Good Morning, Stumpers!

It’s a Sunday, everyone’s relaxing, it’s probably a light Stump today right?

🤣 Yeah…it’s anything but that! We’ve got a LOADED Stump for you today, and I mean Loaded Nachos kind of loaded (the good ones not the bad ones)! We’ve got Tournament action for the Men, the Women, and Division II! We’ve got Golf, Baseball history, and a Phelps flashback. This may be one of the most well-rounded stumps so far this calendar year! So take a seat, sip your coffee, and let’s do this thing!

Today’s Rundown

What’s in today’s edition?

• 🏀 Duke, Florida, advance to Sweet Sixteen!

• 🏆️ A D2 dynasty is being formed

• 🏀 The Bueckers show! UConn Tournament-Record 40 POINTS!

• 🌊 Phelps did what at the age of 15???

On This Day

On This Day…

🏊️ Phelps Splashes onto the Scene

I can’t imagine breaking a world record a any age, let alone at the ripe age of 15 years old. But then again, Michael Phelps is a robot in so many ways, so why am I even surprised.

On this day in 2001, a 15 year old Michael Phelps broke the 200m butterfly world record at the US World Championship trials in Austin, Texas. Phelps became the youngest male to set a world mark in the history of the sport. Now we all know what happens next, but man, 15 years old is nuts.

Today’s Trivia

🧠 Test your sports knowledge…

Yesterday’s Trivia Answer: Interesting poll results from yesterday, so we decided to run it back!

Before We Dive In…

👀 Yesterday’s Must See’s

• ⚾️ 3 Pitches. 3 Home Runs. Yankees Baseball! WOW!

• 🏀 More RIDICULOUSNESS from Walter Clayton! Unreal!

• ❌ DO NOT GO IN THERE! Block of the Tourney!

• 🎤 Giannis in front of the mic is always must-see TV!

🔍️ Stump Spotlight

Opening Day

🏀 A D2 Dynasty Forming In Ft. Lauderdale

It’s not often that the word “dynasty” gets thrown around, but after their second national championship in the past three years, people are talking.

Nova Southeastern University, a private school in Fort Lauderdale, Florida with just about 6,500 students has been quietly building one of the best Division II programs in the country. They entered yesterdays National Championship against the cinderella 7-seed Cal St. Dominguez Hills Toros as a heavy favorite. But early, Nova could not keep up with the Toros, even going into halftime down four points.

The game took place in Evansville, Indiana, and let me tell you, it wasn’t exactly a packed house. I don’t mean that in a bad way, I mean it in a “these teams need to create their own juice” kind of way. The arena, I’m sure, had plenty of friends and family, but also a lot of people who went dressed as empty seats. The Sharks and Toros went back and forth all game long, and Nova needed their stars to show up.

MJ Iraldi finished with 27 points, including the game winning three throws with 17 seconds on the clock. The Toros missed the potential game winner, and the Sharks prevailed. Nova finished the season with a 36-1 record. Nova 74, Cal St Dom. Hills 73.

Watching this game, It was clear that this Nova team was all in on their philosophy. They played full court press all game long, and caused absolute havoc. They played fast, aggressive, and were not afraid to take big time shots. Defensively, they did everything they could to contain Dom. Hills’ best player, Jeremy Dent-Smith, who fouled out with just over a minute to go but had 27 points and 10 rebounds. If it weren’t for him sitting those last 90 seconds, I’m not sure the Sharks could’ve won this one. But sometimes a little bit of luck is all you need in March.

Nova averaged 103 points per game this year, so to only score 74 was stunning. It didn’t comprehend in my mind right away when I saw they averaged 103 points per game, cause some NBA teams don’t even average that. Nuts! Nova was the top seed in the tournament, and head coach Jim Crutchfield led his boys from start to finish. What a season for Nova.

The Hot Stove

🏀 Men’s Elite 8 Day One

I’d rather talk action instead of putting any fluff in here, lets get into the ball games baby!

Florida def. Texas Tech, 84-79: I have one name for you: Walter Clayton Jr. The Florida star knows when to shine brightest. With Florida down pretty much all game and a 10-point second half deficit, Clayton turned it on. It was arguably the greatest single game performance we’ve seen in recent years in the tournament, as Clayton scored 13 of his 30 total points in the last 5:24 of the game. With three minutes left, Texas Tech was up 9 points, then the Gators woke up. Thomas Haugh hit back to back threes, then Clayton hit back to back threes. Game. A brutal collapse for the Red Raiders, but an epic victory for Florida. This team just does not give up. Battled tested. 

Duke def. Alabama, 86-65: The Alabama team that hit record-breaking three pointers in their Sweet 16 win was nowhere to be found, but I don’t think you can just blame a cold shooting night. This was all Duke. They were exceptional on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball, and their stars were not just good, they were great. This team plays with just a different level of intensity, and their spiritual leader has to be Kon Knueppel. All the love that Cooper Flagg gets, but this guy Knueppel is a not only a great player, but an absolute junkyard dog. This Duke team really has all the pieces.

🏀 Women’s Sweet 16 Was SWEET

It was an awesome day of women’s college hoops as the last day of the sweet 16 brought upsets, big time performances, and wire to wire ball games. The day started off with Notre Dame and TCU in a battle. Despite being the higher seed, TCU entered this game as 8.5 point underdogs! Hailey Van Lith was excellent for the Horned Frogs, and helped keep Hannah Hidalgo from taking over for Notre Dame. The underdog TCU moves on. Texas and Tennessee were going at each other all game long, but a late Texas run pushed the number one seed onto the next round. Texas played some big time defense down the stretch that helped them pull away late, as Tennessee just couldn’t handle the pressure. Then we go the Paige Bueckers show. She dazzled with a career-high 40-points, including a first and third quarter takeover. Oklahoma got ahead of the Huskies early, but the second half is when UConn took total control. Huskies advance. The night cap was between the Juju-less USC squad and Kansas State. The Trojans rallied behind Kennedy Smith and were able to survive a late K-State run. USC keeps dancing without their star. Guess what? There’s more action today. BOOM!

👨‍🍳 LET MIN WOO COOK.

Despite this weekends PGA tour event being kind of lost in the weeds of all the other action, there’s been some massive performances. After Scottie Scheffler posted a 62 (8 under par) yesterday and entered the day with a one shot lead, many thought it would just be Scottie in neutral for the weekend en route to another victory. Not so fast. Despite never winning on the PGA Tour, Australia’s Min Woo Lee has become one of the most popular players on tour in recent years. His electric Instagram hype videos and his booming drives off the tee box has brought many fans into his corner. His iconic “Let me cook” videos have taken over the courses, but yesterday, it was no video that caught people’s eyes. Min Woo posted a 7-under 63 to open up a 4-stroke lead heading into the last day. Min Woo was in contention last week as well, even held the lead at one point, but fell off. I love Scottie as much as the next guy, but it would be great to see this young buck win for the first time. C’mon Min Woo, it’s time to COOK!

⚾️ Home Run-MAGEDDON In The Bronx!

What the New York Yankees did yesterday was historic. Not only did they set a franchise record with 9 HRs in the game, three of them came on THE FIRST THREE PITCHES OF THE GAME! Back-to-Back-to-Back HRs off the former Yankee pitcher Nestor Cortes! Absolute cinema! You gotta see it to believe it, check out the highlights of this Home Run DERBY right here!

Quick Hitters

• ⚽️ Messi Scores 2 minutes into return….🐐 

• 🇺🇸 Trinity Rodman reflects on back injury

• 🏈 The short list for the Titans with the No. 1 overall pick!

• 🏀 Nurse could be out soon in Philly in favor of Steve Nash

What To Watch

🏀 The NCAA Tournament is SO back:

• Men’s Elite 8: Tennessee vs Houston (2:20 PM on CBS), Michigan State vs Auburn (5:05 PM on CBS)

• Women’s Elite 8: Duke vs South Carolina (1:00 PM on ABC), LSU vs UCLA (3:00 PM on ABC)

🏀 NBA Basketball - NBAtv Double Header!

• NBAtv: Blazers @ Knicks (6:00 PM), Rockets @ Suns (9:00 PM)

• More to watch: Clippers @ Cavs (3:30 PM), Hawks @ Bucks (7:00 PM), Pistons @ Timberwolves (7:00 PM), Warriors @ Spurs (7:00 PM)

⚾️ Sunday Night Baseball!

• Braves @ Padres (7:30 PM on ESPN), full schedule

🏒 NHL on the Network

• NHL Network: Canadians @ Panthers (1:00 PM)

• ESPN+: Sabres @ Caps (3:00 PM), Canucks @ Jets (3:00 PM), Isles @ Hurricanes (5:00 PM), Maple Leafs @ Ducks (8:00 PM)

🏌️ Texas Children’s Houston Open is on to DAY FOUR in Houston, Texas. Can Min Woo hold the lead? Here’s the leaderboard

The Moment You’ve Been Waiting For

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