TeamUSATracker: March Madness
March Madness Begins, Banning Russia, & ICYMI: Team USA in action post Olympics
📺MARCH MADNESS
@TeamUSATracker Can’t Wait
One of my favorite sporting events starts tonight…..We are seven hours away from March 1 and even though Selection Sunday is two weeks away (March 13) and we are still three weeks away from 4 days of non stop basketball action that overlaps with St. Patrick’s Day - tonight is the night where nearly every NCAA Division 1 basketball team has one final shot to earn an automatic bid to the Big Dance when conference tournaments starts. 1st game is Central Connecticut State vs Fairleigh Dickinson despite these teams having a combined 11-44 regular season record they can still have dreams of being this year’s Cinderella.
Bracketologists Joe Lunardi and Jerry Palm are up to date with the latest at large projections or check out the Bracket Matrix for all the predictions and basketball is just one of eight college sports with championships in March. The NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament expanded to 68 teams this year and women’s conference tournaments begin on March 1 . Other NCAA Championships to culminate in March are in Skiing, Indoor Track, Curling, Rifle, Wrestling, Swimming, Fencing.
Many future Olympians will compete and Tokyo gold medalist Gable Steveson will be in action which what could be his final act in Olympic freestyle wrestling before going to WWE.
March is not just for College Sports- all of Team USA has huge events in March
Soccer: USMNT’s Final 3 World Cup Qualifying Games for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
March 24 @Mexico
March 27 vs Panama (in Orlando)
March 30 @Costa Rica
To qualify for Qatar: USA will likely need a win over Panama & at least a tie in one of the road games . USMNT fans are super nervous about qualification (post 2018) and USMNT will be without Weston McKennie for the final 3 games.
All US fans should be rooting for Canada who plays at Costa Rica March 24 and at Panama March 30 and wins by Canada against these teams will greatly benefit USMNT’s qualification chances.
Tennis: Indian Wells (ATP & WTA 1000) & Miami Open (ATP & WTA 1000) - 2 of the 4 biggest tennis tournaments on US soil happen in March. Before Indian Wells - The US Men (Taylor Fritz, Tommy Paul, Sebastian Korda, Jack Sock and Rajeev Ram) take on Colombia in Davis Cup Qualification in Reno, Nevada (March 4-5) looking for revenge after losing to Colombia in the Davis Cup last year.
Speed Skating: World Championships (March 3 to March 6) and the ISU World Cup Final (March 11 & March 12)
Alpine Skiing: World Cup Finals in France March 14 to March 20
Curling: Women’s World Championships (March 19-27) (Team Christensen will rep Team USA) as the first of 3 Curling World Championships. Men’s Curling World Championships are in Las Vegas in April (Team Dropkin will rep Team USA) & Mixed Doubles Curling Championships is in late April (US Mixed Doubles Curling Championships are March 6 to March 13)
Figure Skating: World Championships March 21 to March 27
Winter Paralympics (March 4 to March 13) Team USA sends a 67-member U.S. Paralympic Team to Beijing . The Winter Paralympics feature 78 medal events across six sports (Alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, biathlon, snowboarding, sled hockey and curling). Note sled hockey and curling are mixed (open) gender events so only one medal will be given out in those team disciplines.
Indoor Track & Field World Championships: March 18 to March 20 in Belgrade, Serbia US Track & Field Indoor Trials were this past weekend in Spokane, Washington Day 1 Recap Day 2 Recap
Golf: Dell Match Play Tournament (March 23 to March 27) which @TeamUSATracker hopes the Olympics will implement match play in the Olympics and the first LPGA Major Chevron Championships (March 31 to April 3) takes place the weekend before The Masters.
The Winter World Cup seasons will wrap up in March: Cross Country Skiing (will debut a new event mixed team relay & mixed team sprint) Freestyle Skiing (Moguls, Slopestyle, Ski Cross), Snowboarding (PSL/PGS, Slopestyle, & SBX Cross), Ski Jumping & Nordic Combined.
Summer Olympic sports will start or continue their professional seasons in March with major tournaments or meets: Aquatics (Swimming, Artistic Swimming, Diving, Water Polo), Beach Volleyball, Cycling, Fencing, Golf, Gymnastics, Judo, Sailing, Shooting, Surfing, and Tennis. All the latest in Google Calendar (best to view in Agenda mode)
🔎IN DEPTH: WHAT TO DO WITH RUSSIA?
Every day the IOC is putting out stronger statement on Russia and most Olympic sports are follow the IOC’s lead. The statements have been reactive as many countries and fans want harsher penalties on Russia
Today’s Statement: Monday Feb. 28: No Russians or No Belarusians
Reactive: Norway who is holding FIS events this week/weekend had already banned Russians last week. In addition Ukraine and the nine Nordic countries including Norway had been calling for a banishment of Russia & Belarus since last week at certain events.
The IOC’s statement was followed up by FIFA suspending Russia from 2022 World Cup Qualification FIFA and its European counterpart, UEFA, said the ban on Russia would be in place “until further notice.” Note the hands of FIFA were being forced since no country scheduled to play Russia would play them.
The Paraylmpics should act soon- Note the IPC is a different organization from IOC and likely will address the matter on Wednesday per NBC’s Olympic Talk because of travel.
The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has not announced a decision on Russia and Belarus athlete participation and plans to discuss the matter at a previously scheduled Wednesday board meeting. A spokesperson said that’s the earliest it can do so as members fly into Beijing this week.
Friday Feb. 25 : No Events in Russia or Belarus
Reactive: Before Monday’s decision the IOC ban events in Russia & Belarus. This decision was still done late as some international athletes and US athletes were already in Russia for the Ski Cross & Aerials event taking place starting Friday in Russia. 2022 Olympian Tyler Wallasch mentions the experience of getting out of Russia in this Instagram post for the members of the US Ski Cross Team.
Thursday Feb. 24 : Olympic Truce Breach
Reactive: As some have pointed out this is 3rd time since 2008 that Russia has violated the Olympic Truce and that doesn’t include the doping scandal of 2014.
Going In Depth : 5 out of the last 12 Olympic Games and World Cups (nearly half of these events in the last 15 years) have taken place in one of 52 countries per World Population Review that has an Authoritarian leader. 66% of the World Cups & Winter Olympics in the last ten years have been hosted in a country with an authoritarian leader with Russia hosting both the World Cup (2018) and the Winter Olympics (2014).
What does the ban mean for some high profile Russian professional athletes competing in the US and Europe?
In tennis where 2 Russians are in the ATP Top 10 , new #1 Daniil Medvedev spoke against out against Russia’s war with Ukraine. "In this moment, you understand that tennis sometimes is not that important,""By being a tennis player, I want to promote peace all over the world. We play in so many different countries. I've been in so many countries as a junior and as a pro. It's just not easy to hear all this news. I’m all for peace"
Christopher Clarey from the New York Times has a good piece today on Medvedev becoming #1 at this time and did mention this fact Russian tennis players typically move out of Russia for training so Medvedev does live full-time in Monte Carlo.
On the flip side the NHL is facing some pressure. NHL Russian Superstar Alex Ovechkin's Response to the situation with Ukraine has been criticized and NHL hall of famer Dominik Hasek called for NHL to suspend all the contracts of Russian players.
And what about Americans competing professionally in Russia?
Two sports leagues that Team USA members compete regularly in Russia are Hockey (KHL) and Volleyball. Re KHL: 8 Americans in the KHL actually finished their season because the KHL cut the season short post Olympics and Finland’s team Jokerit (with 2 Americans) withdrew from KHL playoffs. 2 Americans remain left in the KHL quarterfinals: Beijing Olympians Nick Shore (Sibir) & Steven Kampfer (Ak Bars) and I have yet to see a public statement about them leaving Russia.
USA Volleyball’s all-world setter (2016 Bronze Medalist & 2020 Olympian) Micah Christenson stars on Volleyball Powerhouse Kazan in Russia. No public statement re Christenson’s status (he is the only USA Volleyball player playing in Russia this season) but as sports continue to ban athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete it will be interesting to see what happens with the contract status of Christenson, Shore, and Kampfer and other foreigners with Russian teams.
What do you think should be the punishment for Russia or Russian athletes? There is still a lot of sports fans for banning of Russia through multiple Olympic cycles and stripping all medals won by Russia and Belarus from Beijing Winter Olympics
Do you think the IOC should look at a permanent ban for Russia ? For how long (through and including LA 2028)? Do you think the IOC should strip Russia of medals from past Olympics retroactively for breaking the Olympic truce? Sound off and leave a comment.
ICYMI: TEAM USA RESULTS FROM THIS PAST WEEK
Back to live sports action…
Tennis: 2017 US Open Champ Sloane Stephens won her first WTA title in nearly four years (Miami 2018) to re-enter the WTA’s Top 40 (5th highest ranked American) in only her 2nd tournament of 2022. Stephens became the 2nd American woman to win a WTA Singles title this year (joining Madison Keys)
The 2nd and 3rd Ranked American women Jessica Pegula & Coco Gauff were Doubles Champ in Doha
Reilly Opelka who skipped the tournament in Acapulco this week after back to back ATP finals (winning Dallas Open) is now the #1 American taking the top spot over from Taylor Fritz. Best American men finish this week was Tommy Paul & Marcos Giron who made the QF finals in Acapulco but special honorable mention has to go to Stefan Kozlov who knocked over former #3 in world Grigor Dimitrov after getting in as a Lucky Loser an hour earlier and overcoming severe cramps to win a 3 setter.
Men’s Basketball: Won 2 Games in DC beating Puerto Rico & Mexico to advance to Round 2 of FIBA World Cup Qualification. Team USA was lead by former NBA’ers Joe Johnson & Langston Galloway.
Alpine Skiing: Bella Wright picked up her first Top 10 finish ever at World Cup event in women’s downhill. 2021 Junior Worlds Gold Medalist Ben Ritchie picked up his second career slalom World Cup points.
Cross Country Skiing: Jessie Diggins finished 4th in Women’s Sprints Freestyle and Rosie Brennan was #8 in 10K Classic in Lahti, Finland. This came less than a week after Diggins & Brennan both had Top 6 finishes in the 30 KM marathon race to end the Beijing Winter Olympics.
Fencing: Double Gold for Team USA.
At the Men’s Foil World Cup in Cairo ( Chase Emmer, Gerek Meinhardt, Nick Itkin, Adam Mathieu) and Women’s Foil World Cup in Guadalajara (Lee Kiefer, Jacqueline Dubrovich, Lauren Scruggs, and Maia Weintraub) both took US teams took home first.
Tokyo Gold Medalist Lee Kiefer won an individual silver at the Guadalajara World Cup losing 15-14 to Italy’s Alice Volpi (who followed up a 4th place finish in Tokyo by winning the next 3 World Cup events) .
Lee Kiefer lead 4 Americans (Weintraub, Dubrovich, & Stefani Deschner) in the Top 16. 17 year old Chase Emmer finished #12 and was the highest ranked male in the men’s individual foil which saw 8 American men make the final bracket of 64 (Note: Bronze Medalists from Team’s Foil in Tokyo Race Imboden & Alex Massialas did not compete).
Gymnastics: Brody Malone picked up 3 medals (Gold, Bronze, Bronze) in FIG Cottonbus Apparatus Finals. And remember the Names: Konnor McClain & Skye Blakely went 1-2 at the Winter Cup . Note team sizes return to 5 for the Paris 2024 Olympics and the top three teams at the 2022 World Championships (in October) will get an Olympic spot so Gymnastics is one of the first sports to start clinching up spots for Paris.
Wrestling: Jordan Burroughs won Gold over Chance Marstellar in All American final in 79KG at Yasar Dogu. USA Wrestling won 12 medals (3 gold, 4 silver and 5 bronze) in the Yasar Dogu ranking series. The other two gold medal winners were secured by Jacarra Winchester (55 KG) and Forrest Molinari (65 KG) Molinari also won her Gold Medal in an all American match over Mallory Velte. All but 3 (1 silver, 2 bronze) of Team USA’s 12 medals were in non-Olympic weight classes but none of Team USA’s 9 medalists from Tokyo competed.
FINAL THOUGHT: TEAM USA MOST MEDALS: TOKYO + BEIJING
I thought this table was very interesting way of looking at Team USA’s success in the last two Olympics
Two interesting note from @alexpussieldi post
The United States (most medals in Tokyo) won 138 medals between Tokyo and Beijing. China was the only other nation that tied them with 47 Golds (without any reallocation*) but Team USA had 35 more medals.
Given the unique historic nature of 2 Olympic Games within 180 days of each other (something that has not happened since 1992) this is a great visualization to showcase all the medals that Team USA brought home in that short time period and a great win for these athletes but also the entire support staff of Team USA who had to get athletes ready for both Tokyo & Beijing during a pandemic.
29 countries won medals at Tokyo and Beijing only 7 of them had more success at Beijing Winter Olympics (Norway, Canada, Sweden, Switzerland, Austria, Slovakia and Finland)
To button that point the Winter Olympics favors the cold weather countries. Team USA Tracker has always been a fan of the Olympics going officially to 21 days (that is only adding one or two extra competition days from Tokyo & Beijing).
To get more sports into the Winter Olympics - here is what I propose
1) Add indoor winter sports to Winter Olympics (ex. indoor track, short course swimming, squash)
2) Move some indoor racket sports (ex. badminton, table tennis) and some indoor martial arts & combat sports (ex. judo or boxing but there are a lot in this category) to Winter Olympics
3) Move some indoor team sports (ex. handball, volleyball, basketball) to the Winter Olympics where professional seasons currently happen like ice hockey. These sports could have other variations in the Summer Olympics (beach handball, 3x3 basketball, beach volleyball) and a host of other team sports (lacrosse, cricket, flag football, softball/baseball, roller sports, boules) that are eager to join the Summer Olympics.
*FAQ: What about any reallocation from Tokyo or Beijing (esp. Team Figure Skating) ?
Answer: It could take a while
