Sports
Caitlin Clark mirrors ‘Pistol’ Pete Maravich in more ways than one
Jaeson Maravich was visiting his mom Jackie in Covington, Louisiana, near New Orleans during the Final Four last year.
“Jaeson,” she called to him from the living room. “You need to see this girl play.”
Jackie apparently has an eye for basketball. She met Pistol Pete Maravich at LSU in the late 1960s and married him in 1976 when he was an NBA star – just 12 years before he died of an undetected heart defect while playing pick-up basketball at age 40.
What Jaeson, who was 9 when his dad died, saw on television last spring was shocking – some sort of a long lost relative in more ways than one.
Caitlin Clark Immediately Impressed Pete Maravich’s Son Jaeson
Caitlin Clark #22 of the Iowa Hawkeyes warms up before the game against the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Pinnacle Bank Arena on February 11, 2024 in Lincoln, Nebraska. (Steven Branscombe/Getty Images)
“I was really impressed right off. She’s the real deal,” Maravich told OutKick last week. “And she looks like she could be a cousin or something. There is definitely a resemblance to my dad – the lanky build and real dark eyes. She shoots from 30 or 35 feet like he did, and she passes the ball like a magician. Not as flashy, but a real good ball handler, too. And no one could guard her.”
Jackie and Jaeson Maravich saw on ESPN that Friday night, March 31, was what much of the nation saw. An average of 5.5 million watched, which was the most viewers for a college basketball game on ESPN – men or women – since the Duke-North Carolina men’s game in 2008.
What the Maraviches saw was skinny, lanky, point guard Caitlin Clark of No. 2 Iowa score 41 points with eight assists and six rebounds to upset No. 1 and 36-0 South Carolina, 77-73, in a national semifinal at the Final Four in Dallas. Clark became the first player in women’s NCAA Tournament history to score 40 points or more in back-to-back games and just the second player to score 40 or more in a Final Four game.
Maravich averaged an NCAA record 44.2 points a game in his three-year college career from 1967-70 when freshmen were not eligible. And there was no 3-point shot.
“I don’t keep up with women’s basketball, so I was like, ‘Who is this?’ I mean, she was hitting from 30 feet,” Jaeson Maravich said. “She can stop on a dime from 25 or 30 feet. She’s very unpredictable. She has great composure and confidence and really is an all-around player like dad.”
Maravich’s career shooting percentage was .438. Clark’s is .465.
And Clark, a native of Des Moines, Iowa, who is not related to the Maravich family, is just 51 points away from breaking Maravich’s NCAA career scoring record of 3,667 points. The senior point guard scored 24 with 15 rebounds and 10 assists in a 101-85 win over Illinois Sunday. She is at 3,617 points now in her four-year college career.
No. 4 Iowa (24-4, 13-3 Big Ten) plays at Minnesota (15-12, 5-11 Big Ten) on Wednesday (9 p.m., Peacock) before hosting No. 2 Ohio State (23-3, 14-1 Big Ten) on Sunday (1 p.m., FOX). She averages 32 points a game this season and hit a career-high 49 on Feb. 15 against Michigan when she broke the NCAA women’s career scoring record.
Maravich played in only 83 games in his college career. Clark has played in 128 with two regular season games to go, potentially three in the Big Ten Tournament and six in the NCAA Tournament. Clark could stay at Iowa for a fifth season in 2024-25 because of the extra-year rule from COVID in 2020 when she was a freshman.
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Caitlin Clark Leads Nation In Scoring, Assists, 3-Pointers
Maravich also holds the NCAA record for most career games of 50 points or more with 28. Clark leads the nation in scoring (32.4 points a game), in assists (8.5 a game) and in 3-pointers (5.3 a game).
Since Maravich shot so often from beyond the 3-point line without knowing it, it has been estimated that he would have scored more than 4,500 points in his career. Throw in the 771 he scored as a freshman in 1966-67, and he would have 5,271 points. And that’s excluding however many 3-pointers he would have had his freshman year.
“It’s two different records,” Maravich said. “But I’m happy for her. She’s a great player and deserves whatever she gets. She is a good person, and it’s a great thing for the younger generation. It’s cool how they have similar games.”
People often do not realize that Maravich was a big guard at 6-foot-5 who averaged 6.5 rebounds and 5.1 assists a game at LSU. Clark, a taller guard in the women’s game as well at 6-0, has averaged 7.1 rebounds and 8.1 assists a game in her career.
Pete Maravich and Caitlin Clark. (Getty Images)
And they have similar angular, thin faces.
“It’s funny how they look alike,” Maravich said.
While Maravich was known for his floppy hair and socks, Clark has been called “Ponytail Pete.”
“I saw somebody called me ‘Ponytail Pete.’ I thought that was kind of funny,” Clark said at the Final Four last year. “I think just a tremendous compliment. I am familiar with his game. I’ve seen a lot of his highlights. I take a lot of pride in being able to do a lot of different things for my team. I think the passing can get overlooked at times.”
Ironically, it was LSU that ended Clark’s and Iowa’s season last year in the national championship game – 102-85.
Pete Maravich Made The ‘Final Four’ In 1970
Maravich and LSU also made the Final Four in 1970. The prestigious National Invitation Tournament Final Four at the time, that is, at Madison Square Garden in New York with Army, St. John’s and eventual champion Marquette, which beat LSU in the semi and St. John’s for the title.
Much like Maravich did throughout the Southeastern Conference, Clark is selling out road arenas as often as the Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City.
Both are iconic Americana. During particularly spectacular games, road fans would cheer for Maravich. The same thing has happened for Clark this season throughout the Big Ten.
Maravich never won a national championship or an NBA title. But he has been lauded for decades as one of the greatest players in history – if not the greatest. Clark may not win a national title, either, but her legacy already seems secure by many.
“He’d make up shots in the air,” Los Angeles Lakers great Magic Johnson said of Maravich. “The no-look passes, dribble the ball, then pat it with one hand and pass. That’s where I got that from. He was the greatest. He changed the game. He was before his time. He did what I did long before I did.”
Caitlin Clark Is A ‘Cultural Phenomenon’ As Was Pete Maravich
Caitlin Clark #22 of the Iowa Hawkeyes looks on against the Northwestern Wildcats during the second half at Welsh-Ryan Arena on January 31, 2024 in Evanston, Illinois. (Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
Former Duke star and ESPN analyst Jay Bilas put Clark on Maravich’s level.
“She’s a cultural phenomenon unlike anything we’ve ever seen in basketball in my view,” he said on a recent ESPN college basketball GameDay. “And it goes beyond the scoring record. She’s not elevated the women’s game. She’s elevated the game. In that regard, we will not see her like again, in my judgment.”
Maravich is believed to have pushed young boys to basketball courts around the country in the 1960s, ‘70s and ’80s like no other player.
“Can you imagine the young girls who are looking at Clark right now and dreaming in a way that they’ve never dreamed before about the game?,” Bilas said.
A popular Clark comparison is to Golden State’s Steph Curry.
“I don’t compare her to Steph Curry,” ESPN GameDay’s Seth Greenberg said. “I compare her to Pistol Pete Maravich. Her passing, her basketball IQ. Like Maravich, she makes it easier for everyone else on the floor. Like Pete, she sees plays before they happen.”
Clark has already seen herself breaking Maravich’s record.
Caitlin Clark Dreams Big
“Before every game, I try to take time and just visualize what I want to happen in the game,” she said recently on ESPN. “I’m somebody who has really big dreams and aspirations.”
So too did Maravich.
“Love never fails. Character never quits,” he said. “And with patience and persistence, dreams do come true.”
But they are two different records.
“She’s a fantastic player – maybe the best women’s player ever,” said Bob Remy, who was the official scorekeeper for every New Orleans Jazz home game Maravich played in from 1974-79. “She’s a better passer than shooter, which is how Pete was. He was a better scorer than he was a shooter, too. He was a showman. She puts on a show. And I hope she gets it. The only way I could be upset is if they consider that breaking Pete’s record. Different times. Different game. No 3-pointer when he played.”
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On Friday, Argentina looked to continue its quest for back-to-back World Cup titles, and to do it, they had to get through one of the darlings of this year’s tournament, Cape Verde.
The small island nation off the coast of West Africa came into the match as the No. 64-ranked team in the world, and they managed to hold Argentina — the No. 2 team behind France at the moment — scoreless for almost thirty minutes.
But in the 29th minute, Lionel Messi scored to give Argentina the lead.
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That was the 20th World Cup goal of his career, and it also made him the first player to score seven or more goals in multiple World Cups, having done it in Qatar as well.
It was also Messi’s eighth-straight World Cup match with a goal.
Argentina’s Lionel Messi scored in his eight-straight World Cup match and potted the 20th World Cup goal of his career. (Photo by Pablo Morano/BSR Agency/Getty Images))
Well, typically when Argentina takes the lead, they don’t cough it up, but early in the second half, Cape Verde’s Deroy Duarte pulled off a stunner and tied the game at 1-1.
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While there was some late pressure from Argentina, that included an always-dangerous Messi free kick from just outside the box that Cape Verde managed to stop.
And with that, it was off to extra time.
Cape Verde celebrates after scoring one of their two tying goals against Argentina. (Photo by Pablo Morano/BSR Agency/Getty Images)
However, it only took moments for Cape Verde to find themselves once again battling from behind.
Lisandro Martinez found the twine in the 92nd minute to give Argentina the lead.
It looked like that would be all she wrote… but Cape Verde had other plans.
They stuck with the defending World Cup champs, and in the 103rd minute, Sidny Lopes Cabral scored an unbelievable goal to tie the game again.
Coming into this game, Argentina had given up just two goals in their ten-match World Cup winning streak.
Cape Verde did that in one match.
Argentina’s Cristian Romero gets his head on what proved ot be the game-winning goal. (Sam Navarro-Imagn Images)
But in the 111th minute, Messi took an Argentina corner kick and put it in the perfect spot for Cristian Romero to head it to the back post and into the back of the net.
This was eventually updated to an own-goal, as it went off the Cape Verde defender’s arm, but it counts the same on the scoreboard.
Despite a late flurry of chances, Argentina held on to avoid what would have been potentially the biggest upset in World Cup history.
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What a match, and what a run Cape Verde had in the tournament.
Argentina will now have to recompose and get ready for a tough Round of 16 match against Egypt, which will take place on Tuesday in Atlanta.
Like a good striker, Folarin Balogun never loses sight of the goal. And the goal for the U.S. team in this summer’s World Cup hasn’t been just to win, which they’ve done, but to inspire.
And that’s how Balogun found himself on the field, shaking hands with Brazilian referee Raphael Claus, about 45 minutes after Claus gave him a controversial red card in Wednesday’s win over Bosnia-Herzegovina, a red card that will keep him out of Monday’s round-of-16 game with Belgium.
“Little kids are watching, and we have to show them the correct way to handle things, even when you think it’s unjust,” Balogun said Friday.
“It’s not an excuse to be disrespectful, to not do the right thing. I’m aware that the World Cup might be the first time a lot of American viewers are tuning in. So it’s important, whether things happen to you good or bad, just to continue to be yourself.”
That doesn’t mean Balogun didn’t think the red card was unjust. He does. And he definitely thinks something bad happened to him and his team since Balogun, the Americans’ leading scorer with three goals in as many games, will have to sit out the team’s most important game in a generation.
It’s just means that Balogun, who celebrated his 25th birthday Friday, is also mature enough to understand a game — even a World Cup elimination game — is just a game.
“It’s been a roller coaster,” he said before the team’s training session at the University of Washington. “There’s been lots of different emotions. I’ve been upset, I’ve been happy. But for me, it was just important to stay calm. I never want to react out of anger and out of emotion.”
Balogun, who had given his team a 1-0 lead in the waning seconds of the first half, collided with Tarik Muharemovic 16 minutes into the second half, and when the Bosnian defender planted his right leg below Balogun’s right foot, the American inadvertently stomped on his right ankle, twisting it awkwardly.
U.S. forward Folarin Balogun steps on Bosnia-Herzegovina defender Tarik Muharemovic’s foot and received a red card.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
Both players went down and Claus did not signal a foul or pull card. But after the video assistant referee urged him to watch a replay, Claus walked away from the monitor and flashed the red card. That left the U.S. to finish Wednesday’s game with just 10 men and disqualified Balogun for Monday’s game. U.S. Soccer said Friday FIFA’s disciplinary committee did not add any games to Balogun’s suspension.
“There’s the scenarios that you simply can’t avoid,” he said, “and it has to be taken into context when it’s being reviewed. I felt it wasn’t on this occasion. There’s nowhere else to put your leg. It’s going to be unavoidable.
“I think a yellow card would have been fair. [But] it’s something that’s happened, so we have to move forward, and I have to accept it. The most important thing is just to focus on the bigger picture, which is Belgium.”
Replacing Balogun won’t be easy since he’s emerged as one of the team’s most effective and creative players, either scoring of setting up the go-ahead goal in all three of the U.S. wins.
“We’ve got guys that can fill in and have to be ready for the opportunity to step up,” midfielder Tyler Adams said. “When you miss a player like Balo, obviously things change a little bit. But we’ve been flexible. Guys have shown that they’re ready to play.”
The most likely replacements are Ricardo Pepi and Haji Wright. Pepi, who scored 16 goals for PSV in the Dutch Eredivisie this season, played 90 minutes in place of Balogun in the U.S. loss to Turkey in the final group-stage match. Wright, who had 17 goals for Coventry City in the English Championship, played in all four U.S. games in the 2022 World Cup, scoring once, but he has made just one appearance in this summer’s tournament.
“Balo is an important part of our team, and it’s a disappointing way for him to miss the next game,” said Wright, who grew up in Culver City and spent three years in the Galaxy academy. “But, I’ll always be ready and prepared for whatever comes.”
A victory over Belgium would send the U.S. to the quarterfinals of a World Cup for just the second time. It would also give it four wins in the tournament, double the number of victories in any previous World Cup and marking the first time the Americans have won twice in the knockout stages in the same tournament.
U.S. forward Ricardo Pepi pursues the ball during a World Cup match against Bosnia-Herzegovina at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara , Calif., on Wednesday.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
It’s a moment, Adams acknowledged Friday, many players have waited for their whole lives.
“You need to embrace the moment, that’s for sure,” he said. “To have the opportunity to play in a round-of-16 game — which, obviously, last World Cup we did, but it was the first knockout game, not the second — it’s exciting. It was nice to get a little bit of a taste of what it feels like to play with something a little bit more on the line in the last game. I think that’s good preparation.
“Advancing and taking this thing as far as we can is the most important thing. We have a good opportunity here to do so.”
Sports
Knicks champion says he hopes ‘truth comes out’ after leaving team for Eastern Conference rival
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The New York Knicks’ first championship team in 53 years is now starting to look a little bit different.
They were able to hang on to Jose Alvarado, but the first domino to fall was defensive big man Mitchell Robinson, who signed a three-year deal with the Boston Celtics.
Several of Robinson’s now-former teammates, including Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and OG Anunoby, commented on his farewell post on Instagram, but Robinson’s response to Anunoby was rather telling.
Mitchell Robinson is seen outside City Hall at the New York Knicks ticker-tape parade on June 18, 2026 in New York City. (XNY/Star Max/GC Images)
Anunoby commented with a sad emoji, and Robinson said he “tried” to get back with the Knicks, hinting the feeling was not mutual.
“I tried brother I didn’t want this to happen hopefully the truth comes out at some point. I’m gonna miss you big dawg! Keep being great,” Robinson replied.
Team owner James Dolan said almost immediately after the Knicks won the title that he had no interest in going into the NBA’s second apron of payroll, calling it “suicidal.”
Mitchell Robinson of the New York Knicks celebrates after winning the NBA Finals against the San Antonio Spurs during Game 5 of the 2026 NBA Finals on June 13, 2026 at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Texas. (Jesse D. Garrabrant /NBAE via Getty Images)
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That alone was enough to tell fans that a roster reconstruction was en route, especially with Brunson eventually set to make up for the massive pay cut he took to help the Knicks win it all.
Robinson grabbed the final offensive rebound off a missed free throw that all but clinched the Knicks’ title against the San Antonio Spurs last month.
Robinson saw both the good and the bad with the Knicks as a second-round draft pick in 2018; in his first season, they were 17-65.
Mitchell Robinson of the New York Knicks talks to the media after the game against the San Antonio Spurs during Game 5 of the 2026 NBA Finals on June 13, 2026 at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Texas. (Jacob Gonzalez/NBAE via Getty Images)
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But now, he will head to an apparent re-tooling Celtics team as a champion.
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