• Slug: Sports-Mercury Draft Preview, 1,300 words.
• Photo available.

By Justin de Haas
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – The 2024 WNBA Draft is garnering plenty of excitement off the heels of record-high viewership from the 2024 Women’s NCAA Final Four, but the Phoenix Mercury will not participate in much of the action.

The NCAA Championship game April 7 drew 18.7 million viewers –nearly four million more viewers than the men’s championship – and the momentum keeps rolling Monday with the 2024 WNBA Draft.

The NCAA Tournament interest was fueled by the success of Iowa star Caitlin Clark, who is expected to go No. 1 to the Indiana Fever in today’s draft. But there were other generational stars in the tournament who also will be among the top players in today’s draft, including Stanford forward Cameron Brink, South Carolina center Kamilla Cardoso, Connecticut forward Aailiya Edwards and Louisiana State center Angel Reese. Continue reading “WNBA Draft Day arrives, but Phoenix Mercury’s splash already made in Kahleah Copper trade”

• Slug: Sports-WNBA Draft Impact, 1,250 words.
• Photo available.

By Tia Reid
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – Just eight days separate the 2024 NCAA Women’s Basketball National Championship game and Monday’s WNBA Draft, meaning players from teams who made it far into the tournament have had just a little over a week to reset and turn their attention to the next phase of their careers.

While the turnaround may be short, it can also have its benefits. Players who put up stellar performances in the later stages of March Madness can leave a lasting impression in the minds of WNBA general managers and executives. Draft stocks can shoot up and solidify based on the way a player performs in the final few games of their collegiate careers, drastically changing the outlook on their professional careers.

“I think body of work is always important because consistency is something that’s important, but I do think that there’s something to be said about meeting the moment,” ESPN basketball analyst Andraya Carter said. “And in a very high-pressure situation, performing well and doing exactly what your team needs for success when there are times where you could fold or there are times where the pressure could be too much.” Continue reading “How 2024 Women’s NCAA Tournament affected WNBA Draft stock for collegiate superstars”

• Slug: Sports-Saguaro Beach Volleyball, 850 words.
• Photo available.

By Brett Lapinski
Cronkite News

SCOTTSDALE – One year ago, Saguaro High School’s beach volleyball team broke the mold for the program with its first playoff appearance, which included a first-round upset over No. 5 seed Valley Christian before losing a 3-2 heartbreaker in the quarterfinals to Northwest Christian. With this year’s playoffs slated to begin Tuesday afternoon, the Sabercats are in prime position for a title run just one season after their first playoff berth.

Saguaro enters the 2024 AIA Beach Volleyball Division II State Team Championship playoffs as the No. 6 seed behind a program-best 10-2 regular season and will face No. 11 AZ College Prep (10-3) in the first round.

Even though the Sabercats ended last season on a high note, they entered this season with multiple question marks. The first question was how would the team perform under new coach David Mietzner, who replaced Tim Church in the offseason. Mietzner came in with plenty of indoor volleyball coaching experience, but he knew beach volleyball is not the same playing field. Luckily for him, he happened to be friends with the most decorated high school beach volleyball coach in Arizona: Tim McHale. McHale has amassed eight championships during his current tenure at Xavier College Prep, so Mietzner knew if there was anyone to help him dip his toes into the beach volleyball coaching world, it would be McHale. Continue reading “Saguaro beach volleyball rides stellar season into promising playoff run”

• Slug: Sports-Brewers Hometown Teammates, 1,300 words.
• 2 file photos available.

By David Bernauer
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – Familiarity may breed contempt, but not for pitchers JB Bukauskas and Taylor Clarke. They’ve found that, when entering a new situation for the first time, perhaps it’s better to have someone you know on your side.

Bukauskas and Clarke both hail from the same hometown, Ashburn, Virginia, and the two are both pitchers within the Milwaukee Brewers organization. The Brewers will look to them among others as they retool their pitching staff following the trade of 2021 NL Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes and a season-ending injury to Brandon Woodruff.

While Ashburn may be a typical Washington D.C. suburb, the town of about 45,000 people isn’t historically a baseball hotbed. Continue reading “Reunited: From Ashburn to Arizona to Milwaukee, pitchers JB Bukauskas and Taylor Clarke together again”

• Slug: Sports-Coyotes Outside Noise, 950 words.
• 2 photos available.

By Sean Brennan
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – Shortly after Wednesday’s overtime win over the Vancouver Canucks, Arizona Coyotes players celebrated in the visitors’ dressing room in the bowels of Rogers Arena.

Forward Liam O’Brien handed a football meant to symbolize a “game ball” given to the squad’s best player that night to rookie forward Logan Cooley, who scored the game-winning goal, as cheers from his teammates filled the room. Amid the endless saga of recent relocation rumors, the latest of which came Wednesday and hinted at the franchise potentially relocating to Salt Lake City, none of it seemed to matter during that very moment.

While much of the sports world was riveted by rampant speculation that this might be the team’s final season in Arizona, the players seemed unfazed by the off-ice drama. After all, they’d just taken the Canucks, one of the NHL’s elite teams this season, to overtime before Cooley lit the lamp with just over a minute left in the frame to cement a 4-3 victory. Continue reading “Blocking the noise: Arizona Coyotes aim to limit outside distractions, finish season strong”

• Slug: Sports-Pat’s Run, 800 words.
• 3 photos available.

By Hannah Pedeferri
Cronkite News

TEMPE – In what has become an April ritual and a highlight of the Valley’s sports scene, approximately 30,000 people will flood the streets around Arizona State’s Tempe campus Saturday morning to participate in the 20th annual Pat’s Run, honoring fallen hero Pat Tillman.

As of Friday morning, more than 24,000 people had registered for the race, while more than 4,000 people signed up to participate virtually.

The 4.2-mile run was first held in 2005 by friends and family who wanted to honor the legacy of Tillman, a linebacker for Arizona State (and later an Arizona Cardinals safety for four seasons) who wore No. 42 for the Sun Devils while leading ASU to the Rose Bowl in 1997. Continue reading “‘We’re here because Pat lived’: Tempe gears up for 20th annual Pat’s Run, in honor of Pat Tillman”

• Slug: Sports-ASU Running Backs, 850 words.
• 3 photos available.

By Justin de Haas
Cronkite News

TEMPE – “Skattebo, Skatte-can, Skatte-touchdown!”

Those were the words of Fox Sports college football play-by-play announcer Tim Brando when Arizona State running back Cam Skattebo broke through two missed tackles to scamper in for a 52-yard touchdown against USC last season.

That was a breakout moment for Skattebo, who finished the season as the team’s leading rusher with 783 rushing yards and the third-most receiving yards (286). In a rebuilding 3-9 season, the performances from the ASU running back room was a silver lining amid the struggles. Continue reading “‘There ain’t no soft-baked cookies’: Arizona State taps transfer portal with running backs primed to reverse backslide”

• Slug: Sports-Coyotes Arena Potential Move. 1,300 words.
• Photo available

By Zach Mott
Cronkite News

TEMPE – The Arizona Coyotes have had a wild month. Between zeroing in on yet another potential place in the Valley to call home and news that the NHL has reportedly dropped a contingency plan in case the team is relocated to Salt Lake City – along with the owner of the Utah Jazz asking fans on social media for possible team names should SLC lure the ‘Yotes – there has been no shortage of off-the-ice drama.

Now, Coyotes fans will have to wait until June 27 to see if and where the team’s future exists.

The Coyotes are focused on a 110-acre piece of land next to the Desert Ridge Marketplace in north Phoenix, right off Loop 101 and Scottsdale Road, a parcel of desert that was approved for auction on March 14. An already popular area will become more popular with the addition of the arena and the entertainment district in the surrounding areas, according to Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo.

But the interest from business executives and politicians in Utah could prompt the franchise to once again pull up stakes and move to what it considers greener pastures. In 1996, the Winnipeg Jets moved to the Valley and rebranded as the Phoenix Coyotes, before changing the name in 2014 to the Arizona Coyotes.

Continue reading “Despite auction date set, roadblocks lie ahead in Arizona Coyotes’ trip to new arena as Salt Lake City makes overtures”

• Slug: Sports-Ra’Shaad Samples Oregon. 500 words.
• Photo available.

By Timothy Russell
Cronkite News

TEMPE – The heralded Texas-to-Tempe football pipeline took a rough detour this week.

Ra’Shaad Samples, Arizona State’s wide receivers coach and one of the most dynamic recruiters in the country, has left the Sun Devils for the University of Oregon, where he will be the Ducks’ running backs coach and assistant head coach. The news comes just four months after Samples signed an extension with ASU that was meant to keep him in the Valley through the 2025 season.

Samples, 29, was also ASU’s passing game coordinator. Before he joined the Sun Devils, his resume was already stacked, as he worked his way up to an assistant coach at SMU after three years with the team from 2019-2021. Samples had also been TCU’s assistant head coach and running backs coach in 2021 before joining the Los Angeles Rams.

The loss of Samples comes smack in the middle of ASU’s spring practices, tossing yet another hurdle at a team searching for ways to jump-start its stagnant program.

“You lose your wide receiver coach at the time, but that’s the nature of adversity,” Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham said Tuesday.

Continue reading “Ra’Shaad Samples, ASU’s coveted wide receivers coach, leaves for new role with Oregon Ducks”

• Slug: Sports-HBCU Showcase. 760 words.
• Photo available.

By Jaden Batiest
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – Rick Mahorn, who played 18 seasons in the NBA and won a league championship with the 1988-89 Detroit Pistons, established his college basketball roots at Hampton University, a Historically Black College and University in Hampton, Virginia.

So Mahorn knows better than most about the progress of HBCU sports over decades, and he saw it on display from the sidelines Sunday when he was one of two NBA legends coaching some of the best HBCU basketball players in the country at the third annual HBCU All-Star Game at Grand Canyon University’s Global Credit Union Arena.

Ben Wallace – also a former Piston who played college basketball at another HBCU, Virginia Union University – coached the opposing All-Star team.

There was “nothing like this,” Mahorn said, when he starred at Hampton from 1976-1980. Thanks to the vision of Travis Williams, the CEO and founder of the HBCU All-Star Game, “this wouldn’t be possible,” Mahorn added.

Continue reading “HBCU All-Star Game shines spotlight on Black excellence during Final Four weekend”

• Slug: Sports-Final Four Slam Dunk Update, 830 words.
• 3 photos available (thumbnails, captions below).

By Noah Maltzman
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – Nicknamed “Young Skywalker,” Grand Canyon star Gabe McGlothan played a significant role in his team’s 30-win season and stuffed the stat sheet in the 12th-seeded Lopes’ first-round NCAA Tournament upset over the fifth-seeded Saint Mary’s Gaels.

He posted a double-double in that game, Grand Canyon’s first NCAA Tournament victory ever, finishing with 12 points, 11 rebounds, three steals and three blocks.

And McGlothan put on another March Madness show to remember in front of his home crowd during last Thursday’s 35th annual State Farm College Dunk & 3-Point Championships at Global Credit Union Arena. Continue reading “Sky-high action, sharpshooting tips off Final Four weekend at GCU’s Global Credit Union Arena”

• Slug: Sports-UConn Men Women Basketball, 800 words.
• Photo available (thumbnail, caption below).

By Brevan Branscum
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – As the UConn men’s basketball team prepares to take on Alabama in the NCAA Division I Men’s Final Four in Glendale Saturday, there’s a chance to make history. The Huskies are two wins away from becoming the seventh program ever to win back-to-back NCAA championships, and the first since Florida did it in 2006 and 2007.

However, with the UConn women’s basketball team also playing in the Women’s Final Four in Cleveland, UConn basketball has a chance to enter much more illustrious territory with four combined wins this weekend.

If both the men’s and women’s teams win their respective NCAA tournaments, it would be just the third time in history that one school wins both championships in the same year. Continue reading “Nothing short of madness: UConn basketball seeks rare feat in Men’s and Women’s Final Fours”

• Slug: Sports-Ann Meyers Drysdale, 1,500 words.
• Photo available (thumbnail, caption below).

By Jaden Batiest
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – Whenever Caitlin Clark sinks a smooth jump shot, Ann Meyers Drysdale probably smiles. When Angel Reese forces a turnover, Meyers Drysdale likely nods in approval. When JuJu Watkins attacks the rim in the blink of an eye, Meyers Drysdale must feel like offering a fist bump.

Five decades might separate Meyers Drysdale from today’s female college basketball players, but a true baller’s heart always beats slightly faster this time of the year.

March Madness is upon us, and the excitement surrounding women’s basketball is real. Rising stars like Clark, Reese and Watkins are receiving extensive coverage. The level of attention compared to the era when Meyers was on the court illustrates the monumental progress women’s basketball has made. Continue reading “‘She was this diamond’: Before women’s Final Four gems, Ann Meyers Drysdale lit up the court”