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This offseason, the Kentucky Wildcats built one of the most expensive rosters in the country, as the NIL collective proved their backing of second-year head coach Mark Pope beyond a shadow of a doubt by bringing in forward/center Jayden Quaintance (Arizona State, projected top-10 pick in 2026), guard Denzel Aberdeen (Florida), forward Mo Dioubate (Alabama), and guard Jaland Lowe (Pittsburgh).
Add this to the mix of players, some elite returners like Otega Oweh and prep talent like Jasper Johnson and Malachi Moreno, and Kentucky looks to have easily a top-five roster in the country, paired with a coach in Pope, who gets the most out of his offensive players with his five-out spacing.
Enter Jaland Lowe, a guard from Pittsburgh who averaged 16.8 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 5.5 assists last season, leading the team in the first and third categories. The problem with Lowe was his offensive inefficiency – he shot just 38% from the field last season, having trouble not only with his three-point shot (27%), but also his finishing at the rim (43% inside the arc).
This isn't necessarily an indictment of his game on all fronts, however. Lowe was asked to do entirely too much for the Panthers last season, serving as the lead initiator and leading scorer on a team that struggled mightily through the 2025-26 season, finishing just one game above .500 at 17-16. Pope aims to change his trajectory from a guard who forces a lot of shots into one who can play within the flow of the five-out offense, likely finding easier opportunities to score and distribute given the teammates he has around him.
Lowe's ultimate goal is to be a first-round NBA Draft selection, which can happen if a couple of things go his way. First of all, the efficiency obviously must take a leap, and second, he must cut down on turnovers (3.0 per game). Due to the fact that he will have significantly more help with off-ball stars like Aberdeen and Oweh, it makes sense that he will be able to fix this issue.
Jaland Lowe certainly has the talent to be an NBA player – he just needs to put the pieces together and become a more complete guard on the ball.
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Yaxel Lendeborg scores 25 as No. 7 Michigan separates from Middle Tennessee
Yaxel Lendeborg had 25 points and 12 rebounds to lead No. 7 Michigan to an 86-61 home win over Middle Tennessee on Wednesday. Lendeborg was 9 of 12 from the field and made all five of his free-throw attempts. Aday Mara had 10 points and 10 rebounds, and Elliot Cadeau scored 10 points for Michigan (4-0) which went 26 of 42 on 2-point shots. That helped the Wolverines overcome a 5-of-25 performance from 3-point range and 13 turnovers. Michigan went 19 of 26 (73.1%) from the free-throw line and held a 48-40 rebounding advantage. Jahvin Carter came off the bench to score 18 points and Kamari Lands scored 11 points in defeat for Middle Tennessee, which shot 30.4% from the field overall (21 of 69) and 27% from 3-point range (10 of 37). Middle Tennessee turned the ball over 15 times and had just eight assists. Leading 36-30 at halftime, Michigan separated in the first six minutes of the second half. Michigan scored the first six points of the half to grab a 42-30 lead, and then went on a 10-3 run to take a 57-38 lead with 13:59 remaining in the game after a 3-point play by Lendeborg. The Wolverines kept growing the lead, going up by 27 points at 69-42 with 9:55 left after a basket hook shot in the post by Mara. Middle Tennessee (3-1) couldn't bring its deficit back to less than 20 points the rest of the game in losing for the first time this season. Michigan had a good surge in the first half, going on a 12-0 run over a span of 5:06 to take a 20-9 lead with 10:34 remaining until halftime. The Blue Raiders answered, going on a 15-5 run to cut Michigan's lead to 25-24 with 3:56 to go in the first half. Michigan held a six-point lead at halftime despite shooting 3 of 14 from 3-point range in the first half.
Shedeur Sanders makes promise to Browns fans ahead of first regular-season start
Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski announced on Wednesday that rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders will make the first regular-season start of his career when the 2-8 Browns play at the Las Vegas Raiders (2-8) this Sunday. Later on Wednesday, Sanders offered somewhat of a promise to Cleveland supporters who are hoping the fifth-round draft pick could potentially become a savior for the franchise. Shedeur Sanders wants to be "the guy" for the Browns "I know our fans have a lot of expectations and hope," Sanders acknowledged, per Daniel Oyefusi of ESPN. "And I would be doing a disservice to myself and a disservice to the organization if I didn't feel like I am the guy. ...I'm doing everything I need to prepare to be the best version of myself as possible. With the circumstances, everything got to be sped up, and that's great. I like pressure in life. I'm just excited for everything. So, I feel like I'm the guy. I know I'm the guy, but you just have to be able to see." Sanders made his regular-season debut against the Baltimore Ravens this past Sunday after fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel suffered a concussion. In total, Sanders completed 4-of-16 passes for 47 yards with no touchdowns and one interception in what became a 23-16 defeat. He was also sacked twice for a loss of 27 yards. Why Shedeur Sanders is confident he'll be better in second appearance Earlier in the week, Stefanski suggested the coaching staff is confident Sanders will play better after the 23-year-old gets first-team practice reps that were previously reserved for Gabriel. During his Wednesday media availability, Sanders echoed Stefanski's take. "I'm truly excited for that, knowing that I have a piece of [the] offense and a say so and how things fit my eye and place the players exactly where they need to be," Sanders added. "Seeing how they come in and out of routes, seeing the structure of the O-linemen, seeing their set, just having a feeling. I'm more of a feel type of person, so that's how I learn. That's how I do everything. I'm not just, 'Imma just watch it, it's just going to happen.' No, I got to be out there, feel it. I got to move around. It's like so many details that it takes for me to feel my best and play my best, and I'm doing everything in my power and the team's doing everything to help me get prepared." It remains to be seen if a more prepared version of Sanders will be able to relegate a healthy Gabriel to backup duties beyond Week 12. As of Wednesday afternoon, ESPN BET had the Browns as four-point underdogs against the Raiders.
Texas HC Steve Sarkisian gives bold claim on job rumors
Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian has been a popular name in both the NFL and college football coaching cycles. It makes sense, too. He's brought Texas back to being competitive and in the championship hunt, but he also has a wealth of great experience as an assistant in both college and the NFL. He's about as well-rounded a candidate as you'll find, so of course, programs like the Florida Gators, LSU Tigers or even the New York Giants may be interested to see if he's interested. The thing is, though, he's not. Or, at the very least, that's what he's telling the media. He's all-in with the Longhorns, according to comments he made on a recent SEC teleconference call. “I’d like to comment something before I get into our team that has been bothering me now over the past few weeks. That is people reporting that are insinuating that there’s a possibility I could leave the University of Texas, and that is absolutely false and untrue," Sarkisian said (h/t On3). "I’m not going anywhere. Never do I do this because I never want to be a distraction, so I never address these things. At this point, I feel like this is important that I do this because it’s important for our team. It’s important for our university." Steve Sarkisian has deep roots in Austin and is all-in with Texas As if that weren't clear enough, Sarkisian said that he has not had any discussions with anybody about coaching elsewhere. He even went as far as to say that even his agent hasn't spoken to anyone. Sometimes coaches can say publicly that they aren't talking about any opportunities while, in the meantime, their agents are working backchannels and putting something together. He could be lying, of course, because college football history is full of head coaches saying one thing and doing another. A full-throated statement like this seems to be a pretty clear indication that Sarkisian is serious about what he's saying, though. Heck, he went as far as calling Austin home, which is a pretty big deal for a coach to say. Those guys aren't used to staying in one place for too long. With that said, Sarkisian does have two kids actually enrolled at Texas, one on the football team. He has a third kid he wants to go to Texas in the near future. He also just had a baby. Sarkisian has roots in Austin. He also has high aspirations for the Longhorns. “We came here to win championships," he said. "We’ve built a damn good football program over the five years that we’ve been here. We’ve been to two College Football Playoffs. We won a Big 12 Championship. We went to the SEC Championship game in Year 1. We’ve had 23 players drafted the last two years, which is more than any other school in the country and our team GPA is at an all-time high. “Can we please stop putting things out there that you have absolutely zero evidence on? Can we please stop retweeting and putting it back out there as if it’s true? As if it’s the gospel? It is not true."
MLB’s new media deal may end up being a bad deal for consumers
Major League Baseball will have a new television deal heading into 2026, with NBC/Peacock getting the best portion of the pie. The network, which already hosts "Sunday Night Football," will now also host "Sunday Night Baseball" after spending 36 years on ESPN, according to The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand. NBC/Peacock will also play host to the first round of the playoffs. Marchand adds that the streaming platform Netflix will get the rights to broadcast the Home Run Derby, the Field of Dreams game and the standalone Opening Day game featured in prime time. NBC/Peacock is paying nearly $200 million per year (total of $600 million) for its broadcasting rights, while Netflix is paying $50 million (total of $150 million) for its portion. ESPN, meanwhile, was allowed to broadcast all out-of-market games for all 30 major league clubs, while also getting the right to broadcast in-market games for six teams. ESPN had opted out of its remaining three years of its deal with Major League Baseball back in March. How does MLB's new media deal affect baseball viewing moving forward? This new deal for Major League Baseball isn’t necessarily the best for consumers. Bringing three of the four major pro sports in the United States (baseball, football and basketball) under one umbrella (NBC/Peacock), Major League Baseball will now reach 42 million more people with this maneuver than it originally did. Peacock recently reached that many new subscribers this past October. However, with the U.S. population at 340.1 million people, that number is deceiving. Sports viewers don’t usually stream, with 17 percent of Americans not having streaming services, according to a Pew Research Center poll. There was a recent scandal between ESPN and YouTube TV, in which they were at odds over their deal, cutting off "Monday Night Football," college football and other sports like Formula 1 from 10 million viewers. After a two-week standoff, both sides finally agreed on a deal. NBC/Peacock had its own standoff with the streaming platform heading into October. However, both sides agreed at the final hour. The costs of streaming have gone up over the years, when the point was to be cheaper than cable. With Netflix costing $25 a month (premium), Peacock costing $14 a month ($140 a year) and the ESPN app costing $30 a month ($300 per year), fans' frustrations may continue to mount as the cost to watch sports rises.
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