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College Basketball Gave Us One of the All-Time Worst Bad Beats

Scott Van Pelt couldn’t believe how the Charleston Southern-Winthrop game ended.
Jimmy Traina|
Scott Van Pelt featured what he called the worst “bad beat” of 2026 this week.
Scott Van Pelt featured what he called the worst “bad beat” of 2026 this week. | ESPN

1. Every single week during the college football season, I feature Scott Van Pelt’s (and Stanford Steve’s) Bad Beats segment in Traina Thoughts. And every week, I call it the greatest weekly segment on all of sports television.

This is true for two reasons: As a degenerate gambler, I have a huge soft spot for bad beats, which leave us in awe more times than not. And Van Pelt and Stanford Steve are absolute perfection during this segment.

Everything across the board in sports media today is over the top and loud. SVP and Steve are the opposite. And it makes the segment so much more enjoyable.

Once the college football season ends, I take a break from featuring the Bad Beats segment because I just feel like the beats don’t hit the same way in basketball.

However, earlier this week the fellas featured a Bad Beat this week from the Charleston Southern-Winthrop game in the Big South quarterfinals that has to be seen to believe.

I don’t want to spoil it, so I’ll just tell you this: Charleston Southern, getting 4.5 points, was up 81–74 with 45 seconds left, when Van Pelt and Stanford Steve started to work their magic.

Enjoy.

2. UNLV coach Josh Pastner stopping his postgame interview after his team’s 73–70 win against Wyoming earlier this week to make sure everyone knew that he said, “This is the tournament of horrors” for his team and not, “The tournament of whores” was excellent TV.

3. Bam Adebayo claims he doesn’t care that people have criticized his inauthentic 83-point game by going on a lengthy rant about people criticizing his inauthentic 83-point game. But remember: He doesn’t care.

4. I’m a huge fan of the Titans’ new jerseys. Anything that looks like the old Oilers jersey is a win in my book.

5. NBC announced on Thursday that Mike Fratello will be the analyst on Peacock’s Lakers-Rockets game Monday. Fratello, who will work with play-by-play man Noah Eagle, was part of NBC’s special “throwback” broadcast last week.

Will I take credit for this happening? That would be preposterous and make me look like an ego maniac. BUT, I did say this just last week.

6. This week’s SI Media With Jimmy Traina features a conversation with Sports Business Journal reporter Richard Deitsch about all the latest sports media news.

Among the topics discussed: NBC naming Jason Benetti as its play-by-play voice for Sunday Night Baseball while passing on hiring a full-time lead analyst in order to use local broadcasters each week; CBS’s decision to use Nate Burleson as a studio host for the NCAA tournament; why Pat McAfee’s value to ESPN continues to increase; what Fox will do for a No. 2 college football play-by-play caller with Benetti gone; Charles Barkley and Dick Vitale calling a First Four game together; the WBC and much more.

Following Deitsch, Sal Licata from SNY TV andThe Sal Licata Show, joins me for our weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week, we talk about the NFL free agency, the NBA’s decision to cancel “Magic City Night” in Atlanta, the WBC, the Oscars and the absurd price of concert tickets.

You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast below or on Apple and Spotify.

You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on YouTube.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: The Oscars are on Sunday night. In honor of the occasion, here’s a trainwreck segment from the 1989 Academy Awards. Things start with Bob Hope and Lucille Ball making a bunch of political jokes before people got outraged by celebrities mocking politicians. Then the trainwreck happens.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on X and Instagram.

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Jimmy Traina
JIMMY TRAINA

Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.

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