Friday, December 31, 2010

12/31: UConn Women, Hoops, etc.

Greetings...
  • The UConn Women's hoops team lost last night... the fact that any women's basketball game could lead this blog says enough, but UConn had won 90 straight games, and had the longest win streak in this history of American collegiate (or pro) basketball... I actually watched about the last 8 minutes here, and Stanford, who also beat them to "start" the streak, looked fantastic, and Maya Moore shot 5 of 15... anyway... congrats to them on the crazy streak... now they go back to being huge, overwhelming favorites to win the title...
  • NBA Check - New-look Orlando looks better and better.... they got 24 and 18 from Dwight Howard, scored 40 points in the 2nd quarter, and hung on for a 9 point win... San Antonio beats Dirk-less Dallas 99-93... Gary Neal (!) led the Spurs in scoring with 21, and the bench chipped in with 42 points total for SA... nice to see Duncan throw up an ultra-efficient 17 and 11 too (on 9 shots)... and Portland gets a great win over Utah behind Wes Matthews' career-high 30 points, and Camby's 20 boards...
  • NBA Injuries - Kevin Garnett will only be out a few weeks... diagnosed with a calf strain and that's great news for Boston... Brandon Roy now out "indefinitely" with knee issues... their GM Rich Cho said it would be "lengthy"... heartbreaking news for Portland fans (yet again)...
  • Bowl Roundup - UNC/Tennessee was a crazy game... I was locked in to TNT hoops, but I managed to catch a recap of the late-game action, and it was... wow? Heart-breaking for Tennessee when you think you have the game won... and Washington pulls the stunner on Nebraska 19-7... I had picked the Huskies as a 2-touchdown underdog, but never thought they'd win it outright... Chris Polk and Jake Locker combined for 250+ rushing yards, and overcame Locker's 5 of 16 passing game (this didn't help his stock)... but NEB's offense was sincerely ineffective...
What to watch for...
  • Hawks @ Thunder - SportSouth 8:00 - Tough road test for Atlanta... and paging Marvin Williams... we'll need you tonight... look for Russell Westbrook to get wherever he wants on the court all night, and ATL will need to dominate inside...
  • Ohio State @ Indiana - 6:00 ESPN2 - An opportunity to see who I think has been the nation's best player so far this year... OSU Freshman Jared Sullinger...
  • Northwestern @ Purdue - Noon ESPN2 - Purdue looked great against Michigan, and this is a talented team even without Robbie Hummel...
  • Kentucky @ Louisville - Noon CBS - Great game here... old school rivals on national TV and the chance to see who looks sleazier between Pitino and Calipari...
  • Minnesota @ Michigan State - 4:00 Big Ten Network - two top-20 teams here, and Michigan State needs to wake up any day here...
And of course, Bowls...
  • South Florida/Clemson - Meineke Car Care Bowl - Noon ESPN
  • Notre Dame/Miami - Sun Bowl - 2:00 CBS
  • Georgia/UCF - Liberty Bowl - 3:30 ESPN
  • South Carolina/Florida St. - Chick-Fil-A Bowl - 7:30 ESPN
Stay tuned for the NFL Preview (posting tomorrow) as I am out of town for the next 36 hours... I'll wrap-up all the bowl action upon return...

1 comment:

Jupiter Family said...

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