Vanderbilt's Mikayla Blakes named SEC Freshman of Year, first-team All-conference
Vanderbilt women's basketball guard Mikayla Blakes found her eyes on two prizes Tuesday.
Blakes was named SEC Freshman of the Year and was selected All-SEC first team.
She is averaging 23.3 points per game, which is tops in the nation among freshmen and sixth overall. Twice she has set NCAA freshman and SEC single-game scoring records − first with 53 points Jan. 30 against Florida and again with 55 points Feb. 16 against Auburn.
She has broken Vanderbilt's single-game scoring mark three times.
Her other notable accomplishments include:
Commodores' record for most points by a freshman (699)
Seven SEC Freshman of the Week awards, a program best
Four National Freshman of the Week honors
Donna Harris (1989-90) was the second, and most recent Vanderbilt player to earn SEC Freshman of the Year. Wendy Scholtens (1987-88) was the first.
Vanderbilt's next game is at 10 a.m. Thursday against either Tennessee or Texas A&M in the SEC Tournament in Greenville, S.C.
Paul Skrbina is a sports enterprise reporter covering the Predators, Titans, Nashville SC, local colleges and local sports for The Tennessean. Reach him at pskrbina@tennessean.com and on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter) @paulskrbina. Follow his work here.
CRYSTAL BALL: Where Vanderbilt women's basketball ranks in latest March Madness bracketology
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Vanderbilt basketball's Mikayla Blakes named SEC Freshman of Year
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USA Today
42 minutes ago
- USA Today
Auburn basketball learns opponent for 2025 ACC-SEC challenge
Auburn basketball learns opponent for 2025 ACC-SEC challenge Bruce Pearl and the Auburn Tigers will face a former SEC head coach in this year's edition of the ACC-SEC Challenge. The 2024 ACC-SEC Challenge was a huge success for the SEC, who posted a 14-2 record in the event. Auburn, unfortunately, was not on the winning side of last year's challenge, falling to Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, North Carolina, 84-78. This year, the Tigers will aim for revenge in front of their home crowd as they will host the NC State Wolfpack at Neville Arena for this year's edition of the ACC-SEC Challenge, Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports reports. This year's matchup is intriguing as it will pit Auburn's Bruce Pearl against former LSU head coach Will Wade, who is set to begin his first season as the Wolfpack's head coach after spending the last two seasons at McNeese State. Wade is set to take on the challenge of building NC State back into an ACC contender after the program recorded a 38-34 record, with a 14-26 mark in ACC play over the last two seasons under Kevin Keatts. Wade won 105 games in five seasons at LSU. Since arriving in Raleigh, Wade has worked tirelessly in his rebuilding efforts through the transfer portal by landing former North Carolina forward Ven-Allen Lubin, former Houston forward Terrance Arceneaux, and ex-Texas Tech forward Darrion Williams. He also landed the nation's No. 14 recruiting class with four-star guard Matt Able headlining the haul. Auburn basketball will nearly start from scratch with its roster following last season's Final Four run. Auburn signed key players, including Mississippi State forward Keshawn Murphy, the Big 12's leading scorer Keyshawn Hall, and a talented wing player in Elyjah Freeman this offseason. Pearl also landed a top-20 recruiting class that features two JUCO stars and a pair of four-stars from the high school ranks. This season's matchup with NC State has the makings of a classic. Here is a look at the complete lineup for this season's ACC-SEC Challenge. Contact/Follow us @TheAuburnWire on X (Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Auburn news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Taylor on Twitter @TaylorJones__

Yahoo
42 minutes ago
- Yahoo
ICE's go-to charter airline for deportations also flew NCAA teams, Inter Miami and more
Cheers greeted the Memphis men's basketball team as it emerged from an Airbus A320 on the night of March 16. The plane had carried the team from Fort Worth, Texas, to Memphis International Airport, and the flight home was a joyous one. The 16th-ranked Tigers were American Athletic Conference tournament champions and NCAA Tournament-bound. The trophy, topped by a large silver basketball, was buckled into a seat next to head coach Penny Hardaway. On the tarmac, cameras flashed. Hardaway gave well-wishers a thumbs-up. Players high-fived fans. Advertisement Less than 12 hours later, the same Airbus A320 – tail number N281GX – flew from El Paso, Texas, to Tapachula, Mexico. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) flight transported 105 men, seven women and one child. Handcuffs, leg irons, and a waist chain likely restrained most adults' wrists and ankles. Guards monitored the cabin. After landing in Tapachula, the sullen passengers filed off the plane, met by Mexican authorities in safety vests. Both flights were operated by Global Crossing Airlines, commonly referred to as GlobalX, a charter company based in Miami. In the last eight months, the company has transported athletic teams from Arkansas, Kentucky, Houston, Kansas, Marquette, Memphis, Miami, North Carolina and St. John's, among others. During March Madness, GlobalX planes carried the Duke men back from the Final Four and the UConn women home after winning the national title. GlobalX also has ferried professional teams, including Inter Miami CF and its star, Lionel Messi. At the same time, GlobalX has operated more than half of ICE deportation flights. The airline regularly shuttles deportees to Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and elsewhere, sometimes on the same planes that only hours or days earlier carried sports teams. The Trump administration's controversial March 15 deportation of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia and more than 200 others to El Salvador involved three GlobalX planes. Two of them carried college basketball teams in the weeks prior. Advertisement 'When you get asked to do an NCAA flight, you feel lighter,' said a former GlobalX pilot who spoke on the condition he not be identified. 'If your team wins, you get the honor of transporting the winning team. It's just a feeling of accomplishment. For me doing an ICE flight, I don't want to be dramatic and say it's like a death sentence, but I hated it.' The system of chartered ICE flights – referred to as ICE Air – has operated for more than a decade, spanning presidential administrations, immigration policies and airlines. The flights have long drawn criticism from human rights advocates, raising concerns about mistreatment of detainees, safety and a lack of transparency. Less spotlighted has been the crossover between GlobalX's sports charters and ICE Air, as universities and sports organizations unwittingly support a company deeply involved in and profiting from deportation flights. 'They may not have known, but now they do, so now they have a choice to make,' said Ann Skeet, a senior director at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University. 'They need to think about the purpose of their organization and their mission, and whether or not using a charter service that also serves ICE is consistent with their mission.' GlobalX and ICE didn't respond to emailed questions. Only 10 of 20 universities responded to requests for comment from about flights their teams took on GlobalX in recent months. The schools willing to speak about the matter said they were unaware that the planes they were on were also used to deport people. Memphis, for one, said in a statement: 'The University of Memphis uses multiple sources to charter athletic flights and have no knowledge of their customer base.' Many schools and coaches declined to address the issue at all; several feared potential retaliation given the Trump administration's targeting of some universities. Advertisement The first GlobalX revenue flight took off in August 2021. A slogan on the airline's website promised: 'You can't beat the eXperience.' The company soon became a major player in the sports charter business as its fleet expanded to more than a dozen. Past clients include professional basketball and football teams, a national soccer team, a major cricket tournament and an array of college sports teams. 'We do fly some of the biggest stars in professional sports, in soccer and some of the top – I think 10 of the top 20 college basketball teams for this season,' Ryan Goepel, the company's president and chief financial officer, said during an earnings call in March. GlobalX provided four dedicated aircraft for the NCAA men's and women's basketball tournaments this year as part of a contract worth at least $5 million, continuing a years-long relationship with the NCAA. March Madness travel is organized through the NCAA's charter program. Third-party brokers usually arrange travel for college teams during the regular season. In response to questions from about GlobalX, the NCAA issued a statement that didn't address them: 'The NCAA contracts only with safe and regulated charter plane vendors that maintain specified certifications, high ratings on reliable scales and meet insurance standards. The approval process for vendors is rigorous. We are not aware of any instances of sub-standard service on any charter flights during this championship season.' Advertisement A promotional video for sports charters on the GlobalX website earlier this year featured gourmet snacks, a grinning flight crew and spacious seats, complete with pillows, blankets and Fiji bottled water. A company brochure described its charter flights as 'the ultimate in flexibility, convenience, and luxury' and 'your ticket to wherever you want, whenever you want.' 'They were great flights, they are all excited about playing and having fun,' a second former GlobalX pilot said of the sports charters. 'That was one part of GlobalX's business model. The other part was the deportations.' Tom Cartwright, an immigration advocate who tracks ICE flights, first noted ICE's use of GlobalX in late 2021. GlobalX announced a five-year contract in August 2024 worth $65 million per year as a subcontractor to CSI Aviation for the flights. Cartwright estimates that from March through May of this year, GlobalX operated 64 percent of total ICE Air flights and 62 percent of deportation flights. Most adult passengers are required to be 'fully restrained' with 'handcuffs, waist chains, and leg irons,' according to the ICE Air Operations handbook. Carry-on items like books aren't allowed. Detainees can't wear belts, hats or shoelaces. Advertisement 'They're in conditions that you would see in a POW camp,' said the first former GlobalX pilot. An Airbus A320 with the tail number N291GX joined the GlobalX fleet last year, and its usage in recent months illustrates the disparate worlds the airline straddles. That plane carried San Diego State, Maryland, Kentucky and Auburn during the NCAA Tournament. In the two months preceding March Madness, N291GX flew dozens of times with flight numbers and destinations that match ICE Air routes. The plane traveled from Alexandria, La., to the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, then onto Comayagua, Honduras. The Honduran foreign minister tweeted a photo of the aircraft. ICE later announced that 177 detained migrants from Venezuela had been flown from Guantanamo Bay to Honduras, where a Venezuelan plane picked them up. Another trip deported 157 migrants from El Paso, Texas, to Tapachula, Mexico. Local media reported that passengers had been 'handcuffed and shackled from the waist to the feet and hands.' Advertisement The plane flew from El Paso to San Pedro Sula, Honduras, using a flight number associated with ICE Air. The airport is a regular destination for deportation flights. The next day, March 17, the same plane carried the San Diego State men's basketball team to Dayton, Ohio, and on March 19, it flew the Maryland men to Seattle. The plane traveled to San Salvador, El Salvador on another trip using a flight number associated with ICE Air, then, a week later, on April 2, ferried the Auburn men's basketball team to San Antonio International Airport for the Final Four, where a mariachi group and dancers in bright dresses greeted them in a hangar. Another GlobalX plane – tail number N278GX – landed in San Salvador on Jan. 29, according to flight records and local media reports. More than 80 deportees were aboard. A reporter for El Diario de Hoy photographed the red wrists of one of the passengers and wrote they 'show signs of having been handcuffed for hours.' Two days later, the Kansas State men's basketball team flew from Manhattan, Kan., to Des Moines, Iowa, aboard the same plane in advance of a game against Iowa State in Ames, Iowa. (In a statement, Kansas State said it has been 'pleased' with GlobalX's 'aircraft and service.') Advertisement Also on Jan. 29, a different GlobalX plane with the tail number N837VA ferried 40 deportees to San Pedro Sula. 'They brought me in chains from last night until we arrived here. We're not criminals,' one of the passengers, Dagoberto Portillo, told local media. 'I don't understand the treatment of migrants.' Three days later, the Nebraska men's basketball team traveled aboard the same plane from Lincoln, Neb., to Eugene, Ore. The university said in a statement that the school wasn't 'involved in how that plane was received or procured.' Another GlobalX plane with the tail number N276GX landed at Eduardo Gomes International Airport in Manaus, Brazil, on Jan. 24 with 88 Brazilian deportees. Someone activated the aircraft's emergency exit slides. Photos and videos recorded a chaotic scene where shackled passengers stood on a wing and others roamed the tarmac. Brazil's Ministry of Foreign Affairs derided 'the use of handcuffs and chains' and 'undignified treatment' on the flight. Advertisement 'The most difficult moment was when the air conditioning broke down in the air, people started to feel sick, some fainted and children were crying,' Kaleb Barbosa, one of the passengers, told the Brazilian media outlet G1. 'The turbines were stopping during the flight; it was desperate, like something out of a movie.' The same plane carried the men's basketball teams from Arkansas and Houston in the previous two months, amid a stream of deportation trips. Those didn't stop. Neither did the sports flights. On May 13, the plane transported the Miami track and field team to the Atlantic Coast Conference outdoor championships in Winston-Salem, N.C. Miami's men's and women's basketball teams and baseball team also have flown GlobalX this year. The university didn't respond to a request for comment. A higher-profile Miami team is featured on GlobalX's Instagram account. The airline shuttled Messi and the rest of Inter Miami CF to preseason matches in Peru and Honduras this year in addition to a match in Kansas City. Inter Miami also didn't respond to a request for comment. Advertisement When Inter Miami arrived at Ramón Villeda Morales International Airport in San Pedro Sula on Feb. 8, fire trucks shot arcs of water over the plane with the tail number N281GX. Photographers snapped pictures of players, including Messi, walking down the passenger stairs. Contrast that with a flight that same plane made into San Pedro Sula on Dec. 4. Deportees, some of them with children, were photographed as they walked the tarmac. Behind them was the plane they traveled on, 'GlobalX' written in giant blue letters across its fuselage. 'On the one hand, you have the low-end flights for people, which are basically shackled in the sky,' said Angelina Godoy, director of the University of Washington's Center for Human Rights and author of a 2022 study about ICE Air, 'and then you have the other end, the very high-end flights, with these corporate logos and everything on the plane and the athletes in there looking great … and it's the same damn (plane).' This article originally appeared in The Athletic. Advertisement Inter Miami CF, MLS, College Football, Men's College Basketball, Soccer, Sports Business, Women's College Basketball, FIFA Club World Cup, A1: Must-Read Stories, Graphics 2025 The Athletic Media Company


Chicago Tribune
43 minutes ago
- Chicago Tribune
Chicago baseball report: The White Sox have a youth movement while the Cubs eye the trade deadline
The Cubs return to Wrigley Field following a three-city trip where they faced three of the best starting pitchers in the majors. They continue their stretch of 26 games in 27 days with a 10-day homestand that kicks off Thursday with four against the struggling Pittsburgh Pirates. Manager Will Venable returns to face his previous team on Friday when the White Sox begin a three-game series against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. Venable spent 2023-24 on Bruce Bochy's staff as the associate manager. Every Thursday during the regular season, Tribune baseball writers will provide an update on what happened — and what's ahead — for the Cubs and White weeks before the July 31 trade deadline, the Cubs are still in information-gathering mode. Very few teams are fully committed to selling at this point in the season, but president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer and the front office continue to check in and monitor everything. Beyond that, it'll likely be a few weeks before trade activity starts to pick up. But when the market gets moving, expect Hoyer to be involved to improve a Cubs team that sits 14 games over .500 and currently holds a 4.5-game lead in the National League Central following Wednesday's 7-2 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies. With how things are trending, addressing the rotation and pitching depth will be a priority for the Cubs leading up to the trade deadline. The loss of Justin Steele for the season and injuries to Shota Imanaga, Javier Assad and Jordan Wicks have tested the Cubs' depth. Imanaga is nearing a return from his left hamstring strain. He will pitch three innings in the Arizona Complex League on Saturday, and if everything goes well, his next step would be a rehab outing at Triple A. Assad (reaggravation of oblique strain) is still not expected to be back until after the All-Star break next month. Wicks sustained a hamstring injury and recently threw live batting practice with getting back to Iowa on the horizon. 'We've definitely taken a lot of hits there, and these guys have held up well, but it's a long season,' Hoyer said Wednesday. 'We're not even halfway through yet, so we have to continue to address that in all sorts of ways, whether it's the trade deadline, small transactions, and hopefully get some of these guys healthy.' Barring any other notable injuries, like season-altering ones on the position player side, the Cubs might also target an upgrade for the bench or a complementary piece. 'I do think, in general, that it used to be that you had some more transactions in the tank in August and September, and now you don't, so you have to think about that aspect of it,' Hoyer said. 'You have to play two months without those transactions. 'This group is a really good group. And it's not just on offense, it's on defense as well.' Edgar Quero provided an insurance run Saturday against the Kansas City Royals with a sacrifice fly to center in the eighth inning of a 4-1 win at Rate Field. The next day, the catcher extended a ninth-inning rally with an RBI single. Quero came through in a DH role during Tuesday's series opener at Houston, driving in two with a two-out single in the third inning of a 4-2 victory. Quero has been a consistent contributor at the plate since being called up from Triple-A Charlotte on April 17. He has a .262/.340/.308 with six doubles and 14 RBIs in 41 games entering Wednesday. Before Sunday's game against the Royals, Quero told the Tribune he was 'feeling pretty good.' 'I'm working, especially behind the plate,' Quero said. 'I had a really good day (Saturday) framing. Helped the guys, that was pretty good for me. 'I work every day, trying to do adjustments. Working with (catching coach) Drew (Butera) and doing early work. Just keep working and doing what I do.' Quero is connecting well with the pitching staff. 'He's been doing a really good job back there,' starter Adrian Houser said on Saturday. Quero is splitting time at catcher with another rookie in Kyle Teel, who was called up from Triple A on Friday. 'He's a great guy to work with,' Teel said on Friday. 'He's really smart and he knows the pitching staff well. We talk all the time and it's just great to be back with him.' Quero has enjoyed mixing with the younger players and the veterans. '(I'm) having fun every day,' he said. With Grant Taylor's arrival on Tuesday, the Sox have 10 rookies on the active roster — the most in the majors according to STATS. Pitchers Sean Burke, Shane Smith, Mike Vasil, Owen White, Brandon Eisert and Taylor, catchers Quero and Teel, and infielders Tim Elko and Chase Meidroth round out the list. Ian Happ felt he was getting close. The Cubs' left fielder hadn't been generating the power numbers as expected through the first 2 1/2 months of the season but believed he was getting closer as they started their three-city, nine-game trip. There were signs that had Happ feeling encouraged. Between the swings he was taking against fastballs and his plate discipline of staying in the strike zone was putting him in a good spot. Happ homered three times in the first two games of the Cubs' series in Philadelphia and finished the road trip with five extra-base hits, featuring four long balls. 'It's nice that when you're struggling, the team's still winning, still producing,' Happ said. 'When you're not getting on base for the guys that drive it a bunch of runs, that sucks. You want to be getting on base for those guys consistently. I know that's something that's tough when you're top of the lineup and you're not on base for those guys and (Kyle Tucker) is hitting with nobody on base.' The switch-hitting Happ hit his first home run off a lefty this season in Monday's extra-inning loss, tying the game in the eighth inning by taking Phillies reliever Matt Strahm deep. 'I feel like I've made a lot of really good right-handed swings this year,' Happ said. 'On the right side, it's been pretty consistent: walking, not striking out, and doing a really good job of hitting the ball hard. It's just been low, and so to get one in the air and see leaving that situation was great.' Mike Tauchman doubled with one out in the third inning Tuesday against the Astros. Meidroth followed with a walk. Both later scored on a two-out single by Quero. Tauchman and Meidroth keep finding ways to get on base at the top of the Sox lineup. Leadoff batter Tauchman came into Wednesday with 14-for-47 (.298) with six doubles, a triple, two home runs, eight RBIs and 11 walks in his last 13 games. No. 2 hitter Meidroth is 12-for-32 (.375) with a double, home run, four RBIs and seven walks in his last nine games. Overall this season, Tauchman entered Wednesday hitting .286 with a .414 on-base percentage in 20 games while Meidroth had a .293 average and .383 on-base percentage in 44 games. 'Just really consistent, quality at-bats where you have guys who control the zone extremely well,' Venable said before Tuesday's game, also including Miguel Vargas in that mix, 'so it's been nice to start your day as an offense with those three guys.' 'When he punched out (Kyle) Schwarber and punched out (Alec) Bohm, that's the Ryan Pressly that we're used to seeing, and I think he keeps getting better, which is fantastic.' —