Matt Gagne
Matt Gagne is a senior editor for sports at The Messenger, overseeing coverage of baseball and basketball. He previously worked at the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated, Men's Health and SportTechie.
- By Matt Gagne|Seth Davis’s Hoop Thoughts: Revealing the Magic Eight for the NCAA Tournament
The 2024 NCAA tournament men’s basketball champion will (definitely, maybe) come from this grouping of eight teams. Plus, the five words that Seth Davis never though he’d write about the Wisconsin Badgers
By Seth Davis| - By Matt Gagne|The Messenger’s College Basketball Top 25: Can No. 3 Houston Leapfrog No. 2 Kansas in the Week Ahead?
The Houston Cougars, the last unbeaten team, play at TCU next weekend — a common opponent that nearly took down Kansas (lost by two) on the road. As for No. 1, it’s Purdue and Purdue only
By Seth Davis and Jeff Goodman| - By Matt Gagne|College Basketball Picks Against the Spread: Saturday, January 6
Seth Davis and Jeff Goodman make their picks for North Carolina-Clemson, Marquette-Seton Hall, Kentucky-Florida, St. John’s-Villanova, TCU-Kansas, Providence-Creighton, Auburn-Arkansas, Ole Miss-Tennessee, Utah-Arizona, Ohio State-Indiana
By Seth Davis and Jeff Goodman| - By Matt Gagne|Winners, Losers, and the Fallout of the Transfer Portal in College Basketball
The transfer portal giveth. The transfer portal taketh. Here’s a look at how ‘free agency’ has shaped the 2023-24 men’s college basketball season and changed teams for better or worse
By Jeff Goodman| - By Matt Gagne|Seth Davis’s 2024 Hoop Thoughts Stock Report: Part 2
Mississippi State isn’t ranked in the AP Top 25, but their under-the-radar start and the return of All-SEC forward Tolu Smith has earned the Bulldogs Seth Davis’s rare Buy-Plus rating
By Seth Davis| - By Matt Gagne|The Messenger’s Two-Man Game: How Worried Should We Be About FAU, Arizona and Virginia?
As conference play gets underway in men’s college basketball, it’s time to start sizing up teams’ chances of making the NCAA tournament. Recent upsets have already raised the stakes
By Seth Davis and Jeff Goodman| - By Matt Gagne|Seth Davis’s 2024 Hoop Thoughts Stock Report: Part 1
Records, rankings, metrics and buzz. With the new year underway and March Madness around the corner, this annual exercise is less about the status quo in men’s college basketball and more about predicting how things will shake out
By Seth Davis| - By Matt Gagne|The Messenger’s College Basketball Top 25: Arizona Rings in 2024 By Dropping the Ball
The Arizona Wildcats fell flat on their faces in a 100-82 beatdown to Stanford on New Year’s Eve. Plus, Gonzaga is in danger of missing the NCAA tournament
By Seth Davis and Jeff Goodman| - By Matt Gagne|College Basketball Picks Against the Spread: Saturday, December 30
Seth Davis and Jeff Goodman make their picks for Pittsburgh at Syracuse, Creighton at Marquette, Indiana State at Michigan State, Virginia Tech at Wake Forest, and UCLA at Oregon
By Seth Davis and Jeff Goodman| - By Matt Gagne|The Messenger’s Two-Man Game: There’s No More Hiding, No More Pretending
With league play set to begin everywhere, Seth Davis and Jeff Goodman rank the men’s power conferences for 2024 — and reflect on the highs and lows of 2023
By Seth Davis and Jeff Goodman| - By Matt Gagne|The Messenger’s College Basketball Top 25: FAU Stuns Arizona and Shakes Things Up
With a 96-95 double-OT win against the Arizona Wildcats, the FAU Owls jumped from No. 17 to No. 6, a ranking they now share with UConn. But a key injury for the Huskies makes their future highly unpredictable
By Seth Davis and Jeff Goodman| - By Matt Gagne|College Basketball Picks Against the Spread: Saturday, December 23
Seth Davis and Jeff Goodman make their picks for Mississippi State-Rutgers, Butler-Providence, FAU-Arizona, Vanderbilt-Memphis, and St. John’s-UConn
By Seth Davis and Jeff Goodman| - By Matt Gagne|Jeff Goodman’s Stock Watch: Tulane’s Kevin Cross, aka Mr. Versatility, Messed Around and Got Back-to-Back Triple-Doubles
This week’s risers: Auburn, Purdue’s Braden Smith, Chicago State’s Gerald Gillion, Tulane’s Kevin Cross, Duke’s Jared McCain. This week’s fallers: UCLA, Baylor, The NET, Pepperdine, Oregon
By Jeff Goodman| - By Matt Gagne|The Messenger’s Two-Man Game: It’s a Wonderful College Basketball Life
Seth Davis and Jeff Goodman look at the sudden emergence of the Big Ten, choose their player to take the final shot, pick the winner of Duke-Baylor, and get in few personal jabs before the final bell
By Seth Davis and Jeff Goodman| - By Matt Gagne|Too Skinny? Too Short? Too Obscure? Late Bloomer Dalton Knecht Has NBA Scouts Flocking to Size Him Up at Tennessee
Knecht, an explosive guard who went the juco route before joining the Volunteers, is turning heads with feathery jumpers, creative finishes and viral dunks. Endless hard work and elite stubbornness landed him in the national spotlight
By Seth Davis|