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Jumat, 29 Maret 2019

Texas Tech passes Michigan exam ... but bigger test awaits - ESPN

2:00 AM ET

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- As Texas Tech made its way through the Honda Center corridor Thursday after holding Michigan to 44 points -- the lowest-ever tally for the Wolverines in the NCAA tournament -- Meek Mill's "Dreams and Nightmares" thumped so loudly in the team's locker room that the doors rattled.

The Philly rapper's ode to overcoming the odds -- "I used to pray for times like this/To rhyme like this/So I had to grind like this" -- could be the theme for a program that's reached the Elite Eight for the second consecutive season under third-year coach Chris Beard.

Now, Texas Tech, which plays the best defense in America, will face Gonzaga, the best offense in the country, in a Saturday battle that could send the Red Raiders to the first Final Four in the history of the program.

"Yeah, I'm already kinda shaking, thinking about how good Gonzaga is, but I didn't know they were the best team offensively," Beard told ESPN after the game. "I've got great respect for their coach and their program, as does everybody in our locker room. We'll have to guard at a high level because that's who we are. I've always thought when you get to this tournament you've gotta be who you are. That's obviously who we are, and we gotta figure out a way to score some points, too."

It's easy to forget about the West Regional.

Zion Williamson is not in Anaheim. North Carolina and Kentucky are elsewhere, too. Tennessee and Purdue staged one of the best games of the year on Thursday. They played in Louisville, where Virginia also held off a game Oregon team. The bulk of the sexy, pre-Final Four storylines include teams that did not make the trip to the Honda Center, a 3.5-mile drive from Disneyland. Yet Saturday's meeting between Gonzaga and Texas Tech will be a stat freak's dream. Gonzaga, the nation's most efficient offensive team, and Texas Tech, the country's most efficient defense -- all attributes equally supported by ESPN Analytics, Synergy Sports and KenPom alike -- will compete in the most intriguing battle of the weekend.

"We haven't watched any film on them yet," projected lottery pick Jarrett Culver said. "We was just focused on Michigan, but, we know [Gonzaga is] a great team, one of the best teams in the country, so we're gonna have to play one of our best games to compete with them."

There was notable offense for Tech -- Culver poured in a game-high 22 points and fellow guard Davide Moretti added 15 just hours after viral video surfaced of Moretti's family surprising him with a visit from Italy -- but as usual with this team, it was defense that carried the day.

On Thursday, the Red Raiders made history for Michigan basketball (the bad kind), which missed its first 18 3-point attempts. This all came after Buffalo, which was averaging 84.5 PPG and had scored 91 points in the first round against Arizona State, was held to just 58 points against Texas Tech in the second round. Northern Kentucky, Buffalo and Michigan averaged just 53.0 PPG against Texas Tech, a team that has held seven teams under 50 points this season.

Jarrett Culver addresses Texas Tech's shutdown defense, holding Michigan to 44 points.

"You know, whoever we play, it's going to be just a phenomenal defensive team," Mark Few said after Gonzaga's win over Florida State without knowing which team he'd face in the Elite Eight. "And probably just as hard or harder to score than it was [Thursday]. So we're going to have to really buckle down and be tough."

The hype surrounding this matchup will not surpass the hype around the other Elite Eight games.

Virginia can complete the exorcism of last season's demons and a first-round loss to UMBC with a Final Four run. The Cavaliers will face a Purdue squad that somehow lost a talented senior class and still managed to enter Saturday's game just one win from the program's first Final Four appearance since 1980.

Some combination of Duke, Virginia Tech, Kentucky, Houston, North Carolina, Auburn, LSU and Michigan State will create more nationally relevant matchups Sunday than anything that will unfold Saturday.

Let's just be honest.

Gonzaga versus Texas Tech can't compete. But if you believe the numbers, no other Elite Eight encounter will top the purity of the one that will be staged in Anaheim. We might see Culver and Texas Tech suffocate a Gonzaga squad that won seven West Coast Conference games by 30 points or more. Or, we could see the Bulldogs and their two projected first-round picks, Brandon Clarke and Rui Hachimura, reel off a crippling run and dominate Texas Tech, as it has other opponents throughout the season.

It's an efficiency-fueled meeting with a trip to the Final Four on the line.

Does it get much better than that? Not for the analytics acolytes.

"We show our team clips of winning basketball," Beard said. "We show a lot of Gonzaga clips. Their passion, their togetherness, their courage, how aggressive they are. At this point, I'm a fan, and here in the next hour or so, I've got to flip that and start to get ready to try to prepare against them."

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2019-03-29 06:59:33Z
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Kamis, 28 Maret 2019

2019 NCAA Tournament bracket: Oregon vs. Virginia odds, Sweet 16 picks from expert who's 8-1 on Ducks games - CBS Sports

Making its first Sweet 16 appearance since 2016, top-seed Virginia continues its national championship quest on Thursday night when it plays this year's Cinderella team, Oregon. Tipoff for this 2019 NCAA Tournament game is at 9:59 p.m. ET from the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville. The Cavaliers have begun erasing the bad taste from last year's first-round upset at the hands of UMBC, the first-ever upset by a 16-seed. Now they face a torrid Ducks team that has won 10 straight, the last three by an average of 19 points. Bookmakers list the Cavaliers as 8.5-point favorites in the latest Oregon vs. Virginia odds, with the over-under for total points set at 120.5 after falling as low as 118. Before making any Oregon vs. Virginia picks of your own, see the 2019 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 predictions from SportsLine's projection model.

A renowned sportswriter whose work appears periodically in the New York Times and L.A. Times, Tierney is a West Coast-based hoops expert who has finger on the Ducks' pulse. Amazingly, he's 8-1 in his last nine picks involving Oregon, and anyone who has followed him is way up.

Now, Tierney has analyzed Oregon vs. Virginia from every possible angle and released a confident against the spread pick. He's only sharing it at SportsLine.

Tierney knows Virginia is on a mission after its embarrassing first-round loss to UMBC in last year's NCAA Tournament. Against Oklahoma in the second round of the 2019 NCAA bracket, the Cavaliers surged to a 7-0 lead and were never really threatened in a 63-51 win. They shot 48.2 percent from the field, won the rebounding battle 36-29 and held the Sooners to 36.5 percent shooting. For the season, Virginia is holding opponents to 38.1 percent from the field, fourth-lowest nationally.

The Cavaliers, who boast three players averaging at least 13 points, shoot 40.1 percent from beyond the arc, the fifth-best mark in the country. They have covered four of their last five non-conference games.

But just because the Cavaliers are a legitimate powerhouse doesn't mean they'll cover the Oregon vs. Virginia spread and advance in the 2019 NCAA Tournament bracket.

Oregon (25-12) not only has won 10 in a row, it has also covered each game. During that streak, 6-9 sophomore Kenny Wooten is averaging 2.8 blocks per game. He swatted seven shots in the Ducks' pulsating win over UC Irvine on Sunday, adding 11 points and eight rebounds, and is a big reason why Oregon ranks 12th nationally in points allowed at 62.5 per game. The Ducks allowed exactly 54 points in their first two NCAA Tournament games; they held Wisconsin to 33.3 percent shooting from the floor and UC Irvine to 39.2 percent.

Payton Pritchard (18.5 points per game) and Louis King (16.5) are carrying the scoring load in the 2019 NCAA Tournament, with King nailing 7-of-10 three-pointers. The Ducks are as healthy as they've been all season, they're playing with no pressure or expectations, and won't be intimidated by Virginia given they're from a power conference too.

We can tell you Tierney is leaning under, and he's also identified a striking trend that has him going big on one side of the spread. He's only sharing what it is, and who to back, at SportsLine.

Who wins Virginia vs. Oregon? And what striking trend makes one side of the spread a must-back? Visit SportsLine now to see which side of the Virginia vs. Oregon spread you should be all over Thursday, all from the renowned expert who's 8-1 on Oregon picks.

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https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/2019-ncaa-tournament-bracket-oregon-vs-virginia-odds-sweet-16-picks-from-expert-whos-8-1-on-ducks-games/

2019-03-28 19:45:00Z
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The ‘How Philly is Bryce Harper Today’ tracker - SB Nation

Welcome to the first in what I plan to be a tireless look at how well Bryce Harper is ingratiating himself to the city of Philadelphia — How Philly is Bryce Harper Today?

Each home game we’ll evaluate Bryce Harper’s look, actions and overall milieu to determine how well he achieved the goal of being as Philly as possible. Today’s entry:

Bryce scored 85/100 today, good for a solid “B” rating on opening day for ...

Flyers reference + Gritty reference + Blue collar tendencies (carrying shoes by hand, not bag).

How I reached this verdict:

Bryce will be judged on a 100 point scale based on numerous criteria and cross-checked with the SB Nation.com staff for accuracy and verity. Science requires peer review, and this is no different.

Repping a cross-sport Philly team: 30 pts.
Wearing something referencing Philadelphia (not sports): 20 pts.
Displaying blue collar tendencies: 25 pts.
Carrying a Philly Cheesesteak: 50 pts.
Any Rocky reference: 50 pts.
Uses the word ‘jawn’ in a pre-game quote: 40 pts
Allen Iverson jersey: 35 pts.
Gritty reference: 30 pts.
Enjoying any item from Wawa: 25 pts.
Wearing something with the “LOVE” statue on it: -40 pts. for being a poser.
Eating a Wooder Ice: 60 pts.
He arrived to the ballpark after going downashore: 30 pts.
Turns up wearing sweatpants and Timbs: 25 pts.
His confirmed pre-game playlist is Hall and Oates, The Roots, and Kurt Vile: 20 pts.
An Always Sunny reference: 10 pts.

This is only a starting scale. Should Bryce do something eminently Philly not covered by these criteria we will add it to the scale and assign a required points value.

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https://www.sbnation.com/lookit/2019/3/28/18285602/how-philly-is-bryce-harper-today-tracker

2019-03-28 17:42:52Z
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Cano homers off Scherzer in first Mets at-bat - MLB.com

WASHINGTON -- Robinson Canó's introduction to the Mets could not have gone much better. After Max Scherzer struck out the first two batters he faced on Opening Day on Thursday, Cano drilled a home run in his first at-bat with his new team to put the Mets ahead of the

One of the Mets’ primary offseason acquisitions, Cano came to the team in December in a seven-player trade that also brought closer Edwin Diaz to New York. Thursday marked Cano’s first game as a National Leaguer after playing 14 seasons for the Yankees and Mariners. He started at second base, batting third.

Against Scherzer, Cano ran the count to 1-1 before smacking an 87-mph changeup over the fence in left-center field. It was Cano’s second career Opening Day home run. His first came three years ago against Cole Hamels.

Cano became the 10th player to homer in his first at-bat with the Mets, and the first since Mike Jacobs hit a pinch-hit three-run home run in his first Major League at-bat in 2005.

Anthony DiComo has covered the Mets for MLB.com since 2007. Follow him on Twitter @AnthonyDiComo, Instagram and Facebook.

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2019-03-28 17:24:08Z
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2019 MLB Opening Day: Baseball has its first active player born in the 2000s ... and no longer anyone who played in the 1990s - CBS Sports

On Thursday, the 2019 Major League Baseball regular season begins with the traditional Opening Day. The Athletics and Mariners already opened the regular season last week in Japan. The other 28 will start their seasons Thursday. Hooray for that.

Baseball is setting two age-related firsts this season. I'm guessing they're going to make you feel really old. First of all, welcome Blue Jays right-hander Elvis Luciano to the big leagues. He is the first player in MLB history born in the 21st century. Luciano turned only 19 last month.

The Blue Jays selected Luciano from the Royals in December's Rule 5 Draft. As a Rule 5 Draft pick, Luciano must spend the entire 2019 season on Toronto's 25-man active roster, or be placed on waivers and offered back to Kansas City. If he does stick all year, Luciano will become the first player to play an entire MLB season (Opening Day through Game 162) as a teenager since Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr.

It should be noted Luciano was only available in the Rule 5 Draft due to a contract snafu. He originally signed with the Diamondbacks in July 2016, though they didn't like something they saw in his physical, so his contract was renegotiated later that fall. Arizona later traded Luciano to the Royals for Jon Jay, the Blue Jays took him in this past winter's Rule 5 Draft, and he is on their Opening Day roster.

When a player has his first pro contract renegotiated, he automatically becomes Rule 5 Draft eligible every year of his career. Usually players are not Rule 5 Draft eligible until their fourth or fifth professional year, when they are in their 20s. The renegotiated contract made Luciano Rule 5 Draft eligible as a teenager and allowed him to become the first MLB player born in the 2000s.

MLB: Toronto Blue Jays-Workouts — Elvis Luciano is the first 2000s kid in the big leagues. USATSI

In addition to baseball having its first player born in the 21st century, there are officially no more players remaining from the 1990s, which means there are no more players remaining from that century. With Adrian Beltre's retirement last year and Bartolo Colon's continued free agency, there is not a single player on an active roster who played prior to 2000. This is the first time there hasn't been a player who played in the 1900s since, well, the 1800s.

The most tenured MLB player right now? Angels slugger Albert Pujols. He made his big league debut as a 21-year-old on April 2, 2001, with the Cardinals. Pujols beat current Yankees lefty CC Sabathia to the show by six days. Sabathia debuted with the Indians as a 20-year-old on April 8, 2001. There are no other active players who debuted earlier than 2002.

The oldest active player is Athletics reliever Fernando Rodney. He is 42 years and 10 days old as of Opening Day, though he did not make his MLB debut with the Tigers until age 25 in 2002.

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2019-03-28 15:42:00Z
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Baseball says goodbye, literally, to 20th century - MLB.com

Look around on Opening Day today, and you'll see so many young stars across the Major Leagues -- Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, Aaron Judge, Mookie Betts, Alex Bregman, Javier Baez, Ronald Acuna Jr. and so many more. It's an exciting new generation of baseball. And there are two especially noteworthy

It's an exciting new generation of baseball. And there are two especially noteworthy symbols of MLB's youth movement as the 2019 season begins.

This year, for the first time, there are no players on Opening Day rosters who were playing Major League Baseball in the 20th century. And MLB is about to see its first player who was born in the 2000s.

There were two Major Leaguers in 2018 who had played in the 1990s: Adrian Beltre and Bartolo Colon. Beltre retired at the end of last season after a 21-year Hall of Fame-caliber career that began in 1998. The 45-year-old Colon -- who debuted in 1997 and has pitched 21 seasons in the big leagues -- has not retired and has expressed the desire to continue his career, but he's unsigned entering Opening Day.

Ichiro Suzuki, who played the Mariners' first two regular-season games in Japan last week before announcing his retirement, didn't start his Major League career until 2001. So did two other players who entered Thursday on their team's Opening Day roster -- Albert Pujols of the Angels) and CC Sabathia of the Yankees. They're the earliest debuters left of anyone on an MLB active roster.

That makes MLB the first of the four major North American professional sports leagues to not have a player who debuted in the 20th century. The NFL still has Adam Vinatieri, the NBA has Vince Carter and Dirk Nowitzki, and the NHL has Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Zdeno Chara and Matt Cullen.

On the other end of the spectrum is 19-year-old Elvis Luciano. Luciano, a Blue Jays Rule 5 Draft pick who was born on Feb. 15, 2000, made Toronto's Opening Day roster. That makes him MLB's first active player born in the 2000s.

If the rookie right-hander pitches out of the bullpen in the Blue Jays' Opening Day game against the Tigers at Rogers Centre, he'll become the first player born in the year 2000 to make his Major League debut.

David Adler is a reporter for MLB.com based in New York. Follow him on Twitter at @_dadler.

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2019-03-28 14:16:24Z
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USA TODAY Sports expert picks for NCAA tournament Sweet 16 games - USA TODAY

USA TODAY

Published 9:48 AM EDT Mar 28, 2019

"Survive and advance" is the rallying cry for NCAA tournament teams. While Duke saw its season's mortality bounce around the rim three times before falling out against Central Florida, Tennessee survived in overtime, and LSU used a game-winner to advance here, the rest of the remaining teams have mostly evaded madness en route to the Sweet 16.

But can we really expect double-digit victories with the top three seeds from each region still playing? It's highly unlikely.

Which teams win Thursday and Friday to reach the Elite Eight? And which teams advance to the Final Four after the second weekend?

BEST OF BEST: Ranking the eight Sweet 16 games by watchability

MONEY MATTERS: Big money bonuses on line for coaches in Sweet 16

NEED TO KNOW: Breakdowns of Thursday's NCAA tournament games

USA TODAY Sports' college basketball staff writers make their expert picks.

Dan Wolken, USA TODAY Sports

Gonzaga vs. Florida State winner: Florida State
Tennessee vs. Purdue winner: Purdue
Michigan vs. Texas Tech winner: Michigan
Virginia vs. Oregon winner: Virginia
Michigan State vs. LSU winner: Michigan State
North Carolina vs. Auburn winner: North Carolina
Duke vs. Virginia Tech winner: Duke
Kentucky vs. Houston winner: Houston

— Final Four: Duke over Michigan, Virginia over Houston

— Title winner: Duke over Virginia

Scott Gleeson, USA TODAY Sports

Gonzaga vs. Florida State winner: Florida State
Tennessee vs. Purdue winner: Purdue
Michigan vs. Texas Tech winner: Texas Tech
Virginia vs. Oregon winner: Virginia
Michigan State vs. LSU winner: Michigan State
North Carolina vs. Auburn winner: Auburn
Duke vs. Virginia Tech winner: Duke
Kentucky vs. Houston winner: Kentucky

— Final Four: Duke over Texas Tech, Virginia over Kentucky

— Title winner: Virginia over Duke

George Schroeder, USA TODAY Sports

Gonzaga vs. Florida State winner: Gonzaga
Tennessee vs. Purdue winner: Tennessee
Michigan vs. Texas Tech winner: Texas Tech
Virginia vs. Oregon winner: Virginia
Michigan State vs. LSU winner: Michigan State
North Carolina vs. Auburn winner: North Carolina
Duke vs. Virginia Tech winner: Duke
Kentucky vs. Houston winner: Kentucky

— Final Four: Duke over Texas Tech, Tennessee over North Carolina

— Title winner: Tennessee over Duke

Nancy Armour, USA TODAY Sports

Gonzaga vs. Florida State winner: Gonzaga
Tennessee vs. Purdue winner: Purdue
Michigan vs. Texas Tech winner: Michigan
Virginia vs. Oregon winner: Oregon
Michigan State vs. LSU winner: Michigan State
North Carolina vs. Auburn winner: North Carolina
Duke vs. Virginia Tech winner: Duke
Kentucky vs. Houston winner: Kentucky

— Final Four: Michigan State over Gonzaga, North Carolina over Purdue

— Title winner: North Carolina

Eddie Timanus, USA TODAY Sports

Gonzaga vs. Florida State winner: Gonzaga
Tennessee vs. Purdue winner: Tennessee
Michigan vs. Texas Tech winner: Texas Tech
Virginia vs. Oregon winner: Virginia
Michigan State vs. LSU winner: Michigan State
North Carolina vs. Auburn winner: North Carolina
Duke vs. Virginia Tech winner: Duke
Kentucky vs. Houston winner: Kentucky

— Final Four: Duke over Gonzaga, North Carolina over Tennessee

— Title winner: Duke

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2019-03-28 13:49:50Z
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