Good Morning, Stumpers!

Opening Day in the MLB with some Sweet Sixteen action on the same day? You gotta be kidding me! We’ve got some great storylines both in the MLB and in College Basketball to go over with you today! Best part, we’ve got more baseball and more Sweet Sixteen action today as well! What a day to have a day! Happy Friday!

Today’s Rundown

What’s in today’s edition?

• ⚾️ Home Run-filled Opening Day

• 🔥 Sweet Sixteen Day One

• 🤯 Pacers scored HOW MANY POINTS?

• 🐕️ Quote of all quotes from one of the best to ever do it

On This Day

On This Day…

🏀 Wilt Hangs ‘Em Up

If you take a deep dive into the career of Wilt Chamberlain you’ll find some insane stats that honestly don’t even make sense, but they are real. To honor the day of his last pro basketball game, we’ll share some.

On this day in 1972, Wilt “The Stilt” Chamberlain hung up his basketball shoes for the last time professionally, here’s some of his greatest accomplishments on the court:

• On March 2nd, 1962, Wilt scored 100 points in a game against the Knicks

• He averaged 50.4 points per game in the 1961-62 season

• He scored 4,029 points in a single season, a record to this day

• 32 games with 60 or more points, 118 with 50 or more

• He averaged 22.9 rebounds per game in his career, and once grabbed 55 rebounds in a single game

• He averaged 48.5 minutes in a single season, there’s only 48 minutes in an NBA game

• He NEVER fouled out of a game in his whole entire career

• He had 227 consecutive double-doubles

Today’s Trivia

🧠 Test your sports knowledge…

Yesterday’s Trivia Answer: The pattern continues! NO STUMPSETS YESTERDAY!

Before We Dive In…

👀 Yesterday’s Must See’s

• 🥵 Ichiro brings the HEAT for his ceremonial Marines first pitch

• 🔨 DONOVAN MITCHELL. HAMMER DOWN.

• 🤯 JOSH GIDDEY HALF COURT WINNER

• 🧊 Cooper Flagg buzzer beater… ICE

🔍️ Stump Spotlight

Opening Day

⚾️ MLB Opening Day and the Cool Storylines That Came With It

There always seems to be some pretty cool moments that happen on Opening Day of Major League Baseball, no matter what the box scores say. I’m talking cool, niche, smaller storylines that just make you go, “wow, this sport is pretty cool”. I’m happy to share some with you today:

Tyler O’Neill loves mashing homers on Opening Day: Hitting a home run in back-to-back Opening Days would be pretty cool, but Tyler O’Neill laughs at back-to-back. He’s now hit a home run in SIX consecutive Opening Day’s. His third inning, three run homer off of Blue Jays’ Jose Berrios extended his major league record another year. Just an absolutely insane feat by a guy who mashes dingers on the regular, and especially on Opening Day.

Red Sox’s Hero Dedicates Game to Newborn Twins: Wilyer Abreu had a really rough spring training for the Red Sox in baseball terms, but in human terms, it was phenomenal. Abreu welcomed brand-new baby twins into the world just 10 days ago. Yesterday, he hit two homers for Boston, one for each baby. Abreu barely played all spring, as he also spent multiple weeks dealing with a stomach bug that caused him to lose ten pounds. No matter the ten pounds lost, Wilyer has DAD STRENGTH now. His second homer came in the ninth inning to break a tie and put the Red Sox ahead, 5-2, the score the game ended at in Texas against the Rangers. The only other two home run game he has in his career? Last season in Texas in his first game following his grandmothers death. Wilyer knows big games.

Two Emotional Home Runs from MLB Veterans: There isn’t a better feeling than hitting a home run when the crowd is either behind you or booing you, and we had one of each yesterday. In the case of the Cardinals’ Nolan Arenado, his eight-inning home run brought forth a curtain call full of emotions. Arenado spent the whole offseason one of the biggest names on the trading block, and the talks never really seemed to stop either. But when Arenado was showered with cheers in St. Louis in a Cardinals jersey, you could tell how much it meant. For the Phillies’ Bryce Harper, there was no love lost by the Washington Nationals fans he once called his own. Harper was booed on his way to the plate, but his game-tying homer tied the game up and silenced the crowd. Harper, as he often does, lived up to the moment.

The Hot Stove

🏀 Sweet Sixteen Day One

With half of the Sweet Sixteen games done, lets take a look at last nights action from the NCAA Men’s Tournament:

• Alabama def. BYU, 113-88: Not much defense played in this one, or no defense at all. Bama kept BYU at an arms length pretty much the whole first half, but the second half was all Tide. They set a tournament record by sinking 25 3-pointers, 10 of which came from Mark Sears as part of his 34-point performance. Alabama only took FIFTEEN shots from within the three point line all night. Let me repeat that, they only took FIFTEEN non-three pointers. Tide Roll.

• Florida def. Maryland, 87-71: This Maryland team was a cool story, for just abouttttt 4 days. This Florida team is scary good. After surviving UConn, they look battled tested and hungry to make it all the way. The scariest part of all? They’re so balanced. They had 5 guys in double figures, and even on an-off night for their star Walter Clayton Jr., the Gators rolled the Terrapins. An amazing performance from Maryland freshman Derik Queen was all for not, as he dropped in 27 points. Someone is going to have to bring their A game to take down this UF squad.

• Duke def. Arizona, 100-93: This was no doubt the toughest test for Duke yet. It didn’t seem like this all the way through. Well into the second half, the Blue Devils had a healthy double digit lead over the Wildcats. Caleb Love’s 35 points led a ferocious comeback to make a two posession game with two minutes to-go. In their first dangerous stretch all tourney, Duke showed poise, won the free-throw game, and won the game! Duke moves on!

• Texas Tech def. Arkansas, 85-83 in OT: OT IN MARCH!? With the way this tournament was going, I thought this wasn’t even a possibility! This thing looked DONEZO with a few minutes to go in the second half. Texas Tech was down 16 before a FEROCIOUS surge! This ended up being the second-largest comeback in Sweet Sixteen history! It’s a see it to believe it, must watch ending in OT! Texas Tech ended up making one more play than Arkansas did, and they got the win!

🔥 Speaking of Points… the Pacers???

I had to blink and rub my eyes when I went to the box scores for the NBA last night and saw that the Indiana Pacers scored 162 points. Yes, 162. They defeated the Wizards 162-109. Woof. If you were wondering if this is a Pacers franchise record, it is! It’s also the most points allowed by Washington in their franchises’ history. It also could’ve been worse, as the Pacers decided to take shot clock violations on their last few possessions as a sign of respect. Indiana had nine different players score in double figures, and fourteen different players checked into the game. The only players dressed to play who didn’t was James Johnson, who is in more of a honorary role now at the age of 38 years old. Tyrese Haliburton led all scorers with 29 points, but only had to play a total of 25 minutes because of the wide margin. Aaron Nembhard was the only Pacers starter who did not manage to score double digits.

What To Watch

🏀 The NCAA Tournament is SO back:

• Men’s Sweet 16: Ole Miss vs Michigan State (7:09 PM on CBS), Kentucky @ Tennessee (7:39 PM on TBS), Michigan @ Auburn (9:39 PM on CBS), Purdue @ Houston (10:09 PM)

🏀 NBA Basketball - One televised game!

• NBAtv: Suns @ Timberwolves (8:00 PM)

• More to watch: Cavs @ Pistons (7:00 PM), Clippers @ Nets (7:30 PM), Knicks @ Bucks (8:00 PM), Warriors @ Pelicans (8:00 PM)

⚾️ Beisbol is also SO back:

• Rockies @ Rays (4:10 PM), Orioles @ Blue Jays (7:07 PM on AppleTV), Pirates @ Marlins (7:10 PM), Mets @ Astros (8:10 PM), Red Sox @ Rangers (8:10 PM), Braves @ Padres (9:40 PM), Cubs @ DBacks (9:40 PM), Tigers @ Dodgers (10:10 PM)

🏒 NHL on assorted networks

• NHL Network: Utah @ Panthers (7:00 PM)

• ESPN+: Canadians @ Hurricanes (7:00 PM), Canucks @ Blue Jackets (7:00 PM), Devils @ Jets (8:00 PM), Rangers @ Ducks (10:00 PM)

🏌️ Texas Children’s Houston Open is DAY TWO, from you guessed it, Houston, Texas. The Memorial Park Golf Course hosts the event and the defending champion is Stephan Jaegar. Here’s day two’s leaderboard

The Moment You’ve Been Waiting For

Thanks for sticking to the end! Share The Daily Stump using this link, it would go a long way. Appreciate the hell out of you all. Trees may get chopped. Stumps hold strong 🌴