Return of the Mac

5-Star Recruit Requests Release from NLI to Duke By: Bobby Cushing 5-Star recruit Mackenzie Mgbako has requested a release from his National Letter of Intent to Duke.  Mgbako is the 7th ranked player in the class of 2023, and the 3rd ranked player in New Jersey.  On April 8, 2022, Mackenzie Mgbako committed to Duke over Kentucky, Memphis, and Ohio State. He signed his letter of intent in November of 2022, but just a year after he committed to Jon Sheyer and Duke, he requested his NLI release and reopened his recruitment, per his Twitter.  When Mgbako committed, his ‘top 4’ were Duke, Kentucky, Memphis, and Ohio State, but he also had offers from UNC, Michigan, UConn, UCLA, and more.  Crystal Balls from various recruiting pages still project him to return to Duke, but from everything else, it seems he “will not attend” Duke.  Kentucky and Memphis are the two other schools Mgbako visited during his recruitment, Kentucky on October 15 and Memphis on October 29. I w...

What?: Lofton, Thomas, Pritchard Headline NBA Stat Lines on the Final Day of the Season By: Bobby Cushing The final day of the NBA season: where star players sit and no names play like they're at their local YMCA.  The Celtics and the Hawks played yesterday, and both teams solidified in the playoffs. This game had combined ELEVEN players sitting out. Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Trae Young, Dejounte Murray, etc. all sitting out, which means players like Payton Pritchard, Sam Hauser, and Mike Muscala are the top-scoring options, which always leads to some fun basketball.  Let's take a look at some of the wild stat lines from the NBA, not top players: Kenny Lofton Jr. Memphis Grizzlies 42 Points 14 Rebounds 0 Assists Lofton was just called up from the G League due to the loss of Steven Adams for the year. With no Ja Morant, Jaren Jackson, Desmond Bane, and more. Kenny Lofton was left as the top option. He took 25 shots, made 17 of them, and added 8 free throws out of 12 attempts....

Division Winners and Odds *Division winners bolded American League: AL East: Yankees +130 Blue Jays +200 Rays +270 Red Sox +1800 Orioles +2500 AL Central: Guardians +115 Twins +180 White Sox +300 Tigers +3000 Royals +3000 AL West: Astros -185 Mariners +360 Angels +550 Rangers +1000 Athletics +25000 National League: NL East  Braves +100 Mets +155 Phillies +400 Marlins +4000 Nationals +25000 NL Central: Cardinals -130 Brewers +165 Cubs +600 Pirates +3800 Reds +6000 NL West: Dodgers -125 Padres +120 Giants +1200 Diamondbacks +4000 Rockies +15000

Just because the 2022 college basketball season is over and a champion has been crowned does not mean we will stop thinking, dreaming, and talking about college basketball.  Top 25 UConn Marquette Michigan State Duke Kentucky  Creighton Kansas UCLA Alabama Florida Atlantic Purdue Gonzaga Miami Arizona Baylor Houston Texas San Diego State Missouri Arkansas USC Texas A&M Tennessee TCU Xavier UConn will retain many starters from this team, including Andre Jackson Jr. Another Big East team Marquette returns many starters and Shaka Smart will be active in the transfer portal. Michigan State is the first non-Big East team. But Izzo is bringing in the number three recruiting class of 2023 and with some possible returners, Michigan State can be very well next season. Jon Sheyer will return a top backcourt in the country and bring in five five-star recruits. Kentucky has the country's top recruiting class and a deep bench that can take them far in March. Outside of the top five, th...