Month: March 2022

For the second straight day, a No. 1 seed got taken to overtime in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. After Baylor fell behind by 25, rallied to force OT, but ultimately lost to UNC on Saturday, it was Arizona’s turn to be pushed to the brink by a very game TCU squad.

The game was tight throughout the first half, with both teams trading leads before Arizona captured a three-point edge going to the break. In the second half it was more of the same until Bennedict Mathurin started to take over, highlighted by a monster dunk on TCU center Eddie Lampkin Jr., which sparked a run to put Arizona up nine.

However, the Horned Frogs had an answer in the form of Lampkin using his big body inside to start going to work in the paint, taking it to 7’1 center Christian Koloko and enjoying every minute of it, twice hitting the future first-rounder with a “too small” gesture after getting a bucket over him.

TCU held a 75-72 advantage with under 30 seconds left and Arizona turned to Mathurin for the biggest shot of the game, as he sidestepped into a game-tying three with 12 seconds to go.

What transpired from there was, well, madness, as TCU’s Mike Miles got trapped and pushed back to the halfcourt line, appearing to get knocked down for what should’ve been a foul or a backcourt violation. Instead, the referees called nothing and Dalen Terry picked the ball up and ran in for the game-winner, only he tried for a dunk instead of a lay-in and held onto the ball for too long, sending us to overtime.

The story of the overtime period was rebounding, in particular TCU’s inability to clear their defensive glass after getting needed stops down one possession. Twice in the final 90 seconds they allowed Arizona to get a putback bucket off an offensive board, first from Mathurin after a few misses from Kerr Kriisa in the corner.

After an empty trip from the Horned Frogs, there was still time for a stop and a game-tying three, but once again they failed to secure the glass and allowed Koloko to put an exclamation point on Arizona’s win with a putback slam when no one boxed him out from the perimeter.

Koloko finished the night with 28 points, 12 rebounds, and three blocks, while Mathurin led all scorers with 30 points along with eight boards and four assists. Those two did just about everything for the Arizona offense that could not buy a bucket from deep — Kriisa in particular struggled, going 1-for-10 from three-point range. Three TCU players reached 20 points on the night, led by 23 from Charles O’Bannon Jr., 20 points and 14 boards by Lampkin, and 20 from Miles. It seemed like they ran out of gas a bit late, and the defensive rebounding issues in overtime compounded matters and allowed the Wildcats to escape to the Sweet Sixteen and avoid becoming the second 1-seed to get knocked out after the first weekend.

Bennedict Mathurin has long been a highly rated prospect, thanks in large part to his supreme athleticism and ability to get downhill and attack the rim.

On Sunday night against TCU, he showed off all of that ability on a second half dunk that blew the lid off of the arena and had everyone from the announcers to the bench to even his teammates on the court with him losing their minds for a few seconds. After the ball entered the post, Mathurin made a nice cut to the elbow to slip by his defender and caught the ball on the move with bad intentions, lined up big Eddie Lampkin Jr., and reared back for the dunk of the tournament thus far.

It is as vicious a poster dunk as you’ll see and, for my money, it moves ahead of Jabari Smith’s exclamation point in Auburn’s win over Jacksonville State on Friday. The way he cocks it back, absorbs the contact from the bigger Lampkin, and then punches it home with authority is just beautiful stuff.

Like the Smith dunk, it led to some incredible reactions, with the Arizona bench all losing their collective minds, but my favorite is No. 4, Dalen Terry, who starts jumping up and down and pumping his fist while on the court and getting back on defense. It was the kind of moment the Wildcats needed in a game where they found themselves in a bit of an unexpected dogfight with the Horned Frogs, and seemed to offer a lift of energy when Arizona started to open up a lead.

While much of the focus of the basketball world is on the chaos of the NCAA Tournament, the NBA is in the midst of its stretch run, with the play-in tournament bringing some delightful drama to the end of the regular season.

The fight for seeding in both conferences is extremely tight, and on Sunday the Warriors hosted the Spurs in a battle of one team trying to hang on to a top-3 seed and another hoping to claw its way into the play-in. After the Spurs jumped out to a huge first quarter lead, the Warriors steadily reeled them in and took a one-point advantage into the fourth quarter, but quickly fell behind by as many as nine in the final period.

Golden State would again rally to tie things up at 107-107, which is when things went a bit haywire at the end. The Warriors missed a pair of go-ahead jumpers, but managed to get an offensive rebound after each and ultimately got fouled, as Andrew Wiggins went to the line with three seconds to play. Wiggins would make the first and miss the second, with Kevon Looney fouling Jakob Poeltl on the rebound effort, sending the Spurs big man to the line with 2.4 seconds to play on the other end.

Poeltl would, like Wiggins, split his free throws by making the first and missing the second, which popped off the rim and somehow got tipped into the hands of Keldon Johnson, who threw up a wild hook shot that banked in for the game-winner with 0.3 seconds to play.

With the win, San Antonio pulled to within 2.5 games of the freefalling Lakers for 10th in the West (three back in the loss column) with 10 games to go. While it’s a long shot, it will certainly make things interesting to the end if L.A. continues to struggle as it has and San Antonio can find its way to a few wins to further close that gap. For Golden State, the drops them to just two games up on Utah for the 4-seed, which would earn them a first round series with Luka Doncic and the Mavericks, currently holding down the fifth spot — the 3-seed would face Minnesota as of today, as they are tied with Denver in the standings but hold the tiebreaker.

The 2022 men’s NCAA Tournament has not been short on drama or surprises thus far as the first weekend comes to a close. As the Sweet Sixteen field is nearly set, CBS and Turner unveiled the television schedule for Thursday and Friday’s regional semifinal action on CBS and TBS.

With four double-digit seeds in the Sweet 16 (Saint Peter’s, Michigan, Iowa State, and Miami), there are plenty of surprising matchups coming next week, but the bluebloods remaining mostly find their way into the headlining spots on CBS — with the exception of the Eye taking on the Cinderella of the ball so far in the Peacocks for Friday’s opener. Games will tip off at 7 p.m. ET on CBS and 7:15 p.m. ET on TBS, with the second game in that region following on the same network, 30 minutes after the conclusion of the previous game.

THURSDAY, MARCH 24
7:00 p.m. (CBS): 4. Arkansas vs. 1. Gonzaga (Jim Nantz/Bill Raftery/Grant Hill/Tracy Wolfson)
7:15 p.m. (TBS): 11. Michigan vs. 2. Villanova (Brian Anderson/Jim Jackson/Allie LaForce)
After Game 1 (CBS): 3. Texas Tech vs. 2. Duke (Nantz/Raftery/Hill/Wolfson)
After Game 2 (TBS): 5. Houston vs. 9. TCU or 1. Arizona (Anderson/Jackson/LaForce)

FRIDAY, MARCH 25
7:00 p.m. (CBS): 15. Saint Peter’s vs. 6. Texas or 3. Purdue (Ian Eagle/Jim Spanarkel/Jamie Erdahl)
7:15 p.m. (TBS): 4. Providence vs. 1. Kansas (Kevin Harlan/Reggie Miller/Dan Bonner/Dana Jacobson)
After Game 1 (CBS): 8. North Carolina vs. 4 UCLA (Eagle/Spanarkel/Erdahl)
After Game 2 (TBS): 11. Iowa State vs. 10. Miami (FL) (Harlan/Miller/Bonner/Jacobson)

Lil Durk has been a steady rise upward in the hip-hop world over the last few years. Things began to change for the Chicago rapper in 2019 when he released his fourth album Love Songs 4 the Streets 2. When it was released, that project became his first release to debut in the top five of the album charts. Months later, he landed his highest position on the singles chart thanks to “Laugh Now, Cry Later,” his collaboration with Drake. Afterward, he reached new heights on the Billboard 200 with The Voice and Just Cause Y’all Waited 2 both peaking at No. 2. Now, with his latest album, Durk has secured his first No. 1.

Just a little over a week after he released his seventh album 7220, the project debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. This makes for Durk’s first solo chart-topping album and his second consecutive No. 1 following Voice Of The Heroes, his joint album with Lil Baby. With its debut at No. 1, 7220 sold 120,500 album units in its first week on the charts. That number is comprised of 117,500 streaming equivalent album units and 2,500 pure album sales.

7220 makes for the fifth top-five album of Durk’s career. It also gives him the third-largest overall week for an album released in 2022. It sits behind Gunna’s DS4EVER (150,300) and The Weeknd’s Dawn FM (148,000).

Gunna is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Sunday was a great day to be a 10-seed facing a 2-seed in both the men’s and women’s NCAA Tournaments, as three 10s stunned their favored counterparts to advance to the Sweet 16. After Creighton and South Dakota won on the women’s side, it was Miami’s turn in the men’s bracket to take down second-seeded Auburn thanks to an impressive second half performance that saw the Canes run away from the Tigers, en route to a 70-58 win.

Miami led by one at the half, with Isaiah Wong leading the way, as the star guard finished the game with 21 points, with none more impressive than this vicious first half dunk on potential top pick Jabari Smith.

Auburn was able to hang around in the first half thanks to some solid defense of their own, but Miami really turned up the defensive pressure in the second and got the Auburn offense out of sorts. Miami forced 12 turnovers in the game, allowing them to get out on the break and pick up some easy baskets in a game in which neither team had much of a rhythm shooting the ball. The Hurricanes shot just 3-of-15 from three-point range, while Auburn was an even worse 5-of-26. Smith had a dreadful shooting night, going 3-of-16 from the floor and 1-of-8 from three, as he simply could not find his shot and Auburn’s guards struggled to consistently create good looks for anyone else.

On the other end, it was Miami’s ability to get to the rim that became the separator in the second half, both on the break and in breaking down the Tigers defense.

In the end, a cold shooting night and inability to find their way to the basket proved too much for the Tigers to overcome against the experience and calm of the Hurricanes veteran lineup. Along with Wong’s 21-point, six-rebound effort, Miami had three others hit double figures — Kameron McGusty finished the game with 20, Jordan Miller added 12, and Charlie Moore had 15 points and eight assists — as the Hurricanes ran away late to a 79-61 win to punch their ticket to the second weekend where they will face 11-seed Iowa State in the Sweet 16, with the Midwest bracket getting busted wide open on Sunday night.

Sunday was a day of upsets in the NCAA women’s basketball tournament, starting with 10-seed Creighton taking down potential National Player of the Year, Caitlin Clark, and the 2-seeded Iowa Hawkeyes in a thriller in Iowa City.

Later in the evening, it was another powerhouse’s turn to get sent home early, as 2-seed Baylor was jumped on early by South Dakota and never recovered in a 14-point loss to the 10-seeded Coyotes. South Dakota started 4-for-4 from the field, taking an 11-0 advantage out of the gates, silencing the Baylor arena crowd and stunning the Bears.

The Coyotes would take that 11-point advantage and hold onto it for most of the game — leading 16-4 after the first, 34-23 after the second, and 49-36 after the third — with Baylor never managing to even things up as South Dakota always had an answer any time the Bears made a brief run. It was a noticeable difference in energy level from the Coyotes, who flew around on both ends of the floor and flat out-worked Baylor to hand the Bears their first non-conference loss at home since 2014 against UConn.

It was a balanced effort from the Coyotes, with Hannah Sjerven leading the way with 16 points, four rebounds, and four steals, along with 15 points from Chloe Lamb and 11 points from Liv Korngable, including this tough runner to close out the third quarter.

Baylor was never able to mount a run against a South Dakota defense that did a great job keeping them out of the paint, and on a night where the Bears connected on just 20 percent of their threes, they simply didn’t have the firepower to get close. In the end, South Dakota strolled away to a 61-47 win and into the Sweet 16 where they will join Creighton as the first time two double-digit seeds have reached the second weekend in the same NCAA women’s tournament, as there has been no shortage of Madness on the women’s side so far.

For the first time in three years, the SXSW Festival was able to hold its showcase as an in-person event. The 2020 and 2021 iterations of the show were respectively canceled and held virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic. According to the SXSW, the annual festival features “sessions, music and comedy showcases, film screenings, exhibitions, professional development,” and more. From a music standpoint, it greats the opportunity for artists both big and small to perform in front of a big audience. Established acts like Young Thug, Shawn Mendes, Gunna, and more all performed at the festival this year.

While things went smoothly for most of the festival, which took place from March 11-20, it ended with an unfortunate incident. According to Variety and Deadline, a shooting took place near the festival and it left four people injured. In an official press statement about the matter, Austin Police confirmed that at 1:59 a.m. on Sunday morning authorities responded to gunshots at the 400 block of East 6th Street in the city’s entertainment district.

The four victims in the shooting were transported to local hospitals where they were treated for minor injuries. Hours after the shooting, Austin Police Department announced on social media that a suspect in the incident had been taken into custody. This is not the first shooting that’s taken place around SXSW. Back in 2019, a shooting took place on 6th street that left one person injured. Shortly after, another shooting took place nearby on 7th Street and Interstate 35 Frontage Road.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

On Friday, something strange happened: Russian astronauts arriving at the International Space Station boarded wearing yellow suits with blue stripes. Perhaps that doesn’t sound on its face unusual, but those colors happen to be the same as the flag for Ukraine, the nation that for the last month has been invaded by Russian forces. This led some to suspect whether it was a covert political statement. But Russian authorities swear the answer is no.

According to the BBC, Roscosmos, Russia’s equivalent of NASA, were quick to issue a response to their astronauts’ curious sartorial choice. “Sometimes yellow is just yellow,” they wrote. “The design of the uniform was agreed upon long before current events.”

They also repeated one interpretation made by an astronomer: that the colors are a nod to something else. “The flight suits of the new crew are made in the colors of the emblem of the Bauman Moscow State Technical University, which all three cosmonauts graduated from,” Roscosmos said. “To see the Ukrainian flag everywhere and in everything is crazy.”

When boarding the ISS, the astronauts said nothing political, about Ukraine or elsewhere. One of them, Oleg Artemyev, even offered a much more mundane, if cryptic explanation. “It became our turn to pick a color,” Artemyev said. “We had accumulated a lot of yellow material so we needed to use it,” he joked. “That’s why we had to wear yellow.”

Since the Ukraine invasion began in late February, Russian authorities have shut down all independent media outlets, suppressed most social media services, and have generally attempted to keep its populace in a propagandistic bubble. That hasn’t stopped some from finding creative, brave ways to get the word out about what’s really going on in the neighboring country. Meanwhile, the invasion has led to some strange reactions from the American rightwing.

(Via BBC)

The Oscars have been a hot mess for a while now, from host controversies to sloppy attempts to deal with the pandemic. But this year’s iteration may be the most chaotic. In a desperate attempt to improve plummeting ratings, the 2022 show has made the controversial move to not air a mess of awards live, instead peppering those wins throughout the night’s telecast. If that weren’t enough, they allegedly neglected to invite the incredibly popular star of one of the night’s most nominated movies.

That person is Rachel Zegler, who was still 17 when Steven Spielberg chose her for the iconic role of Maria in his take on the classic musical West Side Story. His film is currently nominated for seven Oscars, including Best Picture. And yet when/if it wins anything, Zegler allegedly won’t be there in person, not only despite being one of its stars but also despite winning a Golden Globe for her acclaimed performance.

“Idk y’all i have tried it all but it doesn’t seem to be happening,” Zegler wrote in a comment on Instagram. “I will root for west side story from my coach and be proud of the work we so tirelessly did 3 years ago.”

When Zegler got the gig in January 2019, it was but a month after she first posted what became a viral video of her singing “Shallow,” Lady Gaga’s biggest song from the 2018 version of A Star is Born. Would it be smart for a show looking to overcome a nadir in ratings to invite the incredibly online popular star of a movie that itself has become belatedly popular now that it’s streaming? Almost certainly!

Neither Zegler’s representatives nor the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have since commented on her claim, but her official Twitter account did like a tweet that called out the alleged injustice.

Of course, it’s not too late to reverse this. “I hope some last minute miracle occurs and i can celebrate our film in person,” Zegler wrote in her Instagram comment, “but hey, that’s how it goes sometimes, i guess.”

West Side Story streams on Disney+ and HBO Max. The Oscars air on March 27.

(Via The Daily Beast)