OUR LATEST SHOW” – now featuring on ChabDog Sports Talk ®
See things others don’t!
Join ChabDog, Well Read, Abe, Dorothy & Aaron for sports talk Saturdays 4:00 PM Pac to 5 PM LIVE HERE!
LAW OFFICE OF
BRANDON S. CHABNER
News Feed
The Mets won another offseason title in 2024 when they signed Juan Soto to the largest contract in the history of professional sports. That is an awesome move and the Mets may become World Series contenders for years to come, but it won’t be only because of Soto. We’ve seen megastars struggle to qualify for the Postseason in baseball (most notably with Abe Miranda’s Anaheim Angels) and we’ve seen hyped Mets signings like Justin Verlander fail to convert offseason banners into real ones. What makes Soto different? Well, he might be a more talented slugger than the Mets have ever signed before with an on-base percentage above .400 in each one of his seven big league seasons. Most importantly, though, is the fact that Soto is joining a team that won a couple of Postseason series in 2024. He doesn’t have to be a savior, but I also can’t help but think that the Mets needed to do more over the winter to secure a bid in October.
If the Mets fall short this season, it will probably be because of the starting rotation. Two years ago, Kodai Senga and his Ghost Fork emerged as a star, but in 2024 he got hurt and missed 99 percent of the season. Fortunately, Sean Manaea put together a career year at age 32 and provided stability to the rotation alongside Luis Severino and Jose Quintana. Over the winter, the Mets brought back Manaea on a three-year deal, but they let Severino and Quintana walk while adding Frankie Montas, Griffin Canning, and Clay Holmes to replace them. Holmes was the Yankees’ closer last year, but he was demoted in October and hasn’t made a major league start since 2018.
Even with everyone healthy, I thought the 2025 rotation looked shaky with Senga seemingly made of glass and the Mets counting on Manaea to repeat his best year ever. Fast forward to the present, and Manaea is set to start the regular season on the injured list due to an oblique injury. Montas is also on the shelf with a strained lat, and I don’t feel good about the rotation at all. Senga needs to be the ace he was in 2023, David Peterson needs to build on his 2024 in which he posted a career-best 2.90 ERA despite a strikeout rate that shrunk to 7.51 per nine innings, and Clay Holmes needs to prove that he can be a mid-rotation starter after years of exclusively pitching out of the bullpen. That is a lot of question marks for the top three guys in the Mets’ rotation. Paul Blackburn should provide consistency at the back end, and Canning is fine for a fifth guy, but I think fans will miss having a horse like Jacob deGrom to turn to every fifth day.
.@_David_Peterson lookin' sharp 👀 pic.twitter.com/eWxzhMe7OG
— New York Mets (@Mets) March 4, 2025
The batting order figures to be the strength of the team with Francisco Lindor finally hitting like a superstar last year and Juan Soto hitting behind him. It took the Mets long enough, but they finally got a deal done with Pete Alonso, and he has shown he can be a feared power hitter even in a down season. If the Polar Bear can get back to hitting 40 home runs with a .260 average, he will look like a steal. I also think Brandon Nimmo will get on base more after a strange 2024 campaign in which he posted a BABIP below .300 for just the second time in his career. If some hits fall in for him, his walk rate is still good enough to get him to a .360 OBP, which will be useful wherever the Mets want to put him in the lineup. Mark Vientos should round out the top five of the order, but he could struggle if he doesn’t get his strikeouts under control. It will only be a matter of time before opposing pitchers spam outside breaking stuff against him. He needs to lay off the junk more and demand strikes.
The bottom of the order could get boosted from a Jeff McNeil resurgence or Francisco Alvarez refining his approach. The former top prospect has been exciting but wildly inconsistent over the past two seasons, while McNeil needs to rediscover his 2022 form after posting a career-high strikeout rate and career-low BABIP in 2024.
It will be tough for the Mets to top the magical Postseason run of 2024, especially with baseball’s final boss, the Los Angeles Dodgers, still standing in their way. For now, we’ll focus on getting ready for the regular season and winning a division title for the first time in a decade.
2SGBR85 Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle Milton Williams, left, stops a pass by Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) during the NFL Super Bowl 59 football game on Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025 in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong)
Feeling a bit let down, as cold February lingers and throws downers in your face like the NBA All-star game and the 4 Nations’ competition to nowhere. We’ll help you climb out of this groundhog day hole with the “CDST Superstar Superbowl Afterparty Show”. You’ll be seeing hhhhhelicopters, artifically enhanced lucky Lukas, delicious visions and vapors of a once-in-a-lifetime KC barbe-que, sacked, roasted and ready for brotherly love consumption, a 7 ft, 360 pound center from St. John’s Fisher who’s on a see food diet that commands attention, and, in honor of recently concluded National Hippo Day, it’s baby Charlie, who thinks he just one of the Rhinos. Plus, a look at two potential giant killer’s for this year’s touney… 10 and oh my in the Ivies, YALE… and the hot hot hot Tigers of Mizzou, who seek to undo the ghosts of Tyus Edney. Really, now, what could indeed by Feiner?!
… and with that, there’s wasn’t anything that anyone could do to stop the Chiefy-3-peat from being rudely expunged.
This team looked great in all phases of the game, from just after their nadir against Atlanta, which wrecked mine and many
other survivor pools. But these guys stayed sharp essentially thereafter, and tonight they were sharks, devouring that usually
productive KC short game, and turned Kermit into a troubled French quarter bullfrog, looking longingly for a lily pad to hide under.
And it didn’t hurt the underdogs, that their coach showed a burning motivation, to stick one to his former employers, along with a
fan base that probably spent most of the game with their collective mouths agape. This was indeed a beat down from start to finish.
The truth Hurts!
- As ChabDognoticated, it’s KC by 1.5 against the fierce Eagles.
- Just ask Washington… the truth hurts… No. 1 and his friends are definitely No. 1 in the NFC. Let’s see who is the prey and who is the predator in two weeks. As ChabDognoticated, it’s KC by 1.5 against the fierce Eagles.
- Dalton’s drop makes much of America sicker than the sickest man in America. .. as did the blown call on 4th and inches, but then again you know you have only yourself to blame when you need the ball back, and the game’s Patrick’s to cinch.
Getting hungry for more ChabDog Sports Talk?
We know you are, so we’re obliging with the sinfully delicious “2nd Annual, Sinner, Sinner, Pollo Parm Dinner” Show.
Yeah, we’ll cover the potentialities presented by Sunday’s Conference Championships…
Sure, it looks like we could have the usual red and yellow representatives as the “Refs’ Prefs” host
hard luck Buffalo at home. But weirder things have happened, and the Bills look as qualified as ever to move on
to their god-given destination. And speaking of red and yellow, what about those cardiac Commanders, who recently fed
the Lions to the lions, and know are in prime position to mount and stuff the favored Eagles. Is the 5 and then something spread
really justified, or is that proposition purely for the birds.
But our show goes much farther than a down and dirty playdate in the pigskin mosh pit. There’s also the first tennis major to be decided,
as an overgrown Carrot Top, with unusually big sneaks and a bit of a bowlegged gait, looks to repeat as Men’s winner… time to throw another title on the barbie mate?
For the Women, a first Major title for US’s favorite daughter Madison Keys, please?
Tune in tomorrow, with ChabDog, Well-read, Abe, A-ron and any comedic clips we can borrow (I think we’ve got some film noir and “W” from Oliver Stone on tap).
It’s been a tumultuous week at the AO, with Gael force winds putting Fritz on the fritz, and we hear the storm building on this weeks “CDST: Uekeranian Eulogy, Thunder Down Under” Show. Yeah we’ll discuss this week’s playoffs game, the weak prospects for the Texans standing tall, wherther the Eagles stay out of harm’s way against McStan’s Macvay, when Big Dan can eclipse Dan Quinn, and the Ravens-Bills thrillshow. But we’ll make sure you cast your ears on the sweet sound of Dan-yell Collins. And if we have some time left over, we may ponder the possibilities: Jeff Feagles as an Eagle (not a Giant), Haven Moses as a Raven, not a Bills. Bill Belichick as a Bill and not a Heel.
Our Sponsors
Move Over MLB
football time
Join The Fun!
Frank The Tank
Law Offices of Brandon S. Chabner
Brandon’s Posts
Listen in for the “CDST: Uekeranian Eulogy, Thunder Down Under” Show….
It’s been a tumultuous week at the AO, with Gael force winds putting Fritz on the fritz, and we hear the storm building on this weeks “CDST: Uekeranian Eulogy, Thunder Down Under” Show. Yeah we’ll discuss this week’s playoffs game, the weak prospects for the Texans standing tall, wherther the Eagles stay out of harm’s way against McStan’s Macvay, when Big Dan can eclipse Dan Quinn, and the Ravens-Bills thrillshow. But we’ll make sure you cast your ears on the sweet sound of Dan-yell Collins. And if we have some time left over, we may ponder the possibilities: Jeff Feagles as an Eagle (not a Giant), Haven Moses as a Raven, not a Bills. Bill Belichick as a Bill and not a Heel.
Sizing up Wild Card Sunday and set up Saturday:
- After an unfortunate trip to the M&T doctor’s office, it’s clear what the Steelers need … A TOMLIN-ECTOMY!
- If Harbaugh wasn’t seen limping out of Houston sans a broken clipboard, he should have been. Maybe it’s about time we say the Anger Mis-management side of jovial Jim.
- Jayden Daniels was simply relentless, and the Commanders just had too much staying power for the physically and emotionally exhausted Bucs. In another almost unbelievable twist of fate, this game took a couple of fateful turns for the worse for the home team when stone-hands Mayfield mishandled a couple of routine snaps. With that, the wildly erratic season for Tampa finally… abated.
- Eagles manufacture a thorough, if not brutally blunt, undressing of the Packers in cold Philly. Yeah, this result was no doubt painful due to the weather, but it was time through cold water on a season that really seemed to go fatally south a few weeks earlier in Minnesota.
- Major home improvement this week for the Bills, as Josh Allen takes the Broncos very figuratively by the horns and pins them to the turf, without mercy. Ravens beware….
Well Read’s Posts
Abe’s Posts
Week 9: Abe’s Scrumdidilyumptious NFL Picks (ATS)
HALFWAY THROUGH THE SEASON…LFGOOOOO NFL WEEK 9! As always, have to celly double-digit Ws last week going 10/16 (63%) which is always great when the goal is to have a SZN record greater than .500! Before considering my Week 9 Scrumdidilyumptious ATS Picks, here is my season resume for your review.
Resume:
WEEK 1: 10/16 (62.5%) WEEK 2: 8/15 + 1 Push (53.3%) WEEK 3: 8/16 (50%) WEEK 4: 9/16 (56%) WEEK 5: 7/14 (50%) WEEK 6: 10/14 (71%) WEEK 7: 9/15 (60%) WEEK 8: 10/16 (63%) SEASON RECORD (ATS): 71/122 + 1 Push (58%)
OK, now that we’re all caught up and you’re still willing to read my scummy bag picks, lets fucking go NFL Week 9 (thank you for acknowledging you still have a better shot with my picks below than LITERALLY flipping a quarter)!
THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL:
I looked at the spread & decided to take “the chalk” (Texans -.5). CLEARLY this was a bad pick because WTF Texans! To be fair, I don’t think anyone realistically had the Jets beating the Texans by more than a touchdown on their BINGO card, but here we are.
| | @gawdbrudder
Week 8: Abe’s Scrumdidilyumptious NFL Picks (ATS)
Welcome back everyone to NFL WEEK 8! I would love to celebrate 11 picks right last week (Week 7) if it wasn’t me losing two by half a point. Like Vegas, we’ll have to settle with cashing in only 9/15 (60%) of my bets. Before you consider my Week 8 Scrumdidilyumptious ATS Picks here is my season resume for your review.
Resume:
WEEK 1: 10/16 (62.5%) WEEK 2: 8/15 + 1 Push (53.3%) WEEK 3: 8/16 (50%) WEEK 4: 9/16 (56%) WEEK 5: 7/14 (50%) WEEK 6: 10/14 (71%) WEEK 7: 9/15 (60%) SEASON RECORD (ATS): 61/106 + 1 Push (58%)
OK, now that we’re all caught up and you’re still willing to read my scumbag picks, lets fucking go NFL Week 8 (thank you for knowing that you still have a better shot with my picks below than LITERALLY flipping a quarter)!
THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL:
OK…I messed up royally and expected much more from the Vikings. Of course, Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua come back from the IR for the Rams like rock stars and blow the Vikings out of the water. It is what it is. Unlike the past two Thursdays, I didn’t take the chalk…but consciously picked the Vikings to do better even though they are the chalk…no bueno….one pick already in the gutter.
VIKINGS -3.5 @NewportBest_ https://t.co/rNRlpYkKm0 pic.twitter.com/hHCqyqv13o
— Abe Miranda (@gawdbrudder) October 25, 2024
| | @gawdbrudder
Dorothy’s Posts
Aaron’s Posts
Aaron’s Week 1 NFL Picks
Football is back! So what if it’s already been back for more than a week thanks to college football? It’s REALLY back tonight with the start of the NFL, tiny point spreads, and fantasy! I am a New York Giants fan, so I am predicting a season full of pain and suffering, but maybe some of you out there can get some joy out of the next five months. There’s always fantasy football, right? Nope, just more frustration and torture. But how about the ChabDog picks contest? Now, there is something that I have a chance to win.
Baltimore +2.5 at Kansas City
Everyone is going to love the Chiefs at less than a field goal. They just won the freaking Super Bowl and are at home in front of a raucous crowd. Plus, ChiefsAholic just got sentenced to federal prison, so you know the boys will be extra fired up to get the job done for him. HOWEVER, the Chiefs aren’t the elite offensive team they used to be. Last winter, they barely got by Baltimore in the Playoffs thanks to a great defensive effort. Patrick Mahomes is still looking for a go-to wide receiver and Travis Kelce might be over the hill. The defense is still good, but it’s tougher to repeat a great defensive season than a great offensive season. Give me the hungry Ravens with their new-look and more intimidating running game for the upset!
Green Bay +1.5 vs. Philadelphia
It is a sham that this game is even happening with the crime activity in Sao Paulo being so high that players are leaving their families behind. Player safety is a priority for the NFL until the owners can make a few extra bucks by putting a game in South America! Plus, it is a Peacock exclusive game, so even fans in America will feel like they are getting robbed. Anyway, this is an easy one for me. The Eagles were in full meltdown mode at the end of last season. Now, many fans are convinced that Saquon Barkley and a couple of new coordinators will solve all their issues. I’m not so sure. I’ll take the rising Packers after their exciting run in last season’s Playoffs.
Pittsburgh at Atlanta -2.5
This spread should be more than three points. Maybe not everyone realizes how much better the Atlanta offense is now that the team has a veteran quarterback under center. Kirk Cousins is coming back from a major Achilles tendon injury, but he won’t need to move around much when Bijan Robinson and Drake London are entering their primes. This offense is just as talented as the one that Cousins left behind in Minnesota. It will be tough for the Steelers and their new quarterback to keep pace, even with new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith’s familiarity with Atlanta.
Arizona +7.5 at Buffalo
Arizona’s offense is on the rise due to the selections of Marvin Harrison Jr. and Trey Benson in the NFL Draft. Plus, Trey McBride emerged as a star tight end last season, and Kyler Murray is expected to have his best season yet after missing half of 2023 due to recovery from knee surgery. Does that mean that the Cardinals will stun Buffalo in Week 1? There’s a chance with Josh Allen breaking in a new-look receiving group. I still think Buffalo prevails, but I wouldn’t pick the Bills in survivor. Taking the points is the move here.
The Big Ten Tournament is here with two teams trying to battle their way into the Big Dance
The Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament bracket is here, and as usual, it is glorious. What’s even better is that the beautiful pinwheel logo has returned to prominence after one-year hiatus that is among the worst decisions in college basketball tournament logo history. Penn State has almost zero chance of winning this thing, which is its only available path to the NCAA Tournament, but I can dream of a run to the semifinals thanks to a favorable draw that avoids Purdue and Illinois through the first three rounds.
The #B1GMBBT bracket is set. 🏀 pic.twitter.com/26VaSJB5cc
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) March 11, 2024
Sure, Penn State has to play on the first evening of the tournament, which is a Peacock exclusive event, but if it had been seeded a little higher in slots 10 through seven, the matchup in the quarterfinals would feature Purdue or Illinois instead of the less intimidating Nebraska. I’m getting way ahead of myself, though, since just reaching the quarterfinals means defeating a red hot Indiana team that is desperate to play its way onto the NCAA bubble. Penn State might have a psychological edge from defeating the Hoosiers twice this season, but Indiana has looked like a different team on its current four-game winning streak. Plus, just to get to that date with Indiana, the Nittany Lions must get past Michigan tonight. The Wolverines have lost eight straight, but Penn State has a loss to Bucknell on its resume, so nothing is impossible.
Purdue established Big Ten supremacy last week with a thrilling victory at Illinois before wrapping up its regular season with a home win over Wisconsin. The slumping Badgers have not been a great team since February started, as they finished Big Ten play 3-8 after starting 8-1, but I’ll give them credit for the way they battled the Boilers despite having another rough game from beyond the arc. Wisconsin shot 5-for-24 from three-point range, but John Blackwell and Tyler Wahl both went 7-for-10 from the field to keep Purdue from running away with the game.
Purdue wins the regular season title and Indiana is still alive for the big dance
I said on the Chabdog Sports podcast last Sunday that Purdue would be listed as champion when I fill out my NCAA Tournament bracket in a couple of weeks. On Tuesday night, the Boilers showed why I think they will complete their redemption arc when they beat Illinois 77-71 in Champaign. The combination of opponent and venue made the game Purdue’s stiffest test since December, and it passed thanks to a clutch three-point shot in the final seconds by Braden Smith. The shot came at the tail end of a broken possession by the Boilers that was saved once by Zach Edey, who slapped the ball away from Illinois and into the hands of his teammates Fletcher Loyer following Lance Jones’ wild layup attempt. Smith saved it again when he casually pulled up from five feet beyond the arc and drained his jumper over Terrence Shannon Jr.
If Smith had not clutched up, Illinois would likely the ball back down by three points with 18 seconds to play. Instead, the lead was six, and the game was over when Shannon’s answer bounced off the rim. Smith’s effort was just one of several big three-point shots for Purdue in the second half. Edey dominated the first 20 minutes with 18 points, but Illinois held him to 10 after the break, forcing the Boilers to look to their role players for help. They answered, starting with Mason Gillis’ three-point shot in transition that gave Purdue its first lead at 56-54 with 10 minutes to play. Gillis drained another one to put the Boilers ahead 64-58 with seven minutes left, but Illinois tied the game with a dunk by Coleman Hawkins two straight driving layups by Marcus Domask, the last of which he floated in over Edey.
Braden Smith! Onions! He bailed out Matt Painter, who for some reason did not call a time out during this broken possession. Purdue’s biggest win of the year. pic.twitter.com/bivOs9D3uN
— Aaron Yorke (@AaronPYorke) March 6, 2024
Illinois would retake the lead on a pair of free throws by Shannon, but Loyer put Purdue back up by three with a three-point shot and a runner in the paint on consecutive possessions. Lance Jones hit a monster triple from the corner to expand the advantage to six with less than a minute on the clock, but Domask struck back with another layup plus the foul to set the stage for Smith’s heroics.
With Edey doing his thing like he always does, Purdue is not going to be beat when it shoots the three as accurately as it did against Illinois (9-for-16). Matt Painter’s team doesn’t excel at creating its own shot from the perimeter, but it showed that it can break down the opposing defense and find the open man with 20 assists on 29 field goals during the win. Illinois did an excellent job slowing down Edey in the second half, but it could not keep up with Purdue’s three-point shooting. Illinois was just 4-for-16 beyond the arc, and most of that came from Quincy Guerrier catching fire in the first half. Domask was the one guy who came up huge down the stretch, and Shannon needs to step up if the Illini are going to win a rematch with Purdue in the Big Ten Tournament or NCAA Tournament. He went 3-for-13 from the field with just 11 points.
Purdue vs. Illinois will be an epic Big Ten clash tonight, but it’s only on Peacock
The Peacock strikes again! We heard outrage from across the sports universe when the NFL made its Dolphins vs. Chiefs Playoff game exclusively available on NBC’s streaming service. Now, something similar is happening in Big Ten Basketball, and the conference should be embarrassed that the top game on its regular season schedule won’t be in front of as many viewers as possible. Before the Big Ten’s new media rights deal that went into affect this fall, Purdue vs. Illinois on Tuesday night would be on ESPN where every fan knows how to find it, and it would have been promoted all day long on ESPN’s many programs. The new deal might work for football because the Big Ten doesn’t need ESPN when it has games on three major networks all day, but with basketball NBC has made Peacock part of the deal, and that is a nightmare for ratings.
The worst part is that we are over a month away from WrestleMania, so a fan would need to subscribe for two months in order to get Purdue vs. Illinois as well as the Showcase of the Immortals. At least with the NFL sham, the Royal Rumble was included in the price of the football game. As a wrestling and Big Ten fanatic, I’ve been watching on Peacock all season, but for fans who are just getting into college basketball now, the stream exclusive is going to be a major turnoff. They’ll likely just stick with ESPN for Alabama vs. Florida and Kansas State vs. Kansas.
Those who do invest in Peacock should get a great game. Purdue and Illinois met earlier in the season on January 5, and the Boilermakers led comfortably for much of the game on the way to a 83-78 win. However, not only was that game at Mackey Arena where Purdue never loses, but Illinois’ star guard Terrence Shannon Jr. was suspended due to sexual assault allegations. The Illini held Zach Edey to 10 points, but they were burned by Trey Kaufman-Renn, who erupted for 23 points on 8-for-12 shooting. It will be interesting to see if Illinois head coach Brad Underwood employs a similar strategy tonight since Kaufman-Renn hasn’t approached that kind of scoring output in the last two months and hasn’t even scored 10 points in his last six games.
With the game shifting to Champaign’s State Farm Center and Shannon playing some of his best basketball, the Illini are favored by two and a half. It will be the first time Purdue is an underdog in Big Ten play this season and the first time it is an underdog at all since its clash with Arizona back in December. Both teams are riding three-game winning streaks, but Illinois’ schedule has been a little tougher lately with a game at Wisconsin and another against a hot Iowa team at home. Plus, the Illini have scored at least 85 points in their last six games. With Shannon finding his three-point shot and Marcus Domask being a master technician in the paint, this is a team that can come at you from everywhere, and I didn’t even mention Coleman Hawkins’ range at center or the rebounding ability of Quincy Guerrier and Ty Rodgers.
In other words, Illinois won’t be the only defense with its hands full tonight. On the other end, Zach Edey has been unstoppable lately. In Purdue’s last game against Michigan State on Saturday night, Spartan big man Mady Sissoko accumulated four personal fouls in just six minutes. Michigan State threw a bunch of bodies at Edey, but he still scored 32 points on 9-for-15 field goal shooting and 14-for-20 free throw shooting. Edey is too big to keep him from getting into scoring range, but he can be forced into turnovers if he has to put the ball on the floor. Turning a few Edey turnovers into fast-break scoring opportunities will be key for Illinois tonight. Scoring in transition helped the Illini put away Wisconsin on Saturday when Justin Harmon blocked Chucky Hepburn’s shot in the paint in the final two minutes. That led to a fast break and a layup for Shannon to give Illinois a 10-point lead.
Ohio State did it again and Iowa’s missed opportunity
I really thought Ohio State was done with the upsets after it stunned Purdue two weekends ago in interim head coach Jake Diebler’s debut, but on Sunday, the Buckeyes pulled off yet another shocker. They went into East Lansing as 10-point underdogs and beat Michigan State 60-57 with the margin of victory coming on a last-second three-point heave by Dale Bonner. Just moments earlier, Tyson Walker had a chance to put Michigan State ahead with a fair of free throws, but he somehow wedged his first attempt in between the backboard and the rim. Walker had to settle for a tie with his second free throw, but Bonner’s clutch bomb ensured that it didn’t matter.
Ohio State is now 2-1 since Chris Holtmann was fired, and I feel a little bad for him even though he is technically on a paid vacation right now. These kinds of wins are what Ohio State was building towards with its young lineup, and against Michigan State, it was even younger than usually due to Jamison Battle missing the game with an ankle injury. Freshman Scotty Middleton replaced Battle to give Ohio State all underclassman in the starting five. The Buckeyes certainly missed Battle’s three-point prowess, as they went 3-for-17 from beyond the arc in the low-scoring affair, but the Spartans had their own shooting issues and shot just 4-for-16 from that range, including 1-for-9 from Tyson Walker and Jaden Akins.
OHIO STATE STUNS MICHIGAN STATE AT THE BUZZER 🚨 pic.twitter.com/SaIQY2jT0m
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) February 25, 2024
Still, Michigan State appeared to have the game under control with a 12-point lead and 11 minutes on the clock, but Devin Royal came off the bench for Ohio State and proved to be an unlikely hero alongside Felix Okpara. The pair of big men led the Buckeyes on the comeback trail and closed to within one point at 52-51 with six minutes left, setting the stage for the exciting conclusion. Royal, another freshman, showed off his post moves and mid-range game while scoring 14 points on 6-for-8 shooting in just 18 minutes. Okpara added 10 points and six rebounds, with four coming on offense.
No matter who is the head coach for Ohio State next year, the team has a bright future with all the young talent that has emerged this season. If the roster doesn’t fall apart, it should be a very desirable job since whoever gets it will be in line for massive improvement without having to do much. Michigan State, meanwhile, looked like it was a lock for the NCAA Tournament a week ago, but back-to-back home losses over teams with worse records have put the Spartans’ postseason status in doubt. It doesn’t help that their next game is on Saturday at Purdue.