An Unprecedented Final Four

As the field of 68 teams has shrunk down to 4, we now await the Final Four which will kick off this weekend. For the first time since 2008 and only the second time ever, the final two rounds will be compromised of solely number one seeds.

The games will be between the Auburn Tigers and the Florida Gators, an all SEC matchup, and the Houston Cougars and the Duke Blue Devils. These four squads have been the most consistently dominant teams all season and will look to top off their magical seasons with a championship trophy. 

Duke eased their way to their matchup with Houston after defeating #2 seed Alabama by 20 points in the Elite 8. Featuring five of the top 50 NBA Draft prospects, Duke has looked absolutely unstoppable and is the favorite out of the four teams to take home the hardwood this season. 

They will definitely be in the conversation for one of the best teams ever if they can win their next two games. The Blue Devils are back in the Final Four for the first time since 2022 and are looking for their first national championship since 2015. 

Their opponent, the Houston Cougars, are similarly coming off a dominant victory against another #2 seed, the Tennessee Volunteers. The Cougars, unlike the other three teams, thrive defensively after limiting the Volunteers to just 50 points and just 15 in the first half alone. 

Lead by legendary head coach Kelvin Sampson, Houston is back in the Final Four for the first time since 2021. They will look to capture their first ever national championship after falling short in their seven previous Final Four runs. 

Going to the other matchup, the Auburn Tigers entered the tournament as the #1 overall seed and carried that title for most of the regular season as well. Lead by potential Player of the Year Johni Broome, the Tigers will look to do what they could not do in the regular season: beat the Florida Gators. 

After getting hurt late in the second half of the Tigers victory over Michigan State, Broome may not be 100 percent healthy for their matchup against the Gators. The Tigers are back in the Final Four for their first time since 2019 and only their second time ever, looking to win their first national championship. 

Finally, the Florida Gators come into their matchup against Auburn after a thrilling victory over Texas Tech in the Elite 8. After going down by a sizable margin with just around 2 minutes remaining, Walter Clayton Jr. put the team on his back and powered the Gators to the win. 

After dominating the SEC and winning the SEC Conference Championship, the Gators find themselves in yet another SEC matchup against the Auburn Tigers. This will be the Gators first time back in the Final Four since 2014 and they'll be looking to win their third national championship and their first since 2007.

With the four #1 seeds remaining, it's hard to predict who will end out on top come Monday night. My pick is the Duke Blue Devils as I think they will beat Houston in a tightly contested game, and win their rematch against Auburn from earlier in the season for the national title.  

 

Historic Start for the Yankees

 

As the 2025 MLB season gets underway, the Bronx Bombers are off to an historic, unheard of, start to their campaign. After tallying 36 runs in their three game sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers, the Yankees bats are off to a scorching start. 

Despite a bitter offseason coming off a World Series loss and the departure of Juan Soto, the Yanks put that behind them after a record breaking weekend. In addition to scoring 36 runs, in their 20-9 win on Saturday, New York launched nine home runs. 

Those nine home runs are the most ever hit in a single game in the 122 years that the Yankees have existed. In all three games, the Bombers tallied 15 home runs, tying the record for the most in a three game set. 

4 of those 15 came off the bat of Aaron Judge. The MVP is off to the best start of his career and it's not even April yet. As Michael Kay said during the broadcast on Sunday, he truly is "one of the best right-handed hitters in MLB history." 

The biggest headline revolving around the Yankees over the weekend has been the implementation of their newly designed bats. The bats have certainly given them a lift offensively, and are perfectly legal to use. Despite there being tons of criticism regarding the new "torpedo bats", there is nothing illegal about them. 

Other Yankees such as Jazz Chisholm, Cody Bellinger, Anthony Volpe, and more have taken advantage of the new bats and have gotten off to a fast start. It will be interesting to see if these players continue to thrive in these new circumstances. If they do, we will definitely start seeing other teams implement these bats as well. 

The Yanks have an off day before continuing their home stand against the Arizona Diamondbacks. With all of the injuries suffered during Spring Training and Juan Soto leaving for the Mets, the Yankees have pushed this aside and started their World Series aspirations on the right note in 2025. 

Gang Green Has A New QB

 

This past Monday, the New York Jets signed their newest quarterback Justin Fields to a two-year deal. New York has not had a consistently good quarterback in some time, but they are hoping that Fields can turn this narrative around. 

Entering his 5th NFL season, Fields is now playing for his third team after playing just one season with the Pittsburgh Steelers and the previous three for the Chicago Bears. Fields only played in 10 games last season as he and Russell Wilson shared time as QB1 in Pittsburgh. 

Fields will reunite with Garrett Wilson and Jeremy Ruckert from his time at Ohio State. Fields was originally drafted in the 2021 draft where the Jets also selected a quarterback. New York had the second overall pick with the chance to take Fields, but instead selected Zach Wilson.

4 years later, Gang Green ends up with the quarterback selected nine picks after their pick. Fields has yet to have a breakout season despite having numerous glimpses of star potential in his time in Chicago and Pittsburgh. 

The Jets are hoping the young quarterback can finally breakout and that this two year contract and lead to a future extension down the line. New York has already claimed that Fields will be the Week 1 starter for the 2025 season, but they also have backup quarterbacks Tyrod Taylor and Jordan Travis on the roster.

The plan for Travis was to learn from Rodgers while sitting on the sidelines recovering from his injury. Taylor has been known to be a very sufficient backup, so if things don't work out as well with Fields they can turn to their veteran quarterback. 

Will Justin Fields finally be the answer at quarterback for the Jets? Aaron Glenn and Darren Mougey are putting together a very young and dynamic roster around Fields so he can succeed as a Jet. Hopefully he will provide the Jets will lots of good memories down the road. 

Badgers Guide for March

 

The Badgers come into March after a very underwhelming end to the regular season. In addition to losing three of their last five games, Wisconsin was not able to qualify for the double bye in the Big Ten Tournament as well. 

Wisconsin goes into the Big Ten Tournament as the no. 5 seed and will take on the winner of Northwestern and Minnesota on Thursday. Currently the Badgers are predicted to be a no. 4 seed in the NCAA tournament, but a couple of victories in the Big Ten Tournament can easily jolt them to a no. 3 seed. 

All season the Badgers have been lead by John Tonje and John Blackwell. Tonje was recently named to the All Big Ten 1st team and Blackwell received an honorable mention as well. From last year, Blackwell has taken a huge leap and next season it will certainly be his team if he decides to not enter the transfer portal. 

The most recent debacle for the Badgers was their loss to Penn State. It was simple, all they had to do was win and they would clinch a double bye. Penn State, a team playing in their last game because they were unable to qualify for the Big Ten Tournament itself. 

A loss like that is certainly catastrophic to the Badgers in multiple ways, but in other ways it can be received as a much needed wake up call. For most of the season, the offense has been lights out but not as of late. This Badger team is not like old Badger teams with their ability to out shoot other teams. 

In the previous three games, Max Klesmit has been out with a lower body injury and in those three games the Badgers are 1-2. Despite his struggles offensively this season, I do believe Klesmit provides the Badgers with a huge boost. 

Being both a starter and a leader, Klesmit has impacted the Badgers in other ways despite his poor shooting. Klesmit's defense, on the other hand, has been a positive for Wisconsin. With Klesmit back in the lineup on Thursday, the Badgers will look a lot different and hopefully a lot better as well. 

In recent years, the Badgers have been unable to get it done in March. Their last Sweet 16 appearance was all the way back in 2017 despite being a high seed in previous years. This year they have to get over the hump. They have the DNA, they have the talent, what they need is the confidence to get there. 

NBA, Wake Up!

 

The NBA just received one of the worst ratings they have ever received for their abysmal All Star Weekend in San Francisco. After changing the platform multiple times, nothing has worked for the NBA. So what's next?

During the same time, the NHL had its revamped All Star break that caught national attention. They turned their All Star format from a skills competition and a mini tournament between the four divisions into an international showdown between four different countries. 

Like the NBA, NHL players often wouldn't put their best effort into the all star games in the past. But this year was different. The official name of the tournament was called Four Nations Face Off. It was comprised of the best players from the US, Canada, Finland, and Sweden. 

The round robin tournament took place over a week and got people very excited about the sport. The players put everything on the line even though there was no incentive to playing besides representing your respective country. 

The number one concern for players over All Star Weekend has always been injuries, but when you put your nation's colors on, all of those concerns are left behind. It was a great tournament and a great turnaround from the NHL. They turned a usual underwhelming All Star Weekend into a playoff intensity tournament for the players and fans. 

On the other hand, the NBA saw its ratings fall off the charts. No one was excited about the usual All Star festivities and especially the game itself. Watching stars play basically a pickup basketball game with no one putting in any effort or trying is flat out boring to watch. It's hard to get excited about something that has no hype whatsoever. 

The NBA should look at the NHL as an example of what they should implement. There are multiple ways they can change All Star Weekend. One is by adopting the four nations format from the NHL. Getting four different countries in a tournament would get the fans excited and give the players an incentive to represent their own countries. 

Another option is to do a United States versus the rest of the world game. Imagine international players like Nikola Jokic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Luka Doncic, and more taking on the best from the United States. The International game has vastly improved in recent history, so this would definitely incorporate a lot of competition and excitement. 

Whichever one of those methods it is, the NBA has to do something to fix their weekend. The NHL did an amazing job and even got viewers that didn't watch hockey in the first place to tune in as well. It's clear, the NBA can't keep this format any longer. 

Next up: Baseball!

 

With the NFL season now officially over with the champion being crowned, baseball is officially on the horizon and is the next sport to kick off. With pitchers and catchers reporting today and in the upcoming days, we are getting closer and closer to Opening Day. 

It has been a jam-packed offseason to say the least, making this upcoming season even more exciting. Since the last pitch was thrown and the Dodgers became the World Champs, a lot of faces have departed and arrived on new squads. 

The story of the offseason: Juan Soto. We will get to see Soto make his debut with the New York Mets for what the Mets hope to be a storied 15 years to come. The real question around this will be what New York team will be smiling when the eventual outcome of this signing is determined. 

It might not be this upcoming year, and it might not be for a while, but both the Mets and the Yankees spent a lot of time this offseason improving their clubhouses. The team that I'm convinced hasn't slept this entire offseason, even after winning the World Series, is the Los Angeles Dodgers. 

The Dodgers, after winning their 8th World Series, were not satisfied and went out and brought in a whole bunch of new talent. A couple of the new faces in their clubhouse this season include: Roki Sasaki, Blake Snell, and Tanner Scott. And they didn't really lose anything either. 

A back to back championship is well within the sites of the Dodgers. Despite the regular season looming, there is still one free agent that everyone is confused why he is still available. That is Alex Bregman. It still remains a mystery where he will sign, but whatever team does bring him in will be deemed a winner of this offseason. 

March 27th can't come soon enough. Now with the NFL off until August, the MLB will soon become the main attraction of America and other countries around the world. If this season is anything like the previous one, we are in for a fun ride ahead. 

The Eagles are World Champions!

 

It has been done. The Kansas City Chiefs have been dethroned. After an absolutely lopsided contest Sunday evening, the Philadelphia Eagles are the new Super Bowl champions, winning their second title in the last eight years. 

It really wasn't a close game from the beginning. The Eagles were up by as much as 34 points at one point. Kansas City scored a majority of their points in garbage time. From the first Kansas City offensive drive, there was something different about their play style. 

It almost seemed reminiscent of their blowout loss in the Super Bowl to Tampa Bay just a couple of years ago. Mahomes had no time in the pocket, got flustered, threw some really bad balls, leading to complete domination by the other side. 

Mahomes was out of rhythm, some of his most trusted receivers were dropping balls, and despite facing no blitzes, the offensive line still couldn't block the Eagles pass rush. It was a total domination from the start to the finish. 

The Eagles defense really was the biggest story in this one. Along with six sacks, the Eagles had two interceptions, one of them being a pick six by Cooper DeJean. Kansas City couldn't adapt to their defensive schemes the entire game. 

Philadelphia not only had their defense on spotlight, but their offense also had an historic performance. The one guy who didn't play up to his standards however was Saquon Barkley. Kansas City has always had a stout rush defense and hadn't allowed an 100 yard rusher in the playoffs since 2019. This streak did not break. 

They forced Jalen Hurts to throw the ball and he did a pretty good job to say the least. With all of the eyes on Saquon, Hurts was also able to tuck the ball away and run when the opportunity presented itself. He broke the Super Bowl record for most rushing yards by a quarterback with 72. 

With his almost perfectly efficient night through the air and acceptable game on the ground, Hurts took home Super Bowl MVP. From a National Championship win in college to a Super Bowl victory in the NFL, Hurts has deemed himself as a proven winner and will look to continue that for years to come. 

On the other hand, for the Chiefs, I expect them to be back in the same spot next year, but this time with a large chip on their shoulders. After making his fifth Super Bowl before turning 30, I don't think Patrick Mahomes is anywhere near satisfied with their his 3-2 record in the big game. 

All of the talk was silenced by the Eagles on Sunday Night. The Chiefs quest for a three-peat has been denied and who knows the next time, if ever, we will see a team get the chance to three-peat again. The GOAT talks will have to be pushed aside another year as Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles have taken over the football world in 2025.