3.2 C
New York
Thursday, December 25, 2025
type here...
Home Blog Page 1050

Steph Curry, golfer and entrepreneur, plots his second act

By
Reporters News Wire
-
0

DALY CITY, Calif. — Bobby Bonilla is chilling.

The baseball legend is in a golf cart, playing his background role to perfection on this mid-August afternoon at Lake Merced Golf Club. To his left, his good friend Barry Bonds chats away with a sports writer from his playing days. Bonilla, in sunglasses and a black T-shirt covering his rotund belly, leans right in lieu of a recline. One hand on the steering wheel of the cart as he puffs on a cigar behind the buzz of the festivities. He knows no one is here to see him or his superstar friend.

“Look at this,” he says, lifting his stogie-free hand toward the majesty of the setting.

Bay Area weather is showing out — 70-something degrees, hot enough to feel like California, but cool enough to not be overwhelmed — as the sun makes its way toward the Pacific Ocean on the horizon. A few clouds give the blue sky some texture above the Cypress trees and manicured fairways. But Bonilla’s excited emphasis isn’t about the weather. Instead, the fantastical experience his son is enjoying.

Roman Solomon, 17, is in a putting showdown against Stephen Curry.

“Extraordinary,” Bonilla says as he looks out on Curry’s Underrated Golf Tour, a summer tournament that showcases talented junior golfers and aims to give access and opportunities that might be unavailable to some of them in a traditionally exclusive sport.

“There’s not really enough words to even say it. This is just so enjoyable to see all this, these fresh young faces of color. We’re all about everybody, but we don’t really see this. What’s happening is extraordinary — and this is all because of Steph. We really can’t put into words what he’s doing.”

The obvious question is blaring: Why is Curry doing this?

His love of golf is undeniable.  You can count on him being glued to the Ryder Cup this weekend. But nothing is stopping Curry from doing like most fanatics of fairways and just playing. He gets access to some of the best courses in the world, with just about anyone he wants. He’s already played at Augusta National and Cypress Point. He’s played with former President Barack Obama. When he hangs up his sneakers, Curry assuredly will have a wealth of sponsorship exemptions to compete in tournaments with pros, if not join a tour.

So why is he choosing to take on the tradition of golf’s exclusiveness? Why is he volunteering as a giddy pied piper for outsiders to cultivate a more inclusive space for a rising generation?


Stephen Curry with golfers at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio. (Noah Graham / Underrated Golf)

The question rings louder as Curry plops his iPhones on a circular table and takes a seat in the clubhouse of the Lake Merced Golf Club. Their cracks, chips and scratches stand out against a white tablecloth. His eyes reveal why in the moment he couldn’t care less about the phones. Curry is beat.

It is all over his face, tangible as he slumps in his chair while stealing a moment of nothing on the penultimate day of his golf tour, which spreads 11 rounds of match-play golf over five courses in two months.

He doesn’t respond verbally to a question about his fatigue levels. Just suddenly lifts his eyes, while barely lifting his head, and shoots a glance that declares, “You have no idea.” He spins one of his phones around until it settles beneath his hovering eyes. Moments later, he is summoned again. Curry shoots another glance, this one with a smile.

“Mind over matter,” he says as he gets up from the table, off to shake more hands, meet more people, then get wired up for interviews.

The answer as to why he’s doing this is actually simple. Because this is going to be his next career in some form or fashion, a natural transition for this lifelong golf addict who just happened to be more amazing at basketball. Watching Curry turn the American Century Championship tournament into a viral event over the summer was a glimpse of the future. The Warriors’ earlier-than-normal exit from the postseason in May gave Curry time to fine tune his golf game before the ACC. And he won the thing.

How good can he be when golf is his primary athletic obsession? His walk-off eagle putt was but a proclamation that we’ll find out.

Golf presents a second act that maybe even basketball doesn’t. After his unsuccessful attempts at turning Under Armour into a basketball power, especially in the sneaker world, Curry and his signature brand may have found a way to change the game in a different wing of the sports industry.

Even after Tiger Woods introduced a new audience to golf, areas of the sport are still cordoned off from the masses by hedge funds, still prone to its country club proclivities. The end of the Tiger era has created a massive void in energy, in populace, in je ne sais quoi. Curry has the audacity to try to fill it.

Because if he’s going to be in golf, Curry’s ethos won’t let him co-sign the sport’s obvious homogeneity. Since his platform clearly isn’t going away, then neither is his internal responsibility to affect change. He’s found a lane to do that in junior golf — where wealth tends to determine who advances more than ability, and assimilation can choke the fun out of a beautiful game.

Equipment, coaching, travel, fees — the cost of being good at golf is burdensome. Just to be ranked by the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA), players must compete in at least four events in a calendar year. “Strength of field” is one of the criteria, meaning players compete in tournaments featuring other ranked players.

Golf’s void created a vision. In basketball, Curry’s elite camp has seen a number of players go pro. His mission with Underrated Basketball is to find the gems who get overlooked in the recruiting process. He’s taken UConn women’s basketball star Azzi Fudd and No. 2 NBA draft pick Scoot Henderson under his wing, mentoring them in the ways of moguldom. You can bet he’s determined to help a young stud golfer out there somewhere make it pro.

“Where a lot of kids get left behind, especially in Black and Brown communities, is within that junior competitive space,” Curry said. “You have PGA Junior League, which is part of the PGA of America. You have First Tee all around the country. So kids are getting introduced to the game and they’re trying to meet them where they are in different communities. But then where do they go from there? There just hasn’t been much investment in that space. … Even getting them into certain other AJGA events and getting exposure to college coaches on both the men’s and women’s sides. There’s a lot of progress that needs to be made in that respect, too.”

Steph Curry and Mariah Stackhouse take in the action at the Underrated Tour.


Steph Curry and Mariah Stackhouse take in the action at the Underrated Tour. (Noah Graham / Getty Images)

Ashley Shaw is cheesing.

Her braces add a sparkle to a wide smile that points to her butterfly earrings. She adjusts the black Callaway visor, rattling the black beads and white beads stacked on her braids. They’re an homage to Venus and Serena Williams.

“She knows exactly who she is,” says Doc Shaw, Ashley’s father. “That’s imperative with us. You need to know you. You need to know your history. We don’t get our sense of what’s beautiful, we don’t get our sense of what’s right, we don’t get our sense of what’s hard work from others.”

Before she started playing volleyball and basketball and tennis (which she says is her best sport), and before her father copped a set of clubs in a pink bag for $5 at a yard sale and introduced her to golf, Ashley competed in Miss Arizona youth pageants. Smiling has always come naturally.

Here? In this setting? Happy only begins to describe it. Ashley is having too much fun. The vibes are uplifting. Here, she’s not alone. Not the black sheep who has to gird herself in the confidence instilled by her parents. Here, the game she loves is accompanied by the camaraderie she deserves.

“My personality is something that I think is different from most golfers,” she says, fiddling with her necklace. “I’m definitely a much livelier person. A lot of the really good golfers, they’re often kind of dull. Not smiling, or doing anything. I’m just a happy person.”

Ashley is a force. She’s known for being an elite ball striker for her age and has a competitive streak about her. She’s ranked No. 237 by the AJGA — 30th in the Class of 2027.

She was 13 when she won the inaugural Curry Cup — the prize for winning the Underrated Golf Tour — last September at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco. She rallied to finish third at Lake Merced.

Underrated Golf Tour host and mentor Will Lowery, a popular golf personality and Golf Channel host who’s become noteworthy for his efforts to diversify the sport, invited LPGA golfer Mariah Stackhouse to check out the 2022 Underrated Golf Tour. And it was Ashley who seized Stackhouse’s attention. The instant connection felt visceral. It wasn’t just the teenager’s talent that jumped out, but the symbolism of her presence.

“She’s got a game on her,” said Stackhouse, ranked No. 500 in the Rolex World Rankings, with a 23rd-place finish at the Kroger Queen City Championship in Cincinnati earlier this month.

“She’s got distance to be so young. … This is what it’s about, getting young players like Ashley who are really good and just need a little bit more support and a little bit more opportunity.”

Stackhouse, a 29-year-old Georgia native, was once Ashley in a sense: a young Black girl who became a prodigy in a sport that didn’t feature many young Black girls. And just like her mother, Stackhouse couldn’t help but be fly, from her intricately braided natural hair to her nose ring to her meticulously selected attire — matching, brightly colored and with a distinct ATL fashion flare. In addition to growing her game, she had to navigate the junior ranks and not lose herself.

At 17, she became the youngest Black woman to qualify for the U.S. Women’s Open. At 20, she was the first Black woman to compete on the Curtis Cup team, the renowned women’s amateur golf competition pitting the U.S. against Great Britain and Ireland. At 22, she graduated from Stanford as a four-time All-American. At 23, she became the seventh Black woman on the LPGA Tour.

So imagine Stackhouse’s fluttering heart last year when she saw Ashley, teeming with talent and personality, an unapologetic 13-year-old with skills. The loneliness Stackhouse endured in her early days on tour made her appreciate the vibes she witnessed among the teenagers with Underrated.

“Man, those kids were loving this,” Stackhouse said. “They were happy. There was so much camaraderie. I was just beaming with pride at what I was seeing and happiness for what they were experiencing. These are the kinds of steps that actually make change.”

Stackhouse was all in with the Underrated Golf Tour. She also got her sponsor, KPMG, to get involved. The international professional services firm is now a title sponsor.

Money is the silent ruling partner of all this. That’s Curry’s strength. He put his own money up in 2019 to get Howard University’s Division I golf team up and running, with a six-year commitment to support the program. He even played in the inaugural Bison at the Beach Golf Classic, which raised more than $3 million for the program.

Curry is a money magnet. Companies want to be connected to him. CEOs want to play golf with him. Wealthy people want to be in the room with him. The appeal of the NBA’s 3-point king is expansive. This summer’s Underrated Golf Tour cost well over $4 million. It was free to all 96 golfers who competed, between 12 and 19 years old. It included travel, lodging, course access, gear and meals. The top three boys and girls also get an all-expense paid trip to play in Europe.

Curry can get sponsors. Among the 13 companies named as partners, three already feature the Warriors’ star in their commercials: CarMax, Subway and Chase.

go-deeper

GO DEEPER

How the United States can end the long road losing streak and win the Ryder Cup

This is the part of the world of golf Curry understands. Having played it since he was a kid — and being a modern mogul who rubs shoulders with corporate, tech and private types — Curry knows the competition is just part of it. The tangential benefit of the game is the accompanying culture. Deals happen on golf courses. Networking happens walking fairways. Collaborations come together in clubhouses.

“I’m not a golfer,” said Paul Knopp, CEO of KPMG. “But I have noticed over my 40 years in my career that it is sort of the sport of business. That’s the one that everybody seems to play.”

That’s why Underrated Golf puts the prodigies in front of business people, celebrities, artists and golf pros. DJ Khaled hung out with them at The Park course in West Palm Beach, Fla., the first stop of the 2023 tour. Legendary instructor Butch Harmon and New York Giants tight end Darren Waller showed up at Paiute Golf Resort in Las Vegas. The 25 players who made it to the Curry Cup in the Bay, and their parents, participated in KPMG’s Leadership Development Day at Stanford. It included insight on NIL, personal branding and social media from an agent. As well as leadership lessons from Curry.

“We know they all won’t play on the professional tour,” Knopp continued. “But we can find ways to help them with affirmation and confidence and leadership development. Even if they’re not going to play golf for a career, how can we help them move from the golf course into the doctor’s office? Or become lawyers. Or become scientists. Or become businesspeople.”

Toa Ofahengaue is nodding.

Arms folded, he stares at the ground. His big brother, KJ., is breaking down their family’s strong connection with golf.

Their maternal grandfather, Sivia Wightman, came from Samoa to America for college and wound up a golf pro. He taught the game to his children. His daughter Sara, the mother of KJ and Toa, played college golf at BYU. The brothers now play at the club in Utah where their uncle is the pro. KJ is heading to Utah Tech after being recruited by Utah, San Diego State and Washington.

Their dad’s side of the family plays golf, too. Including their cousin, Tony Finau, currently 20th in the world golf rankings.

Still, the brothers didn’t dive into golf initially. KJ and Toa played AAU basketball.

“I was a bench warmer,” Toa interjects with enthusiasm, snapping out of his listening trance. “I was the best bench warmer. I was proud to ride the bench.”

KJ, 19, was the baller. Let his little brother tell it, KJ is the closest thing in Utah hoops to Kyrie Irving.

“I’ve got the best handles in the game,” KJ chimes in.

But Toa picked up golf as an adolescent and got pretty good at it. That’s when Finau came into the picture, once Toa got hooked. KJ followed little bro to golf and was a natural. At 13, he gave up AAU basketball and focused on golf.

Toa formerly talked trash to his big brother while cooking him in golf. It wasn’t long before the tables turned.

“When it first happened, it kind of hurt,” Toa says. “But I was like, ‘Wow, you’re doing good. Keep going.’ Then my mindset toward that became more like iron sharpens iron. So I was pushing him. He’s pushing me now.”

go-deeper

GO DEEPER

How to watch Ryder Cup 2023

Spend five minutes with them and Curry’s vision crystallizes. KJ and Toa are hilarious free spirits with their Gen Z tastes and distinct Polynesian fortitude. They grew up in Utah playing golf — you know they’ve gotten comfortable in their own skin. They are microcosms of a generation of golf fans not from the traditional pipelines and paradigms. They need an ambassador.

The pandemic created a surge in the sport not seen since Tiger Woods, thanks to the open air of golf and its ability to accommodate social distancing. So did “off course” golfing — entertainment-based golf venues such as indoor simulators and spots like Top Golf. Roughly one in seven Americans played golf in 2022, according to a report by the American Golf Industry Coalition. And 48 percent of all golf participants were between the ages of 6 and 34. So golf has seen an influx of participants from outside its typically confined culture.

“Golf is more than just a White sport,” says KJ, who won the second leg of the Underrated Golf Tour, at Firestone Country Club in Akron. “It’s more diverse. And we’ve got some athletes, right? That’s where the game changes. We’re bringing athletes to the game. We’re doing a lot of things better. Why not us?”

“Yeah,” Toa chimes in. “Why not us?”

“That’s why it’s important to be different,” KJ continues. “It’s just good energy and good mojo. It’s fun to be around those kind of people, right?”

Who will captivate this new generation of golfers? Who will give them a voice? Who will challenge the status quo and soften the space for their landing? Who will supply their demand for swag, for uniqueness, for freedom?

The direct economic impact of golf in 2022 was $101.7 billion, up from $84.1 billion in 2016. The golf apparel industry alone is expected to reach over $5 billion by 2033.

The more you think about it, who better than Curry? He has a massive fan base. Now he has an apparel line. He has the game. His authenticity in the space can’t be questioned.

Curry grew up playing around Black golfers — his father and other family members, other NBA players. But when he started playing junior tournaments, and three years of high school golf at Charlotte Christian, that’s when he noticed he was often the only non-White player.

When he got to the NBA, he was regularly queried (and sometimes ridiculed) by his teammates about why he played so much. It wasn’t uncommon for teammates to say they’d never been on a golf course. So Curry’s 14 NBA seasons have been a constant reminder of the access and equity issues in the sport he loves.

“It’s a lifelong work,” Curry said. “I’ve been doing this for a very, very long time. I’ve had the privilege of playing a bunch of amazing courses. I’ve met some amazing people, ambassadors of the game, people in leadership positions at some of the most exclusive courses. They’re not all bad. Everybody’s trying to figure out how to change it. Some people just don’t know how. We can help educate, open up perspectives on how to change the culture even just a little bit.”

Steph Curry was crying.

On the inside. It almost bubbled to the surface. Almost.

At the end of the final round of golf, he stood with Stackhouse and awarded the winners their Curry Cup. Roisin Scanlon, 15, won the girls’ Curry Cup. Roisin, who plays under the Irish flag, started competing at 4 and joined the Black British Golfers Association to find other youth interested in golf. Now she’s sponsored by Titleist and adidas and is one of the best young women golfers in the world at 15. The boys’ Cup went to Lucky Cruz, 16, who has verbally committed to play at the University of Houston and already has his own nonprofit, Lucky Swings, serving as a connection for sponsors and young golfers.

Then Curry announced a special surprise: The Dell Curry Scholarship — a $25,000 reward for the character they displayed on tour. KJ was announced as one winner. The other: Krishny Elwin. The 15-year-old from Puerto Rico, stunned by the news, couldn’t hold back the tears. Neither could her father.

They hugged passionately, both crying. Curry watched the whole time. Some 100 or so people were gathered at this makeshift awards ceremony under the dusk of Daly City with the ambient sounds of chatter and laughter. But for a moment, amid the chaos, Curry stood still, staring at Krishny and her dad. The recognition and prize money clearly meant the world to them.

“They almost got me,” Curry said. “I felt that.”

Another visual display of why he’s doing this.

(Illustration: John Bradford / The Athletic; photos: Noah Graham, David Calvert / Getty Images)

How the unexpected blockbuster Damian Lillard trade to the Bucks came together

By
Reporters News Wire
-
0

As the NBA offseason calendar shifted to September and there was no trade in sight to his preferred trade destination of the Miami Heat, Damian Lillard incorporated himself back into the Portland Trail Blazers’ ecosystem. For the last two weeks, team sources say Lillard has been working out at the Blazers practice facility, interacting with players and coaches.

Nearly three months after his trade request, was there a reconciliation in the works? No, but Lillard wanted the Blazers to know he was willing to remain patient while his uncomfortable exit played out.

On a call between Lillard’s agent, Aaron Goodwin, and Blazers general manager Joe Cronin earlier this month, it was communicated that Lillard would be content rejoining Portland for training camp. Lillard let the Blazers know he was willing to be fully present for the start of the 2023-24 season, if only to give the organization more time to work toward a potential trade with the Heat, sources briefed on those conversations say. But according to league sources, Cronin expressed skepticism about that approach. The Blazers were determined to get a deal done before the start of camp.

Over the next two weeks, the Blazers’ focus turned toward trading Lillard before the start of training camp and media day on Oct. 2 — and removing the speculation and what they believed was a cloud over the organization. Cronin and his front office have amassed tremendous young talent in Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe, and the Blazers were ready for a drama-free camp.

So the Blazers made the much-awaited blockbuster trade on Wednesday, trading Lillard to the Milwaukee Bucks in a three-team deal that sent Jrue Holiday, Deandre Ayton, Toumani Camara, a 2029 first-round Bucks pick and two Bucks pick swaps in 2028 and 2030 to Portland. Jusuf Nurkić, Nassir Little, Keon Johnson and Grayson Allen are off to Phoenix.

The trade has massive implications for the landscape of the NBA. The Bucks are now one of the favorites to win the 2024 championship, teaming Lillard with Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton, Brook Lopez, NBA Sixth Man of the Year candidate Bobby Portis and shooters Pat Connaughton and Malik Beasley.

After he made public comments about being unsure about the Bucks’ desires to contend for a title and being unsure himself of signing an extension, Antetokounmpo has been delivered an All-NBA player who is a perennial All-Star and was voted onto the NBA’s 75th-anniversary team and The Athletic’s NBA 75 list.

GO DEEPER

Damian Lillard to the Bucks? A deal that makes the NBA say, ‘Holy (bleep)!’

In 2020, with Antetokounmpo’s future uncertain ahead of what was a super-maximum contract extension, the Bucks traded for Holiday to push the team closer to a championship. Eight months later, they secured their first NBA championship in 50 seasons with a victory over the Suns in the 2021 NBA Finals.

Three years later and with similar questions about Antetokounmpo’s future amid extension eligibility, Bucks general manager Jon Horst lands Lillard by making the tough and emotional decision to trade Holiday, the player for whom he traded to help the Bucks secure that title in 2021. And the move could go a long way in securing the future of the Greek Freak once again.

But this was a deal that shocked much of the NBA world. With much of the expectation throughout this process being that Lillard could end up in Miami and with the loudest chatter in the days before the blockbuster trade being that he could go to Toronto, a deal with the Bucks seemed to be far off the radar.

Here’s how it all came together.

From the moment Lillard requested a trade from the Blazers on July 1, he informed the team that he wanted a deal specifically to the Eastern Conference champion Heat, sources briefed on those talks say. Lillard believed he gave the Blazers loyalty over 11 seasons and wanted the franchise to move him to his preferred landing spot.

The Blazers and Heat had multiple conversations in July, but the sides never engaged in substantive negotiations, according to those sources. In an initial call, the Blazers asked the Heat for Jimmy Butler or Bam Adebayo. The Heat came to believe that the Blazers had little to no interest in engaging in a deal with them, and as much as Lillard and Goodwin wished that the Blazers would attempt to satisfy the seven-time All-Star’s wish, Portland refused. As the summer progressed, Lillard wanted the Blazers to find a deal with Miami, but those wishes, in his mind, also went unfulfilled.

For their part, the Heat, league sources say, were prepared in July and August to offer up to three first-round draft picks — with Tyler Herro going to a third team — and multiple second-rounders and swaps along with expiring contracts and 2022 first-round pick Nikola Jović. But the Blazers were disinterested with each side developing a level of contentiousness.

As the Blazers began to start serious trade talks across the league on Sept. 18, a bevy of teams — the Bucks, Boston Celtics, New Orleans Pelicans, Toronto Raptors, Minnesota Timberwolves and Chicago Bulls — all showed interest in Lillard, league sources have told The Athletic. For all involved, the questions revolved around the price tag for Lillard and whether the roster would be able to compete for a championship post-acquisition.

Meanwhile, in Lillard’s camp, sources briefed on the matter say there was a realization that he would need to start seriously considering the prospect of playing somewhere other than Miami. That had been the case since the start, back when Lillard fielded a recruiting call from the Celtics’ Jayson Tatum not long after his trade request.

But when Cronin stopped responding to all communication from Goodwin in mid-September — with the tension rising between both sides along the way — sources briefed on the discussions say it inspired the agent to explore other team options that would be to Lillard’s liking. And Tatum, as it turned out, was hardly the only superstar who wanted to bring him to town.

Antetokounmpo also was a big fan.

go-deeper

GO DEEPER

Bucks trade for Damian Lillard signals one thing: It’s time for another championship push

Throughout this Lillard saga, there was the looming question of whether a team would take on his massive contract if he didn’t want to be there. Lillard has three years remaining on his deal plus a player option for 2026-27 for a projected $63.2 million. For example, the Raptors’ interest was serious, but Lillard’s disinterest in playing in Toronto remained an obstacle until the end.

Yet once Lillard was convinced that joining the Heat was virtually impossible, sources briefed on discussions say he became open to the prospect of playing for the Bucks and the Brooklyn Nets. The backchannel blessings commenced. Goodwin, sources briefed on the talks say, communicated Lillard’s interest to those teams as a way of paving the way for a possible deal. League sources say the Suns, with their sights set on Nurkić and other roster depth, were planning to be a part of trades with the Bucks, Nets or Heat.

The Blazers began discussing the framework of the Suns’ involvement with the Ayton-for-Nurkić swap in mid-July but needed two months to find the third team for Lillard and ensure that they wouldn’t be entering the luxury tax given Ayton is on a max salary.

For the Trail Blazers, Phoenix was an essential component of any Lillard trade. Portland valued Ayton, 25, as a foundational piece to anchor a roster headed by Henderson and Sharpe, and the talented big man is sure to be a 20-and-10 threat in his new home. In terms of Holiday, the expectation around the league is that the Blazers will work on finding the two-time All-Star a new home with several playoff contenders squarely in the mix.

In Phoenix, Nurkić is seen as a better fit for the Suns’ style of play and culture, and his contract (three years, $54.4 million), compared to Ayton’s deal (three years, $102.1 million) gives the franchise additional flexibility moving forward on a roster with three max salaries in Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal.

After their lackluster finish in the Western Conference semifinals last season, indications from the Suns organization were that it would be open to moving Ayton in a trade that made sense — and general manager James Jones, CEO Josh Bartelstein and owner Mat Ishbia found one with the Blazers.

Milwaukee became seriously engaged over the last week, believing that pairing Lillard with Antetokounmpo would serve as a convincing factor for Lillard to want to be with the Bucks, even though they weren’t his original preferred destination.

Now, Antetokounmpo is eligible for a three-year, $186.6 million extension with the Bucks before the start of the regular season or a commitment for up to four years and $260 million next offseason. The Bucks delivered the max, three-year extension to Antetokounmpo in recent days, league sources say, and it is immediately unclear how he and his representatives will reconsider a potential deal now versus waiting to evaluate after the season.

Milwaukee owners Wes Edens and Jimmy Haslam showed genuine aggressiveness Wednesday, taking on the four years and $216 million remaining on Lillard’s contract. It went a long way toward showing Antetokounmpo that, yes, they want to win badly too.

go-deeper

GO DEEPER

How do the Heat recover from losing out on Damian Lillard? They can’t just stand pat

For Lillard’s part, he finally gets the chance to win it all, something he has always wanted, even if the city where he landed isn’t exactly what he had in mind.

He has everything but a championship on his résumé. Seven All-Star appearances. Seven All-NBA selections. All those playoff memories that helped make him the greatest Blazers player of them all.

But this — a title-contending roster that fits so well with his generational skill set — is what he always dreamed of in the City of Roses.

“In a perfect world, I could spend my entire career in Portland,” he said on a podcast earlier this month.

This was an imperfect process, to say the least, and a flawed pairing in these recent years. But both sides found a way to win, just in time for the games to begin.

Related reading

Quick: After Lillard trade, what remains is worth celebrating
Harper: Grading the NBA’s latest megadeal

Related listening

(Photo by Amanda Loman / Getty Images)

When Taylor Swift shows up for an NFL game, what’s a TV broadcast to do?

By
Reporters News Wire
-
0

Cover 7 | Friday A daily NFL destination that provides in-depth analysis of football’s biggest stories. Each Friday, Richard Deitsch examines some of the biggest storylines in the NFL media world.

Richie Zyontz got his foot in the door of sports broadcasting in an almost unheard-of way today: He took a full-time security job at CBS’ headquarters on West 52nd Street in New York in the late 1970s and eventually made his way into the research department for CBS Sports. He would be the first person to tell you that he is old school.

For five decades Zyontz has produced pro football at the highest level, including the last 21 years as the lead producer on Fox’s top NFL broadcast. He has served as the lead television producer for seven Super Bowls, an assignment maybe two dozen or so people on earth can say they’ve done.

Between Zyontz and Fox lead NFL director Rich Russo, they have been part of 29 Super Bowls, including time at Fox and CBS Sports. Last year’s Super Bowl was Russo’s fifth as lead director.

Zyontz produced John Madden for many years and texted the legendary broadcaster daily before his death. The two were so interconnected that Madden introduced Zyontz to his wife, June, in 1986 and was the best man at Zyontz’s 1990 wedding, which took place at Madden’s old house.

“I’m thankful John isn’t around to hear that we’re talking to a reporter about Taylor Swift because I would not have gotten off easy,” Zyontz said, laughing.

But here we are. This site has done a lot of Taylor Swift this week. You may be sick of it, and I can understand that. I’m not here to tell you that the haters can’t hate, hate, hate, hate, hate. But as a column designed to give you a little background on the intersection of the NFL and the media, I was curious how the behind-the-scenes people for Fox’s broadcast of the Kansas City Chiefs’ game against the Chicago Bears last week approached a broadcast where one of the most famous people on the planet was at Arrowhead Stadium sitting in a suite next to the mother of one of the best tight ends in NFL history.

Zyontz said that his Fox crew had no official word from the NFL or the Chiefs that Swift would be in attendance. They were aware of the Travis Kelce and Swift connection because they live on Planet Earth. During pregame warmups, sideline reporters Erin Andrews and Tom Rinaldi independently learned Swift was expected at the game. (Zyontz wrote a blog for Fox Sports’ website after we talked that offers additional background here.)

“In the pregame, Erin and (analyst) Greg Olsen were on the field and Greg called Kelce over and asked what was going on and he sort of unofficially confirmed that she’d be there,” Zyontz said. “Up until that point, we didn’t really have anything firm. Just rumors. No one from the league or team gave us a heads up.”

A couple of hours before kickoff, Russo informed his camera operators of the possibility of Swift showing up because it’s an obvious shot for a broadcast crew in the same way sports telecasts will almost always show well-known people at a game. Rinaldi’s daughter was monitoring social media and passed along updates to her father who passed them along to the production truck. Russo told his camera operators to pan the corporate suites.

“I’m thinking she’s not going to be on the field during pregame, but I mean, what the hell do I really know?” Russo said, laughing. “Players left the field at about 3 p.m. local time and there was no sign of her. So before the game, I had certain cameras just kind of look in those respective suites.”

Russo said about five minutes before player introductions, one of his camera operators identified Swift in the back of Kelce’s suite. Andrews also recognized her from her vantage point.

Identifying where Swift was just one part of the equation. Next came the real issue of how a broadcast should navigate this. It would be editorial dereliction not to show Swift at some point during the game. But at the same time, you don’t want the broadcast to become “Access Hollywood.”

“In a situation like this, the broadcast crew, in this case (play-by-play broadcaster) Kevin (Burkhardt) and (Olsen), would follow our lead with the pictures,” Zyontz said. “It was sort of up to us to kind of captain this during the day. Russo and I have been through this type of thing before. Celebrities at a game is nothing new for us, but usually just to show them once. This celebrity had a vested interest in the game. It required a little more restraint on our part. Whether we succeeded or not is probably not for us to judge. But I think once the game got going and it was an awful game, those circumstances maybe helped us because we weren’t really missing much. It was a terrible game, but it also kind of had a joyful feel throughout because the times we did show her, she was reacting. It wasn’t gratuitously showing her throughout the course of the day. When there was a picture to be had, I think we showed it.”

The fact that the game was such a blowout — the final score was 41-10, and Fox moved some of its audience off the game because it was noncompetitive —made showing Swift, at least from my perspective, a character in the broadcast rather than an over-the-top distraction. She gave Burkhardt and Olsen some fun content in a game that was a viewing slog.

“Once the game starts, we are there to cover the game, but there is that balance as to how often we show her and when we show her,” Russo said. “Kelce had seven receptions and we’re not going to go to a shot of Taylor Swift after every catch. Or if Kevin and Greg mention Taylor Swift, we are not going to automatically go to a Taylor Swift shot because then I think it looks like we really are overdoing it. Like Richie said, I think the fact that it was such a blowout, especially in the second half, probably helped us in the sense where maybe we can show a little more than maybe normal.”

Russo said he assigned a low end zone camera operator, Andy Mitchell, to keep an eye on the suite, anticipating the possibility that Kelce might catch a touchdown pass. The reason Russo chose that camera position was because Swift was looking in that direction from the suite.

“Lo and behold, he scored a touchdown, and that was a hell of a great picture,” Russo said. “That came with a little forethought. Sometimes when people are in suites, there can be glare, there can be sun, the glass can be down. It’s not necessarily guaranteed that you are going to get shots of those people based on where the suite is in relation to the sun. So we were fortunate that she was visible during the course of the game.

Zyontz and Russo found all the Swift stuff amusing, especially their small piece in it.

“Listen, I have a daughter who is a huge Taylor Swift fan,” Russo said. “When I’m in the car driving with her, she’s playing Taylor Swift music all the time. So I was aware of what we were getting into. You don’t think about it during the course of the game, but obviously, I know we’re talking about one of the biggest entertainers in the world right now.”

“I would say I was pretty much shocked by the aftermath,” Zyontz said. “I didn’t really understand the impact of what this global icon means to people. This is like a merging of different worlds, right? You don’t often see grizzled cigar-smoking Bears fans watching a football game along with a whole generation of young people just to see a cutaway shot of their hero. It caught me a little off guard. Hopefully this week we can get back to football.”

The Chiefs-Bears game went to 67 percent of the country (33 percent had the Dallas Cowboys against the Arizona Cardinals) in Fox’s late-afternoon window. The window averaged 24.322 million viewers, which far exceeded the next most-watched NFL game (Pittsburgh Steelers–Las Vegas Raiders on “Sunday Night Football,” which averaged 20.6 million viewers). The game was down from the same Week 3 time slot last year, when 24.4 million watched Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady in a Green Bay Packers–Tampa Bay Buccaneers matchup.

Amazon Prime Video is off to an excellent start with its “Thursday Night Football” package. The New York Giants–San Francisco 49ers game on Sept. 21 averaged 13.92 million viewers while the Minnesota Vikings–Philadelphia Eagles game averaged 15.05 million the prior week. Those two games are the two largest audiences for “Thursday Night Football” since the package moved to Amazon.

(Photo of a Kansas City Chiefs fan cheering during Sunday’s game: David Eulitt / Getty Images)

Behind the Yankees’ most miserable season in 30 years

By
Reporters News Wire
-
0

NEW YORK — Inside the New York Yankees’ oval-shaped clubhouse, with its plush blue carpet stamped in the middle with a white interlocking “NY,” Aaron Judge occupies prime real estate. He has two lockers — one for street clothes and game-day gear, and another to his left filled with surplus Jordan cleats, batting gloves the size of oven mitts and cases of Waiākea water bottles. The space also features a view that, for the Yankees’ captain, would seem ideal. Nestled against the back wall, he needs just two steps to slip away through a media-restricted doorway. If he wants to address the entire room, he can simply spin around in his navy leather office chair.

So Judge has had an intimate, behind-the-scenes seat to the most miserable season of baseball in the Bronx since 1992 — the last time the Yankees finished below .500 and, coincidentally, the year that the 31-year-old right fielder was born. At 80-77, their playoff aspirations have been all but kaput since mid-August, and they were officially eliminated from contention on Sunday. They are battling the Red Sox to stay out of last place in the American League East. In short, the Bombers have bombed.

“It’s tough,” Judge said in a quiet moment standing in front of his locker in early September.

Going into spring training, the Yankees were optimistic. They had re-signed Judge after a hectic free agency, giving him a nine-year, $360-million pact. Owner Hal Steinbrenner had also spent big on starting pitcher Carlos Rodón ($162 million, six years) and first baseman Anthony Rizzo ($40 million, two years). They were hopeful top prospects Anthony Volpe and Oswald Peraza, both shortstops, would bring them some much-needed youth and athleticism.

Seven months later, players, coaches and staffers were still in disbelief over the mess that the season became. Before Opening Day, FanGraphs had given the Yankees an 81.2 percent chance to make the playoffs and put their odds at winning the World Series at 10.2 percent — the highest in the AL. But after July 9, they never again touched a wild-card spot.

At the Aug. 1 trade deadline, the front office didn’t make a single meaningful deal — a tacit acknowledgement that they were resigned to their fate as disappointments. Not long after, Steinbrenner said that the team was considering hiring an “outside company” to evaluate the entire operation, though he singled out the analytics department for scrutiny. (According to a team source, that evaluation is expected to begin the day after the regular season ends.)  And by Sept. 1, they signaled they had started to look ahead to 2024 with the promotion of 20-year-old prospect Jasson Domínguez.

It was the culmination of a collapse. The Yankees were too injured. They were too old. They were too unathletic. They couldn’t hit, and they couldn’t adjust their lineup, crossing their fingers that underperforming veterans would turn it around because they didn’t have the depth or the prospects to supplant them. They made their first in-season firing of a coach in general manager Brian Cashman’s 25-year tenure, dumping hitting coach Dillon Lawson, but the offense didn’t improve. Aaron Judge, their best player, made the best defensive play in their season — and suffered their most crushing injury in the process. Domingo Germán threw a perfect game, their first in 24 years, and then a month later showed up to the clubhouse drunk, according to team sources; his violent outburst led to him going on the restricted list to seek treatment for alcohol abuse. They wasted a brilliant, Cy Young-worthy season from ace Gerrit Cole. When the team was nearly 10 games out of first place in late June, Steinbrenner said he was “confused” about why fans were angry, a tone-deaf moment that just made them angrier.

Infielder DJ LeMahieu said he just wanted a “reset” on the whole season. Cole declined comment when asked by The Athletic what he thought had gone so wrong with the Yankees this year.

Judge, however, had an idea.

“I could only look from my perspective as a player,” he said. “I’m not really going to get into the whole organization (or) stuff like that. It ain’t my job. …

“I think what it came down to was just getting hit with a couple of big injuries at the wrong time and not really (being) able to capitalize or have some depth at the time to cover those needs.”

“What could go wrong,” LeMahieu said, “went wrong.”

Cracks in the foundation

Past a couple black leather couches, flat-screen TVs and mini fridges on the other side of the clubhouse sit the lockers that are typically reserved for back-of-the-roster players or recent call-ups. While the Yankees thrive off the star power provided by players in the back of the clubhouse, such as Judge, Rizzo, Giancarlo Stanton, Cole and Rodón, any team hoping to sniff the postseason must be able to tap role players and fill-ins at crucial times over the course of the 162-game regular season.

For the Yankees, there were too many injuries and too much underperformance from key players, and the roster they constructed wasn’t equipped to handle it. Scrap-heap pickups such as Jake Bauers, Franchy Cordero, Billy McKinney and Willie Calhoun ended up with too many at-bats. They couldn’t pick up enough of the slack — and didn’t have track records suggesting they would be capable of it anyway — when disaster struck over and over.

The only time the Yankees were tied for first place in the division was March 30, when they were 1-0 after Opening Day. As the Tampa Bay Rays rushed out to a 13-0 start, the Yankees were 8-5, a litany of spring training injuries taking their toll. Their biggest loss was Rodón, whom they were counting on to be a co-ace with Cole; he wouldn’t make his first start until July 7. They were also without starting pitchers Luis Severino and Frankie Montas, center fielder Harrison Bader and relievers Tommy Kahnle and Lou Trivino. Montas (right shoulder surgery) and Trivino (Tommy John surgery) wouldn’t pitch for the Yankees in 2023. In April, injuries to Stanton and Donaldson further weakened the lineup.

It all led to Cashman addressing reporters in the Yankees’ dugout on May 3, as his team, with its then-$277-million payroll, sitting at 17-15 and in last place.

“Don’t count us out,” Cashman said at the time. “Don’t give up on us. … This is a championship-caliber operation.”

Yet cracks were showing. At that point, the Yankees’ offense was just 23rd in the majors in runs scored and 26th in batting average. The risks they had taken weren’t paying off. Oswaldo Cabrera, given the left field starting job out of camp, was among the worst everyday hitters in the game. Aaron Hicks was failing. There were calls for Volpe to be sent to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in favor of Peraza, the preseason favorite to be the starting shortstop. They were getting no offense out of the catcher position, which had been a problem since Gary Sánchez stopped being an effective hitter in 2021. Starting pitcher Nestor Cortes wasn’t close to repeating his breakout campaign from the year before.

But troubling signs had started to appear at least a season earlier.

In 2022, the Yankees had finished the season tops in the AL in runs scored, but they had done most of their damage early. From Aug. 1 through the rest of the regular season, they went 29-29. They didn’t have a capable regular left fielder. Donaldson, Stanton, Isiah Kiner-Falefa and LeMahieu were major disappointments. They were an offense too reliant on Judge in a historic season in which he hit 62 home runs, an AL single-season record.

In the AL Division Series, they barely scraped past the Cleveland Guardians. And in the Championship Series, they were crushed by the Houston Astros in a four-game sweep, outscored 18-9.

In the offseason, they first re-signed Rizzo, then Judge. Rodón’s pact came shortly after, and once the left-hander had been secured, Steinbrenner, too, seemed to think the roster still needed more.

“All I can tell you is that we’re not done yet​​,” the billionaire told reporters on Dec. 21.

Yet the Yankees’ only signing post-Rodón was Cordero, a journeyman outfielder with little big-league success. A Yankees instructor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to speak freely, said he was surprised the team did not make any additions to the offense last winter and questioned the team’s belief in both Donaldson and Hicks after their failures the previous season.

All those issues remained in 2023 — and they all bit the Yankees. The 37-year-old Donaldson, who Boone repeatedly said he thought would bounce back, played just 33 games and hit only .142. The Yankees dropped him and the underperforming Bader at the Aug. 31 waiver deadline. Stanton missed six weeks and hit just .189. “Terrible,” was how he described his season. LeMahieu hit .220 in 76 games in the first half. Kiner-Falefa had transitioned into a utility role, where his defense was fine but his bat was below league-average (78 OPS+).

Still, in mid-May, the Yankees believed that if they could just get healthy, they might change their fortunes, even as they fell to fourth in the division.


After a late-May collision, it took months for Anthony Rizzo to be diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome. (Adam Hunger / Getty Images)

Crushing collisions

In the span of one week in late May, the Yankees’ season went into a full nosedive.

On May 28, Rizzo was among the best-hitting first basemen in baseball, with 11 homers and a .880 OPS in 53 games. Then, in a home game against the San Diego Padres, catcher Kyle Higashioka threw a back-pick to Rizzo. As he tagged out Fernando Tatis Jr., Tatis smashed into his head and right shoulder with his right thigh. Rizzo went stumbling and fell to the ground. He sat out the next three games.

Then on June 3 —  with the Yankees playing the Dodgers in Los Angeles —  J.D. Martinez cracked a hard line drive to the right-field wall. Judge crashed through a gate to the visiting bullpen, making the spectacular, game-saving catch, but he hit his right toe on the concrete foundation of the wall. Judge tore a ligament in his toe and missed the next 42 games.

In his absence, the Yankees would go just 19-23. A big reason was that Rizzo wasn’t right. He suffered from occasional fogginess and he was perplexed as to why he wasn’t even close on pitches he’d usually crush, hitting just .172 over his final 46 games before going on the IL for good on Aug. 3.

It turned out that Rizzo had been suffering from post-concussion syndrome. He had passed the initial concussion protocol test the day of his crash with Tatis and never reported symptoms until two months later, when he experienced fogginess during a series in Baltimore the final weekend of July. Rizzo told The Athletic in early August that he believed the Yankees handled his care properly, although external questions still remain on why he continued playing for two months while his play deteriorated.

Judge looked back at his own injury and Rizzo’s as the lowest moments of a season gone awry.

“The position we were in at the time, battling for the division,” Judge said. “Tampa was kind of running away with it. But we knew it was a long season, and when something like that happens — if you get me, (Stanton), (Donaldson) was out for a while. Rodón, one of your big free agent signings, is down for a long time. Then Anthony (Rizzo) gets hit with what he got hit with.”

Confronting a ‘disaster’

Cashman, in a light blue polo shirt and glasses, sat at the table and leaned on his forearms. In front of him were more than a dozen reporters, photographers, TV cameras and Yankees staffers. He was inside the press conference room at Yankee Stadium. It was only Aug. 23, but there he was, essentially reading the last rites to a season he called a “disaster.” The Yankees’ hopes at that point were essentially dead.

“I don’t think there’s anybody on this planet that felt the New York Yankees as constructed, entering spring training or leaving spring training, (weren’t) a playoff-contending team,” he said.

Then who would be judged for it? The first ax fell on hitting coach Lawson, who was dumped the day before the All-Star break. They replaced Lawson with ex-big-leaguer Sean Casey, whose impact on the overall offensive statistics has been minimal at best, despite Boone’s insistence that Casey has made better personal connections with hitters. Casey, whose contract runs through the regular season, hasn’t decided if he wants to return in the role in 2024.

Is Boone’s job safe? Since his first season in 2018, his .586 winning percentage (503-355) is the second-best in the majors among active managers. But Yankees skippers aren’t remembered for their regular-season accomplishments. Boone has twice reached the ALCS, but unlike the two managers before him (Joe Girardi and Joe Torre), he hasn’t won a World Series.

GettyImages 1678838012


Boone, here arguing with the home plate umpire, has been ejected seven times this season. (Andrew Mordzynski / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

“That’s ultimately not my decision,” Boone said.

Yankees fans seem split on their opinion of Boone. They appreciate his fiery ejections and his place in Yankees lore for hitting the walk-off homer in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS. But they deride his unfailing positivity and the sometimes extreme lengths he goes to defend his players. Those players, however, love him. Judge and LeMahieu each have defended Boone in interviews this season. He has one year remaining on his contract, and though he’s drawn heat from fans, few would place the blame of the Yankees’ terrible season entirely on his shoulders. If the Yankees fired the 50-year-old with few other front-facing changes, Boone could be considered a scapegoat, and the ire of fans might be turned more directly toward Cashman.

The Yankees’ GM is in the first year of a four-year contract extension, and considering his track record of 21 playoff appearances in 25 seasons and his close relationship with Steinbrenner, the perception around the team is that Cashman is safe for now. Will the Yankees look to move on from Eric Cressey, their director of player health and performance, after yet another season marred by injuries? Will the decision-making in their baseball operations shift away from assistant GM and analytics guru Mike Fishman, and perhaps toward Cashman assistants Omar Minaya and Brian Sabean, who have decades of combined experience in player scouting and designing front offices?

“I think we’re all going to be evaluated,” Cashman said, “and I’m including myself.”

“You can’t just sit here and say that what we did this year is good enough to go into next year, right?” said Rizzo.

Then what changes would have to be made to the roster in the winter to avoid yet another losing season in 2024?

They need to address both sides of the ball.  Through Monday, the offense was 24th in runs scored, 24th in runs per game and second-to-last in batting average. And despite Cole’s brilliance (14-4, 2.75 ERA), the starting pitching staff is 19th in fWAR and has a 4.41 ERA.

They seem to have little choice but to bring back the core of their batting order. Aside from Judge, still one of the game’s most feared hitters, Rizzo still has a year left on his deal, and it’s unclear whether his concussion issues will be behind him by next Opening Day. LeMahieu (free agent in 2026) and Stanton (free agent in 2028) each have full no-trade clauses. They don’t have obvious internal options in left field, center field, third base or catcher. Star prospect Jasson Domínguez suffered a UCL tear just eight games into his MLB career and might not return until June or later. They’re still paying Hicks $20 million over the next two seasons, though approximately $60 million will come off the books with the free agent departures of Donaldson, Kiner-Falefa, Montas, Severino, Wandy Peralta and Bader.

There’s no guarantee that Cortes, who made just 12 starts due to two shoulder injuries, will be healthy next season. Rodón will have to prove he, too, can stay healthy. Domingo Germán seems like a non-tender candidate.

While reflecting on the Yankees’ lack of depth, a team official offered a succinct analysis.

“We just need to get better at finding those kinds of players,” he said, referencing how, in 2022, the team struck gold when it signed Matt Carpenter early in the regular season and he hit .305 in 47 games.

Considering Cashman headed to Japan earlier this month to watch Orix Buffaloes ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who’s expected to be posted this offseason, it seems clear that Steinbrenner is OK with Cashman being the one who tries to untangle the mess on his hands. But what about the people he’s hired? Steinbrenner mentioned the Yankees’ analytics department when he spoke about an outside company examining how baseball operations has been run. That suggests he could be disappointed in the Yankees’ recent questionable roster construction. For example, acquiring Joey Gallo from the Rangers in 2021 ended up being a major mistake. The 2017 trade for Giancarlo Stanton could be another example: he’s fallen off the last two seasons (.201, .728 OPS) and, at age 33, may be a $25 million-a-year weight until his contract expires in 2027. The trades for Donaldson and Montas were failures, too.

The team could also examine their medical practices. Despite overhauling their strength and conditioning department in 2020, installing Eric Cressey as its leader, the Yankees have finished in the top 10 in injured list stints every year since 2017, according to Spotrac.

Cashman can’t go into next season repeating the problems the Yankees had in 2023, which had roots in 2022 and earlier. He has admitted that the roster he shaped wasn’t good enough to withstand the Yankees’ onslaught of injuries.

“We learned that when that storm hit us,” he said, “we didn’t have enough to sustain or maintain, and it (sank) us. But certainly a pretty big storm hit our way.”

That was Judge’s main takeaway, reflecting on the worst season of baseball Yankees fans have seen in more than three decades.

“That stuff, as a player, it adds up.”

(Top image: John Bradford / The Athletic; Photos: Rob Tringali / Getty Images; Tom Pennington / Getty Images; Elsa / Getty Images)

A Government Shutdown Could Disrupt Air Travel, Officials Warn

By
Reporters News Wire
-
0

The Biden administration offered new warnings on Wednesday that a government shutdown could disrupt the nation’s air travel system, part of an effort to lay blame at the feet of House Republicans ahead of a possible funding lapse this weekend.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said that a shutdown would jeopardize the work the administration has done to address a shortage in air traffic controllers, modernize aviation technology and reduce flight delays and cancellations that have plagued travelers.

“There is no good time for a government shutdown, but this is a particularly bad time for a government shutdown, especially when it comes to transportation,” Mr. Buttigieg said at a news conference at the Transportation Department’s headquarters. “The consequences would be disruptive and dangerous.”

Government funding will expire at midnight on Saturday if Congress does not agree on a stopgap spending measure by then. House Republicans have been unable to resolve a standoff with far-right lawmakers in their ranks, and Mr. Buttigieg assailed those lawmakers for bringing the government within days of a shutdown.

If funding lapses, federal workers will be furloughed or forced to work without pay. Air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration officers would continue to work, but they would not be paid until the shutdown ends.

Hours before Mr. Buttigieg spoke, the White House issued a news release with a state-by-state breakdown of the roughly 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 T.S.A. officers who would have to work without pay. The news release warned that an “extreme Republican shutdown,” as the White House has taken to describing it, risked causing delays for travelers.

A shutdown could also disrupt the government’s efforts to address an existing shortage of air traffic controllers, which has already resulted in cutbacks to flight schedules at airports in the New York City area. The coronavirus pandemic forced a pause in training for new controllers at the Federal Aviation Administration’s academy in Oklahoma City, drying up the pipeline of new workers, and a shutdown would put a halt to training once again.

Separate from the potential funding lapse, the F.A.A. could face further disruption because Congress also faces a deadline on Saturday to pass legislation reauthorizing the agency, and lawmakers could miss that deadline, too.

Air traffic controllers and T.S.A. agents were forced to work without pay during the 35-day partial government shutdown in late 2018 and early 2019, and the effects on the nation’s air travel system drew significant attention as the weeks passed.

The T.S.A. saw an increase in unscheduled absences, resulting in longer wait times at security checkpoints at some airports. And on what ended up being the last day of the shutdown, staffing shortages at two air traffic control facilities caused significant flight delays in the Northeast. President Donald J. Trump agreed to reopen the government later that day.

Rich Santa, the president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, a union, said on Wednesday that controllers would continue coming to work during a shutdown. He said controllers were committed to doing everything they could to keep the nation’s airspace safe and limit disruptions for travelers.

Still, he said that stressors brought on by a shutdown, such as working without pay, could take a toll. “Being delayed out of your airport is a real possibility,” he said.

Opinion | ‘This Is Going to Be the Most Important Election Since 1860’

By
Reporters News Wire
-
0

And that, Begala continued, does not “even take into account a potential centrist candidacy under the No Labels banner. Biden won moderates by a 30-point margin (64 to 34), and 38 percent of all voters described themselves as moderate in 2020. If No Labels were to field a viable, centrist candidate, that, too, would doom Biden.”

Norman Ornstein, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, agreed, arguing that third-party candidates are a “huge issue”:

The role of No Labels and, secondarily, of Cornel West: They could be genuine spoilers here. And that is their goal. Harlan Crow and other right-wing billionaires did not give big bucks to No Labels to create more moderate politics and outcomes.

Among those I contacted for this article, there was near unanimous agreement that abortion will continue to be a major issue, as it was in 2022, when abortion rights voters turned out in large numbers, lifting Democrats in key races.

“It is the single most significant factor helping Democrats,” Ornstein declared, adding, “The fact that red states move more and more to extremes — including banning abortions for rape and incest, watching women bleed with untreated miscarriages, seeing doctors flee, criminalizing going to another state — will fire up suburban and young voters.”

Justin Gest, a professor of policy and government at George Mason University, pointed out in an email that

Democrats nationwide are taking a page out of the playbook of former President George W. Bush’s longtime adviser, Karl Rove. In those years, Republicans used state ballot measures and referendums on divisive culture war issues that split their way to mobilize conservative voters. In those days, the subject matter was often gay rights.

Citing a June Ipsos poll that found “public opinion around the Dobbs decision and abortion remains mostly unchanged compared to six months ago,” Gest argued “that abortion remains salient more than a year after the revocation of abortion rights by the U.S. Supreme Court, but Democrats in many states will also use ballot measures to ensure it is top of mind.” Gest noted that “supermajorities of the country favor preserving access to abortion to some extent.”

Stein, however, wrote by email that while a majority of voters have remained in favor of abortion rights, they appear to be placing less importance on the issue than was the case immediately after the Dobbs decision.

Women’s college basketball top 25: LSU, UConn, UCLA lead 2023-24 rankings

By
Reporters News Wire
-
0

The 2022-23 women’s college basketball season ended on a high note as nearly 10 million viewers tuned in to watch LSU and Iowa — two teams on seemingly fate-driven runs — collide in the national championship. The Tigers took home their first title under Kim Mulkey and then turned the offseason into more wins by signing the top two players out of the transfer portal and welcomed the No. 1 high school recruiting class to Baton Rouge.

But now, it’s a new season. Every team is 0-0. And though the Tigers remain the top team in our preseason projections, several other programs — some perennial powers, some new faces and some programs with chips on their shoulders — look like they could be holding the trophy in Cleveland in April.

As squads rebuilt, reloaded and re-tooled this offseason, The Athletic took notice (and took lots of notes). With teams across the country kicking off practices this week, it’s the perfect time to debut our preseason top 25.

Loading

Try changing or resetting your filters to see more.

LSU has an abundance of offensive talent, starting with the 2023 Final Four Most Outstanding Player Angel Reese. Nobody works harder in the paint than Reese, who relentlessly attacks the offensive glass and has a superior second jump that keeps her in every play. The Tigers’ offensive rebound percentage of 45.3 last season was due in large part to Reese rebounding one-fifth of the Tigers’ misses. Reese is also a great rebounder on the other end of the floor and showed the ability to grab-and-go on occasion, giving LSU another way to score in transition.

In addition to Reese, Flau’jae Johnson is guaranteed to get into the paint on drives. Aneesah Morrow scored efficiently at the rim and in the midrange to the tune of 25.7 points per game last year. Hailey Van Lith is another big-game player who averaged 21.1 points during last season’s conference and NCAA tournaments and can consistently get her shot in isolation. Add in super freshman Mikaylah Williams and Kateri Poole’s 38 percent shooting from 3-point range, and there are plenty of sources of scoring on this roster.

The graduations of two veterans could create some holes. Ladazhia Williams was LSU’s best rim protector, and the Tigers’ only true center now is freshman Aalyah Del Rosario, who will need some time to adjust to the speed of the college game. LSU also relied heavily on Alexis Morris to organize the offense, and none of their perimeter stars are true point guards. One will have to shift her game to run the show – likely Van Lith, since that’s the role she’ll have to play at the next level – but it isn’t certain they’ll adapt as well as Morris.

Nevertheless, there’s too much talent on this roster to count out the Tigers, even if they take time to grow into themselves like last season. They should be favorites to once again cut down the nets.

  • +Star power
  • +Championship experience
  • +Paint scoring
  • +Offensive rebounding
  • +Depth
  • –Rim protection
  • –Point guard play

loading

Is this the season when all of the injuries and adversity that hit Storrs over the past two years finally makes sense? As if it was building to something? Think of it this way: The silver lining of injuries to stars — like Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd — is that it forces other players to step up, and step up the Huskies did. Nika Mühl has made a name for herself in a vaunted history of UConn point guards, Aaliyah Edwards expanded her role and has become a top player heading into her senior season, Caroline Ducharme played like a former top-10 recruit who wasn’t just complementary to other top-10 recruits. And if all of those players can come together for the Huskies this season, the end of UConn’s historic Final Four streak could feel like a distant memory if this team is hanging a banner in Gampel Pavilion.

But then comes in the cloud that has hung over UConn the past two years: Can the Huskies stay healthy? Because every time this group seemed as if it were finding momentum, there was an injury. Can that be avoided this season? And specifically, can it be avoided when it comes to Bueckers and Fudd. Even without those two, this is one of the most talented rosters in the country. But it needs those two to be healthy (or heck, even one of them) if the Huskies are going to make a run to the national title.

Edwards, the reigning Big East’s Most Improved Player, will anchor the paint alongside Griffin, but Geno Auriemma will need to fill out depth behind them. Ayanna Patterson and Amari DeBerry got limited minutes last season, and freshman Qadence Samuels got some run with the starting group in Europe when Ducharme was out with injury, but the Huskies will want to be able to run with a deeper rotation in the paint.

  • +Azzi Fudd and Paige Bueckers together
  • +Backcourt play
  • +Talent
  • –Remaining healthy
  • –Experienced post depth

Aubrey Griffin

Guard / Forward

loading

UCLA returns eight players from a rotation that went nine deep last season, headlined by fifth-year guard Charisma Osborne and sophomore Kiki Rice. Between Osborne and Rice, the Bruins have an abundance of shot creation and one of the stouter defensive backcourts in the country. Both guards need to expand their shooting range for UCLA to hit a higher offensive ceiling — Osborne was effective in the midrange and corners but stands to improve above the break, and Rice was paint-bound other than the left elbow.

The paint will be more occupied this season with the addition of 6-7 Lauren Betts. The Bruins needed a fulcrum in the paint, as they played mostly without a traditional center, and she should immediately be the team’s most efficient scorer. That will allow Emily Bessoir and Lina Sontag to defend down a position and play on the perimeter on offense. Both players are gifted passers as well, opening up the possibility for high-lows with Betts.

UCLA will be able to shape-shift depending on the matchup given their surfeit of depth. Londynn Jones provides an active point-of-attack defender off the bench who can also hit 3s. Fellow sophomore Gabriela Jaquez has some old-school post moves to bully smaller wings, while veteran Camryn Brown is another potential defensive stopper on bigger guards. But the Bruins need their stars to be among the nation’s best.

  • +Playmaking
  • +Depth
  • +Offensive rebounding
  • +Continuity
  • –Shooting
  • –Defending without fouling

loading

It feels fair to say that we’ll never see another class quite like The Freshies (especially with the advent of the transfer portal). Led by Aliyah Boston, South Carolina’s 2019 recruiting class went 129-9 (including 60-1 at home) during their four years. Given the amount of talent and experience with that group, there was obviously a bit of a vacuum when it came to experience for players outside of The Freshies. So, entering 2023-24, Dawn Staley will be going through a transition and rebuild, though she certainly has the kind of roster talent needed for a deep run.

Kamilla Cardoso is one of the country’s most exciting players. At 6-7 (and with a wingspan that can feel like 7-6 to opposing players), Cardoso will anchor both ends of the floor. If Staley can bring out a bit more of an edge in her, there won’t be a team in the country that can contend on every play in the paint against the Gamecocks. Cardoso could simply be that good and that dominant if she takes her game to the next level.

The big remaining question will be the same one that was a downfall for South Carolina last season: lack of consistent outside shooters. There seem to be options, though. Bree Hall was a 36 percent shooter in limited minutes last season, and Te-Hina Paopao should help out in that area — the Oregon transfer shot a career-best 42 percent from long range last season — as will the freshman star MiLaysia Fulwiley, who is dangerous from deep.

  • +Defense
  • +Paint play
  • +Rebounding
  • +Ballhandling
  • –Experience
  • –Outside shooting

loading

The Utes came into last season flying under the radar. They were unranked to start the season and didn’t crack the top 15 until Week 5, when they were 7-0. Under coach Lynne Roberts, Utah has built methodically. But with a regular-season Pac-12 title, a run to the Sweet 16 last year, and the return of its starting five this season, there’s no doubt: Utah has arrived. So, what do they do now that they’re here? (And, especially now that everyone knows it.) Handling that pressure will be one of the biggest storylines to watch with this motivated group that played eventual champs LSU the best of any tournament opponent.

On the floor, Gianna Kneepkens, Kennady McQueen and Maty Wilke — the Wisconsin transfer — will stretch the floor with their 3-point shooting while Alissa Pili takes advantage of any space defenders give her. She and Jenna Johnson should be able to contend in the paint with any Pac-12 team, but the big remaining question is what happens when Roberts needs to turn to her bench for some post depth and production. Dasia Young and Samantha Crispe provide college experience, but a major potential difference-maker is Néné Sow, the 6-8 JUCO transfer from Belgium. She redshirted last year, so she has had a chance to get acclimated in the system, and if she’s ready to go, her length and size would be a real change up for a post group that could be the difference between a Final Four run or another second-weekend tournament exit.

  • +Continuity
  • +3-point shooting
  • +Go-to scorers
  • –Post depth
  • –Being targeted

loading

Last season’s assignment for opponents will be the same this year: Stop (or, at least, slow) Caitlin Clark. This season, there are a few wrinkles. Though Clark is a thrilling scorer and playmaker, part of her efficiency last season was that defenses couldn’t sell out on her entirely. They still had to contend with Monika Czinano in the paint and the established chemistry those two had using one another. Now, Czinano is gone, and Addison O’Grady and Hannah Stuelke — who can both be effective and efficient in their own ways — are not going to be stepping into Czinano’s shoes entirely on their own.

If Gabbie Marshall or Kate Martin become similar complementary scorers to Clark that Czinano was a season ago, that will take some pressure off the paint and off Clark, helping the Hawkeyes find ways to win. But make no bones about it: Iowa will go as Clark goes. If she’s dropping 40-point triple-doubles, watch out. If she’s not, there better be at least two others going for 15-plus.

Ultimately, more questions linger for Iowa than most teams. But the Hawkeyes have a player no other team has, and the kind of player who can more than make up for a plethora of questions.

  • +Caitlin Clark’s scoring
  • +Perimeter shooting
  • –Paint play
  • –Scorers outside Clark
  • –Depth

Addison O’Grady

Forward / Center

loading

How does the Ohio State defense that led power conferences in steals per game last season (11.3) come into this season even more terrifying? Just go ahead and add the ACC defensive player of the year to your backcourt, why don’t ya? Celeste Taylor’s pickup was one of the best overall fits for any player coming out of the portal. Coach Kevin McGuff will have the ability to rotate through Taylor, Jacy Sheldon, Taylor Thierry and Rikki Harris — all of whom are absolute ball hawks — as the Buckeyes ramp up their full-court defensive pressure and drive opponents into mistakes and turnovers.

With Taylor Mikesell’s graduation, the Buckeyes’ offensive identity needs to evolve. Mikesell accounted for almost a quarter of Ohio State’s shot attempts over the past two seasons, including more than one-third of its 3-point attempts. In her absence, Cotie McMahon — the reigning Big Ten freshman of the year — should become an even larger offensive centerpiece, especially as the Buckeyes don’t return any long-range shooters who are nearly as consistent as Mikesell.

Though the Buckeyes lack a tall, traditional big who would be able to match up one-on-one with some of the posts on the other top-10 teams, it ultimately might not be as big of an issue for OSU given the potential of its full-court pressure and pestering perimeter defense.

  • +Backcourt play
  • +Full-court press
  • +Perimeter defense
  • +Guard depth
  • –3-point shooting
  • –One-on-one post depth

Taylor Thierry

Guard / Forward

Rebeka Mikulášiková

Forward

loading

The return of Elizabeth Kitley and Cayla King for another season, alongside Georgia Amoore, guaranteed this group would be a preseason top-10 team and the ACC favorites. That trio is well established in Kenny Brooks’ system, and they’ll be able to help this group weather early season bumps that come along with a slew of transfers and young players entering the rotation.

Last season, Virginia Tech relied on its starters more than almost any other team in the country. The five starters played 81 percent of the Hokies’ minutes and accounted for 88 percent of their scoring. And though Amoore, King and Kitley are talented and have an established chemistry, they won’t be able to carry the full load through the full season. But by bringing in so many transfers, it seems to indicate that Brooks might go a bit deeper into his bench if the Hokies can get production and efficiency out of that group. And that’s a fair wager considering Virginia Tech’s recent success with transfers — look no further than Taylor Soule, who came in as a grad transfer and was a bedrock for a team that went to the program’s first Final Four.

  • +Rebounding
  • +Outside shooting
  • +Half-court offense
  • –Bench production
  • –Rotation

Matilda Ekh

Guard / Forward

Olivia Summiel

Guard / Forward

loading

Indiana played eight games in the middle of the season with this starting five when Grace Berger was hurt, and the Hoosiers finished 7-1 against quality opponents, including tournament teams North Carolina and Illinois. This group knows how to play together and has a dominant offensive unit, even if there is nothing flashy about it. Mackenzie Holmes is one of the best screeners and pick-and-roll finishers in college basketball, and she’s afforded the space to work thanks to shooting threats surrounding her. Sara Scalia, Sydney Parrish and Yarden Garzon all shot at least 38.7 percent from 3-point range last season, and Chloe Moore-McNeil wasn’t too far behind at 36.2 percent.

Defensively, Indiana is solid, if predictable. The Hoosiers execute man coverages well and don’t send extra help on the pick-and-roll, trusting their guards to maneuver through screens and Holmes to navigate the space between the ballhandler and the roller. A healthy Holmes had the mobility to contend with just about everyone the Hoosiers faced last season other than Caitlin Clark.

The formula works, but Indiana will have to introduce some wrinkles to adapt to specific opponents. The Hoosiers don’t have a great answer for teams with deep shooting threats or athletic guards who can muscle their way to the basket. Indiana needs to find some diversity in its blueprint during the regular season to avoid being matchup-dependent in March.

  • +Offensive flow
  • +Pick-and-roll scoring
  • +Ball control
  • –Depth
  • –Athleticism
  • –Paint defense

loading

Rori Harmon will be the focal point on both ends of the floor — the defensive stalwart and first point of attack in full-court pressure, and the offensive catalyst that makes Texas run. As a junior and three-year starter, she’s an obvious name in the small circle of the most elite point guards in the country, and Vic Shaefer should rest easy that Harmon is his coach on the floor.

While every Shaefer team is known for its defense (and this year’s iteration will be no different), the reigning Big 12 champs were also one of the country’s most balanced offensive teams last season. But without a single focal point, Texas struggled to close out tight games when it needed a scorer to step up. Case in point: The Longhorns didn’t lose a single regular-season game by more than 10 points last season. The other side of that coin? In games decided by 10 or fewer points, Texas went 4-9.

One puzzle piece that could help there: Aaliyah Moore, a player who seemed like she would have grown into that last year. But the junior suffered a season-ending ACL tear nine games into the 2022-23 season. Her status hasn’t been made public yet but her return would be key. If she’s not ready right away, Texas won’t need to fret — Shaylee Gonzales, Taylor Jones, DeYona Gaston and Harmon can carry the load while working freshman Madison Booker into the mix.

  • +Defensive pressure
  • +Transition offense
  • +Point guard play
  • –Free-throw shooting
  • –Avoiding fouling
  • –Closing out games

loading

Notre Dame had an outside chance at national title contention before two knee injuries derailed last season, and the injury to Olivia Miles is the biggest cloud hovering over this year.

Even without Miles available at the start, this is one of the best guard groups in the country. Sonia Citron is an elite shooting guard who made 51 percent of her 2-pointers and 40 percent of her 3-pointers as a sophomore while routinely guarding opponents’ best players. The Irish should be able to leverage her off the ball even more as KK Bransford and Cassandre
Prosper grow as ballhandlers and with the addition of super freshman Hannah Hidalgo. Hidalgo’s rampage through the U19 World Cup over the summer showcased her advanced playmaking on both ends of the court — a team that struggled to create turnovers last season now has a ball hawk at the point of attack.

The path to victory will be pushing the pace and letting the guards get downhill early and often because the Irish are a little small, and beyond Citron, a little light on shooting. Transfer Anna DeWolfe made 35 percent of her 3-pointers at Fordham, and Maddy Westbeld was at 34.4 percent, but neither is the long-range shooter that defenses have to stay glued to. The Irish will be at their best leaning into their speed by being disruptive on defense and playing in transition offense as much as possible. When Miles returns, she’ll fit in seamlessly to that style.

  • +Playmaking
  • +Pace
  • +Paint scoring
  • –Olivia Miles’ knee
  • –Jump shooting
  • –Post depth

loading

The potential scoring trifecta that Jewel Spear, Rickea Jackson and Tamari Key could be this season is really something, giving the Lady Vols a “pick your poison” type offense for opponents to try to stop. The addition of Wells — the Belmont transfer who dropped 22 on Tennessee during the 2022 NCAA Tournament — gives the Lady Vols a fourth double-digit scorer in the form of a point guard who can be both a pass-first player and a shot hunter (she shot 46 percent from beyond the arc last season).

Even with all that offensive potential, this is Tennessee after all, so defense will be prioritized. And even without Key for the full season, the Lady Vols’ interior defense performed well, holding opponents to 47 percent shooting at the rim, per Pivot Analysis. Having Key (6-6), Jillian Hollingshead (6-5) and Jackson (6-2) gives them defensive length, versatility and shot adjusting potential in the paint that could take this defense into pretty terrifying territory. Tennessee lost its leading rebounder in Jordan Horston, but this trio should be able to clean up the glass.

Tennessee hasn’t won the regular-season conference title in nearly a decade, but there are some promising indicators that this season in Knoxville could be special (which is something we’ve said before to no avail). But with the returners as well as the personnel turnover on other SEC teams, could this be the year that Kellie Harper gets Tennessee over the hump and brings her first banner to Rocky Top?

  • +Rebounding
  • +Scoring potential
  • +Half-court defense
  • +Late shot-clock defense
  • –Bench production
  • –Transition defense

Jillian Hollingshead

Forward

Tess Darby

Guard / Forward

Sara Puckett

Guard / Forward

loading

Coach Courtney Banghart’s first recruiting class has reached its senior season, and this should be the best North Carolina team yet of her tenure.
The Tar Heels needed to add some offensive firepower this offseason, and they did so in two distinct and important ways. Lexi Donarski helps fill the role of Eva Hodgson as a designated spacer, but the former Big 12 defensive player of the year also has some teeth at the other end as a perimeter stopper. Maria Gakdeng is an offensive hub in the post as a rim protector and by providing efficient scoring, which North Carolina sorely missed last year.

UNC resorted to one-on-one basketball too often last season — its assist percentage was in the 19th percentile of Division I, per CBB analytics. Deja Kelly turning into more of a distributor will help, but having more capable ballhandlers on the floor should improve the overall flow on offense. Paulina Paris at least took care of the ball as a freshman; now she has to figure out how to move it. Transfer Indya Nivar didn’t get much time on the ball at Stanford but should get a chance to show off what made the Apex, N.C., product one of the nation’s top guard recruits.

North Carolina has depth in the frontcourt, too, with returning starters Alyssa Ustby and Anya Poole complemented by Gakdeng and incoming freshman Cierra Toomey, who was No. 4 in ESPN’s rankings of the class of 2023. Rotating in more bodies is a necessity considering how physically the Tar Heels play.

  • +Rim pressure
  • +Transition defense
  • –Outside shooting
  • –Rebounding
  • –Ball movement

Alyssa Ustby

Guard / Forward

Maria Gakdeng

Forward / Center

loading

A year ago, no one was talking about Ole Miss. Heck, heading into the NCAA Tournament last season, no one was talking about Ole Miss. The Rebels didn’t appear in a single AP Top 25 last season. Even though they played LSU and South Carolina well in mid-February, few outside of Oxford took notice. Then they held perennial mid-major power Gonzaga to 48 points in the first round and knocked off No. 1 seed Stanford in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. People across the country took notice of Yolett McPhee-McCuin’s vaunted defensive team.

Now, as a top-15 team with a lot of hype coming into this season — and in the SEC that feels a bit more up-for-grabs this year — how do the Rebels respond … especially with so many new faces on this roster?

Ole Miss added transfers Kennedy Todd-Williams (North Carolina), KK Deans (Florida) and Kharyssa Richardson (Auburn). As she predicted, McPhee-McCuin did “damage in the portal,” complementing an already-established Davis-Collins-Scott starting core. So, the talent is there and the fits — on defense, especially — seem obvious.

Offensively, considering the Rebels lost five games last season by single digits, this side of the ball could see some growth. One big area: the 3-point line. Though Ole Miss’ offensive system isn’t predicated on a ton of long-range shots, the Rebels shot worse than 30 percent from deep last season (and their highest-volume 3-point shooter only 28 percent). That’s not a great recipe for success even if the 3 ball isn’t the highest priority. But McPhee-McCuin might’ve started to answer part of this question with two transfers — Deans shot 38 percent while Todd-Williams hit 32 percent on 3s last season.

  • +Defensive execution
  • +Paint protection
  • +Rebounding
  • +Transition defense
  • –3-point shooting
  • –Handling increased expectations

Kennedy Todd-Williams

Guard

Kharyssa Richardson

Forward

loading

No matter how much continuity Maryland has, Brenda Freese manages to consistently construct one of the country’s best offenses. The Terrapins play fast and have pristine spacing. Abby Meyers may be gone, but Maryland still has three players who shot at least 39 percent from 3-point range last season (Lavender Briggs, Brinae Alexander and Bri McDaniel), plus Jakia Brown-Turner, who made nearly 42 percent of her 3s in four seasons at NC State.

The problem for the Terrapins is lack of playmaking. Shyanne Sellers returns as the point guard, but she’ll have to score more with the graduations of Meyers and Diamond Miller, and there isn’t as much ballhandling in the starting lineup. Perhaps Maryland won’t have to worry about half-court execution if it can get out in transition and rain 3-pointers, but defenses that can slow the pace may find success against the Terrapins.

Maryland’s depth could be an issue. Three of last season’s freshmen transferred, leaving five returnees and two incoming transfers. The good news is that the Terrapins brought in the No. 7 freshman class in the country, led by McDonald’s All-American wing Riley Nelson. Hawa Doumbouya also adds some needed size in the middle – at 6-7, she’s the only player on the roster taller than 6-2. They could be called upon to contribute right away.

  • +Coaching
  • +Offensive spacing
  • +Transition
  • –Frontcourt rotation
  • –Isolation scoring
  • –Depth

Brinae Alexander

Guard / Forward

Faith Masonius

Guard / Forward

loading

The Seminoles return their three top scorers while adding multiple players who should bolster their offensive potential. Alexis Tucker, the UCSB transfer, averaged 14 points a game last season while Sakyia White averaged 18. Throw into the mix Carla Viegas, the Spanish sharpshooter who shot 45 percent from beyond the arc at the FIBA U18 European Championship. She and Amaya Bonner will bring a one-two scoring punch off the bench.

Those additional scorers should make life slightly less difficult for Ta’Niya Latson, the reigning ACC freshman of the year who was an absolute matchup nightmare last season. Though FSU should have scoring threats across the board, make no bones about it, Latson will be the No. 1 option. Despite missing the postseason with an injury, she has been 100 percent since the spring and will come into this season with a similar offensive propensity, but with a focus on becoming a more disciplined defender.

Post depth and paint presence will be the real question marks for the Seminoles, who have only three players 6-2 or taller. Makayla Timpson was one of 11 power conference players to average more than two blocks per game last season (she averaged 2.6), and the Seminoles’ overall rim protection was quite good (per Pivot Analysis, FSU’s opponents shot just 44 percent at the rim). But developing depth in the paint will be key to fight Virginia Tech and Notre Dame for control of the ACC.

  • +Transition offense
  • +Pace
  • +Latson’s injury recovery

loading

Fresh off its first Sweet 16 appearance in 21 years, Colorado returns six of its top seven players in total minutes and is in prime position to contend for a Pac-12 title in the conference’s swan song.

The Buffaloes are once again led by Quay Miller and Jaylyn Sherrod. Miller’s versatility as a forward shines, especially in her ability to operate in the midrange and beyond the arc as a scorer and passer. Sherrod’s game is a little more paint-bound than ideal for a 5-7 guard, but her ability to turn the corner, get to the basket and spray out to the 3-point line is useful when she’s surrounded by shooters. Miller has upped her 3-point percentage every year at Colorado, getting to 33 percent in 2022-23, and she’s joined by some veritable scorers in Frida Formann, Kindyll Wetta and incoming players Maddie Nolan and Kennedy Sanders.

With a frontcourt of Miller and Aaronette Vonleh each standing at 6-3, the Buffaloes can get outmatched inside. They shot just above league-average in the paint and weren’t very good at getting second-chance opportunities or blocking shots last season. The defense holds up due to its speed and activity, especially on the perimeter. However, bigger opposing posts like Rayah Marshall and Cameron Brink, along with guards who put pressure on the rim, could present a problem.

  • +Continuity
  • +Forcing turnovers
  • +Transition offense
  • –Fouling on defense
  • –Drawing fouls
  • –Interior size

loading

Outside of Cameron Brink, Hannah Jump and Haley Jones, rotations for the Cardinal last season seemed to vary wildly. That might not be as much of an issue this season given the shorter roster for Tara VanDerveer. And though that lack of depth could be a downfall (especially if particular players get into foul trouble — cough, Cam Brink, cough), fewer players might also end up being a good thing as Stanford potentially settles on — by necessity — a core group more quickly.

With that smaller rotation, every player will need to expand her game. While Brink will anchor both ends of the floor, she’ll need to make sure she plays within herself and the system so her minutes aren’t limited by fouls. Stanford will be significantly worse off anytime Brink needs to be on the bench. If Talana Lepolo makes a jump similar to Kiana Williams from her freshman to sophomore seasons, the Cardinal could be in good hands as she becomes more consistent and gets more involved as a scorer. Jump has been an excellent 3-point shooter, but if she can at least threaten more as a three-level scorer and distributor, Stanford will be much better off.

Kiki Iriafen could raise the ceiling. Her potential on offense and defense could help separate this group. Her free-throw shooting needs to improve, especially as she gets more involved in the paint on offense, but the possibilities for Iriafen and Brink playing in tandem and off one another could give the Cardinal a dynamic unit to build around.

  • +Rebounding
  • +3-point shooting
  • –Depth
  • –Multiple distributors

loading

Jeff Walz is well aware of the new reality of college basketball. As he said during the NCAA Tournament: There’s Selection Sunday, then Portal Monday. And even though the Cardinals lost one of the country’s best players (Hailey Van Lith) as a transfer, Walz reloaded in impressive fashion.

Jayda Curry is the new jitterbug scoring guard running the show, and her hot shooting stretch (48 percent on 2-pointers and 3-pointers in the last five games) to end the season for Cal provides excitement for playing off the ball with more help. She’ll get that in the form of Sydney Taylor, who averaged at least 15.6 points each of the last three seasons while improving her 3-point percentage every year, and Kiki Jefferson, who put up at least 16.2 points per game the last three seasons. Combined with Olivia Cochran inside, scoring shouldn’t be an issue. Curry and Jefferson will need a crash course in defending the Louisville way, however, because neither came from programs that emphasized that end of the floor.

The Cardinals have grown accustomed to integrating hordes of transfers over the past few years. But Walz doesn’t have a veteran floor general or even a natural point guard this year with the departures of Van Lith and Mykasa Robinson. Still, expect Louisville to once again coalesce by March, even if there are growing pains.

  • +Coaching
  • +Shot creation
  • +Perimeter scoring
  • –Post depth
  • –Point guard play
  • –Chemistry

loading

In coach Nicki Collen’s third season, Baylor has a serious chance to put up massive offensive numbers despite losing two of its top-three scorers. Andrews returns as the Bears’ leading scorer (15 points per game last season), and she has around her five others who scored in double digits in their most recent full seasons — Darianna Littlepage-Buggs (11 PPG, Baylor), Aijha Blackwell (15 PPG, Missouri 2021-22), Jada Walker (13 PPG, Kentucky), Dre’Una Edwards (17 PPG, Kentucky 2021-22) and Madison Bartley (14 PPG, Belmont). Balancing expectations and shot distribution with so many scorers is ultimately a good problem, but it’s a problem nonetheless.

Add to that core scoring group Yaya Felder, the Ohio transfer who can attack the paint and put pressure on defenses, as well as 6-7 freshman Lety Vasconcelos, a solid passer with good touch around the rim who gives Baylor a lob option deep. Each brings a unique skillset, allowing the Bears to go through different players as Collen throws out versatile lineups without many redundancies at each position.

The flip side? Players will need to adjust to working in Baylor’s schemes with teammates who attack the game in distinct manners. Building cohesion while maintaining that versatility will be Collen’s priority through camp and in early games.

  • +Scoring potential
  • +Ball movement
  • +Depth
  • +Pick-and-roll action
  • –Cohesion
  • –Shot distribution

Bella Fontleroy

Guard / Forward

Aijha Blackwell

Guard / Forward

Darianna Littlepage-Buggs

Guard / Forward

loading

In Shauna Green’s first year, Illinois put together one of the most impressive year-over-year turnarounds in women’s college hoops. Now in Year 2, with all five starters returning, the Illini are a dangerous top-25 team in a conference that could prepare them for a deeper postseason run.

Last year, lack of depth hurt the Illini, especially as the season wore on, but with another full season of recruiting (and transfer portal recruiting), Illinois could prove to be a deeper team. Illinois’ top six will look the same but the two key additions — Camille Hobby and Gretchen Dolan — could be big difference makers.

Hobby comes to Illinois from NC State, where she averaged eight points and four rebounds a game as a senior. As a 6-3 center, she gives the Illini more depth in the paint alongside Kendall Bostic and Brynn Shoup-Hill. Dolan, a freshman, averaged 39 points a game as a senior and ended her high school career with 2,622 points. To bring Hobby, Jada Peebles and Dolan off the bench should give Green the kind of depth and fresh legs she didn’t have last season.

  • +Experience
  • +Half-court offense
  • +3-point shooting
  • –Defensive consistency
  • –Rebounding

loading

Last season, USC played in the muck. The Trojans worked so hard to slow the pace and be disruptive on defense to break opponents’ offensive flow. It was tough to execute, and tough to watch for long stretches, but it was how they had to play to account for their offensive deficiencies.

Now, the Trojans have 3-point shooters by raiding the Ivy League for McKenzie Forbes (Harvard) and Kayla Padilla (Penn) and adding an off-the-bounce scorer and creator in JuJu Watkins. If Watkins is as dynamic as advertised, she’ll be an offense unto herself. She and Rayah Marshall, who was already one of the nation’s finest defensive centers as a sophomore, are the foundations for USC on both ends. For the Trojans to take a meaningful step forward, however, Marshall has to become a passable scorer — her true shooting percentage of 42.4 was in the bottom fifth for centers last year.

This is the second straight season that Gottlieb must weave together a patchwork roster, as only three rotation players (plus Clarice Akunwafo) remain from last year’s roster. The hope is that Watkins can provide some structure on offense while the defensive integrity from 2022-23 remains.

  • +Interior defense
  • +Athleticism
  • +3-point shooting
  • –Passing
  • –Experience
  • –Paint scoring

loading

It’s not out of the question to think Wes Moore might have four freshmen in his main rotation, as the Wolfpack welcome four top-100 recruits, including ninth-ranked Zoe Brooks, who famously won the 2022 WNBA All-Star skills challenge alongside Sabrina Ionescu. But at the start of the season, expect Moore to lean on whatever continuity and veteran presence NC State does have, as well as the Wolfpack’s pace.

Aziaha James and Saniya Rivers are two of the nation’s fastest players with the ball, each dynamite at getting into the paint, and together create a devastating open floor attack. The two guards had the best plus-minuses on the team last season, suggesting the Wolfpack are better off when they lean on that athleticism. Neither is a pure point guard, but their ability to turn the corner on defenders allows them to make plays. Brooks has this same burst to keep the tempo going when she comes off the bench.

Katie Peneueta arrives from Sacramento State having canned 46 percent of her 3-pointers over two seasons, and River Baldwin likes to spot up from distance and hit trail jumpers in transition. But if the frontcourt needs shaking up, reigning WAC defensive player of the year Lizzy Williamson is ready to step in for Baldwin, and Madison Hayes provides a small-ball spacing element that Mimi Collins doesn’t.

  • +Speed
  • +Athleticism
  • +Dribble penetration
  • –Youth
  • –Chemistry
  • –Ball movement

loading

Creighton is a model of consistency in an otherwise chaotic college basketball landscape. Jim Flanery has been a part of the program for more than 30 years, the last 20 as head coach, and his offensive system has remained relatively unchanged the past few seasons. It helps that the core four Bluejays (Lauren Jensen, Morgan Maly, Molly Mogensen and Emma Ronsiek) are all entering at least their third year at Creighton. The Bluejays will get into their offense deliberately and methodically, using east-west ball movement and screening actions to get layups and 3s. Their shot chart is an analytics dream.

The only problem on offense is when jumpers don’t fall. Opponents can’t really take them out of what the Bluejays do — the movement generally works, but there is volatility in relying on such a high percentage of outside shots.
Defense is another story. Creighton still doesn’t have the size inside to effectively protect the rim, and teams with more strength and athleticism can blow by its perimeter defense. Creighton should try more switching this year considering the players’ familiarity with one another and the like-sized rotation, or even throw out some junk defenses to keep opponents out of the paint. Flanery needs to take advantage of team chemistry on defense as well.

  • +Offensive system
  • +Continuity
  • +Efficiency
  • –Size
  • –Interior Defense
  • –Athleticism

Morgan Maly

Guard / Forward

loading

The only team on this list that didn’t make the tournament last year, Texas A&M is in line to be one of the most improved programs in the country. Fortunately, there’s nowhere to go but up after finishing 9-20 overall and 2-14 in the SEC last season.

The main source for optimism is second-year forward Janiah Barker, who was an absolute force in the 19 games she was available during her freshman year. Barker is excellent driving to her right and is an awesome play finisher on cuts, as a spot-up shooter, and in transition. The less creating she has to do, the better, which makes it important that the Aggies cleaned up in the transfer portal, starting with point guard Endyia Rogers.

Rogers has been a disciplined distributor at two stops before College Station and has oodles of talent to work with between Barker, Sydney Bowles, and transfers Lauren Ware and Aicha Coulibaly. Texas A&M also brings in three top-100 perimeter recruits in Kylie Marshall, Solè Williams and Erica Moon, allowing Joni Taylor to use multiple ballhandlers when necessary.

Coulibaly and Ware add paint protection to a team that has struggled defensively. Ware can play next to Barker in the frontcourt in smaller lineups, or the Aggies have enough depth with Jada Malone off the bench to play units with three bigs. Things didn’t come together for Texas A&M in Year 1 of the Taylor era, but Gary Blair went 2-14 in the SEC in his first year with the Aggies, too. There’s reason to have hope with this new roster.

  • +Point guard play
  • +Offensive versatility
  • +Frontcourt depth

loading

Also considered: Arizona, Duke, Kansas State, Miami

(Illustration: John Bradford / The Athletic; Photos, from left, of Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers: Maddie Meyer, Justin Tofoya, G Fiume / Getty Images)

Post Covid Economic Planning In Motion For Communities in Kenton County

By
Reporters News Wire
-
0

Kentucky, September 27, 2023, TPMA today announced it has partnered with the Planning and Development Services of Kenton County (PDSKC) and the Kenton County Planning Commission (KCPC) as their strategic consultant to review their Comprehensive Plan, lead as series of public engagement sessions, and provide recommendations and updates for promoting economic development in a post covid world. This is an important milestone in PDSKC’s mission to lead their communities, foster growth, and enhance quality of life through creative planning.

“We are very excited to partner with the Planning and Development Services of Kenton County and the Kenton County Planning Commission on the update of their Comprehensive Plan. The leadership at PDSKC has shown a deep commitment to making sure stakeholders and citizens have the chance to contribute to this update, and we look forward to supporting this effort” says Cecilia Harry, Director of Economic Development at TPMA.

TPMA will take a deep dive into the current Comprehensive Plan with particular attention to the elements of Housing, Community Facilities, Economy, and Land Use. Through inclusive public engagement, TPMA will provide recommendations on how these elements can respond to the physical, social, and economic changes resulting from the pandemic. The project is set to conclude in the fall of 2024.

“We are looking forward to working with TPMA and excited about the expertise they will bring to this important project,” says Andy Videkovich, Planning Manager at PDSKC, “The pandemic has shifted the way that people live, work, and play in Kenton County. This update will focus on how the Plan can adapt to these changes to drive community development, growth, and safety in this new era.

About KCPC:

The KCPC is made up of 20 citizen members appointed by the county judge/executive and mayors. Together they represent the unique needs of each jurisdiction in Kenton County and play a critical role in deciding how land is used and developed throughout the county. The KCPC is mandated to review and readopt the County’s Comprehensive Plan every five years. A full rewrite of the plan was adopted in 2014 and a review and readoption of the plan occurred in 2019. The current review and readoption are scheduled to be completed in the Fall of 2024.

About PDSKC:

PDSKC serves Kenton County and the 19 jurisdictions that comprise the government structure within the county. PDSKC is the professional staff for the KCPC.  PDSKC is dedicated to leading communities and striving to foster growth and prosperity within our community by providing the highest quality service to our customers. PDSKC enhances the quality of life through safety and protection of our community, creative planning, and deliberate guidance toward principled goals.

About TPMA:

TPMA empowers organizations and communities through strategic partnerships and informed solutions that create positive, sustainable change. For community champions who are loyal to improving local and regional economic outcomes, TPMA provides professional consulting services and delivers transparent insights to the complete workforce, education, and economic development ecosystem that allows them to move forward, together. TPMA envisions a world that thinks strategically, works collaboratively, and acts sustainably. For more information, contact Steven Gause, Director of Strategy and Growth Initiatives, at sgause@tpma-inc.com.

For complete information, visit: www.tpma-inc.com and follow TPMA on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. 

Media Contact:

TPMA
Attn: Steven Gause, Director, Strategy + Growth
1630 N. Meridian Street
Suite 330, Indianapolis, IN 46202
317.894.5508
info@tpma-inc.com   

Iraq Wedding Hall Fire Kills at Least 100

By
Reporters News Wire
-
0

MOSUL, Iraq — A fire that raced through a hall hosting a Christian wedding in northern Iraq killed at least 100 people and injured 150 others, the authorities said on Wednesday, warning that the death toll could rise higher.

The fire happened in the Hamdaniya area of Nineveh Province, the authorities said. That is a predominantly Christian area just outside of the city of Mosul, some 205 miles northwest of the capital, Baghdad.

Television footage showed flames rushing over the wedding hall as the fire took hold. In the blaze’s aftermath, only charred metal and debris could be seen as people walked through the scene, the only light coming from television cameras and onlookers’ mobile phones.

Survivors arrived at local hospitals, receiving oxygen and bandages, as family members milled through hallways and outside.

A Health Ministry spokesman, Saif al-Badr, gave the casualty figures via the state-run Iraqi News Agency.

“All efforts are being made to provide relief to those affected by the unfortunate accident,” Mr. al-Badr said.

Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani ordered an investigation into the fire and asked officials with Iraq’s interior and health ministries to provide relief, his office said in a statement online.

Najim al-Jubouri, the provincial governor of Nineveh, said some of the injured had been transferred to regional hospitals. He cautioned that there were not yet final casualty figures from the blaze, which suggested that the death toll might rise further.

There was no immediate official word on the cause of the blaze, but initial reports by the Kurdish television news channel Rudaw suggested that fireworks at the venue may have started it.

Civil defense officials quoted by the Iraqi News Agency described the wedding hall’s exterior as being decorated with highly flammable cladding that is illegal in the country.

It wasn’t immediately clear why the authorities had allowed the cladding to be used in the hall, but corruption and mismanagement remain endemic in Iraq two decades after the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

While some types of cladding can be made with fire-resistant material, experts say the kinds that caught fire at the wedding hall, and have caught fire elsewhere, weren’t designed to meet strict safety standards, and have often been put into buildings without any breaks that would slow or halt a possible blaze. Such cladding was a factor in the 2017 fire at Grenfell Tower in London, which killed 72 people, and in multiple high-rise fires in the United Arab Emirates.

The fire in Iraq was the latest disaster to strike the country’s shrinking Christian minority, which over the past two decades has been violently targeted by extremists, first from Al Qaeda and later from the Islamic State militant group. Although the Nineveh plains, the historic homeland of Iraqi Christians, were wrested back from the Islamic State six years ago, some towns there are still mostly rubble and lack basic services. Many Christians have left for Europe, Australia or the United States.

The number of Christians in Iraq today is estimated at 150,000, compared to 1.5 million in 2003. Iraq’s total population is more than 40 million.

For ‘The Golden Bachelor’ and Others, What Dating After 60 Looks Like

By
Reporters News Wire
-
0

Kathy Denton, 64, said she felt “bolder” now, in part because she no longer experiences the pressure she once did to settle down. She has been able to find fun with some of the men she has met through dating sites, even if none have been a long-term match. One “delightful man” cooked her “the best soups and breakfasts”; another swept her off to his condo in Florida and showed her “how to have fun again.”

Ms. Denton would like to fall in love again, but she has also “fallen in love” with herself, she said, and realizes that she is the only company she needs. She goes to the beach, spends time with friends and plans to enroll in a stained glass-making class. “If I had to spend the rest of my life alone, I’d be fine with it now,” said Ms. Denton, who lives in Michigan. “I love my life.”

Dating after 60 isn’t all roses. Several people interviewed for this article mentioned how frustrating it is to meet people whose toxic behaviors have calcified over decades.

“We need a lot of patience with each other to undo some of this crap we’ve been through,” said Ms. Denton, who added that she had dated men who turned out to be compulsive liars, or who she suspected had alcohol issues. She has interacted with men who clearly did not bother to read her profile, she said, and others who sent naked photos. Some daters also brought up sexual dysfunction, the shrinking dating pool for older women and the threat of being scammed.

But for Ms. Ha and Mr. Ecker, opening themselves up to each other has brought them both surprising happiness at this stage in their lives. Mr. Ecker had been dating off and on for 10 years before he met Ms. Ha, and was coming out of a particularly difficult stretch when they connected. His mother and his beloved dog had both died, he had ended a three-year relationship and he had lost a chunk of his savings to stock market volatility, just as he was preparing to retire.

Now, he and Ms. Ha are planning the next stage of their lives together, thinking about what they want retirement to look like. They feel lucky to have found one another. “Ever since that first message she sent me,” he said. “I have felt that this thing has been guided and out of our control.”

1...1,0491,0501,051...1,100Page 1,050 of 1,100

Editor Picks

Must read

Popular categories