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"Sports Quote of the Day"

“Just as your car runs more smoothly and requires less energy to go faster and farther when the wheels are in perfect alignment, you perform better when your thoughts, feelings, emotions, goals, and values are in balance.” ~ Brian Tracy, Motivational Speaker and Self-Development Author

Trending: Blackhawks' scoring struggles against Jets continue in loss. (See the hockey section for Blackhawks updates and NHL news).

Trending: Bears defense looking for 'mindset,' 'doing a little bit more' as 2016 ebbs. (See the football section for Bears News an NFL updates).

Trending: Bulls crawl out of slump with ugly win over Pacers. (See the basketball section for Bulls news and NBA updates).

Trending: Cubs' Kris Bryant finishes fourth in AP 2016 Male Athlete of the Year voting. (See the baseball section for Cubs and White Sox updates).

Trending: How to beat Alabama – from the coach that's done it twice in three years. (See the college football section for NCAA football news and bowl updates.

How 'bout them Chicago Blackhawks? Blackhawks' scoring struggles against Jets continue in loss.

By Tracey Myers

(Photo/csnchicago.com)

The Blackhawks didn’t look to energetic heading into the Christmas break. In that game, they could possibly blame fatigue from a busy pre-holiday schedule.

There was no excuse like that for Tuesday night.

Jacob Trouba had two assists and Mark Scheifele had the game-winning goal as the Winnipeg Jets beat the Blackhawks 3-1 at the United Center. The Blackhawks were outplayed by a Jets team that flew into Chicago on Tuesday morning. While they still lead the Western Conference with 49 points, their lead is a slim one; the Minnesota Wild won their 11th in a row and are now just one point behind the Blackhawks.

It’s the second consecutive game in which the Blackhawks had a lackluster outing. They looked like a tired group on Friday, when they wrapped up their 36th game of the season. On Tuesday the Jets had more energy than them from the start. The Jets beat the Blackhawks in this one as they had the previous two, taking advantage of their opportunities and keeping the Blackhawks from creating many sustainable ones on their end.

“They got the early lead and they did what they needed to do,” coach Joel Quenneville said of the Jets. “We had some good shifts in the first, a few in the second and third but not enough sustained effort. They had more speed and the puck a lot more than we did.”

Connor Hellebuyck stopped 34 of 35 in the victory while Corey Crawford stopped 31 of 34 in the loss.

Artem Anisimov had the Blackhawks’ lone goal. In their three meetings this season, the Jets have now outscored the Blackhawks 9-2. A Blackhawks team that looked like it was getting its scoring touch coming off its last road trip has gone dry again.

“Actually, we just needed to be much better in the first period but in the second and the third we got like emotions back,” Anisimov said. “We had a couple of good shifts and after that we just started bringing but not capitalize on those moments.”

Maybe, but the Blackhawks were once again looking for the perfect plays and shots again. Anisimov’s goal was a thing of beauty, a patient pause before putting the puck past a sprawled Hellebuyck. But on other chances the Blackhawks would wait too long or make ill-advised passes. During one sequence in the second period, Patrick Kane was driving to the net and, instead of shooting, passed toward Artemi Panarin. That pass was broken up.

“I just got to read that better. I gotta be able to take it to my backhand, see that the [defenseman’s] stepping up anticipating that pass and try and take a shot myself,” Kane said. “Those are just plays where you try to trust your instincts, try not to think too much about it, even if it doesn’t work out. But it could have been a good chance to shoot it, for sure.”

The Blackhawks’ game was trending in the right direction prior to their last three home games. Suddenly the United Center isn’t so friendly, as the Blackhawks are 0-2-1 in these previous three contests. The Blackhawks aren’t too worried but there’s no doubt they didn’t play anywhere near the game they should have coming out of a three-day break.

“We didn’t play terrible. We just didn’t play well enough to win. They came out hard and didn’t stop all game,” Crawford said. “We’re fine in here. Just a tough game. We wanted to come out hard after that break. It just seemed like they just had more energy tonight on their side.”

Five Things from Blackhawks-Jets: Lack of energy.

By Tracey Myers

(Photo/csnchicago.com)

Well, so much for that break being a good thing for the Blackhawks.

They started the post-Christmas schedule much as they finished the pre-Christmas one, with a lackadaisical loss. Against a Winnipeg Jets team that was all too happy to show they could play a strong road game, despite that not being their forte this season, the Blackhawks looked like they were still struggling to find their legs.

So before we hit the road again – didn’t we just get off the road? – let’s look at Five Things to take from the Blackhawks’ 3-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets.

1. That start again. This one wasn’t about being outshot, which has usually been the Blackhawks’ problem in the first period. This time, they finished with a 13-13 deadlock on shots with the Jets. The Jets, however, converted two of those shots. Blake Wheeler was in right front of the net for a rebound and Jacob Trouba’s blue-line shot got through plenty of traffic in front of Corey Crawford. Because of the holiday break the Jets didn’t fly into Chicago until Tuesday morning. So much for that leading to sluggishness. And while we’re on the subject…

2. No energy. Several Blackhawks said it: their energy level wasn’t where the Jets’ was in this one. Why not? They had three days off, they didn’t have to travel the day of the game, and yet the Blackhawks just didn’t seem to have it on Tuesday night. Oh, they showed spurts of energy. But nothing was sustained, especially puck possession. As coach Joel Quenneville said, “I think their speed, whether it was energy or not, they were beating us to loose pucks and they had the puck on their sticks and more patience with it.”

3. Where has the offense gone? We can use this for the Blackhawks’ last two games but it’s especially true against the Winnipeg Jets. Coach Joel Quenneville warned prior to the game that the Blackhawks could not get boxed out. They needed more net-front presence against the bigger Jets. They got it here and there, but not enough to disrupt Hellebuyck much. The Jets have now outscored the Blackhawks 8-2 in three games this season.

4. Artem Anisimov returns with a goal. Artemi Panarin and Patrick Kane get a ton of credit for that line’s success but this season, especially, Anisimov deserves more. His patience and hands on his goal, which cut the Jets’ lead to 2-1 at the time, was pretty impressive. Anisimov now has 15 goals this season, seven shy of the career-best 22 he had with the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2013-14.

5. Panarin’s point streak continues. Panarin had the second assist on Anisimov’s goal, extending his point streak to eight games. In those games, Panarin has five goals and nine assists (14 points). Yes, Panarin is going to cash in somewhere at some point. It’s just a matter of whether it’s with the Blackhawks or someone else.

Blackhawks’ Top 10 moments of 2016.

By Tracey Myers

(Photo/csnchicago.com)

Ah, 2016 you’ve had your ups and downs. The Blackhawks experienced the same this year. While the end of last season came quicker than they’d hoped, the start of this one has been pretty positive.

The Blackhawks have three more games before they ring in 2017 with the Winter Classic in St. Louis. Still, we’re late enough in the year where we can reflect on the past 350-plus days. For the Blackhawks, it’s been an interesting one, with plenty of highs and lows. 

So on this post-Christmas Day, when we assume you’re still cleaning up the house and regretting the 20 cookies you had on Sunday, let’s look at the Blackhawks’ Top 10 moments of 2016.

1. Artemi Panarin cashes in. It was the final regular-season game of 2015-16, which would be an overtime loss for the Blackhawks in Columbus. But for Panarin, it was time to collect. Panarin recorded two goals and an assist to finish in the top 10 among forwards in scoring categories, earning him $1.725 million in bonuses. He would earn $2.575 million total, which came out of this current salary cap. Yeah, it was costly for the Blackhawks but they knew what they were getting into when they agreed to the bonuses with Panarin, who went on to win the Calder Trophy for rookie of the year. Oh and guess what? Panarin’s probably going to hit bonuses again this season. Brace yourself, 2016-17 cap. 

2. Patrick Kane eclipses 100-point season. We could argue all day on who helped who on the second line: Kane helped Panarin to his great season or vice-versa. Whatever your view, Kane had an incredible season with 106 points. He became the first U.S.-born player to eclipse 100 points since Doug Weight (104 points with the Edmonton Oilers in 1995-96) and the first Blackhawks player to achieve it since Jeremy Roenick (107 points in 1993-94). Like Panarin, Kane collected some hardware, claiming the Art Ross Trophy for leading the NHL in points and the Hart Trophy for league MVP.

3. Joel Quenneville moves into second all-time in coaching victories. Quenneville’s tremendous coaching career reached a lofty height on Jan. 14, when he passed Al Arbour to become the second all-time winningest coach in NHL history. That victory, over the Montreal Canadiens, was also part of what became the Blackhawks’ 12-game winning streak. Quenneville joked that there’s no way he’ll touch Scotty Bowman’s record total of 1,244 victories – “Scotty’s safe,” he said. That may be true, but Quenneville’s place among the best is nevertheless impressive. 

4. The Blues eliminate the Blackhawks. It wouldn’t have surprised any of us if Brent Seabrook once again came through with a clutch playoff goal, and he was about a millimeter away, on each side of the net, from doing so on April 25. It was not to be, however, as Seabrook’s attempted game-tying goal went off both posts and stayed out. Former Blackhawks forward Troy Brouwer’s goal proved to be the game winner, as the Blues sent the Blackhawks packing in Game 7. Regardless of the Blackhawks’ fate it was a thrilling series, one of the best of last season’s playoffs.

5. Marian Hossa scores his 500th career goal. There was as much relief as elation for Hossa at that moment. Immediately after scoring he headed to the Blackhawks’ bench, where he was mobbed by teammates. If there was ever a sweeter moment it was a few nights later, when Hossa’s daughter Zoja playfully honked his nose during his 500th-goal ceremony. The goal, which Hossa had several chances to score the previous season, was a weight off his shoulders and the rejuvenated Hossa scored 16 goals before suffering an upper-body injury against Ottawa.

6. The Blackhawks say goodbye to Andrew Shaw. The agitating Shaw was a fan favorite, and after losing Brandon Saad the previous summer, Blackhawks fans hoped Shaw wouldn’t go, too. He did, signing a six-year, $23.4 million deal with the Montreal Canadiens. Shaw could bring a great amount of energy and a tremendous net-front presence; he could also commit penalties at the worst possible time. While Shaw is still missed, the Blackhawks have done alright without him. Ryan Hartman has emerged as a strong player in his own right, and he’s drawing more penalties than he’s committing.

7. Brian Campbell signs with the Blackhawks. Every now and then a move has nothing to do with money. There’s no better example of that than Campbell. At 37, wanting to make his offseason home a permanent one and wanting another chance to win a Cup, Campbell signed a one-year, $2 million deal with Chicago. Campbell could have made more money elsewhere. But as he said on July 1, when he signed his deal, money is no longer the main factor. Family was. With that, the Blackhawks’ defense went from depleted to deep again.

8. Blackhawks re-acquire Andrew Ladd. The Blackhawks were playing the Nashville Predators the night of Feb. 25 but the big news happened before the puck even dropped. The Blackhawks brought Ladd, a big part of the 2010 Stanley Cup team, back to Chicago. One of the Blackhawks’ biggest issues last season was finding a top-line left with to play with Jonathan Toews and Marian Hossa. Alas, the move didn’t have the desired effect. Ladd had just one goal and one assist in seven postseason games. This summer he signed a lucrative contract with the New York Islanders, where he continues to struggle (five goals, three assists, a minus-10 in 33 games).

9. The forgettable outdoor game. We joke that the Blackhawks have played in 37 outdoor games since the NHL started them a few years ago, although we’ll maintain we’re not that far off. Most of the time, the Blackhawks are part of a great show. But on Feb. 21, the Blackhawks didn’t show up. The host Minnesota Wild thrashed the Blackhawks 6-1 that day, and would sweep the regular-season series against Chicago. For the Blackhawks, it was another lopsided loss in a season that had an alarming amount of them.

10. Corey Crawford leads the league in shutouts. On Jan. 24, Crawford recorded his seventh shutout of the 2015-16 season, giving him the league’s best total in that category. For Crawford’s first few seasons he was only given so much credit; many said he benefitted from the team in front of him. But last season the Blackhawks were not the same team, especially on defense, and Crawford buoyed them plenty. That’s continued this season, as the Blackhawks’ goaltending has been stellar. 

Bear Down Chicago Bears!!!!! If the Chargers fire Mike McCoy could a reunion with John Fox happen?

By John Mullin

(Photo/csnchicago.com)

John Fox is not expected to do radical surgery on his coaching staff after one of the most dismal seasons in his personal NFL history. But neither is he expected to ignore opportunities for upgrades, and a familiar one may present itself on the offensive side of the football.

Mike McCoy, a long-time offensive assistant under Fox in both Carolina and Denver, is reportedly close to being fired by the San Diego as the Chargers stumble to the finish of their own disappointing (5-10) and fourth season under McCoy. His relationship with Fox raises the prospect of Fox possibly looking to add to his offensive staff under coordinator Dowell Loggains, with specific responsibilities for one phase of the offense or as an assistant head coach under Fox.

Fox added the job of passing-game coordinator to McCoy’s duties as quarterbacks coach under Fox with Carolina in 2007-08.

Fox, who has evinced no dissatisfaction with the job Loggains has done since succeeding Adam Gase as Bears offensive coordinator, retained McCoy on the Panthers staff when Fox took the head coaching job there in 2002. McCoy left to become offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in Denver in 2009; Fox became Broncos head coach in 2011 and again kept McCoy in place as offensive coordinator.

Fox supported McCoy’s candidacy for the San Diego job after McCoy had come from the Panthers with Fox, serving as Fox’s offensive coordinator.

The Chargers finished 9-7 in McCoy’s first two years (2013-14), winning a playoff game in ’13, but sagged to 4-12 last season and continued to falter this year. They have lost their last four, capped by the ignominy of being the first team to lose this season to the Cleveland Browns.

Bears In-Foe: Somehow, Sam Bradford Survived 2016.

By Chris Boden

(Photo/csnchicago.com)

Teddy Bridgewater was the first key Viking to go down on the eve of the regular season, with his torn ACL and dislocated knee.  And, as many others would soon follow, Sam Bradford was brought in to be the savior to a season of Super Bowl aspirations.

While darting out to a not-surprising 5-0 start, those dreams of Houston in February quickly faded as Adrian Peterson, and Bradford's edge protectors, were dropping like flies.  First, Phil Loadholt.  Then, Matt Kalil.  Eventually, Andre Smith.  And finally, ineffective emergency signing Jake Long, the fast-fading 2008 first overall draft pick.  When the Bears saw the Vikings on Halloween and had their most complete game of the season, a 20-10 victory that had them sensing a turning point in their season, Minnesota's season had already turned, despite being just 5-2 after that defeat.  Watching the Bears sack Bradford five times and hit him nine times, it seemed there was no way the injury-prone top 2010 pick would survive.

Well, here we are, with both teams ringing in the new year playing for nothing but pride, and Bradford will take the field a 15th straight time, despite being sacked 37 times (tied for fifth-highest among regular starters) and knocked down countless others.

Part of the Vikings' attempt to survive was to part ways with Offensive Coordinator Norv Turner (who "resigned"), while elevating tight ends coach Pat Shurmur, who called plays for Bradford in St. Louis.  A quicker passing game has helped keep Bradford in the lineup, albeit with an offense that's generated just 24 touchdowns (the Bears, by comparison, have 28) and ranks 30th with 311 yards per game.

But Bradford has more than held up his end of the bargain statistically with what he has to work with.  He's coming off a career-best 382 yards (34-of-50, 110.6 rating) Saturday.  He leads the league in completion percentage (71.3), is second to Tom Brady in interception ratio (.80 on 17 touchdowns, four picks) and is seventh with a 98.3 rating.

The line now features T.J. Clemmings and Jeremiah Sirles at the tackle spots, while center Joe Berger had to slide to guard in Saturday's loss to the Packers as Brandon Fusco recovers from a concussion.  Alex Boone has had too much fall on his shoulders with all the injuries around him.

As for Peterson, he returned from his Week 2 torn meniscus two weeks ago, only to injure a groin, and figures not to face the Bears with his team out of the playoff picture. For the season, A.P. had 37 carries for 72 yards.  His absence and the line woes leave the Vikes last in rushing offense (72.1 per game), but they averaged 4.7 in the loss at Lambeau (93 yards, with Jerrick McKinnon, who missed the first meeting with the Bears, carrying 11 times for 50 yards).

The most pleasant emergence offensively this season involves, like the Bears receiving corps, and undrafted free agent.  Adam Thielen wasn't a quarterback at Minnesota State, like Cam Meredith was at Illinois State, but the one-time special teams regular actually leads Minni with 960 receiving yards on 68 catches. 202 of those came on a dozen catches Saturday, including a 71-yard TD in which a pair of Packers defensive backs knocked each other out going for the ball on a play that ended with Thielen Lambeau leaping. The quick-twitch tandem of DeSean Jackson and Pierre Garcon ate up the Bears in the loss to Washington, so Stefon Diggs (84-903, 3 TDs) has too be licking his chops watching film. He scored the lone touchdown for the visitors on Halloween on the only play Tracy Porter sat out.  This year's first round pick who seemed like such a perfect fit for this offense's needs, Laquon Treadwell, has just one reception while struggling to get into the lineup.  Kyle Rudolph owns a team-best six touchdown receptions, and he's fourth among tight ends with 72 catches (723 yards).

Bears In-Foe: Vikes 'D' goes from stout to squabbling.

By Chris Boden

(Photo/csnchicago.com)

The Bears defense has given up 71 points the last two games. The Vikings' star-studded group that may have been the NFL's best early in the season? 72 points the last two weeks in losses to the Colts and Packers.

The headline in this since the end of Saturday's game at Lambeau was Head Coach Mike Zimmer charging Pro Bowl cornerback Xavier Rhodes conspiring with longtime Zimmer student Terence Newman to go "rogue" on the defensive gameplan. Seems Zimmer wanted Rhodes to shadow Jordy Nelson, but the players conspired during the week to just stay on one side each, no matter where Nelson lined up (nine catches, 154 yards, two touchdowns). At some point in the first half, with some gray area as to exactly when, the steam coming out of Zimmer's ears finally reached the two.  By that time, the Vikings were already in catch-up mode.  Monday was spent trying to spin the miscommunication into something more short-lived.

The season numbers are still very good, and they'll no doubt want to finish with a positive statement versus turnover-prone Matt Barkley after Jay Cutler actually played smart, effective, and turnover-free in his return from injury on Halloween. That night turned into Jordan Howard's national coming-out party, with a career-high 153 yards on 26 carries, the second of which went for 69 yards.

Second-year man Danielle Hunter's 12 sacks trails only Vic Beasley and Von Miller, yet he was not among three Vikings defenders going to the Pro Bowl (Rhodes, end Everson Griffen, and safety Harrison Smith). Hunter doesn't actually start, but certainly makes the most of his role rotating in. Griffen has eight sacks, but just two in the last seven games (coming in the same game). 33-year-old Brian Robison has seven sacks off the other edge. They've lost a bit inside when Tom Johnson recently went down after ex-first-rounder Sharif Floyd never played beyond a knee injury in the season opener. Run-stuffer Linval Joseph remains a force, with Shamar Stephen trying to pick up the slack.

The front triggers a unit that's created 22 turnovers and 39 sacks (two more than the Bears' total). UCLA products Anthony Barr and Eric Kendricks (99 tackles, nine passes defensed) will be linebacking forces to be gameplanned for years to come, while Sunday may be 33-year-old Chad Greenway's swan song after 11 strong seasons in the Twin Cities.

Smith's been nicked-up a bit of late but returned Saturday after missing the previous two games with an ankle injury, while Andrew Sendejo keeps coming back for more on the strong side. Rhodes has earned his keep (if not his coaching certificate) with four interceptions (after just a pair in his first three seasons), while the 38-year-old Newman (who played for Zimmer in Dallas and Cincinnati, as well) keeps holding off 2015 first-rounder Trae Waynes.  

SPECIAL TEAMS

Bears coverage teams did an excellent job on Halloween night containing the league's top kickoff returner, Pro Bowler Cordarrelle Patterson (31.5 average, TD this season), but Marcus Sherels (the NFL's third-best punt returner - 13.0 average, two TDs) missed the game. After kicker Blair Walsh missed four field goals and four extra points, Zimmer finally tired of the former Pro Bowler at mid-season, replacing him with Kai Forbath.  He's been perfect on 14 field goal attempts, though is just 6-of-9 on extra points.

Bears defense looking for 'mindset,' 'doing a little bit more' as 2016 ebbs.

By John Mullin 

(Photo/csnchicago.com)

Linebacker and leading tackler Jerrell Freeman was answering the by now-weekly question on possible explanations for why the Bears have been unable to generate the hallmark of great defenses: takeaways. In the process he arguably hit upon a crack that has developed in the Bears defense after what had looked to be establishing itself among the NFL’s better units.

“It’s a mindset,” Freeman said. “Being conscious of it, trying to get to the ball, making tackles. Just doing a little bit more.”

“Mindset.” “Doing a little bit more.” Keys to what the defense has lost in the closing days of 2016?

For a defense that looked to be steadily if incrementally improving amid the collective carnage of the 2016 season, the past couple weeks have been jolts. And a something of a mystery.

Picking themselves up after the blowout at Green Bay, and even including the interception-fueled crushing in Tampa Bay, the Bears allowed an average of fewer than 300 yards and barely 20 points per game over the six-game streak beginning with the Oct. 31 win over Minnesota. They’d moved into the top 10 in yardage allowed and sacks.

Then came 400-yard games against Green Bay and Washington with 30 and 41 points allowed. Intensity appeared to be flagging, evidenced by poor tackling and increasing big plays given up, both casual indicators of faltering want-to.

But the results, paralleled by a catastrophic continuing inability to jar footballs loose from the hands of opposing offenses, defy simple solutions.

“I know defensive-wise we’ve been healthy,” said Freeman. “Through training camp on in, we’re a pretty good force. We get guys hurt and guys coming in you’ve got to bring them up to speed.

“That’s no excuse. Like I said before, when guys come in we expect them to come in and be a professional and do what they need to do to come and play. And we’ve had that through most of the year and then past two games, it’s just like, man, we’re not a team that gives up big plays, but last couple of weeks we’ve given up some big plays. And then offensive-wise, we’ve got a lot of weapons over there. Again, injuries and unfortunately, but that’s the NFL. You gotta deal with changes. That’s what the NFL is all about. Just got to go out there and prepare.”

Evaluating John Fox's Bears based on Redskins game as knee-jerk other premature calls.

By John Mullin

(Photo/csnchicago.com)

Evaluations in the NFL are done constantly, beginning with daily ones based on filmings of practices, moving into game performances (which is how jobs are won or lost) and finally at the end of seasons, when the whole and the parts come under extreme scrutiny.

One result, particularly with the intensity and passion with which the Bears are followed, is that the consequences of individual games can be exaggerated. In either direction: to the positive when an unknown castoff quarterback lights up an afternoon, to the negative, when an unknown castoff quarterback throws five interceptions and that same team whose arrow had been pointing consistently up, as the Bears’ had been after a five-game stretch in which they had lost four but played tough opponents close and outscored those combined five teams (107-105).

That all changes on Saturday afternoon when the offense and defense of the Bears came unhinged to the point of making coach John Fox’s post-mortem comments sound somewhere between hollow and a test-drive for the summary he’ll be giving Bears senior management in another week as part of that season’s-end evaluation.

“Better days are to come,” Fox said regarding what he would say to an increasingly disillusioned BearsNation, one whose expectations were a lot better than 3-12 when Chairman George McCaskey two years ago fired Phil Emery and Marc Trestman and hired GM Ryan Pace and Fox. “We see improvement. It’s not in our record but I think we are closer than people think.”

(That would not be difficult to be after the Bears under Fox have gone 4-16 over the past 20 games, including two losses to Washington.)

Fox and Pace inherited a nightmare, and insiders tell CSNChicago.com that part of the supposed “rift” between Fox and defensive coordinator Vic Fangio was in fact simply a frustration on the part of the latter at the size of the turnaround task confronting two veteran coaches accustomed to being at or well above .500 at this point of their second seasons with teams.

“I think sometimes, when you come into a situation, you take some steps back before you take some steps forward,” Fox said. “In my opinion we are in a way better positioned to be in striking distance going forward… . These things weren’t built in a day.”

The venom flow directed toward Fox is unlikely to slacken until his Bears reverse the win-loss flow. The media in general doesn’t like him and that’s the prism through which much of the public gets to see him. Winning is the only thing BearsNation rightly cares about and that hasn’t happened for him yet.

The reality is that Fox has never before had two consecutive losing seasons in his previous combined 28 years as an NFL assistant, coordinator or head coach. He’s never had 19 players land on IR, including six of his opening-day No. 1’s (Jay Cutler, Kyle Long, Zach Miller, Kevin White, Eddie Goldman, Danny Trevathan) plus three subsequent replacement starters (Brian Hoyer, Eddie Royal, Josh Sutton) so this year stands as the anomaly in more than a few ways.

The inclination is to view the Washington disaster as a true indicator of the state of Fox's Bears affairs. That’s probably no less an overreaction than looking at the last-second Green Bay loss as proof that the Bears are a field goal away from the Packers.

Just Another Chicago Bulls Session..... Brooklyn Nets vs. Chicago Bulls Preview 12-28-2016.

Scores & Stats

The Chicago Bulls continue to be one of the more confusing teams in the NBA, but at least they have a chance to build some positive momentum. The Bulls will try to string together consecutive wins for the first time in over two weeks when they host the lowly Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday.

Chicago surrendered an average of 109.7 points during a three-game slide, capped by a 119-100 loss at San Antonio on Christmas Day, but turned up the defense and ended the skid with a 90-85 triumph over the Indiana Pacers on Monday. The victory marked the beginning of a stretch with six of eight at home for the Bulls, who are 9-6 in their own building. The Nets are an NBA-worst 1-14 away from home but hit the road with some momentum after Randy Foye's buzzer-beating 3-pointer gave them a 120-118 win over the Charlotte Hornets on Monday. "I'm just thrilled with our group," Brooklyn coach Kenny Atkinson told reporters. "We went through some tough times recently. So to come back and get a win like this ... and the way we got it is special."

TV: 8 p.m. ET, YES (Brooklyn), CSN Chicago

ABOUT THE NETS (8-22): Brooklyn's win on Monday snapped a five-game slide but came at a cost as point guard Jeremy Lin left with a left hamstring injury - the same ailment that kept him sidelined 17 games earlier this season. Foye was barely a member of the regular rotation until taking over for Lin and only hit one shot on Monday - the game-winner. Lin, who is day-to-day, scored in double figures in each of his seven games since returning from the first hamstring injury and was enjoying one of his best games with 17 points and four assists in 22 minutes on Monday before going down.

ABOUT THE BULLS (15-16): Chicago got a strong contribution from a player recently out of the rotation as well when Nikola Mirotic stepped up with 20 points on Monday. The 25-year-old power forward did not play in back-to-back games on Dec. 15 and 16 but scored in double figures in each of the last five games to earn back the trust of his teammates and coaches. "We need him to win; it's as simple as that," shooting guard Dwyane Wade told reporters of Mirotic. "We just want him to be aggressive. We've been trying to put him in different spots on the floor the last few games. And he's been getting better looks. Once he sees it go in, his confidence goes up. He knows we believe and trust in him."

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Nets SG Bojan Bogdanovic was dropped from the starting lineup after going scoreless on 0-of-5 shooting on Friday and scored 26 points on 7-of-11 from the floor as a reserve on Monday.

2. Bulls SF Doug McDermott (shin) sat out Monday and is day-to-day.

3. Chicago breezed to a 118-88 win at Brooklyn in the first meeting on Oct. 31.

PREDICTION: Bulls 110, Nets 99

Bulls crawl out of slump with ugly win over Pacers.

By Vincent Goodwill

(Photo/csnchicago.com)

When you lose six out of seven, style points isn’t what you’re looking for.

Scoring 100 points isn’t what you’re looking for.

Heck, shooting 40 percent isn’t what you’re looking for.

For the Bulls, they weren’t really in the conversation for any of those benchmarks but in a situation where they needed to stop the bleeding, the Indiana Pacers played foil for a night as the Bulls momentarily ended the misery with a 90-85 win at the United Center.

It was sealed by a defensive stop with Jimmy Butler forcing a 3-point airball from Paul George, Nikola Mirotic shutting off a shot for former teammate Aaron Brooks and Dwyane Wade doing his best Peanut Tillman impression for a cross-court interception and dunk with 1.2 seconds left to complete the scoring.

“Just reading it, I played free safety on it, baited them a little bit,” said Wade, who led the Bulls with 21 in 32 minutes in his best showing on the back end of a back-to-back this season. “I kinda played possum and he lofted it up there and I was able to steal it and close the game.”

Speaking of misery, Nikola Mirotic was the main driving force, scoring in double figures for the fifth straight game, putting up 21 off the bench, including a redemption-like shot-clock buzzer-beating long two with 21.2 seconds left against suffocating defense, putting the Bulls up 88-85 — one possession after George nailed a triple in his face.

Pounding his chest afterward in a rare show of emotion, it let on to how much pressure he’s been feeling to perform.

“I was really emotional. It was important for me. It was a great shot, the game was there,” Mirotic said. “I was expressing myself a bit. I know you guys aren’t used to that. My head is down, not too much emotion. But today I was feeling good from the beginning. So why not?”

His play was necessary as the Bulls’ offense stalled again in the second half after an energetic first half, an expected response after two bad losses on the road around Christmas Day.

Reeling after a 12-point third quarter, Mirotic hit a couple critical baskets when the Bulls went extended stretches without scoring a basket, in a game where they shot just 38.6 percent from the field.

Butler was three of 12 for 16 points, going nine of 12 from the foul line. Jerian Grant hit big shots off the bench to score 10 and Taj Gibson chipped in 10 in 22 minutes.

“I’m playing simple basketball, I need to keep building from this point,” Mirotic said. “I know my weaknesses, I know my strengths."

Speaking of misery, it’s probably Fred Hoiberg when he’s trying to explain the fourth quarter dropoff in terms of production as the Bulls suffered from it in spurts but scored 27, although the porous third quarter meant the bar was set low and thus hard to surpass.

Not playing Rajon Rondo was a solution for Hoiberg, a tough one considering how well Rondo played early in the game when the Bulls jumped out to a 16-point lead in the first half but the offense soon stalled thereafter, allowing the Pacers to crawl back into it.

“It was just the flow of the game,” Hoiberg said about sitting Rondo. “Dwyane was out there making a lot of great plays and we put (Michael) Carter-Williams in for his defense. It was great to have him out there.”

On one possession, Rondo grabbed three offensive rebounds and setting up open shots before Mirotic finally hit a corner three, with Rondo nearly outrebounding the Pacers by himself in the first quarter.

But even with the lead, the Bulls were barely over 40 percent and it came back to nearly haunt them dearly later.

They went seven minutes without a field goal for the Bulls until Wade’s glassing floater found the net while being fouled in the first minute of the fourth, completing a 3-point play. He hit another one soon after, giving the Bulls some level of breathing room that wouldn’t last.

A couple Myles Turner baskets cut the Bulls’ lead to 80-78, but they weren’t much of a threat inside, going to the line 10 times compared to the Bulls’ 28 free-throw attempts, and shooting better from the Bulls, albeit at a 42 percent clip.

Brooks almost stole the game for the Pacers off the bench with 19 points and seven assists, hitting three of the Pacers’ nine triples. He, along with Al Jefferson provided enough firepower off the bench to keep them in it, Jefferson early and Brooks late.

Speaking of misery, it was how Butler defended George, the All-Star whom Butler is most compared to, along with Kawhi Leonard. After Leonard paced the Spurs to a Christmas Day win, Butler took his likely frustration from both ends out on his Olympic teammate, holding George to six for 14 shooting and getting a critical steal on George followed by calling timeout with 1:36 left.

“You will not find a tougher back to back assignment in the league than Leonard last night and Paul George tonight,” Hoiberg said. “He spent so much energy on the defensive end of the floor. He takes a lot of pride in his defense, you could tell, and he was getting tired.”

But the Bulls played with enough verve and poise to stop the bleeding — by any means necessary.

Cubs' Kris Bryant finishes fourth in AP 2016 Male Athlete of the Year voting.

By CSN Staff

(Photo/csnchicago.com)

Kris Bryant has won plenty in 2016, including National League Hank Aaron Award, the National League MVP, and a World Series title for the Cubs.

And while he didn't win the AP 2016 Male Athlete of the Year award, he's in pretty good company considering where he finished in the voting.

The Cubs third baseman finished tied for fourth in the voting, which was revealed Tuesday via 59 editors from AP newspapers and customers.

Cavaliers superstar LeBron James won the vote for the second time in his career, received 24 first-place votes. Olympians Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt finished in second and third, respectively. Bryant tied with Warriors guard Stephen Curry for fourth place.

Cristiano Ronaldo, Von Miller and Andy Murray also received first-place votes.

In his second MLB season the 24-year-old Bryant his .292 with 39 homers and 102 RBIs.

WHITE SOX: Report: Talks between White Sox and Yankees feature Jose Quintana, David Robertson.

By CSN Staff

(Photo/csnchicago.com)

The Yankees' interest in White Sox All-Star starting pitcher Jose Quintana has been reported numerous times throughout the past week or more. But are the Bronx Bombers interested in another South Side pitcher, as well?

According to USA Today's Bob Nightengale, trade talks between the White Sox and Yankees include not only Quintana but also closer David Robertson, who joined the White Sox as a free agent after spending seven seasons with the Yankees.

Robertson has spent the past two seasons on the South Side, posting a 3.44 ERA and notching 71 saves in 125 2/3 innings over 122 appearances. He has two seasons remaining on the free-agent contract he signed ahead of the 2015 season.

Robertson worked for a long time as a stellar setup man with the Yankees, earning an All-Star nod in 2011, a season in which he finished 11th in Cy Young voting and 22nd in MVP voting after posting a pencil-thin 1.08 ERA in 70 games. He moved to closer and saved 39 games for the Yankees in 2014.

Quintana's credentials are well known after he turned the best year in his young career last season. Quintana made the American League All-Star team and finished the campaign with career bests in wins (13), ERA (3.20) and strikeouts (181).

Given Quintana's age and team-friendly contract, he's expected to be able to fetch quite a haul, not dissimilar to what White Sox general manager Rick Hahn landed for Chris Sale and Adam Eaton from the Boston Red Sox and Washington Nationals, respectively.

Hahn acquired a bevy of top prospects in those deals, including the current Nos. 1 and 3 prospects in baseball: Yoan Moncada and Lucas Giolito.

The Yankees also possess some of the highest-rated prospects in the game, including four of the top 22, per MLB.com: outfielder Clint Frazier, shortstop Gleyber Torres, infielder Jorge Mateo and outfielder Aaron Judge.

Golf: I got a club for that..... Someone Will Shoot 62 in a Major in 2017.

By Jeff Ritter

(Photo/Golf.com)

Stories of 2016: Phil Mickelson and Henrik Stenson Duel at Royal Troon One of the biggest moments of the year happened at the British Open, where Phil Mickelson and Henrik Stenson went head to head in one of the greatest final round battles in major championship history. Ed. note: Over seven days, GOLF.com is rolling out seven bold takes for 2017. Here's the latest installment by GOLF.com's Jeff Ritter, on why someone will finally shoot the elusive round of 62 in a major championship this upcoming year.

Six months later, it’s still hard to fathom how the putt didn’t drop.  

On a cool, bright afternoon at Royal Troon, round one at the British Open, Phil Mickelson had taken a run at history, shredding the venerable course with eight birdies over 17 holes. For the final act, he sent an 18-foot putt tumbling toward the hole for the first 62 in major-championship history. The ball bent gently right-to-left and tracked at the cup, dead-center.

Then, inches from the hole, the ball veered right, gently kissed the lip and trickled by. It was an astonishing turn of fate, physics, gravity, golf gods, or wherever else you’d like to point the blame.

"I want to shed a tear right now," Mickelson said afterward.

He tapped in for an eight-under 63, and eventually finished second in the tournament to Henrik Stenson, who shot his own 63 in Sunday’s final round during a spectacular head-to-head duel with Mickelson. Those two rounds represented the 28th and 29th 63s in major championship history.

After that week, the record seemed destined to never be broken.  

But two weeks later at the PGA Championship, Robert Streb blitzed Baltusrol with his own 63 in the twilight of round two. The 29-year-old didn’t lip out a putt for 62, but he stamped his name into the book as the latest to fall one shot short of history.

And so golf’s version of the four-minute mile survived another year. But make no mistake, every summer more scoring records are dropping (Stenson’s winning score at Troon, 264, was a major championship record, and his 20-under total matched Jason Day’s dazzling mark at the 2015 PGA).

A 62 is brewing. This is the year. In 2017, someone is finally going to fire a 62 in a major championship. Maybe even a 61.

Where might history be made? The year’s first two major venues, Augusta National and Erin Hills, seem unlikely. There have been just two 63s shot in the history of the Masters and four at the U.S. Open.

Augusta may have a few tweaks up its sleeve this year, but don’t expect alterations that make the course any easier. Since "Tiger-proofing" the course back in 2002, the green jackets’ every nip and tuck have been geared toward thwarting low round.

Erin Hills, in Wisconsin, is hosting its first major and therefore a bit of a wildcard. But it’s doubtful the USGA will allow a debut venue to be shredded by the world’s best golfers. Expect the course to be set up on a razor’s edge, per USGA tradition. A record-low round probably isn’t happening there.

That leaves the British Open and the PGA Championship. The Open has surrendered 10 63s. Royal Birkdale, this year’s host, has given up one 63, to -- who can forget? -- Jodie Mudd in 1991. If the wind is down and conditions are right, just as they were at Troon last summer, Birkdale has an excellent chance at becoming the scene of history.

But if no one goes low at the Open, the record could finally drop at the PGA Championship, an event that has yielded 14 63s in its history. This year’s PGA will be staged at Quail Hollow, a terrific course that since 2003 has hosted the PGA Tour’s Wells Fargo Championship. It boasts an intimidating three-hole closing stretch dubbed the "Green Mile," but this track never ranked among the Tour’s toughest tracks, plus the players know it well. The course scoring record? A 61 by Rory McIlroy en route to winning the event last May with a 21-under total.

To combat a potential shootout, the PGA of America has shuttered Quail Hollow for extensive renovations that will last through the spring. Several holes will be lengthened and three new holes will be created. In other words, the PGA is doing everything it can to guard against a 62, and in about eight months we’ll find out if it’s enough.

But make no mistake: this record is teetering. Judging by the full list of players to shoot a 63 (below), it will most likely be a brand-name, bona fide star who pulls it off.

And after his heartbreaking near-miss at Royal Troon, wouldn’t it feel right if Phil was the one to do it?

World Ranking Gap Widens Between US and Europe.

By Doug Ferguson

The European Tour is introducing the Rolex Series this year, which starts in late May with the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth and ends in late November with the season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.

The other events that make up the Rolex Series are Irish Open and Scottish Open in successive weeks ahead of the British Open; the Italian Open in October; and then the Turkish Airlines Open and Nedbank Challenge in South Africa leading into the finale in Dubai.

European Tour chief Keith Pelley said one goal was to create a product that "provides a strong financial offering for our young players so they don't have to go to the United States." All the tournaments will have a minimum $7 million purse.

While 2017 is the inaugural year of the Rolex Series and Pelley expects it to expand, he should get an early indication of its traction.

For starters, PGA Tour purses (minus the majors the World Golf Championships) average $7.06 million this season. Equally important are world ranking points, and the gap between the PGA Tour and the European Tour continues to grow.

PGA Tour events awarded an average of 57.4 points to the winner in 2016, up from 56.4 a year ago. The European Tour averaged 42 points for the winner, slightly down from 42.2 points last year.

Throw out the majors and WGCs, and the PGA Tour offered an average of 50.6 points compared with 32.9 points for European Tour events.

The BMW PGA Championship is considered the flagship event for Europe and is guaranteed to offer the winner 64 points (Jordan Spieth received 52 points for winning the Colonial, even though it had a much stronger field that week).

Among the rest of the regular European Tour events, the strongest fields were the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and the DP World Tour Championship, both offering 52 points to the winner. The PGA Tour had 17 regular events that offered 52 or more. That includes the FedEx Cup playoff events, which averaged 69 points for the winners. The first two FedEx Cup events offered 74 points, slightly below World Golf Championship level.

Europe at least hopes to build some momentum with the first part of the Rolex Series, particularly the stretch between the U.S. Open and British Open. The Irish Open and the Scottish Open last year offered 46 points to the winner. They will be up against The Greenbrier Classic (canceled last year because of flooding) and the John Deere Classic, which offers the smallest purse ($5.6 million) among PGA Tour events that earn full FedEx Cup points.

BUSINESS AND GOLF: Tiger Woods turns 41 on Friday, and while he didn't play much this year, he kept busy reorganizing his business interests under one brand he called "TGR." Woods referred to it as setting up "phase two" of his life.

Business and golf is nothing new with prominent players. In fact, Jack Nicklaus believes it helped his golf more than it was any type of distraction. Nicklaus left IMG and Mark McCormack in 1970 to set up his own business, and it never got in the way of competing or preparing for majors.

"I always did what I had to do," Nicklaus said. "If my day was filled up with golf, it would be a boring day for me. I needed more stimulation. I think business and my family and some things I did on the outside created my away time, so that when I came back to play golf, then I really focused on it. If golf was all I had, I would have gotten lazy with it. I tried to be very efficient."

MASTERS FIELD: Twelve more players were added to the field for the 2017 Masters by finishing in the top 50 in the final world ranking of the year.

Thongchai Jaidee was not among them. Needing a victory in the Boonchu Ruangkit Championship — an Asian Development Tour event in Thailand — to finish the year in the top 50, he missed out on a playoff by two shots and actually dropped two spots to No. 54.

Alex Noren, a four-time winner in Europe this year, started the year at No. 96 and ended it at No. 9 to earn his first Masters invitation. The others who made it through the world ranking published Monday were Tyrrell Hatton, Louis Oosthuizen, Rafa Cabrera-Bello, Francesco Molinari, Yuta Ikeda, Chris Wood, Bernd Wiesberger, Bill Haas, Andy Sullivan, Byeong An and Thomas Pieters.

That puts the field at 82 players going into the start of 2017. The only way to get to Augusta National the next three months is to win a PGA Tour event (except for the Puerto Rico Open) or to be in the top 50 in the world ranking published March 27.

MAJOR CONTEXT: Jordan Spieth was talking about how the majors unfolded this year when in the middle of his answer, he realized the difference between a snapshot and a panoramic view of golf.

At the end of last year, the top three players in the world (Spieth, Rory McIlroy, Jason Day) had combined to win five of the previous six majors. With first-time winners at all four majors this year, eight players have won the last 10 majors, and first-timers have captured the last five.

"It's just funny how it's phrased because that makes it look completely different now than it did last year," he said.

SPECIAL HATS: By now, everyone has seen the navy blue caps with "USA" on the front and the Ryder Cup logo on the back.

But there's a limited edition of the caps that are hard to find. They feature another logo on the side of the cap that says, "Ryder Cup Champions." The Americans won the Ryder Cup for the first time since 2008, and only the second time dating to 1999.

The U.S. team was given a white version of cap at the celebration Sunday night at Hazeltine.

The PGA of America had about 250 caps made in navy, and most of those were distributed to the staff and those who attended a celebration at PGA of America headquarters when Brooks Koepka and Rickie Fowler came by with the gold trophy.

DIVOTS: The SBS Tournament of Champions at Kapalua will have only eight of the top 20 in the world. Five eligible players are not going (Rory McIlroy, Henrik Stenson, Adam Scott, Danny Willett and Sergio Garcia), and the other seven did not win on the PGA Tour this year. ... Jason Day wins his first Mark H. McCormack Award for being No. 1 for the most weeks of the year. Day has been No. 1 since winning the Dell Match Play the last week in March. ... Sung Hung Park won six times this year, the most of any player on a tour. Park plays the Korea Tour. Hideki Matsuyama, Lydia Ko, Ariya Jutanugarn and Bo-Mee Lee (Japan LPGA) each won five times. ... Alice Dye has been selected to receive the Donald Ross Award by the American Society of Golf Course Architects. She will be honored in May at the group's annual meeting in Jupiter, Florida.

STAT OF THE WEEK: Three Americans who qualified for the Masters have never won a PGA Tour event — Daniel Summerhays, Kevin Chappell and Roberto Castro.

FINAL WORD: "He's going to have to give me two shots." — Jack Nicklaus, when told that President-elect Donald Trump has a handicap index of 2.8. Nicklaus has a 3.1, but he said it translates to a 5 because it was established at the difficult Bear's Club in Florida.

Nicklaus: McIlroy must improve.

Omnisport

As the most decorated player in golf's history, Jack Nicklaus believes Rory McIlroy must make strides if he is to dominate the game. (Photo/Omnisport/yahoosports.com)

Jack Nicklaus says Rory McIlroy must improve his game if he is to dominate the golfing world in the future.

The Northern Irishman approaches the turn of the year as world number two and with his best result at a major in 2016 having come at The Open, where he tied for fifth.

Nicklaus, golf's most decorated player with 18 majors, says it is up to McIlroy to display that he has the drive and determination to be considered the sport's greatest.

McIlroy has four major titles to his name, the last of those coming at the 2014 US PGA Championship, with the Masters the only one still to evade his grasp.

"Rory is one of those young men who has got a tremendous amount of talent," Nicklaus told BBC Sport.

"He has won and played on his talent to this point. If he wishes to dominate and go forward then he's got to improve.

"He has to work hard, he's got to focus on what he is trying to do and it is up to him. Certainly, he has all the tools to be able to do it - it is just whether he has the desire and the willingness to give up some other things.

"And that's his call. I mean, whatever Rory does, he has established himself as one of the great players that has ever played the game.

"Whether he wants to be the greatest player to have played the game, that's his determination and it's his decision whether he wants to make that effort to try to do that."

NASCAR: Dodge Wants Back into NASCAR? Fine. But What Now?

By Steve Cole Smith

(Photo/The Drive/yahoosports.com)

August 7, 2012: Dodge announces that it is leaving the NASCAR Sprint Cup series (no, we’re not ready to call it the NASCAR Monster Energy Cup series yet). Then Dodge, driver Brad Keselowski and team owner Roger Penske go on to win the 2012 championship. This leaves Chevrolet, Toyota and Ford to compete in 2013 and beyond.

December 4, 2016: Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne, at Daytona International Speedway as part of the Ferrari Challenge World Finals, was asked at a press conference if Dodge would be interested in returning to NASCAR. Stunningly, he said, “Yes, I’d love to. I talked to Jim France (executive vice-president of NASCAR) about this just last night.”

Since Marchionne was the one who pulled Dodge out of NASCAR, having him say—with surprising conviction—that he wants back in the sport caught most everyone, including Dodge executives in Detroit, by surprise. But if there’s one thing we’ve learned since the sweater-wearing Sergio took over the bankrupt company: When Sergio says jump, your next question is, “How high?”

So now the question is: How does Dodge get back into NASCAR?

It’s a lot more complicated than it sounds. No manufacturer has re-joined NASCAR in this current era, so the path back isn’t clear.

The last two manufacturers to enter NASCAR from scratch, Dodge and Toyota, did it the same way: They started small, in the NASCAR Camping World truck series, where they learned how travel back in time and build durable pushrod V-8 engines, bolted to four-speed manual transmissions. But mostly they learned how things work in NASCAR – rules that aren’t in the rule book. When it came time to move up to the Cup series, they did.

With Dodge, the company’s progress made for a great story: The effort was largely financed by dealers, so they had a stake in the success of Dodge’s effort. There was a countdown clock introduced at a press conference, logging the days, hours and minutes until Dodge hit the track. It was a success on every level – Dodge was selling cars and trucks, meaning the dealers were selling cars and trucks.

And then they weren’t. As Marchionne said, NASCAR seemed like a luxury the struggling company could no longer afford, even though the investment had shrunk to, essentially, one two-car Penske team.

Actually, there was a lot more to the decision to stop racing than just Marchionne’s veto: There was no comparable alternative to Penske, which had announced it was moving to Ford. Dodge struck a deal with Michael Andretti to build a team around Kurt Busch, but at the last minute that was cancelled.

Soon, that began to seem like business as usual at Dodge, which rallied around its Viper team in the American Le Mans Series – just as they did in NASCAR, they won the season championship, and promptly shuttered the team and fired the champion driver. Then they spent a little money on the Trans Am series, then that went away. Only Mopar, Chrysler’s parts arm, remains in racing now, mostly in drag racing. There are a few Dodges still racing in the NASCAR Xfinity and truck series, and the ARCA series, but those are leftovers that have no factory backing.

So now what? Presumably Dodge knows the rules. Would they be willing to re-enter NASCAR through the truck series, or would they insist to jumping straight back into Cup?

Since we broke the story on Marchionne’s remarks, the rumor mill has been churning out scenarios non-stop, many of them absolutely improbable. The single biggest problem that faced Dodge at the end of 2012 was engines – unlike Toyota, Dodge was not in a position to build its own engines, and certainly Penske wasn’t going to continue building Dodge engines while the ran Fords, though that scenario was actually discussed.

Same problem now. You can count winning NASCAR engine builders on one hand. Does Dodge have enough money to, say, convince Rick Hendrick to switch from Chevrolet to Dodge. No, they don’t.

Certainly Dodge can find somebody to build their engines, but they’d have to be developed to current specifications, and quite a bit has changed since Dodge left NASCAR, including the switch from carburetors to fuel injection.

Common sense tells us that this would be expensive, and a long process as the Dodge team, or teams, got up to speed: If Dodge’s main objective is to just show up with a presence, it wouldn’t be hard to sign a second- or third-tier team to run Dodges – after all, if the team has a couple of charters, they’d be guaranteed starting spots, and suddenly there’s Dodges in the starting lineup, albeit in row 15.

But would that be enough to satisfy Marchionne, who is known to keep a close eye on the purse strings? There would have to be some sort of come-to-Jesus talk with Sergio, and a budget set: Here’s what it would cost to show up, and here’s what it would cost to win.

There would be a big difference in those two numbers.

NASCAR depends to the manufacturers to promote the sport – NASCAR’s own promotions tend to preach to the choir, but manufacturers can introduce the sport to non-fans. NASCAR misses Dodge, and needs it back. Volkswagen came close to launching a NASCAR program, but with the cutback related to the diesel debacle, that won’t happen. With a new title sponsor and broadcast rights looming, having a fourth brand committed to rejoining the series would be a substantial shot in the arm.

I think it will happen; 2018 is possible, 2019 is probable. Let’s get the countdown clock started again.

SOCCER: Bob Bradley, first American Premier League manager, fired by Swansea City.

By Leander Schaerlaeckens

Bob Bradley’s final game as Swans boss was a 4-1 loss to West Ham on Boxing Day. (Photo/Getty Images)

The first American manager to be appointed in a major European league lasted just 85 days in the job.

Premier League side Swansea City fired former United States men’s national team head coach Bob Bradley on Tuesday, less than three months since his Oct. 3 appointment. He compiled a 2-7-2 record and under his watch, as Swansea tumbled down to 19th place, tied with last-place Hull City on points.

Through 18 rounds of games, the Swans had fallen four points behind 17th-place Crystal Palace, the last team safe from relegation.

Swansea lost its third game in a row on Monday at West Ham, 4-1, in disheveling fashion as the defense gave away one cheap goal after another. Following earlier 3-0 and 3-1 losses at Middlesbrough and West Bromwich Albion, respectively, over the previous two weeks, it was apparent that Bradley was on the hot seat.

“We are sorry to lose Bob after such a short period of time,” Swansea chairman Huw Jenkins said in a statement. “Unfortunately things haven’t worked out as planned and we felt we had to make the change with half the Premier League season remaining. With the club going through such a tough time, we have to try and find the answers to get ourselves out of trouble.”

“Personally, I have nothing but praise for Bob,” Jenkins added. “He is a good man; a good person who gave everything to the job. His work-rate is phenomenal and we wish him well for the future.”

In the high-stakes relegation game – with tens of millions of pounds on the line – Premier League teams have traditionally avoided risk like the plague. And in a climate of hyper-disposable managers, the perception of avoiding risk is simply to dump the manager and see if someone else will do better. Which is how the Swans, once an overachieving and exceedingly well-run club, will now appoint their third manager of the season – perhaps before the turn of the year – for the second year in a row.

To an extent, the Swans will “lose” Bradley – which must surely be the lamest of euphemisms for firing someone – because it was considered the easiest solution. But there are bigger issues.

Bradley was installed on Oct. 3 after the Italian Francesco Guidolin – who had saved the club from relegation last season after taking over in January 2016, also as the third manager of the campaign – was ousted. As such, Bradley – the New Jersey native who became the first American to manage in any major European league after a circuitous career winding through Major League Soccer, the U.S. and Egyptian national teams, Stabaek in Norway and Le Havre in France – never even had the luxury of a transfer window to strengthen his deeply flawed team.

The Swansea defense – before, during and after Bradley’s tenure – is a dumpster fire. The club never replaced Ashley Williams, sold to Everton over the summer, when in fact Swansea needed reinforcements in the back, not merely to retain the status quo. Over Bradley’s 11 games, Swansea conceded 29 times for a woeful 2.63 average goals conceded.

Things, however, did not improve under Bradley. And that was his task. Under Guidolin, the Swans averaged 0.57 points per match – and actually conceded almost half a goal less per game. Under Bradley, it was 0.72. An uptick, but not nearly enough to instill confidence that he would steer the club away from relegation.

He faced long odds aside from taking over a troubled team. A deep stigma about an American working in the English game hampered him from his appointment, enacted by a new and skeptically-viewed American ownership no less. The locals believed Ryan Giggs, a fellow Welshman who starred with Manchester United for two decades but has yet to make a dent in management, was the better option over the highly experienced Bradley.

Bradley was pilloried for using words like “PK” or “field,” which were seen as Americanisms.

It was all fairly silly, but it contributed to a climate of negativity around a hiring made without the input of a sizable group of fans who own a share of the club.

Bradley, to his credit, tried to play positive and pretty soccer with a team that may not have had the talent to pull it off. At the very least, the games were enjoyable. Maybe this was naive. Most would-be relegationists opt for a destructive approach in the hopes of clawing out enough points to survive.

“I knew exactly what I was getting into when I came to Swansea and realized the hardest part was always going to be getting points in the short run,” Bradley told NBC Sports. “But I believe in myself and I believe in going for it. That’s what I’ve always told my players. Football can be cruel and to have a chance you have to be strong. I wish Swansea the best and look forward to my next challenge.”

In the end, Bradley attempted something no American had pulled off before and, as ever, he tried to do it to the best of his ability. A lot of things were working against him. And now the 58-year-old’s trailblazing career will have to carry on elsewhere.

So… where does Swansea City turn now?

By Nicholas Mendola

(Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images)

Swansea City are in dreaded company after firing Bob Bradley on Tuesday, with none of the last three clubs to fire two managers inside one Premier League season holding onto its top flight status.

Swans have two massive matches in the next seven days, six-pointers against Crystal Palace and Hull City, with caretaker manager Alan Curtis at the helm.

After that, it’s a brutal run of matches which includes Arsenal, Liverpool, Southampton, and Manchester City.

Given the instability at the club, Swansea chairman Huw Jenkins will have a hard time convincing a big name to take the helm. Francesco Guidolin was given the job after keeping the team safe but not allowed final say on transfers, and Bradley didn’t even get one window despite leaving his job at Le Havre.

Swansea simply have to open up the war chest and their trust tree for the new boss. Another Andre Ayew or Ashley Williams cannot be sold without a tested replacement. And frankly, Swans fans should be worried that players like Gylfi Sigurdsson and Fernando Llorente could ask to leave the mess behind.

Already the same names are being recycled as possibilities to take the job: Welsh heroes Ryan Giggs and Chris Coleman, as well as recently fired Palace boss Alan Pardew.

It’s worth noting that, in addition to only being first chair on a caretaker basis at Manchester United, Giggs has never been in a relegation campaign as a player or coach anywhere… ever.

Coleman would be a worthwhile risk and has hero status after guiding Wales in EURO 2016, but would he leave the national team gig despite his goal of helping them to qualify for the 2018 World Cup.

Pardew is available and will certainly believe he could handle the job. But his penchant for leading streaky teams should probably cool Swansea’s interest. It’s big risk/reward with “Pardiola”.

Other candidates tabbed for the gig are Roy Hodgson, who could go head-to-head with fellow ex-England boss Sam Allardyce in a relegation race, and many seem to think former Birmingham City boss Gary Rowett could be the man for the job.

And how about this one? Former USMNT boss Jurgen Klinsmann is listed by the oddsmakers as an option to replace Bradley. Surely that would also be deemed to big of a risk, as Klinsmann is another man who’s not afraid to ruffle his players and also hasn’t been involved in too many relegation skirmishes.

Then again, can’t you hear the phone calls from Wales to Germany?

“Timmy Chandler, it’s me, Jurgen… I’m getting the band back together.”

Premier League Roundup: Powers surge, including history-chasing Chelsea.

By Nicholas Mendola

(AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Four of the Premier League’s Top Six have already claimed their three points before Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur play their festive midweek games.

That’s headlined by rampant Chelsea, winners of a dozen-straight games, and red-hot Manchester United.

West Ham stayed hot, too, while Sam Allardyce had his debut as Crystal Palace boss, Burnley scored a sweet winner, and champs Leicester lost yet again.

Manchester United 3-1 Sunderland — RECAP

United keeps making distance on the field while chasing the five teams ahead of it on the table. Zlatan Ibrahimovic had a goal and an assist, Paul Pogba hooked up the Swede, and Henrikh Mkhitaryan scored a wonderful — albeit offside — goal of the year contender before Fabio Borini gave the visitors minor pride in an unhappy return for David Moyes to Old Trafford.

Chelsea 3-0 Bournemouth — RECAP

Wow. Antonio Conte‘s Blues have now won 12-straight, a new club record, and can match Arsenal’s all-time PL win streak of 14 (across two seasons) if they beat Stoke on Dec. 31 and Tottenham on Jan. 4 and will also set a single-season record for most PL consecutive wins. Pedro scored twice, and Eden Hazard converted a penalty kick in the win.

Hull City 0-3 Manchester City — RECAP

The Tigers hung tough, but Man City was too much in the end. A trio of second half goals began with a Yaya Toure penalty won by Raheem Sterling. Then Kelechi Iheanacho tapped one home before Raheem Sterling forced Hull into an own goal.

Arsenal 1-0 West Bromwich Albion — RECAP

Tony Pulis‘ Baggies were at their defensive best until Olivier Giroud got the better of Gareth McAuley to loop Mesut Ozil’s cross over Ben Foster.

Burnley 1-0 Middlesbrough — RECAP

There was a lone moment of brilliance, but Andre Gray‘s finish of a Sam Vokes‘ flick was well worth the wait for the home fans at Turf Moor. Goalkeeper Tom Heaton was again strrong for the Clarets.

Swansea City 1-4 West Ham United — RECAP

Bob Bradley‘s inadequate defensive talent isn’t getting the job done, and it’s hard to defend anything about Swans’ PL-worst 41 goals allowed. Meanwhile, Slaven Bilic‘s Irons are finally performing up to expectations. Andre Ayew and Andy Carroll are among the goal scorers for West Ham.

Leicester City 0-2 Everton — RECAP

Kevin Mirallas capitalized on some poor Leicester defending before Romelu Lukaku nailed the coffin shut on the King Power Stadium’s hopes for a happy Boxing Day.

Watford 1-1 Crystal Palace — RECAP

A Troy Deeney PK denied Sam Allardyce a debut win as Crystal Palace boss. Yohan Cabaye gave the Eagles an early lead but then Christian Benteke had a PK saved, as Andros Townsend and Mathieu Flamini earned starts under Allardyce.

Premier Leaguers on Africa Cup of Nations duty.

By Nicholas Mendola

(Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

Sixteen nations will compete in the Africa Cup of Nations from Jan. 14 to Feb. 5, with 15 hoping to unseat the Ivory Coast as champions of the continent.

Players are released from their clubs on Jan. 2, giving a headache to several PL sides.

Some players, like Liverpool’s Joel Matip and Crystal Palace’s Bakary Sako, have opted to skip the tournament in favor of staying with their Premier League squad.

While a number of squads are provisional as of this posting, their PL players are not expected to be cut in most cases.

* denotes provisional squad

Gabon

Didier N’Dong (Sunderland)

Algeria*

Sofiane Feghouli (West Ham)
Adlene Guedioura (Watford)
Ismael Bennacer (Arsenal)
Riyad Mahrez (Leicester City)
Islam Slimani (Leicester City)

Tunisia*

Wahbi Khazri (Sunderland)

DR Congo*

Dieumerci Mbokani (Hull City)
Benik Afobe (Bournemouth)

Morocco*

Sofiane Boufal (Southampton)
Nordin Amrabat (Watford)

Ghana, Mali, Egypt, Uganda, Ivory Coast, and Senegal have yet to make any announcements on their roster composition.

Sadio Mane (Liverpool), Mame Biram Diouf (Stoke), Idrissa Gueye (Everton), and Cheikhou Kouyate (West Ham) are fixtures for Senegal. Papy Djilobodji (Sunderland) could also make the cut.

Egypt routinely calls up Mohamed Elneny (Arsenal), Ahmed Elmohamady (Hull City), and Ramadan Sobhi (Stoke).

Leicester City pair Jeff Schlupp and Daniel Amartey represent Ghana, as does West Ham striker Andre Ayew.

The Ivory Coast includes Bournemouth man Max Gradel, Stoke striker Wilfried Bony, Watford’s Brice Dja Djedje, and Sunderland back Lamine Kone. Manchester United center back Eric Bailly is also set for AFCON duty, and Wilfried Zaha could be joining Les Elephants.

NCAAFB: How to beat Alabama – from the coach that's done it twice in three years.

By Pat Forde

Nick Saban may have his most dominant team yet, but another title isn’t a foregone conclusion. (PhotoGetty)

When the topic is beating Alabama, one man in college football stands out as the closest thing we have to an expert.

That man is Hugh Freeze, coach at Mississippi. He’s the last man to beat the Crimson Tide, some 26 games ago. He’s also handed Nick Saban two of his last three losses, having shocked his team in 2014. And he has come the closest this year to taking down the Tide, losing 48-43 in September after taking a 24-3 lead – Alabama’s smallest victory margin and largest deficit of the season.

With the Red Elephants stampeding toward a national title defense and its fifth championship in the last eight years, I called Freeze and asked him to share some wisdom about what it takes to beat ‘Bama. He obliged, while issuing this disclaimer: We can talk about it all we want, but he doesn’t expect any of the College Football Playoff teams to actually beat ‘Bama.

“I think Alabama is the best team in the country,” Freeze said. “But this is a one-game shot – I think the Ohio State and Clemson teams have the talent to do it. I never get to see Washington play, so I don’t know for sure about them.

“But if I had to put something on it, it would be on Alabama.”

Freeze then outlined what he believes a team needs to dethrone the Tide. He started with the offensive side of the ball, outlining three key areas.

“Even to have a chance, you have to have a good quarterback,” Freeze said. “I don’t believe you can beat them without that guy. If you don’t have that guy, you might oughta just not show up.”

Freeze had that guy this season and last season in Chad Kelly. He lit up Alabama in September for 421 passing yards, 464 total yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions. Kelly’s 178 pass efficiency rating in that game was the highest the Tide allowed on the year by 48 points.

The previous season, in a 43-37 upset victory in Tuscaloosa, Kelly threw for 341 yards and three touchdowns. His efficiency rating of 171 also was the highest Alabama allowed on the season.

And in 2014, famously inconsistent Ole Miss quarterback Bo Wallace had a Good Bo game against ‘Bama: 18 of 31 for 251 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions.

In those three games against the Tide, the Rebels have completed 60 percent of their passes for 1,013 yards, with nine touchdowns and no interceptions. (You know it grinds Saban’s gears that his defense doesn’t have a single interception against Ole Miss since 2013.) Also important: Alabama’s overwhelming pass rush has registered only seven sacks the past three games against Mississippi, for a total of just 42 yards in losses, which indicates the added value of an elusive QB.

Does Washington have that kind of quarterback? Yes – with reservations. Jake Browning has had a huge sophomore season, throwing for 3,280 yards and 42 touchdowns with only seven interceptions. He can make big plays with his arm, and coach Chris Petersen undoubtedly will arm him with a smart gameplan. The question is whether he can also avoid bad plays with his feet. Browning was only sacked 21 times on the season – but against the most physical defense Washington faced, USC’s, he was dropped for 36 yards of losses, including a safety.

Clemson is the best-equipped of any playoff team to challenge the Tide at quarterback. Deshaun Watson nearly beat them last year in the championship game, passing and running for 478 yards and leading the Tigers to 40 points.

Ohio State quarterback J.T. Barrett has dual-threat capability, plus the clutch characteristic of making big plays when he absolutely has to by any means necessary. But his passing has been erratic this season, and the big plays have not been there with a young receiving corps. Barrett is highly unlikely to have a Chad Kelly-like, 300-yard passing game if he gets a shot at Alabama in the championship game.

Freeze’s second key area: “Maintain the appearance of balance.” In other words, you have to run the ball well enough to at least keep the Alabama defense honest and make them respect that threat.

Case in point: Ole Miss ran 33 times for 101 yards against the Tide in September. Freeze noted that number and said, “It’s not a lot, but it is against them.” Indeed, that was the second-most rushing yards Alabama gave up all season, surpassed only by Texas A&M’s 114. Ole Miss’ 3.06 yards per carry was the most by a ‘Bama opponent.

“If they ever get you one-dimensional, you’re in trouble,” Freeze said.

Can Washington run well enough to keep Alabama honest? The Huskies consistently piled up rushing yardage all season – with, again, the exception of the USC game, their lone loss. They produced a season-low 17 yards on the ground, on a season-low 27 rushing attempts.

Only twice all year did Browning throw more than 30 passes in a game. It stands to reason this will be the third time, perhaps at risk to his health, because pounding away on the ground has proven futile against Alabama.

Again, Clemson and Ohio State might both be better suited to maintaining offensive balance against the Tide. The Buckeyes are a national top-10 rushing team, and the Tigers have a between-the-tackles pounder in Wayne Gallman plus the athleticism of Watson. Still, Clemson has not run the ball as well in 2016 as it did in ’15.

Freeze’s third key: “You will not beat them unless you find a way to make explosive plays. You’ve got to be willing to take some shots, even if some of them don’t work and you go three-and-out.”

In September, the Rebels hit four pass plays of 37 yards or longer against Alabama. In 2015, they completed one pass for 66 yards and another for 73. (One of which was a bit flukish, coming off a tipped ball.)

Sustained drives built on successive small bites of yardage are simply very rare against Alabama. Thus the need to be able to make the occasional big play that shortens the field. Freeze said he has gone into the ‘Bama game with a number of potential deep throws, waiting for the right situation and defensive alignment.

“You have a ‘caution menu,’ “ he said. “And you want to get a look at their alignment before you make it a ‘green’ call [and run the play]. You’ve got to find quality shots. … You’ve got to have a receiver who can win a one-on-one against them, and you’ve got to be willing to let him win one-on-one.

“You can’t drive 70 yards against them unless you’ve made some explosive plays. How many 70-yard drives for touchdowns have there been against them this year?”

The answer: only nine, and one-third of those were by Ole Miss. That includes a two-play, 80-yard drive by the Rebels that ended with a 63-yard pass to tight end Evan Engram.

“I would venture that’s the most wide-open touchdown in Saban’s history there,” Freeze said.

Since October, Florida is the only team to have a 70-plus-yard touchdown drive on Alabama.

Washington can make explosive plays – the Huskies are ninth in the nation in gains of 30 or more yards from scrimmage, with 43. Receivers John Ross and Dante Pettis have combined for 19 of those.

Clemson and Ohio State have been less explosive in terms of plays longer than 30 yards, though both have receivers who can win one-on-one battles. The Tigers count on the size of Mike Williams (6-foot-3, 205 pounds) and the Buckeyes utilize the athleticism of Curtis Samuel – a Percy Harvin-type hybrid player – to make tacklers miss in space.

Defensively, Freeze said the key is Alabama freshman quarterback Jalen Hurts. If Hurts is forced to make a high number of quality throws, the Tide is susceptible.

“You’ve got to make that quarterback beat you with the pass,” Freeze said. “That was our gameplan, and it was beautiful – for a quarter.”

It actually worked for nearly two quarters. With 2:47 left in the first half, Alabama had scored just three points. With its running game stymied, the Tide resorted to having Hurts throw a lot of unproductive, short passes – to that point in the game, he was 15-of-22 passing for 67 yards, and Ole Miss had a sack-fumble that resulted in a touchdown.

“I don’t think he can beat you throwing,” Freeze said. “But he’s one heck of a competitor, and he can run.”

Hurts’ pass efficiency rating is at its highest on third-and-manageable downs – distances of four to six yards to go for a first down. His efficiency is at its worst on third-and-long, anything from seven yards upward. He’s thrown four interceptions in 29 attempts on third-and-10 or longer.

Befitting a true freshman, Hurts has at times been loose with the ball. He’s thrown nine interceptions and lost five of his 10 fumbles. Averaging one turnover per game is survivable, but if an opportunistic Washington defense that leads the nation in takeaways (33) forces multiple miscues from Hurts, that could be the Huskies’ best chance for an upset.

Of course, the Tide has plenty of other weapons beyond Hurts. This is Saban’s most productive rushing attack at Alabama, churning out 245 yards per game on the ground, though that is partly attributable to playing with a lead virtually all season and having a highly productive running QB.

Still, Freeze does not think this is a vintage Alabama offense up front.

“I’m not overwhelmed with their offensive line,” he said. “They’ve got two really good players [tackles Cam Robinson and Jonah Williams], and their running backs are tough. But the quarterback run is the key – keep him in the pocket.

“I’m not sold he can win it all as a passer. Their defense, though – they can win it all.”

Freeze said this is Saban’s best Alabama defense. Which is saying something, since the Tide has finished in the top five nationally six previous times under Saban.

This unit is more athletic than previous editions, which often were characterized more by sheer heft and hitting.

“They’re faster at the linebacker spot,” Freeze said. “They were good for years before, but now they’ve gotten even more athletic.”

Take it from a guy who knows how to slay the Alabama giant: It can be done this College Football Playoff. But it’s not likely and sure won’t be easy.

Northwestern to wear helmet decals honoring Craig Sager in Pinstripe Bowl (Photo).

By Nick Bromberg

Northwestern finished the season 6-6. (Photo/Getty)

Northwestern will honor Craig Sager during Wednesday’s Pinstripe Bowl vs. Pitt.

Sager died Dec. 15 at the age of 65 due to acute myeloid leukemia. The longtime NBA announcer went to Northwestern and the team will have his name on a helmet decal during the game at Yankee Stadium.

Sager once tried out for Northwestern’s football team and even served as the school’s Willie the Wildcat mascot in his time there. In Northwestern’s first basketball game after Sager’s death, the mascot dressed in a loud-print shirt in honor of Sager’s flashy and eccentric wardrobe.

NCAABKB: 2016 NCAA Associated Press Basketball Rankings, 12/26/2016.

AP

RANK	SCHOOL	RECORD	POINTS	PREVIOUS
1	Villanova (56)	12-0	1614	1
2	UCLA (3)	13-0	1518	2
3	Kansas	11-1	1461	3
4	Baylor (6)	12-0	1458	4
5	Duke	12-1	1375	5
6	Louisville	11-1	1260	10
7	Gonzaga	12-0	1222	7
8	Kentucky	10-2	1171	6
9	North Carolina	11-2	1113	8
10	Creighton	12-0	1049	9
11	West Virginia	11-1	933	11
12	Virginia	10-1	892	12
13	Butler	11-1	837	13
14	Wisconsin	11-2	772	14
15	Purdue	11-2	745	15
16	Indiana	10-2	709	16
17	Xavier	10-2	548	17
18	Arizona	11-2	512	18
19	Saint Mary's (Cal)	10-1	407	19
20	Florida State	12-1	326	21
21	Oregon	11-2	321	20
22	Southern California	13-0	248	23
23	Cincinnati	10-2	207	24
24	Notre Dame	10-2	204	25
25	Florida	9-3	76	NR

Others receiving votes: Maryland 40, Virginia Tech 37, Seton Hall 18, Clemson 12, Minnesota 8, Miami (Fla.) 8, Oklahoma State 7, Northwestern 5, South Carolina 4, UNC Wilmington 3, Arkansas 3, Iowa State 2

Central Michigan star on pace to be first in two decades to average 30 points.

By Malika Andrews

Central Michigan guard Marcus Keene torched Montana State for 44 points in his most recent game. (Photo/AP)

Central Michigan’s Marcus Keene is cold-blooded.

For proof of his swagger, look no further than his audacious 3-pointer late in a close game against Green Bay, the deep bomb he splashed in after spinning and dribbling the ball behind his back, the one that made his defender look helpless and immediately went viral on Twitter.

Once overlooked and underappreciated because of his 5-foot-9 stature, Keene is now one half of the nation’s highest-scoring backcourt. The former Youngstown State transfer is averaging a national-best 31.9 points per game this season, 5.5 more than second-place Alec Peters of Valparaiso.

Keene’s remarkable start to the season puts him in position to achieve something that no college player in 20 years has done: average 30 points per game. Since Long Island’s Charles Jones put up 30.1 points per game during the 1996-97 season, nobody has eclipsed 30 points per game again — not Adam Morrison, not Doug McDermott, not even Stephen Curry.

“I’m really just speechless,” Keene told Yahoo! Sports on a phone call from the airport while waiting to board a flight home for Christmas. “It never came across my mind that I’d be averaging 30 points through twelve games. It’s crazy.”

Had Keene remained at Youngstown State his entire college career, he likely wouldn’t have been featured the same way he has at Central Michigan. Penguins coach Jerry Slocum used Keene off ball as an undersized shooting guard and he averaged 6.5 points as a freshman and 15.6 as a sophomore.

When Keene decided to transfer somewhere that would use him as a scoring point guard, the most appealing destination was a school he lit up for 24 points and five 3-pointers during the 2014-15 season.

In Keno Davis’ five seasons as head coach at Central Michigan, the Chippewas have ranked in the top 10 nationally each season in percentage of shots taken from behind the arc. Davis’ pitch to Keene was simple: Come here and do something different. Come team with Braylon Rayson, another high-scoring small guard, in a fast-paced, 3-point happy offense.

“It’s really shocking to a lot of people that we have two 5’9” guards out there at the same time,” Rayson said. “We’re doing something different. Like you might see one of them out there, but two of ‘em? That’s different.”

Keene and Rayson are the biggest reasons Central Michigan is off to a 9-3 start that includes four victories in which the Chippewas eclipsed 100 points. The explosive duo makes up for its defensive shortcomings by averaging 49.4 points combined, taking care of the ball and putting constant pressure on opposing defenses, forcing them to adjust.

“Really, nobody can guard us,” Rayson said. “I don’t care who it is. One-on-one, I don’t think nobody can even try to guard us. I think now, more colleges are going to go for the little guards instead of the 6-5 guards. I think the little guards, we got more edge because we’ve been small all our life. And we want to kill people that are 6-5.”

Keene was already an elite shooter when he arrived at Central Michigan, but he spent his redshirt year working out and getting stronger in the weight room. Now he is better able to get to the rim, draw fouls or finish through contact, as evidenced by his efficient field goal percentage of 50.8 and the fact that he’s shooting more than eight free throws per game.

Keene and Rayson are having fun. They’re winning. And Keene has a chance to make history by becoming the college basketball player in two decades to average 30 points per game.

“It would be something that I would like to accomplish,” Keene said. “But if I don’t, it’s okay as long as we’re winning. I still want to win. Winning comes first. I really want to get to the NCAA tournament. If I average 29 at the end of the year but we get to play a game in the NCAA tournament, that’s what I really want to do.”

Player of the Year Power Rankings: Josh Hart No. 1, Caleb Swanigan returns.

By Rob Dauster

(Photo/Rich Schultz/Getty Images)

1. Josh Hart, Villanova: Here’s a fun stat for you to chew on: The knock on Josh Hart’s game entering the season was his shooting ability. After the first seven weeks of the season, Hart is a member of the 180 club. He’s shooting 56.0 percent from the floor, 43.3 percent from three and 81.0 percent from the free throw line. It’s not 50-40-90, but it’s still a terrific line for a player that isn’t supposed to be able to shoot.

2. Frank Mason III, Kansas: It’s now after Christmas and Mason still has not had a game where he has had less than 18 points and had less than eight assists. His biggest issue at this point is that he best game – the season-opener – and his biggest moment – four days after that – came so long ago that people are forgetting just how good he’s been. That will change, as the Jayhawks have at least three more games against top ten competition.

3. Lonzo Ball, UCLA: Ball had his first “bad” game against Western Michigan last week. In 37 minutes of a 14-point win, Ball had just seven points, five boards, four assists and three blocks. And while he had six double-doubles on the season, he’s still without a triple-double on the season. What a bum, right?

4. Luke Kennard, Duke: Twice last week the Blue Devils played games against overmatched competition, and twice they struggled to put that competition away. They beat Tennessee State by 10 and Elon by 11 despite being favored by a total of 53.5 points in those two games. Their savior once again? Kennard, who averaged 22.5 points and led the team in scoring on both nights.

5. De’Aaron Fox, Kentucky: Fox has just been so consistent this season, especially against Kentucky’s best opponents. He had 20 points and nine assists against UCLA and Lonzo Ball. He had 24 points and 10 assists against North Carolina. He went for 21 points against Louisville. He’s averaging 16.3 points, 6.8 assists and 5.0 boards on the season. If only he wasn’t such a liability shooting the ball from the perimeter.

6. Mo Watson, Creighton: The last time we saw Watson take the floor the Bluejays beat Arizona State in Tempe. The diminutive point guard is leading the nation in assists, averaging 9.0 per game, as he runs Creighton’s high-powered offense.

7. Malik Monk, Kentucky: Monk dropped a spot this week after he was stymied by Louisville’s switching defense in a 73-70 loss last week. He finished the evening shooting 6-for-17 from the floor, 3-for-14 on jumpers and 1-for-9 from three. As is the case with all jump-shooters, Monk is tremendous when the shots are going down and not so much when they aren’t.

8. Joel Berry II, North Carolina: In Berry’s only game last week, he had just 11 points and four assists as North Carolina avenged last year’s loss at Northern Iowa. Berry’s importance was proved the previous week, as UNC struggled to beat Tennessee at home without him and nearly knocked off Kentucky with him.

9. Markelle Fultz, Washington: Fultz has now led Washington to three straight wins in a five-day stretch, including back-to-back blowouts against Cal Poly and Seattle. Fultz is still posting ridiculous numbers – 22.0 points, 6.8 assists, 6.3 boards, 1.8 steals and 1.3 blocks – but the fact that those numbers are now producing some wins is what really matters. I can’t be the only one hoping that the Huskies turn this thing around and Fultz plays meaningful games at the end of the season.

10. Caleb Swanigan, Purdue: Swanigan had back-to-back 20-20 games last season and, in the process, became the only high-major player not named Blake Griffin to have three 20-20 games in the same season. He also became the first Purdue player to put up a 30-20 game since 1971. He has 10 double-doubles in 13 games this season. What a beast.

JUST MISSED THE CUT

Amile Jefferson, Duke
Melo Trimble, Maryland
Jawun Evans, Oklahoma State
Alec Peters, Valparaiso
Marcus Foster, Creighton
Bonzie Colson, Notre Dame
T.J. Leaf, UCLA
Yante Maten, Georgia
Johnathan Motley, Baylor
Jock Landale, Saint Mary’s
Michael Young, Pitt

On This Date in Sports History: Today is Wednesday, December 28, 2016.

Memoriesofhistory.com

1902 - The first professional indoor football game was played at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Syracuse defeated the Philadelphia Nationals 6-0.

1918 - Georges Vezina (Montreal Canadiens) became the first NHL goalie to record an assist. The assist came on a goal by Newsy Lalonde.

1958 - The Baltimore Colts beat the New York Giants 23-17 in overtime in the NFL Championship.

1975 - The Dallas Cowboys won the NFC divisional playoff game against the Minnesota Vikings with a Hail Mary with only 24 seconds left.

2003 - New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner was released from the hospital. The previous day he had fainted at a memorial service.

2003 - Jamal Lewis (Baltimore Ravens) became the fifth NFL player to run for 2,000 yards in a season. He ended the season with 2,029 yards.

2003 - Mike Vanderjagt (Indianapolis Colts) set a new NFL record when he kicked his 41st consecutive field goal.

2003 - Priest Holmes (Kansas City Chiefs) set an NFL record with his 27th touchdown of the season.

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