🏀 Y! Sports AM: Draft night

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🚨 HEADLINES

🎓 Landmark decision: The NCAA Division I Cabinet has unanimously approved an age-based, five-year eligibility model to replace the existing structure that has no age restrictions. The historic change, set to take effect in 2027, will see athletes’ eligibility clocks start either when they enroll or after their 19th birthday (whichever comes first).

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🏈 Sorsby saga update: The NFL delivered a scathing lesson in accountability on Tuesday by denying Brendan Sorsby’s request to hold a Supplemental Draft. The 22-year-old, who admitted to betting on his own team and will no longer be playing for Texas Tech this fall, may still enter the standard 2027 NFL Draft.

🏀 Coaching carousel complete: The Trail Blazers have hired longtime Timberwolves assistant Micah Nori as their next head coach, filling the NBA’s last remaining vacancy.

🏒 Ditto: The NHL’s last remaining vacancy was also filled on Tuesday when the Oilers hired Mike Babcock, who last coached in the NHL in 2019.

⚾️ What a turnaround: The first-place White Sox improved to 41-37 with Tuesday’s win over the Guardians, matching their entire win total from just two years ago when they set the modern MLB record for losses in a season (41-121).

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See what else is trending on Yahoo Sports.

🏀 DYBANTSA HEADLINES LOADED DRAFT CLASS

BYU’s AJ Dybantsa was selected No. 1 overall by the Wizards on Tuesday night in Brooklyn, where nearly every team earned top marks for their selections in the first round of an absolutely loaded NBA Draft.

Top 4: Any of these freshman uber-prospects could have reasonably gone No. 1 in most years, so Washington, Utah, Memphis and Chicago should all be thrilled with the young men who are about to join their ranks.

1. Dybantsa (Wizards): The 6-foot-9 athletic freak and scoring machine (he led the NCAA with 25.5 points per game last season) gives Washington someone who could become one of the NBA’s most unstoppable shot-creators, and someone who should slot in nicely alongside veteran All-Stars Trae Young and Anthony Davis.

2. Darryn Peterson (Jazz): The 6-foot-5 guard out of Kansas is a buttery-smooth scorer and dynamic playmaker who can shine with or without the ball, and his 6-foot-11 wingspan makes him a high-impact defender, to boot. Utah got a potential superstar as long as he can avoid the cramping issue that hindered his otherwise sensational season in Lawrence.

3. Cameron Boozer (Grizzlies): The most polished player in the class and reigning POY out of Duke made this an incredibly easy choice for Memphis, who get a 6-foot-8 forward that can score from the post with both footwork and power. Plus, second-generation players like him historically outperform their draft slot expectations by 26%.

4. Caleb Wilson (Bulls): The most gifted athlete in the draft class is 6-foot-9 with springs for legs, and when the North Carolina big is flying above the rim, finishing through contact, and chasing down every shot, he looks like a future franchise cornerstone. That sort of defensive anchor with offensive upside is exactly what the Bulls need in the frontcourt.

Next up: Those four freshman at the top were followed by four freshman guards who went in succession, as the Clippers got Illinois’ Keaton Wagler, the Nets got Louisville’s Mikel Brown Jr., the Kings got Arkansas’ Darius Acuff Jr., and the Hawks got Houston’s Kingston Flemings.

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Consider this: 11 of the 14 lottery picks were freshmen, while the other three were transfers — all of whom won the national championship with Michigan. Morez Johnson Jr. went ninth to the Mavericks (where he’ll reunite with Dusty May), Yaxel Lendeborg went 11th to the Warriors and Aday Mara went 12th to the Thunder.

The Swoosh strikes again: Dybantsa’s selection made him the 12th Nike athlete in the last 20 years to go No. 1 overall, or 14th if you include the Nike-owned Jordan Brand. His addition adds young dynamism to an evolving men’s basketball roster at Nike, where the future is in uncertain hands.

• The top of the roster is aging, as LeBron James and Kevin Durant — on the 23rd and 19th iterations of their signature shoes, respectively — near the end of their playing careers.

• Nike added reigning NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as a signature athlete last week, plucking him from Nike-owned Converse to fortify its collection of prime-aged players.

• Ja Morant and Cade Cunningham headline the tier below SGA, but the former’s play has taken a step back, while the latter’s marketability remains a source of skepticism.

Further complicating matters? The presumed face of the next generation, Victor Wembanyama, is an impending sneaker free agent, per Shams Charania. Depending on the Frenchman’s decision, Dybantsa could have size 22 shoes to fill.

⚽️ RONALDO JOINS THE PARTY

With his fading abilities the subject of question marks and jeers, Cristiano Ronaldo had to watch as his chief rival chased and achieved tournament history through the World Cup’s early stages. On Tuesday, the Portuguese icon made history of his own.

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Two decorated decades: Ronaldo scored two first-half goals in Portugal’s 5-0 victory over Uzbekistan, adding to the parade of superstar braces that began on Monday.

• His first, a characteristically clinical finish in the match’s sixth minute, made him the first player to score in six World Cups — a feat that it’s hard to imagine anyone ever matching (Lionel Messi was shut out in the 2010 edition).

• His second, carefully slotted past the keeper in the 39th minute, made him the oldest player ever with a multi-goal game in the tournament (41 years, 138 days), breaking the record set by Messi twice in the past week (38 years, 363 days).

More from Tuesday: England and Ghana played to a scoreless draw as the Black Stars joined Mexico, Spain and Argentina as the only teams who have yet to allow a goal; Croatia dismissed Panama from the tournament in a nervy 1-0 win; Colombia booked their trip to the Round of 32, beating DR Congo 1-0.

Where it stands: With every team having now played two of their three group stage games, the knockout round picture is beginning to come into focus.

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• Advanced: Mexico, United States, Germany, Argentina, France, Norway, Colombia

• Eliminated: Haiti, Turkey, Tunisia, Jordan, Panama

Everything to play for: 36 teams (75% of the field) still have hope of advancing out of the group stage. And though such widespread uncertainty at this juncture is nothing new, the heavy proportion of those teams who will eventually secure passage into the knockouts is.

• In 2022, 27 of 32 teams (84%) came into Matchday No. 3 facing an uncertain outcome. However, only 13 of those nations (48%) would ultimately advance.

• In this year’s edition — where the top-eight third-place teams will advance alongside the top two teams in each group — those 36 teams are vying for 25 remaining positions, ensuring that more than two-thirds of them will fight on past the group stage.

What to watch: The group stage gets kicked up a notch beginning this afternoon, with six games per day until the preliminary round concludes on Saturday. With that in mind, here are five of the most important games to keep an eye on, headlined by Friday’s dream matchup between Kylian Mbappé’s France and Erling Haaland’s Norway.

⛳️ THE PGA TOUR INTRODUCES PROMOTION AND RELEGATION

The PGA Tour unveiled a radical new competitive model on Tuesday, featuring a series of changes that will be more substantial than any in the Tour’s half-century-long history.

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Champions and Challengers: Beginning in 2028, the Tour will operate on two tracks — the Championship and Challenger Series — which will run concurrently from February through August and include a promotion/relegation system.

• Championship: The top golfers’ slate includes a baseline of 15 regular-season events, each with about 120 golfers, a 36-hole cut and at least a $20 million purse. Their remaining schedule is filled out with the four majors, The Players Championship, the playoffs and an annual international team event (Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup).

• Challenger: Larger fields of about 144 golfers will compete in at least 20 events, each with a minimum purse of $4 million. Of note: The exact criteria for which players will slot into each Series has yet to be determined, but to be clear, this is distinct from the Korn Ferry Tour; these will be PGA Tour golfers.

Promotion/relegation: The top 20 players in the season-long Challenger standings will be promoted to the Championship, with immediate promotion available to anyone who wins either two events or a major. The top 90 Championship players (at least) will remain on that track, while the remaining ~40 will be eligible for relegation. In the fall, several “last-chance” events will give fringe players an opportunity to play their way into the Championship.

Plus: The postseason will be revamped to include match play, and will be contested across a rotation of courses. Further details will be revealed at the Tour Championship in August.

📺 WATCHLIST: WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24

⚽️ World Cup, Day 14

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You thought four games a day was fun? Let’s try six. First up is Canada vs. Switzerland in Vancouver (3pm ET, Fox) and Bosnia and Herzegovina vs. Qatar in Seattle (3pm, FS1). Then it’s Scotland vs. Brazil in Miami (6pm, Fox) and Morocco vs. Haiti in Atlanta (6pm, FS1) followed by Mexico vs. Czechia in Mexico City (9pm, Fox) and South Korea vs. South Africa in Guadalupe (9pm, FS1).

Host nation bump: Mexico has already clinched Group A, while Canada has all but assured its first-ever trip to the World Cup knockout round. They’ll clinch Group B with either a win or draw against the Swiss.

🏀 NBA Draft, Day 2

30 more prospects will be selected tonight in Brooklyn (8pm, ESPN) on the second and final day of the NBA Draft.

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Still on the board: Meleek Thomas (Arkansas), Henri Veesaar (UNC), Richie Saunders (BYU) and Isaiah Evans (Duke) headline our best players still available.

More to watch:

• ⚾️ MLB: Yankees at Tigers (6:40pm Prime) … Tarik Skubal makes his third start since returning (incredibly quickly) from a groundbreaking new procedure to remove bone chips from his elbow.

• 🏀 WNBA: Mercury at Fever (7:30pm, USA); Dream at Valkyries (10pm, USA) … Five of the top 11 scorers take the floor in Indiana’s Caitlin Clark (21.3) and Kelsey Mitchell (20.9), Atlanta’s Allisha Gray (19.5) and Rhyne Howard (19.1) and Phoenix’s Kahleah Copper (19.2).

Got plans tonight? Gametime is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events in your city. Get tickets now!

🏈 NFL TRIVIA

104 years ago today, the NFL got its modern name, rebranding to the National Football League before its third season kicked off in the fall of 1922.

Question: What was the league’s original name from its founding in 1920?

A) American League of Professional Football

B) American Professional Football Association

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C) All-America Football Conference

D) Association of Professional Football

Answer at the bottom.

📣 LAUNCH DAY IS HERE!

Yahoo Sports Biz, our new sports business newsletter authored by Dylan Dittrich, launches today!

What to expect: Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Dylan and the rest of our growing newsletter team will break down the deals, dollars and decisions shaping your favorite sports.

Trivia answer: B) American Professional Football Association

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