With a knack for finding the bottom of the basket, Hannah Gusters will try out for the USA Basketball U17 team later this month.
The guards were guarded.
Deja Kelly, a University of Texas recruit, wasn't open. Sarah Andrews, the No. 4 prospect in the espnW Terrific 25 for the 2020 class, was being overplayed. But Nike ProSkills needed a 3-pointer to tie it in the waning seconds of a recent game.
Tennessee sophomore Chelsea Seggern, pictured batting, has combined with senior Meghan Gregg for 129 RBIs this season.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- They had attended several combines to scout potential players. But riding in a combine? That was a completely new recruiting experience for Ralph and Karen Weekly.
In an era when even home visits are exceedingly rare, the Tennessee softball co-head coaches made a farm visit three years ago to see their newest commitment.
There's growing pressure for the Los Angeles Lakers to trade for Kawhi Leonard before recruiting LeBron James and Paul George in free agency, according to an ESPN report on Wednesday. However, the San Antonio Spurs haven't ruled out any potential teams in a possible Leonard deal.
What trades work for the All-Star forward? Our NBA Insiders give their best seven deals.
UCF gave itself a parade and its players national championship rings to recognize its undefeated season, but Alabama coach Nick Saban doesn't have much use for the Knights' claims.
"I guess anybody has the prerogative to claim anything. But self-proclaimed is not the same as actually earning it," Saban told USA Today in a story published Tuesday. "And there's probably a significant number of people who don't respect people who make self-proclaimed sort of accolades for themselves."
Saban's team beat Georgia 26-23 in an overtime thriller to win the national championship that most people recognize, the College Football Playoff title. Alabama had routed defending champion Clemson 24-6 to reach the final game.
Nick Saban holds up Alabama's championship trophy after beating Georgia to win the national title. AP Photo/David J. Phillip
UCF finished the regular season 12-0, the only undefeated team in FBS. However, because of their schedule, the Knights were ranked only No. 12 in the country when the four teams were chosen for the College Football Playoff.
Then the Knights went on to beat Auburn, which had handed Alabama its only loss, in the Peach Bowl on New Year's Day. Hence, the national champion claims.
OCALA, Fla. -- One of the Florida Gators' top football recruits was released from jail early Wednesday after allegedly kicking a woman's car and breaking her cellphone during an argument.
Justin Watkins, a four-star prospect and incoming freshman from Clermont's East Ridge High School, was arrested Tuesday on a misdemeanor complaint of trespassing on school grounds. According to jail records, he was released on a $500 bond.
According to the Ocala Police affidavit obtained by the Orlando Sentinel, Watkins followed a female student to a local gas station and shattered her cellphone by throwing it to the ground. He then followed her to her school, Ocala's Vanguard High, and kicked her car multiple times and tried to flatten one of her tires, according to the police report.
Gators coach Dan Mullen says he is aware of the arrest and "still collecting information."
Watkins was the No. 28 overall player in the ESPN 300.
ATHENS, Ga. -- Andy Johnson, who starred as Georgia's quarterback before going on to play running back with the New England Patriots for nine seasons, has died after a long illness. He was 65.
Georgia issued a statement saying Johnson died early Wednesday in Athens.
Johnson took over as the Bulldogs' starting quarterback in 1971 and led the team to an 11-1 record that included a Gator Bowl victory. He set a Southeastern Conference sophomore rushing record and finished second in the league with 870 yards on the ground, along with 13 touchdowns.
Johnson started two more seasons for the Bulldogs and finished his career with 1,799 rushing yards, the most by a quarterback at that time.
A fifth-round pick by New England, Johnson played 94 games -- including 43 starts -- before finishing his career with the USFL's Boston Breakers. He rushed for a career-high 699 yards with six touchdowns for the Patriots in 1976.
Jim Harbaugh has never won a Big Ten title and hasn't defeated Ohio State since becoming Michigan's football coach in 2015.
But if any Wolverines fans are unhappy with Harbaugh, athletic director Warde Manuel is not one of them.
Manuel, speaking Tuesday at a meeting of Big Ten athletic directors, says he wants Harbaugh and basketball coach John Beilein to stay at Michigan until they're ready to retire.
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh has a contract that runs for four more years. Tommy Gilligan/USA TODAY Sports
"I love my coaches across the board, love those two guys in particular," Manuel said. "I'm extremely pleased with where we are from a staffing, coaching standpoint and Jim and John are two people that I would love to see retire from this institution, retire from coaching.
"Jim ... knows how I feel about him. We've had great conversations and I don't want him to go anywhere."
Alabama and Texas have agreed to play a home-and-home series in 2022 and 2023. The Crimson Tide will travel to Texas on Sept. 10 in 2022. The Longhorns will return the trip to Tuscaloosa on Sept. 9 in 2023.
Because of this agreement, Texas and Ohio State have moved their previously scheduled home-and-home series back to 2025 (Austin) and 2026 (Columbus).
Texas and Alabama last played in the 2010 BCS national championship game, the Crimson Tide's only victory in the series. Texas owns a 7-1-1 record against Alabama.
With the Crimson Tide on the schedule, Texas also announced it has canceled a home game with UCF that had been slated for 2023.
BEREA, Ohio – The Cleveland Browns felt nothing but certainty when they made quarterback Baker Mayfield the first pick in the NFL draft.
Concerns about size and behavior had been answered for a few weeks before the card was turned in; Mayfield’s tape and interviews told the Browns what they needed to know.
"The guy knows how to play the game, and knows how to win," general manager John Dorsey said the first night of the draft.
• How the Jets fell for Sam Darnold »• Six teams believe they found franchise QB »• How fast is the Lamar Jackson clock ticking? »
It’s as succinct a summary as there is of the way the Browns feel about Mayfield, the guy they believe will be their future. The team’s work and research, first-person and otherwise, had pointed them to the former Oklahoma quarterback with surety.
LOS ANGELES -- Former USC assistant football coach Todd McNair's defamation trial against the NCAA is now in the hands of the jury.
During closing arguments Friday, McNair's attorney, Bruce Broillet, called for an award of roughly $27 million in actual damages. The figure does not include potential punitive damages and was scoffed at by his opposing counsel, Kosta Stojilkovic, who argued McNair had not met his burden and should not receive anything from the NCAA.
In a civil trial such as this one, the plaintiff's side (McNair) presents its closing argument first, the defense follows before the plaintiff gets a rebuttal.
Broillet took about two hours to methodically resurface what he deemed to be the NCAA's most damning missteps during its investigation into McNair's involvement in the Reggie Bush impermissible-benefits scandal and the hearing and appeals process that followed. Bush was provided with hundreds of thousands of dollars in benefits, including a house for his parents, during his career at USC by an aspiring agent, Lloyd Lake, and his business partner.
Among other things, Broillet chose to focus on factual mistakes by NCAA investigators during separate interviews they conducted with Lake and McNair about a short phone call Lake made to McNair in the early morning hours of Jan. 8, 2006. During their interview with Lake, a portion of which was played twice for the jury during the trial, investigators incorrectly represented it was McNair who called Lake. And when they asked McNair about the call, they told him it occurred a year earlier than phone records show it did.
