NCCA TOURNAMENT 2025 – THE SPORTS ROOM

Amazon’s best-selling item is Kentucky’s secret weapon

Will Sutton — Tue, 25 Mar 2025 09:33:47 +0000

A random anecdote from the Kentucky men’s basketball team during March Madness has sent a cereal brand’s stock skyrocketing.

3rd-seeded Kentucky punched their ticket to the Sweet 16 on Sunday by beating 6th-seeded Illinois 84-75 in their NCAA Tournament second-round matchup at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wis. After they took a 6-5 lead in the opening minutes, the Wildcats never trailed in the contest.

At the team’s news conference following the game, Kentucky head coach Mark Pope said one of his players was fueled by an English cereal called Weetabix. Before Sunday’s game, Pope pushed English-born Kentucky center Amari Williams to share how Kentucky workers located boxes of the English cereal for Williams.

The whole-grain cereal’s sales soared on Amazon after Kentucky’s story went viral on social media. Weetabix became the best-selling cereal on the site in just one day.

Like the “Secret Stuff” from the movie “Space Jam,” Weetabix seemed to fuel Williams in the contest. He recorded 10 rebounds and 3 blocks while serving as Kentucky’s defensive anchor.

There’s a reason Wheaties became known for putting top-performing athletes on the cover of their cereal boxes. While fans can’t throw a football or swing a bat as well as their favorite players, they can at least eat the same breakfast as them. Big Blue Nation wanted to get a taste of what Williams was having.

Before scoring the game-winning shot, Derik Queen of Maryland sent a five-word offensive message

Will Sutton — Mon, 24 Mar 2025 07:45:00 +0000

Derik Queen was taking the final shot for Maryland on Sunday at all costs.

4th-seeded Maryland trailed 12th-seeded Colorado State 71-70 with 3.7 seconds left in their second-round NCAA Tournament matchup at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, Wash. With a potential upset looming, Queen stepped up for the Terrapins.

Queen received the sideline inbound at the top of the key and quickly made his move toward the basket. The Maryland freshman banked in a fallaway shot over Rams senior Ethan Morton just as time expired. The Terrapins won 72-71.

Here’s an even better angle of Queen’s dagger.

During his postgame interview, Maryland head coach Kevin Willard shared Queen’s profane message in the Terrapins’ huddle moments before the play. Willard made sure to clean it up for the viewers watching at home.

“I asked everybody,” Willard told the interviewer. “I said, ‘Who wants the ball?’ And [Derik Queen] said, ‘Give me the MF ball.’”

Queen scored a game-high 17 points on 7/12 shooting from the floor to power his team to the Sweet 16. The freshman phenom is expected to be a lottery pick in the upcoming 2025 NBA draft if he were to leave school early. But even if Queen ends up playing just one season at Maryland, the man’s name will forever be etched in program history.