Sports
Big Ten March Madness Contenders Ranked by Analytics
The last time a Big Ten school won the NCAA Tournament, Dusty May was a senior at Indiana working as a team manager for Bob Knight and preparing for a life in coaching.
Considering the Michigan boss turns 50 in December, it has indeed been a long, long time since Michigan State — led by Tom Izzo, Mateen Cleaves and the rest of the Flintstones — captured the 2000 NCAA title in Indianapolis.
Now, all these years later, May has constructed the Big Ten’s most dominant team since Izzo’s champs, which means the Wolverines have a great chance to snap the league’s 25-year absence from the “One Shining Moment” spotlight.
As of Friday morning, Michigan was the odds-on favorite to win it all according to BetMGM, Caesars, DraftKings, FanDuel and presumably every other online sportsbook.
If you don’t care what the gambling world thinks, Michigan ranks No. 1 in Wins Above Bubble — a crucial metric the NCAA Tournament committee loves — along with a close No. 2 to Duke in the national NET ranking and KenPom.
Michigan’s KenPom rating of +38.39 ranks as the fourth-highest number since Ken Pomeroy started calculating his rankings in 1996-97. These Wolverines — who stand out because of their depth and their frontcourt led by likely first-team All-American Yaxel Lendeborg — trail only 1999 Duke, 2024 Duke…and the Duke team that just edged them on Saturday night in Washington, D.C.
Because Michigan boasts such a high ceiling, yet has struggled to reach it the last few games, May spends a lot of his time these days alternating between boosting and cajoling his bunch.
After Tuesday’s relatively narrow home win over Minnesota that clinched a share of the Big Ten title, May used such phrases as “We have such big and lofty goals in front of us…” and “I know this: The further we get into this, our guys have a further gear they can kick into…” and “Proud of our guys that we’ve been able to weather the storms to go through this (Big Ten) marathon that we’re on to get to this point, but if you get to the last five miles of a marathon and you collapse and you don’t stay hydrated, then it’s all for naught. We’ve got to keep pushing, keep moving forward and getting better.”
But Michigan (26-2) ain’t the only Big Ten squad on the short list of teams with a legitimate shot to capture the NCAA title on April 6 in Indianapolis.
Other Big Ten teams that can win the title
How do we know? Thanks to the steady improvements made in statistical analysis, predictive metrics and results-based metrics over the last 10-odd years — think Ken Pomeroy KenPom), Bart Torvik (T-Rank), Kevin Pauga (KPI), Evan Miyakawa, etc. — it’s easier to identify the teams truly worthy of a championship.
To put it another way, it’s nearly impossible for a great team’s potential to be camouflaged by a less than incredible record. For example, Illinois enters Friday’s visit from Michigan with a 22-6 record. That’s only good for No. 10 in the current Associated Press Top 25 and No. 11 in the coaches poll.
But KenPom sees through the record and ranks the Fighting Illini, who boast the nation’s most efficient offense, as the nation’s No. 4 team. Torvik has the Illini at No. 5.
It might not sound like a big difference whether you’re considered the nation’s fifth-best or 10th-best team, but the last decade’s worth of results suggests it’s huge.
Here are the last 10 NCAA champions and where they stood in KenPom’s national rankings when the brackets were revealed on Selection Sunday:
2025: Florida 2nd
2024: Connecticut 1st
2023: Connecticut 4th
2022: Kansas 6th
2021: Baylor 4th
2019: Virginia 1st
2018: Villanova 2nd
2017: UNC 3rd
2016: Villanova 5th
2015: Duke 6th
Of course, there’s no rule you have to be among the nation’s top six on March 15 or you can’t win the NCAA championship, but it’s clearly the trend. That’s why Illinois coach Brad Underwood doesn’t give a spit that Michigan has all but clinched the conference crown.
“I couldn’t tell you the Big Ten standings — and I mean that,” Underwood said Thursday. “I couldn’t tell you what that is. Michigan’s obviously in a place to win the league, but I couldn’t tell you who’s where. That is an absolute waste of my time.
“I do care about and look at the analytics and where we’re at and the NET and the KenPom and Torvik and all of that. I pay attention to that because it’s got wide-ranging stuff that helps me gauge my team much more than (the standings).”
With Michigan at No. 2 and Illinois at No. 4 in the current KenPoms, that’s two Big Ten teams that can dream on a title. Does anybody else belong alongside Duke, Arizona, Florida, Houston and Iowa State?
Purdue, No. 8 in KenPom, has enough time to climb into the top six, but the Boilers keep flunking key showdowns. With Thursday’s 2-point loss to Michigan State, they’ve dropped home games to Michigan, Illinois and Sparty — and the 23-point home loss to Iowa State on Dec. 6 also will resonate come NCAA seeding time.
So, No. 10 Michigan State? Perhaps, but it feels like Izzo has a team similar to last year’s that had to fight its guts out just to reach the Elite Eight. Izzo ratified that viewpoint during Peacock’s postgame show Thursday while sharing how much he enjoyed spending 90 minutes with former Purdue coach Gene Keady that morning. Among other things, they talked about how many teams today don’t seem as together.
“I said, ‘You know, that’s one thing I have: We’re not overly talented, but we are connected and together,’ ” Izzo said.
And No. 12 Nebraska? It has been a legendary year for Fred Hoiberg’s squad, but how can you project an NCAA championship for a school that has never won an NCAA Tournament game?
Sports
Surge, Gentle Mates unbeaten in CDL Stage 3 Major qualifying
A backlit keyboard is part of the gear online video game streamer Jordan Woodruff uses in his Gilbert home.
Jordan Woodruff
The Paris Gentle Mates and Vancouver Surge are atop the standings at 2-0 after Saturday, the second day of qualifying for the Call of Duty League’s Stage 3.
The Surge outlasted the Carolina Royal Ravens 3-2, while Paris topped G2 Minnesota 3-1.
FaZe Vegas swept Boston Breach 3-0 to open play, and Toronto KOI got the better of the Riyadh Falcons 3-1 in the other match of the day.
The 12 Call of Duty League teams are playing a full qualifying round robin to determine seeding for the third major of the season, to be held May 15-17 as part of the DreamHack Atlanta event.
On Saturday, FaZe Vegas dominated Boston Breach, winning 250-98 on Sake Hardpoint, 6-3 on Fringe Search and Destroy and 3-2 on Scar Overload.
Toronto KOI started strong, winning 250-183 on Den Hardpoint and 6-2 on Plaza Search and Destroy before the Riyadh Falcons notched a 4-3 decision on Exposure Overload. Toronto closed out the match with a 250-179 victory on Sake Hardpoint.
The Paris Gentle Mates opened with a narrow 250-230 win on Sake Hardpoint before G2 Minnesota responded with a 6-4 win on Scar Search and Destroy. Paris edged Minnesota 6-5 on Den Overload before taking Colossus Hardpoint 250-157.
The Vancouver Surge emerged from a back-and-forth battle with the Carolina Royal Ravens. The Surge won on Sake Hardpoint (250-233) and Fringe Search and Destroy (6-1), then the Royal Ravens drew even with victories on Scar Overload (3-2) and Gridlock Hardpoint (250-223). Vancouver secured the victory with a 6-1 triumph on Plaza Search and Destroy.
Sunday’s schedule:
–Toronto KOI vs. Boston Breach
–Riyadh Falcons vs. FaZe Vegas
–OpTic Texas vs. Cloud9 New York
Call of Duty League Stage 3 Major qualifying, with match record and map differential
T1. Paris Gentle Mates, 2-0, 6-2
T1. Vancouver Surge, 2-0, 6-2
3. FaZe Vegas, 1-0, 3-0
T4. Los Angeles Thieves, 1-0, 3-1
T4. Toronto KOI, 1-0, 3-1
T6. Cloud9 New York, 0-0, 0-0
T6. OpTic Texas, 0-0, 0-0
T8. Miami Heretics, 0-1, 1-3
T8. Riyadh Falcons, 0-1, 1-3
T10. Boston Breach, 0-1, 0-3
11. Carolina Royal Ravens, 0-2, 3-6
12. G2 Minnesota, 0-2, 1-6
–Field Level Media
Sports
Cloud9 remains unbeaten in Week 3 opener of LCS Spring
YMCA member Austin Manengu works the keyboard as he plays a game of Fortnite during the unveiling of the new gaming lab at the Maplewood Family YMCA in Rochester Thursday, June 20, 2024. YMCA of Greater Rochester in partnership with Metro Sports & Entertainment Group will open two gaming labs for youth and teens this year. Cloud9 improved to 3-0 and Sentinels earned their first win to kick off Week 3 of the regular season of the LCS Spring event on Saturday.
Cloud9, one of just two unbeaten teams left, swept Disguised 2-0 as Sentinels came away with a 2-1 win over FlyQuest.
Eight teams will compete in best-of-three matches in the round-robin regular season before advancing to the playoffs of the League of Legends event, which will be contested in best-of-five matches in a double-elimination format. The top two teams will qualify for the Mid-Season Invitational.
Cloud9 didn’t face much interference in its third straight victory, winning both games in 25 minutes over Disguised, which fell to 1-2. Robert “Blaber” Huang and Denmark’s Jesper “Zven” Svenningsen led the victory with very similar kill-death-assist ratios of 12-1-18 and 12-2-18, respectively.
Sentinels won the opener vs. FlyQuest in 30 minutes, lost the second game in 31 minutes and won the deciding third matchup in 39 minutes. Cho “Rahel” Min-seong of South Korea led the victory with a 20-4-13 K-D-A ratio.
Week 3 concludes Sunday with LYON facing Shopify Rebellion and Dignitas versus Team Liquid.
Regular season standings (Win-loss total, map differential)
1. Cloud9, 3-0, 6-2
2. Team Liquid, 2-0, 4-1
3. LYON, 1-1, 3-3
4. Shopify Rebellion, 1-1, 2-2
5. FlyQuest, 1-2, 4-4
6. Sentinels, 1-2, 4-5
7. Disguised, 1-2, 2-5
8. Dignitas, 0-2, 1-4
–Field Level Media
Sports
Yankees out to continue success vs. lefties, sweep Royals
Apr 18, 2026; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees first baseman Ben Rice (22) and center fielder Cody Bellinger (35) celebrate after defeating the Kansas City Royals at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images The New York Yankees struggled in most of their encounters against left-handed pitching until Saturday. Then they dominated Kansas City southpaw Noah Cameron and rolled to their most lopsided victory of the season.
After their best showing at the plate, the Yankees seek a three-game sweep Sunday afternoon when they host the Royals.
The Yankees will face another left-hander in Cole Ragans (0-3, 3.78 ERA) after going 7-for-20 with three homers off Cameron. New York raised its batting average against left-handed pitchers 19 points to .179 after Saturday’s 13-4 win.
Cody Bellinger, who entered Saturday 3-for-17 off lefties, hit a pair of two-run homers and drove in five runs. Bellinger also is 10-for-28 (.357) over his past seven games.
Ben Rice homered for the third straight game for the first time in his career and is 5-for-16 (.313) off lefties after hitting .208 against southpaws last season. Rice will remain in the lineup Sunday along with Paul Goldschmidt while Giancarlo Stanton gets a scheduled day off ahead of Monday’s off-day before the start of a three-game series at Boston.
The Yankees scored their most runs all season after their previous five wins were decided in the final at-bat. Amed Rosario hit a two-run homer, drove in three runs and is hitting .293 off lefties since the start of last season.
“We’re a talented team that can win in many different ways,” Bellinger said. “Obviously these games are more ideal but I like where we’re at.”
Since their 6-5 win over the Yankees in Game 2 of the 2024 ALDS, the Royals are on a 10-game losing streak against New York. Kansas City has lost six straight and nine of 11.
The Royals were blanked until Carter Jensen hit a two-run homer in the seventh and also scored on a two-run double by Michael Massey in the ninth. Bobby Witt Jr. had one of Kansas City’s seven hits and is 5-for-20 on the road trip.
The Royals are coming off their most lopsided loss of the first 21 games after 10 of their previous 11 games were decided by two runs or fewer.
“It looks bad when you get your butt kicked like today, but every game this week has been a really close game,” Kansas City manager Matt Quatraro said. “Guys are running hard, they’re playing hard, they’re preparing hard. It just hasn’t worked out.”
After getting seven sharp innings from Will Warren and not using any high-leverage relievers, the Yankees will send lefty Ryan Weathers (0-2, 4.29 ERA) to the mound.
Weathers, who struggled at times with his fastball command Tuesday in a 7-1 loss to the Los Angeles Angels, makes his first career start against Kansas City. Weathers is allowing a .268 average to opposing hitters and allowed three homers in a span of five pitches on fastballs to Mike Trout, Jo Adell and Jorge Soler.
Weathers also gave up a homer to Oswald Peraza on his changeup but wound up with 10 strikeouts in five-plus innings when he allowed five runs. He also became the first Yankee and 17th pitcher all-time to get at least 10 strikeouts and allow four homers.
In four starts, Ragans (0-3, 3.78) has received four runs from his offense and is coming off his best start this season. Ragans allowed one hit in six scoreless innings in a no-decision during Kansas City’s 2-1 loss at Detroit on Tuesday.
Ragans does not have a decision and a 2.57 ERA in a pair of appearances (one start) against the Yankees.
–Field Level Media
Surge, Gentle Mates unbeaten in CDL Stage 3 Major qualifying
Cloud9 remains unbeaten in Week 3 opener of LCS Spring
