Sports
Yahoo Sports AM: Farewell to the Pac-12
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🚨 Headlines
💔 RIP, Bill Walton: The hoops legend passed away at 71 after a prolonged battle with cancer. He was a Hall of Fame player, a one-of-a-kind broadcaster, and a wonderful soul.
⚾️ Acuña tears ACL: Reigning NL MVP Ronald Acuña Jr. will miss the rest of the season after tearing his ACL for the second time in three years. Brutal blow for the Braves.
🥍 Lax champs: Notre Dame beat Maryland, 15-5, behind Chris (five goals) and Pat (six assists) Kavanagh to repeat as national champions; Boston College rallied from 6-0 down to beat Northwestern, 14-13, and win its second women’s title.
⚾️ Selection Monday: The NCAA baseball championship’s 64-team field was announced on Monday. The top eight national seeds: Tennessee, Kentucky, Texas A&M, UNC, Arkansas, Clemson, Georgia and FSU.
🏒 Winner-take-all: Boston outlasted Minnesota, 1-0, in double OT to force a decisive Game 5 in the PWHL’s inaugural Walter Cup Finals.
⚽️ Soccer roundup: Man United beat Man City, 2-1, to win the FA Cup; Barcelona beat Lyon, 2-0, to win the Women’s Champions League; Southampton beat Leeds, 1-0, to earn Premier League promotion.
🎓 Farewell to the Pac-12
Arizona beat USC in Saturday’s Pac-12 baseball title game, marking the end of the Conference of Champions as we know it.
Where it stands: Washington State and Oregon State will be the only remaining Pac-12 members beginning this fall, when four schools join the Big Ten (UCLA, USC, Oregon, Washington), four join the Big 12 (Colorado, Arizona, Arizona State, Utah) and two join the ACC (Stanford, Cal).
Conference of Champions: The Pac-12 has won 561 team national championships — over 200 more than the Big Ten in second place. In fact, Stanford (135 titles), UCLA (123) and USC (113) alone have more combined titles than any other league. The Pac-12 dominates individual championships, too, with four of the top seven schools.
Going out with a bang: The 109-year-old league — which began as the Pacific Coast Conference in 1915 before becoming the Pacific-8 (1968), then the Pac-10 (1978) and finally the Pac-12 (2011) — continued its winning ways in its final year of existence.
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The Pac-12 was one of the biggest winners of the college football season, with the CFP runner-up (Washington), two Heisman finalists (Michael Penix Jr., Bo Nix) and the No. 1 draft pick (Caleb Williams) all hailing from the conference.
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The winning continued for winter sports: Five women’s basketball teams made the Sweet 16, Cal claimed its third straight men’s water polo championship, and Arizona State won the swimming & diving title.
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Five more Pac-12 teams have won national titles this spring, and they may not be finished: UCLA and Stanford are among the eight teams left in the Women’s College World Series, and Arizona, Oregon and Oregon State all made the 64-team baseball tournament.
What’s next: Washington State and Oregon State will comprise a “Pac-2” this fall, aligning with the Mountain West for football and the WCC for other sports. But new commissioner Teresa Gould must figure out next steps quickly, as the NCAA offers just a two-year grace period for conferences to remain active with fewer than seven members.
🇺🇸 Photos across America
Indianapolis — For the third time in four games, the Celtics erased a late fourth-quarter deficit to beat the Pacers and sweep the Eastern Conference Finals. Boston will now wait nine days to make their fourth Finals appearance since 2008 — and 23rd overall.
Sunrise, Florida — The Rangers outlasted the Panthers, 5-4 (OT), on Sunday to take a 2-1 series lead and improve to 5-1 on the road in the playoffs.
Indianapolis — Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden overtook Pato O’Ward on the final lap to win Sunday’s rain-delayed* Indianapolis 500 by 0.34 seconds and become the race’s first back-to-back winner in 22 years.
Eugene, Oregon — Sha’Carri Richardson won the women’s 100 meters in 10.83 seconds at Saturday’s Prefontaine Classic, while fellow American Christian Coleman won the men’s 100 in a season-best 9.95.
*Kyle Larson’s attempt at completing both the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 was thwarted by rain. He finished 18th in Indy after a four-hour delay and didn’t arrive in Charlotte until just before Christopher Bell won the rain-shortened NASCAR race.
🌎 Photos around the world
Paris — Rafael Nadal fell in straight sets (6-4, 7-6, 6-3) to No. 4 Alexander Zverev on Monday in what may or may not have been his final match at Roland Garros. “I don’t know [if] it’s going to be the last time I am here,” said the 14-time French Open champ. “I am not 100% sure.”
Monte-Carlo, Monaco — Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finally conquered his home Monaco Grand Prix, which saw the top 10 drivers finish in the same order as they started for the first time in F1 history (translation: it was very boring).
Rome — Tadej Pogačar won the Giro d’Italia by the largest margin in 59 years (9 minutes, 56 seconds) and will now try to become the first cyclist since 1998 to win the Giro and the Tour de France in the same year.
Prague, Czech Republic — The home crowd went wild on Sunday as Czechia won the men’s hockey world championship, beating Switzerland 2-0 to claim the country’s first title since 2010.
🏆 Mavs, Stars eye “Dallas Double”
Here’s a rather surprising fact: No city has ever won NBA and NHL championships in the same year. Can the Mavericks and Stars run the table and make Dallas the first?
Where it stands: The Mavs can secure a spot in the NBA Finals tonight, while the Stars are now title favorites after beating the Oilers, 5-3, on Monday to take a 2-1 lead in the West Finals.
Close calls: There have been eight instances where NBA and NHL teams from the same city reached their respective finals in the same year, but none pulled off the winter sports “double.” New York came closest in 1994 when the Rangers won the Cup and the Knicks lost in Game 7.
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1957: Celtics (beat Hawks) and Bruins (lost to Canadiens)
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1958: Celtics (lost to Hawks) and Bruins (lost to Canadiens)
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1972: Knicks (lost to Lakers) and Rangers (lost to Bruins)
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1974: Celtics (beat Bucks) and Bruins (lost to Flyers)
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1980: 76ers (lost to Lakers) and Flyers (lost to Islanders)
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1992: Bulls (beat Blazers) and Blackhawks (lost to Penguins)
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1994: Knicks (lost to Rockets) and Rangers (beat Canucks)
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2003: Nets (lost to Spurs) and Devils (beat Mighty Ducks)
Hat tip to Yahoo Sports AM reader Richard Rothschild, who is the source of endless fun facts and wild stats.
📆 May 28, 1957: Going to California
67 years ago today, the Brooklyn Dodgers (to Los Angeles) and New York Giants (to San Francisco) were granted approval to move to California.
The relocation era (1953-72): The Dodgers and Giants were two of 10 teams* that relocated in the span of 20 years, as MLB expanded west of St. Louis and south of Washington, D.C. for the first time.
*Other relocations: The Boston Braves moved to Milwaukee (1953), the St. Louis Browns moved to Baltimore (1954), the Philadelphia A’s moved to Kansas City (1955), the Washington Senators moved to Minnesota (1961), the Milwaukee Braves moved to Atlanta (1966), the Kansas City A’s moved to Oakland (1968), the Seattle Pilots moved to Milwaukee (1970), the Washington Senators moved to Texas (1972).
📺 Watchlist: Wolves on the brink
The Mavericks host the Timberwolves tonight (8:30pm ET, TNT) as they look to complete the sweep and advance to their third NBA Finals (2006, 2011).
Good luck, Minnesota: No NBA team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a best-of-seven playoff series (0-154 all-time), and only four teams* have even forced a Game 7.
More to watch:
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🏒 NHL: Rangers (up 2-1) at Panthers (8pm, ESPN)
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⚾️ MLB: Dodgers at Mets (7pm, MLB)
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🎾 Tennis: French Open (5am, Tennis)
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🏀 WNBA: Mercury at Sun (7pm, CBSSN); Sparks at Fever (7pm, NBA)
*The Knicks forced a Game 7 against the Rochester Royals in the 1951 NBA Finals; the Nuggets forced a Game 7 against the Jazz in the 1994 West semifinals; the Trail Blazers forced a Game 7 against the Mavericks in the 2003 first round; the Celtics forced a Game 7 against the Heat in last year’s East Finals.
🏀 Bill Walton trivia
Bill Walton is one of only two players in NBA history to have won both MVP and Sixth Man of the Year. Who’s the other player?
Hint: They both played in the Pac-12.
Answer at the bottom.
🍿 Baker’s Dozen: Top 13 plays of the weekend
Trivia answer: James Harden
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