Troy Finnegan Articles - Page 32

Most years on Selection Sunday, the discussion around some of the snubs and surprising exclusions mostly comes down to nitpicking. Teams with similar resumes are compared, and some fans value certain metrics while the committee values others. That is not the case with West Virginia basketball in 2025. The Mountaineers were essentially a lock to […]

The biggest talking point on every Selection Sunday always surrounds which teams barely got into the 68-team NCAA Tournament field and which were just left out. That has never been more true this year, as fans of some of the country’s most notable teams went at it over the March Madness candidacies of their squads. […]

One of the best days on the college basketball calendar is here and the bracket bonanza is in full swing. On Sunday afternoon, the NCAA Tournament selection committee revealed the official March Madness bracket, and there are plenty of storylines to hit on during the countdown to the best postseason in sports. North Carolina? Who […]

Led by a deep, experienced crop of guards and a lot of defensive-oriented bigs, Iowa State basketball was supposed to be a national title contender this season. The Cyclones held their own through a gauntlet of a Big 12 schedule before losing to BYU in the Big 12 quarterfinals. Now, Iowa State’s title hopes have […]

The Houston Astros are coming off of yet another AL West title despite finishing the season with a relatively disappointing 88-73 record relative to their lofty expectations. Now, they are looking to back it up with another division title in 2025. The Astros will get that quest underway on March 27 when they open their […]

The Minnesota Twins are looking to climb back into the playoffs in 2025 after a relatively disappointing 2024 campaign that saw them miss out on the postseason. That quest isn’t getting off to a great start, as starting third baseman Royce Lewis went down with a hamstring injury during Minnesota’s spring training clash against the […]

There are a lot of teams playing very well heading into the NCAA Tournament, but perhaps none of them are as hot as Houston basketball. The Cougars rolled through the Big 12 regular season, running away with the outright title with a 19-1 record, before winning three games in three days in Kansas City to […]

Despite playing in the Mountain West, San Diego State has been a mainstay at the top of college basketball for much of this century. The Aztecs have consistently been able to win games in March and even reached the national title game two years ago, losing to UConn. This season, San Diego State got off […]

The Miami Dolphins were one of the most disappointing teams in the NFL last season, and now it’s time for Mike McDaniel and company to go back to the drawing board. This offseason, the Dolphins are working hard to rebuild their roster and get back into contention in the AFC East. That reconstruction includes all […]

2024-25 has been an incredible season for Tennessee basketball, as Rick Barnes and company have scrapped and clawed their way through a brutal SEC schedule. The Volunteers finished fourth in the best conferences in America despite playing against an NCAA Tournament-caliber team each and every night. The SEC has a chance to get 14 teams […]

The Dallas Stars and the Colorado Avalanche have built one of the fiercest rivalries in the NHL over the last couple of years, and now that has been taken up another notch. The two teams will go at it again on Sunday in a game with a ton of playoff implications in the Western Conference, […]

Kentucky basketball has had a few extra days off to rest before the NCAA Tournament after getting smashed by Alabama in the SEC tournament quarterfinals on Friday night by a score of 99-70. During that game, Mark Pope and company severely missed point guard Lamont Butler, who was out with a shoulder injury. Butler re-aggravated […]

Despite a very impressive run through the ACC Tournament, including a Chucky Hepburn buzzer-beater in the quarterfinals on Thursday and a dramatic win over Clemson in the semifinals on Friday night, Louisville basketball couldn’t get over the line in the end. Despite a very competitive game against the top seed, Duke eventually pulled away from […]

Despite closing the season on an absolute tear, Michigan State basketball fell short in its quest to sweep the regular season and conference tournament titles in the Big Ten. After taking home the top spot during the regular season, Tom Izzo’s squad lost its semifinal on Saturday against No. 5-seed Wisconsin by a score of […]

A season that looked easy for months for Auburn basketball has suddenly turned sour over the last two weeks. After losing its final two regular season games against Texas A&M and Alabama, the top-seeded Tigers were toppled by No. 4-seed Tennessee 70-65 in the semifinals of the SEC Tournament on Saturday. After entering the month […]

Some of the best battles of this Big Ten basketball season have taken place in the conference tournament in Indianapolis, and that held true on Saturday. In the first semifinal, No. 5 seed Wisconsin basketball pulled a minor upset over top-seed Michigan State in a 77-74 classic. The Spartans had multiple chances to tie the […]

Ever since joining the Big 12, Houston basketball has absolutely dominated. Kelvin Sampson and the Cougars have absolutely owned the rest of the conference over the last two seasons, winning the regular season title in both years. In 2024-25, Houston took it to a new level. It finished the conference slate 19-1, with its only […]

The story of the Big East this season has been the job Rick Pitino has done with St. John’s basketball. The Johnnies have been the best team in the Big East all season long, comfortably securing the regular season title and working their way into the top 10 of the AP poll. Now, Pitino and […]

After wrapping up a relatively comfortable Big 12 championship in the regular season, Houston basketball is looking to back that up and cement a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament with a conference tournament title in Kansas City. On Friday night, the Cougars were dominant on the defensive end of the floor from the […]

Duke basketball has been a machine this season, cruising through the ACC on its way to taking the top spot in the AP poll heading into the postseason. However, the Blue Devils’ national title hopes flashed before their eyes on Thursday when star forward Cooper Flagg with down with a nasty ankle injury in the […]

The trilogy of the 2024-25 North Carolina-Duke basketball series was the best of the bunch. Even without Cooper Flagg and Maliq Brown, the Blue Devils dominated the early going against their Tobacco Road rivals, jumping out to a 24-point lead. North Carolina, fighting for its NCAA Tournament life, wasn’t about to go down without a […]

One of the biggest storylines this season in the SEC was just how many teams from the conference are going to make it into the NCAA Tournament. The previous record from one league is 11, and it has been clear all along that the SEC would inevitably pass that. If Vanderbilt, Texas and Oklahoma all […]

The NCAA Tournament bubble is very crowded this year, like it is almost every year, but the overall field of teams next to the cut line doesn’t seem as strong heading into the 2025 edition of the Big Dance. One of the teams that will be anxiously awaiting its fate on Selection Sunday is Texas. […]

Auburn basketball’s dream season in the SEC continued on Friday as the top-seeded Tigers knocked off Ole Miss 62-57 in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament. The Rebels made things close throughout with their stingy defense and even tied the game at 46 late in the second half, but Auburn eventually pulled away to get […]

The Boston Celtics and the Oklahoma City Thunder went head-to-head on Wednesday night in a possible NBA Finals preview in Boston. Even though the Thunder were playing without star forward Jalen Williams, who is out due to a hip injury, the Thunder still came out on top 118-112. One of the biggest things that sticks […]

March is here, and it’s finally time to embrace the madness. There’s nothing better than chaotic college basketball, with games all over the country coming down to the wire. Of course, the lead-in to the NCAA Tournament is arguably as good as the tournament itself. Across the nation, programs are battling it out in their […]

One of the more underwhelming teams in college basketball this season was Kansas State. Despite making a ton of noise in the transfer portal this offseason, Jerome Tang and the Wildcats are never able to make any noise in Big 12 play and will be on the outside looking in on Selection Sunday as a […]

Vanderbilt basketball has been a consistently feisty team in the very competitive SEC all season, but almost everyone in the conference has had its ups and downs. After a hot streak at the end of February and the beginning of March, where Vanderbilt won three straight games against ranked teams in Ole Miss, Texas A&M […]

The Minnesota Vikings are retooling after their Cinderella season came to a screeching halt last season in the Wild Card playoffs. After losing Sam Darnold to the Seattle Seahawks, Minnesota is focusing plenty of attention on the defensive side of the ball. The first priority with Brian Flores’ group is retaining some of the critical […]

The Utah Jazz most likely have one foot out the door this season and one eye on the NBA Draft Lottery, with hopes for a little luck with the ping pong balls to help them land Cooper Flagg. However, Adam Silver is still making sure the Jazz are doing their best to compete. On Wednesday, […]

The New York Knicks are trying to cement their spot in the elite in the Eastern Conference, but that task is proving to be somewhat difficult for Tom Thibodeau and company. The Knicks are safely in third place in the standings at the moment, but haven’t been able to get close to either the record-setting […]

The Auburn Tigers have become a perennial national title contender under Bruce Pearl, and that has never been more true than it is in 2024-25. Auburn has spent the entire season as one of the top-ranked teams in the nation including a long stint at No. 1 that came to an end at the end […]

The Colorado Avalanche are still getting used to their new-look roster after a very busy trade deadline, and of course that will come with some growing pains. The Avalanche got the trade season started early when they trades star winger Mikko Rantanen to the Carolina Hurricanes back win January. By the time they were done […]

The Indiana Pacers are flying under the radar more than possibly any other team in the NBA this season. Indiana is solidly in playoff contention in the Eastern Conference and seems poised to even avoid the play-in tournament. The Pacers notched another impressive victory in their belt on Tuesday night. The Milwaukee Bucks took a […]

The Indiana Pacers and the Milwaukee Bucks went at it in a spirited battle during the latest chapter of one of the newer rivalries in the NBA on Tuesday night. Last season, the two squads had a few high-profile battles in both the NBA Cup and the first round of the playoffs. The Pacers got […]

An underwhelming season in Bloomington has quickly turned into both an emotional and intriguing one in 2024-25. The Hoosiers struggled mightily at the beginning of the season, as their equally talented and expensive roster struggled to mesh together during non-conference play and at the beginning of the challenging Big Ten slate. In the middle of […]

One thing that the Baltimore Ravens are always trying to do is add more weapons for Lamar Jackson to be able to throw to. On Tuesday, they continued that effort in a big way when they agreed to a one-year, $6 million deal with veteran wideout DeAndre Hopkins, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Media. […]

The Atlanta Falcons have some big decisions to make this offseason, most notably on what to do with quarterback Kirk Cousins. While the decision to keep Cousins or trade him is certainly a big one, but the top priority for the Falcons should be adding pass rush talent. Atlanta did just that on Tuesday when […]

The New York Yankees are gearing up to make another run at a championship after falling short in the World Series last season, but that task got much more difficult before they could even make it out of spring training. Star pitcher Gerrit Cole got some exams on his elbow after his latest tuneup start, […]