Latest news with #MostOutstandingPlayer
USA Today
a day ago
- Business
- USA Today
Where will Florida's star guard Walter Clayton Jr. be selected in 2025 NBA draft?
Where will Florida's star guard Walter Clayton Jr. be selected in 2025 NBA draft? The 2025 NBA draft is merely weeks away, and now that the deadline for those who want to return to college has passed, the outlook for this summer's selection process is ostensibly crystal clear. For the Gator Nation, it has been a tense few weeks leading up to that deadline as star sophomore forward Alex Condon, along with center Rueben Chinyelu, explored their options in the upcoming draft. Fortunately for Florida, they both decided to return to Gainesville, teaming up to give the Gators a run at a possible two-peat. However, one former member of the Orange and Blue is locked into the NBA draft after a prolific senior campaign that carried Todd Golden's team to the promised land. That player is point guard Walter Clayton Jr., who is projected nearly unanimously to be taken in the first round later this month. Where will Walter Clayton be picked? Sports Illustrated's Kevin Sweeney recently updated his 2025 NBA mock draft following the NCAA deadline, projecting Clayton to be selected by the Phoenix Suns with the penultimate pick of the first round at No. 29. "Plug-and-play rotation pieces on controllable contracts are like gold to the Suns, so getting Clayton at No. 29 would be huge. The Final Four's Most Outstanding Player is among this draft's best shotmakers." Walter Clayton's senior year stats The graduating senior out of Bartow, Florida, averaged 18.3 points, 4.2 assists and 3.7 rebounds per game during the 2024-25 campaign. He earned First-Team All-SEC and All-American honors while being anointed Most Outstanding Player in the 2025 Final Four for his title-winning heroics. Follow us @GatorsWire on X, formerly known as Twitter, as well as Bluesky, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.
USA Today
2 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
UNC star infielder named best player after Chapel Hill Regional
UNC star infielder named best player after Chapel Hill Regional Is Gavin Gallaher the next UNC baseball legend? The North Carolina Tar Heels finally pieced together another complete game on the baseball diamond, dominating Oklahoma on Monday, 14-4, to win the Chapel Hill Regional and advance to the Super Regionals this coming weekend. UNC (45-13), which won three of its four games in the Chapel Hill Regional, will face the Arizona Wildcats for a spot in the College World Series. Just like 2024, when the Diamond Heels advanced to the Super Regionals, there was a constant force behind this year's Regional run: third baseman Gavin Gallaher. When North Carolina needed a base hit, home run, a runner driven in or virtually anything offensively, its star sophomore at the hot corner delivered. Gallaher finished this year's Chapel Hill Regional hitting an unconscious 13-of-18 (.722 batting average), which included three home runs and 10 RBIs. Gallaher saved his best performance for last in Monday's winner-take-all game, hitting 4-for-6 with four RBIs, two home runs and four runs scored. It should come as no surprise to anyone, Sooners fans included, that Gallaher earned Most Outstanding Player honors. Gallaher rose to prominence as a clutch freshman during last season's Chapel Hill Regional, blasting a walk-off grand slam against Long Island University during the opener. UNC trailed during the ninth inning of that game and, saving his team from embarrassment, Gallaher blasted a no-doubt, bases-loaded grand slam that send Boshamer Stadium into a frenzy. The Diamond Heels will need every bit of Gallaher's offense during the Chapel Hill Super Regional, which will start Friday, June 6 against Arizona at a time TBD. Follow us @TarHeelsWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of North Carolina Tar Heels news, notes and opinions.
Los Angeles Times
2 days ago
- Sport
- Los Angeles Times
USC's super regional dreams dashed in season-ending loss to Oregon State
CORVALLIS, Ore. — There's levels to a proper program build. Baby steps have to sometimes be taken, even if everyone involved would like to jump past several of those. Lessons have to be learned. Experiences, both positive and negative, have to be endured. USC suffered through one of those difficult experiences, getting manhandled by national championship contender Oregon State for the second day in a row in the Corvallis Regional final. The Beavers completely shut down USC's offensive attack in the winner-take-all regional final, eliminating the Trojans from the NCAA tournament with a 9-0 victory. Oregon State freshman James DeCremer, making just his second start of the season, held USC to just two hits in five scoreless innings. Then sophomore Eric Segura, who was pulled in the first inning of his start Friday after getting knocked around by Saint Mary's, fired three scoreless frames. Sophomore Laif Palmer closed out the final inning inducing the fifth double play of the day and getting a strikeout after the Trojans managed only their third hit of the game. All three Beaver youngsters fired mid-90s fastballs, something rare amongst the USC pitching staff. The Beavers did it with young arms and a fearsome heart of its lineup is as three of its four big boppers — Aiva Arquette, Gavin Turley and Trent Caraway — all hit home runs. Turley got the Beavers on the board in the first inning chopping a single through the right side to score Easton Talt after he had led off the first inning with a double off the right-center field wall. As Turley waited on deck for his second at bat, Arquette expanded Oregon State's lead to 3-0, launching a 414-foot homer into the left-center field bleachers for his 18th home run of the season but first in front of the Goss Stadium home fans. Undeterred, Turley said anything you can do, I can do better, blasting one 418 feet for a solo shot that left his bat at 110 mph. The Beavers added tallies in each of the next two innings with Caraway launching a parabolic solo home run to left field in the fifth inning for his fifth home run in as many Corvallis Regional games, which earned him the Most Outstanding Player honors for the regional. Burly Jacob Krieg put the finishing touches on the beatdown with a three-run homer in the eighth inning. With the win, Oregon State advances to the super regional round. It will host Florida State in a three-game series next weekend after the Seminoles won the Tallahassee Regional.
Global News
5 days ago
- Sport
- Global News
Roughriders star Milligan Jr. not satisfied following defensive MOP award season
More often than not last season, the man coming up with some of the biggest moments for the Saskatchewan Roughriders was none other than 'Agent Zero.' Rolan Milligan Jr. is coming off a 2024 campaign which saw him become not only one of the most feared defensive players across the CFL, but one of the exceptionally dominant threats at any position. It was a season which saw the Roughriders defensive back take home CFL Most Outstanding Defensive Player honours and see his name entered into the Most Outstanding Player conversation. For Milligan Jr., however, none of that carries into the upcoming Roughriders season which begins next week in Regina. 'Last season has nothing to do with this year in my opinion,' said Milligan Jr. 'As far as the accolades and all of that, it's in the past, it was 2024. I'm just trying to come out, be the best version of myself and stack those days.' Story continues below advertisement Dressing in 16 games last year after an injury-plagued 2023 season, Milligan Jr. led the CFL with eight interceptions and tied for fifth in total tackles making 71 defensive stops and another 20 on special teams. Watching the work his defensive star put in over the off-season, Roughriders head coach Corey Mace said the halfback is not satisfied one bit with his performance heading into 2025. 'He's got a standard for himself,' said Mace. 'Crazy or not, he's not complacent with what he's done last year. He identified a few things that he wanted to work on this off-season and you're seeing it translate already at camp. For [Milligan Jr.], the sky is the limit, man. He's an incredible player, an incredible leader, he doesn't even have to say nothing and guys will follow him. 'Those are the kind of guys you like.' Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Milligan Jr. will be leading a Roughriders defensive back group which is one of the most experienced in the CFL. 1:58 Former Calgary pivots Maier, Stevens get fresh start with Saskatchewan Roughriders Despite the familiarity, he said there are tweaks to his game that he's been making at training camp over the last three weeks to best prepare him for the season. Story continues below advertisement 'Just IDing things on the field and making sure I'm in the right spots on some plays that they gave me last year,' said Milligan Jr. 'Even just everyday now, plays they're giving me in camp, just making sure I'm making that correction.' In the Saskatchewan secondary, Milligan Jr. will be joined by nine returnees including C.J. Reavis, Marcus Sayles, Nelson Lokombo, DaMarcus Fields, Jayden Dalke and Kosi Onyeka. Along with former Roughrider Tevaughn Campbell rejoining the fold after a stint in the NFL with the Los Angeles Chargers and Jacksonville Jaguars, it's a group which Milligan Jr. feels confident leading. Especially considering the Roughriders will be working off the same defensive playbook from Mace for a second year in a row. 'We're all getting more comfortable with everything,' said Milligan Jr. 'We can start to get in our bag a little bit more as far as different looks we might want to give the offence, just different blitz patterns or whatever the case may be.' With a week to go before their 2025 season opener against the Ottawa Redblacks, the already lofty standard for the league's defensive MOP and the Roughriders as a whole is being raised. It's in the hopes that they can make a longer playoff run to the Grey Cup in Winnipeg this November. Story continues below advertisement 'Always can be better,' said Milligan Jr. 'We're always striving to make sure that we're better than we were before.' Milligan Jr. will be among a large group of Roughriders starters on the sidelines Friday night at Mosaic Stadium, not dressed for Saskatchewan's final pre-season game hosting the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. The last chance for bubble players to make an impression ahead of Saturday's cut-down day for CFL teams, kickoff between the Roughriders and Blue Bombers is set for 7 p.m.
Calgary Herald
6 days ago
- Sport
- Calgary Herald
Ottawa Redblacks: Why winning is secondary in CFL pre-season finale
Completing their exhibition schedule with an unblemished record will not be the priority for the Ottawa Redblacks on Friday. Article content Article content Sure they'd like to beat the Montreal Alouettes for the second week in a row — all proud professional athletes want to win every game they play — but the coaching staff is more concerned with determining the roster for a game just six days later, when the Redblacks kick off the Canadian Football League's 2025 schedule in Regina against the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Article content Article content That means fans at TD Place for Ottawa's first home game since last season's Week 21, 37-31 victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats will not see most of the team's front-line players. Article content Article content Among those watching the action in civilian clothes will be quarterback Dru Brown, Most Outstanding Player award nominee Justin Hardy, the flashy Kalil Pimpleton, Bralon Addison, Devonte Dedmon, new offensive weapons Geno Lewis and William Stanback, most offensive- and defensive-line starters, Jovan Santos-Knox and Adarius 'The Party Starter' Pickett. Article content What will be on display are fierce battles for the few available starting jobs, backup spots, practice-roster vacancies and even trying to be noticed by other CFL teams looking to fill holes. Article content 'We bring in 85 guys, plus the non-counters, and on Day 1, I tell them, whether they make our roster or in the preseason, they need to perform so somebody else may see them and give them an opportunity,' head coach Bob Dyce said at TD Place on Thursday, the Redblacks' first day back at home base after a training camp held at Queen's University in Kingston. Article content Article content 'I'd love to see all these guys play in the league, whether it's with us or somebody else. That's our goal as coaches: prepare them, make these guys better players, so that they continue to to have opportunities.' Article content Talking to the team at Dyce's request earlier in the day was defensive back Justin Howell, a former Carleton Raven who the Redblacks selected with their seventh-round pick (55th overall) in the 2018 draft and has been a mainstay since. Article content Dyce, who was the Redblacks special-teams coach then, remembers vividly how Howell performed that year in the pre-season finale against the Toronto Argonauts. Article content 'It sticks in my mind,' Dyce said. 'Justin went out, played on special teams and made the point that I had to go to the head coach (who was Rick Campbell, now Redblacks special-teams coach) and say, 'We cannot release this guy.'
