Latest news with #All-StatePlayeroftheYear
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Vote: Who will be Oklahoma high school baseball player of the year?
The Oklahoma high school baseball state tournaments get underway the first week of May, but who will be The Oklahoman's All-State Player of the Year? Fort Cobb-Broxton's Eli Willits and Stillwater's Ethan Holliday are two of the top high school baseball players in the country who will likely get selected early in the first round of the 2025 MLB Draft. Advertisement Here are 25 candidates from across the state, but that doesn't mean new contenders for the all-state squad can arise over the course of the final weeks of the season. Readers can vote now through noon Thursday, May 15. Please refresh your browser if the poll does not display. Pre-order book on Oklahoma HS basketball at 'The Big House' More: Oklahoma high school winter sports: 2024-25 All-State, All-City teams in basketball, swimming & wrestling More: Could Edmond Santa Fe's Savion Sims be another future No. 1 MLB draft pick from Oklahoma? Nick Sardis covers high school sports for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Nick? He can be reached at nsardis@ or on Twitter at @nicksardis . Sign up for The Varsity Club newsletter to access more high school coverage. Support Nick's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at . This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Vote: Who will be Oklahoma high school baseball player of the year?
Yahoo
29-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Richey Didn't see this one coming
Mar. 29—CHAMPAIGN — Morez Johnson Jr. was an anomaly in a college basketball world where commitments can be fleeting. Where prospective recruits can and regularly do change their minds about their basketball futures before ever winding up on a college campus. That wasn't Johnson's path. Advertisement Johnson committed to Illinois just a few months into his sophomore year at St. Rita. Way back in November 2022. A full 1,096 days before he'd ever suit up in an Illini jersey and play on Lou Henson Court. Two years to change his mind before signing and another six-plus months where the ink on that national letter of intent could have been reversed. Johnson was all-in on Illinois. Until he wasn't. The Friday news dumps of all Friday news dumps hit like a hammer when multiple national outlets reported Johnson had entered the transfer portal on Friday afternoon. The second Illinois player to do so in less than 24 hours after Carey Booth's late Thursday night entry into the portal. But losing a part-time starter and what appeared to be a foundational piece for Illinois' future in Johnson was a bit more jarring than the loss of another forward in Booth who couldn't break into the rotation at any point during the season. Advertisement That's what made Friday afternoon's news so stunning. Johnson spent two years committed. One year signed. Then just 30 games with Illinois before opting to move on for a different opportunity. Welcome to college basketball in 2025. Johnson was noncommittal about his future in the aftermath of Illinois' second-round exit in the NCAA tournament last Sunday night after the Illini's 84-75 loss to Kentucky. While teammates like Kylan Boswell, Tre White and Tomislav Ivisic spoke about the Illini's potential in the 2025-26 season as if they'd at least strongly considered they'd be a part of it, Johnson said he was "just taking it day by day." Five days as it turns out for Johnson to do what he didn't in high school. Leave Illinois. Advertisement While Johnson left St. Rita after three seasons, he didn't play his senior year at a prep school that would have offered him a broader national platform. It was a path three of his St. Rita teammates did take, though, with James Brown landing at Link Academy in Missouri, Nojus Indrusaitis leaving for Brewster Academy in New Hampshire and Melvin Bell transferring to La Lumiere in Indiana. Johnson actually wound up closer to home at Thornton, where he delivered a senior season that yielded The News-Gazette All-State Player of the Year and Illinois Mr. Basketball honors in 2024. Staying home — and staying committed to Illinois — endeared him to the Illini fan base. "A lot of players can't say they still stayed in Illinois and had the success I had in Illinois on a national standpoint," Johnson told The News-Gazette last April. "They feel like they have to leave the state to go do things. Personally, I think I did a great job these four years. I stayed. I didn't get too worried about other people. I kept working, kept my head in the right place and focused on my game and got better." Johnson showed the fruits of those labors during what turned out to be his lone season at Illinois. Advertisement The 6-foot-9, 255-pound forward notched his first double-double just 19 days into his college basketball career with 10 points and 13 rebounds in a blowout win against Maryland Eastern Shore. Johnson's playing time off the bench fluctuated a bit in the first 21/2 months of the season before he was inserted into the starting lineup when Ivisic was sidelined with mononucleosis. Johnson wound up starting eight games before breaking his left wrist on Feb. 15 against Michigan State — a stretch where he averaged 9.9 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.3 blocks while shooting 69 percent from the field. His return for postseason play saw him come off the bench again, and he finished his freshman season averaging seven points and 6.7 rebounds. "In most years Morez, as a freshmen in the Big Ten, the year he had would have had him up for All-Big Ten honors," Illinois coach Brad Underwood said last week in Milwaukee. "This year's freshman class was spectacular in the league, and yet he's had his moments. He's been a consistent rebounder. He's been an elite defender. He's a guy that is not delusional. He's a guy that loves to listen and play, and he's gotten so much better. His impact on our team was very, very evident when we didn't have him." And that was just when Johnson missed a month letting his broken wrist recover. Now, Illinois has to move forward without him for good. Any plans made in the last 10 months — let alone the three years since he committed — are now for naught. Advertisement It makes the Illini's own recruiting and roster building efforts that much more important. Especially when it comes to shaping the frontcourt given Ivisic's status on various NBA draft boards. Johnson's exit puts even more emphasis on getting the 7-foot-1 Croatian Ivisic back to Champaign for a second season. Losing Johnson and Booth also opens the door to adding a new frontcourt piece. That could happen through international recruiting (France's Jonas Boulefaa and Serbia's Aleksa Dimitrijevic both visited this past season) or the portal (Santa Clara' 7-footer Christoph Tilly is the name to know at the moment). It's just more moves and machinations Illinois likely didn't expect to have to make. Not with Johnson's long-term commitment and prominent role as a freshman. But that's college basketball in 2025. Anything is possible, however unlikely it might once seem.
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Central Valley's Brynn McGaughy is TNT's girls basketball state player of the year
From the moment Brynn McGaughy stepped on campus, Central Valley head coach Jason Wilson knew his new star forward was different. At 6-foot-3, the preseason Colfax transfer flashed guard-like perimeter skills from the start — facing up defenders, facilitating for teammates, and dropping threes with ease. But for all of her flashy highlights, the five-star recruit dominated the interior like few high school players can. Post moves, pretty touch shots on nearby floaters, you name it: McGaughy could do anything and everything she wanted. 'We felt like we had already had a pretty deep and talented team already,' Wilson said, 'and so we were just hoping that (Brynn) could add to it. 'And she obviously did.' In her lone year at Central Valley, McGaughy never lost. The Bears steamrolled opponents and claimed the 3A state title earlier this month at the Tacoma Dome, a storybook conclusion for the state's best player. She posted an 11-point, 11-rebound double-double in the March 8 championship, a 39-34 win over Lakeside (Seattle). 'A perfect season, it's hard to do,' McGaughy told The News Tribune. 'But the work that our team and coaches do… I feel like it was inevitable.' Battling through an ankle injury all tournament long, Wilson remembers asking his star ahead of the 3A title game: 'Hey, can you give me one more?' 'Oh yeah, I've got one more for you,' she replied. The accolades are pouring in — McDonald's All-American, Gatorade Player of the Year, WIAA 3A Tournament MVP — and McGaughy still isn't satisfied. Eyeing a local legacy with the Washington Huskies next, the Central Valley standout is The News Tribune's All-State Player of the Year. 'I never would've guessed that a kid with that kind of pedigree and all the accolades she had before even coming into this season... would be such a nice and humble kid,' Wilson said. 'But she really is a sweetheart, and everything she's had come to her, she's very deserving of. She's just a really good kid.' McGaughy knew this team had the roster to make noise by Week 1. A handful of nagging injuries, a challenging gauntlet of challengers at the Tacoma Dome — nothing would stand in their way. It was a mindset, McGaughy deemed it. A refusal to go down. 'We love to win more than anything,' she said. 'I think that's what it was. 'It's why we beat everybody by double-digits up until the state (tournament).' A crazy-but-true stat: Central Valley won their first 24 games this season by double digits, a well-oiled machine with routine victories by 20+ points. 'Whatever we need her to do, she didn't bat an eye,' Wilson said Monday. 'Early on in the year, you kind of just take it easy (with a new player) and you want to build that relationship and see what she can do. ... But as you get along and get more comfortable, you can start to challenge her in different ways. 'Whatever we asked of her, she tried to do the best of her ability, and that's what was cool about it. If she wasn't that way, I don't know if we're as successful as we were.' McGaughy netted a total of 31 Division-I offers when the dust settled last spring, and the decision intensified: Would she join the blue bloods of Duke or North Carolina? Would she follow in the footsteps of Central Valley alum Lexie Hull and play for Stanford? Would she take her talents to Iowa, or join the Ducks in Oregon? Would she stay home? A trip to Montlake put all debate to bed. 'On my first official visit to Washington… I knew right away,' McGaughy said Tuesday. 'That's why I'm so grateful and happy about it. I really didn't have to think on it. 'It was crystal clear. 'Just the people and the culture there, their vision for me as not only a basketball player but a person, too. … My (UW) head coach, Tina Langley, wants me to grow as a person and strive as a woman.'
