Sports
Cal needs win over SMU to make late ACC tourney push
Feb 22, 2025; Stanford, California, USA; California Golden Bears guard Jeremiah Wilkinson (0) attempts a three-point basket over Stanford Cardinal guard Ryan Agarwal (11) in the closing seconds of the second half at Maples Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images Cal will have its top player while SMU probably won’t when the Atlantic Coast Conference teams meet in a rematch Wednesday night in Berkeley, Calif.
Boopie Miller had 13 points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals when the Mustangs (20-7, 11-5 ACC) beat the Golden Bears (12-15, 5-11) 76-65 in Dallas last month.
The star point guard bruised his left foot three games later and has sat out SMU’s last three contests, including a 79-69 home loss to Clemson last Saturday.
SMU coach Andy Enfield expects to get Miller back at some point, calling the injury a “pain-tolerance thing,” but has prepared his team to go without him on a two-game trip that includes a visit to Stanford on Saturday.
“We’re hoping for the best,” Enfield said. “We miss Boopie.
“The Bay Area is a nice trip. We have a lot to play for here. Not many people thought we could do this.”
SMU has gone 6-1 on the road in ACC play. The Mustangs will wrap up the conference regular season at Florida State next Saturday, following a final home game against Syracuse.
While SMU attempts to out-finish Wake Forest and North Carolina for a top-four position in the conference, Cal finds itself dueling teams for the last few spots in the upcoming ACC tournament. The Golden Bears begin the week with one more loss than Florida State, Virginia, Pitt and Notre Dame, the same number as Syracuse, and one fewer than Boston College and North Carolina State.
Cal has lost four in a row despite getting stellar play from freshman Jeremiah Wilkinson, who has averaged 21.5 points during the skid, and sophomore Andrej Stojakovic, who had a double-double in the Golden Bears’ 66-61 loss at Stanford last Saturday.
Stojakovic, the team’s leading scorer (17.6 ppg), missed the earlier loss at SMU with a hip injury.
With just two home games remaining on the schedule, Cal coach Mark Madsen hopes his fans show their appreciation for the young stars, who he expects will be prime transfer targets in the offseason.
Cal returned none of its top 10 scorers from last season despite five being underclassmen.
“The phrase we’ll use is this: Key players are going to be retained. And every effort is going to be made to retain key players,” Madsen said. “This is going to be a lot of stakeholders locking arms and doing everything possible to get this done.”
–Field Level Media
Sports
Padres' Walker Buehler looks for better results vs. Giants
Apr 28, 2026; San Diego, California, USA; San Diego Padres starting pitcher Walker Buehler (10) throws a pitch during the first inning against the Chicago Cubs at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: David Frerker-Imagn Images A pair of two-time All-Stars accustomed to big-time winning will look to wipe out losing records when Walker Buehler and the San Diego Padres continue a brief three-game road trip against Logan Webb and the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday.
The Giants snapped a six-game losing streak in Monday’s series opener, riding Trevor McDonald’s pitching to a 3-2 victory. It was San Francisco’s third win in four meetings with San Diego this season.
Buehler (1-2, 5.40 ERA) will take the mound in San Francisco for the 10th time in his career. The right-hander has gone 6-2 with a 3.65 ERA at Oracle Park and 7-3 with a 3.00 ERA overall in 15 appearances (13 starts) against the Giants in his career.
In his first season with the Padres, Buehler has struggled in his past two starts, lasting a total of 7 1/3 innings in a pair of 8-3 losses to the Colorado Rockies and Chicago Cubs.
“Just not good enough,” Buehler told reporters after his most recent outing a week ago against the Cubs. “Got to get deeper and get more efficient. We’ve kind of established that the stuff has improved, and I’m in a lot better spot. But I haven’t quite had that one that it all kind of clicks together in terms of the execution.”
Buehler will be facing a Giants team that has totaled just 12 runs in its last seven games.
San Francisco went homerless while going winless on a six-game trip to Philadelphia and Tampa Bay last week, a drought Casey Schmitt ended in the first inning of Monday’s win.
The Giants have won their past three home games. The long flight home from Florida and a change of scenery was just what the doctor ordered, Schmitt said.
“The big thing was to flush that road trip. Obviously it didn’t go any way we wanted it to go,” Schmitt said. “It’s a new series, a new day.”
No doubt, Webb (2-3, 4.30) also would be perfectly happy to turn the page after having nothing to show for a pair of hard-luck efforts in his past two outings. The right-hander allowed just four runs over 14 innings to the Los Angeles Dodgers and Phillies in those starts, games the Giants lost 3-0 and 3-2.
Webb would like nothing better than to get the level of support he received when he pitched in a 9-3 win at San Diego in the first week of the season. It improved his career record against the Padres to 5-5 with a 3.23 ERA in 18 games, including 17 starts.
Schmitt got the loudest of San Francisco’s six hits in the series opener on Monday and Luis Arraez chipped in with a pair of doubles and scored twice. The biggest news of the night offensively, however, was the two-RBI performance of Rafael Devers, who hadn’t had a multiple-RBI game since April 8.
Playing first base, Devers responded on a day when the Giants promoted one of their top prospects, Bryce Eldridge, who is seen as the future of the first base position in San Francisco.
Eldridge was used as the DH in his big-league season debut Monday, going 0-for-2 with a walk and a strikeout.
The 21-year-old, who got 37 plate appearances last season, has never faced Buehler.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Former WNBA MVP Tina Charles retires after 14 seasons
Aug 21, 2025; Uncasville, Connecticut, USA; Connecticut Sun center Tina Charles (31) reacts after his basket against the Washington Mystics in the second half at Mohegan Sun Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images Eight-time All-Star and former WNBA Most Valuable Player Tina Charles announced her retirement Tuesday after 14 seasons with six teams.
Charles, 37, is the league’s all-time leader in made field goals (3,364) and rebounds (4,262) and ranks second with 8,396 points behind only Diana Taurasi (10,646).
The 6-foot-4 center posted Tuesday on X that she had “experienced the highest highs and lowest lows, and I’m thankful for all of it.”
“At some point, you have to edit your life,” Charles wrote. “Not everything and not everyone is meant for the whole journey. Growth requires honesty, and for me, that meant recognizing when my impact was being called in a new direction.”
Charles never won a WNBA championship but won two national championships at UConn and three Olympic gold medals with Team USA.
The No. 1 pick in the 2010 WNBA Draft by the Connecticut Sun, Charles won 2010 Rookie of the Year and 2012 Most Valuable Player honors. She led the league in scoring twice and rebounding four times while making nine All-WNBA teams and four All-Defensive teams. She twice won the Dawn Staley Award for community leadership.
Charles averaged 17.8 points and 9.0 rebounds in 473 games (464 starts) with the Sun (2010-13, 2025), New York Liberty (2014-19), Washington Mystics (2021), Phoenix Mercury (2022), Seattle Storm (2022) and Atlanta Dream (2024).
WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert issued a lengthy statement on Tuesday.
“Tina Charles has defined excellence and consistency throughout one of the most remarkable careers in WNBA history. From earning unanimous Rookie of the Year honors to being named league MVP, to becoming the WNBA’s all-time leading rebounder and second all-time leading scorer, Tina’s impact on the game will be felt for generations to come.
“Beyond her extraordinary accomplishments, Tina has represented the very best of the WNBA throughout her career. Through her leadership and dedication to giving back — including her work with her Hopey’s Heart Foundation — she has made a meaningful impact far beyond the game, earning the Dawn Staley Community Leadership Award twice. On behalf of the WNBA, I want to thank Tina for her lasting contributions to the league and the sport of basketball. Her legacy will be defined not only by her excellence on the court, but by the standard she set as a leader, a teammate, and a champion for the communities she touched.”
–Field Level Media
Sports
Report: Seahawks land Dante Fowler on 1-year deal
New York Jets quarterback Justin Fields (7) was able to throw the ball before Dallas Cowboys defensive end Dante Fowler Jr. (13) was able to get to him, Sunday, October 5, 2025. Veteran edge rusher Dante Fowler Jr. is signing a one-year deal worth up to $5 million with the Seattle Seahawks, NFL Network reported on Tuesday.
Fowler serves as the Seahawks’ answer to losing Boye Mafe to the Cincinnati Bengals in free agency. Seattle did not select an edge rusher during the 2026 NFL Draft.
Fowler, who turns 32 in August, visited the Seahawks prior to the draft. He’ll see a familiar face in Seattle defensive coordinator Aden Durde, who was an assistant in Atlanta and Dallas.
Fowler recorded 15 tackles and three sacks in 17 games (11 starts) with the Cowboys in 2025.
He has 294 tackles, 58.5 sacks, 15 forced fumbles, an interception and five fumble recoveries in 159 career games (58 starts) with the Jacksonville Jaguars (2016-18), Los Angeles Rams (2018-19), Falcons (2020-21), Washington Commanders (2024) and Cowboys (2022-23, 2025). He was selected by the Jaguars with the third overall pick of the 2015 NFL Draft.
–Field Level Media
Padres' Walker Buehler looks for better results vs. Giants
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