The college basketball season seems to have no end, even after the Florida Gators captured the NCAA Tournament title. Thanks to the transfer portal, the action has stretched through April with nonstop headlines.
Friday brought more of the same, as news broke that a player in the portal had chosen his next destination.
It marks his third school in as many seasons. After spending two years in the Big Ten — each with a different program — Gavin Griffiths is moving on.
This time, he’ll join the American Athletic Conference, landing with a team eager to return to the NCAA Tournament after several seasons away.
Travis Branham of 247Sports reported that Griffiths has committed to Temple.
Nebraska transfer Gavin Griffiths has committed to Temple, a source tells @247Sports.
— Travis Branham (@TravisBranham_) April 25, 2025
Former four-star recruit.https://t.co/pILKhNojRH pic.twitter.com/GholHihnRf
Griffiths played his high school basketball at Kingswood Oxford in West Hartford, Connecticut. Heading into college, he was listed as a four-star recruit.
The 6-foot-7 guard originally enrolled at Rutgers. During the 2023-24 season, he made three starts and played in 32 games with the Scarlet Knights, scoring 5.8 points per game.
After one season at Rutgers, he entered the transfer portal. His next stop was another Big Ten team, this time with Nebraska. He played in 16 games last season with the Cornhuskers, averaging 2.1 points per game.
Griffiths is the second transfer portal addition for the Owls this spring. The other is 6-foot-10 center Jamai Felt from Bowling Green.
Temple lost six players from last season to the portal. Zion Stanford (Villanova), Dillon Battie (Wichita State) and Quante Berry (Memphis) have committed to other programs. Elijah Gray, Lynn Greer III and Jameel Brown are still in the portal and have yet to commit.
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The Toronto Maple Leafs are still looking for a solution to their bottom-six surplus, and veteran forward Calle Jarnkrok remains at the center of trade discussions. However, according to The Fourth Period, trade talks surrounding the 33-year-old winger have failed to gain momentum. They write: “He has a $2.1M cap hit and owns a 10-team no-trade list. The market hasn’t been vibrant, to this point, but the Leafs will continue to dangle him.” Why can’t the Maple Leafs find a taker for Jarnkrok? Jarnkrok has quietly been on the trade block for much of the offseason, but general manager Brad Treliving has yet to find a taker. After adding several depth forwards this summer, the Leafs now face a crowded bottom six — and Jarnkrok’s age, injury history and $2.1M cap hit through 2025–26 aren’t helping his value. Since joining Toronto, Jarnkrok has appeared in only 71 games over two seasons, scoring a modest 28 points. While his defensive versatility and penalty-killing ability are assets, his declining offensive production and durability concerns have made teams wary. With training camp approaching, the Maple Leafs may be forced to keep Jarnkrok on the roster — or retain salary in a deal — if they want to create space and flexibility. Dropping his cap hit down to just over $1M would open up the market a little. Until then, the Swedish forward remains a trade candidate in limbo. This isn’t great news as moving Jarnkrok from the roster is an important item on the team’s to-do list. Treliving would like more cap space, and with Jarnkrok and David Kampf both still on the roster, it hampers the GM’s ability to do other things.
According to some, throw out the idea that the Edmonton Oilers should pursue Max Pacioretty. A veteran forward who has earned over $63 million over the course of his NHL career has yet to sign an NHL contract and was recently mentioned in a post by David Staples as a possible fit. In a recent post, the Journal noted, “All of the top NHL unrestricted free agents have already signed contracts, but there’s one big name player still available that makes good sense for the Edmonton Oilers to pursue.” Responses have been varied, with a few quite vocal about the Oilers not following Staples’ advice. “In what world does this make sense?????” writes a commenter on a recent post for The Hockey Writers. Another commenter wrote, “Pacioretty is a good journeyman player but he is injury prone now, late in his career. Oilers might be lucky to get 40 games out of him. They should look elsewhere instead of taking a chance on Patches.” Tyler Yaremchuk of Oilers Nation chimed in and said, “He scored five goals in 37 games last year with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Can’t stay healthy, very old, very slow.” Yaremchuk then went on a rant, listing several Oilers forwards who would be better than Pacioretty. What About Pacioretty on a PTO? Is there any reason that a team that is looking to get younger and faster, and move out depth pieces that were older and less productive than expected, would revert back to last summer’s strategy? It seems like an odd choice on the surface. Something would have to happen that would make giving Pacioretty a look risk-free. That means only a PTO. Even at that point, should he agree, it would require him to be willing to sign a two-way contract for the league minimum.
The Sixers are waiving Ricky Council IV, the team announced in a press release. Council signed a four-year, partially guaranteed deal with the Sixers in 2024, which contained a team option for the 2026-27 season. Last season, he averaged 7.3 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 17.1 minutes per night — all career-high numbers. Kyle Neubeck of PHLY Sports notes that the timing of the move was unexpected, given that Council’s guarantee date is on Jan. 10, 2026, and the team currently has an open roster spot if they need it to add restricted free agent Quentin Grimes. While Council struggled with his three-point shot last season, he emerged as a reliable depth contributor, playing a team-high 73 games while bringing athleticism and energy from the wing positions.
Check out the Amanda Ribas vs. Tabatha Ricci prediction for UFC Abu Dhabi on Saturday, July 26, with my betting preview and breakdown. The lone female fight on the UFC Abu Dhabi card features popular strawweights Amanda Ribas and Tabatha Ricci. Both women are perennially ranked contenders who dispatch lesser competition, while failing to put together winning streaks long enough to get them in the title picture. Whomever emerges here could change that in shallow division, so this one has plenty of relevance at 115 lbs. Here’s my Ribas vs. Ricci pick and prediction. Amanda Ribas vs. Tabatha Ricci Odds Tale of the Tape As I pointed out in my Luck Ratings, the most notable thing about this fight is the similarities between both women. Both began their martial arts journeys at a young age, eventually earning black belts in both Judo and Jiu Jitsu. They also both have struggled to round out their overall games, with striking remaining an issue for both. Of the two, Ribas has probably made the greater strides. She’s split time between flyweight and strawweight which skews her statistics, but in the lighter division she’s looked progressively better on the feet, culminating in her spinning wheel kick knockout of Luana Pinheiro. Still, while the final blow was notable, it was more of a volume-based attack from Ribas as she landed more than 80 significant strikes on the feet against her fellow Brazilian. Ricci has made strides on the feet as well, though, particularly since she began training with her boyfriend, professional boxer Callum Walsh. Unlike Ribas’ more diverse attack, “Baby Shark” primarily punches on the feet. Her 61″ reach is an impediment against larger opponents, though, leading to Ricci’s poor striking accuracy. She’s also fairly hittable, due to her need to take risks to get into punching (and grappling) range. That’s not a major risk given the lack of power in the 115lbs division, but creates bad optics for the judges. Hopefully, this fight spends more time on the mat than on the feet, though. That’s where both women shine, with a diverse array of takedowns thanks to their Judo backgrounds. For my money, I prefer Ricci’s style of grappling for MMA. Her more compact frame allows her to maintain top position fairly well, and she’s been able to stack control time form top positions at a better rate than Ribas. Ribas is the more dynamic submission grappler, but that’s a higher-variance approach. She’ll sacrifice position in order to chase submissions, a strategy that is unlikely to work against a high level opponent like Ricci. On the defensive side, Ricci is also more proactive in trying to get back to her feet, while Ribas is comfortable playing off of her back. Ricci has given up just over a minute of bottom time across the two takedowns she’s surrendered in the UFC. Ribas gave up more than four minutes of control time to Mackenzie Dern in her last fight. Ribas vs. Ricci Pick, Prediction As I mentioned in my Luck Ratings, given how similar both women are from a stylistic and resume standpoint, I’d be willing to bet on either at plus money. That so happens to be Tabatha Ricci this time, but after digging into the tape, I’m even more confident that she’s the right side. While I’d give Ribas the edge in a pure striking match, this one likely ends up on the canvas for large stretches. Ricci’s approach to grappling is better suited to winning MMA rounds than Ribas’s is, which is likely enough to edge out some close rounds. I’m going against the market here as the line has moved as high as +170 on Ricci courtesy of ESPN Bet, but I trust my read enough to stick with my initial position. Billy’s Pick: Tabatha Ricci +170 (ESPN Bet)
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