Latest news with #Stathead
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Pacers Tyrese Haliburton did something no one's done in NBA playoffs in 1st quarter vs Knicks
If you buy something through a link in this article, we may earn commission. Pricing and availability subject to change. It's difficult to be better than Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton in the first quarter of Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals: Points : 15 Field goals : 4-of-5 3-pointers : 3-of-3 Free throws : 4-of-4 Rebounds : 5 Assists : 6 Turnovers: 0 According to Stathead, that's the first 15-5-5 quarter with no turnovers in NBA playoff history. Advertisement The Pacers led the Knicks 43-35 after the quarter. Indiana scored 42 points in the second half in its Game 3 loss. Tyrese Haliburton first-quarter highlights This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Tyrese Haliburton makes history in first quarter vs Knicks
Indianapolis Star
28-05-2025
- Sport
- Indianapolis Star
Pacers Tyrese Haliburton did something no one's done in NBA playoffs 1st quarter vs Knicks
It's difficult to be better than Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton in the first quarter of Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals: According to Stathead, that's the first 15-5-5 quarter with no turnovers in NBA playoff history.
New York Times
23-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Ranking the 25 best college football programs of the 2000s: Is Alabama or Ohio State No. 1?
Editor's note: All week, The Athletic has been looking back at the best of the first 25 years of the 2000s in college football. Also read the top 25 teams, top 25 players, top 25 coaches and top 25 games. We as college football fans often suffer from short memories. This exercise will serve as a nice reminder that most programs have not been exactly as good or exactly as bad as they are right now over the course of 25 years. Advertisement The factors I considered when ranking the top programs of the 2000s so far: Overall winning percentage, BCS or New Year's Six bowl appearances (including last year's first-round CFP games), national championships, conference championships*, wins against ranked opponents (via Stathead), percentage of total weeks spent in the AP Top 25 and top 10 (via College Poll Archive) and, as a counterbalance, their number of losing seasons. *Because every league but the SEC had co-champions at some point this century, I used each league's automatic BCS/CFP entrant to ensure only one champion per year in each conference. Michigan State's overall numbers aren't great. But from 2010-17, Mark Dantonio led the Spartans to six double-digit-win seasons, including a Rose Bowl win in 2013 and CFP berth in 2015. Then came an 11-win season and New Year's Six bowl win in 2021. They beat out West Virginia, Louisville, Kansas State and Stanford for the final spot. Washington's modest win percentage and eight losing seasons don't help its case to be included in these rankings. But the Huskies started the century with a No. 3 finish in 2000 and returned to prominence in the 2010s with three consecutive double-digit-win seasons (2016-18) and a Playoff appearance under Chris Petersen, before back-to-back top-10 seasons and a trip to the national title game under Kalen DeBoer in the 2020s. This is the one program that has had the same coach, Kirk Ferentz, for the entire century. He averaged 8.2 wins over that span (not including 2020). The Hawkeyes reached a bowl game in all but three seasons, including two Orange Bowls (2002 and '09) and a Rose Bowl (2015), and have finished a season ranked 11 times. Utah, then a member of the Mountain West, posted undefeated seasons in 2004 (under Urban Meyer) and 2008 (under Kyle Whittingham) before moving up to the Pac-12 in 2011. Whittingham has led the Utes to four double-digit-win seasons since then, with Pac-12 titles in 2021 and '22, but they're more often an eight- or nine-win team. Mike Gundy's Cowboys posted eight double-digit-win seasons from 2010-23 and have finished as a ranked team 10 times since he took over in 2005, more than the school registered in the 20th century. They more than held their own against Top 25 competition, too. Their two glaring holes are just one Big 12 title (in 2011, when they came up just short of the BCS title game) and a 6-18 record against rival Oklahoma. Figuring out where to rank Boise State was by far my biggest challenge. The Broncos' .808 winning percentage and zero losing seasons, even in Group of 5 leagues, are remarkable, as are their four Fiesta Bowl appearances (including two wins). But their relatively few ranked wins (18) are a reminder of the level of competition. Gary Patterson spent the first dozen years of the century racking up double-digit wins in Conference USA and the Mountain West, culminating in an undefeated season with a Rose Bowl victory in 2010. The Frogs have been less consistent in the Big 12, but they have still won at least 11 games four times since making the jump, most notably their trip to the CFP championship game in 2022. Virginia Tech under Frank Beamer was one of the nation's top programs from 2000-11, finishing in the Top 25 all but one season, including five top-10 seasons, and winning four ACC titles from 2004-10. But the Hokies have had only two ranked finishes since then, in 2016 and '17, and saw their streak of 25 straight winning seasons end in 2018. Penn State's century got off to a rough start with four losing seasons in five years under the previously dominant Joe Paterno. He rebounded to win Big Ten titles in 2005 and '08. More recently, James Franklin has won double-digit games in six of the past nine seasons. But the lack of big wins is glaring — just seven against top-10 foes this century. Wisconsin was a picture of consistency until recently, winning at least 10 games all but five times from 2005-19 under coaches Barry Alvarez, Bret Bielema, Gary Andersen and Paul Chryst. It went to three straight Rose Bowls from 2010-12. But the Badgers have also never reached the CFP and have just 10 top-10 wins (tied for 28th). Arguably no program has experienced as many peaks and valleys this century as Auburn. The Tigers enjoyed undefeated seasons in 2004 and 2010, winning the national championship in the latter, and reached another national title game in 2013. But they've also won eight games or fewer in 15 of 25 seasons, had a 3-9 debacle in 2012 and have gone 5-7 or 6-7 each of the past four years. Miami's dominance at the start of the century in its final years in the Big East — it went 46-4 with four consecutive top-five finishes from 2000-03 — helped The U land in the top 15 despite a largely forgettable two decades since joining the ACC in 2004. The Canes have reached double-digit wins only twice since then, in 2017 and 2024, without winning a conference title — though they still rank in the top 20 in every data point I looked at. It's been a tale of two 21st centuries for Notre Dame, which was mediocre for the first dozen seasons (Charlie Weis's 2005 and '06 BCS bowls excluded) before transforming under Brian Kelly and Marcus Freeman. Since 2012, the Irish have reached two national title games, played in two other CFPs and hit the 10-win mark nine times. The late Bobby Bowden reached his last of three consecutive BCS title games in 2000 before falling off. But Jimbo Fisher's run of six double-digit-win seasons in seven years from 2010-16 (most notably winning the 2013 BCS title) coupled with Mike Norvell's pair in 2022 and '23 more than compensated for the Noles' five losing seasons since 2018. Michigan went through some bleak years under Rich Rodriguez (2008-10) and Brady Hoke (2011-14). But before that, Lloyd Carr led the Wolverines to three Rose Bowls in four years. And then came Jim Harbaugh (2015-23), who delivered six double-digit-win seasons, culminating in a 37-3 run over his last three seasons and national title in 2023. This one surprised me, given the Gators peaked in 2009 under Urban Meyer. But believe it or not, five coaches — Steve Spurrier (who left in 2001), Meyer, Will Muschamp, Jim McElwain and Dan Millen — notched at least one 10-win season. Meyer won two national titles in three years and Mullen went to three consecutive New Year's Six bowls. Texas enjoyed a dominant first decade under Mack Brown, winning double-digit games every year from 2001-09, earning one BCS title and playing for another. Then the program went in the tank for most of the next dozen years, before Steve Sarkisian led the Longhorns to consecutive CFP semifinals. USC appearing in the top 10 is a testament to just how dominant the Trojans were under Pete Carroll from 2002-08, when it went 82-9, won six consecutive Pac-12 titles and two national crowns (one shared). While it feels like USC has been struggling ever since, it has added four more double-digit-win seasons and three New Year's Six bowl bids. Some may scoff at ranking Oregon this high without having won a national championship, but every other data point is that of an elite program. The Ducks' 182 weeks spent in the AP top 10 are higher than the likes of LSU, Clemson and Texas, among others. And they've been to more BCS/NY6 bowls than USC, Michigan and Notre Dame. Clemson was admittedly nothing special for the century's first 11 seasons, peaking at nine wins, and even then only four times. Then Dabo Swinney found his groove, and the Tigers won fewer than 10 games just once over the past 14 seasons. The program's rise aligned with the start of the CFP, which it has reached seven times since 2015, with national championships in 2016 and 2018. While it may seem like LSU has yo-yoed between peaks and valleys, it's hard to argue with 13 double-digit-win seasons across four coaches (Saban, Les Miles, Ed Orgeron and Brian Kelly), three of whom won national titles. The Tigers have won a ton of big games, ranking third in both Top 10 and Top 25 wins. A 'bad' season has generally been 9-4 or 8-5. The underappreciated Mark Richt led the Dawgs to double-digit wins in nine of his 15 seasons, then passed the baton to Kirby Smart who promptly took the program to another level. In nine seasons he has a .846 winning percentage and has accounted for three of the program's five conference championships and both national titles this century. Oklahoma was even more consistent than Ohio State until suffering two losing seasons over the past three years. No other power program comes close to the Sooners' 13 conference titles (all in the Big 12). Bob Stoops started the century with a national title before playing for three more, and Lincoln Riley added three consecutive Playoff appearances. Those six national championships between 2009 and '20 pretty much say it all, and Alabama played for three others in addition to those. Its winning percentage gets dragged down a bit by a 53-46 start to the century, but Saban's teams then won at least 11 games in all but one season from 2008-23 — and won 10 in the other one. Only one program has spent nearly the entire century competing at an elite level – and it's not Alabama, which was mediocre for six of the eight seasons before Nick Saban got rolling. Whereas Ohio State had only five seasons out of 25 in which it won fewer than 10 games (and one of those was an eight-game 2020 season). It's won three national championships, played for three more, and craziest of all, it has been ranked in the Top 25 in nearly 93 percent of the 411 AP polls since 2000. (Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; Brett Davis, Kevin C. Cox, Ben Jackson, Brett Deering / Getty Images)
BBC News
07-03-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
'There's no other stopper in world football as gifted'
When Plato theorised about his world of Forms many centuries before Christ, he wasn't to know his weighty philosophical musings would one day be exhumed in an email newsletter to describe a silly little football here I am, hoping my secondary school philosophy teacher will one day read this and know I actually was listening, struggling to think of a better way to describe Liverpool's 1-0 victory over Paris St-Germain. The only way I can is to understand it as a smash-and-grab of such Platonic perfection that it belongs among the great thinker's higher realm of posited all that we see on Earth today is merely an imperfect copy of that which exists in its true form, its perfect form, somewhere beyond the physical. But if he were alive today and signed up to whichever Greek subscription channel broadcasts the Champions League, he will have seen a goalkeeping performance to make him consider tearing up his papyrus pull off such a footballing heist requires magnificence from the man between the sticks - and Alisson duly delivered for his side in the French capital."It was probably the performance of my life," he said after the game, before being hailed as "the best in the world" by Liverpool's late goalscoring hero Harvey Wednesday's evidence, it's impossible to disagree with the youngster. Alisson has only won one Yashin Trophy - the annual award given out since 2019 to the best goalkeeper on the planet - but for my money, there's no other stopper in world football as gifted with both hands and up for the Football Extra newsletterThe latter were rarely used at the Parc des Prince though, this was a performance that needed hands alone - and multiple pairs, ideally. Alisson made nine saves throughout the contest, the most a Liverpool goalkeeper has made in a single game logged by data site Stathead for at least a decade. Those chances were of decent standard too, Les Parisiens' 27 total shots worthy of a combined 1.6 expected goals during 90 minutes of near-complete dominance. Liverpool had just 30% possession and took only two shots - both season-low tallies by a take the conversation to even nerdier heights, we can use Stathead's post-shot expected goals metric to illustrate the quality of PSG's shots on target during the contest. Where xG values the chance at the point of the shot being taken, PSxG shows how likely a shot is to go in after it has been kicked based on where it goes on goal. A powerful shot low to the corner has a high post-shot xG, while a weak shot at the keeper has a low one and a shot off target would return this metric, the stats say Alisson's acrobatics actually prevented 2.3 goals, the most-influential goalkeeping performance of the last decade in which Liverpool have kept a clean sheet, according to Stathead's all the Brazilian keeper's brilliance, the chips still need to fall your way to win a game in the manner Liverpool managed. All supporters, myself included, can find it tough to acknowledge luck's role in victory, as if in doing so it makes the final result less Reds boss Arne Slot had no hesitation pointing out his side were smiled upon by the footballing gods, admitting: "Had we got a draw, we would still have been the lucky ones. They were much the better team today."With the tie poised deliciously ahead of next week's return leg at Anfield, Slot will know that big improvements are needed to keep their course to the quarter-finals now though, Liverpool can savour a famous European victory. On nights like this, when luck and skill collide, even Plato would admit that the shadows on the cave wall aren't bad to look at after all.
USA Today
27-02-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Day'Ron Sharpe displayed why he is a sleeping giant with potential NBA free agency looming
Day'Ron Sharpe displayed why he is a sleeping giant with potential NBA free agency looming Brooklyn Nets big man Day'Ron Sharpe had a dominant game against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night, which was his first start of the season. Sharpe had 25 points, 15 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, and 3 blocks during the performance. Despite the loss, his plus-minus (20) was the highest from any starter from either team. If you want to know how impressive that is, this stat from Collin Helwig is quite illustrative. Sharpe joined Victor Wembanyama as the only player to record at least 25 points, 15 rebounds, multiple blocks, multiple steals, and multiple 3-pointers in a single game this season. The only other players to accomplish that this season or last, per Stathead: Anthony Davis, Luka Doncic, Lauri Markkanen, and Joel Embiid. Those are remarkably impressive stats for any game but especially against a team with a top-5 offensive rating and the best defensive rating in the NBA so far this season. This is particularly notable because Sharpe is in the final year of his rookie scale contract and becomes a restricted free agent this summer. He could become one of the top players at his position potentially available in free agency. So let's take a a look back at what Sharpe did against Oklahoma City and see if it is scalable and replictable. First and foremost, recording 15 rebounds against a frontcourt that started Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein is no small task. Those are formidable opponents but it did not intimidate Sharpe in the slightest. Here is what he said about cleaning the glass after the game (via Erik Slater): "I'm just a beast on the board. I don't really think nobody can mess me with me in the paint when it comes to that. When I tell ya'll that every time, no matter how big, no matter how tall, it's just what I do. You might see three people box me out but I just play hard." Sharpe recorded three box outs in the performance, which was actually nothing out of the ordinary. He is averaging 3.1 box outs per 36 minutes, per which currently ranks fifth-best in the Eastern Conference (minimum: 500 minutes) so far this season. Even though the playmaking and shooting were a bit more of a statistical anomaly, they can continue to have some flashes with more playing time. During a season in which Brooklyn has one of the worst records in the NBA, the Nets have a positive point differential when Sharpe is on the court. He has the highest plus-minus this season of anyone on their roster. While some teams were reportedly interested in trading for Sharpe before the deadline, the Nets opted to keep him instead. After a night like the one he had against Oklahoma City on Wednesday, though, don't be surprised if more teams come calling this summer. Brooklyn can afford to keep him and can match any offer he receives as a free agent, but expect other suitors as well.
