Good Morning, Stumpers!

Everybody has been asking, “Where’s the madness?”, “Where’s the madness?”, the basketball gurus saved it all foe Final Four Saturday. We had Walter Clayton have another I’M HIM game (34 points). After that we had Houston overcome a 97% win probability for Duke in the second game. we’ll review the MADNESS and a whole lot more in today’s STUMP. Lastly, BRING IT HOME PAIGE! ROLL SKIES! 🐺

Today’s Rundown

What’s in today’s edition?

• 🏀 Final Four was a MOVIE!

• 💍 The Basketball HOF is SET

• ⛳️ Harman brings lead into Sunday

• 🤯 March Madness has us going CRAZY

On This Day

On This Day…

⛳️ Arnold Wins his First Masters

In the world of golf, there isn’t many names bigger than Arnold Palmer. But every golfer needs to win their first before they can become a legend.

On this day in 1958, Arnold Palmer wins the first of his 4 Masters titles, 1 stroke ahead of Doug Ford and Fred Hawkins. This was the first of his 7 total major titles. His four Masters wins ranks third all time behind Tiger Woods (5), and Jack Nicklaus (6). Palmer would also win in 1960, 1962, and 1964.

Today’s Trivia

🧠 Test your sports knowledge…

Yesterday’s Trivia Answer: Houston. Florida. WOW!

Before We Dive In…

👀 Yesterday’s Must See’s

• 👀 Harden has eyes EVERYWHERE

• 🤯 ALIJAH MARTIN WHEN IT MATTERS MOST

• 💕 Ivica Zubac PERFECT GAME

• 🏀 This Duke stat makes Houston’s win even crazier

🔍️ Stump Spotlight

March Madness

🔥 Men’s Final Four Review

The people wanted MADNESS. And damn it they got MADNESS! It took some time, it really did, but we saw an absolute showcase of basketball last night! Four 1-seeds in the Final Four did not disappoint!

(1) Florida def. (1) Auburn, 79-73: You know, I’d like to speak candidly to you all today, so excuse my french, but at the end of the day, there’s levels to this shit. Sometimes even when the best of the best meet up in a game, there is just one guy who is better than everybody else on the court. Once again, that guy was Walter Clayton.

Right now Clayton is putting together one of the best tournaments in at least the last decade. Sometimes you see a guy drop 30 a game, but maybe for two games and then lose in the Sweet Sixteen. Clayton has now brought his squad of Gators to the National Championship Game. Last night down the stretch, when he was taking threes, you could have closed your eyes, they were going in no matter what.

It was an all-around effort from Florida, everybody came together and played well. Auburn on the other hand just did not look like the team they had looked like all tournament, and despite that they still only lost by 6.

Johni Broome had 15 and 7, Baker-Mazara had 18, and Pettiford and 7. Disappointing numbers from the two bookends there. Johni Broome has no doubt been a great player all year, but it will be interesting to see if this bully-ball style translates to the next level. It usually doesn’t. On the other side, Clayton ended with 34 for the Gators on 11/18 shooting. Just wild! The Gators are RED HOT and are 40 minutes away from the winning it all.

(1) Houston def. (1) Duke, 70-67: And now, for the Madness. Everybody has been up in arms about the lack of MADNESS this March. We had McNeese State and Colorado State, and then Arkansas, but that was it. Nothing past that. No DJ Burns in the Final Four, no Loyola Chicago and Sister Jean, but it seemed like this year all bottled down to this game.

People deemed this as the unstoppable force vs the immovable object. The best offense vs the best defense.

For 90% of this game it was Duke’s ballgame. The freshman duo of Cooper Flagg and Kon Kneuppel were doing what they had been doing all year…BALLING! Coop ended with 27 and Kon had 16, they were the two leading scorers for the Blue Devils.

With two minutes to go, Duke was up 7 and had a 97% chance to win according to ESPN Win Analytics. What happened next was INSANITY. I think it’s one of those see it to believe it type of endings. The tide turned without really even realizing the tide turned. Here’s the FULL HIGHLIGHT video. 

Now we’ve got (1) Florida vs (1) Houston for all the marbles. Monday night. Get ready!

The Hot Stove

💍 NBA Hall of Fame 2025 Class Announced

As Dwight Howard said, “I’m going to basketball heaven”. True, let’s find out who the whole class:

Dwight Howard: A first-year nominee, Howard was one of the most dominant players in his era. He was a three-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year, and also won a ring in the 2020 NBA Finals with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Carmelo Anthony: One of the greatest scorers of all time, Anthony was a 10-time NBA All-Star and led Syracuse to one of the most impressive National Championship runs in college basketball history. He’s also one of the most decorated men’s basketball Olympians, winning three gold medals.

Sue Bird: A 21 season WNBA legend, Bird made 13 All-Star teams and 8 All-WNBA teams. She leads the league in wins, games played, assists, and minutes. She won five gold medals in the Olympics and four FIBA World Cup Championships.

Maya Moore: Moore is one of the most talented women to ever play the game of basketball, but retired after just 7 seasons to focus on criminal justice reform in the United States. She not only had a highly-successful WNBA career, but is widely regarded as one of the best in college basketball history.

Billy Donovan: As the head coach of Florida, Donovan won back-to-back NCAA titles in 2006 and 2007. He left Florida to be the head coach of the Oklahoma Thunder, and now patrols the court as the man in charge of the Chicago Bulls.

Danny Crawford: A NBA referee for more than three decades, Crawford worked 23 consecutive NBA Finals.

⛳️ Harman’s Gap Holds Heading into Sunday

Sure, Brian Harman didn’t have the best round in the world. I mean, I’d love to play even par golf, but Harman sure wouldn’t. Despite his up and down round, he still holds a 3-shot lead heading into Sunday. Big rounds by Andrew Novak and Tom Hoge brough them within 3 and 4 shots, respectively. The three of them will tee off together at 12:40 PM today in the final grouping. Harman started off poorly yesterday with bogeys on two of the first four holes, but finished strong with birdied on 14 and 17 to get his round back to even and widen the gap. Harman is looking to secure his first win since the 2023 Open in Scotland. It’s time to rock, Brian!

🏈 OL Armstead Hangs Up Cleats

There’s not many Cinderella stories like Terron Armstead anymore. The 12-year NFL veteran announced his retirement from the league yesterday at a celebration at his Miami house. Armstead was a third round pick out of Arkansas-Pinebluff and signed a five-year, $75M contract with Miami in 2022. Armstead took on a massive veteran leadership role after signing his contract in Miami, and continued to provide invaluable leadership throughout the time he spent in the Dolphins uniform. Without Armstead, as well as veteran Calais Campbell, the Dolphins now must find a new veteran leader for the next season.

⬇️ Quick Links

• 🏆️ Cooper Flagg becomes 4th freshman to win Wooden Award

• 🏆️ JuJu Watkins wins Wooden Award on the women’s side

• ⚽️ Rodman scores in USWNT return

• ⚾️ Ohtani throws bullpen, it’s a “positive”

What To Watch

🏀 The NCAA Tournament…

• Men’s Final Four: ONE MORE DAY!

• Women’s National Championship: UConn vs South Carolina (3:00 PM on CBS)

🏀 NBA Basketball - NBAtv QUADRUPLE HEADER!

• NBAtv: Bulls @ Hornets (1:00 PM), Lakers @ Thunder (3:30 PM), Kings @ Cavs (6:00 PM), Rockets @ Warriors (8:30 PM)

• More to watch: Pacers @ Nuggets (8:00 PM)

⚾️ Major League Baseball

• Sunday Night Baseball: Cardinals @ Red Sox (7:00 PM)

• Schedule: Dodgers @ Phillies (1:35 PM), Yankees @ Pirates (1:35 PM), Blue Jays @ Mets (1:40 PM), Padres @ Cubs (2:20 PM), Rays @ Rangers (2:35 PM), Guardians @ Angels (4:07 PM), full schedule

🏒 The NHL — TNT TRIPLE HEADER

• TNT: Capitals @ Islanders (12:30 PM), Stars @ Wild (3:00 PM), Panthers @ Red Wings (5:30 PM)

• ESPN: Golden Knights @ Canucks (10:00 PM)

⚽️ International Soccer

• Premier League: Brentford @ Chelsea (9:00 AM on USA), Fulham @ Liverpool (9:00 AM), Manchester City vs Manchester United (11:30 AM on NBC)

• LALIGA: Sevilla vs Atletico Madrid (10:15 AM), Villarreal vs Athletic Club (3:00 PM)

• Serie A: Atalanta vs Lazio (12:00 PM), AS Roma vs Juventus (2:45 PM)

⛳️ The tournament BEFORE the Masters! The Valero Texas Open is on to SUNDAY! Live starting this morning from TPC San Antonio in, you guessed it, San Antonio, Texas. Here’s the leaderboard…

The Moment You’ve Been Waiting For

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