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Winners – “Zero Championship Club”
Virginia, Texas Tech and Auburn represent 75% of the Final Four and all three have never won a National Championship. The latter two, are making their first Final Four appearance.
Losers – Kentucky
To me, it feels like consecutive years of missed opportunities for Kentucky. In 2018, Kentucky (5 seed) lost to 8th seeded Kansas State. Had the Wildcats beaten KState they would have faced Loyola-Chicago in the Elite 8. Kentucky had a tough draw in 2019 with Houston in Sweet 16 and a potential matchup with UNC slotted for Elite 8, but Auburn did the dirty work for Kentucky. Auburn, a team who lost twice to Kentucky, including an 80-52 defeat back in February. It was there for taking for Kentucky.
Winners – Over 1 billion twitter users
Kentucky fans are among the most insufferable on the internet. Duke fans (aka Yankees/Warriors/Patriots fans) are equally annoying. Congrats to the millions and millions of twitter users who won’t have to listen to those fans talk about their teams next weekend.
Losers – UNLV, Memphis, Georgia Tech
In 2016, Chris Beard left Arkansas Little Rock for UNLV. But then the carousel spun – Georgia Tech hired Josh Pastner away from Memphis and the Tigers replaced him by poaching Tubby Smith from Texas Tech. Tech went out and stole Beard from UNLV a week after his hire.
UNLV wound up hiring Marvin Menzies, who was fired after the 2019 season. Memphis fired Tubby Smith after 2018. Georgia Tech may very well fire Pastner in 2020, pending a tournament run.
Winner – Carsen Edwards, Purdue guard
I know Purdue lost a heartbreaker to Virginia, but Edwards was playing on another level Saturday night. He became the 1st player in NCAA Tournament history with multiple games of 9+ 3-point field goals. He’s also just the 8th player in NCAA Tournament history with 5 consecutive games with 25+ points. Despite not winning the South Region, Edwards was named Most Outstanding Player. He scored XX in Sweet 16 and finished with 42 in Elite 8
Loser – Adidas
The apparel brand has been on a downward trajectory for a long time and this year’s Final Four and also Elite 8 reflect that. Recently a subject of NCAA investigations, Adidas is shut out of this year’s Final Four. Nike has 2 teams and, for the first time, Under Armour has 2 teams.
Winner – Fans
Loser – Kemba Walker
28-time loser actually. Since entering the NBA in 2011, Kemba Walker has never beaten Lebron James. He is 0-28.
Winner – Devin Booker
Loser – Suns
In the last three games, Devin Booker has scored 59, 50, 48. The Suns have lost all three games.
Loser – Knicks guard Emmanual Mudiay
Poor guy just wanted a jersey
Winners – UConn women
Despite being a 2 seed, their first time not being a #1 since 2006, UConn Huskies women are going to the Final Four for a 12th consecutive season. An incredible feat
Winners – Fans of women basketball
I’m keeping this general, because fans will get to see at least one more game from Sabrina Ionescu. If you have never seen her, she is must see and helped lead Oregon to their first ever Final Four. Ionescu, the all-time leader in triple doubles led the Ducks to an Elite 8 win over Mississippi State with 31 points, 8 assists, 7 rebounds. The PAC-12 Player of the Year averaged 19.6 points, 7.5 rebounds and 8.1 assists.
Winners – Hawks
Losers – Hawks
On one hand, winning basketball games is always a good thing and Trae Young’s ascension to superstar has been an awesome event to watch unfold over the last few months. But the Hawks need as many ping pong balls as they can get, if they want to add Zion Williamson to their suddenly exciting and developing young core.
Winners – San Antonio Spurs
Feels like we say this every year, but 2018-19 really truly might be Greg Popovich’s best coaching job to date. Spurs clinched a playoff berth Sunday for the 22nd consecutive season. This comes following a summer of drama, trading away franchise player Kawhi Leonard.
Losers – Miami Dolphins
In the Dolphins defense. it sounds like they want to be losers in 2019, so that they can #tankforTua. So maybe this quote makes them winners?
Losers – 2018 AL MLB Playoff Teams
Yankees, Red Sox, Indians are all 1-2 and the Astros are 1-3. Tough starts.
Winners – NL MVP Candidates
Bryce Harper has 2 homeruns and is being showered by MVP chants in Philly. Christian Yelich, last year’s winner, has homered in all 4 games. And Paul Goldschmidt hit 3 homeruns on Friday night, becoming the first player in MLB history to hit 3 HRs in a game within his first two games with a new team.
Winners – Phillies
Philly is MLB’s only undefeated team (3-0)
Losers – Atlanta Braves
On the contrary, Braves are off to an 0-3 start
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