Before Friday, there had been 135 matchups between 16 and one seeds in the NCAA tournament since the field expanded to 64 teams back in 1985. The one seed was victorious every single time. Then, along came the UMBC Retrievers. The champions of the America East Conference, playing in the Big Dance for just the…
After the second legs of soccer’s premier club competition, the quarterfinal ties have been drawn. Once again, we’ll take a look at what stood out and what to expect from the quarterfinals PSG 1-2 Real Madrid (2-5 agg.) PSG: This would have been the perfect first leg for them, but, yet again, it just wasn’t…
If you’ve read any of my College Basketball articles up to this point, you’ll know that I consistently invoke a man named Kenneth Pomeroy, colloquially known as KenPom, for my sophomoric analysis. Pomeroy’s website, KenPom.com, is a predictive measure using statistics such as offensive efficiency, defensive efficiency, and strength of schedule to generate a relative…
On Sunday, Carlos Vela was on one of his long, mazy runs in the 74th minute against the Seattle Sounders, creating both danger for his team as well as relief from the pressure that the Sounders mounted in the second half. As he turned the corner, Seattle’s homegrown player Handwalla Bwana slid, but came nowhere…
There’s a new wave coming through Los Angeles. The ground broke at Exposition Park, right next door to the LA Coliseum, during August 2016, and on April 29, Banc of California Stadium will open. The 22,000 seat stadium is set for its inaugural season of use for its brand new tenants, who made a splash…
Last September, a group including former Yankees superstar Derek Jeter purchased the Miami Marlins for 1.2 billion dollars. While Jeter only owns a 4% stake in the team, controlling owner Bruce Sherman made him Chief Executive Officer of the team as well, tasking him with management of all baseball operations. During his 20 year tenure,…
The UEFA Champions League has returned. After a long layoff, the 16 teams that advanced to the knockout stages in December have played first legs of their Round of 16 matchups in soccer’s premier club competition. It’s now time to take a look at what stood out from each team and what to expect from…
In what has been a fairly tame basketball season thus far, last weekend and this past week have been full of upsets. Villanova, Duke, UVA, and Purdue were all top 5 teams that fell victim to upsets over that span of time. The AP rankings have since changed, and will likely change again as a…
Found nestled deep in Parker Houston’s computer, this ancient artifact holds him, Cam Smith, and Umar Asif accountable for their horrible takes on the NBA All-Star Game. They redraft the players for the game, talk All-Star selections’ place in evaluating historical players, and remember how great T.Y. Hilton is at dodgeball.
You’ve heard of the blue bloods, the lottery picks, and the hall-of-fame coaches in men’s college basketball. And most recently, you’ve probably been alerted to the FBI Investigation that has rocked the sport. From November to late February, there is no shortage of commentary in college hoops, yet the storylines are usually recycled and don’t…