Greg Cote’s Hot Button Top 10: CFP final four. A bull’s-eye on who got in, who’s left angry & more

GREG COTE’S HOT BUTTON TOP 10 (DECEMBER 3): WHAT IN SPORTS HAS GRABBED US LATELY: Our Sunday Hot Button Top 10 had been blog-only but when our blog retired it moved, re-imagined, to online-only. HB10 means what’s on our minds, locally and nationally, but from a Miami perspective and accentuating stuff that’s big, weird, damnable, funny or otherwise worth needling as the sports week just past pivots to the week ahead. Welcome to the 40th edition of your Sunday sports-potpourri notes column, the new HB10:

1. COLLEGE FOOTBALL: FSU, Georgia out and cryin’ as CFP selects final four: I wrote: “The two teams most certainly in the College Football Playoff final four to be announced today are the school embroiled in a cheating controversy, Michigan, and the team that barely survived the Pac-12 title game, Washington. Beyond that? There is a strong case for Texas. And I believe Alabama will and should sneak in after beating No. 1 Georgia Saturday.” Well, nailed it! Those were my four picks and those were the four selected. . I thought the Bulldogs and unbeaten Florida State would be left out and they were. Those two and maybe even Ohio State are the three fan bases the most disappointed today,

2. DOLPHINS: Tua, Tyreek poised for post-Thanksgiving feast at Washington: All three of Miami’s losses have come on the road, where the Fins simply have not played as well. And law of averages suggest the Dolphins are due a stumble-loss to a losing team at some point. But for get all that. Tua Tagovailoa and Tyreek Hill et al should feast on a league-worst Commanders defense.

3. HEAT: Spoelstra divorce lends unfortunate somber note to season: The whispers heard among many the media became true when Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, 53, and wife Nikki, 36, jointly announced their divorce after seven years of marriage, saying they will co-parent their children. Miami is staggering on the court, too. Heat is 11-9 thanks to a 1-4 skid and has been eliminated from the In-Season Tournament.

4. NBA: OK, I admit it. Apparently everybody likes the In-Season Tournament but me: I still think it’s a dumb, unnecessary idea with a bad name, but I admit most seem to like the first-year of the In-Season Tournament. Quarterfinal games are Monday with Celtics-Pacers and Pelicans-Kings and Tuesday with Knicks-Bucks and Suns-Lakers. Championship is December 9, the inaugural NBA Cup to the winner.

5. PANTHERS: Cats fall to Isles .. but Tkachuk scores, Tkachuk scores!: Florida is 14-8-2 and third in the East with 30 points even after Saturday’s 4-3 home loss to the Islanders. But in the loss came big, welcome news: Mathew Tkachuk scored a goal! It was only his fourth in 24 games. Last year he was an MVP finalists and led the Cats to the Stanley Cup Final with 40 goals in 79 games. They’ll need a return of his goal touch to make a run again.

6. SOCCER: Euro ‘24 draw is in. Will this finally be England’s time?: Next Summer’s UEFA Euro ‘24 men’s tournament is set with six four-team groups. Germany will be host Italy is the defending champion, and the early betting favorites are England and France both at +500 and the host Germans at +550. France appears to have a more difficult path, increasing chatter that it could finally be time for England (the Euro ‘21 runnerup) to win its first major men’s trophy since 1966.

7. SOCCER: It’s LAFC at Columbus for the MLS Cu title: This is the prize Inter Miami hoped Lionel Messi would help deliver, but the club was too far down and Messi arrived too late. So the 28th MLS Cup will go next Saturday to Los Angeles FC or the the Columbus Crew. Both have won it all recently. L.A.’s only title came in 2022; the most recent of Columbus’ two crowns was in 2020.

8. COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Heisman Trophy is headed to an unusual winner: The sport’s biggest individual award will be announced next Saturday and if the betting odds are right the iconic stiff-arm trophy will go to either QB Jayden Daniels from three-loss LSU or QB Bo Nix from two-loss Oregon. The College Football Playoff will not have the Heisman winner unless Washington QB Michael Penix Jr., a distant third in the odds, surprises.

9. CANES HOOPS: Reality check for Miami men; why aren’t UM women ranked?: No. 8-ranked Canes men got spanked, 95-73, at No. 12 Kentucky but rebounded with a home win over Notre Dame Saturday in thei ACC opener to go 6-1. UM women continue mysteriously unranked despite now being 6-0 after reaching the Elite Eight last spring. Another big chance to convince the doubters comes December 16 vs. No. 13 Baylor.

10. MEDIA: Sports Illustrated says Deion Sanders is Sportsperson of the Year: No, seriously. Sanders came to coach the Colorado Buffaloes with great fanfare and hype, mostly of his own design with the media an eager accomplice. He would finish 4-8, and 1-8 (dead last) in he Pac-12. Given its recent controversy, we can only assume that Artificial Intelligence (AI) made the choice for the shell of S.I. Or perhaps NEI (not enough intelligence was behind the selection.

Other most recent stuff from me: NFL Week 13 picks / Canes’ Cristobal in ‘wild, wild West’ after transfer QB. Is Tua’s brother a long shot? / Dak Attack! Prescott unseats Tua from No. 1 in latest Herald NFL QB rankings / Dolphins 8-3 as ‘Hail Jevon’ play leads 34-13 Black Friday rout at Jets / Previous HB10 / And my latest podcast: