Saint Joseph's big man Rasheer Fleming declares for NBA draft
April 11 - Saint Joseph's big man Rasheer Fleming is entering the NBA draft, his agency, Klutch Sports, told ESPN on Friday.
The 6-foot-9 Fleming stepped up as a junior to average career highs of 14.7 points and 8.5 rebounds. He knocked down 39 percent of his 3-point attempts, making 62 after hitting 56 combined over his first two college seasons.
Overall, Fleming shot 53.1 percent from the field in 35 games last season while earning first-team All-Atlantic 10 honors this past season. He blocked 54 shots for the second straight season and had 49 steals.
His career averages are 10.6 points and 7.1 rebounds over 101 games (88 starts).
Fleming is projected to be selected in the middle of the first round of the NBA draft.
The draft is slated for June 25-26.
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The Herald Scotland
3 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
Desmond Bane trade: Grizzlies guard to Magic for players, picks
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The Herald Scotland
3 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
Little League helps father-son heal from kidney donation, transplant
This past winter, Gavin and his father, Matt, spent extended time away from the field together. They sat next to one another in matching recliners. They even slept in them. As our kids seem to advance so rapidly in age, we might say in passing how we'd give anything for an uninterrupted period with them like this. For this father-son duo, the time together came after Matt Brown gave his kidney, which saved his son. Matt and Gavin will be together at the Angels-Orioles game on Father's Day in Baltimore, and they are playing with Calvert (Maryland) American Little League All-Stars this summer as they attempt to advance out of their state. It's the shot about which every Little Leaguer can dream. In the meantime, the Brown family, which has managed Gavin's chronic kidney disease since birth, has been renewed with a successful transplant and recovery. "We were completely shocked," says Gavin's mother, Erin. "He went from he can't sit up to, 'Holy Moly, he's playing baseball,' three months later." USA TODAY Sports spoke with Gavin and his parents, as well as Yi Shi, a pediatric nephrologist at Children's National Hospital and a member of Gavin's care team, about their journey. "Gavin was extremely brave throughout the entire process," Erin says. "Even up until the time he went back for surgery, he was confident and reassuring, making sure to tell me everything was going to be just fine. Gavin has known this was coming his entire life, and by the time it got here, he was very ready to just get it over with and try to get back to normal life." Their story also details the role sports can play in managing life's obstacles, no matter how steep they are, and in bringing fathers and sons closer together. Coach Steve: Cal Ripken's father passed down these four lessons for youth athletes 'I just kept going with it': How a parent makes a kidney transplant work According to the latest data from the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN), there have been 8,082 pediatric transplants performed through parent-child kidney donations since 1988, when national stats were first recorded. Erin and Matt knew pretty much from Day 1 Gavin would need a transplant. Matt got tested and cleared to be a donor seven or eight years ago, and they waited. In the meantime, Matt began helping out with the coaching on Gavin's baseball team. He put his son directly into kid pitch, skipping tee ball and coach pitch. Gavin has come into his own and become a local All-Star. But during adolescence, which is a kid's highest period of physical growth, doctors see the steepest drop in kidney function, Shi says. That moment for Gavin came last fall, when he was 11. "It was still kind of positioned that it was going to be a little ways away," Erin says. "And then we saw a drastic decline. And they made the determination that we were, most likely, going to do the transplant." Shi says children usually do better with a living donor, and parents or other family members are the best matches: "We try to get donors less than 40 [years old] for kids, but we work around if the parents are older, for whatever reason." Matt, 38, was within the usual age range but there was one particular problem. "Healthy weight is a requirement for donation," Shi says. He weighed 238 pounds last summer. "It wasn't until I got out of the military that I just got soaked up with working shift work, and then kind of let myself go for a number of years," says Matt, who served in the Army from June 2004 to October 2009, including stints in Iraq and Afghanistan. Matt, who now works in security at Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant, had to lose 15 to 20 pounds from his 5-foot-9 frame. He hit the number, "and I just kept going with it," he says. Today, he's down to 200. Pediatric transplant surgeon Jennifer Verbesey and a surgical team started Matt's kidney removal surgery around 7 a.m. Feb. 10 at Washington's MedStar Georgetown University Hospital. Verbesey was with Gavin and Erin at Children's National across town by 11:30 a.m. that day. Father's Day can come early: The importance of spending time together It was five days after his 12th birthday and still, his mom says, Gavin was smiling right up until the time he went into surgery, which took 4 to 5 hours. Doctors recommended staying out of school and avoiding large crowds for the first three months, when his immune system would be the most suppressed. "The main part of the recovery process is really the post surgical recovery, which takes about a week or so," Shi says. "Generally, kids feel quite good after that, so it's not a prolonged recovery process. ... It is common that children recover quickly and can return to full activity within a month." Gavin had swelling and some minor complications that were quickly resolved, Matt says, though they made everything a little more uncomfortable for him. At first, neither one of them could even lie flat. Gavin had a lot of pain and, after he spent a week in the hospital, he and Matt spent about two weeks, off and on, in those reclining chairs. "It was really just getting used to it and living with it for the most part," Gavin says. "We went on walks a lot after we could and went outside in general. It was really just hard to get used to." But there was familiarity, first in spending time with dad, and then, after an isolation period together had ended, he moved to practice with his Little League team (the Orioles) in late May. At first, the activity was about supporting his teammates and feeling like he was part of the group. Being with his friends is one of his favorite parts of baseball. He learned the shifts and the plays, he tossed the ball softly, stretched a little and took in all the energy of practice. "That way, when he's ready, he can hop back in with the team," Matt says. "You know, crawl before you walk and run." Shi says a transplant kidney is usually placed in the front of the belly and is less protected than our regular kidneys. They marked the spot and helped Gavin fashion a shirt, through Zoombang, that provides padding for it under his jersey. There was a therapeutic function to playing baseball, too. "It's not like major league baseball, or at that level where we expect high-force injury," Shi says. "In general, we advocate for kids to exercise, play sports, do what they otherwise would be doing. I think it's better for quality of life and just general recovery, but kids in general, after transplant tend to gain weight, and so things like exercise really do help with blood pressure and the weight gain. "On top of that, it's something that he really likes doing so we try our best to accommodate." Coach Steve: Keep the 'team' in team sports - even when your child is injured Learning how to forge kids' independence Though he has been on medication since he was born, Gavin and his parents decided he is now responsible enough to manage the process on his own. He takes an antibiotic (Bactrim), which he will stop at the six-month mark after his surgery. He also takes Tacrolimus and Cellcept, two anti-rejection medications that prevent the immune system from attacking transplanted kidneys. Gavin takes medications at 9 a.m. and 9 p.m., excusing himself momentarily from our video interview last week to do so. "Timing is very important, as keeping his body regulated with the anti-rejection medications is the best way to prolong the life of his new kidney," Erin says. "We get notifications (through an app) if he hasn't marked them off, which allows us to monitor him without having to do the medication administration for him. Our goal with allowing him to do this is to start preparing him to be independent and understand the importance of taking his meds on time, without micromanaging. "We also put all his medications into daily containers with his help each week. He's been great about remembering to take them when he leaves the house and taking them on time. We're really proud of how well he is doing." There have been unexpected hurdles, though. Just recently, for example, his white blood cell count was low and he missed school. "Just things we weren't necessarily prepared for that we're kind of learning along the way," Erin says. "He seemed fine, but his blood work wasn't showing fine, so we had to make adjustments." When he plays baseball, he has been instructed to not slide headfirst. He was there, though, when the Orioles won their Little League's championship. "He's hitting the ball well," Matt says, "just not as far as he used to, which he understands. And mobility is a little bit slower ... (He's) still not back 100% but he's able to compete." 'Doing something he loves': Taking life and running with it A point of emphasis for this season is recognizing not everyone on the team is at the same skill level. "But we can always help people work to their strengths," Erin says. Gavin has an athletic stance. He puts the ball in play with a quick right-handed swing and sprints toward his dad urging him forward as a first base coach. "Kidney donors should make a full recovery like any other surgery," Shi says. "Matt has one kidney now compared to two, which means his one kidney has to work hard enough to take the place of two." He has helped his son avoid dialysis, a procedure that removes waste substances and fluid from blood that are normally eliminated by the kidneys. "Dialysis generally has worse health outcomes than transplant, but also has worse quality of life," Shi says. "Kids would either need to come to the hospital for dialysis three times a week or do dialysis at home every night. They have more dietary restrictions as well." Gavin will some day need another transplant. Shi says they last 10 to 15 years on average, sometimes longer. Erin, who works in marketing for a software company, and Matt are hopeful that medical advances will give Gavin more options. Before his surgery, the family was introduced to the National Kidney Registry, a U.S.-based organization that aims to increase the quality, speed and number of living donor kidney transplants. Transplant speed can increase when someone donates on behalf of a patient through programs like paired exchange or the voucher program. Erin, 37, has had Type 1 Diabetes since 1999 and is automatically disqualified from being a donor. "As a mom, this was very hard to accept," she says. She is looking forward to running a local 5K turkey trot with Gavin, and perhaps his younger brother, Connor, 11, on Thanksgiving. There could also be a winter family trip to Vermont to snowboard, which is Gavin's other favorite sport and approved by Shi (if he wears his protective shirt). In the more immediate future, there is lots of baseball. "I just really enjoy it," Matt says of coaching his son, "going out there and doing something he loves, just encouraging him, watching him grow." And to grow into someone who has learned to look to the future as an opportunity to seize what comes next. "We spent time going through what the process would be like," Erin says. "Gavin functions very well when he knows what to expect. Having a clear game plan for the day of surgery and a good idea what the post surgery recovery would look like was very comforting to him." Steve Borelli, aka Coach Steve, has been an editor and writer with USA TODAY since 1999. He spent 10 years coaching his two sons' baseball and basketball teams. He and his wife, Colleen, are now sports parents for two high schoolers. His column is posted weekly. For his past columns, click here. Got a question for Coach Steve you want answered in a column? Email him at sborelli@
The Herald Scotland
3 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
MLB Father's Day: Love of baseball tops genetics
It's both the most obvious and yet oversimplified evaluation a baseball scout can make - a recognizable name leaping off the page, a player profile to dream on based on how far their father made it in the game. And ostensibly, the Holliday family justifies those dreams: For the second time in four years, a Holliday lad will be picked at or near the very top of Major League Baseball's draft when Ethan is selected somewhere in the first five or so picks at the July 13 selection party. Jackson, still just 21, is in his second year as a Baltimore Oriole and perhaps already on his way to his first All-Star Game. Ethan, while having to conquer several levels of minor league ball to join his older brother in a major league middle infield, could be a bigger and more powerful version of Jackson. Both are carrying the legacy of their father Matt, a seven-time All-Star, a batting champion, a World Series winner who slugged 316 home runs over 15 years in the major leagues. Genes to dream on, for certain. Yet the story of baseball bloodlines will forever be a classic nature vs. nurture equation, and despite inherent advantages of growing up Holliday or Clemens or Bellinger, countless environmental factors will determine if the child's most important adult acronym, say, is OPS or CPA. "It's nice to have the genes - my dad's a big guy and played baseball a long time," says Holliday, on pace for a 20-homer, 20-steal season in his first full season in the majors. "But I don't look like him and I just have the last name and he happens to be my dad. "I think a lot of it has to do with growing up in the game and watching someone you want to be like, and that's what they do. So, that's essentially what me and my brothers wanted to do." Indeed, the Holliday patriarch is built like an NFL linebacker - at 6-4, 240 pounds, he had both speed and power and at 45 still cuts an imposing figure when he's around a major league batting cage. While Holliday was a slugging left fielder, his eldest sons are cut from a different template: Jackson is 6 feet and 185 pounds, while Ethan is already 6-4, about 200 pounds and projected to stick at shortstop long term. Not exactly daddy duplicates from a physical standpoint. "Yeah, it's nice having good genetics," says Kody Clemens, youngest son of seven-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens, and a versatile reserve for the Minnesota Twins. "But the exposure is probably more important." The scientific community generally agrees. 'Biology is really good at mixing things up' It's been nearly a decade since Alejandro Lucia collaborated with renowned genomic professor Claude Bouchard - regarded as a godfather of genetics and exercise - on a 2016 study exploring the responses and adaptations of the body to exercise. Lucia, a professor and researcher at European University of Madrid, worked with human patients and animals and extensively explored how genetics influence the body. "We found, basically, nothing," says Lucia. That's not to say genetics don't affect body types. Lucia says there is an "undeniable genetic influence" that he pegs at around 50% that determines whether a person's phenotype is better suited toward respiratory fitness or muscular makeup. Humans, at their core, are endurance animals, he says. Yet what makes athletes great are almost exclusively influenced by environment, be it the preponderance of elite East African distance runners or, say, an elite travel baseball team from Texas. "Is it the genes you have inherited from your father? Or is it the influence, the atmosphere?" says Lucia. "In the case of sports performance, we're not talking about a single phenotype. It's the combination of many phenotypes. What makes you a good basketball player? Is it strength? Is it skill? Is it motivation? It's many different things. "It is probably the combination of too many factors. We tend to blame our genetics on too many things." Certainly, genetics play some role in getting a child into the game. Stephen M. Roth, a professor of kinesiology at the University of Maryland, has studied genetics and elements of skeletal muscle and athletic performance for more than 20 years. Loosely, he pegs the chances of bestowing athletic genes on offspring at about 50%, though some factors have a higher likelihood of inheritance. Height, for instance, has closer to 80% inheritability. "Most of these traits are remarkably complex. It's not just a single gene that's contributing and you either have it or you don't," says Roth. "It's going to be a lot of different genes, all contributing and the likelihood that at least some of those are passed down is probably pretty good. But certainly not all of them, in the exact pattern that either parent has. "Biology is really good at mixing things up, and purposefully doing so." Roth says certain psychological factors - competitiveness, say - have about a 20-30% likelihood of inheritability. Yet it's almost impossible for genetics to outkick an athlete's surroundings. "When you see a given geographic group or set of families who are especially successful in a given sport, instead of thinking of genes I will think of the special environment of this particular geographic reason or this particular family" says Lucia. "The example, the inspiration they get from their parents. "I will never be a great baseball player. But maybe my genetic makeup is not that different from the best baseball player in the U.S." 'The Clay Stare' And sometimes the next generation quickly exceeds its predecessors. Cody Bellinger didn't need much time to push the label "son of ex-Yankee Cody Bellinger" into the background. He hit 20 home runs in his first 51 major league games, and doubled his father's career total of 12 in his first 57. No, Cody wasn't inheriting Babe Ruth's genetic profile. Yet growing up Bellinger - Clay was part of World Series-winning Yankees teams in 1999 and 2000 - was pivotal. "You're in the batting cage, you're picking up baseballs, you're going out to batting practice and you just fall in love with it," says Bellinger, who won the 2019 NL MVP award and has a .760 OPS this season for the Yankees. "Moreso than other kids who don't have that opportunity. A huge blessing. "I think just being around it, you just appreciate it and you love it and it's not forced. For me, I loved it." That's one trait that can't be underestimated. The pressure of following in a famous father's footsteps can be immense. With no ceiling on travel ball and many ballplayer families residing in warm-weather climes, the potential for burnout is immense. "It's almost like going into the family business. You have this, maybe stated, but unstated expectation that you could, or maybe should, be following in this person's footsteps," says Roth, the Maryland professor. "You have this unique opportunity to go into this particular business. I think the concern is, how many of these kids actually feel pressure to do it, but don't realize they may not want to do it? "They may be good at it, but is this how they want to spend their lives? That can be really hard to disentangle. We see that following in the family business, too, where someone says, 'No, actually, I don't want to be a butcher.'" The second-gen kids who made the big leagues tended to steer into it. Craig Biggio, the Hall of Fame second baseman for the Houston Astros, was already retired by the time his son Cavan was in high school. So the elder Biggio took the coaching reins at Houston's St. Thomas High School, giving Cavan a potential double-whammy: A legacy to look up to, and the stigma that can come by being The Coach's Son. Yet it turns out his teammates thought it was nifty having a coach who was two years from having a bust in Cooperstown. "Because everybody loved having him, having a Hall of Fame guy," says Cavan, who is in his seventh major league season. "It was a professional environment from a high school level, which was really rare and cool. "So when I eventually got to pro ball, it was already things I was doing from a young age." Not that Dad can't be hard on the kid. Clay Bellinger also coached some of Cody's teams, preaching lessons Cody relies upon to this day, and also saying so much by saying virtually nothing. "I was lucky enough that my dad was the coach," says Bellinger, drafted in the fourth round by the Dodgers in 2013, "but me and my friends had a little joke - if you didn't do something well, you'd get the 'Clay Stare.' "He'd stare at you and you'd feel it. That you did something wrong. That was always something that we joked around with and that stuck with me - play the game hard." 'This was going to be for me' Of course, having a ballplayer dad means having lots of famous uncles. Matt Holliday played long enough that Jackson can remember kibitzing in the clubhouse and on the field with the likes of Nolan Arenado and Aaron Judge. Biggio recalls catcher Brad Ausmus as a "funny, witty guy," and appreciates the respect he was afforded from Astros such as Morgan Ensberg, Lance Berkman and Willy Taveras. Josh Barfield, a four-year major leaguer and now the assistant general manager of the White Sox and son of Blue Jays legend Jesse Barfield, counted Rickey Henderson and Ken Griffey Jr. as de facto family members thanks to his father's longtime friendships with both. As little kids and adolescents, they didn't go through the grind. But they got an up-close view of what it took to survive it. "You watch the work every day - and go out and try to replicate what I watched for so long," says Jackson Holliday. Sometimes, it's the only life they know. "Kasey and I always talk about how we really didn't understand what there was in life besides being a baseball fan or baseball player," says Kody Clemens of his older brother. "Growing up, we knew we wanted to be the players. "When (Roger Clemens) was in New York and in the tail end of his career in Houston - that was when I realized how good he was, why these people were coming to the stadium, why we were going to the stadium. From 5 to 10 years old was when I realized what was going on." While some of the legacy ballplayers become elite - like Bellinger and Blue Jays slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. - or are burgeoning stars like the Hollidays, others are determined to stick. Clemens has never played in more than 56 games since his 2022 debut and at 29 is enjoying his first taste of extended success with Minnesota, slugging six homers in 36 games after Philadelphia designated him for assignment in April. Biggio is currently at Class AAA with Kansas City, after making the club out of spring training; he's with his fourth organization in the past two seasons. It's plenty of time to ponder who makes it, who stays, and why. "I think athleticism has a ton to do with it, but everybody in pro ball is athletic, even college baseball," says Biggio. "I more credit being around it as a young kid. For me, it developed a passion and a love and a want for what this was going to be for me." Or, as Maryland's Roth puts it, "baseball is always in the environment. You have this almost constant presence. That's going to lead to expectations and opportunities for these kids." And the cycle rolls along. As Bellinger glances about the Yankees clubhouse, a pair of young boys, baseball gloves in hand, tail behind assistant hitting coach Casey Dykes, like ducklings following their mother to the pond. "There you go," he says as elementary-school aged Kash and Jett head out to the field, perhaps taking the tiniest steps toward draft day 2036. The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news -- fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.
