Good Morning, Stumpers!

I’ll tell you what, today you’ll be reading about some early Cinderella favorites that will absolutely shock you! But hey, that’s MARCH! Continue to flood our Bracket Challenge and make sure you tell everybody! Great Stump for ya today! We’ve got Steph news, a massive day in Free Agency, and body of water GLUE GUY! Let’s go!

🏀 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?

• 🐶 Cinderella Stories To Look Out For Today!

• 🤑 SO. MUCH. FREE. AGENCY.

• ✏️ QUOTE OTD you might genuinely hear out and about today!

• 🏀 Steph Curry back at his Alma Mater?

On This Day

On This Day…

🏀 Basketball Played For Public

The game of basketball has been played in the United States for over 120 years, created by the great James Naismith. Thanks to him, we get to see some of the greatest athletes in the world play a sport we all love.

On this day in 1892, the Springfield International YMCA hosted the first public game of basketball between students and faculty. The students won 5-1 with around 200 people in attendance.

Today’s Trivia

🧠 Test your sports knowledge…

Yesterday’s Trivia Answer: E. Austin Carr! The Notre Dame legend dropped 61 points in the first round of the 1970 NCAA Tournament versus Ohio University.

Before We Dive In…

👀 Here’s Yesterday’s MUST-See’s

• 🤣 Cam Spencer does NOT care who Kevin Durant is

• 😶 SCOTT WEDEWOOD ROBBERY SAVE FOR AVS

• 🤯 BIG JA FAST BREAK SLAM

• 🔨 Luka… to Knecht… OH MY THROW THE HAMMER DOWN

🔍️ Stump Spotlight

Cinderella Teams

🐶 The Underdog Stories to Follow Today

When you think of March Madness, you think of all the amazing Cinderella stories that have ruined brackets throughout the years. This year, nobody knows what teams are going to come out of nowhere to make March Mad! Conference tournaments are in the swing of it right now, so let’s check out some underdogs who are making a run right now.

Delaware Blue Hens: This feels like the Cinderella story that nobody can stop talking about. The Delaware Blue Hens continued their improbable run in the CAA Tournament yesterday with a 82-72 win over No. 1 seed Towson in the conference tournament semifinals. Delaware finished the regular season with a 15-19 record and had lost SIX STRAIGHT GAMES. The Blue Hens entered the tournament as the No. 12 seed with a 5-13 record in conference, only Stony Brook and NC A&T had worse records. With their win yesterday, they became the lowest seed to ever appear in the CAA Championship game. The Blue Hens play for a ticket to the NCAA Tournament tonight at 7:00 PM.

Wofford Terriers: The SoCon Championship Game featured two Cinderella stories looking to punch their ticket into the NCAA Tournament, the Wofford Terriers and the Furman Paladins. But this did not feel or look like a 5 vs. 6 conference tournament final. The two went back and forth all game, but it was Wofford who overcame a late 4-point deficit to take the game. Wofford head coach Dwight Perry spent 5 years as the head coach of Furman, so this one was surely bittersweet. Wofford brings Jackson Sivills to the tournament, who had a team-high 20 points, but he wasn’t the star of the show. That was Kyler Filewich, a pretty average looking 6-9 center for Wofford, but he also shoots free throws GRANNY STYLE! Now that is what we call March. Can’t wait to see this guy in the big dance.

St. Francis (PA) Red Flash: The Red Flash entered the postseason with a 13-17 record, 8-8 in the conference. They take on the Central Connecticut Blue Devils in the conference championship tonight at 7:00 PM. The Red Flash have won 5 straight games if you go back to the regular season, and have rallied around Juan Cranford Jr., who’s averaging 15.5 points per game in the tournament. The Red Flash are RED HOT as they enter into tonight’s MASSIVE tilt in New Britain, CT. Can a 13-win team make the tourney??

Navy Midshipmen: Not known for being a basketball school, the Navy Midshipmen have upset two higher seeds in a row to make the Patriot League Championship. Ending the season at 13-18, 10-8 in conference, Navy entered the tournament as the 5-seed. They went on to defeat the 4-seed in Boston University, then the 1-seed Bucknell in the semifinals. The Navy has a baller too, he goes by Austin Benigni and he’s averaging 27 points per game right now. The conference tournament finishes up tomorrow, with Navy heading to American (ironic, I know) at 7:00 PM on CBSSN. I need a military school in the tournament like I NEED AIR.

The Hot Stove

🤑 So. Much. Free Agency.

Well boys and girls, free agency has started and it went off with a BANG! You can form your own opinions on who, what, why, how good, how bad, however you want to feel about the moves. That’s your prerogative. I’m just here to report the news. So here’s the BIGGEST moves from yesterday’s NFL free agency period:

• LA Chargers: RB Najee Harris (1 yr/$9.25m)

• New Orleans Saints: DE Chase Young (3yr/$57m)

• Seattle Seahawks: QB Sam Darnold (3yr/$100.5m)

• New York Giants: WR Darius Slayton (3yr/$36m)

• Indianapolis Colts: CB Charvarius Ward (3yr/$60m)

• Washington Commanders: Trade for OT Laremy Tunsil

• Chicago Bears: DT Grady Jarrett (3yr/43.5m)

• Arizona Cardinals: DE Josh Sweat (4yr/76.4m)

• New York Jets: QB Justin Fields (2yr/$40m)

• Detroit Lions: CB DJ Reed (3yr/$48m)

• New England Patriots: CB Carlton Davis (3yrs/$60m)

• Tennessee Titans: OT Dan Moore Jr. (4yr/$82m)

• Tampa Bay Buccaneers: WR Chris Godwin (3yr/$66m)

• Carolina Panthers: CB Jaycee Horn (4yr/$100m)

🤕 Gerrit Cole Officially Done For Year

My oh my, it’s a rough time to be a Yankees fan. After last year’s World Series disappointment, the Bronx Bombers went into this season with high hopes. So far, it’s just been one injury after another. The cherry on top of the injury party came yesterday when the club announced their ace starting pitcher, Gerrit Cole, will miss all of 2025 and some of 2026 with a torn UCL and will undergo Tommy John Surgery. Cole’s injury is the second major blow to the Yankees rotation, who lost Luis Gil for at least three months earlier this spring. But Cole is surely the big blow to the heart that Yankees fans just were not ready for. Get well soon, Gerrit!

🏆️ UConn Secures 23rd Big East Crown

In case you thought the Championship Window was closed in Storrs, Connecticut…unfortunately you would be mistaken! Last night, it was the Women’s team that captured their 5th straight Big East Championship and 23rd overall with a defiant 70-50 win over Creighton. Paige Bueckers led the way with 24 and Azzi Fudd tacked on 13. The Huskies really have never been at full strength the last 4 seasons. This year the calendar has flipped to March and they are still firing on ALL cylinders! Watch out!

👌 Steph Curry Accepts Assistant GM Job at Davidson

Only fitting that this news comes out in March. It was in March of 2008 when we saw the Magical run of Steph Curry and Davidson in the tournament. During that run, little did we know we were watching a legend in the making. Yesterday he became the Assistant GM of his Alma Mater. This comes after news of Curry, as well as the Berman’s started an eight-figure fund for the men’s and women’s teams! Talk about a BAG!

Quick Links

• 🏈 Juszczyk Era done in San Fran!

• 🏈 Barring a trade, the Rams will release Cooper Kupp

• ⚾️ Rangers hat drama with a vulgar word…in Spanish?

What We’re Watching

🏀 Only a four game slate in the NBA!

• TNT: Bucks vs Pacers (7:30 PM on TNT)

• More to watch: Nets vs Cavs (7:00 PM), Clippers vs Pelicans (8:00 PM)

🏒 EN - EH - EL For Your Viewing Pleasure

• ESPN+: Panthers vs Bruins (7:00 PM), Blue Jackets vs Devils (7:00 PM), Senators vs Flyers (7:00 PM), Golden Knights vs Penguins (7:00 PM), Lightning vs Hurricanes (7:30 PM), Avs vs Wild (8:00 PM), Rangers vs Jets (8:00 PM), Capitals vs Ducks (10:00 PM), Islanders vs Kings (10:30 PM)

⚾️ Spring Training Schedule:

• Yankees vs Pirates (1:05 PM on MLB.com), Phillies vs Red Sox (1:05 PM), Guardians vs Dodgers (4:05 PM), Athletics vs Giants (7:05 PM), full schedule

🏀 College Basketball action:

• Men’s: The ACC, Big 12, begin today, with the CAA, NEC, Horizon League, West Coast Conference, all wrapping up… who’s punching their ticket? Full Schedule

• Women’s: Horizon League, West Coast Conference Championships today

⚽️ International Soccer:

• UEFA Champions League: Barcelona vs Benfica (1:45 PM), Bayer Leverkusen vs Bayern Munich ((4:00 PM), Inter vs Rotterdam (4:00 PM), Liverpool vs PSG (4:00 PM)

• Concacaf Champions Cup: Columbus Crew vs LAFC (8:30 PM), Cruz Azul vs Seattle (8:30 PM), Tigres vs FC Cincy (10:30 PM)

The Moment You’ve Been Waiting For

Can’t thank you enough for sticking to the end of this thing we call The Daily Stump. If you know anybody who might want this bit of daily juice in their life, send them this link, it would go a long way. Appreciate the hell out of you all!

Trees may get chopped. Stumps hold strong 🌴