• Slug: Sports–Brophy Prep Football, 800 words.
• 3 photos available.

By Saleh Awward
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – After securing its 500th victory in team history, Brophy Prep is all in to bring home a football state title.

The sixth-ranked Broncos (10-2), who last won an Arizona high school championship in 2007, toppled Perry High last Friday and have their eyes set on the 6A trophy, but a heavyweight semifinal matchup this Friday against No. 3 Mountain View Toros (11-1) stands in the way of ending the title drought.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve even been in the state championship game. We were one play away last year, now we’re one game away,” Brophy coach Jason Jewell said after his team beat Perry, 31-13. “(It’s) gonna take a tough week of preparation. It takes luck, it takes some grit. I think our kids got it though.” Continue reading “Brophy Prep football eyes state title, but first must top Mountain View in 6A semifinals”

• Slug: Sports–Arizona State CFP, 740 words.
• Photo available.

By Fletcher Anderson
Cronkite News

PHOENIX— So nice, they did it twice.

Not only is that true of the Arizona State faithful’s field storming on Saturday, but it can also be said about the team’s past two weeks, as the Sun Devils beat consecutive ranked opponents and moved to 9-2 on the season, 6-2 in the conference, and most importantly, first place in the Big 12 with just one week to play in the regular season.

That resume was good enough to land the Sun Devils at No. 16 in the College Football Playoff rankings. However, they still sit five spots behind No. 11 Boise State (10-1), with a host of three-loss SEC teams in between them. Based on that, it feels like a far cry for the prospective Big 12 champion to leapfrog that high to grab the final first-round bye without a loss from the Broncos. Continue reading “Arizona State rises to No. 16 after back-to-back upsets as College Football Playoff hopes hang in balance”

• Slug: Sports–Arizona Wildcats Football, 650 words.
• Photo available.

By Caleb Campero
Cronkite News

LOS ANGELES – With just days left in the regular season, the Arizona Wildcats have accepted a difficult truth: Postseason football is not in their immediate future. That said, no matter what transpired during the season, one game on the calendar is always marked, and beating Arizona State Saturday could dramatically shift the Wildcats’ mood.

“Huge week for us,” Arizona coach Brent Brennan said. “Obviously the ASU game is such a special rivalry in college football and it means so much to everybody here, everybody at this university, everybody in Tucson and thousands in the state of Arizona.”

Arizona sits at 4-7 heading into the Territorial Cup matchup in Tucson and is in 13th place out of 16 teams in the Big 12. ASU, meanwhile, was initially picked to finish last in the conference but is first at 9-2. The Sun Devils are likely one win away from a Big 12 title game appearance in their inaugural season with the conference. Continue reading “Spoiler alert: Arizona sees Territorial Cup meeting with ASU as a potential culture builder”

• Slug: Sports–AI Gambling,  2,200 words.
• Photo illustration available.

By Doyal D’angelo
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – Sports gambling operators are using artificial intelligence to track and limit problem gambling exposure for their users, but the introduction of this technology and the use of personal data also raises questions about whether it could be used for the wrong reasons.

The sports gambling world is still largely unregulated, relying mostly on self-governance, which raises the possibility of a conflict of interest when it comes to responsible gambling.

Access to bettors’ data, behavior and habits opens the door to the potential for predatory behavior by sports-gambling operators. Continue reading “As sportsbooks implement AI to drive growth, identify problem gamblers, door opens to potential predatory behavior”

• Slug: Sports–ASU Hockey Sweep. 798 words.
• Photo available.

By Fletcher Anderson
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – Arizona State is fresh off one of the hottest weekends a school can have.

The football team continued its miraculous run in their opening year in the Big 12, beating No. 14 BYU 28-23 before a packed house at Mountain America Stadium, making good on coach Kenny Dillingham’s promise to “activate the Valley.”

He might have activated the rest of the athletic program in the process. Continue reading “ASU hockey’s stunning sweep of No. 1 Denver suggests ‘Activating the Valley’ extends beyond football”

• Slug: Sports–ASU Football Fine. 600 words.
• Photo available.

By Aya Abdeen
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – The Big 12 Conference slapped Arizona State with a $25,000 fine Monday for failing to keep fans from storming the field Saturday at Mountain America Stadium with a second remaining in a chaotic 28-23 victory over BYU Saturday.

The Sun Devils might have gotten off cheap.

The SEC imposed a combined total of $300,000 on the Oklahoma Sooners and Auburn Tigers because of similar celebrations following their upset wins Saturday. Continue reading “Bill comes due: ASU football fined $25,000 for failing to keep fans from storming field during BYU victory”

• Slug: Sports–ASU Dillingham Play-calling, 940 words.
• Photo available.

By Patrick Holleron
Cronkite News

TEMPE – The lasting image of Arizona State’s exhilarating` victory over No.14 Brigham Young might be the thousands of fans streaming onto the field at Mountain America Stadium to celebrate one of the biggest wins in the school’s history.

However, it was ASU coach Kenny Dillingham’s late-game clock management that remained the hot topic in the wake of the victory. Dillingham tried to bleed the final seconds off the clock with quarterback Sam Leavitt running backward on a couple of plays, then sailing a pass high into the air and out of bounds as the clock appeared to expire.

That started a premature celebration. Continue reading “‘It worked horribly’: ASU’s Kenny Dillingham takes accountability on late-game chaos vs. BYU”

• Slug: Sports–Sporttrade Sportsbook Arizona, 980 words.
• Photo available.

By Brenden Paul
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – Like many sports fans, Alex Kane struggled to understand the traditional moneyline odds system placed by sports bookmakers on events.

So he helped launch a new sportsbook modeled after a stock-trading platform that uses probability to simplify wagering.

“I never understood the odds,” said Kane, chief executive officer of Sporttrade, the Philadelphia-based sportsbook operation. “I built this whole thing because I wanted to create more of a Robinhood-type of experience, where you can just turn on the game, see the win probability, buy in at that win probability, and as the probability changes you can either make or lose money. And you can cash out at a fair market price at any point.” Continue reading “Sporttrade expands reach to Arizona with innovative stock market-style sportsbook”

• Slug: Sports–ASU BYU Chaos,  words.
• 3 photos available.

By Tucker Sennett
Cronkite News

TEMPE – Before the game even started, a lineman from the No. 14 BYU Cougars yelled, “It’s like a home game” as he ran to the locker room for the final team talk to a chorus of visiting fans chanting “BYU, BYU.”

“That was the craziest thing I’ve been a part of,” Arizona State wide receiver Jordyn Tyson said. “Their crowd getting loud, our crowd getting loud.”

Yet Saturday wasn’t about BYU’s storybook season getting back on track or the strong contingent of Cougars fans that filled a significant portion of Mountain America Stadium. It was about ASU and coach Kenny Dillingham achieving what he has sought to do with the program since arriving: Activate the Valley. A reporter asked him after the Sun Devils’ chaotic 28-23 win that put them one victory away from a Big 12 championship game berth whether he felt like his vision had come true. Continue reading “Chaos in Tempe: ASU hangs on to beat BYU, nears berth in Big 12 championship game”

• Slug: Sports–BYU Lassiter Homecoming, 900 words.
• Photo available.

By Jalen Weathers
Cronkite News

TEMPE – BYU football is on a mission to make history.

The No. 14 Cougars, perched atop the Big 12 standings with a 9-1 record, will be chasing double-digit wins Saturday in Tempe when they play conference rival No. 21 Arizona State. Each BYU game this season has been a statement of why the Cougars deserve to be in the conversation for the College Football Playoff.

But for BYU wide receiver Darius Lassiter, a co-captain who is second on the team in receiving yards (576), this weekend is about more than football. The Chandler native returns home for a high-stakes showdown in front of a sold-out crowd at Mountain America Stadium – a moment he has been waiting for. Continue reading “Chandler’s Darius Lassiter comes full circle for decisive BYU-Arizona State battle in Tempe”