Editorial: Latest Reports from The Washington Posts ‘Fancy Stats’

Players to watch in Saturday’s second-round action

No. 11 Wichita State vs. No. 3 Miami Markis McDuffie, Wichita State: Coach Gregg Marshall has cut the minutes for Evan Wessel as the team’s most recent match-ups haven’t been advantageous for the 6-foot-4 forward, and one of the main beneficiaries has been McDuffie. The 6-foot-8 McDuffie is rangy and athletic, and has helped the […]

No. 14 seed Stephen F. Austin is ready to further ruin your bracket

There aren’t many teams in college basketball that can beat West Virginia at the style of play that coach Bob Huggins has perfected. Stephen F. Austin, though, is coached by Brad Underwood, who spent several years as an assistant to Huggins at Kansas State, and the No. 14 Lumberjacks upset the third-seeded Mountaineers, 70-56, in […]

March Madness picks ATS – Saturday’s Round 2 games

The underdogs ruled the first round of the NCAA tournament and the second round could be even more surprising than the first. Using Pomeroy college basketball ratings and Bill James’s log5 formula gives us an idea which upsets are more likely than others, so plan your wagers accordingly. Point spreads taken Friday morning from VegasInsider.com. No. 3 Miami (Pick ’em) vs. No. […]

Length will be an Issue in Northern Iowa’s Sweet 16 Quest

So far this season, Ben Jacobson’s Northern Iowa has defeated Stephen F. Austin, North Carolina, Wichita State (twice), and now, Texas — the No. 11 Panthers downed the six-seed Big 12 squad, 75-72, in a seesaw contest that was decided by a half-court heave from Paul Jesperson. UNI has largely been defined by its defense, […]

Can Maryland outlast Hawaii and its ball-hawking defense?

We expected that No. 13 Hawaii would upset fourth-seeded California, and that was even before Jabari Bird and Tyrone Wallace missed the game with an illness and a hand injury, respectively. And while the game was ugly — there were 49 fouls called — the Rainbow Warriors led much of the game to pull off […]

Middle Tennessee’s hot shooting could be too much even for resurrected Syracuse

One team that pulled off an improbable upset on Friday will advance to the Sweet 16, but it’s unclear whether No. 15 Middle Tennessee or No. 10 Syracuse will get to the second weekend. The Orange upset seventh-seeded Dayton in the first round, 70-51, in a game that wasn’t even that close: Dayton was bothered […]

Middle Tennessee: The biggest upset in NCAA tournament history? Not quite.

Before Friday, there were seven No. 15-No. 2 upsets in the modern era of the NCAA tournament. Now, thanks to Giddy Potts’ three-point shooting and Reggie Upshaw’s timely boards and athletic finishes at the rim, Middle Tennessee joins that group, after it stunned Michigan State, 90-81, on Friday. Sports Illustrated’s Seth Davis called the Blue Raiders’ win the greatest upset […]

VCU’s defense is no longer Havoc but is still capable of causing some

Poor Oregon State. There wasn’t much faith in the seventh-seeded Beavers to advance past the first round, and even after a surge late in the second half against No. 10 Virginia Commonwealth, the Pacific-12 squad was bounced, 75-67. Should second-seeded Oklahoma advance past Cal State Bakersfield — which isn’t a given, considering the stinginess of […]

How Middle Tennessee is leading Michigan State at halftime

Middle Tennessee is leading Michigan State 41-35 at the half and could become the eighth No. 15 seed to upset a No. 2 seed in tournament history.  Cutting live to everyone who picked Michigan State to win it all: pic.twitter.com/ie4CLjG02q — CBS Sports (@CBSSports) March 18, 2016 Everything went the Blue Raiders’ way in the first […]

The Thunder is struggling at the worst possible time

Entering the fourth quarter with a comfortable 108-81 lead Wednesday night, the Oklahoma City Thunder had seemingly finally amassed a large enough lead to feel at ease. After all, Billy Donovan’s outfit is the worst fourth-quarter team since the all-star break, and has blown 12 fourth-quarter leads this season, a mark that leads the rest […]

Arsenal and Manchester City have cooled off. Can they still land top-four finishes?

In December, everything seemed to be breaking right for Arsenal and Manchester City. The collapse of Chelsea left open a lane to the title, and neither Manchester United nor Liverpool looked capable of taking advantage. Sure, Leicester City was top of the table and Tottenham was in the hunt, but historically these are not the […]

No team wants to face Wichita State. Just ask Arizona and Vanderbilt.

For the seven years Sean Miller has coached at Arizona, his teams — talented and stuffed with five-star prospects — have always been physically imposing. It’s rare that a Wildcat team would reel after absorbing an opponent’s scoring run, but the six-seeded Wildcats looked timid against No. 11 Wichita State. It’s the only time Miller’s […]

Arkansas-Little Rock’s defense-first approach could cause problems for Iowa State

With 3 minutes 33 seconds remaining in the second half, Arkansas-Little Rock, a No. 12 seed who won 29 games and the Sun Belt tournament title, was losing 65-53 to five seed Purdue. Then, Little Rock Coach Chris Beard, who has apprenticed under noted defensive-minded coaches like Danny Kaspar, Bob Knight and Tom Penders, altered his […]

Rematch of upset-minded Yale and Duke may end quite differently for Blue Devils

It took 54 years for the biggest win in the history of the Yale program. The 12-seed was thought by some to be the safest upset pick of the No. 12 vs. No. 5 games, and the Elis delivered, defeating the Baylor Bears 79-75. From the start, this was a poor matchup for Scott Drew’s […]

Defensive struggles could end Red Wings’ 24-year playoff streak

Hockeytown is in peril. The Detroit Red Wings are 34-25-11 with 79 points — eight points fewer than they had through 70 games last season — and one point behind the Philadelphia Flyers for the last wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, giving them a 36.6 percent chance at extending their playoff streak past 24 seasons in a row. Part of the problem for […]

Marshall Plumlee emerges as Duke’s X-factor in win over UNC Wilmington

The defending champion Duke Blue Devils held off UNC Wilmington in the first round, scoring over 90 points in an NCAA tournament game for the team’s first time since 2004. Brandon Ingram, Grayson Allen and Marshall Plumlee each chipped in 20 or more points, showing just how dangerous they can be in March. Marshall Plumlee, Brandon […]

It’s hard to have a perfect bracket in the NCAA tournament

The No. 4 Duke Blue Devils will be moving on to the second round, and so will No. 9 Butler, but for almost half of the 13 million entrants in ESPN’s Tournament Challenge, their bracket has imperfections after only two games. According to ESPN’s “Who Picked Whom” data, 92.3 percent of people pushed Duke through while […]

Thursday’s most likely upsets in March Madness

The NCAA tournament is here and it’s time to put the madness in March. We don’t know who it will be, but history tells us some of the higher seeds will be sent home early. Using Pomeroy college basketball ratings and Bill James’s log5 formula gives us an idea which upsets are more likely than others, so plan your […]

Rest of the regular season won’t change NBA’s Warriors-Spurs two-team race

The NBA playoffs start in five weeks and, unlike March Madness, there won’t be many surprises. The Golden State Warriors are going to be the top overall seed. They have won 60 of 66 games and feature the league’s best player in Stephen Curry. The San Antonio Spurs are close behind with a 57-10 record and […]

March Madness: Want to pick an NCAA tournament upset? Target No. 11 seeds.

The one section of the bracket where most people look for an upset is in the round of 64 when a No. 5 seed faces off against a No. 12 seed. Since 1985, No. 5 seeds have been upset 44 times in 124 games, a rate that puts their win percentage lower than what we see from No. 6 […]

March Madness: No, a 16-seed isn’t going to upset a 1-seed this year

Since the NCAA tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985, a No. 1 seed has never lost to a No. 16, going 124-0 over that span. Yet that doesn’t stop people from betting on this monumental upset. In fact, more and more people are picking that particular upset in their pool than ever before. For example, in 2011, not one […]

2016 NCAA tournament: Oregon is a historically bad No. 1 seed

The first surprise of the 2016 NCAA tournament occurred before a single point was scored in March Madness, when the Oregon Ducks, Pac-12 regular-season and tournament champions, were named the top seed in the West Region. It is the first No. 1 seed in the program’s history. Oregon as a high seed isn’t far fetched, and it’s not to […]

NCAA 2016 tournament: Coaches you can and can’t count on in March

March Madness is about to get underway, and while you are poring over your bracket trying to figure out who is this year’s Cinderella or national champion, don’t forget to take into account the impact a coach can have on his team’s tournament outcome. Peter Tiernan of BracketScience.com did a study of NCAA tournament coaches and found that […]

March Madness: Ranking all 68 NCAA tournament teams by upset potential

Placing your faith in the wrong team can cost you in your bracket pool. Back the wrong squad and your bracket, and the hopes of finally scoring that sweet March Madness supremacy in your office pool, will crumble in your waste basket. Just look at last season when Final Four favorite Iowa State bowed out […]

Why Juventus (and not Arsenal) could pull off Champions League upset

The Champions League matches Wednesday are star-studded. Three likely league champions — Juventus, Bayern Munich and Barcelona — will all be in action, and Arsenal, the fourth side involved, still holds a chance at the Premier League title. Bayern and Barca are the best sides in Europe and the favorites for the Champions League by a good […]