Yahoo Sports AM: NIL critics were wrong
The top 10 football recruits in the Class of 2024 are currently committed to 10 different schools. So much for NIL ruining competitive balance.
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🚨 Headlines
🏀 24 in a row: Cade Cunningham scored a career-high 43 points on an efficient 16-24 shooting against the Hawks. The Pistons still lost, extending their losing streak to 24 games.
🏈 Suspended for the season: Steelers safety Damontae Kazee has been suspended for the rest of the season without pay for repeatedly endangering players. His violent hit on Michael Pittman Jr. was the last straw.
🏒 Sens sack Smith: The last-place Senators have fired D.J. Smith, making him the fourth head coach to be canned already this season, following Edmonton’s Jay Woodcroft, Minnesota’s Dean Evason and St. Louis’ Craig Berube.
🏀 Draymond update: Draymond Green will reportedly miss at least three weeks during his indefinite suspension. He’s already started counseling.
🏈 Top QB flips from Georgia to Nebraska
When the NIL era began in July 2021, critics feared that football recruiting — already dominated by a few select schools — would become even more top-heavy as the best and richest programs hoarded all the top players. Turns out, they were wrong.
Monday's big news: Dylan Raiola, the No. 1 QB in the Class of 2024, has flipped from Georgia to Nebraska, meaning the top 10 recruits in the country, per Rivals, are currently committed to 10 different schools.
Jeremiah Smith, WR (Ohio State)
Dylan Raiola, QB (Nebraska)
Williams Nwaneri, DE (Missouri)
Julian Sayin, QB (Alabama)
Cam Coleman, WR (Auburn)
Micah Hudson, WR (Texas Tech)
David Stone, DT (Oklahoma)
Ellis Robinson, CB (Georgia)
Colin Simmons, DE (Texas)
Justin Scott, DT (Miami)
For context: From 2017-2021, an average of six schools signed a class' top 10 players, notes Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wetzel. This year, it could be 10 schools, including programs like Missouri and Texas Tech that typically aren’t in the mix.
"The Alabamas and Georgias of the world aren’t getting every great recruit. They aren’t even getting the number of great recruits they were five years ago. Schools all over the country are prioritizing the 5-stars they have an in with (often in-state) and winning those battles." - Wetzel
In related news: Georgia junior QB Carson Beck will return for the 2024 season instead of entering the NFL draft.
🇺🇸 Photos across America
Seattle — Backup QB Drew Lock led a 92-yard game-winning drive to lift the Seahawks past the reeling Eagles, 20-17, and keep Seattle alive in the playoff race.
Charlotte — Western Kentucky scored 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to beat Old Dominion, 38-35 (OT), in the Famous Toastery Bowl. It’s the fourth-largest comeback in bowl game history.
Los Angeles — The Lakers hung their In-Season Tournament championship banner in the rafters on Monday. The Knicks spoiled the party with a 114-109 road victory.
⛳️ Daughter's memory lifts dad to new heights
Five golfers earned their PGA Tour cards on Monday in the final stage of Q-School, changing their lives forever.
Among them: Hayden Springer. The 26-year-old American played with memories of his 3-year-old daughter, Sage, who tragically passed away last month.
"I thought of her a handful of times," Springer told NBC Sports. "Not thinking about golf, not thinking about the last shot, the next shot, just thinking about her and her smile … Like that's the thing that I can just close my eyes and think about her smiling, and it's kind of a grounding, kind of gets you back to neutral.“
🏀 Purdue back on top
Purdue is back atop the AP poll after beating former No. 1 Arizona over the weekend.
Rising: No. 9 Kentucky jumped five spots after beating No. 11 UNC in Atlanta, while No. 7 Oklahoma and No. 8 Tennessee each rose four spots thanks mostly to losses by other teams.
Falling: No. 15 Gonzaga (lost to No. 5 UConn) and No. 18 Clemson (lost to No. 23 Memphis) each fell five spots, while Baylor (lost to Michigan State) and No. 12 Creighton (lost to UNLV) fell four spots.
Welcome back, Rebels: No. 25 Ole Miss is ranked for the first time since January 2019. In their first season under Chris Beard, the Rebels (10-0) are off to their best start since opening 13-0 in 2007-08.
🏀 Gamecocks still unanimous
South Carolina remained the unanimous No. 1 team this week after receiving all 36 votes from the national media panel.
Welcome back: No. 23 Washington is ranked for the first time since 2017. They'll face a big test tomorrow at No. 19 Louisville.
Best start ever: No. 18 Marquette (11-0) is off to its best start in program history.
52-0: Five of the 13 remaining unbeaten teams are in the Big 12. No. 5 Texas, No. 10 Baylor, No. 25 TCU, Texas Tech and West Virginia are a combined 52-0.
📆 Dec. 19, 2001: Highest-scoring bowl game
22 years ago today, Marshall stormed back from a 38-8 halftime deficit to beat East Carolina, 64-61 (2OT), in the highest-scoring bowl game ever.
Highest-scoring bowl games:
Marshall 64, ECU 61: 125 points (2001 GMAC Bowl)
Baylor 67, Washington 56: 122 points (2011 Alamo Bowl)
West Virginia 70, Clemson 33: 103 points (2012 Orange Bowl)
Army 70, West Virginia 33: 103 points (2018 Armed Forces Bowl)
Hawaii 54, Houston 48: 102 points (2003 Hawaii Bowl)
🏒 1917: Montreal teams won the first two NHL games ever played, with the Canadiens beating the Ottawa Senators and the Wanderers beating the Toronto Arenas.
🏈 2010: The Eagles scored 28 points in the final eight minutes, capped by DeSean Jackson’s walk-off punt return, to beat the Giants in the Miracle at the New* Meadowlands.
*Part I: The first Miracle at the Meadowlands came on Nov. 19, 1978, when Eagles cornerback (and future NFL head coach) Herm Edwards returned a fumble for a last-second 19-17 win over the Giants.
📺 Watchlist: Ja Morant's return
Grizzlies superstar Ja Morant will make his season debut tonight on the road against the Pelicans (7:30pm ET, TNT).
The struggle is real: Memphis has gotten off to a terrible start without their best player running the show, going 6-19 during Morant's 25-game suspension.*
More to watch:
🏀 NBA: Celtics at Warriors (10pm, TNT)
🏈 NCAAF: UTSA vs. Marshall (9pm, ESPN2) … Frisco Bowl in Frisco, Texas.
🏀 NCAAM: No. 22 Virginia at No. 23 Memphis (7pm, ESPN); No. 6 Marquette at Providence (8:30pm, FS1)
*Suspended without pay: Morant's 25-game ban cost him roughly $7.6 million in salary.
🏈 NFL trivia
Question: Can you name the current first-place teams in all eight NFL divisions?
Answer at the bottom.
🏀 Good read: The Wolves are friggin' huge
The first-place Timberwolves beat the Heat on Monday to improve to 20-5, tied with the Celtics for the best record in the league. What's behind Minnesota's hot start? It starts with their intimidating size.
From Yahoo Sports' Dan Devine:
The Wolves aim to blot out the sun, enveloping opponents in the towering shadow of Rudy Gobert (7-foot-1, 7-foot-9 wingspan) and Karl-Anthony Towns (7-foot, 7-foot-4 wingspan) on the interior and erasing their space to operate outside by deploying the edge-rusher strength of Anthony Edwards (6-foot-4, 6-foot-9 wingspan) and the pterodactyl menace of Jaden McDaniels (6-foot-9, near 7-foot wingspan).
The investment in size carries over to the second unit, too, with players like Kyle Anderson and Naz Reid (both 6-foot-9 with 7-foot-3 wingspans). … At the risk of oversimplifying things: If you want to build an elite defense, being friggin' huge is a pretty good place to start. And the Wolves have been a hell of a lot better than pretty good.
Trivia answer: Cowboys (NFC East), 49ers (NFC West), Lions (NFC North), Buccaneers (NFC South), Dolphins (AFC East), Chiefs (AFC West), Ravens (AFC North), Jaguars (AFC South)
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