Calgary Flames forward Yegor Sharangovich injured to start season

TORONTO – Two months after failing to win a game at the Paris Olympics, Canada Basketball said it has “mutually agreed” to part ways with senior women’s head coach Victor Lapena.

He led the team to a 17-10 record in FIBA competitions since being hired in January 2022 but was 0-3 at the Games.

“On behalf of the senior women’s national team and our women’s high-performance program, I’d like to thank Víctor for his efforts in leading our team,” general manager Denise Dignard said Monday in a release.

“The organization would also like to express our sincere appreciation to Victor and his family for their dedication and sacrifice over the last several years and wish them all the best in the future.”

Lapena guided Canada to a third-place finish at the FIBA Women’s AmeriCup last year and a fourth-place showing at the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup in 2022.

Earlier this year, in consultation with Canada Basketball, Lapena was hired by the Turkish club Cukurova Basketbol Kulubu.

Following the Olympics, it was decided it would be best for him to focus his efforts on his pro team as it competes in the EuroLeague Women and other national competitions, the federation said.

A replacement was not named for the seventh-ranked team.

Canada Basketball said a head coaching search will be part of the process as it assesses its training and competition calendar along with player and coach development strategies for the next quadrennial.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 7, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

A judge granted preliminary approval Monday to the $2.78 billion legal settlement that would transform college sports by allowing schools to pay players.

U.S District Judge Claudia Wilken released an order setting a timeline for a deal that would put millions of dollars into the pockets of college athletes, who can begin applying for payment on Oct. 18.

A final hearing is set for April 7, 2025, the day of college basketball’s national title game. If finalized, the deal would allow the biggest schools to establish a pool of about $21.5 million in the first year to distribute to athletes via a revenue-sharing plan. Athletes would still be able to cut name, image and likeness deals with outside groups.

“We are pleased that we are one step closer to a revolutionary change in college athletics that will allow billions in revenue sharing,” said plaintiff attorney Steve Berman.

The judge’s approval comes 11 days after attorneys tweaked wording in the original settlement agreement to address Wilken’s concerns. The main change involved getting rid of the word “boosters” and replacing it with a better-defined description of whose potential NIL deals would be subject to oversight by a neutral arbitrator once the deal goes through.

That did not, however, strike to the heart of the settlement, which sets up a revenue-sharing arrangement between schools and the athletes. The $21.5 million figure comes from the 22% of average revenue that power conference schools generate through media rights, tickets and other sources. It will be recalculated periodically through the 10-year window that the agreement covers.

“We are thrilled by Judge Wilken’s decision to give preliminary approval to the landmark settlement that will help bring stability and sustainability to college athletics while delivering increased benefits to student-athletes for years to come,” NCAA President Charlie Baker said. “Today’s progress is a significant step in writing the next chapter for the future of college sports.”

This settlement also allows former players to apply for payments to make up for lost revenue they would have received through NIL deals that weren’t allowed in college sports before 2021. It sets up a framework to regulate future NIL deals and replaces scholarship caps with “roster limits,” which will grow to 105 for football, the biggest sport at most major universities.

This settlement resolves three major antitrust lawsuits filed against the NCAA, including one spearheaded by Grant House, a former swimmer at Arizona State. Berman’s law firm says the value of new payments and benefits to college athletes is expected to exceed $20 billion over 10 years.

Still unknown, however, is how long the terms of this deal will last. Litigation regarding the rights of players to unionize and potentially be considered employees remains unsettled. Meanwhile, the NCAA is pushing for federal legislation to knit together a streamlined policy for NIL, which is currently regulated by a patchwork of state laws, legal settlements and NCAA rules.

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AP sports:

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While fans across the country were on edge watching upset after upset unfold Saturday, Houston Chronicle sports columnist Kirk Bohls and other members of The Associated Press college football poll voting panel were thinking ahead to how they would sort out and arrange the teams they would put on their ballots Sunday.

“In my 46 years of voting in the poll, this was probably the most difficult by far,” Bohls, the longest-tenured voter, wrote in an email. “It was so hard to determine how much to ‘penalize’ the Top 25 teams that lost, especially to unranked teams, but also tough to figure out how much to ‘reward’ those teams who pulled off the upset.”

In the aftermath of six Top 25 teams losing to unranked teams over the weekend, Texas was the overwhelming choice to return to No. 1 after a week’s absence.

The biggest questions for voters: how far to drop Alabama, last week’s top-ranked team, for losing to three-touchdown-underdog Vanderbilt, and should the Crimson Tide still be ahead of a Georgia team they beat a week earlier?

Alabama landed at No. 7, the biggest demotion in 14 years for a team voted off the top perch, and Georgia remained No. 5.

Voters had Alabama as high as No. 3 and as low as No. 13 and Georgia anywhere from Nos. 3 to 10.

Georgia was ahead of Alabama on 39 ballots. On the 22 where Alabama was ranked ahead of the Bulldogs, all had the Crimson Tide only one spot higher.

“It’s usually pretty simple for me: the team that wins the head-to-head matchup will be higher ranked as long as their overall records are similar,” said Bob Asmussen of the Champaign-Urbana (Illinois) News-Gazette, who had Alabama sixth and Georgia seventh. “Yes, Georgia beat Clemson, but it also barely beat Kentucky. Alabama has not had a close call besides its loss to Vanderbilt.”

Emily Leiker of Syracuse.com/The Post-Standard in New York said she made about five revisions to her ballot as she watched Miami’s comeback against California in the wee hours Sunday. This was after she had spent the day watching games on the plane while traveling home from Syracuse’s overtime win at then-No. 25 UNLV on Friday.

“So I let myself sleep on what I’d put together and then made a handful of smaller adjustments, mostly in the midsection, this morning,” she said. “Certainly the craziest week I’ve had to rank, though I’ve only been doing this for a little over a year.”

She ended up ranking Georgia ahead of Alabama. “Halfway through the season, a lot more comes into play than just the weekly head-to-head results,” she said.

Bohls showed Vanderbilt and Arkansas some love, and he wasn’t alone. The Commodores appeared on eight ballots and the Razorbacks on six. Neither cracked the Top 25.

“My ballots always remain fluid and not wedded to the previous poll,” Bohls said. “Consequently, I do not mind making drastic changes from week to week. But weeks like this, I don’t relish sorting out the winners and losers.”

Checking in on five of the Top 25:

No. 1 Texas

It’s Red River Rivalry week, and the Longhorns and No. 18 Oklahoma are coming off open dates. The Longhorns are entering the teeth of their schedule. After the Sooners in Dallas, they host Georgia and travel to giant-slayer Vanderbilt. Quinn Ewers is back from an abdominal injury and took snaps with the No. 1 offense at practice last week.

No. 4 Penn State

The Nittany Lions will play their first regular-season game on the West Coast since 1991 when they face Southern California in their Big Ten road opener. These two teams played a classic the last time they met, the 52-49 USC win on a field goal as time ran out in the 2017 Rose Bowl. Penn State was without leading rusher Nick Singleton because of injury against UCLA.

No. 9 Mississippi

Jaxson Dart had his worst game of the season in a 27-3 win at South Carolina. Of course, it was fun watching Lane Kiffin harken William “Refrigerator” Perry by having 325-pound nose tackle JJ Pegues run for a couple 1-yard touchdowns. But the Rebels’ schedule ratchets up now, and they could use their offense to do the same.

No. 14 BYU

Somehow, some way the Cougars have opened with five straight wins, and now the team picked 13th out of 16 teams in the Big 12 preseason poll are poised to become serious contenders in the conference. The defense has 10 takeaways, allows just under 16 points per game and is the team’s identity. The Cougars could be favored in their next three games — home against Arizona and Oklahoma State and on the road against UCF.

No. 25 SMU

The ACC newcomer has won three straight and followed up its surprisingly, at the time, easy win over Florida State with a 34-27 victory at previously ranked Louisville. Miami transfer RB Brashard Smith and WR RJ Maryland are great complements to QB Kevin Jennings, who is growing by the week and coming off his best game (394 yards of total offense).

Extra points

Alabama’s loss at Vanderbilt marked only the fifth time a No. 1-ranked team lost on the road to an unranked opponent since at least 1985. … No. 6 Miami has its highest ranking since it was No. 2 on Nov. 19, 2017. … No. 11 Iowa State is 5-0 for the first time since 1980, and a win at West Virginia this week would make the Cyclones 6-0 for the first time since 1938.

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