Potential Thunder draft prospect Dalton Knecht leads Tennessee to win over Creighton.
The Oklahoma City Thunder could have two 2024 first-round picks in the lottery range. They own the Houston Rockets’ top-four protected pick and the Utah Jazz’s top-10 protected pick. The former looks more likely to come to OKC than the latter.
With the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament underway, the top prospects are in the spotlight as they draw national attention for their postseason performances.
Considering the Thunder will likely have at least one lottery pick, plenty of possible additions via the draft give fans a chance to see how they match up in high-stress situations.
One possibility is Tennessee guard Dalton Knecht. He finished with 24 points on 8-of-21 shooting, 3-of-7 from 3, six rebounds, five assists and two steals in 38 minutes in No. 2 Tennessee’s 82-75 win over No. 3 Creighton in the Sweet 16 on Friday.
The third-year player has enjoyed a career season at Tennessee after spending the last two years with small-school Northern Colorado. The 22-year-old is one of the older lottery prospects, but the negative connotation surrounding age has slowly faded.
Knecht’s best skill is outside shooting; he has been a high-volume 3-point shooter. He has averaged 21.1 points on 47% shooting, 4.7 rebounds and 1.8 assists. He’s shot 39.7% from 3 on 6.2 attempts.
The high-volume outside shooter would add another 3-point threat for the Thunder. Sharpshooters are always in demand in the NBA. He can provide OKC with spacing.
Tennessee advances to the Elite Eight for second time in program history.
No. 2 seed Tennessee (27-8, 14-4 SEC) defeated No. 3 seed Creighton (25-10, 14-6 Big East), 82-75, in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan.
The Bluejays led, 35-34, at halftime.
Tennessee advances to the Elite Eight for the second time in program history.
Tennessee led by as many as 16 points in the second half before the Bluejays pulled to within three points.
Dalton Knecht totaled 24 points, five rebounds and five assists and was one of three Tennessee players to score 10-plus points in the contest.
Zakai Zeigler recorded 18 points, six assists and four rebounds, while Josiah-Jordan James finished with 17 points, four rebounds and two assists for Tennessee.
Santiago Vescovi did not play for the Vols due to illness..
Jahmai Mashack started for Tennessee and recorded four points, eight rebounds and two assists.
Baylor Scheirman scored a game-high 25 points for the Bluejays.
Good morning, Winners! Thanks so much for tapping in with the Morning Win today. We appreciate you giving us a bit of your time.
Are y’all ready for March, man?!? I am. Bring it on already.
With all due respect to February — a fantastic month, by the way — I am ready for some upset specials in my life.
UConn’s wild loss to Creighton just has me ready to watch a bunch of dudes I do not know by name beat some of the best basketball teams in the country. That’s what March Madness is all about, right? We’re all here for the upsets.
Creighton’s 85-66 win was almost the perfect primer for the NCAA tournament. It’s not quite unfathomable that Creighton would beat UConn — coming into the game the Bluejays were ranked No. 15 in the nation and had a pretty good record of 19-7.
That’s the thing I love so much about March Madness. It’s the schadenfreude from it all, man. The sheer joy on one side of the court and the devastation on the other. It’s gut-wrenchingly beautiful.
But there’s something about the juxtaposition of seeing someone’s best moment coinciding with another person’s absolute worst that just makes this stuff so addicting. That’s what makes March so special.
I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not. But, to me, it’s what sports is all about. Bring it all on.
The College Football Playoff is settled
(AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Speaking of college tournaments, the College Football Playoff’s new 12-team format is officially set. It was announced by the committee on Tuesday morning.
All 10 of the FBS chancellors plus Notre Dame’s president voted unanimously for the format. That includes the Pac-12, which abstained from voting several times previously while the conference tried to figure out its future.
How it works:
— The tournament will be in the 5+7 format originally proposed with the five highest-ranking conference champions getting automatic bids.
— The other seven teams in the playoff will be the next highest-ranking at-large teams in the pool
— The first four teams all get a first-round bye while the No. 5 through No. 12 seeds will play each other to advance.
This seemed to be the best format to benefit the Power Four (?) conferences and the Pac-12. The P4 conference champions get automatic bids. The Pac-12’s two teams still have a shot at seven at-large slots for the next two years, too. It’s not a win-win, but it’s as close as it was going to get while the Pac-12 works to rebuild its conference.
I still think 12 teams are too many here, but it’ll be fascinating to watch this work
Nike’s new Vapor Premier uniforms seem to be universally disliked at this point. So much so that Tony Clark, the president of the MLBPA, is working to change the uniforms back. He spoke with The Athletic about it this week.
“We are on the phone with the requisite parties that are involved in making that decision because we aren’t. We’re trying to make sure our guys have what they need in the fashion that they need it. And it’s reflective of what being a major-league ballplayer should be reflective of.”
It’s far too late to make any large-scale changes here. Nike’s plan is set in stone. But there is some hope to change little things with the detailing here.
“Specifically, players aren’t pleased with the smaller (and more curved) name plate, lack of stitching and overall feel for the uniforms,” Andrew Joseph writes. “They’d also want to be able to tailor the pants to their liking as they used to be able to.”
There’s a lot of work to be done here and not a ton of time to do it. Best of luck to Tony Clark. He’s going to need it.
— Cory Woodroof has the perfect casting for the Beatles for the new upcoming project focusing on the band. The Beatles Cinematic Universe is here, folks.
Shaka Smart got a little too into the action on Saturday
No. 10 Marquette picked up a massive conference win on Saturday, defeating Big East rival No. 22 Creighton, 72-67, at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.
But it wasn’t just a homecourt advantage that helped the Golden Eagles put away the Bluejays. It was some elite defense by one of the most unexpected figures in the program: head coach Shaka Smart.
Smart has always been animated on the sidelines during games but he took that way too far during a Creighton offensive possession in front of the Marquette bench in the first half. While attempting to instruct his players on how to defend, he ended up jumping into the play on the court.
Plenty of criticism goes to Smart here, but don’t let the officials off the hook, either. This should’ve been an easy technical foul on the head coach. Instead it goes down as a successful defensive stop for Marquette.
Crimson Tide falls to 6-4 after 85-82 loss to Creighton
Alabama basketball is still struggling to get out of the gates record-wise after falling to No. 8 Creighton 85-82 on Saturday night as they drop to 6-4 on the year. Nate Oats will never be happy with a loss, but the Tide looked among the best they have all season and are feel like they in the right direction. It was a back-and-forth contest, with Alabama leading for most of the second half, but ultimately the experience of the Blue Jays came through late.
Mark Sears was the leading scorer for the Tide again tonight with 19 points as Nick Pringle and Rylan Griffin combined for 28 off the bench. Alabama shot just 4-of-22 from three-point range which was ultimately the difference in the game. It’s hard to knock the Tide too much for a three-point road loss to a top-ten team this early in the season, but they will need to have a strong SEC campaign.
The Tide takes on No. 1 Arizona on Wednesday and then will have two games against Eastern Kentucky and Liberty before starting conference play on Jan. 6 against Vanderbilt.
Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. You can also follow Sam Murphy on Twitter @SamMurphy02.
The 7-0 Huskers faced their first big test of the 2023-2024 season on Sunday afternoon with in-state rival No. 15 Creighton.
The 7-0 Huskers faced their first big test of the 2023-2024 season on Sunday afternoon with in-state rival No. 15 Creighton. Last year, Nebraska upset the Bluejays in Omaha and looked to do it again this year in Lincoln. This did not come to pass as Creighton delivered a hard 89-60 loss to the Huskers.
Though Nebraska battled it out with the Bluejays for a majority of the first half, missed opportunities began piling up, leading to Creighton eventually pulling away. The Huskers went just 24-of-71 in field goal shooting and a season-low 2-of-22 from 3-point range. The Bluejays, on the other hand, blew by Nebraska in shooting, going 32-of-69 from the field and 14-of-40 from beyond the arc.
Keisei Tominaga finished as Nebraska’s only double-digit scorer in the loss, dropping 20 points. This is Tominaga’s second 20-plus point game of the season and fourth double-digit scoring game.
The Huskers will face their first Big Ten opponent on Wednesday as they travel up to Minnesota. Tipoff is set at 8:00 p.m. and can be viewed on the Big Ten Network.
The Huskers faced their first big test of the season, in-state rival and No. 22 Creighton.
The Huskers faced their first big test of the season, in-state rival and No. 22 Creighton. Nebraska and the Bluejays collided in a fierce battle, with the Cornhuskers suffering their first defeat of the season.
Creighton held its lead over Nebraska throughout the game until the very end, and the final score flashed 79-74 Bluejays. The Huskers finished with 26-of-58 in field goal shooting but only went 3-of-21 in 3-point shooting. This played a big factor in the game as Creighton went 28-of-66 in field goal shooting and went 9-of-28 in 3-point shooting.
Alexis Markowski once again dominated the court for Nebraska, finishing with a season-high 24 points. This is Markowski’s second straight 20-point game of the season, and her 11th in her collegiate career.
Freshman Natalie Potts also brough a season-high in the game, dropping 16 points, her third double-digit point game of the season. Montana State transfer Darian White was the final Huskers to finish with double-double points, delivering 13 on the afternoon. She also hauled in 10 rebounds to record her first double-double of the season.
Nebraska falls to 3-1 on the season and hits the road down to St. Petersburg, Florida for the St. Pete Showcase. The Huskers will square off with Lamar for their first game in showcase on Thanksgiving Day. Tip-off is set for 2:30 p.m. and can be viewed on FloSports.
The Nebraska softball team took part in its fall portion of the 2023-24 season.
The Nebraska softball team took part in its fall portion of the 2023-24 season. The season involved an eight-game stretch for the Huskers across the first two weeks of October.
The Huskers played six games at home, where they went 6-0 and traveled to Kansas City for two games, where they went 1-1. The loss came against South Dakota State in a 1-0 shutout. Nebraska earned its seven wins against Omaha, Kansas City, Creighton, South Dakota and Colorado State. The Huskers clashed with Colorado State three times, each one resulting in wins.
Oklahoma transfer Jordy Bahl led Nebraska both at the pitcher’s mound and the batter’s box throughout the eight games. In the win against Omaha, Bahl delivered two hits, two runs and an RBI off four at-bats. She also had three hits, an RBI and a run off three at-bats in the win over Creighton.
On the mound, Bahl struck out 13 batters in the loss to Kansas City and gave up just four hits and one run. She also pitched a shutout win in the first game against Colorado State, firing five strikeouts and only surrendering one hit.
Nebraska also took the fall season as an opportunity to retire Taylor Edwards’ jersey number, making her the sixth Husker in program history to receive the honor.
#12, Edwards | Forever etched in Husker Softball history.
Incredibly proud & honored to announce @TayEdwards212 #12 will be hung on the Bowlin Stadium press box as the sixth retired jersey in our program's history.
Nebraska will begin the spring portion of the season on Feb. 8, when it’ll compete in the Puerto Vallarta Challenge. The Huskers first game in the tournament will be against Washington and is set for 6:30 p.m..
The Nebraska volleyball team squared off against its first-ranked opponent, in-state rival No. 16 Creighton.
The Nebraska volleyball team squared off against its first-ranked opponent, in-state rival No. 16 Creighton. After a tense battle, the Huskers emerged triumphant, taking down the Bluejays in four sets (25-9, 25-13, 23-25, 25-20).
Nebraska dominated in the first half of the match, wiping out Creighton 50-22 in total points. However, the Bluejays came out of the break swinging, winning the third set and nearly forcing a fifth set, like they did last year. Creighton did beat Nebraska in total attacks 128-118, but the Huskers won nearly every other stat.
Merritt Beason led the way for Nebraska in kills, finishing with 17 kills off 37 total attacks. Freshman Bergen Reilly delivered another big performance at setter, putting up 42 set assists, 11 digs and two service aces. On defense, Lexi Rodriguez put up 14 digs. Another notable standout was freshman Andi Jackson, who finished with six blocks and had five kills off 15 attacks.
The Huskers remain undefeated, improving their record to 6-0 on the season. The team will stay home heading into the weekend as it will play host to Long Beach State. The match is set for Saturday at 7 p.m. and can be viewed on Nebraska Public Media and B1G+.
