NHL Midseason Check-In, Olympic Hockey Preview & Pete Babcock on Basketball, Activism, and History

The weekend edition of Sports IQ with Larry Smith delivers a wide-ranging look across the sports landscape — from NHL playoff races and Olympic hockey to NFL coaching trends and a powerful preview of an upcoming NBA conversation you won’t want to miss.CBS Sports NHL writer Austin Nivison joins producer Tony Cordaro for a deep dive into the NHL at the halfway mark of the season. The conversation covers Team USA’s Olympic hockey roster, contenders and pretenders in both conferences, the resurgence of the Buffalo Sabres, Colorado’s dominance out west, Tampa Bay’s quiet return to elite form, and what moves could be coming at the NHL trade deadline.Later in the show, Larry and Tony preview a special upcoming interview with longtime NBA executive Pete Babcock, whose new book Courts of Justice blends basketball history with civil rights and activism. Babcock shares remarkable, previously untold stories involving Red Auerbach, the integration of the NBA, and how basketball became a vehicle for social change — offering insight that left both hosts genuinely speechless.The episode also breaks down:Major NFL coaching hires and the analytics behind offensive vs. defensive head coachesConference Championship Weekend matchups and storylinesWhy experience still matters at quarterback in today’s NFLA Moment of Awe honoring LeBron James becoming the youngest player ever to reach 30,000 career points