Category: Sport

Providence forward Duncan Powell has been suspended for three games after his role in the massive fight during the Friars’ loss to St. John’s on Saturday.

Powell, the Big East said on Sunday, “engaged in additional combative actions” during the fight. As a result, the conference hit him with a two-game suspension in addition to the automatic one-game suspension for fighting mandated by the NCAA.

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Powell was the only player involved in the incident to be assessed additional penalties. He will now miss games against DePaul, Xavier and Creighton, and will be eligible to return March 4 against Marquette.

Powell was assessed a Flagrant 2 foul after he drilled Bryce Hopkins from behind as Hopkins was going up for a layup early in the second half at Amica Mutual Pavilion on Saturday. That sparked a massive fight that resulted in six of the game’s seven ejections. At one point, Powell even tried to swing on St. John’s forward Dillion Mitchell, though Mitchell ducked just in time.

The seventh ejection came later in the second half after Providence’s Jamier Jones was assessed a Flagrant 2 foul. In total, Jones, Powell and Jaylin Sellers were ejected for Providence. Mitchell, Kelvin Odih, Ruben Prey and Sadiku Ibine Ayo were ejected for St. John’s.

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The win for St. John’s pushed the Red Storm to 20-5 on the season. It has now won 11 straight entering Wednesday’s contest at Marquette. Powell has averaged 4.9 points and 3.1 rebounds per game this season at Providence. The Friars fell to 11-15 after the loss, which has them ninth in the Big East standings.

Does Tyler Reddick win the Daytona 500 without the help of his 23XI teammate Riley Herbst? Not according to Reddick.

Reddick, Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin were effusive in their praise for Herbst, who crashed ahead of the finish line as Reddick won the team’s first Daytona 500. Reddick passed Chase Elliott for the win off Turn 4 on the final lap after he got a drafting push from Herbst to get around Zane Smith.

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Herbst then tried to go around the outside of Elliott as Reddick went to the inside, but he collided with Brad Keselowski as a crash took out nearly everyone racing for second place.

“I thought Riley did an unbelievable job pushing at the end,” Jordan, a co-owner of 23XI Racing, said after the race. “That shows you what teamwork can really, really do. He doesn’t get enough credit. He won’t get enough credit. But we feel the love. We understand exactly what he did.”

Herbst is in his second full season at NASCAR’s top level. After five seasons in what’s now the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series with three wins and a career-high of seventh in the points standings, Herbst moved up to the Cup Series in 2025 when 23XI expanded to three cars.

His rookie season was rough. Herbst, 26, finished 35th in the points standings with no top-10 finishes and just 17 lead-lap finishes in 36 races. Reddick, meanwhile, was ninth in the standings while Wallace was 11th.

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The only full-time driver who finished below Herbst in the standings was Cody Ware — and it’s safe to say that 23XI has better equipment than Rick Ware Racing does. Herbst’s best finish came at Texas in the spring when he finished 14th; he never finished above 17th in any other race.

He already surpassed that finish by crossing the finish line eighth in the wreckage on Sunday.

“Just after I got crashed for the last time at the end, I was like — all I’m looking at is the scoreboard, how many horses I still got left in the race,” Hamlin said as he saw that Wallace, Reddick and Herbst all had a chance to win the race. “To see we had quite a few cars up there for that last restart was fantastic.

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“I knew we had a great shot. When they told me at the end, I had no idea how it happened, but watching it back, it just was great to see Tyler making all the right moves and Riley just being a great teammate there at the end, giving him the pushes when he needed it.”

Reddick said that he’d happily give Herbst “whatever he wants” after the race.

“Critical. I mean, I don’t win that race without Riley Herbst. That’s a fact,” Reddick said.

“I think for me, I respect him even more on the front stretch for — he pushed me to [Smith]. I got to [Smith]. Now [Elliott] is in front of me, and I make my move.

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“I love that he made the move that at the moment was right for him to win the Daytona 500, and I told him that. Man, I’m sorry it didn’t work out for you in the way that you wanted it to, but you did — in my opinion, he did everything right on that last lap, as well, pushing me and then doing everything he could to win the race for himself.

“Obviously they all crashed, but he did a really good job today, as well.”

Former Washington Commanders offensive lineman Tre’ Johnson died on Sunday, the team announced.

He was 54.

Further specifics are not yet known, though Johnson’s wife shared on social media that he had died “suddenly and unexpectedly” during a family trip after recent health issues.

“If you know Tre’ you know what a devoted and loving father he was to his children,” his wife, Irene, wrote in part. “Tre’ lived for his kid’s sports activities and supported them through every practice and game until he took his last breath. He shared his passion for Frenchie’s and riding his motorcycle with me and his fellow biking buddies.”

Johnson spent most of his NFL career in Washington after the franchise selected him with the No. 31 overall pick in the 1994 NFL Draft out of Temple. He was a staple in the team’s offensive line for years, and he earned his one and only Pro Bowl nod during the 1999 campaign. The team went 10-6 that season and made the playoffs.

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Johnson spent one season away from the team in 2001, when he joined the Cleveland Browns, but he appeared in only three games after a right knee injury. He rejoined Washington for one final season in 2002. In total, Johnson appeared in 93 games throughout his nine-year NFL career.

Johnson spent time as a history teacher in the Washington, D.C., area in retirement. His wife, Irene, also worked as a photographer for multiple area news organizations. The couple had four children together.

Welcome to our annual winners and losers of the NBA’s All-Star Game, where the biggest winner of all was the league itself, as players actually tried under the USA vs. World format.

Unlike recent years, when effort was absent, competition was central to the exhibition, thanks in large part to France’s Victor Wembanyama, who literally set the tone from jump.

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Prior to the game, after players from all three teams — among them Anthony Edwards on Team Stars, Nikola Jokić on Team World and Kevin Durant on Team Stripes — hinted that this year would be no different, it would not have been surprising to see more of the same.

On Saturday, Edwards, in fact, said of the absence of effort, “It is what it is at this point.”

Just before tip-off, I said to my wife, “They’re not going to try.”

“Of course they’re going to try,” she said. “It’s in their nature. They’d have to try not to try.”

“Exactly. You watch.”

Then, Wembanyama happened on Sunday.

WINNER: Victor Wembanyama

Edwards matched up against Wembanyama for the opening tip, suggesting that Team Stars would not be taking the game seriously (after all, “I’m 6 feet,” said Edwards, who is 6-4, “and he’s 8 feet”). Only, Wembanyama tipped it to Jamal Murray, immediately posted up Cade Cunningham and threw down a dunk so thunderous it changed the evening’s tone.

As Edwards told the broadcast, after an overtime win, “I ain’t gonna lie. Wemby set the tone. He came out playing hard, so it’s hard not to match that. S***, that’s what happened.”

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From there, it was game on. There were challenges. There were timeouts. Players were working the referees. Scottie Barnes even took a swipe to the face. It was real basketball.

And even though Wembanyama’s Team World lost both of its games (37-35 to Team Stars and 48-45 to Team Stripes) all three round-robin contests finished within one possession, and the Frenchman gets credit for inspiring the competition. It speaks to how good he is — that one man, albeit a 7-foot-5(?) unicorn, can swing the energy of an entire game all alone.

But Wembanyama is that good. And NBC did a nice job on the broadcast, too, highlighting him as the superstar he is. Everything he says is so great if you take it in the right tone, too.

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“What makes me so sure that I will win championships?” he asked the broadcast in a feature. “Because it’s my dream, and nobody or nothing can take away my dreams. I’m in love with the game, I’m in love with competition, so why should anybody win it over me?”

That is the stuff of legend right there. And, wait, there is more.

Earlier in the weekend, when asked if he would accept the moniker of Face of the League, Wembanyama told NBA TV’s Chris Haynes, “I definitely see it happening. I think it is the natural course of things, you know? Supply and demand, you know, and I’m here to supply.”

Given Wembanyama’s effort on Sunday, that moniker may be his sooner than later. Nobody spoke louder than the Frenchman in words and actions on All-Star Weekend.

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LOSER: Old legs

Not to start. But to end.

The question, after Wembanyama inspired competition between Team World and Team Stars — a group of mostly younger players — was whether the self-proclaimed “old heads” (a team headlined by LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Kawhi Leonard) would follow suit.

That they did in Games 2 and 3 of the evening, defeating Team Stars and Team World in back-to-back nail-biters. Legend turned NBC analyst Carmelo Anthony said he knew we were in for more effort when he saw his friend LeBron cover the court in eight steps.

In fact, a James 3-pointer, nearly from the logo, almost put away Team Stars for good in Game 2. Edwards responded with five straight, including a strip of Donovan Mitchell that he turned into a transition 3, which gave Team Stars a 40-39 advantage. Only for James to set up the final play, which fell into the hands of De’Aaron Fox, who ripped a game-winner.

Leonard took the mantle in Game 3, scoring 31 of his team’s points in a 48-45 victory against Team World that legitimately had Wembanyama bummed about the outcome.

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But in the championship game, which once again pitted the youngsters of Team Stars against the “old heads” of Team Stripes, Edwards & Co. ran away with the trophy, 47-21.

If ever there was any question as to whether a torch had been passed from one American generation — a group led by LeBron — to the next, Edwards answered with a punctuation.

LOSER: International legs (and stomach)

Jokić, still recovering from a hyperextended left knee, and Luka Dončić, still recovering from a hamstring injury, were both limited to a handful of ceremonial minutes in the first of the World’s two games on Sunday. Neither played once the competition reached its peak.

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Same goes for Giannis Antetokounmpo (right calf strain) and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (abdomen strain), neither of whom played a minute. So, the World team, which arguably features the sport’s five best players — Jokić, Gilgeous-Alexander, Antetokounmpo, Dončić and Wembanyama — actually boasted only one of them (Wemby) on Sunday.

WINNER: Anthony Edwards

The “it-is-what-it-is” comment aside, Edwards had a fantastic weekend.

He scored 32 points on 13-of-22 shooting from the field and 6-of-15 shooting from deep across 26 minutes in three games, to go along with nine rebounds and three assists.

Asked in the arena afterward about what it was like being defended by James, Durant and Leonard, Edwards said smiling, “I want to cook them every time. You know that.”

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It was not the first time Edwards sounded cool as hell over the weekend.

Which raises the question: Is Edwards the brightest American basketball star we have? Leonard may have had a claim, given how well he has played over the past two months, and given how well he played in the earlier portions of Sunday evening, but having seen how Edwards shined over the weekend, both on and off the court, it is hard to deny him.

But even Edwards knows where the NBA’s bread is buttered.

LOSER: The Doubters

NBA commissioner Adam Silver had a wide smile on his face as he presented trophies to Team Stars for its All-Star Game championship and Edwards for his MVP performance.

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And for good reason. There were many doubters, myself included, who thought the All-Star Game had lost all hope, no matter the format, and USA vs. World would not solve it.

Then again, it sounds like even former president Barack Obama had his doubts.

“I know a lot of people have been concerned about the All-Star Game not seeing as much effort; today we saw it,” Obama told Reggie Miller on the broadcast. “And I do think that, whenever you get an international team against an American team, they want to compete.”

There Silver has it — a pretty strong endorsement indeed.

WINNER: Damian Lillard’s Achilles

I think we were all a little nervous seeing 35-year-old Damian Lillard, who has not played at all this season, trotting out there to try to win a third 3-point contest in four years, but imagine being the doctor who performed surgery on the Achilles he tore 10 months ago.

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(Dr. Neal ElAttrache, by the way, from the host city of Los Angeles!)

Instead, Lillard did what he does, narrowly defeating Devin Booker in the final of the shootout, joining Larry Bird and Craig Hodges as the event’s only three-time winners.

WINNER: Jayson Tatum conspiracy theorists

Speaking of speedy recoveries from Achilles surgeries.

Quietly, or loudly, if you are in the Boston area, NBC flexed the March 1 game between the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers to its primetime slate, leading many keen observers to wonder if that game could signal Jayson Tatum’s return from Achilles surgery in May.

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Tatum participated in a practice with Boston’s G League affiliate this week. He said earlier in the season that, when he did return, it would be in a home game, and that is a home game for Boston. Conspiracy theorists also note that Tatum’s birthday falls on March 3.

NBC did not dissuade viewers when on Sunday the network revealed that, in collaboration with Tatum, “over the next few weeks,” it will chronicle the All-NBA forward’s return from injury in a documentary-style series, which debuted during the All-Star Game.

LOSER: The dunk contest

It was a dunk contest field that required an introduction, and it was not always a kind one.

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Carter Bryant, Jaxson Hayes, Keshad Johnson and Jase Richardson did some dunks, all of which we had seen before. In fact, Richardson recreated one by his father, two-time dunk contest winner Jason Richardson, which was cool, but the repetition got real tired quickly.

In an anticlimactic ending, Bryant did not realize he had to get his three attempts at a single dunk off in a 90-second window (why are we timing this?), missing the first two and rushing a third, less-cool dunk before the buzzer. That is how it ended. With a whimper.

Maybe it is time to scrap the dunk contest entirely.

Then again …

WINNER: Keshad Johnson

Johnson did some pretty sweet dunks.

WINNER: 1v1

Sounds like there is a lot of momentum toward a 1-on-1 competition at All-Star Weekend, if you listen to Giannis Antetokounmpo, who may or may not fear one Victor Wembanyama.

Jaylen Brown is on board, too, and he is not ducking anybody.

LOSER: Saturday’s early start time

I don’t know about you, but I had some friends who missed the start of All-Star Saturday Night because it was more like All-Star Saturday Early Evening, beginning at 5 p.m. ET.

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The good news: They didn’t miss much, as Lillard won (again), and the New York Knicks took the Shooting Stars Competition (that’s right: another shooting competition replaced the Skills Competition, because Chris Paul ruined what was left of that last year), before Johnson won a dunk contest between players most people I know did not recognize.

Is it time to scrap the dunk contest? Silver managed to spice up the All-Star Game, so maybe he can resurrect that, too. I like this idea from Edwards as a wrinkle to the event: “Now, if we have a contest where, Can I dunk on him? Can he dunk on me? That’d be fun.”

Dunking on defenders? That would be fun, Ant. That would be fun.

And who would Edwards dunk on if he could? Why, “Rudy Gobert,” of course.

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WINNER: John Tesh

Still got it.

WINNER: VJ Edgecombe

If anyone besides Wembanyama deserves credit for the effort on All-Star Weekend, it is Philadelphia 76ers rookie VJ Edgecombe, who brought the heat in the Rising Stars games, scoring the final 10 points of a semifinal and delivering the title-clinching free throws.

Afterward, Edgecombe said, “I wanted to win.”

See how easy that is for the players. They would have to try not to try. Instead, they tried.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Shortly after a De’Aaron Fox buzzer-beating, left corner triple lifted Team Stripes to a 42-40 win over Team Stars in Game 2 of the new-look All-Star Game, a sweat-drenched LeBron James subtly summarized his most important takeaway from a back-and-forth contest with the younger generation.

“Old heads, 1-0,” James said with a wide grin.

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In a nutshell, the four words uttered by the greatest player of this generation were powerful. Not as a foreshadowing — Team Stars lifted the trophy after a convincing 47-21 thrashing in the final — but for the mere significance of the level of play on display. For all the talk — from social media to national television segments and podcasts alike — surrounding All-Star weekend and the lack of excitement, for all the gimmicks, format changes and incentives put on the table, the problem and the answer were always the same thing: the players.

Yes, these players endure an absolutely grueling schedule for months out of the year, pushing their bodies to their physical and mental limits. And yes, everyone deserves a break every once in a while. But in an era where effort and expectations were deemed to be at an all-time low, giving it an actual go, abandoning the idea of a passive, dull kickabout, would do a world of good. The upper echelon of NBA players got to this level by being better than the rest of the field — more intense, smarter, faster, stronger and more competitive. What better way to showcase that than amongst peers?

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“I think they ain’t really going to take in what I’m saying, but I like this format,” All-Star MVP Anthony Edwards said, with 10 out of 14 possible votes. “I think it makes us compete because it’s only 12 minutes, and the three different teams separate the guys. I think it was really good … I feel like the old heads played hard, too. They were playing real good defense.”

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For the basketball purist and casual fan alike, Sunday afternoon offered up the best the NBA has to offer. Players picking up opponents at the point of attack, with real defensive intensity on and off the ball. Edwards picking defenders apart like a hyena dissolving a carcass, going right at James and Kevin Durant. Victor Wembanyama’s insatiable drive to win, visibly frustrated at missed rotations, less-than-optimal shot selection and losing. Jaylen Brown manifesting his desires for a 1-on-1 tournament, inviting anyone who dared to step up to challenge. And Kawhi Leonard, putting phenomenal belt to ass to young whippersnappers and the international cream of the crop, reminding the world — in front of his home crowd — that he remains one of the best to lace them up. Sunday was special.

“It was great,” Leonard said. “Happy that Adam [Silver] let me in. That’s what the home crowd wanted to see. I’m glad I was able to do something in that game. … It’s always fun to go out and compete with those guys and just cherish the court with them. They’re all legends, and they’re playing great basketball.”

Moving the conversation forward, seeing the likes of Edwards and Wembanyama raise their games on one of the biggest stages, as ambassadors of basketball, is critical for the future of the sport. One of the topics discussed over the weekend, as an aside to the futures of the LeBrons, Durants and Currys of the world, is the crowning of the face of the league. Both Edwards and Wembanyama offer different vantage points as it pertains to the league dynamic, but collectively, they represent the best the NBA has to offer. In Wembanyama, a reminder of the beauty in being different and the growth that accompanies that realization. In Edwards, the boldness in being apologetically yourself and discovering your true power and influence. Together, the recipe for carrying the league for the next generation is as clear as day.

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“It’s something that’s got to be natural, of course,” Wembanyama said. “Obviously, social media, the NBA can promote whoever they want. But at the end of the day, it’s going to be the best players and who the people ask for. Being the face of the league, it’s something that can be manufactured but only to some extent. It’s only going to be the best players. This is what it’s all about.”

There is a very real storm that the NBA finds itself in, with illegal sports gambling, alleged financial misconduct and tanking at the forefront of the issues. But if Sunday was a microcosm of what it means to be in the eye of the storm, it’s phenomenal. The blending of the fiery youth and the very present aging stars still gracing us with their presence is why folks pay inane amounts of money to come out in droves. Perhaps seeing the success of the All-Star Game inspires some of the most prolific dunkers to rethink their lack of interest in entering the contest. Maybe watching Dame Lillard lift the trophy forces great shooters — like Steph Curry did — to find love for the competition again.

“It felt good,” Durant said. “Hopefully we just build upon this and the weekend becomes more and more competitive, and the fans start to enjoy it more and more.”

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Kevin O’Connor gives his seven biggest takeaways from a star-studded NBA All-Star Weekend. Was the new format a success? Is expansion back on the board? Kevin gives his thoughts.

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Next, Ben Golliver joins the show to break down the tanking crisis and which teams are most guilty of tanking the most.

Plus, Cedric Coward joins to share his lessons from his rookie season, his progression as a player and the toughest players to defend.

0:28 Seven biggest takeaways from All-Star Weekend
15:41 Ben Golliver joins the show
45:23 Cedric Coward joins the show

🖥️ Watch this full episode on the Yahoo Sports NBA YouTube channel

Check out all episodes of The Kevin O’Connor Show and the rest of the Yahoo Sports podcast family at https://apple.co/3zEuTQj or at yahoosports.tv

LIVIGNO, Italy — Eileen Gu is probably going to win another medal Monday in the women’s freeski big air final. And she’s probably going to come to the press conference, as she always does, and sidestep any questions about the true nature of her citizenship, the political implications of her choice as a 15-year old to represent China — not her native born United States — at the Olympics and the various human rights atrocities perpetrated by the Chinese Communist Party.

And then, 5,000 miles away back in the U.S., the rage will begin — directed both at Gu for disloyalty to the country where she was born and even toward those here to document her achievements because we aren’t spending our time pursuing a dozen dead ends about the Uyghurs, Taiwan and the conviction of Jimmy Lai in social media’s thirst to create a viral gotcha moment that will put Gu on her heels and expose her for the fraud some think she is.

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Eileen Gu, now 22 and an international relations major at Stanford, is many things. She’s an opportunist. She is outwardly ambitious in ways that make you wonder how deep her inner cynicism runs. She presents her complicated life story through the lens of a saccharin-coated world that does not exist and becomes evasive the moment anything controversial is brought into her orbit. She can talk a lot without saying very much.

She is all those things and probably much more.

But she is not dumb, and she is never undisciplined enough to get on the wrong side of a government that has made her very, very rich.

So to the extent that she has committed her life to being a rank opportunist, perhaps it really doesn’t matter what country she represents when she puts on skis because her ability to play the system for everything it’s worth is as American as apple pie.

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The answers that many of you seem to want? Sorry, but they’re not coming — certainly not in a press conference room in the Italian Alps after jumping off a 15-story ramp. They’ll probably never come.

Did she cut a deal with the CCP to keep her American passport, in defiance of Chinese law that does not allow for dual citizenship?

Did the $6.6 million she and another American-born athlete earned from the Beijing Municipal Sports Bureau last year — an amount that was accidentally disclosed on a fiscal report before it was scrubbed from the Internet, according to the Wall Street Journal — come with unsavory strings attached?

Does she really believe that inspiring Chinese women to participate in winter sports will make women’s lives better under a regime that is embarrassingly far behind most of the modern world in terms of political representation, economic opportunity and rights for domestic abuse victims?

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She’s been asked about all these things, many times over many years in many different venues. And as good as she is on the slopes, she’s even better at Never Going There.

As she told Sean Gregory of Time Magazine in a deeply-reported feature before the Milan Cortina Games, when asked how she’d respond to a question about Donald Trump putting tariffs on China: “I would just say, ‘I didn’t know I got promoted to trade minister.’ It’s irresponsible to ask me to be the mouthpiece for any agenda.”

So we all have to make a choice when it comes to Eileen Gu.

Do we want to drive ourselves to the brink of insanity with some frothing-at-the-mouth screed about wearing the flag of an oppressive regime, or do we accept her for what she is: A really good skier who has no real bearing on anything that truly matters in either China or the United States and found a way to leverage her talent, her looks and her perfect Mandarin to become a much bigger deal than any other athlete at the Winter Olympics.

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In a small defense of Gu, it is worth remembering that she made the choice to compete for China when she was 15.

What do you think she knew at 15, born to a Chinese mother who raised her as a single parent? At that age, I doubt she expected it to be anything more than a business decision — and one that, while undeniably complicated and perhaps morally problematic, has proven to be the correct one for her bank account and the list of sponsors who want to be in the Eileen Gu business.

Did she have reason to think it would turn into this? Did we? People change nationalities all the time in sports — in both directions. She did it before the brutal crackdowns in Hong Kong, before most people understood the scope of atrocities being committed against ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, before COVID. Maybe that doesn’t matter to you, but the context of the choice then is not the context of the choice now.

And since becoming an international superstar and four-time Olympic medalist — with perhaps two more to come here in Livigno — it is not as if Gu spends her social capital extolling the virtues of the CCP’s censorship regime and economic system. She talks about bridging divides and inspiring young people with her athletic achievements. She very clearly wants no part of the culture war others try to drag her into.

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It might be cynical as hell, but don’t a lot fans want athletes to stick to sports?

Here’s the truth: Gu may wear the Five-star Red Flag on her ski suit, but the only entity she truly represents is Eileen Gu, Inc. To present her as anything more than that to fuel American political outrage on social media represents something almost as obnoxious as she is.

For the past year, U.S. World Cup roster candidates have made their case at training camps and tournaments, in friendlies and knockout matches. But because the team assembles infrequently, weekly performances with clubs spread across Europe and North America will figure into coach Mauricio Pochettino’s decisions.

Which is why, with only the March camp remaining before he selects the 26-man roster for this summer’s soccer festival, he and his staff are keeping close tabs on players toiling in their full-time jobs.

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For many players, fluctuations will not impact their standing with Pochettino. Of course, it’s beneficial to enjoy an upswing in form and production before a U.S. camp. Conversely, substandard performances, lack of playing time or an injury could have adverse effects.

With that in mind, here are five players on the rise and five facing adversity a month before Pochettino sends out invitations to the March 23-31 camp for friendlies against Belgium and Portugal in Atlanta.

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Patrick Agyemang’s leap of faith is paying off. The 6-foot-4 striker left behind his ascending Major League Soccer career last summer for his first contract overseas, with Derby County in the second-flight English Championship.

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Had he failed to earn consistent playing time and record goals, the Connecticut native would’ve fallen off the U.S. radar. Instead, he is soaring.

Saturday’s second-half header against Swansea City raised his goal total to 10, tying him for the club lead. Mixing in his three assists, Agyemang leads the Rams in overall production and has helped lift them into contention for the promotion playoffs.

Agyemang, 25, was invited to U.S. camp in October but not in September and November. However, fellow Americans seemingly higher on the depth chart are in a rut overseas — more on them later — and Ricardo Pepi remains sidelined with a fractured forearm. Those factors, combined with Agyemang’s productivity, should bolster the former Charlotte FC standout’s chances for a March call-up.

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Weston McKennie’s place on the national team is ironclad, but as a driving force at Juventus under a new coach this winter and playing any number of positions while contributing mightily to the Serie A and Champions League campaigns, the U.S. veteran is enjoying perhaps the best soccer of his life.

McKennie was at it again Saturday, registering two assists in a 3-2 loss at first-place Inter Milan. He has made 26 consecutive starts across all competitions and posted four goals and four assists in Italy, plus three goals in the Champions League, which will continue Tuesday with a first-leg playoff match against Galatasaray.

Offering quality in several jobs, McKennie has lined up recently as a central attacking midfielder. Juventus coach Luciano Spalletti has gone as far as saying the American is the “perfect central striker.”

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McKennie’s resurgence comes as his contract nears its expiration this summer, prompting talk of a big pay raise to stay at Juventus or a free transfer to another major league.

Tanner Tessmann is on the rise because he is a regular starter for one of the hottest clubs in the world, Olympique Lyonnais, which on Sunday extended its winning streak to 13 across all competitions with a 2-0 victory over Nice.

In his second season in France, the 24-year-old midfielder has played in 20-of-22 Ligue 1 matches, starting 17. Lyon has ascended to third place, which would earn a Champions League berth next season, and pulled within six points of Paris Saint-Germain and seven of Lens with 12 matches left. In the Europa League, Lyon was the best team in the first stage and earned a bye to next month’s round of 16.

With the national team, Tessmann has made a strong case for starting in the two-man defensive midfield set-up that Pochettino has often deployed.

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Speaking of defensive midfield, World Cup incumbent Tyler Adams makes this list, not because of performance but simply because he is healthy again. Expected to miss two to three months with a knee injury, Adams returned to Bournemouth’s match-day roster in less than two months.

He has not played since Dec. 15 but was available last Tuesday at Everton and, after the club’s weekend off, might see action Saturday at West Ham. Barring a setback, Adams is on track for a U.S. call-up next month.

With some uncertainty in the U.S. center-back corps, Auston Trusty is making the most of his opportunity at Scottish club Celtic.

Helping fill the void left by countryman Cameron Carter-Vickers’ Achilles’ tendon injury in October, the 27-year-old Trusty has gone the distance in 23 of his past 24 consecutive appearances across all competitions. (A red card prevented him from finishing that one match.) He also scored in back-to-back Europa League matches last month.

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Chris Richards and Tim Ream are certain of making the World Cup squad, but Trusty is in the mix with Mark McKenzie, Miles Robinson, Noahkai Banks, among others, for one of at least two additional spots.

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Strikers are streaky, and right now, Folarin Balogun is on a bad streak. Pochettino’s No. 1 center forward has gone scoreless in 11-of-12 matches at Monaco, the only goal coming against a third-division opponent in the French Cup five weeks ago.

Unless the rut continues into spring, Pochettino surely will maintain his faith in Balogun, who scored in three U.S. friendlies last fall and three consecutive Champions League matches in November-December.

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Scoring issues have also stung Haji Wright, who tallied twice against Australia in October, then fired blanks for 15 consecutive matches with Coventry City in the English Championship.

He ended the skid in consecutive matches last month but entered Monday’s showdown with Middlesbrough on a three-game rut. Then, Wright reminded everyone how quickly this list can change with a three-goal outburst to lift Coventry back into first place.

Regarded as No. 2 behind Balogun on the depth chart, he might have slipped behind Agyemang and could face a challenge from Pepi, who is expected back at PSV Eindhoven soon.

Remember how giddy everyone was about Gio Reyna’s performances in his U.S. return during the November international window? It was for good reason. He displayed qualities long shrouded by injuries and off-field issues, and seemed on course to not only make the World Cup team, but perhaps start.

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The enigmatic midfielder did carry those two efforts into increased playing time at Mönchengladbach. After the Bundesliga’s winter break, however, he found himself back on the bench, and a muscle injury has kept him in street clothes the past four matches.

Reyna, 23, seems just too good to leave off the World Cup team, but unless things get better in Germany soon, Pochettino will weigh whether to invite him to March training camp.

At 19, Yunus Musah was a key figure at the 2022 World Cup and on course to start in midfield for years to come. Upon Pochettino’s arrival in 2024, though, Musah didn’t seem to fit into the system. And now, amid a stalled first season at Atalanta after three at AC Milan, Musah’s World Cup outlook is fading fast.

He didn’t play in a 2-0 victory at Lazio, the fifth time in seven games he’s remained on the bench. He has made just three starts in Serie A and two in the Champions League. It’s been almost a year since his last national team call-up.

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Having gone six years since his last U.S. goal and missing out on the October and November camps, Josh Sargent was already a long shot for the World Cup.

Had he kept scoring at Norwich City in England’s second division this winter, he could have clung to hope. But he’s not only not scoring, he’s not even in uniform. Demanding a transfer to MLS, the St. Louis native was sent to train with the under-21 squad and hasn’t been named to the first-team squad since Jan. 4.

Barring a move before MLS’ March 26 transfer deadline — and an extraordinary scoring run — Sargent will need to turn attention to 2030.

The Winter Games have begun in Italy. From the rink to the slopes, a new generation of stars has emerged to chase gold. We’ll keep you connected to all of the thrilling moments and top stories as we track the medal race each day of the Games.

Team USA is at 17 medals after no gains on Sunday, with more up for grabs on Monday in Milan.

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Women’s hockey will look to keep rolling in the semifinals, while the women’s curling team will look to keep the momentum after a thrilling win on Sunday. Figure skating continues with pair skating, and medals will also be handed out in women’s monobob and the 1000m in women’s short track speed skating.

Here are the top five things to watch on Monday at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics:

Women’s hockey looks to advance to final (10:40 a.m. ET)

Team USA is on a roll after a 6-0 win over Italy in the quarterfinals, but it’ll face a tough test against Sweden in the semifinals on Monday. Sweden is the only other undefeated team in the tournament, with a +16 goal differential to Team USA’s +19. The U.S. women are riding four straight shutouts after allowing one goal to Czechia in their opening game.

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Despite how strong Team USA has been defensively, all eyes will be on Hilary Knight, who, in the United States’ 5-0 victory over Finland last weekend, tied the Olympic record for the most goals in women’s hockey history, with 14. Knight, 36, is now tied with Natalie Darwitz and Katie King.

The winner of this game will face the winner of Canada-Switzerland for gold on Thursday.

Women’s curling riding high in group play (1:05 p.m. ET)

Team USA women’s curling will take on Italy in group play Monday, riding its momentum from Sunday’s comeback victory over China. After falling behind 4-1 after the fifth end, Team USA was able to cut China’s lead to one, adding two points in the fifth. Despite giving up another point, the U.S. was able to rattle off three more points in the final three ends for an improbable victory.

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The U.S. women are second in the standings at 4-1. Only Sweden has a better record at 5-0.

U.S. teams shoot for a medal in pairs figure skating (2 p.m. ET)

Team USA pairs figure skaters Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea, and Emily Chan and Spencer Akira Howe, return to the ice on Monday after their short programs on Sunday. Kam and O’Shea sit in seventh after scoring 71.87, while Chan and Akira Howe are in ninth (70.06) going into the free skate.

Germany’s Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin lead the field with a score of 80.01.

The last U.S. medal in pairs figure skating, a bronze, came at the 1988 Games in Calgary.

Elana Meyers Taylor leads medal charge in women’s monobob (3 p.m. ET)

After two heats, the U.S. women are in prime position for the podium. Behind Germany’s Laura Nolte, who sits in first, Team USA’s Elana Meyers Taylor, Kaysha Love and defending Olympic gold medalist Kaillie Armbruster Humphries are in the hunt.

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Meyers Taylor won silver in the monobob in 2022, and she’ll compete in two-woman bobsleigh later this week.

Olympics schedule for Monday, Feb. 16 (Day 10)

Alpine Skiing

Slalom

• 4 a.m.: Men’s run 1 (USA Network)

• 7:20 a.m.: Men’s run 2 (USA Network coverage begins at 7:30 a.m.; NBC will air both runs at 2:45 p.m.)🏅

Bobsled

Two-man

• 4 a.m.: Runs 1, 2 (airs on USA Network at 7 a.m.)

Monobob

• 1 p.m.: Women’s runs 3, 4 (airs on NBC at 3:30 p.m.)🏅

Curling

Women’s round-robin

• 3:05 a.m.: Sweden vs. Switzerland, China vs. Canada (airs on USA Network at 10:15 a.m.), Denmark vs. Great Britain

• 1:05 p.m.: USA vs. Italy (airs at 5 p.m. on CNBC), South Korea vs. China, Switzerland vs. Great Britain, Japan vs. Canada

Men’s round-robin

• 8:05 a.m.: Great Britain vs. Norway (airs at 11:30 a.m. on USA Network), Czechia vs. Canada, Sweden vs. Germany, Italy vs. China

Figure Skating

Pairs

• 2 p.m.: Free skate (USA Network; airs on NBC at 3:55 p.m.)🏅

Freestyle Skiing

Big air

• 1:30 p.m.: Women’s final (NBC)🏅

Hockey

Women’s semifinals

• 10:40 a.m.: Teams TBD (NBC)

• 3:10 p.m.: Teams TBD (airs on USA Network on 4:15 p.m.)

Short Track

• 5 a.m.: Men’s 500m qualifying, men’s 5000m relay semifinals, women’s 1000m final (airs on USA Network at 6:15 p.m.)🏅

Ski Jumping

Large hill

• 12 p.m.: Men’s super team final (airs on USA Network at 11 p.m.)🏅

Snowboarding

Slopestyle

• 4:30 a.m.: Women’s qualifying (USA Network coverage begins at 4:50 a.m.; airs on NBC at 10 a.m.)

• 8 a.m.: Men’s qualifying (USA Network coverage begins at 8:35 a.m.)