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.

[D3BBALL]

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

There are bunch of places you can go. Irish bar, Mexican just walk around you will find one you like.

[Greek Tragedy]

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

There are bunch of places you can go. Irish bar, Mexican just walk around you will find one you like.

I was curious about an unofficial designated place that fans hangout at, not just any place. If you've ever been to the Final Four in Salem, Mac & Bob's was that place.

[D3BBALL]

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

There are bunch of places you can go. Irish bar, Mexican just walk around you will find one you like.

I was curious about an unofficial designated place that fans hangout at, not just any place. If you've ever been to the Final Four in Salem, Mac & Bob's was that place.

Not sure on that. Parents hang out at hotels as Ryan said. Unless a local team is here, like Trine a few years ago, not a ton of fans come out.

[Greek Tragedy]

Were the Elite 8 games behind a paywall? If so, ridiculous!

There were four outstanding games yesterday. 3 of the 4 really went down to the wire while the Chicago v Mary Washington was still in doubt late in the game. Some outstanding individual performances as well.

https://www.d3hoops.com/seasons/men/2025-26/schedule?date=20260319

The most exciting game was the IWU v Emory game with Mason Funk putting on a show and Emory being Emory.

Trinity v Tufts was a real physical grind.

St.Thomas missed a ton of FTs in a defensive battle.

Chicago v Mary Washington was a battle of height vs quickness. Balanced scoring was also the name of the game with both teams having 4 players in double-figures.


Two great games tomorrow with Emory v CNU and Trinity v Mary Washington, along with the all-star game.

I'm going Emory v Trinity heading to Indy.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

ESPN+ has the right to every game of the d3 tournament.  They can put them all behind a paywall.  They don't do it early, because they want a level of production our schools can't generally provide.

However, bringing the final eight to the site of the final four, where they're already bringing in a production crew, it made sense for them to broadcast the games on their platform.  They're already paying for the rights anyway.

[Greek Tragedy]

Looks like you can sign up for a 5 day trial on Fubo and get ESPN