 6:30pm on TNT
- Ducks at Canucks @ 9pm on TNT
- Thurs 3/9
- Oilers at Bruins @ 6:30pm on hulu
- Sat 3/11
- Red Wings at Bruins @ 12pm on ABC
- Flyers at Penguins @ 2:30pm on ABC
- Sun 3/12
- Bruins at Red Wings @ 12:30pm on TNT
- Rangers at Penguins @ 3pm on TNT
Olympic Sports:
- Mon 3/6
- Gymnastics: NCAA W: Oklahoma vs Michigan @ 4:30pm on ESPNU
- Sat 3/11
- FIS Freestyle Skiing & Snowboarding World Cup @ 11am on NBC
Soccer:
- Mon 3/6
- Premier League: Brentford vs Fulham @ 2pm on USA
- Tues 3/7
- CONCACAF: Violette AC vs Austin FC @ 5pm on FS1
- CONCACAF: Alianza FC vs Phili Union @ 7pm on FS1
- Sat 3/11
- Premier League: Bournemouth vs Liverpool @ 6:30am on USA
- Premier League: Leicester City vs Chelsea @ 9am on USA
- Premier League: Crystal Palace vs Manchester City @ 11:30am on USA
- Sun 3/12
- Premier League: West Ham vs Aston Villa @ 9am on USA
- Premier League: Newcastle U vs Wolves @ 11:30am on USA
