Photo: GettyImages Shooting has never been more polarizing in the NBA, and the talent around the league has never been more absurd. Gone are the days when being called a great shooter simply meant standing behind the three-point line and waiting for an open look. Today’s best marksmen are elite from the mid-range, pulling up from the logo, sprinting to get open off screens, burying contested jumpers and torching defenders from all-three levels. There are catch-and-shoot speci

by Zak Drapeau and Matt Hylen Sportz Nation - 9/11/2026 In our FN Paris Hooker v Parnasse Predictions, which you can find here, Zak went 4-2 in picks with 4 method for 8 points. Matt went 3-3 in picks with 2 method for 5 points. Points To Date: Zak: 178 (118-66) Matt: 160 (104-74) *All odds courtesy of Caesar's Sportsbook on 9/11 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Photo Credits to Cooper Neill/ Zuffa LLC via Getty Images 6Jean Silva vs Jose Delgado (Silva -420) Zak Dra

by Zak Drapeau Sportz Nation - 9/12/2026 Photo Credits to Jonathan Jones via Getty Images New Orleans Saints @ Detroit Lions (Lions -7) This game has one of the largest spreads of the weekend and that comes from the better team over the past few years being at home; the Detroit Lions. After a down year in 2025, the Lions will look to get back to their "trench-heavy" style of play on both sides of the ball against a Saints team that are more of a pass heavy team. The Saints ha

by Zak Drapeau Sportz Nation - 9/10/2026 Check out my CFB Week 1 Review and updated Top-25 (and Next 5) list here Week 2 of College Football starts tonight and with it comes a HUGE weekend of football. There are at least 5 games that could shape the rest of the college football season this week including a Top-5 clash with two Heisman favorites. After an eventful Week 1 that saw National championship contenders assert their dominanace, three Top-25 schools lose and one of the

by Zak Drapeau and Matt Hylen Sportz Nation - 9/9/2026 Quarterbacks Start 'Em Photo Credit to Jeferee Woo via Tampa Bay Times Baker Mayfield vs CIN Now that his contract dispute is officially come to an end, Baker Mayfield can put his full focus towards his week one matchup against the Bengals. Sure, the Bengals' defensive line has improved and Mayfield lost his #1 target in Mike Evans, but I still believe this game has all the makings to be high scoring. I do not trust the B

by Zak Drapeau and Matt Hylen Sportz Nation - 9/8/2026 Photo Credits to Jeff Bottari via Zuffa LLC Salahdine Parnasse vs 6Benoit Saint Denis Zak Drapeau - Welcome to the UFC Salahdine Parnasse! We were expecting a lot from the French superstar in his UFC debut and a brutal sub-3 minute knockout of Dan Hooker was exactly what we wanted. Parnasse debuts in the Lightweight rankings at #9 and should definitely get a fight up in the rankings next. Saint Denis makes a lot of sense

Photo: Brian Spurlock-USAToday Another week, another flashback into the past. This time, the time machine is taking us all the way back to 2015—more than a full decade removed from when some of the best high-school basketball players in America shared the floor as teenagers with the basketball world at their feet. Most of these guys were attached to enormous expectations. Five-star recruits. Future lottery picks. Supposed franchise prodigies. But ten years is more than enough

by Zak Drapeau Sportz Nation - 9/8/2026 Zak's Top-25 Updated 1. Ohio State (1-0) /\1 2. Georgia (1-0) /\1 3. Oregon (1-0) \/2 4. Texas (1-0) /\1 5. Miami (1-0) /\2 6. Indiana (1-0) -- 7. LSU (1-0) /\3 8. Notre Dame (1-0) \/4 9. Texas A&M (1-0) \/1 10. Oklahoma (1-0) /\1 11. Ole Miss (1-0) /\2 12. USC (2-0) /\2 13. Alabama (1-0) \/1 14. Texas Tech (1-0) \/5 15. BYU (1-0) /\1 16. Penn State (1-0) /\2 17. Washington (1-0) -- 18. SMU (1-0) /\2 19. Florida

by Zak Drapeau and Matt Hylen Sportz Nation - 9/4/2026 In our FN Nurmagomedov v Yadong Predictions, which you can find here, Zak went 5-1 in picks with 4 method for 9 points. Matt went 4-2 in picks with 3 method for 7 points. Points To Date: Zak: 170 (114-64) Matt: 155 (101-71) *All odds courtesy of Caesar's Sportsbook on 9/3 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Graphic Credit to UFC via UFC.com 10Dan Hooker vs Salahdine Parnasse (Parnasse -600) Zak Drapeau - Truth be to

Photo: Tony Guiterrez-AP The future of basketball isn’t approaching—it’s already here. Across the league, the next generation of stars is kicking down the door, taking over franchises and, in some cases, already battling the game’s best players for NBA supremacy. We’re talking freak athletes, walking triple-doubles, defensive monsters, fearless scorers and young franchise players who somehow still have years before they even enter their primes. With so much young talent flood

by Zak Drapeau Sportz Nation - 9/1/2026 Photo Credits to Williams Navarro via Imagn Images Above Everyone Else 1. Los Angeles Rams ESPN Rank: 1 Super Bowl Odds: +500 Key to Season: Not underperforming The Rams added Myles Garrett, Trent McDuffie and Aaron Donald on the defensive end while keeping their offensive talent and adding Kliff Kingsbury as assistant Head Coach for a little extra fire power in the passing game. They were already one of the favorites before their histo

Photo: John Raoux/AP The 2022 NBA Draft is loaded with star power. Headlined by 6'10" Duke phenom Paolo Banchero, this particular class entered the league with plenty of hype surrounding its top prospects. Chet Holmgren looked like one of the most unique big-man prospects basketball had seen in years, Jabari Smith Jr. put Auburn on the map, and names like Jaden Ivey and Shaedon Sharpe gave the lottery plenty of intrigue beyond the top three. Four years later, we're starting t

by Zak Drapeau and Matt Hylen Sportz Nation - 9/1/2026 Photo Credits to Xinhua via IMAGO Song Yadong vs Merab Dvalishvili Matt Hylen - After a knockout like that against an opponent like Umar Nurmagomedov, Song Yadong has officially solidified himself as one of the top-2 contenders in the division, alongside Sean O'Malley. His performance on Saturday night was absolutely spectacular; he did not let anything get to him, stayed composed, and ultimately sent Umar Nurmagomedov in

by Zak Drapeau Sportz Nation - 8/29/2026 Aidan Lambert will be the first to tell you he's not a normal fighter. In fact in his own words he's "nerdy." When the Fall River native traveled to Chile in August for the WAKO Pan American Championships, they weren't calling him a "nerd". They called him "Gold Medal Champion". Aidan with his Gold Medal and Team USA teammates When he's not in school, in Massachusetts state police academy, or working on cars, Aidan Lambert is one of th

by Zak Drapeau and Matt Hylen Sportz Nation - 8/28/2026 In our FN Hernandez v Rodrigues Predictions, which you can find here, Zak went 3-3 in picks with 0 method for 3 points. Matt went 2-4 in picks with 1 method for 3 points. Points To Date: Zak: 161 (109-63) Matt: 148 (97-69) *All odds courtesy of Caesar's Sportsbook on 8/27 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Graphic Credit to UFC via fighting.dk 3Umar Nurmagomedov vs 6Song Yadong (Nurmagomedov -600) Zak Drapeau - The craz

by Zak Drapeau Sportz Nation - 8/28/2026 10. Wyatt Young 6'0" 195 lbs. Oklahoma St Pro Comparison John Metchie 2025 Overview Young went from an okay freshman season to an absolute breakout year in 2025 at North Texas and one of the best slot receivers in all of FBS. Young didn't truly gain WR1 favor until Week 6 but once he did he was unguardable. He had 5 games over 100 yards in a 6 week period including 9-190-1 and 8-295-2 performances against admittedly weaker teams in Cha

Photo: Antoine Crowley-AP Some players spend their entire careers building a legacy in one city. These guys practically collected boarding passes. They’ve been traded, waived, signed, re-signed and shipped across the league more times than they can probably count. They’ve gone from starters to sixth men, contenders to rebuilds, fan favorites in one city to forgotten veterans in the next. But through every new jersey, new locker room and new role, they found a way to stick aro

by Zak Drapeau Sportz Nation - 8/27/2026 Welcome to Draft Season! Technically the new draft season starts the day after the NFL Draft but with the College Football season set to kick off tomorrow and the NFL season only 2 weeks away, I'm using this timeline to start my official Draft Content for the 2027 season. Draft content will start with this Mock Draft but as my content showed last year, I will be again prioritizing player evaluations and team makeup over Mock Draft exer

by Zak Drapeau Sportz Nation - 8/26/2026 Photo Credits to Jamie Rhodes via Imagn Images 10. Isaac Brown 5'9" 190 lbs. Louisville Pro Comparison Bucky Irving 2025 Overview Brown was starting 2025 pretty good before a hamstring injury would keep him out of 5 games towards the end of the season. In the 3 games before his injury, Brown was TORCHING ACC defenses for 150 yards per game and 10 yards per carry. He would even return for Louisville's final game of the season and went

by Zak Drapeau Sportz Nation - 8/25/2026 Photo Credits to Ricardo B. Brazziell/The Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images College Football will return this Saturday with the Aer Lingus College Football Classic in Dublin, Ireland between TCU and North Carolina at Noon. The rest of the schedule for "Week 0" is only 7 more games in the FBS including only 1 consensus Top-25 team. Even though we won't see most of the teams we are most excited about this week, let's give the