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Good morning! How a lot is your buyout?
Upsets! Kentucky’s no-good day
The primary day of the lads’s NCAA Event featured some juicy outcomes. None have been as stunning as No. 3 seed Kentucky’s gorgeous loss to No. 14 seed Oakland:
- The Wildcats most likely ought to’ve received this sport, however what are you able to do when a bench participant is available in and hits 10 3-pointers the way in which Jack Gohlke did? The Division II switch who “seems like a highschool historical past instructor,” per one teammate, saved the sport of his life for the large stage. Laborious to beat.
- Zoom out, and Kentucky coach John Calipari may truly be in hassle. “Beforehand unfathomable questions must be requested,” writes Kyle Tucker. The Wildcats’ final 4 seasons ended like this: missed NCAA Event, first-round exit, second-round exit, first-round exit. That’s not ok at Kentucky
- Calipari’s buyout is $33 million, which can sound low cost to varsity soccer followers, however stays financially onerous. That quantity drops to $27 million after subsequent season. Hm.
Kentucky wasn’t the one upset yesterday, both:
- No. 11 seed Duquesne received the Lame Duck Coach title, beating sixth-seeded BYU to lengthen coach Keith Dambrot’s profession (Dambrot is retiring after the season). Lengthy Seashore State coach Dan Monson’s post-firing tenure ended after a loss to No. 2 seed Arizona.
- Two different No. 11 seeds — Oregon and NC State — received their video games yesterday in opposition to South Carolina and Texas Tech, respectively. A Clemson loss to New Mexico at present would imply all 4 No. 6 seeds fell within the first spherical this 12 months.
See all the outcomes and takeaways on our dwell weblog, together with Kansas’ near-choke in final evening’s finale. I nonetheless can’t consider referees referred to as this a foul late in that one:
This was whistled for a foul on Samford because the Bulldogs have been trying to mount a comeback vs. No. 4 Kansas.
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— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) March 22, 2024
Poor Samford. The remainder of spherical one’s schedule begins in 5 hours.
Information to Know
Mum’s the phrase
A day after the Dodgers fired his interpreter for alleged “large theft,” Shohei Ohtani and the remainder of the group largely refused remark in regards to the burbling scandal amid yesterday’s 15-11 loss to the Padres in Seoul. Even worse: New signee Yoshinobu Yamamoto lasted only one inning and gave up 5 runs. Two days in, the vibes round this group are terrible.
NBA to shutter G League Ignite
The G League Ignite — as soon as hailed as a revolutionary manner for highschool basketball stars to grow to be NBA prospects — is shutting down, sources instructed The Athletic’s Shams Charania. The appearance of NIL in school basketball has largely eradicated the necessity for the Ignite, per the NBA’s considering. Possibly this funnels extra expertise again to the school ranks.
Extra information
Extra Brackets: Possibly we should always speak about UConn extra
The ladies’s event formally begins at present, with just some hours remaining till brackets lock. Some sources:
- Chantel Jennings picked her full bracket right here. She has South Carolina successful all of it (well-liked selection for a cause), plus some surprises. I’m not mad at LSU beating Iowa once more.
- It’s value circling again to our 10 almost definitely upsets, too. Taking a look at you, Arizona.
Pulse Closing 4 picks: South Carolina, Stanford, LSU and UConn (Tigers successful all of it, after all). I need to speak in regards to the Huskies, although, due to one individual: coach Geno Auriemma. Chantel wrote a good looking story this morning on the legendary Huskies coach. Two issues that caught with me:
- Final season, Auriemma weathered possibly the toughest 12 months of his life. His mom died. His group stuffed with All-People, together with Paige Bueckers, fell to damage. Auriemma himself had surgical procedure. Even UConn’s mascot needed to retire due to spleen surgical procedure. “Even the canine,” mentioned the coach.
- Auriemma mentioned a sense of powerlessness “engulfed” him. He took a step again — eight days off. And now? He’s again, a brand new Geno and previous Geno rolled into one. An understanding perfectionist.
Learn Chantel’s full story right here. It’s value your time. Auriemma can rub individuals the mistaken manner, however there’s a sense of authenticity across the man that may be so refreshing. It’d make you place UConn within the Closing 4, too.
See the complete schedule and the way to watch right here.
Watch This Recreation
NCAAM: No. 11 New Mexico vs. No. 6 Clemson (get tickets)
3:10 p.m. ET On truTV
I’m spotlighting this one as a result of I nonetheless simply love the Lobos’ story. BetMGM has New Mexico as 2.5-point favorites, too. 👀
NBA: Cavaliers at Timberwolves (get tickets)
8 p.m. ET on NBA TV
Each of those groups are locked in tight playoff seeding races with slightly below 15 video games left within the common season. For the Cavs, it’s much more pressing: time is operating out for them to get proper earlier than the playoffs even start.
Pulse Picks
Purdue’s Zach Edey performs at present. The 7-foot-4 star is tough to defend — and even more durable to officiate. Enjoyable angle on this story.
Baseball’s new guidelines thrived final 12 months. This 12 months received’t be as transformative, as Jayson Stark writes, nevertheless it’s simply as attention-grabbing how a sport of cat and mouse is going on.
There’s drama in Philadelphia between coach John Tortorella and group captain Sean Couturier. Former Torts gamers instructed Kevin Kurz about the place the connection may go from right here.
Regardless of all the skin chatter, Caleb Williams continues to test the “individual” containers for the Bears.
Seth Partnow has an attention-grabbing NBA knowledge dive: Why has scoring dipped throughout the league?
Is NASCAR feeling the “Netflix” impact? Early indicators say sure.
Most-clicked within the publication yesterday: NFL Draft butts. Additionally, shout out to Butt Fumble God Mark Sanchez for commenting on our Instagram put up about this story.
Most-read on the web site yesterday: NFL beat author mock draft 2.0, which featured a stunning commerce into the highest 10.
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