[Posted Sunday PM following Pebble Beach, and Daytona, results….]
Golf Quiz: Name the top ten in the World Golf Ranking heading into this weekend. Answer below.
College Basketball
–Going back to Tuesday…a ton of upsets…
5 Iowa State lost at TCU, 62-55; 7 Nebraska lost to visiting 13 Purdue 80-77; 8 Illinois lost at home to Wisconsin, 92-90 in OT; and Miami beat 11 North Carolina, 75-66.
Carolina suffered a huge loss when freshman forward Caleb Wilson, UNC’s leading scorer and rebounder (19.8 and 9.4), and a top-five pick in the upcoming NBA Draft, is out indefinitely with a fractured left hand, the program announced Thursday.
Wilson suffered the injury in the first half of UNC’s loss to Miami. After in-game X-rays were negative, he returned to play but was ineffective. But upon further examination, the team got the bad news.
Wednesday, I can’t help but note Wake Forest’s road win at Georgia Tech, 83-67, where we actually looked like a solid basketball team for the first time in like six weeks, Juke Harris with 23 points and 13 rebounds, and transfer Mekhi Mason finally having a decent game, 17 off the bench with four assists.
Friday, 23 Miami (OH) moved to 25-0, 12-0, with a 90-74 win over Ohio (13-13, 7-6).
Saturday….No. 1 Arizona (23-2, 10-2) lost again, this time to 16 Texas Tech (19-6, 9-3) 78-75 in overtime, JT Toppin with 31 points and 13 rebounds, while the Wildcats were just 4 of 16 from three.
2 Michigan, the new No. 1 when the AP Poll is released Monday, is 24-1, 14-1, after rolling over UCLA (17-8, 9-5) 86-56.
3 Houston (23-2, 11-1) defeated Kansas State (10-15, 1-11…yuck) 78-64.
4 Duke (23-2, 12-1) had a solid 67-54 win over 20 Clemson (20-6, 10-3).
5 Iowa State (22-3. 9-3) beat 9 Kansas (19-6, 9-3) 74-56, as the Jayhawks’ Darryn Peterson had just 10 points in 24 minutes.
7 Nebraska (22-3, 11-3) whipped Northwestern (10-16, 2-13) 68-49.
11 North Carolina (20-5, 8-4), sans Caleb Wilson, defeated Pitt (9-17, 2-11) 79-65.
Defending champion 14 Florida (19-6, 10-2) beat 25 Kentucky (17-8, 8-4) 92-83.
In an important game for the ACC, 15 Virginia (22-3) had a big win at Ohio State (16-9) 70-66.
Then there was the crazy Big East contest up in Providence, 17 St. John’s (20-5, 13-1) prevailing over the Friars (11-15, 4-11) 79-69.
It was 40-39 Providence, when all hell broke loose. The Friars’ Duncan Powell viciously took down former Providence star Bryce Hopkins as Hopkins was attempting a fast-break layup. In the melee that followed, six players were ejected, including three St. John’s players for coming off the bench, but it sparked the Johnnies, who went on an 8-0 run and never trailed the rest of the way, Dylan Darling leading the way with 23 points and 8 rebounds.
Powell’s play was pure thuggery.
Lastly, Wake Forest (13-12, 4-8) won its second straight, a nice 68-63 win in Winston-Salem over Stanford (16-10, 5-8). Juke Harris with 25 points for the Deacs, 12 of 13 from the free-throw line, while Stanford’s outstanding freshman, Ebuka Okorie, had 26.
The win was huge for Wake in that if the season ended today, they would make the ACC Tournament, separating themselves from Notre Dame, Boston College, Pitt and Georgia
Tech…three of them not making the tourney.
Sunday…8 Illinois (21-5, 12-3) rebounded from its loss to Wisconsin to defeat Indiana (17-9, 8-7) 71-51.
—Last Saturday’s Duke-North Carolina thrilling contest in Chapel Hill, won by the Tar Heels on a 3-pointer by Seth Trimble, averaged 3.5 million viewers on ESPN and peaked at 4.8 million, a 53% spike from the first time the teams faced off in 2025. The game was the most-watched men’s basketball game in the last four years.
The Tar Heels, by the way, were fined $50,000 by the ACC on Sunday, Feb. 7, for fans storming the court, as it was a “violation of the league’s event security policy.”
Duke and UNC play the rematch in Cameron Indoor Stadium on Sat. March 7.
NBA
—Tuesday, the Knicks had an absolutely awful loss at home to the lowly, Tyrese Haliburton-less Pacers, 137-134 in overtime.
So, no way the Knicks, playing the next night in Philadelphia, would win…so us fans thought.
But instead, it was an ass-whupping for the ages! 138-89, the biggest margin of victory the Knicks have ever had over the Sixers. Forty-one assists, new acquisition Jose Alvarado with 26 points in 19 minutes (8 of 13 from three) plus five steals.
Also Tuesday, Victor Wembanyama went off against the Lakers in L.A., Wemby dropped a Spurs-record 37 points in the first half of a 136-108 blowout win, the Lakers without five starters – including Luka and LeBron due to injury. Wembanyama finished with 40.
Speaking of LeBron, his historic NBA All-Star streak will come to an end this season. Due to arthritis in his left foot, James missed his 18th game of the 2025-26 season Tuesday, putting him below the 65-game awards minimum. That means James’ record streak of 21 straight seasons on an All-NBA team is over. Pretty remarkable. That’s a streak you would think will never be broken.
But LeBron was back in the lineup on Thursday, and he became the oldest player to produce a triple-double…28 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists, leading the Lakers to a 124-104 win against the Mavericks.
Winter Olympics
—Entering these Milan Cortina Games, there were three main figures being promoted by NBC, and frankly the only three I really wanted to see “live,” Lindsey Vonn, Ilia Malinin and Mikaela Shiffrin.
What a disaster we had the first week. Lindsey Vonn crashed out of the downhills, and the Games in full, 13 seconds into her run, and Friday afternoon (eastern time), we watched the “Quad God,” Malinin, crash out of the men’s figure skating competition in spectacular fashion.
Malinin was first by a comfortable margin after the short program and proceeded to fall twice, turn a quad into a double, and countless other mistakes in one of the worst choke jobs in Olympic history.
It was stunning…as stunning as Vonn’s quick exit. Malinin was so awful he went from first to eighth, not even coming close to making the podium, Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidorov the deserving gold medalist with a terrific performance. The 21-year-old became the first skater representing Kazakhstan to win an Olympic figure skating title.
Silver and bronze went to a pair of skaters from Japan: Yuma Kagiyama and Shun Sato, who were both far from great, thus showing you further how awful Malinin was.
To his credit, the 21-year-old Malinin exhibited terrific class in warmly congratulating Shaidorov and he stood before the cameras and faced the music. He earned a lot of respect for his actions in a very tough spot and it speaks to his character.
As for Vonn, she posted another injury update Friday, saying she has more surgeries on deck, after already talking about having three on her complicated leg fracture. She is hoping to leave Italy after surgery number four to go home and have a fifth.
You’ve got to feel for her. By all descriptions, what she is going through is very painful (pain medications can only do so much, you know), and she’s been immobile.
Meanwhile, Shiffrin, in the new (terrific) team combined event, one skier doing the downhill, the other the slalom, and the lowest combined time gets the gold, Breezy Johnson did her part, with the fastest time in the downhill Tuesday morning, which seemingly set up a shoo-in medal for her and Shiffrin, likely gold, but then Shiffrin went out and turned the 15th-slowest time of the 18 slalom skiers, which pushed Johnson/Shiffrin to fourth!
Fellow American skiers, Jackie Wiles and Paula Moltzan, actually took the bronze. [Austria’s team of Raedler and Huber took gold.]
Just a massive choke job by Mikaela.
Well, the women’s giant slalom, an event Shiffrin could medal in, was Sunday morning. And it was another less-than-stellar performance, Shiffrin with two clean runs but finishing 11th, Italy’s Federica Brignone winning gold for a second time (the other in the Super-G).
Shiffrin, with a career-record 108 wins in World Cup competition, has just two gold medals in the Olympics, the last in the 2018 giant slalom.
This is her legacy, as she is well aware, and she’d once again not handling the pressure. Olympic pressure, as Ilia Malinin now knows, is totally different.
–If you had to pick a fourth ‘profile figure(s)’ for NBC and Team USA, it was ice dancing duo Madison Chock and Evan Bates, who won silver, just barely behind a French duo, with the French judge awarding their countrymen what most believe to be a wildly better score than they deserved.
–At least Team USA has 21-year-old speed skater Jordan Stolz, who won gold in the men’s 1,000-meters, Stolz chasing down and then passing the Netherlands’ Jenning de Boo on the final lap.
And he won a second gold medal Saturday in the 500 meters. This was supposed to be his weakest event. Two more attempts at gold next week.
—American Ryan Cochran-Siegle won silver in men’s Super-G, which was an upset, Cochran-Siegle with just one podium finish in World Cup competition this year (in a downhill back in December). [Switzerland’s Franjo von Allmen with the gold in both the downhill and Super-G.]
—29-year-old Norwegian star Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo got his eighth career gold medal, tying fellow countrymen Marit Bjoergen, Bjoern Daehlie and Ole Einar for the most ever at the winter Olympics, Klaebo capturing his in cross-country skiing, with thee more events to go for him. He already has three golds at these Games.
And then Klaebo got gold medal No. 9 Sunday in the 4 X 7.5-kilometer relay to become the all-time leader with nine Olympic golds.
Golf Balls
—After the first two rounds of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the first Signature event of the year, we had the following leaderboard….
Akshay Bhatia -15
Ryo Hisatune -15
Rickie Fowler -14
Sam Burns -14
Jodan Spieth, Xander Schauffele, and Hideki Matsuyama among those at -10
Defending champion Rory McIlroy -9.
Scottie Scheffler -6.
In the third, Bhatia got it to -21, before two bogeys on the back nine, but after 54….
Bhatia -19
Collin Morikawa -17
Sepp Straka -17
Jake Knapp -17
Scheffler -11…72-66-67
McIlroy -9
And the story in the fourth round was Scheffler, 8-under through 14, tied for the lead at -19 with Morikawa, Burns and Jacob Bridgeman.
But Scheffler was going to finish over an hour before the others as the weather was forecast to worsen significantly.
And then Scottie had a sloppy bogey on 15, back to -18, while Bridgeman was birdieing 11, -20, to take sole possession of the lead.
But Scheffler eagles 18, his third eagle of the day, to finish -20.
Morikawa -20…13
Burns -20…14
Bridgeman -20…14
Morikawa then birdied 15 and 16 to move to -22, two clear of Scheffler and Min Woo Lee.
Min Woo then birdies 18 to finish -21. But Morikawa is in trouble on the par-3 17th.
Morikawa bogeys 17…-21, tied with Min Woo.
And Morikawa birdies 18, win No. 7, first since 2023. He’s back. And as it’s a Signature event, a cool $3.6 million.
—The PGA Tour has been none-too-subtle in promoting the Players Championship as a fifth major, but Rory McIlroy, in his press conference this week, said of the marketing effort:
“I think the Players is one of the best golf tournaments in the world. I don’t think anyone disputes that or argues that. I think from a player perspective it’s amazing. I think from an on-site fan experience it’s amazing. It’s an amazing golf course, location, venue.
“But I’m a traditionalist, I’m a historian of the game. We have four major championships. If you want to see what five major championships looks like, look at the women’s game. I don’t know how well that’s gone for them (the LPGA has five majors). But it’s the Players. Like it doesn’t need to be anything else.”
McIlroy said he believes the tournament has more of an identity than the PGA Championship, which he won in 2012 and 2014.
Asked how the PGA could change its idea, McIlroy simply used one of its own marketing slogans: “Glory’s last shot. I think it needs to go back to August.”
—Charlie Woods made his college choice, announcing his commitment to play at Florida State in the Class of 2027, Woods a junior at the Benjamin School in Palm Beach, Florida. He will join the top-ranked prospect in that class, Miles Russell.
FSU coach Trey Jones has been seen following Woods on multiple occasions during golf tournaments. He is currently ranked 21st in the American Junior Golf Association rankings.
Charlie is likely to get a substantial NIL deal.
–On the LIV Golf tour, Anthony Kim, who joined LIV in March 2024 after being out of golf for 12 years due originally to a torn Achilles tendon in his left leg and later drug, alcohol and mental health problems, completed an amazing comeback in both golf and sports history.
And he did it this weekend in Adelaide, Australia, outdueling Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau to win by three strokes.
“For it to actually happen is pretty insane,” Kim said. “I just want to thank all the people that have supported me.”
Kim, you’ll recall, was a rising star on the PGA Tour with three wins by age 24 (all three quality tournaments), the last in 2020, when it began to all unravel.
MLB
—Baseball fans, and baseball management, just pray their teams make it through spring training, and this year the World Baseball Classic, without too many injuries and none of the season-shaping kind.
It remains to be seen whether the following will be in the latter category, but three big stars, the Mets’ Francisco Lindor, Arizona’s Corbin Carroll and Baltimore’s Jackson Holliday are having (or had) surgery to replace broken hamate bones in their hands.
This is a complicated injury involving very small bones and delicate surgery.
Mets fans are concerned that while we’re told Lindor, a vital cog, could be ready for Opening Day, or shortly thereafter, even if he returns in mid-April, what kind of power will he have? Most players with hamate bone surgeries require a lot of time before their power returns.
—Justin Verlander signed a one-year, $13 million contract to return to the Tigers, the team that drafted him and a place where he spent the first 13 years of his Hall of Fame career.
The 42-year-old was 4-11 but with a respectable 3.85 ERA in 29 starts for San Francisco last season. You would think he’d retire after this year and go into the Hall in six years (from today) in a Tigers cap.
—In the dark side of the game, a 29-page indictment unsealed Friday revealed that for the first time, former Guardians reliever Emmanuel Clase engaged in an illegal sports gambling scheme during the 2024 postseason.
The indictment revealed Clase had received a text message.
“Throw a rock at the first rooster in today’s fight,” it read.
“Yes, of course, that’s an easy toss to that rooster,” he responded. If there was any confusion, he following up again later. He would throw it “low.”
The language was more than just code; it was part of an alleged effort by Clase and others to rig pitches during Guardians games over two years.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York also revealed that they believe Clase rigged more pitches than they first thought.
The postseason pitch was in the ninth inning of the Guardians’ Game 1 win against the Detroit Tigers in the ALDS. In total, prosecutors have identified 15 times from 2023 through 2025 in which they allege Clase tried to throw pitches to help sports gamblers win their prop bets on him.
In all, co-conspirators netted winnings of at least $450,000, and Clase and teammate Luis Ortiz, who is said to have joined in the operation in June 2025, allegedly received kickbacks for their involvement.
I think it’s rather safe to say neither pitcher will see a big league mound the rest of their lives.
–The Phillies released outfielder Nick Castellanos on Thursday after a tumultuous and disappointing tenure in Philadelphia.
After being released, Castellanos acknowledged bringing a beer into the dugout after being removed from a game in Miami in June.
That led to Castellanos being benched the following game by Phillies manager Rob Thomson, who said at the time the outfielder was being punished for an “inappropriate comment” in the dugout, something the 33-year-old Castellanos addressed Thursday.
He sectioned this part of the note, “Miami incident.”
“As a veteran of the game of baseball, there are rules, and I broke one in Miami,” Castellanos posted on Instagram. “After being taken out of a close ball game in front of my friends and family, I brought a presedente (sic) into the dugout. I then sat right next to Rob and let him know that too much slack in some areas and too tight of restrictions in others are not conducive to us winning. Shoutout to my teammates and Howie [Kendrick, assistant GM, who was in the dugout] for taking the beer out of my hands before I could take a sip. (I appreciate you guys).”
His benching made headlines at the time, in part, because Castellanos had a 236-game starting streak prior to the incident. He also grew up in the suburbs of Miami.
Castellanos, who’s played 13 years in the majors, has one year and $20 million remaining on a five-year, $100 million deal he signed after coming off a career-best year in Cincinnati in 2021.
His time with the Phillies didn’t go well, although he was an All-Star in 2023.
He was reportedly told not to report to spring training and there was no locker for him at the team’s spring training facility in Clearwater, Fla.
–Back when I was first collecting baseball cards, 1966, but really heavily from 1967-70, it was always fun getting an Elroy “Roy” Face card. You’d stare at his 18-1 record in 1959 with the Pirates, in relief, with 10 saves. And in just 57 games. It just didn’t seem true.
Roy Face died this week, just eight days short of his 98th birthday.
“It is with heavy hearts and deep sadness that we mourn the passing of Pirates Hall of Famer Elroy Face, a beloved member of the Pirates family,” Pirates chairman Bob Nutting said in a statement. “I was fortunate to get to know Elroy personally, and I will always be proud that we had the chance to honor him with his induction into the Pirates Hall of Fame.”
Face pitched in the majors 17 seasons, 1953, 1955-69. He was a 3-time All-Star (baseballreference has six, but those were the days they played two All-Star Games) and won a World Series with the Pirates in 1960, saving three games.
For his career, 16 years of it in Pittsburgh, he was 104-95 with 191 saves and a 3.48 ERA. He led the league in saves three times.
Nicknamed “The Baron of the Bullpen,” Face was a groundbreaking pitcher, performing in a role that evolved into the modern-day closer. He holds the National League record for wins in relief (96). Face also holds Pirates franchise records for appearances (802) and saves (188). His 191 career saves mark wasn’t broken until 1982, when Hall of Famer Bruce Sutter surpassed Face’s total.
–Lastly, us baseball fans will savor every minute of the 2026 season because we face Armageddon in 2027 with the mother of all labor disputes looming…the issue of a salary cap, with the owners clearly ready to dig in on it, and the players vehemently opposed, though the other three major sports all have it in one form or another.
I see how compromises could be reached…the owners hiking the player minimum, adding a player to the roster, decreasing time of service before free agency by a year, and more revenue sharing, those kind of player-friendly tweaks to the system, but this will be ugly. And, yes, Kyle Tucker’s absurd contract was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
—The College Baseball season is underway and Baylor’s Tyce Armstrong, a redshirt senior who transferred to the Bears after four seasons at UT Arlington, crushed three grand slams – tying a collegiate baseball record – and drove in 12 runs during a 15-2 win over New Mexico State on Friday.
The NCAA started logging stats in 1957 and Armstrong became just the second player to launch three grand slams in a game, joining Louisville’s Jim LaFountain – who did it in 1976. The feat has never been accomplished by one player in a big-league contest.
Daytona 500
—Kyle Busch won the pole as the driver with the longest active losing streak in “The Great American Race” and has a shot at the victory that has escaped him his entire career…0 for 20. He hasn’t started in the top five since 2016. Busch was a career-best second to teammate Denny Hamlin in 2019.
“Kyle, we’ve got to get him this 500,” said team owner Richard Childress.
No driver has ever won their first Daytona 500 after 20 previous attempts. The late Dale Earnhardt won for Childress in his 20th start in 1998 – three years before Earnhardt was killed in a crash on the final lap of the 2001 race.
So how would it go?
Well, in an exiting finish, I was furiously switching back and forth with Pebble, Tyler Reddick wins it on the last lap amid multiple crashes…his first 500 win, ninth of his career. Kyle Busch finished 15th.
Premier League
–No PL play, as the weekend was filled with FA Cup games.
—Tottenham, in the midst of a horrendous season, fired manager Thomas Frank.
Stuff
—Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss is poised to return to the school for a sixth year of eligibility after a Mississippi judge granted him an injunction against the NCAA this week. Chambliss was one of the best QBs in the country, in leading the Rebels to the College Football Playoff semifinals. He argued he should’ve been granted a medical redshirt in 2022 at Ferris State due to chronic tonsillitis.
Chambliss had sued the NCAA last month after a waiver request for a sixth year was denied Jan. 9 – the day after Ole Miss was eliminated from the Playoff by Miami.
The NCAA can appeal.
–According to a Morning Consult Poll, 20% of Gen-Z adults (1997-2012) identify as “avid” sports fans, compared to 33% of Millennials (1981-96), 27% of Gen-Xers (1965-80) and 26% of Baby Boomers (1946-64).
One-third of Gen-Z respondents said they do not follow sports at all, 19% of Millennials, 24% of Gen-Xers and 20% of Boomers.
Just something to mull over. The networks are certainly looking at the data.
–This is cool…scientists successfully fitted a Sierra Nevada red fox with a GPS collar and released it back into the wild, marking a major victory for conservation efforts to protect it.
Why is this important? It is believed there are fewer than 50 in existence. It was captured on film in 2010, after researchers previously believed the fox was wiped out from the region in the 1920s.
For the last decade, wildlife biologists have been using remote cameras and scat surveys to track the movements of the fox in the southern Sierra. For the last three years, they have been carrying out intensive trapping efforts, but the speedy and delicate animal (7 to 10 pounds) is extremely wary of humans…and for good reason. We are assholes.
The few remaining foxes live in barren, rugged terrain at high elevations.
But in January, years of hard work finally paid off when biologists from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife captured a fox near Mammoth Lakes.
To survive in these tough conditions, the species developed an unusually thick winter coat and extra furry feet that can provide snowshoe-like support as they traverse deep snow.
Unfortunately, their beautiful coat made them attractive prey for trappers.
There are also about 20 Sierra Nevada red foxes living in the Cascade mountain range of Northern California. [L.A. Times]
Top 3 songs for the week 2/16/80: #1 “Do That To Me One More Time” (The Captain & Tennille) #2 “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” (Queen) #3 “Coward Of The County” (Kenny Rogers)…and…#4 “Cruisin’” (Smokey Robinson) #5 “Rock With You” (Michael Jackson) #6 “Yes, I’m Ready” (Teri DeSario with K.C.) #7 “Sara” (Fleetwood Mac) #8 “Longer” (Dan Fogelberg) #9 “On The Radio” (Donna Summer) #10 “Desire” (Andy Gibb…not an awful week…B-…your editor was three months from graduation at Wake…would he make it?…it was close, boys and girls….)
Golf Quiz Answer: Top ten in World Golf Ranking entering play this weekend….
- Scottie Scheffler…17.0368
2. Rory McIlroy…8.4060
3. Justin Rose…5.2082
4. Tommy Fleetwood…5.1663
5. Chris Gotterup…4.6581…four wins since 2024
6. Russell Henley 4.6511
7. J.J. Spaun…4.4682
8. Robert MacIntyre…4.4420
9. Ben Griffin…4.3310
10. Xander Schauffele…4.3155
11.Hideki Matsuyama…4.2486
12. Justin Thomas…4.1819
Brief Add-on up top by Tues. noon.
