Great to hear a present Irish player laud a past one.
[autotag]Cassandre Prosper[/autotag] missed most of her first full season with Notre Dame with an injury. However, making Canada’s Olympic women’s basketball team was a nice consolation prize. Even better, she was teammates with [autotag]Natalie Achonwa[/autotag], another name familiar to anyone who’s followed the Irish over the past 15 years.
Prosper sat down with Crina Mustafa of Her Hoop Stats to talk about a variety of topics, but her Olympic experience with Achonwa was a real highlight of the interview. Prosper specifically talked about how much she was blown away by Achonwa not only as a leader and mentor to the younger players on the team but also as a mother.
You can view Prosper’s entire interview here starting at 16:39:
With the Olympics finished, all Irish fans will be anxious to see how Prosper contributes to a team with national championship aspirations. Only time will tell.
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With Jokic’s Nuggets visiting Abu Dhabi for a preseason doubleheader with the reigning NBA champion Boston Celtics this weekend, the big man was asked a question about his Serbian Paris Olympics experience.
Below is a rough translation of Jokic’s explanation in Serbian via B92 Sport:
“It was a good game. Probably the biggest defeat in my [Jokic’s] career so far. A big chance, but there… In the end, they beat us. Some people will see it as a normal defeat, but for those of us who played, it must have been the hardest defeat in our career.”
Again, none of this is surprising.
Jokic has already seen his fair share of painful NBA defeats — last year’s Game 7 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the second round of the playoffs comes to mind as the most recent example. But compared to Serbia, the place where he was raised and all of his loved ones are from, the Nuggets are just another American professional sports franchise.
Ask someone like Kevin Durant what he thinks about playing for Team USA compared to any of his NBA stops. I’d imagine his likely inevitable patriotic answer would be much of the same.
This does not mean Jokic doesn’t have love for Nuggets partners like Jamal Murray, who he has basically played with his entire career. It would be silly to assert he doesn’t care about the Nuggets at all. They are, after all, his conduit to global fame and an athletic dream realized.
This just means playing for his country probably means a lot more. And I think we can all relate to that.
In his latest NBA column, The Athletic’s John Hollinger cited both the good (shooting) and questionable (defense) aspects of Jack McVeigh’s fit in Houston.
Newly signed forward Jack McVeigh, now on a two-way contract with the Houston Rockets, had an encouraging showing for Australia at the 2024 Paris Olympics. But it wasn’t perfect.
While McVeigh made a clear impact with his long-range shooting, he also played off the bench for Australia (in contrast to Rockets center Jock Landale, who started for the Boomers).
In a new column reviewing Olympics performances, The Athletic’s John Hollinger — formerly an NBA front-office executive with the Memphis Grizzlies — shared a balanced take on McVeigh.
Hardcore Cornhuskers might remember him from his three years at Nebraska, but he’s become a much more potent shooter since then, hitting 42.0% and 43.4% from 3-point range the past two seasons in Australia’s National Basketball League.
The 28-year-old McVeigh also has a thin frame and may be a bit undersized for an NBA four at 6-8, 215 pounds. He filled his role at the Olympics, making 10-of-19 on 3-pointers in 75 minutes for a shooting-starved Australia team, but him not starting ahead of overseas journeyman Nick Kay hints at some of the defensive limitations he may see at the next level.
That could make McVeigh something of a situational player in the 2024-25 season for head coach Ime Udoka. If a matchup calls for additional shooting and/or the opponent isn’t as capable of punishing McVeigh’s defensive limitations, that could open up a role.
On the other hand, if more defense is needed, that could make a player such as Jae’Sean Tate a better reserve option. Udoka and the Rockets will sort it out when training camp opens in late September.
[lawrence-related id=125398,125055,124864]
New for @TheAthleticNBA – my ten big takeaways from the Olympics basketball tournament:
* Worries about Murray * Yabusele return? * Old guys still got it * and more …https://t.co/kPkaXilWHI
In late June, Notre Dame announced it was looking at issues within its men’s swimming and diving program. Fresh off [autotag]Chris Guiliano[/autotag] winning a gold medal and a silver medal at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, the investigation has been completed.
It was discovered that there was a rampant gambling culture within the men’s swimming program that did not abide by NCAA rules. Concluding that the culture did not reflect Notre Dame’s values and to prevent this from happening again, athletic director [autotag]Pete Bevacqua[/autotag] has announced that the men’s swimming program will be suspended for at least one academic year.
The coaches were exonerated after the investigation revealed that the team members concealed their activities from them. The decision also will not affect the women’s swimming team or either diving team.
This is a crushing blow for a program that just had a terrific season, placing in the top 10 at the national championships, not to mention Guiliano’s Olympic success. However, the law had to be laid down. Hopefully, a program with much higher integrity will emerge and ultimately be successful in the distant future.
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[autotag]Muffet McGraw[/autotag] knows [autotag]Jackie Young[/autotag] and [autotag]Jewell Loyd[/autotag] very well. She coached both of them at Notre Dame at separate times and undoubtedly knew the sky was the limit for both of them. That definitely can be said now that both have won their second consecutive Olympic gold medals for the U.S., though Young won her first during the 3-on-3 competition.
McGraw was asked to comment to OSV News about her thoughts on her two former players being Olympic champions for a second time each. While not surprising to read these words, they’re nice to read anyway:
“So proud to see Jackie and Jewell win a gold medal. It’s great to see their hard work pay off. They are excellent representatives of our program and of Notre Dame. I am thrilled to watch them succeed at the highest level of our sport.”
Congratulations again to Jackie and Jewell. Hopefully, at least one of them can return to the Olympics in 2028 to try for a third gold medal.
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“It’s great because it will probably be my last time playing the British Open at St. Andrews,” said Ko.
Lydia Ko keeps the Olympic gold medal in her backpack. She hadn’t looked at it in a couple days though because the humble Ko didn’t want to draw attention.
“When I was flying with it, it was weird to kind of take it out because not everybody knows that I’m an athlete nor an Olympian or that I had won a medal,” she said at a pre-tournament press conference in Scotland. “So it’s kind of awkward at times.”
Ko pulled an all-nighter after winning gold, noting that travel logistics made it too hard to sleep. She got her first night’s rest on Sunday evening.
“It was pretty surreal,” she said. “I woke up, like, was that a dream? Did that just really happen?”
She’s now at the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open at Dundonald Links, a fine tune-up before next week’s AIG Women’s British Open at St. Andrews. The 27-year-old Kiwi accomplished so much in one spectacular afternoon at the Paris Olympics that it’s going to take some time for the feat to sink in.
Ko’s gold-medal performance made her the only golfer in the modern era to earn three Olympic medals, one of each kind. It also qualified her for the LPGA Hall of Fame, the toughest Hall in all of sports. Ko became the 35th player to qualify for the Hall.
She was touched by all the LPGA Hall of Famers who’d already reached out, like Nancy Lopez, who always has a good word. Meg Mallon and Beth Daniel told Ko that her gold-medal performance brought them to tears.
“It’s pretty surreal,” said a grateful Ko. “I was talking to one of the moms yesterday and nearly brought tears to my eyes again.”
Leading amateur New Zealand’s Lydia Ko (L) stands next to winner, US golfer Stacy Lewis with their trophies after their successes at the Women’s British Open Golf Championship at the Old Course in St Andrews, Scotland, on August 4, 2013. US golfer Stacy Lewis won the women’s British Open on Sunday by two shots. Lewis, the winner of the 2011 Kraft Nabisco Championship, collected her second major with a final round 72 for an eight-under-par total of 280. AFP PHOTO/ANDY BUCHANAN (Photo credit should read Andy Buchanan/AFP via Getty Images)
Ko said one of her coaches asked about her next goal, and she noted that it would be “really cool” to win a third major. She’s only had two top-10 finishes at the British Open, with her best coming at Turnberry where she took a share of third. She was low amateur at the British at St. Andrews in 2013, taking a share of 42nd.
At the Old Course, she’ll be joined by her husband, mom, sister and brother-in-law.
“It’s great because it will probably be my last time playing the British Open at St. Andrews,” said Ko. “I’m excited that we can all enjoy it together.”
As for long-term plans, Ko said she hasn’t settled on any quite yet. She was asked if the British could be her final event, and Ko said probably not.
“I kind of want to get through this year first and then assess,” she said.
And then the player who has long maintained that she won’t be out there past 30, left the door open to more, saying that 2024 will “probably” not be her last competitive year.
“I have bad days and good days, and (on) bad days, I want to quit that day,” she said. “And good days, you feel like you could go and do this forever, and it feels like that moment is going to last forever.”
Tyreek Hill says Noah Lyles pretended to be sick at the Olympics and he says he’d beat the gold medalist in a race.
Evidently, Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill wasn’t too impressed with Noah Lyles’ gold-medal winning showing at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
While he posted his congratulations to Lyles after the track star won in the 100 meters, Hill didn’t think much of the runner’s third place finish in the 200 meters which was followed by the reveal of a COVID diagnosis.
“Noah Lyles can’t say nothing after what happened to him,” Hill told Kay Adams of Up & Adams. “Then he wants to come out and pretend like he’s sick. I feel like that’s like horseradish. For him to do that and say that we’re not world champions of our sport — come on, bruh, just speak on what you know about and that’s track.”
Then Hill upped the ante.
“I would beat Noah Lyles [in a race],” Hill told Adams. “I would beat Noah Lyles. I wouldn’t beat him by a lot, but I’d beat Noah Lyles. And guess what, when I beat him, I’ll put on a COVID mask and let him know I mean business.”
Does Hill really believe he’d beat Lyles — the newly anointed “fastest man on the planet” — in a race? Probably not. Stirring the pot is Hill’s specialty and his best ever time in the 100 meters wouldn’t be enough to earn a spot in the Olympic final, let alone keep up with Lyles’ gold-medal winning 9.79-second run.
That didn’t stop Hill from fueling the fire Monday afternoon, though.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander named on 2024 Olympics All-Second Team.
As Team USA brought home gold for the fifth straight time, the 2024 Olympics wrapped up with an intense final contest that featured the host country France.
After USA’s win, FIBA announced its award winners for the summer event. On the All-Star Five squad, Stephen Curry, Dennis Schroder, LeBron James, Victor Wembanyama and Nikola Jokic were listed on the lineup.
One notable absence was the Oklahoma City Thunder’s franchise player. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander failed to make the first team as Canada had a quick exit in the quarterfinals against France.
The All-Second Team featured Gilgeous-Alexander, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Franz Wagner and Guerschon Yabusele.
It’s a respectable finish for Gilgeous-Alexander. Even though he was among the best individual performers in the international tournament, Canada’s upset loss likely dock points for him.
The 26-year-old returns to OKC to prepare for the 2024-25 season. Over the last two years, he’s proven that his NBA dominance translates to the international stage.
The 2024 Olympics in Paris had only one event left in which to give out medals. That was the women’s basketball competition, and the U.S. was a heavy favorite for its eighth straight gold medal. It turned out winning the gold was easier said than done as the U.S. squeaked by France, 67-66, in a game that nearly went into overtime but for a foot on the 3-point line on the final basket.
Though two former Notre Dame standouts were on the U.S. roster, only one played in the final game. That was [autotag]Jackie Young[/autotag], who made a single basket on seven field-goal attempts. [autotag]Jewell Loyd[/autotag] was left on the bench. However, both will leave Paris with their second Olympic gold medals each.
In six Olympic contests, Young averaged 9.5 points, 2.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.5 steals a game. Over five games, Loyd had averages of 3.2 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.6 assists.
Here’s how these two Irish legends enjoyed their latest moment of Olympic glory:
Copper was instrumental in the U.S. locking up gold once again.
Things got a little dicey for the U.S. women’s basketball squad on Sunday morning as they found themselves in a tense battle with home team France with an Olympic gold medal on the line. The Americans had a two-point advantage heading into the fourth quarter, and wing Kahleah Copper stepped up when her team needed her most.
Copper finished with 12 points, but 10 of them came in the final stanza with the last two of her six made free throws (in as many attempts) giving the Americans a three-point cushion they would very much need. After Gabby Williams’s desperation heave was ruled a two — which gave the U.S. a 67-66 victory — everyone let out a sigh of relief.
During postgame, Copper’s teammate A’ja Wilson spoke to media. When asked about the Phoenix Mercury star, Wilson succinctly summed up her clutch performance with two words. “That [expletive],” Wilson said before staring into the camera.
