The Madness Continues...
ZWF #6: Sunday, March 20, 2022
Happy first day of Spring! And happy first weekend of March Madness! The NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament got underway on Thursday, and play continues today for the fourth straight day. As always, unexpected upsets have shocked the college basketball world and have ruined everyone’s brackets (including Zander’s.)
This week’s Zander’s Weekend Facts will give an update on the tournament with the first weekend coming to a close. Plus, the latest from Ukraine along with headlines from the past week you’ll want to know about.
Also, you should go listen to Episode 57 of the Zander’s Facts Podcast! This week, Zander’s Facts’ bracket aficionado Andrew joined the pod as he and I unveiled our tournament brackets. There were a ton of facts about all the teams that you will want to know. Download and listen to the Zander’s Facts Podcast wherever you get your podcasts!
The goal of Zander’s Weekend Facts is to give you the facts about anything going on in the world around us. You’ll just have to read these facts, instead of listening to them on the Zander’s Facts Podcast.
Here are Zander’s Weekend Facts for Sunday, March 20, 2022:
An Update on the Madness
We are three days into this year‘s college basketball postseason tournament, and the madness has not disappointed. On NCAA.com, there were no perfect brackets left even before the first round concluded on Friday. There have been upsets galore as always, and fans are back in the stands for the first time since the 2019 tournament. Here is how the bracket stands as of Sunday morning:
One of the major upsets included 15 seed Saint Peter’s defeating 2 seed Kentucky in the first round in the East region. It was only the tenth time a 15 seed had beaten a two seed. In fact, it was the second straight season that had occurred, as 15 seed Oral Roberts defeated 2 seed Ohio State in the 2021 tournament. Like Oral Roberts, Saint Peter’s also advanced to the sweet sixteen, after beating 7 seed Murray State in the second round. The Peacocks are only the third 15 seed to ever make it to the second weekend of the tournament. Additionally, their victory over Kentucky was historic financially. Kentucky’s men’s basketball budget is 11.4 times higher than Saint Peter's, the largest financial upset in the tournament since 2007 when data was available.
Another historic upset took place Saturday, with 1 seed Baylor falling to 8 seed North Carolina in the second round. That was the 33rd game of the tournament, the second-fastest a 1 seed has been knocked out since the tournament expanded to 64 teams. The fastest was 2018 Virginia when they lost to 16 seed UMBC in the first round.
Today makes the final day of the second round, with teams vying for a spot in next week’s sweet sixteen round. Here are the second round games happening today:
5 Houston vs 4 Illinois
South Region - 12:15pm - CBS
10 Ohio State vs 2 Villanova
South Region - 2:45pm - CBS
7 Michigan State vs 2 Duke
West Region - 5:15pm - CBS
11 Iowa State vs 3 Wisconsin
Midwest Region - 6:10pm - TNT
11 Notre Dame vs 3 Texas Tech
West Region - 7:10pm - TBS
10 Miami vs 2 Auburn
Midwest Region - 7:45pm - truTV
6 Texas vs 3 Purdue
East Region - 8:40pm - TNT
9 TCU vs 1 Arizona
South Region - 9:40pm - TBS
The sweet sixteen tips off this Thursday and Friday, while the elite eight will be held Saturday and Sunday.
The Latest on Ukraine
The Russian invasion of Ukraine began almost one month ago, and the Ukranian government continues to rule over the country. With Russian forces not advancing as quickly as Russian President Vladimir Putin has wanted, it appears that Russia is now using harsher tactics and weaponry. Here is the latest on the situation in Ukraine:
There have been several stories over the last few days and weeks of Russian forces targeting Ukranian citizens. On Sunday, Ukraine said Russia attacked an art school in the city of Mariupol, where 400 civilians were seeking shelter. Here is the latest from NPR:
On Monday, a Russian attack near the Ukranian capital of Kyiv left two Fox News employees dead while another was injured. Pierre Zakrzewski, a 55-year-old photojournalist and Oleksandra Kuvshynova, a 24-year-old journalist, were killed, while correspondent Benjamin Hall was injured.
On Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed Congress via video call to continue his calls for American assistance for Ukraine. Zelensky spoke in Ukrainian for most of his speech, using a translator to communicate his speech to the American audience. However, he also spoke in English at the end of his speech as he pleaded with President Biden for additional assistance. Here are some takeaways from his speech:
Zander’s Facts Sporting Club
It was another big week around the sporting world. Here are some of the stories that might draw your interest:
WNBA star Brittney Griner has been detained in Russia since February, it was recently revealed. Griner was stopped in a Russian airport as officials found vape cartridges that contained hashish oil in her luggage. The Phoenix Mercury star’s sentence was recently extended until May 19, as relations between the United States and Russia continue to deteriorate.
Former Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson was traded to the Cleveland Browns on Friday. This past week, a Texas grand jury declined to indict Watson on criminal charges related to 22 lawsuits alleging Watson of sexual assault and inappropriate conduct during massage sessions. Despite not being indicted, Watson can still be suspended by the NFL.
The NFL offseason news continues, as Green Pay Packers wide reciever Davante Adams was traded to the Las Vegas Raiders. Adams and the Packers could not reach a long-term deal, and Adams did not want to play on the one-year franchise tag. Adams will sign a new deal with the Raiders to make him the highest-payed wide reciever in the NFL.
As the round of 16 concluded, the UEFA Champions League held its draw on Friday to determine the matchups for the quarterfinals. Similar to the round of 16, the quarterfinals are held in two legs, with the aggregate winner moving on to the semifinals. Chelsea will face Real Madrid while Manchester City will face Atletico Madrid. The winners of those two matchups will face each other in the semifinals. Additionally, Villareal will face Bayern Munich and Benfica will face Liverpool, with the winners of those two matchups facing each other in the semifinals. The quarterfinals’ first leg will take place on April 5 and 6, while the second leg takes place a week later.
Saturday night, Los Angeles Laker LeBron James took second place on the NBA’s all-time scoring list. James passed hall of famer Karl Malone to take second place on the list. James scored 38 points in last night’s game against the Washington Wizards, with the Lakers losing 127-119. James has scored 36,909 points in his career, now less than 1,500 points from all-time scoring leader Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who scored 38,387 points in his career.
Rapid-fire Facts
With the news in Ukraine rapidly changing, some other news may have flown over your head. These are some of the top stories from the past week:
On Tuesday, the Senate unanimously passed a bill that would keep daylight savings time for the entire year. While the bill would allow for later sunsets during the winter months, it would also make for later sunrises in the mornings. Some areas of the United States would not see the sunrise until past 9:00 am in late December and early January. The bill now goes to the House, where it is expected to pass with bipartisan support, and would need approval from President Biden to become law.
The longest-serving member of the current Congress, Alaska representative Don Young, passed away at the age of 88 on Friday. Young had served as Alaska’s lone member of the House of Representatives since 1973.
On Thursday, Amazon announced it has closed an $8.5 billion deal to acquire movie studio MGM. MGM’s library includes over 4,000 movies and 17,000 tv shows, including the “James Bond” franchise, “Rocky,” “Legally Blonde,” and others. Amazon made the move to better compete with streaming rivals Netflix, Disney, and others, in a hope to bolster its Prime Video streaming service.
Pretty soon, you may not be able to continue sharing your Netflix password with others, or if you do, you’ll be charged extra. Netflix announced this week that it is testing a way to crackdown on password-sharing in Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru. Netflix will reportedly begin charging user $3 more per month for an additional two users who access the service from a different location than the main user.
Wrapping up
Before this week’s edition of Zander’s Weekend Facts wraps up, here’s another reminder to check out the latest episode of the Zander’s Facts Podcast. Download and listen to Episode 57 wherever you get your podcasts. Check out Zander’s Facts’ Linktree page for more on anything Zander’s Facts related: Zander's Facts on Linktree
Sadly, there will not be a new edition of the Zander’s Facts Podcast this week. This is a great opportunity, however, to go back and check out any episodes of the podcast you may have missed! Plus, a ZF Flashback featuring a segment from a previous episode will be released on the podcast feed this Wednesday.
Do remember to check out the next edition of Zander’s Weekend Facts next Sunday! If you haven’t already, make sure to sign up with the link below to get Zander’s Weekend Facts in your inbox every Sunday so you don’t miss anything!
That’s a wrap on this edition of Zander’s Weekend Facts. The Facts in print return next Sunday, March 27, 2022.
