All things sporty (3)

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mike tyson to give custom belts to pfl vs. bellator winners
Mike Tyson will present three winners a custom championship belt Saturday at the PFL vs. Bellator: Champs card in Saudi Arabia, PFL chairman Donn Davis told ESPN on Wednesday. PFL acquired Bellator in late 2023, and this is the first event that will have fighters from both promotions competing against each other.

 

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CFP unanimously approves 5+7 model for new 12-team playoff​

The College Football Playoff board of managers unanimously approved a model that will guarantee the five highest-ranked conference champions' inclusion in the expanded 12-team field this fall, along with the next seven highest-ranked teams, the CFP announced Tuesday. After months of delay at the behest of the dwindling Pac-12, the decision was made Tuesday morning in a virtual meeting of the 10 FBS commissioners and the Notre Dame president, Rev. John Jenkins. The vote had to be unanimous for the 5+7 format to be approved, and the Pac-12 had either previously abstained or asked for a delay as it worked on determining its future following sweeping conference realignment.

In most years, the 5+7 format will assure the conference champions from the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC a spot in the playoff, along with the highest-ranked Group of 5 conference champion. The CFP intentionally won't refer to the Group of 5 in its description of the format, though, because there is a chance that a champion from one of the Power 4 conferences finishes ranked below the top champion from the American Athletic Conference, Conference USA, Mountain West, Sun Belt or Mid-American Conference. In 2021, for example, when undefeated No. 4 Cincinnati was the American Athletic Conference champion, ACC champion Pitt finished at No. 12 with two losses. In the 12-team format, the four highest-ranked conference champions will receive a first-round bye.

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CFP officials discuss expanding to 14-team playoff in 2026​

The idea of a 14-team College Football Playoff starting in the 2026 season was discussed at CFP meetings in Dallas on Wednesday, just months before the start of the first season with a 12-team playoff. CFP executive director Bill Hancock acknowledged the idea was discussed but declined to provide specific details, saying, "There's work still to be done." With CFP officials pushing to finalize a deal for a television contract for the next eight years, three lingering issues remain unresolved: access, distribution of money and governance. Hancock said the issues need to be resolved within the next month. The CFP management committee, which is made up of the commissioners and incoming Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua, met Wednesday and discussed potentially expanding the field after the current contract runs out following the 2025 season. A 14-team playoff would likely mean that the highest-ranked conference champions end up with a bye, which would incentivize those league title games. From there, the format would play out like the 12-team playoff that is debuting this season.

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NCAA president Charlie Baker against additional transfer limits​

NCAA president Charlie Baker said he is not in favor of rules or federal laws that would place new limits on the way college athletes transfer between schools. During a wide-ranging, hourlong interview with ESPN on Tuesday, Baker harbored no sympathy for the many coaches who have publicly complained about the difficulties they have in maintaining stable rosters in the new college sports environment that carries fewer restrictions on player transfers and allows for name, image and likeness deals that have proved to be incentives for players to consider changing teams. Baker, who is approaching the end of his first full year as the NCAA's president, and many other leaders in college sports have petitioned Congress for help in regaining some control over the future of college sports amid myriad legal challenges to the NCAA's rules. Several of the bills and proposals generated by Congress include provisions that would make it more difficult for athletes to transfer.

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ALL THINGS SPORTY (3)
ALL THINGS SPORTY (3)
ALL THINGS SPORTY (3)
ALL THINGS SPORTY (3)​

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All things sporty
By: blackfoot NAP/bertshocka - November 22, 2018
 All things sporty (2)
By: blackfoot NAP/bertshocka - December 22, 2017

 

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ncaa president charlie baker against additional transfer limits
Baker, who is approaching the end of his first full year as the NCAA's president, and many other leaders in college sports have petitioned Congress for help in regaining some control over the future of college sports amid myriad legal challenges to the NCAA's rules. Several of the bills and proposals generated by Congress include provisions that would make it more difficult for athletes to transfer.

 

[blackfoot NAP]

houstpn rises to no. 1 in ap men's college basketball poll
The Cougars moved to No. 1 for the first time this season in Monday's latest poll, climbing one spot to end the six-week stay of reigning national champion UConn
. Houston (24-3) became the fifth team to hold the top spot this season. The top 10 featured the same universe of teams, though in reshuffled order.

Top-5
No.1: Houston (24-3)
No.2: Purdue (25-3)
No.3: UConn (25-3)
No.4: Tennessee (21-6)
No.5: Marquette (21-6)

 

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men's power rankings: houston joins purdue, uconn for the no. 1 debate
For the first time in months, we have a full-fledged three-way battle for No. 1. In a very tight race, then, Purdue's combination of wins and metrics gives the Boilermakers the edge.

Top-5
No.1: Purdue (25-3)
No.2: Houston (24-3)
No.3: UConn (25-3)
No.4: Tennessee (21-6)
No.5: Arizona (21-6)

 

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texas rises to highest ranking since 2022 in women's top 25
The Longhorns moved up two spots to No. 3 after four of the top seven teams lost at least one game last week. Texas hadn't been this high in the Top 25 since the school was also third on Nov. 14, 2022.

Top-5
No.1: South Carolina (27-0)
No.2: Ohio State (24-3)
No.3: Texas (26-3)
No.4: Stanford (24-4)
No.5: Virginia Tech (23-4)

 

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women's power rankings: Virginia Tech coming on strong down stretch
Virginia Tech has won 10 consecutive games and clinched at least a share of its first ACC regular-season title at 14-2. The Hokies finished their regular-season home schedule at 15-0, and they are projected to host early-round games in the NCAA tournament.

Top-5
No.1: South Carolina (27-0)
No.2: Ohio State (24-3)
No.3: Texas (26-3)
No.4: Virginia Tech (23-4)
No.5: Iowa (24-4)

 

[C-40]

UMass set to become 13th member of MAC for '25-26 season​

The University of Massachusetts is set to join the MAC in all applicable sports for the 2025-26 school year, the conference announced on Tuesday. UMass is an independent in football but plays in the Atlantic-10 in basketball and the vast majority of the school's other sports. UMass' hockey program will remain in the Hockey East as the MAC does not have a hockey league. The MAC presidents voted to invite UMass on Monday, as the school had already formally applied to the league. The league will make a formal announcement on Thursday and there will be a news conference on the school's campus next week. UMass had also been engaged with Conference USA, per sources. Ultimately, the MAC made more geographic sense, and it also houses more of the sports that UMass offers. UMass athletic director Ryan Bamford made clear in recent comments that joining a league was a priority for UMass.The move of UMass to the MAC will leave Notre Dame and Connecticut as the lone independents in college football, with Army set to join the American Athletic Conference in the upcoming season.

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American Casey Kania banned 2 years for positive marijuana test​

A low-ranked American tennis player who competed for the University of North Carolina has been suspended for two years after testing positive for marijuana during an ATP Challenger tournament, the International Tennis Integrity Agency announced Tuesday. The ITIA said Casey Kania's in-competition urine test contained cannabis in August 2023 at Cary, North Carolina, where he lost in the doubles quarterfinals. He is a 21-year-old with a career-high doubles ranking of 1,317th and $482 in career tennis earnings, according to the ATP website. The tour's site shows that all of his ranking points and all of that prize money were earned during the lower-tier tournament in Cary -- and everything he accumulated there must now be relinquished, the ITIA said. During a suspension of this sort, a player is barred from playing in -- or even attending -- any tennis event sanctioned by the ATP men's professional tour, the WTA women's tour, the International Tennis Federation or the organizations that run the four Grand Slam tournaments.

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the case for ecpanding the men's ncaa tournament to 80 teams
Exactly 50 seasons ago, the late Lefty Driesell's Maryland Terrapins were one of the best teams in the country. They rose as high as No. 2 in the national rankings and played NC State for that year's Atlantic Coast Conference title in Greensboro, North Carolina. They dropped that game in an epic overtime struggle, 103-100, to the eventual national champions.


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The 1975 tournament grew from 25 to 32 teams. The tourney field reached 40 teams by 1980, 52 by 1983 and the bracket of 64 -- with no limit on the number of at-large selections from a single conference becoming a fixture in 1985.

 

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uconn's aaliyah edwards inks canadian nil deal, but can't discuss
Under current United States law, Edwards, who is from Kingston, Ontario, and other international students can make money in this country only with passive NIL deals. She gets a little something, for example, if someone buys a jersey with her name on it at the campus bookstore.

camilo villegas named pga tour advisory board chairman
The 42-year-old Colombian will serve in that role for the remainder of 2024. The council advises and consults with the PGA Tour Policy Board and commissioner Jay Monahan on issues affecting the tour.

 

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Iowa's Caitlin Clark breaks NCAA women's hoops scoring record​

Catlin Clark had no specific plan for how she hoped to break the NCAA women's basketball scoring record Thursday. But after doing so while also setting the Iowa Hawkeyes' single-game scoring record, Clark had to grin. Clark came into No. 4 Iowa's game against Michigan with 3,520 points, needing eight to break the mark previously set by Washington's Kelsey Plum (3,527) from 2013 to 2017. Clark did it about as quickly as she possibly could. This was Clark's fourth career game scoring 45 points or more, and she had 13 assists. In total, she scored or assisted on 79 of Iowa's 106 points (74.5%).

Clark could reach even more scoring milestones this season. The AIAW large-school women's record -- set just before the NCAA era by Kansas' Lynette Woodard from 1977 to 1981 -- is 3,649 points. The NCAA men's record is 3,667 by LSU's Pete Maravich from 1967 to 1970, before freshman eligibility in college basketball. There also is a chance the AIAW overall record -- 3,884 points, set by Francis Marion's Pearl Moore from 1975 to 1979 -- could be in play for Clark, depending on how far Iowa advances in the postseason. Clark is currently averaging 32.8 points for the 23-3 Hawkeyes, who have four regular-season games left.

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Caitlin Clark passes Lynette Woodard for major-college record​

The black-and-gold-clad fans among the 14,625 at Williams Arena were virtually begging for one more 3-pointer from Caitlin Clark late in Wednesday's game, and she delivered for another historic mark. The Iowa guard continued her record-breaking quest as she passed Kansas Jayhawks legend Lynette Woodard for the major-college women's basketball scoring mark in the No. 6 Hawkeyes' 108-60 victory over Minnesota. Clark scored her 33rd and final point of the game on her eighth 3-pointer, coming at the 4:29 mark of the fourth quarter, to give her 3,650 points. Woodard, who played in the final years of the AIAW from 1977 to '81, scored 3,649 points.

Clark also broke the NCAA women's single-season 3-point record in Wednesday's game; she is now at 156 for this season, and 503 for her career. As a team, Iowa hit a Big Ten single-game record 22 3-pointers and had its 10th 100-point game of the season. The Hawkeyes are 25-4 overall and 14-3 (tied for second) in the Big Ten. Clark got the 17th triple-double of her career as well, adding 12 assists and 10 rebounds to her 33 points. She is second only to Oregon's Sabrina Ionescu, who had 26 triple-doubles from 2016 to '20.

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CFP officials discuss expanding to 14-team playoff in 2026​

The idea of a 14-team College Football Playoff starting in the 2026 season was discussed at CFP meetings in Dallas on Wednesday, just months before the start of the first season with a 12-team playoff. CFP executive director Bill Hancock acknowledged the idea was discussed but declined to provide specific details, saying, "There's work still to be done." With CFP officials pushing to finalize a deal for a television contract for the next eight years, three lingering issues remain unresolved: access, distribution of money and governance. Hancock said the issues need to be resolved within the next month. The CFP management committee, which is made up of the commissioners and incoming Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua, met Wednesday and discussed potentially expanding the field after the current contract runs out following the 2025 season. A 14-team playoff would likely mean that the highest-ranked conference champions end up with a bye, which would incentivize those league title games. From there, the format would play out like the 12-team playoff that is debuting this season.

Click Here For Full Story

Sources: 14-team College Football Playoff has 'momentum'​

The future of the College Football Playoff contract after the 2025 season remains uncertain, with executive director Bill Hancock saying last week there's a "need" for the deal to be done in the next month. Since its inception in 2014, when it created a four-team model for a sport with five major conferences, the CFP has been unwieldy and awkward. The only certainty has been a slow pace, turf squabbles and an unstable conference environment that has kept everything fluid.

The television side of the deal has already been agreed to in principle. Starting in 2026, ESPN is poised to spend an average of nearly $1.3 billion on the playoff for six seasons. That leaves the CFP's two leadership groups -- the board of managers (presidents and chancellors) and management committee (commissioners and Notre Dame leadership) -- to come to a decision on the format to get the deal done.

According to sources, the model that's earned the most discussion coming out of the CFP meeting in Dallas is one that would include three automatic qualifier spots for the Big Ten and SEC, two for the Big 12 and ACC and one for the Group of Five. That would leave three at-large spots in that 14-team model. As for Notre Dame, sources told ESPN that the most likely option being discussed is that the Fighting Irish would earn a spot in the 14-team CFP if the selection committee ranks them in the top 14 on Selection Day.

Sources: Optimism building for 14-team CFP

There is optimism and "momentum" for a 14-team College Football Playoff starting in 2026, sources told ESPN, with an effort to reach a deal in the coming weeks.

www.espn.com

 

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ncaa pausing nil investigation in wake of Tennessee case
The move comes a week after a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit brought by the attorneys general of Tennessee and Virginia. The antitrust suit challenges NCAA rules against recruiting inducements, saying they inhibit athletes' ability to cash in on their celebrity and fame.

big 12, acc coaches not keen idea of cfp byes for sec, big 10
In the 12-team playoff structure, the five highest-ranked conference champions are guaranteed a spot in the bracket and the four highest-ranked conference winners will earn a first-round bye. But sources told ESPN that one 14-team model that is being considered includes provisions for the SEC and Big Ten to get three automatic qualifiers each -- and the only two byes for their conference champions.

 

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houston rops ap men's hoop poll; kansas drops out of top 10
Houston still has a tight grip on No. 1 in the AP Top 25. The Cougars received 52 first-place votes from a 62-person media panel in the men's poll released Monday to hold the top spot for the second straight week. - Kansas spent the first three weeks at No. 1 and was in the top 10 for three years. Consecutive losses last week ended the Jayhawks' run.

Top-5
No.1: Houston (26-3)
No.2: UConn (26-3)
No.3: Purdue (26-3)
No.4: Tennessee (23-6)
No.5: Arizona (23-6)

 

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stanford, iowa behibd no. 1 south carolina i women's top 25
Stanford moved back up to No. 2 after a weekend sweep of Oregon State and Oregon. Iowa knocked off then-No. 2 Ohio State on Sunday. The Gamecocks are in a familiar spot atop the poll after finishing their regular season undefeated for the second consecutive year.

Top-5
No.1: South Carolina (29-0)
No.2: Stanford (26-4)
No.3: Iowa (26-4)
No.4: Ohio State (25-4)
No.5: USC (23-5)

 

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Jake Paul stops Ryan Bourland via first-round TKO​

Jake Paul's critics wanted him to fight actual boxers. He now has knocked out two of them in a row inside the first round. The YouTuber-turned-prizefighter stopped Ryan Bourland via TKO at 2:37 of the first on Saturday night in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Paul used a nice jab early and hard right hands to the body. That set up a big combination that hurt Bourland against the ropes. Paul then poured it on until referee Luis Pabon stopped the bout.

Paul (9-1, 6 KOs) has won three straight after his first career loss to Tommy Fury in February 2023. The Ohio native rebounded from that defeat by beating UFC legend Nate Diaz in August via unanimous decision. Paul, 27, also owns victories over former UFC champions Anderson Silva and Tyron Woodley (Paul actually defeated Woodley twice, including once by knockout.) Bourland (17-3), a 35-year-old California native, had a three-fight winning streak snapped.

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johnny manziel backs reggie bush, will skip heisman honors
Johnny Manziel, the 2012 Heisman Trophy winner, said Saturday that he will not attend the annual Heisman Trophy ceremony until the NCAA returns former USC running back Reggie Bush's trophy, which was stripped from him following NCAA sanctions.


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Bush and USC each returned their copies of his 2005 Heisman Trophy after a four-year NCAA investigation determined that during his Trojans career, Bush and his family accepted cash, travel expenses and a home in the San Diego area where Bush's parents lived rent-free for more than a year and for which they were provided $10,000 to furnish from agents hoping to sign the star.