Roundup: Arizona off to good start in Omaha; Richard Jefferson retires
So far, so good – Arizona baseball beat Miami 5-1 in its College World Series opener in Omaha, scoring three runs in the first inning to get out to a fast start. The Wildcats next play Oklahoma State in a winner’s bracket game Monday at 4 p.m. PT/5 p.m. MT on ESPN. Also, Richard Jefferson announced his retirement after the Cavs beat the Warriors 93-89 in Game 7 to win the 2016 NBA title.
Kevin Love got his Stone Cold Steve Austin on in the locker room after the Cavs won Game 7 Sunday night, chugging two beers at once while wearing an Austin 3:16 shirt (he also played pretty good defense on Steph Curry for one possession with the Cavs leading Golden State by three in the final minute). Awesome.
Jeff Faraudo got Klay Thompson’s perspective on the Warriors’ Game 7 loss Sunday night.
Outgoing USC AD Pat Haden and a couple of relatives earned $2.4 million for a part-time role in a charitable foundation, the Los Angeles Times reports. The investigation found that Haden, his daughter and sister-in-law collected that amount of money from the foundation for perhaps as little as one hour of work per week according to the foundation’s federal tax returns from 1999-2014, though a Wells Fargo spokesman said that Haden worked about 16 hours per month for the foundation and another relative worked 40-45 hours a month.
Huge get – Jonathan Hawthorne of the Daily Emerald reports that Sabrina Ionescu has signed a letter of intent with Oregon women’s basketball. She was considered the No. 4 recruit in her class by ESPN HoopGurlz.
The NBA Draft is Thursday night, so take a look at some highlights of Cal basketball guard Tyrone Wallace. NBADraft.net has Wallace going 57th overall to the Grizz.
Sam Vecenie believes that former Ute Jakob Poeltl is the best center in the 2016 NBA Draft class. He is likely to be a top-10 pick and is most definitely a lottery pick.
In case you didn’t catch this at the end of last week, watch Christian McCaffrey play Billy Joel’s “Piano Man” on the harmonica.
The Arizona Republic takes a closer look at the Arizona State football schedule, with little capsules on each game. The season starts Sept. 3 at home against Northern Arizona.
Geoffrey C. Arnold of The Oregonian/OregonLive lets us know that former Oregon State receiver Brandin Cooks is taking on a leadership role with the New Orleans Saints entering his third season with the team.
Chantel Jennings discusses the possibility of Washington being a sleeper for the College Football Playoff. The Huskies have been a trendy pick in the Pac-12 North.
Jennings also looks at who will fill in the shoes left behind by Nelson Spruce at wide receiver for the Buffs. They certainly have some proven options, most notably Shay Fields and Bryce Bobo.