Good Morning, Stumpers!

Happy Thursday squad! A week from today the Madness officially begins! Some might call it the best time of the year! On today’s docket we’ve got the story of Will Wade, the origin of horse racing, some Champions League news, and an elite GLUE GAL! I don’t know about you all but there’s something in the air. If each of us mixes in a good deed today, that’s a lot of good deeds! Just saying. Let’s Stump!

🏀 SGS Bracket Challenge 🏀 

In the spirit of the Stomping Ground Sports way, $250 will go to the winner, and $250 will be donated to a Club, Charity, or Organization of your choice! A $500 total prize fund!

It’s free to join, and takes less than 30 seconds. Watch March Madness with us!

The goal: 1,000 entries. Send to everyone you know with a pulse. Everybody!

Today’s Rundown

What’s in today’s edition?

• 💪 Will Wade Won’t Back Down!

• ⚽️ Champions League Quarterfinals Are Set!

• ⛳️ The PLAYERS Begins! Big couple days coming up!

• 🚣 GLUE GAL to watch out for!

On This Day

On This Day…

🏇 Horse Racing is Changed Forever

There’s one thing that we love more than anything in this newsletter, and that’s talking about someone you may have never heard of before. And today, I’m glad to be able to do just that..

On this day in 1894, J. L. Johnstone (sick name) etched his name in history as an inventor. What did he invent, you may ask? Well reader, I’d be happy to tell you. Mr. Johnstone invented the horse racing starting gate! It was on this day in history that he officially patented the invention.

Today’s Trivia

🧠 Test your sports knowledge…

Yesterday’s Trivia Answer: C. 11! FIU, UCF, and Fairfield had 11 wins the year that they made the NCAA Tournament, a tie for the lowest in tournament history.

Before We Dive In…

👀 Here’s Yesterday’s MUST-See’s

• 🔥 Olddddddd school BRAWL in Detroit

• 🥊 BIG MAN SCUFFLE IN SUNS - ROCKETS

• 🤑 The official groups who are going to try to buy the Celtics

• 🗡️ JA DAGGER THREE

🔍️ Stump Spotlight

Coaching Redemption Story

💪 Will Wade Won’t Back Down

There’s been plenty of coaches who had been heralded as the next big thing in coaching, some flourish, and some get chewed up and spit away. In the case of Will Wade, he was cast aside, took the fall for NCAA violations, and fired. But he’s refusing to back down and now he’s back in the NCAA Tournament.

When Will Wade took the job at LSU back in 2017, the program was in an abysmal place. The school was coming off a 10-21 record, was poor in recruiting, and only made the big dance twice in the previous 10 seasons. So the school turned to a guy known as a program changer who was young, energetic, and a proven winner at the mid-major level. In stepped Wade.

Wade had turned around Chattanooga in two seasons there, winning 40 games. Next, he stepped in for Shaka Smart at VCU, where he led the program to 25 wins in his first season and 26 wins in the next, making the NCAA tournament both years. In his first season at LSU, the program won 8 more games than the year before, and then won 25 games and an SEC regular season championship in his second year. In his 5 years as the head guy for the Tigers, they made the NCAA Tournament 3 times, and it would’ve been four if the 2020 Tournament wasn’t cancelled.

Wade, who had been controversial in his time at LSU, was fired in March of 2022 after NCAA violations came to light. Wade was accused of paying players on his roster, which in a roundabout way, is now legal in the current NCAA structure. I’m not here to say that Wade was wrongly fired. Because he broke the rules as they stood, and received a whopping suspension for it. He wasn’t the first to ever do it, far from it, but he was caught. And it was ugly.

So Wade was cast aside, sent into basketball purgatory. He sat out of the 2022-23 season, not coaching anywhere in the country. Wade was chewed up and spit out by the bright lights of college basketball. Where to go next? Who would hire him?

In step McNeese State, a program that has seen so much up and down throughout its history, finally decided to take a chance on him. And boy has it paid off. In the two years before Wade took the job, McNeese won just 22 total games. In his first season? He won 30. This year? 26. Back-to-back Southland Conference Regular Season Championships and back-to-back Conference Tournament Championships, McNeese is going dancing again this year.

They’ve been dominant. Losing only 2 conference games in 2 years under Wade, the Cowboys have owned their competition. They project to be a 12-seed in this year’s tourney. Now, as Wade has proven himself, he’s been a hot name in the college basketball coaching circles, as power 5 programs like Indiana and NC State are waiting for his season to end to interview him. When Wade was thrown out of LSU, I don’t know if he ever pictured this day.

A man who could’ve just stepped aside, he’s climbing his way back up the mountain.

The Hot Stove

🤑 NFL Moves From Yesterday

For the first time yesterday we could actually just breathe a little bit when it came to NFL Free Agency, but we still wanted to make sure that you all got as up to date as possible with the biggest moves of the day…

• WR Mike Williams has returned to the LA Chargers on a one-year deal, the team he spent all but last year of his 8-year career with

• S Harrison Smith is returning to the Minnesota Vikings for his 14th NFL season as the two sides agreed to a one-year deal after Smith mulled retirement

• The Jets released LB CJ Mosley, who signed a record-breaking deal in 2019 with the organization. They also officially release QB Aaron Rodgers, a move that was pretty much a matter of timing. The purge in New York continues.

• Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles added another talented RB to their core as they agreed to a one-year deal with AJ Dillon

• Former Cowboys DL DeMarcus Lawrence signed a three-year deal worth $42 million with the Seattle Seahawks

• Two-time Pro Bowl TE Evan Engram is joining the Broncos on a two-year deal

• The LA Rams officially released WR Cooper Kupp after failing to trade him, the former All-Pro is finally free to seek a new team

🏆️ Champions League Quarterfinals Set

Going into yesterday’s Round of 16 matches, all but two teams were pretty much into the Quarterfinals. Arsenal and Brugge were in really good spots on aggregate scoring before the matches started, so all eyes were on just two matchups. For those who don’t know how it works, the clubs play two matches, and they advance based on total score between the two games.

In the case of Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid, the two were tied on aggregate after the final whistle, so they went to PKs. Unfortunately for most, we all knew how this was going to play out. Madrid moves on. In the Dortmund and Lille match, a game one draw made it so that all eyes would be on game two in France. A 65th minute eventual match-winner from Maximilian Beier sent the Lille fans home sad. Dortmund advances.

Here’s the full 8 still alive:

• Borussia Dortmund, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Aston Villa, Arsenal, Real Madrid

🎟️ Tickets Punched Yesterday

The college basketball world saw more tickets punched to the big dance yesterday, let’s see who secured their spot:

Men’s Tourney:

• Southland Conference: McNeese State Cowboys

• Patriot League: American University Eagles

Women’s Tourney:

• Mountain West: San Diego State Aztecs

• Big Sky Conference: Montana State Bobcats

• American Athletic Conference: South Florida Bulls

Quick Links

• ⁉️ Should this Champions League goal have counted??

• 👏 LeBron returns to LA as recovery progresses

• 🤝 Mac Jones heading to San Fran

What We’re Watching

🏀 TNT NBA Double Header:

• TNT: Lakers @ Bucks (7:30 PM), Kings @ Warriors (10:00 PM)

• More to watch: Wizards @ Pistons (7:00 PM), Nets @ Bulls (8:00 PM), Magic @ Pelicans (8:00 PM)

🏒 NHL on ESPN+:

• Panthers @ Maple Leafs (7:00 PM), Bruins @ Senators (7:00 PM), Golden Knights @ Blue Jackets (7:00 PM), Oilers @ Devils (7:30 PM), Rangers @ Wild (7:30 PM), Capitals @ Kings (10:30 PM)

⚾️ Spring Training full schedule

🏀 College Basketball action:

• Men’s: ACC, BIG East, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC, MAC, A10, AAC, SWAC, Mountain West, MEAC, MAAC, WAC, CUSA, Big West, ALLLLLLLL GOING live y’all full schedule here

• Women’s: Nothing like some non-power conference WOMEN’S BALL, full schedule here

⚽️ International Soccer:

• UEFA Europa League: Athletic Club vs AS Roma (1:45 PM), Man United vs Real Sociedad (4:00 PM), Tottenham vs Alkmaar (4:00 PM)

⛳️ The Players Championship

• Day one from The Players Championship at the beautiful TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Verda Beach, FL. Here’s all the tee times of your favorite players

The Moment You’ve Been Waiting For

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