Council, St. Bonaventure persevere vs. Duquesne
Melvin Council Jr. and St. Bonaventure battled through adversity to defeat Duquesne in the 2025 A-10 Men's Basketball Championship, which fit the personalities of both Council and the Bonnies.
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Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
USGA says it's not necessary to test everyone's driver at events
OAKMONT, Pa. – Driver testing for characteristic time, or CT, became a headline at last month's PGA Championship when Rory McIlroy's driver was deemed nonconforming just days before the year's second major, and it was later learned that world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler's driver also failed the test, which essentially measures the 'springiness' of the driver face. Whether driver testing becomes a talking point again this week remains to be seen, but the USGA is forging ahead with testing at the U.S. Open. Advertisement According to John Bodenhamer, the USGA's chief championships officer, about a third of the field, a little more than 50 players, were tested this week at Oakmont. The USGA does not publish the results of the testing. 'There's nothing to suggest there are a ton of drivers that are over the limit,' said Thomas Pagel, the association's chief governance officer. 'It's less than a handful.' Following his victory at the PGA Championship, Scheffler said he'd like to see more 'robust' testing and that the current process only goes 'halfway.' Since the PGA Championship, many players have called for an all-or-nothing approach to driver testing and protocols that would either test the entire field at a particular event or no one. Advertisement 'We test them throughout the year and don't think it's necessary [to test every driver each week],' said Bodenhamer. 'It would be difficult, from a time perspective, to test every driver and we don't want to be too intrusive.' Currently, a player's driver is tested about three times a year at various events on the PGA Tour or at major championships, and logistically it would be a challenge to test the entire field at this week's U.S. Open with 156 players and each test lasting about 15 to 20 minutes. Instead, the USGA, along with the game's other stakeholders, contends more comprehensive testing isn't necessary based on the number of drivers that fail the CT testing. Close up on golf ball Plan B? No, the USGA is moving forward with ball roll back Advertisement USGA CEO Mike Whan stated clearly that the USGA, along with the R&A, plans to move forward with the ball roll back. 'We think the testing that we're doing is commensurate with both the degree of failure that we see, which is pretty minimal, and quite frankly, when we see failure, at least currently, we're seeing clubs just literally creep over the line,' said USGA CEO Mike Whan. 'It's a line we draw — we aren't seeing when we're taking drivers off, drivers that are, oh, my gosh, look where that one went [over the limit].' Some players also questioned the testing protocols, pointing out that there is no testing for CT, or creep, at LIV Golf events. The USGA, which administers CT testing at Tour events and the PGA Championship, does not test drivers at LIV events but Pagel said 'any tour, men or women, who reaches out for support, we would support.'
Chicago Tribune
8 hours ago
- Chicago Tribune
With the NCAA landscape changing, can small schools thrive in college athletics without the big bucks?
ORLANDO, Fla. — As schools prepare to begin sharing millions with their athletes, there is no avoiding the reality that if you're not a Power Four school, you're at a disadvantage. With major conferences running the show, St. Bonaventure and Florida International don't even have a seat at the table. FIU and St. Bonaventure aren't necessarily worried about a head-to-head fight over top players with deeper-pocketed schools. The priority has become survival and finding a balance between athletics ambition and financial sustainability. Adrian Wojnarowski spoke candidly about the challenges he faced during his inaugural season as the general manager of the St. Bonaventure men's basketball team. Solidifying a recruiting class that would improve the team and embrace the school culture was not easy. After July 1, when lucrative paychecks will pretty much become mandatory for blue-chip prospects, it's not going to get any easier. With some 2,000 undergraduate students, the Bonnies are outnumbered in resources and revenue when competing even against other Atlantic 10 teams like VCU, Dayton, and Saint Louis. Wojnarowski, ESPN's former lead NBA reporter, thinks he has identified a formula for locating the ideal prospect. To him, St. Bonaventure is a landing spot for international players adjusting to a new culture and college life, transfers who may have fallen short at a high major and need development, or those looking to move up to a mid-major. He admits the school in upstate New York could be a pit stop on a player's journey. 'I want them to see that our environment, our coaching staff, our small school, especially for international players coming over, what I really try to sell is your adjustment to American college life,' he said at the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics and Affiliates Convention this week. 'I think for a lot of kids, it's easier in a school with 1,900 students than a school with 19,000. And you'll come to have two great years with us, and then you'll probably end up at schools with 19,000 or 29,000,' he said. 'And so you're selling, for us, we're your first step on the way to somewhere else, or the other one to me is we're the place to come when you've got to get the basketball right.' Female athletes appeal landmark NCAA settlement, saying it violates federal antidiscrimination lawIf the plan goes awry and a recruit slips away, one thing the former NBA insider refuses to do is blame the money. 'Fundraising is hard, creating new revenue streams is hard, but the one thing that I try to stay away from with us is not saying, 'Oh, we didn't get him because they offered more money,' and using that as a crutch all the time. I really examine when we lost a player,' Wojnarowski said. 'Are we being honest with ourselves in saying that we did everything outside the economics to make our case to this person?' FIU has more than 40,000 undergraduates, but the athletic department is using a similar philosophy, pinpointing advantages and opportunities to come from the settlement instead of the negatives. Similar to St. Bonaventure, FIU doesn't expect to come close to the $20.5 million revenue-sharing cap available over the next year. For a competitive edge, unlocking new revenue streams is fundamental. 'To compete, from a revenue standpoint, you have to think outside the box of your conventional fundraising and targeting donors,' senior associate athletic director Joseph Corey said. 'That's why you're looking at concerts being held at different venues, different festivals to generate extra revenue to bring in, different revenue streams, and not just fundraising going after the same donors. You've got to go beyond that in order to be able to compete.' Being based in Miami has its perks. Proximity to celebrities is one of them. In August, FIU secured a 10-year partnership with Pitbull, the singer and rapper who coins himself 'Mr. 305.' 'We did the partnership with Pitbull – Pitbull Stadium. He's on tour, but part of the deal was that he would be collaborating with us and doing events for us from a fundraising standpoint,' Corey said. 'You've got to think outside the box. Especially in a city like Miami, it's about the experience too.' Schools unlocking creative revenue streams is something that can be expected. FIU competes in Conference USA alongside teams like Liberty, Louisiana Tech, UTEP, Kennesaw State and Jacksonville State. The football team went 3-5 in 2024, finishing sixth in the conference. The men's basketball team finished last with a 3-15 conference record. It's hard to sell donors on losing teams. 'Let's call it what it is, FIU's not going to be able to keep up with the Alabamas of the world, the Georgias, Michigan, or Texas, but what can we do? We can be the best in our conference. That is our goal,' Corey said. 'Let's be the best in our conference and really compete there because once you're at the top of your conference, that means more revenue in other areas. Everyone wants to donate to a winner.'
NBC Sports
9 hours ago
- NBC Sports
Plan B? No, the USGA is moving forward with ball roll back
Ahead of the U.S. Open, Fred Perpall, Mike Whan and John Bodenhamer of the USGA address weather concerns, the "dense" rough at Oakmont, why drivers fail testing, the USGA's next media rights deal and more. OAKMONT, Pa. – Mike Whan is one of golf's most dynamic and engaging leaders as the USGA's CEO. He's also one of the game's most verbose executives, which makes his response Wednesday to a follow-up question regarding the association's plan to roll back the ball the ultimate tell. 'Is there a plan B?' a member of the media asked regarding a possible plan for the USGA to pivot if resistance to the roll back continues to mount. 'We've announced our plan,' Whan said simply. The not-so-subtle message was that the USGA and R&A intend to forge ahead with the roll back, which will begin in 2028 for elite professionals and 2030 for recreational players. 'We've given manufacturers dates that we know they're working on. They're submitting prototypes and have R&D efforts,' Whan said. 'I guess would you say, set in stone? Could we come across something that would make us feel like our decision needs to be altered? Could. We're definitely going to stay open-minded to that. But we have yet to see anything that would suggest that.' While some in the industry, specifically the PGA of America, have pushed back on the roll back, Whan is confident the move is the right decision for the long-term health of the game. 'Listen, I get this isn't easy and everybody has got their own constituents. As an industry, we have to be able to make small adjustments that are in the best interest of the game long-term, that we all know would be better 40 years from now if we were smart enough to make them today,' Whan said. 'We'll make those. Not everybody will like it. It'll be high anxiety until we get there. But nobody is going to die. The game is going to be great.'
