The best freshman hoops class in years

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🚨 Headlines

🏀 Mavs fireplace Nico: The Mavericks pulled the plug on Nico Harrison’s tenure in Dallas, firing their general manager lower than a yr after his baffling resolution to commerce away Luka Dončić. It would not assist that they’ve begun this season an abysmal 3-8.

⚾️ MLB Awards: A’s first baseman Nick Kurtz was the unanimous AL ROY, whereas Braves catcher Drake Baldwin won NL ROY with 21 of 30 first-place votes. As for the Managers of the Year, Stephen Vogt (Guardians) and Pat Murphy (Brewers) each received for the second straight season.

🏀 New ASG format: This yr’s NBA All-Star Game will feature three teams, two made up of gamers from the U.S. and a 3rd with worldwide gamers. They’ll play a round-robin match with 12-minute video games, then the highest two groups will advance to the championship recreation.

🏈 Kelly sues LSU: Brian Kelly is suing LSU in hopes of receiving his full $54 million buyout. He claims the varsity is now trying to fireplace him “for cause” to keep away from having to make the fee.

⚾️ Back in the Bay: Bruce Bochy, who led the Giants to a few World Series as supervisor (2010, 2012, 2014), is returning to the organization as a particular advisor. The future Hall of Famer spent the final three years managing the Rangers.

🏀 The best freshman class in years

Darryn Peterson is one of a handful of freshmen who could be the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. (Ryan Hunt/Getty Images) — Darryn Peterson is one in every of a handful of freshmen who could possibly be the No. 1 choose in the 2026 NBA Draft. (Ryan Hunt/Getty Images)

Freshmen are off to a red-hot begin this school basketball season, chipping away at the widely held notion that top college recruiting is not as essential because it as soon as was and that confirmed 22- and 23-year-old transfers are the important thing to profitable.

The Big Five: Kansas guard Darryn Peterson, Duke ahead Cameron Boozer and BYU wing AJ Dybantsa have lived as much as their preseason hype, whereas UNC ahead Caleb Wilson and Arizona ahead Koa Peat have joined them on the prime of most mock drafts after making prompt impacts.

Ebuka Okorie has been lights out for the Cardinal. (Eakin Howard/Getty Images)

Other standouts embrace:

Stanford guard Ebuka Okorie is averaging the second-most factors in the nation (27.5) and appears like one of many steals of the 2025 recruiting class.
Virginia Tech’s Neoklis Avdalas, a 6-foot-9 guard from Greece, went off for 33-6-5 in an time beyond regulation win over Providence. Watch these highlights!
Tennessee’s Nate Ament, a 6-foot-10 shot maker, is averaging 20.5 factors and eight.5 rebounds.
Arkansas has a pair of freshman guards (Darius Acuff Jr. and Meleek Thomas) who’ve mixed for 113 factors in three video games.
Washington ahead Hannes Steinbach has been as dominant for the Huskies as he was for Germany’s U-19 World Cup workforce this previous summer season.

Neoklis Avdalas plays like a combo of Kevin Durant and Luka Dončic. (M. Anthony Nesmith/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) — Neoklis Avdalas performs like a combo of Kevin Durant and Luka Dončic. (M. Anthony Nesmith/Icon Sportswire through Getty Images)

From Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Eisenberg:

The torrid begin from this yr’s freshman class comes at a time when the get-old, stay-old ethos has turn out to be widespread throughout faculty basketball … the pondering being that transfers won’t have the identical long-term NBA potential as elite freshmen however they possess the bodily maturity and guile to win immediately.

Will the success of this yr’s freshmen alter that thought course of? Perhaps, nevertheless it’s essential to recollect that is an distinctive class. Coaches are all the time going to attempt to determine the place they’ll get probably the most worth for his or her NIL cash. This yr, it could be the freshman class. Next yr, it won’t be.

Read the full story.

🏈 CFP rankings

The prime 5 groups stayed the identical in the second set of College Football Playoff rankings as Ohio State, Indiana, Texas A&M, Alabama and Georgia stored their locations.

Fun reality: Seven of the 12 projected playoff groups hail from simply three states.

Texas (3): No. 3 Texas A&M remained in first-round bye place, Texas Tech moved as much as No. 6 after a press release win over BYU and Texas jumped to No. 10.
Florida (2): No. 15 Miami reclaimed its spot as the highest ACC workforce, whereas No. 24 South Florida turned the primary Group of 5 workforce to make the CFP Top 25 this yr.
Indiana (2): No. 2 Indiana is on tempo for a second consecutive playoff berth, as is No. 9 Notre Dame, which moved up a spot after demolishing Navy.

Games of the week: No. 5 Georgia hosts No. 10 Texas this weekend, and No. 4 Alabama hosts No. 11 Oklahoma.

🏀 NBA energy rankings

Believe it or not, now we have reached the eighth-way level (the one-eighth level?) of the NBA season. Where does your workforce fall in our energy rankings?

Dive in.

📊 By the numbers

The newest Hall of Famers, minus Alexander Mogilny, on Saturday. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) — The latest Hall of Famers, minus Alexander Mogilny, on Saturday. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

🏒 8 new members

The Hockey Hall of Fame welcomed eight new members on Monday night time in Toronto, bringing the whole membership to 445. The Class of 2025 featured six gamers (Jennifer Botterill, Zdeno Chára, Brianna Decker, Duncan Keith, Alexander Mogilny, Joe Thornton) and two “builders” (Jack Parker, Danièle Sauvageau).

Looking forward: Candidates for the Class of 2026 embrace Patrice Bergeron, Phil Kessel, Rod Brind’Amour, Patrick Marleau and Meghan Duggan.

🏈 40+ TDs

Jahmyr Gibbs joined an elite group over the weekend, turning into simply the fifth participant in NFL historical past to attain at the very least 40 scrimmage touchdowns earlier than age 24. The different 4? Hall of Famers Barry Sanders (47), Randy Moss (43), Emmitt Smith (43) and Jim Brown (42). Gibbs (41) might prime that checklist by season’s finish with eight video games left.

⚽️ 143 targets

Cristiano Ronaldo says the upcoming 2026 World Cup will “definitely” be his last. The 41-year-old is the all-time main scorer in males’s worldwide soccer, having scored 143 targets for Portugal in his profession.

⚾️ 1.000+ OPS

Newly-minted unanimous AL Rookie of the Year Nick Kurtz had a 1.002 OPS this previous season, making him the eighth rookie since 1901 to submit a 1.000+ OPS (min. 400 PA). The different seven: Aaron Judge (2017), Ryan Braun (2007), Albert Pujols (2001), Bernie Carbo (1970), Ted Williams (1939), Rudy York (1937) and George Watkins (1930).

🏀 42,000 photographs

If apply makes excellent, then Celtics heart Luka Garza should be getting shut. Last yr, when he was enjoying simply 5.6 minutes per recreation for the Timberwolves, the massive man took over 42,000 shots at practices and shootarounds, in line with Noah Basketball, an information service that tracks such issues. That’s about 12,000 extra photographs than anybody else in the league.

Good learn: Luka Garza (and his father) have been working towards this moment forever (Noa Dalzell, Celtics Blog)

📺 Watchlist: Wednesday, Nov. 12

Luka and Austin have the Lakers at 8-3. (Grant Burke/NBAE via Getty Images) — Luka and Austin have the Lakers at 8-3. (Grant Burke/NBAE through Getty Images)

🏀 NBA on ESPN

The second-place Knicks host the Magic (7pm ET) as they search their sixth straight win, then the first-place Thunder host the Lakers (9:30pm) in a battle of Western Conference powers.

Dynamic duo: Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves are the primary teammates in NBA historical past to every have 200+ factors and 50+ assists via their first seven video games of a season.

🏒 NHL on TNT

The Lightning host the Rangers in the early recreation (7pm), then it is Connor Bedard and the surging Blackhawks in opposition to Jack Hughes and the first-place Devils in the nightcap (9:30pm).

Bedard’s breakout: The 20-year-old, picked first total in 2023, had 61 factors as a rookie and 67 as a sophomore. This season? He already has 25 factors via 16 video games, which ranks fourth in the league and places him on tempo for 128.

More to observe:

🏈 NCAAF: Buffalo at Central Michigan (7pm, CBSSN); Northern Illinois at UMass (7pm, ESPNU); Toledo at Miami-Ohio (7pm, ESPN2) … With Sam Houston’s win over the weekend, UMass (0-9) is the one winless FBS workforce.
🎾 Tennis: ATP Finals (8am, Tennis) … The group stage continues in Turin with Ben Shelton vs. Félix Auger-Aliassime (8am) and Jannik Sinner vs. Alexander Zverev (2:30pm).
⚽️ Women’s Champions League: Bayern vs. Arsenal (12:45pm, CBSSN); Man United vs. PSG (3pm, Paramount+) … Two of five games to shut out Matchday 3.

Today’s full slate.

🏈 NFL trivia

The Patriots, who will look to enhance to 9-2 tomorrow night time in opposition to the Jets, are one in every of six NFL groups with solely two losses.

Question: Can you title the opposite 5?

Hint: Three NFC, two AFC.

Answer on the backside.

📸 Photo end

Kraken forward Tye Kartye warms up before a game at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle. (Steph Chambers/Getty Images) — Kraken ahead Tye Kartye warms up earlier than a recreation at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle. (Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

A blur of brilliance.

Trivia reply: Colts (8-2), Broncos (8-2), Eagles (7-2), Seahawks (7-2), Rams (7-2)

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