Latest news with #Feagin
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Pros and cons of Los Angeles Sparks taking South Carolina's Sania Feagin in 2025 WNBA Draft
South Carolina women's basketball forward Sania Feagin was selected by the Los Angeles Sparks with the 21st overall pick in the second round of the 2025 WNBA Draft on April 14. Feagin was there live in the audience at The Shed at Hudson Yards in Manhattan, New York, sitting at a table with her mother, Sherri, her younger brother and her aunt and uncle. Advertisement Coach Dawn Staley and the South Carolina coaching staff were there as well to support Feagin. Feagin was the third South Carolina player to be taken in the draft, joining Te-Hina Paopao (No. 18, Atlanta Dream) and Bree Hall (No. 20, Indiana Fever). Feagin started every game this season for the Gamecocks, who lost to UConn in the national championship game on April 6. She averaged 8.4 points and 4.5 rebounds per game and shot a team-high 60% from the field this season. The positives for South Carolina's Sania Feagin Feagin is a proven winner. She spent four years under Staley, one of the most accomplished coaches, and she came out of the program as one of the most successful players. Advertisement She made four Final Fours, is a four-time SEC regular-season champion, a two-time national champion and finished with a 144-7 overall record. That experience will be a huge asset when she joins her new teammates and in a new program. Her crisp short jumper separates her as a versatile shooter and she can hit 3-pointers, which expands her usage as a forward. Feagin runs the floor well and has good court vision, joining quick guards in a pick-and-roll game, and sees taller players for dump-off passes. She can play on-ball defense and keep up with faster guards. She averaged 1.5 blocks per game this season. She grew into a leader and more confident player, so if that carries into the next level, she will flourish at the right time. She's coachable, and Staley praised her work ethic and passion all season. The concerns for South Carolina's Sania Feagin Feagin is a bit undersized at 6-foot-3, and her rebounding sometimes suffers against taller players. Advertisement Coaches and scouts might look at her scoring average of 8.1 points a game this season and wonder if she can produce at a higher clip. As a rookie, she likely will have fewer minutes on the court than what she had as a senior at South Carolina. Final thoughts Staley said that Feagin has always been one of her most talented post players, with skill, drive and heart, which translate to dominance on the court. She has the offensive talent and defensive effort to compete in the WNBA, and if she can build on the success she had at South Carolina, she could have a long professional career. Lulu Kesin covers South Carolina athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email her at lkesin@ and follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @Lulukesin This article originally appeared on Greenville News: LA Sparks pick South Carolina's Sania Feagin in 2025 WNBA Draft
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Virginia university reform efforts mirror nationwide conservative attacks, experts say
(Photo illustration by Andrew Kerley/Capital News Service) By Andrew Kerley/Capital News Service Joe Feagin had to swear an oath he was not a communist to land his first university teaching job in 1966. Feagin, 86, received his bachelor's degree in Texas during McCarthyism and the viciously oppressive Jim Crow era. The '60s were turbulent, Feagin said. Vietnam War and Civil Rights protests were frequent. Demographics were shifting as more Latinos and Asians arrived under liberalized immigration laws. 'Everything was looking up at that point,' Feagin said. 'Jim Crow laws were being crushed, Black folks were finally making it into the mainstream white universities where they had been rare or nonexistent.' But Feagin, who spent nearly 60 years in higher education, believes progress is slipping. President Donald Trump is publicly threatening to withhold federal funding for schools over anti-war protests and diversity initiatives that took root decades ago. A less-visible battle is being fought in over half of all states, including Virginia, to remove protections for professors, independent curriculum control and university-shared governance. Educators warn changes are part of a conservative blueprint, and academic freedom is at stake. Conservative leaders say they will foster intellectual diversity, create more career pathways and bolster the marketplace. Faculty have traditionally held power over university curriculums, but that eroded significantly over the years, according to leading Virginia political analyst Bob Holsworth. Holsworth, also a former Virginia Commonwealth University professor and board of visitors member, said Gov. Glenn Youngkin is exercising a much heavier hand through his board appointees. Boards create university budgets, hire and fire presidents, appoint faculty and rubber stamp curriculums created by faculty. But, their decisions have become increasingly intrusive and politicized, according to Holsworth. While the deterioration of independent governance and hiring of tenured faculty has been ongoing for decades, it has been exacerbated by recent politics and the rise of Trump. Students and faculty at VCU and George Mason University spent years drafting new learning requirements to teach topics such as systemic racism, gender studies and workplace inequity. Some of the content paralleled the wake from 2020 and its summer of protests against police brutality. The new initiatives — called 'racial literacy' at VCU and 'Just Societies' at GMU — were set to be implemented in 2024. But Youngkin's education secretary requested to view the syllabi, and soon after both universities canceled the requirements. Christian Martinez, Youngkin's former press secretary, called the course requirements a 'thinly veiled attempt to incorporate the progressive left's groupthink on Virginia's students.' 'That's a step beyond what we've ever seen,' Holsworth said. The blueprint for the board interference was first tested in Florida, according to Amy Reid. She taught at the New College of Florida, one of the Sunshine State's few public liberal arts schools, until Gov. Ron DeSantis made moves in 2023 to remove the gender studies program she directed. DeSantis appointed six new members to the college's board of trustees in 2023, the majority of whom lived outside Florida and were conservative activists, according to Reid. DeSantis' appointees voted to end the school's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Office, according to Reid. They also removed university officials and faculty who didn't fit their vision of the school, including the president, provost, some LGBTQ+ employees and a Chinese adjunct professor seeking asylum from his home country. Reid now works at PEN America, a free speech organization that pushes back against what it calls educational gag orders. Officials increasingly use indirect tactics to achieve censorial goals, Reid said. Coordinated attacks have shifted from K-12 to higher education in recent years. Over 90 bills to reform higher education at public universities, and some private ones, have been introduced across 26 states in the past three years, according to PEN America data. At least 16 have become law as of March 6. The highest number of bills were introduced after Trump's reelection. Almost half of the legislation focused on eliminating or preventing DEI initiatives that promoted concepts related to race, color, religion, sex, ethnicity or national origin — from curriculum to faculty training. But other legislation challenges traditional higher-ed structure by putting university governance, the decision-making power given to student and faculty bodies, on the chopping block. Several bills seek to eliminate or weaken tenure status for faculty, which was created to safeguard academic freedom from politics. Others strip universities of independent accreditation standards, which certify the quality of education at colleges. Some bills break tradition by giving states authority to establish programs and curriculum where American values and ideas, or Western civilization, are predominantly taught. Even if legislation fails, governors can censor higher education through their appointed board members, Reid said. Although there is a government push for free speech, students need an education free from their censorship, Reid said. This is precisely why academic freedom, shared governance and institutional autonomy are needed. Conservative groups such as the Claremont Institute, Manhattan Institute and the Heritage Foundation are coordinating efforts between states, Reid said. Members push initiatives and propose candidates for university boards. The Heritage Foundation created the almost 1,000 page Project 2025 blueprint to reshape the American government. Trump denied his involvement with Project 2025 while campaigning, but immediately began enacting parts of the plan once in office, including efforts to dismantle the Department of Education. The Heritage Foundation's influence has increasingly grown in Virginia. Youngkin, who has deep ties to the foundation, has appointed Project 2025 authors to the boards of visitors at GMU and the University of Virginia. Virginia universities have complied with Trump and Youngkin's efforts to cancel racial learning requirements, dissolve DEI programs and instate new campus speech policies that limit protesting. Medical centers at UVA and VCU also stopped providing gender affirming care for people under age 19, per an executive order from Trump. Trump has threatened to cut federal funding for research and student financial aid for schools that do not comply. Virginia ranks 13th in research and development performance, according to the Virginia Mercury. UVA received $549 million in research awards in 2024, according to their report. VCU received $200.1 million, according to spokesman Brian McNeill. The Heritage Foundation aims to wind down federal involvement in higher education, which it says has a monopoly on accreditation standards and student loans, according to its policy analyst Madison Marino Doan. The foundation wants more privatization on those fronts. Additionally, it believes university administrations are bloated bureaucracies that must be held accountable for increasing tuition and pushing DEI, Marino Doan said. Reform efforts are a result of Americans' dissatisfaction with costs and the diminishing value of career paths in the humanities. 'Institutions have increasingly prioritized what we would say is ideological activism and oftentimes bureaucratic bloat over academic excellence and student outcomes,' Marino Doan said. The plan is to remove federal funds and accreditation standards and transfer power to individual states. Those moves would make way for more specific standards per industry, and emphasize alternative postsecondary education options such as trade schools and apprenticeships. 'I will fire the radical left accreditors that have allowed our colleges to become dominated by Marxist maniacs and lunatics,' Trump said while campaigning. Trump directed the secretary of education to deny accreditation to agencies that use DEI-based standards, in an executive order released April 22. Universities must be accredited by nationally-recognized agencies to be eligible for federal aid. Higher-ed groups warn the accreditation order could give Trump more power and threaten academic freedom, according to the publication Inside Higher Ed. Feagin, who recently retired from Texas A&M University, believes America has been 'zigzagging' toward progress since the '40s, up until President Barack Obama was elected. Conservative demographics lashed back at Obama's victory by forming populist factions like the Tea Party, utilizing political redistricting and eventually electing Trump. Feagin said that with attacks on higher education and the destruction of federal programs with 'no apparent purpose,' America is back to where it was in the early '60s and moving 'rapidly backwards.' Gutting research is economic suicide in the face of China's faster development, Feagin said. Cutting diversity will only make universities unpleasant. Efforts to stop the diversification of America will only be temporary victories. 'You can slow it down. You can make it miserable,' Feagin said. 'That's what Trump is doing.' Capital News Service is a program of Virginia Commonwealth University's Robertson School of Media and Culture. Students in the program provide state government coverage for a variety of media outlets in Virginia. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
USA Today
16-04-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Former Clemson cornerback announces transfer to play for Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss
Former Clemson cornerback announces transfer to play for Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss Tavoy Feagin is headed to the SEC. The former Clemson cornerback announced Wednesday that he's transferring to Ole Miss, just hours after officially entering the NCAA transfer portal. The move comes less than a week after he was absent from the Tigers' annual Orange & White Spring Game—something head coach Dabo Swinney acknowledged following the scrimmage. Feagin, a redshirt freshman, played sparingly during his lone season at Clemson. He saw action in just two games—against Appalachian State and The Citadel—logging a total of 11 snaps on defense while maintaining his 6-foot, 180-pound defensive back arrived at Clemson with plenty of potential. A former Under Armour All-American from Carrollwood Day School in Tampa, Florida, Feagin was rated No. 173 overall in the 2023 class by Rivals and was considered the No. 22 cornerback in the country. Though he wasn't expected to crack Clemson's two-deep in 2025, Feagin will have four years of eligibility remaining as he begins the next chapter of his career in Oxford. His departure is the first for the Tigers during the spring portal window, which opened Wednesday—and time will tell if others decide to follow. Contact us @Clemson_Wire on X, and like our page on Facebook for ongoing coverage of Clemson Tigers news and notes, plus opinions.
New York Times
27-03-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
WNBA Draft confidential: GMs anonymously scout women's college basketball post players
The 2025 WNBA Draft is guard-heavy, with the top two picks expected to be backcourt players. The frontcourt pool might be a little shallower, but it has huge upside, even if that potential could take a little longer to realize. Perimeter players in this draft are primarily collegians, but many of the bigs are international, which means they're younger and have longer runways to develop or even get to the WNBA. Advertisement Nevertheless, expect players such as Dominique Malonga to become household names sooner rather than later. How Malonga and her international cohorts stack up against NCAA stars such as USC's Kiki Iriafen and LSU's Aneesah Morrow is the subject of today's scouting exercise. In anticipation of the WNBA Draft on April 14, six WNBA general managers shared their candid opinions about the upcoming draft class with The Athletic before the NCAA Tournament. They were granted anonymity to allow them to speak openly. Tuesday, we published the evaluations of the 2025 draft-eligible guards and wings, including Paige Bueckers, Olivia Miles and Te-Hina Paopao. (Players are listed in alphabetical order. Statistics current through Tuesday.) 'I like Feagin a lot. I think Feagin is a really good basketball player. She makes good decisions. I think she's a very underrated passer. She plays her role. She doesn't try to do too much. I just think she is really, really solid and she's a real key to (South Carolina's) success.' 'She has grown in her confidence, which seems to be an X factor for her and her team. Her potential is limitless in particular if she expands her range.' 'Kiki Iriafen will translate into the next level with her athleticism and her scoring ability. She's also a strong rebounder.' 'True rim-running post. Relentless to the glass and therefore can create offense without it being run through her. Capable driver from the elbows, midrange capable shooter.' 'It seems like the back half of the season, we've seen more of what I think we saw previously from Kiki (at Stanford). Her footwork is great. Her size is great. The more you can face up and shoot, whether it's (from) 3 or 18 feet, you're gonna be more impactful and harder to guard.' 'Aaliyah Edwards is a good comp. Iriafen's bigger, but Edwards is probably a little more skilled.' KIKI IRIAFEN THE WOMAN THAT YOU ARE. 10-0 RUN FROM KIKS ‼️ 📺 ESPN — USC Women's Basketball (@USCWBB) March 25, 2025 'Her ability to handle and create for others will translate well. She's a playmaker who is versatile in her scoring. She's a positionless talent.' 'Great shooter. Great size. Defensively is where both her and (forward Ajsa) Sivka need to continue to improve. But you're not gonna go wrong if you take a chance on either one of (Jocytė or Sivka). The upside is tremendous.' Advertisement 'Someone still may believe in a traditional big, so she gets drafted, but I think the majority of teams have passed on that style of player.' 'The injury causes a little bit of uncertainty there, but a good player, obviously. Somebody that we're talking about.' 'Malonga is going to be able to dominate in the paint, she's very mobile and has elite size. She's also going to be able to be a rim protector.' 'An elite international young prospect with tremendous size and athleticism. She has unlimited ability offensively to not only score around the basket but is already comfortable from the 3-point line. Arguably could be the most talented player in this draft class, but questions remain over the desire and dependability of her playing year after year in the W.' 'The most intriguing prospect from an upside perspective. We could look back and say she was the clear No. 1 in this draft.' What a statline?! 🫠 Dominique Malonga did E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G for @ASVEL_Feminin this week in #EuroCupWomen 😮💨 — EuroCup Women (@EuroCupWomen) March 15, 2025 'She's probably a little undersized to play the four, so she's going to have to continue to develop an outside shot if she's going to step out and play the three some. She seems very motivated to continue to improve her game, but she's gonna have to develop a bit more of an outside shot.' 'A hard-working, elite rebounder. She's physical, she can dominate the boards and will be able to defend multiple positions.' 'In no way is she like Angel Reese, but her rebounding numbers, she's an unbelievable rebounder, and at some point, you can't discount that. She's gonna go get the ball, and you need that. I don't know where she goes in the draft. I don't know if she's ever a starter in the WNBA. I like her just because of her tenacity and her ability to just go get that thing.' Advertisement 'She is willing to do what the system needs her to do. The question mark is what is her archetype as far as the type of player she's gonna be.' 'I think she's very intriguing. Does her style fit with the current WNBA? Unclear, but I think she's extremely intriguing.' 'Defensively is probably the challenge there for her. She's got so much experience. Obviously, has done great things for TCU this year, I just think it has to be the right system and right fit for her.' 'If she's gonna succeed, the shooting is gonna have to continue to be there, be consistent, be a threat. The way the game's headed, can she stay on the floor from a speed and athleticism standpoint? Can she stay healthy? Obviously, there's the off-court stuff. I think there's a place for her just because she impacts the game so much and her size and her skill, but the age (24) makes it a really hard thing to kind of figure out.' 'Ajsa Sivka's game will translate in her size, her skill and high basketball IQ. She also has strong shooting ability.' 'There's another step in her development she needs to take. The defensive end of the floor is a space that I have concerns about.' 'Three-point shooting wing with great size, in the mold of Katie Lou Samuelson. Questions remain about her ability to create her own shot, her ballhandling or ability to compromise the paint off the dribble, but her size and ability to shoot 3s can't be ignored.' 'The size, the sheer size, and the way she shoots the ball and the things she's doing at her age (19). You've got somebody there you can build on for 15 years.' (llustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; Photos of Dominique Malonga, Aneesah Morrow and Kiki Iriafen: Gregory Shamus, Andy Lyons, Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)
USA Today
24-03-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
South Carolina's daring March Madness escape: How not to panic before the Sweet 16
South Carolina's daring March Madness escape: How not to panic before the Sweet 16 Show Caption Hide Caption Women's basketball players you must watch in March Madness Mackenzie Salmon and Meghan Hall give a few players to keep your eye on in the women's March Madness tournament that are not named Paige Bueckers. Sports Seriously On Sunday afternoon in Columbia, South Carolina, Indiana Hoosiers guard Chloe Moore-McNeil dribbled toward the sideline during the first half of a tight March Madness second-round matchup. South Carolina guard Raven Johnson, engaged on defense, closely tracked her every move. Moore-McNeil eventually trailed off, passing the ball to junior guard Shay Ciezki, who was waiting to set up a score. Ciezki moved quickly and decisively toward the basket from the elbow, looking to extend No. 9 seed Indiana's six-point lead on the No. 1 seed Gamecocks. As she approached the basket, senior guard Te-Hina Paopao was in lockstep until suddenly, she jumped up, still in stride and blocked Ciezki's shot attempt. There it is. South Carolina's typically stellar defense awakened from its unusual slumber. Moments later, forward Sania Feagin added a layup, and Bree Hall quickly followed with a timely 3-point basket. Feagin unleashed another layup, and star freshman Joyce Edwards drained a pair of free throws. The Gamecocks were doing what they do best: using their defense to create offense. Still, they found themselves down 26-25 at halftime, an eerie too-close-for-comfort feeling that reeked of a similar 2024 NCAA tournament matchup with Indiana during the Sweet 16. At the start of the third quarter in that game, then star center Kamilla Cardoso and Johnson danced to Macarena shortly before Indiana put up 43 points in the second half, including a 23-point third quarter that ate into a massive lead. The Hoosiers closed the gap, making South Carolina sweat until it walked away with a nail-biting 79-74 win to keep its undefeated season alive. No one was dancing on Sunday. Instead, head coach Dawn Staley implored her team to dig deeper at halftime. Indiana wouldn't go quietly. 'I'm proud of our team the way they gutted up and didn't flinch," Staley said postgame. "It wasn't pretty, but at this time, it doesn't have to be. You just have to score more points.' SOUTH CAROLINA IS DOING THE MACARENA 😭😭😭 — Tyler DeLuca (@TylerDeLuca) March 29, 2024 That's the improbability of March Madness; it doesn't make logical basketball sense. It just has to work. With help from Feagin, who dissected the Hoosiers' defense during the third quarter, and a push from forward Chloe Kitts, South Carolina took over the game and extended its lead, once again reaching the Sweet 16 for the fifth consecutive season after a 64-53 win. The Gamecocks ended their day with 20 fastbreak points and 18 points from 16 Indiana turnovers. The question remains: How does South Carolina not panic after an ugly game ahead of its Sweet 16 matchup? "We weren't really panicked because we know our first half wasn't very good," Kitts explained postgame to 107.5 The Game. "It wasn't very good because we weren't making our shots, our easy layups ― everything like that. So, we just know we need to calm down ... " Chloe Kitts on how the #Gamecocks lean on their experience whenever things get tight like they did in the first half. Sponsored by Lexington Orthopedics and Sports Medicine. Our team of experts is here to keep you healthy and active. Life's a sport, keep playing! — 107.5 The Game (@1075thegame) March 23, 2025 That's the key: The Gamecocks are calm in adversity. It's how they've learned what it takes to win a championship. As the competition gets more challenging, South Carolina can't flinch. As teams throw more at them, the Gamecocks can't be too small for the moment. However, the calm isn't just the players from year to year or any speeches that may come when the Gamecocks need them the most. The calm is also Staley. It always has been during her tenure. Three-time WNBA MVP and four-time Olympic teammate of Staley's, Lisa Leslie, recently dove deeper into what Staley means to South Carolina's program. 'South Carolina has been able to see it was worth it to invest in Dawn Staley – and how she changed this program and the impact she's had on these young women," Leslie explained. Staley's impact on her players extends beyond the baskets that light up the court or the back-breaking transition steals that deflate opponents. She allows her players to be them in whatever form that may be. "It's a daycare," Staley said Sunday. "Not a board meeting where one person is talking at a time." If South Carolina hoists another trophy in 2025, her players will likely remember when everything seemingly felt heavy and impossible. But there she was, calm amid unmistakable chaos, helping the daycare run without a hitch. 'I think we created a legacy already, whether we win this one or not,' Staley recently shared. 'What we've done over the past eight years won't be done again. If we win another one, it just adds to our legacy in the game.'
