Eagles

Aaron Rodgers was sitting alone in the dark two months ago, pondering his future while many speculated about his next move.
Now, the New York Jets quarterback is the toast of his new town, bonding with the Big Apple and his excited teammates.
&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a legend right there, that&rsquo;s a Hall of Fame player,&rdquo; wide receiver Garrett Wilson said Wednesday during a video call. &ldquo;This is something 20 years from now, 30 years from now, I can tell my kids, &lsquo;You know, I played with Aaron Rodgers.&rsquo; I try not to think about it too much at this point, you know, just because we&rsquo;re going to work and he&rsquo;s my teammate and that&rsquo;s got to be the mindset.
&ldquo;But the reality of it is it&rsquo;s awesome, man.&rdquo;
After an offseason that included Rodgers going on an isolation retreat in Oregon and deciding to continue his playing career &mdash; and with the Jets &mdash; the four-time NFL MVP was&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/aaron-rodgers-new-york-jets-nfl-0a298bb72384d01d8ed5b0bcae9e340e">formally introduced by New York last Wednesday</a>&nbsp;after acquiring him from Green Bay. The deal&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/aaron-rodgers-trade-jets-packers-0a6b5e68c1c3d5c2ab1b9e59312dd181">brought one of the league&rsquo;s greatest players</a>&nbsp;to a franchise frustrated by 12 straight seasons without a playoff appearance and hungry for a winner.
And Rodgers is already making an impact.
&ldquo;We know that all of the sudden, all eyes are on us,&rdquo; Wilson said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to back it up every time we take the field, you know, practice or game.&rdquo;
Rodgers is also enjoying his turn as New York&rsquo;s newest celebrity while taking in Knicks and Rangers games at Madison Square Garden.
&ldquo;I met Spike Lee, Martha Stewart and Patrick Ewing,&rdquo; Rodgers&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/PatMcAfeeShow/status/1653473013109755905?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">said Tuesday on &ldquo;The Pat McAfee Show&rdquo;</a>&nbsp;on YouTube and SiriusXM. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sitting next to Jack Harlow. So much fun. Just having a ball.&rdquo;
He was there&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/jets-allen-lazard-aaron-rodgers-nfl-free-agency-b2e191509441f98a7dc54ef62d77b758">with former Packers teammate Allen Lazard</a>&nbsp;and running back Breece Hall for the Rangers&rsquo; 5-2 win over the Devils in Game 6 last Saturday. Rodgers and Lazard were back the next day for the Knicks&rsquo; playoff loss to Miami in Game 1. On Tuesday night, Rodgers and cornerback Sauce Gardner sat courtside next to actor Jerry Ferrara and former Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist for the Knicks&rsquo; victory in Game 2.
&ldquo;It was great being around a veteran guy like him, a down to earth guy who &mdash; I didn&rsquo;t know he was that funny,&rdquo; Gardner said.
&ldquo;Everybody knew who he was and I was able to just be in his shadow a little bit.&rdquo;
Rodgers, who&rsquo;s 39, teased the 22-year-old Gardner about his age at times during their night out on the town &mdash; which started with the QB picking up the tab for dinner at Carbone restaurant.
&ldquo;We were getting seated (at the Garden) and he was like, &lsquo;We&rsquo;re about to sit by Jessica Alba,&rsquo;&rdquo; said Gardner, last season&rsquo;s AP Defensive Rookie of the Year. &ldquo;I was like, &lsquo;Oh, I don&rsquo;t know who that is.&rsquo; He looked at me like I&rsquo;m crazy.&rdquo;
Rodgers probably would&rsquo;ve had a similar look a few months ago if someone had told him he&rsquo;d be calling the New York/New Jersey area home &mdash; as a member of the Jets.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m just pinching myself a lot of days,&rdquo; Rodgers said. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t believe it&rsquo;s real sometimes. It&rsquo;s been a dream, for sure, just to be here.&rdquo;
Rodgers is participating in offseason workouts, something he hadn&rsquo;t done the past couple of seasons in Green Bay while he feuded with the Packers&rsquo; front office. A&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/nyjets/status/1653096952236503041?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">slow-motion video posted Monday by the Jets</a>&nbsp;of Rodgers throwing a pass to Wilson, last season&rsquo;s AP Offensive Rookie of the Year, has gotten more than 9.6 million views.
&ldquo;I ain&rsquo;t gonna lie to you, I was kind of starstruck at first,&rdquo; linebacker Quincy Williams said with a smile. &ldquo;I was like, &lsquo;Hold on, coach, let me just take a little minute to just take this in,&rsquo; just to watch a few throws and seeing him in the green.
&ldquo;And it was like, all right, let&rsquo;s get to work so we can give him more opportunities to throw the ball.&rdquo;
The Jets are counting on Rodgers doing that and jumpstarting an offense that ranked near the bottom of the league in several categories the past two years with Zach Wilson struggling in then-coordinator Mike LaFleur&rsquo;s system. Rodgers is reunited with Nathaniel Hackett, his offensive coordinator for three years in Green Bay, including the last two of his four MVP awards in 2020 and 2021.
Hackett isn&rsquo;t the only former Packers teammate joining Rodgers in New York. The Jets signed Lazard, backup quarterback Tim Boyle and&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/jets-billy-turner-aaron-rodgers-hackett-a6c3c931ddc16822cd7db87f8226ac3b">offensive lineman Billy Turner</a>&nbsp;in free agency. They also already had wide receiver Malik Turner and offensive lineman Adam Pankey.
The Jets also&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/jets-randall-cobb-aaron-rodgers-a4d1e5166dd1bd02cf034294ca3c290a">signed wide receiver Randall Cobb</a>&nbsp;on Wednesday night. Cobb had two stints as Rodgers&rsquo; teammate in Green Bay and walked off the field with the quarterback after the Packers&rsquo; season-ending loss to Detroit at Lambeau.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s like the first day of school every single day,&rdquo; Rodgers said on &ldquo;The Pat McAfee Show.&rdquo; &ldquo;Everything&rsquo;s new and exciting and fun.&rdquo;

The New York Jets quarterback is the toast of his new town, bonding with the Big Apple and his excited teammates.

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2023 WNBA Draft: Full list of prospects who have entered

<div>
It's almost play-in and playoff time, folks!
This season has felt more jumbled than ever, which has led to more teams in some sort of contention. Naturally, most conversations around the league will focus on the contenders and the various seeding battles still happening.
It's easy for the teams at the bottom to get lost in the shuffle. They generally reach a point where lottery odds take precedence; in some instances, important young pieces are getting shut down like veterans.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/views-from-the-bottom-young-players-to-keep-an-eye-on" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Much like last year</a>, I wanted to take a moment to highlight some players who are likely flying under the radar. You have to take post-All-Star break stretches with at least two grains of salt, but this is a time for unheralded players to stretch themselves. In a best-case scenario, they wind up showing you something that transfers to the next season.
</div>
<div>
Here are a few players &mdash; just a few! &mdash; who have caught my eye recently.
All stats are updated through games played on April 4.
JALEN GREEN, HOUSTON ROCKETS
The Stats: 23.4 points, 3.2 rebounds, 3.8 assists (2.2 turnovers) since the All-Star break&nbsp;
The Skill: Foul-Drawing Craft
For the second year in a row, Jalen Green is popping off the screen after the All-Star break.&nbsp;
He represents a rare blend of athleticism &mdash; slippery and explosive &mdash; and skill. Watching him try to harness that has been equal parts fun and frustrating, depending on how invested you are in his growth.&nbsp;
Drives from Green have been an adventure since he set foot in the league. He's blessed with a handle that can get him most places, a first step that only a handful of guys can slide with and vertical pop that nobody can really deal with if he has a launching pad.&nbsp;
Green hasn't had much issue accessing the paint in his career. How he's gotten there, and what he does once there, has been the work in progress.
Quietly, he's become a little more selective with the turbo button when putting his head down. He's taking advantage of defenders scrambling to stay attached to him. He's feeling out the defender more in a literal sense; if he senses a defender out of position or leaning towards him, he's going right into their shoulder or chest, absorbing the blow and getting a shot up.&nbsp;
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Green is living at the line these days. He's averaging nearly seven free throw attempts per game since the break. Per Cleaning The Glass, Green is drawing fouls on 14.5% of his shot attempts during this stretch, a mark that ranks in the 97th percentile among his position group.
Filter specifically for drives, and Green is still drawing shooting fouls on 14.5% of them &mdash; 10th among 100 players with at least 100 drives, per Second Spectrum.
There's still growth to be had inside the arc. There's a little Anthony Edwards there, where he feels like he can defeat anyone &mdash; or any amount of bodies &mdash; at the rim when easier kicks are available. There's more comfort to be developed as an inside-out passer versus the interior feeds he likes.&nbsp;
But, man, being able to generate freebies at this rate is a welcomed sight. We're not that far away from teams not having a real answer for him as a scorer.
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SVI MYKHAILIUK, CHARLOTTE HORNETS
The Stats: 16.2 points, 3.7 rebounds, 5.2 assists (1.5 turnovers), 1.3 steals over last six games&nbsp;
The Skill: Avoiding Danger
Mykhailiuk is in the midst of one of his most productive stretches. He's provided a healthy dose of shooting, converting 44.4% of his threes (6.0 attempts) over his last six games. Due to the injuries around him, he's gotten to do more with the ball in his hands. Nothing particularly wild on the playmaking front, but he's proven compentent as a second-side creator.&nbsp;
None of the offensive productivity surprises me. The fact that we're even getting to see it to this degree speaks to his work on the other end. I am not here to argue that Mykhailiuk is an elite defender; in fact, most of the numbers I'd use to highlight defensive growth don't paint him in a favorable light. As <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-film-breakdown-charlotte-hornets-defense-steve-clifford-dennis-smith-jr-theo-maledon-gordon-hayward-jt-thor-mark-williams-nick-richards" target="_blank" rel="noopener">I wrote recently</a>, the Hornets aren't afraid to switch-and-double against matchups they deem unfavorable to them; they've done so with Mykhailiuk.
I'd just like to say that man is&nbsp;working&nbsp;defensively. He's had to take up defensive assignments well above his pay grade as of late: Zach LaVine, Scottie Barnes, some Luka Doncic possessions during their two-game series and it hasn't been a disaster.
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The shift from "obvious weak link" to "best option to attack available" is a subtle, yet important mark of growth. It feels like he's starting to land in the latter camp. All the Hornets, or any team moving forward, needs from him is for him to hold his own. If he can do that, he'll have more opportunities for the shooting and ball skills to pop.&nbsp;
SANDRO MAMUKELASHVILI, SAN ANTONIO SPURS
The Stats: 13.0 points, 6.8 rebounds, 2.9 assists (1.9 turnovers), 2.8 steals over last eight games&nbsp;
The Skill: Passing Chops
I am an absolute sucker for tall players with passing ability. I gravitate towards playmaking wings, and I especially enjoy watching actual big men dice up defenses with nifty feeds.&nbsp;
Insert Mamu, whom the Spurs have thankfully given room to do stuff with the ball in his hands.
That simply wasn't going to happen in Milwaukee, who needed Mamu to either space or defend &mdash; preferably both, of course &mdash; at a certain level in order to garner consistent playing time. He isn't there yet on either end, and the rest of the roster was too good to justify letting him run things with the second unit.
Because that isn't the case with the Spurs, we've gotten to see stuff like this:
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For those keeping track at home, that was:
<ul>
<li>a transition push after a board, then a kick to a three-point shooter on the move</li>
<li>a slip against a switch, followed by a no-look pass to the corner in an attempt to manipulate Steph Curry's weakside responsibilities</li>
<li>a leaping lay-down pass to Zach Collins</li>
<li>a quick feed to Collins versus a fronting defender, conveniently timed as Talen Horton-Tucker is leaning the wrong way</li>
<li>A pass fake into a skip to Tre Jones for a three</li>
<li>A pump-and-drive, followed by a Haliburton-esque jump-pass for a dunk</li>
<li>A baseline drive against&nbsp;Brook Lopez,&nbsp;puncutated by a kick to the corner</li>
</ul>
There's still plenty of work to be done, particularly on the non-glamour end of the floor. The Spurs, or whoever commits to him moving forward, has to find a coverage for him, have a strong defensive infrastructure around him or both.&nbsp;
If nothing else, though, there's some Hartenstein-lite potential here as a second-unit hub. The passing pops. The screens are good. Being able to credibly drive as a 5 is valuable stuff. More Mamu, please!
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MARKELLE FULTZ, ORLANDO MAGIC
The Stats: 16.5 points, 4.0 rebounds, 6.3 assists (2.4 turnovers), 1.5 steals since the All-Star break&nbsp;
The Skill: Big Man Things
It's been a joy watching Markelle Fultz graduate from the "really good redemption story" arc to the basic reality that he's good at basketball. Period. Full stop.
A smooth operator in ball screens; a crafty finisher at the rim; he's quietly reliable as a pull-up option inside the arc &mdash; did you know he's canned <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/player/1628365/shots-dash?Season=2022-23" target="_blank" rel="noopener">45.1% of his pull-up 2s</a> this season? He remains a dogged point-of-attack defender.
&nbsp;What's popped for me in a few matchups &mdash; against the Utah Jazz and Washington Wizards, in particular &mdash; is his willingness to do the little things. Or rather, the "big" things. Both teams stashed their centers on Fultz &mdash; the Jazz with Walker Kessler, the Wizards with Kristaps Porzingis &mdash; in a way to keep them near the basket.
Fultz countered by setting screen, after screen, after screen, creating opportunities for his teammates and himself.&nbsp;
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Fultz has set 131 on-ball screens this season, after setting 77 over his first five seasons combined, per Second Spectrum.&nbsp;
STRAY THOUGHTS
<ul>
<li>Though the Jazz are techincally still in the play-in hunt, It's worth noting the heater that Talen Horton-Tucker has been on since becoming a starter after the All-Star break. He's averaging 31-5-7 over his past four games, shooting 36% from deep on a heavy diet of pull-ups and getting to the line nearly nine times per contest. It's still hard to have faith in the jumper, and he remains a little tunnel vision-y for my sensibilities, but this has been a nice stretch for him. </li>
<li>Corey Kispert has slotted in nicely as a starter. I've enjoyed his usage under Wes Unseld Jr., running him <a href="https://twitter.com/NekiasNBA/status/1638566356005146626?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">through staggers</a> or, when spaced, often being the <a href="https://twitter.com/NekiasNBA/status/1638567273832095747?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">only player on his side of the floor</a> to stress out help defenders. It helps that Kispert's been shooting the leather off the ball too: 21.3 points while converting 49.1% of his threes (9.2 attempts) over his last six games is nothing to sneeze at.&nbsp; </li>
<li>Hawks legend Skylar Mays is averaging 17 points and 7.3 assists across three starts with the Blazers. Not quite sure what it means, but I've enjoyed his pacing inside the arc. I also don't think I've seen him miss a floater or a pull-up middy, so that's fun.</li>
</ul>
</div>

Before focusing on the NBA playoffs, Nekias Duncan breaks down young players on lottery teams who have caught his eye lately.

Views from the bottom: 5 young NBA players to keep an eye on

Shaka Smart has packed an entire career&rsquo;s worth of experiences into 14 years as a college head coach.
He led VCU to an improbable Final Four as a 30-something wunderkind in 2011, guided mighty Texas to a Big 12 Tournament title during six otherwise tepid years in Austin, and now has turned Marquette into a Big East beast.
It&rsquo;s sometimes easy to forget he&rsquo;s still just 45 years old.
Yet his work with the Golden Eagles this season might have been his best: Picked ninth in the 11-team league by its coaches, they won the regular-season title going away, then beat Xavier to win&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/big-east-marquette-xavier-df67d940335f3a9d69f2f6e7b626beaf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">their first Big East Tournament championship</a>.
That earned Smart the AP coach of the year award Friday. He garnered 24 of 58 votes from a&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/ap-college-basketball-player-of-year-b2820fee259952b664327b49a112f193" target="_blank" rel="noopener">national media panel</a>&nbsp;to edge&nbsp;Kansas State&rsquo;s Jerome Tang, who received 13 votes before guiding the Wildcats to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament, and Houston&rsquo;s Kelvin Sampson, who earned 10 before taking the Cougars to the Sweet 16.
Voting opened after the regular season and closed at the start of the NCAA Tournament, where the No. 2 seed Golden Eagles were&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-michigan-state-marquette-izzo-690d24a67256a2bf187353c0bfed577a" target="_blank" rel="noopener">knocked out in the second round</a>&nbsp;by Michigan State and Smart&rsquo;s&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-east-regionalmichigan-state-marquette-shaka-smart-405b0ccc948ec1480a2749496b3c5ef8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">longtime mentor, Tom Izzo</a>.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m very grateful to win this award,&rdquo; said Smart, the second Marquette coach to take it home after Hall of Famer Al McGuire in 1971, &ldquo;but obviously it always comes back to the guys you have on your team.
&ldquo;Early on,&rdquo; Smart said, &ldquo;we had a real sense the guys had genuine care and concern for one another, and we had a very good foundation for relationships that we could continue to build on. And over the course of seasons, you go through so many different experiences as a team. And those experiences either bring you closer together or further apart. Our guys did a great job, even through adverse experiences, even through challenges, becoming closer together.&rdquo;
It&rsquo;s hardly surprising such cohesion is what Smart would choose to remember most from a most memorable season.
The native of Madison, Wisconsin, who holds a master&rsquo;s degree in social science from California University of Pennsylvania, long ago earned a reputation for building close bonds with players and a tight-knit camaraderie within his teams.
No matter how high or low the Golden Eagles were this season, those traits carried them through.
&ldquo;Everything that we go through, whether it be the retreat that we went on before the season, all the workouts in the summer, he&rsquo;s preaching his culture,&rdquo; said Tyler Kolek,&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/ap-all-america-mens-basketball-team-2ab037abcde5157ad840f7dcd22cc8a4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a third-team All-American</a>. &ldquo;And he&rsquo;s showing his leadership every single day, and just trying to impart that on us, and kind of put it in our DNA. Because it&rsquo;s definitely in his DNA.&rdquo;
That&rsquo;s reflected in the way Smart, who&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-basketball-wisconsin-coronavirus-pandemic-texas-longhorns-mens-basketball-972b7ad63710f78f34b9a35797ed031c" target="_blank" rel="noopener">accepted the Marquette job</a>&nbsp;two years ago after an often bumpy tenure at Texas, has rebuilt the Golden Eagles program after it had begun to languish under Steve Wojciechowski.
Sure, Smart landed his share of transfers &mdash; Kolek among them &mdash; in an era in which the portal has become so prevalent. But he largely built a team that finished 29-7 this season around high school recruits, eschewing a quick fix in the hopes of long-term stability. Among those prospects were Kam Jones, their leading scorer, and do-everything forward David Joplin.
&ldquo;He teaches us lots of things about the importance of each other,&rdquo; Joplin said. &ldquo;He lets us know, time and time again, that we can&rsquo;t do anything without each other, but together we can do anything.&rdquo;
That sounds like a decidedly old-school approach to building a college basketball program.
One embraced by a still-youthful head coach.
&ldquo;I think being a head coach has never been more complicated, never been more nuanced, and never more all-encompassing,&rdquo; Smart told the AP in a wide-ranging interview last week. &ldquo;Does that mean it&rsquo;s harder? You could say that.
&ldquo;What makes your job less hard,&rdquo; Smart said, &ldquo;is having a captive audience in your players, and guys that truly understand and own what goes into winning, and that&rsquo;s what we had this past year. But those things just don&rsquo;t happen. There are a lot of steps that have to occur on the part of a lot of people, not just the coach, to get to where you have a winning environment.&rdquo;

After helping Marquette dominate the Big East, Shaka Smart earned the AP men's college basketball coach of the year award.

Marquette’s Shaka Smart voted men’s AP coach of the year

GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) &mdash; LaDazhia Williams was determined to extend her career. Thanks to her best game of the season, her LSU teammates will get to keep playing, too.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not ready to home,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;We already know where we want to go.&rdquo;
Williams and the third-seeded Tigers reached the Elite Eight for the first time in 15 years, holding off No. 2 seed Utah 66-63 on Friday night.
Williams had a season-high 24 points to boost LSU (31-2).
Alexis Morris, another fifth-year transfer like Williams, had 15 points. Her two foul shots with 10 seconds left put LSU ahead for good, 64-63. She later made two more free throws.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re just hungry right now,&rdquo; Morris said. &ldquo;I know we&rsquo;re fueled up and we&rsquo;re fired up. We&rsquo;re one game away from going to the Final Four.&rdquo;
Angel Reese added 17 points and 12 rebounds for her 31st double double of the season.
Coach Kim Mulkey&rsquo;s Tigers can reach their first Final Four since 2008 on Sunday night when they face No. 9 seed Miami to close the Greenville 2 Regional. The Hurricanes overcame fourth-seeded Villanova and the nation&rsquo;s leading scorer Maddy Siegrist 70-65 earlier at the Greenville 2 Regional.
&ldquo;I think we fought hard all four quarters,&rdquo; Reese said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been through so much from the beginning to the end, so I&rsquo;m just super happy for this team.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Not that there weren&rsquo;t some anxious moments at the end.
Down 64-63, the Utes had a chance to back in front, but Jenna Johnson &mdash; a near 75% foul shooter &mdash; missed both attempts with 4.7 seconds to go. Utah&rsquo;s Dasia Young had her hands on the rebound, but LSU&rsquo;s Sa&rsquo;Maya Smith took it away.
Morris made two more foul shots for a three-point lead. The Utes had a final chance, but Young&rsquo;s 3-point try from the left corner hit the side of the backboard as time expired.
Utah coach Lynne Roberts had her arm around Johnson on the bench after the misses.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think that&rsquo;ll happen again if she gets that opportunity again, knowing her, the competitor she is,&rdquo; Roberts said.
LSU hadn&rsquo;t advance this far since reaching the Final Four 15 years ago. This is Mulkey&rsquo;s second season coaching the Tigers.
Williams, who played at South Carolina and Missouri before joining LSU, was dominant down low as she made 11 of 14 shots and finished a point shy of her career best.
Gianna Kneepkens led Utah (27-5) with 20 points. Alissa Pili, a second-team AP All-American, had 14 points, but took just eight shots as LSU denied her the ball. She fouled out in the final minute.
Reese, Poole and fellow LSU starter Flau&rsquo;jae Johnson fouled out in the final minutes.
BIG PICTURE
LSU: The Tigers are out for more and it starts against underdog Miami on Sunday. If Williams can continue her inside play to combine with All-American Reese, LSU will be tough to handle.
Utah: The Utes are coming off a season where they achieved big things, including back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances for the first time since 2008 and 2009. Utah can be every bit as successful next season with Pili, just a junior, back to lead the way.
MULKEY&rsquo;S OUTFIT
Mulkey, known as a flamboyant dresser, had on a multi-colored jacket that appeared to include feathers on both sleeves. Mulkey said the designer was sending her another outfit to wear Sunday in the Elite Eight game. &ldquo;We told her this is probably her best (out) fit,&rdquo; Williams said.
SPECIAL GUEST
LSU football coach Brian Kelly took a break from the Tigers spring football workouts to cheer on his school&rsquo;s women&rsquo;s basketball team. Kelly sat in the front row across from the LSU bench, following the action intently in the tight contest. The football Tigers are coming off a 10-4 season where they won the SEC Western Division in Kelly&rsquo;s first season.
TOUGH SPOT 
Johnson had made 74.8% of her free throws on the season, though she had made just 5 of 11 in the two tournament wins against Gardner-Webb and Princeton. Her first free throw fell short of the rim, causing LSU fans to get even louder to up the intensity before her second shot, which rattled out.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think the noise so much affected me,&rdquo; Johnson said, her eyes welling with tears. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know, maybe in my head a little bit from the first one. But I don&rsquo;t know.&rdquo;&nbsp;

The third-seeded Tigers reached the Elite Eight for the first time in 15 years, holding off No. 2 seed Utah 66-63 on Friday night.

March Madness: Morris, LSU women top Utah, into Elite Eight

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) &mdash; Brandon Miller scored 24 points and Mark Sears made seven of eight free throws over the final 1:04 to help No. 2 Alabama top Arkansas 86-83 on Saturday.
Miller delivered his second straight huge game for the Crimson Tide (25-4, 15-1 Southeastern Conference) since police alleged in courtroom testimony that he brought a gun to former teammate Darius Miles, who is charged with capital murder in a fatal shooting.
The week&rsquo;s details cast a different light on Miller&rsquo;s regular pregame introduction, which is a Tide staffer giving him a pat down. Coach Nate Oats said after the game that intro for Miller is now over.
Fellow freshman Nick Smith Jr. of Arkansas (19-10, 8-8), another potential NBA draft lottery pick who helped keep the Razorbacks in it with a late 3-pointer, scored 24 points. Davonte Davis added 21 points for Arkansas, Council scored 20, and the rest of the team combined for 18 points.
Jahvon Quinerly had 16 points and seven assists for the Tide, and Noah Clowney had 10 points and 13 rebounds.
NO. 1 HOUSTON 76, EAST CAROLINA 57
GREENVILLE, N.C. (AP) &mdash; Marcus Sasser scored 22 points to help Houston clinch outright possession of the American Athletic Conference regular-season title.
Tramon Mark added 20 points for the Cougars (27-2, 15-1), while J&rsquo;Wan Roberts had 17 points and 12 rebounds in Houston&rsquo;s ninth straight victory.
East Carolina (14-14, 5-10) had an energetic home crowd for the first-ever visit from a No. 1-ranked team to Minges Coliseum, as well as the program&rsquo;s first game against a top-ranked opponent in more than 31 years. But the Cougars never trailed and led for all but 56 seconds. Ezra Ausar scored 15 points to lead the Pirates.
NO. 3 KANSAS 76, WEST VIRGINIA 74
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) &mdash; Dajuan Harris was one point shy of a career high, scoring 17 points to help lift Kansas over West Virginia.
The Jayhawks&rsquo; stifling defense kept West Virginia from attempting a shot in the final 20 seconds. The Mountaineers&rsquo; Joe Toussaint traveled on their final possession of the game. Baskets by K.J. Adams and Kevin McCullar extended the Jayhawks&rsquo; lead to 75-68 late as they grinded out the victory.
Harris led Kansas (24-5, 12-4 Big 12) with 7-of-9 shooting from the field and had six assists and six steals.
Erik Stevenson led West Virginia (16-13, 5-11) with 23 points. Tre Mitchell scored 20, Kedrian Johnson scored 15 and Emmitt Mathews Jr. had 13.
NO. 17 INDIANA 79, NO. 5 PURDUE 71
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) &mdash; Jalen Hood-Schifino scored a career-high 35 points and Trey Galloway added 10 of his 13 in the second half to lead Indiana over Purdue.
The Hoosiers (20-9, 11-7 Big Ten) snapped a seven-game losing streak in West Lafayette and pulled their first season sweep in this bitter rivalry since 2012-13.
Zach Edey led the Boilermakers with 26 points and 16 rebounds and Fletcher Loyer added 14 points. Purdue (24-5, 13-5) has lost three of four and blew a chance to clinch a share of the conference crown in front of its home fans, who stood outside in chilly temperatures and snaking lines for hours before tip-off.
NORTH CAROLINA 71, NO. 6 VIRGINIA 63
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) &mdash; Pete Nance scored 22 points to lead North Carolina past Virginia.
Nance shot 7 of 10 from the floor and was 4 of 4 from behind the arc, the most 3-pointers the fifth-year forward has made in ACC play. He added two assists and four blocks.
R.J. Davis notched the fourth double-double of his career with 16 points and 10 rebounds for North Carolina (18-11, 10-8 Atlantic Coast Conference), which got a much-needed boost to its NCAA Tournament resume with a Quadrant 1 win &mdash; the first of the season for the Tar Heels.
Jayden Gardner had 19 points and 12 rebounds to lead Virginia (21-6, 13-5), which lost its second in a row. Armaan Franklin added 14 points.
ARIZONA STATE 89, NO. 7 ARIZONA 88
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) &mdash; Desmond Cambridge Jr. hit a 60-foot shot at the buzzer and Arizona State rallied from a 10-point deficit to beat Arizona.
The Wildcats (24-5, 13-5 Pac-12) built a 10-point lead midway through the second half before going more than six minutes without a field goal as Arizona State pulled ahead by one.
The Sun Devils (20-9, 11-7) went up 86-85 on Warren Washington&rsquo;s layup with just a minute left, but Pelle Larsson put Arizona back up on a layup with 29 seconds left. Arizona State&rsquo;s DJ Horne missed a jumper with 4 seconds left and the Sun Devils had a final shot after Oumar Ballo hit one of two free throws.
Catching the ball with 2.4 seconds left, Cambridge launched a shot from beyond half-court to finish with 19 points and give the Sun Devils a big boost in their bid to make the NCAA Tournament.
NO. 9 BAYLOR 81, NO. 8 TEXAS 72
WACO, Texas (AP) &mdash; Jalen Bridges had 17 points for ninth-ranked Baylor, which overcame a huge deficit with an impressive run right after freshman standout Keyonte George left injured early and beat Big 12 co-leader Texas.
Adam Flagler had 14 points for the Bears (21-8, 10-6). Dale Bonner added 13 points, including seven in an quick spurt after halftime while Flo Thamba had 12 points and 12 rebounds.
Dylan Disu had a season-high 24 points for Texas (22-7, 11-5), which twice got even early in the second half but never could regain the lead.
NO. 10 MARQUETTE 90, DEPAUL 84
MILWAUKEE (AP) &mdash; Kam Jones and Tyler Kolek each scored 22 points while helping Marquette clinch a share of its first Big East regular-season championship in a decade.
Kolek also had 14 assists as Marquette (23-6, 15-3) rolled to a 49-28 halftime lead and hung on after DePaul (9-20, 3-15) got close down the stretch. Marquette has won nine of its last 10, while DePaul has lost 10 straight.
This is Marquette&rsquo;s first conference title in 2013, when the Golden Eagles shared the Big East crown with Georgetown and eventual national champion Louisville.
Umoja Gibson led DePaul with 20 points and eight assists. Nick Ongenda added 16 points and 12 rebounds.
NO. 11 TENNESSEE 85, SOUTH CAROLINA 45
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) &mdash; Josiah-Jordan James came back from missing four games with an injury to score 18 points to lead Tennessee to a rout of South Carolina.
James, who suffered an ankle injury against Vanderbilt on Feb. 8, shot 4 of 7 on 3-pointers for the Volunteers (21-8, 10-6 Southeastern Conference). Jahmai Mashack scored 14 points, Zakai Zeigler had 13 points and 11 assists, and Olivier Nkamhoua and Uros Plavsic scored 10 each.
Hayden Brown led the Gamecocks (10-19, 3-13) with 18 points.
NO. 12 GONZAGA 77, NO. 15 SAINT MARY&rsquo;S 68
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) &mdash; Drew Timme scored 19 points and Gonzaga earned a share of the West Coast Conference regular-season title with a win over Saint Mary&rsquo;s.
Anton Watson had 17 points and Malachi Smith added 13 off the bench for the Bulldogs, who have won or shared the conference title in 11 straight seasons. Gonzaga (25-5, 14-2) also reached the 25-win mark for the 16th season in a row &mdash; and avenged a loss to the Gaels earlier this month in Moraga.
Logan Johnson led the Gaels (25-6, 14-2) with 27 points.
Because the teams shared the regular-season title, the WCC will use the NCAA&rsquo;s NET rankings to determine the top seed for the conference tournament.
FLORIDA STATE 85, NO. 13 MIAMI 84
CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) &mdash; Matthew Cleveland&rsquo;s 3-pointer as time expired capped Florida State&rsquo;s comeback from a 25-point second-half deficit and a win over Miami.
Jordan Miller had given Miami the lead on a 3-pointer with 4.9 seconds left. But Cleveland let fly from about 25 feet and the ball swished to give the Seminoles (9-20, 7-11 Atlantic Coast Conference) their best moment of the season.
Cleveland and Darin Green Jr. each had 20 points for Florida State, which also got 13 from Caleb Mills and 11 from Jalen Warley.
Miller led Miami (23-6, 14-5) with 21 points. Norchad Omier had 15, Isaiah Wong scored 14 and Bensley Joseph added 12 for the Hurricanes, whose seven-game winning streak and perfect home season were ended.
NO. 18 UCONN 95, ST. JOHN&rsquo;S 86
NEW YORK (AP) &mdash; Jordan Hawkins scored 20 points, Adama Sanogo added 18 points and nine rebounds, and UConn beat St. John&rsquo;s.
Andre Jackson Jr. had 15 points, Joey Calcaterra also scored 15 to lead a strong effort by Connecticut&rsquo;s bench and the resurgent Huskies (22-7, 11-7 Big East) avenged an 11-point loss to St. John&rsquo;s at home last month.
UConn won for the sixth time in seven games, closing in on a first-round bye in the Big East Tournament.
AJ Storr had 20 points and Posh Alexander added 18 for the Red Storm (17-13, 7-12), who had won three of four.
NO. 14 KANSAS STATE 73, OKLAHOMA STATE 68
STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) &mdash; Markquis Nowell had 22 points, eight assists and four steals in Kansas State&rsquo;s third straight win, beating Oklahoma State.
Keyontae Johnson added 17 points for the Wildcats (22-7, 10-6 Big 12), who swept the regular-season series.
Kalib Boone scored 14 of his 18 points in the second half on Senior Day for Oklahoma State. Caleb Asberry scored 13 points and John-Michael Wright added 12 for the Cowboys (16-13, 7-9), who have lost four straight.
VILLANOVA 79, NO. 19 CREIGHTON 67
PHILADELPHIA (AP) &mdash; Eric Dixon scored 18 of his career-high 31 points in the first half, Cam Whitmore added 17 and Villanova defeated Creighton.
Dixon also set a career high with six 3-pointers for Villanova (15-14, 9-9 Big East), which has won five of six.
Arthur Kaluma scored 19 points and Ryan Kalkbrenner had 18 for Creighton (18-11, 12-6). The Bluejays have lost three of four following an eight-game winning streak.
NO. 22 SAN DIEGO STATE 73, NEW MEXICO 71
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) &mdash; Lamont Butler&rsquo;s 3-pointer at the buzzer gave San Diego State a win at New Mexico.
After Jaelen House&rsquo;s steal and end-to-end run for a layup with 5.6 seconds left gave New Mexico a 71-70 lead, Butler unhurriedly brought the ball up court before dropping his shot, giving him 10 points for the Aztecs (23-5, 14-2 Mountain West).
Darrion Trammell scored 18 points to lead the Aztecs. Matt Bradley added 11 as San Diego State won its sixth straight.
Jamal Mashburn Jr. finished with 20 points for New Mexico (20-9, 7-9) and House had 15.
OKLAHOMA 61, NO. 23 IOWA STATE 50
AMES, Iowa (AP) &mdash; Jacob Groves led Oklahoma with 16 points as the Sooners knocked off Iowa State.
The Sooners (14-15, 4-12 Big 12) had lost nine of their previous 11 games but erased an early 11-point deficit and seized control with a 17-2 run in the second half.
Groves shot 4 of 5 from the 3-point line. Tanner Groves added 9 points and grabbed 13 rebounds.
The Cyclones (17-11, 8-8) shot just 31%. Gabe Kalscheur led Iowa State with 12 points.
NO. 24 TCU 83, TEXAS TECH 82
LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) &mdash; JaKobe Coles made two free throws with 4.3 seconds remaining, and TCU beat Texas Tech despite blowing a 12-point lead in the final eight minutes.
After De&rsquo;Vion Harmon&rsquo;s steal and layup put the Red Raiders in front by one with 12 seconds remaining, Coles caught a pass from Emanuel Miller in the lane and was fouled by Fardaws Aimaq going up for the shot. The Horned Frogs (19-10, 8-8 Big 12) weren&rsquo;t in the bonus.
Harmon&rsquo;s desperation 3-pointer as the buzzer sounded wasn&rsquo;t close, ending a four-game winning streak Texas Tech (16-13, 5-11).
Mike Miles Jr. scored 24 points for the Horned Frogs, who had lost five of six and were coming off a loss to No. 3 Kansas at home. Miller had 14 points and 12 rebounds for TCU.
Aimaq scored 19 points, Harmon had 18 and Kevin Obanor finished with 17 points and nine rebounds for Texas Tech.
MISSISSIPPI STATE 69, NO. 25 TEXAS A&amp;M 62
STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) &mdash; Tolu Smith had 17 points and Shakeel Moore had 14 as Mississippi State knocked off Texas A&amp;M.
Cameron Matthews had 11 points for the Bulldogs (19-10, 7-9 Southeastern Conference), who held the Aggies to one field goal in the final 14 minutes and outscored them 34-18 during the same time period.
Wade Taylor IV led Texas A&amp;M (21-9, 13-3) with 21 points, including four 3-pointers, and Henry Coleman III and Andersson Garcia each had 11.

A recap of Saturday's slew of action in top 25 NCAA men's college hoops.

Miller has another big game as No. 2 Alabama tops Arkansas

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) &mdash; Grant Sherfield scored a season-high 30 points, and Oklahoma beat No. 2 Alabama 93-69 on Saturday in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge to end the Crimson Tide&rsquo;s nine-win streak.
Jalen Hill added a career-high 26 points, helping second-year Oklahoma coach Porter Moser to his biggest win with the program. Tanner Groves had 14 points and 12 rebounds.
The Sooners (12-9) had lost three straight, but against the Crimson Tide shot 58% from the field.
Rylan Griffen led Alabama (18-3) with 15 points and seven rebounds. Freshman Brandon Miller, who came in averaging 19.5 points per game, finished with 11.
NO. 3 HOUSTON 75, CINCINNATI 69
HOUSTON (AP) &mdash; Jarace Walker had a career-high 25 points and seven rebounds, and Houston rallied from an 11-point second-half deficit to defeat Cincinnati.
Walker, who scored 13 points in the second half, was 10 of 14 from the field. J&rsquo;Wan Roberts added 14 points and six rebounds, and Jamal Shead scored 13 points for Houston (20-2, 8-1 American Athletic Conference).
Houston has won at least 20 games in eight straight seasons under coach Kelvin Sampson.
Landers Nolley II had 24 points, including 6 3-pointers. Vicktor Lakhin added 15 points, and David DeJulius had 14 points and nine assists for Cincinnati (14-8, 5-4).&nbsp;
NO. 4 TENNESSEE 82, NO. 10 TEXAS 71
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) &mdash; Olivier Nkamhoua scored 27 points and Zakai Zeigler had 22 points and 10 assists to lead Tennessee over Texas in an SEC/Big 12 Challenge.
Josiah-Jordan James added 14 and Santiago Vescovi had 12 for Tennessee (18-3), which led by as many as 22 midway through the second half.
Sir&rsquo;Jabari Rice scored 21 to lead Texas (17-4). Marcus Carr and Brock Cunningham finished with 11 each.
NO. 5 KANSAS STATE 64, FLORIDA 50
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) &mdash; Keyontae Johnson had 13 points and 11 rebounds against his former team, Markquis Nowell flirted with the first triple-double in Kanas State history, and the Wildcats beat Florida in an SEC/Big 12 Challenge.
Nowell finished with 13 points, nine rebounds and eight assists, and Nae&rsquo;Qwan Tomlin also had 11 points. The Wildcats improved to 18-3 to match the 1972-73 team for the best start through 21 games in school history.
Johnson struggled from the field, going just 5 of 16 and even getting stuffed by the front of the rim during a windmill dunk on a second-half fast break. But it was nevertheless a special night for the senior forward, who collapsed on the Gators&rsquo; sideline due to a heart condition during a game against Florida State just over two years ago.
Colin Castleton scored 13 points for the Gators (12-9). Myreon Jones and Will Richard had 11 apiece.
NO. 6 ARIZONA 95, WASHINGTON 72
SEATTLE (AP) &mdash; Azuolas Tubelis had 25 points and 10 rebounds, Oumar Ballo added 21 points and 12 rebounds, and Arizona used a big second-half run to pull away to win its fourth straight.
Tubelis topped 20 points for the first time in five games and his rebound putback while being fouled with 4:29 remaining gave the Wildcats a 78-63 lead and sent Washington fans headed for the exits.
Kerr Kriisa added 18 points, hitting six 3-pointers, and Courtney Ramey scored 14 for the Wildcats (19-3, 8-3 Pac-12).
Keion Brooks Jr. led Washington with 25 points and Keyon Menifield added 21. But the Huskies (13-10, 5-7) suffered from too many scoring droughts and didn&rsquo;t have an answer for Arizona&rsquo;s 19-1 run in the early stages of the second half.
NO. 7 VIRGINIA 76, BOSTON COLLEGE 57
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) &mdash; Armaan Franklin and Jayden Gardner scored 18 points each and Virginia used a big first-half run to take control over Boston College for its sixth straight victory.
The Cavaliers (16-3, 8-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) trailed 18-15 before starting an 18-4 run over the next 11 minutes. Virginia put the game away with a 16-4 second-half spurt.
Quinten Post scored 24 to lead the Eagles (10-12, 4-7) and Makai Ashton-Langford added 12 points.
Virginia&rsquo;s Isaac McKneely finished with 12 points and Reece Beekman had 11 and eight assists.
NO. 9 KANSAS 77, KENTUCKY 68
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) &mdash; Jalen Wilson scored 22 points, including one in a series of huge 3-pointers down the stretch, and Kansas avoided its first four-game losing streak under coach Bill Self.
Wilson made 9 of 18 from the field and grabbed eight rebounds for Kansas (17-4), which finished even with Kentucky at 49% shooting. K.J. Adams Jr. added 17 points, Dick had 13 and McCullar 11 with 12 rebounds as the Jayhawks edged Kentucky 34-29 on the glass.
Oscar Tshiebwe had 18 points and nine rebounds, and Jacob Toppin and Cason Wallace each added 14 for Kentucky (14-7), which had won its previous four.
MISSISSIPPI STATE 81, NO. 11 TCU 74, OT
STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) &mdash; Tolu Smith had 27 points, 13 rebounds and five assists to lead Mississippi State to an overtime victory.
Dashawn Davis added 16 points to help Mississippi State (13-8) snap a five-game losing streak. Shakeel Moore had 11, including six in overtime, while Cameron Matthews had 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Bulldogs. Tyler Stevenson also added 10 points off the Bulldogs&rsquo; bench.
Damion Baugh led TCU (16-5) with 19 points and Emanuel Miller had 13. Shahada Wells and Jakobe Coles each had 12 for the Horned Frogs and Chuck O&rsquo;Bannon had 10.
Davis&rsquo; 3 pointer with 55 seconds left in the second half gave the Bulldogs a 66-64 advantage. Emanuel Miller scored with 32 seconds remaining and then both teams missed chances to win in regulation.
MISSOURI 78, NO. 12 IOWA STATE 61
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) &mdash; Kobe Brown scored 20 points, and D&rsquo;Moi Hodge scored 17 points to help Missouri take down Iowa State in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge.
Brown scored 14 of his points in the first half and led Missouri (16-5) with 12 rebounds. Nick Honor added 12 points and DeAndre Gholston scored 10.
Jaren Holmes led Iowa State (15-5) with 19 points, and Gabe Kalscheur added 14.
The Tigers&rsquo; 78 points were a season-high for an Iowa State opponent in regulation; the Cyclones are 0-3 this season when allowing at least 70 points in regulation.
CREIGHTON 84, NO. 13 XAVIER 67
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) &mdash; Arthur Kamula scored 20 points, Creighton&rsquo;s four other starters finished in double-figures and the Bluejays earned their fourth straight Big East win.
Creighton (13-8, 7-3) steadily built a double-digit lead throughout the game and made 34 of its 60 field goal attempts (56.7%) before a sold-out crowd.
Ryan Kalkbrenner scored 17 points, Baylor Scheierman had 14, Trey Alexander finished with 13 and Ryan Nembhard added 11 for the Bluejays, who avenged a 90-87 loss at Xavier on Jan. 11.
Zach Freemantle led Xavier (17-5, 9-2) with 18 points, followed by Colby Jones and Adam Kunkel with 13.
NO. 14 GONZAGA 82, PORTLAND 67
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) &mdash; Julian Strawther had a career-high 40 points, including eight 3-pointers, and Gonzaga pulled away down the stretch for its 16th consecutive victory over Portland.
Anton Watson added 17 points for Gonzaga (18-4, 7-1 West Coast Conference).
Strawther is the first player to reach 40 points for the Zags since Kyle Wiltjer had 45 against Pacific in 2016.
Portland (11-13, 3-5) was led by Moses Wood with 19 points. Juan Sebastian Gorosito, a freshman, finished with a career-high 17 points.
WEST VIRGINIA 80, NO. 15 AUBURN 77
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) &mdash; Erik Stevenson scored a career-high 31 points and West Virginia withstood a furious late rally from Auburn to win an SEC/Big 12 Challenge matchup.
The Mountaineers (13-8) have won two straight for the first time in a month. Jimmy Bell Jr. added 15 points for the Mountaineers.
Charles Barkley cheered on his alma mater from a courtside seat, but Auburn (16-5) couldn&rsquo;t overcome another slow start. The Tigers have lost two straight for the first time in two years.
Jaylin Williams led Auburn with 18 points. Johni Broome added 15 and Allen Flanigan scored 13.
NO. 16 MARQUETTE 89, DEPAUL 69
CHICAGO (AP) &mdash; David Joplin went 8 for 11 from 3-point range for a career-high 28 points, Tyler Kolek had 24 points, 10 assists and 9 rebounds, and Marquette defeated DePaul.
Marquette has won eight of its last nine games, and moved into a tie with No. 13 Xavier atop the Big East.
Marquette (17-5, 9-2) pulled away in the second half. Oso Ighodaro had 10 points, making all five of his shots, and Olivier-Maxence Prosper scored 13 and had 8 rebounds.
Umoja Gibson scored 25 points for DePaul (9-13, 3-8) on 8-of-12 shooting.
NO. 17 BAYLOR 67, ARKANSAS 64
WACO, Texas (AP) &mdash; Keyonte George scored 24 points, including seven in a row down the stretch, and Baylor beat Arkansas in an SEC/Big 12 Challenge.
Baylor (16-5) fell behind by as many as eight points in the second half after an early 11-point lead. But the Bears closed it out after Flo Thamba made two free throws for a 55-53 lead with 3:37 left.
LJ Cryer added 20 points and Jalen Bridges had 10 for the Bears, who won their sixth game in a row despite shooting a 34% (20 of 59) from the field. They offset the season-worst shooting from the field by making 21 of 24 free throws, including two by Cryer with 10 seconds left and two by George with 4.3 seconds remaining.
Ricky Council IV scored 25 points for Arkansas (14-7). Davonte Davis had 16 points, but missed the front end of a 1-plus-1 with 2.3 seconds left, though Joseph Pinion got the ball in the right corner only to miss wildly on a 3-pointer as time ran out.
HOFSTRA 85, NO. 18 COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON 81
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) &mdash; Aaron Estrada scored 25 points and Darlinstone Dubar added 18 as Hofstra ended College of Charleston&rsquo;s 20-game winning streak.
The Pride (15-8, 8-2 Colonial Athletic Association) were down 28-20 early before rallying past the Cougars (21-2, 9-1), who had not lost since falling to then-No. 1 North Carolina on Nov. 11.
Tyler Thomas had 17 points and eight rebounds for Hofstra.
Ante Brzovic finished with 18 points to lead Charleston.
PITTSBURGH 71, NO. 20 MIAMI 68
PITTSBURGH (AP) &mdash; Blake Hinson tipped in a Jamarius Burton miss with 31 seconds remaining and Pittsburgh rallied past Miami.
The Panthers (15-7, 8-3 ACC) held the Hurricanes (16-5, 7-4) scoreless over the final 2:26 while closing on an 11-0 run to beat a ranked team for the third time this season to bolster its increasingly impressive NCAA tournament resume.
Hinson finished with 21 points for Pitt. Burton had 19 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists as the Panthers stunned Miami in front of a rare sell-out crowd at the Petersen Events Center.
Jordan Miller led the Hurricanes with 18 points. Isaiah Wong added 14 but Miami committed three of its 12 turnovers in the final 35 seconds as the Panthers stormed back.
NO. 21 FAU 70, W. KENTUCKY 63
BOCA RATON, Fla. (AP) &mdash; Brandon Weatherspoon scored 14 points and Florida Atlantic remained undefeated at home.
The victory extended FAU&rsquo;s winning streak to a program-record 20 games, which is now the nation&rsquo;s longest. The Owls&rsquo; 21 victories on the season ties their Division I record set in 2010-11. Western Kentucky (11-11, 3-8 Conference USA) has lost five straight.
Alijah Martin scored eight while grabbing seven rebounds for the Owls (21-1, 11-0).
Jordan Rawls led all scorers with 17 for W. Kentucky. Dayvion McKnight and Emmanuel Akot each had 16.
NO. 22 SAINT MARY&rsquo;S (CAL) 57, BYU 56
PROVO, Utah (AP) &mdash; Logan Johnson had 14 points and freshman Aidan Mahaney scored all 10 of his points, including a fade-away jumper just before the buzzer, in the second half and Saint Mary&rsquo;s (Cal) won its 10th in a row.
Mitchell Saxen had 11 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and two blocks for Saint Mary&rsquo;s (19-4, 8-0 West Coast Conference). Alex Ducas scored 12 points and Augustas Marciulionis added 10.
Dallin Hall was fouled on a driving lay-up attempt with 10.2 seconds left and made 1-of-2 free throws to give BYU a 56-55 lead but Mahaney took the inbounds pass, probed the defense before he drove the lane, stopped near the right block and pivoted away from the basket before hitting the winning jumper over the out-stretched arm of defender Fousseyni Traore.
Hall scored a career-high 23 points on 9 of 14 shooting but made just 3 of 6 from the free-throw line for BYU (14-10, 4-5). Fousseyni Traore added 11 points and eight rebounds.
NO. 24 CLEMSON 82, FLORIDA STATE 81
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) &mdash; Chase Hunter drove the lane and drew a foul, sinking the free throw, to help Clemson escape with a win over Florida State.
Hunter Tyson scored 27 points on 10 of 17 shooting for Clemson (18-4, 10-1 Atlantic Coast Conference), which halted an eight-game road losing streak to Florida State. Hunter finished with 25.
Matthew Cleveland scored 15 of his 18 points in the second half for Florida State (7-15, 5-6), which made a season-high 13 3-pointers. Caleb Mills and Darin Green Jr. each hit four 3-pointers for the Seminoles. Freshman forward Baba Miller had his best game, scoring 11 points and pulling down four rebounds in 20 minutes.

A recap of Saturday's action in men's college hoops includes five upsets in the AP top 15.

Oklahoma's rout of No. 2 Alabama one of many top-15 upsets on Saturday

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) &mdash; KC Ndefo grabbed a rebound and made a follow-up layup with 1.6 seconds remaining to give Seton Hall a 67-66 come-from-behind win over No. 15 UConn on Wednesday night.
Ndefo grabbed his eighth rebound of the game and scored the decisive points as he was fouled on the play. He missed the ensuing free throw, but helped Seton Hall rally from a 17-point first-half deficit. He finished with 14 points.
Kadary Richmond had a game-high 18 points and 10 rebounds for Seton Hall (12-8, 5-4 Big East)
Adama Sanogo had 16 points and five rebounds and Jordan Hawkins added 13 points and six rebounds for UConn (15-5, 4-5), which was without coach Dan Hurley and associate head coach Kimani Young due to the coronavirus.
DEPAUL 73, NO. 8 XAVIER 72
CHICAGO (AP) &mdash; Umoja Gibson scored 22 points, Javan Johnson added 16 and DePaul surprised Xavier.
The Musketeers (15-4, 7-1 Big East) came in rolling with 11 straight wins &mdash; their best run since the 2015-16 team got off to a 12-0 start. But they came up short against the Blue Demons (9-10, 3-5).
DePaul led by seven with about eight minutes remaining and made just enough plays to come away with its first win over a top-10 team since beating No. 5 Butler exactly three years earlier at Wintrust Arena.
Zach Freemantle had 18 points and 12 rebounds for Xavier. Jack Nunge finished with 16 points and 13 rebounds. But Big East scoring leader Souley Boum scored a season-low four.
NO. 10 VIRGINIA 78, VIRGINIA TECH 68
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) &mdash; Kihei Clark had 20 points and became Virginia&rsquo;s career victories leader as a player with No. 111 as the Cavaliers handed Virginia Tech its sixth straight loss.
Armaan Franklin added 15 points and Jayden Gardner 12 for the Cavaliers (14-3, 6-2 Atlantic Coast Conference). Clark was tied with Mamadi Diane (2017-20) on the overall victories list and with 64 career ACC wins.
Darius Maddox led the Hokies (11-7, 1-6) with 13 points and Grant Basile had 12. Virginia Tech&rsquo;s losing streak has come winning 11 of its first 12 games.
WEST VIRGINIA 74, NO. 14 TCU 65
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) &mdash; Kedrian Johnson scored 20 points and West Virginia built a big early lead and outlasted TCU.
Jimmy Bell Jr. added 15 points and 12 rebounds for West Virginia (11-7, 1-5 Big 12), whose players slapped hands with the student section after breaking a five-game losing streak.
Mike Miles Jr. scored 21 points while Emanuel Miller and Damion Baugh had 13 apiece for TCU (14-4, 3-3), which has lost three of its last four after starting the season 13-1.
NO. 16 AUBURN 67, LSU 49
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) &mdash; Wendell Green Jr. and Jaylin Williams each scored 14 points to lead Auburn to its fourth straight victory.
KJ Williams and Trae Hannibal scored 16 points apiece for LSU (12-6, 1-5 Southeastern Conference), which dropped its fifth straight conference game.
Auburn (15-3, 5-1) never trailed in the game and was only seriously threatened in the early minutes of the second half.
LSU never trailed by fewer than 12 points over the last 10 minutes of the game. After reducing its deficit to two points at 37-35, LSU made four field goals the rest of the game.
NO. 20 MARQUETTE 83, NO. 22 PROVIDENCE 75
MILWAUKEE (AP) &mdash; Kam Jones had 21 points and Tyler Kolek scored 19 as Marquette defeated Providence for its sixth victory in seven games.
Olivier-Maxence Prosper added 13 points for Marquette (15-5, 7-2 Big East). Kolek also had eight rebounds and six assists.
Bryce Hopkins had 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Friars (14-5, 6-2), who lost their second straight after a nine-game winning streak. Ed Croswell led Providence with 20 points, and Devin Carter had 18.
MISSOURI 79, NO. 25 ARKANSAS 76
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) &mdash; Kobe Brown scored 17 points and hit two free throws with 29 seconds to lift Missouri over Arkansas.
DeAndre Gholston added 16 points and Sean East II added 12 for the Tigers (14-4, 3-3 SEC), who avenged a 74-68 loss in Fayetteville on Jan. 4.
Davonte Davis scored 18 points and Ricky Council IV had 13 for Arkansas, which has lost four in a row. Anthony Black added 15 points for the Razorbacks (12-6, 1-5).

A recap of Wednesday night's men's college basketball action includes three top-15 upsets.

Seton Hall rallies from 17 down, beats No. 15 UConn 67-66

After calmly knocking down a buzzer-beating three to send his team to victory over the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center, Indiana Pacers rookie Andrew Nembhard received a wave of praise and compliments all around. But the strongest words came from his head coach.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;ll go down as a top-12 or 15 pick when it&rsquo;s all said and done,&rdquo; Rick Carlisle stated on Nov. 28 about the No. 31 overall selection this past summer. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s where he should have been taken.&rdquo;
Eight days later at Golden State, following Nembhard&rsquo;s career-high 31-point, 13-assist effort against Stephen Curry and the Warriors, Carlisle doubled down: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m elevating that to top-10. He really is a special player.&rdquo;
On Friday morning in Cleveland, Nemhbard shared what he thought of Carlisle&rsquo;s commendable comments.
&ldquo;It just shows you the confidence they have in me on the court, and it allows me to have confidence in myself,&rdquo; Nembhard told Basketball News. &ldquo;I don't want to get too wrapped into the words, but obviously, it fuels the confidence in me for sure.&rdquo;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
steal 👉 slam Andrew Nembhard finds Aaron Nesmith in transition! <a href="https://t.co/tcugZFDTVL">pic.twitter.com/tcugZFDTVL</a>
&mdash; Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) <a href="https://twitter.com/Pacers/status/1601757878267715586?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 11, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Nembhard has plenty of reasons to believe in himself, In December, he is averaging 11.0 points, 5.1 assists and 4.0 rebounds to go with 1.2 steals over 10 games with .489/.366/.778 shooting splits &mdash; nothing to gloss over for a first-year player. However, it&rsquo;s not about flashy statistics with him.
The very reason he got on the court in the first place is because of what he showed Indiana on the defensive end during training camp and preseason. Then, when Chris Duarte got injured in early November, the team looked his way to step up &mdash; and he&rsquo;s continued to reward that decision from that point on.
&ldquo;As we got into the year, he got tossed into a couple of games early,&rdquo; Carlisle said. &ldquo;He had tough matchups; the first time we played Miami, he guarded [Tyler] Herro some and was able to stay in front of him and contest some of his shots well.&rdquo;
That game was a sign of things to come. Since then, Nembhard has been tasked with going head-to-head with the NBA&rsquo;s best. Have a look at a sample of who the 22-year-old has matched up with the most and how they&rsquo;ve fared, per <a href="https://go.nba.com/4apvl" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NBA.com&rsquo;s matchup data</a>:
<ul>
<li>Stephen Curry: 2-for-7 with 3 turnovers in 11:36 (two games)</li>
<li>Kyle Kuzma: 4-for-9 with 2 turnovers in 7:48 (two games)</li>
<li>Jimmy Butler: 1-for-6 for 4 points with 1 block in 7:17</li>
<li>CJ McCollum: 2-for-4 for 6 points in 6:38</li>
<li>Damian Lillard: 2-for-5 for 5 points in 6:13</li>
<li>Jamal Murray: 2-for-8 with 1 turnover in 5:53</li>
<li>Scottie Barnes: 1-for-4 for 2 points in 5:39</li>
<li>Jalen Brunson: 5-for-9 for 11 points in 5:12 (Nembhard's worst output)</li>
<li>Darius Garland: 0 field goal attempts with 2 turnovers in 5:09</li>
<li>LeBron James: 0-for-4 with 1 block in 4:32</li>
</ul>
&ldquo;It's exciting man,&rdquo; Nembhard told Basketball News of the Pacers&rsquo; trust in him on that end. &ldquo;Personally, I've got so much confidence in my game that it's just like, I felt like I could do that. I like to compete, so that's something I just like to bring to the game every day, and I'm super happy that they've just allowed me to kinda do that and help the team in that way.&rdquo;
&ldquo;He's a guy that if you watch him within the defensive system, he always seems to be in the right place,&rdquo; Carlisle said. &ldquo;He's very aware and does a good job of blocking out. He does a good job of chipping blockouts, which means going and helping a big guy. Like [Friday], when Myles [Turner] is blocking out [Jarrett] Allen, his job is to go be the second guy, to try to take away his athletic step and stuff like that. And Drew just naturally does that stuff.&rdquo;
Backing Carlisle's words, film savant Caitlin Cooper of SB Nation's Indy Cornrows provided another example of the little things that Nembhard does on that end.
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Here's another very tiny defensive detail from Andrew Nembhard: push switching. When the screener gets close enough to ghost screen, he makes them actually set the screen. That physicality makes the action more static and easier for Mathurin to navigate with the switch. <a href="https://t.co/Q9B8JYkPro">pic.twitter.com/Q9B8JYkPro</a>
&mdash; Caitlin Cooper (@C2_Cooper) <a href="https://twitter.com/C2_Cooper/status/1601623476733104128?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 10, 2022</a></blockquote>

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&ldquo;I'm just like beyond impressed with the poise and maturity that he showed,&rdquo; Pacers veteran point guard T.J. McConnell told Basketball News. &ldquo;Asking him to come off the bench and then start, play a certain amount of minutes and guard the best players while you're out there, usually you don't have enough energy to do it on both ends, but he's done it... unreal. He's been unreal on both ends this year, and it's been a joy to watch."
According to McConnell, what Nembhard is putting on display now is what he saw over the offseason in the first few games of pickup. Admittedly, the 30-year-old didn&rsquo;t know it would translate for him this way, this seamlessly.
&ldquo;You kinda get so used to playing against someone, then you saw him do it against other NBA guys and do it consistently. When he just continued to do it, continued to do it, I'm like, 'This dude is the real deal,'&rdquo; McConnell said. &ldquo;You saw it from the beginning, but you didn't know how it was gonna adjust from an NBA season [standpoint], and he has hit the ground running and hasn't looked back. Just very proud. I see the work he puts in and the type of guy he is. Extremely happy for him.&rdquo;
Though tending to use the trusted pull-up game he excelled at as a high schooler and an underclassman at Florida, Nembhard has started to become a ready catch-shooter over the last few years at Gonzaga and, now, with the Pacers, converting on a healthy 36.4% on the season overall despite some inconsistencies in December. At the very least, he&rsquo;s a threat, which allows him to drive off the catch and go from there.
Nembhard&rsquo;s also moved the ball with ease, constantly making touch passes and heady reads. It helps that he&rsquo;s had reps as a handler and away from the ball already this early into his career.
&ldquo;I think it's similar honestly in terms of where I get the ball,&rdquo; Nembhard said. &ldquo;I'm still just playmaking off of our pace, stuff that we still do. So similar touches, just not bringing the ball up as much. Just not directing as much.
&ldquo;I think the way it's been so far has been good for me to just ease into getting comfortable on the court. I don't think I need it to be the primary guy right off the bat just 'cause that's tough as a rookie. I think they've allowed me to kinda grow and develop and slowly get to the point where I feel comfortable being in that primary role at times.&rdquo;
And to that point, Nembhard has been right at home with these fast-and-furious Pacers, who boast the league&rsquo;s fifth-highest pace at 102.26 possessions per game.
&ldquo;I think I've been a guy who's been able to play well in transition because of my assist-to-turnover ratio,&rdquo; Nembhard said. &ldquo;I feel like playing fast has just always been something about my game that I've succeeded at, so it's natural for me. I think for us, a young team, I think with our energy and our effort, it plays into our strengths.&rdquo;
(Per <a href="https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/player/5120#tab-offensive_overview" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cleaning the Glass</a>, his 1:29 assist-to-usage rate is in the 95th percentile among his peers in the league, additionally, and his 117.3 points per 100 shot attempts illustrates his efficiency.)
Nembhard&rsquo;s fellow rookie Bennedict Mathurin is garnering rave reviews as a real-deal Sixth Man of the Year candidate, and Tyrese Haliburton has upped his game to another level where he&rsquo;s leading the entire NBA in assists. Together as a trio this month, they&rsquo;ve combined for a net rating of plus-23.7 in 76 minutes.
&ldquo;I think me and Hali are good at playmaking and just like reading the game, and I think Benn's an aggressive scorer who's just confident in himself,&rdquo; Nembhard said. &ldquo;So we look for him. I think it's easy for him to play with both of us. I think we just flow well together just 'cause of our mix of skill and talent.&rdquo;
For these two rookies to be developing and producing at the same time is one thing, but to do it and rack up W&rsquo;s on a competitive, 15-win Indiana ball club that few on the outside saw coming is remarkable.
&ldquo;Man, it's exciting honestly. Personally, I love winning,&rdquo; Nembhard said. &ldquo;Ain't nothing like winning in basketball to be around that team environment. So that's a big plus, and I'm excited we're doing what we're doing so far. It's always early... But, I'm super excited I've been able to get on the floor and just help impact that winning."
"Got a lot of respect for Mathurin and Nembhard, two rookies who really like, talk. Like, they&rsquo;re there. Like, they make their presence felt," Donovan Mitchell said postgame Friday. "...Nembhard&rsquo;s had pretty big games against some good teams."
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&ldquo;This is obviously probably the youngest locker room I've been a part of, and one of the best, if not the best. Just the positive energy each day and the youthful energy that everyone brings,&rdquo; McConnell added. &ldquo;I'm only 30, so when I say youthful energy, it's just 'cause everyone else isn't as old (laughs). But it's been great. [Through the] ups and downs of a season, we've stuck together. And I think that not a lot of people expected us to have the record we do now, and I think that's because of the tightness of the locker room.&rdquo;
As Carlisle made his aforementioned top-10 comment, he described Nembhard as &ldquo;old school, but new-school.&rdquo; Basketball News followed up on what he meant by that.
&ldquo;Well, he's tough, physical. He plays an efficient game,&rdquo; Carlisle explained. &ldquo;He has a natural aptitude for moving the ball and finding people and just getting to the pass that leads to the hockey assist. And he just has a real, pure intellect for the game; that's the old-school side. The new-school side is he's probably on social media like everybody else (laughs).
&ldquo;But he understands the style of today's NBA. At Gonzaga, they did some things as a team where, a lot of times, they played an NBA style. They played up-tempo, a lot of ball movement, not a lot of play-calling &mdash; play the game, play with each other, play random, find the best shot &mdash; all that kind of stuff.&rdquo;
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first bucket of the night is an and one by <a href="https://twitter.com/AndrewNembhard?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AndrewNembhard</a>. 💪 watch the game live on <a href="https://twitter.com/BallySportsIN?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BallySportsIN</a> or stream here: <a href="https://t.co/KN9XtXzQSD">https://t.co/KN9XtXzQSD</a> <a href="https://t.co/osXrE10Ftn">pic.twitter.com/osXrE10Ftn</a>
&mdash; Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) <a href="https://twitter.com/Pacers/status/1603915535992999940?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 17, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Month-by-month, Nembhard has gotten better. You can see the jump happening in both the box scores and on the floor in general.&nbsp;
And maybe of the utmost importance, he is learning what life in the NBA is like.
&ldquo;It's just so much talent in this league,&rdquo; Nembhard said. &ldquo;You've gotta bring it every night. You could be playing against their best five, (but) the next six are still NBA players who can hoop. So it's like, there's not a night off in this league. Any team can beat anybody with a certain attitude, a certain demeanor every night.
&ldquo;I really don't know how to nitpick his game. He's been unbelievable on both ends,&rdquo; McConnell said. &ldquo;Maybe one thing is just try to stay out of foul trouble. But when you're guarding the best players, it's impossible not to pick up a foul here and there. But like, on the offensive and defensive end, he's been damn near close to perfect, and that's asking a lot of a rookie. He definitely doesn't play like one.&rdquo;

Spencer Davies interviews Andrew Nembhard and speaks to Rick Carlisle and T.J. McConnell to discuss the promising Pacers rookie.

Real-deal rookie: How Andrew Nembhard has already wowed the Pacers

HOUSTON (AP) &mdash; Marcus Sasser scored 25 points, Tramon Mark added 16 and No. 1 Houston routed Norfolk State 100-52 Tuesday night in the Cougars&rsquo; first game as the top-ranked team in nearly 40 years.
Sasser finished 7 of 12 on 3-pointers, rebounding nicely after making only one of 10 from behind the arc in Houston&rsquo;s win over Kent State on Saturday.
Houston (7-0) was 17 of 33 on 3s, including 10 of 18 in the first half. The Cougars went on a 42-7 first-half run.
Jamal Shead finished with 12 points and 11 assists, J&rsquo;Wan Roberts had 10 points and Ja&rsquo;Vier Francis had 11 points and eight rebounds off the bench.
Kris Bankston scored 14 points and Cahiem Brown added 11 points for Norfolk State (5-3).
NO. 3 VIRGINIA 70, MICHIGAN 68
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) &mdash; Jayden Gardner made a go-ahead jumper with 39.9 seconds left and blocked Jett Howard&rsquo;s 3-point shot just before the buzzer, allowing Virginia to hold on and beat Michigan in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
The Cavaliers (6-0) trailed by 11 points at halftime, rallied to go ahead with 7:25 left and built a five-point lead that didn&rsquo;t last.
The Wolverines (5-2) went ahead 66-65 at the 1:42 mark when Hunter Dickinson made one of two free throws, but the standout center missed a hook shot in the final minute. Dickinson scored 23 points and Howard had 15.
Reece Beekman finished with 18 points for Virginia. Gardner, Kihei Clark and Kadin Shedrick scored 12 apiece and Ben Vander Plas had 10.
MARQUETTE 96, NO. 6 BAYLOR 70
MILWAUKEE (AP) &mdash; Olivier-Maxence Prosper scored 24 points and Marquette capitalized on a dominant start from its defense to roll past Baylor in the Big 12-Big East Battle.
Marquette (6-2) raced to a 51-25 halftime lead thanks to a 24-0 edge in points off turnovers. This was the highest-ranked team Marquette has beaten under second-year coach Shaka Smart.
Kam Jones had 20 points and David Joplin added 19 as Marquette shot 58.3% overall to win its third straight.
LJ Cryer scored 19 points, Adam Flagler 16 and Keyonte George 12 for Baylor (5-2).
NO. 16 ILLINOIS 73, SYRACUSE 44
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) &mdash; Coleman Hawkins had 15 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, and Illinois thumped Syracuse.
Illinois (6-1) hit six of its 15 3-point attempts in the second half to send the Orange (3-4) home with their third straight loss.
Terrence Shannon Jr. had 17 points on 5-of-17 shooting for the Illini. All of his makes were 3s. RJ Melendez scored 15 points.
Jesse Edwards had nine points and 17 rebounds to lead Syracuse, and Judah Mintz also scored nine.
Hawkins sent a lively crowd into a frenzy by securing his 10th rebound to complete the triple-double with 1:34 to go and Illinois up 68-44.
NO. 19 KENTUCKY 60, BELLARMINE 41
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) &mdash; Antonio Reeves scored 18 points to lead Kentucky past Bellarmine.
Jacob Toppin had 12 points and CJ Fredrick finished with 11 as the Wildcats (5-2) overcame a slow start. Trailing 32-28 with 15 minutes left, Kentucky used a 23-3 run to pull away.
Curt Hopf led Bellarmine (2-6) with 15 points.
NO. 22 MARYLAND 79, LOUISVILLE 54
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) &mdash; Donta Scott scored 18 points and Maryland made five consecutive 3-pointers to open the second half and run away from Louisville.
The Terrapins (7-0) led throughout, including 37-26 at halftime, before Don Carey sank the first of two from long range during the 15-6 surge that featured two 3s from Scott and one from Hakim Hart.
Maryland shot 50% overall while posting its seventh consecutive double-digit win under new coach Kevin Willard.
El Ellis scored 15 points for the Cardinals (0-7), whose nightmarish start continued as they shot 34% against their third ranked opponent in four games.
NO. 24 SAN DIEGO STATE 72, UC IRVINE 69
SAN DIEGO (AP) &mdash; Micah Parrish hit a 3-pointer from the left corner with 2.4 seconds left and San Diego State rallied to beat UC Irvine.
Nathan Mensah scored 18 points to lead the Aztecs (5-2).
DJ Davis scored 28 points for the Anteaters (6-2), who had a three-game winning streak snapped.

A recap of Monday evening's men's college basketball slate includes a number of interconference battles and the No. 1 Cougars' rout.

Houston debuts at No. 1 by beating Norfolk State 100-52

Over the last week, I have been very active on social media voicing my views on the Kyrie Irving situation, which prompted quite a few active NBA players to reach out to me privately to express that they too shared the view that the six requirements laid out for Irving to end his indefinite suspension were not only way over the top and excessive, but insulting.&nbsp;
Let&rsquo;s do a quick recap of the events that have led us to this point.&nbsp;
Irving shared a link to the documentary &ldquo;From Hebrews To Negroes: Wake Up Black America" without context, which caused a firestorm, as many viewed this as an endorsement of the film.&nbsp;
At his initial press conference, he expressed his reasoning for sharing the doc, saying, &ldquo;When I post, it does not mean that I support everything that&rsquo;s being said or everything that&rsquo;s being done or [that] I&rsquo;m campaigning for anything. All I do is post things for my people and my community.&rdquo;&nbsp;
He also said:&nbsp;&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not a divisive person when it comes to religion. I embrace all walks of life. You see it on all my platforms. I talk to all races, all cultures, all religions. And my response would be, it&rsquo;s not about educating yourself on what antisemitism is. It&rsquo;s really about where the root words come from and understanding that this is an African heritage that is also belonging to the people. Africa is in it, whether we want to dismiss it or not. So the claims of antisemitism; who are the original chosen people of God? And we go into these religious conversations and it&rsquo;s a big no-no, I don&rsquo;t live my life that way. I grew up in a melting pot, and I say a melting pot of all races: white, black, red, yellow, Jewish, Christian, Muslim. You see the way I live my life now, I&rsquo;m not here to be divisive."
This was prior to his spat with ESPN's Nick Friedell.&nbsp;
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This was met with criticism, condemnation and accusations that Kyrie was antisemitic, since people felt he was endorsing and promoting antisemitic propaganda (which he said wasn&rsquo;t his intention).
The media as a collective began taking turns bashing Kyrie, attributing beliefs to him that he did not express, and since he didn&rsquo;t vehemently denounce these ideas, many took that as an endorsement. It's not uncommon for athletes to be attacked by certain media talking-heads who shall remain nameless, but what we saw was a unified, non-stop, public lashing of Kyrie across the board.&nbsp;
He deleted his tweet. Then, during another press conference, he was asked if he was antisemitic and his answer was, "I cannot be antisemitic if I know where I come from." He also explained that he meant no harm, while adding that he wasn&rsquo;t the one who made the documentary.
This drew the ire of Brooklyn Nets governor Joe Tsai, as Irving was swiftly suspended for a minimum of five games and given six steps that had to be completed before he would be allowed to return.
The Nets released a press release that stated: "We were dismayed today, when given an opportunity in a media session, that Kyrie refused to unequivocally say he has no antisemitic beliefs, nor acknowledge hateful material in the film. This was not the first time he had the opportunity &mdash; but failed &mdash; to clarify. Such failure to disavow antisemitism when given a clear opportunity to do so is deeply disturbing, is against the values of our organization, and constitutes conduct detrimental to the team. Accordingly, we are of the view that he is currently unfit to be associated with the Brooklyn Nets."
Many people (including some who strongly condemned Kyrie for posting the link to the documentary) viewed this as a blatant attempt to emasculate and dehumanize Irving in front of the entire world.&nbsp;
Irving eventually posted <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Ckhj8iIu0HN/?hl=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a lengthy apology</a> to the entire Jewish community on Instagram.
As I voiced my personal disproval of the six steps he had to complete to return &mdash; which is unprecedented for an NBA suspension &mdash; that&rsquo;s when I started receiving messages from active players who were also outraged by the treatment Kyrie was receiving. However, they didn&rsquo;t feel comfortable saying anything out of fear that a similar outrage would be directed toward them or that an objection to Kyrie's punishment would be interpreted as supporting him posting the movie. They didn't want to be lumped in with Kyrie and face the same backlash. Their apprehension was very understandable.&nbsp;
This caused me to ponder the question: what if this Kyrie backlash causes athletes to go silent again? After all, besides Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf and Craig Hodges, athletes were pretty quiet back in the 1990s. That continued through my era in the early 2000s. Only recently, since Colin Kaepernick's protest, has there been a resurgence of athletes using their platforms and voices, and it&rsquo;s been beautiful to see. But it&rsquo;s also important to note that since Kaepernick took his stance, he has not played a single snap in the NFL. In addition, all of the protests have stopped and, for the most part, NFL players speaking out has significantly reduced almost to a whisper. Could that happen in the NBA?&nbsp;
Over the last 24 hours, both NBA commissioner Adam Silver and Joe Tsai said that they have met with Kyrie and can report that, in their opinion, he is not antisemitic, which has led many to believe that Irving will be returning to the court soon. But has the damage already been done?
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/emerald1.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="402" />
I reached out to Emerald Garner, the daughter of Eric Garner who has a newly-released book that I co-wrote called <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Finding-My-Voice-Grieving-Pushing/dp/1642598313/ref=nodl_?dplnkId=163ffcc0-f0f3-4ecf-b8fa-907636f54c3f" target="_blank" rel="noopener">"Finding My Voice,"</a> to discuss this situation. We talked about what it meant to her personally when athletes used their voices and platforms to support her family and whether the Kyrie backlash might scare players into being silent going forward.
Etan: Do you think the backlash that Kyrie Irving is currently receiving has the potential to silence athletes?&nbsp;
Emerald: "I hope not. Listen, I don&rsquo;t know anything about the film, and don&rsquo;t support antisemitism in any form or fashion, but I didn&rsquo;t actually hear Kyrie say anything antisemitic. And correct me if I&rsquo;m wrong, but he didn&rsquo;t produce the documentary, did he? They&rsquo;re acting like it&rsquo;s his film."
Etan: No, he didn&rsquo;t produce it, but to be fair, he did share it without context. But he also cleared up his reasoning for sharing it in his initial press conference. He said he was just sharing it for the information and wasn&rsquo;t endorsing or promoting the film.
Emerald: "So, he apologized and deleted it, right?"
Etan: Yes, he did.
Emerald: "But he still has to go through all of these hoops before he gets to play again?"
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Etan: Yes, the six steps he has to complete are:
1) He has to apologize and condemn the film
2) Make a $500,000 donation to anti-hate causes
3) Complete sensitivity training
4) Complete antisemitism training&nbsp;
5) Meet with the Anti-Defamation League and Jewish leaders
6) Meet with Joe Tsai to &ldquo;demonstrate an understanding of the situation.&rdquo;
Emerald: "Wow, that&rsquo;s really a lot. So let me say it like this: officer Daniel Pantaleo murdered my father in broad daylight on video and he didn&rsquo;t have to do anything before he returned to active duty. I wrote about it in my book how traumatizing it was to see him laughing and joking with other cops on the street like nothing happened. He didn&rsquo;t have to do anything. He didn&rsquo;t even have to apologize to the family of the man he murdered. But they&rsquo;re gonna make Kyrie do all this before he can play basketball?"&nbsp;
Etan: Wow, that&rsquo;s a great point.
Emerald: "Listen, Kyrie and LeBron and all of the players on the Brooklyn Nets at the time and Kobe and all of the Lakers team supported my family after my father was choked to death by the NYPD. Back then, every time I turned on the TV, all I saw were people justifying his murder and saying why my father deserved to die. I will forever be thankful to him and all the athletes who stood with us for that."
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/kyrie111.png" alt="" width="651" height="380" />
Etan: Yeah, a lot of people were quiet then, but athletes weren&rsquo;t. That started a new boom of athletes using their voices and platforms. That&rsquo;s why I wrote my book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/We-Matter-Athletes-Activism-Sports/dp/1617755915/ref=nodl_?dplnkId=3aa7746c-b367-4e3f-b314-48164e0e4144" target="_blank" rel="noopener">"We Matter: Athletes And Activism"</a> and interviewed so many athletes and impacted family members. I wanted to encourage the next generation of athletes to continue to use their voices and show the impact it has. My fear now is that after this, athletes may start being quiet again or people may advise them to be quiet again in fear of the Kyrie Irving treatment.
Emerald: "And that would be tragic. You have done an amazing job promoting that concept and, yes, there is great power in their voices. When I turned on the TV and saw all of the NBA players wearing 'I Can&rsquo;t Breathe' shirts&hellip; I&rsquo;m getting emotional right now..."
Etan: I&rsquo;m sorry, I don&rsquo;t want to trigger you.
Emerald: "No, it&rsquo;s ok. You know I always get emotional when we talk, and we talked about this in my book, but when I saw them wearing those shirts, it made me feel seen. That someone actually cared about what happened to my father. It didn&rsquo;t feel like anyone cared. The police definitely didn&rsquo;t show any remorse. They all stood around and watched as Officer Pantaleo choked my father to death, then they all supported Pantaleo, not one of them condemned anything. So many people supported Pantaleo like they always do when the police murder someone. But it was Kyrie and NBA players who supported me. And my father loved basketball. He loved every New York team that existed. Even sports he wasn&rsquo;t even that into, if they were [a team in] New York, he supported them. He would&rsquo;ve been so proud how they all supported him. I can see his big smile now. I can&rsquo;t tell you how much I miss seeing that big smile of his."&nbsp;
Etan: It&rsquo;s so important that people know this, and understand this. I&rsquo;ve gone on multiple programs recently and said that silencing athletes that you disagree with isn&rsquo;t the answer. Instead, have an actual dialogue. And I really believe that.
Emerald: "Listen, we have done enough speaking engagements for me to fully understand and be a supporter of dialogue. Of course it&rsquo;s important. And not lectures but actually listening to because, correct me if I&rsquo;m wrong, but I didn&rsquo;t hear Kyrie say anything bad or anti-anything. He said I love everyone, I respect all religions. It&rsquo;s like they&rsquo;re trying to make him believe things that he didn&rsquo;t say he believed. At least that&rsquo;s how I see it."
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Etan: I definitely agree. I didn&rsquo;t hear him actually say anything antisemitic. I&rsquo;m just worried about the effect it will have on athletes moving forward. When I was playing, I had so many people warn me to be careful (including David Stern). I had other people who literally said you don&rsquo;t want to get done like Craig Hodges or Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf. I heard Shannon Sharpe initially say that on his show "Undisputed." I see people putting that notion out there.
Emerald: "Well, that would be tragic if athletes did 'shut up and dribble.' I&rsquo;mma be honest, I didn&rsquo;t realize the impact y&rsquo;all have until I started working with you and talking to other impacted families who had athletes stand up for them. How Russell Westbrook spoke up for Terence Crutcher, how Stephen Jackson spoke up for George Floyd, how LeBron speaks up for a lot of families, how the whole Milwaukee Bucks [team] spoke up for Jacob Blake, how the whole NBA spoke up for Breonna Taylor and I can go on and on and on. It&rsquo;s important. Take it from me, it means everything."

Could this Kyrie Irving situation silence athletes going forward? Etan Thomas discusses this with Eric Garner's daughter, Emerald.

Emerald Garner hopes Kyrie Irving backlash doesn’t silence athletes

Discussing Russell Westbrook in public forums can be exhausting for everyone involved.&nbsp;
There doesn't seem to be a middle ground anymore; he's treated as either the worst player to pick up a basketball, or an electric ball of awesome who only receives criticism from soulless haters. He's a lightning rod in that way &mdash; easy to love, but also easy to trash depending on what your rooting interests are.
There should be some consensus here, though: Westbrook's pull-up middy with roughly 30 seconds to go was a terrible decision.
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Let's not leave room for doubt. It wasn't a terrible decision because he missed; it was a terrible decision and&nbsp;he missed.
Here it is, in all its glory &mdash; in addition to Patrick Beverley's flop that was eventually overturned.
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Anytime your broadcast team hits you with a "Noooooo," you've probably messed up something serious. <a href="https://youtu.be/6oECxaUkKTg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Just ask Denzel Valentine</a>.&nbsp;
First and foremost, the concept of a 2-for-1&mdash; with the goal being to garner an extra (late) possession &mdash; only makes sense when your team is tied or losing. You're virtually guaranteed to get an extra possession otherwise because the opposing team is gunning to tie or take the lead from you. If they miss, they'll either be defending a last shot from you or playing the foul game.
That's just how it works.
On a related note, the shot Westbrook took literally hasn't been seen in four years. Four years! This isn't a regular occurence, so the push to frame it as one &mdash; even as an understandable sign of support &mdash; flies in the face of logic and evidence.
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Russell Westbrook has made 3 of 17 jump shots this season. Also, he is the only player that has attempted a jump shot with under 30 seconds to go and 15+ seconds left on the shot clock with their team up by 1 possession in the last 4 seasons. <a href="https://t.co/DrH8UEs2L9">pic.twitter.com/DrH8UEs2L9</a>
&mdash; Kirk Goldsberry (@kirkgoldsberry) <a href="https://twitter.com/kirkgoldsberry/status/1584350355042680832?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 24, 2022</a></blockquote>

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It's important to note the specific "up by one possession" wording here. That expands it to leading teams who were up by 2 or 3 points. The fact that this was a 1-point game makes the choice even worse.
The only way you can begin to defend the decision to take the shot that early is if you're under the impression that the Portland Trail Blazers would attempt to hold for the last shot otherwise.
Down a singular point.&nbsp;
I'm going to go out on a limb and say the Blazers wouldn't have done that, nor would any team with a semblance of common sense.
The math would be a little different if the game was tied, but even there, it'd be fair to question who&nbsp;was taking the 2-for-1 shot. And considering the 1-point lead, it's even more reasonable to criticize the shot-taker here.
Westbrook was 4-for-14 from the floor to that point. On the season, excluding that shot, he was 11-for-37 from the field (29.7%), including a 20% clip <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/player/201566/shots-dash?PerMode=Totals" target="_blank" rel="noopener">on pull-up jumpers</a>.
Somehow, there isn't consensus that this was a poor decision. Lakers head coach Darvin Ham mostly defended the move, with the only correction being offered (publicly) Westbrook attacking the basket instead of taking the jumper.
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Reporters asked LeBron James about shot selection, and then late-game shot selection &mdash; obviously hinting at the Westbrook shot &mdash; before LeBron shut it down.
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It's admirable that Ham and LeBron had Westbrook's back. Based on the level of vitriol Westbrook has received during his Laker tenure &mdash; some that has <a href="https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1501214628021473284?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1501214628021473284%7Ctwgr%5Ebc864f450a6369ce496946cbdb6f3a2aca4cea88%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fd-1321773039881695501.ampproject.net%2F2210010655000%2Fframe.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">extended to his own family</a> &mdash; it's understandable why neither party seemed willing to publicly criticize the shot. If I had to guess, a discussion has been, or will be, had during a film session soon.
Even with that caveat, there's a spectrum between blasting the dude after the game and defending the move. LeBron taking the "I'm not doing this with y'all" route was much better than Ham essentially OK'ing the concept. Accountability was one of the primary calling cards for the Ham hire; saying "I don't mind the 2-for-1 at all" simply isn't that.&nbsp;
With that said, the pull-up doesn't mean Westbrook is some irredeemable player. LeBron's response shouldn't be taken to the 'nth degree. Ham's response doesn't mean he isn't or won't be equipped to navigate these types of situations moving forward. Even within that game, there were multiple possessions afterwards for the Lakers to pull out the win.
There's no need to call for heads, but we should be okay with saying a bad thing was a bad thing.
Going for the 2-for-1, up a point, was a terrible decision.
And having a terrible shooter make that decision compounded things.

Going for the 2-for-1, up a point, was a terrible decision by Russell Westbrook. Nekias Duncan writes on accountability and fair criticism.

Russell Westbrook's late-game shot was bad, and it's okay to say it

The Los Angeles Clippers have gotten their 2022-23 season off to a great start with a 103-97 win over their local rival, the Lakers, and everybody played a part.
In his first game since June 2021, Kawhi Leonard produced 14 points and 7 rebounds off the bench in 21 minutes. In another return over 18 months in the making, John Wall added 15 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists in 24 minutes.
Paul George registered a 15-point, 10-rebound double-double to go along with 4 dimes, Marcus Morris dropped 14 points and Ivica Zubac had his own double-double with 14 points and 17 boards.
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Entering this year, there was a multitude of questions hovering over the entire Clippers organization:
<ul>
<li>How will Kawhi Leonard look after missing the entire last season? Did he put on too much muscle? How will load management be handled with him this season?</li>
<li>How will the acquisition of John Wall work after he missed almost two years of action? Will the Clippers be getting the old John Wall or just an older John Wall?</li>
<li>How will Paul George fare after also coming off of an injury that derailed what was a very productive season in 2021-22?</li>
</ul>
I caught up with two former Clippers greats, Darius Miles and Maurice Taylor, to explore these questions and much more.
Darius Miles
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Etan Thomas: The Clippers really looked good in their first few games. A lot of people are saying they could win it all. How good do they look to you?
Darius Miles: "I don&rsquo;t wanna jump out there too quickly; it&rsquo;s still early, but I think they look really good. Seeing the pieces, the depth, having Kawhi back, PG. I&rsquo;m so excited for John Wall. He&rsquo;s always been one of my favorites. I saw him get a little frustrated there at the end against the Lakers. This is a different kind of role; he wanted the ball in his hands at the end like he was back in D.C. So he is adjusting to the new role, and I think it&rsquo;s gonna be just fine."
Etan: One of the things with John Wall people were wondering was if he can he get back to the Washington Wizards-level version of himself on the court after sitting out two seasons, but he looks good to me so far.&nbsp;
Miles: "He definitely looks good, I really want John to embrace this new role because if he does, the sky's the limit. And he&rsquo;s been saying all the right things. I heard one interview and he kept saying, 'I&rsquo;m so excited that I don&rsquo;t have to do it myself.' So he has to really embrace the fact that, sometimes down the stretch, you&rsquo;re not going to have the ball in your hands. You may have to go to the corner and spot up and let Kawhi and PG run this two-man game like they were doing against the Lakers. And sometimes, they may need (John) to speed dribble it up and initiate the offense, but other times it may be something different. And he just has to fully embrace the different times, whatever they are, because really, he can &mdash; and I believe will &mdash; be vital for this team."
Etan: You know, I&rsquo;m really rooting for PG to have a great year. He has taken a lot of criticism really since the Bubble season.
Miles: "I think last season while Kawhi was out, he really just put his head down and went to work. He wasn&rsquo;t saying much, wasn&rsquo;t getting into too much, and, before the injury, he was having a great season. I think this year is gonna be the same thing. He came out and said, 'Yeah this is Kawhi&rsquo;s team, so I&rsquo;m not gonna let the media play that game with us of whose team it is.' He squashed all that. 'This is Kawhi&rsquo;s team, and that&rsquo;s going to go a long way for us.' Because it cuts down on the chatter, you know?"
Etan: Definitely, like how Magic Johnson did with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Miles: "Exactly, just so there&rsquo;s no discussion. I&rsquo;m very, very excited for the Clippers. I wanna see the Clippers win a chip in L.A. Now, of course we don&rsquo;t have the ridiculous number of championships like the Lakers have, but this year, I think this team could really pull it off. And we&rsquo;re not talking about the best team in L.A. &mdash; we already got that. We&rsquo;re talking about winning it all."
Etan: Let&rsquo;s stay on PG for a minute. Why do you think he receives so much criticism? He was really getting criticized heavily I thought.
Miles: "That&rsquo;s just this day and age. As soon as someone sees a vulnerable spot, they jump on it. That&rsquo;s just how it is unfortunately."
Etan: It&rsquo;s interesting though because PG talked about struggling with his mental health while in the Bubble, and it was like, people got mad at him. Other players like Kevin Love and DeMar DeRozan talked about their mental health, and they were praised for their courage, given awards and sitting on panels. I mean, PG just announced not long ago that he was <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/clippers-paul-george-giving-away-3-million-in-free-therapy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">giving away $3 million in free therapy</a>.
I just co-wrote <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Finding-My-Voice-Grieving-Pushing/dp/1642598313/ref=nodl_?dplnkId=64d1657e-59d6-4718-87b6-89b40eb80095" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Emerald Garner&rsquo;s book</a> (Eric Garner&rsquo;s daughter), "Finding My Voice," and she talked about how costly therapy is and how much her entire family should&rsquo;ve had it for their mental health, and he is giving away $3 million of free mental health therapy for people!
Miles: "Yeah, how could anyone be mad at that? I don&rsquo;t know. I never really understood it myself. I&rsquo;m happy when any athlete has the courage to talk about their mental health because them saying that gives other people the comfort that they don&rsquo;t have to be ashamed. So yeah, I agree with you. It should&rsquo;ve been praised not mocked."
Etan: You mentioned Russell Westbrook earlier, and that&rsquo;s my guy. I played with him in OKC for a year, but they got him in the matrix right now, nonstop criticism. It&rsquo;s like he is taking the heat for a poorly-constructed team.
Miles: "Man, I love Westbrook. And I&rsquo;m glad [Charles] Barkley said something about it. But people don&rsquo;t understand how the slander, the politics of the game, the wrong situation or construction of a team, like you said, how that can take away someone&rsquo;s love for the game, and it looks like that with Westbrook. His body language, that 'lion' that makes Westbrook, Westbrook you know? Now, he&rsquo;s second-guessing himself; not sure if he should pass or shoot, just everything is off. I hate to see my man go through this."
Etan: So last question, there have been built-up expectations before for the Clippers. The year in the Bubble and the season before the Bubble, everyone was waiting for them to match up with the Lakers. It seemed like those years could&rsquo;ve been the Clippers' years as well. And I know a lot of teams always say this, but this season, it does really feel like this could be the Clippers year to win it all.
Miles: "I hear you. I just don&rsquo;t want to get too ahead of myself &mdash; especially with guys coming off of injuries &mdash; but then, we came out the gate looking really good this year. And we have a really deep bench, like 10-11 deep. I&rsquo;m super excited for this season, but I don&rsquo;t wanna jump out there too soon. I appreciate the support from Barkley, but not yet. But do I feel like we could be a contender? Absolutely.
"Also, we gotta see what happens with Kawhi&rsquo;s injury and his load management, and if that is a plus or a minus. I love the team, love the coach, Ty Lue; they have the team built to win the championship. They have the ability to beat any team &mdash; Golden State, Portland, Phoenix, Denver, anyone in the West or the East. Of course a lot has to go right, but yes, I&rsquo;m excited. (It's) gonna be a great year for us."
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Maurice Taylor&nbsp;
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Etan Thomas: How good can the Clippers be this season?&nbsp;
Maurice Taylor: "I think they could be really good, top-tier even. If you look at how the team is constructed, they really have everything you need in today&rsquo;s game. They&rsquo;re a really good defensive team, they can run, they can shoot threes, they&rsquo;re athletic. They can play iso ball, but don&rsquo;t have to rely on iso ball in order to be productive. And they have an incredibly deep bench. And they&rsquo;re big. They had a lineup out there with [Nic] Batum, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George; those are 6-6 to 6-8 wing players. And for Kawhi and Paul George to be the elite defenders they are, what other team has guys that size who can all defend and score at that level at the same time?
Etan: And how much do you think John Wall can help this team? Here in D.C., we&rsquo;re all rooting for him to do well. I <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/marcin-gortat-a-lot-of-people-owe-john-wall-an-apology" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interviewed his former teammate Marcin Gortat</a>, who also echoed those sentiments, especially taking into consideration everything he went through that he detailed over the summer. But how great of an addition was Wall to this team?&nbsp;
Taylor: "I don&rsquo;t understand why there weren&rsquo;t more teams in line to get John Wall, especially contenders. The only knock against him was that he hasn&rsquo;t played in two seasons for whatever reason &mdash; still not sure what was going on in Houston &mdash; but he looks good so far. He looked quick. He didn&rsquo;t look like he lost a step at all, which was what so many people were worried about. But I was definitely impressed. If he can be that for us, I don&rsquo;t see anyone in the East who would be able to stop us if we make it to the Finals.
Etan: Yeah I saw Charles Barkley picked the Clippers to win it all and doubled down after the game against the Lakers. So he is sticking with his pick. He may have even said, "GUARANTEED!" (Laughing)
Taylor: "Well, I&rsquo;m not going that far (laughing). But remember, I was with the Clippers during the down years. The bad old days (laughing). So for us, the guys I talk to from my era, it&rsquo;s amazing to be discussing the Clippers in terms of championship favorites. But yes, they could definitely win it all this season."
Etan: I agree, and does T-Lue get enough credit for his coaching? Especially the way he was able to keep the team together last season when Kawhi was out. I know he was my former teammate, so I may be a little biased, but I do think he doesn&rsquo;t get the recognition he should for the job he has done coaching.&nbsp;
Taylor: "I think he is definitely underrated. In today&rsquo;s NBA, the notion is almost that you don&rsquo;t really need a coach because of the level of talent. We heard that when he took over in Cleveland and was coaching LeBron [James]. You heard that in Brooklyn with Steve Nash..."
Etan: Well, that may not be the best example because of how disgruntled it seems Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving are with Steve Nash, but continue.
Taylor: "Yeah that&rsquo;s true. But, point being, I think good coaches sometimes fall through the cracks because players are so good now. But in reality, coaching is the X-factor for each team. That&rsquo;s why Miami was so good, that&rsquo;s why Boston with Ime Udoka overachieved the way they did last season. But to answer your question, no, Ty Lue definitely doesn&rsquo;t get the credit he deserved, and for the very reason you mentioned. He held everything together while his star player was out for the entire season. And he really pieced together a team. Like, they have a great unit. If you look at the Lakers, they just have a bunch of guys who got signed together. That&rsquo;s a pickup game, what the Lakers have."
Etan: And no proven shooters. They have some developing shooters, but they need proven shooters who can contribute immediately, right?&nbsp;
Taylor: "Absolutely, I don&rsquo;t know what they&rsquo;re thinking over there, but that&rsquo;s not my problem. We&rsquo;re constructed as a complete team, and you have to give credit to Steve Ballmer &mdash; when you have a team governor who goes all out for his team? I mean, the Clippers haven&rsquo;t had that in history, at least not while I was there. We&rsquo;re in arguably the best market in the league, so to have an organization that&rsquo;s willing to invest in their players and open their checkbooks the way Steve Ballmer is, it&rsquo;s going to be attractive to free agents to come to the Clippers. And they&rsquo;re making moves to win the whole thing. They&rsquo;re not penny-pinching or trying to spend the bare minimum. They are investing the way a team is supposed to."
Etan: If only someone could&rsquo;ve recorded Donald Sterling earlier while you were there (laughing).
Taylor: "Man, don&rsquo;t get me started (laughing). It&rsquo;s a night and day difference, but that&rsquo;s why they are in the position they are in. People always say players make the team, and that&rsquo;s true, but the ownership, the way the organization is run makes all the difference. So a lot of this credit, like I said, has to go to Steve Ballmer."
Etan: I hear you, so last question: Kawhi Leonard. I don&rsquo;t know how they&rsquo;re going to do with the load management for the entire season. Against the Lakers he came off the bench well into the second quarter. I&rsquo;m sure that&rsquo;s not going to be the strategy for the entire season, but how good did Kawhi Leonard look to you?&nbsp;
Taylor: "He looked really good. He moved well. With wing guys, when they come back from injury, you wanna see how their lateral movement is, if they have that pop back, and he had all of that. He definitely looked strong. And he&rsquo;s only going to get better as the season progresses. But the thing I am a little concerned with is the very load management (subject) you mentioned.
"A team can load management themselves right out of the playoffs if they&rsquo;re not careful. Is it going to get to a point where he&rsquo;s back and he&rsquo;s at full strength and he is their main guy this season? Or is it going to be an ongoing situation where, 'Okay, we have a back-to-back, we&rsquo;re going to rest him this second game?' If you do that enough times, that could change the dynamic of your playoff run or position. Because Golden State doesn&rsquo;t have any load management players, and that&rsquo;s who you have to be eyeing on the way to the Finals. So I am a little concerned, to be honest. But, other than that, things look very good for the Clippers this season."
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Etan Thomas speaks with former Clippers greats Darius Miles and Maurice Taylor about LA's opening night win and the upcoming year.

Darius Miles and Maurice Taylor have high praise for the Clippers

If you flicked on a random Tari Eason highlight in the past two weeks, you probably wouldn't realize we're still in the thick of the NBA preseason.
Eason has been the sultan of second efforts through three exhibition contests, swooping in for offensive rebounds and shrugging off contact to get putback points. He's averaging a league-high 5.3 offensive boards per game by snaking around boxouts, like in the below clip.
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The ball just seems to find Tari Eason. <a href="https://t.co/RqRBVVR59o">pic.twitter.com/RqRBVVR59o</a>
&mdash; Nekias (Nuh-KY-us) Duncan (@NekiasNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NekiasNBA/status/1578614121352036352?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 8, 2022</a></blockquote>

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These types of hustle plays have garnered early respect from fans and teammates, but they're just one facet of Eason's preseason showcase. The No. 17 overall pick has put up 20.7 points and 10.0 rebounds per game with a scorching 64.1% shooting clip from the floor. Eason is the early "steal-of-the-draft" badge-wearer, and he has Rockets fans daydreaming about how he could fill some of the critical holes in Houston's young core.
Eason is an eye-popping vertical athlete for a player his size (6-foot-8) and that has shown up on some of the transition hammer dunks he's dropped so far. But that bounce, coupled with a 7-foot-2-inch wingspan, also allows him to swallow up rebounds like this.
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Tari Eason suction cups for hands. Also, this is good awareness by Mathews to balance the floor once he sees Eason go to the rim. <a href="https://t.co/jVwoqTvyTc">pic.twitter.com/jVwoqTvyTc</a>
&mdash; DJ (@ACE_ZULLO) <a href="https://twitter.com/ACE_ZULLO/status/1579812450589110274?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 11, 2022</a></blockquote>
Despite a somewhat bizarre bounce, Eason overcomes his late dash to the interior and skies over Jamal Cain for the board. Cain's no slouch; he's 6-foot-7 and has played hard for the Miami Heat this month en route to a two-way contract. But Eason timed his late jump well, and followed it with a quick second leap for the bucket.&nbsp;
This level of intensity is obviously a way for Eason to earn the respect of his coaches, and in turn, get some playing time. Houston ranked 20th in offensive-rebound rate last season.
However, Eason has also shown he's far more than a putback boss. He's knocking down catch-and-shoot threes and attacking closeouts &mdash; necessary skills alongside Houston's ball-dominant players.
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He has not been a super efficient driving finisher, but Eason covers some remarkable ground with his handle and stride size. He loves this power step-through and displays some surprising body contortion for his size. Eason has natural touch around the basket, and I wouldn't be too concerned about a touch miss in this small sample.
However, the downside to these power drives is that they often leave Eason out of juice when he goes up for a shot. Those long strides sap him of vertical pop and lead to some tough blocked shots:
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Still, they're ambitious attempts, and "ambitious" aptly describes a lot of Eason's game right now.
Though he has just three assists in three preseason games, Eason has thrown some eyebrow-raising passes, including this one:
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You won't see it in many highlight reels because of the blown finish, but this full court bounce pass by Tari Eason after securing the steal was absolutely sensational. LeBron James, Cade Cunningham-esque. <a href="https://t.co/thYTYtpZ4d">pic.twitter.com/thYTYtpZ4d</a>
&mdash; Itamar (@Itamar_17_10) <a href="https://twitter.com/Itamar_17_10/status/1578747322330406912?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 8, 2022</a></blockquote>

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He's also made some impressive reads in the half-court, though they haven't equated to scores. At the same time, Eason sometimes telegraphs his plan a bit too plainly, and it leads to turnovers like these:
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I'm optimistic about Eason becoming a better decision-maker. The fact that he's seeing these passing options is a positive, and as he acclimates to NBA pacing and spacing, his experience will naturally help his intuition.
The Rockets have to put Eason in positions where he can gamble with his physical tools and developing vision. His length and strength are already coming in handy on defense, where Eason can will himself out of bad spots and create opportunities out of thin air.
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Against the Heat on Tuesday, Eason altered shots like he was shot out of a cannon. That third clip, where he glides in to effortlessly reject a Duncan Robinson three-point attempt, still amazes me given where he was mere split-seconds before. Eason also can afford to dig at driving players, like he does against Max Strus, because he's long and agile enough to recover back and provide a quality contest.&nbsp;
The 21-year-old should get on the floor because he can grab rebounds and create havoc on defense. He can exceed expectations, perhaps to All-Rookie-type levels, by developing his jumper and syncing with the fluid lanes and pockets that come together on an NBA court. Will he have stretches of poor shooting and unwise gambling on both ends? Probably &mdash; most young players do.&nbsp;
But Tari Eason is a rookie who already has strengths in a defined role and flashes of upside in versatility. That's already pretty special, and it makes him a must-track member of this 2022 class.

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Houston Rockets rookie Tari Eason has averaged 20.7 points, 10.0 rebounds and 1.7 steals through three preseason contests.

Is Tari Eason's preseason play forecasting a breakout rookie year?

We've got chalk!
The Las Vegas Aces and Seattle Storm swept their opponents, and though the Chicago Sky and Connecticut Sun had to go on the road, they handled business with double-digit wins. That sets us up for a pair of thrilling second-round series including the top-four seeds.
Let's take a look at some of the key matchups and questions for each series.
(2) CHICAGO SKY VS (3) CONNECTICUT SUN
THINGS TO KNOW
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="2">Sky won season series 4-0</li>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="3">June 10: 83-79</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="3">June 29: 91-83</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="3">July 31: 95-92 (no Candace Parker)</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="3">Aug. 7: 94-91 (no Curt Miller)</li>
</ul>
</ul>
KEY QUESTION: Who will win the paint battle?
It would be easy to go with the "power vs. finesse" angle for this frontcourt battle.
Chicago's trio of Candace Parker, Emma Meesseman and Azura Stevens (off the bench) do plenty of perimeter-based work. Parker and Meesseman often operate from outside as high post or handoff hubs, influencing the Sky's interior attack by picking out cutters. No frontcourt duo averaged more assists than Parker and Meesseman (8.3) this season.
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Stevens was more of a spacer (36% from three on moderate volume) than hub; that spacing helped open the floor for others, and she provided her own value as the rare big with comfort attacking closeouts.
The Sun do more of the gruntwork inside. Behind the trio of Jonquel Jones, Alyssa Thomas, and Brionna Jones, the Sun led The W in post-up shot attempts per game (6.9, per InStat tracking) and offensive rebound rate (37.1%). No one embodies their physicality quite like Bri Jones. The list of players that can deal with her on the block or the glass is a short one.
There's versatility present, of course; Jonquel might be the best shooter on the roster, able to space, pick-and-pop, or run off screens. Thomas led all frontcourt players, and ranked 4th overall, in assists this season (6.1). She's comfortable bringing the ball up the floor and actually initiates a large chunk of the offense in the half-court.
This series may boil down to who can assert their style the most. While the Sun lack in pure shooting and improvisation, they could very well counter it by winning the possession battle. Due to their size and glass-work, a league-leading 37% of their shot attempts came at the rim this season.&nbsp;
The Sky, with their motion-based offensive attack and occasional mismatch hunting, ranked just behind the Sun in rim rate (35%) this season. Because of the skill-sets of their bigs, they could have success pulling the Sun's bigs out of the paint, thus opening the floor for their perimeter players to operate.&nbsp;
KEY MATCHUP: Natisha Hiedeman and Courtney Williams vs. Courtney Vandersloot and Allie Quigley
I have some serious questions about the Sun's backcourt. 
At their best, Natisha Hiedeman and Courtney Williams can provide enough shot-making to complement their stars. Hiedeman is a sniper beyond the arc, having drained 40.5% of her threes over the past two seasons. 
Williams has been more inconsistent as a three-point shooter &mdash; she's shot 45.7%, 23.5%, 38.3%, and 33.8% over the past four seasons &mdash; but she gives the Sun much-needed juice off the dribble. She led The W in mid-ranga attempts (6.6) by a wide margin and <a href="https://stats.wnba.com/players/shooting/?Season=2022&amp;SeasonType=Regular%20Season&amp;DistanceRange=By%20Zone&amp;sort=Mid-Range%20FG%20PCT&amp;dir=1&amp;CF=Mid-Range%20FGA*GE*3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ranked 6th in percentage</a> (40.9%) among 20 players who averaged at least three attempts.&nbsp;
But there are drawbacks in this matchup. As lethal as Hiedeman is with her feet set, she hasn't gotten super busy off of movement. Of her 168 three-point attempts this season, only 42 of them (25%) came via isolation, ball screen, off-ball screen, or handoff, per InStat tracking. That has allowed Allie Quigley to take on that matchup during the regular season meetings.&nbsp;
For Williams, her inconsistency from deep allows teams to "gap" her off the ball. The Sky bordered on disrespect when she didn't have the ball, opting to ignore her completely to dig down on drives or double post-ups. Williams is going to make a shot on the possession below (a key for this series), but look at how threatened Chicago is by her.
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There's also the matter of decision-making. Hiedeman and Williams can get buckets when they're on, but neither of them are natural playmakers. Part of the "why doesn't Jonquel get more touches" answer is their inability to find her in a timely manner. And as good as Thomas has been as a creator, she wouldn't have to do so as much if the guards could be trusted more to keep the offense flowing. Williams in particular has a penchant for taking tough, contested pull-up middies. She's good enough to make them, but the process can get murky sometimes.
The Sky's backcourt of Courtney Vandersloot and Quigley don't have those concerns. Vandersloot is one of the best decision-makers in league history, while Quigley is one of the best shooters the league has seen &mdash; though it's worth noting she got off to a rough&nbsp;start to begin the year.
I do wonder if the Sun take a page out of the New York Liberty's book from their first-round matchup with the Sky. New York found some success with ducking under picks, particularly against Vandersloot. When they were able to keep her out of the paint, Chicago's half-court offense sputtered some.
Beyond that, it'll be on the Sun's guards to stay connected off the ball. During the regular season series, I found they mostly did a good job of containing the Sky's initial half-court action. Trouble ensued once the possession went later in the clock, with impromptu jukes and backcuts leading to buckets.
If they're able to hold up, this series could swing.
STRAY THOUGHTS
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="2">I wonder what coverage Kahleah Copper will receive. Teams have typically gone under picks against her, though the Sun went with more switching and, surprisingly, hedging to force the ball out of her hands. It's an interesting gambit to take away her drives, though I wonder if that'll open more things up for the Sky offensively.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="3">Keeping an eye on the backup guard minutes for Chicago. We know Rebekah Gardner is locked in, and may wind up closing games depending on how well Quigley shoots. I wonder how secure Julie Allemand's spot it. The Liberty found comfort trying to attack her in round 1, and the three-ball hasn't fallen at a high clip this season. Could we see Dana Evans pop up if necessary, or would James Wade simply shorten the rotation and give the Vandersloot/Quigley/Gardner triumvirate all the minutes?</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="3">I'd like to see more Dijonai Carrington minutes for the Sun. Her defense may be needed more than usual in this series.</li>
</ul>
(1) LAS VEGAS ACES VS (4) SEATTLE STORM
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="2">Aces won season series 3-1</li>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="3">May 8: 85-74 (no Tina Charles, Riquna Williams)</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="3">June 29: 88-78, SEA</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="3">Aug. 7: 89-81</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="3">Aug. 14: 109-100 (no Dearica Hamby)</li>
</ul>
<li>Dearica Hamby (right knee bone contusion) will miss at least the first game of this series. She suffered the injury on August 11, and was given a 2-4 week timeline.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
KEY QUESTION: Who can flip the switch?
This is a star-studded matchup. If you haven't heard (or seen the 289347293482 graphics about it), there will be seven&nbsp;former No. 1 overall picks featured in this series: A'ja Wilson, Kelsey Plum, and Jackie Young for the Aces; Breanna Stewart, Jewell Loyd, Sue Bird, and Tina Charles for the Storm.
With the exception of maybe Bird at this stage, all of these players are comfortable going one-on-one and getting tough buckets. That may be necessary in this series considering where these teams are defensively.
The Aces were an aggressive pick-and-roll team at the beginning of the season, having their bigs play at the level (or higher) of ball screens. The Storm have dialed up the pressure on ball screens for years. As the season has gone on, and particularly during the regular season meetings, both teams have leaned a little more into switching.&nbsp;
Both teams generally do a good job of passing off their assignments when switching. The Storm, however, might be the gold standard in switching into a (perceived) mismatch, and quickly scram-switching their way out of it by toggling assignments off the ball. Look at how quickly Williams "scrams" Bird out of the Wilson matchup here:
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That is&nbsp;beautiful&nbsp;work from the Storm. Bird goes from defending Chelsea, to switching onto Wilson, to immediately switching off Wilson to take Plum on the perimeter. They nail those kind of quick-hitting rotations.
This feels like more of an Aces question than a Storm one. Offensively, they're going to need to be purposeful and decisive when trying to attack in the half-court. They can't afford to have possessions like this:
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The Storm served Bird up on a platter for Wilson early into the possession, and the Aces did nothing productive with it. What should've been a quick attack, or at least a dish and post-up opportunity, turned into&nbsp; a drive from the corner gained little traction and ended with a late clock contested triple.
On the other end, they have to be able to 1) contain drives and 2) get their smaller players out of trouble when needed. The scram-switching from this unit has been inconsistent, to be kind.&nbsp;
KEY MATCHUP: Kelsey Plum vs. Gabby WIlliams
Of course, this will depend on Williams' availability in this series. She suffered a concussion during the Storm's Game 2 victory over the Washington Mystics. <a href="https://twitter.com/hunter9h/status/1563541825901989900?s=20&amp;t=01p9RFnjUY2JJR9UPBzPRw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">At last check</a>, she hasn't cleared protocols yet, leaving her unavailable for Game 1 at the very least.
Assuming she makes a return during the series, this might be the most important battle of the series. Plum has been electric all season, but has seen a dip in production &mdash; or at least a dip in&nbsp;ease &mdash;&nbsp;when faced with lengthy defenders.
Williams just happens to be one of the best defenders in the sport, listed at 5-foot-11 and equipped with endless, active arms. The Aces want to make quick work in the half-court. That means creating early advantages with ball screens or with movement, something Williams does a wonderful job of preventing.&nbsp;
If she's able to keep a handle on Plum, you can expect Aces possessions to end much later in the clock. On top of Plum's shooting, she also led the Aces (and ranked third in The W) with 58 made shots off drives, per InStat. Rim pressure has been a question mark for the Aces all season; only the Storm generated a lower percentage of their <a href="https://www.pbpstats.com/totals/wnba/team?Season=2022&amp;SeasonType=Regular+Season&amp;StartType=All&amp;Type=Team&amp;StatType=Totals&amp;Table=Shooting" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shots at the rim</a> (23.9) than the Aces (24.6). If Plum can't get there, the Aces would have to rely almost entirely on tough shotmaking. They certainly have the talent to do it, but it's a diet they don't&nbsp;want&nbsp;to live on.
STRAY THOUGHTS
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="2">Do we see the Aces go small at any point? They've experimented with a fun group -- Chelsea Gray, Plum, Riquna Williams, Jackie Young and A'ja Wilson -- but they've only played 14 minutes.&nbsp;I'm intrigued.&nbsp;</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="3">On the defensive scheme front, I wonder how many changeups we see. Both have shown comfort dialing up the pressure, and they both have a zone defense in their back pocket.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="3">If Gabby Williams isn't available for an extended stretch, where do they go? Stephanie Talbot would help spacing tremendously, though she can get picked on defensively (and throw the other perimeter matchups out of whack). Briann January would help maintain the defense, but you're getting smaller without helping the spacing that much. The jumbo option, with Breanna Stewart, Ezi Magbegor, and Tina Charles together, has only seen six minutes of burn all season. I don't know if Noelle Quinn would bust that out, but I'd get a kick out of it if she does.</li>
</ul>
&nbsp;

Nekias Duncan previews the second round of the WNBA playoffs.

2022 WNBA Playoffs: Previewing the second-round matchups

Welcome to Basketball News' 10-part mini-series, Blazing the Trail, where Mat Issa breaks down the most revolutionary players of the 1990s and 2000s. Throughout this series, we'll examine how these players changed basketball and pioneered their respective skills.
In this fifth installment, Mat goes in-depth on one of the most versatile defenders of all-time: Andrei Kirilenko. He explains what made him different from other off-ball rovers who came before him, with insights from his former coaches, teammates and more.
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No player in this series has garnered more anticipation than Andrei Kirilenko. A quick survey of the internet yields countless articles and <a href="https://youtu.be/XGkSph7VDrU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">YouTube videos</a> that are all centered around the same premise:
Kirilenko would be a perfect fit in today&rsquo;s era.
Did Kirilenko serve as the prototype for the modern-day defender? During his prime, was he a revolutionary and a superstar?&nbsp;
Let's find out.
WHAT MADE KIRILENKO SPECIAL?
In baseball, a "five-tool player" is bestowed this label if they display excellence in five categories: hitting for average, hitting for power, fielding, speed and throwing.
Similarly, Kirilenko excelled in five different defensive disciplines.
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/kirilenko-five-tool-defender.jpg" alt="Visual Created by Mark Cheung" width="487" height="520" />
Tool No. 1: Man Defense
&ldquo;His technique was fundamentally instinctive,&rdquo; said Gordon Chiesa, Kirilenko&rsquo;s former coach in Utah.
Kirilenko touted great length, reflexes and an active &lsquo;tap-dancing&rsquo; stance (see clips below) that enabled him to keep the ball in his line of sight at all times.&nbsp;
On top of that, he mastered the &lsquo;flick-hand technique,&rsquo; which aims to force ball-handlers to dribble East to West rather than North to South (since it's harder to get in the paint when you can&rsquo;t move forward).
"[Your] defensive hand is on the ball side, and [you're] flicking [your] hand up towards the ball &ndash; without losing [your] balance &ndash; to make their dribble lateral, so that it's more protective [rather than] more downhill," Chiesa explained to Basketball News.
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Tool No. 2: Versatility&nbsp;
While Kirilenko&rsquo;s primary assignments were forwards, he was capable of guarding shiftier speedsters and gargantuan bruisers as well.
&ldquo;You could literally put him on just about anyone,&rdquo; recalled Michael Ruffin, Kirilenko&rsquo;s former teammate who is now an assistant coach with the Phoenix Suns. "[He] had the speed, quickness, length to keep up with guards&hellip; on the perimeter. That&rsquo;s who he would end up guarding a lot [of the time].&rdquo;
Kirilenko even developed antidotes to deploy when going up against the more powerful, low-post big men of the time.
&ldquo;Even on the post with a bigger, banging guy&hellip; he could make it difficult for them to get the ball deep by fronting them,&rdquo; said Charlotte Hornets assistant Tyrone Corbin, who coached Kirilenko in Utah. "What he would do is put the work in early [in the post] to make the catch a little further out, so they wouldn&rsquo;t catch it so deep in the paint.&rdquo;
And if the big man somehow managed to receive the entry pass?
&ldquo;He would go after the ball and keep them off balance that way,&rdquo; Corbin explained.
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Tool No. 3: Off-Ball Disruptor
&ldquo;The thing I remember about him most is that he [was] a defensive playmaker,&rdquo; Chiesa said.
Each season from 2001 to 2011, Kirilenko finished in the 96th percentile or higher in Cerebro Sports&rsquo; Defensive Statistical Impact metric (which measures defensive playmaking).&nbsp;
&ldquo;What made Kirilenko brilliant, I call it early eyes,&rdquo; Chiesa explained. &ldquo;He could read plays before [they] happened&hellip; and he was able to be cat-quick and jump in the passing lanes to steal the ball, block a shot or pickpocket somebody.&rdquo;
Among other things, Kirilenko was adept at doubling down from the perimeter &ndash; the concept of rotating over from the perimeter to double a player on the low block (which was particularly important during that era considering the high volume of post-ups).
&ldquo;People never understood how long he really was,&rdquo; Corbin said. &ldquo;He could be at the <a href="https://medium.com/the-basketball-dictionary/the-basketball-dictionary-5c3835e9fe58#:~:text=Nail%3A%20The%20spot%20in%20the,the%20middle%20at%20all%20costs." target="_blank" rel="noopener">nail</a>/elbow, and a guy could get the ball in the post and turn to dribble or make a move, and he&rsquo;s on top of them knocking the ball out.&rdquo;
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Tool No. 4: Motor
Legendary Jazz coach Jerry Sloan was known for stressing the importance of conditioning in all his practices.
&ldquo;That&rsquo;s one of the biggest sticklers with Coach Sloan: you had to be in great shape,&rdquo; Corbin emphasized. &ldquo;Most of the things that we did every day involved some kind of drill [with] conditioning as part of the drill.&rdquo;
Upon reflecting on his experiences, Ruffin agreed with Corbin&rsquo;s assessment.
&ldquo;The philosophy of the team&hellip; was that every time you stepped on the court, you go hard,&rdquo; Ruffin said.
Kirilenko did not deviate from this mission statement. During his iconic run in the 2003-04 NBA season (more on that in a bit), he finished in the 94th percentile in minutes played. And he spent every second of those nearly 2,900 minutes stalking the terrain at a frenetic pace.
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Tool No. 5: Shot-Blocking
Kirilenko was a human eraser of the highest order, and his acumen as a shot-blocker is what separated him from the likes of Shawn Marion &ndash; the other multi-faceted forward of that time.
During his career, Kirilenko posted a whopping seven seasons with a block percentage of 4% or higher. Marion, on the other hand, never surpassed 3%.&nbsp;
With his condor arms, impeccable timing and recovery speed, Kirilenko was terrific at swatting away attempts.
&ldquo;Super timing. Super, super timing," Corbin said. "And his ability to recover &ndash; to get from point A to point B &ndash; especially off the ball when he could be on the weakside. A guy could drive thinking he was open; [Kirilenko] would get from where he was to the ball quickly before the guy could alter his shot or see him coming.
&ldquo;As good as he was on the ball, he was better coming off the ball because guys couldn&rsquo;t see where he was coming from.&rdquo;
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ON-COURT PRODUCTION
Prior to the 2003-04 NBA season, ESPN writer Frank Hughes <a href="https://www.deseret.com/2003/10/5/19788279/little-expected-of-jazz" target="_blank" rel="noopener">predicted</a> that the Utah Jazz would lose more games than any team in NBA history.&nbsp;
Not only did Utah outperform these not-so-lofty expectations, they came within one game of the playoffs in the loaded Western Conference.&nbsp;
So, what happened?
&ldquo;When things like that usually happen, you look back, and you&rsquo;re like, &lsquo;Oh, we missed on three or four of those players. They were way better than we thought,'&rdquo; said David Locke, who has been the radio voice of the Jazz for 13 years.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think that exists on [the Jazz&rsquo;s] roster. I think the only one we missed on was a 22-year-old Andrei Kirilenko [who] was just a way better player and more important than people realized.&rdquo;
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Advanced data helps us understand Kirilenko's impact that season. Basketball Reference&rsquo;s Box Plus-Minus paints Kirilenko as a <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2004_advanced.html#advanced_stats::bpm">top-three player</a> in the league that year, with the next-best Jazz player ranking 75th. While top-three may be unlikely, he was pretty darn close.
In 2003-04, Utah's defense was 2.2 points stingier per 100 possessions with their Swiss-army-knife defender on the floor (which ranked in the 72nd percentile, per Cleaning the Glass).&nbsp;
What&rsquo;s more, AK-47's value extended beyond his defense. He also boasted a progressive offensive game &ndash; one that improved Utah&rsquo;s attack by 9.5 points per 100 possessions (ranking in the 97th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass).&nbsp;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Along with being a revolutionary defender, Kirilenko had an incredibly modern (and underrated) offensive game. He was a decisive passer, an eager cutter, a fearless driver, and a FT drawing machine. He would have been the perfect player in today's read-and-react react game. <a href="https://t.co/dvEZTxxWDJ">pic.twitter.com/dvEZTxxWDJ</a>
&mdash; Mat Issa (@matissa15) <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1562527132013604865?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 24, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Put those two outputs together, and the Jazz had a +11.8 efficiency differential per 100 possessions when Kirilenko was on the court. That year, the only other All-Stars to achieve that mark were Kevin Garnett (the 2003-04 MVP), Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal, Jason Kidd and Brad Miller.&nbsp;
(Note: On the <a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/260tNesWxrhH93RDQP06pS?si=79381e7876574e8f" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Blazing the Trail podcast</a>, historian Cody Houdek and I broke down where Kirilenko ranked in the league that season, and we ultimately landed on him falling somewhere in the 8-12 range).
BLAZING THE TRAIL
Chiesa&rsquo;s Jazz spent the late 1990s being vanquished by a team that rostered a player in Kirilenko&rsquo;s likeness: Scottie Pippen.
&ldquo;Defensively, [Pippen] was a defensive playmaker who could guard all five positions, and that was Kirilenko,&rdquo; Chiesa compared.&nbsp;
Despite their similarities, Pippen&rsquo;s approach was more <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9vFHYVXtRk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">on-ball orientated</a> (juxtaposed with Kirilenko&rsquo;s primarily off-ball style). A more perfect progenitor for this inspector-gadget model exists by way of 1970s stalwart Bobby Jones.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Absolutely,&rdquo; Chiesa exclaimed when asked about the two forwards' similarities.&nbsp;&ldquo;Just like Kirilenko &ndash; 6-foot-9, [220] pounds, gangly, high hips, [could] run the floor, defensive playmaker...&rdquo;&nbsp;
Like Kirilenko, the Secretary of Defense touted the illustrious <a href="https://streamable.com/3ynktv" target="_blank" rel="noopener">five defensive tools</a> and, as a result, left a significant mark on that end of the floor &ndash; quarterbacking five top-5 defenses during his 10-year tenure in the NBA.
Both defensive roamers by nature, Kirilenko was able to become arguably more impactful than his predecessor thanks to the abolition of illegal defense rules in 2001. Before this rule change, zone defense was banned, and if teams/players wanted to execute these exotic coverages, they had to do so covertly, which greatly mitigated the value of off-ball roamers such as Jones.
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IMPACT ON TODAY'S GAME
In the era of pace and space, the logical defensive counter to this increased surface area is to obtain personnel who can cover this space efficiently.&nbsp;
As alluded to in the previous section, rule changes enabled Kirilenko to operate unrestricted in a manner his forefathers never could. And this confluence of events, combined with his unique physical tools and instincts, made him the prototype for the space-ball defender.
Today, the NBA landscape is littered with players who resemble Kirilenko's robust defensive palate. Nearly every prominent defender in the Association has shades of Kirilenko&rsquo;s design in their own game.&nbsp;
For instance, All-Defensive First Team forward Mikal Bridges shares Kirilenko&rsquo;s length and motor.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I think that [Kirilenko] is actually a lot like Mikal,&rdquo; said Ruffin, who coaches Bridges on the Suns. &ldquo;They are both extremely long, they move really well [when] negotiating screens, both have good motors, and they both take pride in defending.&rdquo;
As for reigning Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart, Ruffin said that he inherited Kirilenko&rsquo;s versatility. Like Kirilenko, Smart regularly faces off against defenders far larger than him in stature, and he holds them off using the same <a href="https://streamable.com/5x6n4y" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fronting techniques</a> Corbin alluded to earlier.&nbsp;
Draymond Green, arguably the best defender of his generation, may share the most similarities with Kirilenko &mdash; possessing all five of his fancy utensils. And similar to how Kirilenko surpassed Jones, Green one-upped AK-47 by adding a rim-deterrence component to his game.&nbsp;
The best paint protectors deter opponents from taking shots in the restricted area entirely, and Green is no exception. This past season, opponent rim frequency decreased by 5.4% when he was on the court (which ranked in the 99th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass). Unfortunately, Kirilenko's presence didn&rsquo;t have the same effect, as the opponent's rim frequency <a href="https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/player/2029/onoff#tab-opp_shooting_freq" target="_blank" rel="noopener">oftentimes</a> increased when he was on the floor.
Thanks to the movement initiated by Kirilenko (and capitalized on by Green), every team is looking for the next torchbearer to the space-ball-defender lineage.
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In fact, Utah may have just stumbled upon its second iteration of the archetype in recently acquired Jarred Vanderbilt. When asked about their parallels, Chiesa pulled out his notes from when the Jazz and Timberwolves faced off on December 31, 2021, and read them aloud:
&ldquo;Lengthy frame, long arms, pretzel legs&hellip; wily defensive ball-retriever, glides in from perimeter to block shots, active back-tipper into transition, early-eyes anticipator, in and out of the passing lanes, steal maker&hellip; around the ball consistently.&rdquo;
Sound familiar?
Meanwhile, in Toronto, the Raptors believe they hold the key to the next link in the five-tool chain in reigning Rookie of the Year Scottie Barnes.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I think Scottie is overall a better talent [than Kirilenko]," Raptors assistant coach Adrian Griffin told Basketball News. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not taking anything away from Kirilenko&hellip; but I think there is something special about Scottie.&rdquo;
Seeing the direction the league is going, it makes sense why people always ponder how Kirilenko would fare in today&rsquo;s game.&nbsp;
But don&rsquo;t let his status as a revolutionary fool you; he was a damn good player during his time too.&nbsp;
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Check back next week for Part VI of Blazing the Trail, which focuses on Shawn Kemp, the aerial artist.&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-reggie-miller-the-moving-target-indiana-pacers-rik-smits-dan-burke-michael-jordan-joe-dumars-golden-state-warriors-chris-mullin-steph-curry-klay-thompson">Click here to read Part IV: Reggie Miller, the moving target</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-shane-battier-the-databall-defender-memphis-grizzlies-houston-rockets-miami-heat-daryl-morey-david-fizdale-detroit-pistons-draymond-green" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part III: Shane Battier, the data-ball defender</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-rashard-lewis-all-star-stretch-four-orlando-magic-stan-van-gundy-dwight-howard-hedo-turkoglu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part II: Rashard Lewis, the All-Star stretch 4</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part I: Steve Nash, the magician who danced in the paint</a>

Andrei Kirilenko was a five-tool defender who was ahead of his time. Mat Issa looks back on AK-47's career and impact on today's NBA.

Blazing the Trail: Andrei Kirilenko, the five-tool defender

The WNBA is locked into three tiers at this point of the season. There's the tippy top with the contenders: the defending champion Chicago Sky (who may need a tier of their own soon), Las Vegas Aces, Connecticut Sun, Seattle Storm and Washington Mystics.
The Indiana Fever are in their own Tier of Woe, sporting the worst record in the league (5-24) despite having an All-Star-caliber guard in Kelsey Mitchell, and plenty of young talent to be excited about moving forward.
And then there's the middle. A hodgepodge of teams seeded 6-through-11 that are a week away from earning praise or garnering "will-they-miss-the-playoffs-altogether?" discussions. There are six teams separated by three games, fighting for the final three playoff spots. It's a fun or stressful race, depending on who you root for.
The Phoenix Mercury are currently making a push in that middle tier.
We aren't far removed from wondering if it was <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/what-should-the-phoenix-mercury-do-with-skylar-digginssmith" target="_blank" rel="noopener">best to blow things up</a>. We've had a sideline star dustup, a future Hall-of-Famer leaving midseason and joining one of the contenders shortly after, and a clown emoji situation that I'm still cackling about. The Mercury haven't just been an underwhelming team this season, they ranked very low on the "good-vibes" scale.
Here they are though: 6-4 in their last 10 games, quietly pushing their way to the eighth and final playoff seed. <a href="https://stats.wnba.com/teams/advanced/?sort=OFF_RATING&amp;dir=-1&amp;Season=2022&amp;SeasonType=Regular%20Season&amp;DateFrom=06%2F25%2F2022" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Since June 25</a>, they have a better offense than the Storm and Sun, and a better defense and net rating than the Aces.
Despite ranking last in pace during this stretch, the Mercury are going full Moreyball to give themselves a shot. Nearly 70% of their shot attempts have come from three or at the rim; they lead the W in three-point attempts (29.6, 36.7 per 100 possessions) and their 20.7 free-throw attempts rank second behind the Dallas Wings (21.5).
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Skylar Diggins-Smith (23-5-6-2-1 in her last 10) continues to play MVP-caliber ball. Diana Taurasi is starting to perk up, averaging 24 points (while shooting 39.3% from three on 11.2 attempts) over her last five games after struggling beforehand (15.5 points and 32.5% from three on 8.0 attempts).&nbsp;
Right behind them in production is Sophie Cunningham, whose insertion into the starting lineup as a small-ball 4 has juiced the offense. She's averaging a shade under 17 points during this stretch behind ridiculous shooting. A 42.5% clip on 8.0 attempts is typo-level good, especially when you factor how many of her threes are coming off of movement.&nbsp;
To that point: Cunningham at the 4 has made life easier for everyone around her, while putting more strain on defenses.&nbsp;
The Mercury's Friday night beatdown of the Seattle Storm gave us plenty of examples. Cunningham herself had a solid outing &mdash; 19 points, including 5-of-10 shooting from three &mdash; but the way she was used continuously put the Storm in tough spots.
Take the opening bucket from Phoenix.
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The Mercury go with a high pick-and-roll between Taurasi and Brianna Turner. Even at this stage of her career, defenses have to respect Taurasi's ability to pull up. That's what makes Cunningham's positioning key; she's one pass away, which puts strain on Breanna Stewart as a helper since she's responsible for tagging Turner on the roll.
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With Tina Charles stepping up to take away Taurasi's space, Stewart is stuck between tagging Turner on the roll or sticking with Cunningham on the perimeter. Cunningham exacerbates this issue by lifting higher on the floor, and eventually gets an open three out of it.
I even think of quieter possessions like this, with Cunningham stashed in the weakside corner. It doesn't lead to a bucket, but look at who makes the rotation on this drive from Diggins-Smith, where it comes from (the strong side, a general no-no), and the difference in urgency compared to Cunningham's defender.
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The Mercury have found success using Cunningham as part of their HORNS or HORNS-adjacent sets. Using her as a screener or flare option means involving a big; most of whom aren't used to defending movement shooters. Stewart is a legitimate DPOY candidate and you see how she isn't exempt from making hard choices in space.
Beyond that, Cunningham embraces contact. That leads to #antics at times, but in general, her willingness to get her hands dirty makes her a pretty useful off-ball threat. She doesn't mind prying others open. And because of her shooting ability and spatial awareness, defenses&nbsp;really&nbsp;have to be connected or they risk giving up something easy.&nbsp;
I loved the Mercury going to this set on back-to-back possessions in the fourth quarter on Friday night. Cunningham starts in the corner this time, but the objective is for her to screen for Taurasi and see what opens up.&nbsp;
On the first trip, Cunningham's lead block creates a triple for the legend.
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On the next one, Cunningham slips into open space against a switch. Remember, folks: the best way to beat a switch is with a slip.
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It's important to stress that the Mercury are generating these looks against the Seattle Storm, the team that had the best defensive rating in the W <a href="https://stats.wnba.com/teams/advanced/?sort=DEF_RATING&amp;dir=-1&amp;Season=2022&amp;SeasonType=Regular%20Season&amp;DateTo=07%2F21%2F2022" target="_blank" rel="noopener">heading into Friday night's action</a>.
<a href="https://www.positiveresidual.com/shiny/wnba/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Since June 25</a>, the Mercury are outscoring teams by 9.3 points per 100 possessions with the Cunningham-Turner pairing on the floor. The starting unit with those two, Diggins-Smith, Taurasi and Shey Peddy has posted a plus-13.1 net rating in that time frame &mdash; one of the best marks in the W.
Long term, the bellwether for Sophie-at-4 lineups will continue to be the defense. Listed at 6-foot-1 and 170 pounds, Cunningham is at a size disadvantage against most 4s. Teams haven't been shy attacking her on the block; per InStat tracking, she's defended 16 post-ups in the last three games. She's held up for the most part; again, she embraces physicality, and she also contests pretty well without fouling.
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The issue is what happens after the shot. Her opponent may miss, but they'll likely have the fast track to an offensive rebound. And to that point: the Mercury have&nbsp;by far&nbsp;the <a href="https://stats.wnba.com/teams/advanced/?sort=DREB_PCT&amp;dir=1&amp;Season=2022&amp;SeasonType=Regular%20Season&amp;DateFrom=06%2F25%2F2022" target="_blank" rel="noopener">worst defensive rebound rate</a> in the W over their past 10 games, grabbing just 62% of misses.
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Overall, things have worked because Cunningham has been so good offensively. The shooting, and the multiple platforms it can be used in, has juiced the Mercury's attack.
As long as that continues, they'll be in good shape to hold onto a playoff spot.

Nekias Duncan breaks down the impact of Sophie Cunningham starting at the 4 for the Phoenix Mercury.

Sophie Cunningham giving the Phoenix Mercury a lift at the 4

There haven't been many displays of two-way excellence in Summer League quite like Chet Holmgren's outing on Tuesday night. Add in the fact that it was his NBA debut, and the intrigue grows.&nbsp;
Before going further, let's get the boring caveats out of the way. The Utah Jazz Youth Contingent isn't a group of world-beaters. And of course, iT's JuSt SuMmEr LeAgUe. The games don't count yet, and Holmgren will face more talented teams over the next few days. He'll especially face tougher challenges once the regular season begins. We get it.
With that said,&nbsp;whew.
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The stat line doesn't do the performance justice, but it was still nice: 23 points (3-of-3 from two, 4-of-6 from three), 7 rebounds, 4 assists, a steal, and 6 blocked shots. The Oklahoma City Thunder outscored the Jazz by 26 points in Holmgren's near-24 minutes, if you care about that sort of thing.
Even with the "Summer League is for flashes" understanding, it's hard not to be impressed with what Holmgren was able to accomplish. He was a showstopper on defense, and showed enough versatility offensively as a screener, handoff hub, spacer and clear-a-side attacker to inspire confidence moving forward. There were so many flashes.
On the defensive end, Holmgren's mere presence altered things for the Jazz. The blocks were loud &mdash; and we'll get to those shortly &mdash; but more important than the blocks were the possessions like this.
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The Thunder botch a guard-guard pick-and-roll between Jared Butler and Xavier Sneed, opening up a drive for Butler. A stop-and-go gives Butler an edge against Ousmane Dieng, but the rotation from Holmgren &mdash; note that he doesn't even jump and just rotates over &mdash; forces a kick-out.
From there, the Thunder can rotate to the corner and force another swing. Josh Giddey is admittedly late to close after that swing, but the possession ends with Sneed &mdash; a guy who's made roughly 32% of his threes in his college and G-League career combined &mdash; taking a triple instead of a rim attempt from Butler.
There were multiple quiet possessions like that, where a guard would find a pocket of space and quickly realize it was a fool's errand. The rotational goodness was palpable. And when Holmgren was in drop coverage, his sense for playing the gap &mdash; not playing too high and opening up a lob, but not playing too low and giving a ball-handler easy pull-up looks &mdash; shined through.
With Holmgren being such a presence in drop coverage, his teammates had simpler jobs. A simple dig from the wing or the nail was enough to throw off a ball-handler's rhythm; Holmgren's length and poise would do the rest of the work. If there's one thing I feel comfortable projecting already, it's that the shot profile of OKC opponents will look different with Holmgren on the floor versus when he's off.
But also,&nbsp;those blocks.
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It's one thing to have insane length &mdash; Holmgren's 7-foot-6 wingspan passes the test there. It's another thing to know how to use that length well. What's tough for rookie big men is the hidden third item: Knowing when&nbsp;to use that length.&nbsp;
Six blocks in a debut is an absurd number, and he racked up those rejections in a multitude of ways &mdash; help-side, off late switches and operating in space, 1-on-1 swats against Tacko Fall. But swatting 6 shots while only committing 3 fouls is almost unheard of for a debut. He has a feel for rim-protection well beyond his years. Here are 4 of the 6 blocks:
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That is&nbsp;nonsense.
Offensively, it was fun to watch Holmgren grow more comfortable as the game went on. He's going to need the shot to pop for him early to open up the floor. It was encouraging, then, to see Holmgren fire up 6 threes in his debut against varying degrees of coverage. Also, how about the self-creation? The behind-the-back dribble into a stop-and-pop was a favorite of his on Tuesday night. Guys his size aren't supposed to be able to do this.
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The load-up is a little&nbsp;slow, but the release point is high enough to where he shouldn't be bothered a ton. The main deterrent from a volume standpoint will be himself, at least early on.&nbsp;If he's going to shoot like this, though, coverage will get tighter.&nbsp;
That would be a good thing, of course. Not only will that open the floor for his teammates, but garnering closeouts will also create driving opportunities for him. We got a few flashes of Holmgren attacking off the bounce in this one. The handle is high &mdash; a concern for when the level of competition improves &mdash; but him being comfortable enough to take already is a big deal.
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It was a great debut for Holmgren, though not a perfect one. There were still possessions where the lack of strength popped up. He was an inconsistent screener throughout the night. Physicality and ball pressure led to pair of turnovers, a few more "whoa what's happening?" instances in the half-court.
But, man, it's hard not to feel good about Holmgren after the debut. It would be irresponsible to say he's&nbsp;answered&nbsp;the pre-draft questions he received &mdash; again, it was night one of Summer League action &mdash; but it's certainly fair to say his pathway to answering those questions may be cleaner than some anticipated.

Nekias Duncan breaks down Chet Holmgren's debut for the Thunder at the Salt Lake City Classic.

Cory