Tag: Justin Moore

Villanova’s Final Four celebration was very bittersweet because of Justin Moore’s leg injury

Hopefully, Moore’s okay.

From wire to wire, Saturday night felt like a coronation for Villanova. The Wildcats (-3) took on a tough Houston squad in the Elite Eight. Most expected a dogfight where Jay Wright’s crew would have to claw their way to earning every single basket, rebound and free throw. This game would be one of the best matchups of the Men’s NCAA tournament. That didn’t happen.

Instead, we got a clinical 50-44 Villanova win in a game that honestly never seemed close. As impressive as Houston might have been beforehand, a beyond efficient Villanova undressed them from top to bottom. It was their moment through and through.

And in the closing moments, with seconds left toward a berth in the Final Four appearance, the Wildcats tried their best to celebrate properly.

 

Despite the joy and revelry, an unfortunate injury sullied the Wildcats’ festivities.

Late in the second half, one of Villanova’s best players, Justin Moore, suffered what’s been called a leg injury. Moore did not return to the game, and he didn’t leave Villanova’s bench either — even through the post-game celebration.

Moore’s teammates tried to console him as much as they could.

Awful all around. You have to feel for the young man and his teammates who are hurting for him.

At the time of publishing, there is no word on the severity and exact nature of Moore’s leg injury, though it doesn’t look great for now.

Villanova is onto the Final Four and has established itself as one of the blue-bloods of modern men’s college basketball. If only their latest triumph could’ve come with a happy and healthy Moore.

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2022 NBA Draft Big Board 1.0: Debut rankings of the top 101 prospects

Let’s be honest. Ranking the best NBA draft prospects is a fool’s errand. But evaluating this class is an especially challenging assignment.

Let’s be honest. Ranking the best NBA draft prospects is a fool’s errand. But evaluating this class is an especially challenging assignment.

One of the top pre-season prospects (Patrick Baldwin Jr.) is playing for a mid-major program that has just two wins so far this season. Other top prospects (AJ Griffin and Peyton Watson) are not getting much playing time for their high-major programs. Meanwhile, guard Jean Montero is playing in the inaugural Overtime Elite league. How do we compare his productivity to other prospects? I’m frankly not sure.

But nevertheless, my big board exists. Rather than going small, I decided to blow it up and do the opposite. Why did I go ahead and rank 101 prospects if this class has been so challenging to evaluate? There are two distinct reasons.

One is that I’m absolutely crazy and get a very fulfilling satisfaction with the completion of a mock draft and big board because it feels complete. It looks awesome seeing as many names as I can fit on one article, even if the science behind the rankings is a bit inconclusive.

The other reason is that as I make more big boards throughout the year, it’s interesting to track the progress (and regression) of certain prospects. I am inevitably wrong about most of these placements! But this article serves as a barometer for where I feel certain players are at in their development right now.

Note that several notable prospects (e.g. freshmen Max Christie, Matthew Cleveland, Nolan Hickman, Hunter Sallis, Brandon Huntley-Hatfield, Jeremy Sochan, Kobe Bufkin) were excluded because I expect them to go back to school to improve their draft stock.

More likely than not, some of those players will declare for the 2022 NBA draft. When that happens, I obviously will not have them outside of my top 101.

Until then, as we prepare to turn the calendar into a new year, here are the debut rankings for 101 of my favorite prospects.

All stats are accurate as of Dec. 14 and are from Sports-Reference unless noted otherwise.

2021 aggregate NBA mock draft 2.0: How has the NCAA season changed rankings?

Now that the 2021 NCAA Men’s Basketball season is underway, we are getting a more clear picture of the top prospects in the upcoming class.

Now that the 2021 NCAA Men’s Basketball season is underway, we are getting a more clear picture of the top prospects in the upcoming class.

Former top recruits like Cade Cunningham, Evan Mobley and Jalen Suggs have made a great first impression and have confirmed why many already feel they are going to be solid future professionals in the NBA.

Of course, considering the unusual nature of the college basketball season, some players are struggling a bit more than others. The performance on the court will likely stray closer to the mean with a larger sample size as the year continues.

But to get a better sense of where everyone stands right now, we compiled mock drafts from ESPN, NBADraft.net, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report, Sports Illustrated, Yahoo, The Athletic and USA TODAY Sports Media Group’s For The Win to see where the prospects rank at the moment.

We highlighted the prospects who have been the biggest risers since we published our last edition of this exercise.

College basketball standouts who have most drastically improved their draft stock through the early parts of the season include Keon Johnson (Tennessee), James Bouknight (UCONN), Jared Butler (Baylor), Corey Kispert (Gonzaga), Day’Ron Sharpe (UNC), Aaron Henry (Michigan State), Ayo Dosunmu (Illinois), Marcus Bagley (Arizona State), Moussa Cisse (Memphis), Charles Bassey (Western Kentucky), Jason Preston (Ohio) and Luka Garza (Iowa).

Below are the rankings based on the latest mock drafts from top analysts and experts:

HoopsHype’s Alberto de Roa contributed research to this report

Bellator 240/Bellator Europe 7 post-event facts: Charlie Ward closes in on KO record

Check out all the facts and figures from Bellator 240/Bellator Europe 7, which took place Saturday in Dublin.

Bellator closed out a very busy weekend of fights on Saturday with the split-event showcase that was Bellator 240/Bellator Europe 7, which took place at 3Arena in Dublin.

There were a few noteworthy results to stem from the lineup, someone of which had historical significance. For more details, check below for 30 post-event facts to come out of Bellator 240/Bellator Europe 7.

* * * *

General

Betting favorites went 7-1 on the main card.

Betting favorites improved to 3-0 in Bellator main events this year.

Total fight time for the eight main card matchups was 1:26:54.

Bellator 240

[autotag]Brent Primus[/autotag] (10-1 MMA, 8-1 BMMA) has earned eight of his 10 career victories by stoppage.

Primus’ eight victories in Bellator lightweight competition are tied for third most in divisional history behind Michael Chandler (14) and Patricky Freire (14).

Primus’ six stoppage victories in Bellator lightweight competition are third most in divisional history behind Chandler (nine) and Freire (nine).

[autotag]Chris Bungard[/autotag] (15-6 MMA, 2-2 BMMA) has suffered all three of his career stoppage losses by submission.

[autotag]Kiefer Crosbie[/autotag] (8-1 MMA, 4-1 BMMA) has earned three of his four Bellator victories by decision.

[autotag]Iamik Furtado[/autotag] (6-3 MMA, 0-1 BMMA) suffered the first decision loss of his career.

[autotag]Bec Rawlings[/autotag] (8-9 MMA, 1-1 BMMA) snapped her five-fight losing skid for her first victory since March 2016.

Rawlings improved to 1-3 since she returned to the women’s flyweight division in November 2017.

[autotag]Elina Kallionidou[/autotag] (7-4 MMA, 0-4 BMMA) remained winless in four career Bellator appearances.

Kallionidou has suffered all four of her career losses by decision.

[autotag]Ricky Bandejas[/autotag] (13-3 MMA, 3-2 BMMA) has earned nine of his 13 career victories by stoppage. That includes all three of his Bellator wins.

[autotag]Lewis Long[/autotag] (17-6 MMA, 1-1 BMMA) has suffered all six of his career losses by stoppage.

Bellator Europe 7

[autotag]Leah McCourt[/autotag] (4-1 MMA, 3-0 BMMA) failed to finish her opponent for the first time in her Bellator career.

[autotag]Judith Ruis[/autotag] (6-5 MMA, 0-1 BMMA) has suffered four of her five career losses by decision.

[autotag]Charlie Ward[/autotag] (8-4 MMA, 5-1 BMMA) improved to 5-1 since he returned to the middleweight division in November 2017. He’s 7-1 overall in his career at the weight class.

Ward’s five stoppage victories in Bellator middleweight competition are third most in divisional history behind Alexander Shlemenko (eight) and John Salter (six).

Ward’s five knockout victories in Bellator middleweight competition are second most in divisional history behind Shlemenko (six).

[autotag]Kyle Kurtz[/autotag] (10-8 MMA, 1-1 UFC) has suffered seven of his eight career losses by stoppage. He’s been finished by knockout in six of those defeats.

[autotag]Austin Clem[/autotag] (4-1 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) earned the first decision victory of his career.

[autotag]Aaron Chalmers[/autotag] (5-2 MMA, 2-2 BMMA) suffered the first decision loss of his career.

[autotag]Richard Kiely[/autotag] (3-3 MMA, 1-2 BMMA) has suffered all three of his career losses by stoppage.

[autotag]Georgi Karakhanyan[/autotag] (29-10-1 MMA, 7-8 BMMA) was successful in his Bellator lightweight debut.

Karakhanyan improved to 1-2 since he returned to Bellator for a third stint in March 2019.

[autotag]Paul Redmond[/autotag] (15-9 MMA, 2-1 BMMA) fell to 5-3 since he was released from the UFC in July 2015.

Redmond has suffered seven of his nine career losses by stoppage.

Redmond suffered his first submission loss since Dec. 31, 2013 – a span of 2,244 days (more than six years) and 12 fights.

[autotag]Richie Smullen[/autotag] (5-2-1 MMA, 2-1 BMMA) suffered the first decision loss of his career.

[autotag]Justin Moore[/autotag] (9-5 MMA, 0-2 BMMA) has suffered all five of his career losses by stoppage.

Bellator Europe 7: Aaron Chalmers lands Dublin showcase as Bellator adds six more bouts to Feb. 22 lineup

Aaron Chalmers heads the list as Bellator confirms six more matchups for their return to Dublin on Feb. 22.

The fight card for Bellator’s first European Series event of 2020 in Dublin is starting to take shape, with the promotion’s officials confirming six more bouts to take the number of announced matchups to 10.

[autotag]James Gallagher[/autotag] will headline Bellator Europe 7 at the 3Arena on Feb. 22 against [autotag]Cal Ellenor[/autotag] in a rebooking of their canceled matchup in Dublin at Bellator Europe 4 in September.

Now that bout has been joined by a main card addition, with England’s [autotag]Aaron Chalmers[/autotag] (5-1 MMA, 2-1 BMMA) moving back up to 170 pounds to take on promotional newcomer [autotag]Austin Clem[/autotag] (3-1 MMA, 0-0 BMMA), who arrives in Bellator with a 100% finish rate, with all three of his wins coming via submission.

Former MTV star and Geordie Shore castmate Chalmers is now 100% committed to his MMA career, and after bouncing back from his first career defeat with a submission victory over Fred Freeman at Bellator Europe 3, the 32-year-old Englishman has opted to move up to his more natural weight class of welterweight for his next outing in Ireland.

Also confirmed for Dublin is Irish light heavyweight fan favorite [autotag]Will Fleury[/autotag] (6-2 MMA, 2-2 BMMA), who returns to action looking to bounce back from his decision loss in Dublin in September. His knock-down, drag-out battle with Norbert Novenyi was one of the fights of the night at Bellator Europe 4, and Fleury will look to produce a similarly entertaining performance – albeit with a different result – when he takes on England’s [autotag]Justin Moore[/autotag] (9-4 MMA, 0-1 BMMA).

Fleury’s SBG teammate [autotag]Richie Smullen[/autotag] (5-1-1 MMA, 2-0 BMMA) has also been handed a matchup on home soil as he bids to complete a hat-trick of successive wins in Dublin by adding the name of [autotag]Ranjeet Baria[/autotag] (3-1 MMA, 0-1 BMMA) to his list of victims on home soil.

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Also looking to build on their last appearance at the 3Arena is Irish strawweight [autotag]Danni Neilan[/autotag] (1-0 MMA, 1-0 BMMA), who will look to make it two wins out of two to kick off her professional MMA career when she faces off against Italian newcomer [autotag]Chiara Penco[/autotag] (4-1 MMA, 0-0 BMMA), while fellow Irish prospect [autotag]Blaine O’Driscoll[/autotag] (7-3 MMA, 0-1 BMMA) takes on [autotag]Ezzoubair Bouarsa[/autotag] (7-1 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) at 125 pounds.

Joining the local Irish stars on the card will be a European welterweight clash between Sweden’s [autotag]Oliver Enkamp[/autotag] (8-2 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) and Wales’ [autotag]Lewis Long[/autotag] (17-5 MMA, 1-0 BMMA), who both kicked off their respective Bellator careers with impressive wins last time out.

Enkamp finished Walter Gahadza via rear-naked choke with six seconds remaining of the opening round at Bellator 223, while Long finished the same opponent, via the same technique, three minutes, 10 seconds quicker than the Swede at Bellator Europe 6 in London on Nov. 23.

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Bellator Europe 7 confirmed fights include:

MAIN CARD

  • James Gallagher vs. Cal Ellenor
  • Aaron Chalmers vs. Austin Clem

PRELIMINARY CARD

  • Oliver Enkamp vs. Lewis Long
  • Philip Mulpeter vs. Daniel Crawford
  • Ryan Roddy vs. Chris Duncan
  • Karl Moore vs. Arunas Andriuskevicus
  • Will Fleury vs. Justin Moore
  • Danni Neilan vs. Chiara Penco
  • Blaine O’Driscoll vs. Ezzoubair Boarsa
  • Richie Smullen vs. Ranjeet Baria