Welcome to This Week in Sports - a breakdown of the major items you need to pay attention to this week!
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This Week’s Menu
📺 What to watch this week
🏀 NBA Lottery gets crazy + top prospects to watch
🏈 Predicting the highest-rated players in College Football 25
📺 What to watch this week
🏀 2024 NBA Playoffs
The Timberwolves/Nuggets series has been wildly impressive. The Dallas Mavericks have the early 2-1 lead on the #1 seed OKC Thunder. Jayson Tatum finally showed up big in the playoffs to give the Celtics a 2-1 lead vs Cleveland & the Pacers vs Knicks game feels like a vintage 90s playoff match-up.
5/13 @ 7:00 PM EST: Celtics vs Cavaliers on TNT
5/13 @ 9:30PM EST: Thunder vs Mavericks on TNT
5/14 @ 8:00 PM EST: Pacers vs Knicks on TNT
5/14 @ 10:30PM EST: Timberwolves vs Nuggets on TNT
⛳ 2024 PGA Championship
The PGA Championship returns this week on May 16th and we’ll see Tiger Woods back in the field. Don’t expect Tiger to win the event, despite past success there. Instead, look for Scottie Scheffler and Jon Rahm to be the favorites but don’t count on Justin Thomas making a big run at winning it all.
5/16 - 5/19, starting @ 7AM EST: CBS Sports/ESPN/ESPN+
You’ll also have the NHL Playoffs going on all week plus UFC Fight Night featuring Edson Barboza vs Lerone Murphy. Enjoy your week of sports!
🏀 NBA Lottery + Top Prospects to Watch
The NBA Lottery this week was shocking. The Atlanta Hawks had only a 3% chance to win the #1 overall pick, a longshot by all accounts, but they celebrated the night by winning the top pick in this year’s draft.
The Rockets were also big winners as they moved up six spots from their projection to land into the top 3. The Charlotte Hornets were big losers on the night, falling from the 3rd spot to the 6th pick. The Spurs end up being in a great spot leaving the night with the 4th & 8th pick, potentially giving them an opportunity to push for a Trae Young trade.
The draft kicks off on June 26th & while plenty have made the case the draft is lacking talent, I’ve got 3 players you should be paying attention to this year:
G/F Zaccharie Risacher
A 6’9 player that shot nearly 40% from the perimeter while playing in France. He can attack the bucket, shown to be a willing passer & can be a 3 & D wing from day one with the right team.
G Nikola Topić
If the Spurs don’t trade out from either of their draft picks, Nikola feels like a great fit beside Wemby. He’s coming from Serbia, so you know he’ll have his fundamentals & be tough. The 18 year-old 6’6 guard averaged nearly 6 assists a game but suffered a knee injury that took away a good portion of his season.
G Stephon Castle
UConn was the championship favorite in the NCAA tournament, but Castle’s play in the tournament truly hit a different level. He’s an elite defensive guard and averaged just shy of 20 points in his final two games in the tournament. His 3-point shooting needs lots of work, but he’s young and has plenty of time to improve.
🏈 Predicting the Top Players in College Football 25
This week marks one of the best weeks in sports gaming history: a big announcement on the covers, and likely features, for College Football 25.
While we’re still waiting on a release date, rumored to be July 19th of this year, I’ve been thinking a lot about who the highest-rated players might be in the upcoming game.
Here’s my breakdown of the potential highest-rated players in College Football 25:
Travis Hunter - CB/WR @ Colorado
Elite speed, elite instincts, elite player. Travis Hunter will be a pro the moment he’s available to enter the NFL Draft. The only question he has to answer is which position he’ll play.
Rating Prediction: 99
Ollie Gordon II - RB @ OK State
Ollie should be the highest-rated running back in College Football 25. He took home the Doak Walker Award for best RB, ran for over 1,700+ yards and brought 20+ touchdowns in as well.
Rating Prediction: 99
Quinn Ewers - QB @ Texas
Ewers helped lead the Texas Longhorns back to extreme relevance last season by going to the Big 12 Championship & their first ever spot in the College Football Playoff. With a move to the SEC happening this year and being on the game’s cover, I fully expect him to have one of the highest ratings.
Rating Prediction: 97
Emeka Egbuka - WR @ Ohio State
While the spotlight for most of the team focused on Marvin Harrison Jr, Egbuka is easily a 1st rounder if he can stay healthy. He’ll be the #1 WR on the depth chart for Ohio State this season and more importantly, should actually have a capable QB throwing him the ball this year.
Rating Prediction: 97
Harold Perkins - LB @ LSU
Perkins will easily be one of the most fun players to use in all of College Football 25 on defense. Perkins will have high speed, high hit power and have you laughing after pulling off user lurks in the game.
Rating Prediction: 97
Caleb Downs - Safety @ Ohio State
After recording over 100+ tackles at Alabama, Downs transferred to Ohio State after Nick Saban’s departure. After being the #1 safety in his recruiting class & producing on the field in the SEC last year, you can expect Downs to be a dominant player in CFB 25.
Rating Prediction: 95
That’s a wrap
Mondays aren’t great, but they’re a little bit better when you start your day with This Week in Sports.
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