Yahoo Sports AM: Wooden Award Watchlist
In today's edition: Wooden Watchlist, NFL rewind, NBA power rankings, college football's next battlefield, Cavs-Thunder in a clash of titans, and more.
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🚨 Headlines
🏀 Ice Trae: The Hawks beat the Jazz, 124-121, thanks to a ridiculous half-court buzzer-beater from Trae Young, who also had this third 20-20 game of the season (24 points, 20 assists).
⛳️ TGL's opening night: The Bay crushed New York in the inaugural TGL match, which debuted to mostly positive reviews and good vibes, even if it didn't always necessarily feel quite like golf.
🏀 No more unbeatens: No. 8 Florida hammered No. 1 Tennessee, 73-43, to hand the Vols their first loss. And just like that, there are zero undefeated teams left in men's D1 hoops.
🏈 Coaching (and GM) carousel: The Raiders fired head coach Antonio Pierce after one season; the Titans, who own the No. 1 pick, fired GM Ran Carthon; the Cowboys denied the Bears' request to interview Mike McCarthy.
⚾️ Verlander to the Bay: The Giants signed Justin Verlander to a one-year, $15 million deal. The three-time Cy Young winner, who turns 42 next month, had a career-worst 5.48 ERA last year in Houston.
🏀 The Wooden Award midseason top 25
Two seniors and a freshman headline the men's Wooden Award midseason Top 25, released Tuesday.
Johni Broome, Sr. (Auburn): 18.7 points, 11.2 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 2.7 blocks
Cooper Flagg. Fr. (Duke): 17.5 points, 8.5 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.6 steals
Kam Jones, Sr. (Marquette): 19.7 points, 4.9 rebounds, 6.4 assists, 1.6 steals
Watchlist: The rest of the top 25 is made up of 12 seniors, six freshmen, two sophomores and two juniors.
Freshmen: Ace Bailey (Rutgers), Jeremiah Fears (Oklahoma), Dylan Harper (Rutgers), Kasparas Jakučionis (Illinois), Tre Johnson (Texas), Derik Queen (Maryland)
Sophomores: PJ Haggerty (Memphis), Josh Hubbard (Mississippi State),
Juniors: Alex Karaban (UConn), Braden Smith (Purdue)
Seniors: Walter Clayton Jr. (Florida), RJ Davis (UNC), Hunter Dickinson (Kansas), Eric Dixon (Villanova), Keshon Gilbert (Iowa State), Ryan Kalkbrenner (Creighton), Chaz Lanier (Tennessee), Ryan Nembhard (Gonzaga), Maxime Reynaud (Stanford), Mark Sears (Alabama), Wade Taylor IV (Texas A&M), Zakai Zeigler (Tennessee)
Past 10 winners… Purdue's Zach Edey (2023-24), Kentucky's Oscar Tshiebwe (2022), Iowa's Luke Garza (2021), Dayton's Obi Toppin (2020), Duke's Zion Williamson (2019), Villanova's Jalen Brunson (2018), Kansas' Frank Mason III (2017), Oklahoma's Buddy Hield (2016), Wisconsin's Frank Kaminsky (2015).
Two sophomores and a senior headline the women's Wooden Award midseason Top 25, also released Tuesday.
Hannah Hidalgo, So. (Notre Dame): 25.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 4.0 steals
JuJu Watkins, So. (USC): 25.1 points, 6.1 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 2.5 steals
Paige Bueckers, Sr. (UConn): 19.9 points, 4.3 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 1.9 steals
Watchlist: The rest of the top 25 is made up of 13 seniors, five juniors, three sophomores and one freshman.
Freshmen: Sarah Strong (UConn)
Sophomores: Madison Booker (Texas), Audi Crooks (Iowa State), Khamil Pierre (Vanderbilt)
Juniors: Flau'Jae Johnson (LSU), Cotie McMahon (Ohio State), Raegan Beers (Oklahoma), Lauren Betts (UCLA), Ta'Niya Latson (FSU)
Seniors: Georgia Amoore (Kentucky), Aziaha James (NC State), Yvonne Ejim (Gonzaga), Kiki Iriafen (USC), Ayoka Lee (Kansas State), Olivia Miles (Notre Dame), Aneesah Morrow (LSU), Lucy Olsen (Iowa), Te-Hina Paopao (South Carolina), Sedona Prince (TCU), JJ Quinerly (West Virginia), Harmoni Turner (Harvard), Hailey Van Lith (TCU)
Past 10 winners… Iowa's Caitlin Clark (2023-24), South Carolina's Aliyah Boston (2022), Bueckers (2021), Oregon's Sabrina Ionescu (2019-20), South Carolina's A'ja Wilson (2018), Washington's Kelsey Plum (2017), UConn's Breanna Stewart (2015-16).
📸 In photos: NFL rewind
With the NFL playoffs upon us, let's press rewind and look back at four of the most iconic plays from the regular season.
Landover, Maryland (Week 8) — The Hail Maryland is what Commanders fans have waited decades for: An unbelievable play from a young QB who looks like a franchise savior.
Philadelphia (Week 9) — Saquon Barkley's mind-boggling reverse hurdle will be one of the lasting images of his historic season — and a fixture on highlight reels for years to come.
East Rutherford, N.J. (Week 9) — Garrett Wilson locked up catch of the year with his sensational one-handed TD grab. And in the same stadium as Odell Beckham Jr.'s own masterpiece 10 years earlier, no less.
Orchard Park, N.Y. (Week 13) — In one of his many MVP moments this season, Josh Allen somehow (1) threw for and (2) caught a touchdown pass on the same play.
🍿 Worth a watch: The top plays of the NFL season (YouTube) … Fair warning: This is a 90-minute long highlight reel. Pace yourself.
🏀 NBA power rankings
The Cavaliers and Thunder, who play tonight in Cleveland, top our latest NBA power rankings, courtesy of Yahoo Sports' Ben Rohrbach.
There is a lot of average basketball being played in the NBA's regular season. Do not get me wrong: Average for this league is pretty damn good. But 11 teams are within two games of .500.
You wonder who is winning. The Timberwolves are as average as it gets. No Jimmy Butler. No Ja Morant. No Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving. Everyone on the Magic is injured. The Suns, Bucks and 76ers cannot decide whether or not they want to be good. LeBron James is 40 years old. Even the Celtics are slumping.
There are only a handful of truly good teams, if that, and two incredible ones. The Cavaliers and Thunder are on pace to win 73 and 70 games, respectively.
Of note: 7 of the top 10 teams are in the Western Conference, and all three Texas teams are in the top 11 (Rockets at No. 4, Spurs at No. 9, Mavericks at No. 11).
🏈 College football's next battlefield: Cap space
College football's NIL era ends, fittingly, as the richest programs collide in the CFP semifinals. In the forthcoming revenue-sharing era, the Ohio States and Texases are poised to battle over the new recruiting frontier: devising ways to exceed the cap.
From Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger:
On Friday night in Dallas, Ohio State (12-2) meets Texas (13-2) in a collision of, arguably, college football's two biggest brands with a trip to the national title game on the line.
The meeting is a clash between two schools spending more on their football programs and football rosters than, perhaps, any others in America, a pair of blue-blood powers whose investments within the NIL era have vaulted them to this position. But can they stay there?
By next season, when college football's more professionalized era arrives, the historic powerhouses stand to lose both their decades-long inherent recruiting advantage (their brand) and the financial edge they used in this unruly, booster-fueled NIL Era: Donor cash.
The new athlete-revenue sharing world, at least at the highest levels, will be built on transactional recruiting relationships within a system that permits universities to use direct school funds in a more regulated structure featuring a compensation cap and new enforcement arm.
In a world where more parity is expected, where does that leave the big boys? As it turns out, keeping their advantage is quite simple, experts contend. They use their big brand, sprawling metro areas, massive alumni bases, wealthy donors and rich relationships to exceed college football's new cap.
What they're saying: "That's going to be the new frontier: the above-the-cap, supplemental NIL," says Walker Jones, the head of the Ole Miss collective and a leading member of The Collective Association. "That's the new battlefield. The question is, can it really be regulated?"
✍️ Extra points
🏀 Dunks of the night: Cooper Flagg went coast-to-coast for the ferocious slam, LeBron James switched hands mid-air for one of the best dunks of his career, and Zion Williamson pulled off a 360 windmill in his first game back.
🏈 Something I did not expect: The 12-team playoff was supposed to kill off bowl games. Instead, TV ratings have soared. 21 of the 30 non-CFP bowls saw YoY viewership increases, most by 20% or more. (The Athletic)
🎾 A new chapter: Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic were rivals for decades. Now Andy is coaching Novak ahead of the Australian Open. Pretty cool.
⚽️ Reunited in Miami? Neymar, who is approaching the end of his contract with Saudi Arabian club Al-Hilal, hinted at an "incredible" reunion at Inter Miami with former Barcelona teammates Lionel Messi and Luis Suárez.
🏈⚾️ D3 legend: QB Luke Lehnen led North Central University (Naperville, Illinois) to the D3 national title on Sunday and ended his career with 162 TD passes, tied for the most in NCAA history. Did I mention he's also a star center fielder and pitcher on the baseball team?
⛳️ LIV's 2025 schedule: 14 events, nine countries, four continents. Six new venues, including Michigan (The Cardinal at Saint John's resort), Mexico City (Club de Golf Chapultepec) and Washington, D.C. (Robert Trent Jones Golf Club).
📺 Watchlist: Clash of the Titans
The NBA's two best teams meet tonight (7pm ET, ESPN) in a potential NBA Finals preview, as the first-place Cavaliers* host the first-place Thunder.
Historic matchup: Cleveland (31-4) and OKC (30-5) have the second-best combined winning percentage (.871) for any regular-season game in NBA history. And for the first time ever, a team riding a 15-game win streak (Thunder) will play a team riding a 10-game win streak (Cavs).
More to watch:
🏀 NBA: Spurs at Bucks (9:30pm, ESPN) … Wemby vs. Giannis in the nightcap.
🏒 NHL: Avalanche at Blackhawks (7:30pm, TNT); Panthers at Utah (10pm, TNT)
🏀 NCAAM: No. 9 UConn at Villanova (6:30pm, FS1); No. 10 Texas A&M at No. 17 Oklahoma (9pm, SEC); Arizona State at No. 11 Kansas (9pm, ESPN2)
🏀 NCAAW: No. 9 Ohio State at No. 25 Michigan (7pm, B1G+); No. 4 USC at No. 8 Maryland (8:30pm, FS1); No. 12 Kansas State at No. 22 Utah (9pm, ESPN+)
*Pregame reading: The Cavs are one of the most dominant teams we’ve ever seen (Dan Devine, Yahoo Sports)
⛳️ TGL trivia
13 of TGL's 24 golfers have won a major: Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Keegan Bradley, Hideki Matsuyama, Adam Scott, Lucas Glover, Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Justin Rose, Matt Fitzpatrick, Xander Schauffele, Wyndham Clark and Shane Lowry.
Question: Which five have won multiple majors?
Answer at the bottom.
🏈 Who ya got: Josh or Lamar?
The NFL MVP race is incredibly close. With all due respect to Joe Burrow and Saquon Barkley, it comes down to Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson. Who ya got?
Click to vote:
Your vote will be recorded once you click. Thanks for participating! We'll share the results tomorrow.
Trivia answer: Tiger Woods (15 majors), Rory McIlroy (4), Xander Schauffele (2), Justin Thomas (2), Collin Morikawa (2)
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