The Colorado Buffaloes’ season under first-year head coach and Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders came to an end on Saturday with a 23-17 loss to the Utah Utes.
In his postgame interview Sanders reiterated that the team’s 4-8 record isn’t something that they’ll hang their head about, and they know what they need to do to improve. It begins with recruiting, and getting the NIL collectives to become more active so they can compete for the best players.
A pretty upbeat Sanders sounded like someone who’s ready for the challenge of building the Buffaloes programs brick-by-brick.
But that’s going to be hard to do if he keeps losing recruits. In all, Coach Prime has seen four prominent recruits decide to reopen their recruitment after verbally committing to the Buffaloes since Sanders arrived last December.
The first was 2025 four-star wide receiver Winston Watkins Jr., who de-committed on Nov. 12. That move sparked Sanders to make some comments that may have played a role in losing three more recruits recently.
Sanders Wants NCAA To Change Some Things
In a recent interview, Sanders mentioned that he believed the NCAA should stop allowing players who commit to a school to still take official visits and keep their options open.
“A kid ain’t even faithful to his girlfriend. You think he’s gonna be faithful to a school? Come on, man. That’s an emotional thing,” Sanders said.
“What I wish the NCAA would do, if you’re committed somewhere, you can’t go any other visits,” he continued. “If you’re committed, that means you’re committed. You can’t go on no other visits. Why would you be committed but you’re still letting kids go on other visits? That means you just playing.”
On Sunday 2025 four-star QB Antwann Hill, the No. 5 signal-caller in the class, reopened his commitment. He was followed by two more 2025 recruits, three-star quarterback Danny O’Neil and three-star running back Jamarice Wilder.
Deion Sanders Was The Flip King
It’s weird that Deion would complain about commits flipping when he snagged the top recruit in HBCU history, Travis Hunter, the same way. And Prime bragged about it and used it as an example of how he is able to lure and relate to recruits better than other Power 5 coaches.
Now that the shoe is on the other foot, Sanders seems a bit flustered.
Did Coach Prime’s comments play a role in those recent decommits?
Sure seems that way, and one thing Sanders must remember is today’s player loves to be courted, and that means taking all the official visits the NCAA permits. Also, if they’re forced to stay with a commitment, they can always transfer out and not have to sit out anymore. That means everything.
Love Sanders, but in a way it sounds like sour grapes because his recruits are looking elsewhere. That’s their right until they sign that national letter of intent.
Demoted OC Sean Lewis Departs
Adding insult to injury on Tuesday was former play-caller Sean Lewis, who was demoted in-season, took the head coach position at San Diego State, which in many ways is on par with Kent State where he left to join Sanders at Colorado.
He joins renowned tight ends coach Tim Brewster, who resigned Sunday morning after he was demoted to an off-field position to make room for Pat Shurmur to call plays.
A lot of moving and shaking going on in Boulder, and with the early signing period right around the corner, Sanders has some major work to do. With just nine recruits in the 2024 class, the pressure is on to add some quality pieces for next year’s team.
According to an ESPN report, a Golden State Warriors team source said that Andrew Wiggins‘ lack of conditioning has annoyed people within the organization. Whenever a team source says something specific about a player to a member of the media, it’s done for a reason. It’s the team’s way of calling the player out publicly with the hope that the message gets through. The message for Wiggins is start playing better.
Wiggins has been really bad through the first 17 games of the season. He is averaging just under 12 points and four rebounds per game on abysmal 41/25/56 shooting splits. He is in the ninth percentile in EPM at -4.6. His BPM is the second worst of all rotation players in the league at -7.0. The only player worse is the Washington Wizards’ Jordan Poole.
Wiggins is in year one of a four-year, $109 million contract extension. The Warriors could always trade him, but his value is extremely low right now and the book is out on him. He’s extremely talented and was an integral part of a title-winning team in 2022 and was an All-Star, though that selection is looking more dubious as time passes. But he is not committed to doing the work and becoming a consistent version of the best player he can be.
2022 was an outlier season, and the body of work before and after is more in line with the player he is.
In the 2018-19 season Jimmy Butler, then a member of the Minnesota Timberwolves and a Wiggins teammate, had an infamous practice session where he took the team’s reserves and demolished Wiggins, Karl-Anthony Towns and the other starters. Butler wanted a trade because he realized as talented as Wiggins is he and Towns didn’t have that “dog in them,” as the kids say.
Call it what you want. But the disposition to dominate is what makes the greats who they are. It’s more than just talent and ability.
Last season Wiggins missed two months, which the team is still calling an “undisclosed personal matter,” and he apparently didn’t take the summer seriously. Strange behavior for a seven-year pro and a champion.
The Warriors are struggling as a team and need Wiggins, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green to return to form and help Stephen Curry get this team back on track.
Calling Wiggins out through the media is likely a last-ditch effort to get through to him. Teams employ that strategy when nothing else seems to work. Either the player responds and turns things around or his days with that team are numbered.
The reality is it’s likely the end of the line for this Warriors team. Nobody doubts their championship mettle and excellence. But right now Curry is the only player playing like he’s still hungry for more.
Louisiana State University guard Kateri Poole (jersey number 55) from the Bronx was noticeably absent on the court and the sidelines for the Lady Tigers at the Cayman Islands Classic in Georgetown. Poole joins another notable absentee, team star Angel Reese, who has yet to lace up for LSU since the team’s Nov. 14 win over Kent State.
Poole averaged 17 minutes in two years when she played at Ohio State University before hitting the transfer portal and landing in Baton Rouge. She averaged 22.3 minutes last season during the Tigers’ national championship run. Her last game was on Nov. 17 against Southeastern Louisiana.
Although LSU went 2-0 on its trip to the Cayman Islands, ending it with a gutsy 76-73 win over Virginia, the Tigers didn’t have a tremendous offensive game overall, and both teams turned the ball over 16 times. They shot 40.3% from the field, with Aneesah Morrow’s double-double (37 points, 16 rebounds) and Hailey Van Lith’s 12, the only players scoring double figures.
With Poole now absent, along with Reese and head coach Kim Mulkey, the questions remained stoic and limited on details, just one season after their Cinderella story championship run last year; the world wonders if Mulkey is a player hater or showing who’s boss.
Angel Reese is the girl on fire for the NCAA women’s basketball ranks. Since LSU bested the Iowa Hawkeyes last year to win their first-ever championship in basketball, Reese became a fixture in pop culture. Her NIL opportunities have been limitless, and she graced the pages of the most vaunted publications for athletes, like the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue.
Has Reese’s success been a blessing and a curse?
However, Mulkey, Reese and extended team members have been at odds since the season started. Reese has missed the last four games amid rumors of a low GPA, the beef between her mother and her teammate Flau’jae Johnson’s mother on social media, and Mulkey’s unbothered explanation.
Reese is very active on social media and has been reposting all the wins of the LSU Tigers. Her last post that indirectly spoke on her current situation read, “Please don’t believe everything you read.”
Mulkey has answered questions about both Poole and Reese, but given no details on the circumstances. During the press conference after the Texas Southern game on Nov. 20, Mulkey said coaches “always have to deal with locker room issues.”
“I’m going to protect my players, always,” Mulkey continued. “It’s like a family. If you do some disciplining of your own children, do you think we’re entitled to know that? That’s a family in that locker room.”
The 7-1 Tigers will return on Thursday to host another top-10 opponent in Virginia Tech. Reese posted a selfie of herself on social media inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center at LSU on Monday night. Will Mulkey let her return? Only time will tell; but between Reese and Poole, Kim Mulkey is showing the players who the boss is.
The Los Angeles Lakers were demolished by the Philadelphia 76ers, 138-94, in Philadelphia on Monday night. For the first time in 13 years, LeBron James failed to grab a rebound in a game. The 44-point loss also marks the worst defeat in his legendary career. Does the manner in which the Lakers lost spell trouble?
“What needs to change in order for that not to happen again? Um, a lot,” James said.
The Lakers are 10-8, considerably better than they were through 18 games last season, where they were under .500.
Despite failing to grab a rebound, Bron is still playing elite-level basketball. He is averaging 25 points, seven rebounds, and six assists per game on 56/39/68 shooting splits. He is eighth in the league in EPM at +5.8.
However, the rest of the team is not playing up to their potential. Bron and Anthony Davis are the only plus players in the starting lineup. And Davis is not playing to his potential every night. He’ll play two or three good games in a row and then disappear.
Davis’ midrange and three-point shooting have not been good. When the Lakers won the title in 2020, his shot was much better and a weapon he could deploy.
The Lakers are 22nd in aNET rating, 17th in aORTG and 15th in aDRTG.
Starting guard D’Angelo Russell is still a one-way player, borderline elite offensively and at times unplayable defensively.
Austin Reaves, who signed a four year $53 million contract in the offseason, is finding out what life is like when he’s on a team’s scouting report. He can no longer sneak up on teams, unfamiliar with his skill set.
Last season, Reaves shot 74% at the rim, 52% in the midrange and 39% from three. This season, through 18 games, 69/42/33. Teams are also hunting him a bit on defense and some warts are starting to show.
To be fair, the Lakers have dealt with injuries to Gabe Vincent and Jarred Vanderbilt. That makes for two players who were figured to be key pieces in the rotation this year.
While the rest of the team finds its footing, Bron is shouldering a heavy load early in the season. There is always the fear that at his age, he is more susceptible to injury. If Bron misses significant amounts of time that is disaster for this team.
The other issue the Lakers have is coaching. Darvin Ham is only in his second year as a head coach, but hasn’t seemed to improve much since last season. Bron’s brilliance, and to a lesser extend Davis’, mask a lot of the issues on this team as it relates to rotations and player development.
It’s not panic time in Los Angeles, but there should be a mild level of concern.
ESPN host of “NBA Today” Malika Andrews is being held accountable again, and for a good reason: She appears to be culturally choosy when selecting negative news. Often facing criticism for dissecting negative aspects of Black NBA players’ and coaches’ careers while not holding their white counterparts accountable, the people wanted to understand why Andrews wasn’t all over the Josh Giddey alleged underage dating scandal.
Former Dallas Cowboys star Dez Bryant held the reporter accountable in a way that only Bryant can, which had Black X, the social platform formerly known as Black Twitter, ablaze.
“@malika_andrews you went out of your way to crucify Brandon Miller on draft day over something he didn’t even do
“Why haven’t you said nothing about Josh Giddey
“I advise you not to make this a black and white thing
“Your parents really raised you wrong, and just because you went to a private school doesn’t make you better
“You appeal, and I know your kind
“You’re just a puppet
“I don’t know how a former or current nba player could sit there across from you and look at you with some kind of respect,” Bryant posted.
There is much to unpack from the post because each rung has an entire storyline.
When current Charlotte Hornets player Brandon Miller was in the 2023 Draft, Andrews described the Alabama product as a “cooperating witness” in the shooting death of 23-year-old Jamea Jonae Harris on Jan. 15, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, even though authorities did not charge Miller with a crime.
Although pundits like Stephen A. Smith felt that Andrews needed to bring up Miller’s precarious circumstances under the auspices of unbiased journalism, many still felt that without an actual or even pending criminal charge, it was rain on his Draft parade.
Many people feel that Malika’s mixed-race heritage and current reported relationship with a white man who works at ESPN might skew her perspective toward reporting positively on Black men. Bryant’s attack on Andrews’ upbringing might stem from her keeping it real about the early parts of her life. When Malika was 14, she “shunned her family” and stopped studying, per her interview in 2020 with The New York Post.
Her mother is Jewish, and Malika even had a Bat Mitzvah.
After having an eating disorder that was “more anorexia than bulimia,” her parents sent her to a year-round therapeutic boarding school in Utah when she was 14 years old after she was kicked out of Oakland’s Head-Royce School in eighth grade. Malika eventually enrolled at the University of Portland.
For many, Andrews is not culturally acclimated enough with her Blackness to use discernment in her reporting about NBA athletes and personnel. The negative storylines she discusses, usually during positive moments for Black men in the NBA, like Joe Mazzulla’s collegiate domestic battery when he was being named head coach of the Boston Celtics, never seem reciprocated for their white counterparts.
Malika Andrews finally reported on the controversy with Josh Giddey, but her lateness and monotone delivery gave detractors more fuel to ignite the theory of her selective outrage.
The barbershop generally agrees with Dez Bryant, and Malika Andrews is riding the wave toward cancellation in the culture.
According to a report by the website Futurism, Sports Illustrated, has been publishing AI-written stories under the bylines of journalists who are not real. The death of journalism has been happening for a while now, this is the latest nail in the coffin.
“There’s a lot,” an anonymous person involved with the creation of the content told Futurism of the fake authors. “I was like, what are they? This is ridiculous. This person does not exist.
“At the bottom [of the page] there would be a photo of a person and some fake description of them like, ‘oh, John lives in Houston, Texas. He loves yard games and hanging out with his dog, Sam.’ Stuff like that. It’s just crazy.”
AI-generated content under the byline of a fake individual with a made up biography and an AI-generated photo. That’s where we are.
Sports Illustrated was once the pinnacle of sports journalism. Home of legendary writers like Frank Deford, Dan Jenkins, Jack McCallum and Ralph Wiley.
Somewhere in the last 30 years the business model for magazines and print journalism began to struggle and eventually crumble. Add in the emergence of the internet and everything changed. The people that ran the business end of media, were focused solely on revenue and as a result the editorial side suffered.
Sports Illustrated is owned by The Arena Group which is owned by Simplify Inventions, a venture capital company. The goal of a VC company is simple, generate return on investments to its limited partners.
Simplify Inventions chairman Manoj Bhargava appeared on New York Stock Exchange programming “Floor Talk” in August and discussed the acquisition of The Arena Group. In the entire 11-minute interview, neither journalism or content was mentioned once. It was all about profitability and how to sell things through a media site.
The largest expense on any company’s balance sheet is employee salary and benefits. If the goal is to have your company as profitable as possible, that is an area you attack to “cut costs.”
Most of what is delivered in sports media today is not nuanced, reported and sourced work. If you’re not actually interviewing subjects, calling sources for verification or doing any reporting, The Arena Group’s contention is, why do we need to pay people for that?
AI has been “writing” game recaps and similar types of content for a while now. This larger scale move was an attempt to see if AI could be scaled for the purposes of producing content.
Futurism reached out to The Arena Group for comment and initially received no answer. Instead all the AI-generated authors disappeared from Sports Illustrated’s site without explanation.
An Arena Group spokesperson provided a statement where a third-party contractor was blamed for the AI generated content and fake bios.
“Today, an article was published alleging that Sports Illustrated published AI-generated articles. According to our initial investigation, this is not accurate. The articles in question were product reviews and were licensed content from an external, third-party company, AdVon Commerce. A number of AdVon’s e-commerce articles ran on certain Arena websites. We continually monitor our partners and were in the midst of a review when these allegations were raised. AdVon has assured us that all of the articles in question were written and edited by humans. According to AdVon, their writers, editors, and researchers create and curate content and follow a policy that involves using both counter-plagiarism and counter-AI software on all content. However, we have learned that AdVon had writers use a pen or pseudo name in certain articles to protect author privacy — actions we don’t condone — and we are removing the content while our internal investigation continues and have since ended the partnership.”
Are we buying this?
“AdVon had writers use a pen or pseudo name in certain articles to protect author privacy.” Privacy for what? The articles in question were e-commerce product reviews and other licensed content. Why would a human author need privacy or protection from something generic and benign?
Journalism has been dying for quite some time, and the end seems closer now more than ever.
When the Denver Broncos began the 2023 season, all the talk seemed to be about star quarterback Russell Wilson.
But even in his team’s struggles to begin the season, Wilson was pretty solid. After his ugly 2022 campaign, many believed that Wilson was no more than a serviceable game manager incapable of making the splash plays that guided his early Hall of fame career.
Adding insult to injury, former teammates were throwing shots at Russ left and right.
Over the first few games of the season, Broncos first-year HC Sean Payton seemed to share that sentiment as Wilson still seemed shackled offensively.
Fast-forward to the Broncos’ current five-game winning streak, it seems as if first-year head coach Sean Payton is letting Wilson do his own thing a bit more — but within reason.
So far, it’s working as Wilson’s off-schedule playmaking along with a strong running game and steadily rising defense has completely turned the Broncos’ season around. It’s something that ESPN’s Shannon Sharpe has noticed, and he couldn’t wait to add his pizazz to it.
During Monday’s episode of “First Take,” Sharpe, the Pro Football Hall of Famer and two-time Super Bowl winner with the Broncos likes what Payton is doing with Russ and his former team as a whole. He wants to see them stay with what they’re doing and not change a thing.
“I think Sean Payton came to a realization. In Seattle they had a saying: ‘Let Russ Cook.’ But I think Sean Payton said, ‘Russ, we’re not gonna let you cook. We just want you to be the appetizer.’ And so that’s what he’s done. Less is more.”
That he has. In fact, during the team’s five-game winning streak Wilson has passed for just 894 yards, but eight touchdowns and zero interceptions. The most impressive thing Wilson has done is put his ego aside and accept the fact that, yes, he’s still very good but not the Seattle version of himself anymore.
This season Wilson has a 5:1 touchdown-to-interception ratio with 20 touchdowns and just four interceptions.
Broncos Are DANGEROUS
With the playoff experience of Payton and Wilson combined, the rest of the AFC should be on notice if this team somehow sneaks in after their 1-5 start. Both Payton and Wilson have hoisted that Lombardi Trophy before, and despite their slow start they have a real shot at postseason football.
That’s something that looked like an afterthought in mid-October when they were headed towards a fire sale in the Mile High City.
In his playoff career Payton is 9-8, while Wilson is 9-7.
With the season now two-thirds in the books, we continue to rank our melanated signal-callers. While the names have changed each week, the mainstays are always hovering around the top of the list.
Hurts has the Eagles sitting at 10-1. Nick Sirianni’s crew has the best record in the league by two games.
Each week, Hurts goes out and finds a way to win even if he’s not at his best. That was definitely the case in the first half of Sunday’s 37-34 overtime win over the Buffalo Bills. In that game, Hurts bounced back from a first half where he passed for 34 yards, to finish with 200 yards passing, 65 yards rushing and five total touchdowns (three passing and two rushing).
Those two rushing touchdowns made Hurts the sole leader in NFL history with 11 games of multiple rushing touchdowns by a quarterback. He breaks a tie he had with former league MVP Cam Newton.
In a season where no quarterback has distinguished himself as the clear-cut favorite to win the MVP, Hurts, who finished second to Chiefs superstar Patrick Mahomes in both the regular season and Super Bowl MVP votes in 2022, may have catapulted himself into the lead with his heroics.
The Eagles have won their last four games this season when trailing by double digits, including back-to-back wins over the Chiefs and Bills.
In his postgame interview, Hurts, who always stands on business, told reporters, “We just continue to find ways to win. We play together. We’ve shown our resiliency day in and day out.”
Things got off to an inauspicious start for the Chiefs against AFC West rival Las Vegas Raiders. Trailing 14-0 in the blink of an eye, Mahomes did what he’s done better than any QB in NFL history by overcoming another double-digit deficit.
Behind the reigning NFL and SB MVP, a struggling KC offense would score 31 of the game’s final 34 points, in a 31-17 win. It was vintage Mahomes.
In Sunday’s win Mahomes had arguably his most complete game of the season going 27 of 34 for 298 yards, two touchdowns and zero interceptions.
In a Thanksgiving Day laugher over a reeling and seemingly tanking Washington Commanders squad, Prescott was once again great. The former Mississippi State star was in command all game going 22 of 32 for 331 yards and four touchdowns. The win made Prescott an astounding 30-8 versus the NFC East.
Prescott’s play over his last five games, (1,602 yards, 17 touchdowns and just two interceptions) has put him firmly in the MVP conversation. The team has gone 4-1 over that time frame and is 8-3 overall.
The Broncos are on a five-game winning streak, with wins over the Chiefs, Bills and Sunday over the Deshaun Watson-less Browns. During the team’s recent winning streak Wilson has been up to his old tricks.
Sunday’s stat line for Wilson wasn’t gaudy — 13-for-22 for 134 yards and one touchdown, rushing for 34 yards and another score — but his play spoke volumes as the 12–year veteran made timely plays to defeat the Browns 29-12.
Another day and another great week for the 2023 No. 2 overall pick in a close loss (24-21) to Jacksonville Jaguars, Stroud was once again dynamite. The former Ohio State star passed for over 300 yards for the sixth time this season. He also had two touchdown passes, bringing his total to 19 for the season versus just five interceptions.
It’s safe to say he’s all but wrapped up the Offensive Rookie of the Year award, and should be garnering some real MVP consideration.
Despite the loss, the surprising Texans are 6-5, and in his postgame interview he sounded as if not one ounce of confidence has been shaken in the team’s locker room.
“Where we’re at the sky is the limit still. There’s no confidence taken away from this loss. We’re gonna learn from it, we’re gonna get better, and we’re gonna go get a dub.”
Black Monday came early in Carolina as first-year Panthers coach Frank Reich and his two lead assistants, Duce Staley and Josh McCown, were fired after the team’s 1-10 start.
The move comes as a surprise when you consider this regime was put in place to groom quarterback and 2023 No. 1 overall pick Bryce Young. Through 11 games that’s hardly what they’ve done, and on Monday impulsive owner David Tepper handed out three pink slips.
When Tepper fired Matt Rhule just five games into the 2022 season, he made then-defensive coordinator Steve Wilks the interim head coach. All Wilks did was turn a 1-4 team into a competitive 7-10 team by season’s end.
Wilks changed the culture, and many, including the players, believed he was the right choice for the job.
Last December star linebacker Shaq Thompson spoke on behalf of himself and his teammates telling reporters this about Wilks’ leadership.
“We ride behind Wilks. He came in here, he’s a true alpha, he’s a true leader, and guys follow behind him. He’s done amazing. Look what we’ve been going through.”
Thompson’s words weren’t enough for Tepper to make Wilks the permanent coach, and less than a year later he’s once again, he’s fumbled the No. 1 overall pick, failed in the first-year development of Bryce Young and is looking for a head coach.
Wilks was the one that got away.
Unfortunately, Tepper’s style of running a team comes with a price, and that’s never having continuity at the head coach position, which affects everything. In his six seasons as owner Tepper has now fired three head coaches in Reich, Matt Rhule and Ron Rivera, one of only two coaches to lead the franchise to a Super Bowl appearance.
Tepper’s impetuous decision-making is not the best way to build a consistent winner.
In a statement released following a meeting between Reich and Tepper on Monday morning, the owner said:
“I met with Coach Reich this morning and informed him that he will not continue as head coach of the Carolina Panthers. I want to thank Frank for his dedication and service, and we wish him well.”
Since Tepper’s arrival as owner in 2018, the Panthers have gone downhill, and a huge reason for the team’s decline is how he runs the team.
The team’s record under Tepper is 30-63, with only the New York Jets boasting a worst record 28-65 during that time frame. His next hire will make his seventh coach, with three full-time and three interim coaches. That type of turnover is never a good way to build any type of consistency and continuity within an organization.
Panthers fans are exasperated with how things have transpired over his short six-year tenure. Things have gotten so bad that fans are even beginning to compare him to former Washington Commanders owner Daniel Snyder, who ran the once proud Redskins organization into the ground over 24 years.
During Snyder’s tenure, the team had 10 head coaches and just six playoff appearances, as well as an ugly 164-220-2 record. Tepper seems to be headed down that road with his style of managing, which is eerily similar to that of Snyder.
Boston Celtics’ superstar Jayson Tatum is not a fan of the point differential in the In-Season Tournament. That’s too bad, because if he and the Celtics want a shot at heading to Vegas he’s going to have to embrace it and better yet, if he wants a champion’s mindset he has to know there is no let up until the final buzzer.
“The point differential thing, I’m not the biggest fan of it … last Friday where the game was already over and the guys still trying to score, you know, it’s all about respecting the game and respecting your opponents,” said Tatum.
The game Tatum is referencing is last Friday’s east group C game that the Celtics lost to the Orlando Magic, 113-96. That 17-point win by the Magic gave them a 3-1 group record and a +22 point differential.
The Celtics are 2-1 with a 0 point differential heading into Tuesday’s final group stage game against the Chicago Bulls. If Tatum and the Celtics want to advance to the knockout round with a chance to get to Las Vegas, they better beat the Bulls by as many points as possible and hope they get in on that tiebreaker.
Tatum’s position about respecting the game and respecting opponents is tired. That’s often what losing teams and losing players say after they get beat. He and the Celtics, despite the fact that the game was decided, should’ve been playing to the last whistle to keep the margin low.
The Magic knew that point differential would come into play for them as that was their last group stage game. They played to the final whistle with the goal of increasing their differential. That’s what a team that wants to advance in the tournament with a chance to win does.
That’s a winner’s mentality.
The Celtics, a team with title aspirations, need to drop this “too cool for school” attitude like they’ve already won the NBA title. They’re playing well now. It’s November. We have no idea what things will look like in April. A team that has a champion mindset wants to come out and dominate any and all competitions.
See the Los Angeles Lakers which won west group A with a 4-0 record and +74 point differential.
See the Phoenix Suns which in their final group A game against the Memphis Grizzlies were banking in threes with seconds remaining in an already decided game.
“No disrespect to the Grizzlies,” said Suns’ star Devin Booker, per Duane Rankin of AZCentral. “I wouldn’t take that shot if it wasn’t the In-Season Tournament, but we needed it.”
The Suns are now 3-1 with a +34 differential and almost assured of being the West wild card team heading into the knockout round.
The Lakers and Suns, like the Celtics, have aspirations of winning the NBA Finals in June too. But why not try to win everything you possibly can?
The point differential during the In-Season Tournament is a great way to ensure competition. You don’t like a team running up the score on you? Stop them. This isn’t youth sports. This is the pros.
There is no disrespect in winning.
Coasting through the finish in a game you will likely lose is extremely disrespectful to the game. This is all about competition, and Tatum knows this.
Las Vegas, you have got to do better.
So we’re going to act like a child with black warpaint and a headdress during the Kansas City Chiefs vs. Las Vegas Raiders game didn’t it happen, or act like it wasn’t broadcast on TV? What makes it worse: the child wore a Native American headdress.
The game was played on CBS, which has explaining to do because the NFL doesn’t tolerate racist symbolism. The league in the post-Kaepernick kneeling era allows the players to choose from six messages players in the helmet decal program: “End Racism,” “Stop Hate,” “It Takes All of Us,” “Black Lives Matter,” “Inspire Change,” and “Say Their Stories.”
The NFL also needs a program for the fans; oh, that’s right, some teams already have one.
In 2020, the Kansas City Chiefs introduced new policies geared toward raising awareness of American Indian cultures and celebrating “the rich traditions of tribes with a historic connection to the Kansas City area,” the team said in a statement.
As a result, fans are prohibited from wearing headdresses to Arrowhead Stadium. However, according to NFL.com, while face painting will still be allowed, “any face paint that is styled in a way that references or appropriates American Indian cultures and traditions will be prohibited.”
Sensitivity to African-American racial tropes went over everyone’s head on Sunday. The fact that it happened at Allehiant Stadium in Las Vegas is even more ironic as the team is proud to be the only franchise with an African-American head coach, general manager, and president.
The Raiders organization can take a page out of the Chiefs’ book and continue, “Fans will be asked to remove any American Indian-themed face paint prior to passing security screening outside the stadium,” per the policy.
The franchise “engaged in a thorough review process of” the “Arrowhead Chop” chant and promised “to have additional discussions in the future,” to review the beating of the large drum from the Drum Deck.
“This includes discussions around how to shift the focus of the drum to something that symbolizes the heartbeat of the stadium,” per the statement.
America cannot escape the racial atrocities baked into the country’s DNA. Still, between parents who should be ashamed, broadcasters who need to choose their crowd shots more strategically, and the Las Vegas Raiders, who are new to this level of fan scrutiny, all parties involved have got to do better.
Deion Sanders must have a lot on his mind right now after his first season at the helm of Colorado.
Though they had a season that fell short of their Bowl goals, Colorado was much more competitive than it had been pre-Prime and even improved by three wins over a 1-11 season in 2022. The plan is to move on and work on getting better.
However, the way Prime’s guys started the season 3-0 and then 4-2, offered a false optimism to the fans across the country. No one realistically could have expected this Colorado team to be any better than it was, but the early season wins and the over-the-top media hype set Colorado up for what it is experiencing now.
Colorado picked the wrong time to go into a tailspin, with recruits looking to sign with colleges by December’s early signing period.
A few weeks ago, Prime lost the commitment of a coveted four-star QB.
Not soon after the Colorado Buffalos concluded their season, ending with a final record of 4-8, and missing a bowl berth, one of the top QBs in his class, Antwann Hill, decommitted from Colorado.
Hill Jr., the No. 46 recruit in the class of 2025 by ESPN, committed to Coach Prime in October. Last month he even wore a T-shirt with a picture of current CU quarterback Shedeur Sanders, and Hill even stated that he had planned to reclassify to the 2024 class in order to join the team earlier.
The news of Hill Jr.’s decommitment comes two weeks after five-star wide receiver Winston Watkins Jr. also rescinded his verbal commitment to Sanders’ program.
This is following the absolute meltdown that Colorado had in the middle of their season that they unfortunately never recovered from. They started with a hot 3-0 streak before they began losing games.
Due to the early success of Deion’s Buffaloes, including future first-round NFL picks Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders, Colorado quickly became an attractive school for players in the transfer portal and coming out of high school.
But after the recent turn of events, it seems that they are losing the initial flair that attracted players.
Hill, on the other hand, claims that he is just looking to explore his options to make sure he is making the right decision, although he states that Colorado is still at the top of his list.
“Colorado is still a top priority for me,” Hill told ESPN. “I really just want to take the process slower and make sure I’m making the right decision for me and my family at the end of the day. I’m going to get back out there on the market and make the right decision.”
Antwann Hill is a 6-foot-5, 220-pound quarterback who is from Warner Robins, Georgia, and attends Houston County High School. With his size as just a junior, he will definitely garner attention from plenty of schools.
Right now, he is interested in other schools and even plans to visit Louisville soon as well. He is the No. 3 ranked QB in the class of 2025 and would been a great backup to Shedeur Sanders if he’d arrived a year early and could’ve taken over the offense after Shedeur presumably declared for the NFL.
But now with his opportunities expanding, as well as Colorado not living up to the hype that they attracted early in the season, Hill will evaluate his other options.
Regardless of whether Hill was truly trying to make the best decision possible, or if his decision had everything to do with Colorado’s struggles, this is potentially a huge loss for Coach Prime as he tries to improve his roster and makes the move back to the Big 12.
His 2024 class is coming along slowly after losing two talented recruits in the past month. He did manage to nab another two-way sensation in Kamron Mikell
Mikell, ranked No. 143 overall in the 2024 ESPN 300, chose the Buffs over offers from Georgia, Texas A&M and other huge programs.
The 6-foot-1, 180-pound athlete out of Statesboro, Georgia, will serve in a versatile role similar to Travis Hunter’s.
Mikell joins Colorado’s class with his cousin and high school teammate, Amontrae Bradford, giving Sanders three ESPN 300 commitments. Already secured is Aaron Butler, the No. 70 prospect overall, and defensive end Brandon Davis-Swain, the No. 230 prospect overall.
Deion has 10 players committed and of course, he will be very active in the transfer portal.
What he won’t do, says Deion, is compete with other Power 5s in bidding on players.
“We’re not an ATM. That’s not going to happen here,” Sanders said during a press conference last Tuesday. “If you come to Colorado to play football for me and the Colorado Buffaloes, it’s because you really want to play football and receive a wonderful education and all the business stuff will be handled on the back end if that’s the case.
Devin Booker hit the game-winning three on Sunday at Madison Square Garden as his Phoenix Suns defeated the New York Knicks 116-113. Book finished with 28 points and 11 assists, and was a team-high +15.
He also finished off a nice stretch that earned him Western Conference Player of the Week honors. Despite only playing nine of a possible 17 games, Book is a legitimate MVP candidate.
“When I’m here in the summer and I get the chance to drive by MSG, it just gives you a certain feeling,” said Booker. “It’s a shot that I’ve imagined in my head multiple times.”
The Suns along with the Orlando Magic are the hottest teams in the NBA. They’ve won seven straight and are third in the Western Conference. Their offense is ranked seventh in the league and they are eighth in aNET rating.
One of the questions before the season for the Suns was who would be the team’s point guard. Positions are antiquated in today’s game. But the question really was asking who would be the lead ball handler responsible for getting the team into good actions, especially late in games.
The Suns had one of the best table setters and organizers in league history the last few seasons in Chris Paul. Those are big shoes to fill. But it’s clear Book learned from the “point God.”
Book is averaging 29 points and just under nine assists per game on 49/43/91 shooting splits, with a 3:1 assist to turnover ratio. Given his other duties as a scorer, that’s excellent ball from the nine year pro. He’s sixth in the league in EPM at +6.2 and in the 99th percentile in percent of teammate makes assisted while on the floor.
The Suns’ offense and rotation hums when Book is on the floor with his teammate and another MVP candidate in Kevin Durant, who at 35 is still putting up elite-level production.
This is all without their third star, Bradley Beal.
The Suns were always going to be an offensive juggernaut with Book and KD; Beal makes them almost impossible to guard.
But as the lead guard, Book makes KD’s and eventually Beal’s jobs easier. Rotations make more sense and head coach Frank Vogel can always have two of his three on the floor at all times.
The big question for the Suns and any MVP chances is health. Booker already has missed eight games and KD has missed the last two.
Health is also the biggest concern when it comes to title chances. Their trio has yet to play a regular season game together and we are approaching December and the quarter-season mark.
This team fully functioning is a title contender and could be where the next league MVP is from.
Last week, the world received a taste of a Tom Brady hot take, and, in a word, it’s giving privilege.
Brady broke down the current state of play in the NFL during an interview with Stephen A. Smith, where he said there is a lot of “mediocrity in today’s NFL” game. Although he discussed the rules changes that do not allow players to maneuver the same and how he had to outsmart aggressive defenders, this is still the same era of the game saw him net a Super Bowl in 2021 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Things that make you say hmmm.
“I think there’s a lot of mediocrity in today’s NFL,” Brady said on “The Stephen A. Smith Show.” “I don’t see the excellence that I saw in the past.
“I think the coaching isn’t as good as it was,” Brady continued. “I don’t think the development of young players is as good as it was. I don’t think the schemes are as good as they were. The rules have allowed a lot of bad habits to get into the actual performance of the game. So, I just think the product, in my opinion, is less than what it’s been.”
Based on his level of judgment of the current state of player and personnel affairs within the NFL, there should be a new nickname in retirement if his nickname was “The GOAT” while he played, and that is “Soapbox Tommy.”
Interestingly, the coach with whom Brady won most of his seven championships, Bill Belichick, is experiencing one of the worst seasons of his career. The New England Patriots are dead last in the AFC East Division, which is even worse considering the historically mediocre Miami Dolphins lead the division. So the coaching shade Brady is cooking includes Belichick, or how about his last coach, Todd Bowles, or even his previous quarterback coach, Byron Leftwich?
Moreover, Brady dominated the AFC East Division as a member of the new England Patriots winning six championships there. However, there is a debate being made that the division was a gimme for Brady who used the privilege of a weakened division to soar above the competitive landscape.
Former NFL quarterback turned sports analyst Alex Smith detailed the Brady AFC East privilege when explaining why he couldn’t co-sign Brady’s comments about the current state of the NFL.
“First off, he hasn’t been retired that long, he was just playing, like he just won a Super Bowl in the current game; is he discounting that one?” Smith said during this week’s “Sunday NFL Countdown.” “My biggest complaint with this, and no offense to you guys — well, all three of you guys he played in the most uncompetitive division, I think, in NFL history.”
The Alex Smith shade reverberated to his co-hosts, all AFC East alums Randy Moss and Teddy Bruschi, who played for New England, and Rex Ryan, who coached the New York Jets. Smith played for two NFC teams, the San Francisco 49ers, the Washington Commanders, as well as the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC West Division.
Tom Brady is coming to a broadcast booth near you soon to espouse more of his unique brand of insight on the game of football. If this viral take is a precursor for the future, get your popcorn ready, because the polarization Brady is cooking will be epic.
It may be typical for young athletes to follow in the footsteps of a parent who’s paved the way before them, but that may not turn out to be the case for the sons of former NBA All-Star Carlos Boozer.
His sons Cameron and Cayden are highly ranked national recruits who have an opportunity to attend their father’s alma mater, national powerhouse Duke University.
Cameron and Cayden, respectively, are the No. 2 and No. 18 ranked players in the country for the class of 2025. They have plenty of college options and can even attend the same school if they want to continue their basketball journeys together.
“We just go on visits to the same schools because we have the same offers,” Cayden told local reporters. “If we go to the same school, that’ll be awesome. But we have to look at it realistically and see if it’s a fit for both of us. And if it’s not, then we will go our separate paths. But obviously it would be awesome to play with (Cameron) in college.”
Their father, two-time all-star Carlos Boozer, had a successful career at Duke, followed by a solid NBA career. Booz was widely regarded as one of the better power forwards during his time with the Utah Jazz and Chicago Bulls.
His kids respect their father’s legacy and are looking to carve out their own paths and surpass their dad’s accomplishments.
But just because they want to be successful like their father was in college, that doesn’t necessarily mean they are determined to take the same route as he did.
The Boozer brothers have expressed that they’re looking to do what they feel is personally best for them, whether it involves them going to Duke or not.
And there’s a third brother, Carmani, who is trying to make it to MLB, that many people aren’t talking about yet.
“I’d say not to make that assumption,” he cautioned in a postgame interview Friday night at the Holiday Hoopsgiving showcase.
Cayden added, “It’s definitely not a done deal. I have my own path that I need to take and if I go to Duke, then that’s what happens. I’m not a lock to go anywhere.”
Elite college programs, including Kentucky, Miami, Florida, and the aforementioned Duke are in heavy pursuit of both.
Whether they do end up playing for the Blue Devils, the Boozer name only looks to rise in stature in the basketball world.
On Saturday the Colorado Buffaloes’ 2023 season came to an end with a hard-fought 23-17 loss to the Utah Utes.
It was the team’s sixth consecutive loss, and after beginning the season 3-0 things went south in Boulder pretty quickly.
First-year head coach and Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, who enjoyed immense success in his two seasons at Jackson State going 23-3 with back-to-back SWAC Championships and Celebration Bowl bids, called it the “toughest stretch” of his life following last week’s blowout loss to Washington State.
Saturday’s season finale in which star quarterback Shedeur Sanders didn’t play because of injury means the team ended the season at 4-8.
That’s a huge improvement from the 1-11 season in 2022, but overall, the Buffaloes’ Pac-12 era ended with a miserable 28-84 record in 13 seasons.
While Sanders and his staff only account for one of those ugly seasons, there are a bevy of things they’ll need to improve upon as they re-join the Big 12 conference, a place it called home from 1996-2010.
Sanders Optimistic About Future, Needs Talent Upgrade
During his postgame presser following Saturday’s loss, Sanders sounded a bit relieved to see the season end. But he also knows the real work begins in earnest, and that’s what he tackled next in his interview.
“We’re getting there,” he said. “We definitely need giving. You know what I mean?”
“It’s unfortunate to say this, but some kids cost,” Sanders continued.
The most glaring weaknesses is in the offensive and defensive lines. The Buffs averaged a Pac-12 conference-worst 68.9 rushing yards per game and allowed 176.4 yards per game on the ground, second-worst in the conference.
Sanders is pretty much telling the fan base to donate to the NIL collectives to help the program attract and acquire top-level talent. This one week after Sanders told reporters that the Buffaloes are not an “ATM.” Sanders also said he wants the NCAA to ban players still taking official visits after committing to another school.
With the early signing period approaching in December, Sanders, who has been the master of the transfer portal, has ten total commitments, including two four-star recruits.
In-Game Management Must Get Better
Despite his energy, optimism and celebrity, Sanders did show his inexperience when it comes to in-game management.
On Saturday, as he has in previous weeks, Sanders burned unnecessary timeouts early in the game, leaving him without them when he truly needed one.
In their nine conference games, five were losses within one possession, and the loss to UCLA was just two possessions. That’s just one of the areas where Sanders must improve heading into 2024. It’s imperative to give his team every late-game opportunity he can.
On Sunday, tight ends coach Tim Brewster announced he’s not returning next season. His departure is likely the first of many from the current coaching staff.
Changes are coming in Boulder.
After just over a quarter on Sunday, the Kansas City Chiefs found themselves down 14-0 to the Las Vegas Raiders.
That’s when superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes took over and righted the ship as the Chiefs went on to outscore the Raiders 31-3, ultimately resulting in a 31-17 road win.
Mahomes’ performance further proved why he’s widely considered the game’s best QB. The former Texas Tech standout went 27 of 34 for 298 yards and two touchdowns.
The comeback win was the type of offensive effort the Chiefs have been looking for all season. While it was a feel-good moment, there are still some glaring issues with K.C.’s offense.
Beating a mediocre Raiders team still reeling from the firing of head coach Josh McDaniels, doesn’t quell all the problems the offense has experienced in 2023.
The most concerning issue has been the receivers dropping balls. KC entered Sunday’s game with a league-leading 26.
In his postgame interview Mahomes addressed the elephant in the room.
“We’ve shown we can move the ball, but turnovers and drops and me not getting it to the right guy at the right time has limited us offensively,” Mahomes said.
For one week that issue seemed to be solved, but an even bigger issue is the loss of former offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, who during his time in KC played a huge role in holding players accountable and making huge adjustments when the offense was sputtering.
Bieniemy Is Sorely Missed
Bieniemy, who’s now the offensive coordinator and first time play caller for the Washington Commanders was head coach Andy Reid’s right-hand man and day-to-day leader.
Bieniemy wasn’t considered the main play-caller, but he designed the offensive game plans and worked most closely with Mahomes.
In five seasons under Bieniemy, the Chiefs finished in the top three in total offense four times, including No.1 last season. This year they’re currently 8th.
This season they also rank dead last in second half points (5.3). A huge drop from the 13.3 second half points they averaged with Bieniemy as OC.
Huge when you consider their three losses have come as a direct result of their lack of second half offensive production.
With Bieniemy’s arrival in Washington, the Commanders’ offense has soared from 17th in second half scoring to 11th at (11.8).
Unheralded QB Sam Howell leads the NFL in passing yardage (3,339), another indication of how influential Bieniemy’s offensive schemes are.
The Commanders, a team that finished 24th in offensive ranking in 2022, are currently ranked 15th overall under EB.
Bieniemy’s strengths are exactly what seems to be ailing the K.C offense; holding players accountable, like when wide receiver Marques Valdez-Scantling dropped the game-winning touchdown during last Monday night’s (21-17) home loss to the Eagles.
Drops, shabby route running and everything else in between would be chastised by EB, who even called out the aforementioned Mahomes on many occasions.
In-Game Adjustments Aren’t The Same Without EB
Bieniemy was responsible for a lot of KC’s in-game adjustments, none bigger than his two play calls in last season’s Super Bowl that resulted in two 1-yard touchdown passes by Mahomes.
The football world had no idea about the level of responsibility Bieniemy had with KC until Reid mentioned that it was nothing new for Bieniemy to help make key adjustments even if he wasn’t calling plays.
Those are things that a Chiefs’ offense which relies heavily on timing and execution misses dearly, and with things teetering a bit on Sunday, Mahomes took matters into his own hands.
Prior to Sunday, K.C. ranked dead last in points per game in the second half at 5.3. Sunday’s 17-point half should help that meager average.
The Milwaukee Bucks completed a 26-point comeback on Sunday to defeat the Portland Trail Blazers 108-102. It’s the largest comeback in the NBA to date this season, and it’s a good sign for the Bucks. The acquisition of Damian Lillard was a risky move, and it will take time for it work. But by season’s end, the Bucks will be the best team in the East.
Integrating a player like Lillard onto a team that has already won a championship takes time. Despite being a seven-time All-NBA and seven-time All-Star, Lillard is a ball-dominant superstar, and working him into a new system on offense and defense is not easy.
The 26-point comeback against the Blazers show that there is something the Bucks can lean on offensively. Yes, it was against the lowly Blazers, but they’re still an NBA team.
“Sometimes, we just make it tough on ourselves. We just make it tough. We could start the game like that. We should not be down 26 and then try to win the game,” said Giannis Antetokounmpo after the game. “That takes a toll on your body, but I’m happy that we were able to win.”
The Bucks are seventh in offensive rating and winners of seven of their past 10 games.
When superstars team up there is often an awkward feeling-out process because, believe it or not, they don’t want to step on toes and offend their new teammates.
But as Antetokounmpo said, sometimes they make it tough on themselves. Lillard and Antetokounmpo are elite offensive players. Sometimes a simple two-man game is all they need to generate elite offense.
There will be ups and downs as the season continues, because that’s how basketball works. The Bucks as a team are working through a new system on offense and defense under first-time head coach Adrian Griffin.
They need more reps together and particularly reps under stress. This is where the In-Season Tournament comes into play.
The Bucks are atop East Group B. They control their own destiny, a win in their final game guarantees they make the knockout round.
The players and coaches have all shown that they care about winning this tournament. We’ve seen it through group play. The competitiveness will only ratchet up during the knockout phase. Teams want to go to Las Vegas and win the championship and the money.
That means coaches are going to scout, game plan and prepare like they do for playoff matchups. That gives rookie head coach Griffin a little taste of what the playoffs will be like, and it will stress test the Bucks on offense and defense.
Lillard was No. 1 in offensive EPM last season, Antetokounmpo is a perennial MVP candidate, and so far this season Khris Middleton is playing like he did during the Bucks’ championship run.
As the Bucks’ depth and defense continues to improve, so to will their overall play and they’ll be poised to take on the Boston Celtics, Philadelphia 76ers and the best teams in the East for supremacy.
Last week where head coach Mike Tomlin made a switch at offensive coordinator, firing Matt Canada and replacing him with Eddie Faulkner and quarterbacks coach Mike Sullivan, who is now the game day play-caller.
It was also reported that wide receiver Diontae Johnson and safety Minkah Fitzpatrick got into a pretty heated argument following last Sunday’s last-second 13-10 road loss to the Cleveland Browns.
Fast-forward to Sunday, and Mike Tomlin once again found a way to galvanize the troops and get a huge division road win at the Joe Burrow-less Cincinnati Bengals.
Not only did the Steelers get the win, but they also reached an offensive milestone they hadn’t seen in the previous 58 games. For the first time since Week 2 of the 2020 season, the Steelers eclipsed the 400 total yards plateau.
Tomlin Is HIM
What’s even more astonishing is how Tomlin managed to win as many games as he did despite a below-average offense. In a league where gaining 400 yards weekly is an easy as it’s ever been, to not have one game with that amount for over three-and-half seasons is unheard of.
But somehow Tomlin led the Steelers to a 34-23-1 record during that drought, which is another credit to the master class coaching we’ve come to see weekly from the future Hall of Famer, one who should be in the thick of the NFL Coach of the Year race. It’s an award he surprisingly has never won despite no losing seasons in 16 years as a head coach.
In totality, the Steelers, who’ve been led by their dominant defense all season, finished with 421 yards.
Second-year QB Kenny Pickett looked more comfortable with the coordinator change, going 24-of-33 for 278 yards, his best game of the season. Tight end Pat Freiermuth added a career-high nine receptions for 120 yards. And running backs Najee Harris and Jayen Warren combined for 148 yards on 28 carries.
The always even-keeled Tomlin didn’t make the 400-yard day a big deal. In fact, he downplayed it as he talked to reporters in his postgame presser.
“I’m not trying to paint with a broad brush and act like eureka,” Tomlin said. “We did what we needed to do to win today, and we’ll keep on pushing.”
Steelers Offense Looked Much Different Sunday
After 44 consecutive games of Matt Canada’s conservative approach on offense, where there were very few deep shots taken, and much of the offense was within 5 to 7 yards of the line of scrimmage, Sunday was different.
Sullivan and Faulkner had many more deep shots and downfield passing in the game plan, and what it did was open up running lanes for the aforementioned Harris and Warren.
No one will ever mistake this unit for an elite one, but for the Steelers defense and fan base, this is hopefully a step in that direction.
Mexican boxing has a time-honored tradition of the best fighters fighting the best. That legacy is solidified by the careers of Julio Caesar Chavez, Juan Manuel Marquez, and many more, and in this era, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez is the torchbearer.
However, last night, David Benavidez (28-0, 24 KOs), nicknamed “The Mexican Monster” by Mike Tyson, placed his name in the hat of Mexican fighters looking to uniquely impact the sport of boxing. Benavidez stopped the formerly undefeated two-weight-class world champion, Demetrius Andrade (32-1, 19 KOs), in six rounds to retain his WBC super middleweight title and make the hard case for a unification bout and undisputed fight against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.
“I think I just solidified myself as a dominant force here,” Benavídez said. “I just reminded everyone who the real champion at 168 is. Who wants to see me versus Canelo? I’m going to be super middleweight champion of the world, three-time world champion. Now, just give me the fight that we all want to see. Who wants to see Benavídez versus Canelo?”
The ending came after Andrade’s trainer wouldn’t let “Boo Boo” leave the corner to start the seventh round. Andrade was the first southpaw Benavídez had fought in seven years, but he proved no real challenge for the Arizona contender. Just one look at the defensive technician Andrade’s bloodied and pounded face showed why Benavidez is the scariest fighter in the super middleweight division not named Canelo.
Benavídez’s power grew more potent as the fight continued, with Andrade holding his own in the opening rounds. However, Benavídez broke down his 35-year-old opponent with ease. Andrade slowed down in the third, allowing Benavídez to unload his brand of destructive, compact punches before the knockdown turned the tide in Benavídez’s favor. A looping right hand from Benavídez to the side of the head dropped Andrade for the third time in his career with seconds left in the fourth round.
Andrade crumpled to the canvas and rose on shaky legs to survive the round. Andrade’s right eye started to close midway through the fifth round from a right uppercut and an assortment of short, stinging punches.
Now all eyes are on Canelo Alvarez, who has one fight left on his contract with Premier Boxing Champions. In June 2023, it was announced that Canelo signed a lucrative agreement exceeding 100 million dollars for three fights with Premier Boxing Champions. He fought Jermell Charlo in a lopsided win in September 2023 and now has remaining dates in May and September next year.
Those can set up a potential WBC mandatory against David Benavidez and a possible rematch. Suppose the fight is a total lopsided victory for Canelo. In that case, you have Jermall Charlo, who was victorious against Jose Benvidez, Jr., as an alternate to a potential future David Benavidez rematch.
Either way, if Canelo doesn’t see “The Mexican Monster” his legacy will come under question by the fans and the country of Mexico, as Benavidez has made the case as the rightful challenger to both unify the WBC straps and fight for undisputed.
