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19 Articles

LET’S GET MAD

FOR YEARS, the NCAA has viewed its two March basketball events as the men’s tournament and the other one. The approach blew up on the organization last year when Oregon forward Sedona Prince embarrassed the NCAA by using social media to show the enormous disparity between workout facilities for the men and women. The NCAA has vowed to do better. It is time to talk about how. One idea the NCAA is exploring: a joint Final Four, with men and women competing in the same city. It might sound like a sincere attempt to lift the women’s tournament. But it is misguided and condescending. “I am vehemently opposed to that,” says Hall of Fame coach Muffet McGraw, who retired in April 2020 after 33 years at Notre Dame. “We’ve outgrown that. I think…

FASCINATING FOUR

SOUTH CAROLINA All five starters are back from the Gamecocks’ Final Four team of a year ago. Forward Aliyah Boston’s progression continues: She was a second-team All-American as a freshman, first-team as a sophomore and likely will be this season’s Player of the Year. STANFORD The defending champs have one of the most intriguing players in the country in do-everything 6' 1" junior Haley Jones. The Most Outstanding Player of the 2021 Final Four, who is on pace to lead the Cardinal in assists and rebounds, is the best in the country at transitioning from defense to offense. UCONN The Huskies’ hopes of reaching a 14th straight Final Four rest on the return of sophomore guard Paige Bueckers, who is expected to be back in time for the tournament after fracturing her left leg in…

IF ANYONE knows the issues within the NCAA, it’s Betsy Mitchell. She was a swimmer at one of the richest programs, Texas; has been a coach at an Ivy League school, Dartmouth; and is now the athletic director of one of the NCAA’s smallest schools, D-III Caltech. She intimately understands the disparate agendas among the NCAA’s 1,200-member schools. And she’s got a suggestion to reconcile them. “The commercial priorities of some members means they need to go do their own thing,” says Mitchell. “I kind of wish they would.” And it looks like they will. At the annual NCAA convention, in January, college leaders overwhelmingly passed a new, streamlined constitution, one that grants authority to each division to create its own policies. That sets the stage for a much more important step:…

TWENTY PERCENT of the Power 5 football coaching jobs have already changed hands, and at least one-third of the 65 starting quarterbacks will be different, with more transfers likely to come. With that as a backdrop, here is the way-too-early top 10 for the 2022 season (with futures championship odds). 1. Alabama (+200) Shocking, right? But then, all Bama has is the reigning Heisman winner (Bryce Young), the nation’s best defensive player (LB Will Anderson Jr.) and the GOAT (Nick Saban). 2. Ohio State (+600) Last we saw the Buckeyes, in the Rose Bowl, C.J. Stroud was throwing for 573 yards, Jaxon Smith-Njigba was breaking a bowl record with 347 receiving yards and Marvin Harrison Jr. had three TD catches. That trio is back. 3. Georgia (+200) The newly crowned champs will lose many to the…

WATCH GAMEPLAN: THE SMART FAN’S GUIDE TO RIGHT NOW IT’S GENERALLY not a great thing when the subject of a documentary violates the “show, don’t tell” maxim in the first 10 minutes by explicitly laying out the theme the film will explore. So when Neymar explains that he’s hardworking and serious on the soccer field and lighthearted off it—as evidenced by the Duality of Man painting featuring his face as half Batman, half Joker that hangs in his Paris home and appears in many a shot—the viewer can’t help but feel like the next two and a half hours will drag on. And if there is one criticism of Netflix’s three-part Neymar: The Perfect Chaos it’s that it would probably work better as a one-part film. Hanging out in a Kobe Bryant…

THE WORST part of a labor stoppage in baseball, to some fans, isn’t the prospect of seeing Opening Day pushed back or having to read story after story about millionaires arguing with billionaires. Rather, it’s the potential loss of spring training. Walter Iooss Jr. first went to the Grapefruit League in the 1960s. Phillies slugger Richie Allen spotted the young photographer and his friend and decided they looked cool enough to ask them to hang out, beginning a decades-long friendship. Iooss also did some of his best work in Florida and Arizona, where the settings are distinctive and the vibes laidback. “This was the complete, total opposite of Yankee Stadium, where everything is restricted,” he says, ref lecting on his first spring trip. “Everything was open. You could talk to the players,…

FACES IN THE CROWD

JAHMAL HARVEY Hometown: Oxon Hill, Md. Date of Birth: Nov. 19, 2002 Sport: Boxing Weight Class: Featherweight National Championships: 10 JUST 19, Jahmal Harvey has never backed down from a fighter who’s bigger, stronger or more accomplished. Last November at the World Amateur Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, he defeated defending featherweight champion Mirazizbek Mirzakhailov of Uzbekistan and two Olympians en route to the title, becoming the first U.S. amateur boxer in 14 years to win at worlds. Growing up, Harvey always knew how to fight. But he didn’t always know how to box. Quick to answer his classmates’ taunts about his size, Harvey scrapped frequently in and out of school. “It could have been avoided, but my respect got the best of me,” he says. Darrell Davis, his youth football coach, had a better idea. Noticing that…

FACES IN THE CROWD

THE TEAM BUILDER

Chip Engelland has pulled off a rare basketball double: He has won with Gregg Popovich and lost with Mike Krzyzewski. Engelland has been a Spurs assistant under Pop for 17 years, winning two championships and establishing himself as one of the best shooting coaches in the world. But four decades ago he was a Duke forward during Krzyzewski’s first three years at the school, when the Blue Devils finished twice with losing records and never made the NCAA tournament. Nobody, including Engelland, knew then that Krzyzewski would become one of the best basketball coaches ever. But years of seeing Popovich’s greatness firsthand in San Antonio and Coach K’s from afar have helped him understand how he did. “They’re thinking about the team all the time,” Engelland says. “They’re just trying to figure…

THE TEAM BUILDER

97–30 NCAA tournament record. His wins are the most ever, and his winning percentage (.765) is second only to John Wooden’s.825. 6.7 Points per game he scored in 1968–69 as a senior at Army (right), when he captained coach Bobby Knight ’s Cadets to the NIT semifinals. 146 Wins at Duke before his successor, Jon Scheyer, was born (on Aug. 24, 1987). 5 Duke foes (out of 217) against which he has a losing record: Arizona (3–5), Arkansas (1–2), Stanford (1–2), S.F. Austin (0–1) and Wagner (0–1). 62 Wins (in 82 games) at Duke over Georgia Tech, his most against any school. His highest number of losses is 46, in 95 games, against UNC. 8 K’s players who have won the men’s Naismith Award—the most under any coach. 36 Career 20-win seasons (one at West Point and 35 at Duke, including 25 in…

Does Mike Krzyzewski have a chance to end his career by cutting down one last net in New Orleans? By one measure his final team is his most talented: The Blue Devils have five potential 2022 first-round picks. Only Kentucky, in ’09–10, has had that many. Over Thanksgiving weekend Duke faced then No. 1 Gonzaga on a neutral court and turned in arguably the best performance of this season. Paolo Banchero, the star 6’ 10” freshman (right), erupted for 20 points in the first half; sophomore center Mark Williams dominated the paint; and junior forward Wendell Moore Jr. delivered clutch plays. What has bedeviled the Blue Devils is inconsistency, which is to be expected for a team that starts three freshmen and has just one player (senior forward Joey Baker) who has…

COACH K AGAINST THE WORLD

Mike Krzyzewski’s motivational techniques at Duke were never going to work with the NBA’s best at the Olympics. Elton Brand, his center with the Blue Devils in the late 1990s, remembers Coach K once challenging a Duke player to a fight. “I think he would have won,” Brand says. He means the coach, not the player. Krzyzewski, a West Point man, verbally destroyed a procession of underperforming Blue Devils over the years. He once responded to back-to-back ACC road losses by shredding his players in the locker room at 4 a.m., after an all-night ride home from Virginia Tech. “You motherf------ don’t deserve to wear the Duke jersey,” he screamed before kicking them out. He severely blistered point guard Jay Williams for not running a designed play in a loss, and for…

COACH K AGAINST THE WORLD

How Do You Know If It’s

When your livelihood is tied to the performance of an unproven quarterback, you find yourself constantly gathering intel. And sometimes that involves people-watching. One longtime NFL offensive assistant says he’ll find himself at the team facility or the practice field, waiting for the starting QB to walk away from a group of teammates just to see what they do after his departure. Are they rolling their eyes? If he’s laughing, are they laughing, too? Are they following him wherever he’s going next? Not every coach has to have these habits. Some of them have a Patrick Mahomes or a Josh Allen, answers at the most important position on the roster. But others—as many as a third of the teams in the NFL—don’t, and some of those franchises are now trying to assess…

How Do You Know If It’s

Signed to Second Contract, Still With Original Team PATRICK MAHOMES, Chiefs (10th pick in 2017) DESHAUN WATSON, Texans (12th pick in 2017) JOSH ALLEN, Bills (7th pick in 2018) Still With Original Team, Not yet Signed to Second Contract BAKER MAYFIELD, Browns (1st pick in 2018) LAMAR JACKSON, Ravens (32nd pick in 2018) Still With Original Team, Eligible for Second Contract This Offseason KYLER MURRAY, Cardinals (1st pick in 2019) DANIEL JONES, Giants (6th pick in 2019) Signed to Second Contract, Then Traded by Original Team JARED GOFF, Rams (1st pick in 2016) CARSON WENTZ, Eagles (2nd pick in 2016) Not Re-signed by Original Team When Rookie Contract Expired JAMEIS WINSTON, Buccaneers (1st pick in 2015) MARCUS MARIOTA, Titans (2nd pick in 2015) MITCHELL TRUBISKY, Bears (2nd pick in 2017) Cut or Traded Before Rookie Contract Expired PAXTON LYNCH, Broncos (26th pick in 2016) SAM DARNOLD, Jets (3rd pick…

DAVANTE ADAMS WR, PACKERS Aaron Rodgers’s favorite target, Adams wants to be the highest-paid receiver. Even at age 29, he deserves to be. TERRON ARMSTEAD OT, SAINTS The 30-year-old is coming off knee surgery, but premier left tackles are hard to find (and often tend to age well). VON MILLER EDGE, RAMS He’s still a force in the pass rush (five sacks over the final four games of 2021) and more than capable of playing the run. BRANDON SCHERFF G, WASHINGTON Durability has become an issue, but a healthy Scherff is good enough to be the centerpiece of a team’s rushing scheme. CHANDLER JONES EDGE, CARDINALS Jones specializes in creating turnovers—six forced fumbles in 2021 and a league-leading eight in ’19. MARCUS WILLIAMS S, SAINTS Williams’s range and improved physicality made him one of the league’s most valuable safeties. CHRIS GODWIN WR,…

In It for a UTE

ADE MURKEY REMEMBERS EVERYTHING ABOUT HIS NBA DEBUT. He recalls what music he was blasting en route to the Kings’ Golden 1 Center: Lil Durk and Lil Baby. What his pregame meal consisted of: salmon and rice. The nerves he felt after learning the team had chosen him—a rookie guard who signed a 10-day contract earlier that day because several Sacramento players were in the league’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols—to wish the home crowd happy holidays before the game. But most of all, Murkey remembers anxiously looking up at the scoreboard on Dec. 22, 2021, as the Kings trailed the Clippers by double digits late in the fourth quarter, wondering whether the game’s time and score would allow for interim coach Doug Christie to put him in. The 24-year-old had worked…

In It for a UTE

Dean Smith was fuming. Bob Knight Bob Knight was fuming. This Indiana team he was coaching was supposed to be better than this. Playing in Honolulu at the Rainbow Classic, the Hoosiers gave up open shot after open shot and lost to Texas-Pan American, 66–60. Big Ten play was opening in barely a week, and this was not an auspicious sign. After the defeat North Carolina took a commercial flight home from L.A., changing planes in Kansas City. On that same night, Dec. 30, 1980, Indiana, fresh off one of the worst losses in program history, flew home from Hawai‘i and changed planes in … Kansas City. And wouldn’t you know it, the Tar Heels and the Hoosiers—who had played each other in Chapel Hill 10 days earlier, a 65–56 UNC win—were just…

Late Prime Q&A AL MICHAELS

As lopsided NFL trades go, well, forget about Matthew Stafford for Jared Goff. In 2006—in what was largely a face-saving PR stunt—ABC allowed its lead pro football play-by-play voice, Al Michaels, to decamp to NBC in exchange for the rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, a precursor to Mickey Mouse created by Walt Disney in the 1920s. Since the swap, Oswald has sat on the intellectual property equivalent of the injured list. Michaels, on the other hand, became the centerpiece for Sunday Night Football, a ratings juggernaut for NBC that, most weeks, outdraws every other show on TV. As with any sports franchise, success has plenty of parents. The show’s director (Drew Esocoff) and executive producer (Fred Gaudelli) take back seats to no one. Same for sideline reporter Michele Tafoya, who…

Late Prime Q&A AL MICHAELS

“SHE FOUGHT TO THE END”

Two days before she was MURDERED, Connie Kunzmann played THE GAME OF HER LIFE. It was the evening of Feb. 5, 1981, and Connie, a longlimbed 24-year-old with a halo of curly brown hair, was matched up against the best women’s basketball player on the planet, Dallas Diamonds point guard Nancy Lieberman. The face of the nascent Women’s Professional Basketball League, Lieberman was as skilled a passer as she was a scorer. Kunzmann? She was a 6' 1" reserve forward for the Nebraska Wranglers known for her tenacity, defense and exuberance. If Lieberman was the WBL’s Magic Johnson, then Connie, as friend and one-time teammate Molly Bolin puts it, was “our Kurt Rambis.” From the time she picked up a basketball, as a seventh-grader, Connie had devoted herself to the sport. A…

“SHE FOUGHT TO THE END”

No one knows how wild the NCAA tournament can be better than Mike Krzyzewski (page 22). March 28 marks the 30th anniversary of The Shot: CHRISTIAN LAETTNER taking a 75-foot inbound pass from Grant Hill and draining a miracle buzzer beater to defeat Kentucky in OT. It might be the maddest March moment ever, and it sent Duke to its fifth straight Final Four. A week later, the Blue Devils beat Michigan to repeat as national champions. But even a dyed-in-the-khaki Wolverine was impressed by Duke. After The Shot, Krzyzewski’s wife, Mickie, told SportS IlluStrated that Jim Harbaugh, then the Chicago Bears’ quarterback, thought Hill’s fling was “a great pass.” Someone asked Mickie, “Oh, you were sitting with Harbaugh?” “No,” she said, “he was sitting with us.”…

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