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🚨Heads
📈 Business is good: The WNBA ended May with its highest attendance in 26 years (approximately 400,000 fans) and new ratings across multiple networks.
🏀 Ham to dollar: Darvin Ham returns to the Bucks to work under Doc Rivers as an assistant coach after being fired by the Lakers.
🏈 Year 19: Tight end Marcedes Lewis will play his 19th NFL season after the 40-year-old officially re-signed with the Bears.
🏀 NC State vs. NCAA: Ten members of NC State’s 1983 national championship team are suing the NCAA for failing to compensate them for using their NIL to promote college basketball.
🏒 PWHL design: New York drafted Princeton’s Sarah Fillier, called a “generational talent” by league scouts, with the No. 1 pick.
🏀 Hurley rejects Lakers, stays at UConn
Then Hurley has turned down a six-year, $70 million offer from the Lakers to return to UConn, where he will start next season in search of the first three-peat since John Wooden and UCLA.
Dan Wetzel: A great day for college basketball
Coming in with a pile of gold and a lot of control, the Lakers offered Hurley, just fourteen years ago a high school coach in New Jersey, the keys to one of the most decorated franchises in all of sports, let alone the NBA.
17 championships. Legends that stretch from Mikan and West, through Kareem and Magic, to Shaq, Kobe and LeBron. All glitter. All the glamour. All the potential in a place where free agents gather and banners are hung.
And yet, ultimately, after days of interviews and contemplation, Hurley said no to everything. No to the NBA. No to LA No to playing the game at the highest and most advanced level.
Instead, he said yes to a stint at the University of Connecticut, yes to a life in the woods of New England, yes to the reality of college basketball today.
This is obviously a phenomenal day for UConn. It’s also a phenomenal day for all college hoops — yes, even those of you who watched and will continue to watch your favorite team lose to the Huskies.
Jeff Eisenberg: Hurley follows in Coach K’s footsteps
The big headline at the top of the Los Angeles Times sports section read: “Lakers shift their focus.”
The Lakers had just swung for the fences and whiffed in their attempt to pry away college basketball’s most accomplished coach.
That was July 2004, when Mike Krzyzewski turned down the opportunity to replace the retiring Phil Jackson, explaining, “You have to follow your heart and lead with that, and Duke has always occupied my whole heart.”
He went on to win two more national titles with the Blue Devils while satisfying his curiosity about whether he could coach NBA players by leading USA Basketball to three consecutive Olympic gold medals.
Twenty years later, Dan Hurley is ready to follow the same path that Krzyzewski once did.
What’s next: Where do the Lakers go from here?
🌎 The world in photos
Sunrise, Florida — Evan Rodrigues (two goals) and the Panthers dominated the Oilers 4-1, taking a 2-0 lead in the Stanley Cup Final and completing their seventh comeback victory this postseason (fifth most ever).
Pinehurst, NC — Tiger Woods was all smiles on Monday as he practiced for this week’s US Open at Pinehurst No. 2 with his son Charlie, who helped him prepare.
Rome — Team France’s Amanda Ngandu-Ntumba competes in the women’s discus throw at the 2024 European Athletics Championships.
Plateau des Glières, France — The peloton passes the herd of cows during the 76th Critérium du Dauphiné, one of the most important races in the run-up to the Tour de France.
⚾️ Eight teams, two competitions, one title
Only two conferences (SEC and ACC) will be represented in the 2024 College World Series, which concluded Monday.
The last time that happened? Especially in 1948, when there were only two teams in the CWS. USC won the title over Yale, whose captain and third baseman was someone you may have heard of: George HW Bush.
The field: Four SEC teams and four ACC teams head to Omaha, Nebraska, where they will be split into two double-elimination brackets. The two teams from each bracket will then meet in the best-of-three finals.
Bracket 1:
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No. 1 Tennessee (55-12): The Vols have hit 173 home runs – 22 more than second place – and their 3.83 ERA ranks third in the nation. They are title favorites for a reason.
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No. 4 UNC (47-14): The Heels’ first performance since 2018 was sparked by freshman center Jason DeCaro, who was supposed to be a high schooler this year but was reclassified to join UNC early. He turned 18 two months ago.
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No. 8 Florida State (47-15): The Seminoles’ 24 CWS appearances are third-most among programs, but they are the only ones with more than 20 trips and no titles.
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No. 12 Virginia (46-15): The Cavaliers have the nation’s second-best batting average (.336) and sixth-best OBP (.428). Good luck keeping them off the bases.
Bracket 2:
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No. 2 Kentucky (45-14): The Wildcats make their CWS debut after winning more than 40 games in consecutive seasons for the first time in program history.
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No. 3 Texas A&M (49-13): The Aggies are a juggernaut, ranking fourth nationally in home runs (132) and sixth in ERA (3.94).
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No. 10 NC State (38-21): The Wolfpack’s year continues as NC State has now made it to the Men’s Final Four, Women’s Final Four and CWS where they are looking for their first title.
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Florida (34-28): Last year’s runner-up sneaked in as the only unseeded team behind two-time star Jac Caglianone, who ranks second nationally in home runs (33) while also serving as the Gators’ ace.
Looking forward: Double-elimination play begins Friday and the championship series begins in two Saturdays (June 22).
📆 June 11, 1950: The miracle at Merion
74 years ago today, Ben Hogan won the US Open at Merion Golf Club in an 18-hole three-way play-off, just 16 months after nearly dying in a car crash.
The photo of your life: Needing a par to make the playoffs, Hogan whipped out his 1-iron* and hit one of golf’s most iconic shots, landing 40 feet from the pin and two-putting for par. Perhaps just as iconic was the photo (above) of Hy Peskin who, if you believe his story, took just that one photo all day.
More about this day:
*Lost and found: Hogan’s 1-iron was stolen from his bag that evening and returned to him 33 years later when a golf club dealer found it in a set he bought for $150.
📺 Watchlist: all 30 teams in action
There aren’t many sports on TV tonight, so it’s the perfect time to check in with your favorite MLB team about a third of the way through the season.
All 30 teams in action:
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6:00-7:00 PM ET: Braves at Orioles (6:35 PM); Nationals at Tigers (6:40 PM); Cubs at Rays (6:50 PM)
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7:00 PM – 8:00 PM: Guards at Reds (7:10 p.m.); Marlins at Mets (7:10 p.m.); Phillies at Red Sox (7:10 p.m., TBS); Rockies at Twins (7:40 PM); Pirates among cardinals (7:45 p.m.)
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8:00 PM – late: Yankees at Royals (8:10 p.m.); Blue Jays at Brewers (8:10 p.m.); Angels at D-Backs (9:40 PM); White Sox at Mariners (9:40 PM); A is with Padres (9:40 PM); Astros at Giants (9:45 p.m.); Rangers at Dodgers (10:10 p.m.)
MLB links: Scores | Stand | Statistics
🏈 NFL trivia
Mike Tomlin On Monday, he signed a three-year extension with the Steelers, keeping the NFL’s longest-tenured coach (2007) in Pittsburgh until at least 2027.
Ask: Who is the NFL’s second tallest coach?
Answer below.
🎓 Fed: “Perfection is impossible”
Roger Federer delivered the starting address in Dartmouth this weekend and it was fantastic.
My favorite part:
Perfection is impossible. In the 1,526 singles matches I played in my career, I won almost 80% of those matches.
Now I have a question for you: what percentage of points do you think I won in those matches? Only 54%.
In other words, even top tennis players barely win more than half of the points they play. If you lose every second point on average, you learn not to dwell on every shot.
You teach yourself to think, ‘Okay, I made a double mistake – it’s just a point. … Okay, I got to the net and got passed again – it’s just a point.”
Even a great shot, an overhead backhand smash that ends up in ESPN’s top 10, that’s also just a point.
This is why I’m telling you this: When you play a point, it has to be the most important thing in the world. And it is. But if it’s behind you, it’s behind you.
This mindset is really crucial because it gives you the freedom to fully commit to the next point and the next point after that with intensity, clarity and focus.
Trivia answer: John Harbaugh, Raven (2008)
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