| | | | | | | | | | | Axios Sports | | By Kendall Baker ·Mar 22, 2021 | | 👋 Happy Monday! What a weekend of hoops. 🏀 Stat du jour: Loyola Chicago is 15-5 all-time in the NCAA tournament, tied with Duke (114-38) for the best win percentage in history. Today's word count: 1,870 words (7 minutes). | | | | | | 1 big thing: 🏀 The year of the upset |  | | | Oral Roberts celebrates after knocking off Florida. Photo: Trevor Brown Jr/NCAA Photos via Getty Images | | | | March isn't just mad this time around. After a one-year hiatus, it has completely lost its mind. By the numbers: The NCAA defines an upset as a team seeded five spots or lower than their opponent. A new record has already been set this year with 11 such games — and we're only halfway through the second round. - Double-digit seeds won a record 14 games in 2016 (not including play-ins). Through three days, they've already won 13 — and three have clinched spots in the Sweet 16.
- Another double-digit seed will make the Sweet 16 today — No. 11 UCLA vs. No. 14 Abilene Christian ensures it — and No. 13 Ohio and No. 10 Maryland could also advance.
The 11 upsets: - Friday: No. 15 Oral Roberts def. No. 2 Ohio State, 75-72 (OT)
- Friday: No. 11 Syracuse def. No. 6 San Diego State, 78-62
- Friday: No. 13 North Texas def. No. 4 Purdue, 78-69 (OT)
- Friday: No. 12 Oregon State def. No. 5 Tennessee, 70-56
- Saturday: No. 14 Abilene Christian def. No. 3 Texas, 53-52
- Saturday: No. 13 Ohio def. No. 4 Virginia, 62-58
- Saturday: No. 11 UCLA def. No. 6 BYU, 73-62
- Sunday: No. 8 Loyola Chicago def. No. 1 Illinois, 71-58
- Sunday: No. 11 Syracuse def. No. 3 West Virginia, 75-72
- Sunday: No. 15 Oral Roberts def. No. 7 Florida, 81-78
- Sunday: No. 12 Oregon State def. No. 4 Oklahoma State, 80-70
Buddy "Buckets" Boeheim. Source: Giphy Winners: - Oral Roberts: The tiny, strictly religious school in Oklahoma is just the second No. 15 seed to make the Sweet 16, joining 2013 Florida Golf Coast (aka "Dunk City").
- Pac-12: Widely considered the weakest Power 5 conference, the Pac-12 is 6-0 so far (7-0 if you count Oregon's no-contest "win" over VCU).
- The Boeheims: Syracuse is busting brackets per usual, but this time it's a family affair. Jim is the third coach to reach three Sweet 16's as a double-digit seed, and his son Buddy has 55 points through two games.
Photo: Jack Dempsey/NCAA Photos via Getty Images Losers: - Big Ten: The Big Ten was the best league all season and sent nine teams to the dance. Just three are left: Michigan, Iowa and Maryland.
- VCU: The Rams were knocked out ahead of their first-round game due to positive tests, ending their tournament run before it began. "Devastated," said head coach Mike Rhoades. "I have no words."
- Non-sports fans: Imagine not liking sports and missing everything that went down this weekend? It's wild to me.
Where it stands: The Sweet 16 matchups are set in the Midwest and South Regions, with games scheduled for next Saturday. - Midwest: No. 8 Loyola Chicago vs. No. 12 Oregon State; No. 2 Houston vs. No. 11 Syracuse
- South: No. 1 Baylor vs. No. 5 Villanova; No. 3 Arkansas vs. No. 15 Oral Roberts
📆 Today's slate: If you aren't familiar with Ohio point guard Jason Preston's remarkable story, here's some mandatory pregame reading. - West: No. 2 Iowa vs. No. 7 Oregon, 12:10pm; No. 1 Gonzaga vs. No. 8 Oklahoma, 2:40pm; No. 5 Creighton vs. No. 13 Ohio, 6:10pm; No. 3 Kansas vs. No. 6 USC, 9:40pm
- East: No. 14 Abilene Christian vs. No. 11 UCLA, 5:15pm ET; No. 1 Michigan vs. No. 8 LSU, 7:10pm; No. 4 FSU vs. No. 5 Colorado, 7:45pm; No. 2 Alabama vs. No. 10 Maryland, 8:45pm
|     | | | | | | 2. 🏀 All chalk so far in San Antonio |  | | | Caitlin Clark. Photo: Carmen Mandato/Getty Images | | | | The women's tournament began Sunday and didn't feature a single upset. In fact, just four of the 16 games were determined by single-digits: - No. 7 Virginia Tech def. No. 10 Marquette, 70-63
- No. 4 Kentucky def. No. 13 Idaho State, 71-63
- No. 5 Georgia Tech def. No. 12 Stephen F. Austin, 54-52
- No. 8 USF def. No. 9 Washington State, 57-53
Star of the day: Iowa freshman Caitlin Clark, the nation's leading scorer (26.7 ppg), put on a show in her tournament debut, finishing with 23 points, seven assists and seven rebounds in a win over Central Michigan. "To me, she's the most exciting player in college basketball right now. I'm always like 'Oh, Iowa's on? Let me turn this on.'" "Generation Flex" ... SI's Robert O'Connell has a great story about the dawn of a women's basketball boom. All four players featured in the piece were in action Sunday. - Paige Bueckers: 24 points, nine rebounds and six assists in No. 1 UConn's 102-59 win over No. 16 High Point.
- Aliyah Boston: 20 points and 18 rebounds in No. 1 South Carolina's 79-53 win over Mercer.
- Rhyne Howard: 14 points, nine rebounds, five assists in No. 4 Kentucky's 71-63 win over No. 13 Idaho State.
- Naz Hillmon: 14 points and 13 rebounds in No. 6 Michigan's 87-66 win over No. 11 Florida Gulf Coast
Look: Today's slate (ESPN) | | | | | | | | 3. 📸 Pic du jour: Cycling through Italy | | Photo: Tim de Waele/Getty Images Milan-San Remo, the longest one-day race in professional cycling, took place on Sunday, with Belgium's Jasper Stuyven emerging victorious. - Details: The 185-mile race dates back to 1907 and features mostly flat ground and gorgeous coastal views. It's one of the five "Monument" Classics — the most prestigious one-day races in the sport.
- The other "Monuments": Tour of Flanders (Belgium); Paris-Roubaix (France); Giro di Lombardia (Italy); Liège-Bastogne-Liège (Belgium).
Go deeper: | | | | | | | | A message from Axios | | Your new morning habit | | |  | | | | Start your morning with Axios Today. Hear the latest scoops from the White House and Congress, analysis on the economy and insights into trends shaping your world. - In 10 minutes, you'll catch up on today's news that matters.
Listen for free. | | | | | | 4. 🚑 LeBron James: Confirmed human |  | | | Photo: Michael Owens/Getty Images | | | | LeBron James will be sidelined indefinitely after suffering a high right ankle sprain in Saturday's loss to the Hawks, Axios' Jeff Tracy writes. Why it matters: The ankle injury itself is less noteworthy than the fact that James, the NBA's iron man, got injured at all. - NBA players with this injury over the past seven seasons have missed an average of 10 games, according to one athletic trainer. But James is hardly average.
- Through a combination of obsessive dedication to health, a uniquely resilient body and some luck, he's almost entirely avoided injuries.
By the numbers: James has missed eight or more straight games just twice in his 18-year career — eight to rest his ailing back in 2015 and 17 to recover from a strained groin during the 2018-19 season. - He's sprained his ankles more than a few times, but they never seem to keep him out long. Between 2003 and 2015, he missed just eight games to sprained ankles.
- The right ankle has been even more resilient, with eight sprains accounting for just three missed games.
- And it's not like he's been load managed to stay healthy. He's played fewer than 84% of his team's games just once (2018-19), which has helped him rack up the seventh-most minutes played in NBA history.
Fun fact: After the injury, James sank a three before calling timeout and exiting the game. That three gave him 10 points, extending his NBA record of consecutive games scoring double-digits points (1,036). Looking ahead: The third-place Lakers were finally adjusting to life without Anthony Davis. Now they'll be without their two stars indefinitely, and so far they're 0-2 since James went down. "This Lakers roster is built to function around James. Without him, they become a bunch of disjointed parts, like spokes of a wheel with no hub to connect them." — Bill Oram, The Athletic (subscription)In other injury news ... Rookie sensation LaMelo Ball is expected to miss the rest of the season with a fractured right wrist. Ugh. | | | | | | | | 5. 🏆 NCAA titles: More champs crowned |  | | | Photo: Justin Berl/NCAA Photos/NCAA Photos via Getty Images | | | | Wisconsin women's hockey won the 2021 National Championship on Saturday night, beating Northeastern 2-1 in overtime, Jeff writes. - Game-winner: Senior forward Daryl Watts scored an absurd bank shot off the goalie's back from behind the net.
- Dynasty: Since 2006, the Badgers have made 14 Frozen Fours and nine championship games, winning a record-tying six titles.
Virginia celebrating in the pool. Photo: Mike Comer/NCAA Photos via Getty Images More winners: - Women's swimming and diving: Virginia won it all, becoming the first ACC team on the women's or men's side to win this title. The men's action starts Wednesday.
- Wrestling: Iowa won its 24th championship, the second most all-time behind Oklahoma State. Senior Spencer Lee, who took home his third straight individual title, apparently did so with no ACLs (?!?!).
- Men's water polo: UCLA beat USC, 7-6, to secure the school's 12th championship, the second most all-time behind Cal. Save of the game.
| | | | | | | | 6. 🇺🇸 Views on kneeling split by race, party |  Americans are divided by race and politics over the appropriateness of political activism in sports, especially when it comes to athletes taking a knee during the national anthem, according to a new Axios-Ipsos poll. Go deeper: This poll was conducted as part of our year-long "Hard Truths" series about race and inequality in America. This month, we turned our attention to sports. | | | | | | | | 7. ⚡️ Lightning round | Source: @VandyBoys (Twitter) ⚾️ Like father, like son: Sophomore Jack Leiter tossed a brilliant 16 strikeout no-hitter in Vanderbilt's 5-0 win over South Carolina. He has a nearly identical delivery to his dad, three-time World Series champ Al. 🏀 Losing streak: The Rockets have lost 20 straight games, tied for the ninth-worst skid in NBA history and the longest since the 76ers lost a record 28 straight in 2015. ⚽️ Winning streak: The Barcelona women have won 20 straight games, scoring a remarkable 99 goals and conceding just three (!!!) in the process. ⛳️ Honda Classic: Matt Jones tamed the demanding PGA National for his second PGA Tour title. ... Masters countdown: 17 days. 🇯🇵 Olympics update: Overseas spectators will be barred from attending the Tokyo Olympics in an attempt to lessen pandemic risks. ⚾️ Sho Time: Shohei Ohtani on Sunday became the first starting pitcher since 1901 to leadoff in the same game. | | | | | | | | 8. March 22, 1969: 🏀 Kareem's last college game |  | | | Photo: Bettmann/Getty Images | | | | 52 years ago today, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (who had changed his name from Lew Alcindor the previous year) played his final college game, leading UCLA to its third straight title, a 92-72 win over Purdue. The backdrop: The Bruins, coached by the legendary John Wooden, were already the back-to-back defending champs when they landed Alcindor. - In high school, Alcindor led New York's Power Memorial to a 96-6 record and two national championships.
- As a UCLA freshman, he famously led the freshmen team over the varsity, 75-60, scoring 31 points and grabbing 21 rebounds against a roster that had won 58 of its last 60 games.
By the numbers: In Kareem's three years on varsity, he averaged 26.4 points and 15.5 rebounds, powering UCLA to an 88-2 record. He was even better in title games, averaging 30 points and 18 rebounds. The big picture: UCLA's three-peat — the only one in men's college basketball history — eventually extended to seven straight as the Kareem era blended almost seamlessly into the Bill Walton era. Back to back champs ... Only seven schools have gone back-to-back, and just two have done it since the field expanded to 64 teams in 1985. - Oklahoma State (1945-46)
- Kentucky (1948-49)
- San Francisco (1955-56)
- Cincinnati (1961-62)
- UCLA (1964-65; 1967-73)
- Duke (1991-92)
- Florida (2006-07)
🎥 Watch: High school highlights (YouTube) | | | | | | | | 9. 🏀 NBA trivia |  | | | Photo: Christian Petersen/Getty Images | | | | Chris Paul notched his 10,000th career assist on Sunday, becoming just the sixth player in NBA history to do so. - Question: Who are the other five members of the 10,000 assist club?
- Hint: Four played this century.
Answer at the bottom. | | | | | | | | 10. ⚾️ "The Secret Apartment" |  | | | Veterans Stadium in 1996. Photo: MLB via Getty Images | | | | In a new self-published book, a Vietnam veteran reveals that he lived in a secret apartment in Philadelphia's Veterans Stadium from 1979 to 1981. Details: Tom Garvey, 78, began managing the stadium's parking lots in 1979, a job that came with keys to an empty concession stand in left field. - He eventually got the idea to convert the concession stand, which was roughly 60 feet long and 30 feet wide, into an apartment.
- Garvey created a hallway of cardboard boxes to disguise the apartment from the door and added AstroTurf carpet, a bed, and other amenities.
- Bathrooms were located across the hall and employee showers were downstairs.
What they're saying: Garvey didn't take photos because he feared getting caught, but four people — including Eagles Hall of Famers Bill Bradley and Jerry Sisemore — said they visited the apartment. - "I open the door and it looks like a storeroom," said Bradley. "But if you walk down between the boxes, it opened up into one of the neatest apartments I think I'd ever seen."
- Three others said they knew of it at the time, including Vince Papale, whose story was the inspiration behind the 2006 film, "Invincible."
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Listen for free. | | | | Talk tomorrow, Kendall "March Mayhem" Baker Trivia answer: John Stockton (15,806 assists); Jason Kidd (12,091); Steve Nash (10,335); Mark Jackson (10,334); Magic Johnson (10,141) | | Invite friends to follow Axios Sports Use your personal link to track how many readers you bring into the community  You currently have 00 referrals. Share with a friend For questions email referralsupport@axios.com. Participation in the Axios Sports Referral Program constitutes your acceptance of the Axios Terms and Conditions of Use, which can be viewed here. | | | | Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters.
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