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Illinois has much to figure out going forward. | Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images
Maybe this is just what happens in 2021, when players and coaches come and go like never before.
It’s almost like the whole thing never even happened.
Illinois’ best basketball season in a decade and a half, that is.
Has it really been only a month and change since the Illini took the court as a No. 1 seed against Loyola in the second round of the NCAA Tournament? Since then, they’ve staged one heck of a disappearing act. That’s not a commentary on their performance against the Ramblers, though the loss was a major upset and Brad Underwood’s team didn’t exactly meet the moment with a sustained roar. It’s not even a criticism at all, really.
It’s just that the llini have managed to go — quickly and, if your attention has been awash in other sports lately, quietly — from championship contender to who knows what? From the catbird seat to a sort of chaos. From classically constructed to almost unrecognizable.
Maybe this is just what happens in 2021, when players and coaches come and go like never before.
“It’s about continuing to build the best roster you can,” Underwood told reporters last week. “It’s our new culture. It’s our new world.”
But just get a load of all that has been swirling around All-American guard Ayo Dosunmu’s expected announcement on April 6 that he was entering the NBA draft.
After starting all 31 games as a freshman, guard Adam Miller — like Dosunmu, a major recruit out of Morgan Park — announced on April 1 that he was entering the transfer portal. Why? Why not? Everybody who’s anybody these days is on the move. All it takes is a voice in your ear and a willingness to change sweatpants.
On April 18, star center Kofi Cockburn wrote on Twitter, “The NBA has been a life-long dream of mine and I am ready to go to the next level and see what’s in store for me.” It’s possible, though, that Cockburn — still working out in Champaign, reportedly without having hired an agent — will elect instead to stay put. That’s what teammate Trent Frazier did a couple of days later after testing the NBA waters, taking advantage of an extra season available to all seniors after a pandemic season. It’s what fellow veteran guard Da’Monte Williams may or may not do himself. Veteran big man Giorgi Bezhanishvili, on the other hand, opted to turn pro and meant it.
Meanwhile, Underwood has more bowls in the air than halftime act Red Panda. Illinois picked up Utah sharpshooter Alfonso Plummer and Florida big Omar Payne through the transfer portal. It must figure out what to do with former transfer guard Austin Hutcherson, who continues to work his way back from injury and hasn’t played in a couple of years. It has Luke Goode and R.J. Melendez headlining a top-four recruiting class in the Big Ten and several others still on scholarship who filled varying roles last season.
Without Cockburn, Illinois likely will run and gun and shoot more threes than just about anybody in 2021-22. Re-enter an unstoppable pure back-to-the-basket scorer into the mix, though, and the entire look changes.
The Illini could have as many as five or six new faces in their rotation, and some of them might not even be on our radar yet. That’s because two of the main architects of Illinois’ success — assistant coaches Orlando Antigua and Chin Coleman — could be on the move themselves and even taking some Illini players and/or recruits with them.
Antigua delivered Cockburn and point guard Andre Curbelo — potentially the next All-American player in the program — and led the way on Plummer and Melendez. Coleman was the man on the Dosunmu and Miller fronts and is Underwood’s biggest “in” to Chicago. Both Antigua and Coleman are reportedly under heavy pressure from Kentucky’s John Calipari to swap their Illini gear for Wildcats gear.
And then what? Underwood could find himself scrambling for assistants and diving back into the transfer portal with extreme urgency.
“We’re in a great place, let’s put it that way,” Underwood said. “We’re in a really, really good place.”
But it’s impossible to know that at this point. Who’s going, who’s coming, how disparate pieces will fit together — an absence of answers equals quite a state of flux.
Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty ImagesOhio State’s Fields makes sense for the Bears — or any other team that could use a potentially great QB.
JUST SAYIN’
• Justin Fields is already the one that got away. Just ask any fan of the Georgia Bulldogs.
That NFL teams saw how the 6-3, 228-pound quarterback performed after transferring to Ohio State and still might allow him to be the first-round QB who slips on draft night is sad, silly and, of course, predictable. There’s something about being the best player on the field in a giant college game that just seems to repel pro talent evaluators.
Come on, Bears: Move up and get this guy if you can.
The tallest tasks for BYU’s Zach Wilson last season were to go up against Boise State and Coastal Carolina. Alabama’s Mac Jones might as well have had lawn furniture in the backfield, as seldom as he was pressured (let alone hit). Trey Lance? We’re only guessing that can do the things Fields clearly has demonstrated he can do.
Just look at the playoff win against Clemson. Fields took the rib shot heard ’round the world, kept standing — and getting hit — and threw for six touchdowns against the mighty Tigers. It was jaw-dropping and magnificent.
Don’t let him get away again.
• Now that the Cubs have successfully erased Zach Davies’ability to pitch, are they ready to sneak him back into the Brewers’ rotation?
• No way D-Backs lefty Madison Bumgarner deserves credit for a no-hitter for allowing no hits in a seven-inning game. I don’t recall anybody throwing me a parade for peaking in high school.
• Just wait until a pitcher takes a perfect game into the 10th inning and inherits a runner on second base. Holy controversy.
The first match of the regular season pits Louisville against Kansas City with kickoff scheduled for 4 p.m. followed by OL Reign vs. the North Carolina Courage and Gotham FC vs. the Houston Dash.
The Red Stars open their season on the road against the Portland Thorns at Providence Park on May 16 at 6 p.m. giving them over two weeks to recover after their Challenge Cup finale against OL Reign tonight.
All kickoff times are subject to change because the league doesn’t have its official broadcast schedule yet.
Fans will be in attendance at SeatGeek Stadium in a limited capacity for the Red Stars’ home opener May 22 against Gotham FC at 7 p.m. The team will only be selling single-game tickets through July due to the fluidity of the pandemic.
The Red Stars COVID-19 protocol includes disinfecting all areas prior to games, required face coverings at all times except when eating and drinking and all fans will be strongly encouraged to use mobile ticketing through the team’s new app.
The 2021 season features all 10 clubs in 24 matches. The Red Stars will play 12 home matches and 12 away. The regular season begins on the road and finishes on the road for the Red Stars on Oct. 29 at 6 p.m. against the Orlando Pride at Exploria Stadium.
Coming off five consecutive league appearances, the Red Stars will look to make it six and play in their third straight championship match. The league’s expanded playoff pool will include six teams, with the top two seeds receiving a first-round bye and is set to begin in November.
The NWSL Championship is set to be played on Nov. 20.
The NHL and Turner Sports reached a seven-year broadcasting agreement. | Ashley Landis/AP
There is the possibility that live regular-season games could be streamed only on streaming service HBO Max, but that isn’t likely until the 2022-23 season at the earliest. TNT and HBO Max are both owned by WarnerMedia.
The NHL and Turner Sports on Tuesday formally announced a seven-year agreement that begins next season and will put three Stanley Cup Finals on the TNT cable network.
The world’s top hockey league is eager to replicate the success found on Turner by the NBA.
“From our standpoint, we looked at the strength of the Turner Sports portfolio, which is outstanding,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said. “They put a fun and innovative factor into all of what they do, and we’re excited to have that same treatment for our sports, and for our fans.”
Turner and corporate owner WarnerMedia surprised many with the acquisition. Longtime NHL partner NBC and Fox were seen as the favorites to get the second package after the league reached an agreement with ESPN last month.
NBC’s run of covering the league since 2005 ends after after this season’s playoffs. It is in the final season of a 10-year contract.
WarnerMedia News & Sports Chairman Jeff Zucker said Turner’s style and approach to covering the NBA and baseball will translate well to hockey. Whether it has the same vibe as its NBA coverage, which includes the successful “Inside the NBA” studio show, remains to be seen.
“Obviously I think that there’s a style to Turner Sports, but you can’t just copy ‘Inside the NBA’ on Thursday nights,” he said. “We’re going to bring that same approach to the NHL but also one that I think is innovative, fun and dynamic.”
Zucker said there haven’t been any decisions about studio talent or announcers. Charles Barkley is a big hockey fan, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if he made an occasional appearance.
The deal includes up to 72 regular-season games per season, half of the first- and second-round playoff games on TNT and TBS as well as a conference final series. One of the regular-season games will be the NHL Winter Classic, which is played on New Year’s Day.
There are also live streaming and digital rights across WarnerMedia properties, including HBO Max and Bleacher Report. Zucker said there is the possibility that live games could be streamed only on HBO Max, but that isn’t likely until the 2022-23 season at the earliest.
Zucker also said it remains to be determined what days regular-season games will appear on TNT. The network has NBA games on Tuesday and Thursday as well as a successful wrestling show on Wednesday. The NHL has used Wednesday to air showcase games in the United States and Canada.
When the Stanley Cup Finals are shown on TNT in 2023, it will mark the first time since 1994 the NHL championship round will be only on cable. Bettman noted that TNT is available in 90 million homes and that content of major properties is not just confined to broadcast networks.
The agreement with Turner will give the NHL two network partners in the United States for the first time since 1998-99.
The NHL received $350 million in broadcast revenue from NBC ($250 million) and Disney Streaming Services ($100 million for digital rights) this season. The upcoming deals will average $635 million a year ($410 million from Disney and $225 million from Turner).
The league reached an agreement with Walt Disney Corp. last month that includes four Stanley Cup Finals, 25 regular-season games on ESPN and ABC, the NHL All-Star game and comprehensive streaming rights. That includes 75 regular-season games that will stream exclusively on both ESPN+ and Hulu.
It marks the first time since Turner broadcast Atlanta Flames games in the late 1970’s that the cable giant will air hockey. It also gives Turner its second championship property (it alternates the men’s Final Four with CBS.)
Turner now has the rights to three of the four major North American sports with NBA games on TNT and baseball on TBS.
Even though NBC is losing the NHL after the playoffs, the network said in a statement that it would take the same approach as prior seasons, which includes every playoff game being aired.
“Despite a lot of speculation to the contrary we remain friends, and we look forward to the future, each of us understanding why we made the decisions that we both made to reach this point.” Bettman said.
Bettman also said moving away from NBC — which holds U.S. broadcast rights for the Olympics — will not play a role in deciding whether to allow players to participate in the 2022 Beijing Games. The NHL did not allow its players to participate three years ago in South Korea, ending a run of five consecutive Winter Olympics with NHL players.
Hanson Stadium, 5501 W. Fullerton Ave., is being considered as a training site for the ChicagoFire soccer club, said Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th). | Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
The property in Belmont Cragin serves as a campus for three schools and as a host for prep sporting events.
The Chicago Fire have inquired about using Hanson Park, a large public parcel that includes three schools and a stadium used for prep athletic events, as a training center for its players, a Northwest Side alderman said Tuesday.
Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th) said the soccer club began “very preliminary” discussions with him Monday about Hanson or other locations in Belmont Cragin. He said he shared initial details with some community leaders and gotten positive feedback.
But he said any pact with the Fire will raise complicated issues. Hanson Park serves as a campus for two elementary schools and one high school, Prosser, and any agreement with the Fire must involve public benefits, Villegas said.
“A point of the proposal would be to invest in the stadium,” he said. Villegas said Hanson Stadium, a prep sports venue for decades at 5501 W. Fullerton Ave., needs substantial repairs and its turf is in poor shape. “I threw out a first pitch and I twisted my ankle there,” he said.
“At the end of the day, my community members will have to determine if this is what they want to see.”
Villegas declined to mention other sites in Belmont Cragin or his ward that were raised with the Fire.
The Chicago Public Schools owns Hanson Park and the stadium. CPS officials provided no comment Tuesday.
“The devil is in the details. We will have to find out what they [the Fire] want and what CPS wants,” Villegas said.
Fire spokesman Sean Dennison declined to comment beyond an email that said, “As we have previously stated, the club is exploring various locations for a potential performance center. If we have more to share, we’ll do that at the appropriate time.”
The Fire practices at the former site of its home games in Bridgeview, what’s now called SeatGeek Stadium. Its lease at the publicly owned facility expires in late 2036, but there are options for early cancellation.
The MLS club has been trying to get closer to its fan base. Villegas said the Fire identified Belmont Cragin as a preferred site for a training center because soccer is popular with its growing Latino population. Many Polish people also live nearby.
The club’s home games are at Soldier Field under a lease signed with the Chicago Park District in 2019. Play began there last year under a lease that, with renewal options, could last for 11 years.
Under owner Joe Mansueto, the Fire has said any training facility would emphasize community events and programs and not be a walled-off facility for its athletes. In January, he told the Chicago Sun-Times, “I think the long-term goal is to have a training facility somewhere in the city, and so we are looking for land, 20-25 acres. Unfortunately, in a well-developed city like Chicago there’s not a lot of large parcels lying around, but we’ve been looking for the past year.”
Mansueto said Bridgeview and its mayor, Steven Landek, have been “great partners” and he expects the team will remain in the village in some form. “At the same time, I think the Chicago Fire should have a major training facility in the city. We are looking. I don’t have anything to announce today, but we are out there looking and we hope to make progress on that front in 2021,” he said.
The Chicago Cubs have struggled offensively throughout the 2021 season but one player that has returned to superstar form is Kris Bryant. There is no question that Bryant struggled during the 2020 season. Injuries limited Bryant to only 34 games last season and that resulted in a .206/.293/.351 slash line with 4 home runs and […]
Andrew Shaw made his career not with overwhelming natural talent but rather with a tenacious work ethic, a hunger to do the little things well and the flexibility to fit anywhere in the Blackhawks’ lineup.
Shaw’s Hawks tenure is no more — the 29-year-old forward officially retired Monday. But looking at the Hawks’ roster now, it’s easy to pick out the player bringing many of the same elements: Brandon Hagel.
“You see a little of me in ‘Hags,’ for sure,” Shaw said Monday. “[He] can skate, get on forechecks and play physical. That’ll help in his career.”
“Coming up into the ranks, [Shaw] was the comparable I got from a lot of people and teams,” Hagel added. “I definitely do see myself in him, playing a little bit the same way. [It’s] nice to hear those things, especially from him.”
Shaw wasn’t drafted until the fifth round in his third year of eligibility, and even then expectations were low. The Hawks didn’t realize what they had in him until he arrived at summer development camp and began “playing like it was the Stanley Cup Final,” as general manager Stan Bowman recalled Monday.
Hagel, meanwhile, was a sixth-round pick — and the team that picked him, the Sabres, never actually offered him a contract. Upon his arrival in the NHL this season, it was Shaw who integrated him into the Hawks and took him under his wing.
“When you come into a new group, it’s tough sometimes,” Hagel said. “You’re with some famous people and you’re a little bit nervous. But he was the first to welcome me here. It just made it so much easier on me.”
Hagel benefits from more inherent hockey skill than Shaw ever did. His skating speed, perhaps the biggest factor in his immediate success this season, in particular blows Shaw out of the water.
Shaw knows it, too: “He’s a lot more skilled than me, and faster than I was,” he said. But Shaw also knows how well he mastered the difficult act of bringing top-level performances to every NHL game, and thus wants to see Hagel “push himself to be more consistent.” Hagel hears that constructive criticism.
“Consistency is the biggest thing, especially playing in this league,” Hagel said. “That’s something he’d definitely bring up to me and talk to me about. It helps me. It puts my head in the right space and I know what I need to do, day in and day out.”
With only 45 career games and zero playoff appearances so far, Hagel has a long way to go to match Shaw’s impressive career accomplishments. But he seems on track to fill the same versatile role with the Hawks.
Shaw not only leaves a legacy of gritty hockey, however, but also a legacy of concussion awareness.
Scientists have learned an immense amount about the damaging effects of brain injuries just over the course of Shaw’s 10-year career. For him to play even this long — considering he suffered too many concussions to count — might’ve been risky, but to retire now also helps set a heartening new precedent for hockey players prioritizing long-term health.
And that’s something Hawks coach Jeremy Colliton, who ended his own playing career at 28 due to concussions, vividly understands.
“You want to be healthy for a long time,” Colliton said. “You want to be able to have a high quality of life after you’re done. [We had] those conversations [about] what I went through to come to my decision that…I couldn’t do it anymore. But it’s his decision. He had to do what’s right for him.”
“I talked to Jeremy a few times,” Shaw added. “He made sure I’m feeling better, that this is the decision I want. And if I ever needed to talk to him, he’s there for me… Just knowing [the Hawks] care and love me is all I need really.”
Former Hawks forward Daniel Carcillo, long one of the biggest critics of the NHL’s handling of brain injuries, tweeted Monday he found it “encouraging to see the [Hawks’] medical staff step up and be an advocate” for Shaw.
That’s indicative of the new era of concussion safety that all sports, particularly hockey, have entered. Shaw’s decision further cements it.
And he can count on Colliton to continue building a culture of mental health conscientiousness in the Hawks organization.
The NHL and Turner Sports on Tuesday formally announced a seven-year agreement that begins next season and will put three Stanley Cup Finals on the TNT cable network.
The world’s top hockey league is eager to replicate the success found on Turner by the NBA.
“From our standpoint, we looked at the strength of the Turner Sports portfolio, which is outstanding,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said. “They put a fun and innovative factor into all of what they do, and we’re excited to have that same treatment for our sports, and for our fans.”
Turner and corporate owner WarnerMedia surprised many with the acquisition. Longtime NHL partner NBC and Fox were seen as the favorites to get the second package after the league reached an agreement with ESPN last month.
NBC’s run of covering the league since 2005 ends after after this season’s playoffs. It is in the final season of a 10-year contract.
WarnerMedia News & Sports Chairman Jeff Zucker said Turner’s style and approach to covering the NBA and baseball will translate well to hockey. Whether it has the same vibe as its NBA coverage, which includes the successful “Inside the NBA” studio show, remains to be seen.
“Obviously I think that there’s a style to Turner Sports, but you can’t just copy ‘Inside the NBA’ on Thursday nights,” he said. “We’re going to bring that same approach to the NHL but also one that I think is innovative, fun and dynamic.”
Zucker said there haven’t been any decisions about studio talent or announcers. Charles Barkley is a big hockey fan, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if he made an occasional appearance.
The deal includes up to 72 regular-season games per season, half of the first- and second-round playoff games on TNT and TBS as well as a conference final series. One of the regular-season games will be the NHL Winter Classic, which is played on New Year’s Day.
There are also live streaming and digital rights across WarnerMedia properties, including HBO Max and Bleacher Report. Zucker said there is the possibility that live games could be streamed only on HBO Max, but that isn’t likely until the 2022-23 season at the earliest.
Zucker also said it remains to be determined what days regular-season games will appear on TNT. The network has NBA games on Tuesday and Thursday as well as a successful wrestling show on Wednesday. The NHL has used Wednesday to air showcase games in the United States and Canada.
When the Stanley Cup Finals are shown on TNT in 2023, it will mark the first time since 1994 the NHL championship round will be only on cable. Bettman noted that TNT is available in 90 million homes and that content of major properties is not just confined to broadcast networks.
The agreement with Turner will give the NHL two network partners in the United States for the first time since 1998-99.
The NHL received $350 million in broadcast revenue from NBC ($250 million) and Disney Streaming Services ($100 million for digital rights) this season. The upcoming deals will average $635 million a year ($410 million from Disney and $225 million from Turner).
The league reached an agreement with Walt Disney Corp. last month that includes four Stanley Cup Finals, 25 regular-season games on ESPN and ABC, the NHL All-Star game and comprehensive streaming rights. That includes 75 regular-season games that will stream exclusively on both ESPN+ and Hulu.
It marks the first time since Turner broadcast Atlanta Flames games in the late 1970’s that the cable giant will air hockey. It also gives Turner its second championship property (it alternates the men’s Final Four with CBS.)
Turner now has the rights to three of the four major North American sports with NBA games on TNT and baseball on TBS.
Even though NBC is losing the NHL after the playoffs, the network said in a statement that it would take the same approach as prior seasons, which includes every playoff game being aired.
“Despite a lot of speculation to the contrary we remain friends, and we look forward to the future, each of us understanding why we made the decisions that we both made to reach this point.” Bettman said.
Bettman also said moving away from NBC — which holds U.S. broadcast rights for the Olympics — will not play a role in deciding whether to allow players to participate in the 2022 Beijing Games. The NHL did not allow its players to participate three years ago in South Korea, ending a run of five consecutive Winter Olympics with NHL players.
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