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In the headlines: History for Michigan sports; Jim Dolan sex assault case; Insanity at Australian Open
Sports are about numbers, and that isn’t just because scores are kept. A player’s height and weight matter, they’re ages, too. But the best moments are when things occur that haven’t happened in a long time, as sports are also a marker of time. We just witnessed the best seven days that a place with...

In college coaching, it’s better to have a <i>Succession</i> plan than deal with a surprise retirement
So much about sports is often about who’s next. But ironically, over the last few years, we’ve seen how multiple team’s inability to look to the future in one certain area has hurt more than it’s helped. From Nick Saban and Jay Wright to what Tom Izzo has recently shared, it’s clear that focusing on...

This has been the best 7 days in Michigan sports history
Sports are about numbers, and that isn’t just because scores are kept. A player’s height and weight matter, they’re ages, too. But the best moments are when things occur that haven’t happened in a long time, as sports are also a marker of time. We just witnessed the best seven days that a place with...

The 2023 Champions Classic was a tale of two games
CHICAGO — You know a game isn’t the most exciting when the biggest roar from the crowd in the first half occurs when Magic Johnson is shown on the video board. That was the story for Duke and Michigan State early on, Tuesday night. Kansas and Kentucky fans didn’t need the greatest point guard of all...

Emoni Bates is fighting his way back from the abyss
It’s hard to believe that it’s been six years since Emoni Bates was the nation’s No. 1 middle schooler in the country. Three years ago, Bates was imagined as the type of ethereal prospect who would have viewed the summer league as a formality. By the time he arrived in Memphis during the fall of 202...

Mat Ishbia can still flop like the college scrub that he is
How do you know that Phoenix Suns owner Mat Ishbia made being a go-hard his entire lifestyle?...

The definitive list of college basketball blue bloods
Another college basketball season has come and gone. The women’s tournament outshined the men’s showcase in March Madness due to ratings and attendance records, not to mention the undeniable star power the sport has. The men’s NCAA Tournament wrapped Monday night with UConn completing the six-game s...

Florida Atlantic proves just how quickly its tenacity can make opponents unravel
NEW YORK — Don’t let Florida Atlantic hang around. Memphis messed around and found out. Fairleigh Dickinson truly never had the legs to keep up with the Owls, but also felt the result of letting the grittiest team in the nation have time to respond. Surely a Rick Barnes-coached team from a battle-te...

Markquis Nowell authored the quintessential point Guard-en Party to vanquish Michigan State
NEW YORK — The last time an East Regional was held in Madison Square Garden, diminutive UConn point guard, Shabazz Napier led the Huskies to an unexpected Final Four and a national title. Flash forward nine years and Kansas State’s 5-foot-8 floor general, Markquis Nowell, staked his claim as New Yor...

The Sports Nihilist takes on the Sweet 16
Welcome to Deadspin’s The Sports Nihilist, where all is for naught and we are but accidental jolts of electrified meat stuck to the surface of a rock in an indifferent universe. Fuck you....

NCAA Tournament Sweet 16's most vulnerable teams
By the time this week is over, the NCAA Tournament field will again shrink by at least 400 percent. One-fourth of the teams to win a pair of March Madness games last week will do so again. Half of them won’t win one more game. And after riding high over the last week and adding important wins to a p...

Ranking all 64 NCAA Tournament teams
No more bubbles. No more first four in or out. No more teams wondering if they made the most exclusive group in college basketball. Only 68 teams of the 350+ Division-I squads have a chance to become national champions now. Before the First Four begins on Tuesday, we’ve ranked every team that hopes ...

B1G Disappointment: The teams that have won national titles since the Big Ten last cut down the nets
Facebook hadn’t been invented yet, Zion Williamson didn’t exist, Mad Cow Disease was the “pandemic” of the time, and Y2K is what so many thought would be the end of modern civilization. The year 2000 feels like it was so long ago, but it feels even further away for Big Ten hoops fans. Twenty-three y...

Michigan State cancels classes, athletic events for next two days after mass shooting
In the aftermath of a fatal mass shooting on Michigan State’s campus on Monday night, the university announced no activities will take place on campus through the end of Wednesday, including athletics. The Spartans’ men’s basketball team was scheduled to continue Big Ten play in East Lansing against...

The Phoenix Suns are about to be owned by a real weirdo
To attain the kind of wealth that would allow one to purchase a sports franchise must automatically designate one as being off-kilter in some ways. There can be no normal billionaires, and now sports teams are valued at such ridiculous heights that only the richest of the rich can afford them. Which...

Our Conference Mock Draft: Pac-12 Edition
Picking in the middle of the rounds made strategizing to keep rivals together a challenge, but we’ve got the finances to thrive once we’re inevitably forced to categorize student-athletes as employees....

NIL turns 1
It’s been one year since the NCAA adopted a name, image and likeness (NIL) policy, allowing its “amateur” athletes to monetize and benefit off their own personal brands and make money over the table. This is all while attending one of their institutions and donating endless time to their athletic pr...

Jay Wright’s retirement heralds a culture shift in college sports
Where have all the coaches gone?...

How Sweet it is
From 68 teams to the final 16. More than 50 teams with their eyes on a national championship are handing in jerseys instead of preparing for more games. The first six days of NCAA Tournament action left three double-digit seeds, including maybe the biggest Cinderella in Tournament history, which you...

Ratings prove that Duke is good for business and the NCAA Tournament
When it comes to March Madness, Duke is a necessary evil. No wonder they’re (Blue) Devils. ...