Tag: NCAAB

Western Michigan completed the most unbelievable cross-court bounce pass to top Ball State at the buzzer

You HAVE to see this buzzer-beater from Western Michigan.

The Western Michigan men’s basketball team put on an absolute clinic for how you win a road game with a bounce pass and a buzzer-beater on Saturday.

With just 1.6 seconds on the clock, the team was tied at 76 with Ball State with only an inbound pass and possible last-second shot in its back pocket.

Needing to get the ball from one side of the court to the other, Western Michigan’s Ja’Vaughn Hannah completed the most unreal cross-court bounce pass you’ve ever seen to teammate Anthony Crump, who floated the ball right into the hoop as the buzzer expired for the victory.

This is just one of those highlights you have to watch a couple of times to really soak in just how incredible it really is.

We’re really not sure how Western Michigan pulled this off, as it’s such an improbable way to win a basketball game. However, the team found a way, and the ensuing celebration was absolutely deserved for such heroics.

Feature image courtesy of ESPN.

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104-year-old Sister Jean had the best view of Loyola-Chicago’s upset over No. 21 Dayton

Sister Jean was on the baseline for the Ramblers’ biggest win since 2021

It’s just not March Madness without Sister Jean.

The now 104-year-old superfan and official team chaplain of the Loyola-Chicago Ramblers has become a fixture of the sport ever since LUC made a Cinderella run to the Final Four in 2018.

So it was such a delight to fans everywhere to see her court-side again for the team’s first game of March at Gentile Arena. It was a particularly massive game, too, as No. 21 Dayton arrived in Chicago as a 1.5-point road favorite, only for the Ramblers to pull off the 77-72 upset.

You just can’t even begin to doubt the power of a Sister Jean pep talk in the huddle.

It’s the Ramblers’ first victory over a ranked opponent since 2021 and a perfect way to kick off the most important month in the sport. If this is the start of another miracle run for Loyola, don’t forget who was there to help kick it all off.

Wake Forest fans stormed the court after Duke upset and seemingly injured Blue Devils’ Kyle Filipowski

Wake Forest fans storming the court on Saturday resulted in Duke’s Kyle Filipowski being injured.

An upset victory for the Wake Forest men’s basketball team against ACC rival Duke on Saturday quickly changed its tenor after a player was seemingly injured during the ensuing court-storming by Wake Forest fans.

Duke standout center Kyle Filipowski sprained his ankle, coach Jon Scheyer said, after he got caught in the large group of fans storming the court at Wake Forest’s Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

Demon Deacons fans stormed the court as soon as the clock hit zero, which did not allow for Filipowski to get off the court in time to avoid the rushing crowd. He was helped off by his Duke teammates after he got caught up in the mayhem.

An overhead video from ESPN shows that purposeful contact might’ve been made during the sequence where Filipowski was injured.

Scheyer lamented about Filipowski’s injury in his postgame press conference and called for court-storming to be banned.

Filipowski felt that the contact was intentional on behalf of Wake Forest fans.

Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes joined Scheyer in condoning the court-storming that left Filipowski injured.

Filipowski is the second high-profile college hoops player to be injured during a court-storming. Iowa women’s basketball sensation Caitlin Clark collided with an Ohio State fan storming the court in January.

If Filipowski misses significant time, it will only further the calls for the ACC (and the NCAA at large) to better regulate, or ban altogether, storming the court in college basketball.

College basketball analysts and fans had plenty of thoughts about this unfortunate incident.

Duke coach Jon Scheyer calls for a court-storming ban after Kyle Filipowski’s injury

“When are we going to ban court-storming?” Jon Scheyer said after Kyle Filipowski was injured amid celebrating Wake Forest fans.

No. 8 Duke lost its sixth game of the 2023-24 season Saturday against Wake Forest, and afterward, things took a bad turn for the Blue Devils.

As the clock hit zeros and the Demon Deacons secured their upset victory at home, fans stormed the court, and the rest of the crowd at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum went wild. The problem was that Duke players were, of course, still on the court when the fans rushed it, specifically sophomore center Kyle Filipowski.

Filipowski — who finished the game with a team-high of 17 points — was standing near the Wake Forest logo when he was seemingly plowed into by stampeding Demon Deacons fans. Filipowski appeared to be instantly injured, and Duke players and staff surrounded him and helped him off the court.

Afterward, Duke coach Jon Scheyer said Filipowski sprained his ankle and made a compelling argument for banning storming the court — a change multiple coaches in college hoops have pushed for recently.

He said:

“Disappointed we lost. But look, for me, I’m more concerned about the well-being of our guys. [Filipowski] sprains his ankle — when are we going to ban court-storming? Like, when are we going to ban that? Like, how many times does a player have to get into something where they get punched or they get pushed or they get taunted right in their face? And it’s a dangerous thing.”

Afterward on Twitter, Filipowski seemed to agree with his coach.

Scheyer also added that his concerns for Filipowski and about storming the court in general were not meant to diminish Wake Forest’s win and argued the Demon Deacons should make the men’s NCAA tournament. He continued:

“I don’t want that to take away from the game that Wake played, bc Wake played a big time game. Salas was as good as could be today. And hats off to them. But you look around the country, and Caitlin Clark, something happens. now flip. I don’t know what his status is going to be. He sprained his ankle. …

“And this has happened to us a bunch this year. As part of it, I don’t want this to take away at all, from Wake. They earned it. They deserve the win. Steve [Forbes] is a hell of a coach. I respect the heck out of him and his team. They’re really good. And if this isn’t an example that they need to be in the tournament, what are we even talking about?”

Scheyer referenced an incident involving Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark from January when Ohio State fans stormed the court after beating the Hawkeyes, and one fan collided with Clark, knocking her down.

More via USA TODAY Sports from that incident last month:

“[It was] kind of scary and could’ve caused a pretty serious injury to me and knocked the wind out of me, but luckily my teammates kind of picked me up and got me off the court,” Clark said in a post-game press conference.

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You have to see the absurd final 6.9 seconds of Oregon State’s win over UCLA

Talia von Oelhoffen saved the day for the Beavers in crunch time.

In the final season of the Pac-12 as we know it, the conference is playing women’s basketball at an incredibly high level. In this past week’s first top 16 seed reveal by the NCAA selection committee, five Pac-12 teams were projected to host first-round games. The league has stars like JuJu Watkins and Alissa Pili, and great head coaches like Tara VanDerveer and Cori Close.

All of this is to say, the Pac-12 is extremely competitive this year, which has led to some great games and absolutely wild finishes.

Friday night was the latest example, as the end of the Oregon State versus UCLA game turned into pure madness, the kind of stuff we typically have to wait until March to see.

Here’s how the last 6.9 seconds went:

Angela Dugalic hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key to give UCLA a one-point lead.

Talia von Oelhoffen connected on a layup in traffic to retake the lead for Oregon State. 2.3 seconds remain.

On a sideline-out-of-bounds play, Lauren Betts swishes a long mid-range jumper, giving UCLA a one-point advantage with 1.1 seconds left.

Von Oelhoffen connects on a 3-pointer at the buzzer to seal the win for Oregon State.

See for yourself. It’s absurd.

Kentucky men’s basketball made unfortunate history amid worst home losing streak since 1966

Kentucky is down historically bad.

Kentucky men’s basketball team is down historically bad.

After dropping a Saturday home stand to Gonzaga, the Wildcats have now lost three-straight home games for the first time since 1966, per ESPN and CBS Sports.

It’d be the first time in Rupp Arena that the team has gone so long without winning a game in home since ESPN notes the stadium opened in 1976.

Losses to Gonzaga, Tennessee and Florida make up this three-game home skid, which, again, is historically bad for the Wildcats.

Kentucky hasn’t won at home since Jan. 20 vs. Georgia, which makes the team’s Tuesday’s home tilt against Ole Miss all the more important.

The No. 17 Wildcats will still more than likely make it to March Madness, but they’ll be a long shot to actually bring home a national title at this rate.

However, getting that next home win might be just as important. For a program that prides itself in home court advantage, this is not a streak the Wildcats are going to want to continue in the slightest.

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2024 Super Bowl appetizer: Stacked women’s basketball slate, including UConn vs. South Carolina, leads into Super Bowl 58

Also on the slate: Louisville vs. Syracuse, Iowa vs. Nebraska and Duke vs. North Carolina.

You may have heard that the 2024 Super Bowl will be played on Sunday. The San Francisco 49ers are taking on the Kansas City Chiefs in Las Vegas, Nevada. And Taylor Swift possibly will be there too.

But what about before the game? What’s the rest of your Sunday look like?

You could watch the Puppy Bowl, or line up your Super Bowl bets and parlays.

Or you could tune into an absolutely loaded women’s college basketball slate that features ranked-on-ranked matchups, a classic rivalry, and Caitlin Clark chasing history.

Here’s your guide to a jam-packed slate of women’s basketball on Sunday.

Everything we know about the alleged beef between Caitlin Clark and Sheryl Swoopes

An Oakland basketball fan shaved his head to distract a Cleveland State player shooting free throws

Well, this is certainly a new way to distract someone during free throws.

Trying to distract an opposing player while they’re attempting free throws is a timeless tradition in basketball.

Shaving someone’s head as a way to distract said opposing player is certainly a fresh approach.

During Oakland men’s basketball’s Saturday tilt with Cleveland State, a host of Golden Grizzlies fans shaved one of their fellow fan’s head right behind the basket while a Cleveland State player attempted his free throws.

The broadcast crew got a huge kick out of this wild fan stunt, and even if it didn’t work to prevent the attempts, it was a noble (and hilarious) effort all the same.

Can you imagine getting a brand-new haircut at a basketball game while you’re in the stands?

It’s not the typical way to enjoy a game, but this very dedicated Oakland basketball fan has to get a special pat on the back for going this far to help his team.

Feature image courtesy of ESPN. 

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Bill Self jokingly took credit for Joel Embiid dropping 70 after learning about it live on SportsCenter

Always be recruiting

No. 7 Kansas found itself in an unexpectedly tense matchup with Cincinnati on Monday night at Allen Fieldhouse, so you can forgive Jayhawks head coach Bill Self if he wasn’t checking his phone constantly to see what Joel Embiid was up to in Philadelphia.

Self, who coached Embiid during his meteoric rise at KU, only knew that the big man was closing in on 30 points near halftime of the 76ers game against San Antonio. The coach had no clue his former protégé finished with a franchise record 70 points — becoming the ninth player in NBA history to do so — until after Kansas finished off the Bearcats.

It was during an on-court interview after the game with ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt on SportsCenter that Self learned how Embiid’s night turned out and his reaction was perfect.

“Hey guys, he learned everything in the eight months he was here in Lawrence, Kansas.” Self deadpanned. “Everything.”

Self went on to talk about how he knew Embiid was going to be a generational talent just from watching him in high school, but the quick quip is a solid reminder of the number one rule when coaching college sports: Always be recruiting.

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Purdue and Houston’s historic upsets are more mind-boggling than you think

Purdue and Houston’s same-day losses were so unusual that this basketball stat doesn’t seem real.

Hold on to your seats, college basketball fans. The top two teams in the country just went down, and it happened in historic fashion.

In case you missed it, a lot happened on Tuesday. The Purdue Boilermaker’s seven-game win streak and No.1 ranking seemingly went up in smoke behind an absolutely gutsy effort from the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

Nebraska shot what felt like hundreds of 3-point shots (it was actually 14 shots on 61 percent shooting — WOW) and went on a gnarly 14-2 run in the second half that unraveled anything Purdue tried to do after.

What’s more, it was the second time this season that Purdue has lost when being the top team in the country and the first time that starting forward Trey-Kaufman-Renn was held scoreless. WOOF.

If that wasn’t enough, remember in December when we told you that some undefeated teams were still left? Not anymore.

The No.2 ranked Houston Cougars were also upset.

The Iowa State men’s basketball team came to play. They forced 12 turnovers in the first half and, by halftime, were up 10 points. Houston came roaring back in the second half and managed to trim away at the scoreboard, gaining its first lead with just under four minutes to play.

But, OH, BOY. A massive and silky fadeaway bucket and clutch free throws from Iowa State freshman Milan Momcilovic sealed the game. Amazingly, that was Iowa State’s seventh win against top-10 teams within the last two years.

Additionally, per ESPN Stats & Information, it was the first time since February 6, 2016, that the top-two teams in men’s college basketball lost to unranked opponents on the same day and only the third time that it happened within the last 40 years. WHEW.