Cooper Flagg, Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper will make college basketball fun again

There’s finally some star power back in the game.

This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here’s Mike Sykes.

Good morning, folks! Happy Friday. Welcome back to the Morning Win. Thanks so much for reading today. We appreciate you.

Folks, we might actually have a bit of fun with men’s college basketball this season for the first time in a long time. There are a couple of reasons why.

First things first — Tony Bennett and his milquetoast offense are retiring. I’m just kidding, UVA fans. Kind of. I’ll miss Tony, but Virginia basketball was basically the equivalent of Iowa football. If you know, you know.

REPLACING TONY BENNETT: Here are four coaching candidates who could replace the UVA legend on the fly.

Anyway, in all seriousness, men’s basketball is getting an infusion of star power this season that it hasn’t seen since 2018, when the madness surrounding Zion Williamson was at its peak.

We’ve got three big names: Cooper Flagg, Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper.

You already know about Flagg. He’s the dude who was taking it to actual NBA players in Team USA training camp this summer. He’ll play at Duke this season and is currently mocked in most places as the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA draft. But that’s no guarantee, as he’s got some steep competition potentially looking to take that spot, too.

You probably don’t know about Bailey and Harper. These two freshmen are playing together at Rutgers this season, and they already look incredible. We got a glimpse of them playing together in a Rutgers and St. John’s charity game on Thursday night. The two looked like they might already be the best duo in college basketball.

The combination of size, athleticism and skill they process is unreal. They combined for 45 points against St. John’s on buckets like these (albeit in a losing effort).

This sort of star power in college hoops is exciting. It’s the thing that has pushed women’s college basketball to its absolute peak. The rise of star power behind names like Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers, Juju Watkins, Aliyah Boston and more over these last few years has been a major boon for the sport.

Men’s college basketball hasn’t had that and it likely won’t in the long-term. The thing about the women’s side that makes it special is that the prospects have to stick around for, at least, three seasons before bouncing out to the pro ranks.

The men’s basketball system is the complete opposite. One-and-done players have dominated for most of the last two decades. Plus, between the NBA G-League and overseas teams, a lot of the talent has been plucked away from the NCAA.

But the G-League Ignite team is no more and name, image and likeness rights have made it more fiscally responsible to choose the NCAA over the other options out there.

Now, because of this new landscape, we’ve got some star freshman getting ready to take over the sport again. And I can’t wait to watch them over these next few months.

The Guardians are on the board

(Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

And David Fry sure does love playing the hero, doesn’t he?

He steps up to the plate. Two out, one on. The count falls to 1-2 on him in the bottom of the 10th. This is his last strike.

But if there’s one thing we know about Fry, it’s that he sure does love to be at a disadvantage. After all, he is the best in baseball when battling back from an 0-2 count.

So it should come as no surprise that he turned that 1-2 count into a walk-off two-run homer.

You could hear the crowd roar from miles away. Fry gave the Guardians life again. Falling down in the series 0-3 to the Yankees would’ve been nearly impossible to come back from. A 1-2 series whole is still tough, but you’re just one game away from tying things up.

The Guardians have hope now, thanks to Fry’s heroics. If they win this series, the city will never forget this moment.

THE RADIO CALL IS BETTER: Listen to the call on Fry’s homer here.

Are we sure the Saints aren’t cursed?

(Photo by Gus Stark/Getty Images)

And are we sure the Cowboys didn’t do it? Ever since New Orleans put that whoopin’ on Dallas they haven’t won a single game.

Thursday night’s loss was probably New Orleans’ most embarrassing one yet. Sean Payton’s Broncos put up 33 points against the Saints, who could only manage to score 10 after being the most potent offense in the league for the first two weeks of the season.

Alvin Kamara only managed 10 yards on 7 carries (much to the chagrin of my fantasy football squad). Spencer Rattler still looks like a deer in headlights out there.

We do have to shoot New Orleans a bit of bail. This team isn’t healthy right now. Derek Carr isn’t great, but he’s the team’s best quarterback option, and he had a solid season before going down.

There’s still plenty of football left to play, but at 2-5 you have to wonder what New Orleans has left to play for other than to figure out who will be around next season.

Photo Friday: Cycling is awesome

(Photo by JONATHAN NACKSTRAND / AFP)

Here’s team Switzerland competing in the Track Cycling World Championship qualifiers. This looks so awesome. Somebody get me a bike. I’d like to give it a shot.

Quick hits: Happy trails, Tony Bennett … Ranking NHL jerseys … and more

— Here’s Meg Hall on Tony Bennett’s retirement shocking the college basketball world.

— Here’s Bryan Kalbrosky with replacements for UVA’s head coach.

— Here’s Mary Clarke’s ranking of all NHL home jerseys from worst to first.

— Christian D’Andrea has the best bets for Week 7 in the NFL right here for you.

— And Prince Grimes has the best player props for the week, including a big game for Saquon Barkley against the Giants.

— Here’s Charles Curtis on the location for ESPN’s College GameDay on Saturday.

That’s a wrap, folks. Thanks so much for rocking with us today. We appreciate you. Have a great weekend. Peace.

-Sykes ✌️