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UAB Blazers head coach Andy Kennedy says he misses TV.

The camaraderie. The access. The mindset.

“I miss it after those tough L’s, I’ll tell you that!”

Spoken like a coach. But that’s who Andy Kennedy inescapably is, a two-year detour under bright lights of a different kind notwithstanding.

Nine 20-win seasons helped make “AK” the winningest coach in the history of Ole Miss basketball. But in the ultra-high-stakes world of Power 5 hoops, even that was not enough to appease university officials, who denied Kennedy a contract extension heading into the final year of his deal in 2017. Mounting tension led to a decision midway through the season in which the parties agreed to part ways following the SEC tournament. But with four games remaining, Kennedy abruptly resigned, issuing a written farewell that said his presence had become “detrimental to finishing the season in a fashion representative of the standard [of] this program.”

Unintentional though it might have been, that de facto news bulletin led to a career in the media as a TV analyst at ESPN and SEC Network. Despite no prior experience and no previous commentating ambitions, Kennedy excelled.

2dJoe Lunardi

3dJeff Borzello

22hJonathan Givony and Mike Schmitz

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“I have no doubt if he continued with television he would have been great at it,” says ESPN senior coordinating producer David Ceisler. “He stayed authentic to who he is. Fun, reactive, great energy, engaging to converse.”

Kennedy simplified it.

“I wanted to call the game as if I was sitting on the couch, drinking a beer with a buddy.”

Which is what he did for two full seasons, broadcasting games in the arenas where he once coached and analyzing the coaches against whom he once matched wits. Invitations to practices and film sessions were part of the gig, opportunities that provided a sorely needed fresh perspective on the game.

“I got to see, ‘Hey man, if I get back [into coaching] maybe I’m going try some of this,'” recalls Kennedy, who knew deep down no amount of forehead powderings could mask his true calling.

Andy Kennedy took Ole Miss to the NCAA tournament in 2013 and 2015. Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

So when the chance to take over at his alma mater presented itself, Kennedy took it, with an eye on returning UAB basketball to the glory years he helped make glorious. A Parade All-American in high school, Kennedy spent one season at NC State under Jim Valvano, before transferring to Birmingham to play for Gene Bartow, a legend of equal standing. Bartow led Memphis State to the 1973 national championship game, then later succeeded John Wooden at UCLA before leaving to take over as men’s basketball coach and director of athletics at UAB, where he built Blazers sports from the ground up.

Kennedy flourished under Bartow, leading the Sun Belt Conference in scoring his senior season, finishing a three-year career with 1,787 points, second most in school history. A series of knee injuries cut short a promising pro playing career, which led to a pivot toward the path of his mentor. It was not well-received.

“Coach Bartow wasn’t very helpful,” remembers Kennedy, adding “he didn’t want me to get into coaching. He told me, ‘Coaching is a great business if it wasn’t for those games.'”

Still there was no convincing the then-26-year-old, who paid his dues as an assistant first at South Alabama, then at UAB under Murry Bartow, Gene’s son, before joining Bob Huggins at Cincinnati. That foundation, including a year as Bearcats interim head coach, led Kennedy to Ole Miss, a program coming off four consecutive losing seasons. In year one, the Rebels improved by seven wins. Year two, they won 24 games. In nine of the next 10 seasons they won at least 19 games, including two trips to the NCAA tournament. Kennedy’s lone losing season in Oxford was his final season.

Without the split, however, there would have been no stint in broadcasting, and without that stint in broadcasting, there would be no change in the now-53-year-old.

“No question I’m a different coach,” Kennedy admits. “I’m still very, very demanding when it comes to accountability. But having the perspective of being away from coaching, I don’t want it to be such a grind where it takes out the joy of the game for my players.”

Now in his second season leading UAB, Kennedy’s style is resulting in wins. Last year, the Blazers went 22-7 including a 13-5 mark in Conference USA. This year, they’re 16-4, 6-1 in C-USA with a real shot at an at-large bid should they fail to win the conference tournament. For the guy who approached his old gig like he was drinking a beer on a couch with his buddy, explaining why this job suits him best is easy.

“A lot of my friends were like, ‘Hey, I don’t know why you’d get back into the grind of coaching? In broadcasting you never lose a game.’ And that’s true. But I like to say, ‘Yeah, but ya never win one either.'”

Other mid-major mastery:

o Tremendous job by Jacksonville head coach Jordan Mincy and athletic director Alex Ricker-Gilbert in surprising redshirt junior guard Thomas Owen with a scholarship after 3 1/2 years as a walk-on. Our advice … bring the Kleenex for this one:

o Electrifying Missouri State junior guard Isiaih Mosley pumped in 40 points Saturday in a 79-69 win over AP No. 22 Loyola Chicago. It was Mosley’s second 40-point game this season, and he became the first Missouri Valley Conference player to do so since Hersey Hawkins of Bradley did it nine times (!) in the 1987-88 season.

o Army trailed arch-rival Navy by as many as 27 Saturday, before rallying for the biggest comeback in Patriot League history. Coach Jimmy Allen’s team closed the second half on a 34-12 run over the final 11:34, then got a bucket from Jalen Rucker with 29 seconds to go in OT to allow the Black Knights to “sing second.”

o UNC Asheville junior Drew Pember posted a 41-point, 11-rebound effort in an OT win Saturday at Radford. Pember is the first Big South player with a 40-point/10-rebound game since Longwood’s Tristan Carey in February of 2013.

o Five teams in college basketball currently have win streaks of at least nine games: Auburn (16), Boise State (13), Houston (9) and two schools separated by just 40 miles: Wagner and Princeton! The Tigers won their 10th straight game Saturday as coach Mitch Henderson’s team extended the program’s longest win streak since the 2016-2017 season. The Seahawks won their ninth straight Sunday, the third different nine-game win streak since coach Bashir Mason took over the program in 2012.

o UNC Wilmington won four road games in eight days to remain unbeaten in the CAA (6-0). Senior guard Jaylen Sims’s dramatic buzzer-beater sealed Thursday’s 71-70 win at James Madison.

o With five assists Monday in a win over Eastern Illinois, Belmont’s Grayson Murphy passed Eastern Kentucky’s Bruce Jones to become the all-time assist leader in the Ohio Valley Conference.

o How’s this for balance? All 13 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi players to appear in games this season have scored double figures in at least one game.

o When South Dakota State hosts North Dakota Thursday in Frost Arena they’ll do so with the best home winning percentage in all of college basketball over the past decade! The Jackrabbits are 136-7 in Brookings since the 2011-12 season, a .951 winning percentage. Gonzaga is second with a .948 winning percentage.

KC’s Mid-Major Top 10 for this week:

Last week: 1

The Ramblers’ stay in that other poll was short, but there’s no way The Committee is overreacting to one loss. Saturday’s defeat at the hands of Isiaih Mosley and Missouri State was Loyola’s first since Thanksgiving — and the first on U.S. soil all season. (Its only other two losses were to Michigan State and Auburn in the Bahamas.) Make no mistake, coach Drew Valentine’s team is the real deal, as Tuesday’s bounce-back win against Southern Illinois showed. Circle the Feb. 6 rematch at Missouri State on your calendar.

Next up: at Southern Illinois (Thursday)

Last week: 2

As is the case with Loyola, we just can’t drop Davidson, for two reasons: (A) VCU is very good, and (B) 15 wins in 16 games is still remarkable. Prior to Wednesday night, the Wildcats’ most recent losses were consecutive games in mid-November to fellow mid-major contenders San Francisco and New Mexico State. There’s still not a team in America that will want to see Davidson on its side of the bracket come NCAA tournament time.

Next up: vs. La Salle (Saturday)

Last week: 3

Following a brutal, eight-day stretch that included a home win over Saint Mary’s then a road split with Gonzaga (loss) and San Francisco (win), the Cougars (17-4) returned to action with a slightly less daunting week. Sharpshooter extraordinaire Alex Barcello pumped in 22 in a win over San Diego on Thursday; then on Saturday, granite-framed freshman Fousseyni Traore posted his fourth double-double in eight games in a victory over Portland. Coach Mark Pope’s team begins a Northern California road trip on Thursday, before rematches with the Dons and Zags in early February, this time in Provo.

Next up: at Santa Clara (Thursday)

Last week: 5

In a league filled with big-time players, there’s simply no better one-two combination than David Roddy and Isaiah Stevens. Roddy is sixth in the Mountain West in both scoring (18.6 PPG) and rebounding (7.9 RPG), while Stevens leads the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio while averaging 15.1 PPG. Though the Rams’ lone loss, a 30-point thumping at San Diego State, is a sore thumb, coach Niko Medved’s team remains one of just two teams in Division I with only one defeat (Auburn).

Next up: vs. UNLV (Friday)

Last week: 7

The Racers made it three wins in five days and eight straight overall following victories over Eastern Illinois, UT Martin and Tennessee Tech. But it’s the way they’re winning that’s sending shivers throughout the Ohio Valley. Murray State is 8-0 in conference play, with an average margin of victory of 21.8 points, including an eye-opening 22-point road win versus Belmont. Just five teams in Division I score it better than coach Matt McMahon’s team, whose lone loss in the past two months came at Auburn. Can you say legit?

Next up: at Tennessee Tech (Thursday)

Last week: 6

The folks in Moraga, California, celebrated the Missouri State win over Loyola Chicago on Saturday as much as anyone west of the Missouri River. The Gaels’ December victory over the Bears further strengthens a r?sum? that includes a Quadrant 1 win at Utah State and three Quadrant 2 wins. Want to build that r?sum? even more? Take care of business on Thursday at San Francisco.

Next up: at San Francisco (Thursday)

Last week: 8

The Blazers ended Louisiana Tech’s 19-game home win streak on Saturday with an 83-76 decision in Ruston. Jordan “Jelly” Walker tied a UAB record with nine 3-pointers en route to a career-high 36 points. UAB’s top four scorers all made their way to Birmingham via the transfer portal: Walker (Tulane), Quan Jackson (Georgia Southern), KJ Buffen (Ole Miss) and Michael Ertel (UL Monroe).

Next up: at Western Kentucky (Thursday)

Last week: 9

Senior forward Abu Kigab helped the Broncos finish off another a perfect week on Tuesday with a gigantic 65-62 win over Wyoming. After the Cowboys took a 60-58 lead with 2:46 to play, Kigab scored BSU’s final seven points. With victories over Utah State (Thursday) and San Diego State (Saturday), coach Leon Rice’s club made it six wins in 13 days in five different states — while extending its overall win streak to 13 in a row. In an absolutely loaded Mountain West, the team to beat resides in Boise, Idaho.

Next up: at Fresno State (Friday)

Last week: Unranked

A warm welcome back to America’s most trusted poll for coach Rick Pitino’s club, which continues to mow down the MAAC. On Tuesday, the Gaels swatted Siena 74-57 thanks, in part, to a season-high 11 blocked shots. Two days earlier, top scorer Tyson Jolly exploded for 20 points in Iona’s win over Quinnipiac. Iona is 11-1 since Dec. 1, with its lone defeat coming at the hands of Saint Louis by a slim point. The proof is in the people, and the players … well, this group is a problem.

Next up: vs. Saint Peter’s (Sunday)

Last week: Unranked

Welcome back to the Top 10, USF, following a week in which the Dons lost to Gonzaga but bounced back with a thrashing of Pepperdine in Malibu, California. Coach Todd Golden’s team still has a r?sum? that is at-large worthy, thanks to wins over Davidson and UAB — and losses to only Grand Canyon, Loyola Chicago, BYU and Gonzaga.

Next up: vs. Saint Mary’s (Thursday)

Others receiving votes: North Texas, Wyoming

Dropped out: San Diego State (No. 4), Ohio (No. 10)

ESPN Stats & Information researcher Jared Berson contributed to this article.

Follow KC on Instagram: @kevinconnorsespn & Twitter: @kevconnorsespn

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The Raptors’ starting lineup Wednesday stood 6-8, 6-8, 6-7, 6-7 and 6-5.

There’s no doubt they are big; they just don’t have a ”Big Three.”

That proved to be the difference for the Bulls, whose ”Big Three” of guard Zach LaVine, forward DeMar DeRozan and center Nikola Vucevic countered that size with talent.

DeRozan finished with 29 points, seven rebounds and seven assists, LaVine with 23 points, eight rebounds and eight assists and Vucevic with 17 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists.

And it was Vucevic who provided the clinching three-pointer with 14.5 seconds left that helped the Bulls beat the Raptors 111-105 at the United Center to stay half-game behind the first-place Heat in the Eastern Conference.

And while DeRozan wasn’t about to rank this performance with others he, LaVine and Vucevic have had, he hoped it was the start of something special that COVID-19 protocols and injuries frequently have interrupted this season.

”We’re sharing it,” DeRozan said of their stat lines. ”Take what they give us, make our teammates better and just find our rhythm playing together. It’s been a little while since we all played together.

”I never think about ranking it. All of us are just getting comfortable. It’s a good start. Just try and continue to build on that.”

Meanwhile, continuing to do the dirty work was rookie guard Ayo Dosunmu, who continued his evolution as the starting point guard with Lonzo Ball possibly missing up to two months after his scheduled knee surgery Friday.

Dosunmu scored only seven points, but he continued playing solid defense and learning how to deal with pressure from opposing teams. And while he had some growing pains, the Bulls were a plus-20 with him on the court.

”I think the biggest adjustment for us is Ayo has taken over that responsibility as a starter,” coach Billy Donovan said. ”When we had been whole with Lonzo and Alex [Caruso], he’d been off the ball quite a bit.

”I think he was slashing to the basket, got out in transition, a lot of catch-and-go drives, those kinds of things. All of a sudden, he’s got to get us in our offense. He’s got to grow in this, and I think it will be good for him.”

Dosunmu re-entered the game with 7:57 left in the fourth quarter and the Bulls clinging to a four-point lead.

The Raptors eventually cut that deficit to one — after trailing by 19 points in the third quarter — thanks to their continued ball pressure.

The Raptors then took the lead when OG Anunoby attacked the rim with a dunk. LaVine, however, responded with a three-point play at the other end to give the Bulls the edge again.

The Bulls led by four when the Raptors’ Gary Trent Jr. cut the deficit to two with 2:03 left. But when he didn’t get a foul call on the made basket, he clapped his hands in protest, picked up a second technical foul and was ejected.

With Trent and his 32 points in the locker room, the Raptors didn’t score again. But the Bulls did, as LaVine made the technical free throw before Vucevic’s three-pointer closed the scoring.

”I don’t care how many shots he missed,” DeRozan said of Vucevic. ”Every time I see him loaded up, I have the utmost confidence it’s going to go in.”

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DETROIT — The last time Dylan Strome scored a hat trick before this week, he was playing for the Erie Otters in the 2017 Memorial Cup.

Then Wednesday happened.

Strome felt a golden touch from the opening puck drop and finished with four points — including his first career NHL hat trick — as he carried the suddenly explosive Blackhawks to a drought-busting 8-5 win over the Red Wings.

“It feels good, obviously,” he said. “It’d been a long time, but I’ll take it.”

“I don’t know what he ate, [but] I bet it was something special,” Dominik Kubalik joked. “Everything he touched was dangerous.”

Strome had already been playing his best hockey of the season lately, with a solid nine points in his last 15 games and five points in his last seven. But those points were all distributed evenly — he hadn’t enjoyed even a two-point night since the finale of last season — and he certainly wasn’t taking over any games singlehandedly.

Wednesday changed that trend dramatically. He was credited with seven shot attempts, six shots on goal and five scoring chances in addition to his four points, plus won 10 of 17 faceoffs.

After Kubalik broke the ice early on, Strome dominated the rest of the first period. He tipped in a shot-pass from Alex DeBrincat, then sniped a wrist shot in the upper corner, then fed Sam Lafferty off a rebound on a two-on-one to give the Hawks a 4-0 first-intermission lead.

“You get lucky on that first one, and then the second one goes in and you just feel good,” he said. “Myself, Patrick and [Brandon Hagel], we gel really nicely together. We’ve had a lot of chances and it was just a matter of time before they went in. It’s nice to get rewarded.”

Strome celebrates one of his three goals.AP Photo/Paul Sancya

The Wings, however, never lost their fight, scoring three times in the second period to cut the deficit to 4-3.

And after Strome’s hat trick-sealing goal and Alex DeBrincat’s first of two goals on the night extended the Hawks’ advantage back to 6-3 early in the third period, the Wings struck twice in short order to again pull within one.

Not until Hagel intercepted a pass and beat Wings goalie Calvin Pickard — who entered in relief yet was eventually credited with the loss — to make it 7-5 with 3:37 left did Detroit seem to give in.

“I was just like, ‘Uh, I’m not feeling good about this,'” interim coach Derek King said. “But the good thing is the guys didn’t just go into a shell. They kept going and plugging along. When [the Wings] made mistakes, we capitalized, just like they did.”

The Hawks’ eight goals were their most in a game since February 2020, and the offensive eruption not only snapped their four-game losing streak but also led to some much-needed individual boosts across the board. DeBrincat, Hagel, Kane and Seth Jones all joined Strome in the multi-point category.

But the headlining performance of the night still clearly belonged to Strome alone.

“I’ve felt good the last 12 or 13 games, maybe longer than that,” he said. “Once the offense starts coming, the ice time starts coming, you feel good and [you] remember they signed me to a contract for a reason. I’m trying to prove that still.”

Capitals looking at Fleury

The Capitals — long considered one of the most logical suitors for Marc-Andre Fleury — might now be emerging as the frontrunner.

Capitals general manager Brian McLellan is “looking into” Fleury, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported Tuesday, adding that “we should prepare ourselves for the possibility.”

Their interest makes sense. There’s urgency for them to push for another Stanley Cup during this window of contention, with Alex Ovechkin still on top of his game but set to turn 37 this summer. The Caps’ current goalie duo of Ilya Samsonov (13-4-3, .902 save percentage this season) and Vitek Vanacek (9-6-5, .912) are decent but nowhere near Fleury’s level. And the Caps do own first- and second-round picks they could consider trading.

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INDIANAPOLIS — Charlotte coach James Borrego gave his players a simple instruction Wednesday night: let it fly.

The Hornets didn’t disappoint. They made 24 3-pointers, broke the franchise’s single-game scoring record and produced the highest point total in the NBA this season with a 158-126 win over the Indiana Pacers.

“Tonight, we kind of got in that zone in the third quarter and we didn’t look back,” said Kelly Oubre Jr., who scored a career-high 39 points and made a career-best 10 3-pointers. “None of us were going for numbers today. We just wanted to play hard.”

Year
Team
Pts.
Opp.
1963
Nationals
162
Pistons
1990
Warriors
162
Nuggets
1967
76ers
160
Sonics
2019
Rockets
159
Wizards
Wed.
Hornets
158
Pacers
— ESPN Stats & Information

The numbers, though, were incredible.

o Oubre was 12 of 18 from the field and only missed five 3s. He became just the fifth player in league history to make 10 3s in a game off the bench.

o LaMelo Ball had his fourth triple double of the season with 29 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds. That tied LeBron James for the third-most by a player before turning 21 in league history.

o Per Elias Sports Bureau, Ball and Oubre became the sixth set of teammates in NBA history with a triple-double and 10 3s made in a game.

o In all, four Hornets players topped the 20-point mark as they tied a season-best from beyond the arc.

o And the Hornets scored 87 points in the second half, the most by any team after halftime since the Rockets scored 94 against the Nuggets on Jan. 10, 1991.

Charlotte also snapped a two-game losing streak and pulled off a four-game sweep of the injury-depleted Pacers, who eliminated the Hornets in the play-in round last season. The 158 points were the most allowed in a game in the franchise’s NBA history.

It was no surprise to Borrego.

“We were due for one of these games,” he said. “We just got rolling, one guy after another and just a great game offensively tonight and a great third quarter defensively. That’s what turned the game.”

The Pacers, led by 17 points from both Goga Bitadze and rookie Isaiah Jackson, lost their third straight and seventh out of nine.

Playing without three starters, Indiana simply couldn’t keep up, and it didn’t much time to see what was coming.

Charlotte opened the game by scoring 12 of the first 15 points and led 71-70 at the half. The Hornets opened the third quarter with seven straight points and used a 13-2 spurt to take a 104-82 lead with 4:18 to go.

They broke the franchise mark, fittingly, on a 3 from Miles Bridges with 5:14 left and coasted to the final horn.

“It happens, you’ve just got to keep going and playing tougher like we did on the West Coast,” Bitadze said. “It’s hard. It’s not like you’re going to forget about it. You’ve got to use it as motivation.”

Information from ESPN Stats & Information and The Associated Press was used in this report.

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The Chicago Bears plan is to build around quarterback Justin Fields after trading up to get him in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft. While Fields’ rookie season had ups and downs, the Bears roster doesn’t have the playmakers to match up with some of the top contenders in this league and that didn’t help his development.

With only Darnell Mooney and Dazz Newsome signed for next season, the Bears have a need at wide receiver and now they are being connected to a receiver on the trade market.

In his latest for Sports Illustrated, Albert Breer mentions the Bears, along with Jacksonville, the New York Jets and New England as teams with second-year quarterbacks that should pursue Ridley:

Who should trade for him? If I’m one of the teams with a quarterback going into Year 2—the Jaguars, Jets, Bears or Patriots—the idea of adding Ridley would be awfully tempting. The Jaguars could pair him with a recovering D.J. Chark; the Jets with a rising—and young—Elijah Moore. He could be the Bears’ replacement for Allen Robinson or help elevate a crew of good but complementary-type skill guys around Mac Jones in New England.

The 27-year-old Ridley has one year left on his deal, his fifth year option, before becoming a free agent in 2023. That could impact his price and if that’s the case, the Bears should be in on adding a receiver of his caliber.

They already have really good number two in Darnell Mooney and will likely try to bring a speed option like Marquise Goodwin back for another year. That would be a solid combination for the Bears to provide Fields in his second year.

Make sure to check out our Chicago Bears forum for the latest on the Monsters of the Midway.

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Neil Young’s music will be removed from Spotify at his request, following the veteran rock star’s protest over the streaming service airing a popular podcast that featured a guest criticized for spreading COVID misinformation.

Spotify, in a statement on Wednesday, said that it regretted Young’s decision, “but hope to welcome him back soon.”

It wasn’t immediately clear when his music will actually be taken down.

“I realized I could not continue to support Spotify’s life-threatening misinformation to the music loving people,” Young said in a statement.

Young had asked his management and record company publicly on Monday to remove his music from the popular streaming service, where he had more than 6 million monthly listeners, according to his Spotify home page.

Spotify airs the popular podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience,” where last month the comedian interviewed Dr. Robert Malone, an infectious disease specialist who has become a hero in the anti-vaccine community. Malone has been banned from Twitter for spreading COVID misinformation and has falsely suggested that millions of people have been hypnotized into believing that the vaccines work to prevent serious disease.

Spotify said in a statement on Thursday that “we have detailed content policies in place and we’ve removed over 20,000 podcast episodes related to COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.”

The statement did not address Rogan’s podcast or detail what the content policies are. A spokeswoman did not immediately respond to questions about it.

Young said that many of Spotify’s listeners are hearing misleading information about COVID. They’re young, “impressionable and easy to swing to the wrong side of the truth,” he said.

“These young people believe Spotify would never present grossly unfactual information,” he said. “They unfortunately are wrong. I knew I had to try to point that out.”

He said he appreciated his record company, Warner Brothers, standing behind him, since Spotify is responsible for 60 percent of his music being streamed all over the world. He said it was “a huge loss for my record company to absorb.”

Young, an audiophile, said his fans have the chance to listen to his music in places where it will sound better.

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