Sports
Some high schools still utilize junior varsity teams to develop players
There are high school basketball players, and even parents, who cringe when a coach says, “You’re playing with the junior varsity.”
Yes, times have changed. The days of varsity programs using JV teams to build up their programs are largely gone. Freshmen with potential end up playing varsity. Others are put on frosh-sophomore teams trying to develop chemistry with other freshmen. The attitude of players and parents alike is: Playing JV isn’t cool.
But those looking to be developed and perhaps get better when their inevitable growth spurt kicks in are missing out on what JV basketball is really for — player development.
It seems to have worked out for three varsity standouts this season who started out on their school’s JV team: Drew Anderson of Santa Margarita, Pierce Thompson of Harvard-Westlake and Isaiah Williamson of Los Alamitos. Fortunately, a little patience by everyone involved gave them the time and opportunity to wait for their bodies to mature and the rest is history. All three will one day be playing college basketball.
Anderson was 6-foot-3 as a freshman. He had a growth spurt, and this season is listed at 6-9. He and his family embraced the idea of learning to play on JV. Now he’s committed to Oregon State and is starring on the No. 4-ranked team in the Southland as a senior.
“My parents were athletes in college,” Anderson said. “They knew with time I’d get better.”
Thompson was a JV guard his freshman year and unlikely to contribute on varsity with many guards ahead of him in the program. Under less pressure, he was a standout. This season as a junior, his defensive prowess and three-point shooting make him the next top Harvard-Westlake guard following in the footsteps of Trent Perry.
Williamson had the family background to play on varsity as a freshman. His brother, Issac, was a star guard for state champion Eastvale Roosevelt. But Los Alamitos was loaded with seniors on varsity, so the decision was made to be patient and have him play on the JV team. This season as a sophomore, he has blossomed into an outstanding prospect from the class of 2028. He’s a 6-4 left-hander who can score from a variety of spots on the court.
Sophomore Isaiah Williamson of Los Alamitos was a JV player last season.
(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)
One program that still believes in using the JV team to develop its players is Harvard-Westlake and coach David Rebibo. He has five exceptional freshmen on a JV team this season that is 24-0. They have embraced their journey of preparing to play varsity next season.
Freshman Dekoda Ray has led Harvard-Westlake’s unbeaten JV basketball team.
(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)
Dekoda Ray, a 6-3 freshman guard, could play varsity for many programs, but he and his parents huddled and decided a year on JV would be good for his development.
“We felt we have to trust the process,” Ray said. “Don’t play your game like you’re playing JV’s. Play like you’re playing for something greater.”
Rebibo said “transparency” is the only way to communicate with parents and players.
“We want kids who want to be on varsity,” he said. “But there’s an understanding we have to do what’s in the best interest of their development and playing behind four senior guards doesn’t mean you’re going to be able to play. We’re very honest.”
The five freshmen on JV will be heard from in the coming years: Ray, 6-7 Nairobi Ebi, 6-5 Jackson Thomas, 6-1 Max Paquin and 6-5 Nathan Kashper. Most will move up to varsity for the playoffs and they practiced with the varsity in the fall.
Another program that believes in JV teams as a training ground is St. John Bosco and coach Matt Dunn.
“Proudly,” Dunn said.
He lets everyone know that 11 St. John Bosco players who have gone on to play college basketball started out on JV.
The JV team is an environment for learning. If you make a mistake, a coach isn’t going to immediately put you on the bench like they do on varsity. Also not every 14-year-old is ready socially to play with 19-year-olds on varsity.
Anderson reminds everyone in the end, it doesn’t matter what team you start out on as a freshman.
“The work you put in will always win,” he said.
Sports
NFL legend Rodney Harrison roasts colleague over alleged Bill Belichick Hall of Fame snub
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New England Patriots legend Rodney Harrison appeared to take a swipe at his colleague Tony Dungy after Bill Belichick was left out of the Pro Football Hall of Fame on the first ballot.
The Hall of Fame voters’ decision to keep Belichick out of Canton on the first ballot caused backlash across the NFL world. Social media began to band together to try to find the voters who decided not to give Belichick the nod.
Rodney Harrison (left) and Tony Dungy talk on the field before the game between the Houston Texans and the Detroit Lions at NRG Stadium on Nov. 10, 2024. (Troy Taormina/Imagn Images)
Dungy, the former Indianapolis Colts head coach, was accused of being one of the voters who didn’t back Belichick. He hasn’t revealed his vote and Harrison appeared to be talking to Dungy directly when he defended his former head coach.
“Any list that doesn’t include Bill Belichick at the top is absolutely wrong,” Harrison said during NBC’s Super Bowl LX coverage. “And a lot of those players that we mention, they’re great players. I played with Drew Brees, I played with Adam Vinatieri, but there’s nobody more deserving than coach Belichick.
TRUMP BRUSHES OFF BILL BELICHICK’S ‘CONTROVERSIAL’ COUPLE OF YEARS AMID HALL OF FAME SNUB
NBC Sports broadcaster Rodney Harrison during the game between the Los Angeles Chargers and the Buffalo Bills at SoFi Stadium. (Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports)
“I’ve seen his greatness. I’ve seen him design defenses to stop your (Dungy’s) offense. You just look at the players that he’s impacted. He’s been unbelievable. And when I look throughout the Hall of Fame … Tom BradyTom Brady wouldn’t be Tom Brady without Bill Belichick. And that’s the disappointing part of it, coach. And you guys got it wrong.”
Dungy, again, didn’t say whether he voted for Belichick, citing an “oath” he took to avoid discussing any actions behind the scenes. Out of the category that Belichick was in – with Robert Kraft, Roger Craig, Ken Anderson and L.C. Greenwood – he didn’t pick up enough votes. Craig was voted into the Hall of Fame out of those selections.
Tony Dungy of the Indianapolis Colts reacts after giving up a first quarter touchdown to the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI on Feb. 4, 2007 at Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)
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The Super Bowl champion coach took issue with the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s voting procedures.
“People think we voted against Bill Belichick,” Dungy said. “We did not. In fact, the same exact vote. As a matter of fact, if the same exact vote had taken place, same totals as two years ago, Bill Belichick would have been in and so would another deserving Hall of Famer and that is why I’m upset. That is not right.”
Sports
Ilia Malinin powers U.S. to Olympic gold in team figure skating competition
MILAN — Believe in the Quad God.
Ilia Malinin’s clutch free skate that scored 200.03 points gave the United States its second consecutive team figure skating gold medal Sunday at the Milan-Cortina Olympic Games.
After Amber Glenn fought through a shaky free program that finished third and lost the United States its two-point lead, Malinin stepped up as only he could. He executed five quad jumps and won by nearly six points, even if he did not perform his signature quad axel. He even put his hand down after a jump, but the mistake only seemed to fuel him as he finished with a flourish, changing the back-half of his program to earn back extra points.
His U.S. teammates, cheering from the sideline box rose to their feet and pumped their fists after each of Malinin’s jumping passes. When he landed his back flip, skating flawlessly through one foot, the packed crowd at Milano Ice Skating Arena roared.
While Japan’s Shun Sato scored a season’s best to finish the competition, he could not match the technical prowess of Malinin, who is also the favorite to win individual gold this week.
In front of a raucous home crowd, Italy held off Georgia for the bronze medal behind a dazzling free skate from Matteo Rizzo, who dropped to his knees on the ice and cried after his performance had fans chanting “Italia!” before he even finished. He cried into the Italian flag in the kiss-and-cry after his season’s best 179.62 points.
With the first figure skating medal of the Milan-Cortina Games on the line, every skater fought for every fraction of a point. U.S. pairs skater Ellie Kam went deep into a one-legged squat to hold on to the first throw jump. The United States led by five points entering the final day, but still had no room for error as Japan finished first in qualifying in all of Sunday’s disciplines. With the dominance of Japan’s Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara in pairs, Kam’s partner Danny O’Shea knew the strategy for the U.S. pair was to simply try to stay as close as possible.
Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea perform in pairs figure skating during the team competition at the Milan-Cortina Games on Sunday.
(Stephanie Scarbrough / Associated Press)
Kam fought for the landing on a throw loop so hard that she could feel her leg cramping.
“I was like, ‘I’m not going down,’” Kam said, “I got this. We got this.”
They looked at each other before their next element and said “calm.” Their message cut through the energized crowd that cheered louder and louder with each jump. At the end, Kam’s and O’Shea’s celebratory screams simply joined the crowd’s roar. As they saluted the crowd, O’Shea pointed toward Kam to acknowledge her effort.
The pair’s fourth-place finish in the free program was a one-point improvement from their qualifying spot, earning a slim, but vital cushion entering the men’s and women’s free skates.
Instead of sending world champion Alysa Liu back for the free skate after she performed the short program, the U.S. selected the three-time national champion Glenn. The 26-year-old was making her Olympic debut.
On the Olympic stage for the first time, Glenn has tried to embrace the opportunity while treating the competition as if it were any other one. But the larger stage has created additional stress for Glenn after she was asked in a news conference about President Trump’s approach to the LGBTQ+ community in recent years and how it’s affected her personally.
U.S. figure skater Amber Glenn competes during the team competition on Sunday at the Milan-Cortina Games.
(Ashley Landis / Associated Press)
Glenn, who identifies as bisexual and pansexual, encouraged people in the queer community to “stay strong in these hard times” and recognized that it wasn’t the first time the community had to unite to “fight for our human rights.” Glenn then received threats on social media after the news conference and posted on Instagram that she would be taking a break from social platforms to focus on the competition.
But it wasn’t the social media hate that rattled Glenn, she insisted. She was simply tired, sore and disoriented from the unfamiliar Olympic team competition format.
All of Glenn’s other competitors did the short program portion of the competition on Friday. She came in with several good days of training at the venue, but did not get the same kind of opportunity to get used to the stage. Glenn fought through a shaky triple axel to open her program and stepped out of a triple flip that prevented her from completing a planned combination for her second jumping pass.
Waiting in the kiss-and-cry, Glenn bowed her head and stared at the ground. She struggled to muster even a fake smile.
“I’m grateful that the team is so supportive.” said Glenn, who finished behind Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto and Italy’s Lara Naki Gutmann. “But I do feel guilty that I could be the reason that we don’t win the gold, and I don’t know how I will ever apologize for that.”
Glenn clasped her hands in her lap waiting for Sato’s score after the Japanese skater performed a clean program that had his teammates in tears. But his technical score was about five points less than Malinin’s. Glenn was the first skater to hug Malinin in the United States’ team celebration, lifting him off the ground as he extended arms out wide.
Sports
Mikaela Shiffrin says it’s ‘tough to reconcile’ violence in world while representing USA in Olympics
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Decorated Olympic skier Mikaela Shiffrin wants to represent her own “values” at this year’s Milan Cortina Olympic Games.
“I think there’s a lot of hardship in the world globally, and there’s a lot of heartbreak. There’s a lot of violence. It can be tough to reconcile that when you’re also competing for medals at an Olympic event,” the two-time gold medalist said during her media availability in Italy on Saturday.
During her extended answer, Shiffrin read aloud a quote from Nelson Mandela, which was also recited during the opening ceremonies.
Mikaela Shiffrin speaks during a press conference during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium in Cortina d’Ampezzo on Feb. 7, 2026. (Stefano Rellandini/AFP via Getty Images)
“‘Peace is not just the absence of conflict. Peace is the creation of an environment where we can all flourish, regardless of race, color, creed, religion, gender, class, caste, or any other social markers of difference,’” Shiffrin said, reading the quote from her phone.
“And for me, as this relates to the Olympics, I’m really hoping to show up and represent my own values. Values of inclusivity, values of diversity, and kindness, and sharing, tenacity, work ethic, showing up with my team every single day, and the values that we bring and put out on the mountain and on the hill every single day. I’m hoping to represent those who have been supporting me this entire time.
“I’m really thankful to be here, and my greatest hope for this Olympic Games, from a broader perspective, is that it is a beautiful show of cooperation and of competition.”
United States’ Mikaela Shiffrin celebrates winning an alpine ski, women’s World Cup slalom, in Spindleruv Mlyn, Czech Republic, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)
The questioning for Shiffrin comes on the brink of numerous American athletes being asked how they felt representing the United States at the Australian Open as it pertains to President Donald Trump’s current second term.
Anti-ICE protests occurred in Milan last week after the announcement that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents would be deployed at this year’s Games.
U.S. Embassy officials told The Associated Press last week that ICE agents would support diplomatic security details and would not run any immigration enforcement operations, considering they would be in a foreign country.
Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala said ICE would not be welcome in the city, and he cited images of masked agents in Minneapolis.
People take part in an Anti-ICE demonstration, ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)
“This is a militia that kills, a militia that enters into the homes of people, signing their own permission slips. It is clear they are not welcome in Milan, without a doubt,” Sala told RTL Radio 102 before ICE’s reported security involvement was revealed.
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