Ness’s Notes (January 19)
Duke (81-68), Florida (113-62) and Pittsburgh (76-68) all won last night and will head into the weekend as the only three undefeated teams remaining in the nation. Illinois won its first 29 games last year before losing its regular season finale at Ohio State, 65-64. The Illini then won the Big-10 tournament and went all the way to the national championship game, where they lost to the Tar Heels, 75-70.
Two years ago, Stanford won its first 29 games but, like Illinois, lost its regular season finale in Washington. That same year, St Joe’s won all 27 of their regular season games, but lost their first game in the Atlantic-10 tournament. The last team to finish a season undefeated was Bob Knight’s Indiana Hoosiers in 1975-76 at 32-0.
My free game for Thursday is varsity hoops. Take Washington State over Oregon at 10:00 ET. I won TWO of three on CBB last night and am now 7-3 70% ATS since last Saturday. Get my 20* CBB Rivalry GOY, my latest 15* CBB Winner (with a 4-1-1 start in January), and my CBB TV Game of the Month. Pay only AFTER you win!
There are 31 games on the college hoops board tonight. ESPN presents a doubleheader with North Carolina visiting Virginia at 7:00 ET and Cincinnati at Xavier at 9:00 ET. ESPN2 has an MWC game at 9:00 ET, Utah at Air Force. The Tar Heels, despite losing four players to last year’s NBA lottery, are 10-3.
Three freshman guards plus 6-9 freshman Tyler Hansbrough (scoring and rebounding leader) have joined returning players Terry and Noel to give Roy Williams a much better team than he expected. most expected. Virginia let go of Pete Gillen after a disappointing seven years, but new head coach Dave Leitao hasn’t had much luck thus far, as the Cavs are 8-6. North Carolina is favored by three points with a total of 143.
Cincinnati is without head coach Bob Huggins for the first time in 17 years and just lost a key player of the year, forward Armein Kirkland, to a torn ACL. Cross-town rival Xavier is ‘loaded’ and opened 11-2, losing only to Illinois (by three points at the United Center) and Creighton, 71-69 (Blue Jays are 9-0 at home). Xavier is a five-point pick and the total is 139 1/2.
In Colorado Springs, the Air Force welcomes Utah. Despite their third coach in three years (former Nugget coach Jeff Bzdelik) and the loss of last year’s co-player at MWC (Nick Welch to injury), the Falcons are 15-2. The Utes are no longer the dominant team in the league, entering just 8-7 and that is reflected in the fact that they are underdogs by 10 1/2 points (total is 114 1/2).
The NBA has only two games tonight, but both are on TNT. The Pistons are in New York to take on the Knicks (Detroit is a nine-point favorite with 190 1/2 total) and the Lakers are in Sacramento to take on the Kings (LA is a 2 1/2-point pick with a total of 206).
The Pistons are doing well these days without Larry Brown, as their 31-5 mark is the best in the league and marks the best start in franchise history. Brown, who now coaches the Knicks, enters this game with a 13-24 record. The Lakers and Kings are no longer the elite teams in the Pacific Division. LA has won six of seven goals just a 21-17 record. As for the Kings, they enter this game just 16-21. This game begins an 11-game stretch in which the Lakers will play NINE of those games on the road.
NFL Playoffs… A look in the rearview mirror.
I am NOT a “conspiracy advocate” but the way I see it, the NFL has two options! You can acknowledge that your teams of on-field umpires and replay officials above (supposedly selected for the postseason as the best in the league) are either trying to “sway” the outcome of the games, or are just INCOMPETENT!
Years ago, when I was doing a talk show on national radio, I made the following tongue-in-cheek comment. My quote was “NFL officials are there to make sure the players do NOT decide the outcome of the games.” After the games this past weekend, I think it’s time to get my tongue out of my cheek!
While the NFL has admitted that its officials ‘botched’ the ruling on Polamalu’s interception of Manning in the Pittsburgh/Indianapolis game, that’s the LEAST of the league’s problems, when it comes to the “integrity” of the game. . I’ll just give a few examples because more would just PILE UP!
The pass interference call to the Patriots’ Asante Samuel late in the second quarter of a game New England led 3-0 was nothing short of ‘criminal!’ The flag arrived LATE and was made by the official who could not see what kind of contact there was, wasn’t, or who was making the contact, by the two players themselves. His ABSURD call (on replay it looked more like OFFENSIVE pass interference than defensive!), changed the ‘tone’ of the game.
In the Pittsburgh/Indy game the next day, with Pittsburgh already leading 14-0 in the second quarter, a Steeler WR had beaten the Indy 2ndy on a deep route. Roethlisberger threw under the ball and as the Pittsburgh receiver slowed down to catch it, the Indy player hit him. That’s an OBVIOUS pass interference call. However, the field referee ‘swallowed’ the whistle. TV commentators wondered aloud how the play they had just seen was NOT pass interference, when the play in the NE/Den game the night before, WAS?
Are they really that naive or are they just being good “company” men? I’m afraid the answer is quite simple. A pass interference call on Indy in that situation would have put Pittsburgh in great spot to go up 17-0 or 21-0. So the call did NOT go through! Later, the “rule of thumb” for Polamalu’s interception of Manning followed the same “theme.”
In the Carolina/Chicago game, the Panthers scored on their second offensive play of the game and led 7-0. When Julius Peppers returned a Justin Gage fumble 37 yards for a TD later in the first quarter, the Bears were ‘saved’ by a replay official who ruled Gage’s knee was down (and he was tagged), before of the loose ball. Is that what you CONCLUSIVELY saw in the replay? What is a better game situation? Carolina leading 14-0 or just 7-0? I think we all saw the answer.
Later in the game (4th quarter), Chicago’s Thomas Jones was ruled to have scored a TD on a seven-yard run. The replays CLEARLY showed that he not only fumbled before he crossed the goal line, but the ball also went into the end zone for a touchback. Just as clearly, however, the Panthers received a mask penalty. That ‘saved’ the replay officials from having to rule it would be Carolina’s ball at their own 20-yard line. We’ll never know what kind of ‘story’ they might have come up with if it wasn’t for the facemask penalty.
Anyway, he’s back at work this weekend and I’ll be leaving my grandstand with NFL coverage Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Ness Notes is available Monday at 1:00 ET and Saturday and Sunday at 7:00 ET.