The Sportsletter - Upsets, Gauntlets & Fairytales

BY JEFF YODER

JAN. 15, 2025 | SUBSCRIBE | WEB VIEW

Good Morning 👋

After five straight nights of action-packed playoffs, we’re taking a quick break from the football coverage. Today’s mid-week mix has a little bit of everything, from early upsets at the Australian Open to a Premier League fairytale, SEC basketball, Tiger's TGL debut, and much more.

Letter Rip!

PICKS 🏈

The Sportsletter's Playoff Pick 'Em

Our 75 finalists received their invites to The Sportsletter’s NFL Playoff Pick ‘Em yesterday. Only those 75 (top-5 finishers during the regular season) are eligible for the grand prize following Super Bowl LIX, but you can still play along (for fun and bragging rights).

Still Want to Play?

🏈 The Sportsletter's Playoff Pick ‘Em

Editor's Note: This is the general audience pick ‘em contest. No prizes will be awarded (just bragging rights). If you were one of the top-5 weekly winners during the regular season, please check your email for the separate *invite only* competition link.

TENNIS 🎾

Melbourne Madness 🚨

Photo: Daniel Pockett / Getty Images

Australian Open: 97th-Ranked Laura Siegemund Stuns Women’s 5-Seed & Gold Medalist Qinwen Zheng

It’s not quite March Madness when it comes to seeding at tennis slams, but Cinderella stories are abundant in the early rounds of this year’s Australian Open. Less than a day after 18-year-old Brazilian Joao Fonseca swept #9 Andrey Rublev in the men’s draw, another stunner went down on Tuesday in women's singles…

🚨 36-year-old Laura Siegemund shocked the women’s 5-seed Qinwen Zheng in straight sets (7-6, 6-3). Zheng won the gold medal last summer at the Paris Olympics for China. She also finished runner-up in Melbourne last year, but she’s the first top-five player to exit the AUS Open in 2025. Siegemund, on the other hand, was ranked 97th out of 128 players! She has more than a dozen doubles titles in her pro career, but she’s never won a singles slam (or even cracked the quarterfinals).

🎾 Australian Open Notes & Highlights

Osaka Survives #20 Muchova (1-6, 6-1, 6-3)

#7 Pegula Sweeps Mertens (6-4, 6-2)

#3 Alcaraz Brushes Off Nishioka (6-0, 6-1, 6-4)

Yahoo! Sports: Naomi Osaka Reaches 3rd Round of a Grand Slam for First Time in 3 Years

NCAA

Top-5 Tumblers: The SEC Gauntlet

Photo: James Gilbert / Getty Images

The SEC is a Warzone — Missouri Upsets #5 Florida (83-82) & #21 Ole Miss Downs #4 Alabama (74-64)

A handful of must-see games took center stage on another “Super Tuesday” last night in college basketball. Blowouts in the Big Ten and ACC were noteworthy, sure, but the juggernaut conference right now is a no-brainer. Not one, but two top-5 road upsets took place last night in the SEC. Missouri shot lights out to take down #5 Florida in the swamp (83-82) thanks to six 3s off the bench from Caleb Grill (22 points). A few hours west, #21 Ole Miss outplayed #4 Alabama (74-64) in the Chris Beard vs. Nate Oats coaching showdown. That was entertaining. Elsewhere in the crazy conference, #1 Auburn and #8 Kentucky were also double-digit winners.

The SEC Gauntlet: The conference currently accounts for nine of the AP Top-25 teams (36%). Three more programs are 13-3 or better (and not ranked). Could we see 10, 11 or 12 SEC teams make the NCAA Tournament?

🏀 Men’s NCAA Highlights

#1 Auburn def. #15 Miss. State (88-66)

#3 Duke def. Miami (89-54)

#21 Ole Miss def. #4 Alabama (74-64)

Missouri def. #5 Florida (83-82)

#7 Marquette def. DePaul (85-83, OT)

#8 Kentucky def. #11 Texas A&M (81-69)

#19 Illinois def. Indiana (94-69)

#24 Wisconsin def. Ohio State (70-68)

SPORTS

Mid-Week Mix: Lightning Round ⚡️

Photos: Robbie Jay-Barrat, Darcy Finley & Carmen Mandato / Getty Images

⚽️ EPL: Forest's Fairytale Season Continues

It’s been a fairytale start to the Premier League season for little Nottingham Forest. They played league leaders Liverpool to a 1-1 draw on Tuesday thanks to Chris Wood’s early finish (8th minute). Forest (12-5-4) moved up to No. 2 in the EPL table. They've finished in the Premier League’s upper echelon just once in club history (3rd; 1995).

🏒 NHL: Kyle Connor Nets 13-Minute Hat Trick

A whopping 13 NHL games took the ice last night, and that's about how many minutes it took one skater to put a hat trick on the board. Jets’ winger Kyle Connor scored a natural hat trick in the first 13:37 of Winnipeg’s win against the Canucks (6-1). Goals No. 2 and 3 came just 36 seconds apart, and he also added an assist. The Jets are once again tied for the league lead in the NHL (63 pts).

🏀 NBA: Jimmy Butler Turns Up the Heat

The NBA trade deadline is fast approaching (Feb. 6), and there’s no debate which player is the focal point. Jimmy Butler reportedly spoke to the Miami Heat brass again this week to reiterate his desire to be traded ASAP. Butler hasn’t played since Jan. 2 after the team suspended him. Miami is clearly holding on to try and drive up the price.

⛳️ TGL: Tiger Gets Blown Out in TGL Debut

Match No. 2 in the TGL series marked the debut for Tiger Woods and Jupiter Links vs. Collin Morikawa and Los Angeles Golf Club. Woods enjoyed himself in an entertaining night, but the wheels quickly fell off for Team Jupiter. LAGC won the match easily (12-1), but there were a lot of laughs and viral moments in this one.

🏈 CFB: Shrinking the Transfer Portal

College football coaches voted on Tuesday to recommend the sport shrink the length of the transfer portal dates. The proposed change would reduce the transfer window from 30 days (20 days in December and 10 days in April) to a single 10-day window in January. The move would help coaches maneuver the chaos currently ravaging their rosters.

NEWS 📰

🏈 Jerry Jones Speaks With Deion Sanders About Cowboys Coaching Job (ESPN)

🏈 Eagles Coach Nick Sirianni Defends WR A.J. Brown After Viral Reading Video (B/R)

🏈 Lions RB David Montgomery Listed as Full Participant in Practice Before Playoff Game (Yahoo! Sports)

⚾️ MLB International Free Agency Opens Today With Roki Sasaki Up for Grabs (CBS Sports)

🏒 Penguins’ Star Evgeni Malkin Missing 3 Stanley Cup Rings After Home Burglary (ESPN)

🏀 Indiana Students Chant ‘Fire Woodson’ Amid Hoosiers’ 26-Point Blowout Loss to Illinois (SI)

SCHEDULE 🗓️

Tonight's Must-Watch List

🎾 Australian Open

Round 2 (Overnight, ESPN/Tennis Channel)

Match Schedule