Welcome to Thursday’s Morning Mashup. For the latest news, start at our WEEI.com home page or click here for the top stories from our news wire.
THURSDAY’S BROADCAST HIGHLIGHTS:
NHL: Blackhawks at Canadiens, 7:30 p.m. (NBCSN)
NBA: Raptors vs. Magic, 3 p.m. (NBATV)
NBA: Cavaliers at Spurs, 8 p.m. (TNT)
NBA: Lakers at Warriors, 10:30 p.m. (TNT)
College basketball: UConn at Tulsa, 7 p.m. (ESPN2)
College basketball: High Point at Winthrop, 7 p.m. (ESPNU)
College basketball: Iowa at Michigan State, 7 p.m. (ESPN)
College basketball: UAB at Old Dominion, 7 p.m. (CBSSN)
College basketball: BYU at Gonzaga, 9 p.m. (ESPN2)
College basketball: Eastern Kentucky at Eastern Illinois, 9 p.m. (CBSSN)
College basketball: Murray State at Belmont, 9 p.m. (ESPNU)
College basketball: Pittsburgh at Louisville, 9 p.m. (ESPN)
College basketball: Washington at Arizona, 9 p.m. (FS1)
College basketball: California at Stanford, 11 p.m. (FS1)
College basketball: Saint Mary’s at Pacific, 11 p.m. (ESPNU)
AROUND THE WEB:
Clik here to view.
Ben McAdoo
— The Giants reportedly have settled on offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo to replace Tom Coughlin as head coach, multiple media outlets reported Wednesday night.
Macao, 38, also interviewed for the vacancy with the Eagles before the Giants made their offer.
“Excited for Coach McAdoo,” cornerback Prince Amukama said in a text to The Associated Press. “I figured him or [defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo] would have been a great pick. I’m sure his players and the fans are all excited.”
Macho was an assistant with the Saints in 2004 and 49ers the following season before an eight-year run with the Packers, including the final two as quarterbacks coach. He joined the Giants in 2014 and has helped sparked an offensive surge, as Eli Manning has thrown 65 touchdowns and 28 interceptions the past two seasons.
Meanwhile, Coughlin continues to conduct interviews for other openings, most recently stopping in San Francisco to meet with 49ers brass after a visit with the Eagles.
CBS analyst (and former Giants quarterback) Phil Simms said teams should not be scared away due to Coughlin’s age (69).
“The shape he’s in and the life he leads, his age isn’t the factor we put on him,” Simms said during in a Wednesday conference call for NFL on CBS.”He’s not like other coaches. That’s for sure.”
Added Simms: “This guy knows what he’s doing. There’s no guesswork. We’ve seen what does. Look at the Jacksonville success before New York. Even Boston College. He will turn a team around fast.”
— Hue Jackson would not admit it when he was introduced Wednesday as coach of the Browns, but there are reports that he wants the team to move on from troubled quarterback Johnny Manziel.
“I don’t know Johnny personally,” Jackson said. “I know who he is, but at the same time I think I have to give everybody on our football team a fair opportunity to see who they are, to truly learn who they are, and then make decisions from there.”
Jackson, who moves over from the Bengals, where he has been offensive coordinator, will have the No. 2 pick in the draft, and it appears likely Cincinnati will select another quarterback.
“Having the No. 2 pick is great — and sometimes it’s not,” Jackson said. “We as an organization have a lot of work to do to make sure that’s where we need to be or where we don’t need to be. But I think it’s a great place to start as a new head coach because you have a chance to get a great player.”
As the organization’s sixth head coach since 2008, the 50-year-old Jackson said he understands what he’s walking into in Cleveland.
“I like challenges,” he said. “And boy, what a challenge.”
— The troubled life of former NFL running back Lawrence Phillips came to an Wednesday when he apparently committed suicide in his prison cell in Sacramento.
Phillips, 40, had been in prison since 2008 on charges of choking his girlfriend and also driving his car into a into group of teenagers. On Tuesday a judge ruled that there was enough evidence to try Phillips in the death of a fellow inmate last year. Phillips had been in a segregation cell since the incident last April.
Phillips splashed onto the national scene during the 1995 season, when he was a Heisman Trophy candidate at Nebraska who could not stay out of trouble. After beating a former girlfriend, he was given one year of probation and suspended six games.
“He was an intelligent person and had some good qualities,” former Nebraska coach Tom Osborne said after learning of Phillips’ death. “He was very loyal to his friends, and yet he had some anger issues and couldn’t overcome the demons in his life.”
Phillips was drafted by the Rams sixth overall in 1996 but was released the following year as his off-field issues persisted. He had stints with the Dolphins and 49ers before leaving the NFL for good in 2000.
ON THIS DAY TRIVIA (answer below): On Jan. 14, 2007, the Patriots traveled to San Diego and knocked off the Chargers, 24-21, to advance to the AFC championship game. Which receiver — signed as a free agent from the Chargers in the previous offseason — had a huge game for the Patriots, catching a 4-yard touchdown pass with 4:36 remaining and hauling in a 49-yard pass that set up the game-winning 31-yard field goal by Stephen Gostkowski with 1:10 left?
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “We do it the way the league outlines us to do it, just like everybody else does it.” — Patriots coach Bill Belichick, answering a question about how the team handles its footballs in the wake of Deflategate
STAT OF THE DAY: 12 — Consecutive points scored by the Celtics to end Thursday’s 103-94 victory over the Pacers
‘NET RESULTS (mobile users, check the website to see the videos): Flames forward Sam Bennett puts on a nifty move to score his fourth goal of the game in a rout of the Panthers.
A Rockets fan wins $25,000 for hitting a halfcourt shot during a timeout in Wednesday’s game.
TRIVIA ANSWER: Reche Caldwell
SOOTHING SOUNDS: Ellis Paul was born on this day in 1965.