High pressure has been a dominate force in this week’s forecast in New Mexico. Today, high pressure was in control once again allowing our high temperatures to rise into 60s, 70s and low 80s. Record high temperatures were also set in Deming, Carlsbad, and Hobbs as they reached the low 80s, while other locations around […]
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Weekend: Record warmth ahead for New Mexico
ROB ZOMBIE Shuts Down WHITE ZOMBIE Reunion Talk: “I’ve Moved On From It”
Nearly three decades after White Zombie called it quits, frontman Rob Zombie is once again making it clear: don’t expect a reunion.
Though he revisited the band’s 2x multi-platinum Astro-Creep: 2000 during a special anniversary performance at Louder Than Life last year – backed by his current solo band – Zombie says the chapter is firmly closed. Speaking to Revolver, the 61-year-old musician and filmmaker reflected on performing the 1995 industrial-metal landmark three decades later.
“It was a bit of a challenge. Thirty years is a long time, so it’s sort of hard to remember where my head was at when I was making that record,” he admitted. “It was not exactly the greatest of times [for White Zombie]. I knew as we were making that record that it would most likely be the last one since the band was falling apart, but obviously, I wanted to stick it out… I’m definitely proud of the record. It was a good one to end on.”
Released at the height of alt-metal’s commercial explosion, Astro-Creep: 2000 became the band’s defining statement – but behind the scenes, fractures were already spreading. Personality conflicts and strained relationships ultimately led to White Zombie‘s dissolution in 1998, a breakup that has remained permanent despite persistent fan hope.
Instead of looking back, Zombie pivoted forward. Launching his solo career with 1998’s Hellbilly Deluxe, he assembled a new lineup with a deliberate mindset.
“After White Zombie disbanded and I had to create another band, I really wanted to be very exacting with the people that I chose to work with again,” Zombie explained. “I couldn’t deal with any more conflicts. Everything worked out perfect, both of these guys [guitarist/vocalist Mike Riggs & bassist/vocalist Blasko] contributed greatly to the Hellbilly Deluxe tours being the absolute best time I ever had in my life being on the road.”
It’s a pointed contrast to the tension-filled final days of his former band. And while he still peppers his live sets with White Zombie staples, Zombie says nostalgia won’t override reality.
“That was a very long time ago and I’ve moved on from it to do other things,” he stated plainly.
As for hanging it up entirely? That decision, he says, will come down to standards – his own.
“I think all the time about what it would take for me to step away from the stage – the main thing would be if I didn’t think we were capable of delivering the show at the level it should be delivered. Once I feel that the excitement and the energy and the drive is gone, I will just walk away. I take the show very seriously and I want it to be great, simple as that. And if I feel that it’s not great anymore, then I’ll be done.”
For now, the curtain remains up. Just don’t expect White Zombie to rise from the grave with it.
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United and American Fight at Chicago’s O’Hare Draws Federal Scrutiny
The Federal Aviation Administration is looking to cut flights this summer at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, where the two airlines are currently duking it out for supremacy.
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2026 Cognizant Classic leaderboard: Brooks Koepka heats up as Austin Smotherman leads
As winds picked up on Friday, PGA National started to show a bit more of its teeth, and the conditions that produced some incredibly low scores gave way to a greater challenge in the second round of the 2026 Cognizant Classic. Still sitting atop the leaderboard going into Saturday is Austin Smotherman, one of the few players who ended Thursday on the first page of the leaderboard.
Smotherman backed up his strong play with a quality round Friday, extending his lead from one to three shots thanks to a solid 69 that put him 11 under par. Few players were able to mount a real charge on a difficult day.
While it wasn’t as dynamic a round as his 62 on Thursday, Smotherman acquitted himself well in the tougher conditions on Friday afternoon. Most of the best scores of the day were posted in the morning, and Smotherman’s 69 was among the better rounds of the later wave. Unsurprisingly, his approach play was the first thing to falter in the wind, but the putter stayed warm with another day with more than 2 strokes gained on the field on the greens. This bomb for birdie on No. 17 did some of the heavy lifting.
With two excellent rounds in the books, Smotherman is in the driver’s seat to pick up the first win of his PGA Tour career going into the weekend. He’s been boom or bust to start the 2026 PGA Tour season, with just one made cut in his first four events, a T8 at The American Express. Now he looks poised to not only pick up a second top 10 of the season but also a potential career-changing victory.
While Smotherman was extending his lead at the top of the leaderboard, some of the biggest names in the field came into Friday’s second round needing serious improvement just to make the weekend. Brooks Koepka, Max Homa and Ryan Gerard all entered Friday over par and outside the projected cut, but each posted rounds in the mid-60s on Friday to punch their tickets to the final 36 holes.
Gerard entered the week in unfamiliar territory as the pre-tournament favorite, and while he struggled to produce his best on Thursday, a 67 on Friday got him into red figures at 2 under and two more rounds of golf this weekend. Homa and Koepka, meanwhile, shot matching 66s as they continue to try to create the spark that can help them capture past form.
For Homa, it was his iron play coming to life that led to his second-round surge, as he gained more than 3.3 strokes on the field approaching the green. Once a premier ball-striker on the PGA Tour, Homa has slipped significantly of late, but Friday brought a reminder of what he’s capable of achieving when he gets in a good swing rhythm.
Koepka, meanwhile, has been one of the worst putters on the PGA Tour this season in his return. He came into the week 171st in strokes gained putting and was 111th on Thursday on his way to a 74. His putting turned around in a major way on Friday, as he poured in 131 feet and 3 inches of putts in the second round — the most of anyone in the field — picking up nearly 4 strokes on the greens.
After his round, he credited a setup change he made after his first round struggles that turned around his fortunes, despite, in his mind, hitting the ball worse on Friday.
“Just may hand position at setup,” Koepka said. “I was just cheating it. Changed the stroke a little bit. I’m not getting as handsy, and I was cheating it by getting my hands back, and it just was creating an inconsistent feel. Where I thought it was taking off, it wasn’t.”
Replicating that exact kind of putting performance will be nearly impossible, but for a player who hasn’t been able to get anything to drop all year, having a day where the putter gets red-hot could be huge for his confidence on the greens — especially after putting a new putter in the bag this year.
Leader
1. Austin Smotherman (-12): The winds are supposed to settle down again on Saturday before picking back up on Sunday, and the field will be starting play early due to potential storms in the area. That means, if Smotherman is going to maintain a comfortable lead going into the final round, he’ll need to keep the pedal down on Moving Day in solid conditions. We’ve seen that low scores are available at PGA National since they’ve made some recent changes to the setup, and Smotherman will need to stay on the front foot with an eye on another round in the 60s rather than simply trying to hold on for 36 holes.
Contenders
2. Taylor Moore (-8)
T3. Nico Echavarria, A.J. Ewart (-7)
5. Joel Dahmen (-6)
T6. Shane Lowry, Aaron Rai and four others (-5)
T12. Daniel Berger and five others (-4)
T18. Max Homa and eight others (-3)
Ewart posted the round of the day on Friday to thrust himself into contention after starting the second set of 18 holes at even par. His 64 paced the field in scoring, and now, he finds himself in unfamiliar territory with a late tee time on the weekend for the first time in his young career. Echavarria started Friday one back of Smotherman, but he struggled in the more challenging conditions and moved backwards a spot on the leaderboard. Even with that minor setback, Echavarria is certainly a threat going into the weekend, particularly with the forecast for Saturday looking more like Thursday when he fired a 63.
Lurking a bit further back are some notable names like Joel Dahmen, Shane Lowry, Aaron Rai and Daniel Berger. Dahmen has put together consecutive rock-solid 68s, but if he’s going to contend, he’ll need to take it a bit deeper and find some more birdies to get in the mix. Lowry has made the cut at the Cognizant for nine straight starts and loves PGA National, so don’t count him out if he can get the putter warmed up and see some fall early on Saturday.
Players won’t have to look far to find a reason for optimism heading into the weekend trailing, as Joe Highsmith won last year after making the cut on the number. That required a pair of weekend 64s, and he was only eight shots off the lead, not 11, but everyone will know what’s possible, and we ought to see some extremely aggressive play early on Saturday with the winds down.
Notable players who missed the cut
- Luke Clanton (+1)
- Webb Simpson (+1)
- Michael Thorbjornsen (+1)
- Neal Shipley (+2)
- Gary Woodland (+2)
- Chris Kirk (+2)
- Stephan Jaeger (+2)
A late move on Friday afternoon shifted the cut line from +1 to Even, which dropped a huge group of players from the weekend. Some of the rising young stars of the game were included in that group, as Luke Clanton, Michael Thorbjornsen and Neal Shipley (who bogeyed his last, trying to make a birdie to get to the weekend) all narrowly missed out.
Updated 2026 Cognizant Classic odds, picks
Odds via Caesars Sportsbook
- Austin Smotherman (7/4)
- Taylor Moore (7-1)
- Nico Echavarria (19/2)
- Shane Lowry (12-1)
- A.J. Ewart (17-1)
- Joel Dahmen (18-1)
- Aaron Rai (20-1)
We’ll see how Smotherman handles the nerves of being the 36-hole leader in pursuit of his first career win. The nature of this course (with the current setup) is going to make it so someone from the chase pack reels him in. Echavarria, despite a rough Friday, has a good chance to post another low round on Saturday and get in position for a win, and Lowry’s comfort on this course should keep him in the mix all the way through Sunday afternoon.
Protests persist at Iranian colleges and raise tensions as US military threat looms
CAIRO — It has been seven weeks since the Iranian government used brute force to extinguish huge nationwide protests. But public resistance to the Islamic Republic is still flickering on Iranian college campuses.
Anti-government demonstrations were held on at least 10 campuses in the past week, according to an exiled Iranian activist who tracks the country’s student movement, four students who witnessed protests, and social media videos verified by The Associated Press.
The students, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, all spoke of rising anger on their campuses toward Iran’s leaders, and of confusion about the direction their country was headed.
The simmering tensions on campuses come as the Iranian government led by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei faces threats of military action by the United States over the country’s nuclear program.
The theocratic government is increasingly threatening students and administrators. One government official warned students this week not to cross a “red line,” while a hard-line cleric who heads Iran’s judiciary said “crimes” would be punished if administrators didn’t rein in the protests.
Many universities have shut down their campuses and moved classes online.
The switch to remote learning was reminiscent of steps authorities took late last year. As December protests in Tehran’s grand bazaar over spiraling economic conditions quickly spread to towns and cities across Iran, authorities ordered remote learning in early January, shut off the internet and embarked on a bloody crackdown.
A complete toll of casualties from the crackdown has been slow to emerge because of internet restrictions imposed by authorities.
The Human Rights Activists News Agency says it confirmed more than 7,000 deaths and that it is investigating thousands more. The government has acknowledged more than 3,000 killed, though it has undercounted or not reported fatalities from past unrest.
An exiled Iranian activist who tracks the student movement, Ali Taghipour, said at least 128 university students died in the nationwide unrest. “It was the biggest massacre of university students” under the Islamic Republic, he said.
“By the time the state made universities in-person again, it coincided with the (40 day) memorials of the killings of the January protests,” Taghipour said. Some campus memorials sparked new anti-government protests, he added.
Protests erupted last Saturday at both Sharif University of Technology and Amir Kabir University. Videos circulating online verified by AP showed scuffles breaking out on both campuses between what appeared to be pro-government supporters and protesters yelling, “Shameless! Shameless!” That chant is often used to taunt security forces and plainclothes agents like the Basij, the all-volunteer arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard who maintain a presence on university campuses through student groups.
Students at the all-female Al Zahra University in northern Tehran chanted anti-government slogans on Monday, according to videos verified by AP. That same day, students at the University of Tehran’s College of Foreign Languages held a rowdy demonstration, stamping feet and chanting, “For each person killed, a thousand stand behind them!” That gathering had begun as a memorial for a student killed in the January protests.
The protests have raised fears of a new crackdown. On Tuesday, a government spokeswoman, Fatemeh Mohajerani, warned students to be careful not to cross a “red line,” according to the semiofficial Mehr news agency, and an Iranian state television anchorwoman read a statement attributed to the president of Sharif university apologizing for “inappropriate” events on campus.
On Wednesday, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejehi, the cleric who heads Iran’s judiciary, said judicial authorities would get involved in persecuting “crimes” on campuses if educational authorities were unable to control them, according to comments carried in state media. Ejehi has become the face of Iran’s recent crackdown, calling for the fast-tracking of punishments for protesters.
Universities across Iran have barred some students from campus and held disciplinary hearings, Taghipour said. Such hearings in the past have resulted in expulsions and even some students being forbidden from further university studies.
Iran’s college students have frequently propelled anti-government protests.
In 1999, university students in Tehran sparked some of the first demonstrations against the Islamic Republic. Campus unrest also played a key role in protests supporting Iran’s reformist leaders in 2008-2009, as well as sustaining openly anti-government demonstrations in 2022 that turned toward calling for the overthrow of Iran’s theocracy.
The refusal of Iran’s hard-liners to make any policy changes, and the gutting of the country’s middle class under decades of Western sanctions and economic mismanagement, has led many college-age students to the conclusion the Islamic Republic cannot be reformed, a doctoral student at the University of Tehran said.
That void has opened the way for Reza Pahlavi — the son of the shah ousted in 1979 — to become “a serious political cause for some people in Iran,” the student said. Memories of the shah’s autocratic rule remain mixed in the country, although nostalgia for the period’s economic prosperity has grown.
Years of repression have foiled the ability of any organized opposition within the country. The repression has also shrunk the space on campuses for any kind of political debate and organizing, said a social sciences student at Tehran university. “After 2022, around 70% of student associations were closed,” he said, including a progressive student association he had led.
The student added that he did not have any clear hopes about where student protests today could lead in the face of foreign military threats and the government’s willingness to repress dissent with deadly violence.
“On the one hand, we are facing a government that isn’t afraid of killing anyone, and on the other hand, we are facing outside powers that support people being killed.”
A student at a university in the northern city of Babol said fear is rising on campus about what a war could mean for the country.
The student said his personal hope was for a “democratic secular republic” in Iran, although he worries armed conflict could lead to further suffering and “increase the risks of the country’s disintegration.” Iran is already struggling to maintain a full supply of basic services such as electricity and water in some parts of the country.
The university in Babol has kept courses remote since early January, the student there said, preventing people from gathering on campus. He said many students have skipped remote courses as a form of protest.
At the University of Tehran, the social sciences student said he disagreed with students who support Pahlavi, partly because the exiled opposition figure has called for a U.S. strike on Iran.
“I’ll never understand a person who sits in London yelling for America to bomb Iran. How will they accept responsibility for what happens tomorrow?”
Judge extends order protecting refugees in Minnesota from being arrested and deported
A federal judge on Friday extended his order protecting refugees in Minnesota who are lawfully in the U.S. from being arrested and deported, saying a Trump administration policy turns the “American Dream into a dystopian nightmare.”U.S. District Judge John Tunheim granted a motion by advocates for refugees to convert a temporary restraining order that he issued in January into a more permanent preliminary injunction.The order applies only in Minnesota. But the implications of a new national policy on refugees that the Department of Homeland Security announced Feb. 19 were a major part of the discussion at a hearing held by the judge the next day.The Trump administration asserts it has the right to arrest potentially tens of thousands of refugees across the U.S. who entered the country legally but don’t yet have green cards. A new Homeland Security memo interprets immigration law to say that refugees applying for green cards must return to federal custody one year after they were admitted to the U.S. so that their applications can be reviewed.The judge, however, expressed disbelief in a 66-page opinion.“This Court will not allow federal authorities to use a new and erroneous statutory interpretation to terrorize refugees who immigrated to this country under the promise that they would be welcomed and allowed to live in peace, far from the persecution they fled,” Tunheim said.The judge said the U.S. decades ago promised refugees fleeing persecution that they could build a new life after rigorous background checks.“We promised them the hope that one day they could achieve the American Dream,” Tunheim said. “The Government’s new policy breaks that promise — without congressional authorization — and raises serious constitutional concerns. The new policy turns the refugees’ American Dream into a dystopian nightmare.”Justice Department attorney Brantley Mayers said during a hearing last week that the government should have the right to arrest refugees one year after entering the U.S., but indicated that would not always happen.The judge noted that one refugee in the case, identified as D. Doe, was arrested in January after being told that someone had struck his parked car.“He was immediately flown to Texas, where he was interrogated about his refugee status. He was kept in ‘shackles and handcuffs’ for sixteen hours. D. Doe was ultimately released on the streets of Texas, left to find his way back to Minnesota,” Tunheim said.
MINNEAPOLIS —
A federal judge on Friday extended his order protecting refugees in Minnesota who are lawfully in the U.S. from being arrested and deported, saying a Trump administration policy turns the “American Dream into a dystopian nightmare.”
U.S. District Judge John Tunheim granted a motion by advocates for refugees to convert a temporary restraining order that he issued in January into a more permanent preliminary injunction.
The order applies only in Minnesota. But the implications of a new national policy on refugees that the Department of Homeland Security announced Feb. 19 were a major part of the discussion at a hearing held by the judge the next day.
The Trump administration asserts it has the right to arrest potentially tens of thousands of refugees across the U.S. who entered the country legally but don’t yet have green cards. A new Homeland Security memo interprets immigration law to say that refugees applying for green cards must return to federal custody one year after they were admitted to the U.S. so that their applications can be reviewed.
The judge, however, expressed disbelief in a 66-page opinion.
“This Court will not allow federal authorities to use a new and erroneous statutory interpretation to terrorize refugees who immigrated to this country under the promise that they would be welcomed and allowed to live in peace, far from the persecution they fled,” Tunheim said.
The judge said the U.S. decades ago promised refugees fleeing persecution that they could build a new life after rigorous background checks.
“We promised them the hope that one day they could achieve the American Dream,” Tunheim said. “The Government’s new policy breaks that promise — without congressional authorization — and raises serious constitutional concerns. The new policy turns the refugees’ American Dream into a dystopian nightmare.”
Justice Department attorney Brantley Mayers said during a hearing last week that the government should have the right to arrest refugees one year after entering the U.S., but indicated that would not always happen.
The judge noted that one refugee in the case, identified as D. Doe, was arrested in January after being told that someone had struck his parked car.
“He was immediately flown to Texas, where he was interrogated about his refugee status. He was kept in ‘shackles and handcuffs’ for sixteen hours. D. Doe was ultimately released on the streets of Texas, left to find his way back to Minnesota,” Tunheim said.
Alan Jackson’s Debut Album Changed Everything in Country Music
Alan Jackson has had more impact on country music than just about any other artist of his generation, but he was just a young Nashville newcomer taking a chance on traditional country music when he released his debut album, Here in the Real World, on Feb. 27, 1990.
The native of Newnan, Ga., moved to Nashville to chase his country music dreams shortly after marrying his childhood sweetheart, Denise, in 1979, but he was anything but an overnight success.
What Were Alan Jackson’s Early Days in Music Like?
Denise worked as a flight attendant early in their marriage to help pay the bills, and she helped her husband get his first break when she spotted Glen Campbell at the airport.
She approached him and explained that her husband was an aspiring country singer, and Campbell gave her a business card for his Nashville publishing company, which ended up signing Jackson to his first songwriting deal.
Jackson finally scored a record deal with Arista, which released Here in the Real World in 1990.
Jackson had songwriting credits on all but one of the album’s 10 tracks, but it was a slow start for the traditional-minded singer at country radio with his first single, “Blue Blooded Woman.”
READ MORE: The Alan Jackson Song That Brings Gavin Adcock to Tears
The song stiffed at No. 45, but the second single from the album, the title song “Here in the Real World,” reached No. 3, and so did its follow-up, “Wanted.”
What Was Alan Jackson’s First No. 1 Hit?
The fourth single from the album, “Chasin’ That Neon Rainbow,” peaked at No. 2, and Jackson scored his first No. 1 hit with the fifth and final single from Here in the Real World, “I’d Love You All Over Again.”
Fittingly, he wrote that song for his wife to mark their tenth wedding anniversary.
Here in the Real World ended up selling more than 2 million copies, launching Jackson as a major new star in the country music scene.
The album’s success helped to revitalize traditional country music and placed Jackson among the vanguard of artists who have since come to be called the Class of 1989, which included Jackson, Garth Brooks, Clint Black, Travis Tritt and more.
30 years after its release, Here in the Real World stands as a landmark of modern country music, marking the debut of one of the most celebrated and awarded talents in the history of the genre.
The 30 Best Alan Jackson Songs of All Time
Over his three-decade-plus career, Alan Jackson has released some of the most essential country music songs ever. His catalog includes classic barnburners like “Chattahoochee,” tender ballads like “Remember When” and everything in between.
No matter which songs are your favorite, it’s hard to dispute that Jackson’s music changed the country music genre forever.
Gallery Credit: Carena Liptak
26 Pictures of Alan Jackson Young
Alan Jackson is a country music institution. The legend has sold more than 75 million records worldwide, and he’s had a whopping sixty-six songs appear on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart. He’s had 35 No. 1 songs!
Let’s hop in the DeLorean to go back in time with 26 pictures of Alan Jackson young.
Gallery Credit: Evan Paul
Opinion | Why Netflix Lost Warner to Paramount
Antitrust is a political weapon, alas, and the streamer leaned left.
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Ranking 25 men’s college basketball breakout stars in 2025-26
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Myron Medcalf
Multiple Authors
The 2025-26 men’s college basketball season has been defined by the stars who have turned it into one of the most exciting for the sport in recent memory. The freshman class has an abundance of talent, and there are transfers who have transformed programs, with multiple from either category emerging as household names.
Who else should be on your radar, though?
We’ve identified 25 breakout stars to know — players who have bounced back from injuries, returnees who have made significant strides with the same program, and prospects who weren’t projected to have the immediate impacts they have had in their first seasons of Division I basketball.
Last season, Haugh was a key reserve for the Florida team that cut down the nets in San Antonio. This season, he is a bona fide All-America candidate and first-round NBA draft prospect who could lead the Gators to their second back-to-back national title reign in program history. His scoring average has increased from 9.8 to 16.9 points while maintaining a similar impact on the glass with 6.0 rebounds per game.
Last season, Anderson was a star in the Sweet 16. This season, he has taken advantage of a bigger workload — jumping from 30.5 to 38.7 minutes per game — to emerge as an All-America candidate with 19.6 PPG, 7.7 APG and a 43.9% 3-point shooting rate. With teammate JT Toppin out for the season, Anderson will have to be both Batman and Robin for the Red Raiders come March.
Nate Oats coached Alabama to top-five finishes in offensive efficiency with former All-America guard Mark Sears running the show the previous two seasons. Now Philon is the catalyst who has helped the Crimson Tide sustain that production. He’s averaging 21.3 points as a sophomore, effectively doubling his 10.6 PPG mark as a freshman.
Though MaxPreps named Wagler its Kansas High School Player of the Year for 2024-25, the 6-foot-6 guard didn’t receive many scholarship offers — Illinois was only one of two high-major programs to extend him one. But the Fighting Illini found an unheralded freshman who could lead them to their first Final Four since 2005, win Big Ten Player of the Year and secure an NBA draft lottery spot.
After not starting a single game as a freshman, Tanner is in contention for SEC Player of the Year, averaging 18.5 points while leading Vanderbilt to what will be only its second NCAA tournament appearance since 2017. He’s the reason Mark Byington is a national Coach of the Year candidate.
Momcilovich was a contributor (11.5 PPG) on the 2024-25 Iowa State team that earned a 3-seed before losing in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Now he’s averaging a career-high 17.4 points and is one of the greatest 3-point shooters (50.7%, No. 1 in the nation) in recent college basketball history. The 6-foot-8 forward is the catalyst for a top-20 offense.
Amid the ups and downs of Darryn Peterson‘s availability, Kansas has relied on the consistency of Bidunga. The Jayhawks are plus-28.7 points per 100 possessions better when he’s on the court, per advanced analytics site EvanMiya, and have benefitted from his defensive presence (9.2 RPG).
The 6-foot-10 big man is arguably UConn’s most important player. After making only one start last season, Reed has started every game he has been healthy for this season (24). The Huskies are at their best when he plays — they’re plus-11.5 points per 100 possessions better with him on the court, according to EvanMiya.
The defending national champion Gators have lost only two games since Dec. 9, featuring the No. 3 defense in America over that stretch. Chinyelu’s contribution to that rise? Opposing players have made just 37% of their shots around the rim against him.
Mark Few has said Huff could return from a left knee injury in time for the NCAA tournament, which makes the 6-foot-10 star eligible for this list. Since he last played on Jan. 8, Gonzaga’s offense has dropped to 62nd in adjusted efficiency — a sign of the impact that he and his 17.8 PPG have had in a breakout season that has been affected by injury.
Mast sat out the 2023-24 season because of a knee injury before returning this season to lead Nebraska’s historic 20-0 start. The 6-foot-10 center has demonstrated that few big men in America can match his well-rounded game: He is top-three in points (13.8), rebounds (6.1) and assists (3.1) for the Cornhuskers.
Cameron Boozer is the leader of a strong Duke team — that much is clear — but Evans is a critical catalyst for the Blue Devils. He has connected on 44.4% of his 3-point attempts during their five-game winning streak, a sign of a significant turn for a player who has gone from 6.8 points to 14.7 season over season.
As the backup for All-America point guard Mark Sears last season, Holloway looked the part of a future leader for an Alabama team that reached the Elite Eight a year ago. He has become much more than that, as evidenced by the 16.4 points and 4.9 assists he has averaged over the Tide’s current seven-game winning streak.
A lower leg injury cost Krivas the bulk of last season; he played in only eight games. He has since returned as one of the anchors of an Arizona team that won its first 23 games. Averaging 10.6 points, 8.5 rebounds and 1.9 blocks, Krivas is rated as an excellent offensive and defensive player by Synergy Sports in his comeback season.
In high school, the 6-foot-2 guard wasn’t even ranked as a top-three prospect in the state of New Hampshire. Now, Okorie is fifth in the country in scoring (22.8) in one of the season’s most surprising rises for a freshman who wasn’t even on the national radar before this season. He has scored 30 or more points five times in 2025-26.
Ngongba has become one of Duke’s top contributors, seemingly betting better with each passing game. The 6-foot-11 center helped the Blue Devils conquer one of the most dominant frontcourts in America when they beat then-No. 1 Michigan on Saturday. And he has made 60.2% of shots while holding opponents to a 52% mark around the rim.
Chandler has been a consistent starter for Kentucky a season after averaging 10.4 minutes. The 6-foot-5 guard has made one of the nation’s most impressive leaps as a shooter over the last year, jumping from a 34.7% clip from 3-point range a season ago to 43.1% this season (including 46.1% in SEC play).
The leap by Miller over the past year — from 13.2 PPG and 34.1% from 3 to 18.6 and 41.9% — is the reason SMU could earn an at-large NCAA tournament bid for the first time in nearly a decade. In his team’s biggest wins of the season, against North Carolina and Louisville, the 6-foot guard scored 50 total points.
When first-year head coach Ryan Odom announced the signing of the 6-foot-9 forward from Belgium, he said the freshman would “have an immediate impact in our frontcourt.” Ridder has lived up to that expectation with his production (15.9 PPG, 6.4 RPG). With the first-year standout on the court, Virginia has registered 121.3 points per 100 possessions.
It’s not easy to project the impact young European prospects can have in college, but New Mexico could win the Mountain West in Eric Olen’s first season at the helm as a result of his recruitment of Buljan. The Croatian standout is nearly averaging a double-double (11.9 points, 9.8 rebounds).
Hill averaged just 6.2 minutes a season ago and is now the leading scorer — 14.3 on 36.5% shooting from 3 — for a VCU team that’s chasing Saint Louis for the Atlantic 10 title and its third NCAA tournament appearance in four years.
At 5-foot-11, Johnson is one of the top players in America. He is also one of the most improved, going from 6.6 PPG last season to 17.4 this season — and that’s in addition to 3.5 APG and 2.6 SPG while shooting 40.9% from beyond the arc.
The Spartans’ standout has made significant strides in scoring (12.3 PPG), on the glass (9.3 RPG) and at the free throw line (86%). But the 6-foot-9 forward’s transformation as a deep-ball, high-volume threat (40% on 4.1 3-point attempts per game) has given Tom Izzo’s squad a significant boost in its pursuit of another deep tournament run.
The 6-foot-6 sophomore forward, who has made 59% of his shots inside the arc, is a two-way threat for Josh Schertz’s squad. McCottry is listed as a “very good” defensive player for a Billikens squad that has played top-25 defense this season. Robbie Avila is the face of the program, but McCottry is an essential component in this team’s success in 2025-26.
The 6-foot-2 freshman wasn’t bombarded with scholarship offers after winning Pennsylvania Player of the Year. Averaging 18.3 points for a Merrimack school seeking the first Division I NCAA tournament appearance in school history, the five-time MAAC Rookie of the Week has made a lot of the schools who passed on him look foolish.
Trump told FBI Director Kash Patel he didn’t like his Olympics hijinks
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump was disappointed in FBI Director Kash Patel’s behavior at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics and conveyed his displeasure in a conversation with him, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Patel went viral for his locker-room celebration with the U.S. men’s hockey team after its win against Canada on Sunday — the first time the U.S. team took home gold since 1980. In a video that was first posted by ProPublica, Patel, an avid hockey fan, could be seen chugging a beer and banging on a table, while yelling in an exuberant display of celebration.
Trump — who does not drink — told Patel he was unhappy not only with that scene, but also with Patel’s use of government aircraft for the trip to Milan, Italy, according to the person familiar with the matter.
The FBI declined to comment on whether Trump was upset with Patel.
In a statement, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson touted crime rates “dropping across the board.”
“This is a direct result of the President’s law and order agenda which is being successfully implemented by his law and order team, including FBI Director Kash Patel,” she said. “The President has full confidence in his Administration.”
Patel’s trip to Italy coincided with the shooting of an armed man who entered the security perimeter of the president’s residence in Florida, Mar-a-Lago. Trump was not there at the time.
Patel maintained that he was on an official trip in Italy not just for the Olympics but also to meet Italian law enforcement, as well as U.S. agencies providing security at the international event.
“For the very concerned media — yes, I love America and was extremely humbled when my friends, the newly minted Gold Medal winners on Team USA, invited me into the locker room to celebrate this historic moment with the boys- Greatest country on earth and greatest sport on earth,” Patel wrote on X after the locker-room video was posted.
Patel has faced scrutiny for his use of the FBI jet in the past. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, has asked the Justice Department’s inspector general to “investigate Director Patel’s misuse or mismanagement of government resources.”
This week, the FBI, at the direction of Patel, fired at least 10 employees linked to the 2022 search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, according to three people familiar with the matter. That search turned up classified documents and led to one of two federal cases against Trump; both were eventually dismissed. Patel also disclosed this week that his own cellphone “toll” records had been obtained in the course of the Trump investigations.
On Friday, the group Democracy Defenders Fund filed a Freedom of Information Act request for any material on Patel’s “official, personal, and political meetings” while in Italy.
The request, first obtained by NBC News, asks for materials that could “shed light on Kash Patel’s use of government resources, including government aircraft, to facilitate his attendance at the 2026 Olympics and whether he accepted any gifts including free attendance at the men’s hockey final.”