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Welcome to the latest episode of Hot Takedown, FiveThirtyEight’s sports podcast. On this week’s show (Nov. 29, 2016), we’re joined by college basketball whiz Ken Pomeroy as we discuss whether men’s NCAA basketball is broken. Next, we pose the same question for the women’s side and ponder whether UConn’s dominance may be coming to an end. Finally, we have an update on the deadlocked World Chess Championship from FiveThirtyEight’s Oliver Roeder. Plus, a significant baseball digit on Yoenis Cespedes’s reported new contract with the New York Mets.
Links to what we discussed:
- You can read more of Ken Pomeroy’s basketball insights at his website.
- Jay Caspian Kang wonders what is the matter with college basketball.
- EspnW’s Mechelle Voepel previews which teams might stop UConn’s women’s basketball championship streak at four.
- Oliver Roeder explains potential chess Armageddon.
- The New York Times reports that the Mets will re-sign Cespedes for four years and $110 million.
- Significant Digit: 12.5 wins above replacement, the amount of production Cespedes will need to offer over the next four years of his contract to justify $110 million. The value of a win above replacement has skyrocketed, and Cespedes would have to average about 3.1 WAR per year.
