The NCAA men’s basketball tournament has gotten off to a tremendous start with multiple overtime games, tight finishes, and one buzzer-beater from Colorado. We’ve seen some fun first-round upsets from surprising teams like Yale, Oakland, Grand Canyon, and Duquesne. As we look at the Sweet 16 teams remaining, however, the majority are top seeds and top programs. All four of the No. 1 seeds and No. 2 seeds are moving on to next weekend. Also, 12 of the Sweet 16 teams are seeded 1-4 with the other four being Gonzaga, San Diego State, Clemson,…
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Top Teams Put Away Their Opponent
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When The Leader’s Not Worried
Continue ReadingBy Matt Osborne, Staff Writer The NCAA Tournament has officially started, and there was no shortage of storylines from the first full day of action. Two of the better stories from Thursday’s slate of games were 14-seed Oakland stunning 3-seed Kentucky behind Jack Gohlke’s 10 three-pointers, and Oregon’s Jermaine Couisnard scoring 40 points in a first-round upset over South Carolina, his former team. But another storyline that was equally as captivating came from Dayton’s 63-60 win over Nevada. Trailing 56-39 at the under-eight TV timeout, ESPN analytics gave Dayton a 0.5% chance…
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Let’s Get Greedy?
Continue ReadingIt’s a rewarding experience for every team that makes the NCAA Tournament. For some teams such as NC State, Duquesne, Drake, UAB, and Oregon, the fact they even made the tournament is a big deal considering they weren’t expecting to until they won their conference tournaments. These teams are surprised and pumped to be in the “Big Dance,” with some saying they’re “playing with house money” and it doesn’t matter if they win any games in the NCAA Tournament – they should be good with just being there. Of course, that’s…
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PACK Topic: The Tournament of Fear
Continue ReadingWeekly Content for P.A.C.K. Meetings P – PRAYER Pray for your time together. Ask God to give you open hearts, open ears, and a willingness to be open and honest with each other. Wrap up your time together by having guys share any additional personal prayer requests and pray specifically for one another. You can also pray this prayer as a follow-up to the topic: Heavenly Father, I confess that when my eyes shift off of You and my mind wanders, I’m often filled with fear. I pray, Lord,…
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The Tournament of Fear
Continue ReadingMarch Madness is underway and I absolutely love this time of year! The conference tournaments are exciting and watching the bracket reveal on selection Sunday is always fun. (Now we get to fill out our brackets and I hope you’ll join our bracket challenge HERE.) Everything surrounding the NCAA Tournament is so thrilling, but I also recognize that fear gets involved. During the hours leading up to the announcement of which teams were in and which ones were out, I know that many fans, players, and coaches from certain teams were filled…
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Bid Thieves
Continue ReadingBy Matt Osborne, Staff Writer As Selection Sunday approaches, there’s a lot of talk about teams on the bubble for the NCAA Tournament. “Bid thieves” is a unique term we’ll likely hear in many discussions. A “bid thief” is a team not projected to be in the running for an NCAA Tournament at-large bid, but wins its conference tournament, secures an automatic bid, and “steals” a bid from another team. This is an interesting term to use considering we think of a thief as someone who takes something that doesn’t rightfully belong to him. But…
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Window of Opportunity
Continue ReadingNFL free agency has been wild so far with fans reacting to every trade, signing, or release that their favorite team is making. While some teams’ moves appear positive and have fans hopeful for success this upcoming season, the choices being made by other teams are causing negative responses from fan bases. Yesterday, while catching up with a friend of mine who is a Bills fan, he mentioned how he was talking to our other friend who is a Bengals fan, and the two of them were agreeing and commiserating…
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PACK Topic: Revive and Rejuvenate
Continue ReadingWeekly Content for P.A.C.K. Meetings P – PRAYER Pray for your time together. Ask God to give you open hearts, open ears, and a willingness to be open and honest with each other. Wrap up your time together by having guys share any additional personal prayer requests and pray specifically for one another. You can also pray this prayer as a follow-up to the topic: “Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me. Do not banish me from Your presence, and don’t take…
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Revive and Restore
Continue ReadingQuarterback, Russell Wilson is on his way to signing with the Pittsburgh Steelers after being released by the Denver Broncos following two losing seasons. Although Wilson is a nine-time Pro Bowler, a Super Bowl champion, and has proven to be a reliable starting quarterback over the years, he’s recently struggled with consistency. As a result, last season he was benched by the Broncos after a 7-8 record. With Wilson’s new opportunity in Pittsburgh, we now wonder, will he be able to revive his career and restore his legacy? These are some other questions that come to…
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When the Suffering is Worth it
Continue ReadingBy Matt Osborne, Staff Writer Anthony Edwards may have scored 44 points in Minnesota’s 113-111 win over the Indiana Pacers on Thursday evening, but his standout defensive play is what had the NBA world buzzing. With the Pacers trailing by two with just seconds remaining, Benedict Mathurin drove the ball to the basket looking to tie the game. As Mathurin elevated for the layup, however, Edwards seemingly shot out of a cannon to make an impressive block that would seal victory for the Timberwolves. Edward’s block was spectacular, but it…
