Basketball-NBA: KD out with knee. Irving doubles down. Standings.
Basketball-NCAAM: Zaga back on top. Tons of upsets this week including multiple multiples.
Football-NCAAF: Georgia wins! Kiffin hires brother.
Football-NFL: Wild Card games recap.
Olympic Sports: Beijing 2022 no fans. Mikaela hits 47 slalom WC record.
Tennis: AUS Open. Djokovic goes back home.
Basketball-NCAAM:
- NCAAM season. It was carnage in the Top 25. 9 teams lost on Saturday alone! 8 lost to unranked teams. #16 USC, who was undefeated coming into the week, lost twice to Stanford and Oregon. Tuesday had 3 ranked vs ranked games. Baylor was the only upset but #4 Auburn beat #24 Alabama to put their name in for the top spot. #9 Kansas beat #15 Iowa St by 1. Seton Hall also lost 2xs this week, dropping them out of the top 25. Oregon beat #3 UCLA in OT 84-81 to mark the Ducks’ HC Dana Altman’s 700th Then 2 days later went on to beat #5 USC. #14 Villanova beat #17 Xavier in battle of the ranked Big East. #10 Michigan St got upset 64-62 to Northwestern. #12 LSU lost to Arkansas. #24 Alabama was dropped from the rankings after they lost to #4 Auburn then unranked Mississippi St. In last night’s MLK Day game, #4 Purdue beat #17 Illinois in 2OT.
- Baylor may have broken the #1 losing streak initially but it appears to have caught up to them. They are the first #1 team in history to lose back-to-back home games. The first was to Texas Tech and then second to Oklahoma St, of which they only led for 16 seconds. Their undefeated streak ends at 21 (which dated back to last season). Gonzaga is the new #1. Auburn had more #1 votes than the Bulldogs but Gonzaga had more overall votes.
- 3 games postponed
Basketball – NBA:
- Net’s KD suffered a knee injury during the 2Q of the Pelicans game that is expected to keep him out for 6 weeks. This was just after Kyrie Irving was back and the team was really starting to pick up steam. Irving has been pressed if this injury will change his mind on the COVID vaccine – he says he is not changing his mind.
- Standings (half way through)
- East: Bulls –> Heat –> Nets
- Last in: Celtics
- First Out: Knicks (sitting with more wins than the Raptors but also more losses)
- West: Suns –> Warriors –> Grizzlies
- Last in: Trail Blazers
- First Out: Kings (although they have the same amount of wins)
- East: Bulls –> Heat –> Nets
Football-NCAAF:
- Georgia’s draught is over. After 41 years, the Bulldogs have another national championship! Georgia took their revenge on Alabama after losing 41-24 in the SEC Championship game, they come back to win this one for the marbles 33-18. In a game that didn’t have any TDs until late in the 3rd Q, the score was 9-6 at half. Georgia scored the first TD with only 1:20 in the 3rd but Alabama came back to score a TD after Georgia’s QB Stenson Bennett fumbled. He then rebounded and threw at 40-yard TD pass to make the score 26-18 with 3:37 to go. Heisman QB Bryce Young then had a chance to tie to game but a pick six sealed the game for Georgia. Congrats Bulldogs! And all the feels from QB Stenson Bennett.
- Ole Miss HC Lane Kiffin hired his brother as co-DC. But just if you’re starting to think this sounds a little fishy, he has already done a stint at Ole Miss under Hugh Freeze in 2012-2016. Before this move, Chris Kiffin was the d-line coach for the Browns.
Football-NFL:
- Wild Card Recap:
- AFC: The Bengals put up 20 points in the first half to win 26-19 over the Raiders. Carr almost pulled off another game-winning walk off drive but came up short. The Bills put the beat down on the Patriots. That game was over by half with the Bills leading 27-3. And the Chiefs beat the Steelers 42-21 with a killer 21 point 2nd Mahomes had 5 TDs and threw for 404 yards.
- NFC: The Bucs dominated the Eagles 31- 15 but all of Phili’s points came during trash time in the 4th The 49ers beat the Cowboys 23-17 with another game with double-digit penalties for the Dallas team (14 for 89 yards). For the first time ever, Wild Card games extended into Monday night where the Rams beat down on the Cardinals to give Matthew Stafford his first playoff win 34-11. OBJ even had a beautiful 30 yard pass (yes pass).
- Texans have fired their HC Davis Culley after just 1 season, granted that was a 4-13 season but still. Culley was the oldest first time HC in the NFL at the age of 65. The Houston team’s record was the same as the previous year under an interim HC and with a hugely depleted roster and just 1 first-round pick in the last 4 years. The future does not look bright.
Golf:
- Masters Champion Hideki Matsuyama was 5 back at the turn but went on to win the Sony Open. Hideki shot a 63 during the final round to force a playoff between himself and Russell Henley. Russell didn’t stand a chance after Hideki’s tee shot. His 3 wood landed his ball 3 feet from the hole for an eagle on the 18th (1st playoff hole). Hideki shot -23, and his 13th consecutive round in the 60s, going back to the CJ Cup in Vegas.
Olympic Sports:
- The Beijing Games will only be offering tickets to ‘selected’ spectators due to COVID. No fans from outside the country were allowed initially anyway but now no tickets will even go to the CHN people. Athletes and staff of the games will be in a tightly controlled bubble that includes transportation and everything – even their trash will be separate from the rest of the city.
- USA Mikaela Shiffrin won her 47th slalom WC race; this is the most ever in a single discipline. The previous record was 46 by SWE Ingemar Stenmark in the Giant Slalom (GS). SLO Petra Vlhova had won 5xs already this season and had secured the World Cup title 2 races before the end of season. This rivalry will be one to watch for Beijing!
- The USA bobsled team had some surprises on it. Elana Meyers Taylor was not one of those making her 4th games. As did Kallie Humphries although this will be her first as an American (prev CAN for Vancouver, Sochi and Pyeongchang). 9 sliders were not apart of the 2018 games. Olympic veterans Lolo Jones and Lauren Gibbs did not make the squad despite having world titles and Olympic medals. The men’s team has 6 Olympic newbies.
- Meyers Taylor also clinched her season long points title for the USA in SUI this weekend despite a GER medal sweep. She mainly won due to her willingness to compete in the LAT WC event on NYE.
- RUS 15 year old Kamila Valieva won the Euro title by 22 points on Saturday, She is one of the favorites for this year’s Olympic Gold medal.
- Even though this is soccer, I put this in Olympic sports for now. Soccer fans in Mexico will be given a 5 year ban if they are found to be ones that chanted anti-gay slurs. FIFA announced this new restriction on Monday and will go into effect immediately These new measures will be tested for the World Cup Qualifiers on Jan 30 vs COS and PAN on 2/1.
Tennis:
- We are in the 2nd round of the Australian Open. Notable names to watch on the men’s side are ESP Raf Nadal and USA Andy Murray. On the women’s side, World #1 Barty is still in as well as the highest paid female athlete last year, Noami Osaka. USA Sloane Stephens was beaten in round 1 by Emma Raducanu as was USA Ferandez. A name you won’t see: Novak Djokovic. He was deported Sunday night and flew home to Serbia. He will not defend his title.
What to watch this week
Basketball-NBA:
- Wed 1/19
- Hornets at Celtics @ 6:30pm on ESPN
- Clippers at Nuggets @ 9pm on ESPN
- Thurs 1/20
- Suns at Mavericks @ 6:30pm on TNT
- Pacers at Warriors @ 9pm on TNT
Basketball – NCAAM: Only Top 25 on TV are listed
- Tues 1/18
- IUPUI at 19. Ohio St @ 6pm on BTN
- Butler at 25. UConn @ 6pm on FS1
- 7. Kansas at Oklahoma @ 6pm on ESPN
- Kansas St at 23. Texas @ 7:30pm on LHN
- 6. Duke at Florida ST @ 8pmon ESPN
- 8. Wisconsin at Northwestern @ 8pm on BTN
- 15. Iowa St at 18. Texas Tech @ 8pm on ESPNU
- 24. Tennessee at Vanderbilt @ 8pm on SEC
- Wed 1/19
- 13. LSU at Alabama @ 6p m on ESPN2
- Marquette at 11. Villanova @ 7pm on CBSSN
- 12. Kentucky at Texas A&M @ 7:30pm on SEC
- Georgia at 2. Auburn @ 8pm on ESPNU
- 20. Xavier at DePaul @ 8pm on FS1
- Thurs 1/20
- Georgetown at 21. Providence @ 4pm on FS1
- 4. Purdue at Indiana @ 6pm on FS1
- UConn at Butler @ 8pm on FS1
- San Francisco at 1. Gonzaga @ 10pm on CBSSN
- 3. Arizona at Stanford @ 10pm on ESPNU
- 9. UCLA at Utah @ 10pm on FS1
- Fri 1/21
- 17. Illinois at Maryland @ 6pm on FS1
- 14. Michigan St at 8. Wisconsin @ 8pm on FS1
- Sat 1/22
- Syracuse at 6. Duke @ 11am on ESPN
- 11. Villanova at Georgetown @ 11am on FOX
- West Virginia at 18. Texas Tech @ 11am on ESPN2
- 12. Kentucky at 2. Auburn @ 12pm on CBS
- Oklahoma St at 23. Texas @ 1pm
- Nebraska at 19. Ohio St @ 1:15pm on BTN
- 5. Baylor at Oklahoma @ 2pm
- Missouri St 22. Loyola Chicago @ 2:30pm on CBSSN
- 7. Kansas at Kansas St @ 3pm
- TCU at 15. Iowa St @ 3pm
- East Carolina at 10. Houston @ 5pm
- 13. LSU at 24. Tennessee @ 5pm on ESPN
- 16. USC at Utah @ 5:30pm
- 9. UCLA at Colorado @ 8pm
- Sun 1/23
- Butler at 21. Providence @ 11am on FS1
- Northwestern at 4. Purdue @ 12pm on BTN
- 20. Xavier at Marquette @ 1pm on FS1
- 3. Arizona at Cal @ 2pm on Pac12
Football-NFL:
- Sat 1/22
- AFC: Bengals at Titans @ 3:30pm on CBS
- NFC: 49ers at Packers @ 7:15pm on FOX
- Sun 1/23
- NFC: Rams at Buccaneers @ 2pm on NBC
- AFC: Bills at Chiefs @ 5:30pm on CBS
Golf:
- Thurs 1/20
- The AmEx – Round 1 @ 2pm on Golf Channel
- Fri 1/21
- The AmEx – Round 2 @ 2pm on Golf Channel
- Sat 1/22
- The AmEx – Round 3 @ 2pm on Golf Channel
- Sun 1/23
- The AmEx – Final Round @ 2pm on Golf Channel
Hockey:
- Wed 1/19
- Maple Leafs at Rangers @ 6:30pm on TNT
- Avalanche at Ducks @ 9pm on TNT
- Thurs 1/20
- Avalanche at Kings @ 8:30pm on ESPN
Motorsports:
- Sat 1/22
- Supercross: San Diego @ 9pm on USA
Soccer:
- Tues 1/18
- Premier League: Brighton vs Chelsea @ 2pm on USA
- Wed 1/19
- Premier League: Leicester City bs Tottenham @ 1:30pm on USA
- Fri 1/21
- Premier League: Watford vs Norwich City @ 2pm on USA
- Sat 1/22
- Premier League: Everton vs Aston Villa @ 6:30am on USA
- Premier League: LeedsU vs Newcastle @ 9am on USA
- Sun 1/23
- Premier League: Arsenal vs Burney @ 8am on USA
Tennis:
- Tues 1/18
- Australian Open – Round 1 @ 1pm on ESPN2
- Australian Open – Round 1 @ 8pm on ESPN2
- Wed 1/19
- Australian Open – Round 2 @ 1pm on ESPN2
- Australian Open – Round 2 @ 8pm on ESPN2
- Thurs 1/20
- Australian Open – Round 2 @ 1pm on ESPN2
- Australian Open – Round 2 @ 8pm on ESPN2
- Fri 1/21
- Australian Open – Round 3 @ 1pm on ESPN2
- Australian Open – Round 3 @ 8pm on ESPN2
- Sat 1/22
- Australian Open – Round of 16 @ 7am on ESPN2
- Australian Open – Round of 16 @ 8pm on ESPN2
- Sun 1/23
- Australian Open – Round of 16 @ 8am on ESPN2
- Australian Open – Round of 16 @ 3pm on ABC
- Australian Open – Round of 16 @ 8pm on ESPN2
