Chicago Sun-Times: All posts by Steve Greenberg

Illini star Terrence Shannon Jr.’s ode to basketball is a moonlight serenade

2023-12-12T11:53:57.572-06:00

Illinois’ Terrence Shannon Jr. exults during a victory at Rutgers to open the Big Ten schedule.

Rich Schultz/Getty Images

Illinois star guard Terrence Shannon Jr. was still wiping the sleep out of his eyes when he picked up the phone at 9 a.m.

A lazy non-game-day Tuesday? Uh, no.

Shannon was out of bed before 4:30, in the gym hoisting up shots at 5, on the massage table after that and then? Then came two hours in a hyperbaric chamber, during which he lay with a blanket and pillow and — despite the ear-popping that always makes it a bit harder to relax inside the contraption — at last visited dreamland.

It was 9 and the fifth-year senior, a sociology major, was hungry, preparing to sandwich a noon Illini practice in between meals. After all that, he’d get in the hot tub for a while and then — this lively lefty, a dude who never stops — have an “actual workout,” individually, with an Illini coach.

You want to know why Shannon, the best player on the 16th-ranked team in the land, is averaging 21.7 points, shooting 50.8% from the field and 42.4% from three and being talked about in All-American terms? Re-read the above.

Shannon worked his rear end off like this last season, too — the Lincoln Park alum’s first in Champaign after three at Texas Tech — but probably got more credit for it than he deserves. Before even the first game, Illini coach Brad Underwood painted the newcomer as the next Ayo Dosunmu, a player who would do anything to get better and would will teammates to ascend with him. The “willing” part never happened.

“I could’ve done more, could’ve spoken up more,” Shannon said. “I should have.”

Routinely in the gym long before the break of dawn last year at this time, Shannon would shoot alone. Meanwhile, the team was showing cracks. On Dec. 10, after a bad loss at home to Penn State, Underwood cited “zero” leadership among players and, when asked about Shannon specifically, stuck his tongue out and blew. Archie Bunker would’ve been proud, but it wasn’t the coach’s best moment. Days after, teammate Coleman Hawkins referred in an interview to “tuning out” Underwood. A week after that, high-profile transfer Matthew Mayer referred to “internal” problems “between the players and the coaches.”

The Illini started 0-3 in Big Ten play, with Underwood getting in Shannon’s face at Northwestern and screaming at him in a moment that went viral.

“That was nothing,” Shannon says now. “I tell him to do that to show my other teammates that I can take it.”

The first week of January rolled around, with freshman point guard Skyy Clark — Illinois’ highest-ranked recruit since Dee Brown — announcing that he was leaving. The Illini went on to the NCAA Tournament but never looked like the real deal after all that.

“We could have been better,” Shannon said. “Coach said last year that we didn’t even deserve to go far in March. …

“But me and Coach had a conversation this summer about how being a leader is uncomfortable. Sometimes, you’ve got to have conversations with your friends that they don’t want to have. I will say I didn’t do that last year. This year, I changed that. It’s not that I don’t care, but I do it now rather than think about how somebody might feel. Being a leader is getting comfortable with being uncomfortable.”

Many mornings, Shannon is joined at the facility first thing by key newcomers Quincy Guerrier and Marcus Domask — transfers from Oregon and Southern Illinois, respectively — and sharpshooter Luke Goode, along with developmental freshmen Amani Hansberry and Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn.

“I didn’t see that last year,” Shannon said.

He is careful to point out that other teammates, not necessarily “morning people,” are putting in extra work, too, and that this team — 7-2 after an impressive 2-1 stretch against Rutgers, Florida Atlantic and Tennessee in which Shannon averaged 26 points — is “way more connected” than last season’s squad. Practices are more competitive. On the players’ group chat, the texts rarely stop.

“We’re having more fun,” Shannon said.

And not only that.

“I feel like we’re going to win the Big Ten. I’m really confident in that, really believe that.”

Underwood has come all the way back around on his star, and then some.

“I think he’s the best two-way player in the country,” Underwood said.

A player whose love for the game is revealed dark and early, a moonlight serenade.

NOTE: No. 25 Northwestern has a chance Wednesday, when it hosts Chicago State, for a nearly 65-year first — a win at Welsh-Ryan Arena as a ranked team. On Jan. 3, 1959, the No. 6 Wildcats beat Iowa 80-77 at what was then called McGaw Hall. The last time Northwestern was ranked for a game on campus was Jan. 2, 2010, when it was blown out by Michigan State. The last time ranked for a home game was Nov. 15, 2017, a loss to Creighton at Allstate Arena.

AP Top 25

1. Arizona, 2. Kansas, 3. Purdue, 4. Houston, 5. UConn, 6. Baylor, 7. Marquette, 8. Creighton, 9. North Carolina, 10. Gonzaga, 11. Oklahoma, 12. Tennessee, 13. Clemson State, 14. Kentucky, 15. Florida Atlantic, 16. Illinois, 17. Colorado State, 18. BYU, 19. Texas, 20. James Madison, 21. Duke, 22. Virginia, 23. Wisconsin, 24. Miami, 25. Northwestern.

(Click here to see the poll in more complete list form.)

My ballot

1. Arizona, 2. Kansas, 3. Houston, 4. Purdue, 5. UConn, 6. Baylor, 7. Marquette, 8. Creighton, 9. North Carolina, 10. Clemson, 11. Oklahoma, 12. Gonzaga, 13. Tennessee, 14. Illinois, 15. Florida Atlantic, 16. Colorado State, 17. Kentucky, 18. Ole Miss, 19. BYU, 20. Texas, 21. Northwestern, 22. Wisconsin, 23. Virginia, 24. James Madison, 25. Duke.

(Click here and then on “all voters” to see each voter’s individual ballot.)

Cowboys are Super Bowl champs! We mean the 11-year-old ones from Addison, of course

2023-12-10T17:57:38.559-06:00

The 11U Addison Cowboys, coached by Dino Cardone (right, in shorts), before the Pop Warner Super Bowl in Orlando, Florida.

Courtesy of the Addison Cowboys

Cannonball!

The 11U Addison Cowboys football team was going to swim Saturday, like 20 delirious boys who might never see a pool again. Goodness, they’d earned it. With three victories in seven days at Orlando’s Camping World Stadium — home of the NFL Pro Bowl — they’d captured the club’s first Pop Warner national championship, besting the Enon (Pennsylvania) Eagles 18-0 in Friday’s title game.

How good were the Cowboys — all but a handful of them from West Suburban Addison, and nearly all of them sixth-graders — this season? Wrap your heads around this: They went 15-0, including three state playoff wins and a regional championship before Orlando, and outscored opponents 335-6 along the way.

But there was no taking things for granted on this epic business trip, during which coach Dino Cardone didn’t allow his players to swim — got to keep those little legs fresh — until there were no more games left to win. These Cowboys were on a mission after making it to Orlando as 10U players but coming up short in the championship game.

“The kids were crying last year,” Cardone said, “and I looked at them and told them, ‘Remember this feeling. We’re never going to feel this way again.’ ”

Lineman Michael Aguilar, 11, was so hoarse from all the celebrating that he sounded three times his age as he jumped on his coach’s cell phone at the team hotel.

“I just wanted to do something else other than playing video games,” he said. “I’m glad I found football. It took me to places that I never imagined.”

Sounding very much his age was fifth-grader CJ Roman, only 10, who mans a few different positions for the Cowboys.

“I play up,” he explained, proudly.

Said Roman, “It was amazing to see what it felt like to be a real athlete playing in a real stadium.”

Two-way standout Aydin Henning, 11, almost couldn’t believe how lucky he was to be a part of it all.

“I felt so great, like, emotional, because it was my first time winning the championship in the Pro Bowl stadium,” he said. “I was so happy I got to play in the Pro Bowl stadium!”

Cardone — a former arena football player — joined the Cowboys as a coach when he was 21. He’s 42 now and running the club, having spent half his life teaching and leading young players.

“It became my passion,” he said.

Beating a team from Hawaii was nice. Beating a team from South Carolina was better. Winning it all knocked Cardone for a loop.

“When I was looking at the Jumbotron with three minutes left, I was like, ‘Wow, is this really happening?’ ” he said. “Man, we finally accomplished it. I’m still in awe.”

Splash made. …

A tip of the helmet, as well, to Mokena’s 13U Illinois Jr. Celtics, who stomped Florida’s Westchase Colts 41-8 in the Pop Warner Super Bowl to repeat as champions. …

Talk is cheap — the Bears still need to beat the Packers more than once in a blue moon.

Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images

Is it Jan. 7 yet?

We might as well skip straight to it. Because unless and until the Bears beat the Packers in what happens to be the regular-season finale, any talk of Justin Fields remaining QB1, the team making meaningful improvement and coach Matt Eberflus somehow hanging on to his job is emptier than a keg of Wisco Disco after a Lambeau Field tailgate.

After winning back-to-back against the Vikings and Lions, Eberflus is 2-9 against the division. Throw him a parade if you want to. But he is 0-3 against the Packers. Matt Nagy was 1-7 against the Packers as Bears coach, John Fox 1-5, Marc Trestman 1-3, Lovie Smith 8-11, Dick Jauron 2-8, Dave Wannstedt 1-11.

Did you realize there was a theme here? Yeah, you probably did.

Beat the Packers or it doesn’t matter. …

Look, we both know you were about to look it up: Mike Ditka’s Bears were 15-5 against the Cheeseheads. …

How much is $700 million? Here’s one way to look at Shohei Ohtani’s new contract with the Dodgers: It’s nearly four times what the Angels were sold for ($184 million) in 2003 and not far off from what the Ricketts family paid for the Cubs ($845 million) in 2009. Other than that, it ain’t much. …

It’s a coin flip whether or not Illinois will remain in the Top 25 after an 86-79 loss at Tennessee dropped its record to 7-2, but there’s no question here that the Illini belong in the rankings and will be there most or all of the season. Tennessee is a team with Final Four potential, and that was a dogfight. …

Northwestern’s Boo Buie

Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images

Kind of funny that Northwestern star guard Boo Buie came back with five points in a 91-59 blowout of Detroit Mercy in his first game after pouring in 31 in a thrilling upset of No. 1 Purdue.

“I just feel that I’m one of the better players in the [Big Ten] and in the country,” Buie said after that one.

He’s still correct about that, for those of you scoring at home. …

Guess who’s got it rolling? Porter Moser at Oklahoma, where the Sooners are 10-0 and have a shot at a top-15 ranking in Monday’s new poll. It took a minute — and even this OU team likely isn’t a legit Big 12 contender — but it’s happening for Loyola’s old pal in Norman. …

Some bettors took an all-time bad beat Saturday when Army purposely took a safety on the final play of a 17-11 win against Navy. It was 17-9 until the Cadets’ punter took a snap and ran out of the back of the end zone, putting the game over the hilariously low total of 27½. The most amazing part: There wasn’t even a Ferentz in the building.

Are Chicago Bulls a better team without Zach LaVine?

2023-12-08T17:24:26.981-06:00

Zach LaVine plays for the Bulls during a game in Milwaukee on Nov. 13, 2023.

Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images

In their first handful of games playing without injured guard Zach LaVine, the Bulls resembled a — what’s it called again? — basketball team.

But are they truly better without the $215 million man? That’s a question they’re going to have to answer — if they haven’t already — whether or not there’s a strong trade market for LaVine, a player with all the physical tools but some that too often go unused.

It was topic No. 1 in this week’s “Polling Place,” your home for Sun-Times sports polls on the site formerly known as Twitter.

“Of course they’re better without him,” @Jeanczt76 commented. “They should trade him before the entire league realizes that.”

“It was obvious years ago,” @MarkWal31038857 wrote. “What’s tragic is it took so long for management to recognize.”

@HogFather76 offered a twist: “I’d like to see a healthy LaVine without DeMar DeRozan before I decide. They just do not fit together.”

We also asked voters to pick a Heisman Trophy finalist. Last, we asked them to pick a winner of Sunday’s Bears-Lions game at Soldier Field. On to the polls:

Poll No. 1: Are the Bulls a better team without Zach LaVine?

It’s time for this week’s “Polling Place.” Let us hear from you! Selected comments will appear in Saturday's paper.

Q1: Are the Bulls a better team without Zach LaVine?
— Chicago Sun-Times (@Suntimes) December 7, 2023

Upshot: LaVine’s support among the fan base never has been as solid as oak, but it seems pretty flimsy now. The old flaws just haven’t changed. “I still can’t believe they gave him a max contract,” wrote @Jmcdonnell1962, no doubt speaking for many.

Poll No. 2: The Heisman Trophy ceremony is Saturday Which finalist gets your vote?

Q2: The Heisman Trophy ceremony is Saturday. Which finalist gets your vote?
— Chicago Sun-Times (@Suntimes) December 7, 2023

Upshot: The actual Heisman vote tends to play out with more than a little regional bias, so it’s no surprise our voters went for the star from Big Ten country. Speaking of Harrison, know who’d look good in a Bears uniform? That’s right! How did you guess we were talking about him? Anyway, Daniels is going to win the award by a mile.

Poll No. 3: The last-place Bears host the first-place Lions on Sunday. Who wins?

Q3: The last-place Bears host the first-place Lions on Sunday. Who wins?
— Chicago Sun-Times (@Suntimes) December 7, 2023

Upshot: Sadly, the Bears just aren’t that good. “If the Bears have turnovers, Lions win,” @JBIRD1268 predicted. But what about the Lions? They have a nice record and all, but — come on — they’re still the Lions. “This time,” @JeffreyCanalia wrote, “Bears win in the last three minutes.”

Heisman Trophy? No, Wiseman Trophies — the 2023 college football awards you won’t see presented on TV

2023-12-08T15:21:52.309-06:00

Signal stealing? Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh saw nothing. Just ask him.

Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

The Heisman Trophy presentation is Saturday in New York. If you’re one of the 2.4 billion uniquely qualified, extremely special people with a Heisman vote, like me, you realize you’re under sworn oath not to reveal your ballot until after the winner has been named and placed in front of a microphone to thank his mom and dad, his teammates, his coaches at his first college, his coaches at his current college, his coaches at his next college, various NIL collectives, a handful of agents and, well, you get the idea.

So, no, I can’t reveal my No. 1 guy and probably shouldn’t even share that he wears a number lower than 20, might or might not be on the outside of the College Football Playoff looking in and is such a strong favorite that there’s as much of a chance he’ll lose as there is that Shohei Ohtani will sign with the White Sox. But now I’ve said too much.

Look, forget about the so-called ‘‘most coveted individual award in sports.’’ Way cooler, if a tad less well-known, are the Sun-Times’ annual Wiseman Trophies.

Oversizeman: Lumber on down, Brione Ramsey-Brooks, and accept this honor. ‘‘Big Bubba,’’ as the TCU offensive lineman is nicknamed, checks in at 6-5 and 455 pounds — the heaviest college player on record. He didn’t play much as a true freshman, but we’re betting on the future of a blocker who knows his way around a pancake.

At 6' 5" and 455 pounds @TCUFootball's Brione Ramsey-Brooks is one big dude 😳 pic.twitter.com/WZzSxuAs55
— Big Noon Kickoff (@BNKonFOX) September 2, 2023

Penalizeman: New Mexico was not to be denied in the laundry department, leading all teams in penalties (9.9) and penalty yards (89.7) per game and the only one to eclipse 1,000 yards worth of infractions. Other than that, fired coach Danny Gonzales’ Lobos played squeaky-clean football.

Antagonizeman: This one goes to Lou Holtz for saying Ohio State wasn’t ‘‘tough’’ enough to beat Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. After the Buckeyes won 17-14, their coach, Ryan Day, went off on Holtz to a sideline reporter in an unforgettable rant. Fortunately, the TV cameras shut off before the tough-talking Day could challenge the 86-year-old to a steel-cage wrestling match.

Demiseman: Irish coach Marcus Freeman and defensive coordinator Al Golden share the honors for a colossal bumble — having only 10 defensive players on the field for back-to-back plays from the 1-yard line on the winning drive for the Buckeyes, who ran it in for a touchdown with :01 on the clock.

Deniesman: Nobody attempted to sidestep blame more boldly than Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh, who said: ‘‘I do not have any knowledge or information [about] illegally stealing signals, nor have I directed staff members or others to participate in an off-campus scouting assignment. . . . I do not condone or tolerate anyone doing anything illegal or against the NCAA rules.’’ And may God bless these United States of America.

Disguiseman: Harbaugh’s denials didn’t stop the NCAA and Central Michigan from looking into the presence of a man resembling former Michigan staffer Connor Stalions on CMU’s sideline — clad in CMU gear — for the Chippewa’s season opener at Michigan State. Take off those Groucho Marx glasses and come on down, Mr. Stalions, you rascal, you.

Central Michigan is investigating photos that show a man who resembles Michigan staff member Connor Stalions, standing on the CMU sideline with the Chippewas coaches for the team's opener Sept. 1 at Michigan State.

Story from @PeteThamel and me: https://t.co/yyrX2rv0Bq
— Adam Rittenberg (@ESPNRittenberg) October 31, 2023

Appliesman: Injuries might take a toll, but Miami tight end Cam McCormick isn’t satisfied with tying Northern Illinois’ Kyle Pugh for the longest career — eight years — in FBS history. McCormick, who had four touchdown catches in 2023, is awaiting a ruling on a petition to the ACC for a ninth year of eligibility in 2024.

Unwiseman: Miami coach Mario Cristobal buried his own team in hubris when he chose to run the ball on third down with a 20-17 lead and 33 seconds to go at Georgia Tech, which was out of timeouts. You can guess what happened: The Hurricanes fumbled, and the Yellow Jackets drove 74 yards in the blink of an eye for a huge upset. ‘‘Should have taken a knee,’’ Cristobal said, grasping the obvious a bit too late.

Blowdriesman: Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy’s hair has been made fun of for years, but he seemed to nail his flow this season, when, coincidentally, his team outperformed expectations, too. Reading the comments on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, was at least as entertaining as the Big 12 title game, which the Cowboys lost to Texas. ‘‘Willing to subscribe to any of Mike Gundy’s political beliefs if my hair looks like that at age 56.’’ ‘‘If I had Mike Gundy’s hair, I’d probably be president.’’ And our favorite: ‘‘Mike Gundy’s hair looks absorbent to kitchen spills.’’

Diesman: Iowa’s MVP had to be peerless punter Tory Taylor, who set a career high with 86 punts, killing 30 of them inside the 20-yard line. In one game alone — a 15-6 victory at Wisconsin — he killed six punts inside the 20, which he has done a truly amazing 125 times with the Hawkeyes.

Iowa’s Tory Taylor, punting at Wrigley Field.

Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images

Dyesman: It goes to Division III SUNY Morrisville for changing the turf at Drake Field to all black, matching the Mustangs’ unsightly one-victory record at home.

Capsizeman: What happened to ‘‘rowing the boat’’? P.J. Fleck’s Minnesota squad lost its last four games to finish the regular season 5-7. Despite that, the Gophers received a Quick Lane Bowl invitation they could not have deserved any less. ‘‘Wins didn’t get us there,’’ Fleck reasoned, ‘‘but we will take it.’’

Demoralizeman: Alabama gets this award for — all in nine days — (1) spoiling rival Auburn’s upset bid with a fourth-and-31 touchdown pass, (2) kicking Florida State out of the playoff and (3) totally bumming out Michigan, which now has the unenviable task of facing the Crimson Tide in the CFP semifinals. Michigan’s disappointment when ‘‘Alabama’’ flashed on the screen during ESPN’s selection show was palpable.

Goodbyesman: Well, Pac-12, it’s been real. Who knows what awaits your former members in all the new conferences to which they’re scattering? But the sport sure will miss you.

Think college football’s rankings are messed up? College basketball’s are on a different level

2023-12-05T15:43:41.696-06:00

Northwestern’s Boo Buie goes up for a huge late basket in a 92-88 upset win against Purdue.

Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images

As more and more people come down hard on the College Football Playoff for moving forward without unbeaten ACC champion Florida State — or defend it with certitude on the grounds that Alabama was more deserving of the fourth playoff spot — I wonder how so many can miss the point.

Since 2014, it was almost inevitable that an outcome as messy as this one would occur. It’s a wonder it didn’t happen sooner.

That year — the first of the four-team playoff — TCU fell from third in the next-to-last playoff rankings to sixth without playing a game, let alone losing one. How did that happen? Mainly because the Big 12 was the only Power Five conference without a championship game at the time. Other contenders improved their résumés on the first Saturday of December; TCU (and Big 12 mate Baylor, in a similar position) did not. The Big 12 rectified that going into the 2015 season, since which time there always has been the potential for at least five teams — full-fledged conference champs all — to be richly deserving of playoff inclusion.

This season, there actually are six teams — at least six — that would have expected their records to be good enough, based on playoff-selection history, for top-four spots. Unbeaten Michigan, Washington and FSU are the three most obvious ones. One-loss conference champs Texas and Alabama would have been no-brainers in nearly every playoff preceding this one. One-loss non-champ Georgia would have made it at least as often as not, on the strength of the committee’s ‘‘best four teams’’ directive, and fellow one-loss non-champ Ohio State is in a similar boat.

To think there are four definite right answers here is to give the current system — which ends after this season — more credit than it deserves. The four-team format was fatally flawed from the start; we’re just now seeing how nonsensical it is. Expanding to 12 teams will do away with this particular problem.

Anyway, that’s college football.

Do you know whose rankings never fail to be far more illogical and foolish? College basketball’s. It took me awhile to get there, but, yes, this column is at least as much about that.

We can start almost anywhere — with who’s in the Top 25, who isn’t, who’s high, who’s low — and find utter nonsense.

For example, there were 14 unbeaten teams left in major-college basketball entering Tuesday, but only eight of them were ranked. Four of the six that were unranked — Ole Miss, South Carolina, TCU and Cincinnati — come from elite conferences. Does it mean anything that 7-0 Cincinnati destroyed Georgia Tech, a team that recently beat mighty Duke, by 35? Apparently not. A fifth unranked team, Princeton, was in the Sweet 16 in March.

Can anyone out there explain why 6-2 Marquette is eighth in the poll this week, while 6-2 Wisconsin — to which the Golden Eagles lost 75-64 on Saturday — is 23rd? If it were football, such hypocrisy would be outrageous. In basketball, it’s somehow normal.

I have Wisconsin 14th and Marquette 15th on my AP ballot. I also have Colorado State 10th and Creighton 12th. Why the Rams before the Bluejays? It’s not complicated: CSU is 8-0 and blasted Creighton by 21 on a neutral court. Yet Creighton is 10th and CSU 13th in the current poll. What planet are we on? I’d lay into my fellow voters even more for that, but I’m sure I’m as nonsensical as they are in other cases.

If somebody can tell me why Miami should be 15th days after being blown out 95-73 by Kentucky, which is 16th, I’m listening.

I ranked Florida Atlantic ninth even though it dropped a home game to four-loss Bryant. Who? Exactly. Upon review, I’m not particularly proud of that one.

Illinois is ranked, but Northwestern isn’t. (Both were on my ballot.) How much sense does that make, considering the Wildcats were the better team last season and already have beaten then-No. 1-ranked Purdue this season?

‘‘That game ranks right up there with the highest-level games I’ve ever been a part of,’’ Wildcats coach Chris Collins said after the 92-88 overtime upset Friday of the Boilermakers. ‘‘I think people saw we’ve got a good group.’’

Did they see it? Because they voted like they didn’t.

Tennessee is ranked even after losing three in a row. Duke is ranked despite three losses, two of them coming in its last two games against unranked Arkansas and Georgia Tech.

Dick Vitale is a fellow voter. With all due respect to the wonderful Dickie V, his ballot is neither scintillating nor sensational. Vitale has Tennessee 12th, Duke 13th, Villanova 19th . . . wait, Villanova? The same Villanova that has lost to fellow Philadelphia schools Penn, Saint Joseph’s and Drexel? Villanova might not be the 19th-best team in Philly.

You’ll have to forgive me if I don’t find the football playoff rankings to be as nutty and wrong as some of you do. I think the best four teams probably are, in whatever order, Michigan, Alabama, Georgia and Texas. But I’m happy to see Washington — after two victories against Oregon — in it. And I’m bummed for FSU, but somebody had to be the unlucky No. 5.

NOTE: Chicago State has accepted an invitation to join the Northeast Conference in the fall of 2024. The NEC’s membership will consist of eight schools, the others being Central Connecticut State, Fairleigh Dickinson, Le Moyne, Long Island University, St. Francis (Pennsylvania), Stonehill and Wagner.

AP Top 25

1. Arizona, 2. Kansas, 3. Houston, 4. Purdue, 5. UConn, 6. Baylor, 7. Gonzaga, 8. Marquette, 9. North Carolina, 10. Creighton, 11. Florida Atlantic, 12. Texas, 13. Colorado State, 14. BYU, 15. Miami, 16. Kentucky, 17. Tennessee, 18. James Madison, 19. Oklahoma, 20. Illinois, 21. Texas A&M, 22. Duke, 23. Wisconsin, 24. Clemson, 25. San Diego State.

(Click here to see the poll in more complete list form.)

My ballot

1. Arizona, 2. Kansas, 3. Houston, 4. Purdue, 5. UConn, 6. Baylor, 7. Gonzaga, 8. North Carolina, 9. Florida Atlantic, 10. Colorado State, 11. BYU, 12. Creighton, 13. Texas, 14. Wisconsin, 15. Marquette, 16. Ohio State, 17. Clemson, 18. Illinois, 19. Oklahoma, 20. James Madison, 21. San Diego State, 22. Kentucky, 23. Miami, 24. Northwestern, 25. Virginia.

(Click here and then on “all voters” to see each voter’s individual ballot.)

College Football Playoff takes Michigan, Washington, Texas, Alabama; Northwestern-Utah in Vegas Bowl

2023-12-03T11:33:07.919-06:00

Michigan, led by coach Jim Harbaugh and quarterback J.J. McCarthy, is the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff.

Michael Hickey/Getty Images

Hail to the victors?

Are we sure about that?

College football’s final four is set, with Michigan getting the nod Sunday as the No. 1 seed in the final rendition of the current playoff model before the field expands to 12 next season. After the Wolverines smacked Iowa around in the Big Ten championship game to get to 13-0, there was no doubt they’d be slotted in first.

Everyone likewise knew Pac-12 champion Washington (13-0) would be in the No. 2 slot. But at Nos. 3 and 4? The arguments about that exploded before Saturday’s games were even over and will rage on for weeks — years? — to come.

The selection committee went with Big 12 champion Texas at 3 and SEC champion Alabama at 4 — each team is 12-1 — and that means it left the ACC’s Florida State, 13-0, on the cutting-room floor. It’s the first time the playoff, which started in 2014, will go on without an unbeaten Power 5 champ.

Think the Seminoles got shafted? Think of the poor Wolverines. For all their fine work this season, and despite all they overcame to rise to No. 1 even as coach Jim Harbaugh missed six games serving two suspensions, their reward is a Rose Bowl date on New Year’s Day with the scariest four words in college sports: Nick Saban’s Crimson Tide.

Good luck with that, fellas. …

Why Alabama instead of Florida State at No. 4? Here’s the short answer, and it’s all you need to tell Skip from accounting when he brings it up in the break room.

The 13-person selection committee has a few ex-coaches on it. Those coaches were asked: Would you rather have to play FSU or Alabama? The coaches may or may not have laughed so hard, they fell out of their chairs. Suffice it to say, they made it clear to the rest of the committee that having to tangle with the Crimson Tide is a completely different animal. That carried a ton of weight. …

Still, you have to feel for FSU. It is grossly unfair to go 13-0 and be kicked to the curb.

“I am disgusted and infuriated,” coach Mike Norvell said in a statement.

“The committee failed college football,” athletic director Michael Alford chimed in.

Rough business. As if it weren’t rough enough, FSU will head to the Orange Bowl and face — yikes — Georgia, which opened as a 12-point favorite. …

The four-team model never made sense. It wasn’t about winning, or else FSU couldn’t have been left out. It wasn’t truly about “best four teams,” or else Georgia would be in this year’s four.

“We are 100% one of the best four teams,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said.

He ain’t lyin’. …

When you’re Northwestern in 2023 and news comes in that you’re headed to Las Vegas for a bowl game, group texts among players and coaches instantly blow up with enthusiasm.

“You can tell that our guys are excited and the staff’s excited,” coach David Braun said.

The Wildcats (7-5) will line up against Utah (8-4) in the Las Vegas Bowl on Dec. 23. The Utes are coached by Kyle Whittingham, who is in his 19th season — the longest current run for anyone outside of Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz — and has the reputation of being the best coach in the country who doesn’t work at one of the blue-blood superpowers.

A couple of years ago, when he was an assistant at North Dakota State, Braun took a professional-development trip to Utah to learn from Whittingham and his defensive coaches. As for his own staff, Braun said he anticipates no changes before the bowl game. Some changes likely will come after that.

“We’ll finish this thing off the right way,” he said. …

Anybody remember the 2018 Holiday Bowl? Northwestern stormed back from a 20-3 halftime deficit to beat Utah 31-20. There were Pat Fitzgerald-to-the-Packers rumors at the time. How things have changed. …

I filled out my Heisman Trophy ballot on Sunday. Strict rules prohibit me from revealing my top three before the award has been presented, but the smart cookies among you might be able to suss out my No. 1 guy from the info below. Don’t tell anybody!

My votes for the Davey O’Brien quarterback award went like this: 1. LSU’s Jayden Daniels, 2. Washington’s Michael Penix Jr., 3. Oregon’s Bo Nix.

For the Doak Walker running back award: 1. Oklahoma State’s Ollie Gordon II, 2. Missouri's Cody Schrader, 3. North Carolina’s Omarion Hampton.

For the Biletnikoff receiver award: 1. Ohio State’s Marvin Harrison Jr., 2. Washington’s Rome Odunze, 3. LSU’s Malik Nabers.

And for the Jim Thorpe defensive back award: 1. Georgia’s Malaki Starks, 2. Iowa’s Cooper DeJean, 3. Air Force’s Trey Taylor.

Northwestern upsets No. 1 Purdue for second season in a row

2023-12-01T22:50:31.071-06:00

Northwestern’s Matthew Nicholson throws down a dunk against Purdue.

Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images

It wasn’t Super Bowl Sunday this time.

More like Forget About It Friday.

You think No. 1 Purdue was just going to waltz into Welsh-Ryan Arena and win a basketball game against Northwestern? Not last season, when the Wildcats toppled the Boilers and national player of the year Zach Edey 64-58 for their first-ever win over an AP No. 1. Most of the country — the world — was waiting for the Chiefs and Eagles and missed that afternoon of court-storming magic.

Well, they missed it again as sports fans undoubtedly were watching Washington and Oregon — soon-to-be Big Ten schools — in the final Pac-12 football title game. But Northwestern won 92-88 this time in a game that, incredibly, was even better than last year’s version. The court was stormed again. Respect was demanded again.

Lose to Purdue? Please. That’s just not what these Wildcats do.

In February’s game, Edey and magnificent Wildcats guard Boo Buie combined for 50 points. This time, with Edey pouring in 35 and Buie 31, they went off for 66.

Purdue fell to 7-1. Northwestern is 6-1 and — no doubt about it — getting ready to crash the next Top 25 poll.

“AP votes and all that are cool,” Buie told the Sun-Times earlier in the week, “but, honestly, you have to go out and be a good team and win games in order to do that. Either way, we’re used to being underdogs and take that with pride. We’re not caught up in it, but we know we can play with anybody.”

Northwestern finished tied for second place in the Big Ten, won six league road games and made the NCAA Tournament last season, then brought the lion’s share of the team back. But no matter: There were no votes for the Purple Giant Killers in the preseason poll or any of the ones after that leading into this week.

It’s almost as if all the good Northwestern did last season never happened. But let others try to ignore this team now.

“I’m in the gym,” Buie said. “I see how good we are. We just have a lot of confidence in each other, support each other and pick each other up.”

After the first win against Purdue, Wildcats coach Chris Collins said he’d come to Evanston to do “historic things.” Now, his program is only the seventh in all of college basketball since 2010-11 to win games against No. 1 teams in successive seasons. And there is no reason to dismiss the strong possibility that the Wildcats can make it back-to-back Big Dances for the first time ever.

In last season’s upset, Chase Audige scored 10 points in under two minutes as the Wildcats closed on a stirring 17-3 run. Audige is gone now, but Princeton transfer Ryan Langborg is in the lineup and crushing it. Against the Boilermakers, he scored 20 points, 12 of them after halftime. Welcome to the Big Ten, bub.

At times, Edey was just too big for the Wildcats. In a related development, the Wildcats at times were just too small. That’s the way it goes when tangling with the most unique player in the country. Purdue returned to Evanston intending to give the Wildcats a taste of their own medicine. Not to mention several unpleasant tastes of the underside of Edey’s size-20 shoe.

Edey was splendid, but the Wildcats withstood it. Again. Another special team? Another special season? As they danced on the court into the night, there’d be no convincing anyone otherwise.

Bulls or White Sox? Here’s which Jerry Reinsdorf-owned team voters picked as being in worse shape

2023-12-01T14:39:03.203-06:00

Denizens of Guaranteed Rate Field make their points of view clear late in the 2023 season.

Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images

Here’s a question for one of those fancy think tanks, or perhaps for a committee of Talmudic scholars:

Which of Jerry Reinsdorf’s teams is in sorrier shape, the Bulls or the White Sox?

That was topic No. 1 in this week’s “Polling Place,” your home for Sun-Times sports polls on the site formerly known as Twitter.

“The Sox have no TV contract beyond 2024, no stadium deal beyond 2029, won’t allow long-term contracts and are trying to emulate the Brooklyn Dodgers,” @oldy75 commented. “This is way worse than just being bad at basketball.”

“The Sox lost over 100 games in the middle of their ‘championship window,’ ” @HisSlyness44 wrote. “I say this is no contest.”

No further explanation was needed from @RonaldVoigt4, who replied with a meme of a bridge collapsing under the weight of a steam engine.

We also asked if the Sox should trade pitcher Dylan Cease while his value is relatively high. This was a popular idea.

Last, we asked about unbeaten college football teams in weekend conference championship games. Which one of them is likeliest to lose?

On to the polls:

Poll No. 1: Which of Jerry Reinsdorf’s teams is in worse shape?

It’s time for this week’s “Polling Place.” Let us hear from you! Selected comments will appear in Saturday's paper.

Q1: Which of Jerry Reinsdorf's teams is in worse shape?
— Chicago Sun-Times (@Suntimes) November 30, 2023

Upshot: If the results tell us anything, it’s that voters were, on the whole, unable to distinguish between one brand of awful and the other. The Bulls are going nowhere with the same old core of Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic. The Sox are only beginning to pick up the pieces from their latest disaster. How did we get so lucky?

Poll No. 2: Should the White Sox trade pitcher Dylan Cease while his value is relatively high?

Q2: Should the White Sox trade pitcher Dylan Cease while his value is relatively high?
— Chicago Sun-Times (@Suntimes) November 30, 2023

Upshot: “I’d love to see him head back north,” offered @KurtisArndt in a sly reference to Cease’s origins in the Cubs organization. Bottom line is — as you can plainly see — fans are just fine with seeing Cease go. And if Cease has any idea what’s good for him, he’s just fine with it, too.

Poll No. 3: Which unbeaten college football team is most likely to lose its conference championship game?

Q3: Which unbeaten college football team is most likely to lose its conference championship game?
— Chicago Sun-Times (@Suntimes) November 30, 2023

Upshot: According to the point spreads, the easy answer is Washington, which entered Friday night’s Pac-12 title game as a significant underdog. In Saturday’s action, Florida State, facing a QB crisis, could be in real trouble, and Georgia has to tangle with Alabama. And then there’s Michigan, which almost certainly could wear its helmets backward and still outscore Iowa. But we only kid the Hawkeyes … sort of.

Georgia or Alabama? Michigan or Iowa? The picks for Saturday are in

2023-12-01T10:48:11.633-06:00

Georgia defenders swarm a Georgia Tech ball carrier. The No. 1 Bulldogs beat the Yellow Jackets last week to get to 12-0.

Photo by Todd Kirkland/Getty Images

Imagine a world in which Texas and Alabama both win Saturday, leaving each at 12-1 and with a conference championship heading into selections for the College Football Playoff. Ah, but only one spot in the four-team playoff remains! So who gets it?

It has to be the Longhorns, who won this season at Alabama. Easy, peasy, nice and neat. Right?

No, not at all. For one thing, that game was nearly three months ago. More important, if Alabama wins the mighty SEC, it will have toppled two-time defending national champion Georgia — a caliber of victory, no matter the score, to which nothing else could compare.

In this scenario, the selection committee would have a logical pick on one side in the form of the Longhorns. But it would have recency bias, and perhaps gut instinct, on the other side with the Crimson Tide. And what about one-loss Georgia? Should it be in the playoff no matter what?

Also, fans and the college football media — many of whom are cheerleaders in disguise — wouldn’t be merely asking these questions. They’d be screaming the answers to these questions, too. “It’s gotta be the ’Horns!” “It’s gotta be the Tide!” “It’s gotta be the Dawgs!” Nothing beats the intoxicating, ridiculous blend of chaos plus righteous indignation in college football.

There was no chaos last year, when every team in the playoff rankings outside of the top four had at least two losses. Notre Dame barely missed out at 11-1 in 2021, but there wasn’t all that compelling a case to be made on the Irish’s behalf. But this season has been different, with a bunch of unbeatens going into championship weekend and a few teams behind them with absolutely stellar résumés.

Let’s get to Saturday’s championship-game picks:

Oklahoma State’s Ollie Gordon II leads the nation in rushing.

Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images

Big 12: No. 7 Texas (-15½) vs. No. 18 Oklahoma State (11 a.m., ABC 7): Four of the Longhorns’ last six wins — against Houston, Kansas State, TCU and Iowa State — were close calls, so there’s a need to put on a show here if they can. The Cowboys (9-3) are strange and unpredictable, with a couple of lopsided losses against South Alabama and UCF sullying their accomplishments, but they have the nation’s leading rusher in Ollie Gordon II and a chance to kneecap Texas on its way out the door to the SEC. ’Horns by single digits in Arlington, Texas.

MAC: Toledo (-7½) vs. Miami (Ohio) (11 a.m., ESPN): The teams played in October, with Toledo (11-1) winning 21-17 on the road after knocking Miami’s quarterback out for the season. The RedHawks (10-2) have leaned extra-hard on their tremendous defense since, but bottling up the Rockets — who’d be 12-0 if not for a crazy fourth-and-long completion surrendered in a 30-28 loss at Illinois — is no minor feat. Rockets by 10 in Detroit.

MWC: Boise State (-2½) at UNLV (2 p.m., FOX 32): The Rebels have the better record — 9-3 vs. 7-5 — and are playing at home, so what’s with this spread? For one thing, the Broncos have been every bit as good as the Rebels judging by scores against common opponents. For another, the Broncos have been better at both rushing the passer and protecting the passer. Boise covers thanks to a couple of key fourth-quarter sacks.

SEC: No. 1 Georgia (-5½) vs. No. 8 Alabama (3 p.m., CBS 2): Georgia (12-0) is going for a 30th straight win — what a monster streak it has been — and can take its foot and shove Alabama (11-1) a bit farther from the mountaintop. But Nick Saban and the Tide aren’t in Atlanta for the chicken and biscuits; they’re there for the fight to end all fights. When these superpowers collide, everybody wins. Tide, 30-27.

AAC: SMU (+3½) at No. 22 Tulane (3 p.m., ABC 7): The Mustangs (10-2) lost their starting quarterback last week, a gut punch as they prepare to take on the Green Wave (11-1) in hostile territory. Too much uncertainty in a game this big. Tulane by a touchdown.

Sun Belt: Appalachian State (+5) at Troy (3 p.m., ESPN): ASU (8-4) beat James Madison, the only Sun Belt team to top Troy, and comes in playing exceptionally well. Big edge for the Trojans (10-2), though, to be playing at home. Overtime, anyone? Trojans by three.

Big Ten: No. 2 Michigan (-21½) vs. No. 16 Iowa (7 p.m., FOX 32): Look, we can all admit that Iowa winning 10 games despite its worst-in-the-nation offense is pretty cool. Wait, did we just use “Iowa” and “cool” in the same sentence? That’s not going to be easy to live down. The Wolverines got past the pressure of Ohio State week. They have Jim Harbaugh back on the sideline. Quarterback J.J. McCarthy is healthy again. Buckle up for a blowout — 34-7.

ACC: No. 4 Florida State (-1½) vs. No. 14 Louisville (7 p.m., ABC 7): The Seminoles are without QB1 Jordan Travis, which is hard enough, but QB2 Tate Rodemaker’s status was in question all week. What happens if Rodemaker can’t go? ’Noles if he plays, Cardinals if he doesn’t.

Last week: 5-3 straight up, 3-5 against the spread.

Season to date: 69-31 straight up, 51-45-4 against the spread.

No. 1 Purdue at Northwestern and a flurry of Big Ten games? Just what the struggling league needs

2023-11-28T16:04:34.686-06:00

Northwestern’s Boo Buie goes up for a shot in a Super Bowl Sunday win against Purdue.

Michael Reaves/Getty Images

Is Northwestern the new Big Ten “it” school?

Football’s David Braun was named the conference’s coach of the year Tuesday. Men’s basketball’s Chris Collins is the reigning coach of the year after the Wildcats’ second-ever run to the NCAA Tournament last season. It’s the first time a Big Ten school has held both honors simultaneously since Penn State did so with football coach Joe Paterno (2008) and basketball coach Ed DeChellis (tied, 2008-09 season) what seems like ages ago.

So, are the Wildcats “it”? Fine, of course they aren’t. Unless they manage to sneak their way onto the field for Saturday’s Big Ten football championship game in Indianapolis, they’re just a nice story. Not that there’s anything wrong with that; the Big Ten will take all the nice stories it can get.

The league hasn’t won a national championship in football since Ohio State in 2014 — the first season with a four-team playoff — and hasn’t cut down the nets in basketball since Michigan State did the honors in 2000. This basketball season, it has Purdue ranked No. 1 but no other teams making any real noise.

Purdue (6-0) has knocked off top competition in Gonzaga, Tennessee and Marquette, already a stellar résumé to hand the NCAA selection committee in March. But Michigan State, a top-five team going into the season, has lost to Duke, Arizona and — whoa — James Madison. Illinois, the only other Big Ten team in the preseason Top 25, lost to the only formidable foe (Marquette) it has faced. Wisconsin couldn’t hang with Tennessee or Providence, Indiana got manhandled by UConn, Maryland looks shoddy, Michigan looks terrible — on and on.

Outside of the Boilermakers — a bit suspect themselves after last year’s unthinkable NCAA first-round loss as a No. 1 seed — the Big Ten has had an almost nightmarish performance in non-conference play. Might as well start playing one another, then.

Beginning Friday — when Purdue visits Northwestern for the first time since the Wildcats’ 64-58 mega-upset on Super Bowl Sunday — there will be 12 Big Ten games, involving all 14 conference teams, over a 10-day period. After that, there won’t be another Big Ten game until after the new year.

Last time the Boilermakers and Wildcats did business, it was a spectacular two hours. As football fans fetched more ice and beer, wrapped pigs in blankets, surfed prop bets and totally failed to realize they should’ve been watching a basketball game exploding to life in Evanston, madness unfolded at Welsh-Ryan Arena. The great 7-4 center Zach Edey was toppled. NU beat a No. 1 team for the first time in 19 tries. It wasn’t official, but Collins’ ’Cats effectively wrapped up a spot in the Big Dance.

The court-storming was one for the 2022-23 college basketball season time capsule.

“I think we saw last year — everybody saw — how fun this could be,” Collins said.

A year ago, with a similar flurry of league games on the early-December schedule, we got a glimpse of what was coming. Northwestern, for example, opened its season with a shocking win at Michigan State. It seemed like an outlier at the time, but the Wildcats would become the road warriors of the Big Ten.

Illinois went 0-2 early last December, part of an 0-3 league start for what never stopped being a maddeningly inconsistent, underachieving team. The Illini’s league opener is Saturday at Rutgers.

Heading into the season, Purdue, Michigan State and Illinois were ranked and Wisconsin, Maryland, Indiana were in “others receiving votes” territory. Now it’s just Purdue and the No. 24 Illini, with Ohio State, Michigan State and Nebraska also receiving votes. There isn’t a whole lot the league can hang its hat on.

And Northwestern? It’s like last season never even happened. No votes, no recognition, no respect for the Wildcats (5-1), who have beaten Dayton — not bad — but lost on a neutral floor to Mississippi State.

Another shot at big, bad Purdue could change the picture again.

“A lot of people kind of look at our school and our program and think that we’ve had only one or two good seasons, but we’re trying to solidify things,” said junior Brooks Barnhizer, second on the team in points (15.3) and first in rebounds (8.2) per game. “Everybody on this team is really trying to make people realize that Northwestern is, like, a good basketball program year in and year out now.”

AP Top 25

1. Purdue, 2. Arizona, 3. Marquette, 4. UConn, 5. Kansas, 6. Houston, 7. Duke, 8. Miami, 9. Baylor, 10. Tennessee, 11. Gonzaga, 12. Kentucky, 13. Florida Atlantic, 14. Texas A&M, 15. Creighton, 16. Texas, 17. North Carolina, 18. Villanova, 19. BYU, 20. Colorado State, 21. Mississippi State, 22. James Madison, 23. Alabama, 24. Illinois, 25. Oklahoma.

(Click here to see the poll in more complete list form.)

My ballot

1. Purdue, 2. Marquette, 3. Kansas, 4. Arizona, 5. UConn, 6. Houston, 7. Duke, 8. Baylor, 9. Miami, 10. Tennessee, 11. Kentucky, 12. Gonzaga, 13. Villanova, 14. Florida Atlantic, 15. Texas A&M, 16. BYU, 17. North Carolina, 18. Texas, 19. Mississippi State, 20. Alabama, 21. Auburn, 22. Memphis, 23. Illinois, 24. Colorado State, 25. Oklahoma.

(Click here and then on “all voters” to see each voter’s individual ballot.)