CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (WTVD) -- Allegations swirling around suspended UNC-Chapel Hill women's basketball coach Sylvia Hatchell are intensifying with new reporting from the Washington Post.
ABC11 sources say parents of players met with university officials last week claiming Hatchell made racially insensitive remarks and pushed players to take the court when injured.
Sources also told us four players are trying to transfer to other schools.
Now, the Washington Post is reporting that Hatchell told players they would be "hanged from trees with nooses" at an upcoming game if their performance didn't improve.
The Post said it spoke with six parents on the condition of anonymity.
Hatchell's Raleigh attorney, Wade Smith, provided the Post with a different version and said the comments attributed to her are incorrect and misconstrued.
Smith said the 67-year-old Hatchell told the players 'They're going to take a rope and string us up, and hang us out to dry.'
Smith also said, "there's not a racist bone in her body" and she never would have tried to convince anyone to play whom the medical staff had not cleared.
There are things to like about the new New York Jets uniforms, unveiled Thursday night at an event in Manhattan. And they’re all mostly undone by the jersey tops, the biggest and most important piece of the ensemble, which invite the worst possible comparison an NFL uniform can receive: Arena league.
The helmets are entirely green now, and shiny as heck, and they look great. The team also sports a new, lighter shade of green that is definitely an improvement on the old. (The Jets claim that this shade was designed specifically to look good on TV, which, we’ll see. The new green also gets a name, which is normal, but so do the secondary colors, which is not, considering that they’re, uh, white and black. Say hello to “Gotham Green,” “Spotlight White,” and “Stealth Black.” Just because you’re paying the design team a lot, you don’t have to accept every bit of marketingese they sell you.)
“It’s a statement about the future. I think it’s a statement about how we want to be perceived as a little bolder, a little more innovative and a little greater,” said Jets President Neil Glat. Well, no, it’s a ploy to sell merchandise, but let us take the aesthetics on their own merits. Here are the road, home, and alternate uniforms, pictured on the Jets’ site, which has a whole mess of photos from every angle.
I hate the jerseys. Hate em! Every detail, from the wings (or whatever) on the shoulders to the squished “New York” above the numbers on the front, screams generic. Generic, but also, somehow, extremely 2019, and even if these looked good now, they’re still going to look extremely 2019 in five or 10 years.
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I especially hate the numbers. The font is “edgy and unique,” according to the Jets, but I guess words can mean a lot of things. The sans-serif font feels amateurish and looks particularly weird for the 1s, and the only saving grace of the black outline on the numbers for the home jerseys is that it’s not nearly as unappealing as the use of green-outlined-in-black on the road unis.
Robby Anderson’s number looks like the Twin Towers.
Black is entirely new to the Jets’ color scheme, and there’s not anything here it makes better—least of all, the new black alternate uniforms, which look too much like ripoffs of the Eagles’. Earlier in the decade, seemingly every American sports team sported a black alternate, and most have wisely since ditched or downplayed them. It’s extremely Jets of the Jets to hop on the trend now, too late.
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Look, your mileage may vary with this stuff. Maybe you like the new Jets uniforms. Maybe your kid does! (I can already picture the alternate selling well around here.) Don’t let anyone else’s opinion stop you from liking things. But also, if you’re going to be shelling out 150 bucks for a jersey, you have the right to own something that won’t someday prove regrettable.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – APRIL 04: LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers speaks to Kevin Durant #35 of the Golden State Warriors during a timeout in the first half at Staples Center on April 04, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Yong Teck Lim/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES – The time technically called for both the Warriors and Lakers to huddle among themselves. But as the end of a second-quarter timeout approached, the Warriors’ Kevin Durant and Lakers’ LeBron James considered that a good time to catch up.
Naturally, the TNT cameramen focused their lenses on Durant and James. Naturally, Durant and James covered their mouths since they knew that millions of lip readers would attempt to decode. It sure beats the intrigue over the Warriors’ 108-90 victory over the Lakers on Thursday without James playing in it after being recently shut down for the remainder of the season.
“Everybody wants to know what we’re talking about,” Durant said. “It wasn’t even that serious. Just laughing and joking and catching up.”
Of course, that explanation might elicit eye rolls.
When he played for the Cleveland Cavaliers last season, James talked with Lakers guard Lonzo Ball after the game. Recently, James spoke with New Orleans Pelicans forward Anthony Davis. See a common thread here? They are all players either James will or hopes will become his teammate. So it would only seem natural for James to set his eyes on Durant, who is expected to opt out of his $31 player option to become an unrestricted free agent in July.
“Everybody is so interested, especially in LeBron. So whoever he talks to, the lipreaders are going to try to figure that out,” Durant said. “You guys are infatuated with that whole thing. It’s fun. People try to figure it out.”
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Durant’s relationship with James stems from squaring off between the Miami Heat-Oklahoma City Thunder in the 2012 NBA Finals, as well as the Warriors and Cavaliers in 2017 NBA Finals and 2018 NBA Finals. Durant also played with James with the U.S. Men’s Olympic team in the 2012 London Games.
Durant respects James, has trained with him in past summers and even participated in a joint interview with ESPN’s Cari Champion about social activism. But those around NBA circles are strongly skeptical Durant would join James with the Lakers for two reasons. It would do little to shake off criticism Durant has fielded for joining a star-studded team in the Warriors two years ago. There is skepticism Durant would respond well to James’ leadership approach that he had for former Cleveland teammates Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love in which they often received tough love and public criticism.
Durant has also admitted that he felt “on the same level” as James after making a game-winning shot over him in Game 3 of the 2017 NBA Finals. Should the two join teams, Durant could not compete against James for NBA titles. Durant will not have a chance to win this year at James’ expense. He will miss the playoffs for the first time in 13 years.
“Is it strange? It’s not really strange,” Durant said. “He’s been on the East Coast for so long. You only run into him in the Finals. It’s weird playing on the West Coast. It don’t feel any different.”
It might feel different for James, though.
“I wonder how that’s going to be for him right after the season,” Durant said. “He can get to do his thing a little earlier than usual. I’m sure he can use the rest. I’m sure he’s pumped and excited about stepping into the summer and getting a whole summer to work on his game and on his body and everything he loves to do. I know it’s going to be a little weird for him. I definitely want to ask him about it.”
Perhaps that might have been weird for Durant to ask James about that during the game. After all, the lip readers might have noticed.
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The Kansas City Chiefs became the first NFL team to sign a player from the Alliance of American Football with the addition of cornerback Keith Reaser, a source told ESPN's Adam Schefter.
The AAF suspended operations earlier this week and announced Thursday that all of the league's players were allowed to sign with NFL teams.
The Chiefs will give Reaser $100,000 up front in the form of a $50,000 signing bonus, a $25,000 workout bonus and a $25,000 roster bonus, the source said.
Reaser had played for the league-best Orlando Apollos and made three interceptions and 12 tackles in the eight-game season.
Reaser, a fifth-round pick of the San Francisco 49ers in 2014, previously spent time with the Chiefs in 2017-18 and played in one game for the team before being released last September.
He appeared in 29 NFL games with the Niners from 2015-17.
GREEN BAY -- The drama surrounding Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers continues to fester through the locker room of Lambeau Field, even after McCarthy's dismissal.
According to Tyler Dunne's Bleacher Report article, the feud between McCarthy and Rodgers began the day McCarthy was hired.
Former running back Ryan Grant discussed the toxic relationship, and said it all began when McCarthy (49ers Offensive Coordinator at the time) chose to draft Alex Smith number one overall over Rodgers.
"Aaron was upset that Mike passed on him—that Mike actually verbally said that Alex Smith was a better quarterback," Grant said.
This was the beginning of a long-term grudge that Rodgers would have and show towards his head coach.
Another longtime teammate agrees: "That was a large cancer in the locker room. It wasn't a secret."
Even after they won the Super Bowl in 2010, someone close to Rodgers at the time remembers him calling to vent about McCarthy not "having a clue what he was doing."
The person said that Rodgers said McCarthy had one of the lowest IQs of any coach he's ever had.
Dunne's article also discuses how former offensive weapons Jermichael Finley and Greg Jennings both viewed Rodgers as "self-entitled" and "toxic."
The problems continued to occur, but Rodgers "rarely chose to address it directly."
Due to not addressing the issues, the two continued to butt heads during games, practices and on national TV.
Now with Matt LaFleur at the helm, it's up to him to keep the toxic feelings that still exist away from his football team.
The Final Four is here, even though it looks a bit different than we might have expected. Only three games remain in the college basketball season, and the action tips off Saturday with a whole lot of broken-bracket fans eager to see who can emerge.
No. 1 Virginia will play No. 5 Auburn in the first semifinal, followed by No. 2 seed Michigan State and No. 3 seed Texas Tech. Virginia and Auburn both won its Elite Eight games in overtime, while Michigan State and Texas Tech both beat No. 1 seeds in games that came down to the wire.
We could be looking at a first-time champion in the 81st edition of the NCAA Tournament. Michigan State is the only one of the teams remaining to have one a national championship, winning in 1979 and 2000.
Texas Tech has the highest margin of victory in the tournament, winning by an average of 15 points, but is the underdog against Michigan State. Do our CBS Sports experts expect the Red Raiders run to continue? They were all asked to pick the winners for each Final Four game -- both straight-up and against the spread -- and most of them are on the same page.
No. 1 Virginia (-5.5) vs. No. 5 Auburn -- 6:09 p.m. on CBS: This is a game that will be a battle of pace. Virginia only allowed opponents to take 52.1 field goals per game, meanwhile Auburn 61.1 field goals attemped per game. Virginia will try to take care of the ball and force shots late in the shot clock. The Tigers will look to force turnovers and get shots up quickly. Another key point in this game will be how efficient Auburn is on 3-pointers. The Tigers average over 11 3-pointers made per game, the third-highest mark in college basketball. Virginia is ranked fourth in the country, only allowing opponents to shoot 28.7 percent from 3-point range. Pick: Virginia -5.5
No. 2 Michigan State (-3.5) vs. No. 3 Texas Tech -- 8:49 p.m. on CBS: Michigan State is coming off of a one-point win over Duke in the Elite Eight in which it forced 17 turnovers. This is a matchup of two elite defenses. Texas Tech and Michigan State are both ranked in the top-three of defensive field goal percentage. Who's offense will be able to create better shots, Cassius Winston and the Spartans or Jarrett Culver and the Red Raiders? Pick: Texas Tech +3.5
