One of the major trends of this college basketball offseason has been players attempting trick half-court shots that they get on tape.
While many players have opted to go with the blind, throw-it-over-your-head half-court shot, UIC senior guard Gabe Snyder decided to try a seated half-court shot.
Since Snyder also made the shot away from center court and more towards the sidelines, it makes it an even tougher shot.
LOS ANGELES â UCLA guard Jaylen Clark has declared for the NBA draft, weeks after a leg injury forced him out of the seasonâs final six games.
The junior from Riverside, California, announced his plans on his Instagram account Wednesday.
âThank you to UCLA and coach (Mick) Cronin for believing in me,â Clarkâs post read. âIâd like to announce that I am declaring for the 2023 draft.â
Clark didnât indicate whether he would hire an agent ahead of the June 22 draft or retain his remaining eligibility. He has until May 31 to withdraw and be able to return to Westwood.
He suffered a lower right leg injury in the regular-season finale against Arizona on March 4. Clark averaged 13 points and six rebounds while starting 29 of 30 games. He led the Pac-12 in total steals with 78, tying for third all-time in single-season steals for the Bruins.
He was a second team All-Pac-12 selection, was named the leagueâs defensive player of the year and made its five-man All-Defensive Team.
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Penn State hired VCUâs Mike Rhoades on Wednesday as its menâs basketball coach, bringing in the Pennsylvania native to take over a program coming off its first NCAA Tournament appearance in more than a decade.
The Penn State board of trustees approved a seven-year deal worth $25.9 million for Rhoades, who is from Mahanoy City in eastern Pennsylvania.
Just a few hours after Rhoades was named at Penn State, VCU hired Utah State coach Ryan Odom to replace Rhoades.
Rhoades replaces Micah Shrewsberry, who was hired away by Notre Dame last week.
Shrewsberry, an Indiana native, was at Penn State for two seasons. The Nittany Lions went 23-14 this season, reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2011 and won an NCAA game for the first time since 2001.
Rhoades, 50, was 129-61 in six seasons at VCU, including three NCAA Tournament bids. He also spent three seasons at Rice, going 23-12 in the final year with the Owls before returning to VCU.
He was an assistant at the Richmond, Virginia, school from 2009-14 under then-head coach Shaka Smart.
Odom was 44-25 at Utah State in two seasons, with an NCAA Tournament appearance this season.
He previously spent five seasons at Maryland-Baltimore County, going 97-60. In 2018, Odomâs UMBC team became the first No. 16 seed to upset a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament when it beat Virginia.
PHILADELPHIA â Temple named Penn State assistant Adam Fisher just its fifth coach since 1973 on Wednesday.
Fisherâs goal will be to turn around a program that hasnât made the NCAA Tournament since 2019.
Fisher replaces Aaron McKie, who was transferred out of the coaching job earlier this month after four seasons and a 52-56 overall record with no tournament berths. McKie is now a special advisor to the athletic department.
Fisher takes over a team in flux with six players in the transfer portal. Temple has yet to find any steady success in the American Athletic Conference.
Fisher spent eight years as an assistant with Miami before he joined Micah Shrewsberryâs staff last season at Penn State. Shrewsberry has since moved on to Notre Dame.
âI am confident we have found the right person to lead Temple menâs basketball,â athletic director Arthur Johnson said. âWe look forward to welcoming coach Fisher to the Temple community and returning to the NCAA Tournament under his leadership.â
Fisher also worked as a graduate manager at Villanova under Hall of Fame coach Jay Wright from 2007-09.
The Owls have traditionally given their coaches significant time on the bench, though McKieâs tenure was the shortest since Ernest Messikomer from 1939-42. The next five coaches all lasted at least 10 seasons, notably Hall of Fame coach John Chaneyâs tenure from 1982-2006.
BERKELEY, Calif. â California is hiring a former Stanford star to revive its struggling basketball program.
The Golden Bears announced Wednesday that Mark Madsen was signed to replace the fired Mark Fox following the worst season in school history.
âWe conducted an exhaustive search, and one name kept rising to the top â and thatâs Mark Madsen,â athletic director Jim Knowlton said. âMark is a person of high character, high energy, high intensity, and heâs done it the right way. Heâs intense. Heâs passionate. He loves his student-athletes, and he loves competing. We want an ambassador for this program who is going to make us proud and develop our young men â both on and off the court. I am absolutely thrilled that Mark will lead our program into the future.â
Madsen played at Stanford under Mike Montgomery, who later coached at Cal, from 1996 to 2000 and helped the Cardinal reach the Final Four in 1998.
After a nine-year playing career in the NBA that featured two titles as a backup on the Lakers in 2001-02, Madsen went into coaching.
He spent time in the NBAâs developmental league and a year at Stanford before spending five seasons on the Lakers staff.
Madsen then was hired in 2019 to take over Utah Valley. He posted a 70-51 record in four years with a 28-9 mark this season before losing on Tuesday night in the NIT semifinals to UAB.
âHaving grown up in the area, I have always admired Cal as an institution and as an athletic program, with so many of my teachers, coaches and friends impressive Cal graduates,â Madsen said. âWe will win with young men who have elite academic and athletic talent and who will represent Cal with pride.â
Madsen is the third prominent coach to flip sides in recent years in the Bay Area rivalry between Cal and Stanford. The Cardinal hired former Cal quarterback Troy Taylor to take over the football program last season and Bears womenâs basketball coach Charmin Smith played and coached as an assistant at Stanford.
Madsen is faced with a tough task, taking over a program that went 3-29 under Fox and set a school record for most losses and worst winning percentage in a season.
Cal went 38-87 during Foxâs tenure, ending his final season on a 16-game losing streak. Foxâs .304 winning percentage ranking second worst in school history to predecessor Wyking Jonesâ 16-47 mark (.254) in the two seasons before Fox arrived.
The Bears havenât been to the NCAA Tournament since 2016 and havenât won a game in the tournament since 2013 under Montgomery.
Adding to the issues for Fox was the complete lack of interest in the program. Calâs home attendance averaged just 2,155 this season for the lowest mark among any team in the Power 5 or Big East. Thatâs down from an average of 9,307 per game in Cuonzo Martinâs last season in 2016-17 and from 5,627 the year before Fox arrived.
Cal had the worst winning percentage among any school in the six major conferences during Foxâs tenure. The Bears also were the lowest-scoring team (62.4 points per game) in all Division I under Fox and had the worst scoring margin of any major conference team under Fox.
COLUMBIA, S.C. â Brea Beal is not just South Carolinaâs X factor in one of the countryâs best defenses but also a four-year lesson in sacrifice and reinvention that may add a second straight NCAA title to her resume.
Beal is generally third when most think of the landmark recruiting class from 2019 led by heralded All-American Aliyah Boston and Zia Cooke. But she could have the most critical role at the Final Four, most likely checking Iowaâs All-American Caitlin Clark in the national semifinals.
The Gamecocks (36-0) face the Hawkeyes (30-6) in the second game in Dallas on Friday night, with the winner playing LSU or Virginia Tech for the national title on Sunday.
Beal, who has started 136 of 137 games in her four seasons, and her senior teammates have racked up championships in their time. They have won three Southeastern Conference Tournament titles, have been to three straight Final Fours and are chasing their second NCAA crown.
Beal takes on the opponentâs best player and, more times than not, limits her effectiveness â a role that took Beal time to embrace.
âIt definitely came with some hardship, but throughout time I just walked into it,â she said at the Greenville 1 Regional last weekend.
It wasnât a path Beal envisioned after a celebrated prep career. She was a three-time Illinois Ms. Basketball from Rock Island High School, averaging 20 or more points a game her final three seasons. Beal joined Candace Parker and Tamika Catchings as the only players in the state to earn that award as a sophomore.
Beal expected to make the offensive impact that Boston and Cooke have had with the Gamecocks.
âItâs not necessarily something I was like, âIâm this defender, Iâm the best defender,ââ Beal said. âIt came naturally, just as well as offensively, itâs just something youâve got to be patient and just accept as time goes.â
Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley sees Bealâs value as more than what she does on the court. Beal, overlooked sometimes behind Boston and Cooke, didnât look to transfer in the portal era or complain about her scoring. She has kept her head down, Staley said, and made herself an indispensable part of the undefeated defending national champions.
âIt took her time to just really relax and see where she can find spots to be effective,â Staley said. âNow that sheâs a senior, she sees it.â
Clark, the Iowa star, would have to be one of Bealâs most difficult assignments. Clark had a triple-double â 41 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds â in the Hawkeyesâ 97-83 victory over Louisville to reach their first Final Four in 30 years.
Clark is not one-dimensional â âI pride myself in doing a lot of different things for this team,â she said â and Beal understands it will take a team effort to slow her down.
South Carolina has relied on its defense throughout Bealâs time and this yearâs run is no different. The Gamecocks lead the country in blocks and rebound margin, are second in field-goal percentage defense and are third in points allowed.
Cooke believes itâs Bealâs defensive focus that has all the Gamecocks looking to raise their intensity on that side of their game. âSheâs the one that taught us how to play defense,â Cooke said. âEspecially me. Just watching her and the things she does definitely wore off on me.â
Cookeâs offense may be elevating Bealâs game as of late. Beal has scored in double digits in eight games this season, seven of those since the start of February. She had 10 points in a 59-43 win over UCLA in the Sweet 16 and 16 in an 86-75 victory over Maryland in the Elite Eight.
Once considered the most likely of the 2019 freshmen class to play an extra season, the dual threat has been rising in WNBA mock drafts. ESPN.com has projected her getting called seventh in next monthâs draft, going to the Indiana Fever in the first round.
Beal isnât worried about her pro prospects or savoring all sheâs accomplished. She only wants to finish her college career with another championship moment â and that means dialing up the defense.
âWeâre a defensively minded team,â she said. âWhen we come to this part of the season, we definitely need our defense from every single individual.â