Mark Cooper

A little Olympics fun in today's Connections: Sports Edition. More to come over the next two weeks!

Illinois’ Keaton Wagler was No. 261 in his class. Now he could be an NBA lottery pick Wagler went mostly overlooked as a high school recruit, but is the leading scorer for a Final Four contender as a freshman.

The award for Best Timing: Feature goes to @cjmoorehoops.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/athletic/699...

Alabama the SEC’s team to beat, concern for St. John’s and more college basketball thoughts Plus: Why it's time to rank Miami (Ohio), the last undefeated mid-major team.

Is Alabama the SEC's team to beat? How concerned should we be about St. John's? Should Miami (Ohio) be ranked?

Great thoughts from @theathletic.com MCBB crew distilling a stacked Saturday of 100+ games. www.nytimes.com/athletic/693...

Kentucky reportedly spent $22 million on its basketball roster. Why isn’t it working? The Athletic spoke with coaches and watched UK's games to assess what Kentucky must do to salvage its still-young season.

Why isn’t Kentucky winning with a $22 million roster? Mark Pope built a team that doesn’t fit him and a defense that is supposed to be elite hasn’t played like it: www.nytimes.com/athletic/688...

Inside the week Michigan basketball became a leading title contender: ‘Just scratching the surface’ The Athletic went all-access with the Wolverines as they pummeled Gonzaga by 40 points to win the Players Era Festival.

Michigan basketball was in its own league this week in Vegas — the Wolverines could be the new No. 1 team in college basketball. @cjmoorehoops.bsky.social
went all-access with them to understand what it looks like from the inside of a breakthrough. Fun story here: www.nytimes.com/athletic/684...

A potential No. 1 draft pick's secret sauce? AJ Dybantsa 'is so intellectually curious'

What makes BYU star AJ Dybantsa special? His size, athleticism and skill obviously. But his separator might be a curiosity that reminds one of his coaches of a young Shane Battier: www.nytimes.com/athletic/679...

How Emanuel Sharp learned to live with the moment he won't escape — and why he's still fearless

Emanuel Sharp had the shot to win the national title but didn’t take it. How do you come back from that? Luckily for Sharp, resilience is in his DNA: www.nytimes.com/athletic/676...

College basketball is so back

NCAA men’s college basketball 2025-26 preseason Top 25: Michigan, Kentucky lead field in wide-open year A new trend of marquee preseason matchups has given us some data points when it comes to ranking teams before the season begins.

My final preseason Top 25. I made updates after watching preseason games and I have a new No. 1: www.nytimes.com/athletic/675...

Connections: Sports Edition is a year old!! And we've got a special edition to mark the milestone: www.nytimes.com/athletic/con...

He left his mid-major school for Indiana. Then he donated six figures back Lamar Wilkerson credited Sam Houston for his development, and donated a portion of his NIL earnings back to his old school.

New Indiana guard Lamar Wilkerson was grateful for his time at Sam Houston State and wanted to give back. So he took over six figures of his NIL money and donated to the Bearkats. Maybe the best story yet from the NIL era: www.nytimes.com/athletic/662...

Test your NFL knowledge with our Connections: Sports Edition team-themed games During September, try your hand at our 32 team-themed Connections: Sports Edition boards, crafted by our expert NFL writers.

If you find Connections: Sports Edition too easy, give our NFL-themed puzzles (one for each of the 32 teams) a shot. Early reviews are in: They're way tougher than usual. @markcooperjr.bsky.social

www.nytimes.com/athletic/659...

Play Connections: Sports Edition, our newest word game Group sports terms that share a common thread. A new puzzle is available each day.

Playing Connections: Sports Edition might be the best part of my morning, so I was legit thrilled to partner with Mark Cooper on a special gameboard for Commanders fans. And I was told it was "diabolical," which seems a bit much www.nytimes.com/athletic/con...

I can now proudly say I’m a one-time puzzle maker!

Super cool to team up with our Connections: Sports Edition puzzle master Mark Cooper to do a Bills themed board for @theathletic.com!

If you want to give it a try, the link to the puzzle is on the next post.

Play Connections: Sports Edition, our newest word game Group sports terms that share a common thread. A new puzzle is available each day.

Test your Bears knowledge (and puzzling speed) with this special Connections: Sports Edition board I put together with @markcooperjr.bsky.social

Why Kansas legend Jacque Vaughn is back at KU after 2 stints as an NBA head coach Vaughn joined the Jayhawks staff over multiple NBA coaching positions. Why? He sees himself as a "guardian" of the next generation.

Jacque Vaughn had opportunities to return to the NBA but felt a calling to return to his alma mater. Story on what convinced him to return and whether a succession plan was part of it: www.nytimes.com/athletic/656...

Connections: Sports Edition is 300 days old! Speeding toward its first birthday 🥳

Play today's @theathletic.com: www.nytimes.com/athletic/con...

Make your picks for the best men’s college basketball players, coaches and teams of the last 25 years As we make our picks for the best of the quarter-century in men's college basketball, we want to hear yours, too.

Your turn: Pick your best players, coaches and teams of the last 25 years. We'll share the results next week. www.nytimes.com/athletic/649...

Ranking the 25 best men’s college basketball games of the 2000s: Chalmers’ 3, 6 OTs and more More than 100,000 games over the last 25 years were whittled down to the best of the best.

We finished with the top 25 games — maybe the most difficult list of all. Kris Jenkins and Mario Chalmers 3s, Cuse-UConn 6OTs and so many other moments. www.nytimes.com/athletic/650...

College hoops’ 25 best non-champs since 2000, from Cooper Flagg’s Duke to Wichita State Great college basketball teams often see their dreams denied in the volatile environment that is March Madness.

Jim Root ranked the top 25 teams that didn't win a title, from Cooper Flagg's Duke to Frank Kaminsky's Wisconsin and many others: www.nytimes.com/athletic/649...

Ranking the 25 best college basketball teams of the 2000s: Which blue blood comes out on top? Seven teams that won it all since 2000 do not appear — meaning seven others that fell short of winning a national title made the cut.

2000-01 Duke or 2011-12 Kentucky? @brendanmarks.bsky.social made that tough call in ranking the top 25 teams: www.nytimes.com/athletic/649...

Ranking men’s college basketball’s top 25 coaches of the 2000s: Bill Self, Roy Williams top list The NCAA Tournament is one-and-done chaos — regular-season success should matter more when judging college basketball coaches.

The top 25 coaches of the last 25 years, via @cjmoorehoops.bsky.social.

1. Bill Self
The rest … www.nytimes.com/athletic/649...

Ranking men’s college basketball’s top 25 players of the 2000s: Carmelo Anthony takes No. 1 Weighing one-and-done stardom against four years of sustained success is tough. How a player elevated his team's success mattered plenty.

All week, @theathletic.com college hoops staff has taken a look back at the last 25 years to rank the best of the quarter-century. The debates — and the nostalgia — have been a lot of fun. ICYMI, catch up, starting with …

Lindsay Schnell's top 25 players: www.nytimes.com/athletic/648...

It's Connections: Sports Edition, with a Beast-flavored twist 👀

Can you solve the puzzle?

http://dlvr.it/TKH83L

It begins.

Ladies and gentlemen... IT'S MARCH 🍿

Play Connections: Sports Edition, our newest word game Group sports terms that share a common thread. A new puzzle is available each day.

Check out our Sports Connections game. Test yourself each day
www.nytimes.com/athletic/con...

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