South Carolina transfer Nick Pringle is set to play for his third SEC team in 2025-26. The veteran forward has committed to Arkansas out of the NCAA transfer portal, On3 has learned.
Pringle spent the last year with the Gamecocks after transferring in from Alabama. He had previously spent two seasons with Alabama after transferring in from Wofford.
The 6-foot-10 veteran seemed to find his footing during the 2024-25 season for the Gamecocks. He averaged career highs in scoring and rebounding, posting 9.5 points and 6.3 rebounds per game.
He also managed to record 1.1 assists, 0.5 steals and 0.4 blocks per game. He filled up the stat sheet and was capable of a double-double at times.
During the last year, Nick Pringle recorded three double-doubles. He had five games with double-figure rebounds.
Though he had his most productive year by the numbers, it wasn’t necessarily Pringle’s most efficient year. The two-team SEC standout recorded his lowest field goal percentage of his career, checking in at 57.2%.
Still, it’s a quality addition for John Calipari. And the experienced coach should know how to use a guy like Nick Pringle. He’ll also help make up for a recent departure.
Adou Theiro declares for 2025 NBA Draft
While Nick Pringle is on his way in, Adou Thiero is on his way out. On Tuesday, Thiero announced he is declaring for the 2025 NBA Draft. Along with his announcement, Thiero posted a heartfelt statement on social media.
“I want to start by giving all glory to God for blessing me with the talent, strength, and opportunities to get to this point,” Thiero said. “This decision comes after much thought and reflection, and I am incredibly grateful for the experiences I’ve had throughout my journey. I want to extend a heartfelt thank you to the University of Arkansas, Coach Cal, staff, GA’s, manager’s, teammates, fans, and all of Razorback Nation for their unwavering support and belief in me. The memories we’ve created and the lessons I’ve learned here will always hold a special place in my heart.
“I want to also thank my family & friends for being there for me and supporting me every step of the way. Especially my mom and dad with how much they have sacrificed to put my siblings and I in better positions to be successful. After a lot of hardwork, dedication, and preparation I am ready to take the next step in my career, and I can’t wait to see where this journey leads. With that being said, I’d like to announce I am officially declaring for the 2025 NBA Draft!”
Thiero followed head coach John Calipari to Arkansas last offseason after spending the first two seasons of his collegiate career at Kentucky. In his lone campaign in Fayetteville, Thiero averaged 15.1 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game while shooting 54.5% from the field and 25.6% from beyond the arc.
On3’s Grant Grubbs also contributed to this report.
Duke superstar Cooper Flagg, the projected No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, declared for the draft on Monday. Flagg leaves college basketball as one of the best one-and-done players of the modern era.
One of the key stay-or-go decisions Duke would be monitoring this offseason was guard Caleb Foster. The former four-star recruit from the 2023 recruiting cycle entered the 2024-25 season as a starter before being replaced by Sion James in the starting lineup.
Foster announced last week that he will be returning to school for the upcoming 2025-26 season.
This news comes just days after star freshman Kon Knueppel officially declared for the 2025 NBA Draft. Knueppel was the first Blue Devils player to announce his draft decision. Days after Knueppel announced his intention to enter the draft, star guard Tyrese Proctor also declared for the NBA Draft.
Duke has yet to make an addition via the transfer portal, but that is expected to change shortly. All eyes now turn to Khaman Maluach to declare for the 2025 NBA Draft before the April 26 deadline.
Heading into Year 4 of the Jon Scheyer era, Duke faces plenty of questions. With Flagg, Knueppel, and Maluach all likely heading to the NBA, the Blue Devils could be looking at a major overhaul of their starting lineup again. James has exhausted his eligibility, and Proctor will be turning pro.
What’s next for Duke after Final Four loss? Three massive storylines for Jon Scheyer’s busy offseason
Cameron Salerno
The other name who will have to decide their future with the program is Isaiah Evans. Evans, a former five-star recruit who primarily came off the bench, averaged 7.0 points.
CBS Sports is tracking the status of the Duke roster and recruiting class in real time. Here’s where every current Duke player and commit currently stand.
Duke players returning for the 2025-26 season
Caleb Foster | G | Soph.
GP: 38 | PPG: 4.9 | RPG: 1.7 | APG: 1.4
Foster was a starter entering last season but was replaced in the lineup by James. The former highly touted recruit from the 2023 recruiting cycle averaged just 14 minutes per game after playing over 25 minutes as a freshman. Foster will be returning to Duke for his junior year.
Duke players yet to announce future plans
Maliq Brown | F | Jr.
GP: 26 | PPG: 2.5 | RPG: 3.7 | APG: 1.5
His stats don’t justify how valuable Brown was this past season. Brown was limited to just 26 games due to a shoulder injury but was one of Duke’s best defenders when he saw the court. Brown was a key addition to Duke’s portal class last spring.
Isaiah Evans | G/F | Fr.
GP: 36 | PPG: 6.8 | RPG: 1.1 | APG: 0.5
Evans has been compared to former standout forward Brandon Ingram. The former star recruit from the 2024 recruiting cycle saw the floor sparingly in his freshman season and averaged just 13.7 minutes. Evans could return to Duke, declare the NBA Draft as a potential late first-round pick, or explore his options in the transfer portal.
Ranking the best one-and-done college basketball players of the modern era
Cameron Salerno
Khaman Maluach | C | Fr.
GP: 39 | PPG: 8.6 | RPG: 6.6 | APG: 0.5
Maluach should be a lottery pick when it’s all said and done. He is a fantastic finisher around the rim, and his size makes him tough to score on down low. He has one of the highest ceilings of any player in the 2025 NBA Draft class.
Patrick Ngongba II | C | Fr.
GP: 30 | PPG: 3.9 | RPG: 2.7 | APG: 0.8
The former four-star recruit averaged 10.6 minutes per game and made 30 appearances for the Blue Devils. If Ngongba returns to Duke, his role should grow significantly in Year 2.
Darren Harris | G/F | Fr.
GP: 21 | PPG: 2.0 | RPG: 1.1 | APG: 0.3
Harris was another member of Duke’s star-studded 2024 recruiting class. Harris logged just 21 appearances this past season. He is a candidate for a larger role in the second season of his college career.
Duke players not returning in 2025-26
Cooper Flagg (Declared for the NBA Draft)
GP: 37 | PPG: 19.2 | RPG: 7.5 | APG: 4.2
Flagg is officially off to the NBA. The biggest question mark surrounding Flagg coming into the season was his offense, and he continued to improve throughout the year. Flagg is a no-brainer No. 1 overall draft pick, and the team that wins the lottery next month should celebrate for weeks.
Kon Knueppel (Declared for the NBA Draft)
GP: 39 | PPG: 14.4 | RPG: 4.0 | APG: 2.7
Knueppel would be the best pro prospect on almost every team in the country … outside of the school he committed to play for. Knueppel is a potential top-10 pick, and his 3-point shooting is his biggest strength. Knueppel shot 40.6% from beyond the 3-point line. Knueppel officially declared for the NBA Draft.
Sion James (Out of eligibility)
GP: 39 | PPG: 8.6 | RPG: 4.2 | APG: 2.9
The former Tulane standout played just one season with Duke and certainly left his mark on the program. James connected on 41.3% of his 3-pointers and was one of the best on-ball defenders on the team.
Mason Gillis (Out of eligibility)
GP: 37 | PPG: 4.1 | RPG: 2.6 | APG: 0.8
Gillis transferred to Duke last offseason after spending the first four seasons of his career at Purdue. Gillis joined elite company as one of just a handful of college basketball players to reach the Final Four with two different programs.
Tyrese Proctor (Declared for the NBA Draft)
GP: 38 | PPG: 12.4 | RPG: 3.0 | APG: 2.2
Proctor had one the most intriguing stay-or-go decisions and elected to enter the NBA draft. Proctor is likely a second-round pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.
Duke’s incoming recruiting class
Duke’s 2025 recruiting class is loaded. The Blue Devils finished with the top-ranked recruiting class last cycle, and this upcoming class is also ranked No. 1 overall by 247Sports. The headliner of this class is five-star forward Cameron Boozer, the son of Duke and NBA legend Carlos Boozer. Cameron’s brother, Cayden Boozer, is also a member of this upcoming recruiting class.
No. 3 Cameron Boozer
Boozer is a projected top-three pick in the 2026 NBA Draft and is one of the most accomplished players in high school basketball. Not many programs have the luxury of replacing the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA Draft with another stud forward with future NBA Draft pedigree of their own, but the Blue Devils are on that shortlist.
No. 15 Nikolas Khamenia
The five-star forward out of Studio City, Calif., was a McDonald’s All-American selection. He committed to Duke over UCLA, Arizona, North Carolina and Gonzaga, among others.
No. 24 Cayden Boozer
The brother of Cameron Boozer is a fantastic prospect in his own right. Boozer, the No. 24 overall player in the 2025 recruiting class by 247Sports, committed to Duke over Miami. Boozer should provide Duke with valuable guard depth next season.
Duke recruits no longer committed
No. 14 Shelton Henderson
The five-star forward out of Bellaire, Texas, has great size for the forward position with a 6-10 wingspan. It was reported on Thursday that Henderson will be seeking his release from his NLI.
A new study helps explain why Americans continue to trust local news, even as their trust in national media, government and other institutions is falling.
The authors assert that people use “a news outlet’s local orientation as a shortcut to assess its credibility.” If a news source appears local, people are inclined to trust it.
Brier Dudley’s SAVE THE FREE PRESS columns are made available for free to the public and to other newspapers for their use — to build awareness of the local journalism crisis and potential solutions. The entire body of work is viewable here: st.news/SavetheFreePress
That should be encouraging for those wanting to sustain and regrow local journalism, and to local news outlets trying to survive two decades of market disruption.
It also highlights the importance of local outlets maintaining that trust with quality and standards, and differentiating themselves from others trying to freeload on this special relationship with local residents.
Co-author Erik Peterson, an assistant professor of political science at Rice University in Houston, said it’s a good-news, bad-news story.
Like other studies, this one affirms that people still see local journalism as a beacon of truth in the hailstorm of information they’re pelted with nowadays. That’s the good news.
The bad news is that weasels are exploiting this trust.
The study didn’t say weasels — that’s my word — and instead described how political operators create local publications, known as “pink slime,” to “disseminate slanted content and disinformation through the coverage of seemingly local organizations.”
The study also found that some new, online outlets doing real journalism are failing to capture this trust because their names don’t indicate a local connection.
“I think what we’re trying to understand is what that means in an increasingly fragmented media landscape that has a mix of different types of news providers, especially online … and others that are purposely trying to mimic established local media, even though they have a very different operating practice,” Peterson said.
Other authors are Joshua P. Darr at Syracuse University, Maxwell B. Allamong at Duke University and Michael Henderson at Louisiana State University.
The study, titled “Can Americans’ trust in local news be trusted? The emergence, sources and implications of the local news trust advantage,” was published March 29 by the American Journal of Political Science.
Another takeaway is the need for more education in media literacy.
The researchers found that people’s reliance on “local” as a handy signal that a news source is trustworthy “impedes their ability to discern credible political information sources.”
They found “fictional local news sources associated with a respondent’s community garner more trust than established newspapers from other states,” the study states.
This phenomenon is exacerbated by the current political situation, with people deeply polarized and distrustful of institutions like national media.
But spurning national outlets isn’t necessarily leading people to better news sources. Simply relying on cues that a news source is local and “not part of the generally disliked national media can lead them astray” given how easy it is to fake a local presence online, the study states.
It doesn’t even go into the recent scourge of AI-generated pseudo-local news newsletters.
As documented by NiemanLab and others, one of these operations is using AI to generate “local news” newsletters in more than 300 communities in 47 states with no actual, local journalism. Others have been caught stealing the stories and identities of actual reporters to produce what we might call pink spam.
The challenge for actual, local news outlets is to help people understand and appreciate the difference.
I fear that some industry trends are going the opposite direction, making it harder for the public and potentially eroding the trust people have in local news.
Industry cutbacks and consolidation have led most newspapers to reduce their physical presence. Storefronts and headquarters buildings were sold, fewer print editions are published and some newspapers are now all digital.
As they try to survive on nickels and dimes online, instead of dollars they used to make offline, local outlets by necessity do less original reporting and may publish more national stories and clickbait.
Big newspaper chains are also exploiting the remaining trust people have in local outlets, by operating “ghost newspapers” with few if any local reporters. They are filling local papers and digital sites with material produced and reported elsewhere, blurring the line with pseudo-local news providers.
Gannett and Lee Enterprises, two of the largest chains, are going further with AI. Both are aiming to use the technology to generate “local content” to feed their emaciated local papers.
Lee in December announced an agreement to use Amazon technology platforms, including Amazon’s large language models, for “multimodal content generation.”
In job listings, Gannett says its AI initiative will free up reporters “to do the irreplaceable work of interviewing, beat development and watchdogging the powerful.”
That would be nice but I wonder how much time Gannett’s remaining local reporters have to dig deep. The company cut its workforce by about half over the last five years.
Peterson said it’s not yet clear how such business practices will affect the trust people automatically place in local news.
“Right now, at this moment, I think there’s a lot of kind of ‘riding off’ the reputations that sources have established in the past and the way that they’ve been embedded in communities for many years,” he said. “And I think it’s an open question of how long that can sustain itself if there’s not really content to back it up.”
Brier Dudley on Twitter: @BrierDudley is editor of The Seattle Times Save the Free Press Initiative. Its weekly newsletter: https://st.news/FreePressNewsletter. Reach him at bdudley@seattletimes.com.
It was standing room-only in a small city hall building in Fort Madison, Iowa, where constituents overflowed out onto the sidewalk for a chance to talk with Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, pressing him on their concerns with the Trump administration’s deportation operation, the administration’s tariff policy, and government overreach.
Many in the audience expressed concerns over the Trump administration’s refusal to comply with court orders to facilitate the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia from a prison in El Salvador, arguing Grassley and Congress haven’t adequately provided checks and balances on the Trump administration, allowing him to defy court orders.
“You going to bring that guy back from El Salvador?” an audience member shouted.
Sen. Chuck Grassley attends a town hall meeting in Lee County, Iowa, April 15, 2025.
ABC News
“That’s not a power of Congress,” Grassley responded.
“El Salvador is an independent country … The president of that country is not subject to our U.S. Supreme Court,” he added later.
You could hear a loud groan from a woman before a man yelled, “I’m pissed!”
Grassley is among a handful of Republican members of Congress to hold town halls during its spring recess. GOP leadership has advised their members to avoid in-person town halls after several members were grilled in their home districts earlier this year.
At Grassley’s town hall, another audience member asked, “We would like to know what you, as the people, the Congress, who are supposed to rein in this dictator, what are you going to do about these people who have been sentenced to life imprisonment in a foreign country with no due process?”
Before Grassley could answer, other members of the audience shouted about the lack of due process.
A person talks to Sen. Chuck Grassley at a town hall meeting in Lee County, Iowa, April 15, 2025.
ABC News
“Trump’s not obeying the Supreme Court. He just ignores them!”
“You’re allowing it to happen!”
During a gaggle with reporters after the town hall wrapped, Grassley again attempted to argue that the administration isn’t “responsible” for bringing Garcia back to the U.S. if El Salvador refuses to comply.
One reporter asked, “Do you have concerns that Donald Trump is inching toward a constitutional crisis, or has already reached one when he chooses not to follow the court orders to make plans for his return?”
“Well, it’s not a question of the president following the court order. It’s a question of is the president of El Salvador going to do what our Supreme Court wants done? And obviously our Supreme Court doesn’t have any control over him, and he says he’s not going to return him,” Grassley said. “So if there’s a constitutional crisis, it’s not being caused by President Trump, it’s being caused by the president of El Salvador.”
“I would expect our president to act in good faith, and I think our president will do that, of making those requests of the president of El Salvador, but whether or not, but how the president of El Salvador responds would be up to that president of El Salvador,” he added.
During the town hall, members made it known to Grassley that they believed there was more he could be doing to address their concerns about Trump and his actions since taking office.
“Are you proud of voting for Trump, what he’s doing in office? Are you proud of everything he’s doing right here?” one asked.
“There’s no president I agree with 100 percent,” Grassley replied.
Sen. Chuck Grassley attends a town hall meeting in Lee County, Iowa, April 15, 2025.
ABC News
“I didn’t say that — I said are you proud he’s in,” the constituent replied. Grassley moved to another part of the room to answer a different question.
Grassley also attempted to quell concerns from constituents about the impact farmers in the state could experience from Trump’s tariff policies.
“My son has cattle, yes, and he works at a regular job,” a woman told Grassley. “And so I just wonder how the tariffs will affect someone like him?”
“It’s too early to make a judgment if what I’m going to say will happen,” Grassley replied, saying there could be benefits and drawbacks.
“It could also be negative, from the standpoint that if people don’t negotiate because there’s a lot more countries than the 100 that have so far come to the table … When you put something negative like a tariff on some country, they seem to retaliate against agricultural issues.”
In soccer, the psychological aspect is extremely important for footballers, especially when it comes to teams like Real Madrid. Los Merengues tend to be extremely focused on what they do, and for this reason, it’s very difficult to take them out of the game. This is the same thing that Raúl Asencio has shown despite the insults he received at Alavés’s stadium.
The match had to be stopped due to death threats against the Merengue defender for his involvement in a very sensitive case. However, the player appeared extremely calm and, above all, laughed at what was being said to him. This, in addition to showing a level of confidence rarely seen in footballers, speaks to his professionalism.
He knows perfectly well what his involvement in this case is and that all these criticisms and, above all, insults are meaningless. For this reason, he focuses solely on performing on the field, and this is what has allowed him to be essential.
He Doesn’t Give It Importance
While it is something extremely difficult to face being a footballer of this level, the reality is that it doesn’t seem to weigh on him much. He is a player who has a very clear mindset despite being very young, and this could take him very far.
The insults have been quite recurrent in the stadiums with the intention of taking him out of the game and thus gaining an advantage for the rivals. Nevertheless, the player has kept a cool head to avoid falling into these provocations, as we have seen in this match.
| Real Madrid Confidencial
The match against Alavés was won despite the difficulties encountered during the game. Another demonstration that Real Madrid is 100% focused on continuing to compete as much as possible without getting desperate.
A Winning Mentality
Something we can talk about that characterizes this player is that he seems to have a very serious mindset focused on his goals. This could be the winning mentality that Real Madrid seeks in its players and that could establish him in the first team for many years.
El Aston Villa recibirá esta noche al PSG en el Villa Park para disputar la vuelta de los cuartos de final de Champions League. A pesar del 3-1 a favor de los parisinos en el partido de ida, el equipo de Unai Emery optó por dejar en el banquillo a una pieza clave en el ataque: Marco Asensio, ex delantero del Real Madrid.
¿Por qué no juega Marco Asensio con Aston Villa hoy vs. PSG?
Luego de jugar los 90 minutos en la victoria 3-0 de los de Birmingham frente al Southampton el pasado fin de semana, Marco Asensio será suplente frente al PSG esta noche. ¿El Motivo? Podría ser su reciente rendimiento. Y es que aunque en su último encuentro tuvo dos penales, falló los dos. Aun así, cabe destacar que en el juego de ida en París tampoco salió de titular.
Asensio lleva 8 goles en 13 partidos con los Villanos. (Reuters/Andrew Couldridge)
Horario y cómo ver el partido entre Aston Villa y PSG de esta noche
El partido se jugará este martes 15 de abril a las 3 PM ET (1 PM CDMX) en el Villa Park. Mientras que en México el encuentro será transmitido por la señal de Max, en Estados Unidos será por Paramount+ y ViX Premium.
MUNICH, GERMANY – APRIL 07: Vincent Kompany, Head Coach of Bayern Munich, talks during a press conference ahead of their UEFA Champions League 2024/25 quarter final first leg match at Saebener Strasse training ground on April 07, 2025 in Munich, Germany. (Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)
Bayern Munich coach Vincent Kompany is expecting a ‘special night’ at San Siro in the Champions League quarter-final, calling it ‘one of the top five stadiums’ in the world. ‘We have to prepare’ for different Inter approaches.
It kicks off at San Siro on Wednesday at 20.00 UK time (19.00 GMT).
The Nerazzurri won the first leg 2-1 in Munich with goals from Lautaro Martinez and Davide Frattesi, while Thomas Muller had come off the bench to score a temporary equaliser.
It means Bayern have a mountain to climb in order to reach the Champions League semi-finals, especially against a team that has conceded only three goals in the whole tournament.
“There are special nights where it doesn’t take much to decide a match, which is what happened in the first leg, so we mustn’t forget those chances we could’ve made more of and could have again,” said Kompany in his press conference.
“We’ve got to start out aware that details can make the difference, whether you are defending or putting the ball in the net. This is the key to winning the game. We want to make our fans happy.”
This is a clash between two European giants who both have the ambition of winning the Champions League.
“I can already feel the atmosphere and we’re only in the press room,” smiled the coach.
“At this moment, Inter are the best team in Italy, and they are facing the best team in Germany. This is what the results say, and our sensations are fantastic, because there are few stadiums bigger than this one.
“It is an exceptional match in an exceptional atmosphere, and we will do our best. Nothing will be easy, it could even be decided at the last minute, or in extra time.
“Both sides have a lot of international experience, so it will be decisive and important.”
MUNICH, GERMANY – APRIL 08: Vincent Kompany, Head Coach of Bayern Munich, looks on prior to the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 Quarter Final First Leg match between FC Bayern München and FC Internazionale Milano at Fussball Arena Muenchen on April 08, 2025 in Munich, Germany. (Photo by Alex Grimm/Getty Images)
Inter and Milan are trying to get San Siro knocked down to build a new arena, but many are eager to keep the existing structure, which is iconic.
“It is one of the top five stadiums with Nou Camp, Wembley, the Allianz for sure. It’s a special stadium, a special atmosphere, but the only advantage for Bayern Munich is we have to expect the players get used to it and become better in these moments,” noted Kompany.
“It is not something necessarily negative, players can have a special memory of these places as well.”
Former Napoli defender Kim Min-jae received a great deal of criticism after his recent performances.
“I have been very clear, it’s not just about one player,” warned Kompany.
“We’ve had a few setbacks with players missing and at some point the squad was quite small, but we have the energy to still be positive, create chances, try to be better than the opponent even in big games.
“The last thing I want to do is to start turning on individuals for my team. If there is something I need to say to a player, I will say it face to face, make sure the team learns from it too.
“We do not have the luxury at this moment to start isolating people. I know sometimes this is a sport where a lot of people have fun in taking that side of it, but the team I have is the team I have, and I believe in all of them.”
epa12019014 Head coach Vincent Kompany of Munich reacts during the UEFA Champions League quarter final 1st leg between FC Bayern Munich and Inter Milan in Munich, Germany, 08 April 2025. EPA-EFE/ANNA SZILAGYI
Manuel Neuer is still on the absentee list with Jamal Musiala, Dayot Upamecano, Hiroki Ito and Alphonso Davies, but Kingsley Coman and Aleksandar Pavlovic return after missing the first leg.
“We have to take into account that every minute could be decisive, so it doesn’t matter if Gnabry, Sané, Coman or Olise start, the important thing is that they are able to be decisive. I will choose tomorrow morning and I don’t think it will be a problem.”
Conceding an early goal against Inter in the second leg could be disastrous, but Kompany continues to think positive.
“I don’t think the first leg was bad, we lost 2-1, but must now focus on winning the next match. It could have a different development, we need a certain balance between courage and control.”
Kompany expects unpredictable Inter
MUNICH, GERMANY – APRIL 08: Vincent Kompany, Head Coach of Bayern Munich, shakes hands with Simone Inzaghi, Head Coach of FC Internazionale, prior to the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 Quarter Final First Leg match between FC Bayern München and FC Internazionale Milano at Fussball Arena Muenchen on April 08, 2025 in Munich, Germany. (Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)
What does Kompany expect from Inter tomorrow, considering they have a 2-1 advantage?
“You’d have to ask Inzaghi. The biggest thing for us will be the kind of press that Inter adopt. If there is a high press and they decide to be aggressive, we will have to prepare for that, if they are compact and play on the counter, then we have to prepare for that as well.
“They are a team with a tremendous amount of quality. In those games, you have to trust that the players make the right decisions in the right moments.
“People keep talking about Inter’s defensive qualities, but they have a lot of quality in attack too. I don’t think the second leg will be the same as the first, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t feel positive. We don’t have to score 2, 3, or 4, we just have to win.”
Marcus Thuram impressed in the Bundesliga, but has gone from strength to strength at Inter.
“I watched many Inter games and Marcus makes the difference, can create situations out of nothing, force errors out of his opponents. The important thing now is for him not to doubt himself,” replied Kompany.
“I think tomorrow he will try to show his quality, but naturally I hope he doesn’t manage it.”
Towards the end of the press conference, Kompany became frustrated with the questions that the German media were posing to him, especially about his own future being at stake.
“You always talk about what if we don’t win, not what if we win. That’s the main mindset, you don’t achieve anything in these games if you think about not winning. I don’t think you can achieve anything at this level with that mindset.
“It is the middle of April, we are one step away from the Champions League semi-final, we are three games away from winning the Bundesliga, so if that’s not opportunity, then what is it?”
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Former Cavs general manager David Griffin, the architect of Cleveland’s 2016 championship roster, was fired by the New Orleans Pelicans on Monday morning.
“This was a difficult decision, but one that I feel is necessary at this time to bring a fresh approach to our front office and build a culture that will deliver sustainable success, on and off the court,” said Pelicans Governor Gayle Benson. I am committed to hiring the right person to lead our basketball operations department and deliver an NBA Championship to our city. That is what our fans deserve.”
The former Inter Milan and Bayern Munich legend recently chimed in on who he believes will advance between his former teams in the Champions League quarter-finals. Inter Milan currently has a 2-1 aggregate score lead heading back to the San Siro, but like many Bayern fans, Matthäus believes Die Roten will advance.
“I strongly believe that Bayern will advance. San Siro has a special power, but for Bayern, playing against the opposing fans has always been a special motivation. They showed last week in Munich that they were the better team. Their shortcomings, like against Dortmund, was their inability to capitalize on chances. If they do that, FC Bayern can turn a one-goal deficit around at any point,” Matthäus told SkySportDE via @iMiaSanMia.
Matthäus pretty much hits in dead on. Bayern Munich were the better team in the first leg in Munich but temporary lapses in finishing or positioning costed Bayern greatly. If Bayern can make some tweaks, there is no reason to think they can’t overcome a one-goal deficit.
It might take extra-time, but if Bayern can score first, anything can happen. Here’s hoping for a special night in Milan on Wednesday.
The New Orleans Pelicans have fired executive vice president David Griffin, the team announced Monday.
Griffin spent the past six seasons as the head of basketball operations for the Pelicans. New Orleans went 209-263 under Griffin’s leadership, with two postseason appearances during that span.
Hall of Famer Joe Dumars is a serious front-runner to become the lead basketball executive with the New Orleans Pelicans, sources told ESPN. The 2003 executive of the year and 2004 champion with the Detroit Pistons is a Louisiana native. Dumars is currently the NBA’s executive vice president, head of basketball operations. The Pelicans and Dumars are expected to engage in conversations to finalize a deal by the end of the week, sources tell ESPN.
Griffin’s tenure was marked by the Anthony Davis trade to the Los Angeles Lakers in 2019 and the drafting of Zion Williamson in 2019 with the No. 1 pick.
The Pelicans received three players — Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram and Josh Hart — and three first-round draft picks, including the No. 4 pick in 2019, in exchange for Davis.
Williamson, meanwhile, has played in just 45% of his possible games with the Pelicans — and has never played in the playoffs after he suffered injuries prior to both of the team’s postseason appearances in 2022 and 2024.
The Pelicans finished this season at 21-61 — the fourth-worst record in the league, ahead of only the Utah Jazz (17-65), Washington Wizards (18-64) and Charlotte Hornets (19-63).
Dejounte Murray fractured his left hand in a season-opening win against Chicago Bulls, tipping off what would be a vicious wave of injuries for a team that lost 16 of its first 20 games. The vaunted trio of Murray, Williamson and Ingram never stepped foot on the court together, with Ingram traded to Toronto in February.
In all, the Pelicans lost Murray, Ingram, Williamson, Trey Murphy III, Herbert Jones and Jose Alvarado at some point to either season-ending or prolonged injuries. The club also shut down CJ McCollum for the season.
