Pac-12 making an attempt to remain alive; School soccer, NFL QB Energy Rankings

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We acquired an absolute stunner in a single day: The Pac-12 is attempting to revive/survive by including Mountain West colleges Boise State, San Diego State, Colorado State and Fresno State to the present “Pac-2” of Oregon State and Washington State, per CBS Sports activities’ Brandon Marcello. We have full details here, together with how a lot it should price and which colleges might be subsequent.

🏀 Good morning to all, however particularly to …

A’JA WILSON

There is a new best scoring season in WNBA historical past, and it belongs to A’ja Wilson. The Aces famous person passed Jewel Loyd‘s single-season report of 939 factors (from final season) on Wednesday with a mid-range jumper that gave her 941 points on the campaign.

Wilson completed with 27 factors — she’s as much as 956 on the yr — because the Aces defeated the Fever, 86-75. (And she or he’s prone to additionally develop into the primary WNBA participant to score 1,000 points in a single season.)

For these of you who really feel factors per recreation determines the true scoring champion, I agree with you, and Wilson is effectively on her strategy to that report, too. With simply 4 video games left within the season, Wilson is averaging 27.3 factors, effectively forward of Diana Taurasi‘s report 25.3 common in 2006.

👍 Honorable mentions

👎 Not so honorable mentions

🏈 NFL and School Soccer QB Energy Rankings

Now that NFL and school soccer are each underway, we will run our QB Energy Rankings of the professional sign callers of right now and of the longer term. Let’s begin with Cody Benjamin’s NFL QB Power Rankings, the place the highest three remained the identical.

1. Patrick Mahomes (earlier: 1)
2. Josh Allen (2)
3. Lamar Jackson (3)
4. C.J. Stroud (5)
5. Brock Purdy (6)

Very like his crew, Joe Burrow was among the many most disappointing Week 1 performers, and he fell all the way in which from fourth to eleventh. Burrow has a historical past of sluggish begins, and for the sake of my Fantasy crew, let’s hope he continues his custom of taking part in higher because the season rolls alongside. Derek Carr (twenty eighth to nineteenth) made the largest bounce of any participant, although let’s verify again after Week 3 to see how he fares towards a crew aside from the Panthers. For all these questioning, Carolina’s Bryce Younger is not thirty second. But he’s close.

In school soccer, the highest spot belongs to the quarterback of the nation’s most spectacular offense to this point: Quinn Ewers jumped from fifth to first in Tom Fornelli’s rankings.

1. Quinn Ewers (earlier: 5)
2. Carson Beck (1)
3. Cam Ward (2)
4. Jalen Milroe (3)
5. Nico Iamaleava (6)

And the way about this outdated face in a brand new place leaping from unranked to seventh?!

• Fornelli: “7. Kyle McCord, Syracuse — It is good when issues work out for each events, is not it? Ohio State is proud of its resolution to go together with Will Howard, and McCord is prospering at Syracuse. McCord threw for 381 yards and 4 touchdowns to guide the Orange to an upset win at house over Georgia Tech. This after McCord threw 4 landing passes within the opener towards Ohio. (I’m wondering if he added the phrase “State” to them for motivation.)”

Syracuse already has as many wins over AP-ranked groups this season (1-0 report) because it did from 2019-23 (1-12 report).

🏀 Largest query for each NBA crew

We’re inside two weeks till the primary NBA groups report back to coaching camp, and all groups will report earlier than the tip of the month. So whereas we’re having fun with the relative calm of the previous couple of weeks of the offseason, we’re additionally slowly however certainly moving into basketball mode. And Jasmyn Wimbish’s glorious “Largest query for each crew” sequence, damaged down by division, is an ideal place to start out.

The Celtics and Nuggets report early for the Abu Dhabi preseason video games, so let’s begin with one in every of them. Regardless of a title and a convention finals over the previous two seasons, I’ve actual questions for the Nuggets. Their 2024 first-rounder, DaRon Holmes, tore his Achilles, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope left in free company. This is Jasmyn’s biggest question for them:

• Wimbish: “Is Christian Braun prepared? — The Nuggets do not actually have the luxurious of ready round for Braun to develop. Their championship window is true now, whereas Nikola Jokic is on the peak of his powers and so they nonetheless have many of the roster from that 2023 title nonetheless intact. It isn’t unreasonable to suppose Braun is up for the duty, it is only a lot to ask from a third-year participant who might want to defend at a excessive degree, whereas additionally making and taking 3s at a excessive clip.”

If it is not Braun, somebody has to take a giant step. Listed here are the entire divisions:

• Atlantic (Celtics, Knicks, 76ers, Nets, Raptors)
• Central (Bucks, Cavaliers, Pacers, Bulls, Pistons)
• Southeast (Magic, Warmth, Hawks, Hornets, Wizards)
• Northwest (Thunder, Nuggets, Timberwolves, Jazz, Path Blazers)
• Pacific (Clippers, Suns, Lakers, Kings, Warriors)
• Southwest (Mavericks, Pelicans, Rockets, Grizzlies, Spurs)

🏀 Males’s school basketball offseason winners and losers

It isn’t simply the NBA. We have slipped inside two months till school basketball is again, and despite the fact that it has been some time, it was a loopy offseason on the coaching carousel and within the transfer portal.

So who received, and who misplaced as class will get in session and hoops are quickly to comply with? Nicely, one state has two long-proud programs in rebuild mode, in line with Kyle Boone.

• Boone: “John Calipari‘s gorgeous resolution to go away Kentucky for Arkansas was successfully the primary actual information of the offseason. Calipari’s transfer did not essentially come as a shock, and fact be instructed, it appeared like a change was wanted each for him and the UK program. However any time you lose a coach with a Corridor of Fame resume it is laborious to see it as something aside from a loss. That arrange the state – each Louisville and Kentucky, which each opened – to be universally rejected by Baylor coach Scott Drew in a span of weeks.”

Kyle did give credit score to the Wildcats (Mark Pope) and Cardinals (Pat Kelsey) for locating robust leaders for the following period, however it is going to be a really totally different look certainly (and Louisville, particularly, hopes so).

You can see Kyle’s full offseason winners and losers here.

📺 What we’re watching Thursday

⚾ Crimson Sox at Yankees or Rays at Guardians, 7:15 p.m. on Fox
🏈 Arizona State at Texas State, 7:30 p.m. on ESPN
🏀 Liberty at Wings, 8 p.m. on Prime Video
🏈 Payments at Dolphins, 8:15 p.m. on Prime Video