After bringing in four-star prospect Asa Montgomery for an official visit at the beginning of the month, Duke and head coach Jon Scheyer recently hosted Colton Hiller, the No. 2 overall prospect in the class of 2028. Following the visit, Hiller discussed his time in Durham, revealing Duke’s plans for him as a prospect.

“They want to come in there early and (be) a big piece of their next season,” said Hiller. Similar to Joaquim Boumtje-Boumtje, Scheyer and the Blue Devils are hopeful that Hiller will reclassify up to the class of 2027 and play two seasons with Duke before entering the NBA.

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While Hiller has yet to make a decision, a crystal ball prediction from 247 Sports expects Duke to land the Pennsylvania native following the visit.

At the very least, Hiller seems to have enjoyed his time at Cameron Indoor Stadium, saying, “It exceeded expectations. It was great, definitely, just getting down there and seeing what Duke is about and the brotherhood. It was awesome.”

Contact/Follow us @DukeWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Duke news, notes and opinions. Follow Mack on X: @MackBaltes

This article originally appeared on Duke Wire: Duke receives encouraging update regarding top prospect from class of 2028

Marco Bezzecchi triumphed at the Indonesian Grand Prix, while Jorge Martin finished third to retake the lead from Marc Marquez in the MotoGP world championship.

Italian Bezzecchi made his move on pole-sitter Raul Fernandez with nine laps to go at a sweltering Mandalika International Circuit.

Fernandez finished second ahead of compatriot Martin, with the Spanish duo locking out the podium for Italian manufacturer Aprilia.

Ducati’s reigning seven-time world champion Marquez finished sixth, losing the championship lead he had taken for the first time this season by winning Saturday’s sprint race.

Fernandez and Bezzecchi had clashed and crashed out in that race, with the Spaniard needing to brake with his middle finger for the whole of Sunday’s race after fracturing his index finger.

Starting at the front of the grid, the pair negotiated the first turn and then surged away from the chasing pack.

Having initially looked comfortable, Fernandez began to fade and Bezzecchi seized an opportunity on lap 19 before putting distance on his rival.

The result for 2024 world champion Martin moves him up to 355 points at the top of the championship standings, with Marquez second on 353 and Bezzecchi third with 309.

There are five grands prix remaining in the 2026 season, with the Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island the next meeting in the calendar in a fortnight’s time.

Meet Pakistan’s Adam Gilchrist

A teenage cricketer from Karachi, Pakistan, has caught the attention of cricket fans after scoring an impressive century in a school tournament. Interestingly, the left-handed wicketkeeper-batter shares his name with Australian cricket legend Adam Gilchrist, but his own cricketing hero is former Sri Lankan great Kumar Sangakkara.The young Adam Gilchrist plays for Kamran Public School in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Talent Hunt School Cricket Championship Under-17 tournament. His recent performance has brought him into the spotlight, with a video of him explaining his name and favourite cricketer gaining attention online.

Adam Gilchrist’s match-winning century

Playing against Happy Palace Grammar School Karachi at Jinnah College, the teenager scored 117 runs off 108 balls. His innings included 11 fours, and he spent 145 minutes at the crease.His century helped Kamran Public School post a strong total of 297 for four in 40 overs. Gilchrist contributed nearly 39 per cent of his team’s total, and his side went on to win the match by 172 runs.The tournament is part of the PCB’s second school-level talent hunt programme, which began on September 15 and runs until December 5. More than 3,300 schools from 100 districts registered for the competition, with 1,200 shortlisted. The best teams will progress through district and provincial rounds before the national finals.The initiative gives young cricketers an opportunity to showcase their skills and potentially take the next step in their careers.

Why he was named Adam Gilchrist

The teenager’s name has an interesting backstory. His mother selected the first name Adam, while his cricket-loving father added Gilchrist in honour of the legendary Australian wicketkeeper-batter.The original Adam Gilchrist played 96 Tests for Australia, scored 5,570 runs and was part of three World Cup-winning teams in 1999, 2003 and 2007. He was famous for his attacking batting and ability to change matches quickly.However, the young Pakistani cricketer has a different role model. He wants to follow Kumar Sangakkara, the former Sri Lankan captain and left-handed wicketkeeper-batter who scored 12,400 Test runs and 38 centuries.Sangakkara’s successful career makes him an understandable choice for the teenager to look up to. The young cricketer has also thanked the PCB and its chairman, Mohsin Naqvi, for providing school players with a platform to display their talent.

Connacht had more possession and territory at Scotstoun, but Glasgow were far more effective when the game turned into a contest of power. Four maul tries, a strong gain-line performance and a costly first-half spell for the visitors helped the Warriors claim a 36–19 URC victory on Friday night.

Connacht start well, but Glasgow’s maul takes over

Connacht began brightly and Sean Jansen finished a second-phase attack to put the visitors in front. Glasgow answered three minutes later, with Gregor Hiddleston touching down after the Warriors built a maul close to the line.

That became a pattern. Rory Darge scored from another powerful drive, and Hiddleston crossed for his second as Glasgow made Connacht pay for a sequence of penalties and a yellow card to Sam Illo. The Warriors went into the break with a 19–7 lead.

The damage was not limited to the scoreboard. Glasgow scored four of their five tries from mauls, while Connacht conceded 18 penalties to Glasgow’s 11. The scrum figures also favoured the hosts: Glasgow won two of their three scrums, while Connacht won four of eight.

Ioane gives Connacht hope

Glasgow extended their lead early in the second half when Josh McKay finished a move involving Dan Lancaster and Jamie Dobie. Connacht responded through Josh Ioane, whose first try followed a long attacking spell.

Ioane struck again in the 60th minute to bring Connacht back to 26–19. With the visitors carrying the momentum, the game was briefly back in the balance. But when Josh Murphy was sent to the sin-bin, Glasgow went to the corner and Seb Stephen scored from yet another maul.

Glasgow added a late penalty to close out the scoring. Connacht’s final push for a bonus point ended when Bundee Aki was penalised after continuing to speak to the referee.

Possession without enough punch

Connacht’s 52% possession and 61% territory show they had plenty of the ball and spent long periods in useful areas. They also beat 15 defenders, matching Glasgow. But the Warriors made more of their carries, recording 69 gain-line carries to Connacht’s 41 and twice as many clean breaks.

Glasgow’s defence absorbed the pressure and their attack repeatedly brought the game back to the same question: could Connacht stop the next drive? Too often, the answer was no. The visitors’ second-half fightback was real, but the gap created before half-time proved too large to close.

Connacht showed enough after the break to keep the contest alive, but Glasgow owned the key moments. The possession belonged to the visitors; the most decisive phases belonged to the Warriors.

Scorers
Glasgow: Gregor Hiddleston (2), Rory Darge, Josh McKay, Seb Stephen tries; George Horne 4 conversions, 1 penalty.
Connacht: Sean Jansen, Josh Ioane (2) tries; Ciarán Frawley 2 conversions.

Oct 3, 2026; Starkville, Mississippi, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Kalen DeBoer reacts toward a referee during the fourth quarter against the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

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It was billed as “the most unique stadium in the world,” a key pillar of Saudi Arabia’s World Cup 2034 plans. But now Neom Stadium, part of the kingdom’s ambitious aims to build a 170-kilometer-long (111 miles) city in the desert known as The Line, looks set to be scrapped, with the broader project scaled back significantly.

A recent Reuters report said the stadium, which according to the country’s bid book was going to be “350 meters (1,148 feet) above ground” and have “stunning vistas, and a roof created from the city itself,” would no longer be built for the tournament, where it was to host a quarterfinal and several other games.

Observers of the gulf country saw this coming.

“When I was in Saudi Arabia in December there were already plenty of signals that the whole Neom project was being put on the back burner, if not abandoned altogether,” F. Gregory Gause III, a regional expert from the Middle East Institute think tank in Washington D.C., told DW.

“I see it as part of a general re-evaluation of their fiscal situation, both in light of the oil market before the current war and in light of the damage that the war is doing.  The draw-back from sports commitments is just part of a more general reassessment of priorities in the current, more straitened, situation.”

Priorities changing, with sports losing out

Saudi Arabia’s sports splurge that saw players like Cristiano Ronaldo join the country’s football league and the kingdom invest in all sorts of sports in myriad ways has slowed dramatically. The country pulled funding for the multi-billion dollar LIV Golf as well as events in snooker, tennis and rugby and also withdrew from ambitious plans to host the 2029 Asian Winter Games in Neom.

Sports had formed a key part of Saudi Arabia’s Project 2030, which aimed to diversify the country’s economy away from oil and increase its soft power. But Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of the Saudi-government operated Public Investment Fund (PIF), which also owns Premier League football club Newcastle United, said earlier this year that the PIF was “reassessing its priorities” amid war in the region.

“The impact of the war has not only made the economic rationalization more important, but it’s also accelerated the desire to rethink some of these projects in the sense that Neom is now being repurposed as an industrial center on the Red Sea, which has obviously assumed much greater urgency since the Strait of Hormuz was effectively blocked,”  Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, author of “Kingdom of Football: Saudi Arabia and the Remaking of World Soccer,” told DW.

Parallels between Qatar 2022 and Saudi Arabia 2034

There are, Coates Ulrichsen continued, clear parallels with the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, where plans to build 12 stadiums resulted in only eight being used at the tournament. The Arab Spring uprising arrived shortly after the bid was accepted by FIFA and, though it didn’t impact the country directly, it destabilized the region both politically and economically.

Neither Saudi Arabia’s World Cup organizing authority or Sports Ministry has responded to questions from DW about whether we may again see fewer stadiums than the planned 15 for the 2034 World Cup, which could feature 64 teams.

“We’re seeing the same obviously with Saudi Arabia now,” said Coates Ulrichsen, who is also a Fellow for the Middle East at Rice University in the US.

“[FIFA President] Gianni Infantino announced Saudi would be the only bidder on the 4th of October 2023. Three days later was October 7th, so within three days, the region was effectively in flames.”

Since then, there has been the Israel-US war against Iran, while Houthi attacks continue to hit Saudi Arabia as part of the conflict in Yemen, meaning that: “This whole hosting cycle is taking place against a backdrop of considerable uncertainty and kind of real tension.”

World Cup will still matter to Saudi Arabia

But though the scope and cost of it may be reduced, Saudi Arabia’s softening commitment to sport will not likely apply so firmly to the biggest sporting event in the world, said Gause.

“I think it continues to be a major priority, because of its global importance and because the Saudis will want to do at least as well, if not outshine, Qatar’s hosting earlier.“

Relations between Saudi Arabia and Qatar have improved since an agreement in 2021 but the pair remain regional rivals, something Coates Ulrichsen agrees will spur the 2034 hosts on.

As such, the 2034 tournament will still likely be a high-end affair, with Saudi Arabia building most stadiums from scratch. But, said Coates Ulrichsen, it may look somewhat different to what was planned.

Gulf Cup hosting a postivie sign before Asian Cup test

“The fact that at least the Saudis were able to host a big event with 60,000 people in the stadiums, full stadiums without any security concerns [the Gulf Cup football final which they won this week] is a good sign,” he said.

The regional expert thinks more matches could end up being hosted in the two biggest Saudi cities, Riyadh and Jeddah. This may be at the expense of some venues nearer the east coast such as Al Khobar or Al Ahsa. These are separated from Iran by the Persian Gulf, which includes the Strait of Hormuz, and could be reconsidered depending on the state of political affairs.

Saudi Arabia host football’s Asian Cup in January, which Coates Ulrichsen thinks will be an “early test of whether that is viable to have a weeks-long major tournament under these conditions.”

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With nearly eight years until the World Cup, the political and economic situation in the country is difficult to predict. While the supposed shelving of Neom Stadium and general Saudi sporting withdrawal poses questions of commitment more broadly, it appears the World Cup show will go on. But probably not quite as billed.

Edited by: Chuck Penfold

Club football returns from a three-week break with some Ligue 1 action on Friday night, as high-flying Lyon travel to face a struggling Lens side who have faced backroom upheaval.

A’ja Wilson was crowned MVP of the WNBA regular season for a record-extending fifth time, following a season in which the Las Vegas Aces centre led the league with a points average of 26.2.

In tennis, Mirra Andreeva needed two tie breaks to edge past her compatriot Ekaterina Aleksandrova and into the China Open semi-finals in Beijing. Her next opponent, Nikola Bartůňková, sprung a surprise by breezing past Karolína Muchová in the all-Czech quarter-final tie.