The following article was adapted from a “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1arnooNZK8">Morning Wire</a>” interview with “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/crain-and-company">Crain &amp; Company</a>” host David Cone that was released on Wednesday, June 11. 
A new era has dawned in the world of college sports. Something that was illegal just a week ago – schools paying players – is now the law of the land. 
Last week, a settlement was <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/2025/06/07/ncaa-revenue-sharing-settlement-questions/83221673007/">approved</a> in the case, House vs. NCAA, a class-action lawsuit that claimed the NCAA was illegally limiting the earning potential of college athletes. This agreement ends three separate antitrust lawsuits, and it means schools can now begin paying their athletes directly. 
Outkick’s Trey Wallace joined us over at “Crain &amp; Company” earlier this week to lay out how he believes this decision will affect college athletics going forward. Wallace said the settlement will eventually lead to some schools cutting certain sports.
“I hate to say it,” Wallace told us. “But you’re gonna see cuts in track and field, rowing, volleyball, mid-major softball programs. You can’t afford them anymore. You&#8217;re relying on football to pay the bills.” 
<iframe loading="lazy" title="What the House v. NCAA Settlement Means for College Sports w/ Outkick’s Trey Wallace" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mBdaSIRX7dM?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
With this settlement comes an annual cap, much like a salary cap in professional sports, and it is expected to start at roughly $20.5 million per school in 2025-26. It will then increase every year during the decade-long deal. These new payments are in addition to scholarships and other benefits the athletes already receive.
The first checks will be cut on July 1, so schools and conferences need to act quickly and establish the necessary infrastructure to enforce their new rules. And this doesn’t just affect current and future athletes; the NCAA will also pay nearly $2.8 billion in back damages over the next 10 years to athletes who competed in college at any time from 2016 through the present day.
In short, this is a shift from name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals student athletes made with companies and collectives to direct pay from the schools. So the cases of O’Bannon vs. NCAA and Alston vs. NCAA paved the way for college athletes to receive NIL money, but those payments were coming from third parties rather than from the athletic programs themselves. This settlement allows schools to share their revenue directly with athletes for the first time, and it also enables programs to create new rules designed to limit the influence of boosters and collectives. Starting this summer, any endorsement deal between a booster and an athlete will be vetted to ensure it’s for a &#8220;valid business purpose&#8221; rather than a recruiting incentive.
Now, what will be interesting to monitor is how each athletic director allocates that $20.5 million between their various sports, as Wallace hinted at in his interview with us. Another thing to watch for is how each program will continue to incorporate NIL deals on top of the revenue-sharing payments.
This development still won’t end the debates regarding how long athletes can compete at the college level, and whether or not they should be considered employees who are represented by a union for the purposes of collective bargaining. 
However, NCAA president Charlie Baker does believe this will help regulate what has been a very volatile market in college sports. In an <a href="https://www.ncaa.org/news/2025/6/6/media-center-a-letter-from-ncaa-president-charlie-baker.aspx">open letter</a> posted last Friday, Baker stated, “This is new terrain for everyone. Given the defendant conferences&#8217; new ownership of complicated pieces of rulemaking and enforcement, there will be a transition period and certainly bumps in the road. Opportunities to drive transformative change don&#8217;t come often to organizations like ours. It&#8217;s important we make the most of this one. We have accomplished a lot over the last several months, from new health and wellness and academic requirements to a stronger financial footing. Together, we can use this new beginning to launch college sports into the future, too.”

NCAA

A Landmark Settlement Rings In A New Era Of College Sports. Will The Tradition We Love Survive?

College basketball

College Football

College sports

Crain and Company

Morning Wire

Auburn University men’s basketball head coach Bruce Pearl, who led his team to the NCAA Final Four earlier this month, is taking on a new role off the court — chairman of the board of directors for the pro-Israel nonprofit, U.S. Israel Education Association (USIEA).
His new role comes after he used his team&#8217;s successful season to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/vocally-pro-israel-coach-leads-auburn-to-the-final-four?author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=15&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Vocally+Pro-Israel+Coach+Leads+Auburn+To+The+Final+Four" target="_blank" rel="noopener">promote</a> the release of the 59 hostages still in Hamas captivity, including 21-year-old American Edan Alexander. Pearl will replace former Rep. Phil Roe (R-TN), who chaired the House Veterans Affairs Committee from 2017 to 2019 and was the ranking member until 2021.
“I’ve dedicated much of my life to teaching young people about the importance of leadership, values, and understanding different perspectives,” Pearl said in a statement. “My work with USIEA aligns with those principles, and I’m excited to continue building a bridge of understanding between these two great nations.”
<div id="attachment_891963" style="width: 938px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-891963" class="size-large wp-image-891963" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Edan-Alexander-928x576.jpg" alt="This photograph taken on January 21, 2025, shows a poster bearing a portrait of Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander held in the Gaza Strip since the October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel by Hamas militants. (Photo by AFP)" width="928" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Edan-Alexander-928x576.jpg 928w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Edan-Alexander-300x186.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Edan-Alexander-768x477.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Edan-Alexander.jpg 1000w" sizes="(max-width: 928px) 100vw, 928px" />Israel-American Edan Alexander was taken hostage by Hamas during the terror group&#8217;s October 7, 2023, massacre. (Photo by AFP via Getty Images)</div>
Pearl led the Auburn Tigers to the program&#8217;s first-ever Final Four appearance and has been a <a href="https://auburntigers.com/staff/bruce-pearl">head coach</a> for 29 seasons, with his teams advancing to the NCAA Tournament 22 times.
He and his wife, Brandy, first became acquainted with USIEA when he went on the group’s 2019 Partners Tour to Israel, during which participants had high-level briefings on Israeli defense, artificial intelligence, and U.S.-Israel foreign policy.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/israel-heats-up-ground-offensive-in-gaza-in-effort-to-pressure-hamas-to-return-hostages" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ISRAEL HEATS UP GROUND OFFENSIVE IN GAZA IN EFFORT TO PRESSURE HAMAS TO RETURN HOSTAGES</a>
“My experience in Israel was transformative,&#8221; Pearl said. &#8220;I felt it was my responsibility to become more involved in the mission of USIEA and educating senior government leaders in America on the importance of supporting Israel.” 
The 2025 <a href="https://apnews.com/article/college-basketball-ap-coach-of-year-1e4d079d3caaab71ad3d9d6848f6f7de">Associated Press</a> College Basketball Coach of the Year — an award he shared with St. John&#8217;s head coach, Rick Pitino — is expected to help USIEA educate and assist government leaders who are involved in advancing U.S.- Israel relations.
<div id="attachment_900387" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-900387" class="size-large wp-image-900387" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-2207690199-864x576.jpg" alt="Bruce Pearl alongside the court while wearing his Auburn University sweater." width="864" height="576" />Auburn University men&#8217;s basketball head coach Bruce Pearl has called for the release of 59 hostages held captive by Hamas. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)d</div>
“Since Coach Pearl and Brandy’s involvement with USIEA, we’ve experienced significant growth and interest in our organization, benefiting from the respect and recognition he commands in both the sports world and the broader community,” USIEA Founder and CEO Heather Johnston said. “But most of all, we’ve been inspired by his generosity, passion for Israel, and unwavering commitment to our mission.”
Johnston added that Pearl’s commitment to Israel and love of America are “at the core of his personal beliefs, topics he frequently addresses in interviews.” 
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/university-apologizes-for-inaction-after-students-antisemitic-abuser-pleads-guilty?author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=7&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=University+Apologizes+For+Inaction+After+Student’s+Antisemitic+Abuser+Pleads+Guilty" target="_blank" rel="noopener">UNIVERSITY APOLOGIZES FOR INACTION AFTER STUDENT’S ANTISEMITIC ABUSER PLEADS GUILTY</a>
Pearl said he has shared his journey of advocating for Israel with his team, including having Auburn University become the first Division I basketball team to play against a professional Israeli team. Pearl described the game as “marking a historic moment in both college athletics and U.S.-Israel relations.”
Pearl, who has been wearing a “Bring Them Home” dog tag as a necklace, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/vocally-pro-israel-coach-leads-auburn-to-the-final-four?row=0&amp;elementPosition=6&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;title=Vocally+Pro-Israel+Coach+Leads+Auburn+To+The+Final+Four&amp;category=News" target="_blank" rel="noopener">opened</a> a postgame press conference last month by drawing attention to Alexander. 
“I just felt compelled to say his name when I knew everybody was listening and have the discussion,” Pearl <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bruce-pearl-uses-final-four-spotlight-for-american-hostage-edan-alexander-nobody-knows-his-name?author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=8&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Bruce+Pearl+Uses+Final+Four+Spotlight+For+American+Hostage+Edan+Alexander%3A+%E2%80%98Nobody+Knows+His+Name%E2%80%99" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told The Daily Wire.</a>
“It just bothers me tremendously that people are gonna pay attention to a basketball coach winning a basketball game when we have an American held hostage in Gaza, named Edan Alexander, and nobody knows his name,” he added.
<div id="attachment_808863" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-808863" class="size-large wp-image-808863" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/10/GettyImages-2177310884-864x576.jpg" alt="Edan Alexander with Ben Shapiro and Donald Trump at the grave of the leader of the Chabad Lubavitcher movement." width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/10/GettyImages-2177310884-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/10/GettyImages-2177310884-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/10/GettyImages-2177310884-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/10/GettyImages-2177310884-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/10/GettyImages-2177310884-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/10/GettyImages-2177310884-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/10/GettyImages-2177310884-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Edan Alexander&#8217;s family has met with leaders and influential people around the world, including President Donald Trump and Ben Shapiro. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)</div>
Edan was born in Rockville, Maryland, before moving to New Jersey. He joined the Israel Defense Forces after high school and was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/father-of-american-held-by-hamas-adi-alexander-shares-sons-story-at-cpac" target="_blank" rel="noopener">taken captive during</a> Hamas’s October 7 massacre while at a small outpost by Kibbutz Nir Oz. He has been seen in Hamas <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hamas-teases-release-of-last-living-american-hostage" target="_blank" rel="noopener">propaganda videos</a>.
Pearl said that he hopes President Donald Trump is close to crafting a deal that will bring home the remaining hostages still in Hamas captivity.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/yarden-bibas-describes-hamas-brutality-thanks-trump-in-first-interview-since-release?author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Yarden+Bibas+Describes+Hamas+Brutality%2C+Thanks+Trump+In+First+Interview+Since+Release" target="_blank" rel="noopener">YARDEN BIBAS DESCRIBES HAMAS BRUTALITY, THANKS TRUMP IN FIRST INTERVIEW SINCE RELEASE</a>
Following the remarks, Pearl was connected to Alexander’s father, Adi, and learned that his other son, Roy, was a basketball fan.
“He called me and told me just how much it meant to him,” Pearl recalled. “I said, ‘I’d just love to meet you, I don’t know what else I can do for you.’”
Pearl said he decided to bring him to a basketball game that weekend in Atlanta and invited the whole family as his guests.
“I just wanted to spend time with him and just to let him know that they’re not alone,” Pearl said. “There are so many, so many people, including so many American Jews that are praying for him and his family to bring his son home.”

Bruce Pearl and wife Brandy

Star NCAA Coach Bruce Pearl Takes New Role In Pro-Israel Advocacy Group

Alabama

Celebrities

Hostages

Israel

U.S.

Three Fresno State University college basketball players are at the center of a university and NCAA investigation into alleged sports gambling, including two players accused of betting on their own games.
One player, Mykell Robinson, has been removed from the team, and two other players, Jalen Weaver and Zaon Collins, have been suspended over their potential ties to sports gambling, ABC 30 Action News <a href="https://abc30.com/post/fresno-state-mens-basketball-players-allegedly-placed-bets-games-played-sources-say/15946235/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. According to the report, Robinson and Weaver allegedly placed bets on their own team, including bets that the Bulldogs would underperform in total points and rebounds in one game. Collins, meanwhile, is being investigated for placing bets on professional sports.
Fresno State, which is in the middle of its worst season in program history, will now lose two of its top three scorers — Weaver and Collins — for the foreseeable future, according to <a href="https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/43969441/fresno-state-holds-players-source-confirms-betting-inquiry" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ESPN</a>. Weaver is averaging 12.5 points per game this season, while Collins averages 12 points per game. Collins also leads the team with 4.7 assists per game.
The Bulldogs moved to 5-23 on the season after their last loss to Air Force, which put them on a 10-game losing streak. The team&#8217;s head coach, Vance Walberg, reportedly discovered the alleged gambling by the student-athletes and notified the university&#8217;s administration.
Robinson — who averaged 10.3 points per game — has not played since January 11, while Weaver and Collins were suspended just before the team tipped off against Air Force on Saturday. The Bulldogs, playing with only seven players, lost in overtime, 72-69. Just 30 minutes before the game started against Air Force, Fresno State announced that the two players were &#8220;being withheld from competition as the University reviews an eligibility matter.&#8221;
&#8220;The University and Athletics Department will have no further comments regarding the matter at this time,&#8221; Fresno State added.
Fresno State, currently part of the Mountain West Conference, announced last year that it would join the Pac-12 effective July 1, 2026.

Fresno State v UNLV

College Basketball Players Allegedly Placed Bets On Games They Played In

Basketball

California

California State University Fresno

Crime

Fresno, California

gambling

Unlike their coastal counterparts, colleges in what&#8217;s known as &#8220;SEC country&#8221; have long been viewed as a safe-haven from left-wing politics. That, along with lower tuition costs, lively Greek life, and a robust football culture, is why “the number of Northerners going to Southern public schools went up 84% over the past two decades,&#8221; as <a href="https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/sorry-harvard-everyone-wants-to-go-to-college-in-the-south-now-235d7934">The Wall Street Journal</a> pointed out earlier this year.
But according to a new report, even SEC schools have fallen prey to the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) movement.
The report, from<a href="https://criticalrace.org/"> Critical Race Training in Education</a> and shared exclusively with The Daily Wire, says &#8220;the SEC itself has been infected by &#8216;racial equity&#8217; and &#8216;social justice,'&#8221; while &#8220;SEC Universities and their Athletic Departments are riddled with DEI.&#8221; Kemberlee Kaye, managing editor of Critical Race Training in Education, says that the prevalence of DEI in the SEC shows just how hard it will be to defeat the left-wing ideology.
“Just because you are in a red state or a state that has taken action against DEI in higher ed, you&#8217;re also not immune from the ill effects of DEI,&#8221; Kaye told The Daily Wire. &#8220;DEI has successfully permeated every single level of our culture.&#8221;
Including, it seems, SEC football.
In 2021, the SEC — home to football powerhouses like Alabama, LSU, and Auburn — adopted a policy intended to engineer the racial demographics of athletic leadership at its member institutions.
The <a href="https://www.secsports.com/news/2021/07/sec-adds-hiring-and-development-initiative">policy</a> requires institutions to “employ intentional efforts to identify and consider candidates from historically underrepresented minority groups.&#8221; The SEC also established a training program addressing &#8220;diversity in hiring&#8221; and implicit bias &#8220;for the athletics directors and senior staff of member institutions concerning and addressing diversity, equity, and inclusion in athletics.”
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SEC member schools have followed the conference&#8217;s lead. The University of Georgia&#8217;s Athletic Association now employs a DEI director, and members of the University of Arkansas athletic department must take quarterly courses on &#8220;microagressions&#8221; and similar topics.
As the Critical Race Training in Education report notes, the SEC&#8217;s embrace of DEI could have wide-ranging implications.
&#8220;During the 2023 Fiscal Year, the SEC brought in a combined $852.5 million of revenue,&#8221; the report notes. &#8220;This money brings influence. The conference does not only influence its associated schools, it also has the power to flex its power over a much broader audience.&#8221; The report goes on to note how the SEC successfully pressured Mississippi into taking Confederate symbols out of its flag. Should the SEC put similar pressure on states to embrace DEI initiatives, it could counteract red state efforts to ban the woke ideology.
&#8220;DEI is part of an all-out assault on our culture and we must engage in the war if we are to win,” Kaye said. “No part of our culture, arts, or entertainment can be ceded to this pernicious ideology if there is to be any hope of pushing back against DEI.&#8221;
Nowhere is this clearer than the University of Georgia&#8217;s decision to hire Courtney Gay as Assistant Athletic Director for Inclusive Excellence and Strategic Engagement. The university first announced her hiring in a <a href="https://georgiadogs.com/news/2020/12/7/general-courtney-gay-named-ugaaa-assistant-athletic-director-for-diversity-equity-and-inclusion">blog post</a> in 2020, which explained that Gay “helped us navigate some very challenging conversations regarding race, identity, and belonging.” Gay <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/courtney-a-gay-ph-d-150a639">writes</a> on her LinkedIn profile that she has “conducted extensive research on the intersection of sport and social justice” and boasts a “successful track record in diversity, equity, and inclusion.”
Nor are the Bulldogs alone in embracing DEI. At the University of Arkansas, members of the athletic department take part in trainings on various DEI-related concepts, including microaggressions and implicit bias. “​​This effort is aimed at promoting <a href="https://arkansasrazorbacks.com/hogs-united/#pillars">education, advocacy, and action</a> in the areas of diversity and inclusive excellence,” a <a href="https://arkansasrazorbacks.com/hogs-united/">description</a> of the program reads.
The quarterly trainings include “Safe Zone Training, Microaggression Awareness Sessions, Implicit/Unconscious Bias Awareness Sessions, Confronting and Combating -Isms.”
The University of Kentucky, meanwhile, funds a grant titled the <a href="https://uknow.uky.edu/student-news/inclusive-excellence-program-now-accepting-2023-student-grant-proposals">Inclusive Excellence Student Program</a> through its Office for Institutional Diversity. “The Inclusive Excellence Program will fund grants of up to $15,000 for creative diversity programming ideas,” the institution <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20240208183021/https:/oid.uky.edu/inclusive-excellence-grants-awards-and-book-clubs">explains</a>. The university spent over $36,000 in the fall of 2023 alone to fund the grants, which included a “<a href="https://appalachiancenter.as.uky.edu/march-toward-inclusion-event-series">march toward inclusion</a>” and a presentation called “Beyond the Veil: An Exploration of Muslims in Healthcare.”
The University of Tennessee at Knoxville has a <a href="https://cssj.utk.edu/divisions/critical-race-collective/">Center for the Study of Social Justice</a>, complete with a “Critical Race Collective,” described as “a collection of researchers, teachers, and scholars who strive to bring a critical race theoretical perspective to the University of Tennessee.”
“We define critical race scholarship broadly, but maintain that a continuing effort to dismantle institutional/structural racism requires an intentional program of action that confronts racism, prejudice, and discrimination at multiple levels and in a variety of sociocultural settings,” the publicly-funded university’s website reads. “Members of the Critical Race Collective adhere to the five central tenets of Critical Race Theory.”
The collective of 37 faculty contends that “racism is a central component of American life” and believes that the “University of Tennessee is a crucial space to engage in critical race scholarship, pedagogy, and social justice activism.”

University of Arkansas Stadium

Roll Tide? Not Even SEC Football Is Safe From DEI

Academia

Diversity

higher education

Chicago Sky v Indiana Fever

White Player Diversifies The WNBA. Champions Of Diversity Are Somehow Not Happy.

Matt Walsh

Opinion

Racism

Readers Pass

Sports

WNBA

Women's Basketball

Bill Walton, a Hall of Fame NBA center who won two league championships, died of cancer, the NBA announced on Monday. He was 71 years old.
Walton was selected No. 1 overall by the Portland Trail Blazers in the 1974 NBA draft after finishing his college career under legendary coach John Wooden at UCLA, where he helped push the Bruins to a remarkable 88-game winning streak and two national championships. The 6-foot-11 center won an NBA championship with the Trail Blazers in 1977 and was also awarded the Finals MVP. Nine years later, Walton won another NBA championship with the Boston Celtics.
After he retired from the NBA, Walton became a basketball commentator for multiple networks, beginning with CBS in 1990 before moving to ABC/ESPN, where he worked as an NBA analyst until stepping away for a short time in 2009. Walton got back behind the microphone in 2012 as a college basketball analyst for ESPN and the Pac-12 Conference, calling games through the 2023-2024 season. The American Sportscasters Association named Walton one of the top 50 sports broadcasters of all time in 2009.
&#8220;Bill Walton was truly one of a kind,&#8221; NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement, according to <a href="https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/40229031/nba-champion-hall-famer-bill-walton-dies-71" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ESPN</a>. &#8220;As a Hall of Fame player, he redefined the center position. His unique all-around skills made him a dominant force at UCLA and led to an NBA regular-season and Finals MVP, two NBA championships and a spot on the NBA&#8217;s 50th and 75th Anniversary Teams.&#8221;
&#8220;Bill then translated his infectious enthusiasm and love for the game to broadcasting, where he delivered insightful and colorful commentary which entertained generations of basketball fans,&#8221; Silver added. &#8220;But what I will remember most about him was his zest for life. He was a regular presence at league events &#8211; always upbeat, smiling ear to ear and looking to share his wisdom and warmth. I treasured our close friendship, envied his boundless energy and admired the time he took with every person he encountered.&#8221;

Bill Walton

NBA Hall Of Famer Bill Walton Dead At 71

Death

Welcome to eclipse day 2024, everyone. By the time you read this, the eclipse will likely have already happened. Which presumably means that a large portion of my audience will be raptured, because from what I understand, based on my research on Twitter, the rapture is scheduled for today as well. If you’re reading this, it means that you, like me, have been left behind to walk the Earth and await your eternal destruction. That’s the bad news.
The good news is that you still get to watch the premier of my new show “JUDGED” tomorrow at 8:00 p.m. EST. You may not be in the mood for judgment related shows, given the circumstance, but you might as well watch it anyway.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/judged-by-matt-walsh" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: &#8216;JUDGED by Matt Walsh&#8217; on DailyWire+</a></h4>
Now, for today’s topic. Dawn Staley is the head coach of the NCAA champion South Carolina Gamecocks, a gold medal Olympian several times over, and a Hall of Famer who&#8217;s widely considered one of the best players in the history of the WNBA, as low as that bar might be. This is a resume that sports journalists describe as &#8220;historic.&#8221; She&#8217;s supposedly a basketball icon, a role model, and one of the greatest coaches alive.
What&#8217;s often left unsaid, even though everyone knows it&#8217;s true, is that Dawn Staley&#8217;s resume would have looked a lot different if she had been forced to compete against men at any point in her career. If it weren&#8217;t for Title IX and the creation of exclusive sports leagues that barred men from competing, Dawn Staley would probably be selling insurance or conducting tedious DEI workshops somewhere. Instead, she&#8217;s a multimillionaire, and you&#8217;re instructed to think she&#8217;s an impressive person.
All this is to say, if anyone should be an evangelist for women-only sports leagues, Dawn Staley fits the bill. Without these leagues, Staley would have precisely zero professional accomplishments to speak of. But Leftism is an ideology that necessarily involves a lot of ladder-pulling. Once they get to the top, it&#8217;s vital for Leftists to deny that they received any kind of special help based on their &#8220;identity&#8221; along the way. 
We see this all the time, from Elizabeth Warren to Kamala Harris. And the other day, in a comical press conference ahead of the NCAA national championship, we saw it from Dawn Staley.
A reporter from OutKick asked Staley a simple question. He wanted to know what she thought about the idea of men competing against women in sports, particularly in college basketball. Here&#8217;s how Staley responded:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
South Carolina women’s coach <a href="https://twitter.com/dawnstaley?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@dawnstaley</a> says men pretending to be women should be able to play women’s basketball. Great question by <a href="https://twitter.com/RealDanZak?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RealDanZak</a>. This is what real reporters are supposed to do. Ask real questions, get real answers. <a href="https://t.co/Kf9WKk6ylm">pic.twitter.com/Kf9WKk6ylm</a>
&mdash; Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) <a href="https://twitter.com/ClayTravis/status/1776643372444156308?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 6, 2024</a></blockquote>
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The first thing you notice about that reply is how nervous Dawn Staley is. She takes a big gulp of water, drawing laughter from some of the other reporters. Then she says, &#8220;Damn, you got deep on me” — even though it’s really not a deep question at all. She stutters for a few more seconds until she finally delivers maybe the least grammatical sentence she possibly could have: &#8220;I&#8217;m under the opinion of, if you&#8217;re a woman, you should play. If you consider yourself a woman and you want to play sports, or vice versa, you should be able to play.&#8221; 
I’m not sure what “vice versa” refers to in that sentence. If you’re a woman and you want to play sports, or vice versa. So if you’re a woman and you want to play sports, or if you’re a sport and you want to play women? Is that what she’s saying? 
Incoherence aside, if Dawn Staley actually believed what she was saying, then there would be no nervousness whatsoever. She would confidently tell the reporter that yes, she has no problem with men competing against her all-women&#8217;s team. She would demand that the Olympics and the NCAA change their current policy on trans-identifying athletes, which sets sets some arbitrary testosterone threshold that prevents many men from competing. There would be no need for any of the stalling or stammering.
But Staley did stall and stammer, because she doesn&#8217;t believe a word of what she just said. That&#8217;s why her answer makes no sense. She lumps &#8220;women&#8221; and &#8220;people who consider themselves women&#8221; into the same category. But in doing so, she&#8217;s acknowledging that they are indeed different categories. Actual women don&#8217;t &#8220;consider themselves women.&#8221; They&#8217;re just women. If you feel the need to add the &#8220;consider themselves&#8221; qualifier, then you obviously recognize that they are not women. There&#8217;s something very different about them — something that we recognized for all of recorded human history until about 15 minutes ago, which is why Dawn Staley had the career she did.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1342-prominent-women-s-basketball-coaches-are-too-cowardly-to-defend-the-existence-of-women-s-sports-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show</a></h4>
But Dawn Staley doesn&#8217;t want to admit this anymore. At the end of her answer, she suggests she&#8217;s being brave, because she&#8217;s going to anger all the Right-wing &#8220;barnstormers&#8221; on social media, whoever they are. But it&#8217;s not hard to see what she&#8217;s actually worried about. Staley knows that the NCAA has already said that it, &#8220;firmly and unequivocally supports the opportunity for transgender student-athletes to compete in college sports.&#8221; She knows the NCAA has already bent the knee to activist groups like GLAAD. And she&#8217;s aware that the NCAA is now being sued for Title IX violations by female athletes like Riley Gaines for allowing men to compete against them. On top of that, the University of South Carolina has trans pride flags all over its website. So if she affirmed that biology is real, there&#8217;s a good chance she&#8217;d be fired, or at least lose her status as America&#8217;s favorite female coach. She knows exactly where she&#8217;s supposed to stand on this issue.
And indeed, with her answer, Dawn Staley predictably received a bunch of fawning headlines from Left-wing activists. GLAAD posted a thank-you note and declared that Staley is the &#8220;best in the business.&#8221; Pink News declared that Staley&#8217;s response was &#8220;legendary.&#8221; The Advocate called her &#8220;transformative.&#8221; 
By contrast, here&#8217;s how supposedly conservative media outlets responded. Fox News ran this headline: &#8220;South Carolina&#8217;s Dawn Staley draws strong reactions over remarks about trans participation in women&#8217;s sports.&#8221;
At this rate, Dawn Staley could announce a roster of 5 men next year, and Fox News would applaud her. Maybe that&#8217;s the plan. In any event, this is the dynamic that weak people like Staley respond to. She knows she’ll be applauded for saying the opposite of what she knows is true. And she would be condemned, or worse, if she said what was actually true.
In that respect, she wasn&#8217;t alone. Iowa&#8217;s coach, Lisa Bluder, took a similar approach. Here was her response to the same question from the same reporter:
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Here&#39;s the video and transcript of Bluder&#39;s response:
&quot;I understand it&#39;s a topic that people are interested in. But today my focus is on the game tomorrow, my players &#8230; and that&#39;s what I want to be here to talk about. But I know it&#39;s an important issue for another time.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/TRJuAONvPr">pic.twitter.com/TRJuAONvPr</a>
&mdash; Lindsay Gibbs (@linzsports) <a href="https://twitter.com/linzsports/status/1776686403969040851?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 6, 2024</a></blockquote>
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This is an answer that&#8217;s worse in some ways than Staley&#8217;s. At least Dawn Staley said something, as insane as it was. Lisa Bluder is too afraid to even do that. She says she&#8217;s focused on the big game. But if men could compete against women in college basketball, then there would be no big game. All women&#8217;s sports would cease to exist.
Both of these coaches know that, if they had to compete against any of the top-ranked men&#8217;s teams, or any of the men&#8217;s teams at all, then they&#8217;d be destroyed. But somehow that doesn&#8217;t concern Dawn Staley or Lisa Bluder. They can&#8217;t bring themselves to say the obvious. So the nonsense continues.
There&#8217;s a lot of that going around lately, as you may have noticed. 
A few days ago the reporter Jonathan Choe broke the story that in Seattle, a mentally imbalanced man with comically enhanced breasts has been working as a public defender for several years. If you remember the Canadian wood shop teacher with the size-Z prosthetic chest, it&#8217;s a bit like that, except in a courtroom instead of a high school. And this guy is 70-years-old. Watch:
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Due to popular demand, I&#39;m posting the extended cut of my interview with public defender Stephanie Mueller. The transgender attorney is representing one of the far-left activists charged with disrupting a council meeting in February. Otherwise, this is Seattle. What&#39;s the big… <a href="https://t.co/rYo4nrj9Wu">https://t.co/rYo4nrj9Wu</a> <a href="https://t.co/fuTP4qObvu">pic.twitter.com/fuTP4qObvu</a>
&mdash; Jonathan Choe (@choeshow) <a href="https://twitter.com/choeshow/status/1776129318957318327?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 5, 2024</a></blockquote>
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So, just because the guy is 8 and a half feet tall and has a voice deeper than James Earl Jones apparently, it hasn’t stopped him from trying to be a woman. Now just imagine this for a moment. Imagine you show up to court to meet your public defender. Naturally, you&#8217;re going to have low expectations. You get what you pay for, and all that. And then this guy shows up, like a character out of &#8220;Portlandia.&#8221; How would you respond? How would the judge respond?
Apparently, in this case, everyone just acted like this was normal. The defendants didn&#8217;t have an issue with it. And that&#8217;s not entirely surprising, since they&#8217;re Left-wing activists in Seattle accused of interrupting a city council meeting to yell something. They probably requested the trans lawyer, which might not be a bad strategy in a Seattle court. After all, you have to win your case if a trans lawyer is representing you. Otherwise it would be transphobic.
Needless to say, the judge had no issue with this, either. A man shows up with skin-tight leather pants, boots, and fake eyelashes — not exactly courtroom-appropriate attire — and the judge doesn&#8217;t say a word about it. Of course, ironically, if he had actually been a woman, there would likely be an issue. Even in Seattle, courtrooms aren&#8217;t burlesque shows. It would be frowned upon for a woman to come dressed like some sort of cartoonish hooker. But because this guy says he&#8217;s transgender, it’s magically acceptable.
I&#8217;ve mentioned the Rebel News reporter David Menzies in the past. A few months ago, he was the only journalist in all of Canada to report on the fact that a 50-year-old man was allowed to compete against teenage girls in various competitions throughout the country. For reporting like that, Menzies has been arrested multiple times by the Canadian government. Just this weekend, he was assaulted and arrested again by police, for covering pro-Hamas protests in Toronto. It&#8217;s all on video. But Menzies persists anyway.
It&#8217;s quite a contrast with what we&#8217;ve seen this week in this country, which is story after story of cowardice. Think about it: If there was ever a weekend for women&#8217;s sports to have its &#8220;moment,&#8221; it was this one. Instead, the coaches of the top two teams declared at a press conference that they don&#8217;t even know what women are. They also made it very clear, from their ambivalence, that they don&#8217;t really care if women&#8217;s sports stick around anymore. They’ll probably change their mind when the money dries up. When they lose their jobs and are made irrelevant. But it requires some foresight to see that, and courage to speak up about it. Sadly, those two things are in short supply.

North Carolina State v South Carolina

Prominent Women’s Basketball Coaches Are Too Cowardly To Defend The Existence Of Women’s Sports

Prominent Women's Basketball Coaches Are Too Cowardly To Defend The Existence Of Women's Sports

Transgender Athletes

Dawn Staley, the head coach of the undefeated South Carolina women&#8217;s basketball team, said on Saturday that trans-identifying players should be allowed to participate against women as long as they &#8220;consider&#8221; themselves to be &#8220;a woman.&#8221;
Staley made her comments on men competing in women&#8217;s sports following the Gamecocks&#8217; blowout win in the Final Four over NC State. Asked by Outkick reporter Dan Zaksheske to explain her position on &#8220;the inclusion of transgender athletes, biological males, in women&#8217;s sports,&#8221; the coach struggled to come up with an answer before saying she supports men competing against women.
&#8220;If you&#8217;re a woman, you should play; if you consider yourself a woman, and you want to play sports, or vice-versa, you should be able to play,&#8221; Staley said. &#8220;That&#8217;s my opinion.&#8221;
Zaksheske asked her to clarify if she believes trans-identifying men should be able to compete against women.
&#8220;That&#8217;s the question you want to ask, so I&#8217;ll give you that: Yes. Yes,&#8221; she responded. &#8220;So now the barnstorm of people are going to flood my timeline and be a distraction to me on one of the biggest days of our game, and I&#8217;m ok with that.&#8221;
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I asked South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley if she supports transgender women (biological males) playing women&#39;s college basketball. 
&quot;If you consider yourself a woman and you want to play sports or vice versa, you should be able to play.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/SEQCsNiFvm">pic.twitter.com/SEQCsNiFvm</a>
&mdash; Dan Zaksheske (@RealDanZak) <a href="https://twitter.com/RealDanZak/status/1776641070425678157?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 6, 2024</a></blockquote>
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South Carolina&#8217;s win against NC State on Friday puts them in the national championship game, where they will face Iowa and star player Caitlyn Clark, who defeated UConn in a nail-biter. Staley&#8217;s team is currently 37-0 on the season and has breezed through the NCAA tournament. Staley has coached at South Carolina since 2008 and has won two national championships while reaching six Final Fours. The national championship game is on Sunday at 3:00 p.m. ET.
Staley&#8217;s comments have sparked backlash online, including from prominent women&#8217;s sports activist Riley Gaines. The former collegiate swimmer, who has been outspoken about the dangers and inherent unfairness of biological males participating in females&#8217; sports, posted the video of Staley and cited The Daily Wire-produced satirical comedy film &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/videos/lady-ballers">Lady Ballers</a>,&#8221; which was released in 2023 and lampoons men competing in women&#8217;s sports, specifically men competing against women in basketball.
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Lady ballers assemble! <a href="https://t.co/EP0bxt4rv6">https://t.co/EP0bxt4rv6</a>
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) <a href="https://twitter.com/Riley_Gaines_/status/1776677402187587764?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 6, 2024</a></blockquote>
Gaines had a cameo appearance in the film, which starred several Daily Wire personalities, including the company&#8217;s co-CEO and co-founder Jeremy Boreing and Daily Wire hosts Jake Crain, Blain Crain and David Cone.
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While the controversy surrounding men playing in women&#8217;s sports has yet to directly affect Division I women&#8217;s college basketball, there have been <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/here-are-the-men-who-have-dominated-womens-sports" target="_blank" rel="noopener">numerous instances</a> of men competing in sports against females and beating them in recent months. Earlier this year, multiple trans-identifying athletes took the floor with women in a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trans-identifying-volleyball-players-take-over-womens-college-game-reports" target="_blank" rel="noopener">college volleyball match</a> in Ontario, Canada.
At Nazareth University in New York, trans-identifying track athlete Sadie Schreiner <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trans-collegiate-sprinter-switches-to-womens-team-breaks-record" target="_blank" rel="noopener">set a new school record</a> in the 300m dash in December, clocking in at 41.80 seconds, which was also good for first place in the race. Schreiner reportedly competed in the same track event a year before as a male and finished in 19th place in the 100m dash.
Men competing in women&#8217;s sports became a major issue in 2022 when UPenn swimmer Lia Thomas, who previously competed as a male before identifying as a female, won a national championship title in the 500-yard freestyle over standout Virginia swimmer Emma Weyant.
The <a href="https://www.ncaa.org/sports/2022/1/28/transgender-student-athlete-eligibility-review-procedures.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NCAA allows</a> men to compete in women&#8217;s sports as long as they submit an &#8220;NCAA Transgender Student-Athlete Eligibility Review Form&#8221; and have a &#8220;testosterone level that is within the allowable levels for the sport in which the student-athlete plans to compete.&#8221;

Dawn Staley

Coach Of Top Women’s College Basketball Team Says Men Should Play Against Females ‘If You Consider Yourself A Woman’

Coach Of Top Women's College Basketball Team Says Men Should Play Against Females 'If You Consider Yourself A Woman'

South Carolina

Transgender

Women's sports

March Madness quite possibly offers the greatest postseason experience available to sports fans today. In fact, &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/crain-and-company" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Crain &amp; Company&#8217;s</a>&#8221; Jake Crain goes so far as to say that it is, in fact, the greatest. Unlike other sports, the tournament layout allows for incredible underdog/longshot stories and this year is no exception.
This year’s Final Four consists of some expected teams, including two number one seeds in Purdue and returning champion UConn, a number four seed in Alabama, and is rounded out with the Cinderella 11 seed, North Carolina State — the most unexpected teams to be in this position.
To understand how NC State elbowed its way into this year’s NCAA Final Four, we have to go back a few weeks in the season. NC State plays in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), a basketball division traditionally dominated by blue bloods like UNC and Duke. When the ACC Tournament rolled around at the end of the regular season, the Wolfpack were on a four-game losing streak and head coach Kevin Keatts was in the hot seat.
<div id="attachment_719593" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-719593" class="size-large wp-image-719593" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-2107862211-864x576.jpg" alt="PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA - MARCH 23: Head coach Kevin Keatts of the North Carolina State Wolfpack looks on during the first half of a game against the Oakland Golden Grizzlies in the second round of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at PPG PAINTS Arena on March 23, 2024 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Joe Sargent/Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-2107862211-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-2107862211-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-2107862211-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-2107862211.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Joe Sargent/Getty Images</div>
Keatts tenure had been lackluster, with many fans and boosters calling for his head after this season. NC State’s program had a mediocre ceiling that few believed would ever be broken. They hadn’t won an ACC Championship title in 37 years.
Keatts and NC State needed to win their conference tournament to even get into the NCAA tournament and no one believed it would happen. Not only would they have to win out, but they’d have to face Duke and UNC, two storied programs that have plagued the Tobacco Road rivalry.
The Wolfpack went on to win five straight, including a buzzer-beater three that pushed the UVA game into double overtime.
Coach Kevin Keatts not only secured his job, he earned some <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/acc/2024/04/01/kevin-keatts-bonuses-nc-state-final-four/73163196007/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sizable bonuses</a>:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">ACC Championship title: A $400,000 pay increase, a $100,000 bonus, and a 2-year contract extension through April 2030.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">An additional $25,000 bonus for the team’s first victory in the tournament, and $50,000 for each of the next three for a total of $175,000.</li>
</ul>
NC State’s current run as an 11 seed feels a lot like history repeating itself.
Every Wolfpack fan, and likely every college basketball fan, knows the infamous story of the 1983 team and their epic tournament run to win the National Championship under head coach Jim Valvano. The 1983 season was an unbelievable tale of determination and more famously, “never giv[ing] up.”
For those unfamiliar, back in 1983, NC State needed to win an ACC Championship title to get into the NCAA tournament. Sound familiar? They started as a number 6 seed and made their way to the championship game where they faced off against the heavily favored Houston Cougars — who had future Hall of Famers Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon.
Thanks to a buzzer-beating dunk by Lorenzo Charles after a missed desperation shot, NC State and coach Valvano defied the odds and pulled off a tremendous upset. That 1983 run gave birth to more than a winning standard, it became a way to see the world and the things around you.
It inspired the infamous “Jimmy V Speech” delivered on March 4, 1993, at the ESPYs and created a culture that continues to invigorate not only Wolfpack fans, but sports fans in general.
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Once again, NC State has given the country something to believe in. Not only has this team re-ignited its fan base, but it has also given the country new heroes and underdogs who inspire them.
One of those heroes, DJ Burns Jr., has played a critical role in the Wolfpack’s success. Burns has proven to be a force on the court, has a contagious personality, and he’s an outright likable guy. Burns has brought a popularity to the team that it hasn’t seen in years.
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Show this to anyone who says men’s college basketball is dead and has no superstars.
This is the line outside of an APPLEBEES! 
Final Four Fever has hit Raleigh. <a href="https://t.co/cB37nNH0rf">pic.twitter.com/cB37nNH0rf</a>
&mdash; Mid-Major Madness (@mid_madness) <a href="https://twitter.com/mid_madness/status/1775531240520597798?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 3, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Burns started his career in the SEC at Tennessee, transferred to Winthrop back in his home state of South Carolina, and finally landed at NC State for the 2022/2023 season. Burns made an immediate impact, but his star really started to rise during the postseason.
He stands at 6’9,” weighs 275 pounds, and after his performance this year he could arguably have a successful career in the NFL. In fact, several reporters have received communications from NFL teams with potential interest in adding Burns as an offensive tackle.
<div id="attachment_719595" style="width: 865px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-719595" class="size-large wp-image-719595" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-2128465980-855x576.jpg" alt="DALLAS, TEXAS - MARCH 31: DJ Burns Jr. #30 of the North Carolina State Wolfpack controls the ball as Ryan Young #15 of the Duke Blue Devils defends in the Elite 8 round of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at American Airlines Center on March 31, 2024 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)" width="855" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-2128465980-855x576.jpg 855w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-2128465980-300x202.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-2128465980-768x518.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-2128465980.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 855px) 100vw, 855px" />Carmen Mandato/Getty Images</div>
Against all odds, and 14 regular season losses, this team has continued its incredible postseason run with nine consecutive wins. The Wolfpack will now face off against another Goliath opponent in No. 1 Purdue this Saturday, perhaps the most difficult opponent they’ve faced yet. Purdue’s Zach Edey, standing at 7’4”, has become a standout in his own right, dominating this year’s tournament. The Burns-Edey match up makes this game a must-watch “battle of the bigs.”
NC State faces Purdue on Saturday, April 6, at 6:09 pm ET at The Phoenix Convention Center.
Current head coach Kevin Keatts and this NC State team have done something that hasn’t been done since 1983. It’s a run for the ages and a story of a lifetime. The spirit of that team can be felt in this year’s tournament and has given fans something to celebrate — a true Cinderella story that transcends wins and losses.
Go Pack.

NC State v Duke

Will History Repeat Itself? NC State’s Amazing Race To The Final Four

March Madness

North Carolina State

Purdue University

The winningest program in NCAA men&#8217;s basketball history couldn&#8217;t stop a 6-foot-3 three-point shooter who began his college career at the conservative Hillsdale College in Michigan before transferring just up the road to Oakland University — the team that pulled off the biggest upset so far in the 2024 March Madness tournament.
On Thursday evening, Jack Gohlke put on one of the most memorable performances in NCAA tournament history when he came off the bench to score 32 points, helping the Oakland Golden Grizzlies, a commuter college in Rochester Hills, Michigan, beat the eight-time national champion Kentucky Wildcats in the first round. Gohlke shot 50% from behind the arc, hitting 10 three-pointers and two free throws to cap off the remarkable performance in Oakland&#8217;s 80-76 win over the Wildcats.
The 24-year-old guard from Pewaukee, Wisconsin, committed to Hillsdale College in 2017. Gohlke played on the men&#8217;s basketball team for the liberal arts college in rural southern Michigan, which is a Division II school, where his lethal three-point shooting helped Hillsdale go on a run to the Elite Eight in the 2022 D2 NCAA Tournament.
After transferring to Oakland to play his sixth year of college basketball, Gohlke didn&#8217;t stop what he did best at Hillsdale: shooting threes. In fact, that&#8217;s just about all he did during the Grizzlies&#8217; 2023-2024 season. Of the 355 total shots Gohlke took throughout the season, 347 of them were three-pointers, which was the second-most for any player in Division I basketball. And he hit on 38% of his three-point shots, averaging nearly 13 points per game.
But even if Kentucky&#8217;s scouting report showed them to expect a lot of shots from Gohlke, nothing could&#8217;ve prepared the Wildcats for what the Oakland guard would do. Gohlke was unstoppable in the first half of Thursday&#8217;s game, nailing seven threes — most of which were heavily contested by Kentucky defenders.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
JACK GOHLKE LIT UP KENTUCKY IN THE FIRST HALF 🔥
7 THREES OFF THE BENCH 🤯 <a href="https://t.co/wtIKKqhShu">pic.twitter.com/wtIKKqhShu</a>
&mdash; Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) <a href="https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1770969058659197368?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 22, 2024</a></blockquote>
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While the Golden Grizzlies took a three-point lead into halftime, head coach Greg Kampe, who has been the team&#8217;s leader since 1984, knew that to pull off an upset of Kentucky, Gohlke would need to provide some more March magic.
“Well, he better hit seven more [three-pointers] if we’re going to win because we’re ain’t gonna win if he don’t do that,” Kampe <a href="https://www.wsj.com/sports/basketball/jack-gohlke-oakland-kentucky-march-madness-a649db9d" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> at the half.
Gohlke didn&#8217;t hit seven more threes in the second half, but he added three huge buckets from behind the arc, which tied him for second-most three-point shots made in a single NCAA Tournament game. Gohlke&#8217;s teammates added some big shots and stellar defense down the stretch, and 14-seed Oakland finished what it started, winning a nail-biter against the three-seeded Kentucky.
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
JACK GOHLKE IS UNCONSCIOUS 
LEGENDS ARE MADE IN MARCH <a href="https://twitter.com/MarkTitusShow?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MarkTitusShow</a> 
 <a href="https://t.co/uKIL2uWIkI">pic.twitter.com/uKIL2uWIkI</a>
&mdash; Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) <a href="https://twitter.com/barstoolsports/status/1770982186658730092?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 22, 2024</a></blockquote>
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After the game, Gohlke <a href="https://twitter.com/MarchMadnessMBB/status/1770990622062662104" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> CBS, &#8220;We&#8217;re not a Cinderella,&#8221; adding that Oakland is &#8220;going to keep winning some games.&#8221; Later, Gohlke admitted that he&#8217;s not an NBA-caliber player like much of the Kentucky team he just helped take down, but said he and his teammates know they &#8220;can compete with those type of guys.&#8221;
&#8220;You have to think you have the same talent level as them. I know they have draft picks and I know I&#8217;m not going to the NBA, but I know on any given night, I can compete with those type of guys and our team can compete with those type of guys.&#8221;
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&quot;You have to think you have the same talent level as them. I know they have draft picks and I know I&#39;m not going to the NBA, but I know on any given night, I can compete with those type of guys and our team can compete with those type of guys.&quot;
—<a href="https://twitter.com/OaklandMBB?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@OaklandMBB</a>&#39;s Jack Gohlke <a href="https://t.co/PQqfhCl4O8">pic.twitter.com/PQqfhCl4O8</a>
&mdash; CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) <a href="https://twitter.com/CBSSportsCBB/status/1770998231771553909?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 22, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Oakland&#8217;s win pushed them to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history. The Golden Grizzlies will take on 11-seed North Carolina State, who defeated 6-seed Texas Tech, on Saturday at approximately 7:10 p.m. ET.

Oakland v Kentucky

Transfer From Conservative D2 College Lights Up College Basketball Blue Blood In Major March Madness Upset

Kentucky

Michigan

Once again, progressive forces in the media have seized control of the narrative in college athletics.
A while back we were told we must accept that transgender athletes CeCé Telfer and Lia Thomas were female athletes, because they said so. Now we are being told that the University of Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, a phenomenal female basketball player, is the NCAA’s new all-time leading scorer (3,685 points) because she surpassed Pete Maravich’s long-standing scoring record (3,667 points).
When I first read the reports, I kept looking for a qualifier that would correctly label her as the NCAA’s greatest all-time scorer in women’s basketball history. So far, however, every bit of reporting I’ve perused — from ESPN to the alphabet media news outlets along with various social media tributes — all celebrate Caitlin Clark beating Pete Maravich’s record. That’s it. No qualifier.
As the proud father of a former women’s Division 1 NCAA athlete, you will not find a more supportive fan of women’s athletics. Indeed, my issue with the trans movement injecting itself into NCAA sports is that it makes a mockery of the entire concept of women’s athletics and neuters Title IX advancements in the NCAA.
Ms. Clark&#8217;s achievement is truly remarkable. And, yes, technically she did surpass “Pistol Pete” as the all-time NCAA basketball scorer. But let us return, once again, to cold, hard reality. 
 
First off, during Maravich’s era, there was no three-point line, no shot clock, and no dunking. It was a different game. Second, Maravich played only three seasons for LSU, since freshmen were ineligible to play on varsity teams in the late 60s. But of course, that’s not the elephant in the room. 
There remains one other unavoidable and seminal fact: Ms. Clark is a woman playing against other women. Maravich played against men and not just any men. During his 1967-1970 career at LSU his collegiate contemporaries included the likes of Kareem Adbul-Jabar (Lew Alcindor) (7’2”) and Elvin Hayes (6’9”) and many others known for their tremendous ability on the court. That alone should be enough to end the argument. As impressive as Ms. Clark’s stats may be, they should be calculated on the women’s side of the basketball ledger.
For the legacy media, however, political correctness drives the headlines, like this one from <a href="https://www.cbssports.com/general/video/caitlin-clark-becomes-the-ncaa-all-time-leading-scorer/">CBS Sports</a>: &#8220;Caitlin Clark Becomes NCAA All-Time Leading Scorer.&#8221; <a href="https://www.upi.com/Sports_News/2024/03/03/Alone-at-the-top-Caitlin-Clark-sets-NCAA-all-time-points-record/5151709500304/">UPI’s</a> headline reads: &#8220;Alone at the Top: Caitlin Clark sets NCAA all time points record.&#8221; <a href="https://sports.yahoo.com/caitlin-clark-breaks-pete-maravichs-ncaa-all-time-scoring-record-185800264.html#:~:text=Clark%20officially%20stands%20alone%20atop,18%20points%20to%20pass%20Maravich." target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yahoo! News</a> says she broke the women’s and men’s all-time leading scoring record. “Caitlin Clark breaks Pete Maravich&#8217;s NCAA all-time scoring record”
Yahoo! News does remind us that there are women’s and men’s sports before pivoting back to &#8220;all-time NCAA leader,&#8221; which is pretty typical of the dissonance so many journalists must force themselves to overcome when reporting such landmarks.
Yet, this is not a new phenomenon. 
Many years ago, during an <a href="https://www.npr.org/transcripts/534149646#:~:text=GARCIA%2DNAVARRO%3A%20Yeah%2C%20best,MCENROE%3A%20Yeah." target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview on NPR</a>, John McEnroe stated Serena Williams was the greatest female tennis player in history. When the female interviewer suggested dropping gender from the equation, McEnroe refused:
<blockquote>GARCIA-NAVARRO: Yeah, best tennis player in the world &#8211; you know, why say female player?
MCENROE: Well, because if she was &#8211; if she played the men&#8217;s circuit, she&#8217;d be, like, 700 in the world.</blockquote>
When CBS News anchor Nora O’Donnell subsequently asked McEnroe if he wanted to apologize for his remarks, he rightfully refused again. Facts are facts. 
Williams herself has backed McEnroe’s assessment, telling <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hzHBsvj6C0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">David Letterman</a>:
<blockquote>If I were to play Andy Murray, I would lose, 6-0, 6-0, in five to six minutes, maybe 10 minutes … The men are a lot faster, they serve harder, they hit harder. … It&#8217;s a completely different game.</blockquote>
Ms. Williams, who has more grand slam wins (23) than either Roger Federer (20) or Rafael Nadal (22) — but one less than Novak Djokovic (24) —  clearly does not consider herself in the same league. She understands men’s tennis and women’s tennis are far from the same sport. As such, Serena Williams, along with Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova, and Margaret Court, deserve their own places as the greatest women tennis players in history.
Ms. Clark’s accomplishments are truly remarkable, but truth and accuracy in journalism still matter. Weren’t we recently told by collegiate presidents themselves that context matters? I should think it applies to men’s versus women’s athletics most of all when making superlative claims based on numbers with no qualifiers added.
So look up to Caitlin Clark for her stunning play, yes. And congratulate her, as I do. If her drive and hard work are reflections of her character as a whole, as I suspect they are, she is a role model America’s kids, girls especially, should emulate. But let’s not try to make her into more than she is. Why? Because truth matters. This is a concept the media seem to have left behind in their relentless mission to create rather than report the narrative to achieve their social engineering goals. 
 
We know that Ms. Clark could not compete head-to-head with the man whose record she has beaten. We know this because there is not a woman who could genuinely compete, let alone be a force, in the NBA against the best players of the world on the same court. Otherwise, the NBA would be filled with women too. Instead, they have their own league.
So, unless Ms. Clark’s record was achieved against male players, her stats should not therefore be held up to those of Maravich. Such a qualifier would not relegate women’s athletics to second-tier status.
As the success of women’s tennis has shown, people will still appreciate and marvel at awesome playing in all forms from both sexes. Why can’t we just leave it at that?
* * *
Brad Schaeffer is a commodities trader, author, columnist, and musician whose eclectic body of writing can be found in the Wall Street Journal, New York Post, New York Daily News, Daily Wire, National Review, The Hill, The Federalist, Zerohedge, and others. His latest book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Life-Pits-Rough-Tumble-Exchange/dp/B0CKPNCMQW/ref=sr_1_1?crid=FBF37276B680&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.vcOViovcNlulLDwCgSAL69F_A30PW0Mtp0XkDLFpRDI.e73HGuCpMYaPK8os1N9Y87Bb_hElkxrUd2FszkudrUk&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=life+in+the+pits+Schaeffer+book&amp;qid=1705421538&amp;s=books&amp;sprefix=life+in+the+pits+schaeffer+book%2Cstripbooks%2C100&amp;sr=1-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">LIFE IN THE PITS: My Time As A Trader On The Rough-And-Tumble Exchange Floors</a> is available on Amazon and soon Audible. 
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Ohio State v Iowa

When It Comes To Breaking Records, Context Matters

College

Iowa

Legendary <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/west-virginia" target="_blank" rel="noopener">West Virginia</a> college basketball coach Bob Huggins was arrested Friday night after being charged with driving under the influence.
Huggins, 69, was <a href="https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/bob-huggins-arrested-on-dui-charge-hall-of-fame-west-virginia-coach-was-stopped-friday-in-pittsburgh/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pulled over</a> after police tried to help him get off the road in Pittsburgh because his vehicle had a flat tire, according to police.
“The driver&#8217;s side door was open and the vehicle had a flat and shredded tire. Officers directed the male driver on how best to move off the road so they could help with the flat tire. When they observed him having difficulty maneuvering the SUV to allow vehicles to pass, they activated their lights to pull him over,” the police report said.
The report added that officers at the scene had a “strong suspicion” that Huggins was intoxicated. The criminal complaint against Huggins says he had a blood alcohol content of .210. Empty beer cans in trash bags were also found in the car, according to CBS Sports.
“They asked him to exit the vehicle to perform standard field sobriety tests, which he failed. The male was placed in custody without incident and transported for further testing,” the police report added.
The University of West Virginia, where Huggins leads the men’s basketball team, said that it was reviewing the incident.
&#8220;West Virginia University is aware of an incident last night involving Head Men&#8217;s Basketball Coach Bob Huggins, for which he was charged with Driving Under the Influence (DUI) in the City of Pittsburgh. We are gathering more information and will take appropriate action once the review is complete,” the school said.
Huggins <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/gay-slur-has-legendary-basketball-coach-bob-huggins-fighting-for-his-job" target="_blank" rel="noopener">previously found himself in hot water</a> this year after he referred to an opposing team&#8217;s fans as “Catholic f**s.” As <a href="https://www.si.com/college/2023/05/10/details-west-virginia-punishment-bob-huggins-anti-lgbtq-slur-radio-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">punishment</a>, his salary was knocked down by $1 million, he was required to attend sensitivity training, and he was suspended three games for the next season.
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Huggins, an Ohio native who graduated from West Virginia, has been a college basketball coach for 38 years. His career includes stints at the University of Akron, Cincinnati, Kansas State, and his current job at West Virginia. He has compiled an 863-389 record.
Huggins was fired from the Cincinnati job in 2005 despite leading the team to 14 straight NCAA tournament berths, after being arrested a year earlier for driving under the influence. Since taking over at West Virginia in 2007, Huggins has led the Mountaineers to 11 NCAA tournament appearances.

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