2026 NCAA Tournament

[Greek Tragedy]

Are there any Mac & Bob's-type places in Fort Wayne that fans are going to?

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Are there any Mac & Bob's-type places in Fort Wayne that fans are going to?

We tend to hang out at the hotel restaurants downtown.  Henry's is a few blocks from the team hotels and stays open late.  Folks tend to hang out there as well.

[BaboNation]

On the eve of tomorrow's games it seems to me that if you take a step back and appreciate what Tufts is doing across men's sports if they go on to win the championship then the university can claim something akin to the Tiger Slam.

Consider what trophies they'd currently retain:

Soccer
Lacrosse (2 x defending champs and probably safe to pencil them in for this year's as well)
Basketball (TBD)

So, you might say that's only 3 sports, whereas Tiger won all 4 majors.  True, but a championship in all 3 collegiate seasons (fall, winter, and spring) is pretty special.  Tiger only won in 2 seasons.  I'd need to see him tame Bethpage Black in February.

Meanwhile, the Tufts Baseball team has started 7-1, Massey #9.  Don't sleep on that team or their coach.

And then of course the conference is going to begin competing in the Football playoffs in 2026.  They aren't a powerhouse in that sport yet, but it won't hurt recruiting to know that playoffs are now in the offing.

[blue_jays]

On the eve of tomorrow's games it seems to me that if you take a step back and appreciate what Tufts is doing across men's sports if they go on to win the championship then the university can claim something akin to the Tiger Slam.

Consider what trophies they'd currently retain:

Soccer
Lacrosse (2 x defending champs and probably safe to pencil them in for this year's as well)
Basketball (TBD)

So, you might say that's only 3 sports, whereas Tiger won all 4 majors.  True, but a championship in all 3 collegiate seasons (fall, winter, and spring) is pretty special.  Tiger only won in 2 seasons.  I'd need to see him tame Bethpage Black in February.

Meanwhile, the Tufts Baseball team has started 7-1, Massey #9.  Don't sleep on that team or their coach.

And then of course the conference is going to begin competing in the Football playoffs in 2026.  They aren't a powerhouse in that sport yet, but it won't hurt recruiting to know that playoffs are now in the offing.

Tufts is on a great run across the board in athletics. They've emerged as a legit national power in most of their sports and seem to be only going up.

However, nothing will touch what Wisconsin-Whitewater did in the 2013-14 academic year: they won national title in football, men's basketball, and baseball. A truly unbelievable feat.

[BaboNation]

On the eve of tomorrow's games it seems to me that if you take a step back and appreciate what Tufts is doing across men's sports if they go on to win the championship then the university can claim something akin to the Tiger Slam.

Consider what trophies they'd currently retain:

Soccer
Lacrosse (2 x defending champs and probably safe to pencil them in for this year's as well)
Basketball (TBD)

So, you might say that's only 3 sports, whereas Tiger won all 4 majors.  True, but a championship in all 3 collegiate seasons (fall, winter, and spring) is pretty special.  Tiger only won in 2 seasons.  I'd need to see him tame Bethpage Black in February.

Meanwhile, the Tufts Baseball team has started 7-1, Massey #9.  Don't sleep on that team or their coach.

And then of course the conference is going to begin competing in the Football playoffs in 2026.  They aren't a powerhouse in that sport yet, but it won't hurt recruiting to know that playoffs are now in the offing.

Tufts is on a great run across the board in athletics. They've emerged as a legit national power in most of their sports and seem to be only going up.

However, nothing will touch what Wisconsin-Whitewater did in the 2013-14 academic year: they won national title in football, men's basketball, and baseball. A truly unbelievable feat.

Without doing a deep dive I'll concede that UW-W is the current gold standard. But I think Tufts would be in the same conversation if they were to win MBB this year.

Going forward there's no getting around the NESCAC dominance in team sports once they've entered the playoff picture in sports:  Soccer, Lacrosse, Basketball, Hockey (legendary runs with Middlebury; recently not so much).  Baseball is probably an outlier, although the '08 Trinity team (with which I have some familiarity) is arguably the greatest modern-era team across any NESCAC sport. Football will be interesting.  It may take a while, but I believe they'll be a factor.

As a fan of a team that goes head to head with NESCAC teams and competes with those teams in recruiting I respect their achievements and never underestimate their power.