- UNC women’s basketball coach Sylvia Hatchell spoke to the Raleigh Sports Club yesterday and said that her program isn’t involved in any NCAA allegations, leaning on the same party line that men’s basketball coach Roy Williams and football coach Larry Fedora have used over the past few months.
Sylvia Hatchell said later at the Raleigh Sports Club that she feels there are no allegations against the women’s basketball program.
— Andrew Carter (@_andrewcarter) January 6, 2016
- The only problem for Coach Hatchell, her program has been established as the lone athletics connection to the academic scandal through academic advisor and alleged scandal architect Jan Boxill. UNC fans reacted to Hatchell’s comments in the same manner that most everyone else reacts to Williams and Fedora.
— Brian Barbour (@tarheelblog) January 6, 2016
- Duke beat Wake Forest in a bit of a surprise, turning a close game into a comfortable win where the Blue Devils nearly doubled the 8.5 point Las Vegas spread. The game broke open midway through the 2nd half when Wake wasn’t able to overcome Devin Thomas’ foul trouble while Duke managed to ride Marshall Plumlee, Brandon Ingram, and Luke Kennard while Grayson Allen and Matt Jones were saddled with four fouls each.
- The win meant a lot for Duke, who continues to fight through the loss of senior co-captain Amile Jefferson. It feels like many are ready to throw dirt over the 2016 Blue Devils, and last night set up to be the perfect opportunity to do just that. But somehow, Duke keeps managing to miraculously squeeze whatever they can get from their hall of fame coach and 7 All-Americans.
- Wake Forest drops to 0-2 in the conference in advance of a critical stretch starting this weekend in Raleigh against the NC State Wolfpack. There are no guarantees for the winner, but the loser is likely eliminated from the NCAA Tournament barring an automatic bid from an ACC championship. NC State takes on Louisville tonight in the battle of … okay, no, we’re not going there with the coaches.
- The Hornets lost again, but the good news is they snapped the Suns’ 9 game losing streak. I bet our owner is so sad. How sad? So sad we photoshopped Crying Jordan on his … oh, wait.
- The Tampa Bay Buccaneers fired head coach Lovie Smith yesterday, the same day where the Saints announced that Sean Payton would remain in New Orleans. The vacant position in Tampa still ranks ahead of Payton in the NFC South coach power rankings.
- In shocking news, the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame still exists. Ken Griffey Jr. led the voting, but was not unanimous in order to keep with the idiotic tradition of not having a unanimous Hall of Famer. Sports fans who have countless boxes of old baseball cards stored in their mom’s attic would probably rank Griffey, Jr. as one of the most recognizable athletes in baseball history, but Hall of Fame voters remain skeptical while they play with their baseball cards in their mom’s basement.
