NFL

Shohei Ohtani hits homer in Dodgers debut; Game-winners galore in NBA, college basketball

by
SaC Bot
February 28, 2024

This is an article version of the CBS Sports HQ AM Newsletter, the ultimate guide to every day in sports. You can sign up to get it in your inbox every weekday morning here.

🏀 Good morning to everyone but especially …

MAX STRUS AND REED SHEPPARD

Tuesday night was full of terrific basketball action and two truly magnificent game-winners.

Let’s start in the NBA with Max Strus nailing a 59-foot heave to beat the Mavericks, 121-119. After Luka Doncic found P.J. Washington for a go-ahead layup with 2.6 seconds left, Strus inbounded to Evan Mobley, sprinted, got the ball back from Mobley and launched.

Sure, it was a miraculous shot — the second-longest game-winning buzzer-beater in the 3-point era (since 1979-80) — but credit Strus and Mobley for doing everything right, Brad Botkin explains. The Cavaliers have won 20 of their last 24.

In the college ranks, No. 17 Kentucky is also surging, with Reed Sheppard playing hero in the Wildcats’ latest win. The excellent freshman capped a career-best 32-point performance with a running jumper through traffic to beat Mississippi State, 91-89. Sheppard is terrific — calm, cool and collected beyond his years with an outstanding feel on both ends of the floor. He wasn’t the only star freshman: Josh Hubbard scored 34 for the Bulldogs and nearly helped them pull off a miraculous rally.

👍 Honorable mentions

Casey Mize pitched for the first time since having Tommy John surgery.
Erling Haaland scored five goals — four assisted by Kevin de Bruyne — in a 6-2 win over Luton Town.

😬 And not such a good morning for …

THE NO. 7 KANSAS JAYHAWKS

Entering Tuesday, Kansas had won …

71 straight home games when leading at halftime
67 straight home games against unranked teams
19 straight home games overall

Those streaks are no longer. BYU stunned the nation’s No. 7 team, 76-68, outscoring the Jayhawks 26-12 over the final seven minutes.

The Cougars deserve enormous credit. Dallin Hall and Jaxson Robinson were outstanding with 18 points each. As the bullet points above indicate, wins like this are rare. Mark Pope has done an excellent job in his team’s first year in the Big 12.

But Kansas ran into the same issues that are cause for major concern:

Kevin McCullar Jr. missed his second straight game and fifth in the team’s last eight. Bill Self isn’t sure he’ll be back this season.
The Jayhawks were outscored 39-9 on 3-pointers. Kansas takes very few shots from deep. BYU takes a ton. The simple math was — and has been — against Kansas.
BYU’s bench outscored Kansas’ 29-9. The Kansas bench has struggled all year, and with McCullar out, that’s even more apparent.

Self is one of the game’s best. Maybe he has a fix. But with March two days away, it’s awfully late to be relying on “maybe.”

👎 Not so honorable mentions

⚾ Shohei Ohtani homers in Dodgers spring training debut

A swing so hard his helmet came off. A strikeout. A double play. Shohei Ohtani‘s first two spring training at-bats for the Dodgers weren’t exactly things of beauty.

And then he did Shohei Ohtani things, because he’s, you know, Shohei Ohtani. The $700 million man smashed an opposite-field home run in his third plate appearance Tuesday, a huge smile coming across his face as he crossed home plate and high-fived Freddie Freeman.

Ohtani, the two-time MVP, batted second, behind former MVP Mookie Betts and ahead of Freeman, also a former MVP. That’s a lot of hardware — and a lot of hard contact.

By the way, Yoshinobu Yamamoto makes his spring training debut today.

🏀 Projecting All-NBA teams, plus updated Power Rankings

Good luck to All-NBA voters this year. Even with the 65-game minimum eliminating some candidates, trying to finagle it down to 15 players across three teams is no easy task. Lucky for us, Brad is up to the challenge, and here’s his projected first team.

Luka Doncic — “He’s shooting a career-high 38% from 3 on over 10 attempts per game. The final step to a truly indefensible creator and scorer.”
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — “Only one player in history has averaged at least 30 points, six assists and two steals with an 58-plus eFG% over a full season. His name is Stephen Curry, who did it in his unanimous MVP season of 2016. SGA is well on track to become the second.”
Giannis Antetokounmpo — “Somewhat lost in the drama of the Bucks‘ season is the fact that Antetokounmpo is having the best season of a career that already includes two MVPs.”
Nikola Jokic — “Jokic is currently the best player in the world and it’s not debatable. The traditional stats are superb. The advanced stats paint him as a god.”
Kevin Durant — “Look at KD’s numbers: 28 PPG on 53% shooting and over 42% from 3 on one of the toughest shot diets in the league.”

Nowhere near the first team, in Brad’s estimation, is LeBron James, who has made an All-NBA team (first, second or third team) every season except as a rookie. Will he extend that to 20 straight? That’s one of the toughest questions Brad answers.

Sam Quinn, meanwhile, has dark-horse contenders for top individual awards.

Assessing individual accolades isn’t the only challenge. Colin Ward-Henninger’s first post-All Star break Power Rankings are out, and the Thunder and Nuggets are making things tight at the top.

🏈 Updates on Justin Fields, Saquon Barkley, plus NFL Combine predictions

The NFL Combine is many things. There’s the prospect side — the on-field testing, the interviews, the medical tests — which some NFL teams will watch with an eagle eye while others won’t even be there. There’s the fraternizing side, where teams and reporters will share stories over drinks and shrimp cocktails.

And then there’s the media interviews part, where we learn a ton about what’s ahead this offseason. That happened Tuesday, and the biggest item was Bears GM Ryan Poles commenting on Justin Fields. Chicago holds the first pick, and the keep-Fields-vs.-trade-Fields story has dominated headlines.

Poles said he wants to “do right by” Fields if he’s traded, and the team will “move as quickly as possible” if that’s the decision.

Cody Benjamin read between the lines: It sounds like Fields is getting traded.

Benjamin: “Put simply, the Bears aren’t hiding from the fact they could — and likely will — use the No. 1 pick on Fields’ successor, repeatedly acknowledging the ‘uncomfortable’ nature of the situation for their current quarterback. If Fields were otherwise locked in as their quarterback of the future, there’d be no need for such talk.”

DJ Moore, meanwhile, backed Fields, and Cody has three reasons keeping Fields is worth considering.

Here’s more from Indianapolis:

As for on-field action, Chris Trapasso has bold combine predictions, including …

Trapasso: “Texas DT Byron Murphy has three-cone drill faster than some LBs — It’s not really close — Murphy is the most electric athlete inside at defensive tackle in this class. … Last year, Pittsburgh‘s Calijah Kancey ran a blistering 4.67 at a hair over 6-0 and 287 pounds. Murphy should be heavier than Kancey was, yet if we get a full workout from the Texas star, he’ll run somewhere in the low 4.7s, with a vertical well over 30 inches and a broad jump that exceeds 10 feet.”

📺 What we’re watching Wednesday

🏀 No. 11 Auburn at No. 4 Tennessee (M), 7 p.m. on ESPN2
🏀 Providence at No. 5 Marquette (M), 7 p.m. on FS1
🏀 Michigan at No. 2 Ohio State (W), 7 p.m. on Peacock
🏀 Pelicans at Pacers, 7:30 p.m. on ESPN
🏀 No. 18 South Carolina at Texas A&M (M), 8:30 p.m. on SEC Network
🏒 Blues at Oilers, 8:30 p.m. on TNT
🏀 St. John’s at Butler (M), 8:30 p.m. on CBS Sports Network
🏀 No. 14 Alabama at Ole Miss (M), 9 p.m. on ESPN2
🏀 No. 6 Iowa at Minnesota (W), 9 p.m. on Peacock
🏀 Lakers at Clippers, 10 p.m. on ESPN