Red Raider Soccer falls short of District Championship

Two-time defending champion UConn will have one starter returning after forward Alex Karaban announced Wednesday afternoon that he is withdrawing from the NBA draft and staying with the Huskies. Others to reverse course on Wednesday included second-team All-America guard Mark Sears, who is staying at Alabama, and Pac-12 Player of the Year Caleb Love, a third-team All-America guard who is returning to Arizona. Karaban, a rising junior, made the announcement on social media before the deadline of 11:59 p.m. ET Wednesday for draft prospects to decide whether to stay in the draft or return to school. "While I've enjoyed the draft process, Storrs is home. Let's run it back," Karaban announced on his X account. Karaban started 77 of 78 games in his two seasons at UConn and averaged 11.3 points and 4.8 rebounds. Last season, he averaged 13.3 points and 5.1 rebounds and shot 37.9 percent from 3-point range. In the 2024 Final Four, Karaban posted 14 points and eight rebounds against Alabama to help UConn reach the national championship game against Purdue. He had five points, six boards and four assists as the Huskies topped the Boilermakers for the national title. Selected to the 2022-23 Big East All-Freshman team, the 6-foot-9 Karaban returns to a roster without four starters from last season: senior guards Tristen Newton and Cam Spencer, who exhausted their eligibility; and Stephon Castle and Donovan Clingan, who left early for the NBA draft and are projected to be lottery picks. Sears ran one of the nation's most potent offenses and averaged a career-best 21.5 points along with 4.2 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game. The All-Southeastern Conference first-team selection helped the Crimson Tide reach the Final Four last season. The 6-1 Sears also was All-SEC second team in 2022-23 at Alabama after transferring from Ohio, where he was first-team All-MAC in 2021-22. Love, who played his first three seasons at North Carolina, will have one year of eligibility remaining at Arizona, which he led to the Pac-12 regular-season title in his first season. He set career highs by averaging 18.0 points and 4.8 rebounds along with 3.4 assists. He also shot a career-best 41.3 percent from the field. Other players withdrawing from the 2024 NBA Draft, according to media reports: --Wake Forest guard Hunter Sallis, an All-Atlantic Coast Conference first-team honoree after averaging 18 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.1 steals in his first season with the Demon Deacons. Sallis played the previous two years at Gonzaga. --Former Florida Atlantic standout guard Johnell Davis, who will play his final college season as a transfer to Arkansas and new coach John Calipari. Davis averaged career best of 18.2 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.9 assists last season -- his fourth at FAU. --Iowa forward Payton Sandfort, who had career-best averages of 16.4 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.7 assists last season, said he is returning for a fourth season at the school. --Forward Coleman Hawkins, who played four seasons at Illinois, withdrew and will reportedly transfer to another school. He averaged 12.1 points and 6.1 rebounds last season. --Former Kansas State standout Arthur Kaluma, who is in the transfer portal. The forward averaged 14.4 points and 7.0 rebounds in his lone season at Kansas State after transferring from Creighton, where he played two seasons. --Former Miami guard Wooga Poplar, who is in the transfer portal. He averaged 13.1 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists last season for the Hurricanes. --Former Florida State forward Baba Miller, who is transferring to Florida Atlantic. He averaged 7.6 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.1 blocks for the Seminoles in 2023-24. --Northwestern guard Brooks Barnhizer, who has averaged 9.8 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.7 assists over three seasons. --Butler guard Jahmyl Telfort, who averaged 13.9 points, 4.9 rebounds and 3.0 assists last season after transferring from Northeastern, where he played three seasons. --Oklahoma forward Jalon Moore, who averaged career highs of 11.2 points and 6.7 rebounds after transferring from Georgia Tech, where he played two seasons. --Ole Miss guard Matthew Murrell, an All-SEC second-team selection last season after averaging 16.2 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists. --Forward Malik Dia, who is transferring to Ole Miss after playing at Belmont (2023-24) and Vanderbilt (2022-23). He averaged 16.9 points and 5.8 rebounds for Belmont last season. --Guard Koby Brea, who is transferring to Kentucky after four seasons at Dayton. He led the nation with a 49.8 percent from 3-point range last season and averaged 11.1 points and 3.8 rebounds. --Clemson guard Chase Hunter, who has played parts of five seasons and last campaign averaged 12.9 points, 3.2 assists and 2.6 rebounds. --Guard Chibuzo Agbo, who is transferring to Southern California after two seasons at Boise State (2022-24) and Texas Tech (2020-22). He averaged 13.7 points and 5.1 points last season. --Forward Achor Achor, who is transferring to Kansas State after two seasons at Samford, where he averaged 16.1 points and 6.1 rebounds last season. Among those that were staying in the draft in Wednesday media reports: --Kansas guard Johnny Furphy, a 6-9 Australian who was selected to the Big 12 All-Freshman team last season after averaging 9.0 points and 4.9 rebounds. --Dayton forward DaRon Holmes II, a consensus second-team All-America selection after averaging 20.4 points, 8.5 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 2.1 blocks last season. --Field Level Media

Southern California guard Bronny James, son of NBA star LeBron James, will give up his remaining college eligibility and stay in the 2024 NBA Draft, ESPN reported Wednesday. Players who previously declared for the draft can bow out until 11:59 p.m. ET on Wednesday, but Bronny James won't be one of them, as his agent, Rich Paul, told ESPN that he will be sticking to his decision. Bronny James entered the draft in early April and is ranked as the No. 54 prospect in the ESPN 100. Paul previously said that he will not let Bronny James sign with a team on a two-way deal, and he doubled down on that while speaking to ESPN. "Bronny's (draft) range is wide," Paul said. "He's a really good prospect who has a lot of room for growth. It only takes one team. I don't care where that team is -- it can be No. 1 or 58 -- (but) I do care about the plan, the development. The team's strategy, the opportunity and the financial commitment. That's why I'm not doing a two-way deal. Every team understands that." Earlier this month, Bronny James ranked second among 71 participants in two 3-point shooting drills at the draft combine in Chicago. He also had 13 points in a scrimmage. In his one season with the Trojans, the 19-year-old Bronny James averaged 4.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 19.6 minutes across 25 games (six starts). --Field Level Media

Report: Bronny James officially staying in NBA draft

The San Francisco 49ers have signed restricted free agent wide receiver Jauan Jennings through the 2025 season on a deal worth a reported $15.4 million. The agreement includes $10.5 million guaranteed, ESPN reported Wednesday. The 49ers announced it as a one-year extension after tendering Jennings a one-year contract worth $4.89 million in March. Jennings didn't sign the tender while both sides kept working on a contract, per the report. Jennings, 26, had one touchdown catch among his 19 receptions for 265 yards in 13 games (two starts) in 2023. Jennings had 10 catches for 111 yards in three postseason games, including a TD catch in the Super Bowl loss to Kansas City. He has 78 catches for 963 yards and seven TDs in 45 career games (seven starts) since being drafted in the seventh round of the 2020 draft by the Niners. Jennings spent the 2020 season on the team's practice squad. --Field Level Media

Kansas and its athletic director, Travis Goff, have agreed on a new seven-year contract that runs through 2031, ESPN reported Wednesday. The deal comes with a significant pay raise, per the report. Since arriving in 2021, Goff has hired Lance Leipold as football coach and has overseen a $450 million football facility and stadium project. Leipold led the Jayhawks to a 9-4 record in 2023 and a win in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl. He's 17-21 in three seasons in Lawrence, including a bowl appearance after the 2022 season, too. Leipold is signed through the 2029 season. --Field Level Media

Running back Tarik Cohen, who last appeared in an NFL game in 2020, signed a contract with the New York Jets. Terms of the deal were not disclosed by the Jets, however multiple media outlets reported it was a one-year deal. Cohen was an All-Pro return specialist and made the Pro Bowl with the Chicago Bears in 2018 but missed the 2021 season with a torn ACL and the 2022 season with a ruptured Achilles. He was on the Carolina Panthers' practice squad last season and spent time on injured reserve with a hamstring injury. The Panthers released him on May 10. Cohen, who turns 29 in July, joins a running back room in New York that includes Breece Hall, Israel Abanikanda, Xazavian Valladay and rookies Braelon Allen and Isaiah Davis. Fellow running back Markese Stepp was waived on Wednesday to open a roster spot for Cohen. A fourth-round pick in 2017, Cohen registered 4,286 all-purpose yards and 15 touchdowns in 51 games (22 starts) for Chicago from 2017-20. "Explosive playmaker. Starting to get back healthy," Jets coach Robert Saleh said on Wednesday. "With the new kickoff rules, these kickoff returners are going to touch the ball over 100 times per year, which is significant. At least that's what we are anticipating. For a guy like him, he's still young ... we're excited to have him aboard." Cohen racked up 1,101 rushing yards with five touchdowns along with 1,575 receiving yards and nine touchdowns on 209 catches. He also threw two touchdown passes and returned a punt for a TD with the Bears. The Achilles injury occurred in May 2022 while Cohen was live-streaming a workout session on Instagram. --Field Level Media

Veteran guard Dalton Risner is re-signing with the Vikings on a one-year contract, ESPN reported Wednesday. Risner, 28, appeared in 15 games with 11 starts in his first season with Minnesota in 2023. He played 75 percent of the team's offensive snaps. A second-round pick by Denver in the 2019 NFL Draft, Risner has appeared in 77 career games (73 starts) with the Broncos (2019-22) and Vikings. --Field Level Media

QB Stetson Bennett back with Rams after addressing mental health

Stetson Bennett is ready to give his rookie year another try with the Los Angeles Rams. Bennett was with the Rams through preseason after the Rams selected him in the fourth round of the 2023. But he left the team and spent the season on the reserve/non-football illness list with an issue coach Sean McVay said at the time was "bigger than football." Now, 26, Bennett addressed the media for the first time since he was placed on the reserve/non-football injury list. When asked if his absence was "under the umbrella of mental health," Bennett said, "Yeah, I'd say that." Matthew Stafford is entrenched as the Rams starting quarterback, and the team signed veteran Jimmy Garoppolo as his backup earlier this month. Bennett said he expects to be with the Rams this season, and offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur said Bennett, a two-time national champion at Georgia, as been "a sponge." Garoppolo is suspended for the first two games of the regular season, which leaves the door open for Bennett to remain on the roster into September and perhaps beyond. "And so you kind of come out here and you're hungry every single day," Bennett said. "And I don't know, it did make me like, 'Hey, this is ... You want to do this and you want to work hard every single day and get better.'" --Field Level Media

Kasparas Jakucionis, a point guard from Lithuania and a possible first-round pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, is heading to the United States to play for Illinois next season. Illinois announced Tuesday that it had signed Jakucionis, who started playing for Barcelona's basketball club when he was 16. Jakucionis is listed at 6-foot-6 and averaged 9.0 assists per game at the Adidas Next Generation tournament earlier this year, according to ESPN. Fighting Illini coach Brad Underwood adds Jakucionis to a completely remade Illinois roster that also includes highly-regarded transfer guard Kylan Boswell from Arizona, among several others. --Field Level Media