Good Morning, Stumpers!

Within the next 96 hours, favorites will go down, heroes will be born, stumpsets will happen, and brackets will be busted. That is all! Welcome to March. Welcome to the MADNESS! One last chance to join our Bracket Challenge, which is almost at 1,000 entries! Get it there before NOON! LETS GOOOOOOO!

🏀 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?

• 🏈 We’re taking Equipment Staffs and K-Balls!

• 🏀 Sandro Mamukelashvili!

• 🐶 Let the MADNESS BEGIN!

• 🏀 Will Wade to NC State!

On This Day

On This Day…

🐐 Brady Shocks the Football World

There was a time when nobody truly believed that Tom Brady would ever leave the New England Patriots. He would retire in New England alongside Bill Belichick, and they’d run off into the sunset. That’s NOT how it went down.

On this day in 2020, six-time Super Bowl winning QB Tom Brady officially agreed to take his talents elsewhere than the Patriots/ Brady signed a 2-year $50M guaranteed deal with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. What happened next for the first-ballot Hall of Famer? Winning happened.

Today’s Trivia

🧠 Test your sports knowledge…

Yesterday’s Trivia Answer: (C) Seton Hall! The Pirates defeated Indiana State to become the champions of the 2024 NIT.

Before We Dive In…

👀 You GOTTA see these!

• 🏀 OH MY DOLA ADEBAYO. THAT RIM HAS A FAMILY

• 💥 CADE CALLS GAME IN MIAMI

• 🏒 REF MADNESS on the ICE!

• ⭐️ Starburys are SO BACK

🔍️ Stump Spotlight

NFL Equipment Niche

🏈 Kicking Balls May Be Getting a Rule Change

One of the most stressful parts of game day in the NFL doesn’t come on the field, it comes in a closed room with an equipment guy, three footballs, and an inspection by an NFL referee.

Have you ever heard of a “K-ball”? In case you haven’t, they’re the balls that are used for kicking in NFL games. So think kickoffs, punts, field goals, etc. Kickers and punters use different balls than what the offense uses, and the balls are switched out right before a kick takes place. The rule first came into place when in the late 90’s the NFL thought kickers and punters were doctoring footballs to make them fly higher and straighter. Which, in fact, was true. In turn, the NFL introduced K-balls. So what’s the rule change?

Well, as current rules state, k-balls have to be prepared on the day of the game. One equipment manager has a 60-minute window to prepare three balls. The balls are delivered in a sealed bag from Wilson to be used on the day of. There’s a bunch of rules that surround the actual process of what you can and can’t do to the ball (hence the ref watching the whole process), but I won’t get into the nitty-gritty. Once they finish, the refs must approve them.

Basically, the EQ guy is trying to round out the ball a little more to give the ball a bigger surface area to be hit by the foot, soften the leather a little, and remove some of the tack on the ball. You can only use your hands, a wet towel, and a soft football brush. For context, footballs used by the offense for QBs are put through a meticulous process that contains usually numerous lotions, muds, soft and hard brushes, and other things depending on the person and QB. The EQ staff puts in an unreal amount of hours trying to get the ball right, so to have to do three K-balls in a 60-minute window under extreme ref scrutiny, is a little insane and unfair.

Thanks to a rule change proposal by the Ravens, Browns, Texans, Eagles, Raiders, Vikings, and Commanders, this may change. The teams argue that the rule puts unnecessary stress on EQ staffs during critical pregame periods on game days. The rule change would allow the K-balls to be prepared ahead of time just like the QB balls.

While it seems almost so minute, this could be a game changer for NFL EQ staffs. It would provide some flexibility on game day, while also allowing teams to prepare balls with their kickers and punters throughout the week, just like they do with QBs.

I love how the NFL is paying attention to things like this, and I’m fired up to bring it to your attention. We’ll keep you updated on this one.

The Hot Stove

🏀 Xavier FIGHTS, Moves On Past Texas!

Talk about an absolute grit-fest! For those of you who like points (all of us), the first 5 minutes were not for the faint of heart. It felt like an eternity to even get past 2-2. After this, however, it was points, points, points! Texas always had a 6-10 point cushion throughout the first half, and even into the second half, but Sean Miller’s squad would not go away in what was basically a home game! Marcus Foster had 22 and Zach Freemantle tacked on 15 of his own to mount a late comeback and give Xavier the win, 86-80! They advance and will now play (6) Illinois in the first round on Sunday at 9:45 PM!

⛰️ The MOUNT Stands Tall

Typically these first four matchups feature teams who have very little past relationship, but that was not the case last night. Both American and Mt. Saint Mary’s are in the Washington D.C. area and the two have met 70 times before last night. The game shifted about four minutes into the game when America’s best player, Matt Rogers, fell to the ground with a knee injury. He attempted to grit it out, but not much longer into the first half, he fell again. The second time, it looked much worse, he would not reenter the game. From that point out, the Mount was firmly in control of the game. 22 points each from Jedy Cordilia and Dola Adebayo, both of their starting big men, the Mountaineers controlled the paint all night long. Their reward? A date with Cooper Flagg and the Duke Blue Devils, the tournament’s betting favorite.

🏀 Sandro Mamukelashvili!

Talk about a career night for Sandro! If you’re not familiar with MAMU, he’s 25 years young and is still green in terms of his NBA career. He spent a few seasons with the Bucks but couldn’t find much of a role there after his time at Seton Hall. Enter the Spurs. He signed a deal with them and hasn’t really found his groove here either. HOWEVER, grooves were meant to be broken. That sentence makes no sense but we’re rolling with it! Last night he had a CAREER-HIGH 34 POINTS….here’s the kicker, he did this IN 19 MINUTES! He went 13/14 from the field and 7/7 from behind the arc! Career night for Sandro! Have a day!

🤝 Will Wade to take the NC State Job

Those of you who have been around the Stump for the last week or so, you may remember our feature on McNeese State head men’s basketball coach Will Wade. Wade, the former Chattanooga, VCU, and LSU head coach has led McNeese State to the NCAA Tournament this year and will stay with the program until the conclusion of their March Madness run. The last time Wade was at a Power 4 school, LSU, he was fired for “impermissible payments” and failing to cooperate in an investigation. Other than that, Wade has been known as an incredible program builder, finding high levels of success at every single stop in his coaching career. Even before his removal from LSU, the program was seeing some of its most successful seasons of the 21st century.

What To Watch

🏀 The NCAA Tournament.

• Men’s NCAA Tournament: Games start at 12:15 PM on CBS with (9) Creighton vs (8) Louisville, and will start every 35 minutes or so for the rest of the day until the last game, (14) UNCW vs (3) Texas Tech tips off at 10:00 PM. Here’s the whole schedule

• Women’s First Four: Princeton vs Iowa State (7:00 PM on ESPNU), Southern vs UC San Diego (9:00 PM on ESPNU)

🏀 NBA Basketball, on the NBAtv Network!

• Double Header on NBAtv: Nets @ Pacers (7:00 PM), Bulls @ Kings (10:00 PM)

• More to Watch: Knicks @ Hornets (7:00 PM), Raptors @ Warriors (10:00 PM), Bucks @ Lakers (10:30 PM)

⚾️ Spring Training Full Schedule

🏒 Big schedule for the NHL all on ESPN+:

• ESPN+: Avs vs Senators (7:00 PM), Flames vs Devils (7:00 PM), Maple Leafs vs Rangers (7:00 PM), Flyers vs Capitals (7:00 PM), Panthers vs Blue Jackets (7:00 PM), Stars vs Lightning (8:00 PM), Jets vs Oilers (9:00 PM), Bruins vs Las Vegas (10:00 PM)

⚽️ Soccer From Around the World

• Concacaf Nations League: Panama vs United States (7:00 PM), Canada vs Mexico (10:30 PM)

• UEFA Nations League: Croatia vs France (3:45 PM), Italy vs Germany (3:45 PM), Denmark vs Portugal (3:45 PM), Netherlands vs Spain (3:45 PM), Slovakia vs Slovenia (3:45 PM), Ukraine vs Belgium (3:45 PM)

The Moment You’ve Been Waiting For

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