Sports
Plaschke: Another maddening loss dims UCLA’s March hopes
It was a sequence that symbolized a season.
One moment Pauley Pavilion was rocking and UCLA was rolling, players screaming, fans singing.
“You gotta fight…for your right…to party!”
The next moment, silence.
For one glorious instant Sunday afternoon, the resurgent Bruins had conquered another demon, Dylan Andrews swishing a go-ahead jump shot with six seconds remaining, the bullies from Utah collapsing at his feet.
The next instant, devastation.
Mick Cronin blew it. The UCLA defensive effort blew it. The entire season suddenly became one prolonged slo-motion mistake.
In the final tortuous seconds, Utah’s Deivon Smith dribbled the ball from midcourt and split UCLA’s Will McClendon and Lazar Stefanovic on his way to the basket, where he shot a wild layup over the reach of Adem Bona.
The shot bounced off the top of the backboard and into the hands of Utah’s Branden Carlson, who gently dropped it through the basket at the buzzer.
Utah 70, UCLA 69.
“It feels horrible,” said a forlorn Stefanovic afterward. “I don’t know exactly how to explain it.”
So he repeated himself.
“It feels horrible,” he said.
Such a small margin, such a giant blow.
The Bruins’ hope for revenge after losing by 46 to Utah earlier this year? Gone.
The Bruins’ hope that they could continue a roll during which they’ve won eight of nine games? Gone.
The Bruins’ margin for error in their painstaking attempt to crash next month’s NCAA basketball tournament? Gone.
UCLA, 14-12, must sweep their remaining five games or win the Pac-12 tournament, with both feats seeming all but impossible after Saturday’s debacle.
“We know the position we’re in–win every game that’s left…so it does hurt,” said Stefanovic. “We’ve got to learn from it, get better, understand why we lost and get going from there and try to win the next one.”
Even Cronin can learn from this one, which illustrated how far these Bruins have fallen. He’s one of the country’s best late-season coaches — his four previous UCLA teams each finished strong — yet on Sunday he made a crucial clutch-time error.
After Andrews gave the Bruins the lead, seemingly forcing the Utes to hustle downcourt with no timeouts, Cronin called a timeout. He did what? Yes, he called a timeout.
This unnecessary pause gave Utah a chance to diagram a play…which it did in spectacular fashion.
“I’m sure I’m gonna go home and be mad that I called time out,” Cronin acknowledged afterward. “But I wanted to set my defense so I could slow (Smith) down, but we failed. But that’s why I did it.”
McClendon said they knew what Cronin was trying to tell them on the bench during that timeout. But they just couldn’t pull it off.
UCLA forward Adem Bona shoots between Utah center Keba Keita (13) and guard Gabe Madsen (55) during the first half Sunday.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
“We should have done a better job of staying in front of (Smith)…things are going so fast…you don’t want to get a foul…we should have just stayed in front of him,” he said, later adding, “When you have a scouting report like that and the coaches do a great job of letting us know, preparing us. ..we’ve got to meet them halfway…we didn’t do that to the best of our ability.”
It’s been like that all season. These Bruins are just too young, too inexperienced, too difficult to coach. Some of that blame falls on Cronin, some of it on the players, and all of it was on display Sunday, when, once again, UCLA basketball didn’t look anything like UCLA basketball.
Cronin was asked what his Bruin kids could learn from this, and he sighed.
“We’ve learned enough,” he said. “We’ve had enough losses.”
Even when they tried to fight, they fought wrong, as leading scorer Sebastian Mack was thrown out of the game midway through the first half after nailing Carlson with a forearm shiver.
When asked about the effect of Mack’s loss, Cronin wouldn’t bite.
“Excuses are for losers,” he said. “I mean, it was still five-on-five…this is not hockey, OK? They weren’t in the penalty. We got to sub somebody in. We didn’t get the job done and that’s on me.”
Throughout the postgame news conference, Cronin ripped himself as much as his players. Granted, he said his team did some “dumb” stuff and he criticized them for, “egregiously unintelligent fouls,” but his usual anger was mostly muted.
“Look, we’re no juggernaut, the guys are competing, I’m proud of that,” he said. “But we’re about winning at UCLA so we got to play a lot smarter.”
A month ago, I ripped Cronin after the Bruins had lost to conference-worst Cal in a game that brought out the worst in the coach. Cronin threw his jacket on the floor during a sideline tirade, then afterward refused to meet with the media. A few days earlier he had publicly and brutally trashed his team. I wrote that it all added up to a meltdown.
“Mick Cronin is slowly dissolving into a powder blue puddle” I wrote.
Shortly after that Cal loss, his team began its hot streak. After Sunday’s loss, it’s apparent that the meltdown has been mitigated.
Cronin looks pale and disconsolate, but he showed up for the postgame rehash and answered every question and accepted full responsibility.
So maybe the coach is evolving…even if his team isn’t quite there yet.
“Look, if you ain’t matured by now…it is what it is,” he said.
So goes the basis for the theme of the 2023-24 UCLA men’s basketball season.
It is what it wasn’t.
Sports
Ex-NFL star implores Russell Wilson to hang it up: ‘Do your TV thing’
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Russell Wilson has had his share of ups and downs in his NFL career.
He helped the Seattle Seahawks to a Super Bowl championship in 2013 and was named to the Pro Bowl four times. But the last few years of his career arguably did some damage to his legacy as he’s spent the last three seasons with three different teams.
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New York Giants quarterback Russell Wilson watches from the sidelines during the second quarter against the Philadelphia Eagles at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., on Oct. 9, 2025. (Brad Penner/Imagn Images)
Wilson is still on the free-agent market as he looks to latch on to a new team for 2026. However, former NFL star Aqib Talib implored Wilson to hang up the cleats.
“Do your TV thing, Russ. It’s over with, man. Once you’ve got to decide, do I even want to play?” Talib said on “The Arena: Gridiron.” “I think you don’t really want to play. I hate when guys get to the later part of their career and then they start doing the bounce-around thing and they’re not going to win. There was no chip in New York. That’s just going to be another stop on your resume.”
Wilson reportedly garnered some interest from NFL teams.
New York Giants quarterback Russell Wilson stands on the field before a game against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, PA on Oct. 26, 2025. (Bill Streicher/Imagn Images)
He told the New York Post that the New York Jets were one of them.
Wilson also was reportedly a candidate to take Matt Ryan’s spot on CBS’ “The NFL Today” after Ryan left to take a front office job with the Atlanta Falcons.
Wilson has 46,966 passing yards and 353 passing touchdowns in 205 career games, but the 2025 season with the New York Giants was one to forget.
Wilson started three games and made some bizarre decisions in a loss against the Chiefs. Jaxson Dart was named the starting quarterback. As he came in to take a few snaps while Dart was being checked for a concussion, Wilson was booed.
New York Giants quarterback Russell Wilson watches from the sidelines during the second half against the Denver Broncos at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver, Colo., on Oct. 19, 2025. (Ron Chenoy/Imagn Images)
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Should he end up signing with another team, Wilson will be entering his age-38 season.
Sports
Artists, community come together to welcome World Cup to Inglewood with murals and more
A lot has changed since Jacori Perry attended Morningside High School.
Perry is now a renowned artist who goes by the names Mr. Ace and AiseBorn.
The school is now known as Inglewood High School United.
And the lecture hall on that campus now features a large, ornate mural of a soccer ball being grasped by the hands of two people — freshly painted by the 2004 Morningside graduate as the city of Inglewood prepares to host eight World Cup games at SoFi Stadium starting next month.
Local artist Mr. Ace works on his mural at Inglewood High School United on May 11. The artists, whose real name is Jacori Perry, attended the school when it was known as Morningside High more than two decades ago.
(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)
“If you told me that I would be back here painting one of the walls on this campus when I was in high school, I don’t think that I necessarily would have foreseen it,” Mr. Ace said as he was putting the finishing touches on his mural last week. “So I’m a little in amazement about just the way life works in that sense.”
He was one of several Los Angeles-based artists to participate in a Road to World Cup Community Day last month at Inglewood High United. Many of the artists — including Juan Pablo Reyes (“JP murals”), Michelle Ruby Guerrero (“Mr. B Baby”) and Angel Acordagoitia — sketched designs on portable panels (12-feet by 8-feet) and picnic tables for community members to paint.
The picnic tables will remain at the high school in front of Mr. Ace’s mural. The mobile murals will be placed throughout LAX to welcome visitors arriving for the World Cup.
Kathryn Schloessman, CEO of the Los Angeles World Cup 2026 Host Committee, said in a news release that the event was “just one example of how the energy of the World Cup can be felt in neighborhoods across our region.”
“Students, artists, and volunteers came together to create a work of art that will live on well beyond the end of the tournament,” Schloessman said. “It’s a reflection of the creativity, diversity, and community pride that makes our region so special as we prepare to host the world for FIFA World Cup 2026.”
Community members were encouraged to take part in the painting process, no matter their skill level.
“We made it easy enough for people that have zero experience to a proficient level of experience, for them to all be involved,” said Reyes, who designed and helped paint two mural panels and three tables. “We did the sketch, and then I tried to dab a little bit of color — whatever color is supposed to be there, I dabbed a little bit of color right there, so they would have a guide. …
Students and community members help paint a mural panel during a Road to World Cup Community Day event May 2 at Inglewood High School.
(Dawn M. Burkes / Los Angeles Times)
“I was right there, kind of supervising, making sure that everything went as planned. And if anybody has questions, they’re more than welcome to let me know about them. But, yeah, it’s pretty easy for them to kind of be involved and feel that sense of ownership and have a sense of pride that, ‘Yeah, I was part of that mural-creation process.’ It’s a rich experience for them.”
Acordagoitia sketched several table-top designs for the public to paint at the event.
“They did great,” he said of the community members. “They helped a lot. They were asking questions. They got all the other colors correct. So, yeah, they were excited. A lot of kids were excited to see the live painting, because now kids are used to being on their phones. So that was a great experience for them.”
Acordagoitia also opted to paint a mural panel on his own because “it was a little more technical,” involving portraits of his 8-year-old son, a nephew and a friend.
“I wanted to focus more on the youth because that’s really our future,” he said. “So that’s, that’s the main thing about the mural, just about the kids, soccer, culture, community. It’s exciting for me, because I grew up playing soccer and to include soccer with art, it’s just a dream come true.”
Guerrero said “the community was a big help in filling in all the background colors that I need in order to build the detail and layers” on the two mural panels she designed.
“My whole style is based on culture. And I think that there’s a connection there with the World Cup and how I feel like it brings together all the culture and just, like, celebration,” Guerrero said. “It kind of goes hand in hand with the type of work I do, because my stuff is really festive, celebrating culture. And just as an L.A.-based artist, I think the collaboration made sense.”
The four artists also took part in another Road to World Cup Community Day in downtown L.A. at Gloria Molina Grand Park on March 14. At that event, the artists sketched designs on large sculptures shaped like soccer balls and an oversized picnic table, also for community members to paint.
While Mr. Ace opted to paint his permanent mural at Inglewood High School United on his own, he was sure to include the community theme into his work.
“The idea was really centered around just creating something that was community-based — something that represented the World Cup but also represented some sense of community,” he said. “And so what I did was try to create something that was symbolic, very direct in terms of its relationship to soccer and figuring out through that how to create something simple that [brings] into that a sense of community. And that’s how I landed on the two hands holding the soccer ball.”
Local artist Mr. Ace works on his World Cup-themed mural at Inglewood High School United on May 11.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
Back when he was a student on that campus, Mr. Ace said he was always involved in art and knew he wanted a career as an artist. He struggled to come up with the right words to describe how it felt being back there creating a work of art to be shared with the students, all of the community and everyone who happens to see it on the way to a World Cup match.
“I guess there’s no words to really describe it,” he said. “I think if any artist gets the opportunity to paint at their own high school — especially if they’ve been doing large-scale works around the city, the country or the world — I think that is a little touching. When it’s attached to something like the World Cup … you know, a large part of my childhood was spent in Inglewood, so coming from my circumstances and life, I think it’s even more intriguing.”
Sports
Indy 500: Counting Down The 10 Best Finishes In Race History
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The best Indianapolis 500 finish could be subjective, depending on which driver a fan was rooting for to win.
It certainly is in the eye of the beholder.
So take this list for what it’s worth. One view of the 10 best finishes in Indianapolis 500 history. Of course, it skews to more recent decades when the runs have come a little faster and the finishes have had a tendency to be a little closer.
We’ll add one each day to this list of fantastic finishes ahead of the 110th running of the Indy 500 on May 24 (12:30 p.m. ET on FOX).
10. Ericsson outduels O’Ward (2022)
After a red flag, Marcus Ericsson held off Pato O’Ward in a two-lap shootout. The shootout didn’t last two laps, though, as there was a crash on the final lap behind them. Ericsson had a comfortable lead when the red flag came out for a crash with four laps to go, a situation where in past Indianapolis 500 races, they likely would have ended the race under caution with Ericsson as the winner.
9. Foyt survives chaos (1967)
How does a driver who wins by two laps end up on this list? It’s because the win nearly didn’t happen on the last lap. A big crash with cars and debris littering the frontstretch just ahead of Foyt as he came to the checkered flag forced him to navigate through the wreckage for the win.
8. Sato can’t catch Franchitti (2012)
This was one of those finishes where the leader holds on for the win, but boy did the leader have to hold on. Takuma Sato tried to pass Dario Franchitti early on the final lap but to no avail and Franchitti sped off for the victory. This was one of those Indy 500s that made you hold your breath all the way to the checkered flag.
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