[This is a long one, there is a TLDR at the bottom]
(This isn't just a story of revenge. This is a story of how revenge hurts both parties)
To this day, a good revenge story gives me a warm bubbly feeling inside. I believe it comes from this college experience years ago when I got revenge on my cheating girlfriend and it felt GOOD. I know I'm not suppose to enjoy it but I can't deny how satisfying it feels. Its probably one of my favorite feelings in the world even though I'm ashamed to admit it. So I decided to write my first post about this because I don't tell the story often. It is so extensive and honestly just makes me look bad.
I'm going to try my best to not paint a picture where my X looks as bad as possible and me as innocent as possible. I want to write this accurately as I can, even if it makes me look bad.
[Bit of context and back story]
At the time of this story, I played division 1 NCAA basketball at a school so I traveled a lot (weekly in different cities and states) and my entire life revolved around this.
During the events of this story I was in the early stages of a horrible drug and alcohol habit. Years after this story I ended up getting sober and joined a program whos name you can find at the front of almost any phonebook. I am sure many people reading this are also sober and will understand how we addicts/alcoholics can be. This story is an effort to explain a character defect that manifested from the events in this story that lead me down a very dark path, however, I don't mean this story to come off in a "self pity" kind of way.
Lastly, I was always a good kid, I was never "troubled". My upbringing was very difficult but I was able to keep an overall kindness in my spirit to other people and almost always "did the right thing" or "took the high road". When it came to dating, I knew people cheated in relationships but at the time of this story I always chalked it up to other people "not doing things the way I did". I never really thought it would happen to me.. I always thought that because I was a "5 star boyfriend" and my "amazing choice" in women, infidelity would never be a part of my dating journey. I was a naïve. I really thought highly of myself and also had a real arrogance like any guy in his early 20s I guess.
[The Build Up]
I was in my Jr year in University I had been single for about a year after me and my high school gf finally broke up after 3 years. I checked that relationship off as my "learning experience" and I now knew what to look for in my next girlfriend. The next woman I chose to have a relationship with I would most likely marry and start my future with. (I know I was young and dumb and thought I knew everything LOL)
I had my eye on this girl at my school [we will call her Lisa]. I saw Lisa around the collegiate athletic facility (the university teams training grounds, and locker rooms). Lisa ran for the track team and was damn good. The various athletic teams often had parties and I knew that the first one I saw her at I would introduce myself and try to chat her up a bit and see where it led.
Soon enough I see Lisa at one of these parties and we pass each other on the stairs. We make eye contact and she smiled at me. I sparked a conversation with her and after going back and forth a bit we exchange numbers. We begin the classic American style of flirting where we constantly just hint things back and forth indirectly. We slowly progressed the relationship in this manner for weeks. Sending texts back and forth hinting that we were interested in each other but also playing it cool to not let the other person know we had a crush on them.
At the time, she was on a break with her current boyfriend who was a popular player on the football team. She ended up leaving him completely to date me. This shoulda been a red flag obviously but remember, I had severe hubris. At the time her leaving him to date me just gave me a superiority complex. I was playing good in sport and if she was willing to leave this guy for me then she will never leave me for another guy.
Lmao I was a fucking idiot.
I cant express how much I was into Lisa. I was addictively attracted to her and had that weird feeling of "I cant believe my crush is actually into me to". I really was so drowned and blinded by my crush on her I missed so many red flags but our relationship began progressing really fast. Because of this I didn't really do a proper inventory on why I liked her so much.
[Fast forward like 8 months later.]
We are together officially. Lisa has her own athlete's dorm room but I was a couple years older than her and was working during the summers full time and part time during school / season and had my own apartment near campus and Lisa was basically living with me. She even would stay there when I was out of town which was like 3 or 4 days of every week because we were in season and the team was flying all over the country. Me and Lisa were deeply in love regardless.
At the end of the season I had planned two massive back to back parties. One was for my teammate's birthday (Friday night) and then my birthday (Saturday night). They just happened to be one day after the other and luckily landed on a Friday and Saturday night. Me and Lisa got drunk Friday night and had some unprotected sex.
Lisa kept a period-tracking calendar app on her phone. She was asleep and I drunkenly remembered she always marked down in her calendar when we had unprotected sex so she knew if she should be worried if she missed her period. She missed her period often because she was an athlete. My inebriated brain thought she should put it in her calendar now because we would forget the next day since we were so fucked up. So I woke her up and said "can you put in that calendar that we had unprotected sex". At this point it was like 5am and we were that 5am kinda drunk where you're mostly just tired. She unlocked her phone and opened the app and before she could even do it she fell back asleep. So I took the phone while it was still unlocked and proceeded to try and figure out how to put it in her calendar myself.
[side note] Through our entire relationship, Lisa went through my computer and phone constantly. She was very insecure and always had her suspicions. I didn't care that she was doing this all the time. She never found anything because I never did shady shit, ever.
Again, looking back at this its an obvious red flag I missed. Remember I thought this girl would never cheat on me.
So this wasn't one of those stories where I went through her phone looking for something and subsequently finding it. In this case I was innocently trying to navigate this damn period calendar while I was drunk and I was not suspicious at all.
When I looked at the period-calendar app on Lisa's phone, I saw all kinds of little markers on different days of each month. Each marker was a different color so I opened one to see what the color coding meant. I saw that red was obviously symbolling her period and then there was also black markers that showed when she had unprotected sex.
........This is when my heart sank into my stomach......
This fucking calendar was PEPPERED with black markers. It looked like a checker board with only a hand full of red pieces left and ALL the fucking black ones..... There was black markers on dates that I was in a different city playing basketball.... I proceeded to open all of black markers going back for our entire relationship. We did not have unprotected sex very often. MAYBE once or twice a month. She had written the names of the guys she had unprotected sex with in the notes section of the black markers. There was a total of 4 guys through out the entirety of our relationship that she allowed to penetrate her raw. Some months there was almost a dozens of those fucking black markers. Sometimes there was TWO in one day! Looking back on this I wonder if there were more unlisted men that I didn't see because she clearly only kept track of the guys and times she had UNPROTECTED sex.
In almost every story I hear of infidelity, it involves the discovery of text messages, being informed by a friend, or the classic coming home early and catching your partner red handed.
I, on the other hand, discovered a fucking well documented LEDGER of almost every time she cheated and had unprotected sex.
Amongst the 4 guys I discovered, one of them was her X that she originally left to date me. Cheating on me with him was a common occurrence. There was some other unkown guy she was also clearly sleeping with him regularly. The last 2 fellas looked to be just a one time thing but again like I said these markers were just the times she had sex without a condom. So who knows what the true story was there.
I sobered up real quick. I proceeded to look through Lisa's texts and calls and found nothing. However, at the time Android phones had a folder where you can see deleted texts but not the contents of the messages. She had THOUSANDS of deleted texts and calls but I couldn't see what they said but I saw the numbers and did a quick Facebook search and matched one with her X in addition to something like half a dozen other random dudes. The worst part was I found TWO of my teammates... one guy I was actually pretty close with.
I just put the phone down after a few minutes. The evidence was overwhelming. The more it seemed to look at the phone the more my insides began to hurt.
I felt so defeated. I cant fully describe the feeling but I'm sure anyone reading this that caught a significant other cheating knows what I'm talking about. I felt so stupid for trusting her and having no suspicions of her.
I couldn't stop thinking about how I regretted all the times that I had an "opportunity" to cheat and remained faithful to Lisa. I felt like and idiot for not cheating her when I could have. My loyalty felt like a waste. I know it sounds ridiculous and irrelevant to the fact that she was unfaithful. I think I obsessed over that because if I had cheated as well I wouldn't have hurt so much in that moment. All I could think about was about how much I was hurt. I would do anything to not feel the pain and embarrassment anymore.
[Question] Am I the only one who thought this way after catching their partner cheating? I'm curious about this.
I proceeded to leave my apartment and go for a long walk. I had never felt the emotions that were coming up and didn't know how to process them. My ego felt like it was literally dismantled in front of me. I wasn't sure what to do and I was too embarrassed to tell anyone. My sadness quickly turned to anger. I knew I was gunna get my revenge I just didn't know how yet.
I was SEETHING with rage and wanted make sure she never recovered from this.
My roommate/teammate and best friend at the who was sleeping on the couch in my living room [we will call him Bono] (an eastern European kid who stood 7 foot tall and was as Russian in demeanor as it you can imagine. He also had an equally ridiculous RL name hence: Bono) well, Bono called me shortly after I started my walk. I answered and he asked where I was. I asked him to keep this between us, and told him what happened. He stays on the phone and goes into my room and I hear him in his Russian accent yell at her "yo bitch, you cheated on OP?" Then I faintly hear her inaudibly say something in the background and him yelling at her to get out of the apartment. After hearing some scuffling Bono gets back on the line and says "yo! she gone, come back and lets talk"
I head back home and me and Bono go over what had happened. Things don't get sappy because we are both complete alpha males who both come from cultures where "men don't cry" and neither of us really knew what to say or do in this situation. He makes his best attempt to comfort me and says: "tonight is your birthday, we gunna get fucked up and find you some sluts. Fuck her! I never liked her anyway"
.... oh ya, this day was my birthday... forgot about that part ...
Me and Bono go out for breakfast. I am still a little drunk. My phone is blowing up with calls and texts from Lisa. I tell her I saw everything on her phone and I cant stand to speak with her or look at her. She keeps trying to convince me to let her come to my birthday party and I make it clear I don't want her there. She clearly was concerned about exactly what Bono suggested to me earlier when me and him chatted.
Lisa's entire reputation and popularity revolved around the fact that she was dating me. I think most people didn't like her in the first place but put up with her because we were together. She knew that if I acted single at my birthday party and she didn't show up everyone would know something was askew. I think Lisa was more worried about being embarrassed than our relationship.
I don't remember much of what happened that night. But one of my friends sent me a little package for my birthday from California filled with some really good weed, hash, moonrocks, some pills and "the devil's dandruff" and I proceeded to do a glorious swan dive into an intoxicated oblivion.
All I remember is sitting on my chair at the pregame for my party. There was two girls sitting on the arms of the chair and I still have a photo of that moment and I remember it vividly. We were preparing to head out. I had a few tables downtown at a popular nightclub. The booze and drugs were the only thing that made me feel normal. I had my sun glasses on and clearly had that happy loaded grin on my face. The longer you look at the photo of me on that chair, you can tell I'm hiding a huge amount of hurt.
Sitting on that chair, the cocktail of drugs start to take effect. This was the first time I ever used substances not to "party" but to feel better. To make me feel normal.
I remember thinking: "I want to feel this way for the rest of my life. I am never going to hurt like that ever again. With drugs, I have control and no one can hurt me again." Oh how ironic that turns out to be years down the line.
I told my teammates and friends that me and Lisa were done when they asked why she wasn't at the party. I didn't tell them why though. I also didn't show them that I was affected by it in anyway and just played it cool. I tried to focus everyone on the party ahead of us.
[The Revenge]
So this is one of those revenge stories where it was only half planned. I knew I wanted to get revenge on Lisa for hurting me so much. But I kind of just improvised as opportunities came up.
My original kind spirit had died at my birthday on that chair. All my morals went out the window. I never cheated in relationships therefore I believed I would never get cheated on. I realize now how dumb that is but that's what I thought at the time.
I didn't care what collateral damage I caused as long as my mission to hurt Lisa as much as possible was accomplished. So continued every day of my life with this new selfish mindset.
I was sitting at my computer later that next week skimming Facebook when I saw the profile of one of her track teammates on my feed. That's when I had my first vengeful idea. I decided I was going to attempt to get her teammates to bite the bait that I was about to cast out into the water. Though, I didn't have proof she hooked up with my teammates, she was clearly trying to hide conversations between them. So I was going to see how many people who are close to here I could "passionately hug". Luckily I had more options than she had when cheating on me. A women's track team is much larger than a men's basketball team. Also much better looking ;)
Lisa's teammate I originally spotted on my Facebook had a boyfriend but I thought: "clearly everyone cheats, lets see if its true". I proceed to do the little flirty social media dance with her. You know, the one where I like a couple of her photos, she likes a couple of mine back. I shoot her a message and BAM! shes at my house in my bed about a week later. I proceed to do something similar to other teammates of hers. All on her 4x4 relay team coincidentally.
2 of the 3 girls I "passionately hugged" had boyfriends and subsequently cheated on them with me which gave me some real mixed emotions. It stroked my broken ego and also made me bitter and sad. Giving me one of those "women aint shit! none of them are loyal" attitudes.
This is such a typical story of while fighting monsters I became a monster.
This actually became my go-to strategy because it accomplished two things in my fucked up mind. It exposed a cheater but more importantly if they were willing to cheat on their boyfriends they would:
A] be more secretive about it which meant the drama that would ensue when it came out would be elevated and
B] it made me feel better about Lisa cheating because it proved it wasn't me that was the problem. It was women that were the problem. (I know its fucked up but that's what I thought back then.)
I started to collect something from every girl that I hooked up with, like a bra, a pair of panties, or some jewelry etc.. (not for some creepy reason, but this is important later and was a part of my plan) Sometimes I didn't even have to try. One girl left a pair of very distinguishable shoes. I knew Lisa would know who's shoes they were. They belonged to the girl that Lisa's X boyfriend rebounded with after Lisa and him broke up which highly upset her because it was her friend. Now it would upset her more because that same girl slept with both of her X boyfriends. I especially tried to collect items if it was something that I knew Lisa could distinguish like a sweater from the women's track team with her teammates name on it. After some time I had collected a boatload of shit.
After a couple months or so, one of the Lisa's teammate's boyfriends found out about me and his girlfriend and it started a big beautiful dramatic explosion of series of events with her and her teammates. This led to all of them finding out about one another's promiscuity. The drama was MASSIVE. Even their coaches had to get involved it got so bad.
This made me feel so powerful in such and evil yet satisfying way. I fell in love with the destruction I was causing. (The most awesome part about all of it was that same week, the Athletics PR team had put massive posters of me all over campus promoting the next game. They were EVERYWHERE. Some of the posters took up the entire side of buildings) So Lisa and her friends had to see me all over campus every day while this drama was erupting all around them. I felt like a triumphant dictator. It was glorious and pathetic at the same time.
Their coach even proceeded to have a "serious" meeting with the compliance department and my team's coaches. My coaches literally laughed at her saying "this seems like and internal issue, but OP hasn't done anything illegal or broken any school policy so there is nothing we can do". This infuriated the women's track coach. Their team had fallen apart. Their national ranking began to plummet. Then Lisa's coach even got in trouble for being caught tearing down some of the smaller posters of me on campus in raging temper tantrum.
I loved all of it.
I continued to add fuel to the fire. Posting photos of me with girls, smiling, being happy every chance I could on Facebook and Instagram. But under it all, I was bitter. I was so deep into my new mindset I had already forgotten the kind hearted naïve kid I use to be. I hated my old self because I let some girl emasculate me. I was so full of self pity looking back it, its depressing. No one really knew though because I played the cool guy attitude in front of people.
There was even a girl on campus on one of the sports teams who claimed that she was pregnant with my kid after I pretended to like her the same way I did with all of the other girls on Lisa's team and soon as we "passionately hugged" I moved on. Its a long story, but it turned out she wasn't pregnant but the news or "press" that came from that further dug the knife deeper into Lisa's side. I left a trail of women I deceived and relationships I destroyed. I feel bad now but at the time I didn't care because they were equally at fault in my eyes since they were cheating on their boyfriends or sleeping with their friends X.
Quickly, girls became weary of me. Plus I was running out of "potential targets" (Fuck I was an awful human being then the way I was thinking) and I was going after girls that weren't even friends or on the track team with Lisa but were just around her in daily life. For example her classmates and as well as her own family. I even flirted with her sister who was married with a kid and I almost succeeded. She was down but her and Lisa's dad found out about it and stepped in and put a stop it all before we could do anything. Her sister was ostracized as the news spread within the family.
I wanted Lisa to know I was everywhere and constantly remind her how she fucked up. In my eyes this was all her fault and she unleashed this fury of chaos upon herself. She should never have fucked with me like that.
Lisa had to take an extended medical leave because of her depression and mental health issues she was experiencing from the whole situation. She was becoming suicidal. She even had to go on medication and lost TONS of weight. She began to look extremely unhealthy. The whole mess was torturing her and the more she hurt the better I felt. At this point I had already inflicted more damage than she did to me but I had become addicted to the feeling of power... I spent 0 time processing my own emotions or moving on from what happened. All I wanted was more revenge and I couldn't stop.
After weeks of ignoring Lisa's texts and calls she finally gets a hold of me by showing up to my apartment unannounced late at night. She was there to pick up some stuff she left from when she lived there to take home. She was actually a local and her parents lived close by. (She was still on her medical leave and no longer staying on campus but rather with her parents) I told her I would bring her stuff to her parents house that weekend but I couldn't let her in because I had "company". Which I did but it wasn't one of her teammates or friends unfortunately.
I then to take all the items I had collected from all the girls over the weeks. There was probably like 8 or 9 things from different girls including her teammates and threw their belongings in along with Lisa's stuff into big black trash bags. I took the bags to her house and then called Lisa's dad. I told him I left her stuff on his porch and to inform his demon daughter. Me and Lisa's dad actually really got along and he even took my side after Lisa and I broke up. But after all these events transpired he obviously had a negative opinion of me.
15 minutes after I get off the phone with her Lisa's dad, I get a call from Lisa. I answer because I want to hear her reaction to having all these other girls shit mixed in with hers. She was sobbing uncontrollably. It sounded like that half crying half mumbling thing people do when they are hysterical. She wasn't even angry, just desperately begging me to point to stop my tyranny.
I just smiled and baked in the glory of hearing her hurt. I responded "why were their other guys in our relationship? you mixed them into our relationship like I mixed other girls shit into your shit. Its perfect little ironic metaphor". I thought it sounded cool at the time and was real proud of myself. (*facepalm*)
I later found out from one of Lisa's friends (who knew she was cheating on me during our relationship) that Lisa was convinced I WAS THE ONE cheating on her because "I was always out of town." This doesn't make sense since I was out of town because of basketball, a very legit excuse. Not just randomly on my own accord. You could literally see my schedule on the school's website. I kept in contact with her constantly when I was gone but obviously when I had practice or team meetings I couldn't be on my phone. But she didn't have the logic in her brain to figure this out I guess. I assume its just an excuse she made to protect her insecurities about the whole fiasco or to keep face with people who knew she was cheating.
[months go by]
Lisa comes back to school from her medical leave and we bump into each other at the physical therapy center in our athlete facility building. I see this as yet another opportunity. It had been a while since I did something that hurt her and I was still hungry for more vengeance. I proceed to pretend like I want to rekindle things with her. She is cautious at first but eventually bites after about a week. We start to mend our "relationship". We proceed for about a month but I wouldn't call this a relationship. I forbid her to have any male friends nor is she allowed to go out and party with her girlfriends. I also need full access to all her accounts and her location at all times. It was more like a hostage situation. It gave me a sense of control.
Meanwhile I'm not being faithful at all. This was my plan all along. Finally, she finds out about me sleeping with a girl in one of her classes and we have a nasty "breakup". I told her that she literally knows what it felt like to be me when we last dated. Yet again, I felt Triumphant. It was just another chance to hurt her and I did.
[After this we don't speak for YEARS.]
I graduate university and move to Central America. She messages me while I'm there about a year after I moved and about 2 years after we last spoke. At this point my life has become that of a real degenerate. I was doing copious amounts of drugs on a daily basis and about 75% of my life was involved in some sort of illegal or nefarious activities. But I still blame her for me becoming the dark soul that I was and taking no responsibility for bitter immoral nature. I hadn't had another relationship since her and always had trouble because I couldn't trust a women in any capacity anymore. Even after years had passed, I saw this instance of her messaging me as yet another opportunity to hurt her.
We begin to talk as friends and even getting flirty with each other over Facebook messenger. Mind you there is literally many countries, states and an ocean between us at this point. I was planning a trip back to my old university to visit some friends. However I told her was different: I explained to her I was moving back to the city for a new job I was just offered. We decide to meet up when I get back and see if there is anything worth saving between us. I had put on my best acting hat and try to seem like I've put our past behind us. However I'm just as vengeful now as I was years ago. She's finishing up her last year at University and I make the trip back to the USA.
I meet Lisa at a coffee shop when I arrive.. We spend the entire night together. From her point of view it really looks like we had moved past our differences and what happened. We could actually work things out.
However I'm not moving back obviously like I told her. I am only stay 2 nights. She doesn't know this. After hooking up a few times and spending 2 days together, without mentioning anything to her about me leaving, I pack my things and get back on a plane back to Central America.
I blocked her on all my social media and communication outlets. This time I could only fantasize about what happened to her when I disappeared after she thought I had moved back and supposedly was ready to give our relationship another try. This time however it wasn't as satisfying as my previous plots of revenge.
My drug habit and lifestyle only got worse every year. 3 years later I was hospitalized and almost died because of my extended drug use. I was never sober a full 24 hours after that day that went through that fucking period calendar.
[Looking back]
As much pain as I might have caused her with my vengeful life, my new identity that consumed my old one was so tainted with a dark spirit at heart. I think I honestly did more harm to myself with my actions and led me to down the road where I had no morals anymore. Though I spent the entirety of this story telling everyone of how I kept getting revenge at my X for cheating on me, as satisfying as it was, I wish I would have spent an equal amount of energy healing myself from the incident. If anyone reading this is experiencing the pain that comes with cheating, a good revenge story can bring you some satisfaction but I hope you don't make the same mistake I did. Rather spend MORE time healing yourself from the hurt and moving past it. The revenge wont heal you. It will be a separate journey but could distract you from putting yourself back together.
Luckily I got sober and am sober now 4+ years. I even had another girl friend of 2 years cheat on me before I got sober but this time I didn't take revenge. I spent my time healing. I changed and only focused on myself and that was way more satisfying than the revenge I got on Lisa for cheating on me.
Now I'm married almost 2 years to a woman who is sober and man do I have a good life. I have a dream job and a dream marriage. Thank you everyone who read this. Sorry if it wasn't well written I never write like this but I have never told the full story in detail before and I got a lot out of writing it.
Mostly what I hope to get from this is to share my experiences doing horrible things but feeling an immense satisfying feel from it where its almost addictive. And morphing from generally a good person to a relatively dark evil one.. Obviously people have dark moments but I feel like my personality and psyche has never been the same since that experience. I'm looking forward to any responses to the people willing to read this shit.
[written by commenter] TLDR: OP dated a woman a few years younger than him in college, Lisa. Lisa kept a period tracker and kept when she had unprotected sex, while documenting their sex for gf who had fallen asleep, OP saw she had been having unprotected sex with at least 4 dudes since they had been dating. OPs roommate kicked her out. OP decided to get revenge. This started with fucking all 3 of her relay partners (track team) which eventually led to the team crashing. They also had bfs, so OP used this as fuel to say that women are the problem, not him. At this time OP starts going down the rabbit hole with drugs and alcohol. This continued on for a long time, and OP started keeping an item from women that would be identifiable to Lisa for his plan. He would purposely “target” (own words) girls close to Lisa so drama would be worse, and he would have more ammunition to hurt her. Lisa took a mental health break from depression, and came to OPs house asking for her stuff back. He brought it to her parents and put all the items he had been collecting. She called him crying and he reveled in it. Months later, they run into each other at PT and he convinces her to give it another shot, knowing its a game. Knowingly holds her “hostage,” no guy friends, no parties, no going out, all while cheating. They eventually break up. Years later, OP is contacted by Lisa and says hes moving back to their country for a job. (IRL hes going for a 2 day visit) and basically catfishes her into trying to date him again, they meet up and hang out the whole time. He then packs up and leaves without a word to hurt her again. After this OP goes down a bad road with drugs and alcohol, ends up in the hospital, and has another Gf cheat on him. He did not take revenge on her. OP is now married, and has a good job and has (presumably) been clean. He is also aware of how toxic it all is. I think that’s everything

My girlfriend cheated on me with 4 guys, so I got my revenge 4 time over

Peyton Pritchard is number 4 among rookies this year per hoops habit -

Who is Scott Borgenson? Profile from 2016 in “Institutional Investor”

(Note the connections)
CargoMetrics Cracks the Code on Shipping Data
Scott Borgerson and his team of quants at hedge fund firm CargoMetrics are using satellite intel on ships to identify mispriced securities.
By Fred R. Bleakley February 04, 2016
Link to article
One late afternoon last November, as a ping-pong game echoed through the floor at CargoMetrics Technologies’ Boston office, CEO Scott Borgerson was watching over the shoulder of Arturo Ramos, who’s responsible for developing investment strategies with astrophysicist Ronnie Hoogerwerf. At Ramos’s feet sat Helios, his brindle pit-bull-and-greyhound mix. All three men were staring at a computer screen, tracking satellite signals from oil tankers sailing through the Strait of Malacca, the choke point between the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea where 40 percent of the world’s cargo trade moves by ship.
CargoMetrics, a start-up investment firm, is not your typical money manager or hedge fund. It was originally set up to supply information on cargo shipping to commodities traders, among others. Now it links satellite signals, historical shipping data and proprietary analytics for its own trading in commodities, currencies and equity index futures. There was an air of excitement in the office that day because the signals were continuing to show a slowdown in shipping that had earlier triggered the firm’s automated trading system to short West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil futures. Two days later the U.S. Department of Energy’s official report came out, confirming the firm’s hunch, and the oil futures market reacted accordingly.
“We nailed it for our biggest return of the year,” says Borgerson, who had reason to breathe more easily. His backers were watching closely. They include Blackstone Alternative Asset Management (BAAM), the world’s largest hedge fund allocator, and seven wealthy tech and business leaders. Among them: former Lotus Development Corp. CEO Jim Manzi, who also had a long career at IBM Corp.
Compelling these investors and Borgerson to pursue the shipping slice of the economy is the simple fact that in this era of globalization 50,000 ships carry 90 percent of the $18.5 trillion in annual world trade.
That’s no secret, of course, but Borgerson and CargoMetrics’ backers maintain that the firm is well ahead of any other investment manager in harnessing such information for a potential big advantage. It’s why Borgerson has kept the firm in stealth mode for years. In its earlier iteration, from 2011 to 2014, CargoMetrics was hidden in a back alley, above a restaurant. Now that he’s running an investment firm, Borgerson declines to name his investors unless, like Manzi and BAAM, they are willing to be identified.
“My vision is to map historically and in real time what’s really going on in economic supply and demand across the planet,” says the U.S. Coast Guard veteran, who prides himself and the CargoMetrics team on not being prototypical Wall Streeters. “The problem is enormous, but the potential reward is huge.”
According to Borgerson, CargoMetrics is building a “learning machine” that will be able to automatically profit from spotting any publicly traded security that is mispriced, using what he refers to as systematic fundamental macro strategies. He calls the firm a new breed of quantitative investment manager. In unguarded moments he sees himself as the Steve Jobs or Elon Musk of portfolio management.
Though his ambitions may sound audacious, one thing is certain: Borgerson doesn’t lack in self-confidence. Over the past six years, he has secretly and painstakingly built a firm heavy in Ph.D.s that can manage a database of hundreds of billions of historical shipping records, conduct trillions of calculations on hundreds of computer servers and systematically execute trades in 28 different commodities and currencies.
For his part, Borgerson seems an unlikely architect of such a serious, ambitious endeavor. Easygoing and fond of joking with his colleagues, he is a hands-off manager who credits CargoMetrics’ investment prowess to his team. His brand of humor comes through even when he’s detailing the series of challenges he had starting the firm. After using the phrase “It was hard” several times, he pauses and adds, “Did I mention it was hard?” Although Borgerson declines to provide any specifics about CargoMetrics’ portfolio, citing the advice of his lawyers, performance during the three years of live trading apparently has been strong enough to keep his backers confident and his team of physicists, software engineers and mathematicians in place. “Hopefully, it won’t be too long before we can make a more significant investment,” says BAAM CEO J. Tomilson Hill. Former Lotus CEO Manzi is optimistic about the firm’s prospects: “It has an unbelievable edge with its historical data.”
CargoMetrics was one of the first maritime data analytics companies to seize the potential of the global Automatic Identification System. Ships transmit AIS signals via very high frequency (VHF) radio to receiver devices on other ships or land. Since 2004, large vessels with gross tonnage of 300 or more are required to flash AIS positioning signals every few seconds to avoid collisions. That allows CargoMetrics to pay satellite companies for access to the signals gleaned from 500 miles above the water. The firm uses historical data to identify cargo and aggregation of cargo flow, and then applies sophisticated analysis of financial market correlations to identify buying and selling opportunities.
“We’re big-data junkies who could not have founded CargoMetrics without the radical breakthroughs of this golden age of technology,” Borgerson says. The revolution in cloud computing has been instrumental. CargoMetrics leverages the Amazon Web Services platform to run its analytics and algorithms on hundreds of computer servers at a fraction of the cost of owning and maintaining the hardware itself.
At his firm’s headquarters — where the lobby displays a series of colored semaphore signal flags that spell out the mathematical equation for the surface area of the earth —Borgerson leads the way to his server room. It’s the size of a closet; inside, a thick pipe carries all the data traffic and analytic formulas CargoMetrics needs. That computing power alone would have cost $30 million to $40 million, Manzi says.
CargoMetrics is pursuing a modern version of an age-old quest. Think of the Rothschild family’s use in the 19th century of carrier pigeons and couriers on horseback to bring news from the Napoleonic Wars to their traders in London, or, in the 1980s, oil trader Marc Rich’s use of satellite phones and binoculars for relaying oil tanker flow.
Other quant-focused Wall Street firms are latching onto the satellite ship-tracking data. But, Borgerson says, “I would bet my life on a stack of Bibles that no one in the world has the shipping database and analytics we have.” The reason he’s so convinced is that from late 2008 he was an early client of the satellite companies that had begun collecting data received from space and on land to build a large database of all the world’s vessel movements in one place.
That’s what caught Hill’s eye at Blackstone when he learned of CargoMetrics a few years ago. BAAM now has a managed account with the firm. “If anyone else tries to replicate what CargoMetrics has, they will be years behind [Borgerson] on data analytics,” Hill says. “We know that a number of hedge fund data scientists want his data.”
But too much reliance on big data can go wrong, say many academicians. “There is a huge amount of hype around big data,” observes Willy Shih, a professor of management practice at Harvard Business School. “Many people are saying, ‘Let the data speak; we don’t need theory or modeling.’ I argue that even with using new, massively parallel computing systems for modeling and simulation, some forces in nature and the economy are still too big and complex for computers to handle.”
Shih’s skepticism doesn’t go as far as to say the data challenge on global trade is too big a puzzle to solve. When informed of the CargoMetrics approach, he called it “very valid and creative. They just have to be careful not to throw away efforts to understand causality.”
Another big-data scholar, Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor of electrical engineering and computer science Samuel Madden, also urges caution. “What worries me is that models become trusted but then fail,” he explains. “You have to validate and revalidate.”
Borgerson grew up in Southeast Missouri, in a home on Rural Route 5 between Festus and Hematite. His father was a former Marine infantry officer and police official, and his mother a high school French and Spanish teacher. The family traveled 15 miles to Crystal City to attend Grace Presbyterian Church, which was central to young Borgerson’s upbringing: There he was a youth elder, became an Eagle Scout and received a God and Country Award. The church was across the street from the former home of NBA all-star and U.S. senator Bill Bradley, whose backboard Borgerson used for basketball practice.
When it came to choosing what to do after high school, Borgerson was torn between becoming a Presbyterian minister and accepting an appointment to the U.S. Coast Guard Academy or West Point. He went with the Coast Guard because, he says, “the humanitarian mission really appealed to me, and I had never been on a boat before.”
At the academy, in New London, Connecticut, Borgerson played NCAA tennis and was also a cutup, racking up demerits for such antics as placing a sailboat on the commandant of cadets’ front lawn and leading bar patrons in a rendition of “Semper Paratus,” the school’s theme song. Still, he graduated with honors and spent the next four years piloting a 367-foot cutter — which seized five tons of cocaine in the Caribbean — then captaining a patrol boat that saved 30 lives on search-and-rescue missions. From 2001 to 2003 the Coast Guard sent Borgerson to the Fletcher School at Tufts University to earn his master’s of arts in law and diplomacy. While at Tufts he volunteered at a Boston homeless shelter for military veterans and founded a Pet Pals therapy program for senior citizens.
Following graduation, from 2003 to 2006, Borgerson taught U.S. history, foreign policy, political geography and maritime studies at the Coast Guard Academy, and co-founded its Institute for Leadership. While there he would get up at 4:00 each morning to work on his Ph.D. thesis exploring U.S. port cities’ approaches to foreign policy. He would also travel to Boston to complete his course work at Tufts and meet with his adviser, John Curtis Perry.
Borgerson’s military allegiance runs deep. One weekend last fall he played football in a service academy alumni game. On another he attended the Army-Navy game. Still militarily fit at age 40, the 6-foot-5 Borgerson works out regularly at an inner-city gym aimed at helping youths find an alternative to gang violence; a few weeks ago he was there boxing with ex-convicts and lifting weights.
Leaving the Coast Guard was a hard decision for Borgerson, resulting in part from his frustration with the military bureaucracy’s stymieing of his bid to get back to sea for security missions. With his degrees in hand, he applied for a fellowship at the Council on Foreign Relations. During the application process he met Edward Morse, now global head of commodities research at Citigroup. Morse was on the CFR selection committee in 2007 and recommended Borgerson as a fellow.
Morse introduced Borgerson to commodities, and to trading terms like “contango” and “backwardation.” Morse himself had, earlier in career, gotten the jump on official oil supply data by hiring planes to take photos of the lid heights of oil tanks in Oklahoma’s Cushing field.
Working for the CFR in New York reconnected Borgerson with his Missouri roots. Bill Bradley’s aunt called the former senator to say: “The son of a family who went to our church in Crystal City is in New York. Would you welcome him?” Bradley did — and would later play a part in Borgerson’s career development.
While at the CFR, Borgerson became an expert on the melting of the North Pole ice cap, writing numerous published articles on its implications; this led him to co-found, with the president of Iceland, the Arctic Circle, a nonprofit designed to encourage discussion of the future of that region. Borgerson recently spoke to 50 international generals and admirals about the Arctic and is co-drafting a proposal for a treaty between the U.S. and Canada that would help resolve the differences the two countries have in allowing international ship and aircraft travel through the Northwest Passage.
His Arctic research led to an aha moment early in 2008, while he was still with the CFR, on a visit to Singapore and the Strait of Malacca with his Fletcher School classmate Rockford Weitz and their former Ph.D. adviser, Perry. Seeing the mass of ships sailing through the strait, Borgerson and Weitz decided to build a data analytics firm using satellite tracking of ships.
Like many successful entrepreneurs, the two struggled to find financing before reaching out to a network of friends and their contacts. One was Randy Beardsworth, who had sat with Borgerson at a 2007 Coast Guard Academy dinner, where Beardsworth, then the Coast Guard’s chief of law enforcement in Miami, was the guest speaker. Borgerson “made references to history and literature, and I thought, ‘Here is a sharp guy,’” recalls Beardsworth. “We have been friends ever since.”
But Borgerson didn’t turn to his new friend in his initial fund-raising. “He came to me in 2009, after he had been turned down by 17 VCs, was maxed out on his credit card, was married and had a newborn son,” says Beardsworth, who was reviewing the Department of Homeland Security as part of the Obama administration’s transition team. Beardsworth came to the rescue, not only committing to invest a small amount but introducing his friend to Doug Doan. A West Point graduate and Washington-based angel investor, Doan took to Borgerson right away. “To be honest, it wasn’t his idea, it was Scott I invested in,” says Doan, who provided $100,000 in capital and introduced Borgerson to a few friends, who added $75,000. Manzi came on board as an investor in 2009, having been asked by Bradley to check out Borgerson’s plan for a data metrics firm. (Manzi knew Bradley from the late 1990s, when the latter was considering a run for U.S. president.)
With Doan, Doan’s friends and Manzi as investors, CargoMetrics was finally able to garner its first venture capital commitment in early 2010, from Boston-based Ascent Venture Partners. That gave the start-up the capital it needed to hire a bevy of data scientists to build an analytics platform that it could sell to commodity-trading houses and other commercial users. In 2011, CargoMetrics added Summerhill Venture Partners, a Toronto-based firm with a Boston office, to its investor roster, raising roughly $18 million from venture capital and angels for its data business.
By then Borgerson had already begun to contemplate converting CargoMetrics from an information provider into a money manager; he saw the potential to extract powerful trade signals from its technology rather than share it with other market participants for a fee. Among those he consulted was serial entrepreneur Peter Platzer, a friend of one of CargoMetrics’ original investors. Platzer, a physicist by training, had spent eight years as a quantitative hedge fund manager at Rohatyn Group and Deutsche Bank before co-founding Spire Global, a San Francisco–based company that uses its own fleet of low-orbit satellites to track shipping, in 2012. “We had lengthy conversations on how to set up quant trading systems and how [commodities giant] Cargill had made a similar decision to set up its own in-house hedge fund to trade on the information it was gathering,” recalls Platzer. So Borgerson reset his course. Doan describes the decision as a “transformative moment” for the CargoMetrics co-founder. “The military trains you to be a strategic thinker,” Doan explains. “Scott had been tactical until then, making small pivots, and like a general who sees the theater of war, he moved into strategic mode.”
Borgerson’s ambition to succeed was in no small part fueled by the early turndowns by many venture capital firms and a fierce determination to best the Wall Street bunch at their own game. “There’s a lot that motivates me, including — if I’m honest — I have a big chip on my shoulder to beat the prep school, Ivy League, MBA crowd,” he says. “They’re bred to make money, but they’re not smarter than everyone else; they just have more patina and connections.” (Bred differently, he spent last Thanksgiving visiting his parents in rural Missouri. After breakfast he and his father were in the woods, shooting assault guns at posters of terrorists, with Gunny, his father’s Anatolian shepherd dog.)
Borgerson’s plan was not met with enthusiasm from the company’s then co-CEO, Weitz. CargoMetrics had been gaining clients and meeting its goals, and was on its way to becoming a successful data service provider. Weitz, who now is president of the Gloucester, Massachusetts–based Institute for Global Maritime Studies and an entrepreneur coach at Tufts’ Fletcher School, did not return e-mails or phone calls asking for comment. For his part, Borgerson says: “A ship cannot have two captains. The company simply matured and evolved into a streamlined management structure with one CEO instead of two.”
Eventually, Doan went along with Borgerson’s plan. “We believe in Scott and that shipping holds the no-shit, honest truth of what the economy is doing,” he says. But buying out the venture capital firms several years ahead of the usual exit time would require a hefty premium over what they had invested.
Once again Borgerson’s early supporters played a key role. Manzi, a fellow Fletcher School grad who had mentored Borgerson since the company’s early days, put up more money (making CargoMetrics one of his single largest investments) and introduced him to a powerful group of wealthy investors. Separately, the CFR’s Morse suggested that Borgerson meet with Daniel Freifeld, founder of Washington-based Callaway Capital Management and a former senior adviser on Eurasian energy at the U.S. Department of State. Impressed by Borgerson’s “intellectual honesty, vigor and more than four years of historical data,” Freifeld brought the idea to a billionaire third-party investor, who took his advice and became one of CargoMetrics’ largest backers. “I would not have suggested the investment if CargoMetrics had not done the hard part first,” adds Freifeld, declining to name the investor.
A chance encounter in the fall of 2012 gave the CargoMetrics team its first taste of real Wall Street trading. Attending an Arctic Imperative conference in Alaska, Borgerson met the CIO of a large investment firm, whom he declines to name. When Borgerson confided his ambition and that CargoMetrics had developed algorithms to trade on its shipping data once it was legally structured to do so, the CIO suggested CargoMetrics provide the analytical models for a separate portfolio the money manager would trade. Live trading using CargoMetrics’ models began in December 2012. Manzi brought in longtime banker Gerald Rosenfeld in 2013 to craft and negotiate the move to make CargoMetrics a limited liability investment firm. Rosenfeld acted in a personal role rather than in his position as vice chairman of Lazard and full-time professor and trustee of the New York University School of Law. The whole process took a year and a half. During that time Blackstone checked in as an investor.
Bradley, now an investment banker, has yet to invest in CargoMetrics, explaining that he is unfamiliar with quantitative investing. But he may eventually invest in Borgerson’s firm, he says, because “we are homeboys. I believe in him and that things are going to work out ” — pausing to add with a smile, “based on my vast quant experience, of course.”
Borgerson has been in stealth mode since CargoMetrics’ early days, when he moved the firm from an innovation lab near MIT because the shared space was too open. He is much more forthcoming when boasting of the firm’s “world-class talent.” The team includes astrophysicists, mathematicians, former hedge fund quants, electrical engineers, a trade lawyer and software developers. Hoogerwerf, who has a Ph.D. in astrophysics from the Netherlands’ Leiden University, built distributed technical environments for scientists and engineers at Microsoft Corp. Solomon Todesse, who works on quant investment strategies, was head of asset allocation at State Street Global Advisors. Aquil Abdullah, a team leader in the engineering group, was a software engineer in the high-performance-computing group at Microsoft. And senior investment strategist Charles Freifeld (Daniel’s father) has 40 years’ experience in futures and commodities markets, including nine with Boston-based commodity trading adviser firm AlphaMetrics Capital Management.
“All were self-made people; none were born with a silver spoon,” Borgerson notes. One of his blue-collar-background hires was James (Jess) Scully, who joined as chief operating officer in 2011, after his employer Interactive Supercomputing was acquired by Microsoft.
“The team we built treasures team success, which is Scott’s motto,” Scully says. “We want shared resources, one P&L, not ‘How much money did my unit make?’” Both Scully and Borgerson say CargoMetrics is like the Golden State Warriors, a leading NBA basketball team known for putting aside personal glory and playing as a band of brothers having fun.
Borgerson says he fosters a no-ego policy with “lots of play because investment teams are built on trust, and playing together builds trust.” Team building at CargoMetrics includes pub crawls, picnics at Borgerson’s house, poker nights, volunteer work in a soup kitchen for the homeless, Red Sox games and visits to museums.
Trips to the Boston docks or Coast Guard base are intended to remind the CargoMetrics team of the real economy. There are also occasional “touch a tanker” days. On one visit to a tanker, everyone was amazed that the ship was the size of a city building, Borgerson says. “They could smell the salt on the deck,” he recalls. “Wall Street can lose sight of the real fundamentals in the world. I don’t want that to happen here.”
Unlike the Rothschilds 200 years ago, only a small percentage of the trades that CargoMetrics makes relate to beating official government data. Most simply are aimed at identifying mispricings in the market, using the firm’s real-time shipping data and proprietary algorithms.
At a whiteboard in his conference room, Borgerson sketches out CargoMetrics’ general formula. He draws a “maritime matrix” of three dynamic data sets: geography (Malacca, Brazil, Australia, China, Europe and the U.S.), metrics (ship counts, cargo mass and volume, ship speed and port congestion) and tradable factors (Brent crude versus WTI, as well as mining equities, commodity macro and Asian economic activity). Using satellite data with hundreds of millions of ship positions, CargoMetrics makes trillions of calculations to determine individual cargoes onboard the ships and then to aggregate the cargo flows and compare them with historical shipping data. All that leads to the final comparisons with historical financial market data to find mispricings. If CargoMetrics observes an appreciable decline in export shipping activity in South Africa, for example, its trading models will determine whether that is a significant early-warning sign by considering that information alongside other factors, such as interest rates. If CargoMetrics believes a decline in the rand is forthcoming, it might short it against a basket of other currencies. “This is like a heat map showing opportunity,” Borgerson says, noting that CargoMetrics is not trading physical commodities. “We are agnostic on whether to be long or short, and let the computers spot where there is a mispricing and liquidity in the markets.” He sums up his simple, but still less than revealing, process by writing on the whiteboard “Collect, Compute, Trade.”
Borgerson says CargoMetrics is building a systematic approach that will work even when cargo cannot be identified — on containerships, for instance. It already knows a large percentage of the daily imports and exports into and out of China and island economies such as Japan and Australia. And although the firm cannot glean from its calculations on satellite AIS data the type of cargo, such as iPhones from China, it can measure total flow, which shows present economic activity. CargoMetrics’ data scientists are working on linking such activity to the firm’s data set of the past seven years to measure the evolving global economy. That will lead, Borgerson maintains, to more trades on currencies and equity index futures and, eventually, trades on individual equities. “Uncorrelated” is a mantra of Borgerson and his team. Well aware that correlated assets sent the performance of most asset managers, including hedge funds, plunging in the financial crisis, CargoMetrics is determined to come up with an antidote. Careful not to say too much, Borgerson lays out the simple principle that the process starts with placing many bets among uncorrelated strategies in different asset classes, like commodities, currencies and equities.
The goal is diversification, staying as market neutral as possible and remaining sensitive to tail risk in different scenarios. CargoMetrics’ analytic models help find asset classes that are outliers. Those may include a publicly traded instrument such as oil, another commodity or an equity for which shipping information was a leading indicator during times when other asset classes marched in lockstep. The historical ship data is then blended with this new information to seek opportunities. Identifying mispriced spreads among different trades within an asset class is another way of avoiding the calamity of correlation. Borgerson says the firm’s models will find instances where one type of oil should be a short trade and another a long one. The same goes for whole asset classes — shorting one that will benefit if virtually all asset prices plunge and buying another that will rise when oil prices gain. “We’re counting cards with the goal of being right maybe 3 percent more than we are wrong, as a way of making profits during good times and staying afloat during times of sudden, unpredictable but far-reaching events,” Borgerson says. The key, he adds, “is to know your edge and spread your risk.” CargoMetrics’ uncorrelated approach worked during the dismal first three weeks of this year, says Borgerson. Dialing down risk as volatility in the markets soared, the firm was on track in January to have its best month since it began trading.
To improve the firm’s models, eight of its data scientists hold a weekly strategy meeting, nicknamed “the Shackleton Group” after the band of sailors shipwrecked in the Antarctic from 1914 to 1917. Hoogerwerf and Ramos co-lead the group. At one recent meeting they were deciding how much risk, including how much liquidity, there was in a possible strategy; reviewing whether to keep previous strategies; and assigning who would research new ones.
The Shackleton Group’s meetings are free-form, with a lot of “I’ve got an idea” interjections that disregard official roles. “We hit the restart button a lot,” says Ramos, a former director of business intelligence and a quantitative economist at law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf who joined CargoMetrics in late 2010. “That’s why our motto is ‘Never lose hope.’” A bet on oil, related to Russia’s production, was stopped at the last minute in 2014, when Russia invaded Ukraine. Some currency-trading strategies have been abandoned in theory or after failing. Strategies the Shackleton Group likes are passed on to the firm’s investment committee of Borgerson, Scully and Ramos for a final decision. CargoMetrics has a unique set of big-data challenges. Historical shipping patterns may not be as useful in the new global economy now that shipping freight prices are plunging, a sign that trade growth rates may be changing. And analysts point out how hard identifying oil cargo can be in certain locations and instances, even in more-predictable economic times. “While it may be easy to say that ships leaving the Middle East Gulf are typically carrying crude oil, knowing the type of crude is sometimes quite difficult,” says Paulo Nery, senior director of Europe, Middle East and Asia oil for Genscape, a Louisville, Kentucky–based company that analyzes satellite tracking of ships. Borgerson maintains his team is well aware of the dangers of data mining and getting swamped by noise. “If you run computers hard enough, you can convince yourself of anything,” he says. To make sure CargoMetrics’ algorithms for identifying cargo are valid, the firm spot-checks manifest data filed at ports and imposes statistical confidence checks to guard against spurious correlations.
Getting the jump on official government statistics is likely to become tougher too thanks to the recently formed High-Level Group for the Modernization of Official Statistics. Although the U.S. is not a member, Canada is a key player helping to lead the mostly European nation group (including South Korea) in coming up with a global blueprint for measuring and reporting economic activity.
Reflecting on his journey to Wall Street — raising money, hiring employees with different skill sets, making changes to CargoMetrics’ culture, overcoming legal and regulatory hurdles — almost gives Borgerson second thoughts about whether he would do it again. “I’ve sailed ships through tropical storms, captured cocaine smugglers and testified before Congress [on his Arctic research],” he says, “but this was the hardest.”

Key Areas for the Boilermakers VS. Iowa Tonight

Hey all...figured I'd share for anyone who may be interested in reading in the hours leading up to the game. The stuff posted below was originally written as part of an article and not a Reddit post so it's a bit lengthy.
EDIT: Full article is up and can be read on the Boiler In Texas site.
https://www.boilerintexas.com/boiler-basketball-articles/2020-mbb-at-iowa-preview
I'll be contributing a few write-ups and opinion pieces for Boilermaker basketball over the course of the season and highly recommend the site if you're a Purdue sports fan. I'll leave the excerpt below for those who prefer to read directly on Reddit.

Solid Play from the 4 Position

It felt like Purdue had Iowa’s number last year and Evan Boudreaux had a big part in that. In the two times the teams squared up, the graduate transfer Senior averaged 16 points on 11/21 shooting from the floor and 6/10 from 3. He also averaged 11 rebounds with a monster 14 rebound outing in the first matchup that included an insane 7 offensive rebounds. Examining the rest of the stat sheet shows 5 assists, 2 steals, and a block to 4 fouls and only ONE turnover between both games. To further emphasize how impressive Boudreaux’s performances were against Iowa, let’s compare these averages to his season’s.

Evan Boudreaux	VS. Iowa	Season
Points	16	5.4
FG%/3P%	52.4/60	39.7/30.6
Rebounds (Off.)	11 (4)	4.6 (1.6)
Assists	2.5	0.7
Blocks	0.5	0.1
Turnovers	0.5	0.7
Minutes	29.5	17

As impressive as his outings were, you may be wondering why I am focusing on a player who is no longer on Purdue’s roster in advance of a matchup tonight. To put it simply, it’s because I see a lot of the same opportunities at the 4 spot this year when reviewing the film on Iowa and looking at their roster while looking back at our own. As stated earlier, this is an Iowa team that brings back a ton of key players. Much like last year, Iowa has opted (so far) to feature a lineup that surrounds star Luka Garza with 4 versatile guards that are capable of threatening from deep. The Hawkeyes relied primarily on an experienced big in Ryan Kreiner to fill in the ~8 minutes/game Garza wasn’t on the floor last season as well as to provide size and depth in matchups that called for a larger lineup. Iowa struggled mightily to contain Boudreaux while also keeping tabs on Trevion Williams or the 7’3” Haarms. Their typical ‘smaller’ lineup couldn’t keep Boudreaux off the glass or take advantage on the other end of the floor. The 6’10 Kreiner (who averaged 21 minutes in these two games) couldn’t hang with Williams or Haarms defensively, being on the wrong end of a few and-1 calls trying to guard either of them 1-on-1, and didn’t do that much better in keeping Boudreaux off the offensive glass.
This year is looking like more of the same as they roll out with virtually the same exact starting lineup as last year. The Hawkeyes welcome back Senior guard Jordan Bohanon who returns from season-ending hip surgery that cut his last season to only 10 games (missed both of the matchups vs. Purdue) while his replacement last year in Joe Toussaint now comes off the bench leading the non-starting guards in minutes and points. In place of Kreiner is a bit of committee featuring freshmen Keegan Murray and Patrick McCaffery while being headed by 6’11” Sophomore Jack Nunge. I expect Painter to continue rolling out with a starting lineup that slots Mason Gillis alongside Trevion Williams in the frontcourt with Aaron Wheeler playing anywhere between 16-24 minutes whenever Gillis isn’t on the floor. Both Gillis and Wheeler will be dangerous crashing the glass against Iowa’s smaller lineup and I like their odds against the big men coming off the bench for Iowa. Nunge is more versatile than Kreiner and a notable threat on the offensive end, averaging double figure points and nearly 4 offensive rebounds in under 20 minutes of action per game this year. That said, I’ll take our guys over the Freshmen with limited experiences against strong opponents and think that our centers will force their share of double teams in the paint to open up the weak side for easy looks and prime offensive rebounding position.
In my opinion, the big question mark this game is whether or not the Boilers can handle the smaller Hawkeyes lineup on defense and this really starts with the 4 position. Last year, we were able to bring the double team on Garza and rotate adequately across the board to prevent many wide-open looks elsewhere. A big key to our success was not only solid play by Boudreaux but a lineup that featured elite defender Nojel Eastern, senior transfer Jahaad Proctor who rarely lapsed on defense, and a legit rim protector in Haarms to shore up instances of dribble penetration. The Miami and Notre Dame games exposed some serious holes in our perimeter defense with Miami seemingly driving at will in the 2nd half and Notre Dame shooting 39% from behind the arc en route to sinking 16 3’s despite missing several wide-open looks. In short, it is absolutely crucial that the Boilermakers put up a strong, disciplined performance defensively as Iowa is really the first team we have faced that can beat us with both the 3 point shot and dribble-drive if our rotations off double teams in the post and general perimeter defense is lacking.

Contain Their Offense

In case it wasn’t plainly obvious that this Iowa team is an offensive juggernaut, here are some stats. According to KenPom, Iowa leads D1 in adjusted offensive efficiency so far this season averaging 119.5 points per 100 possessions. Their 98.7 points/game and 22.9 assists/game are good for 2nd and 1st respectively in the league, and their FG% of 50.3% is good for top ~30 overall and fringe top 10 when only considering major conference schools. To round out this stellar resume, the Hawkeyes also shoot a very respectable 37.4% from deep even after a cold 4-for-22 performance in their last match against Gonzaga. Oh, I also forgot to mention their insanely low turnover rate, coughing the ball up on just 12.7% of offensive possessions (4th best in D1). A big part of this stems from Luka Garza and what he contributes himself and indirectly by freeing up his teammates.
At the time of writing this, I am seeing a few outlets that are covering this game assert that one of the important ‘keys’ to a Purdue victory is being able to find an answer to Garza. Overall, this is a take I actually disagree with. In his two games this year against ranked opponents, Garza has averaged 23 points/game on 50% shooting overall. When examining his performance in the two quality Purdue wins last year, we see the big man put up 26 points both times on a combined 55.9% from the floor whereas the rest of his team shot under 33%. In summary, the longer and more experienced frontcourts of UNC and Gonzaga couldn’t effectively shut down Garza and a Purdue team with notably better interior (and overall for that matter) defense couldn’t do it either last year. Looking at the 3 Iowa losses in these 4 games, the common denominator has been limiting the rest of the team. As stated before, Iowa shot a paltry 18.2% (4/22) from behind the arc as a team against Gonzaga. I already mentioned how the team outside of Garza shot <33% from the floor in the two losses against Purdue last season, but I’ll tack on that the Hawkeyes only managed to convert on ~25% of their shots from deep in those games as well (3-9 for Garza). While the clear Big 10 PoTY candidate and arguable frontrunner for national PoTY should merit plenty of attention, it’s clear to me that the key to victory here is containing everyone in an Iowa jersey whose name isn’t Luka Garza.
This will be easier said than done of course. In the loss to the #1 Zags, a decent chunk of Iowa’s cold shooting from 3 came off of quality looks. When you consider the fact that they only shot 14-26 from the line as a team, it feels like the shooting woes this game stemmed more from the Hawkeyes having an ‘off night’ as opposed to anything Gonzaga did defensively. Last year, we had the benefit of two of the best defenders in the conference in Nojel Eastern and Matt Haarms to anchor a Boilermaker squad that had plenty of experienced upperclassmen that were generally sound and mistake-averse defensively. Eastern was primarily tasked with guarding second leading scorer Joe Wieskamp. Wieskamp, who averaged 14 points/game his Sophomore year, was held to just 8 and 10 points in the two losses against the Boilers with just 1-7 shooting from behind the arc and 5 turnovers compared to his season average of 1.6. Wieskamp is once again the second option behind Garza, averaging 15.9 points on a very efficient 54.2% from the floor and 46.9% from 3. We do not have a Nojel Eastern to clamp down on him this time around and to be honest... we don’t really have a clear matchup for him that doesn’t pose it’s own set of issues. As a 6-6, 220 guard who has averaged over 6 boards a game and is more than capable of crashing the lane for offensive rebounds, I don’t see any of our guards outside of Stefanovic being ideal. Doing this likely means putting Gillis against a much faster guard at several points of the game, and I don’t love the idea of Gillis or Wheeler being tasked with guarding Wieskamp directly for obvious reasons. Outside of this particular assignment, Iowa still features several guards that are more than capable of knocking down an open shot. C.J. Fredrick is shooting 52.2% from deep this year, Joe Toussaint and Connor McCaffery are not volume shooters from 3 but are more than capable of sinking shots in catch-and-shoot situations, and senior Jordan Bohannon is far better from behind the arc than his current 28.3% from that range on the season would indicate. Oh, did I mention Garza is coming in shooting 61.9% here on 3 attempts per game? This will be a game that has a lot of similarities to Notre Dame in that the Hawkeyes will be able to spread the floor and put as many as 5 guys on the floor that can threaten from 3-point range. The difference here is that Iowa also brings nearly 30 points a game in the form of the best offensive center in the NCAA to provide a complimentary interior threat. Iowa will be a daunting challenge for the young Boilermakers squad on defense to say the very least. While it is clear that this will have to be a team-wide effort, I would lean on our Juniors to provide high quality, fundamentally-sound defense and look for high energy, physical play in bursts while limiting turnovers and silly fouls from our younger guys coming off the bench.

Come Out Swinging and Crash the Glass

Purdue wasn’t (and still isn’t) a team known for pushing the ball and leaning heavily on a fast break offense last year. We were and are a team that favors setting up different variations of Painter’s primary “4 out, 1 in” motion offense and working to find quality shots. We may typically rank near the bottom in offensive pace, but this doesn’t mean that we are a team that doesn’t play heavily on momentum. In the first meeting last season against then-ranked #17 Iowa, Purdue went from surrendering a Garza jumper on the first possession to score 17 unanswered points before coach Fran McCaffery opted to burn a much needed timeout just 4 minutes into the game. His Iowa squad gradually recovered but was never really close after this initial run, going on to finish the half down 25 and eventually lose by 36. Playing at a packed Mackey at a time where an inconsistent Purdue squad desperately needed this ranked win to avoid falling out of relevance halfway through the year definitely helped as the Boilers came out of the gates sprinting and giving it 110%. The 17-0 run over roughly three and a half minutes of play saw consecutive high-effort steals from big men Boudreaux and Williams and several offensive rebounds each from Eastern and Boudreaux that more or less resulted entirely from hustle and effort.
Perhaps the most discouraging moments during this early run for Iowa and their fans was when Trevion Williams missed an and-1 free throw after a made layup only to have Eastern snag the rebound over the undersized guard trying to box him out. Eric Hunter Jr. would proceed to miss the kick-out 3, and several Purdue players would scramble and end up on the ground to recover the miss. A Sasha 3 would also miss a short while later, and Eastern would again sprint for the basket and this time snag the rebound in stride, smoothly "outletting" to Hunter again on a kick out. This time Hunter would sink the 3 to make the lead 10-2, capping off what ended up being a 5 point play that saw 3 Purdue offensive rebounds. The two very next Purdue possessions saw a Boudreaux put back on a missed 3-pointer and then Eastern snagging yet another offensive rebound on a missed 3 and immediately finding an open teammate on the wing for another try (this time Stefanovic, who would bury it as the crowd went absolutely wild). The final headlines for this game were all variations of “Boilermakers go hot from 3 in win!”, but I felt the untold story was the insane level of energy we came out with to arguably put the game out of reach mentally in mere minutes. In the aforementioned stretch, Purdue technically missed 6 out of 8 attempts from 3 but walked away with points on every possession because of their offensive rebounding and hustle.
While our 2020-2021 squad has had its share of lapses on both ends of the court, we have certainly not been lacking in spirit with a ton of high effort plays from all our guys resulting in many instances of huge momentum swings in our favor. Going on the road to play in Iowa City instead of Mackey isn’t ideal, but the lack of crowd should hopefully mitigate the normal home court advantage. An Iowa squad that returns a vast majority of its key players from last year will likely come out hungry looking for revenge, so it is important that the Boilers rival it with their own energy coming out of the gates. The recent win over Notre Dame gives me a lot of confidence that this team can weather rallies from opponents and answer with runs of their own and an early lead on this tough Iowa team would put us in a great spot.

Avoid Unforced Turnovers

I’ve spent enough time talking about the past 3 topics, so I’ll try to keep this last one brief. If the Purdue squad that only turned it over 6 times against Notre Dame shows up, we’ll probably win. If the version that turned it over 22 times against Clemson, 19 times against Indiana St., and 14 times against Miami (with many of them being at key moments in the 2nd half collapse) shows up instead, the question will be not if we lose but how much we lose by. The good news is that Iowa isn’t a team that’s known for defensive prowess. They do a phenomenal job taking care of the ball themselves and key piece Luka Garza is very good at avoiding fouling for how much he is on the floor. Their guards may not be the ball-hawks of Clemson, but they’re more capable and aggressive than Notre Dame’s. The key here will be to have us continue to run the ball through Juniors Eric Hunter and Sasha Stefanovic and lean on Trevion Williams to both produce points himself or open up the floor for everyone else. Hunter in particular seems to have rebounded from some rust stemming from missed time due to an early injury while Stefanovic continues to show the same sound, fundamental play with a knack for great lob passes and pick-and-roll feeds that his predecessors Mathias and Cline were known for as well. Purdue needs to keep it simple and not beat themselves in a matchup against a team that is as good as any at making use of any extra/free possessions we hand them.

There's truth to what Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe have pointed out about the WNBA but...

(Self-admitted [very] casual long-time Indiana Fever fan here who enjoys the fact that, for the past few years, the WNBA is/has been playable in the 2K and NBA Elite series giving greater incentive, and fueling greater desire, to watch the real-life games).
After reading this article today quoting Sue Bird on ESPN https://www.espn.com/wnba/story/_/id/30134840/sue-bird-backs-megan-rapinoe-contrast-women-soccer-wnba and reading the preceding article by Megan Rapinoe in the Players' Tribune https://www.theplayerstribune.com/articles/megan-rapinoe-seattle-storm-wnba-finals (at the risk of gaslighting), I think while it is absolutely true wat they are saying regarding the (often false) perceptions sports fans may have of the WNBA, I think they are also making a bit of a false equivalency between the U.S. Women's "NATIONAL" soccer team and the WNBA; which, like the NWSL (the more apt comparison) is a domestic professional sports league.
By making this comparison between the USWNT and the WNBA, they risk being in danger of causing both critiques and critics to calmly dismiss the overall legitimate points they are making about bias and bigotry of sports fans (i.e. how conscious or unconscious prejudice can and do affect the viewership/ratings/money for female sports).
Firstly to address why the USWNT gets the support it does (notwithstanding the whole "straight/white/girl next door" thing they've rightfully pointed out):
1) They (the USWNT) plays for a country (America) rather than a city
There's a reason why the Texas Longhorns (NCAA) men's basketball team gets more support than the Austin Toros G League team even though the Toros are objectively better players and the G League is a higher quality of basketball (given that the players are full-time, paid professionals; see also why the Canadian Football League is better quality than the NCAA version): there is a visceral feeling created between supporters of sports teams and the athletes when they all share the same common identity (in the case of the 'Horns, being a student/future alumni of the University of Texas at Austin).
In pro sports, players are merely mercenaries who (with few exceptions) didn't grow up in the city they play for and don't reside there during the offseason. That is to say the Oakland Athletics aren't Oaklanders in the purest sense of the word and so there's is a separation between the players and the fans on that team.
In college, on the other hand, you may literally be classmates with the point guard on the basketball team which means, in that lecture hall or seminar room, you're equals; you're both University of whatever students.
Internationally, when Olympians or the USWNT puts on the "red, white, and blue" they become Americans and so there is a sharing of identity with the supporters that transcends their athletic status because they, like the people that are watching them on TV or in the stadium, are part of a common group; holders of U.S. citizenship (whether by birth or naturalization). And although (unlike college) the USWNT pays it's players (see the ongoing pay disputes for more detail), they can't sign, draft, or trade for players from other countries to make their teams better because of the requirement that the athletes be citizens (though Canadian soccer fans may make a stink about Sydney Leroux choosing to play for the US despite being born and raised in Canada; her dad was American).
This common outside-of-the-game identity is also why less popular sports at home (see ice hockey for example; Miracle on Ice) can get overwhelming support once players put on the national colours. This is partially why a thing women's pro sports leagues might want to try/experiment with to gain more followers is to play for a region (say, the Pacific Northwest Seattle, Portland, etc.) or city (Seattle) and have a requirement that a certain percentage of the players must come from that region/or city. This could help gin up that support that the players are playing for say "the Northwest" or "Seattle" more than for just the "Storm."
2) The Women's World Cup is a stand-alone prestigious international tournament
Another reason why the USWNT gets the support it does vis-a-vis other women's sports teams and sports is that the main competition they compete in, the FIFA Women's World Cup, is a stand-alone prestigious international tournament which, unlike the Olympics, is not "one amongst many." While the USWNT equivalent for basketball, the USA women's basketball team also competes internationally, the FIBA Women's World Cup is not seen as must watch TV; a status that (funnily enough) the FIBA Men's World Cup also suffers. While both national basketball teams in the USA get support during the Olympics, it's while other teams and athletes, including the USWNT, are also competing, meaning sharing the spotlight and thus less attention on their sole performances.
3) Quite frankly, the men's team sucks
Finally, what cannot be unremarked upon as to why the support for the USWNT is so high; the men's team downright sucks (and has for a long time). One of the crazy benefits of the irrelevancy of the men's team has meant that if you want to see America compete and win at the world's most popular game, you've to watch the women. In fact, you could pretty much wager that, along with perhaps their northerly neighbours in Canada, the USWNT is the only soccer team in the world where the soccer players on the women's team are more well-known/more popular than the players on the men's team. While both countries (Canada and the US) men's teams seem to have some young and up and coming talent that may make them competitive (along with the hosting rights to the '26 FIFA World Cup) the support for the women's teams of those countries is unlikely to go away since people have grown up watching/supporting the sport for so many years while the men's programmes have been trash. People also love winners and if you win you get that support.
All this to say I think framing the argument only (or mainly) in the terms that they've used (racism, homophobia, etc.) make it easier for critiques to more easily dismiss the legitimate points they are otherwise making about that racism and homophobia that prevents the WNBA from gaining wider spread viewership and support.
TLDR: Yes Rapinoe and Bird are right; male fans (who make up the majority of sports viewing audiences) may/do have unconscious biases and/or are bigoted BUT (as I've stated) there is a danger of making a false equivalency here between a national team (the USWNT) that competes for a COUNTRY versus as domestic sports league (WNBA, NWSL) that compete on a local level. Because while the USWNT may enjoy more broad support than the WNBA, it is indisputable that once those players join their club teams, they are not getting nearly the levels of the support of the NWSL. The more relevant aims should then be to 1) how do to get the FIBA Women's World Cup to be must watch TV and 2) how to get people to watch the USWNT once they return to play for the NWSL.

NBA Mock Draft by Throne Room Sports

https://throneroomsports.com/2020-nba-mock-draft/
I wrote up a mock draft and figured I would share it here. I know I've always loved reading mock drafts so I thought someone here might enjoy mocking my mock draft. Link to the website is above for a slightly cleaner format. I didn't include any trades in this mock even though I know there will be plenty of draft night trades.

Timberwolves - Anthony Edwards - G - Georgia. Unfortunately for the T-Wolves this is one of those years where there isn’t really a consensus clear cut number 1 overall player. That lowers the trade value of this pick which is what I would want to do here if I were the Timberwolves. I question how well LaMelo and D’Angelo Russell would operate together in the backcourt, so Edwards is my pick here. The Georgia product has elite athleticism, projects to be an above average defender, and a sky-high ceiling. He should add to the young core that the T-Wolves currently have.
Warriors - James Wiseman - C - Memphis. It’s incredible that a team with the talent of the Warriors are drafting this early but due to some serious bad injury luck, here they are. Again, if I was the one making the pick here, I would try like hell to trade back in the draft to try and acquire a player that fits the current team’s timeline better. However once again the lack of top end talent at the top of this draft makes moving back here difficult to obtain the value that the number 2 pick should warrant. LaMelo is redundant here with Steph and Klay so James Wiseman is the choice. With basically zero college tape on him this draft pick is all about upside. You can’t teach size and superior athleticism which Wiseman has in spades. He’ll provide the rim protection that the Warriors haven’t really had but now need due to Anthony Davis’ presence on the Lakers.
Hornets - LaMelo Ball - G - NBL. Charlotte takes the player many analysts consider the top player in the draft. The lanky point guard should immediately upgrade the lead guard spot on the Hornets. Unfortunately for the Hornets, word is that they covet James Wiseman who Golden State already selected. This is the first pick that I could realistically see being traded as no other big man is worthy of being a top 3 pick. Onyeka Okongwu is a name to watch here if a trade down can’t be achieved and the Hornets are set on adding to the front court.
Bulls - Deni Avdija - F - Maccabi Tel Aviv. I really wanted to predict Obi Toppin here to the Bulls. Billy Donovan always knew how to get the best out of undersized bigmen during his time at Florida. But Obi is more than that. He was clearly the best player in all of college basketball last season and would have pushed Dayton to the finals of March Madness had the event happened. But all the smoke on this pick is that the Bulls want the international prospect. Avdija is your typical lottery international big man. Great passing and floor vision with the ability to stretch the floor. He’ll pair nicely with Markkanen.
Cavaliers - Obi Toppin - F - Dayton. The NCAA tournament being cancelled turns into a stroke of luck for the Cavaliers as Obi Toppin falls to them at 5. If March Madness had actually happened and Obi’s Flyers had won the whole tournament (like I had expected them to do) then there’s no way he lasts past the top 3 picks. You can draft for potential all you want but when a player is as dominant as Obi was at Dayton you should draft the results that are backed up on the court. While he’s a bit undersized his game will transition nicely to the modern NBA. With Sexton and Garland manning the backcourt the addition of Toppin makes the Cavaliers’ future look bright for the first time since LeBron left (for the second time).
Hawks - Isaac Okoro - F - Auburn. I’ll preface this pick by saying that I’m almost assuredly wrong on this selection. Patrick Williams out of Florida St has been ascending in the past few weeks which has caused Okoro’s presumed value to drop. But holy hell is that a terrible take. Okoro has the potential to be the top player out of the class three years down the road. The knock on him is his shooting, but he walks into the league a plus defender with amazing athletic ability. He’ll be an immediate contributor even if his shot doesn’t improve. I think you’ll see a playoff team try to trade up into the lottery to select this guy. The kid had a great work ethic so a professional staff should be able to help him improve his shooting and eventually he’ll look like the steal of this draft.
Pistons - Patrick Williams - F - Florida State. I hate to bash on a team in a public forum, but the Pistons are not a good basketball team. When I first started to make this mock draft I had planned on having Detroit take the top available guard here. Killian Hayes and Tyrese Halliburton were and could still be names to look out for here. But Williams has had a rocket strapped to his back in recent weeks and has been flying up draft boards. I wouldn’t be shocked to see him go in the top 5 selections. So Detroit takes the best available player in Williams. And realistically the Pistons should try and trade Griffin to a star hungry team and get any additional draft picks they can acquire. They need them, badly.
Knicks - Killian Hayes - G - France. The Knickerbockers need playmakers and bringing in a facilitator like Hayes who can also shoot the ball is exactly what Spike Lee ordered. If Hayes had played a year at college in the States, he would easily be a top 5 if not top 3 pick in this draft. He projects to be a plus 3-point shooter and pairing him with RJ Barrett could be a lethal combination for many years.
Wizards - Onyeka Okongu - C - USC. The second-best big man in the draft goes to the Wizards at 9. I’ve seen other analysts compare him to Bam Adebayo, but they really need to tone that comparison down. Bam is on pace to be one of the top big men in all the world. Okongu has a strong work ethic and will need to improve his shooting from anywhere that’s not underneath the basket to come close to being a Bam like player. However he’s a problem for other teams defensively and has a knack for getting the loose ball which should help him be able to see early playing time for a Wizards team in need of help in the front court.
Suns - Devin Vassell - F - Florida State. Two players going in the top ten for Florida State. Impressive. It’s a good thing FSU is a basketball school considering how terrible they are at football. The AD down in Tallahassee can’t hire a football coach to save his life. Taggart was an absolute car wreck and Norvell appears to have plowed a semi into the pileup. Anyway, this is about the NBA. The Suns really traded a future first round pick for Chris Paul. Which messed my draft up like crazy. I was all set to predict a point guard to them too. Either Tyrese Halliburton, or Kira Lewis Jr. but now they should turn to their second need and add a wing. Vassell is all sorts of impressive and could be a deadly addition to the most entertaining team we all watched in the bubble go undefeated. The Suns could go ahead and still select a PG here to learn the ropes from one of the best of all time but I think the Suns are pushing hard for a playoff spot and need to add players who are ready to contribute immediately.
Spurs - Tyrese Haliburton - G - Iowa State. He has a funky shooting form that some NBA teams may want to try and revamp, but I don’t see it as an issue. He’s a do it all lead guard with premier basketball IQ and the ability to space the floor. Adding Haliburton to Murray would create a dangerous backcourt if both players live up to their potential. If the Spurs want to add a wing here, then Saddiq Bey could be a name to watch out for. But this shouldn’t be the only pick the Spurs make, they desperately need to trade Aldridge to a contender and push this rebuild forward.
Kings - Saddiq Bey - F - Villanova. Speaking of Saddiq Bey he comes off the board next to the Kings. I was originally planning on mocking a guard to the Kings as a potential replacement to Buddy Hield if he continues to pursue a trade request. But with the trade that brings Donte DiVincenzo (a strong young asset) I decided to add to the wing. But honestly this pick will be all about whose advanced stats the Kings analytics team values. They have decided to try and bring Moneyball to the NBA. So I wouldn’t be shocked to see a pick here that many experts consider to be a reach.
Pelicans - Kira Lewis Jr - G - Alabama. Well what a damn haul the Pelicans got out of the Buck for Jrue. And if by some circumstance Giannis does end up leaving the Bucks then those first rounders could be decent picks and not near the end of the first round. Lewis is a speedster with the ability to spread the floor with his 3-point shooting and should add to the great young core the Pelicans are building. They really need to add perimeter shooting to surround Zion to give him the spacing to be the explosive athlete that he is.
Celtics - Aleksej Pokusevski - F - Olympiacos. Honestly, I’ll be surprised if the Celtics actually select a player here. With the talent the team has, adding multiple first round picks shouldn’t be the priority. They should be trying to package those picks to move up in the draft or acquire a player to add to their depth. Bench scoring should be the main offseason acquisition to keep up with the revamped Bucks. Poku is a unique talent in that he’s a 7-footer who passes and shoots like a guard. In a couple years he could be a great talent in the league. But that doesn’t really fit the timeline of this team. I simply slotted my best player available to the Celtics here. Tyrell Terry could be another name to watch here because of his ability to contribute off the bench immediately.
Magic - Tyrese Maxey - G - Kentucky. This pick hurts me to make. Full disclosure I’ve been a fan of the Miami Heat my entire life and this is the guy I desperately wanted to see fall to 20. He has the potential to follow in the footsteps of other Kentucky guards who have excelled in the past few years. If his shooting picks up to the level that I think he’s capable of there’s a real chance he’s the best player out of this draft in a couple of years. Kentucky guards tend to really excel once reaching the league and this kid has all the potential in the world. He spent the majority of his year at Kentucky playing off the ball, but he has the ability to act as the lead guard. I hope I’m wrong on this pick and he somehow falls to 20, because I think he’s gonna be an All-Star in the not too distant future.
Rockets - Jalen Smith - C - Maryland. This team needs to acquire some size. Desperately. Smith fits with the culture of shooting as many threes as possible (I’m kidding here) with his sweet shooting shot. Most importantly he will provide the rim protection that the team really needs. The biggest question about the Rockets will be does one or both of the stars get traded. Personally I would try and offload Westbrook for whatever I could get and try like hell to get Harden to buy in and stop trying to leave. But who can blame him when the owner is approaching Dolan levels of ignorance.
Timberwolves - Aaron Nesmith - F - Vanderbilt. After adding Anthony Edwards earlier in the draft I have the T-Wolves selecting the best player available in Aaron Nesmith He’s a scorer with a sweet shot who can score from all over the floor. He has the potential to be the best 3-point shooter out of this draft class which is always desired in The League.
Mavericks - Desmond Bane - G - TCU. I want to clarify that I highly doubt the Mavericks actually keep this pick. I don’t even work for an NBA team and they contacted me about trying to trade out of this pick. The Mavs are wanting to make a playoff push to try and attract stars in free agency. So players who need developmental time I basically ignored and looked at players who could contribute immediately. Bane is a senior who has a highly polished game and if he were younger would be drafted much higher than he’s currently being mocked. He has a high basketball IQ and has the polish that most rookies don’t usually have until being in the league for a few years.
Nets - Isaiah Joe - G - Arkansas. This is probably my first reach that I’m predicting in this mock. I’ve seen a ton, mostly all, second round projections for Joe but that is a terrible take. As far as who the best shooter in this draft is right now it’s Joe and it’s not even close. He has one of the most flawless shots I’ve seen come into the league in years. The Nets very well could try and trade this pick for a veteran to help push a title run. But if they actually select a player here I see them pushing for a player with a higher ceiling than trying to draft a rookie who can play immediately, especially in a season with such a short offseason.
Heat - Malachi Flynn - G - San Diego State. I’m going to try my best to be unbiased here but as a Heat fan that may be hard. Flynn is a straight dog as a lead guard, which is exactly what the Heat need. Especially if Goran decides to leave as the Heat will only want to offer a one-year inflated contract to make a run at Giannis next summer. He was one of my favorite players in all of college last season and another player who would not have lasted this long if the NCAA tournament had actually been played. Now I’m losing my ability to be unbiased. The Heat are going to win the championship next year. If they had not had to deal with injuries, there is a real chance the LeLakers don’t win that series. This team over performed to what the talking heads thought they would, and I completely expect them to be back in The Finals next year, this time taking the trophy back to Miami.
76ers - Cole Anthony - G - North Carolina. Another team who probably wants to try and trade out of this pick. But adding a point guard who is capable of playing off the ball isn’t the worst idea. He has slid in this draft due to just how horrible UNC was last year, not really anything with his game. He will definitely benefit from not being the focal point on the 76ers like he was last year at UNC.
Nuggets - Precious Achiuwa - F - Memphis. The Nuggets need to add some size to their front court and they have to be thrilled Achiuwa fell to them at 22. I love the team that the Nuggets have put together. MPJ has all the makings of a star. Jamal Murray is my pick to be the breakout star of the entire league, he just has that IT factor. Pair all of that with the Joker and this team should be at the top of the West for a long time. Adding a back to the basket PF here should help the team tremendously.
Jazz - RJ Hampton - G - New Zealand Breakers. Hampton is going to be a developmental pick and is being drafted this high due to how high his ceiling, but at this point in the draft players with high ceilings are solid draft picks. Based on area of need I would try and shoehorn a frontcourt player here, like Isaiah Stewart, but decided to go with the guy with the highest ceiling still available. Drafting in the 20’s is all about trying to find upside or potential bench depth. If RJ Hampton had went to college in the States, he very well could have been a lottery pick.
Pelicans - Josh Green - G - Arizona. Adding a 3 and D player who could be a solid rotational piece early in his career with the skill set to become a starter is a solid pick for the Pelicans. Adding him along with Kira Lewis Jr the Pelicans continue to acquire young assets for when they try to go all in on a trade for another star to pair with Zion. Personally, I think the Pelicans should try their hardest to pry Bradley Beal away from the Wizards. Pairing him with Zion would make a deadly duo for years to come.
Thunder - Tre Jones - G - Duke. I love this kid and think he’s being undervalued by many. The Thunder appear to be tearing down their roster and building through the draft. Shai Gilgeous Alexander is the real deal. Adding Tre Jones to the backcourt with him is a great way to replace Dennis Schroeder. Tre took a big step forward in his sophomore season at Duke. He’s a tenacious defender who improved his shooting from his freshman year.
Celtics - Leandro Bolmaro - G - Barcelona. At some point the Celtics are going to run out of roster spots for all of these draft picks so I decided to predict them with an international player they could stash overseas for a year or two. As I said before they should try and trade this pick away, but Danny Ainge typically tries to always fleece the opposing GM so it’s hard for other teams to trade with Boston. Bolmaro has a lot of work to do on his shooting but he can make every pass on the basketball court.
Knicks - Isaiah Stewart - F - Washington. Stewart is your traditional back to the basket big man with a knack for finding the rebound. He has a high motor (I think that’s my first time dropping that line) and an aggressive nature on the defensive end that leads to blocked shots. He’s the type of player that Tom Thibodeau loves to run until his knees wear out in three years.
Thunder - Xavier Tillman - F - Michigan State. Having added a point guard earlier in this mock it allows the Thunder to bring a seasoned big man into the fold. Tillman projects as a plus defender with the ability to attack the basket. The Thunder are going young and having a guy who’s been a leader of his college team for a couple years could really help the Thunder along with their rebuild.
Raptors - Nico Mannion - G - Arizona. I love this kid. When he had just committed to Arizona as a recruit, I figured I would be mocking him as a guaranteed lottery pick. But Arizona underperformed and Mannion didn’t get his chance to shine in the NCAA Tournament. Fred VanVleet is an unrestricted free agent looking to secure his bag and Kyle Lowery isn’t a spring chicken anymore so the Raptors attempt to lock down their long term lead guard here.
Celtics - Mason Jones - G - Arkansas. I don’t even care about this pick. I’m sick and tired of predicting Celtics picks at this point. THEY SHOULD TRADE THIS PICK. Yes, I’m also aware that this is a reach and there’s practically no chance Mason is a first round draft choice. But dammit this kid is a baller. He’s one of the best shooters in the draft and is an explosive scorer. I just wanted to bring a little attention to a player who’s gonna stick in the league for a long time. Realistically Theo Maledon would have been my pick here if I wasn’t so tired of mocking players to the Celtics. And yes, that would have been my third international player I predicted the Celtics to draft. Draft and stash for the win baby.

COVID-19/Coronavirus Mega Thread

OTHER NEW THREADS

See Thread 3 for discussion of how this affects college football.
See Thread 4 for discussion of how this affects college more broadly and other sports.
See Thread 2 for a full list of universities and colleges that are moving classes online, are testing moving classes online, and/or canceled classes or closed for the semester.
Given how this is progressing and how we know users discuss campus related issues here, we've made the call to have a COVID-19/Corona Virus mega thread to share information, along the lines of our hurricane threads.
If you have additional information, message us via modmail, send a message to StrawberryTea, or comment here and we'll update this list as we can.
Thank you very much to everyone sharing links and information!!

Where is the list of schools going online?

We have reached a point where there are so many schools moving online that the list does not fit here. We have moved the list here.
We are still working to update the list and encourage you to keep talking and sharing information here.

Sources for sports news.

As per Brian Fischer: "I’m told the NCAA will work through formal language re: eligibility for players in wintespring sports over the coming days/weeks."
As per Jeff Goodman: "Oklahoma State coach Mike Boynton: Seniors, if they want, should have another year. Special permission on scholarship numbers for an unprecedented circumstance. Next year only.'”

COVID-19/Coronavirus Quarantining, Testing, and Diagnoses

Football

2 unknown football players for Tulsa are under quarantine.

Basketball

Referee from the CAA Men’s Basketball Championship tested positive.
Nebraska Basketball Coach Fred Hoiberg has the flu.
NBA player Rudy Gobert apologized for putting people at risk.

Soccer

Arsenal head coach tested positive.

Football

Schools

Baylor: Canceled ractices, official/unofficial visits.
Cincinnati: Canceled spring game.
Illinois: Canceled campus visits.
Kent State: Canceled practices and spring games.
Michigan: Canceled spring trip and spring game.
Notre Dame: Canceled all football activities, including recruiting and spring game.
Ohio State: Canceled spring game, official/unofficial visits, and [recruiting travel.
Oklahoma: Suspended spring football.
Oregon: Canceled scrimmage in Portland.
Penn State: Canceled all football activities, including spring game.
Texas: Postponed decision on spring football until after March 29.
UNM: No fans allowed at practices.
USC: Delayed spring practices.
UVA: Canceled all team activites.

Conferences

Ivy League: Canceled all practices.

All Sports or Groups of Sports

Schools

Duke: Canceled all athletic practices and events.
Kansas: Canceled all athletic travel.

Conferences

AAC: Suspended all spring sports.
ACC: Suspended all atheletic activities.
B1G: Canceled all conference and non-conference championships. Declared a dead period for on and off campus recruiting.
Big 12: Suspended all spring sports.
C-USA: Suspended all spring sports.
CAA: All spring and winter sports canceled.
CCCAA: Postponed indefinitely any practices outside of regularly scheduled classes, competitions for spring sports, and all nontraditional sports seasons.
Mountain West: Suspended all spring sports.
NESCAC (D-III): Canceled all spring sports.
Pac-12: Suspended all atheletic activities.
Patriot League: Canceled all athletic practices and competitions.
Ivy League: Canceled all spring sports.
SEC: Suspended all events, championships, and recruiting.

NCAA

Canceled all remaining winter and spring championships.

Other

The state of Ohio has made all athletic events closed to the public.

Other Sports

Basketball

March Madness is canceled.
AAC tournament canceled.
ACC tournament canceled.
CBI tournament canceled.
Big 10 tournament canceled.
Big 12 tournament canceled.
Big East tournament canceled.
Big Sky tournament canceled.
Ivy League tournament canceled.
MAC tournament canceled.
NBA season suspended.
NCAA - D-III women's sectional closed to the public.
NIT tournament closed to the public.
PAC-12 tournament canceled.
Patriot League women's tournament canceled.
SEC tournament canceled.
Sun Belt tournament canceled.
WAC tournament canceled.

Baseball

MLB spring training canceled, season moved back two weeks.
NCAA finals canceled.

Curling

Women's World Championship canceled.

Golf

Hawkeye El Tigre Invitational cancelled.
Men's NCAA finals canceled.
PGA Tour events through Valero Texas Open canceled.
Players Championship canceled after one round.
Women's NCAA finals canceled.

Gymnastics

NCAA gymnastics regionals, nationals, and championships closed to the public.

Hockey

ACHA championship tournament canceled.
Atlantic Hockey tournament canceled.
ECAC tournament canceled.
Hockey East tournament canceled.
NCAA hockey regionals and championships closed to the public.
NCHC tournament canceled. Road teams returning home.
NHL season suspended.
WCHA tournament canceled.

Lacrosse

Men's NCAA finals canceled.
Women's NCAA semi-finals and finals canceled.

Rowing

NCAA finals canceled.

Soccer

MLS season suspended.
Premier League matches will go ahead this weekend as scheduled.
USL Championship soccer suspended.
USMNT/USWNT soccer matches canceled.

Softball

NCAA finals canceled.

Tennis

Men's NCAA finals canceled.
Women's NCAA finals canceled.

Track & Field

NCAA Indoor Championships closed to the public.
NCAA Men's Outdoor finals canceled.
NCAA Women's Outdoor finals canceled.

Wrestling

NCAA Championships canceled.

Marathons

Boston Marathon postponed until September.

Useful Resources

CDC (Easier to remember link: coronavirus.gov.)
CDC Facts Page
WHO
WHO Myth Busters
Ready.gov information on pandemic preparation.
CDC Information for Colleges & Universities
Johns Hopkins is tracking worldwide cases, deaths, and recoveries.
NYT is tracking US cases.
WHO has officially declared this a pandemic.
"How emergency declarations are helping governments respond to COVID-19"
"Flatten the curve."
Handy images: English; Spanish

Things You Can Do

Wash your hands. (Wash them for at least 20 seconds with soap and water. Wash them especially after going to the bathroom, before eating, after touching your face, and after you cough/sneeze.)
Use hand sanitizer if you can't wash your hands.
Avoid touching your face, especially nose, mouth, and eyes. (Yes, it's harder than you think.)
Avoid sick people. (If you're around someone who may be sick, stay 3-6 feet away from them.)
Stay home if you are sick. (This is to help protect those that are vulnerable to complications.)
Cover a cough or sneeze with your elbow or a tissue. Dispose of the tissue, then wash your hands.
Clean and disinfect surfaces and areas, especially high touch areas like doorknobs.
Call your provider before coming in when sick. (This allows them to plan and help keep you away from others to minimize risk of it spreading.)
Don't go to the hospital or urgent care unless the severity level of illness would bring you there normally.
You only need a facemask if you are sick or if you are caring for a sick person.
Get a flu shot. (No, this will not give you immunity to COVID-19, but it will help you avoid or get a weaker case of the flu, which leaves your immune system better off for fighting COVID-19.)
Listen to instructions given by university, government, and emergency management officials.
Buy supplies as needed, including prescription and over the counter medications, food, and water.

Additional Notes

So far, the elderly and people who have underlying medical conditions (or people in both categories) seem to be the most vulnerable to this. Be sure to take extra precautions if you are, if you live with, or if you are often around the elderly, asthmatics, people with heart or lung conditions, people with other underlying medical conditions, or people who may be immunodeficient due to underlying medical issues or treatments.
If you are asthmatic, have a heart or lung condition, have another underlying health condition, or are immunodeficient due to existing illness or treatment, know your action plan. Have medication on hand, including daily, weekly, or as needed meds and supplies to counteract symptoms like fever, cough, etc. Have information on hand about your existing conditions and medication list. Talk to your doctors as needed. Know what office/location you would call and potentially go to if you get sick. (Note: all of these steps are good ideas for anyone, but especially for more vulnerable or at risk people and those around them.)

**REMEMBER: Wash your hands, watch your sources.**

Thread last updated, March 13, 10:15 AM ET.

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