Sports
Duke’s March collapses under Jon Scheyer are no longer a fluke
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Huddles are supposed to be the holiest of spaces, the one place where five basketball players can block out five opponents and tens of thousands of fans and regroup, in good times and bad, whether in need of a pump up or a calm down.
But UConn veteran Alex Karaban also recognized it as a sign of No. 1 overall seed Duke wilting under the pressure as the Blue Devils’ lead shrunk and shrunk and shrunk and then, on Braylon Mullins‘ game-winner for the ages, disappeared altogether.
“You feel the momentum swing, you feel them start to huddle up a lot more, really just get tight,” Karaban said. “You can just tell. When you’re a player, you can tell when the momentum’s swinging and when the other team is trying to regroup themselves.”
Karaban knows the magic of March well. He has two national titles and is now headed to another Final Four.
Duke coach Jon Scheyer knows the agony, the brutality, the suddenness of March even better.
Somehow, Duke — for all its talent, all its dominance, all its moments of pure basketball brilliance — has collapsed again. Scheyer bore the brunt of it last year, when the Blue Devils blew a seven-point lead with 1:15 left in the Final Four against Houston. Sunday’s was worse, on the wrong end of a 19-point UConn comeback that tied for sixth largest in NCAA Tournament history, with an all-time dagger to boot.
One collapse can be credited to the madness of March, perhaps. A second? It’s a downright failure from everyone, and a failure from Scheyer. He cannot, in the exact moment, control whether a Cooper Flagg game-winning attempt goes down in 2025 (it did not). He cannot, in the exact moment, pull the plug on whatever idea Cayden Boozer had to even try and pass the baksetball with Huskies swarming and the clock ticking (Boozer of course put the ball in the air). But a coach can keep his players composed, keep them aggressive in the right spots, and keep them playing their game. Scheyer is failing to do that.
“There’s not a person in this room, including me, that doesn’t replay everything that you could do and how you can help,” Scheyer said. “I mean, obviously. That’s part of being in this seat. That’s part of being in this spot. … End of the day, we’ve got to finish it off. We’ll reflect. We’ll learn, do all that. But yeah, of course.”
It simply isn’t good enough.
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The anatomy of a titanic Duke collapse
Incredibly, UConn actually made a mistake on the play that led to Mullins’ three. Down 72-70, the Huskies were supposed to foul Dame Sarr, who received the ball after inbounding to Cameron Boozer. But they couldn’t get there in time — you can even see on replay Jayden Ross desperately reaching for Sarr — and Sarr zipped a pass to Cayden Boozer. With under seven seconds left, all he had to do was hold onto the ball and get fouled.
“I should have been strong with the ball,” Cayden Boozer said, tears in his eyes, emotions at once swelling and muting his voice. “I cost our team our season. We knew that they were gonna trap. [Scheyer said] ‘Be strong with the ball.’”
But one play did not blow a 19-point lead. One play did not blow a 15-point halftime lead; No. 1 seeds had been 134-0 in NCAA Tournament when leading by that margin at the break, by the way.
“There’s no heat on Cayden at all,” freshman Nik Khamenia said. “This game is not on him at all. He carried us for long, long, long portions of the game, making big play after big play. You can go through every single one of us at different points in the game we messed up. The game of basketball never relies on one possession, so, no, it’s not on him at all.”
This was a collapse from the moment the teams took the floor in the second half.
Duke could have surged. Duke should have surged. The Blue Devils had dominated UConn’s guards, picked apart UConn’s defense and generally gotten whatever it want offensively. Scheyer can’t go out and make the plays for his players, but he can instill them the small advantages to succeed in tough moments — the mental fortitude, the X’s and O’s, the calm nature required of a champion. Either he didn’t instill it Sunday, or his players were unable to instill it in themselves.
“I think as a whole we could have gave a lot more in the second half,” Cameron Boozer said. “We came out a little flat and gave them a little bit of life. When you’re playing a team as good as UConn, that’s all they really need.”
“We didn’t have our competitive edge,” Cayden Boozer said. “We were guarding them pretty well in the first half. We didn’t do the best job of it, but at the end of the day, I’m sticking with our guys no matter what. We had a chance to win no matter what in the second half.”
“In some moments we kind of let up a little bit, we let them off the hook,” Sarr said. “Just … I don’t know.”
Halftime adjustments are generally overrated as a concept. Every coach makes them — some more successfully than others — but it’s up to the players to fulfill them.
Duke’s didn’t, and the issues became apparent immediately. UConn star big man Tarris Reed Jr. had 12 points at halftime, and UConn, even down big, never stopped feeding him. He drew fouls in bunches and got the Huskies into the bonus before the second half was even six minutes old.
After four turnovers in the first half, Duke had eight in the second half. The offense got stagnant: Over the final eight minutes, Duke had as many field goals as turnovers (four), and only one of the makes was assisted. Prior to that, 16 of their 21 makes had been assisted.
“It’s easy to look at that play,” Scheyer said. “I look at every play that happened, especially in that second half, this is not about one play. It’s about every play that put us in that position, and that’s what you don’t want to do, where one play something could happen.”
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Duke’s nightmarish déjà vu
Could Scheyer have saved the offense? It’s impossible to say. Could he have saved the defense, maybe putting Cameron Boozer on Reed, rather than have Boozer guard one of the ball handlers? Again, it’s hard to say. The game plan he had drawn up in the first half had worked, after all. It’s easy to praise players when things go well and fault coaches when things go poorly.
“I don’t have the words,” Scheyer said after the loss. “I don’t have the words.”
The problem? He needed to have the words during the game. If he had the words, he needed them to resonate more.
“I’m sure there’s a lot more that I could have done to help our guys at the end there,” Scheyer said after last year’s Final Four loss. “That’s the thing that kills me the most. The amount of game situations we’ve watched this year. We haven’t had the real-life experience all the time, but that’s something I really felt we prepared for. So I feel like I let our guys down in that regard.”
And this year?
“I’m incredibly sorry for these guys that they’ve got to go through this,” Scheyer said. “This is on us.”
Just like Scheyer can’t make the plays or avoid the mistakes on the court, he also can’t control some circumstances. Patrick Ngongba II missed five games — including the first round of the NCAA Tournament — earlier this month. Point guard Caleb Foster broke his foot just over three weeks ago and made a miraculous recovery to not only play but shine in the Sweet 16. However, Foster was ineffective in the Elite Eight. He hadn’t even practiced five-on-five with the team since the injury, and playing a second game in two days was always going to be an uphill battle.
These are not excuses. These are facts. Is a healthy Foster on the floor in Cayden Boozer’s spot in the final seconds? Does he avoid that turnover? In some aspects, Scheyer was correct when he told CBS sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson, “All I know is these guys don’t deserve that ending.”
The issue is that implies anyone deserves anything in the NCAA Tournament. No one does. Not Duke, not UConn, not any player or any team. You have to take it. You have to earn it. You have to be the aggressor. You can’t lose your way for a moment. Scheyer’s teams have now done it twice. His teams’ youth has been celebrated for months and then exposed in the crucial moments each of the last two seasons.
“We’re playing this 10-to-12, 10-to-11-point game, and we knew once we got under 10, once we cut it to single digits, it was going to be over,” Reed said. “You can really see it in their faces. The body language is a huge indicator.”
In an alternate universe, Boozer’s throw-ahead pass connects, and Duke gets an easy dunk and is onto the Final Four. In an alternate universe, Silas Demary Jr.’s high ankle sprain costs him an inch or two more on his jump, and he doesn’t tip the ball away.
“We’ve been telling the guys the whole year, there’s a very famous quote that says, ‘Victory is measured in inches, not miles,’” Dan Hurley explained.
But the inches have gone against Scheyer’s No. 1-seeded teams twice now, showing he has miles to go to get over the hump.
That doesn’t mean he can’t cover those miles. Roy Williams won 40 NCAA Tournament games before winning his first title. He ended up with three championships. Scheyer’s predecessor at Duke, Mike Krzyzewski won 26 NCAA Tournament games before winning his first title. He ended up with five.
But in order to cover those miles, Scheyer must get his teams to close consistently. He has to find a message that hits home, a strategy that works. He has to find a way to empower his players, and more importantly have players who empower each other in the biggest moments.
Duke’s NCAA Tournament finishes under Scheyer
| Year | Round | Opponent (Seed) | Largest Deficit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Elite Eight | UConn (2) | 19 |
| 2025 | Final Four | Houston (1) | 14 |
| 2024 | Elite Eight | NC State (11) | 9 |
| 2023 | Round of 32 | Tennessee (4) | 6 |
Scheyer, who is otherwise off to one of the best coaching starts in college basketball history, must eventually get lucky.
The 38-year-old said he had never seen a locker room like Sunday’s before, but that’s not true. There must have been a similar scene after the Houston loss. He was likely caught up in the moment, which is OK in the moment. But in the weeks and months and, yes, maybe even years to come, he’ll have to find away to avoid having more of those mistake-riddled, regret-filled locker rooms.
The locker room was a mess. Blood, sweat and tears. Lots and lots of tears, some body-shaking, some subdued. Answers barely above whispers. Handshakes and hugs. More tears. Ngongba covered his face with a towel and eventually excused himself. Cameron Boozer, sporting a black eye, and Cayden Boozer took questions with poise beyond their years. The bumps and bruises the team had prided itself on just days earlier after a hard-fought win over St. John’s now represented a team stunningly beaten down.
After the St. John’s win, as media members left the locker room, one Duke player joyously shouted out “No team can f**k with us!”
Perhaps not. But March Madness sure can.
Dalton Smith will receive the first ever WBC legacy belt named in honour of British boxing legend Ricky Hatton.
Smith captured the WBC super-lightweight title back in January after a knockout win over Subriel Matias, becoming the latest British fighter to earn world honours in the 140lb division.
Another man who famously held gold at super-lightweight was Hatton, who packed out arenas on both sides of the pond as he became unified world champion, claiming wins over legends such as Kostya Tszyu and Jose Luis Castillo along the way.
‘The Hitman’ sadly passed away at the age of 46 back in September, but it has now been announced that the new belt will be created to pay tribute to Hatton, and Smith is delighted to be the first recipient.
“Growing up, Ricky Hatton was my hero. Everything about him – the way he fought, the way he carried himself and the connection he had with the fans – he was what made me fall in love with boxing.
“To receive the inaugural Ricky Hatton WBC Legacy Belt, in Manchester and at the AO Arena of all places, honestly means a huge amount to me.
“Ricky inspired a generation of fighters from the North and across Britain, and to be recognised in his name is something I’m incredibly proud of.“
The belt will be presented to Smith at the Evening4Ricky event that is being held at Manchester’s AO Arena on June 7th to remember Hatton, with some of the biggest names from boxing and entertainment coming together in celebration of ‘The Hitman.’
Naomi Osaka of Japan prepares for the third round women’s singles tennis match against Iva Jovic of the U.S. at the French Open tennis tournament in Paris, Saturday, May 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
PARIS — Naomi Osaka and Taylor Townsend are piling up wins on the court at the French Open.
Their success comes after drawing attention off the court for organizing a dinner for Black players before the tournament started.
“It caused a bit of a stir, which I thought was pretty funny because for so long we have been the ones that (are) the minority in a sport where we kind of stick out,” Townsend said about chatter on social media. “And now coming together all of a sudden seems like a problem.”
READ: Naomi Osaka channels Eiffel Tower with French Open outfit
While Townsend said the reaction from her Instagram post about the evening was “mostly positive,” she said there was also online criticism.
Several comments on Osaka’s and Townsend’s posts suggested the dinner as “segregation,” while another asked, “When are the white, Latino, and Asian parties?”
It all prompted Townsend to quote a lyric from the rapper Finesse2tymes: “He said, ‘It’s cool when they do it; it’s a problem when I do it.’”
Keeping in the rap theme, Townsend quoted Tupac Shakur in her post about the evening: “Some say the blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice; I say the darker the flesh, then the deeper the roots.”
Besides Osaka and Townsend, the other attendees of the dinner were 2025 French Open champion Coco Gauff, retiring Frenchman Gael Monfils, doubles specialist Asia Muhammad and retired player turned TV commentator Chris Eubanks.
“Growing up, there weren’t a lot of tennis players I could look up to that looked like me,” Osaka — whose father is from Haiti and mother is from Japan — said in her Instagram post about the dinner. “Being a minority in a sport like tennis is very isolating but the positive is that you keep tabs on everyone that … being blunt, is black. There’s a fellowship, a camaraderie.”
READ: Naomi Osaka moves into French Open third round vs Iva Jovic
“I felt like everyone in that room was a part of my family,” Osaka — who represents Japan but grew up mostly in the U.S. — added in a news conference.
For Townsend, “it wasn’t just about the culture, it was healing for us to all be able to speak about our journeys.”
While Gauff’s title defense ended with a loss to Anastasia Potapova on Saturday, Osaka has reached the fourth round in Paris for the first time in her career while showing off her taste for fashion with her elaborate walk-on outfits. American player Townsend and Czech partner Katerina Siniakova — the top-seeded doubles team — have won their opening three matches and are into the quarterfinals.
Althea Gibson broke tennis’ color barrier
Gauff beat Townsend in the opening round of singles, after which a ceremony was held on Court Philippe-Chatrier to honor the 70th anniversary of Althea Gibson’s 1956 French Open victory — the first Grand Slam title for a Black tennis player.
Gibson was also the first Black player to compete at a major tennis tournament when she fought with the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association just to get admitted in 1950 to what was then called the U.S. Nationals — now the U.S. Open.
“Taylor and I playing on Philippe-Chatrier is a direct product of Althea Gibson,” Gauff told the crowd after beating Townsend. “It just shows the importance of breaking barriers in all aspects of the world, but especially in sport. I’m very grateful for people like her and Serena and Venus (Williams), Zina Garrison for paving the way for us.”
‘Soul Food’ Sunday at Wimbledon
The dinner recalls how going back to the Harlem Renaissance, Black athletes, entertainers, musicians and writers held salons and dinners to celebrate their successes in a familial space. Such events were not meant as a slight to non-Blacks.
Katrina Adams, a former pro and then the first Black president of the U.S. Tennis Association, said she was pleased to see “an old tradition” re-emerging.
“In our era in the 80’s/90’s, we hosted ‘Soul Food’ Sunday on the middle Sunday of Wimbledon, when there was no play,” Adams said in a comment on Townsend’s post. “All the black players, got together, cooked, ate and enjoyed each other.”
Adams said players like Garrison and Lori McNeil hosted the Wimbledon gatherings for years and that she passed on the tradition to the likes of Chanda Rubin, the Williams sisters, MaliVai Washington and Roger Smith.
Townsend’s unexpected vacation with Osaka
Townsend and Osaka hardly knew each other before Osaka surprised Townsend by inviting her on a vacation last year to the Turks and Caicos.
Townsend is an extrovert and Osaka a very quiet introvert.
“I didn’t know why she invited me,” Townsend said. “(But) it ended up being the best time and Naomi and I floated in the ocean on a surfboard for three hours and talked to each other. … We’ve been friends ever since.”
Both players are mothers.
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“We share a lot of the same values and principles and morals of how we go about life and how we want to treat people and what type of mothers that we want to be for our children,” Townsend said. “It goes way beyond tennis.”
Soraya Kelly knows none of this comes for free and acknowledges funding could be a stumbling block. This is where she feels that the Welsh Government could come in.
Currently the FAW’s main source of income is from commercial revenue and from international governing bodies such as Fifa and Uefa. However that situation has not been aided by the men’s team failing to qualify for this summer’s World Cup.
The Welsh Government supports the FAW at grassroots level with projects relating to matters such as stadia development and new infrastructure.
For example, to mark the historic appearance of Wales’ women at Euro 2025, the ‘Partner Support Fund‘ supported 16 grassroots, cultural, and educational organisations to boost sports participation and promote equality.
Sport Wales – the body responsible for developing and promoting sport in Wales – also provides public and lottery money to the FAW through grants, in partnership with the Welsh Government.
Any proposal for Welsh Government help to fund a new elite pathway would likely require sensitive negotiation with the FAW.
In a statement, the Welsh Government said: “Ensuring women and girls have the opportunity to take part in sport is essential to building a confident, ambitious Wales where talent is nurtured at every level. This Welsh Government is committed to working closely with governing bodies to expand opportunities and remove barriers. Women’s sport has the power to transform lives, strengthen communities and elevate Wales on the international stage.”
It added: “The Football Association of Wales leads on the governance and development of the game, including ongoing discussions on strengthening pathways such as a Wales women’s under 21 or under 23 team. Through Sport Wales, we are investing in the future of women’s sport, supporting national bodies to grow participation, develop elite talent and inspire the next generation.”
Kelly plans to launch the campaign in August and already has the backing of Race Council Cymru, Black Police Association, Her Game Too and Vale of Glamorgan MP Kanishka Narayan. She is also soon to meet UEFA vice president and former Wales captain Laura McAllister.
“I get it is down to funding. The FAW has only got a certain amount of money. So the Welsh Government needs to step in here so that there’s equality for our girls, as well as our boys, in Wales,” said Kelly.
“The boys have got it and have always had it. There’s been funding there for the boys, but not for the girls and that needs to change.
“We’ve got lots and lots of people who are really passionate about this and trying to help this pathway to develop.
“The women’s game has come on so much and how are we ever going to be able to compete against the likes of England going forward, if we don’t have that middle buffer?”
New French Open champions will be crowned in both the women’s and men’s singles after Marta Kostyuk continued a tournament of shocks by knocking out Iga Swiatek.
Defending champion Coco Gauff’s defeat on Saturday left four-time winner Swiatek as the only remaining player in either draw to have lifted the trophy at Roland Garros.
But the Pole has endured a difficult season and produced an error-strewn display in a 7-5 6-1 defeat by in-form Kostyuk.
It was a very unhappy 25th birthday for Swiatek, who admitted afterwards that she had been unable to overcome the tension of the occasion.
“It is harder a bit to handle stress for me in the last year,” she said. “Today I felt off and I did mistakes that I didn’t want to do, and I wanted to play safe, but the ball flew everywhere.“Suddenly these feelings came back, and I tried to work on it with my dialogue inside, but it was tough today. It all kind of went drastically down, and I played worse and worse.”
Kostyuk is yet to lose a match on clay this season after winning the biggest title of her career in Madrid earlier this month, and she extended her unbeaten run to 16 matches.
It is just the second time the 23-year-old, who sits at a career-high ranking of 15, has made it through to the quarter-finals of a grand slam after the Australian Open in 2024.
“To beat such an unbelievable player who won four times here, I’d lost (three) times to her, never taken a set off her, I still cannot believe it,” said Kostyuk.
“I think the most important thing I’ve been doing is really just trying to enjoy. I woke up this morning and I just thought about what an unbelievable day I have to live today to play on Chatrier against Iga.”
Swiatek changed coaches earlier in the spring in an effort to arrest her slide, bringing in Rafael Nadal and Emma Raducanu’s former coach Francisco Roig, but her troubles remain and this is her earliest defeat on the Parisian clay since her debut in 2019.
She had won her first three matches comfortably and served for the first set here but could not clinch it and two double faults in the 12th game helped Kostyuk move into the lead.
Swiatek went for a lengthy bathroom break and broke serve immediately to start the second set only to again double fault twice and hand the initiative back.
Her forehand, so often a barometer of her game and confidence, became increasingly wayward and a final backhand that flew way wide was her 38th unforced error of the match.
Swiatek will now turn her attentions to grass and the defence of her Wimbledon title.
Kostyuk began the tournament in tears on court, revealing that her family home in Kyiv had narrowly avoided being hit by a Russian missile, but her victory continued an excellent tournament for Ukraine’s women.
And she will next play a compatriot after Elina Svitolina, another woman in some of the best form of her career, defeated Belinda Bencic 4-6 6-4 6-0.
Also through to the last eight – for the first time here in 17 years – is Romanian Sorana Cirstea after a 6-3 7-6 (4) victory over China’s Xiyu Wang.
The 36-year-old announced ahead of this season that it would be her last, but she may have to rethink her plans after breaking into the top 20 for the first time.
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On April 24th, the Minnesota Vikings ended the Jonathan Greenard era after two seasons, obtaining a pair of 3rd-Round picks in exchange for Greenard and a 7th-Rounder to the Philadelphia Eagles. Most fans expressed mixed emotions over the swap, and that sentiment was not exclusive. ESPN came along this week and outlined its displeasure with the transaction.
In short, Bill Barnwell from that network was not impressed.
Minnesota will now lean full tilt into the Dallas Turner era at outside linebacker, which might’ve been the plan for the last two years.
Vikings EDGE Plan Still Has a Clear Long-Term Logic
Bill Barnwell: The Greenard Trade Was Not Good
Barnwell outlined the NFL’s best and worst offseason moves this week, and regrettably, he twisted the knife on the Vikings’ decision to trade Greenard.
“Worst: Trading Jonathan Greenard for two third-round picks. I can understand why the Vikings traded Greenard. Although he was excellent when healthy in his two years with Minnesota, injuries limited him to three sacks in 12 games in Year 2 after he racked up 12 sacks in Year 1,” he explained.
“The Vikings traded significant draft capital in 2024 to move up for Dallas Turner in the first round, and while I’m not sure his eight-sack total from 2025 really reflects Turner’s true impact on the field, you can understand why the Vikings want to open up a starting role for the Alabama product. With Greenard wanting a new contract, a trade made sense. Did the Vikings really do themselves any favors by waiting until late April to deal Greenard? They landed only a pair of third-round picks from the Eagles.”
Minnesota spent the first 3rd-Rounder on safety Jakobe Thomas, banked the other one for 2027, and used the salary cap relief from the Greenard trade to sign wide receiver Jauan Jennings.
Barnwell continued, “The Vikings were facing a difficult cap situation this offseason, but the four-year, $98 million deal Greenard signed with the Eagles is structured in a team-friendly manner. Greenard will have cap hits of $6.2 million in 2026 and $11.1 million in 2027.”
“I understand wanting to open up more snaps for Turner, but for what they landed and what they apparently needed to pay Greenard to make him happy, I’d rather have kept one of my best players around for another year or two.”
Indeed, Getting Rid of the Best Defensive Players Is Risky
Barnwell isn’t nuts here. While Greenard failed to accrue his typical sack total in 2025 — instead tabulating now-infamous “almost sacks” — he did not struggle putting pressure on quarterbacks and remained effective against the run.
A case can be made that defensive tackle Jalen Redmond was just as productive, if not more, than Greenard last year, but the fact remains that Greenard was a Top 5 Vikings player no matter what.
Most Super Bowl hopefuls don’t trade their best EDGE defenders. They do the opposite. They hoard them. Like the Eagles, Greenard’s new employer.
Keeping the Budget Lean
Minnesota’s mantra this offseason — that no one knew until a couple of days of free agency transpired — was pinching pennies. They signed Kyler Murray to an absurdly cheap deal, along with inking players like James Pierre (CB), Jauan Jennings (WR), and Ryan Van Demark (OT) to modest contracts.
The Vikings could have spent much dinero in free agency, but that would’ve required sunsetting new, big contracts on the 2027, 2028, 2029, and 2030 budgets. So, interim general manager Rob Brzezinski kept the spending low, resetting the financial situation so that when the 2027 offseason arrives, the club can actually be active in free agency.
In short, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah’s large expenditures in 2024 and 2025 came home to roost. The Greenard trade was smushed right in the middle of that reality.
Barnwell Bullish on Kyler Murray
It wasn’t all doom and gloom for the Vikings. Barnwell named Murray to Minnesota as one of the top offseason moves around the sport.
He explained, “There’s more to roster-building than sheer surplus value, but no deal has the potential to offer more upside in 2026 than this one. And given that the Vikings were facing down another season with J.J. McCarthy as their primary option under center, Murray addresses what might be their biggest position of need.”
“Barring the opportunity cost of finding out that McCarthy’s suddenly the quarterback they expected to land in the first round two years ago, the Murray acquisition offers virtually no downside and a massive amount of upside.”
And Barnwell is correct. It’s still mind-boggling that Minnesota obtained Murray for $1.3 million. Doesn’t seem real.
FILE – San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, left, talks with Victor Wembanyama on the bench during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Houston Rockets March 5, 2024, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)
SAN ANTONIO — Victor Wembanyama barely could get the words out.
The question, a few minutes after he and the San Antonio Spurs won the Western Conference title and earned the right to go to this year’s NBA Finals to face the New York Knicks, was about his relationship with former coach Gregg Popovich and what this playoff run likely means to the winningest coach in league history.
And Wembanyama paused, clearly emotional, before starting his answer.
READ: Spurs’ Wembanyama looks ahead to NBA Finals vs Knicks
“I don’t know what it means for him,” Wembanyama said. “That’s a guy who’s got more experience as a coach than almost anybody and has been through so many things in his career and so many things right now as ‘El Jefe.’ He goes through some things we can’t even imagine. So, I need to call him. I need to see him. I need to talk to him because there’s no way I can understand right now how he feels.”
The official title for the 77-year-old Popovich is President of Spurs Basketball. Unofficially, the Basketball Hall of Famer may as well be coach emeritus — still regularly seen at practices in San Antonio, still seen at games, sometimes walking with the assistance of a cane. He’s still in the ears of players and coaches, even visiting the locker room after the Spurs lost Game 3 of the West finals to Oklahoma City for a bit of a pep talk and bit of a chewing out, depending on perspective.
But really, he’s El Jefe. The boss. It’s what he announced himself as when he retired last year, speaking publicly for the first time since the November 2024 stroke that essentially ended his coaching career and led to Mitch Johnson getting the job on basically a couple hours’ notice. He came out for that event in a jacket, then opened it to display the shirt with “El Jefe” on the front.
“You talk about the greatest coach pretty much of all time to be able to sit here and tell you the experiences that they went through or that he’s been through or that he sees,” Spurs guard Devin Vassell said. “I mean, it’s second to none, honestly. He helps out. He helps out a lot. … He just has so much wisdom and stuff that you can’t take for granted.”
Game 1 of the Knicks-Spurs series is Wednesday in San Antonio.
READ: NBA Finals rematch: It’s Spurs vs Knicks for the championship
Knicks coach Mike Brown saw first-hand how Popovich operated the Spurs; he spent three years as an assistant coach under him in San Antonio.
Brown still has family members living in San Antonio — causing him to joke a few days ago that a Knicks-Spurs matchup in the NBA Finals would save him a little bit of money because he wouldn’t have to fly as many people in to see games.
“He still has a huge presence. He will always have a presence,” Brown said of Popovich. “The job that he’s done, not only on the court with that team or that organization but off the court too, is going to be imprinted for as long as the game of basketball exists. His presence is very, very much felt all the time and I’ve got a lot of respect for the organization for a lot of different reasons.”
And Popovich still commands that respect, even now.
READ: NBA: ‘El Jefe’ Gregg Popovich says it’s time for new Spurs coach
Popovich met the Spurs at the airport after they flew home from Games 3 and 4 of their West semifinal series against Minnesota a couple weeks ago — for a purpose. Wembanyama was ejected from Game 4 for a flagrant elbow he threw at Timberwolves forward Naz Reid. When Wembanyama got off the plane, Popovich was waiting. Cameras caught the exchange and it was pretty clear that Popovich was doing the talking and Wembanyama was doing the listening.
“He gives feedback and talks to us regularly,” Wembanyama said, without disclosing what Popovich’s message was that afternoon.
Popovich was also at the airport in the wee hours of Sunday morning, when the Spurs returned home from Oklahoma City — on a night in which thousands of fans, both there and in the city’s streets, celebrated the win.
Popovich won five NBA championships as San Antonio’s coach, the first of those coming in 1999 when the Spurs beat the Knicks. The next era of Spurs basketball is here, with Johnson coaching, and it’s an interesting coincidence that his first finals as Spurs coach is against the Knicks.
READ: NBA: Gregg Popovich coaching farewell ‘end of an era’
“I’m fortunate my old boss is still around, and has been through this a few times,” Johnson said. “Coach Pop has been a resource.”
And in the immediate aftermath of his biggest win yet — the one that got him to his first of what he hopes is many NBA Finals — Wembanyama simply could not wait to talk to El Jefe.
When I talk to him, it’s going to be only stored in my head — except if I record it in secret,” Wembanyama said. “But I need to talk to him, so quick.”
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There are more lessons to learn. There are four more wins to get. And Wembanyama knows that if anyone truly knows the way to those wins, it’s Popovich.
Russell Henley won last year at Bay Hill and, a year later, his bag has gotten both older and newer as he collected his sixth victory at the Charles Schwab Challenge.
At the 2025 Arnold Palmer Invitational, Henley was playing Titleist’s GT3 driver and 4-wood, then the current in-line driver and fairway wood for the company, but still played the original T100 irons from 2019.
This year, those OG T100s are still in the bag, joined by an updated T250 4-iron, but he’s gone backward with his wood setup.
Henley won in Fort Worth with the now-6-year-old TSi3 driver and 4-wood. But instead of the TSi2 hybrid from the same line he played last year, Henley has upgraded to a new GTS3 7-wood that was released earlier this month.
That club was added to his bag just two weeks ago at the PGA Championship.
Meanwhile, Henley has also changed his wedge setup to the new SM11 but remains in the same grind setup, including a 60.04T lob wedge. The T-Grind is one of the most popular wedge grinds on Tour, but Henley is the first to notch a win with it this season.
“The most important thing for Russell with his 60 is knowing he has the most versatility when greenside,” Vokey Wedge rep Aaron Dill said. “It was this time last year when he first tested the 60.04T and added it to the bag. Right away Russell mentioned confidence when he opened the face, and he loved the way the wedge felt gliding through sand.”
Henley also hasn’t changed his Scotty Cameron Phantom 5 Tour Prototype putter, which he used to make over 100 feet of putts on Sunday, including his four birdies in a row to end the tournament.
“I got fitted with my coach Phil Kenyon and he was all about this putter for me. Just based on the feel and the forgiveness, combining those two, that was kind of a no-brainer where we landed,” Henley told Titleist about his putter. “Because, the greens, if they get really fast or if they’re a little on the slower side, because they can’t cut them because of wind or whatever it is, you want to have a putter that can perform in all those aspects. So I feel like that’s kind of the big thing is, can I bring this putter to any situation?”
For more on Henley’s detailed setup, keep reading below.
Russell Henley’s winning clubs at the 2026 Charles Schwab Challenge
Driver: Titleist TSi3 10.0˚
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black 70TX
Titleist GTS3 Custom Driver
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ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA TOUR Superstore, Titleist
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Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black RDX Wood Shaft
The HZRDUS brand is a distinguishing mark of the aggressive swinger, and that legacy is continued with the new HZRDUS Smoke Black RDX. Built with 100% aerospace materials, Smoke Black RDX is the first shaft to utilize Hexcel’s new HexTow® HM54 high modulus carbon fiber and combines it with high tensile strength HexTow® IM2C carbon fiber to provide the ideal blend of stiffness and stability desired by the HZRDUS player. Smoke Black RDX features an ultra-stiff midsection along with a stiff tip section to provide a low launch and low spin shaft designed to keep up with your swing.
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4-Wood: Titleist TSi3 16.5˚
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black 70TX
7-wood: Titleist GTS3 21.0˚
Shaft: Project X Denali Black 80 TX
Titleist GTS3 Custom Fairway Wood
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Irons: Titleist T250 (4), 2019 Titleist T100 (5-9)
Distance never looked this pure. T250 Irons give golfers the ultimate combination of raw speed, stability, and consistency with an ultra-clean design that players love. It’s a merger of form and function, crafted for powerful performance while satisfying the eye of the most discerning golfers.
Shafts: True Temper AMT White X100 (4-6), True Temper Dynamic Golf Tour Issue X100 (7-9)
Titleist 2025 T250 Custom Irons
Singular Design
High-strength steel construction allows powerful performance technologies to be discreetly housed within a sleek, modern design.
Elevated Speed
A new forged L-Face Design heightens ball speed and launch for astounding distance across the face.
Enhanced Consistency
Improved Max Impact Technology and a progressive groove design promote consistent carry, spin, and dispersion from any lie.
High Flight & Stability
Split high-density tungsten produces optimal CG with high stability for more forgiving shotmaking.
Launch Spec Configuration
A brand-new addition to the T-Series lineup, T250 Launch Spec provides the same technology and features the same construction as T250 but with a lighter headweight and added loft, promoting effortless launch, increased carry distance for low-flight players and more stopping power into the greens.
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Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM11
Lofts/Grinds: 48.10F @ 47, 50.08F @ 51, 54.10S @ 55, 60.04T
Shafts: Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (48), S400 (50-60)
Titleist Vokey SM11 Tour Chrome Custom Wedge
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Putter: Scotty Cameron Phantom X 5 tour prototype
Scotty Cameron 2026 Phantom 5 Custom Putter
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Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet
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Golf Pride Tour Velvet Swing Grip
Tour Velvet Swing Grip The most popular grip in golf today combines an exclusive, state-of-the-art rubber-blend compound, non-slip surface pattern for maximum playability, comfort, and confidence. The Tour Velvet® is the standard upon which many club manufacturers base their grip designs. ALL-WEATHER CONTROL State-of-the-art rubber-blend compound with a non-slip surface pattern for maximum playability and confidence. MODERATE SURFACE TEXTURE Scientifically designed plus sign texture created to pull moisture away from surface to allow for consistent traction. MODERATE FEEDBACK The standard in grip feel providing comfort and moderate feedback. Specifications: Grip Size: Standard, Midsize, Jumbo Core Size: 58 Round, 60 Round, 60 Round
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Ball: 2021 Titleist Pro V1x
THE GREATEST COMBINATION OF SPEED, SPIN AND FEEL For players who prioritize total performance, with higher flight and higher spin. New faster high gradient core Speed amplifying high-flex casing layer Spherically-tiled 348 tetrahedral dimple design Soft cast urethane elastomer cover Product Features New faster high gradient dual core delivers more speed and iron and wedge spin for more control Low long game spin from a speed amplifying high-flex casing layer Penetrating and consistent flight from a spherically-tiled 348 tetrahedral dimple design Excellent greenside spin from a soft cast urethane elastomer cover Player Benefits Extraordinary Distance Increased Drop-and-Stop™ control Low long game spin High trajectory More consistent flight Soft feel What’s New – (what performance attributes have improved) 2025 Pro V1 and Pro V1x produce more speed off the tee, more control with irons, more spin with wedges and more opportunity to shoot lower scores. Player Profile For players who prioritize total performance, with higher flight and higher spin. Available Colors and Play Numbers White golf balls are available with play numbers 1-4, 5-8, and all the same play number 00 or 1- 99. High optic yellow golf balls are available with play numbers 1-4. Not available for purchase or shipment to Australia.
Titleist Pro V1x 2025 Special Play # Golf Balls
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Tennis – French Open – Roland Garros, Paris, France – May 31, 2026 Spain’s Rafael Jodar in action during his fourth round match against Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta. With Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic eliminated in earlier rounds, there’s room for a youth movement at the French Open.
No. 2 seed Alexander Zverev of Germany is the new favorite and advanced to the quarterfinals handily Sunday, but he was flanked by Jakub Mensik, Rafael Jodar and Joao Fonseca as all three youngsters extended their Grand Slam dreams with impressive victories in Paris.
Mensik, Jodar and Fonseca — the 26th, 27th and 28th seeds — are aged 20, 19 and 19, respectively.
Two days after stunning Djokovic, Brazilian phenom Fonseca felled Norwegian 15th seed Casper Ruud 7-5, 7-6 (8), 5-7, 6-2 in the fourth round. Ruud is a clay-court specialist and two-time finalist at Roland Garros.
“It was tough. Casper plays good here,” Fonseca said in his on-court interview. “He’s a very experienced guy and he knows how to play here in this amazing court. He has two finals, so it was tough in the beginning, but I played really good in the important moments in the first and second set. I was very happy because of that.”
Fonseca and Ruud had matching totals of 51 winners and 52 unforced errors, but Fonseca saved 7 of 9 break points while managing to break Ruud four times.
Neither Fonseca nor Mensik had reached a Grand Slam quarterfinal before Sunday, and now one of them is guaranteed to make their semifinal debut as they’re set to square off in the next round. Mensik, from the Czech Republic, also won in upset fashion as he outlasted Russian 11th seed Andrey Rublev 6-3, 7-6 (6), 4-6, 2-6, 6-3.
Mensik finished with a 69-45 edge in winners and survived committing 65 unforced errors to Rublev’s 36 in the three-hour, 45-minute affair.
Earlier in the day, Spanish rising star Jodar rallied from two sets down to oust veteran countryman Pablo Carreno Busta 4-6, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2.
Carreno Busta lost the first three games of the match, but steadied and won the final five of the first set to stun the youngster. He carried that momentum in the second set, sprinted to a 4-0 lead and hung on to take a two-set edge.
But Jodar would not face a break point in the final three sets. He won 38 of 47 (80.9%) of his first serves in that span. In the deciding set, the No. 27 seed broke the veteran at love in the fourth game and eventually won on his fifth match point of the eighth game.
“It’s difficult because he has a great backhand,” Jodar said after the match. “When we’re playing cross with the backhand, it’s difficult to change because he’s playing deep in the court. I tried not to rush the shots and not make a lot of unforced errors. I think that was the key in the first two sets, so I tried to change that.” Jodar won his ATP-leading 19th match on clay this season.
He and Zverev will meet for the first time on Tuesday for a spot in the semifinals, after Zverev cruised past Dutchman Jesper de Jong 7-6 (3), 6-4, 6-1.
Zverev has become the heavy favorite to win his first Grand Slam title. He lost two years ago to Carlos Alcaraz in the finals in Paris.
He fell behind de Jong 3-0 in the first set, but broke in the fifth game and held steady to send it to a tiebreaker. Zverev again fell behind 3-0 in the tiebreaker, but reeled off seven consecutive points to take all of the momentum into the rest of the match. “In the beginning, it was a bit difficult,” Zverev said. “I didn’t start off strong and he started off really fast and really well. But once I found my rhythm, I felt very comfortable on the court and that’s the most important thing for me. I feel like my game is there, now it’s about showing it on the match court.”
Zverev struck 43 winners and committed only 26 errors.
–Field Level Media
For years, fans have criticised Canelo Alvarez for not facing former super-middleweight rival David Benavidez, and now Alvarez has revealed why the fight never took place.
Canelo became the super-middleweight division’s first undisputed champion back in 2021, dethroning each of Callum Smith, Billy Joe Saunders and Caleb Plant within 12 months in one of modern boxing’s most impressive runs.
After an unsuccessful challenge for Dmitry Bivol’s light-heavyweight crown, Alvarez returned to 168lbs and defended the belt against Gennadiy Golovkin, John Ryder and Jermell Charlo – ignoring a fight with the physically imposing Benavidez, who was his WBC mandatory challenger.
Speaking to Inside The Ring Show, Canelo said that his only targets at that stage were fellow world champions.
“When we were both at 168, I fought every champion in that division. Why [did] he never fight those champions? If he was a champion at that point, I’d fight him. My goal was being undisputed.
“Right now it’s just impossible. He can [go] fight with heavyweights, do you know what I mean.”
Benavidez held the WBC super-middleweight belt in 2020, but he was stripped after missing weight ahead of his fight with Roamer Alexis Angulo, with the vacant title instead being added to Canelo’s clash with Smith four months later.
Earlier this month, Benavidez moved up in the pound-for-pound rankings by knocking out Gilberto Ramirez to become a three-division champion and a new top dog on the cruiserweight scene. He may drop back down to light-heavyweight next, but has also touted a heavyweight run in the future. The 29-year-old’s days at super-middleweight are well and truly over, meaning the Canelo fight is as unlikely as ever.
Will Edmonton Oilers fans regret the trade of Sam O’Reilly one day?
The junior-aged forward certainly is doing his part to make Oilers supporters wonder if their team made the right move in dealing O’Reilly to the Tampa Bay Lightning for fellow top prospect Isaac Howard last summer.
O’Reilly had one goal and three assists in the Memorial Cup final on Sunday, leading the Kitchener Rangers to a 6-2 win over the Everett Silvertips in Kelowna, B.C.
The Toronto native was named Memorial Cup MVP after notching three goals and five assists in four games.
By doing so, O’Reilly joined an exclusive club, becoming just the fourth player in history to win a league most outstanding player award, along with league playoff MVP and Memorial Cup MVP honours.
You might have heard of the others: Brad Richards (Rimouski Oceanic, 2000), Corey Perry (London Knights, 2005) and Mitch Marner (London, 2016).
O’Reilly, 20, and defenceman Jared Woolley were dealt to Kitchener from London in January after helping the Knights win the 2025 Memorial Cup and the 2024 and ’25 OHL championships.
O’Reilly, who has signed an entry-level contract, will try to make the Lightning at training camp next season. He also is eligible to play in the AHL.
Howard, 22, played his first 29 games with Edmonton this season after winning the Hobey Baker Award as top player in NCAA hockey in 2024-25 with Michigan State.
Howard was picked 31st overall by the Lightning in 2022, while O’Reilly went 32nd overall to the Oilers in 2024.
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