Weekly Update – Week of March 2, 2020

Baseball – MLB: Kluber is back. Jones is on ESPN. Whitley gets hit in the face. Olympic qualifying postponed.

Basketball – NBA: Zion vs LeBron. Beal ASG snub rebounds. Knicks new president.

Basketball – NCAAM: Who leads what conference. TCU stun Baylor. Dayton still going. Rauf’s retired jersey.

Football – XFL: 2 franchise tags – wildcat style (get it Bengals and Jags)! TX Throwdown – HOU wins.

Golf: Im takes the Honda.

Olympic Sports: Marathon team set. More Russian cover ups. IIHF cancels some worlds. DJ and Shaun White pass on Tokyo.

Baseball – MLB:

• Rangers’ RHP Corey Kluber is back for the first time in 10 months since he broke his arm. He threw 3 innings against the Dodgers on Monday. Last season (when he last pitched in May 2019) he was on the Indians but they traded him to the Rangers.
• HoF 3B Chipper Jones from the Braves is now joining ESPN as a weeknight and holiday game analyst. His on air debut will be March 26^th for the Giants vs Dodger game.
• Rays minor league OF Garrett Whitley was in the face by a foul ball on Monday during a spring training game against the Orioles. He was in the dugout at the time. He is coherent and undergoing x-rays.
• The baseball world has announced that they are postponing its final Olympic qualifying event which was supposed to take place in April in Taiwan over coronavirus concerns. The tournament has been pushed to June. There are only 40 confirmed cases in Taiwan and 1 death.
• The COPID19 virus has also put a big question mark on Japan’s baseball season. Some American players play in Asia to earn more money before coming back to the minors in the states. There will be a medical panel starting on Tuesday for both the baseball and soccer teams in the nation.

Basketball – NBA:

• Zion had his highest career game ever with 35 points against the great, LeBron James and the Lakers. LeBron had 34 points, 13 assists and 12 rebounds and the team needed all of that to hold off the Pelicans to win 122-114.
• The Rockets pulled off a big upset over the Celtics to win in OT 111-110. Russell Westbrook was responsible for 41 points alone.
• Bradley Beal was snubbed for the ASG a couple of weeks ago and since then has been on fire. Last night, Beal scored 34 points against the Warriors. Hes averaged 36 points per game since it was announced that he wasn’t on the All-Star roster. Beal set the franchise record for most games over 25+ points with a current run of 18 games and counting.
• The Knicks have a new president – former player manager Leon Rose. He used to be head of CAA’s basketball division.
• Current Standings:
  • Eastern:
    • Atlantic: Raptors
    • Central: Bucks (clinched)
    • SE: Heat
  • Western:
    • NW: Nuggets
    • Pacific: Lakers
    • SW: Rockets

Basketball – NCAAM:

• Kentucky has clinched the SEC title after their win over #15 Auburn this weekend.
• Dayton also clinched their conference title (the Atlantic 10 for those of you who asked). Dayton has won 18 straight games and did it with 72.3% shooting from the field, their highest % since 1986.
• TCU stunned the Bears on Saturday, winning 75-72, mostly due to Desmond Bane who scored 19 points in the 2^nd half including 8 in a row during the tie breaking run. This was Baylor’s 2^nd loss in 3 games since winning a conference record of 23 games in a row. #1 Kansas is now 1 win ahead of the Bears in conference play, making the Jayhawks the favorite for the Big 12 title. With 4 of the country’s Top 25 be ready for anything, who will claim the title? Baylor has 2 top 25 match-ups left while Kansas only has 1. Both teams play #22 Texas Tech this week!
  • Kansas’s game vs Kansas St was not nearly as entertaining as the first one that ended in a brawl. This time the teams shook hands before the game to signify a clean game.
• LSU retired Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf’s jersey #35 during their game against Texas A&M on Saturday. 5 jerseys have been retired at LSU: Bob Pettit, Rudy Macklin and – Shaq.
• Conferences still up for grabs? American – #25 Houston and Tulsa are tied. ACC – #11 Louisville sits 1 win ahead of the #6 Seminoles (UVA and #7 Duke are one win behind FSU). Big East – Seton Hall is only 2 wins up on #10 Creighton. Big 10 – #9 Maryland leads by 1 win with the #24 Spartans, Illini and Badgers all tied and ready to pounce. Mountain West – the #5 Aztecs have pretty much locked this up with 5 wins over anyone else. Pac 12 – Unranked UCLA sits in the top spot by 1 win over the #14 Oregon Ducks. West Coast – #3 Gonzaga leads by 2 wins over #17 BYU.
• Selection Sunday is March 15^th – Beware the Ides of March people!

Football:

• Jaguars want to franchise tag DE Yannick Ngakoue who wants to be traded and go elsewhere. The tag has a salary of $19.3MM in 2020. This was after signing a new contract broke down last year. Why is he worth so much? Because even though hes only been in the league since 2016, Ngakoue already sits at #2 in franchise history for # of sacks with 37.5.
• This wasn’t the only franchise tag in the news today. The Bengals plan to use one on WR AJ Green. This tag is worth $18.5MM and the team and Green camp have until July 15 to reach a deal. You may not recognize his name from the previous season because he was out due to a multiple ligament tear in his ankle.
  • #GFHint: What is a franchise tag?
    • A Franchise tag is when a team designates that a player, who is about to become a free agent, is integral to their success and binds them to the team for another year, giving them more time to negotiate. Each NFL team only gets 1 franchise tag per year. The player’s salary is guaranteed for 1 year if he decides to play.

• In the Texas Throwdown: the game lived up to the hype that’s for sure! Houston Roughnecks took the W 27-20 after Dallas had 4 turnovers which lead to 21 points. Houston is now the favorite for the championship and the only undefeated team left in the league.

Golf:

• Sungjae Im won his first PGA Tour event at the Honda Classic over the weekend. On one of the hardest courses on Tour, Im carded -6 to win by 1 over Mackenzie Hughes. He won $1.26MM in prize money and a nice trophy but his thoughts were with his home country of South Korea that is battling the coronavirus. He was the rookie of the year last year on Tour and you can see why. He’s a hard worker, playing ore rounds and tournaments than anyone else since the 18-19 season started.

Olympic Sports:

• The US Olympic marathon team is set! This weekend the men and women ran the marathon in Atlanta, GA. It was a brisk 41 degree real-feel with chilly winds.
  • Men: Galen Rupp, Jacob Riley and Abdi Abdirahman
    • This will be Rupp’s 4^th Olympics and Abdirahman’s 5^th Abdi is also the oldest man to make the American marathon team. Riley is a first time Olympian.
  • Women: Aliphine Tuliamuk, Molly Seidel (in her first ever marathon) and Sally Kipyego
• Russia is back at it again. This time the Russian track & field federation admitted to covering up (supplying fake documents for an alibi) missed drug testing for some of its top athletes. The case in particular under investigation was for HJ Danil Lysenko. World Athletics has suspended Russia for doping since 2015 – I am guessing this wont help their argument.
• The International Ice Hockey federation has canceled 6 world championship tournaments in the months of March and April in its lower levels (lower levels of U18 men and women’s). The World Championships for men and women are still on schedule for May in SUI and April in CAN, respectively. It should also be noted that the top division of U18 men and women’s tournament set to play in Michigan in April are still on as well. If you follow hockey and want to know the specific cancellations, please reference this article
• Dustin Johnson has decided to pass on the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Golf was added for the 2016 Rio Games in which plenty of the World’s top golfers opted to skip due to Zika virus concerns. This time its more about the condensed schedule on the PGA Tour and the upcoming FedEx Cup playoffs. The question is who else will follow? Team USA gets 4 golfers if those 4 are in the top 15 in the World Rankings after the end of the qualification period (which ends in July).
  • The Top 4 USA men’s golfers right now are: Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas, Patrick Cantlay and Webb Simpson
• Johnson isn’t the only one skipping Tokyo. Shaun White has also announced that he will not try to qualify for Tokyo in skateboarding. He stated that this decision had no barring on his ability or drive for skateboarding but if he was willing to walk away from snowboarding. The answer is he’s not. White is 33 and is not ruling out Beijing in 2022.

What to Watch this Week

Basketball – NBA:

• Tues 3/3
  • Nets at Celtics @ 6:30pm on TNT
  • 76ers at Lakers @ 9pm on TNT
• Wed 3/4
  • Pacers at Bucks @ 6pm on ESPN
  • Pelicans at Mavericks @ 8:30pm on ESPN
• Thurs 3/5
  • Clippers at Rockets @ 7pm on TNT
  • Raptors at Warriors @ 9:30pm on TNT
• Fri 3/6
  • Heat at Pelicans @ 7pm on ESPN
  • Bucks at Lakers @ 9:30pm on ESPN
• Sat 3/7 – 76ers at Warriors @ 7:30pm on ABC
• Sun 3/8 – Lakers at Clippers @ 2:30pm on ABC

Basketball – NCAA:

• Mon 3/2
  • NC St at 7. Duke @ 6pm on ESPN
  • Texas Tech at 2. Baylor @ 8pm on ESPN
• Tues 3/3
  • Maryland at Rutgers @ 6pm on BTN
  • Michigan St at 16. Penn St @ 6pm on ESPM
  • Tennessee at 8. Kentucky @ 8pm on ESPN
  • Purdue at 18. Iowa @ 8pm on BTN
  • West Virginia at Iowa St @ 8pm on ESPNU
• Wed 3/4
  • Texas A&M at 15. Auburn @ 6pm on ESPN2
  • Villanova at 13. Seton Hall @ 7:30pm on FS1
  • Dayton at Rhode Island @ 8pm on CBSSN
  • Florida St at Notre Dane @ 8pm on ESPN2
• Thurs 3/5
  • TBD vs 5. SD St @ 1:30pm on CBSSN
  • Nebraska at 19. Michigan @ 5:30pm on FS1
  • Illinois at 23. Ohio st @ 6pm on ESPN
  • Houston at UConn @ 6pm on CBSSN
  • Cal at 14. Oregon @ 10pm on ESPN2
• Sat 3/7
  • Villanova at Georgetown @ 11am on FOX
  • Kansas at 22. Texas Tech @ 1pm ESPN
  • Seton Hall at 10. Creighton @ 1:30pm on Fox
  • Colorado at Utah @ 1:30pm on PAC12
  • Louisville at UVA @ 3pm on ESPN
  • Penn St at Northwestern @ 3pm on BTN
  • UNC at 7. Duke @ 5pm on ESPN
  • Stanford at 14. Oregon @ 10pm on FS1
• Sun 3/8
  • Michigan at 9. Maryland @ 11am on FOX
  • Memphis at 25. Houston @ 11am on CBS
  • Ohio St at 24. Michigan St @ 3:30pm on CBS
  • Iowa at Illinois @ 6pm on BTN

Football – NFL:

• Thurs 2/27 – NFL Combine: TE,QB and WR workouts @ 3pm on NFL
• Fri 2/28 – NFL Combine: PK, ST, OL & RB workouts @ 3pm on NFL
• Sat 2/29 – NFL Combine: DL & LB workouts @ 3pm on NFL
• Sun 3/1 – NFL Combine: DB workouts @ 1pm on NFL

Football – XFL:

• Sat 3/7
  • Seattle Dragons at Houston Roughnecks @ 1pm on ABC
  • NY Guardians vs Dallas Renegades @ 4pm on Fox
• Sun 3/8
  • Louis Battlehawks at DC Defenders @ 2pm on FS1
  • Tampa Bay Vipers at LA Wildcats @ 8pm on ESPN

Golf:

• Thurs 3/5
  • Arnold Palmer Invitational – Round 1
    • 1-5pm on Golf Channel
• Fri 3/6
  • Arnold Palmer Invitational – Round 2
    • 1-5pm on Golf Channel
• Sat 3/7
  • Arnold Palmer Invitational – Round 3
    • 11:30pm-1:30pm on Golf Channel
    • 1:30pm – 5pm on NBC
• Sun 3/8
  • Arnold Palmer Invitational – Round 4
    • 11:30pm-1:30pm on Golf Channel
    • 1:30pm – 5pm on NBC

Hockey:

• Mon 3/2 – Oilers at Predators @ 7pm on RSN
• Tues 3/3 – Bruins at Lightening @ 6:30pm on NBCSN
• Wed 3/4
  • Flyers at Capitals @ 6pm on NBCSN
  • Ducks at Flames @ 8:30pm on NBCSN
• Thurs 3/5 – Hurricanes at Flyers @ 6pm on NBCSN
• Fri 3/6 – Blues at Devils @ 9pm on RSN
• Sat 3/7
  • Capitals at Penguins @ 12pm on RSN
  • Canadiens at Panthers @ 6pm on RSN
  • Blue Jackets at Oilers @ 9pm on RSN
• Sun 3/8
  • Golden Knights at Flames @ 6pm on RSN
  • Blues at Blackhawks @ 6:30pm on NBCSN
  • Avalanche at Sharks @ 9pm on NBCSN

Olympic Sports:

• Wed 3/4
  • Cycling: Saudi Tour – Day 1 @ 12pm on NBCSN
  • Cycling: 2020 Tour La Provence – Stage 1 @ 1pm on NBCSN
• Thurs 3/5
  • FIS Cross Country Skiing: World Cup: Men’s Sprint & Women’s Sprint @ 12am on NBCSN
  • Swimming: TYR Pro Swim Series – Day 1 @ 10:30pm on NBCSN
• Fri 3/6
  • Biathlon World Cup: Women’s 7.5km Sprint @ 12am on NBCSN
  • Biathlon World Cup: Men’s 10km Sprint @ 12pm on NBCSN
  • Swimming: TYR Pro Swim Series – Day 2 @ 7:30pm on NBCSN
  • Curling Night in America: USA vs ITA – Men’s @ 8pm on NBCSN
  • Curling Night in America: USA vs SCO – Mixed Doubles @ 10pm on NBCSN
• Sat 3/7
  • Gymnastics: American Cup – Men’s Events @ 4pm on NBCSN
  • FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup: Men’s Downhill @ 9:30pm on NBCSN
  • Speed Skating World Cup: Day 1 @ 11pm on NBCSN
• Sun 3/8 – Gymnastics: Nastia Liukin Cup @ 5pm on NBCSN

Soccer:

• Tues 3/3 – German DFB Pokal: Schalke 04 vs Bayern Munich @ 1:45pm on ESPNU
• Wed 3/4
  • German DFB Pokal: Bayer Leverkusen vs Union Berlin @ 11:30am on ESPNU
  • German DFB Pokal: Eintracht Frankfurt vs Werder Bremen @ 1:45pm on ESPNU
• Thurs 3/5 – SheBelieves Cup: USA vs ENG @ 6pm on ESPN2
• Sat 3/7
  • Premier League: Liverpool vs AFC Bournemouth @ 6:25am on NBCSN
  • Premier League: Arsenal vs West Ham United @ 8:55am on NBCSN
  • Premier League: Burnley vs Tottenham Hotspur @ 11:25am on NBCSN
  • USL Championship: San Diego Loyal vs Las Vegas Lights @ 9pm on ESPNNEWS
• Sun 3/8
  • Italian Serie A: Fiorentina vs Brescia @ 6:30am on ESPN2
  • Premier League: Chelsea vs Everton @ 8:55am on NBCSN
  • SheBelieves Cup: USA vs JPN @ 4pm on ESPN
  • MLS: Portland Timbers vs Nashville SC @ 6pm on ESPN