Still almost 50 days out, college basketball doesn’t make a splash landing until the first week of November. About the time the 12-team field for the college football playoff starts to be narrowed, the hoops season gets going with a slow buildup to a beefy menu of marquee matchups. Early season tournaments and the Champions Classic without John Calipari stand as games to mark on the calendar. Here are the games our staff is jotting down in Sharpie. North Carolina at Kansas, Nov. 8A Friday night at Phog Allen Fieldhouse provides a huge hello to hoops in a pairing of bluebloods sure to generate an audience and endless closeups of Roy Williams in the stands. Tennessee at Louisville, Nov. 9SEC Player of the Year Dalton Knecht was subtracted from the Vols’ roster and landed with the Lakers as a first-round draft pick. Now it’s up to Rick Barnes to keep Tennessee atop the SEC in the first spotlight game for new Cardinals coach Pat Kelsey. Kentucky vs. Duke, Nov. 12 (Atlanta) source: Getty Images The Champions Classic also features Kansas-Michigan State, but we’re dialed in on the Cooper Flagg primetime matchup with the Wildcats. Mark Pope arrives in Calipari’s stead with a potpourri roster that might make its mark with a common defensive DNA and a dash of star power. Among newcomers at UK are 3-point specialist Koby Brea (Dayton), 6-11 forward Andrew Carr (Wake Forest) and 6-10 center Brandon Garrison (Oklahoma State). Duke draws Kansas in Las Vegas 14 days later.Duke at Arizona, Nov. 22Old friend Caleb Love, who helped usher Mike Krzyzewski into retirement at the 2022 Final Four in New Orleans with North Carolina, and the Wildcats are another likely top-10 team on the Duke schedule in November. Among new helping hands at Arizona are Campbell transfer Anthony Dell’Orso, who averaged 19.5 points per game last season. Sophomore center Montiejus Krivas is another player to watch for the Wildcats.Duke vs. Kansas, Nov. 26 (Las Vegas) source: Getty Images Likely preseason No. 1 Kansas and presumed 2025 No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg should be enticing enough. Hunter Dickinson returned for redemption and the Jayhawks are heavy on experience. Duke’s recruiting class tracks as the stuff of heavyweights and borders on ridiculous behind Flagg with 7-foot-2 center Khaman Maluach and 6-6 wings Isaiah Evans and Kon Knueppel.Baylor at UConn, Dec. 4A potential matchup at the Maui Classic with Michigan State (Nov. 26) in the second round at Lahaina would make this list, but that one isn’t set in stone. The two-time defending national champions might not be beatable again this season even after losing Stephon Castle, Donovan Clingan and Cam Spencer to the NBA. That’s because coach Dan Hurley scored a transfer portal win landing Aiden Mahaney via Saint Mary’s and picking up a heralded recruiting class headlined by Liam McNeeley.Alabama at North Carolina, Dec. 4Can the Tide roll all the way to San Antonio? Alabama could be in play as the No. 1 team in the country by the time this one rolls around as part of the SEC-ACC Challenge. It’s a rematch of the 2024 Sweet Sixteen matchup. North Carolina has experience and guard depth. But the Tar Heels have big questions to answer inside without Armondo Bacot for the first time since the 2018 season.Gonzaga vs UConn, Dec. 14 (Madison Square Garden)This is how Mark Few does non-conference. Matchups with Baylor, Kentucky and a potential meeting with Arizona in the Battle 4 Atlantis headline the Bulldogs’ buildup to the WCC schedule.Duke vs. Illinois, Feb. 22 (Madison Square Garden)If all goes according to plan for these teams, this is a rare late February matchup that could define an NCAA Tournament seed line. Illinois has a new-look roster that doesn’t include Terrence Shannon Jr. or Coleman Hawkins, and that might not be bad news for Brad Underwood. His recruiting class headlined with Will Riley and Morez Johnson Jr. and Arizona transfer Kylan Boswell brings a needed dimension in the backcourt. Relatedfootball prop bettingnfl sportsbookbest college football betting sitesonline nba betsmlb online betting sitesbetting sites for nhltop betting sites for ufcsoccer betscopa america lines
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Manchester United marked Ole Gunnar Solskjaer s appointment as permanent manager with an unconvincing 2-1 victory over Watford on Saturday.
Goals in each half from Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial got the Red Devils back to winning ways after losses to Arsenal and Wolves in the Premier League and FA Cup, despite Abdoulaye Doucoure s late strike.
It was a mostly uninspiring performance from United at Old Trafford, but the result moves them back into the top four at the end of a week in which Solskjaer was confirmed as their next full-time boss on a three-year deal.
Doucoure dragged a shot wide from inside the United box as the home side endured a strangely sluggish start in the Manchester sun, but they took the lead 28 minutes in, with Rashford clipping a clev…
Marouane Fellaini scored twice as Manchester United cruised to a 4-0 victory over rock-bottom Crystal Palace in the Premier League at Old Trafford.
Juan Mata, one of Jose Mourinho s five changes from Wednesday s win over CSKA Moscow, struck early on, netting his first Premier League goal since February on his 200th appearance in the competition.
And two close-range finishes from the in-form Fellaini either side of half-time took his season tally to four before Romelu Lukaku sealed a comprehensive victory late on as United continued to impress even without the injured Paul Pogba.
United s win, which saw Marcus Rashford also shine with two assists, moved them top of the Premier League, a position they will keep unless Manchester City can defeat fellow title riva…
Netherlands international Daley Blind has ended his four-season stay at Manchester United and returned to former club Ajax for a fee potentially rising to €20.5million.
The 28-year-old has signed a four-year deal with the club that handed him his professional debut in 2008.
Ajax have paid an initial transfer fee of €16m that could rise a further €4.5m depending on variable factors , the Dutch club confirmed.
Blind originally left Amsterdam in order to link up with Louis van Gaal at Old Trafford in 2014, but fell out of favour under Jose Mourinho and featured just seven times in the Premier League last season.
The versatile midfielder ends a mixed spell with the Red Devils having won an FA Cup, EFL Cup, Europa League and Community Shield.
…
Mesut Ozil s fall from grace continued on Thursday when he was left out of Arsenal s Europa League squad.
The 2014 World Cup winner was the biggest omission from the 24-man list submitted to UEFA ahead of the group stage, when the Gunners will face Rapid Vienna, Dundalk and Molde.
Ozil, 31, has not been included in any of Arsenal s six squads across the Premier League and EFL Cup in 2020-21, and he has not appeared for the club since March, when leagues and competitions were shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic.
There was little suggestion that Ozil would move ahead of Monday s transfer deadline, though, given his reported £350,000-a-week deal which expires next year.
On Tuesday, the German offered to pay the salary of Arsenal mascot Gunnersaur…
According to a recent report from Sky Sports News, Benfica midfielder Gedson Fernandes still prefers the idea of moving to West Ham United ahead of any other potential English – or European – club.
Manchester United and Everton have both been linked in the past and even recently, but it seems like the ship has sailed for them in this instance.
Fernandes is currently over in Lisbon alongside his representatives who are discussing the possibility of a move between the two parties. The deal that is currently on the table would allow for an 18-month loan switch to go with an option to buy at the end of that period.
The Hammers seem to be going for it in regards to what they want to accomplish in the January transfer window, and their optimism and quick a…
Jose Mourinho has little interest in external scrutiny after three consecutive Tottenham defeats, insisting he places enough pressure on himself.
Spurs host struggling West Brom on Sunday but head into the weekend eighth in the Premier League, 14 points off top, after losing to Liverpool, Brighton and Hove Albion and Chelsea consecutively.
That miserable run has made Mourinho the first Tottenham boss since Andre Villas-Boas in November 2012 to suffer three defeats in a row in the league.
Indeed, the reverses against Liverpool and Chelsea represented the first time in 327 home league matches in Mourinho s managerial career he has lost back-to-back games.
Speaking ahead of the West Brom game, where Spurs will aim to bounce back at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium,…
Real Madrid turned on the style in a 4-1 win at Granada that showed Carlo Ancelotti s team at their most vivacious.
It took them to the top of LaLiga, if only perhaps for a few hours, with Real Sociedad playing later on Sunday, with Marco Asensio, Nacho, Vinicius Junior and Ferland Mendy all on target.
Carlo Ancelotti inherited a side who lost out to city rivals Atletico in last season s title battle, but all evidence at the Nuevo Los Carmenes pointed to this incarnation of Madrid being hard to stop.
Granada had Monchu red-carded midway through the second half, but Madrid were already 3-1 up and pressing for more at that stage.
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Diego Simeone called upon his Atletico Madrid players to be constantly prepared going into the second half of the season and warned of the traps that lie in store as they aim to win their first LaLiga title since 2014.
Luis Suarez scored in the 90th minute to earn Simeone s men a 2-1 victory over Deportivo Alaves on Sunday, extending their domestic winning streak to four matches and moving them two points clear of nearest rivals Real Madrid, who have played two games more.
Asked to assess his side s performance after 15 games of the season, Simeone said he expects the challenge of staying at the top of the table to be one of increasing difficulty.
We understand that the league is complex, Simeone told reporters. It is difficult, it has traps, you have to be con…
Dele Alli admitted Tottenham have lost an unbelievable player in Christian Eriksen.
Eriksen, 27, finalised a long-awaited move to Inter on Tuesday in a deal reportedly worth €20million (£16.8m).
Spurs accepted the cut-price offer after the Danish playmaker entered the final six months of his contract.
Jose Mourinho claimed Eriksen lacked motivation but England international Alli had nothing but praise for his former team-mate, who spent six-and-a-half seasons in north London.
He s a worldie, Alli told Sky Sports. I sent him a sad face on message, but I m sure I ll speak to him.
He s an unbelievable player. Yeah, he ll be missed here, but this is a different step in his career.
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Although the Magpies might have been disappointed after missing out on the chance to make another major statement here, Newcastle dominated large spells and largely didn’t have to get out of third gear.
Securing their first top-four finish in 20 years and met by a wave of emotion at the full-time whistle, Howe’s side have certainly enjoyed a history-making campaign in the north east.
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