Connect with us

Sports

USC’s JuJu Watkins is poised to become the face of women’s college basketball, picking up the torch left by Caitlin Clark

Published

on

JuJu Watkins, women

ROSEMONT, Ill. (AP) – JuJu Watkins appeared with Joel Embiid in an AT&T business and threw out the first pitch at a Dodgers game.

The next great opportunity is almost here.

Advertisement

The Southern California sophomore standout has a likelihood to take over the baton that Caitlin Clark has carried for the past few years as the standard-bearer of women’s college basketball.

“I wouldn’t really say there’s pressure,” she said Wednesday during Big Ten media day. “There are a lot of great teams in this league and I think my main focus is winning with my team. And wherever that takes us, we are grateful. I’m grateful for this opportunity.”

Watkins and USC enter their first season in the Big Ten with rising expectations.

JuJu Watkins #12 of the USC Trojans dribbles in the first half against the Connecticut Huskies in the Elite 8 round of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament at Moda Center on April 1, 2024 in Portland, Oregon. (Photo: Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

Last 12 months, the Trojans reached the Elite Eight of their deepest NCAA Tournament in three many years and were picked by each the coaches and media panel to win the conference championship. Watkins was named Preseason Player of the Year after a record-setting season as a freshman, and the opportunities ahead seem limitless at a time when interest in the sport has never been greater.

Advertisement

Clark, thanks to a series of three-pointers from Stephen Curry’s range, paved that path over the last 4 years at Iowa. She set a Division I record by averaging 28.4 points in her profession and was the obvious alternative to be drafted No. 1 overall by the Indiana Fever.

Meanwhile, Watkins was a first-team All-American last season. She finished second in the nation behind Clark in scoring at 27.1 points per game and set a national record for a freshman with a complete of 920. USC routinely played to packed crowds with celebrities in attendance.

“I don’t know if there was a young African-American women’s basketball superstar at that age who could use that platform, but I think it’s going to do a ton of good for the communities both in Los Angeles and across the country,” USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb said. “I wouldn’t bet against her that she can handle anything. At the same time, our job is to prepare her for what may come and make sure she can enjoy life and be a child.”

She said Watkins showed last 12 months that she was ready to “take women’s basketball by storm.”

Advertisement

“This is what she did with courage, grace and authenticity that is exceptional,” Gottlieb said. Obviously, she’s a very different person and a very different player than Caitlin Clark. But I feel similarly, expectations are getting higher and better, and so they are still being fulfilled.”

Lifestyle

Gottlieb said USC administrators contacted Iowa State with questions on safety and the way the school kept Clark secure. She has also reached out to Clark and plans to call former coach Lisa Bluder, who retired in May, for advice on how to cope with such an influential player.

“Ask her to talk about what she would have done differently, what she did, what she had to learn and what she had to adapt to, even in terms of signing autographs, about the tour and when you meet with your band – that’s all” – Gottlieb he said. “Why not help each other and be a resource for each other, and then we can learn as much as we can from them.”

Iowa State coach Jan Jensen, Bluder’s longtime assistant, had some advice.

Advertisement

“In your home you try to protect yourself,” she said. “The world can be turning pretty fast and everybody can be talking and wanting Juju to proceed producing. I’d say that the big world outside can stay big, but in your world it should feel quite small and tight.

Watkins and USC find themselves in a complete recent world. It’s the same with the Big Ten with the arrival of the Trojans, UCLA, Oregon and Washington from the Pac-12. But since Clark is now in the WNBA, the league has one other torchbearer.

“It’ll be fun to watch him evolve,” said Ohio State coach Kevin McGuff, who saw Watkins rating 32 points in a gap loss to the Trojans in Las Vegas last 12 months. “I think the Big Ten will give her an even bigger stage than the one she was on. “When you add to that the fact that he’s in Los Angeles, I think he’s going to be someone who will really help continue to take the sport in a great direction.”

Advertisement

This article was originally published on : thegrio.com

Sports

Ryan Clark breaks down in an emotional interview with Greg Brooks Jr.: “This child did not deserve it”

Published

on

By

Ryana Clark “The Pivot” podcast It boasts “key conversations”. However, the host of the podcast was not prepared for the emotional variety of his last interview with a former footballer of the State University in Louisiana Greg Brooks Jr. After almost an hour conversation with Greg Brooks and his father, Greg Brooks, Clark, Clark Put in tears a moment after Brooks was thrown out of the interview.

“Sometimes I miss it. I look at the screen and I think it should be me, but I’m just glad that I’m here.”

Advertisement

“You are amazing. You are an inspiration, I mean that you are a superhero and I expected that from a very young age, when I met you, to achieve great things,” said Clark Brooks Jr. “I never expected you to achieve what you have man. I love you.”

For Clark, Ałunu LSU and the super Bowl master, this conversation was particularly annoying because he was there to witness Brooks Jr.’s journey. from early days of recovery.

“It’s hard to see, old,” Clark continued. “My tears are like a part of pride, but also just anger, because you are right, this child does not … does not deserve this man, and to be honest, GB (Greg Brooks Sr.), the most difficult part is for me that he has no anger. He is so happy of everything he has, he is so happy because of how far is.”

While the previous LSU football captain is grateful for recovery, his father, Brooks Sr., explained that Brooks Jr. He still experiences the extent of pain.

Advertisement
Trailer

“Don’t you think that this child suffered, old? Don’t you think that he had the successes of all his friends? Not hear from the trainer for over 17 months? Seventeen Fu ** months … it’s painful, old” – revealed Brooks Sr.

In a lawsuit against the University and Mother of God of the Lake Regional Medical Center at Baton Rouge, the Brooks family claims that LSU staff and medical staff performed neglect in the Brooks Jr. And that the varsity did not inform the athlete’s family about his injury.

“I just want young athletes in the identical place, if something hurts, tell them.

(Tagstranslate) LSU Football (T) Ryan Clark (T) Sport

Advertisement
This article was originally published on : thegrio.com
Continue Reading

Sports

Coach San Antonio Spurs Gregg Popovich leaves the legacy of expressing injustice

Published

on

By

Gregg Popovich, the most important coach of San Antonio Spurs Gregg Popovich, won the highest and maybe the largest coach in NBA history outside the side line. It also disappeared, but actually not forgotten, Popovich used his platform to talk against racial, social and political injustice.

“He was probably one of the first trainers of the modern generation, who really spoke about politics and social injustice,” said coach Golden State Warriors Steve Kerr, a former guard of Spurs near Popuvich. “One of my favorite trainers is (former basketball coach of men from the University of North Karolina) Dean Smith. Dean Smith in the 1960s. He helped break the racial barriers in the south, refusing to take his team in some places for staying or eating. Coaches who really distinguish me. “

Spurs announced the retirement of Popovich from coaching on May 2 after 33 years as the most important trainer. Naismith Hall of Famer is the NBA leader in the field of coaching victories with 1422 wins in the regular season. The three -time NBA coach led Spurs to 5 championships. The 76-year-old also took third place in winning the playoffs.

Advertisement

Popovich trained the Spurs dynasty, which included the NBA championships in 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2014, Hall of Famers David Robinson, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Future Hall of Famer Kawhi Leonard. With the NBA All-Star Center Victor Wembanyama, in its composition, Popovich trained only five matches this season, after which he suffered a stroke in a team facility on November 2, 2024. He never returned out of bord.

Popovich will remain in Spurs as the president of basketball operations and was replaced by Mitch Johnson, who was a short lived team of the team this season.

“It’s a sad day. It’s also an encouraging day,” said Kerr on May 2. “This is a natural transition for him organizationally to go to the next role. He also gives him space and time that he must regain after health problems.

“So I got a lot of mixed emotions … mainly my love for pop. My empathy for what has gone through with the Spurs organization. All of the above. This is a very emotional day for everyone involved. Thank you, pop.”

Advertisement

Coach Houston Rockets, Ime Udoka, former guard of Spurs and assistant coach near Popowicz, said on May 2: “This is a sweet -bitter day, of course, for all of us. But I am glad that he is in the good place. And I am glad that he is good with his family. A special day. A special person. One of the best for it. I am happy that I have a chance to work with him and call him.”

Coach Golden State Warriors Steve Kerr (on the left) and coach San Antonio Spurs Gregg Popovich (on the right) meet after the match at the Chase Center on November 1, 2019.

Cary edmondson-us today sport

Popovich also had an impact on the world, undeniably using his platform to speak about injustice. What made his openness much more unique was that he was a white man who spoke about marginalized individuals who didn’t seem like him.

Advertisement

Former San Antonio Spurs Forward Lamarcus Aldridge once described Popovich as “color blindness” to Andcape. Popovich was also known that he normally had an inventory with international talent.

“When you meet him, color doesn’t matter to him,” Aldridge said about Popovich. “It can refer. People can say that he and Stephen Jackson are really close. Stephen Jackson is the opposite of being from Europe. It doesn’t matter who you are. He connects with all people … He is so open to everything.”

Popovich once expressed respect for the playmaker San Francisco 49ers Colin Kapernicka and his national protest. These were the words of a person who attended the American Air Force Academy and obtained a bachelor’s degree in the field of Soviet studies. He served five years of the required lively service in the Air Force and once considered a profession in the CIA.

“A quite good group of people immediately thought that they did not respect the army,” said Popovich once. “It had nothing to do with his protest. In fact, he was able to do what he did because of what the army was doing for us. Most people think about it, but there will always be an element that wants to jump on fashion and this is unfortunate in our country.”

Popovich once took Spurs to the private screening of the film “Chi-raq” with the famous film director Spike Lee. Popovich had a former John Carlos track star, who joined Tommie Smith to get a controversial salut of black power on the podium medal during the Olympic Games in Mexico in 1968, confer with his team. Popovich gave his players the book “Between the world and me” by Tahisi Coates, who was written as a letter to the writer’s teenage son about reality, emotions and symbolism of being an African American in the United States. Popovich also took his team for the show “The Birth of the Nation”, the film Parker invested about Nat Turner, who managed the historic riot of slaves in 1831 and see the famous art of “Hamilton” in New York.

Advertisement

“It is obvious that the domestic plane of slavery still penetrates our social system in this country,” said Popovich once. “People want to ignore it, they don’t want to talk about it because it is uncomfortable.”

Popovich also described the race in America as “elephant in peace.” He believed that the White Americans didn’t understand the pain and stress related to being an African American. Popovich remembered listening to the black assistants of trainers about how that they had to confer with children about the best way to cope with the police in the event that they were confronted. He said it was something that as a white man never had in common together with his two children.

“It’s easier for white people because we haven’t experienced this experience. For many white people it is difficult to understand the everyday feeling with which many black people are dealing with,” Popovich once said. “I did not talk to my children about how to behave in front of a policeman when you stop. I did not have to do it. All my black friends did it. There is something that is wrong in it and we all know it.”

From left to right: coach San Antonio Spurs, Gregg Popovich and former players of Spurs David Robinson and Tim Duncan during Tony Parker’s pension ceremony on November 11, 2019.

Daniel Dunn-Us today sport

Advertisement

Popovich also also talked about what he thinks were injustices in the American government, particularly against President Donald Trump. During October 27, 2024, a press conferencePopovich described Trump as “pathetic” and accused him of supporting the culture of racism and division in America. Popovich also added that he believes that Trump has confirmed racism, which normalized and legitimized discrimination on this process.

Popovich recurrently talked about the control of weapons. In 2023, Popovich gave an unnecessary, nine -minute lobbying lobbying for the laws of weapon control in America and criticizing “cowardly legislators who are selfish” before the match in Dallas. Popovich criticized republican legislators in Texas and Tennessee, and in addition expressed contempt for the expedition of representatives in 2023 Justin Jones and Justin Pearson from the Chamber of Representatives in Tennessee. Two black democrats were demonstrating weapons control on the floor of the chamber after a shooting in Nashville. Popovich called the provisions on the resistance of weapon control, an try and “clog all these things (in) the myth of the second amendment.”

“I was wondering because we have a governor and governor governor and prosecutor general, who made it easier to have more weapons,” Popovich said, referring to politicians from Texas. “It was a response to the murder of our children. I just thought it was a bit strange decision. But it’s just me.”

So how did Popovich develop into so conscious, caring and vocal?

Advertisement

The son of a Croatian father and Serbian mother organized naturally about other cultures, growing up in a racially diverse eastern Chicago in Indiana, 18 miles from the Chicago center. According to the universal census of the United States of 2010, Eastern Chicago had 42.9% black, 35.5% white and 19.1% of other races. Popovich attributed his military origin for making him aware of the world. He also learned about the world when he played basketball for the American Basketball Team of the Armed Forces in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.

“When you meet him and learn about his upbringing and his origin, raised in (suburbs) Gary, Indian, in a multicultural district …”-said Udoka. “He all the time talked about the neighbors he had – an Italian family, a Jewish family, a black family. Everything around him was immigrants and his.

“This is the core of who it is. It is appropriate, regardless of whether you are black, white or different.”

Kerr also spoke about social injustice, racism, violence with weapons and political problems during the training of warriors. He recognized Popovich for uplifting him to make use of his platform to talk.

“I was 100% inspired by pop for the courage to speak and take the hits you do,” said Kerr. “I met POP after I signed a contract with Spurs in 1999 during the blockade. You can see the sacrifice for his country. A proud air force graduate. From the first national anthem (played in the game Spurs) I saw how he stood on an unusual American flut.

Advertisement

“This is a belief together with, say, the Shenanigans of this country politically – in actual fact all BS began at the moment, at the turn of the century … between social media and Buffoners politically, on this era, wherein everyone screams against one another.

Marc J. Spears is a senior NBA author for Andcape. Once he was capable of immerse himself at you, but he was unable for years, and his knees still hurt.

This article was originally published on : andscape.com
Advertisement
Continue Reading

Sports

Why America still makes the black fathers of sports villains

Published

on

By

In the sports industry value a billion dollars there isn’t any image more quietly threatening to the system than a robust, engaged black father.

We see it time and again.
Lavar Ball is known as boastful.
Deion Sanders is known as selfish.

Advertisement

Richard Williams was crazy long before the world learned the names Venus and Serena.
Lebron James is in some way criticized for being too publicly supporting his son Brony.
Earl Woods was presented as a controlling character, even when he raised one of the biggest golfers he had ever seen.

Cecil Newton Sr. He met with public control simply following his son CAM.

The plan is evident: when the black father stands at the center of his child’s success – leading, protecting, moving away from exploitation – the media paint him as an issue.
As Egomaniak.
As someone “bothers”.

Why?
Because strong black fathers disturb the narrative.

Advertisement

The system is just not only invested in the talent of black athletes – it invests in controlling them.
A young black athlete without suggestions is less complicated to control. Easier to pay. Easier to face against others. Easier to the brand, profit and reject when it’s comfortable.

A powerful black father changes the terms of the contract.

Requires higher contracts.
He asks about coaching decisions.
It protects the mental health of your child from the franchise.
He reminds the world that his son or daughter is just not only an asset – but a human being along with his family, dreams and dignity.

And that is where real fear lies.

Advertisement

The image of a united black family – not broken, absent, not broken – a challenge of deeply rooted stereotypes on which American society has long been about the justification of inequalities.
A powerful black man standing next to his child and says that he is just not perceived as an act of love, but as an act of revolt.

It is less complicated to submit a father than to confess that the system is designed to make use of athletes, while they’re young, sensitive and isolated.
It is less complicated to make fun of yourself than to confront the truth:
Black families who stick together support one another and are fiercely in favor of their very own, are irrefutable, not a threat.

The experience of NFL Sanders Sanders shows what black men know too well - confidence is a threat

When Deion Sanders tells his sons that they’re kings, not goods, it worries the old order.
When Richard Williams insists that his daughters are larger than tennis, he prescribes the rules.
When Lavar Ball dreams loudly for his sons, he scares a system that prefers black athletes to be grateful and quiet.

But let’s be clear:
It is just not their trust that threatens the sports industry.
It’s their love.
Their refusal to permission to their children used and rejected to the side.
Their impudence is consider that they deserve sitting at the table – and pull up the chair without not asking for permission.

Black fathers in sport should not villains.
They are architects.
They are defenders.
These are a shield between industries value a billion dollars and kids, otherwise they consumed.

Advertisement

Or possibly this can be a real story that America doesn’t wish to tell.


Jonathan Conyers

)

This article was originally published on : thegrio.com
Advertisement
Continue Reading
Advertisement

OUR NEWSLETTER

Subscribe Us To Receive Our Latest News Directly In Your Inbox!

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.

Trending