Alabama certainly had to earn their upset victory in Columbia.
The Cheat SheetBy Kevin McGuire on

Maybe the Nets need to trust the process?

I can’t believe I’m starting off your day by discussing the Brooklyn Nets. They’re really bad and it may be time for them to follow the lead of the Philadelphia 76ers and draft their own process to follow. But enough about the Nets for now. Let’s talk about a couple of other teams with losing records.

Blazers out-thrill Mavs in finish of the night

CJ McCollum got the last shot against the Mavs and made it count.

Who would have thought that a regular season game in February between two teams under .500 would serve up the most entertaining finish of the night? Leave it to the Portland Trail Blazers and Dallas Mavericks to throw out the records and prove that any night in the NBA can be one worth remembering. The final minute of the game was really all you needed to see.

There was Dirk Nowitzki giving the Mavs a lead with a three…

… followed by a bucket by CJ McCollum to put Portland back in front before Devin Harris drove to the lane with an answer…

Oh hey, there’s Dirk striking once more!

Unfortunately for Dallas, that left Portland’s McCollum just enough time to float one last game-winning shot.

The Trailblazers will have to continue moving forward for a little bit of time without Evan Turner. Turner left last night’s game against Dallas in the third quarter with what would later be revealed to be a broken right hand (broken third metacarpal bone, to be precise). He did not return to the game and how much time he may now miss is still to be determined.

Top 25 South Carolina, Maryland fall

Alabama took South Carolina to FOUR overtimes before pulling the upset.

While it may not have been quite as eventful in the upset department as things went down over the weekend, we did get to see No. 19 South Carolina take a loss at home in a quadruple overtime game.

The Gamecocks were not the only top 25 team to take a loss in conference play, although No. 21 Maryland managed to take their loss in regulation on the road against Penn State.

No. 22 Butler had a struggle on the road against pesky Marquette but managed to escape with a 68-65 victory. No. 2 Villanova, No. 15 Kentucky and No. 17 Florida all took care of business on the court.

While also on the topic of college basketball, it turns out Michigan State may have a Grayson Allen problem on their hands. Observe Nick Ward tripping up Michigan’s Moe Wagner on his way to the sideline…

Also, have you seen San Jose State’s court?

Quick Hits

Nick Cannon, former San Diego Chargers fan.

– In a rematch in that one NBA Finals you probably forgot about during Michael Jordan’s brief retirement between three-peats, the Houston Rockets took down the Orlando Magic last night behind James Harden’s double-double night with 25 points and 13 assists. While the Rockets improved to 20-6 at home, the Magic have now dropped 10 of their last 13. Houston is sitting three games back of first-place San Antonio in the Southwest Division (but five back in the loss column).

– Have we talked recently about just how bad the Brooklyn Nets are? If not, then allow me to remind you that they are flat out awful this year. The Nets remain in single digits in the win column after losing their 43rd game of the year in a 111-107 loss against Charlotte, falling to 9-43. But hey, at least their arena is spiffy.

https://twitter.com/matthewpcharles/status/829166546014580737

– Why the heck did the Boston Bruins call for a press conference in the middle of the New England Patriots Super Bowl parade?

– The Falcons have a new offensive coordinator with Steve Sarkisian, who may have been looking for a way out at Alabama.

– Brian Urlacher is taking a hair restoration clinic to court for using his name on their website.

– John Kruk says he was not a fan of all the meetings he had to have during his time at ESPN.

– Congratulations to Puerto Rico, who defeated Mexico in the Caribbean World Series in a 10-inning game. What is it about clinching the World Series in 10 innings?

– Nick Cannon, like many in San Diego, picked up a new team to root for after the Chargers skipped town.

– The Big Ten and SEC are so far ahead of the rest of the Power Five pack when it comes to revenue sharing that it makes sense a school like Rutgers would shell out big bucks to play a game in Yankee Stadium nobody really wants to see.

– NBC may be working out a way to bring Saturday Night Live to your weekday primetime viewing.

One last gratuitous moment of procrastination

I hear this is the plot of the next Super Mario Bros. game.

About Kevin McGuire

Contributor to Athlon Sports and The Comeback. Previously contributed to NBCSports.com. Host of the Locked On Nittany Lions Podcast. FWAA member and Philadelphia-area resident.

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