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Uconn Sarah Strong striker shows that he is another miracle of the university basketball

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Tampa, Florida – Sarah Strong from the University of Connecticut is the best first -year student in university basketball – men or women. This could seem blasphemous in the season by which everyone said that the distinction belonged to the prince of the striker Cooper Flagg.

But while Duke was eliminated from the men’s tournament on Saturday, a 24-point 15-point performance against southern Carolina on Sunday, he helped raise Uconn to victory 82-59 and national championships.

In 40 seasons, Geno Aurimmy as a Huscus coach, Uconn had several well -known first -year students. Thanks to the Strong performance not only on Sunday, but in the entire tournament and the Uconn season, they left fingerprints throughout the school and the history of the tournament.

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She became the first first 12 months student in history with 20 points and 15 rebounds in the national title game. Strong was the third first 12 months student with 20 points each in the national semi -final and the national match for the championship. She became the first first 12 months student in Uconn’s history with 4 20-point matches in a single NCAA tournament and the first first 12 months student of Uconn with three easy 20-point matches in the tournament.

She also set a record of points in a single NCAA tournament.

Paige Bueckers, who won its first national championship on Sunday, is clearly the star of Uconn. Azzi Fudd gives the tone to the team. But Strong was the Uconn Everything engine this season – bouncing with revenge, shooting him if mandatory and playing in a strangling defense for the best player of the opponent.

Auriemma said that he saw it strongly when he watched her as the tenth grader.

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“When I saw Sarah played in high school, in the 10th grade, I couldn’t think of a woman’s player to compare her,” said Auriemma. “I said,” She is Charles Barkley. ” I said, “It is great that the game is playing.

“I just think that when you have a child who is so young-he knows the game so well and has the ability, regardless of the situation on the pitch, regardless of what part of the court, no matter what he calls, it has the opportunity to do this-it is very rare at professional basketball players, and even more so 19-year-old first year student.”

Uconn striker Sarah Strong (on the left) and the guardian Paige Buckers (on the right) react during the final match with UCLA on Friday at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida.

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In the season, critics and a few coaches complained to a coach from South Karolina Dawn Staley for packing their team from All-Americans McDonald’s. Strong to All-American South Karolina didn’t get. She was the best recruit in school 2024.

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In Sunday’s defeat for southern Carolina, a Sunday of Sunday appeared, when the difference between an actual first -year and wonderful student became visible.

The moment took place with 39 seconds in the third quarter, Uconn leads 59-40. A talented first -year student in Southern Carolina, Joyce Edwards, fouled strong and put her on the line. When Edwards left the game, clearly frustrated, strong – normally stoic – he sank two fouls coldly. At that moment, Strong already had 17 points, 14 rebounds and three blocked shots.

Then the distinction became visible: Edwards was an actual first 12 months student. Strong is wonderful.

She grew up in the game and around him. Mother Strong, Feaster Allison, is the vice chairman for team operations and organizational development in Boston Celtics. Feaster was a Harvard star and played WNBA. Father Strong, Danny Strong, played collegially in the state of North Carolina and abroad for 15 years.

During the tournament, colleagues from the Strong team consistently described her as a player who is smart and mature outside her years. They call her an excellent player who avoids the ups and falls.

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She liked the unbelievable season of the first 12 months, and her statistics line screams: Big East Freshman of the Year. Associated Press the second ALL-American team. Medium 16 points, 8.7 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 2.3 thefts and 1.6 blocks per game.

Strong is strength.

Sarah Strong (on the left) shoots at Chloe Kitts from southern Carolina (on the right) in the second half of the national championship match on Sunday at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida.

Thien-an Truong/ISI PHOTOS/GETTY IMAGES

When Feaster watched his daughter on the stage of the championship on Sunday, I asked her about the source of strongholds.

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Feaster said he was going beyond basketball.

“I think it’s faith,” she said. “I think it is faith in this process, faith in his purpose. God has put her here for some reason. She is who she is and I am simply grateful.”

Asked how she felt watching her daughter experiences the moment of the championship, Feaster said: “The only emotion I have is simply pure gratitude for all this. You don’t reach this point, without going through some things and many victims, a lot of fights, a lot of conversations, a lot of joy and a lot of pain.”

When Father Strong observed the fall of confetti, he thought of all the years of sacrifice, the exertions by which his daughter put in.

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“It took a lot of prayer, a lot of time and supervising the whole process,” said Danny Strong. “She knew that she wanted to be from the sixth grade there. It was in her heart. I am definitely glad that we had the opportunity to be here and on stage, as it is now.”

Strong journey is just starting and can probably be continued in Uconn. Unlike Flagga, which is to depart Duke after one season to the NBA, Strong will probably spend the next three years in Uconn competing for the championship and maybe developing in the next super -star of the program.

I asked Danny Strong what his expectations for his 19-year-old daughter.

“Be humble, stay hungry, continue working and continue working until you are ready to hang your shoes,” he said. “No matter what you do, no matter what you achieve, or grateful, stay praying and work hard. That’s all.”

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He almost guaranteed that the next three years Strong can be spent in Storrs in Connecticut.

“Oh yes, definitely,” he said. “We brought her up to be a closed and loyal person. When you start something, you’ll end up. We won’t jump and do all these crazy things.”

This season was crazy enough. Their daughter is the best first -year student in university basketball. Period.

And now he is the country’s champion.

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William C. Rhoden is a columnist for Andcape and the creator of forty million slaves: The Rise, Fall and Redemption of the Black Athlete. He is managed by Rhoden Fellows, a training program for beginner journalists from HBCUS.

This article was originally published on : andscape.com
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Coach San Antonio Spurs Gregg Popovich leaves the legacy of expressing injustice

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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.

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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.”

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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.

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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.

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“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

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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?

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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.

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“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
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Why America still makes the black fathers of sports villains

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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


Jonathan Conyers

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This article was originally published on : thegrio.com
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Ball Up Top: Lakers, Fakers, Quakers … Wolves in 5

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“Ball Up Top” is a weekly NBA video series in which David Dennis Jr. With AndScape he talks about hot topics in the league and popular culture with special guests in addition to personalities and sejds.

In episode 8, David is joined by a senior author Justin Tinsley to debate Los Angeles Lakers, who was rejected from Playoffs and what to do next. In addition, a really exciting opera clip that David cannot stop enthusiastic about.


Episode 8, 2 May 2025
Host: David Dennis Jr.
Guests: Justin Tinsley
Manufacturers: Charles Abankwa, Ryan Cortes, Rodney Davis, Chris Gavin, Charles Peach

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Archives

Episode 1 (March 7, 2025): Quentin Richardson on Phoenix Suns, his moment “Welcome to the NBA” and beef with “Nad edge”

Episode 2 (March 14, 2025): Plus/Minus! Nikola Jokic (not) MVP, whose Knicks and Lakers don’t need to see, asks Cooper Flagg

Episode 3 (March 21, 2025): Danny Green evaluates his pretenders to the Western Conference, members of the Abrevocal Team

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Episode 4 (March 28, 2025): Talking Heat Culture after the outbreak of warriors, more plus/minus

Episode 5 (April 4, 2025): The most vital games left in the NBA schedule

Episode 6 (April 17, 2025): Kazeem Famuyide talks NBA Playoffs, Wrestlemania 41, Army X

Episode 7 (April 24, 2025): Which NBA Playoffs teams are cooked/not cooked?

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David Dennis Jr. He is an older author in Andcape and the creator of the award -winning book “The Ruch Made Us: A Father, son and the Legacy of a Freedom Ride”. David is a graduate of Davidson College.

This article was originally published on : andscape.com
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