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The NBA trade deadline just passed, so you know I had to break down all of the moves! What led each team to wheel and deal? Where are they headed now? What does it mean for certain players’ legacies? Let’s talk about it!

Now, to the sports!

Out of all of the incredible storylines in last year’s College Softball World Series, Red Raiders star NiJaree Canady’s performance stood out the most. The Stanford transfer had a ton of hype coming into the season, based both on her past performance and college softball’s first million-dollar NIL deal. She somehow managed to live up to it by carrying Texas Tech to the finals for the first time in program history. Canady is back with a $1.2 million NIL deal and looking to finish the job with the first national title in program history.

The Seminoles’ 2025 season ended at the hands of Canady and the Red Raiders in the Super Regional. They feature Jaysoni Beachum, who won the program and the conference’s first National Freshman of the Year award in 2024. Her production came back down to earth a bit last season. How are things going early in her junior season?

Okay, not bad.

What is the Horned Frogs’ program? Are they a serious national title contender or merely a place for guards to rebuild their WNBA draft stock? A nonconference schedule that would make Kim Mulkey proud had them looking like world beaters, but conference play has them looking up at a handful of Big 12 teams, Baylor included. It’s resume-building time, and TCU is currently a 3-seed according to Charlie Creme. They have some big matchups remaining, including facing the Bears again to end the regular season, so we could see some significant movement from them. Which direction will that movement be in?

Another rematch from last year’s Super Regional. Tennessee’s flamethrower Karlyn Pickens eliminated the Cornhuskers with back-to-back gems. The NCAA’s record holder for fastest recorded pitch (79.4 mph!) has already led the Lady Vols to 2 wins over ranked opponents this season. Will she get another one, or will Nebraska get some revenge instead?

The Tigers are the best mid-major program in the country. They are seeking their 7th straight March Madness appearance (COVID excluded), and are good enough to get an at-large bid. Their toughest Ivy League competition during that period has been the Lions. Princeton has lost its last 4 regular season games against Columbia, including at home just two weeks ago. A win here would be a huge confidence boost, especially with a game against another Ivy League powerhouse, Harvard, just down the road. Can they break the streak?

Will we ever see another coach like Rick Pitino? The man has survived scandal, stakes, extortion, holy water, failed attempts at coaching in the NBA, and garlic to climb to 3rd all-time in wins among Division I men’s coaches. He beat his own son to do it! The Red Storm’s loss to the Friars back on January 3rd apparently served as a pretty good wakeup call. They’ve won 10 straight since then, including a big-time win over UConn that lets them control their own destiny in their quest to repeat as regular-season Big East champs. This would be the 4th different program that Pitino has led to back-to-back regular-season conference titles. I’d say appreciate him while he’s here, but I don’t think he’s going anywhere.

Louisville is coming off a thorough ass-kicking of NC State that saw Mikel Brown Jr. and Ryan Conwell nearly outscore the Wolfpack by themselves. Brown Jr.’s 45 points broke the ACC freshman record set by Cooper Flagg last season and tied the Louisville single-game record set by Hall of Famer Wes Unseld in 1967. Pat Kelsey has the program on track for its first back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances since the aforementioned vampire Rick Pitino was here. Even more impressive when you consider that Kelsey is in just his 2nd season. The College of Charleston misses him.

The best non-5-on-5 professional basketball event in the country. Very appropriate that it takes place during NBA All-Star festivities that I will be ignoring. There’s no hiding in 1-on-1. It’s just you versus your opponent with a great deal of pride on the line. Oh, and money. The NBA hasn’t stolen this idea because the men simply are not brave enough, so ignore them and watch this instead!

No Valentine’s cards will be exchanged between these two fanbases. The shocking offseason transfer of former Gamecock and Columbia native MiLaysia Fulwiley to Baton Rouge has only made the rivalry that much stronger. Not that it needed any help! The 2024 SEC Tournament Final between them ended in a brawl that included Flau’jae Johnson’s brother coming onto the court to confront Kamilla Cardoso. Last year, Flau’jae took offense to the Gamecocks’ in-house DJ playing a song by her deceased father. What fun is in store this time around? Imagine what will happen if LSU actually wins! They’ve lost the previous 17 meetings.

The Terrapins had a brutal stretch, losing 5 of 6, including a 13-point home loss to these Buckeyes. However, Brenda Frese-coached teams get better as they get closer to March, and Maryland has certainly done that. They hit the road for a commanding win over then-#12 Michigan State and took down a tough Nebraska squad after that. This will be a good barometer for how far they’ve come.

I love pulling for the Cougs, but coach Chris Mack makes that difficult with his embarrassing uncle Twitter behavior. First, he complained about receiving alerts for record-low dangerous temperatures in the area. Then, he joined the millions of smooth brains whining about the Super Bowl halftime show. The day after he shed those tears, he led the Cougars to an embarrassing home loss. Hopefully, he got his diaper changed and can get them back on track. Even more hopefully, he leaves ASAP!

There’s some drama in Barcelona despite sitting atop the LALIGA table. They lead LALIGA in goals scored, and two of their top scorers are Ferran Torres and Robert Lewandowski. Rumor has it that this summer, they’re going to have to decide which of those two they’re going to keep. But they are both here now, so enjoy it! Also, here’s a neat article on how defender Ronald Araújo dealt with anxiety issues.

The men’s Big 12 is basically their version of the women’s SEC. The Cyclones sit at #5 in the country, but are just 4th in conference standings. They could drop even further, as this game is sandwiched between a matchup with #9 Kansas and a road test against #22 BYU. These games are even more crucial coming off a disappointing loss to TCU. They’re currently projected to be a 2-seed by Joe Lunardi, but there’s plenty of room in either direction depending on how the rest of the regular season goes.

The Lady Vols have some soul-searching to do after suffering their largest loss in program history at the hands of the South Carolina Gamecocks. Coach Kim Caldwell said her team quit, and it’s not the first time she’s gone public with their issues after losses. All signs point to a lack of leadership, but how much of that falls on the coach? Including this game, they have 5 Top-15 matchups left on their schedule. Not exactly great circumstances for figuring things out. Can they survive this gauntlet and get it together in time for March?

Before hitting campus, Alijah Arenas survived a Tesla crash that resulted in him being placed in an induced coma, then suffered a torn meniscus that required surgery. He’s somehow managed to find the court and looks very much like the McDonald’s All-American the Trojans were expecting. He dropped 24 points against Penn State, including the game-winner with less than a second left. Arenas is a good enough prospect that a nice showing against the Illini’s Keaton Wagler could result in him entering this year’s NBA Draft.

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