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New York Liberty forward Jonquel Jones is chasing an elusive WNBA title

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At the beginning of the 2024 season, New York Liberty forward Jonquel Jones shared a brand new perspective on how she is approaching the upcoming 12 months.

“It’s a marathon, not a sprint,” she said.

While Jones, entering her eighth season within the league, talked concerning the upcoming season, the phrase might be applied to many features of her WNBA profession.

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In some ways, Jones’ rise through the league has been a marathon. She went from not making the All-Rookie team to being the league’s Most Improved Player in 2017 and from WNBA Sixth Woman of the Year in 2018 to being the league’s MVP in 2021.

Her goal was also to win the championship.

While Liberty battles for the championship against the Minnesota Lynx, Jones is playing within the fourth WNBA Finals of his profession. The WNBA title is considered one of the most recent awards Jones can add to his trophy case. So far it has been elusive.

This 12 months could also be Jones’ best championship run as a member of a Liberty team that finished the regular season at the highest of the league and eliminated fellow champion Las Vegas Aces en path to the WNBA Finals.

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However, Jones and Liberty may have some work to do after running into Ryś while biting his nails 95-93 Overtime thriller in the primary match on Thursday. If her performance within the series opener is any indication, Jones is determined to finish the championship drought for herself and the team.

“This is the last thing JJ needs to check,” Liberty teammate Courtney Vandersloot said.

“It’s a big deal for her.”

In Game 1 of the WNBA Finals on October 10, New York Liberty forward Jonquel Jones finished with 24 points and 10 rebounds.
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Catalina Fragoso/NBAE via Getty Images

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, within the 28-year history of the WNBA, 10 players have lost their first three Finals appearances.

Of those 10 players, guard Katie Douglas won the championship – in 2012 with the Indiana Fever. The list includes players corresponding to forward Angel McCoughtry and former Liberty guards Becky Hammon, Vickie Johnson and Teresa Weatherspoon.

As she prepared for the finals, Jones focused on the opportunities before her.

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“I just come to play hard,” Jones said. “I’m really the kind of one who focuses on one thing at a time, whatever a very powerful thing is, I let it’s a very powerful thing. Of course you learn out of your performance within the finals, but you approach it with the mindset to win the match.

Although the teams Jones played for were unsuccessful of their first three attempts at winning the championship, she delivered great play. According to ESPN Research, she is considered one of only six players in WNBA history to record greater than 20 double-doubles within the playoffs.

Jones performed brilliantly in each of his three finals appearances. In 2019, Jones averaged 19.2 points, 11 rebounds and 1.8 assists in her first Finals appearance with the Connecticut Sun against the Washington Mystics, a series that led to the fifth and final game. In 2022, Jones averaged 16 points, 8.3 rebounds and a couple of.3 assists against the Las Vegas Aces, who led the Sun in 4 games. Last season, Jones averaged 18.3 points, 9.8 rebounds and a couple of.8 blocks against the Aces as Las Vegas won its second straight title in 4 games.

On Thursday in the primary game, Jones scored 24 points and 10 rebounds, which is the best in each games.

“Honestly, that’s the story of my career,” Jones said. “If you return and have a look at all of the finals I’ve been in, I’d say I played well in them, we just didn’t win. That’s it.

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New York Liberty forward Jonquel Jones shoots a 3-pointer in extra time against the Minnesota Lynx at Barclays Center on October 10.

Paintings by Wendell Cruz/Imagn

On a team with many future Hall of Famers, Jones was the team’s top performer within the 2023 playoffs. Ultimately, it would not be enough.

“Winning another championship and losing is always motivating. I think we did a lot of good things last year. We just needed a little bit more,” Jones said.

This season has seen a major difference in Liberty’s consistency on the court. The band used their chemistry to rework from a gaggle of interconnected stars right into a harmonious whole. Combine that with the will to return to the Finals, and the result was a Liberty squad that played as title favorite for a lot of the season.

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“Our team had a year to really grow, understand and build,” Jones said. “What now we have in common is the experience of attending to the championship and losing, after which having the hunger to exit on the pitch and make a call about how we approach the match – that (losing in the ultimate) had no impact on happening again.

“We still have a job to do. … We understand it will be a struggle, but together we have been through a lot, we have built each other up and become much stronger.”

For Jones, this season was a return to her old self. Jones spent much of last season recovering from a foot injury.

“What really helped me this year was just playing basketball, getting back on track and being healthy,” Jones said.

“I think he’s just getting comfortable and I think it’s going to take time,” Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said. “She has been injured for six months and it is difficult for her emotionally and physically. It started working towards the end, but then it was about how I could recover and be better from day one. She was huge for us.”

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This season, Jones was chosen to her fifth All-Star game. For Liberty, she averaged 14.2 points, 9.0 rebounds, 1.3 blocks and a career-best 3.2 assists.

When asked if she sees a way of urgency in Jones this 12 months and her pursuit of the title, Vandersloot replied that there is no noticeable difference because Jones has at all times carried the identical championship energy along with her.

“I don’t necessarily see anything different because she’s always approached every season like she wants to win a championship for as long as I’ve known her,” said Vandersloot, who played with Jones overseas before they became teammates at Liberty. “Of course, I feel just a little little bit of experience will assist in this case. He knows what it’s prefer to be on this group, but he approaches it the identical.”

Jonquel Jones averaged 14.2 points, 9.0 rebounds, 1.3 blocks and a career-best 3.2 assists per game for Liberty this season.

Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images

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Like Jones, forward Breanna Stewart and Vandersloot will make their fourth Finals appearance – a feat achieved by only 29 other players in WNBA history. Stewart won two championships with the Seattle Storm, and Vandersloot won a championship with the Chicago Sky. All three wish to win their first title since joining forces in New York last season to form an excellent team.

Vandersloot said she would like to see Jones fight for her first title.

“Especially the three of us, we colluded to come here and be in this exact situation and make JJ be her first. Stewie and I knew what it was like and of course you always want more,” Vandersloot said. “(JJ) put in the time. She got involved in the work. She became MVP. All her individual career successes. Getting there is huge for her.”

Keenly aware that it is often possible that one other likelihood on the championships won’t ever come, Jones knows that point should never be wasted when she makes it to the finals as a right – whether she wins or not. While Jones said there’s some frustration in reaching the ultimate lap multiple times a season after which ending up wanting it, she knows greater than most what the finish line looks like.

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She hopes to perform that this season.

“I understand it’s a marathon, not a sprint,” Jones said again, this time through the shootaround before the primary game. “You go out there and try to do whatever the team needs to win.”

Sean Hurd is a author for Andscape, primarily covering women’s basketball. The pinnacle of his athletic development got here on the age of 10, when he was voted camper of the week at Josh Childress’ basketball camp.

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Jalen Milroe can follow the Jalen path in NFL

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Star Black playmakers aren’t any longer an exception – they’re the rule. Throughout the entire football season, this series will discover the importance and influence of black QB from bottom -up to NFL.


Indianapolis-keep me, should you heard it earlier: playmaker Alabama born in Texas, who’s a stronger runner than a passerby, will probably be called outside the first round of the NFL Draft.

The playmaker was undefeated in Sec as a primary -year starter.

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The playmaker never played for the same offensive coordinator.

The name of the playmaker is even Jalen.

But it isn’t clear that Jalen hurts. This winter he was busy winning the Super Bowl MVP, and he didn’t play Iron Bowl or against Michigan.

Instead, it’s a former playmaker of Crimson Tide Jalen Milroewho last week Combine Combine tried to convey the case to the trainers and evaluators that he – like his namesake – is price being their playmaker franchise in the future despite questions on his ability.

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“I went through adversity. I saw everything as a quarterback, “Milroe said on Friday. “I played at the most difficult conference in the country. It would be easier to play at other conferences, but what I could see in Sec catapulted me that I was ready to play NFL. “

Alabama, Jalen Milroe, talks to the media during the NFL mix at the Lucas Oil stadium on February 28 at Indianapolis.

Justin Casterline/Getty Images

Departing from Katy in Texas, she originally got involved in Texas in 2019, but a 12 months later she fell to Alabama. After he was sitting behind the Crimson Tide Starter Bryung for 2 seasons, Milroe took his reins in the 2023 season. He helped Alabama survive Sec (8-0) this 12 months, won by the conference rival and two-time defender Georgia in the SEC championship, which caused Crimson Tide to the play-off collection.

But while Milroe had a big arm (his 10 yards for the test took third place in Sec in 2023), the pass was not his strong suit. For two seasons as a starter Milroe never achieved 3000 yards in one season, the first starter of Alabama, who did it because it … hurts.

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Hurts, from Houston, led Crimson Tide to the National National Championships in 2016–17, but during these two seasons were lower than 5,000 yards. While Hurts was a singular Rusher (1,809 yards and 21 sticks) at the moment, his weakness as a passerby is known for led to the spare Tua Tavailoa during the break of the national championships in 2017.

In the mix, Milroe decided that despite his pedestrian passes, he was still worthy of being a start at NFL.

He is aware of his weaknesses and swore that he worked in the ass to enhance outside being “one dimension.” He could move when his legendary trainer, Nick Saban, retired after the 2023 season, but decided to not fall off. He traveled six miles a day to ensure that that something was left in the fourth quarter in the fourth quarter. He studied progression and reads after I-SNAP to lift his IQ in football.

Unlike the forecast sorts of the first round, Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders, Milroe threw a mix on Saturday, hoping that he would show the bands that he has mechanics to do that to the playmaker NFL. It turned out to be a mixed bag. Milroe showed strong arm strength and a very good location of sail routes, curls and it while throwing exercises, but fought accuracy on intermediate and on the routes.

“That’s so many things that I can learn more where I am today and where I will be when it comes to day 1, starting with NFL,” said Milroe before Saturday exercises. “Always be a game student, at all times attempt to develop, because it would be so many opportunities in which I can look back and say that it was the moment after I grew up as a playmaker.

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“That’s right now, I’m just trying to grow as much as possible, put my best foot forward and just look for development.”

Jalen Milroe warms up during seniors training at the Hancock Whitney stadium on January 29 at Mobile, Alabama.

Derick E. Hingle/Getty Images

Milroe was asked that he was one other playmaker in Alabama to succeed in the mix, following in the footsteps of the role (who moved to Oklahoma in 2019), Tavailoa, Mac Jones and Bryce Young. Milroe said he appreciates being in the company of others, but he added that it’s difficult to check him with others.

“We had different bands, we had different players around us, we had a different system,” he said.

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But when he specifically asked what he could study the journey of Hurts-from the first manager of the game after the super Bowl-Milroe master said he inspired him his companion Alabam.

“The most important thing I learned from J. Hurts is how he kept his head (I) always continued to work,” said Milroe. “He at all times raised his game, he has never been self -deserved, and all the pieces you see is great progress from him.

“And I have to applaud him as a person, he as a man, because he is definitely inspiring for many playmakers of my image, as well as many playmakers throughout the country. He leads to all of us. “

The couple isn’t completely similar. Hurts had about 20 kilos on Milroe when he was in college. Milroe has a stronger arm, while Hurts played more and not using a mistake of football: Milroe threw 17 interceptions and ate 67 bags for 2 seasons as a starter in comparison with 10 captures Hurts and 43 bags.

But they can each be changing the game when their teams need them. In a highly publicized match against Georgia at the starting of the last season, Milroe finished almost 82% of his passes on 374 yards and two appointments, adding 117 yards to the ground for the next two results.

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Milroe can also match the wounds in the so -called “Jalen-ISMS. “

“Climbing upstairs is not easy, but when you reach the top of this mountain, you will learn so many things when it comes to adversity when it comes to difficulties, things along the way,” said Milroe in a mix.

Martenzie Johnson is an older author for Andcape. His favorite film moment is that Django said: “You all want to see something?”

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Like Tommie Smith and John Carlos from 1968. Black Power Salute inspired me to find my goal

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I’d say that I grew up within the household to be sure that that me and my siblings were aware of the black history. My parents invested in the gathering of black encyclopedias. On the duvet we had a version of the Bible with Black Jesus. Our house was stuffed with books of black novelists and thinkers, and if a black document appeared, we watched it. I watched all movies made on television about Dr. King, each “Roots” and “Alex Haley’s Queen” and I sat for all 14 hours “Eyes on the reward”-as a toddler. Bless my heart.

Having said this, there have been pockets of black history, and more likely that I had no opportunity to delve into once I was a toddler. The college was where all the will for information and understanding of the combined. I attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, Ga., One of a very powerful historically black universities within the country. It was there that I met people from around the globe whose knowledge about black history differed (often depending on the colleges and the communities by which we lived), but everyone had hunger to learn more.

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One day, through the first yr, I remember one among my friends in a T -shirt by which I had definitely seen before, but I never paid attention to. There was a black and white screen printing on the shirt (what I do know now) the enduring moment on the Olympic Games in Mexico in 1968, where on the rostrum for 200-meter medals, Tommie Smith, John Carlos (races 1. And 3. Place Finaners) Everyone gathered a black fist in gloves while he played “Star Spangled Banner”. Peter Norman, the second place from Australia, wore a human rights badge, like Smith and Carlos.

Not only did they raise the fist of black power (although they each said it was for human rights), they received medals in black socks to represent poverty within the black community, and Smith wore a black scarf for black pride. Carlos showed solidarity with blue-wheeled employees, unpacking the jacket and wore a necklace from the beads for individuals who were lynched. Due to the state of Black America in 1968 and a continuing struggle for equality and civil rights, there have been calls to a boycott of the Games. Martin Luther King, Jr. He was also killed in April this yr – and all three athletes were inspired enough to find a way to do it on the rostrum, which led to one of the crucial durable images of public protest.

I remember how I learned history and realized that on the most important scene these brave men used their moment of triumph and victory to quietly protest against the conditions of underrated communities in America. I felt strengthened; We often discuss standing on the arms of giants, however the more I got into the history of black in America, the more I spotted what number of giants there have been. In college I used to be very bad and for a while ready to burn every part that represented the establishment or any obstacle to black liberation. I felt like all those individuals who even saw their space on the planet in reference to individuals who could never give you the option to speak as heroes whose lives were to be modeled later. Especially since it was also fastidiously that putting people in front of him can often bring an enormous personal loss.

When Smith and Carlos took their position, they were booed on the stadium and ordered to be sent home by the International Olympic Committee. The athletes returned home, but they weren’t welcomed by the hero, but as a substitute of rough sleds, and even in some cases the specter of death. They were also not beloved by athletes. Two men, associated eternally in history, even have a good relationship –Carlos even claims that he let Smith go within the race Because “Tommie Smith would never put his fist in the sky if I won this race,” the claim that Smith denies.

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History ultimately has a way of rights, but it surely took a few years and realizations on the front of social policy, in order that the actions of those persons are perceived as brave and needed, not only selfish and smug.

The lessons that I learned from College and continuous reading and education I gained (my head remained within the book about black history) were one among the best advantages in HBCU. The very variety of books I learned about about which I actually have never heard of – I actually have upheld me all my life.

That is why I remember sooner or later I used to be walking around Washington, the eastern Washington market and a street seller was selling different photos of moments in black history, and he had a 40 -inch photo within the Tommie Smith and John Carlos frame. I paid for it in money and spent it across the capital of the country until I returned home. I do know that it happened in 2005 (I finished Morehouse College in 2001) because I just moved to my first apartment with no roommate and it was the very first thing that I actually have ever suspended on the wall. This picture within the frame still hangs on the wall in my home in 2025 and I used it to teach my children about sacrifice and privilege and how you may have to discuss individuals who cannot.

Teenage students of Stax Music Academy Mark 25th anniversary, black history month with a concert

The query that my youngest children often ask: “How do I know who can’t speak for herself?” Which is an incredible query. For this I answered an easy fact, pointing to the photo:

“These men have made a gesture that gave people whose most of us, including them, would never see or never know them, but on which life negatively affects the alternatives of the wealthy and the federal government. Sometimes you may have to take this chance to say something because you do not know in the event you’ll ever have such a big platform.

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Son, there may be at all times someone who cannot speak for himself, and you may have to use it in a voice, because perhaps the thing you say or a stand that can help someone you understand, live a greater life. ”

I take advantage of words that may understand a little bit higher, but I can inform you that my children have a look at this photo on a regular basis, and once one among my sons said: “These guys are heroes, right?”

I say yes, they’re. They are the heroes of the Black History.

They will live eternally for speaking, and even quietly, in solidarity with those that couldn’t.

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Panama Jackson Thegrio.com

(Tagstranslate) @Ap

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Main Treasury Official Morgan State University, Sterling Steward, died

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Morgan State University, Sterling Steward


Morgan State University announced that his older associate athletics director and tax director, Sterling Steward, died.

No reason for death was disclosed, but the college has confirmed his contribution since he was employed in December 2022.

Steward died on February 26. In Morgan State he was accountable for the event of university programs, supporting partnerships and strengthening the financial and operational success of the Faculty.

“Sterling was more than a colleague-he was a respected leader, mentor and friend,” said in a written statement by Den Freeman-Patton, vice chairman and director of inter-university athletes. “His passion for athletics and commitment to raising Morgan programs were visible in everything he did. He worked tirelessly to ensure that our sports students had resources and the possibilities of distinction, and its impact will be felt for many years. We expand our deepest condolences to his family and loved ones, especially his three sons and sister when we mourn this huge loss. “

While the steward worked in Morgan, strategic growth and cooperation occurred. His work with the institutional development department helped to offer more opportunities and created lasting relationships to support sports programs.

Steward earlier he worked At the University of New Orleans (UNO) as an assistant to the college athletics director for strategic income generation. He also made stays on the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Savannah State University, Mississippi Valley State University, Alabama State University, Kentucky State University, Eastern Oregon University and Xavier University in various roles, including for a senior consultant athletics director and sports director.

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He was from New Orleans, who received the title of bachelor and master’s degree on the University of Southern Mississippi. He won a bachelor’s degree in the sphere of coaching and administration/history of sport and his master’s degree in the sphere of sport management.

(Tagstransate) Morgan State Universiry

This article was originally published on : www.blackenterprise.com
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