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Big East Basketball Overview

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Big East basketball has gotten more than its share of news lately, as the league’s seven Catholic universities have decided to leave the league and protect themselves from football-driven realignment. For now, on the basketball floor, we still have another unwieldy 16-team conference race to look forward to, and the Big East has six teams in the Top 25, with three in the Top 10. The conference got a signature win today when Louisville beat Kentucky. With Big East games beginning on New Year’s night, let’s break down the conference landscape.

Pac-12 Basketball Overview

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There’s two things you can count on when it comes to Pac-12 basketball. They’ll always get short shrift in the NCAA Tournament selection process, sometimes justified, sometimes not. And they’ll always produce an exciting conference race. This year might not get the exciting championship race, but there’s a lot of fluidity and potential dark horses in the middle. Pac-12 games begin this coming Wednesday, January 2, so let’s get a handle on how the league is shaping up.

Big Ten Basketball Overview

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The eyes of the Big Ten world might be on the college bowls right now, as January 1 approaches, but there’s another sport this conference is actually excelling it, where league play is at hand. Big Ten basketball has five ranked teams, three in the Top 10 and begins conference games on New Year’s Eve. TheSportsNotebook seeks to concisely break down the Big Ten basketball landscape…

NFL Week 17: The NFC’s Last Battles

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The NFC is where the action is in NFL Week 17. While there are some important battles for the top three seed positions in the AFC, it’s the NFC that has two “win-or-go-home” games, a division title and bye still to settle, plus the prospect of two major market teams that looked home free as recently as three weeks ago needing help. On the season’s closing week, with all divisional games on the schedule and both CBS & Fox having doubleheaders, it’s an ideal day for all-day football and we begin with the NFC tripleheader that will sort out most of the playoff picture…

College Bowl Season: The Big 12’s Chance To Step Up

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The Big 12 has spent the regular season building a credible record as the nation’s best conference, with nine of ten teams going to bowl games, with Kansas State being a legitimate part of the national elite and Oklahoma not far behind. But just as championships aren’t won in September, nor is an honor for the nation’s best conference. The Big 12 needs to make a definitive case in the bowls, on Saturday night there are two noteworthy games. Texas plays Oregon State, followed by TCU matching up with Michigan State in an ESPN sequence beginning at 6:45 PM ET. It’s these two games that will serve as TheSportsNotebook’s focal point, as we preview the 11 games coming up on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, as college bowl season heats up.

The Numbers Say NFL Homefield Advantage Still Matters

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There’s a theory floating around NFL fandom and the media that says homefield advantage in the playoffs no longer matters—or at the very least is no more than an incidental edge. We can give our main thanks to Eli Manning for this theory, and to a lesser extent to Aaron Rodgers. Over the last five years, Eli’s Giants and Aaron’s Pack have won a combined three Super Bowls coming out of the first round, with a road record of 8-0. Conversely, those same quarterbacks have each seen their team lose in the second round as #1 seeds (2008 Giants, 2011 Packers). So is the theory true? Is getting to the dance all that matters, or is there still something to be said for favorable seeding?

How The Miami Heat Are Measuring Up

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We’ll start this post off by wishing everyone a Merry Christmas from TheSportsNotebook. While sports are an essentially insignificant part of this holiday’s ultimate meaning, this is a sports website, and that means it’s time for some for more NBA coverage. Since the season began at the end of October, we’ve covered the league’s contenders. All but one. And the most important one at that and it’s the Miami Heat. As we get set for a Finals rematch on Christmas afternoon between Miami and Oklahoma City (5:30 PM ET, ABC), let’s see how last year’s champs are doing.

NFL Win Props: How Teams Have Done Against Vegas Expectations

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When TheSportsNotebook did its preseason previews in the NFL, a focal point was noting what Las Vegas pegged as each team’s Over/Under number on win totals. With one game to go, it’s time for a review of those numbers. The review serves a dual purpose—to see who were the biggest surprises and disappointments in the eyes of those who put their money behind their opinions—and to put TheSportsNoteook’s prognostication competence on the line, since these are the picks I take the most seriously. So it’s with anticipation and trepidation that we review the NFL win props.

Christmas Week Sports: What’s Under The Tree For Fans

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Christmas Week sports is always led by the NBA, with the NFL coming in at the end, and then a mix of a few college basketball games and the start of the glut of minor bowls in college football. TheSportsNotebook is here on Christmas Eve morning to sort out what the fans have on tap…

NBA Championship Dark Horses: LA Clippers, Denver & Atlanta

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TheSportsNotebook continues its buildup to Christmas Day and the NBA, by taking a closer look at three possible NBA championship dark horses. The Los Angeles Clippers finally made a splash last year, winning a playoff series and are off to a hot start this time around. Denver has a good young team and over in the East, Atlanta is off to a strong start. We’ll start our review with the Clippers and Nuggets, since not only are both in the West, but they play head-to-head on Christmas night (10:30 PM ET, ESPN) and then again on New Year’s Day.

NFL Week 16: Giants-Ravens Fight For Survival

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It wasn’t that long ago that Sunday afternoon’s tilt between the New York Giants and Baltimore Ravens looked like a possible Super Bowl preview. It still might end up that way, but both teams are struggling, with the Giants having lost control of their division, and the Ravens fighting to hang on in theirs. It’s this showcase game from Baltimore (4:25 PM ET, Fox) that serves as the focal point of our NFL Week 16 previews, with the NFC East & AFC North up for grabs.

College Bowl Season: The First Movement Through Christmas

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Like a great symphony, the college bowl season functions in movements, and after last Saturday’s opening doubleheader, the first real movement begins tonight. The BYU-San Diego State game kicks off the sequence where the crescendo builds slowly, with six games between now and December 26. The best of the six is Washington-Boise State on Saturday afternoon in Las Vegas and its there where our preview of the first movement will begin.

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