Predictions – Syndication Server

ESPN predicts the most likely picks for the Bucs in the 1st round

See who ESPN thinks are the players most likely to be selected by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the first round of the 2024 NFL draft

The 2024 NFL draft is just a few days away, and just like every other fan base, Tampa Bay Buccaneers supporters can’t wait to find out who will be the newest member of the team when the first round takes place Thursday night.

ESPN Analytics has devised a tool that predicts the prospects who are most likely to be selected by each team in the first round, using a combination of their in-house mock drafts and rankings, along with each team’s biggest roster needs.

According to their metrics, here are the top 20 most likely picks for the Bucs at the No. 26 overall selection in this year’s first round:

Duke Wire staff predictions for Monday’s game against NC State

Duke plays its last road game of the season against the Wolfpack on Monday. Check out our staff’s thoughts on how the game will go.

With the calendar officially turned to college basketball’s most important month, each and every game carries weight from here on out for Duke.

Even Monday’s road battle with NC State, despite it being a regular-season game against a team not projected to make the NCAA Tournament, can drastically alter the Blue Devils’ expectations.

A win keeps them within a game of the ACC lead at worst, giving them a chance for at least a share of the regular-season crown in the finale, and pushes them closer to a No. 2 seed in the March Madness. After a valiant 7-1 run to stay alive in the conference, however, a loss to the in-state rivals could take all of the air out of Duke’s balloon at a crucial time.

Here is what our staff thinks you can expect from the road battle.

ESPN’s BPI says Florida is an underdog at home vs. Alabama

Florida gets its shot at revenge against Alabama Tuesday, but the Gators are underdogs at home, according to ESPN’s Basketball Power Index.

After another second-half collapse and loss to South Carolina, Florida basketball faces a massive test at home in the penultimate game of the regular season against the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Using the Basketball Power Index, ESPN gives the Crimson Tide a 62.3% win probability against the Gators and projects them to come out on top by only 3.7 points over the Gators on Tuesday. The matchup quality earned a 91.6-point grade, making it the second-highest-rated game on the daily slate.

“BPI is a measure of team strength that is meant to be the best predictor of performance going forward,” the site reads. “BPI represents how many points above or below average a team is… Game predictions account for opponent strength, pace of play, site, travel distance, day’s rest and altitude, and are used to simulate the season 10,000 times to produce season projections.”

The game will be of the Quadrant 1 variety for Florida, which enters the matchup ranked No. 33 in the NET, while Alabama is also playing a Quad 1 game ranked No. 7 coming in.

Florida and Alabama will clash on Tuesday, March 5 at the O’Connell Center in Gainesville. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET and the game will be broadcast on ESPN.

Follow us @GatorsWire on Twitter and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.

Alabama vs. Tennessee: Predictions and analysis

Check out analysis and predictions for the Tennessee vs. Alabama men’s basketball showdown in Tuscaloosa.

With SEC regular season championship implications on the line, what Alabama team will show up? Will it be the Alabama team that knocked off ranked opponents in Florida and Auburn or the Alabama team that gave up 117 points on the road against Kentucky?

The Crimson Tide is tasked with taking on a scorching-hot Tennessee squad. The Volunteers are ranked as the No. 4 team in the country. Rick Barnes’ squad is led by senior and SEC Player of the Year candidate Dalton Knecht. Knecht is averaging 20.8 points per game and shooting 48.2% from the floor. That is remarkable to say the least.

He is the heart and soul of the Tennessee basketball program. That is not to say that the Volunteers do not have a good supporting cast, because they do. Jonas Aidoo, Zakai Zeigler, and Santiago Vescovi are each experienced players in the SEC and are known to have good games as well.

When Alabama and Tennessee faced off earlier in the season, the Volunteers defeated the Crimson Tide by 20 points. Will that be the case again on Saturday?

It seems unlikely given the fact that Alabama has the luxury of playing in front of a sold-out crowd inside Coleman Coliseum. Alabama seemingly plays better when sporting the home whites. Nate Oats’ squad has scored over 100 points in nine games this season.

The chances of Alabama scoring 100 points on a stingy, Tennessee defense seems unlikely to happen. Can it? Of course, it can happen.

Alabama will have to be able to penetrate the paint and create shot opportunities for its shooters. Tennessee did a great job in the previous matchup of making Alabama drive and limiting the Crimson Tide from beyond the arc. Alabama shot 4-21 from distance.

That will not be the case on Saturday night, however. I fully expect Alabama to apply the pressure early on by knocking down threes and forcing Tennessee to respond. I don’t think that the Volunteers will be able to match the Crimson Tide’s intensity level for 40 minutes.

For those reasons, my prediction is that Alabama picks up a statement win. I like Alabama to defeat Tennessee 94-88.

Roll Tide Wire will continue to follow the latest regarding the Alabama men’s basketball program.

Updated game-by-game predictions for Wisconsin basketball after its crushing loss to Indiana

What is your prediction for the rest of the Badgers season?

Wisconsin basketball returns to the hardwood Saturday afternoon against the No. 13 Illinois Fighting Illini.

The Badgers’ struggles since the start of February have been well-documented. The team is 2-6 in that time, including a 0-5 road record and inexplicable losses at last-place Michigan and on Tuesday against struggling Indiana.

After entering the month ranked No. 6 in the AP Poll and bordering on a 1-seed in Joe Lunardi’s bracketology, Wisconsin is now unranked in all polls and threatening to drop to a 5-seed or 6-seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Wisconsin’s Big Ten title hopes are long gone with Purdue taking care of business at the top of the conference. What Greg Gard’s team needs is momentum, and any sign of hope entering postseason play.

Three games remain in the regular season for that to happen. Here is how ESPN BPI predicts those contests:

New Orleans Saints mock offseason 1.0: Pre-combine edition

Here is our first New Orleans Saints mock offseason. With the combine starting soon, we’re making early predictions for free agency and the team’s 2024 draft haul:

We’re just a few days away from the NFL Scouting Combine starting at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, so it’s a good time to break out our first New Orleans Saints mock offseason.

In this exercise we’re simulating the Saints’ remaining salary cap decisions before exploring possibilities in free agency, all leading up to a seven-round mock draft — complete with a few trades.

This is the first of a couple different mock offseasons we’ll run in the weeks leading up to free agency, each time trying different scenarios to get an idea of how the Saints can make their team better. We’re endeavoring to represent what Mickey Loomis, Dennis Allen, and Saints leadership would do, not necessarily what we would do, so keep that in mind.

Let’s get to it:

Updated game-by-game predictions for Wisconsin basketball after its loss to Iowa

Wisconsin can still make a run:

Wisconsin basketball’s 2023-24 season is at a crossroads.

The team has shown the ability, at times, to play like a top-10 team. It even was ranked No. 6 in the AP Poll entering February, until the wheels came off and the team lost five of six.

Now, five Big Ten Conference games remain: home vs. Maryland, at Indiana, vs. Illinois, vs. Rutgers and at Purdue.

Yes, the Badgers are 9-6 in conference play and don’t have much of a shot to take home the regular season title.

But there’s a reason seasons are only remembered by the month of March. If Wisconsin ends the regular season strong, plays well in the Big Ten Tournament and parlays that into a Sweet 16 or Elite Eight run, fans will forget the struggles during early February.

For that all to happen, Wisconsin must get a win against Maryland on Tuesday night.

As we enter that contest, here are ESPN BPI’s game-by-game predictions for the rest of Wisconsin’s regular season:

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Stay or go: Predicting the fates of all 24 Saints free agents in 2024

Stay or go: Predicting the fates of all 24 New Orleans Saints free agents in 2024, from Jameis Winston and Michael Thomas to Zack Baun and Lynn Bowden Jr.

We’re just one month away from the start of free agency, and the New Orleans Saints have some tough decisions to make. Between players whose contracts are running up and those whose deals are designed to be torn up (we’ll get to them in a bit), it’s going to be tough to keep this team together.

At the same time, some changes are obviously needed. And free agency and the start of a new league year give the Saints an opportunity to shake up their roster and try to improve. That doesn’t mean it’s an easy process. New Orleans is in the red by more than $80 million and must make some heavy decisions on how to reach salary cap compliance.

So with that in mind, here are predictions for which Saints players will return for 2024 or seek better opportunities in free agency:

Florida a double-digit favorite against LSU, per ESPN BPI

The Florida Gators are coming off a big win at home against Auburn and are considered heavy favorites to beat LSU on Tuesday, per ESPN.

After manhandling No. 12 Auburn over the weekend, Florida is a heavy favorite to take care of business at home against an unranked LSU team, according to ESPN.

Using the College Basketball Power Index, ESPN predicts the winner and margin of every matchup in the country. According to Tuesday’s projections, Florida has an 85.1% chance to beat LSU, with an expected 12.3-point margin of victory. The game also earned a matchup quality rating of 74 — 13th out of 25 games on Tuesday night.

The game will be of the Quadrant 3 variety for Florida, which enters the matchup ranked No. 31 in the NET, while LSU is playing a Quad 1 game while ranked No. 94.

The matchup is set to tip off at 8 p.m. ET on Tuesday at the O’Connell Center and can be watched on the SEC Network.

Follow us @GatorsWire on Twitter and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.

Super Bowl LVIII: Staff Predictions for Chiefs vs. 49ers

What happens on Sunday?

The final game of the NFL season is upon us as we not have to hear two of the worst words in the vocabulary of any sports fan: off-season.

But who wins Sunday’s game between the Chiefs and 49ers in Las Vegas?

Will Patrick Mahomes take a step in trying to chase down Tom Brady and his seven rings? He’ll need the Chiefs defense to stay nasty to do so.

Or will it be the unlikely hero Brock Purdy helping the 49ers to what would be their sixth Super Bowl championship in franchise history?

Who wins and why?

Here is what the Fighting Irish Wire staff sees playing out on Super Bowl Sunday: