Tag: California Golden Bears

LSU gymnastics advances to Four on the Floor with top score in NCAA semifinal

Haleigh Bryant recorded the top all-around score as the Tigers advance to the Four on the Floor for the second year in a row.

For the second year in a row, the LSU gymnastics team has reached the Four on the Floor.

The Tigers advanced to the final round at the NCAA championships in Fort Worth, Texas, with a total score of 198.1125, finishing .400 ahead of second-place finisher California, which also advanced to the championship round.

LSU finished with the top score in the final three rotations, with [autotag]Haleigh Bryant[/autotag] recording the meet-high on the beam (9.950) and [autotag]Aleah Finnegan[/autotag] doing so on the floor (9.9625).

Bryant also finished with the highest all-around score of 39.7125.

The Tigers and Golden Bears advance to the Four on the Floor, which will also take place at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth on Saturday, though they’ll have to wait for the second semifinal session to find out who will complete the final grouping.

That match will air on ABC with coverage beginning at 3 p.m. CT.

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ACC legal battles could open door for more Big Ten expansion

If the ACC crumbles, the Big Ten could be ready to pounce on a few potential members.

If you thought the Big Ten was going to settle in an 18-team membership following this year’s additions of Oregon, UCLA, USC, and Washington, you are probably fooling yourself. Expansion could be looming on the horizon once again if things in the ACC continue on the path they seem to be heading.

Florida State previously opened a significant legal battle challenging the ACC on its grant of rights. If Florida State is successful, it would open the doors for a potential mass exodus from the ACC to the Big Ten or SEC in a similar fashion to what happened in the Pac-12, although perhaps not quite as devastating in the grand scheme.

Florida State is not alone in its legal challenge of the ACC, however. Clemson officially joined the battle this week with its own lawsuit filed in South Carolina, potentially opening the door for Clemson and Florida State to carve a path to leave the ACC in search of greener pastures in the Big Ten or SEC. And if Clemson and Florida State do force their way out, then it stands to reason others in the ACC would explore their options as well, including North Carolina.

And, of course, this somehow all gets back to the future of Notre Dame as well.

SEC Network analyst and radio host Paul Finebaum created a stir suggesting Notre Dame is inching closer and closer to having to make a big decision on its future with football independence or conference membership. As Finebaum suggests, and something I’ve been saying for years, at some point Notre Dame’s leaders will have to realize that it is far more profitable and beneficial for the school to be a member of a conference than it is to be an independent. Considering the revenue shares that Big Ten and SEC schools receive compare to the revenue Notre Dame football generates, it has to fiscal sense to at least strongly consider ditching football independence in the evolving world of college sports.

This would especially be true if the ACC cracks with its membership. Notre Dame is a member of the ACC in most of its other sports (although it is a Big Ten school in ice hockey), but if members start leaving the ACC, it would make sense for Notre Dame to look for a more stable future.

The Big Ten would be the natural landing spot for Notre Dame, one might think. This is especially true if a crumbling ACC loses Stanford and Cal to the Big Ten amid potential realignment changes. The Big Ten adding Stanford, Cal, North Carolina, and Notre Dame would be a decent haul overall.

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Jacob Walsh powers Oregon past California to take weekend series

Oregon first baseman Jacob Walsh smashes two home runs and drives in four to lead the Ducks past Cal 10-3 and the series win.

Oregon first baseman Jacob Walsh can be the most dangerous hitter in the Pac-12 when he’s staying on pitches and driving them to the opposite field.

Walsh managed to drive three balls into left-center with two of them flying over the wall as he led Oregon to a 10-3 win over California Sunday afternoon at PK Park.

With the win, the Ducks improve to 13-6 overall and 4-2 in conference action. They have taken the first two series in Pac-12 play. California dropped to 12-5 overall and the Bears are also 4-2 in league action.

Walsh’s first big fly came in the first inning, which gave the Ducks an early 3-0 advantage. Oregon increased its 3-1 lead in the fourth on a run-scoring single from Anson Aroz and a two-run double from Justin Cassella.

As it turns out, that was enough for Duck starting pitcher Kevin Seitter, who went five innings, giving up one run on four hits and striking out six. Reliever Bradley Mullen threw a scoreless sixth, but Michael Fruend gave up two in the seventh.

Up 6-3, the Ducks added four runs in the eighth thanks to a trio of home runs from Walsh, Aroz and Ryan Cooney. Logan Mercado threw a scoreless eighth and ninth to earn the save.

The Ducks will stay home this week and host Arizona next weekend. The Wildcats are 7-10 overall and just 2-3 in conference play. They have one more game against ASU Sunday afternoon.

Grinsell pitches a gem to even up series with Golden Bears

Grayson Grinsell threw six innings of one-hit ball as the Ducks take Game 2 over Cal 5-1 to even the weekend series.

In their last two games, the Oregon Ducks baseball team has given up runs in the double digits, including a 13-1 loss to California Friday night.

Saturday starter Grayson Grinsell put a complete halt to that nonsense as he threw six brilliant innings of one-hit ball and it was enough for the Ducks to down the Bears 5-1.

With the win, Oregon moves to 12-6 overall and 3-2 in conference play, while California suffered its first defeat in league action. The Golden Bears fell to 12-4 overall and 4-1 in conference play. These two teams will battle it out Sunday afternoon to who will take the weekend set.

If Oregon receives this kind of pitching in the series finale, it will make it its second conference series win.

Grinsell gave up just one run, one hit and struck out nine in his six innings of work. Reliever Bradley Mullen threw two shutout frames and Logan Mercado coaxed a double play grounder in the ninth to close things out.

Cal was actually up 1-0 in the third, but the Ducks tied the game in the bottom half of the inning thanks to a bases-loaded walk to Anson Aroz. It was one of the great at-bats of the afternoon as he fouled four straight 3-2 pitches off before drawing a walk to force in Carter Garate from third base.

Oregon then brought out the big sticks.

Ryan Cooney gave the Ducks a 3-1 lead with a home run to left field and a little later in the inning, Justin Cassella crushed a homer to dead center field for the 5-1 lead.

That was more than enough offense for Oregon as the trio of Duck pitchers held the Golden Bears to just three hits on the day.

Oregon and California will get together one more time on Sunday with the first pitch set for 12:05 pm at PK Park.

California comes to PK Park and wins big in series opener over Oregon

California lit the PK Park scoreboard up with a baker’s dozen worth of runs and took the series opener 13-1 over the Ducks.

While there’s a huge celebration down in Las Vegas with the men’s basketball team’s upset over Arizona, the exact opposite feeling is occurring at PK Park.

California’s Caleb Lomavita set the tone with a two-run homer in the first and the Bears blew out Oregon 13-1 in the weekend series opener.

With the loss, Oregon drops to 11-6 overall and 4-3 in league play. The Golden Bears improved to 12-3 overall and a perfect 4-0 in Pac-12 action.

Things didn’t get any better for Duck starting pitcher RJ Gordon as he gave up three more runs in the third to fall behind 5-0. The Ducks were able to dent the scoreboard in the fourth on a run-scoring single from Ryan Cooney to score Drew Smith.

But that was all the offense the Ducks could muster. California put the game away with three insurance runs in the eighth and four more in the ninth off of Oregon’s young relievers.

A bright spot on the mound for the Ducks was Brock Moore as he struck out six straight batters. Unfortunately, he might have been left too long as he was touched up for those three runs in the eighth.

All is far from lost for the Ducks. In their first Pac-12 series, they dropped the opener to Arizona State before coming out on top Saturday and Sunday to take the series. Oregon is hoping to repeat the feat this weekend as well.

Game 2 is scheduled for 2:05 pm Saturday afternoon.

Men’s Basketball: Duke’s ACC opponents for 2024 are set

The ACC released its conference opponent schedule for 2024-25 on Thursday evening. See who Duke will host and travel to here.

The Duke Blue Devils have officially entered the month of March, which means things will get serious for them on the basketball court. The Blue Devils have just three regular-season games remaining before they play in the ACC Tournament and, after that, the NCAA Tournament for a chance to win the program’s sixth national title.

Even while that takes place, there’s an eye on next year’s team as the Blue Devils discover who their conference opponents will be for the 2024-25 season.

Next year is a big year for the ACC as it welcomes three new teams to the conference: SMU, Stanford, and California.

The expansion means some tweaks to the normal ACC schedule, however, and the conference revealed each team’s ACC foes for the 2024-25 season on Thursday.

Duke’s 20-game schedule for 2024-25 features two two-game series (home and away) versus its two current partners, North Carolina and Wake Forest. The Blue Devils are 1-2 currently this year against both teams. They also have a home-and-away series with the Miami Hurricanes for next season.

Duke will host California at Cameron Indoor for the first time. The last time the schools played was in 2019 when Duke blew Cal out by 35 points in an 87-52 win in the 2K Empire Classic.

Florida State, NC State, Notre Dame, Pitt, Stanford, and Virginia Tech will all come to Cameron next year. Duke will travel for road games at Boston College, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Louisville, SMU, Syracuse, and Virginia next season.

Duke is 3-1 all-time against SMU in basketball. The Blue Devils’ road trip to SMU is only their second all-time, having played in Dallas on Dec. 8, 1977 – a game which Duke won by 24 points 91-67.

The ACC recently announced that, with the conference expanding to 18 members, only the top 15 teams in the conference will participate in the ACC Tournament next year, which is set to be played March 11-15 at Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The full schedule will be announced early this fall, equipped with specific game dates, times, and networks.

MBB Recap: Ducks squander first-half lead, go ice-cold in loss to Cal Golden Bears

The Oregon Ducks squandered a first-half lead and went ice-cold shooting in a tough loss on the road to the California Golden Bears.

Things started out well for the Oregon Ducks, with the offense clicking, and opportunistic play in the first half giving them a lead at the break. Things changed at halftime.

After the break, Oregon went ice-cold, and at one point they missed 12 straight shots and saw 10 minutes tick off the clock without a field goal being hit. During that time, Cal took the lead, built some separation, and was ultimately able to stave off a late-game comeback attempt from Dana Altman’s squad to get the win at home.

It was a brutal showing down the stretch for an Oregon team that was largely out of wiggle room coming into the game in terms of tournament hopes. Now, going into the month of March, they will need to win the Pac-12 tournament if they have any hopes of avoiding a third-straight NIT.

Here’s everything you need to know about the game.

ACC announces 15 teams will make men’s and women’s basketball tournament despite expansion

The ACC announced on Wednesday that the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments will remain at 15 teams, despite the conference expanding to 18 teams.

The ACC announced on Wednesday that only 15 teams will play in the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments despite the conference’s expansion to 18 teams, starting in 2024-25.

The resolution came during the conference’s annual winter meetings, according to a release from the conference.

The ACC reiterated in the announcement that each team’s conference schedule will remain at 20 games for men and 18 for women.

The ACC is adding California, Stanford, and SMU next season to the conference’s current 15 teams.

The current format of the ACC basketball tournament gives the top four seeds a double-bye and the next five seeds a first-round bye, with the final six seeds playing in the opening round.

The conference also recently announced that Charlotte and Greensboro, North Carolina, will be the next two host cities for the ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament.

Poor rebounding by Trojans spoils Isaiah Collier’s return in gut-wrenching OT loss to Cal

Cal got too many extra possessions. That’s the story from Berkeley.

Porous rebounding by the USC Trojans and clutch shooting from the Cal Golden Bears ruined Isaiah Collier’s comeback effort in an 83-77 overtime loss in Berkeley. The Trojans are 0-3 in games decided by six points or fewer and 0-2 in overtime games this season.

Collier was back for the first time in six games after injuring his hand against Washington State on January 10. In his absence, the Trojans missed his ability to drive the ball, challenge defenses inside and get to the free throw line.

Scoreless at the half, Isaiah Collier scored 17 points in the second half to erase a 16-point USC deficit and take the game to overtime.

In front of an announced sold-out crowd at Haas Pavilion, Collier put the offense on his back down the stretch, drawing fouls almost every time he drove the lane. After missing his first two free throw attempts in the first half, he was 12-14 from the line after halftime.  Unfortunately, the rest of the team shot just 3 of 8 from the charity stripe on the night.

After the Oregon State game in which the Trojans were plus-20 on the glass, the Trojans thought they had solved the rebounding woes that plagued them during their six-game losing streak in January, but they were wrong. Cal outrebounded the Trojans 54-27.  USC’s defense held the Bears to just 25 points in the second half, but poor rebounding — Cal had a 19-5 offensive rebounding advantage — gave the Bears extra possessions. Fardaws Aimaq dominated inside with 20 rebounds and USC as a team had only 27.

Cal was led by Jaylon Tyson’s double-double. He scored 27 points, shot 4 of 5 beyond the arc, and added 11 rebounds. Tyson, Jalen Cone, and Jale Celestine shot 59% — 11 of 18 — from the 3-point line.  The Bears hit four contested treys with the shot clock winding down in the second half and overtime to neutralize the Trojans’ smothering defense in the paint — the last triple from Cone in OT was the dagger.

D.J. Rodman has scored 31 points over the last two games.  His 17 points off the bench were crucial as Boogie Ellis continues to struggle after returning from a hamstring injury. Rodman was 3 of 4 on 3-point attempts during the game, but he saw his last triple go halfway down and bounce out with the Trojans trailing by four late in overtime to seal the game for the Bears.

On Saturday, at 7 p.m. on ESPN2, USC will face the Stanford Cardinal at Maples Pavilion in an attempt to earn a split of the Bay Area road trip.

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Sooners land commitment from Washington transfer OL Geirean Hatchett

The Oklahoma Sooners added more offensive line depth through the transfer portal with the commitment of Washington OL Geirean Hatchett.

Oklahoma’s approach to the transfer portal has been to address needs and bolster depth under [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag]. But they have never looked at and tried to build their entire roster via the transfer portal. This is why Venables is adamant about his recruiting efforts through the prep ranks.

However, after seeing the five guys who started along the offensive line and few depth options depart this offseason, Venables and his offensive line coach, [autotag]Bill Bedenbaugh[/autotag], knew they had work to do. That’s why the Sooners have brought in three transfer offensive line options this offseason. [autotag]Spencer Brown[/autotag] came from Michigan State, [autotag]Febechi Nwaiwu[/autotag] transferred from North Texas, and [autotag]Michael Tarquin[/autotag] transferred in from USC.

That list just grew as the Sooners landed a talented interior offensive line transfer in Geirean Hatchett. Geirean is a junior offensive lineman transfer from the Sugar Bowl-winning and national champion runner-up, Washington Huskies. 

Geirean Hatchett has played over 25 games, including eight in 2023. In his fifth year, he still has room to add more strength and continue to develop. It’s likely that will be a point of emphasis this winter with head strength and conditioning coach Jerry Schmidt. Geirean played well before an injury limited him in the second half of the season, posting some solid pass-blocking grades via Pro Football Focus. With time to heal, a return to his productive days before the mid-season injury seems likely.

Here’s what Roman Tomashoff, site editor for UWHuskies Wire, had to say about Geirean.

He’s a good run blocker but needs to continue to work in pass protection. He has all the tools to be a really good offensive lineman, but needs to get stronger as he gets beaten too often with power. He’s worked a lot at multiple positions but is best at guard. – Tomashoff, UWHuskies Wire

The Sooners are getting a talented football player who offers valuable snaps and experience to an offensive line room that lost the five guys who started for the majority of the year.

With another portal addition, the offensive line is retooled. The stage is now set for Bill Bedenbaugh to do what he does best: develop and get the most out of his offensive linemen.

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