Tag: Utah

Utah’s women’s basketball team deserved so much better from the NCAA

The NCAA was reactive instead of proactive and this is the result.

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, Winners! Thanks so much for rocking with the Morning Win today. We appreciate you giving us a bit of your time.

The more information we get about Utah’s women’s basketball team’s awful weekend, the more I feel this should’ve been avoided.

To make a long story short, for part of the weekend, the Utes had to stay in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, instead of Spokane, Washington, where their games were being played because of a lack of space.

While staying in Idaho, the team experienced the worst parts of humanity. They were the targets of some racist attacks from people in Coeur d’Alene. As they were coming to and from dinner at their team hotel, they were harassed. They had people revving trucks at them and calling them the N-word. The attacks were so bad the team had to switch hotels.

READ MORE: Everything we know about the racist incidents experienced by Utah’s basketball team

That’s why Utah head coach Lynne Roberts said what she said after the team’s loss to Gonzaga on Monday.

“For our players and staff not to feel safe in an NCAA tournament environment, it’s messed up,” Roberts said. And she’s right — it is messed up.

This is supposed to be one of the best moments of her players’ lives. Instead, it became a moment of anguish for her team, staff and traveling party. That should never have been allowed to happen.

Look, I don’t want to blame the NCAA for people’s racism. It’s not the organization’s fault that these hateful people targeted Utah.

But, at the same time, sending this team to Coeur d’Alene was a clear mistake.

The surrounding region in northern Idaho has been known as a haven for white supremacists. The Aryan Nations — a Neo-Nazi hate group — was once rooted in the region for decades before being removed just 24 years ago in 2000. There are still remnants of folks who believe in the group’s principles.

A quick Google search tells you all of that. Do you mean to tell me that no one could’ve done that for Utah’s basketball team before they were moved into the town? It doesn’t take that much.

Truthfully, it’s a shame that the team even had to move in the first place.

I get it. There wasn’t enough space to house Utah in Spokane for the weekend with the men’s and women’s tournaments in the same area. The NCAA picked Spokane as one of the men’s tournament sites four years ago, according to The Athletic. The women’s tournament’s first few rounds use the home arenas of the first four ranked teams in each region as the tournament sites. It’s a tricky confluence of events, to be sure.

But shouldn’t the teams playing in the area get a bit of priority here? Why should they travel 30 minutes away just to come back and play a game the next day? That’s absurd.

The NCAA has come a long way with the treatment of the women’s tournament. It’s always been an afterthought — March Madness branding wasn’t even used for it. To be fair to the NCAA, that’s changed in recent years. This incident makes it clear the organization still has a long way to go.

Utah’s safety wasn’t a concern. The NCAA just treated it as a logistical piece. These women were placed in a space that was clearly unsafe, and the NCAA didn’t seem to care until the damage was already done. Now, here we are.

The NCAA released a statement condemning racism on Tuesday, per CNN. “The NCAA condemns racism and hatred in any form and is committed to providing a world-class athletics and academic experience for student-athletes that fosters lifelong well-being,” the organization said.

That’s nice. But you know what would be even nicer? If Utah was never put in this position in the first place.

Hopefully, the NCAA will be more proactive in situations like this moving forward.

Coach Cal is back in blue

Mandatory Credit: Jordan Prather-USA TODAY Sports

The thing we all knew was going to happen actually happened. Despite Kentucky’s upset loss to Oakland in the first round of the NCAA tournament, John Calipari will return as the head coach next season.

School Athletic Director Mitch Barnhart confirmed Cal’s return via Twitter.

“As we normally do at the end of every season, Coach Calipari and I have had conversations about the direction of our men’s basketball program and I can confirm that he will return for his 16th season as our head coach.” 

Oh, boy. To be a fly on the wall during those conversations. I can only imagine what was said before the decision to bring Calipari back.

Let’s be honest, though. Cal was never going anywhere — there are 35 million reasons why.

READ MORE: Kentucky is keeping John Calipari for another year and fans couldn’t believe it.

March Madness in the NBA

NBA basketball tends to go a bit under the radar in March with college hoops taking up all of our attention. But if you weren’t watching last night, you missed a treat from the Bucks and Lakers on Tuesday.

Milwaukee had a 19-point lead in the fourth quarter. The Lakers came all the way back to tie the game up and send it to overtime. Not behind some insane LeBron James barrage of 3-pointers. Not because of some incredibly dominant game from Anthony Davis (though he was great!).

Nope. Instead, it was Austin Reaves getting buckets. 29 points, 14 rebounds, 10 assists and one turnover. Plus a dominant fourth quarter.

I’ll tell you what, man. If these are the Lakers that show up for the playoffs this year? That first-round series could be pretty fun … as long as they make it out of the Play-In Tournament.

READ MORE: LeBron James hilariously trolled Giannis by timing his free throws

Quick hits: Upset watch for March Madness … Shaq still thinks Caitlin Clark is the GOAT … and more

— Prince Grimes has four teams in men’s March Madness he’s putting on upset watch

— Shaq explains why he’s got Caitlin Clark as his GOAT in women’s basketball. Meg Hall has more.

— Here’s a video of how the NFL’s new kickoff will work. It’s weird…yet kind of fun? Charles Curtis has more.

— Here’s Andrew Joseph with our first MLB Power Ranking of the season. Baseball is back, folks!

— The Predators might be the hottest team in the NHL right now after this wild comeback. Here’s Cory Woodroof with more.

— Saquon Barkley is trying to bring Jason Kelce back to the Eagles. Hopefully, it works.

That’s all, folks! Thanks so much for reading today. I hope you have an amazing Wednesday. Let’s chat again tomorrow. Talk soon! Peace. We out.

-Sykes ✌️

10 defensive backs for the Ravens to watch at the 2024 NFL combine

We’re looking at ten defensive backs for the Baltimore Ravens to watch during the 2024 NFL Scouting Combine

The Ravens are in Indianapolis for the NFL combine, and GM Eric DeCosta will be front and center to watch the defensive backs and tight ends work out.

Cornerback depth will be a massive priority for Baltimore, and there will be changes this offseason with Ronald Darby, Arthur Maulet, and Rock-Ya-Sin all pending free agents.

With Day 2 of on-field workouts set to begin, we’re looking at ten defensive backs for the Ravens to watch.

10 defensive backs for the Eagles to watch at the 2024 NFL combine

We’re looking at ten defensive backs for the Philadelphia Eagles to watch during the 2024 NFL Scouting Combine

Defensive back depth is a massive priority for the Eagles, and that’ll be the position to watch on Friday at the NFL Scouting Combine.

Howie Roseman is looking to retool the roster following Philadelphia’s historic collapse, finishing the season 1-6 after a 10-1 start.

There could be decisions on cornerbacks Darius Slay and James Bradberry in the coming days, while the Eagles only have two safeties on the roster after releasing Kevin Byard.

With Day 2 of on-field workouts set to begin, we’re looking at ten defensive backs for Philadelphia to watch.

Women’s basketball national scoring leaders as of Feb. 4 (and steals)

Notre Dame’s freshman phenom still is pretty good.

[autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] continues to impressive with each passing game. The Notre Dame freshman scored a career-high 35 points over the past week. Who knows what she’ll be up to next? She ranks among the national scoring leaders as follows, and we’ve included their steals numbers, too:

Notre Dame to face Utah in MLB Network’s first live softball game

Some exciting news for the Irish.

Well, it’s February, which means we’re closer to warmer weather, which means we’re closer to softball season. So how about a first involving Notre Dame’s team? One that involves a first for MLB Network?

For the first time in its 15-year history, MLB Network will broadcast a live softball game. That game will involve the Irish and Utah at 1 p.m. EST Feb. 10 at the NFCA Leadoff Classic in Clearwater, Florida. Last year, MLB Network broadcast a game between UCLA and Oklahoma on tape delay.

This game vs. the Utes will be the third of five games the Irish play during this season-opening event. They also will take part in three other invitationals in the early part of the season. Their first game at Melissa Cook Stadium will be March 19 vs. Michigan State.

The Irish are coming off a season in which they went 30-19-1 and qualified for their 24th straight NCAA Tournament.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Women’s basketball national scoring leaders as of Jan. 28 (and steals)

A certain star for Notre Dame continues to draw attention.

For the first time in her collegiate career, Notre Dame’s [autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] was held without a steal against UConn. The tradeoff was she scored a career-high 34 points, which also is the Irish freshman record. Here’s what that means as far as her ranking among the national scoring leaders as well as their steals numbers:

Women’s basketball national scoring leaders as of Jan. 21 (and steals)

Thankfully, the person at the top of this list is OK.

Sunday brought the attention on the top women’s scorer in the country for all the wrong reasons. She collided with a fan who had stormed the court at the end of the game and was knocked down. Fortunately, she wasn’t injured. Here’s how far ahead she is among the other top scorers on the list and their steals numbers, including Notre Dame’s representative, who also leads the country in steals:

Women’s basketball national scoring leaders as of Jan. 7 (and steals)

See how Notre Dame’s rep on this list is doing.

[autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] continues to do her best on a Notre Dame team that has hit a wall. The Irish have lost two of three since ACC play got underway as the lack of enough healthy bodies seems to be catching up to them. We’ll see if that will improve in the coming days and weeks. For now, here’s Hidalgo among the national scoring leaders and those leaders’ steals numbers:

Saints linebacker Nephi Sewell suffered season-ending ACL injury

This is a tough break for Nephi Sewell. The New Orleans Saints linebacker suffered a season-ending ACL injury during Week 17’s big road win:

This is a tough break for Nephi Sewell. The New Orleans Saints linebacker suffered a season-ending ACL injury during Week 17’s big road win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Sewell’s knee buckled on a non-contact play as he ran with a receiver in coverage on Alontae Taylor’s interception of Baker Mayfield, and he needed assistance leaving the field on a trainer’s cart. Saints head coach Dennis Allen confirmed the bad news on Monday when meeting with local media.

Sewell, 25, had played himself into a real role defensively as the top backup for middle linebacker Demario Davis. A former undrafted free agent out of Utah and one of three brothers in the NFL (along with Detroit Lions right tackle Penei Sewell and Chicago Bears linebacker Noah Sewell), he earned reps on defense by playing well on special teams as a rookie in 2022. This season he ranked fifth on the team in snaps played in the kicking game (266).

But the timing of this injury couldn’t be worse. It could take as many as nine months for Sewell to recover functionality in his knee, and it’ll take longer than that for him to regain trust in the surgically-repaired joint, as is the case for every athlete who experiences this type of injury. That’s going to cost him valuable snaps at practice throughout the offseason program and likely the beginning of training camp in July.

Still, Sewell has overcome adversity before, and he has a great support system. He overcame a serious neck injury in his junior year of high school, and he’s taken the hard road to the NFL as an undrafted player who had to earn his snaps. He’s still under contract for 2024 and should return with a good chance to contribute in the fall, but it’s going to be a while before fans see him out on the field goal. Here’s to a full and speedy recovery for him.

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Women’s basketball national scoring leaders as of Dec. 31 (and steals)

Check out where Notre Dame’s freshman phenom ranks.

[autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] clearly is Notre Dame’s best player as we enter 2024. There’s no other way to put it given that she leads the country in steals and is one of its top scorers. One only can imagine what she’ll do over the next couple of months. For now, here’s how she ranks among the top scorers in the country along with their steals figures: