NFL

Patriots promote Zak Kuhr to defensive coordinator

This was a no-brainer.

New England’s previous defensive play-caller, Terrell Williams, was diagnosed with prostate cancer early last season, thrusting Kuhr into the role. While the circumstances were unfortunate at the time, the outlook for all is much better now.

Williams has been cleared to return to work, and it’s been previously reported that his new role will be as a higher-ranking staff member. He’ll surely continue to serve as a mentor for Kuhr.

For Kuhr himself, he shined while calling the defense. Last season was his audition, and now he has the responsibility — and title — that comes with the full-time role.

NCAAB

(1) Michigan 91, (7) Purdue 80

This has been a fantastic college basketball season. There are exciting freshmen. There have been thrilling games. There are numerous elite teams.

There might be one problem, however. One of those elite teams might be head and shoulders above the rest.

That team, of course, is Michigan. The 25-1 Wolverines have been slaughtering the opposition, so much so that they boast the highest KenPom net rating since 1999 Duke. That team had Elton Brand, Shane Battier and Corey Maggette, and while Michigan doesn’t have that level of NBA-caliber talent, it’s still a monster.

If there’s a future NBA star on these Wolverines, it’s Yaxel Lendeborg. The forward is a two-way force, full of strengths and lacking weaknesses. He, Morez Johnson and Aday Mara form the nation’s most dominant frontcourt. The trio combined for 24 rebounds and 12 assists in this victory — one that was more resounding than the score indicates.

In an ideal world, I would’ve watched more of this contest than I did, but it aired on Peacock. Maybe I’m 100 years old, but constantly switching between the cable remote and Apple TV remote can be annoying. Thus, I like to keep the streaming to one screen. It’s not a steadfast rule for me, but I wasn’t going to break it for a regular season college basketball game.

Anyway, that caused me to miss most of a dreadful first half for Purdue. The Boilermakers lengthened the game at the end, but they were outclassed by a better team. If you pick Purdue to advance far in the NCAA Tournament, best of luck.

Trey Kaufman-Renn and Braden Smith combined for 47 points in the loss.

Iowa 57, (9) Nebraska 50

This was an excusable defeat, but I’m not bullish on Nebraska’s tournament outlook next month. The Cornhuskers have dropped four of six, and tough, grind-it-out games like these are the ones they should be winning. Perhaps they would’ve if Sam Hoiberg played better, but he had one of his worst games of the season. (I’m still a huge fan of the guard.)

Iowa deserves its flowers for this win. There was a lot of Bennett Stirtz in it, which was to be expected. The senior scored 25 points on 22 shots, and he drew wide-ranging reviews for his late-game actions. Those actions were mostly of the foul-drawing variety, some skillful and others theatrical. Iowa fans appreciated them, obviously. Nebraska fans and perhaps other Big Ten fans? Not so much. But that’s part of why we love sports.

Iowa travels to Wisconsin on Sunday. It’s a rivalry game, so maybe that’ll enable the Hawkeyes to avoid a letdown.

(12) Florida 76, South Carolina 62

I didn’t watch any of this contest, as there were numerous other tilts at the same time that were closer. That’s predictable, though. Florida is playing like the best team in the SEC, while South Carolina is the worst. Oh, and the game was in Gainesville.

As I scour the box score of this affair, the numbers posted by the Gators’ frontcourt strike me. Alex Condon, Rueben Chinyelu and Thomas Haugh combined for 45 points and 28 rebounds. That’ll get it done against basically anyone, especially South Carolina. I waxed poetic regarding Michigan’s frontcourt, but Florida’s trio can compete against it. Wouldn’t that be a fun battle in April?

(15) Michigan State 82, UCLA 59

This game was also on Peacock, so I watched it on a third screen, noticing the Spartans’ shellacking of the Bruins. Mick Cronin even apparently ejected one of his own players!

It can be insufferable at times to watch Jeremy Fears, but he consistently gets the job done. 16 points and 10 assists are certainly good enough, and that was his output last night.

I’m rather intrigued about Michigan State’s home tilt against Ohio State on Sunday.

UCLA? Woof. The Bruins got destroyed by Michigan last week and followed that up with this?

17-9 overall and 9-6 in the Big Ten is respectable, but the selection committee won’t care about respectable. UCLA is falling apart, and somehow things can still get worse once you realize the Bruins face Illinois on Saturday. Good luck!

On one last note, Donovan Dent’s surprisingly tepid scoring season continued with a 3-of-11 outing.

NC State 82, (16) North Carolina 58

If one didn’t know any better, they would think based on this score that NC State was the ranked team. I suppose that’s the case when the Tar Heels are sans their two best players. Caleb Wilson and Henri Veesaar missed this game for North Carolina, though the latter is expected back soon.

Wilson’s status looms over the Tar Heels’ season, however. There’s hope that he’ll return for the ACC Tournament and perhaps even the second game against Duke. That’s far from certain, though. The next few weeks will include plenty of hoping, waiting and maybe even losing for North Carolina.

Without the aforementioned frontcourt starters, Zayden High has taken off for North Carolina, scoring 28 points over the last two contests. Unfortunately, that high was partnered with an awful shooting night for the Tar Heels’ backcourt, as Derek Dixon and Seth Trimble combined to go 3-of-21 from the floor.

This tilt was less about NC State, but maybe that’s a compliment for the Wolfpack. Winning when you’re supposed to is a skill, or at least a sign of a mature squad. The spread of this game got as high as 8.5 in favor of NC State, so Will Wade’s team overperformed based on that metric.

The Wolfpack travel to Virginia next week, and they’ll get six days off before doing so. That could present a nice refresher ahead of the upcoming tournament season.

Arizona State 72, (13) Texas Tech 67

Wow! I admittedly was writing for most of the second half of this game, so I clearly missed some interesting action.

14-12 Arizona State was looking moribund — and probably still is — so this is a rather shocking result. What’s not shocking, however, is Maurice Odum tallying 23 points. The senior is an underappreciated shooter. I liked the broadcast’s point on how he and Bobby Hurley bonded over their east coast connection. (I did watch that part of this game.)

The Sun Devils deserve credit for the upset, but this result is so much more about the Red Raiders. After all, Texas Tech just beat the No. 1 team in the country in Arizona. Anything can happen in sports — especially college basketball — though. Texas Tech turned the ball over in this loss 17 times, so maybe I shouldn’t be stunned.