Does defense really win championships? Well, we’re about to find out in the 2023 men’s NCAA Tournament, which tips off its round of 64 on Thursday afternoon. The top four seeds in the tournament — Houston, Alabama, Kansas and Purdue — all have a reputation for making their opponents look like they’re violating James Naismith’s […]
The Purdue Boilermakers had already tasted success when Matt Painter was named head coach of the men’s basketball team 19 years ago. Sure, they weren’t a blue blood like their national-title winning rivals 100 miles to the south, but the Boilermakers had won 1,455 games and 21 Big Ten championships across 107 seasons on the […]
Mel Tucker was ready. His Michigan State football team had just delivered a statement win, rallying from 16 points down to beat rival Michigan 37-33. The Spartans had soared to No. 5 in the AP Top 25 poll and would be unveiled at No. 3 in the season’s first College Football Playoff rankings. And their […]
gfoster (Geoff Foster, sports editor): Welcome to FiveThirtyEight’s Final Four chat! After the chalk prevailed in the first weekend, the second weekend finally provided some upsets. In the Elite Eight, three of four underdogs won outright, and the fourth, Purdue, probably should have won — but Virginia’s last-second heroics and overtime win make the Cavs […]
gfoster (Geoff Foster, sports editor): We have 52 games in the books of the men’s NCAA Tournament. And there has been one prevailing theme: chalk. There has been a staggeringly small amount of bracket busting. Other than Oregon (a No. 12 seed but a Power Five conference winner), the highest seed remaining is Auburn at […]