Roundup: T.J. McConnell makes NBA history

Nov 5, 2015

How ‘bout this for a start? Philadelphia 76ers rookie guard T.J. McConnell became the first player in NBA history to record 12 or more assists in two of his first four NBA games. Not bad for a guy who went undrafted. The Arizona Daily Star has more updates on Wildcats in the NBA in the preceding link.

Here’s a feature from the University of Washington website on UW sophomore Jane Yang, who is a Mandarin tutor for the Washington men’s basketball team as it prepares for its trip to China to play Texas in the season opener. Yang will be making the trip with the team as the team’s “language bodyguard,” to use her term.

Arizona State named Courtney Martinez Connor its women’s lacrosse head coach. The Sun Devils will begin lacrosse play in the 2017-18 season.

Jeff Faraudo reports that the Cal football and men’s basketball teams have made academic progress according to the latest Graduation Success Rate (GSR) data that was released by the NCAA on Tuesday.

After watching the 30 for 30 documentary on legendary coach Bill McCartney, Colorado has decided to wear its traditional uniforms against Stanford – gold helmets, black jerseys and gold pants.

Stanford basketball guard Robert Cartwright is out for the season with a compound fracture in his right arm. Just what the Cardinal needed – another injury.

The Oregon State women’s basketball team was picked to win the Pac-12 by the media, the conference announced Wednesday. Arizona State and Stanford round out the top three.

In the words of Brian from Half Baked, Salt Lake Tribune columnist Gordon Monson is FLIPPIN’ OUT, MAN and pondering what if Utah wins out and doesn’t make the College Football Playoff? I’d say that’s unlikely – there are plenty of guaranteed losses for teams ahead of the No. 12 Utes in the CFP rankings – but time will tell (there’s my cliché for the day).

Jacob Thorpe details how Washington State plans to deal with Arizona State’s blitzing defense. Thorpe points out that opposing quarterbacks have just 2.3 seconds to throw against the Sun Devils (going into ASU’s game against Oregon last Thursday). Good read here.

Chantel Jennings writes that the Oregon secondary will face its toughest challenge of the season thus far when it goes up against Cal on Saturday in Eugene.

USC cornerback/wide receiver/kick returner Adoree’ Jackson is getting a lot of love for his pick six against Cal, notes Gary Klein. He’s expected to play primarily on defense against the Wildcats Saturday night.