Sports

Columns

Moments ‘til Madness: Is there a No. 1 team in college basketball?

By Owen Short | December 7

Five weeks into the season, we’ve had three different teams at the top of the AP poll. The University of Kansas held its own for three weeks but lost handily to Marquette University in the Maui Invitational. Purdue University held the No. 1 spot for one week, losing to an unranked Northwestern University team on Dec. 1. Now, the University of Arizona sits atop the rankings. While it has only been about a month and teams are still working out their kinks, there have been no signs of a single dominant squad in the sport.

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Columns

The Hard Count: 2023 NFL award predictions

By Reece Christian | December 7

The 2023 NFL season has been one of the most unpredictable and volatile in years, for individual players and for entire organizations. This puts many of the NFL’s major awards up in the air, so I’d like to offer my own predictions for these awards to close out the regular season columns.

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Sports

Men’s hockey sweeps the weekend slate for its first two wins of the season

By Max Druckman | December 6

In college sports, a team’s conference schedule is the most important, and usually the most difficult, part of its season. The Tufts men’s hockey team, though, has found its groove during the first few NESCAC matchups of the young season. The Jumbos defeated the Williams Ephs 7–4 on Friday and the Middlebury Panthers 4–1 on Saturday to claim their first two victories of the year. “It’s always nice to get the six points on the weekend, but also for our team morale and everything. It’s what we needed,” sophomore forward Max Resnick remarked.

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Sports

In the Crease: More NHL standings predictions

By Zachary Gerson | December 6

The Anaheim Ducks are yet another team that is in a rebuilding process. The Ducks revolve around forward Trevor Zegras, who is an up-and-coming star, and goaltender John Gibson, who, despite being on the older side, is still playing at a very high level. Apart from these two players, the Ducks do not have any other extremely noticeable pieces on their roster, although there are a few nice role players in place, such as Adam Henrique, Alex Killorn and Troy Terry. Despite the average forward core and good goaltending, the Ducks have one of the worst defensive cores in the league, which will likely be the root cause of many losses this season. As the Ducks continue their rebuild, they are not in contention for a playoff spot, but with the vision they are trying to build on, they aim to be there soon.

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Columns

Extra Innings: Biggest MLB Hall of Fame snubs

By Henry Blickenstaff | December 5

For a look at baseball history this week, these are my picks for the five biggest Hall of Fame snubs in MLB history. This does not include players who have been left out due to steroid use (like Barry Bonds) or any other illicit activity (like Pete Rose).

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Columns

The Hard Count: AFC playoff picture

By Reece Christian | December 1

As we enter into week 13 of the NFL regular season, the playoff picture is beginning to sharpen. While there are still plenty of spots up for grabs in the National Football Conference, the cutthroat jumble of teams stuck grappling for a wild card spot in the American Football Conference warrants a more in-depth look. With that in mind, let’s jump into where the 16 teams in the conference stand in the hunt for the playoffs.

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Sports

In the Crease: More NHL standings predictions

By Zachary Gerson | December 1

The Anaheim Ducks are yet another team that is in a rebuilding process. The Ducks are centered around forward Trevor Zegras, who is an up-and-coming star, and goaltender John Gibson, who, despite being on the older side, is still playing at a very high level. Apart from these two players, the Ducks do not have any other extremely noticeable pieces on their roster, although there are a few nice role players in place such as Adam Henrique, Alex Killorn and Troy Terry. Despite the average forward core and good goaltending, the Ducks have one of the worst defensive cores in the league, which will likely be the root cause of many losses this season. As the Ducks continue their rebuild, they are not in contention for a playoff spot, but with the vision they are trying to build on, they aim to be there soon.

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Sports

Women’s basketball routs New England 64–50 in 5th straight victory

By Max Druckman | November 30

As the age-old idiom goes, “third time’s the charm.” For the No. 8 Tufts women’s basketball team, their third time out on the court each game, the third quarter, has proven this cliché to be true. For the third consecutive game, a strong third quarter in which they outscored their opponents by ten or more points propelled the Jumbos to victory, as they defeated the University of New England Nor’easters 64–50 on Sunday.

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Columns

Moments ‘til Madness: Post-Feast Week recap

By Owen Short | November 30

Every year, college basketball has countless tournaments on the week of Thanksgiving, and they never seem to disappoint. This Feast Week gave us not only great games but also lots of movement within the AP Poll. Here are the teams that either boosted their ranking or busted their resume.

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Sports

Men’s basketball storms to a win over UMass Boston to keep undefeated streak alive

By Nick Dohr | November 30

The Jumbos stayed close to home this weekend, taking on UMass Boston at 12:30 pm on Nov. 25th. Walking into the game, the Jumbos were 4-0 and looking to maintain their undefeated streak. Meanwhile, the UMass Beacons were 1-3 and on a two game losing streak.

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Columns

Extra Innings: The anatomy of a failed rebuild

By Henry Blickenstaff | November 30

In 2021, the Chicago White Sox were one of the best teams in baseball, cruising to an American League Central title with a record of 93–69. Tim Anderson’s epic walk-off home run against the Yankees in the Field of Dreams game was perhaps the best moment of the entire baseball season (look it up, it’ll give you chills). Years of rebuilding the farm system were paying off. Despite a disappointing exit in the division series, the future seemed bright. Heading into 2022, the White Sox were ranked No. 4 in ESPN’s preseason power rankings.

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Columns

Sports and Society: Making stuff up

By Oliver Fox | November 29

The College Football Playoff is ridiculous. To demonstrate, let me paraphrase a conversation I heard between national analysts Danny Kanell and Ryen Russillo on the latter’s podcast about which teams deserve to make the playoff: Russillo argued that if Georgia beats Alabama, the question then becomes if Florida State should get into the playoffs over Texas, even with their backup quarterback.

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Columns

The Step Back: The heart of a champion

By Sam Dieringer | November 28

What defines an NBA champion? Domination? The hard road? Historical impact? With each season ending in a new coronation, how do we compare championships over time, and determine which teams are truly the best in NBA history?

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Sports

Women’s soccer advances to the NCAA Final Four, continues the Cinderella story

By Spencer Rosenbaum | November 21

Three weeks ago, when the Tufts women’s soccer team was bounced out of the NESCAC playoffs in the quarterfinals, most people would have told you it was a long-shot for the squad to make the NCAA tournament. Yet, after analyzing the resumés of potential Pool C teams, the selection committee decided to award the Jumbos an at-large bid. Even then, people would have told you that the Jumbos would not be a tournament team for any length of time.

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Sports

Washington and Lee narrowly defeats men’s soccer in NCAA tournament Sweet 16

By Max Druckman | November 21

Soccer can be a funny game. For all of the meticulous analysis, hours spent training and constant repetitions that go into preparing for a match, the true determination of a contest’s outcome can sometimes be luck. Luck — that elusive, fickle force that can turn dreams into reality for some and bring nightmares to life for others. Unfortunately, the Tufts men’s soccer team found themselves on the wrong side of chance on Nov. 18 in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Division III men’s soccer tournament against Washington and Lee University. Despite convincing results in the first two rounds of the tournament and a 12–3–3 record across the regular season and NESCAC tournament, a cruel twist of misfortune led to the only goal of the game, meaning the Jumbos fell 1–0 to the Washington and Lee Generals and would not dance on to the Elite Eight. 

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Columns

Extra Innings: The two sweepstakes

By Henry Blickenstaff | November 20

There are two players that teams looking for a superstar this offseason will be all-in on. The first is, of course, Shohei Ohtani. We’ve been waiting all year to see where the two-time American League MVP plays next. The other is Juan Soto, who no one thought would be available this offseason, and who still might not be (it’s complicated). Here are my thoughts on where these two end up.

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Sports

Field hockey’s impressive season and the careers of a beloved senior class end in NCAA quarterfinals

By Keriann Slayton | November 17

Tufts field hockey burst onto Ounjian Field in commanding fashion on Nov. 8 following disappointment in the NESCAC tournament. Tufts opened NCAA play with a 5–0 victory over Southern Maine. After a tough overtime loss to the Mammoths in the first round of the conference tournament, gratitude for the chance to continue their season inspired the Jumbos’ dominant response. Senior co-captain Andrea DelGiudice and junior Kylie Rosenquest combined for four goals, and senior Rachel Scrivanich buried another in the net on a first-quarter corner. Sophomore Gabby Sousa notched two assists, and the Jumbos finished with a 27–2 advantage in shots on goal. 

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Sports

Women’s soccer advances to NCAA Sweet 16

By Katie Spiropoulos | November 17

Coming out of their NESCAC season, the Tufts women’s soccer team entered the NCAA Division III as a Pool C at-large bid and immediately hit the ground running. They faced Franklin & Marshall on Nov. 11 and shut them down 2–1. The Jumbos were led by sophomore forward Elsi Aires, who put both goals away, but also saw strong effort by senior midfielder Thalia Greenberg and junior defender Jordan Cushner.

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Columns

In the Crease: More NHL standings predictions

By Zachary Gerson | November 17

The Minnesota Wild, just as they have been for the past few seasons, are a good team. They are not overwhelmingly talented but have the pieces needed to rack up wins.

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Columns

The Hard Count: The Deshaun Watson Problem

By Reece Christian | November 17

In last week’s column, I wrote about the success of the Houston Texans with CJ Stroud at quarterback, and I stated that the Texans had ‘finally’ found their franchise quarterback. This ignored a wrinkle in the Texans’ history, that being the promise of 2017 draft pick Deshaun Watson during four seasons in Houston.

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