Betting news, trends, odds and predictions from various handicappers and websites.
Top six college basketball conferences:
1- SEC
2- Big X
3- Big 18
4- Big East
5- ACC
6- Mountain West
Quote of the Day
“Be helpful. When you see a person without a smile, give him yours.”
Zig Zigler
Friday’s quiz
Last time the Cleveland Browns played in a playoff game, who was their QB?
Hint: He is still active in the NFL
Thursday’s quiz
Other than the Jets, Denver Broncos have gone the longest since the last time they were in the playoffs- 2015 was last time they made the playoffs.
Wednesday’s quiz
Other than UConn (won last two titles), Kansas was the last team to win a college basketball national championship.
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Friday’s Den: Random stuff with the weekend here…….
— Browns 24, Steelers 19
Browns drove 45 yards, scored game-winning TD with 0:54 left.
Steelers had scored two TD’s in 1:42 span to take a 19-18 lead.
Steelers’ first five drives: 32 plays, 157 yards, 3 points.
Cleveland led 10-3 at halftime.
Only second time this year Cleveland scored more than 18 points.
Loss ends Pittsburgh’s five-game winning streak.
WR Jeudy caught six passes for 85 yards on a snowy night.
Steelers were 7-16 on third down, Cleveland 1-10.
Browns did convert all four tries on 4th down.
Last two games, Steelers scored two TD’s on 21 drives.
— Georgia Tech 30, NC State 29
Tech drove 75 yards in 1:08, scored game-winning TD with 0:22 left.
NC State had taken a 29-23 on a touchdown with 1:30 left.
Wolfpack ran ball for 253 yards (8.7 yards/carry), but still lost.
— Shohei Ohtani won MVP in National League, despite only being a DH and having Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman as teammates. Ohtani hit 54 homers, stole 59 bases; he is the first-ever 50-50 guy, I get that, but make the award Player of the Year then.
Aaron Judge won MVP in the American League; he hit 58 homers, knocked in 144 runs, had an OPS of 1.159. Judge makes $40M a year; the Mets are offering Juan Soto $47M a year. Stay tuned for that drama.
— Diamondbacks’ 2B Ketel Marte finished third in MVP voting, so he gets a $3M raise next year, from $16M to $19M. Hope he buys his agent a new car.
— Random trivia: The last time there was a major league game that went extra innings, with both pitchers throwing a complete game, was July 23, 1986 in Anaheim, Brewers-Angels.
Danny Darwin, Kirk McCaskill were the two pitchers; Brian Downing hit a walk-off homer for the Angels. Game only took 2:22 to play.
— While writing that paragraph, it dawned on me that about a week after that game, I was in Anaheim Stadium, for a free scrimmage with the Rams-Chargers. Got to see Dan Fouts throw a football, saw Eric Dickerson, Dieter Brock and the Rams. That was fun, and it was a few days after my first-ever trip to Las Vegas.
— A friend of the website, Mr Bell, sent me some NFL trends to ponder:
Lions are 8-2 ATS on first half lines
Houston Texans are 10-1 ATS in first half
Dallas has gone over 1.5 field goals made in eight of ten games.
Any field goal over 47.5 yards in Dallas games: 9-1 (if Aubrey kicks)
Chargers 7-1-1 in first half last nine games.
— Famous birthdays, November 21:
Jack Reynolds, 77
Greg Luzinski, 74
Jamie Lee Curtis, 66
Mark Malone, 66
Steve DeOssie, 62
Hugh Millen, 61
Benoit Benjamin, 60
Mark Ruffalo, 57
James Thomas, 44
Jonny Gomes, 44
Scarlett Johansson, 40
Brock Osweiler, 34
Thursday college basketball notes:
— Baylor 99, St John’s 98, 2OT
Jeremy Roach drained a 3-pointer for the Bears’ walk-off win.
St John’s led by 18 late in first half.
Baylor was 15-29 on the arc, St John’s 14-24.
— Oregon 78, Oregon State 75
These rivals parted ways when the Ducks bolted to the Big 18; too bad.
Beavers led by 12 with 11:49 left in game; they had 17 offensive boards.
Oregon State is playing in the WCC this year; that’ll be interesting.
— Drake 80, Miami 69
Drake has a new coach, who brought four players with him from D2 Northwest Missouri State; Bulldogs shot 59% inside the arc, beat an ACC team.
One small problem; Drake plays FAU Friday and three of their starters played 39 or 40:00 in this game.
— Seton Hall 69, VCU 66 OT
VCU led by 8 with 11:22 left in game; they were only 9-37 on the arc.
Seton Hall shot 37% inside arc, had 18 turnovers; not good.
They said on TV “Seton Hall doesn’t have a point guard” Also not good.
— FAU 86, Oklahoma State 78
Owls were 35-49 on the foul line; 49 FT’s in a college game is a lot.
FAU outscored the Cowboys 52-39 in second half.
FAU had split its previous two games, both of which went to OT.
— Teams scoring highest %age of points on 3-pointers:
Indiana State
Utah
Furman
Akron
Niagara
— Teams whose roster has the least continuity:
West Virginia
Tennessee-Martin
Niagara
Missouri State
IU Indy