Sixers beat Hawks, but Paul George’s knee injury overshadows everything

Sixers beat Hawks, but Paul George’s knee injury overshadows everything

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So, what does everyone want to talk about?

The Sixers knocked off the Atlanta Hawks 104-89 in a preseason contest Monday night, but did not come away unscathed. Paul George scored eight points tonight before leaving with what the team called a left knee hyperextension.

Tyrese Maxey and Kelly Oubre Jr. led the Sixers with 14 points each, though neither did it efficiently. Maxey shot 5-of-18 from the field while Oubre went just 4-of-12 from the field and 1-of-8 from three.

Eric Gordon started the game in place of Caleb Martin, though that feels significantly less newsworthy than it did pregame.

Here are some thoughts at the buzzer.

First Quarter

  • For the third straight game, the Sixers’ offense got off to an abysmal start. They made one shot over the first five minutes of the game and turned it over four times. This start was certainly more understandable — three games in four nights in the preseason in absurd.
  • So it happens in other arenas too. There was a slight delay early on thanks to a broken clock above one of the rims. They seemed to get it fixed right when an arena employee set a clock on the floor in the mean time, the poor guy.
  • That interruption seemed to do the trick, as the Sixers ripped off a 9-2 run when play resumed. George shot the ball well, primarily on pull-up jumpers, going 3-of-4 in the quarter.
  • The first subs off the bench tonight were Caleb Martin, Kyle Lowry and Guerschon Yabusele — not really any surprises there. Martin and Oubre were each able to get a bucket in transition, tying the game up at 23 at the end of one.

Second Quarter

  • In a unit with a good blend of starters and backups, the Sixers moved the ball (and off the ball) really well to open the quarter. The first six field goals they made in the second were all assisted
  • For the first time this preseason, Yabusele got to play some four as he shared the floor for a minute and a half with Andre Drummond. He is not the quickest rotating over or closing out to the three-point line, perhaps why he hasn’t played there until now. He did have a good shift on offense though, knocking down a three and filling the lane for Lowry who rewarded him with a fast break layup.
  • As if the clock breaking in the first quarter wasn’t bad enough, there were two whole challenges in the second. Straight to jail immediately for everyone involved.
  • There were some interesting plays in the two-man game between Maxey and Drummond towards the end of the half. Drummond found Maxey for a floater on a give-and-go that looked nice, even if it just rimmed out. This lob was a nice sign as well. It feels like Maxey could continue to get more comfortable throwing lobs this close to the rim. The Sixers led by six at the half.

Third Quarter

  • Paul George did not return for the second half, nor was he on the bench. Hopefully it’s nothing more than a “it’s the third game in four nights and still the preseason” type of thing, than anything actually serious.
  • Meanwhile on the floor, the Sixers were once again off to a sloppy start; opening the half shooting 3-of-9 from the floor. Maxey seemed to emphasize hoisting up as many threes as he could, but he was just 2-of-9 on the night. Drummond got up two threes tonight as well, though he missed both and was very hesitant to get the second one up.
  • Lowry is able to help a lot of guys that struggle to figure out where to be with his passing. He threw a more traditional lob to KJ Martin in transition, but this one he threw here as the Hawks’ defense was getting back was so creative.
  • Jared McCain checked in around the four-minute mark. That probably gives us a good sense of who’s in the regular rotation to start things, as he was the first new sub in quite some time. He was short on both of his threes but got a scoop layup to go. The Sixers led by eight after three.

Fourth Quarter

  • The end of the bench continued to trickle in as Reggie Jackson and Ricky Council IV checked in for the first time. Council, who hasn’t played his best ball to start the preseason, came into the game and almost immediately ran over Vit Krejci for a charge.
  • By this time of the night, the team had announced that Paul George had left the game due to an injury, but there was still basketball going on as well. Yabusele continued to play well offensively, hitting another three and slipping down the lane for a dunk on a roll.
  • Adem Bona, Jeff Dowtin Jr. and Justin Edwards were the last Sixers to check in for the night. Edwards had a nice layup and knocked down a three. McCain had some nice bully ball moments on drives, something he’s done well this preseason. Council put a bow on things by knocking down a three from the logo, so it wasn’t all bad tonight!
  • The Sixers are back at home for their next preseason game, meaning it will be televised on NBC Sports Philadelphia. They’ll take on the Brooklyn Nets Wednesday night at 7 p.m. ET.




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Colorado two-way star Travis Hunter leaves game against Kansas State with apparent shoulder injury

Colorado two-way star Travis Hunter leaves game against Kansas State with apparent shoulder injury

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BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — Colorado two-way star Travis Hunter left the Buffaloes’ 31-28 loss to No. 18 Kansas State late in the second quarter Saturday night after a right shoulder injury on a 14-yard reception.

Three other Buffs receivers were injured in the game: speedster Jimmy Horn Jr. (apparent ankle), Omarion Miller (left ankle) and Terrell Timmons Jr. (unspecified).

Coach Deion Sanders had no update after the game on any of the four except to say Miller was in a walking boot.

“But I haven’t gotten an update on those young men,” Sanders said. “Hopefully they can get back at it, but we’re not going to rush them. Their safety and their health is much more important than this game.”

The impact of their injuries was huge in a such a close game.

“Certainly losing Travis and Jimmy and the others was tremendous,” Sanders said. “Because they’re a vital part of our team, a vital part of our identity, they’re a vital part of who we are. That took a lot out of us. But other guys had the opportunity to step up and they did.”

Shedeur Sanders still threw for 388 yards and three touchdowns with one interception on 34-of-40 passing.

“I never thought four receivers would get hurt in one game. That’s just ridiculous,” the quarterback said. “But things happen. Life happens. So, we’ve just got to roll with it and do what we’ve got to do for next week.”

The Buffaloes (4-2, 2-1 Big 12) missed Henry more on defense than they did on offense.

The Buffaloes allowed two touchdowns and a field goal on their first three defensive series without their superstar defensive back, falling behind 24-14. With Hunter back on the sideline for the second half in support of his teammates, Colorado rallied to take a 28-24 lead with 3:12 remaining but then gave up a 50-yard touchdown less than a minute later. After that, their offense turned the ball over on downs.

Before sustaining the shoulder injury, Hunter was on track for his usual workload — a whopping 124 snaps per game — as he was on the field for all but one of Colorado’s first 45 combined offensive and defensive snaps.

On the play he got hurt, Hunter hauled in Shedeur Sanders’ pass on a crossing pattern for a 14-yard gain at midfield and ran full speed into safety Daniel Cobbs. He held onto the ball but signaled to the sideline that he needed a sub. On the broadcast, ESPN said the medical team was evaluating Hunter’s right shoulder.

Last season Hunter missed three games with a lacerated liver after taking a hard hit against Colorado State. But Hunter has rarely taken off a snap this season and is in the thick of the Heisman Trophy race.

Hunter had three catches for 26 yards and one tackle Saturday night before leaving. That gave him 49 receptions for 587 yards and two touchdowns on the season along with 16 tackles, two interceptions and a forced fumble on defense.

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Verdugo’s go-ahead single and acrobatic catch lift Yankees over Royals 6-5 in ALDS opener

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NEW YORK (AP) — Alex Verdugo hit a tiebreaking single in the seventh inning and saved at least one run with a sliding catch along the left-field line, boosting the New York Yankees over the Kansas City Royals 6-5 on Saturday night in their AL Division Series opener.

New York’s Gleyber Torres and Kansas City’s MJ Melendez hit two-run homers in a back-and-forth game in which the Royals wasted leads of 1-0, 3-2 and 5-4 and the Yankees failed to hold 2-1 and 4-3 margins. It was the first postseason game with five lead changes, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

“What a game!” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.

Kansas City pitchers tied their season high with eight walks, forcing in a pair of runs in the fifth inning. The Yankees were just 1 for 11 with runners in scoring position before Verdugo lined a single off loser Michael Lorenzen.

Verdugo’s hit scored Jazz Chisholm Jr., who singled leading off and stole second on a play allowed to stand following a video review.

“I think we did have a really good argument that that should have been overturned,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said.

Boone started a slumping Verdugo in left over rookie Jasson Domínguez in a decision influenced by defense.

“I feel like I’m pretty real with myself,” Verdugo said. “As in fans booing me, fans getting on me. I understand it. I was booing myself, too.”

Verdugo entered in a 3-for-25 skid at the plate.

“I just kind of let it spiral out of control a little bit,” Verdugo said. “For me, it was just really leaning on my guys in the clubhouse. They all got my back. They all know what kind of player I am and how I played throughout my whole career and just kept telling me, `Man, don’t let this season or this little glimpse make your whole year. You can make up for a lot of things in the playoffs.’”

With the Yankees trailing 3-2, Verdugo made a sliding catch on Michael Massey’s fourth-inning fly just inside the line to strand two runners. The ball hit the heel of Verdugo’s glove and bounced off his chest before he grabbed it with his bare hand.

“Thank goodness it popped over to the left hand, so it all worked out,” he said.

Chisholm, playing third base this year for the first time after the Yankees acquired him from Miami at the July trade deadline, made three fine defensive plays, two with the help of first baseman Oswaldo Cabrera, starting because of Anthony Rizzo’s fractured fingers.

Four Yankees relievers combined to allow only an unearned run over four innings after ace Gerrit Cole came out, unhappy with his performance. Clay Holmes, dropped from his closer’s job last month, worked 1 2/3 scoreless innings for the win. Luke Weaver got four straight outs for the save in his postseason debut.

Yankees star Aaron Judge went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts, and Royals standout Bobby Witt Jr. was 0 for 5, barking at plate umpire Adam Hamari after a called third strike in the ninth.

Juan Soto went 3 for 5 and threw out Salvador Perez in the second inning trying to score from second on Melendez’s single to right. Kansas City first baseman Yuli Gurriel threw out runners at the plate on grounders in the first and fifth.

After a day off between Games 1 and 2, the series between the AL-best Yankees and wild-card Royals resumes Monday night. These teams met in four playoffs from 1976-80, with the Yankees winning the first three and getting swept in the last.

Cole allowed four runs — three earned — and seven hits in five-plus innings. Royals starter Michael Wacha gave up three runs, four hits and three walks in four-plus innings.

Tommy Pham hit a second-inning sacrifice fly, and Torres put the Yankees ahead 2-1 in the third with a 339-foot home run just over the right-field short porch.

Melendez’s two-run homer in the fourth gave Kansas City a 3-2 lead, but Royals pitchers issued four seven-pitch walks in the fifth, forcing in runs with walks by Angel Zerpa to Austin Wells and by John Schreiber to Anthony Volpe. The Yankees had not gotten a pair of bases-loaded walks in a postseason game since Bullet Joe Bush and Joe Dugan against the New York Giants’ Rosy Ryan in Game 6 of the 1923 World Series.

“They looked at a lot of pitches. We were close, but not good enough pitches to make them count,” Zerpa said through a translator.

Volpe’s throwing error at shortstop set up pinch-hitter Garrett Hampson’s two-run, sixth-inning single through a drawn-in infield that put the Royals ahead 5-4. Wells, in a 2-for-43 slide, tied the score in the bottom half with a two-out RBI single off Lorenzen.

UP NEXT

New York’s Carlos Rodón (16-9, 3.96 ERA) starts Game 2 in the best-of-five series against the Royals’ Cole Ragans (11-9, 3.14) in a matchup of left-handers.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb




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Real Madrid beats Villarreal 2-0 in La Liga but loses Carvajal to leg injury

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MADRID (AP) — Real Madrid rebounded from its first loss in nearly 10 months by beating Villarreal 2-0 at the possible cost of injured right back Dani Carvajal in La Liga on Saturday.

Federico Valverde and Vinícius Júnior scored for the defending champions four days after they lost at Lille 1-0 in the Champions League to halt a 36-game unbeaten streak in all competitions.

Madrid remains unbeaten in 41 consecutive Spanish league games. Beating third-placed Villarreal gave Madrid the same 21 points as Barcelona, which visits Alaves on Sunday.

Carvajal was hurt in second-half stoppage time at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, going down in pain after kicking the leg of an opponent. He appeared to make a gesture showing something snapped in his leg. The Spain international was crying when he was carried off the field on a stretcher.

“It looks like it’s a very serious knee injury,” Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said. “Everyone is sad and worried. It’s something that happens very often because of the calendar and it has happened to a very important player in out squad.”

Ancelotti said Carvajal will undergo tests. Madrid’s reserve right back is Lucas Vázquez.

“Carvajal is a key player for us because of his experience and his attitude,” Ancelotti said of the 32-year-old defender who started in Madrid’s youth squads and joined the main team in 2013-14.

Villarreal, which was coming off two straight wins, had only one attempt on target. Madrid had two, scoring on both of them.

Valverde scored in the 14th minute with a long-range shot that deflected in off a defender. Vinícius struck from outside the area in the 72nd into the top corner.

Aspas sent off for protesting

Celta Vigo striker Iago Aspas was sent off in a 1-0 win at last-placed Las Palmas after being issued consecutive yellow cards for protesting.

He complained about the referee’s decision to show a red card to teammate Ilaix Moriba and received the first yellow in the 54th minute. Aspas’ second came in the 56th. The striker was seen briefly asking his teammates to leave the field after he was sent off.

Celta held on despite playing two men down to the end of the match. Borja Iglesia scored a 28th-minute winner in the visitor’s only attempt on goal.

The result ended a three-game winless streak for Celta.

Las Palmas, the only team yet to win in the league, hasn’t won in 23 straight league matches going back to last season, when it barely avoided relegation.

Other results

Jorge de Frutos scored a pair of second-half goals for Rayo Vallecano to win at Valladolid 2-1, while Espanyol defeated Mallorca 2-1 at home and Osasuna drew at Getafe 1-1.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer




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Lane Thomas hits 3-run homer, Cleveland’s bullpen torments Tigers as Guardians win ALDS opener 7-0

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CLEVELAND (AP) — Lane Thomas hit a three-run homer in a five-run outburst before Detroit got an out, and the Cleveland Guardians unleashed their lights-out bullpen to complete a four-hitter in a 7-0 win over the Tigers in an AL Division Series opener on Saturday.

Thomas’ shot — on his first career postseason swing — helped the Guardians cool off the Tigers, who stormed into the playoffs with a second-half surge before sweeping AL West champion Houston in the wild-card round.

“It was electric,” said Thomas, acquired from Washington at the trade deadline. “It was everything I had thought and more.”

Tanner Bibee pitched 4 2/3 innings before Guardians manager Stephen Vogt swung the door open to baseball’s best bullpen to finish off the Tigers.

Cleveland’s relievers combined for 4 1/3 hitless innings to finish and match the largest shutout victory margin in club postseason history. Detroit struck out 13 times and didn’t get a runner past first in the final four innings.

The shutout was the worst in Detroit playoff history since Game 1 of the 1945 World Series.

“We’re going to see a lot of this bullpen,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “The more you look at them, hopefully, the more comfortable you get.”

Cleveland’s bullpen was as advertised. Rookie Cade Smith (1-0) replaced Bibee and struck out all four batters. Tim Herrin took care of the seventh, Hunter Gaddis the eighth, and Emmanuel Clase, who led the AL with 47 saves, worked the ninth.

David Fry added a two-run double for the AL Central champion Guardians, who were unaffected by not playing for almost a week with a first-round bye.

“We came out ready to swing the bat, and we looked like we didn’t take five days off,” Vogt said.

Game 2 is Monday, when the Tigers will turn to Tarik Skubal, the favorite to win the AL Cy Young Award, to try and even the best-of-five series.

The 2,327th meeting between Detroit and Cleveland was the first between the franchises and Central division rivals in the postseason.

It was as good as over after one inning.

Hinch has made the right decisions for months as his young club went from being under .500 at the trade deadline to qualifying for the postseason with a 33-13 flourish since Aug. 11.

Hinch used his bullpen in Game 1 from the start and it backfired.

The Guardians sent nine batters to the plate in the first with Thomas’ moon shot into the left-field bleachers opening the 5-0 lead. Cleveland became the first team in AL postseason history to score five runs before recording an out.

Steven Kwan got it rolling with a leadoff double against Tigers starter Tyler Holton (0-1) and Fry walked. José Ramírez followed with a hard hopper to third that Zach McKinstry misplayed for an error, allowing Kwan to score.

“I tried to make a play and I didn’t. We ended up losing the game because of it,” said McKinstry, who put some of the blame on the grounds crew. “They watered the field before the game, but they didn’t water it for the game and it took a weird hop.”

Josh Naylor’s RBI single made it 2-0 and Hinch pulled Holton after just four batters to bring in Reese Olson.

Thomas, who batted just .143 with 33 strikeouts in 77 at-bats after coming over from the Nationals, made his first postseason at-bat with the Guardians unforgettable.

He turned on Olson’s first pitch — a slider down the heart of the plate — and launched it over the wall, sending the majority of 33,548 fans inside Progressive Field into a frenzy.

Bibee admitted feeling nerves ahead of the opener, and he showed some in the first, throwing 27 pitches.

But taking the mound in the second with a five-run lead helped Bibee settle in. The right-hander gave up four hits and struck out six before handing the ball to Vogt and a bullpen with no detectable flaws.

“I totally get it,” Bibee said. “With how good our pen has been, I get it. It makes sense. Obviously, I want to stay out there as long as possible, but I get it.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Guardians: RHP Alex Cobb, a candidate to start Game 3, was added to the ALDS roster after finishing the regular season on the injured list with a blister on his middle finger. He made just three starts after being acquired in a July trade from San Francisco.

UP NEXT

Skubal led the AL in wins (18), ERA (2.39) and strikeouts (228). The left-hander is expected to face Guardians RHP Matthew Boyd, who spent eight seasons with the Tigers and remains close friends with Skubal.

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Correction: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb




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The Savannah Bananas are heading to the gridiron in 2025, including Clemson’s Death Valley

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The Savannah Bananas are taking their baseball hijinks to the gridiron in 2025.

Team owner Jesse Cole said his barnstorming squad, which has packed stadiums around the country with its rollicking, freewheeling version of the national pastime known as Banana Ball, will play at Clemson’s 81,000-seat Memorial Stadium on April 26.

The Bananas also will host a pair of games at NFL facilities, Cole said. They will play at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, the 69,000-seat home of the Tennessee Titans, on May 10, followed by 75,000-seat Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, home of the Carolina Panthers, on June 7.

“These will be some of the biggest crowds in baseball history to see Banana Ball,” Cole told The Associated Press.

Since a full-sized baseball field does not fit in the tighter confines of a football stadium, especially at the home of the Clemson Tigers, the Bananas plan to install netting at least 50 feet high to make it a bit tougher to hit one out in the shortest portion of the outfield.

Cole — ever the promoter — noted the barrier in all three football stadiums will be significantly taller than Fenway Park’s 37-foot-high Green Monster. And, of course, the Bananas plan to use the unusual dimensions to full comedic advantage.

“In Banana Ball, we like to make things a little different,” said Cole, who is known for the yellow tuxedos he wears to games. “We’re going to have fun with it.”

The Bananas, who started as summer league team for college players, have become a touring sensation with their carnival-style version of the game, which includes choreographed dance routines, players on stilts and unusual rules such as outs counting when a fan catches a foul ball in the stands.

They even got their own exhibit at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

Cole said the Bananas and their affiliated teams, the Party Animals and Firefighters, have drawn more than 1 million fans this year. The goal for next year is 2 million.

“We’re not just building a team, we’re building a sport,” Cole said, “It’s all about creating the fastest, most entertaining sport for the fans.”

He takes umbrage with those who call the Bananas nothing more than the Harlem Globetrotters with bats and gloves, pointing out that the winner is never predetermined.

“We have people say, ‘Hey, these guys can really play,’” he said. “The Bananas actually lost their tour in 2023. They lost more games than they won against the Party Animals. That’s not going to happen to the Globetrotters.”

Cole said Clemson plans to install a baseball diamond, complete with a dirt infield, on the grass field at Death Valley. The stadiums in Nashville and Charlotte, which have artificial turf surfaces, will paint in the basepaths and other features to make them look more like ballparks.

The Bananas also will headline 18 weekends at major league stadiums in 2025, including their first trips ever to Yankee Stadium in New York, Camden Yards in Baltimore and Truist Park in Atlanta.

During its 2024 campaign, the Bananas played before sellout crowds at big league ballparks in Houston, Washington, Philadelphia, Boston and Cleveland, with another packed house expected next week for a game at the Miami Marlins stadium.

The Bananas also will hold 30 games in their home base of Savannah, the quirky city on Georgia’s coast where they were founded in 2016. They play at 5,000-seat Grayson Stadium, which opened in 1926.

“It’s our home,” Cole said. “We have 200-plus people who travel around the country with us, but we always come back to Savannah. It’s the smallest stadium we play at by far, but it’s where it all started for us.”

The Bananas will have a new opponent next season, as a team known as the Texas Tailgaters will join the Party Animals and Firefighters. Cole is now planning to start his own circuit, the Banana Ball Championship League, with two more squads coming aboard in 2026.

One can only imagine what the prize will be for the title-winning team.

A trophy shaped like a banana, perhaps?

“In between the football stadiums and MLB stadiums and 2 million fans, we’re dreaming as big as we can,” Cole said. “We might as well start a league while we’re at it.”

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb




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PSG’s post-galactico era begins with a last-gasp win thanks to Girona goalkeeper’s blunder

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PARIS (AP) — It took a huge blunder to gift Paris Saint-Germain victory in the first Champions League match of its post-galactico era.

PSG scraped a 1-0 home win over tournament newcomer Girona on Wednesday with a stoppage-time goal, which came when goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga let a left-wing cross from Nuno Mendes trickle under his hands and through his legs.

For the first time in more than a decade, PSG began its Champions League campaign without at least one star player, known in soccer as a “galactico.”

But after the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Edinson Cavani, Neymar, Kylian Mbappé and Lionel Messi came and went without winning Europe’s elite club competition, PSG started this campaign with a new identity based on more French players and greater teamwork.

It was also PSG’s first Champions League game without Mbappé for seven years after France’s star joined Real Madrid, scoring for his new club on Tuesday.

Mbappé was reproached by his critics for not tracking back or closing down enough when he played up front for PSG.

Yet PSG coach Luis Enrique could he heard shouting when his players failed to close down properly and, at one point, Girona kept the ball for 2 1/2 minutes with PSG’s ball-watching players chasing aimlessly.

“They defended well and we struggled to create clear-cut chances,” Enrique said.

After 34 minutes, whistles could be heard from the crowd at a subdued Parc des Princes. Aside from half-chances from midfielder Warren Zaïre-Emery and Marco Asensio, who went off injured late in the first half with an apparent hamstring injury, there was scant attacking play.

“All the teams have things to improve,” Zaïre-Emery said. “We have new players coming into the team who need to settle in.”

Yet this was even more the case for a Girona team that lost several key players from last season, including striker Artem Dovbyk, winger Savinho and right back Yan Couto.

Girona defender Ladislav Krejčí made a brilliant tackle on Ousmane Dembélé after the PSG attacker went clean through on goal in the first half.

But with moments left, Gazzaniga’s howler spared PSG.

“We didn’t play very well, and we have to say it,” PSG midfielder Vitinha said. “We had trouble keeping the ball. You have to give Girona credit, but we need to look at what we didn’t do well.” ___

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer




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France captain Mbappé on bench vs. Belgium in Nations League

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LYON, France (AP) — France captain Kylian Mbappé was left out of the starting lineup to play Belgium on Monday in the UEFA Nations League.

Mbappé played the full game in a 3-1 loss to Italy in Paris on Friday and coach Didier Deschamps changed the entire forward line to face Belgium in Lyon. Mbappé was replaced by Marcus Thuram in a central role.

Top European national teams have this week been rotating and resting star players who had limited preseason preparation in August after the European Championship.

Euro 2024 winner Spain let 17-year-old winger Lamine Yamal play only the first half in a 4-1 win against Switzerland on Sunday. Spain captain Rodri played his first competitive minutes of the season in Geneva after being rested by Manchester City in its three English Premier League games so far.

Cristiano Ronaldo did not start for Portugal on Sunday, went on as a second-half substitute and scored the winning goal against Scotland in Lisbon.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer




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Talking Florida State vs Boston College Football with Tomahawk Nation’s Perry Kostidakis

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It’s nearly time for BC’s first game of the season. On Monday, they’ll have a shot of beating Florida State and handing the Seminoles their second loss of the year. Huge thank you to Perry Kostidakis of Tomahawk Nation for answering a few of our questions about FSU!

Last weekend was rough for Florida State fans. Losing overseas as a top-10 team to an unranked conference opponent in a primetime game is certainly not the way you guys wanted to start 2024. What are the feelings around the fanbase like right now?

PK: Saturday felt like a crash to earth, since FSU hadn’t lost a regular season game since beating Georgia Tech back in 2022. The grieving process has gone its regular route — denial (no way that FSU just blew a game on a national stage after this entire past year), anger (THEY ONLY HAD ONE POSSESSION IN THE FOURTH?!), bargaining (okay, so at least if Miami or UF look awful next week, it’ll be okay), depression (I cannot believe I predicted 11-1), and acceptance (welp).

The point the fanbase is at now is whether Saturday was the default or a slip-up. It’s obvious that Georgia Tech is better than expected, but it remains to be seen if FSU is worse than believed. Was the inefficiency on both offense and defense a result of a well-planned and well-executed Yellow Jackets approach, or will it be a long year for a Seminoles squad unable to make any sort of impact in the trenches? Right now, it feels like mainly column A, with a sprinkle of column B.

I understand that there’s already been some talk among FSU fans about replacing DJU. Do you think most people want to see him remain the starter and do you think he’ll remain the starter all year?

PK: I do think that he’s going to remain in place as QB1, barring a complete meltdown or play that actually hurts his team. He wasn’t particularly stunning in the loss, but really he didn’t do anything that actively hurt the team’s chances at winning — and when Norvell let the offense loose, they did manage to get a touchdown. The issue was a lack of sustained drives, brought on by a disappointing performance in the run game (an area where FSU was supposed to excel and lean on in 2024).

If you were to single out one aspect of the Seminoles’ game that they do better than anyone else, what would it be and why?

PK: Really, at this point, I’d have to say special teams. It sounds depressing, and it kinda is, but FSU might actually have one of the best kicker-punter combinations in college football. Alex Mastromanno legitimately can win games by flipping the field, and Ryan Fitzgerald has elevated himself to a clutch kicker capable of hitting 50-plus yarders routinely.

Which players are your x-factor for the FSU-BC game?

PK: On the Eagles’ side, it’s Thomas Castellanos. He was an absolute terror last year and, after seeing how much FSU struggled in keeping contain against GT, he’s going to be a nightmare.

For FSU, I’m going with Pat Payton — the defensive end was pinpointed as one of the key parts of Florida State’s defense this year, but failed to make a major impact in the season-opener alongside his teammates in the trenches. If he’s able to get going and push the rest of the line along with him, the difference in attack will be huge.

How would you define a successful season for the Seminoles after the way it started?

PK: Most FSU fans have attempted to cope with the loss — and a potential follow-up to Boston College — by pinpointing the 1989 season. After an 0-2 start FSU ran the table to finish 10-2, winning the Fiesta Bowl and finishing No. 3. While looking at what a team 35 years ago did isn’t exactly the soundest science, in the new era of the College Football Playoff, your season isn’t over until you really mess it up. Norvell’s teams have shown an ability to shake off disappointments and turn seasons around. Any fantasies of pummeling through the ACC with a BIG-style offense have pretty much faltered away, but a 10-2, 9-3 season is still a success especially if it is enough to push the Seminoles into the dance.


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US Open 2024: Coco Gauff starts title defense with easy win

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NEW YORK (AP) — The chant rang out in cavernous Arthur Ashe Stadium on Monday at the U.S. Open before Coco Gauff’s first service game of her first match of her first Grand Slam tournament as a defending champion: “Here we go, Coco! Here we go!”

Coming to Flushing Meadows off a series of early exits at other events, Gauff already was down 1-0 to Varvara Gracheva, having dropped the match’s initial game at love by making four groundstroke errors. What followed was a tough, tight game, featuring 14 points across eight minutes and three break chances for Gracheva.

The important part, of course, was that Gauff saved all of those break points, claimed that game, and suddenly was in complete control on the way to a 6-2, 6-0 victory that not only put the 20-year-old American in the second round but also told her — and everyone else — that her game is in better shape than it appeared lately.

“The last couple of weeks were tough, and I was like, ‘I have to do this and do that, but I don’t have to prove anything to anyone except myself.’ So … (these) two weeks are just about proving all the expectations that I have on myself,” the No. 3-seeded Gauff said. “I have many more years coming back here and I’m not going to win every year. Just that perspective and just having the belief that I can — but not the expectation that I should.”

Day 1 at the year’s last Grand Slam tournament went about as well as possible for Gauff and another young American featured in Ashe, 13th-seeded Ben Shelton, a semifinalist a year ago who beat 2020 champion Dominic Thiem 6-4, 6-2, 6-2. It was the last U.S. Open match for Thiem, who turns 31 next week and is retiring after this season.

“Obviously she plays with a lot of passion,” Shelton, 21, said about Gauff. “You could tell that she cares out there. She’s into it every time that she’s on the court. I think that’s something that the people love.”

Gauff was not the only past U.S. Open champ on Monday’s schedule: The night session in Ashe began with 2017 winner Sloane Stephens blowing a huge lead against Clara Burel and losing 0-6, 7-5, 7-5 after taking the first nine games, followed by Novak Djokovic — whose collection of 24 Slam titles includes last year’s in New York — getting past Radu Albot 6-2, 6-2, 6-4.

Seeded women’s winners included No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, the two-time Australian Open champion who was the runner-up to Gauff a year ago in New York; No. 7 Zheng Qinwen, the women’s gold medalist at the Paris Olympics earlier this month; No. 24 Donna Vekic, the silver medalist; No. 12 Daria Kasatkina; and No. 14 Madison Keys.

No. 9 Maria Sakkari stopped playing after one set because of an injured right shoulder. The highest-seeded man out of the bracket during the day session was No. 15 Holger Rune, who was eliminated by Brandon Nakashima of the U.S. 6-2, 6-1, 6-4.

Among the men’s seeds advancing were No. 4 Alexander Zverev, the runner-up to Thiem four years ago; No. 6 Andrey Rublev; No. 8 Casper Ruud, the 2022 runner-up at Flushing Meadows; No. 9 Grigor Dimitrov; and No. 12 Taylor Fritz.

Zheng is enjoying a breakthrough season that began with a run to the final at the Australian Open in January and reached a peak when she claimed China’s first Summer Games singles gold. Monday was difficult at the outset against 2019 French Open semifinalist Amanda Anisimova, but Zheng eventually came back to win 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.

“Everything starts at zero. You are not anymore the Olympic champion,” Zheng said. “Just be humble and try to work, fight every single match, because if you don’t fight, you have a big chance to lose.”

That mirrors Gauff’s approach as she returns to the site of her greatest triumph so far.

If she was trying to start from scratch after early exits in three events at the Paris Games — not that she wants to forget about that trip to France; Gauff wore a necklace with the Olympic rings during Monday’s match — followed by a two-match skid on North American hard courts, Gauff did a good job of it.

This wasn’t surprising to Gauff. Not at all. She knew she didn’t play great in Toronto or Cincinnati in recent weeks. But she also could tell she was hitting balls well in practice.

“Usually that first round for me can sometimes set the tone for a tournament, whether you’re playing well or not. … I had a good mentality. Is this going to say I’m going to play great the next couple matches? Yes or no,” Gauff said. “But I think the mentality I have going into this week will be there, and hopefully the execution stays there.”

She only needed 66 minutes to win Monday, using some of her 10 aces to help erase all eight break points Gracheva accumulated, and compiling a 16-5 edge in winners.

“From the start, we kind of all knew that Coco was going to be an amazing player, and she’s incredibly mature and carries herself in a way that I wish that I carried myself when I was her age,” said Keys, 29, who lost to Stephens in the U.S. Open final seven years ago. “It’s also very impressive how she’s been able … through all of the pressure and all of the expectation that’s been put on her, continue to do as well as she has.”

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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis




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