Weekly Updates – Week of December 10th, 2018
Basketball – College: 2 ranked vs ranked match ups this week. UConn retires #50 and #34.
Basketball – NBA: Bulls unhappy with new coach. Kyle Lowry goes scoreless
Football – College: Bowl Games start Saturday. Urban Meyer is retiring. Kyle Murray gets the Heisman Trophy. Kelly Bryant makes a decision.
Football – NFL: Some crazy games this weekend including losses by the Patriots, Texans and Rams. Be sure to check out the Dolphins crazy lateral play.
Olympic Sports: 4 swimmers sue FINA. USA Women’s World Cup draw. USA Gym declared bankruptcy.
Basketball – College:
- UConn will retire #50 and #34 in honor of Rebecca Lobo and Ray Allen, respectively. Lobo was the first UConn player inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame and led the huskies to 35-0 record with their first national championship in 1995. Allen played in the NBA for 15 yrs and was known to be the best 3 point shooter in NBA history.
- #3 ranked prospect Vernon Carey Jr (center) announced he has committed to Duke on Thursday.
- Teddy Allen of Wichita St Shockers was denied his appeal to be able to play this season after transferring from West Virginia.
- Why is this a big deal? Because he moved schools to be closer to Boys Town (which is a village near Omaha, NE, that provides treatment and education to at-risk youth). Allen was in Boys Town as a 17 yr old.
- Texas A&M/ Boston College game will not be played due to travel issues for Boston College. First they had problems with their charter plane further complicated by bad weather. No makeup games has been scheduled yet.
Basketball – NBA:
- Nuggets signed guard Nick Young who was a free agent after playing with the Warriors last year.
- Bulls players had a players only meeting after Jim Boylen’s aggressive coaching style. He has benched starters for long stretches, yelled at the team after losses and held long practices. They had a heart to heart meeting this past week. TBD if it will work.
- Kyle Lowry was scoreless on Friday night in the Raptors/Bucks game going 0-5. The Bucks went onto win that game 104-99.
Football – College:
- Bowl season starts on Friday. See full bowl schedule here.
- Kyler Murray, QB for Oklahoma, is the 2018 Heisman Trophy winner. With this win, Oklahoma is the only school to win back to back years with a QB.
- The Heisman is reserved for the best player in college football but usually goes to a QB (sometimes a RB or WR).
- ICYMI: Urban Meyer will retire after the Rose Bowl game. He has been the head coach for Ohio St since 2012 and previously been head coach at Florida, Utah and Bowling Green. Meyer has been dealing with some health issues which most people speculate is the main reason for retiring.
- Missouri DE Tre Williams was arrested on suspicion of domestic assault. Williams has been suspended. Mizzou will play Oklahoma St on 12/31.
- TCU QB Shawn Robinson is planning to transfer after getting injured during this season. Sophomore Mike Collins won 3 of the last 4 games for the horned frogs. TBD on where Robinson will end up
- More transfer news, Kelly Bryant (previously Clemson’s QB who lost his spot to Trevor Lawrence) has decided to transfer to Missouri.
Football – NFL:
- Cowboys hold off the Eagles in OT (final 29-23) to take the lead the NFC East.
- The Colts handed Houston its first lost since the 1st month of NFL play with a final score of 24-21 on Sunday. The Texans are now 9-4 but still lead the AFC South.
- Dolphins pull off crazy last play with 2 laterals to beat the Patriots 34-33.
- The Jets barely won over the Bills 27-23 on Sunday in the battle of the rookie QBs. Josh Allen was the starting QB for the Bills (last year with Wyoming) and Sam Darnold won the game for the Jets (last year the USC QB).
- The Chiefs won in OT over the Ravens to move to 11-2. They remain 6-0 at home.
- The Bears hand the Rams their 2nd loss of the season after winning 15-6 on Sunday.
- The 49ers and the Steelers both got big wins to move them to 3 wins for the season.
- Division Leaders:
- AFC
- East – Patriots (9-4)
- North – Steelers (7-5)
- Ravens are sitting at 7-6
- South – Texans (9-4)
- West – Chiefs (11-2)
- NFC
- East – Cowboys (8-5)
- North –Bears (9-4)
- South – Saints (11-2)
- West – Rams (11-2)
- AFC
Hockey:
- Seattle is getting a new NHL team! To play 2021-2022 season.
Olympic Sports:
- USA Gymnastics declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy after Larry Nassar fallout.
- 4 Olympic swimmers are suing FINA for antitrust. Katinka Hosszu (hoe-sue) from Hungary, Cate Campbell (AUS), Tom Shields and Michael Andrew from the USA have said that FINA will ban them from their competitions if they also compete in International Swimming League meets (which pay more). TBD on what happens here but this is not unheard of.
- USA will play Thailand, Chile and Sweden in group play for the Women’s World Cup
- World Cup starts with France vs South Korea on 6/7/19.
- 4 former NFL players have made a curling team with a goal of making the Olympics.
- Jared Allen, Marc Bulger, Keith Bulluck and Michael Roos
- Olympian John Benton is their curling coach
Sports to watch this week:
Basketball – College:
- Sat 12/15
- 21. Villanova at 2. Kansas @ 11am on ESPN
- 7. Tennessee at Memphis @ 11am on SEC
- Western Michigan at 5. Michigan @ 1pm on BTN
- Utah at 9. Kentucky @ 4pm on ESPN2
- 1. Gonzaga at 14. UNC @ 6pm on ESPN2
- 8. Auburn at UAB @ 6:30pm on CBSSN
- SD St at 6. Nevada @ 8pm on ESPN3
- Sun 12/16
- Green Bay at 10. Michigan St @ 4pm on BTN
Basketball – NBA:
- Wed 12/12
- Thunder at Pelicans @ 7pm on ESPN
- Raptors at Warriors @ 9:30pm on ESPN
- Thurs 12/13
- Lakers at Rockets @ 7pm on TNT
- Mavericks at Suns @ 9:30pm on TNT
- Fri 12/14
- Pacers at 76ers @ 6:30pm on ESPN
- Thunder at Nuggets @ 9pm on ESPN
Football – NCAA:
Football – NFL:
- Mon 12/10 – Vikings at Seahawks @ 7:15pm on ESPN
- Thurs 12/13 – Chargers at Chiefs @ 7:20pm on FOX
- Sat 12/15
- Texans at Jets @ 3:30pm on NFL
- Browns at Broncos @ 7:20pm on NFL
- Sun 12/16
- 9 games @ 12pm on CBS or FOX
- Depending on your geographical location
- Seahawks at 49ers @ 3:05pm on FOX
- Patriots at Steelers @ 3:25pm on CBS
- Eagles at Rams @ 7:20pm on NBC
- 9 games @ 12pm on CBS or FOX
- Mon 12/17 – Saints at Panthers @ 7:15pm on ESPN
