News sport : Roquan Smith's coach says it'll be a week before Smith decides on a school

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It looks like Roquan Smith will be undecided about his college choice for a bit longer.


According to his high school coach, the four-star linebacker is going to take a week or so to decide where he'll go to college. Smith committed to UCLA in a televised (and awkwardly staged) ceremony on ESPNU on Wednesday, but didn't sign his letter of intent.


He said going into the ceremony that he was torn between UCLA and Georgia, and the Georgia native didn't find his decision to be any easier when it was reported that UCLA defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich was leaving to become the linebackers coach for the Atlanta Falcons.


Ulbrich was Smith's lead recruiter.


From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:



“It was everybody on the staff,” Macon County Athletic Director and football coach Larry Harold said Thursday. “Coach (John) Lilly was the first I heard from. We weren’t answering our phones, I wasn’t answering mine and he wasn’t answering his. All the sudden these text messages started coming in. They said, ‘RED ALERT: READ THIS.’ Somebody screen-shotted (the website) FootballScoop(.com) and it grew from there. It was crazy.”



Smith had cards for Michigan and Texas A&M on the table as well when he made his announcement for UCLA. Those two schools are still in the running despite being "eliminated" by a friend who pulled the cards off the table before Smith donned a pair of UCLA gloves on National Signing Day.



“It’s not an open recruitment really, it’s just the same four schools and he’s going to take a week or so to decide,” Harold said. “He’s going to take this weekend off, spend time with his family and relax, be a teen-ager. And then next week maybe he’ll start calling some coaches again and rehash it all.




“(The recruiting period) isn’t over until the end of April, so there’s no rush. You know, it is a big decision and he needs to take his time, especially in lieu of what happened with the coach at UCLA leaving. So there’s a lot for him to consider. These things happen. But he needs to do what’s best for him and his family just like Coach Ulbrich did what’s best for him and his family. Everybody needs to do what’s best for their situation.”



For more Georgia news, visit UGASports.com.


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News sport : Family 'blames' Seattle's last-second interception for man's demise

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Seahawks obituary.

We knew Pete Carroll's decision to pass instead of run late in the Super Bowl devastated Seattle Seahawks fans, but we didn't know how much until now.


Michael Vedvik of Spokane, Wash. died of a heart attack shortly after the end of the Super Bowl. And as his obituary from his family reads, "We blame the Seahawks' lousy play call for Mike's untimely demise."


Funny, yes, but not entirely true. Mike, 53, wasn't feeling well during the Super Bowl, and recorded it to watch later. Stephanie Vedvik, Mike's wife, found him the next morning; he had passed away at some point in the night.


Stephanie said the line about the Seahawks was added to Mike's obituary by a family member, and she approved of it. “My husband would have thought it was hysterical,” she says. “If I had read this obituary to my husband about somebody else, he would have had a laugh.”


____

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News sport : Washington Redskins fail to mention Robert Griffin III in letter to fans

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The Washington Redskins don't believe RGIII is one of their best four players.


That is, if you read what the team wrote in a letter to its Premium Club members. The Redskins sent the letter out trumpeting its exciting members (imagine having that job) and failed to mention Robert Griffin III anywhere in the text, according to the Washington Post.


Here's the header of the letter:



“Dear Premium Club Member,


“The Washington Redskins thank you for your continued loyalty and support. Redskins fans are the best in the NFL and we greatly appreciate your dedication over the years.


“Head Coach Jay Gruden, new General Manager Scot McCloughan, and Defensive Coordinator Joe Barry will lead a nucleus of Ryan Kerrigan, DeSean Jackson, plus Pro Bowlers Trent Williams and Alfred Morris. The Redskins are poised to rebound next season!”



Think about that for a moment. The Redskins will tout their new general manager who was out of football last season, as well as new defensive coordinator Joe Barry — a man most fans couldn't pick out of a lineup of two people.


But Griffin? Nowhere to be found. Not part of the aforementioned "nucleus" mentioned by the Redskins.


That gives you a pretty good idea — as if last season wasn't enough evidence on its own — what the team (and maybe Gruden has finally convinced owner Daniel Snyder of this) thinks about Griffin and where he fits into the short- or long-term plans.


Geez.


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News sport : An underage Kobe Bryant used his Laker status to buy beer with Jimmy Fallon (Video)

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Even with his season over, Kobe Bryant remains ubiquitous.


We wouldn’t expect Bryant to take his aching, surgically-repaired shoulder all the way out to Milwaukee in the dead of winter to sit on the bench and watch his Lakers lose to a wily Bucks squad just because his coach decided to let O.J. Mayo have a clean look at a game-tying jumper. There’s no reason for Bryant to travel with the team as it wastes away its season, especially with an invite to join Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show in Los Angeles waiting on the kitchen table.


Fallon and Bryant regaled the Tonight Show audience with a story about how an underage Bryant and unknown Fallon were charged with making a beer run in 1996, only to be denied not because of Kobe’s age, but because the Los Angeles neophytes went to a delivery-only liquor store. Here’s the clip:



A few things …


This probably didn’t happen in 1996, as Fallon states, as Kobe wasn’t in his second season with the Lakers that year as Bryant states. Kobe also missed a good chunk of his time as a pro in 1996, his rookie year, with a broken hand.


Secondly, it’s pretty appropriate that Kobe was only able to procure the beer after showing an ID that clearly listed him as 17 or 18. That the Laker cachet was strong enough to not only trump store policy, but also state liquor laws. Bryant may have been coming off the bench that season, as he stated in his panel appearance, but he was an NBA phenomenon by then and an All-Star Game starter.


Then there’s the invite itself – this must have been a burst of quick planning from the Fallon crew. The scheduled guests for novelty travel shows like these (Fallon’s home studio is in New York) are usually planned out months in advance. Either Fallon’s bookers just assumed Kobe would suffer another season-ending injury by early February, or they quickly added Bryant to the lineup once it became apparent that he would not be joining the Lakers on their current road trip.


(Also, we like Jimmy Fallon and his cast of writers, but the guy is turning The Tonight Show into a Buzzfeed list at this point. Granted, jokes about the 90’s are better than the jokes designed for 90-year olds, as was Jay Leno’s stock in trade, but the fact that the centerpiece of his discussion with Bryant was about a story from the 1990s is telling. If The Tonight Show visits Canada next year, expect Jimmy to play with some Pogs with Snow in the second act.)


Early on Thursday, on his Facebook page, Bryant shared a shot of his wife Vanessa hitting a rather impressive trick shot in the early morning hours at Staples Center:



From Bryant’s Facebook page, via Pro Basketball Talk:



My challenge to @vanessabryant while shooting in an empty staples center at 4am.. Stand at the free throw line. Back to the basket. 3 attempts. And…



A few more things …


Kobe’s not wearing the same shoulder brace he wore on Fallon’s show, so is it possible that this is an older clip? Did he find the brace suitable for national TV but not for a surreptitious late night workout (he’s in basketball shorts and drinking a sports drink with his bum right arm) at the Staples Center? Does this man feel no pain?


Secondly, IT IS A SCHOOL NIGHT WHO IS WATCHING YOUR KIDS???!!??


Kobe Bryant will never stop being interesting. Get well soon.


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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at KDonhoops@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!






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News sport : Player signs with Idaho a week after cancer diagnosis

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Jace Malek, a high school fullback from Washington, found out last week he has cancer.


Malek verbally committed to Idaho in 2014. After finding out that he has a tumor the size of a cantaloupe in his hip, he told the Idaho coaching staff. After he told them he didn't lose his scholarship and signed with the team on Wednesday.


From KHQ6:



“I told them, ‘listen, I know you need to do what's best, and I realize that might not be keeping my scholarship.'”



The school's response blew him away.

“They said ‘you've been with us this whole time,'” Malek explained. “Idaho is not leaving your side.”

Idaho coach Paul Petrino spoke glowingly of Malek, a 6-3, 240-pound fullback, who is 101-8 as a high school wrestler.


"Jace, I watched him play for two years, he’s in our camp and he’s a tough fullback, great wrestler and one of those guys that makes your team so much tougher," Petrino said via the Moscow-Pullman Daily News. "And just a great kid all around.”


However, there's a significant chance that Malek's football career is over, as, according to KHQ6, doctors have told him he may never play again. While he said signing with the Vandals was a dream come true, he said it wasn't what he imagined. A GoFundMe page has been set up to help with Malek's medical expenses. He starts treatment for the cancer next week.


"I'm going to go graduate college and become a famous college football coach," Malek told the station.


"And then they'll make a movie after me."


In 2013, Central Michigan commit Derrick Nash was diagnosed with leukemia after he signed with the Chippewas. CMU honored his scholarship and in December when the team went to the Bahamas Bowl, Nash traveled with the team and was named an honorary captain.


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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!







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News sport : Report: Tennessee to hire Mike DeBord as offensive coordinator

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Head coach Butch Jones of the Tennessee Volunteers.(Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images) Two weeks after Mike Bajakian left Tennessee, the Vols have found his replacement.


According to VolQuest.com, head coach Butch Jones has hired Mike DeBord as offensive coordinator. DeBord has served as an administrator in Michigan’s athletic department for the past two years and hasn’t coached since 2012, when he was let go as Chicago Bears’ tight ends coach.


DeBord was a coach at the collegiate level from 1982-2007, including a stint as Central Michigan’s head coach from 2000-03. He also was an assistant at Eastern Illinois, Ball State, Colorado State, Northwestern and twice served as Michigan’s offensive coordinator. He left Michigan when Rich Rodriguez was hired in 2007 and spent two seasons as an assistant with the Seattle Seahawks.


When hired at Central Michigan, DeBord inherited Jones as the team’s running backs coach. He then promoted Jones to offensive coordinator.


DeBord takes over a young, talented Tennessee offense that includes junior quarterback Joshua Dobbs and sophomore running back Jalen Hurd.


The Vols went 7-6 in Jones’ second season as head coach in 2014. Jones brought in the fifth-best 2015 recruiting class on signing day Wednesday.


For more Tennessee news, visit VolQuest.com.


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News sport : Once homeless, Ohio teen says wrestling saved his life

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Photo courtesy Adam Baum/Cincinnati Enquirer Nate Marmol remembers sleeping in a tunnel in a park on many nights, completely alone and hungry. Sometimes he sneaked into the shack at the local swimming pool, or slept at a friend's house. More than anything, he recalls not knowing where he would sleep from one night to the next.


It's an experience no child should ever know – but for Marmol, this was life throughout junior high.


His father left before he was born; his mother gave birth to him when she was 14 years old and was in and out of jail throughout his childhood, arrested more than 20 times and serving five short-term stints in jail by the time Marmol reached sixth grade. That year, Marmol told a judge, his grandmother kicked him out. His family says he left on his own, but neither party disputes that he no longer had a home.


Attempting to spend as much time at school as possible, Marmol joined the wrestling team at his Marion, Ohio middle school. When he wasn't with the team, he told the Cincinnati Enquirer, he was "lonely all the time – I really had no one." The sport, he adds, is what saved him.


Today he is a thriving senior at Taylor High School in North Bend, Ohio. He's 25-1 in matches this season and will compete for his third consecutive league championship later this month.


Marmol's life started to take a turn for the better during his freshman year of high school. By then his mother was married. Her husband's parents took Nate in for the year. He continued to run with a rough crowd, often stealing food from McDonald's – he'd call and say they messed up his order, so that they would offer food for free – and he was failing his classes. But at least he woke up knowing where he'd sleep each night.


Then, as the school year ended, his younger half-brother asked to see him. His half-brother is named Nick. Nick and Nate have the same mother, different fathers. Nick's father, Kevin Feaver, is married to ChristyLee Feaver. In addition to Nick, they had seven other children, including five adopted children.


Not knowing where to find Marmol, ChristyLee drove to Marion and stayed in a hotel until she tracked him down. Seeing how bad things had become, she decided he should live with her family in North Bend, about three hours from Marion. She and Kevin became his legal guardians.


The transition again put Nate's life in flux, but this time it was a positive transition. At Taylor High, he kept his story to himself until this year., when he decided to tell his football teammates. Once it was out there, everyone was in awe of how far he's come.


"Every time I feel I've had a hard go of things, I just look at Nate and how his tenacity has gotten him through the toughest of situations," his coach told reporter Adam Baum. "I wouldn't have been able to handle it like he did. I appreciate him and I admire him."


Marmol hopes to wrestle at Mount St. Joseph college next year. He says his experiences have taught him about forgiveness and empathy.


"Wrestling saved my life," he said. "It's given me a perspective... Even though you have a bad day, there's always someone who could have it worse."


____

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News sport : Illinois QB Aaron Bailey reportedly seeking transfer

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Illinois quarterback Aaron Bailey tries to outrun Ohio State linebacker Curtis Grant during the second quarter of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Nov. 1, 2014, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Paul Vernon) Aaron Bailey, the top-rated recruit in Illinois’ 2013 recruiting class, is reportedly leaving the program.


According to the Champaign News-Gazette, Bailey, a dual-threat quarterback, requested his release and is looking to transfer. Bailey has seen little action in his two seasons on campus and was expected to be behind expected starter Wes Lunt on the Illini’s depth chart heading into the 2015 season.


When he did see the field, Bailey, a former four-star recruit, was mainly used as a ball-carrier. As a freshman in 2013, he ran for 83 yards and three touchdowns on 20 carries. He also completed 2-of-5 passes for four yards and a score.


In 2014, Bailey completed 11-of-22 passes for 118 yards, one touchdown and one interception. He also ran for 120 yards and a touchdown on 32 attempts.


A native of Boilingbrook, Illinois, Bailey was rated as the ninth-best dual-threat quarterback and the 159th-best player in the country in the 2013 class.


Illinois coach Tim Beckman spoke to Bailey in the past about switching positions, but Bailey said he wants to play quarterback.


“No. Just quarterback,” Bailey said per the News-Gazette. “I enjoy having the ball in my hand. I enjoy the pressure of winning and losing. I feel like, with the ball in my hand, I can create a lot of things. Being at a different position, you may not necessarily get the ball every play, but at quarterback, whether it´s a good play or bad play, I´d rather take that pressure and put it on me.”


Illinois went 6-7 in 2014.


For more Illinois news, visit OrangeandBlueNews.com.


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News sport : Will baseball return to the Olympics? We'll know in 2016

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A decision about baseball’s place in future Olympic Games will be made in August 2016, just before the start of the Rio Games in Brazil. Baseball and softball have been off the Olympic program since the 2008 Beijing Games but have been making a hard push to be reinstated for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.


The International Olympic Committee announced Thursday that it will decide how many sports and which potential new sports can be added for Tokyo — and baseball and softball are thought to be top contenders. Other sports vying for admittance include karate, squash, and billiards. The IOC has not decided how many new sports will be added.


Working in baseball’s favor is the sports’ huge popularity in Japan, and that many of the facilities and much of the infrastructure needed for baseball already exist. But IOC vice president John Coates perhaps threw a bit of shade on the idea of adding large team events to an Olympic program that already is expected to host more than 10,000 athletes in 300 events.



“If there are team events involved, there's going to be more athletes involved. If there weren't team events involved, there could be a combination of other sports. We don't want to rule out any combination.”



Adding baseball and softball would certainly add a significant number of athletes. In 2008, the baseball competition featured eight teams with 24-man rosters. Softball featured eight teams of 15.


[Yahoo Sports Fantasy Baseball: Sign up and join a league today!]


Major League Baseball is actively supporting the Olympic movement – and trying to grow the game internationally. It is a financial supporter of the World Baseball Softball Confederation, which is leading the effort to get the sports back in the Olympics. It also supports and promotes the World Baseball Classic, the annual MLB Japan All-Star series, and events like last spring’s season-opening series in Australia.


In another boon to the international game, MLB clubs recently came to an agreement to allow minor-league players to play in the Pan American Games this summer in Toronto. Minor-league players who aren’t on a 40-man roster will be eligible to compete in the seven-team tournament which begins July 11. That bodes well for tournament organizers and international baseball as a whole. It’s starting to look like a safe bet that baseball will be back on the Olympic program by 2020.


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Ian Denomme is an editor for Yahoo Sports. Email him at denomme@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter.






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News sport : Colorado reportedly hires former USF coach Jim Leavitt as d-coordinator

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Linebacke Ben Moffitt #59 of the University of South Florida Bulls enters the field for pre-game introductions as coach Jim Leavitt watches before play against the Louisville Cardinals on November 17, 2007. (Photo by Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images) Colorado finally its defensive coordinator.


According to Football Scoop and BuffStampede.com, Buffs coach Mike MacIntyre has hired former South Florida Jim Leavitt to run the team’s defensive. Leavitt’s reported hire comes more than six weeks after Kent Baer left Colorado to join Tony Sanchez’s staff at UNLV.


Leavitt spent the past four seasons as linebackers coach on Jim Harbaugh’s San Francisco 49ers staff. He previously was the head coach at South Florida for 13 seasons, where he had a 95-57 record and guided the Bulls’ transition from a Division I-AA program to the Big East.


Leavitt was fired in January 2010 after a school investigation found that he “grabbed one of his players by the throat, slapped him in the face and then lied about it.” Leavitt denied the allegation.


Before taking over at South Florida in 1997, Leavitt was an assistant at Kansas State, Iowa, Missouri, NAIA Morningside and Division III Dubuque.


He’ll take over a Colorado defense that was 119th nationally in scoring defense in 2014 in MacIntyre’s second season. Leavitt will also coach Colorado’s linebackers. Per BuffStampede.com, Leavitt is expected to arrive in Colorado on Friday.


In addition to Leavitt, Colorado is also bringing in former Central Michigan defensive coordinator Joe Tumpkin as defensive backs coach to replace Andy LaRussa, who also left for UNLV.


Before arriving at Central Michigan in 2010, Tumpkin coached linebackers at SMU from 2005-07 and Pittsburgh from 2008-09. He also had stints as a defensive assistant at Lakeland College, Northern Michigan, Defiance College, Western Michigan, Southern Illinois, and Sam Houston State.


Colorado went 2-10 in 2014.


For more Colorado news, visit BuffStampede.com.


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News sport : The Orlando Magic have fired Jacque Vaughn, which makes sense

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If you’re having a hard time getting a read on the Orlando Magic, understand that you’re not alone.


The team likes to run, we think, but it also seems to want to encourage a snail’s pace at times offensively. The squad was created to work as an athletic defensive juggernaut, but they also make critical errors on that end of the court while signing veteran free agents that absolutely do not play defense. For those of us that are charged with watching their games, the group appears to be attacking opponents with a new scheme both offensively and defensively far too often for any cohesion to develop. If a revamp didn’t take place every other game, then it was at least something close to it.


This is why word leaked last week that coach Jacque Vaughn’s time in Orlando was up. This is also why Yahoo Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski reported on Thursday that Vaughn has been fired by the Magic. The report was filed a good half-hour before Magic officials met with their players to tell them the news. According to Woj, James Borrego will be named the team’s interim head coach.


Borrego has good timing, in spite of Orlando’s recent play. The Magic are attempting to shake off a 10-game losing streak, and a 2-16 malaise that dates back to the last days of 2014. Orlando had to play the Grizzlies and Thunder twice during this streak, along with the Mavericks and Spurs, and the team fell in one-sided fashion to teams in Detroit and Milwaukee – squads that many saw the Magic fighting this season in an attempt to grab the last playoff spot in the East.


At 15-37, the postseason is far out of reach, and it was truly out of reach even before the Magic lost 16 of 18. Borrego, a former college coach and San Antonio Spurs assistant under Gregg Popovich, will have the good fortune of taking on the lowly Lakers in his first game as a head man, followed by a contest against the struggling Chicago Bulls (a team the Magic are three weeks removed from beating) along with upcoming games against the Knicks and 76ers. He’ll also have the All-Star break to serve as a mini-training camp of sorts.


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Whether Borrego is long for the Magic is up in the air. Wojnarowski reported that former Suns, Bulls and Bucks coach Scott Skiles could be in contention for the top spot in Orlando, something that makes sense if the Magic come into such a relationship with an understanding of who, exactly, Scott Skiles is.


He’s a guy that has gotten away from the modern NBA a little bit, with an offense heavy on long two-pointers and a paucity of free throws, and his over-active defensive schemes will send opponents to the line quite a bit. He can also turn a team around with his no-nonsense approach and obsession with detail – if history is any indication, the Magic will start to overachieve with Skiles at the helm. He took over the Suns midseason in 1999 and did exceedingly well in that post, and while he didn’t win much after taking over the Bulls in 2003-04, next year’s team shocked the NBA by going 47-26 after an 0-9 start to the season.


If history is any indication beyond that, Skiles will also start to wear on his players. He’ll start his passive/aggressive routine again, he’ll limit himself to intractable rotations, and he’ll fail to develop players he doesn’t care for.


If the Magic front office – helmed by Rob Hennigan and Matt Lloyd – understand this, then they’ll do well with Skiles. If they can anticipate Skiles’ breaking point and have a replacement ready to go, not Jim Boylan this time, the Magic won’t waste a season (or more) some years down the line.


If they don’t? Like the frog unknowingly sitting in that pot of water that is slowly reaching boiling point, they’ll have fallen for the same nonsense that teams in Phoenix, Chicago and Milwaukee fell for. Scott Skiles, as it is with all coaches both good, bad and middling, is not going to change his spots at his age.


The Hennigan era is a tricky one to document. He came to Orlando well-credentialed, stuck with absolutely no leverage with Dwight Howard wanting out of town. Hennigan did well to not saddle the Magic with big contracts when he eventually dealt Howard, nailing a stud in Nikola Vucevic that analytics types were hot to trot for after Doug Collins refused to play him in his rookie year. The Magic were hamstrung from the outset – rebuilding without the benefit of having a lottery pick to work around in the first rebuilding year, and the lottery pick that came from the first post-Howard season was plucked from The NBA’s Worst Draft Ever.


Victor Oladipo is a nice player, but unless another coach can build him into something special, he doesn’t appear to be your typical second overall NBA draft pick (wait …). Aaron Gordon’s rookie season has been hampered by a scary left foot injury, but he’s played well enough for a raw talent working through time on the shelf. Moving up to draft Elfrid Payton was a risk, but Hennigan is attempting to establish a culture and Payton definitely brings the nerve. Dealing to get younger in moving Arron Afflalo to Denver to Evan Fournier has been a bit of a wash, thus far.


The Magic could be criticized for bringing in scads of journeyman – past-prime types like Ben Gordon, Luke Ridnour, and Willie Green – but the team had to have some semblance of experience on the squad, and all three came at a rather cheap price. The Channing Frye signing has been a bust so far, but that’s what happens when you take the money and run. The moves haven’t worked out, but the team still has plenty of excuses and another chance with another coach.


Hiring Vaughn wasn’t a mistake. The guy was pegged as a future NBA head coach dating back to his college days, and cerebral NBA point guards who studied as coach under Gregg Popovich seem like readymade 60-game winners. Nobody criticized the move at the time, and nobody should in retrospect.


Vaughn had to go, though. The Magic were irresponsible in allowing leaks to hit the press about Vaughn’s looming brand of impermanence, but the guy was presiding over a 28th-ranked offense and a 25th-ranked defense. Jacque had to work with the rebuilding team that wasn’t in his first season, the prize of Oladipo in his second, and injuries to Gordon and inconsistent play from Payton in his third, but …



… yeah. It was time.


We sure hope the Magic know what they’re doing beyond this move, though.


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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at KDonhoops@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!






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News sport : Pete Carroll doesn't think he made the worst call of all time

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Pete Carroll has an interesting football legacy.


He has been on the losing side of perhaps the greatest college football game and the greatest NFL game ever (2006 Rose Bowl, Super Bowl XLIX), and in each he was criticized for a call near the end of the game.


In USC's loss to Texas, he gave the ball to LenDale White on fourth down, without even having Reggie Bush on the field. White was stuffed, Vince Young rallied the Longhorns to a win. And we know all about the decision to pass on second-and-goal at the 1-yard line in Sunday's Super Bowl.


It has been such a topic of conversation that Carroll sat down for a way-too-grave interview with Matt Lauer of NBC's "Today," in which the normally affable coach was asked questions like he had let down the entire universe.


And no, he doesn't think it was the worst call ever.


"It was the worst result of a call ever," Carroll told Lauer. "The call would have been a great one if we catch it."


Carroll has explained the call, and basically it was that the Seahawks didn't want to let Tom Brady have too much time if they scored, they ran down the clock and then had enough time (with less than 30 seconds left and one timeout) for only two Marshawn Lynch runs. They figured to pass on second down and run with Lynch on third and fourth if they didn't score on the pass. Patriots rookie Malcolm Butler made a great play to ruin the Seahawks' plans (the more removed we get from the game, the more Butler's play stands out as an unbelievable effort that is overlooked because of all the noise of the play call).


I'm not sure that's worth shaming Carroll into apologies, but it appears that's what he'll have to deal with for a while.


"We knew we were going to throw the ball one time in the sequence, so we did," Carroll said. "It just didn't turn out right."



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News sport : College Football Playoff will not change its 2015 semifinal dates

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The semifinal dates of the 2015 College Football Playoff are not moving.


ESPN asked the College Football Playoff to change its semifinal games, which are scheduled for Dec. 31, so that it didn’t have to compete for ratings with the various broadcasts celebrating the turn of the year. Also, New Year’s Eve falls on Thursday and ESPN claimed the games would do better on Jan. 2, a Saturday.


However, the 10 FBS commissioners and Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick, which comprise the playoff’s management committee, decided against the request.


"We reviewed it and rejected it," Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott said. "We like the concept that we've developed for New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Going forward we think that's the right model for college football."


The 2015 semifinals will be played at the Capital One Orange Bowl and the Goodyear Cotton Bowl.


The playoff’s 12-year contract with ESPN has terms that allow tripleheader bowl games, including the semifinals on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.


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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter!


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News sport : O.J. Mayo drills final-second corner 3 to force OT as Bucks beat Lakers

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The Los Angeles Lakers clawed their way back from an eight-point fourth quarter deficit on Wednesday, rallying behind the interior play of Carlos Boozer (eight of his season-high 28 points in the frame) and Ed Davis (eight of his career-high 20 rebounds) and the dribble penetration of Jeremy Lin (seven points, two assists) to hold a six-point lead in the final minute of their matchup with the Milwaukee Bucks. But after a Brandon Knight triple chopped the lead in half and Milwaukee's long-limbed defense helped force a Lin airball and an L.A. shot-clock violation, the Bucks had one last chance to tie. Seeking OT, they put the ball in the hands of O.J.:



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Coming out of the timeout, Bucks coach Jason Kidd — who might have had just a teensy bit of extra motivation to stick it to Lakers counterpart Byron Scott, his former head coach with the New Jersey Nets, after Scott's rather choice pre-game comments — drew up a stack at the foul line with Knight triggering the inbounds and seven sceonds remaining. Wing Khris Middleton popped out to the left block for the inbounds pass, while Knight sprinted to the charity stripe, where he stopped and set the first of two staggered screens for Mayo, defended on the play by Lakers shooting guard Nick Young.


Knight got enough of a bump on Young to give Mayo a head start, triggering a switch on the perimeter as Boozer stepped forward to meet the curling Mayo. Middleton, who'd been pushed out off the block by defender Wayne Ellington, just turned his body and used his 6-foot-7 frame to shield off Ellington and Boozer long enough to both complete the dribble handoff to the streaking Mayo and give his shooter enough room to slide into a short-corner 3-pointer. It splashed through with 0.5 seconds still remaining on the clock, knotting the game at 94 and, after the Lakers failed to get a field-goal attempt off in their final half-second, the game headed to an extra session.


It might not have, of course, had Scott elected to instruct his players to foul a Buck before a 3-pointer could be attempted. There's a longstanding and ongoing argument about the benefits and risks of fouling up three, and it doesn't always work. But in this situation, the Lakers were already in the penalty and had ample opportunity with Middleton holding the ball waiting for Mayo on the curl; a trip to the line for two free throws that could have, at best, chopped your lead down to one sure seems like a more desirable outcome than allowing a game-tying attempt.


That wasn't how Scott saw things before. He might see it differently now, according to Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News:


“The philosophy is not to foul. I guess I might change that,” Scott said. “You have to give him credit. He hit an incredible shot and we had two guys directly on him.” [...]

Scott opted not for his players to foul on an inbounds pass with seven seconds left out of fear a Bucks player could either force three foul shots or convert on a four-point play.

But...

“He had a hell of a shot,” said Boozer [...]. “A fadeaway corner with two guys right in his face? That’s what you want them to take.”

More, from Mike Bresnahan at the Los Angeles Times: "'I just always believe in just playing good solid defense,' Scott said, though he added he might revisit his strategy of not fouling in future late-game situations."


While we take a moment to consider Scott's newfound willingness to consider adjusting his tactical approach — as well as his rage-against-the-dying-of-the-light belief that this Lakers team, without a single plus stopper on the roster and now 29th among 30 NBA teams in points allowed per possession, can and should just defend better — let's also praise a heck of a shot by Mayo, who bounced back from some early-fourth misses (including this woofer of a brick with 3 1/2 minutes left) to drill a gotta-have-it-shot with no margin for error. From Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:


"We were looking for Juice," Bucks coach Jason Kidd said. "He had just made a big three to cut the lead to three. He was the hottest player for us, so we wanted to give it a different look. I thought Khris did a heck of a job of getting the ball to him with the traffic. Then Juice does the hardest part. We executed late on both ends. That just shows our growth."

Given new life by Mayo's game-tying triple, the Bucks stormed the Lakers in overtime, with point guard Knight exploding for 12 points (3-for-3 from the field, 2-for-2 from 3, 4-for-4 from the line) in five minutes to seal a 113-105 overtime win, Milwaukee's fifth straight win, the franchise's longest string of victories in nearly three years.


Kidd's Bucks are now a season-high five games over .500 at 27-22, sitting just 2 1/2 games back of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Chicago Bulls for the top spot in the Central Division and the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference. They're full of youth, athleticism and daring that produces fun moments like this three-man, ball-doesn't-touch-the-floor fast-break leading to a flush by the trailing Henson:



They're getting contributions from up and down the roster, including a landmark outing on Wednesday by Greek phenom Giannis Antetokounmpo, who scored a career-high 25 points on 10-for-14 shooting to go with six rebounds, two blocks, an assist and a steal in 42-plus minutes:



The line of the night on Giannis, from Kidd, per Gardner: "I don't think this will be his career high for long."


Antetokounmpo led four Bucks with 20 or more points, the first time that's happened in nearly six years. Knight poured in 24, shooting 4-for-7 from 3-point range and 6-for-6 from the line, with eight assists and seven rebounds. Middleton filled up the stat sheet with 21 points on 7-for-13 shooting, seven boards, seven dimes and three steals without a turnover in 45 minutes of work. And Mayo, the hero of the final second, added 21 in 33 minutes off the bench (8-for-15 from the floor, 5-for-8 from 3) to score a win in the kind of game that a good team — or, at least, a team with aspirations of being good — pulls out simply because it decides that a loss would be unacceptable.


"We were talking about it earlier, and we thought this was a win we had to have," Knight said, according to Gardner. "Last year we never approached any game saying, 'We've got to have this win; we can't lose this game.' You could just tell the entire attitude of our team has changed."


More NBA coverage:



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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!



Stay connected with Ball Don't Lie on Twitter @YahooBDL, "Like" BDL on Facebook and follow Dunks Don't Lie on Tumblr for year-round NBA talk, jokes and more.






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News sport : Five-star DE CeCe Jefferson hasn't faxed his LOI to Florida yet

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Five-star DE CeCe Jefferson committed to Florida on National Signing Day but the Gators haven't received his letter of intent.


Jefferson's ceremony was broadcast on ESPNU and cameras showed him signing what appeared to be his LOI to send to Florida after he announced his decision. ESPNU host Rece Davis even made a joke about fax machines to Jefferson in reference to No. 1 recruit Byron Cowart. Cowart, who committed to Auburn earlier in the day, didn't have his letter faxed to Auburn until hours later.


Auburn was considered one of Jefferson's top options, while Florida was one of Cowart's. Former Florida coach Will Muschamp is now the defensive coordinator at Auburn.


Jefferson's high school coach told InsideTheGators.com that he couldn't answer why the fax hadn't been sent to Florida and said it was a family matter. Per Rivals' Mike Farrell, Jefferson's father said there was no truth to any rumors that he was refusing to sign his son's letter of intent. Recruits under 18 need a guardian's signature.



Jefferson is the No. 20 recruit in the country according to Rivals. Is a reason for a delay because of a coaching change at Florida? According to SI, defensive line coach Terrell Williams has left to become the defensive line coach for the Miami Dolphins. Williams, a former assistant for the Oakland Raiders, joined Florida in early January.


The report apparently prompted this tweet from Jefferson.



According to SI, Florida has hired Texas DL coach Chris Rumph, who came to Texas with Charlie Strong. Rumph was the defensive line coach at Alabama in 2011 when new Florida coach Jim McElwain was an assistant there. The Gainesville Sun reports that Rumph hasn't accepted yet.



We'll see when or if Jefferson faxes his letter to Florida. Last year, five-star defensive tackle Malik McDowell announced he was signing with Michigan State, but his mother wasn't totally on board when he made the decision. McDowell eventually submitted his LOI to Michigan State in April.


For more Florida news, visit InsideTheGators.com.


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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!







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