Culture

Samford's winning big with Bucky Ball. Don't leave home without it

Published

2 months ago

March 8, 2024

Samford's winning big with Bucky Ball. Don't leave home without it

HOMEWOOD, Ala. — The house Bucky McMillan grew up in, the one in the Birmingham suburbs where a new owner discovered 18 waterlogged basketballs buried beneath years of leaves in a ditch where they’d collected after running off the driveway, is only three miles from his office at Samford University. The Shades Valley YMCA, where McMillan played his first organized basketball, is less than half a mile away. Mountain Brook High School, where McMillan starred as a player and then built the Spartans into a national prep power as head coach, is six miles away. Birmingham-Southern College, where McMillan walked on, earned a starting job and helped the program transition from NAIA to Division I, is eight miles away.

From Samford, where he’s won three straight Southern Conference Coach of the Year awards and the last two regular-season league titles and has already become the most accomplished coach in school history after just four years, McMillan can be at the scene of almost every important moment from his 40 years of life in 15 minutes or less. His story is as rare as it is remarkable: He’s achieved a lifetime’s worth of success by middle age, without ever really leaving home.

“It’s so fun, because you get to see the happiness of all those who were with you along the way,” McMillan says. “Everybody gets to share in it. It becomes like a hobby for people around here, like a bunch of old friends got together and said, ‘Hey, let’s do something really cool. Let’s make Samford a top-25 team.’”

The strangest thing about McMillan’s story is that seemingly no one involved ever stopped to ask: Is this actually going to work? Not when he became his high school alma mater’s junior varsity coach at 22 or when he became its varsity coach at 24 or when he landed a Division I head-coaching job at 36 without ever having worked in college. People just kept putting him in charge and trusting that he would win, because he always has.

McMillan won a Dizzy Dean World Series as an all-star shortstop in fourth grade, led Mountain Brook to its first state semifinal as an all-state point guard in high school, coached a top-10 AAU team while he was still in college, coached Mountain Brook to seven state championship games and five state titles in eight years, then jumped straight to D1 two years later and introduced a whole new audience to his frenetic style of play: Bucky Ball. He’s won 20-plus games the last three seasons, and this year’s Bulldogs have the best record in program history (26-5). They’re hoping to earn their first NCAA Tournament bid in 24 years by winning the SoCon tournament, which begins Friday.

“It’s a great story and a great hire,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl says. “Those of us in this state knew what a brilliant coach and program developer he was, so it’s absolutely no shock what he’s done, but kudos to Samford for respecting somebody who was right there in the community and having the courage to hire a high school coach.”

A bigger program will inevitably try to lure away McMillan for more money and the promise of a bigger stage, sooner than later. It would be an easy sell to most people in that position, and there might ultimately be an offer McMillan just can’t refuse. The way he sees it, though, he can still get anywhere from right here.

“I knew at an early age that if you want to excel at something, you’ve really got to be all-consumed on that mission to do it, that people who have their hands in a million different jars aren’t as good as someone with a singular focus,” McMillan says. “You’ve got to consider where you want to live, where your roots are and who you want to do this with. If you build your brand in one place, your network grows exponentially, and when you have a grassroots movement that is building something with the right people in the right place, it can become something so special it gains national attention.

“You can make the thing most people feel like they have to go somewhere else to get.”

That sort of dream, to turn a private Baptist school with 6,000 students into the Gonzaga of the South, would require considerable resources. And here come the resources, sauntering over to speak to McMillan after a recent practice.

Gary Cooney is a multimillionaire insurance broker who played on one of Samford’s all-time great football teams in the 1970s. His last name is on buildings all over campus, including the football fieldhouse and Cooney Hall, which houses the business school and opened in 2015 thanks largely to a $12.5 million gift from its namesake. Cooney has known McMillan since he was a baby, coached him in youth baseball and shared a beer with him the day he buried his son, McMillan’s childhood friend.

So when Samford was looking for a new coach in 2020, coming off nine losing seasons in the previous 11 years, even though athletic director Martin Newton had already locked in on McMillan as his top choice, Cooney left nothing to chance. “If you hire him, I’ll give you a solid six-figure gift to get it started,” he told the school’s administration. “Because this one is personal to me.”

Cooney looks and talks like Buddy Garrity, the caricature of an overzealous booster on “Friday Night Lights,” the high school football drama in which the slogan — Texas Forever — could be tweaked for McMillan. In Cooney’s eyes, Bucky Ball belongs in Birmingham. Now and always. When talk of another program poaching him arises, Cooney, who this season offered the school another “six-figure bounty” to help McMillan set the all-time attendance record, bristles.

“Shame on us,” he says, “if we don’t figure out how to retain one of the brightest talents in the country, who is one of us. We have an incredible opportunity here, and so does Bucky, because this is where he wants to be. This is where he grew up. It’s where his family and his friends are. It’s where his high school buddies are in the stands every game and their children now come to his basketball camps. It’s where he can go down to Otey’s Tavern after a big win and celebrate with people he’s known his entire life.

“Tell me that’s not kind of a dream come true. It’s Mayberry on steroids.”

So what exactly is Bucky Ball?

It’s a full-court-pressing, breakneck-running, 3-point-shooting blur of activity. “Play fast, play defense and give it 100 percent or get the hell out,” says Bucky McMillan Sr., the coach’s father. “That’s Bucky Ball, and you can’t beat it.” (Bucky is a nickname that has stuck to both generations, even though their given names are Henry Ward McMillan, the II and III. Bucky works better for slogans, his father says.)

Samford ranks fifth nationally in both offensive pace and 3-point percentage, sixth in turnovers forced. The Bulldogs play 10 guys at least 13 minutes per game and nobody more than 25 minutes, as McMillan overwhelms opponents with fresh legs churning at maximum effort. Everybody on the roster can shoot it, too. Eleven players have made more than 10 3-pointers; seven are shooting better than 40 percent from deep.

“In one word, I would just say fun,” McMillan says of his system. “You want to find the most fun way to win, because recruits want to play this way and fans want to watch it.”

Samford averages 86.9 points per game loves to push the pace with players like Rylan Jones. (John Byrum/ AP)

Alabama coach Nate Oats, who swears by a similar 3s-and-layups offensive style that has brought him two SEC championships, sees a lot of himself in McMillan. Oats was a high school coach who became a Division I head coach after just two years as a college assistant. What impresses him most is that, while anyone could decide to play with pace, space and fire away, “you can tell Bucky is a really sharp guy who understands the why and, more importantly, how to get the best shots within that approach.”

It’s hardly surprising to learn that McMillan grew up idolizing Rick Pitino. He figures he’s watched every game Pitino coached at Louisville, plus all the footage he could find of Pitino’s time at Kentucky. Every year, he shows his team the Mardi Gras Miracle, when Pitino’s Wildcats erased a 31-point deficit with 15:34 to play at LSU. That team attempted 37 3-pointers and made 15 … in 1994, which was a highly unusual approach to basketball in those days.

“He was just so innovative,” McMillan says, “and the thing that I’ve always loved about Pitino is he was his own guy. He wasn’t afraid to try things just because they were unconventional. He was one of the first coaches to let his teams shoot a bunch of 3s and press the whole game.”

McMillan is equally unafraid to coach his way. He figures some of that conviction is simply a product of his atypical path. Almost every head coach spends at least a little time cutting his teeth as an assistant, somewhere along the way. Having never worked for anyone else, though, the buck has always stopped with Bucky. He started his career with low enough stakes, coaching youth basketball while he was still in high school, that he could experiment with style until he was certain of what worked and what didn’t.

“Most people get their first head-coaching job and suddenly they’re in front of 10,000 people having never called a timeout,” McMillan says. “What, are they going to try trapping missed shots? They’re afraid they’ll look like an idiot if it doesn’t work. But I was fortunate to have enough time to try things out so that I can believe completely in what we’re doing now.”

That is the most Pitino-like trait Newton saw in McMillan when he interviewed him for this job. His father, C.M. Newton, coincidentally, hired Pitino at Kentucky.

“I remember my dad talking about that ‘it factor’ with Rick,” Newton says. “Bucky is the same way. It was fascinating to hear him talk about the way his mind works, the combination of analytics and instincts, and how he knew exactly how he wanted to play and recruit and build a program. He’s never wavered. It’s one of the things that attracted me to him, and it attracts recruits to him, how that confidence just oozes from him.”

Just because he’s self-assured doesn’t mean McMillan is without mentors. His staff includes Duane Reboul, his college head coach, a 400-game winner with two NAIA national titles, who came out of retirement to join Samford as a special assistant. Mitch Cole, who once taught Bucky at Birmingham-Southern youth camps and later coached him there as a member of Reboul’s staff, is McMillan’s associate head coach.

When he decided to be a full-time pressing team, Reboul was just the guy to help.

“Back when we were playing that way, I’d have other college coaches come to me and say, ‘I want to press this year. How do we do it?’” Reboul says. “I would always say to them, ‘You gotta have it in your blood. You can’t dabble. Because you’re going to give up baskets, and you’ve got to have the stomach to stick with it.’ There just aren’t many coaches who can play that way, because most of them want complete control of every possession. Bucky is willing to let his players make decisions based on what he’s taught them and trust that the coaching is done not on game day, but in practices.”

Asked to summarize his protege turned boss, Reboul recites a famous Muhammad Ali quote: He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.

How many other coaches would’ve signed 5-foot-8, 140-pound Dallas Graziani from Division II national champion Nova Southeastern merely because they play a similar style as Samford? The number is even fewer — maybe zero? — who would’ve sent Graziani out for the opening tip against 7-foot-4 Purdue star Zach Edey (with a plan to not jump, rather immediately trap and try to steal the ball, which almost worked). McMillan announced the plan in advance and the school made a series of funny social media videos about it before the game.

The most-anticipated jump ball in school history‼️
📺 Big Ten Network
📱/💻 https://t.co/M84e2qjwby
📊 https://t.co/DoQkDkzuZP#BuckyBall | #AllForSAMford pic.twitter.com/e3UmCHvcUd
— Samford Men’s Basketball (@SamfordMBB) November 6, 2023

How many other coaches have everyone on the team shoot 3s, even the ones who show up with no history of being able to do so?

“If you can make a free throw, you can make a 3, and if you can’t make a free throw, you can’t play anyway,” McMillan says, before launching into a monologue about how every time the college 3-point line moves back, percentages dip for a season and then go right back up to where they were. “It’s just repetition. And if you’re really committed to playing this way, if you understand that 3s and layups and free throws are most optimal, now you’re just teaching your players to hit a driver, pitching wedge and putter. Isn’t that easier than learning a 9-iron, 8-iron, 7-iron, 6-iron, 5-iron, 4-iron, all the way down?”

He says all these things with a tone that adds an unspoken word: obviously. Total belief, not that his way is the only way, just that his way works. Obviously. Samford won 17 straight games and 23 of 24 at one point this season. Wherever McMillan goes, unprecedented winning follows. Getting the right players has a lot to do with that, and of course he has a tried and true method for picking them.

McMillan describes how a recruit can prove himself worthy of Bucky Ball: “Ball is shot, he crashes the glass, he can’t get it but tries to dive on it, gets up, picks up his man full-court, goes to the other end and hawks the ball the whole time, ball comes off the rim, he blocks out, jumps over three people, gets knocked down again, gets off the floor in half a second, bats it to the other end of the floor, sprints down, tries to jump on it, gets the basketball, shot fakes, could lay it up but drops it to a teammate for a layup and then starts denying the guy on the press as hard as he can. That’s going to catch my attention.”

Oh, is that all?

“What is that right there I just described?” McMillan says. “An elite competitor, somebody who freakin’ hates to ever not do their best and not impact winning. That’s what I’ll always look for.”

Jeff Lloyd first played on a basketball team with McMillan in second grade. He won that Dizzy Dean World Series with him 30 years ago this summer. They were on teams together through high school, and now Lloyd brings his own children to Bucky’s camps and to Samford games. There’s a section of seats in a corner of the Pete Hanna Center, where the Bulldogs come out of the tunnel, that is often full of children Lloyd brings to the games — either the rec team he coaches or another group of local hoopers.

Lloyd knows other programs are coming for his old friend, but he’s not convinced McMillan will leave any time soon. “If you look at Bucky’s life, he’s a Birmingham boy to his core. Should out-of-state teams look at him? One hundred percent. I just know where his roots are, and this community is rallying around Bucky, as it always has, and the momentum is there to grow and build this program and make it a perennial top-25 team that’s competing for tournament slots every year. Selfishly, that’s what I want to see happen.”

He isn’t alone.

Cooney refuses to believe Samford can’t be the one to make him an offer he can’t refuse.

“If an offer comes up that’s better than what we can do, then I’ll be his biggest supporter wherever he goes,” Cooney says, “but I just don’t think this community is going to let him leave. I think this community will realize that this happens once in a lifetime and say, ‘Hey, we can give this coach and his program what it needs.’ ”

Last season, Florida Atlantic made a stunning run to the Final Four. Then the Owls’ coveted young coach, Dusty May, and the entire roster made an even more stunning decision to stay put — even if it was only for one more year.

Mark Few could’ve left Gonzaga, a Jesuit school with about 5,000 undergrads in Spokane, Wash., for a brand-name program years ago. Instead, he’s spent 35 years as a grad assistant, assistant and head coach turning those Bulldogs into a nationally respected brand themselves. Sometimes you can get where you’re going from right where you are, and few understand that better than McMillan.

“If we’re willing to invest in the program at a high level, there’s no reason we can’t do what those other schools have done,” he says. “There’s no reason we can’t build it here. And all things being equal, I’d love to do it in my hometown. So would all the people that started this with me. How great would that be one day, when we make that run, to say, ‘Hey, we talked about it, and we did it.’”

(Top photo of Bucky McMillan: Courtesy of Samford Athletics)

Related Topics:Featured Men's College Basketball Samford Bulldogs

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Post-NFL Draft Power Rankings: Bears rise, Falcons slide and Chiefs still reign

Published

13 hours ago

May 2, 2024

Press Room

Post-NFL Draft Power Rankings: Bears rise, Falcons slide and Chiefs still reign

The NFL Draft is complete, which means the country’s most dominant sports league will now take a short break from dominating television ratings and the athletic world’s oxygen (no offense to Schedule Release Day or the social media teams that work so hard to make that fun). But before we get started on summer, the Power Rankings will assess where everyone stands after their rookie additions.

Post-free agency rank: 1

Dane Brugler’s draft ranking: 13

The Chiefs have managed to muddle through just fine in the two seasons since trading Tyreek Hill to the Dolphins. In fact, they’ve won two Super Bowls. Still, they seem to have decided a three-peat might be easier with another jet-pack wide receiver. That’s why they traded up for Texas wide receiver Xavier Worthy, who ran the fastest 40-yard dash in NFL combine history (4.21).

Post-free agency rank: 2

Brugler’s draft ranking: 25

Did the 49ers take Florida wide receiver Ricky Pearsall because they plan to trade Brandon Aiyuk or Deebo Samuel? Or did they did do it because coach Kyle Shanahan just wants another tough-as-nails wide receiver to terrorize defenses? We don’t know yet, but they did strengthen their defense with two defensive backs (Renardo Green and Malik Mustapha) who will help right away.

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Post-free agency rank: 3

Brugler’s draft ranking: 3

Detroit was 28th last season in defensive passing EPA so it used its first two picks on cornerbacks. Sensible enough. Then the Lions returned to their contrarian form by using their third pick (a fourth-rounder, which they acquired by trading away a 2025 third-rounder) on a Tongan offensive tackle from Canada (Giovanni Manu) whom Brugler projected as a priority free agent. That’s the wacky Brad Holmes-Dan Campbell Lions we’ve come to love here.

The Ravens know what they’re doing in the draft, and second-round pick Roger Rosengarten will fit right in. (Ken Murray / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Post-free agency rank: 6

Brugler’s draft ranking: 12

Baltimore did Baltimore things in the draft, stockpiling players at premium positions up and down the board. The beauty of the Ravens’ approach is they never seem to need immediate help. This is still the team that led the NFL in point margin last year (plus-203). Second-round offensive tackle Roger Rosengarten could end up being one of the steals of the draft.

Post-free agency rank: 4

Brugler’s draft ranking: 28

The Texans added a lot of players (nine) but nobody who is expected to move the needle much this season. Having no first-round pick this year is the price they paid for wheeling and dealing in last year’s draft. It’s a price they were happy to pay considering they got quarterback C.J. Stroud and edge Will Anderson Jr. in that draft, which is why they’re still high on this list.

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Post-free agency rank: 5

Brugler’s draft ranking: 21

While everyone’s draft focus was on the Falcons saying they were trying to turbocharge the Packers’ quarterback succession model, Green Bay might have quietly done it again. The Packers picked Tulane quarterback Michael Pratt in the seventh round. The 6-foot-3, 217-pound Pratt might have to wait a long time if he’s going to succeed Jordan Love, but he’s more than worth the gamble at pick No. 245 after starting 44 college games and throwing 90 career touchdowns.

Post-free agency rank: 9

Brugler’s draft ranking: 10

For 51 weeks of the year, it feels like the Cowboys are all over the map. Somebody, usually the owner, is saying quizzical things. Expectations are being elevated and then left unmet. And then comes draft week, and Cowboys just quietly go about doing a very good job. It’s why they get away with all the other stuff. Dallas got value with all three of its top picks, and second-round edge rusher Marshawn Kneeland could be a star. (Adding back Ezekiel Elliott in free agency doesn’t move the needle much at this point.)

Post-free agency rank: 7

Brugler’s draft ranking: 30

It’s tough to add much help when your first pick is at No. 54, but Cleveland was still paying bills from the Deshaun Watson trade. The good news is that trade is now officially complete, and the Browns will have a first-round draft pick in 2025 for the first time since 2021. Unless, of course, they make another deal.

Post-free agency rank: 8

Brugler’s draft ranking: 18

Let’s take a moment to visualize Cincinnati’s dream offensive line of the future. The Bengals used their first-round pick on 6-8, 340-pound Amarius Mims even though Mims made only eight college starts. Cincinnati already has 6-8, 345-pound Orlando Brown Jr. entrenched at left tackle and 6-8, 355-pound Trent Brown penciled in on the right side on a one-year contract. It’s possible Mims won’t start this season, but if he does, it will be fun to watch.

Wide receiver Keon Coleman is a key addition for Josh Allen and the Bills, who no longer have Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis. (Don Juan Moore / Getty Images)

Post-free agency rank: 10

Brugler’s draft ranking: 20

The draft was another reminder that the Bills are in a controlled rebuild. They traded all the way out of the first round to add more affordable assets to the roster. The good news is they still came away with a pretty good receiver with their first pick, taking Florida State’s Keon Coleman with the first choice of the second round. If Coleman can develop a quick connection with Josh Allen, it will go a long way toward stabilizing Buffalo’s reset.

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Post-free agency rank: 16

Brugler’s draft ranking: 4

After grabbing two of the top corners early in the draft, Philadelphia added some potential high-reward players in Round 3 and later. Edge rusher Jalyx Hunt out of Houston Christian (6-4, 252 pounds) is a perfect example. Hunt started his career as an Ivy League safety, but he had the fifth-longest arms of any edge rusher in this class and is an explosive athlete who could turn into a steal.

Post-free agency rank: 11

Brugler’s draft ranking: 24

Jared Verse must feel special. That’s whom Los Angeles picked with its first first-round pick since 2016 (which it spent on Jared Goff). Verse, and his former Florida State teammate Braden Fiske, a defensive tackle, will help a defense that finished 22nd last year in points allowed (22.2). Now if they can keep quarterback Matthew Stafford happy (he wants a contract adjustment with more guaranteed money, NFL Network reported during the draft), they’ll be a sleeper NFC title game candidate.

Post-free agency rank: 23

Brugler’s draft ranking: 1

No one moved up more in this edition of the Power Rankings than the Bears, who drafted uber-talented quarterback Caleb Williams with the No. 1 pick and elite wide receiver prospect Rome Odunze with the No. 9 pick. They made only five draft picks, but that’s not doing anything to slow down expectations in Chicago. The Bears have one division title in the last 13 years, but they’re expected to be true challengers to the Lions and Packers this year.

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Post-free agency rank: 14

Brugler’s draft ranking: 14

The Colts landed two of the draft’s most talented players with their first two picks, which is impressive considering those picks came at 15 and 52. They did have to take on some risk to do it, though. UCLA edge rusher Laiatu Latu medically retired from football at one point in his college career, and Texas wide receiver Adonai Mitchell raised some concerns about non-football issues in the scouting community. (Don’t tell GM Chris Ballard about that second part, though. He doesn’t want to hear it.)

Colts GM Chris Ballard was preachin’ about the pre-draft reports on AD Mitchell 🗣️pic.twitter.com/KqyJFwsLY8
— Jon Tweets Sports (@jontweetssports) April 27, 2024
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Post-free agency rank: 12

Brugler’s draft ranking: 22

Jason Licht might be the NFL’s poster boy for patience. Licht has been the Buccaneers’ general manager since 2014. In four of his first five seasons, Tampa Bay finished last in the NFC South. Now the Bucs have won the division three years in a row, and Licht seems to keep bringing in good players. This year, he got every analyst’s favorite under-the-radar offensive lineman, Duke’s Graham Barton.

Post-free agency rank: 13

Brugler’s draft ranking: 23

Mike McDaniel is committed to the bit. The head coach of the NFL’s fastest team traded up to take the second-fastest running back in this year’s draft in Round 4 (Tennessee’s Jaylen Wright) and then drafted a high school sprinting state champion — Virginia wide receiver Malik Washington — in the fifth round. Give him credit, too, for getting big guys in the first two rounds in edge Chop Robinson and offensive tackle Patrick Paul.

Post-free agency rank: 15

Brugler’s draft ranking: 17

The Jets drafted an Aaron Rodgers support staff, getting offensive tackle Olu Fashanu, wide receiver Malachi Corley and running back Braelon Allen with their first three picks. Fashanu might not start right away, but he has that kind of talent, and Corley should join Mike Williams and Garrett Wilson in the starting lineup immediately.

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Post-free agency rank: 22

Brugler’s draft ranking: 2

Whoever ends up playing quarterback for the Steelers (Russell Wilson and Justin Fields are the contenders, in case you hadn’t heard), he should have plenty of protection. Pittsburgh took three offensive linemen, including two of the feistiest in this draft (tackle Troy Fautanu and center Zach Frazier), with their first two picks.

Post-free agency rank: 18

Brugler’s draft ranking: 16

Seattle’s first two picks weigh a combined 614 pounds, so we know general manager John Schneider, in his first draft post-Pete Carroll, wanted to rebuild the Seahawks’ trenches. Defensive tackle Bryron Murphy II (6-foot, 297 pounds) might end up being the best defensive player in this draft, and guard Christian Haynes (6-3, 317) will provide immediate offensive line depth and a possible Day 1 starter.

If quarterback J.J. McCarthy is as good as the Vikings believe he is, they’ll be in great shape. (Rick Osentoski / USA Today)

Post-free agency rank: 19

Brugler’s draft ranking: 15

If J.J. McCarthy is as good as (or even close to as good as) Kirk Cousins, the Vikings will have had the best draft of the year. If he’s not the guy, then Minnesota will have let a solid veteran quarterback leave and then expended a lot of draft assets only to fail to answer the quarterback question. Getting Alabama edge Dallas Turner at No. 17 is a nice touch either way.

Post-free agency rank: 26

Brugler’s draft ranking: 6

Jim Harbaugh stuck to his guns. After saying for weeks leading up to the draft that his team placed a premium on offensive linemen, he passed on two elite wide receiver prospects (Malik Nabers and Rome Odunze) to take offensive tackle Joe Alt fifth. “Offensive linemen we look at as weapons,” Harbaugh said. “Offensive line is the tip of the spear.”

Post-free agency rank: 17

Brugler’s draft ranking: 32

The talk of the draft, but not for the right reasons, the Falcons passed on their best chance to make the 2024 team better by drafting quarterback Michael Penix Jr. with the No. 8 pick. It might turn out to be a genius move for the future, but it won’t help this year with Penix sitting behind Kirk Cousins. The five front-seven defenders they drafted after Penix might help, though.

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Post-free agency rank: 28

Brugler’s draft ranking: 9

The Commanders completed their extreme home makeover (the owner, general manager and head coach are all brand new) with their quarterback of the future. At least, that’s the hope. Former LSU quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels was the most physically dynamic quarterback on the board, but he does not come without risk. Should be a fun season in Washington, which would be new, too.

Post-free agency rank: 29

Brugler’s draft ranking: 8

The Patriots had the good fortune to be picking third in a draft that had three highly regarded quarterback prospects. And they had the good sense to simply take North Carolina’s Drake Maye instead of trading the pick. New England signed Jacoby Brissett in free agency, so it can afford to give Maye plenty of time to get ready before throwing him into an offense that isn’t good enough to help him as a rookie.

Post-free agency rank: 21

Brugler’s draft ranking: 11

The Raiders were rumored to be in the quarterback trade market but stayed in their draft slot and took the best player available — Georgia tight end Brock Bowers. It was a very un-Vegas move. Then they compounded the common sense by taking offensive linemen with their next two picks.

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Post-free agency rank: 20

Brugler’s draft ranking: 29

The Jaguars like LSU players, and they don’t much care what everyone else thinks of their new players. Jacksonville started the draft by taking wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr., the first of three Tigers it drafted. The next eight players all ranked among some of the biggest reaches in the draft based on consensus mock draft rankings.

Wide receiver Malik Nabers should give Daniel Jones and the Giants offense an immediate boost. (John Korduner / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Post-free agency rank: 27

Brugler’s draft ranking: 7

The Giants passed on an opportunity to get out of the Daniel Jones business and really shake up the draft by taking a quarterback with the sixth pick. Instead, they went with dynamic wide receiver Malik Nabers in hopes he’ll help lift Jones to another level. If that doesn’t work, New York can exit Jones’ contract pretty easily after this year. It did bring in Drew Lock as a veteran contingency plan.

Post-free agency rank: 24

Brugler’s draft ranking: 26

The Titans got bigger in the draft. A lot bigger, using their first pick on 342-pound offensive tackle JC Latham and their second pick on 366-pound defensive tackle T’Vondre Sweat. The Sweat pick in the second round (No. 38) raised eyebrows because he wasn’t expected to go nearly that high, but if he matures and can keep his weight in check, he could be a superstar. Latham is expected to be a Day 1 starter.

Post-free agency rank: 31

Brugler’s draft ranking: 5

This was the draft Arizona had been waiting for. The Cardinals had seven of the first 90 picks. Teams generally hope to get at least starting-quality players out of that type of draft capital. If Arizona did that, its turnaround could begin now.

Post-free agency rank: 30

Brugler’s draft ranking: 19

The Saints might have stumbled into their next starting quarterback … or into a quarterback controversy. New Orleans drafted South Carolina’s Spencer Rattler with the 150th pick. Given current starter Derek Carr’s sometimes shaky hold on the job and Rattler’s NFL arm, Saints fans might be calling for a change by midseason.

Post-free agency rank: 25

Brugler’s draft ranking: 31

The Falcons’ quarterback selection kept Denver off the national hot seat. The Broncos took Oregon quarterback Bo Nix at No. 12, which was 32 spots higher than The Athletic’s Dane Brugler had him ranked. If it works, Sean Payton can turn Denver around quickly. If it doesn’t, it’ll be another in a series of very curious Broncos moves.

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Which quarterbacks landed in best place to succeed? Ranking the landing spots of a historic draft class

Post-free agency rank: 32

Brugler’s draft ranking: 27

Owner David Tepper stole the show again. And, again, not in a good way. Tepper turned the draft weekend narrative on himself when he stopped at a local bar to question the owner about a snarky sign out front. There’s a reason Carolina has occupied this spot in the rankings for so long.

(Top photo of Caleb Williams: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)

Culture

A 19-year-old Stanford phenom is blazing a new trail from Japan to the majors

Published

20 hours ago

May 2, 2024

Press Room

A 19-year-old Stanford phenom is blazing a new trail from Japan to the majors

STANFORD, Calif. — The dugout chatter for intrasquad games at the Sunken Diamond can be merciless.

The slings and arrows are nonstop when Stanford baseball players are pitted against one another. The guys wearing red jerseys shout streams of insults at players on the black team and vice versa. “Whoa, hey, Luke’s got a new stance,” a player wearing a black jersey yells as freshman catcher Luke Lavin stands upright in the batter’s box, perhaps imitating the Chicago Cubs’ Cody Bellinger.

Lavin pops up the next pitch. “Same swing, though!”

But the tone changes when No. 3 for the black team, a husky teenager and early enrollee who won’t begin his freshman season until next year, steps in the box. The good-natured ribbing gives way to full-throated encouragement from both sides. Let’s go Rintaro! C’mon Rintaro! Give it a ride, Rintaro!

“We still can’t believe he’s here,” infielder Jimmy Nati said. “We’re all fanboying him, for sure.”

Rintaro Sasaki is not the typical Stanford baseball recruit. Back home in Japan, he is a national celebrity, instantly recognizable almost anywhere he goes. Last year, Sasaki was the top-rated high school player in a country where high school baseball is a national obsession. The left-handed slugger was projected to be the most coveted name in last October’s Nippon Professional Baseball draft. He mashed a national record 140 home runs, with twice as many walks as strikeouts, for Hanamaki-Higashi High School in Iwate Prefecture, the same school that produced Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani and Toronto Blue Jays left-hander Yusei Kikuchi. Sasaki’s father, Hiroshi, coached all of them and is a legendary figure in his own right.

When Rintaro graduated from high school this past March, television stations dispatched more than 30 camera crews to cover the event.

It would be a last glimpse. Sasaki announced a few weeks prior to the NPB draft that he would not register for it. Instead, he would blaze a trail and play collegiate ball in the United States — a nearly unprecedented path that could fast-track him to Major League Baseball as a draft-eligible sophomore in 2026.

In February, Sasaki stunned Stanford coach David Esquer and recruiting coordinator Thomas Eager when he requested a Zoom call with them, asked a few logistical questions, then told them that he was selecting the Cardinal over Cal, UCLA, and Vanderbilt.

Sasaki arrived on campus at the beginning of April, moved into a dorm room and enrolled in three classes as a pre-freshman. He can participate in all team activities except playing in games. He practices and works out with his new teammates. On game days, he suits up, cheers them on from the dugout and eagerly takes part in all the pregame traditions. He’s gone on road trips to Utah and Oregon State. He’s surprised everyone with how much English he understands, and he’s left them slack-jawed with his batting-practice shots over the light standards. When he turned 19 on April 18, his teammates took him out to a dinner that included ice cream, candles and tables of complete strangers joining in to sing “Happy Birthday.”

He is absolutely loving all of it.

“I made the right choice,” Sasaki said through interpreter and team trainer Tomoo Yamada. “People are nice to me. Everyone is my friend. I haven’t missed Japan yet. I feel completely settled. I can’t believe it’s been only four weeks. I’m enjoying life.”

Sasaki was a national star in high school, but his first month in California has largely been filled with normal college experiences. (Courtesy of Stanford Athletics)

Beyond the right field fence at Klein Field, past the scoreboard and a stand of trees, is the Avery Aquatic Center. It’s where Olympic swimmer Katie Ledecky would lap the competition during her brief time as a Stanford student. As best as anyone can tell, that’s where a couple of Sasaki’s tape-measure home runs have splashed down.

Everything about Sasaki is broad and powerful, a body rendered in letterbox format. He stands 6 feet and 250 pounds, and his full-tilt swing puts every ounce behind the baseball. He hits line drives to left field that dismiss gravity as they streak over the fence. His pull power is pure astonishment. The ear-splitting sound off his aluminum bat exceeds OSHA safety standards.

“He looks like Barry Bonds,” Nati said. “That’s how good he’s going to be. When he runs into balls, he hits them over the light tower. It’s crazy.

“The ball comes off different. You can close your eyes, hear the sound and know it’s him.”

In a simulated game at Stanford last Wednesday, Sasaki lined a single off the fence and crushed two homers. According to Trackman, the second homer traveled 422 feet, with an exit velocity of 111 mph.

“Hey Rintaro,” Esquer called out. “You’ll need to get that one out of the swimming pool.”

“Swimming pool?” Sasaki replied, then nodded and laughed. He knew what the words meant. He just needed a second to process them.

Here’s another word to add to his growing vocabulary: Trailblazer.

“Ah, pioneer?” Sasaki said in English. “Yes, I know it.”

If Sasaki had been drafted by an NPB team, he would have been under club control for nine years. Although Japanese pro teams often gain a windfall in posting fees by making their players available to MLB before their nine years are up, there are no guarantees. Sasaki might have been pushing 30 by the time he had an opportunity to play in the U.S.

He made it clear: His goal is to play in the major leagues.

“Ohtani and Kikuchi are already overseas,” Sasaki said. “I always thought one day, hopefully I can get there. They were big influences for me. Ohtani said, ‘Follow your instinct. That is what you decided. That is a path you need to keep walking.’”

Sasaki’s path — to become MLB draft-eligible by attending an American university — has almost no precedent. Rikuu Nishida, a speedy infielder from Sendai, was an 11th-round pick of the Chicago White Sox last year after a standout season at the University of Oregon. But Nishida, who played two seasons at a junior college upon arriving in the U.S., was not an NPB draft prospect in Japan.

Although there are no written rules that would prohibit an MLB team from signing a Japanese high school player out of its international signing pool, there’s been an unofficial understanding among teams against the practice. (Until 2020, when it rescinded its rule, NPB enforced a ban of two to three years on Japanese players who opted out of the draft and signed with a foreign league.)

Ohtani came close to setting a groundbreaking precedent as a high school phenom in 2012, when he advised NBP teams against drafting him, saying that he intended to sign with an MLB franchise. The Nippon Ham Fighters took him anyway, then persuaded him to sign by promising to let him develop as a two-way player.

NPB teams had no such hope of signing Sasaki, who ensured that he would be taken off the NPB draft board by attending an American university. Now he will have two seasons to improve his conditioning and address weaknesses in his game before turning pro.

The chance to develop in less of a fishbowl environment was appealing to Sasaki and his father, as well.

“In Japan, people tend to focus more on shortcomings. But in the U.S., they develop individuality,” Hiroshi Sasaki told CNN in March. “I think this is a very good choice for him.”

It is a choice that involves financial risk and delayed gratification. As a first-round pick in NPB, Sasaki likely would have received a signing bonus and incentives worth more than $1 million, plus personal services contracts that could have earned him hundreds of thousands more. At Stanford, of course, he is merely a student-athlete on scholarship. He also cannot participate in NIL opportunities while on U.S. soil because he is an international player on a student visa.

He would earn a multimillion bonus if he is a first-round pick in 2026, but that is far from assured. Because he is limited to first base and his defensive skills are unpolished, his bat must be compelling. And although he faced top high school competition in Japan, advancing to the Best Eight at the famed Koshien tournament last year, he mostly hit against pitchers who threw in the upper 80s.

He is betting on himself. And on Stanford to help him develop his gifts.

“I had the confidence to come to the States,” Sasaki said. “Right now I want to settle in here, take classes and do well. Take one step at a time. And two years from today, we’ll see where I am at. Getting to the major leagues is not everything for my life. Of course I want to get drafted and get to the major leagues. But I want to keep studying and also be a good person.”

Does that make him a pioneer? He shrugged. That’s for others to decide.

“He’s showing a lot of courage to come here spring quarter, practice on a daily basis with a college team and look so comfortable,” Esquer said. “He wants to get an education and maybe become an entrepreneur, but he’s also told us that he wants to leave a mark and blaze a trail for Japanese players to come here and play college baseball. Eighteen-year-old kids don’t normally think that way.

“He grew up with Ohtani. He’s seen the standard of what it takes to be great.”

If Sasaki becomes a top MLB draft prospect two years from now, he’s likely to be regarded as the baseball player who upended an entire system — something that even Ohtani could not accomplish.

Ohtani, asked about his influence on Sasaki’s decision, said he merely offered support and encouragement.

“I didn’t really offer any advice or anything like that,” Ohtani said through Dodgers interpreter Will Ireton. “Making the best decision usually comes from being convicted. I’ve made decisions like that in the past as well. I feel like that’s the decision he made from his conviction.”

Sasaki (right) has known Ohtani since he was young, and has turned to the megastar for advice over the years. (Courtesy of the Sasaki family)

Esquer and his coaches still have trouble believing Sasaki is here.

Stanford was a late entrant when the recruitment process began last year. Sasaki took unofficial visits to Vanderbilt, Duke, UCLA and Cal — he also attended a Giants game at Oracle Park — but did not go to Palo Alto. At the time, there wasn’t a spot for him at Stanford, which allows a strict number of admissions per sport. Then two Cardinal players entered the transfer portal and a few others de-committed.

Suddenly, Stanford had a spot — and plenty of interest.

“We were playing catch-up, to be honest with you,” said Eager, who is the team’s pitching coach as well as recruiting coordinator. “In the Japanese culture, because we weren’t involved in the first go-around, we didn’t know if they would take it as a sign of disrespect. We hoped to explain that this is just how it operates here. We liked him all along. And we had a good official visit in January. But I tell you what, I did not think we were getting him.”

The official visit included meet-and-greets with three Stanford alums who are major leaguers: Chicago Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner, Kansas City Royals pitcher Kris Bubic and San Francisco Giants pitcher Tristan Beck. Hoerner drew on his experience playing with Japanese outfielder Seiya Suzuki in Chicago while encouraging Sasaki to make sure he could continue the routines that are important to him.

“You can do your best to put yourself in someone’s shoes, but it is a totally different experience what he’s going to be doing,” Hoerner said. “The adjustment to college, even for myself, driving 45 minutes from where I grew up, was really different. Doing that with a language barrier, taking classes, and the whole schedule is a lot.

“In pro ball, you’re in charge of your own career at the end of the day. But a lot of times in college, you’re pretty much subject to whatever the program believes in. So I just felt it was really important to stress that whatever it is that makes him tick as a player, he’d be able to continue to do that. Because not all college programs would really be (OK) with that. And I did feel like Stanford, with the staff that they have, are there for whatever the players need.”

Esquer knew what was at stake, even beyond adding a potential impact hitter. If Sasaki chose Stanford, it would enhance the university’s already prestigious international brand. And if Sasaki became the first arrival that breaks a dam, perhaps the pipeline of talent from Japan would lead directly to the Sunken Diamond.

Sasaki’s visit was thorough but not ostentatious. The team hired a taco truck to cater a post-practice party. Several players remarked that they saw Esquer wearing a suit for the first time. Mostly, Esquer hoped to convey that Sasaki would have every resource to develop as a player and person.

“My promise to you is that we’re going to take care of your son,” Esquer told Hiroshi Sasaki. “We’re going to coach him and help him get better, but also we’re going to make sure he’s well looked after.”

Beck laughed when he recalled his recruiting visit more than a decade ago. No taco trucks, no meetings with trustees, no coaches in suits. But he remembered one thing someone told him that might have resonated with an international celebrity like Sasaki.

“One of the adages I heard before I enrolled was, ‘Don’t worry about being bothered, because the most famous people here don’t play sports at all,’” Beck said. “The most interesting people here aren’t even athletes, even with people like Andrew Luck walking around campus.

“He did mention his favorite team was the Giants, which is sweet. I made sure he said that a couple more times so Nico and Kris were sure to hear it.”

Sasaki was projected to be a top pick in the NBP draft after hitting a national record 140 home runs in high school. (Courtesy of Stanford Athletics)

You might assume that Sasaki wants to become the next Ohtani. But there’s another home run hitter that he has spent his life emulating.

“I don’t know how far I can go, but I respect Barry Bonds a lot,” Sasaki said. “(To) one day get to be as close as possible to Barry Bonds — that is my goal.”

Bonds, and not Shohei?

“Ever since I was in elementary school, I was watching Barry Bonds,” Sasaki said. “Ohtani was one of my mentors. Sometimes I communicate with him and get advice. But Barry Bonds was my ultimate goal since I was little. Don’t misunderstand. I respect Shohei and Barry Bonds both.

“When Bonds got in the batter’s box, people expected to see something big or something special. I want to be like that.”

Rintaro Sasaki, my goodness.
Wish we could’ve seen this swing in NPB but I’m confident he’s going to blossom into a superstar. pic.twitter.com/ifkODlbc2g
— Yakyu Cosmopolitan (@yakyucosmo) April 30, 2024

For now, Sasaki just wants to be a good teammate and fit in. He is taking a language skills class with other international students, but his other two courses, including an introductory class in human biology, are in English. He understands more than he can speak, but baseball tends to operate with its own universal language. When Yamada, the trainer, returned to Japan for a week, Sasaki appeared to manage just fine. If Sasaki gets stuck on a word, bullpen catcher Michael Fung, who is minoring in East Asian Studies and spent time last year studying in Stanford’s overseas program in Kyoto, is usually able to help bridge any language gap.

Sasaki declined Esquer’s offer of a full-time interpreter, saying he would chip away at the language barrier faster with the help of his teammates.

“It fired us up to hear that,” said Lavin, who has become one of Sasaki’s more steady companions. “Because it seems he’s really bought into the team’s culture and being around us. He’s a normal teammate here. You can’t tell from talking to him that he’s super famous. He has not brought it up once, how many people know his name.”

Still, Sasaki is likely to draw crowds very soon. The word is just beginning to trickle out that he is on campus. At a recent game at Santa Clara University, two dozen Japanese baseball fans waited outside the ballpark so they could meet Sasaki and take pictures with him. Stanford officials are gearing up for more attention, more media and more fans.

For now, his competition is limited to those spirited intrasquad games. A couple of his teammates already feel comfortable enough to engage in a bit of sarcastic banter. And they’ve learned that Sasaki is already comfortable enough to dish it right back.

“We were at Oregon State and I’m watching him flick home runs the other way,” Lavin said. “So I said to him, ‘Ah, it’s just the wind.’ Then the wind died down and he started hitting pull-side homers over the stands.

“And he looked at me and said, ‘It’s not the wind.’”

The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya and Patrick Mooney contributed to this story.

(Top image: Sean Reilly / The Athletic; Photos: Courtesy of Stanford Athletics)

Culture

Vinicius Jr is Real Madrid's transformative big-stage player – with a twist

Published

1 day ago

May 2, 2024

Press Room

Vinicius Jr is Real Madrid's transformative big-stage player – with a twist

At the end of Tuesday night’s dizzying 2-2 draw at Bayern Munich, Real Madrid’s press officer moved quickly to find Vinicius Junior on the pitch and give him a training top.

With the Brazilian half-naked after exchanging shirts with Bayern substitute Bryan Zaragoza, it was as if the visitors didn’t want him to catch a cold. That’s because Madrid can’t afford anything like a scare with their star player, who had just pulled his team out of the fire with their two goals in this Champions League semi-final’s first leg.

He did it playing as a No 9 and on a night when the 14-time European Cup/Champions League winners were facing Harry Kane, the striker their coach Carlo Ancelotti had asked for in vain last summer.

Madrid’s interest did not go beyond testing the waters for Kane and the England captain ended up joining Bayern from Tottenham Hotspur. Ancelotti’s squad instead welcomed a then 33-year-old Joselu on loan, who had just been relegated with Espanyol. In an injury-hit season that has also left him short of centre-backs as well as strikers, the Italian coach has become an expert in survival.

In the first part of it, he invented a new position for Jude Bellingham, another summer arrival, who scored 17 goals in 21 appearances before the Christmas break. In the second half, he has helped Vinicius Jr reach new levels while gradually centring his position, even converting him into a leader of Madrid’s forward line.

GO DEEPER

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Vinicius Jr’s first goal last night was the work of a pure striker, a clever run to make space in behind, a clinical cool finish beyond the approaching Manuel Neuer. The Brazilian ran to the corner flag in celebration, kissed the Madrid badge on his shirt, danced and spread his arms like Bellingham does after he scores, before walking back onto the pitch.

Vinicius Jr bowing to Kroos after the opening goal (Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty Images)

There, he bowed to Toni Kroos, around whom more than half their team-mates had already gathered. Playing at his former home ground, Kroos’ through ball for the goal was a thing of beauty. Even though he played it down afterwards.

“A lot of credit to Vini, he offered me the pass with his movement. As I know him, he always goes into space. The pass wasn’t that special,” Kroos said.

“We train a lot together and we know each other very well,” said Vinicius Jr, who became only the fourth man in Champions League history to score in three straight semi-final legs.

But Madrid had started the game badly, very badly. And Ancelotti had been very, very angry.

In the 10th minute, he turned and stuck out four fingers at his son and assistant coach Davide, complaining about the number of times their players had lost possession already. Substitutes Eder Militao and Dani Ceballos stood up from the bench to add to the direction and encouragement shouted towards the field of play.

That mood changed suddenly when, about 15 minutes later, Kroos and Vinicius Jr combined with their devastatingly simple move for the opening goal. Kroos received the ball in midfield and immediately spotted what should happen next, pointing the way for his team-mate. Vinicius Jr saw what he meant and executed. It was out of the blue. Bayern were caught out, although their head coach Thomas Tuchel had almost predicted it.

GO DEEPER

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“If you look at their goals or their chances and rewind 10 seconds, you don’t see them coming,” Tuchel has said before the game.

In the second half, Bayern came back strongly. Leroy Sane’s powerful strike caused havoc. On the sidelines, Ancelotti scolded Vinicius Jr and Aurelien Tchouameni. Four minutes later, while Kane prepared to take the penalty that put the home side 2-1 up and international team-mate Bellingham tried to put him off, Vinicius Jr had another quick meeting with the Ancelottis.

And, as he has done so many times before, the Brazilian led the rebellion on the big stage.

Madrid did not give up, they never do. Their fans, who approached the game like it was a final, with 4,000 in the away stand at the Allianz Arena, chanted “Hasta el final, vamos Real!” (“Until the end, let’s go Real!”).

In the 83rd minute, when Vinicius Jr’s smart feet found Rodrygo in the box, there was no doubt who would take the penalty after the latter was fouled. Vinicius Jr had scored from the spot against Barcelona in El Clasico nine days previously and he would take the responsibility again. Lucas Vazquez retrieved the ball and pushed away a couple of Bayern players who were trying to bother his team-mate.

Vinicius Jr set it down carefully and wiped the sweat from his face with his shirt. The noise was almost deafening.

But Madrid’s Brazilian talisman slipped softly through the pressure. He scored again and again went to the corner to celebrate. Objects thrown from the stands landed around him as he crowned the moment by pointing to the No 7 on his back — the same as was worn for so long at Madrid by his idol Cristiano Ronaldo.

In sending that penalty past Neuer, he reached 32 goal contributions (21 goals and 11 assists) for Madrid this season, nudging ahead of Bellingham by one.

🤳 @ViniJr 🤳#UCL pic.twitter.com/RIBxnYbZWg
— Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadrid) April 30, 2024

According to data provider Opta, since the start of the 2021-22 season, he has been directly involved in more goals in the Champions League than any other player (31 in total; 16 goals and 15 assists).

This is Vinicius Jr, a total player who has evolved so much that he could also be the striker Ancelotti wanted last summer.

“I’m very happy to be able to score two goals,” he said from the touchline after the game, having been named player of the match. “Now it’s time for a magical night at home.”

It all summed up the merit of Ancelotti, his staff and Vinicius Jr — having an idea to fill a gap and developing it well to the point where a left-winger can be the best player in a Champions League semi-final away leg while playing up front.

“Now he has learned to move well without the ball, moving at the back of the rivals,” Ancelotti said. “And then he’s very cold in front of goal.”

(Top photo: Daniel Kopatsch/Getty Images)