Dan Johnson has been an editor, writer, and analyst for DraftKings and DraftKings Network since 2024. He’s previously held editorial posts at The Paris Review, Macmillan Publishers, Bedford/St. Martin’s Press, ASSIGNMENT Magazine, and FantasySixPack. You can find his various editorial work & writing (sports-related and non-) at all of the above.
No. 2 seed Hawaii walks into Friday night at 22-8 overall and 14-6 in the Big West, rested and waiting after the double-bye, while No. 3 seed Cal State Fullerton arrives at 18-15 and 12-8 after grinding through an 82-70 quarterfinal win over UC Davis in Henderson on Thursday.Below is my preview, prediction, and pick […]
March 13, 2026
Akron walks in 27-5 overall and 17-1 in league play, Kent State 24-8 and 14-4, and the rivalry has enough scar tissue already before you add a Friday night in Cleveland with a trip to the title game on the line. Akron has won eight straight, Kent has won three straight, and both teams are […]
March 13, 2026
Utah State walks into this semifinal with the exact kind of tournament posture a favorite wants: the No. 1 seed at 26-6, legs fresh, rhythm intact, and a quarterfinal that looked more like a statement than a scare. Nevada is 22-11 and dangerous enough to matter, but the Wolf Pack are also stepping into their […]
March 13, 2026
Alabama walks into Nashville with the kind of quarterfinal profile that can make a Cinderella feel small in a hurry. The Tide are the No. 2 seed at 23-8 and 13-5 in the SEC, Ole Miss is the No. 15 seed at 14-19 and 4-14, and the calendar is doing real work before the ball […]
March 13, 2026
The 2026 Oscar nominations are officially out, and Best Director is where the Academy most plainly declares what it values. This isn’t “best effort” or “biggest movie.” It’s authorship—mise-en-scène, tempo, image-making, and the invisible logic that makes a film feel inevitable. When this category hits, it reads like a ballot on control: who shaped the […]
March 13, 2026
Chicago is giving this quarterfinal the right kind of light. Purdue walks in as the No. 7 seed at 24-8, Nebraska as the No. 2 seed at 26-5, and the room still feels undecided because the résumés and the matchup are arguing with each other. Nebraska finished the regular season cleaner, steadier, and louder in […]
March 13, 2026
The Best Picture race always turns into a referendum on what the Oscars think movies are for. Some years that means solemn historical sweep. Some years it means a tasteful grief object in immaculate tailoring. And some years—like this one—it means a lineup so stylistically split, so full of monsters, misfits, hustlers, haunted families, political […]
March 13, 2026
No. 3 seed Utah Tech walks into this WAC quarterfinal at 18-14 overall and 11-7 in league play, while No. 6 seed Abilene Christian arrives at 14-18 and 5-13 after surviving Wednesday night’s opener 84-78 over Tarleton State in Las Vegas. The records matter, but the current-version frame matters more. Utah Tech closed the regular […]
March 12, 2026
San Jose State walks into this Mountain West quarterfinal wearing the record of an 11 seed and the momentum of something much more dangerous. The Spartans are 9-23, but they just beat Boise State 84-74 on Wednesday in the highest-scoring Mountain West tournament game in program history. New Mexico is 22-9, finished 13-7 in the […]
March 12, 2026
UC Davis and Cal State Fullerton get to Henderson with almost no real separation on the standings page, but the path into this game is not the same. The Aggies are 19-13 after beating UC Santa Barbara 79-73 on Wednesday night. The Titans are 17-15, finished 12-8 in league play, earned the higher seed, and […]
March 12, 2026
North Texas and Florida Atlantic finished in the same 9-9 American cluster, and the bracket gave us the most honest possible separator. The No. 6 Mean Green are 18-13, the No. 7 Owls are 18-14, and one side enters fresh while the other had to grind through Temple on Wednesday night just to get here. […]
March 12, 2026