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Dickie V: Preseason’s All-Rolls Royce Teams and Diaper Dandies

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Dickie V: Preseason’s All-Rolls Royce Teams and Diaper Dandies


Here we go, baby! Buckle up, hoops nation, it’s time for Dickie V’s 2025-26 preseason All-Rolls Royce teams — and my list of star-studded Diaper Dandies. We’re talking Prime-Time Players (PTPers) are ready to light up the scoreboard and make this season one for the ages.

You know me. I don’t hand out Rolls Royce honors to just any player, unless he’s the kind to make you stand up and say, “Are you serious, baby?!”

So, let’s tip it off with the best of the best!

First Team

PJ Haggerty, Kansas State Wildcats: The transfer express finally lands in Manhattan, Kansas, and boy, oh boy, Jerome Tang’s got himself a big-time baller and scoring machine. Haggerty’s dropped 21 points a night the past two years — and, by the way, set an American Conference tourney record with 42 points in a game. But he’s not just a scorer, he’s also a playmaker and a defender. He’s a legit Rolls Royce PTPer.

Braden Smith, Purdue Boilermakers: The maestro, the conductor, the Diaper Dandy-turned-veteran PTPer. The Bob Cousy Award winner led the entire nation last season in assists. He’s the reigning Big Ten Player of the Year, a first-team All-American, and when you’re breaking conference records for dimes, you’re the Rolls Royce of point guards. He’s Purdue’s straw that stirs the drink.

JT Toppin, Texas Tech Red Raiders: Double-double deluxe, baby! This young man was named the Big 12’s Player of the Year, recording 19 double-doubles last season. He gets it done with muscle, hustle and heart. You talk about toughness? Toppin is Mr. Reliable down low — a Rolls Royce Red Raider.

Graham Ike, Gonzaga Bulldogs: The postman always delivers. He’s been putting up steady double figures his whole career, and with nearly 60% shooting, he’s money on the block.

Bennett Stirtz, Iowa Hawkeyes: From Division II Northwest Missouri State to Drake to the big stage in Iowa City, what a Cinderella story. He’s a scoring guard with clutch DNA. Last year? Over 600 points, 200 assists, 70 steals. Nobody in Mountain Valley Conference history ever did that before him. Now he’s ready to show the Big Ten he’s prime-time material.


Second Team

Trey Kaufman-Renn, Purdue Boilermakers: Ohhh, he’s a scoring dynamo. Averaged 20 points, six boards, two assists, and shot almost 60% from the floor. Are you kidding me? He’s a scoring machine in the paint, baby. Matt Painter’s paint crew is alive and well with TKR running the show up front.

Donovan Dent, UCLA Bruins: The only player in America last year to average 20+ points and 6+ assists, he’s flashy, he’s quick — and now he’s headed to Westwood after three seasons at New Mexico to run the show for Mick Cronin. The Bruins got a baller.

Nick Martinelli, Northwestern Wildcats: Martinelli led the Big Ten in scoring and set a school record last season. The kid’s got touch, toughness and talent. He’s the Wildcats’ scoring Rolls Royce.

Emanuel Sharp, Houston Cougars: Clutch city, baby! Big 12 tourney MVP, NCAA tournament’s Midwest Regional MOP, a Final Four star. He can knock it down from deep and from the stripe. He’s ice, baby!

Otega Oweh, Kentucky Wildcats: Big Blue Nation loves this guy. He’s strong, explosive and clutch. He hit not one, but TWO game-winners last year. He’s the Wildcats’ Rolls Royce slasher.

Diaper Dandies

These are the freshmen phenoms, the future lottery picks, the “wow” factor kids who are ready to dazzle from day one.

Darryn Peterson, Kansas Jayhawks: Naismith HS POY, can score, rebound, pass, defend. Bill Self’s got himself a big-time winner in Peterson, who is a future top-3 draft pick.

A.J. Dybantsa, BYU Cougars: The No. 1 recruit in the 2025 class, Dybantsa is 6-foot-9 with handles, athleticism and an MVP performance at the FIBA Men’s U19 World Cup. He’s a projected No. 1 overall draft pick.

Cameron Boozer, Duke Blue Devils: The son of Duke superstar Carlos Boozer, but this kid’s carving his own legend. He’s also a two-time Gatorade National POY, a double-double machine and a guaranteed Blue Devil Rolls Royce.

Nate Ament, Tennessee Volunteers: At 6-11 with guard skills, Ament is versatile and ready to shine in Knoxville. A shot-blocking, rim-rocking Diaper Dandy.

Mikel Brown Jr., Louisville Cardinals: A floor general deluxe. He’s got deep range, big-time vision and the confidence of a veteran. He’s going to be the man at Louisville.

Darius Acuff, Arkansas Razorbacks: Lightning quick, explosive and clutch. He’s got that Iverson flair and Razorback fire, baby. Diaper Dandy alert in Fayetteville!

College hoops fans, I’ve been blessed to share my passion for this great game with you for decades. You are the heartbeat of college basketball. Your love, energy and enthusiasm fuel everything I do. As we gear up for another unforgettable season, I want to say, from the bottom of my heart: thank you for supporting me, supporting the game and being part of my hoops family.

It’s going to be special, it’s going to be sensational, it’s going to be Awesome, baby, with a capital A!



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Miami (Ohio) beats Toledo to extend 30-game winning streak

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Miami (Ohio) beats Toledo to extend 30-game winning streak


OXFORD, Ohio — Peter Suder scored 19 points, Antwone Woolfolk added 14 and No. 19 Miami (Ohio) closed to within a victory of a perfect regular season with a 74-72 win over Toledo on Tuesday night that extended the RedHawks’ season-opening winning streak to 30 games.

The RedHawks (17-0 Mid-American Conference) remain the only undefeated team in Division I men’s basketball. They’re only the fourth team in the past 35 years to start 30-0, joining 2013-14 Wichita State, 2014-15 Kentucky and 2020-21 Gonzaga.

With the victory, Miami claimed its first MAC regular-season title since 2004-05, extended the best start in program history and added to its school record for wins in a season. Miami also boasts the best start and longest win streak in MAC history.

Brant Byers added 13 points and Luke Skaljac chipped in 12 for the RedHawks, who extended their home winning streak to 31 games in front of a sellout crowd of 10,640 at Millett Hall. That home mark matches Duke for the longest in the nation.

Leroy Blyden Jr. led Toledo (16-4, 10-7) with 21 points and Sonny Wilson added 13.

Miami was coming off a 69-67 win over Western Kentucky on Friday night, when it needed a buzzer-beater from freshman Trey Perry. In Tuesday’s game, the RedHawks jumped out to an early double-digit lead against the Rockets and never trailed.

Toledo cut the deficit to one on four occasions and looked as though it would take the lead on an Austin Parks drive to the basket with nine minutes left, but Miami’s Eian Elmer stuffed him at the rim and hit a 3-pointer a few seconds later to push the lead back to four points.

The Rockets trailed by two points and had the ball with 13 seconds left but turned it over with less than a second to play. It was the RedHawks’ seventh game decided by three points or fewer, tied for the most to keep a perfect season alive since 1948-49.

The victory gave the RedHawks their first season sweep of Toledo since the 1996-97 season, and it ran their series winning streak to three in a row overall after losing 22 straight from 2012 to 2024.

The Associated Press and ESPN Research contributed to this report.



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Liverpool lose 9th of season in ‘same old story,’ Slot says

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Liverpool lose 9th of season in ‘same old story,’ Slot says


WOLVERHAMPTON, England — Arne Slot said Liverpool’s 2-1 defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers on Tuesday is a case of the “same old story” after his team conceded yet another late winner in the Premier League.

Wolves midfielder Andre secured the victory for the hosts with a deflected strike in the 94th minute at Molineux Stadium. It means Liverpool have now lost five games thanks to goals after the 90th minute this term; the most of any side in a single campaign in the competition’s history.

“How do I sum this up?” Slot said of his team’s ninth Premier League loss of the season. “Same old story. Recently, we are picking up points because we score many times from set-pieces, but what didn’t change in the last five, six seven games is that we struggle and find it very hard to score from open play chances that we do create.

“Not as much as I would like from all the ball possession we have, but enough and far more than the other team. But the end result is we scored one and they scored two and another one in injury time so it sums up our season again.

“We have had far more possession than the other team, we have created more in open play in general than the other team, but have struggled to score from open play. Recently we have scored a lot from set-pieces. Again we had a lot of set-pieces, but in the first half were very poorly taken.

“I don’t think we played a very good first half, the second half was better, still not great, but better. We created more, and the just before injury time we were twice very close from chances to make it 2-1.

“Mo [Salah] was dribbling and had to the left and right two players open, but the ball was intercepted by their defender and there was the Virgil [van Dijk] header, and the one we conceded wasn’t even a chance.

“That has happened to us so many times this season. That it happened in injury time may be a coincidence, although it has happened so many times. We hardly gave away a chance today, we gave away one chance and conceded two.”

Liverpool’s latest defeat leaves them in fifth place, though they could drop to sixth if Chelsea beat Aston Villa at Villa Park on Wednesday.

Reflecting on whether the loss has impacted his team’s chances of Champions League qualification, Slot said: “It’s another setback and we didn’t help ourselves with this result, not at all. But there are still nine games to play. We are coming closer and closer to the end.

“Dropping points in a game where it’s absolutely not necessary. If you look at the run of play, I’m not saying we played great, but if we play this game in this fashion 10 times we don’t lose 10 times.

“It’s far from sure that we win every time, therefore we are not good enough. If we don’t have to rely on a deflected shot, we have to play better and do better. But we’ve had enough chances to win the game.

“But credit to Wolves as well. They fight from first second until the end and got maybe a bit of a luck they deserve when you look at how much they put in throughout the whole game.”



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Barcelona disappointed, proud as Copa rally vs. Atleti falls short

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Barcelona disappointed, proud as Copa rally vs. Atleti falls short


Hansi Flick was “disappointed but proud” after Barcelona came desperately close to pulling off an incredible comeback against Atlético Madrid on Tuesday only to ultimately miss out on a place in the Copa del Rey final.

Two goals from Marc Bernal and a Raphinha penalty earned Barça a 3-0 win at Spotify Camp Nou, but they lost the tie 4-3 on aggregate after last month’s four-goal defeat in Madrid.

Atlético will now progress to April’s final in Seville, where they will meet the winners of Wednesday’s Basque derby between Real Sociedad and Athletic Club.

“We are disappointed, but we can be very proud about the performance we showed,” Flick said in the post-game news conference. “It was an amazing game from us and we created a lot of chances to score even more goals. In the end it didn’t happen and we have to accept it.”

Fermín López, Raphinha, Bernal, Ferran Torres and Lamine Yamal all had early chances as Barça flew out of the blocks, registering 13 shots on goal in the first half.

Bernal eventually gave them the lead in the 29th minute, converting a brilliant Yamal cross, and when Raphinha made it 2-0 via the spot on the stroke of halftime, the home supporters chanted “Yes we can.”

A second goal of the night from teenager Bernal set the stage for a frantic final 20 minutes, but Barça could not find a fourth, which would have taken the tie to extra-time, with their best chance blazed over by Gerard Martín in stoppage time.

“Normally this level is the benchmark, but we have to show it in every game,” Flick added. “It’s not a given, it’s hard work.”

Bernal, one of the standout performers on the night, has now scored four goals in his last five appearances and is nearing his best form again following over one year out of action with an ACL injury.

“Marc played an unbelievable game today,” Flick said. “This is the mentality I want from him because he’s a fantastic talent. With the ball, the buildup, he’s really good. Today…it was amazing, really good to see.”

Barça’s performance was tainted by injuries to Jules Koundé and Alejandro Balde. Koundé was forced off in the first half and Balde, his replacement, came off after the break.

Both will undergo tests on Thursday to determine the severity of the injuries.

“They are out,” Flick said when asked for an update on their fitness. “I don’t know [how long for]. We have to wait until tomorrow to know exactly.

“Everyone was exhausted because they left everything on the pitch. They gave more than 100%. The supporters are happy with this game, maybe also a bit disappointed, but it’s normal. Everyone played with his whole heart for this club and it’s fantastic to see.”

Copa elimination means Flick will miss out on a domestic trophy in Spain for the first time since being appointed Barcelona coach in 2024.

He won LaLiga, the Copa and the Spanish Supercopa in his debut season in charge, following up those three titles with a second Supercopa in Saudi Arabia in January.

However, Barça still have plenty to play for this season. They are four points clear at the top of LaLiga and face Newcastle United next week in the Champions League round of 16.

“It’s a long way to go in La Liga and the Champions League,” Flick said said. “We have a huge opponent coming up, Newcastle, a strong team. Every three or four days we have a match and this is our job for the next weeks, months.

“We want to play many games in the Champions League so we have to do it like this. Recovery, focus on our job and that’s what I want to see from the team. The quality we saw today from the team, it’s there, it’s unbelievable. I am really proud about my team and it’s fantastic.”



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