Utah
Where is Alissa Pili projected to be taken in the WNBA draft?
After a successful two-year stint at the University of Utah that included being named the 2023 Pac-12 Player of the Year, Alissa Pili is poised to be selected in the 2024 WNBA draft on Monday.
The Utes’ star forward is expected to be a first-round selection in a draft class that includes big names such as Caitlin Clark, Cameron Brink, Kamilla Cardoso and Angel Reese.
Taking a look at the most recent WNBA mock drafts, one team to keep a particular eye on in regards to Pili is the Connecticut Sun. In a survey of seven recent mock drafts, Pili is projected to be taken by the Sun in four mock drafts.
Three of those are with the No. 10 overall pick, while another has Pili slipping to Connecticut with the No. 19 selection in the second round.
Pili also received a couple projections to the Dallas Wings with the No. 9 overall selection. The Wings also have the No. 5 pick.
Here’s where Pili is projected to be picked in seven mock drafts.
ESPN: No. 9, Dallas Wings
Michael Voepel wrote: “Dallas appears to have a solid core, so could Pili add a little more scoring punch? She averaged 21.4 PPG this season and shot 40.4% from 3-point range. There are questions about her defense, but she’s far from the only rookie who will face that.”
Sporting News: No. 10, Connecticut Sun
Gilbert McGregor wrote: “Pili is one of the most unique talents in this year’s draft. With her, she brings floor-spacing ability in addition to an array of moves around the basket.
“Connecticut’s main rotation is set but in the margins, it could use the scoring punch Pili would provide. Defensively, the Sun are strong and principled enough to compensate for Pili’s potential shortcomings.”
NBA Draft Room: No. 9, Dallas Wings
From NBA Draft Room: “Can score in the post or from 3pt land. Has size, strength and skill.”
Bleacher Report: No. 11, New York Liberty
CBS Sports: No. 10, Connecticut Sun
Jack Maloney wrote: “The Sun were ninth in the league in 3-point attempts per game last season, and it lost three of the five players who attempted at least two per game during the winter. Connecticut desperately needs some shooting help, and one player who could fill that role is Pili. There are real questions about how she’ll fare in the pros as an undersized forward, but there’s no debate about her shot. She made 40.4% of her attempts from downtown, including 46.7% on open catch-and-shoot looks.”
The Athletic: No. 10, Connecticut Sun
Sabreena Merchant wrote: “Connecticut doesn’t have obvious needs and none that can be addressed at this point in the draft. The Sun can afford to be more forward-thinking and take the most talented player left, someone who figures out how to score from every area on the court. This is a great landing spot for Pili, who will have to learn how to defend, or simply give more effort on that end, to get on the court in Connecticut.”
Yahoo Sports: No. 19, Connecticut Sun
Jackie Powell wrote: “Some have compared Pili to Sun MVP candidate Alyssa Thomas. Pili has proven that she can score at an efficient level during her two seasons at Utah. Will it translate? Offensively it should be because of Pili’s strength and ability to score against much larger players. She scored 37 points on 15-of-23 shooting against Kamilla Cardoso in December. Where the Thomas comparison isn’t sound is when it comes to Pili’s abilities on defense. She’s not a rim protector, doesn’t use her hands to get steals and has trouble staying in front of quicker guards and wings.
“Pili’s success at the next level could depend on how she’s used. Could she come off the bench in spurts against second units and perform well? That’s a consideration around front offices.”
When is the 2024 WNBA draft?
The 2024 WNBA draft will be held on Monday, April 15 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York.
The draft will be televised on ESPN starting at 5:30 p.m. MDT.
Pili is one of 15 players who will attend the draft in person.
2024 WNBA draft first-round order
1. Indiana Fever.
2. Los Angeles Sparks.
3. Chicago Sky (from Phoenix).
4. Los Angeles Sparks (from Seattle).
5. Dallas Wings (from Chicago).
6. Washington Mystics.
7. Minnesota Lynx.
8. Chicago Sky (from Atlanta, via Los Angeles).
9. Dallas Wings.
10. Connecticut Sun.
11. New York Liberty.
12. Atlanta Dream (from Las Vegas, via Los Angeles).
Utah
22-year-old arrested in Utah in connection to Las Vegas double-homicide
LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Officials have identified a 22-year-old man as the suspect in a Las Vegas homicide case that killed two people in a Southern Highlands neighborhood.
Detectives say 22-year-old Ziaire Ham was the suspect in the case. According to officials, Ham was located on Tuesday, March 3, by the Ogden City Police Department and the Utah Highway Patrol.
Ham was taken into custody and booked into the Weber County Jail. Las Vegas authorities said he will be charged with open murder with the use of a deadly weapon and will be extradited back to the valley.
MORE ON FOX5: LVMPD corrections officer arrested on multiple felony charges
The shooting occurred Monday night at the 11000 block of Victoria Medici Street, near Starr Ave and Dean Martin Drive.
According to police, officers were conducting a vehicle stop in the area when they heard gunfire. After searching nearby neighborhoods they found a car with bullet impacts with a woman and a toddler inside suffering from gunshot wounds.
The pair were transported to hospital where they later died. The Clark County Coroner’s Office identified them as Danaijha Robinson, 20, and 1-year-old Nhalani Hiner.
Copyright 2026 KVVU. All rights reserved.
Utah
Utah nonprofit creates events, experiences for disadvantaged children
SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — A simple moment watching a child laugh changed everything for Ivan Gonzalez.
Eight years ago, Gonzalez was working at the Ronald McDonald House when he had an idea to throw a birthday carnival for the kids staying there.
“Let’s do a carnival, birthday carnival for the kids,” he said.
MORE | Pay It Forward
What happened during that event stuck with him.
“There I was watching this kid play whack-a-mole, just having a blast, laughing,” Gonzalez said. “And then I see his mom kind of with happy tears because he’s enjoying himself.”
That moment led to something bigger.
Gonzalez realized the experience shouldn’t stop with just one event or just one group of kids.
“I said, wait, we can do this not just for kids in the hospital,” he said with excitement.
So he started a nonprofit called Best Seat in the House, which creates events and experiences for children who often face difficult circumstances.
“We provide events and experiences for disadvantaged kids,” Gonzalez said.
The organization serves children battling cancer and other medical conditions, refugee children, kids living in poverty, those in foster care and children with special needs.
“These kids grow up too fast,” Gonzalez said.
For Gonzalez, the mission is deeply personal.
“I grew up very poor,” he said.
He remembers the people who stepped in for his family when they needed it most.
“The local church, we weren’t even a part of it,” he described. “My parents couldn’t afford Christmas gifts and I still remember the gifts they gave me. They didn’t even know me.”
Today, he hopes to create that same feeling for other children through his nonprofit.
“Kids live in poverty and they don’t know where the next meal is coming from, let alone going to a play or to a game,” Gonzalez said.
But for Gonzalez, the reward isn’t the events themselves, it’s the joy they create.
“You can give me a billion dollars, all the money in the world,” he says as tears roll down his face. “I won’t trade these opportunitieskids just enjoying life.”
Because of his work giving back, KUTV and Mountain America Credit Union surprised Gonzalez with a Pay it Forward gift to help him continue creating those moments for kids across Utah.
For more information on supporting Best Seat in the House, click here.
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Utah
‘Don’t release him ever. Please.’ Family of slain Utah teen calls for justice at parole hearing
SALT LAKE CITY — Francisco Daniel Aguilar says he’s sorry for shooting and killing his girlfriend, 16-year-old Jacqueline “Jacky” Nunez-Millan, a Piute High School sophomore, in 2023.
But just as he did when he was sentenced, he didn’t have much of an explanation on Tuesday as to why he shot her not once, but twice.
“It just kinda happened. I was mad. And I stepped out (of my truck) and started shooting,” he said. “When I saw her fall, I just kind of panicked, I just went and shot her again.”
But Jacky’s friends and family members say even before she was killed, Aguilar already had a history of violence, and they now want justice to be served.
“You don’t accidentally take a gun, you don’t accidentally grab a knife … you don’t accidentally shoot someone, those are all choices,” a tearful Rosa Nunez, Jacky’s sister, said at Tuesday’s hearing. “Keep him where he needs to be.
“Don’t release him ever. Please.”
On Jan. 7, 2023, Aguilar, who was 17 at the time, got into a fight with his girlfriend, Jacky, shot her twice and left her body near a dirt road outside of Circleville, Piute County. He was convicted as an adult of aggravated murder and sentenced to a term of 25 years to up to life in prison.
Because of Aguilar’s age at the time of the offense, board member Greg Johnson explained Tuesday that the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole is required to hold a hearing much earlier than the 25-year mark, mainly to check on Aguilar and “see how things are going.” Aguilar, now 20, is currently being held in a juvenile secure care facility and will be transferred to the Utah State Prison when he turns 25 or earlier if he has discipline violations and is kicked out of the youth facility.
According to Aguilar’s sentencing guidelines, he will likely remain in custody until at least the year 2051.
During Tuesday’s hearing, Aguilar told the board that he was feeling “stressed out” during his senior year of high school. He said he and Jacky would often have little arguments. But their bigger fight happened when he failed to get her a “promise ring” around Christmastime, he said.
On the night of the killing, the two were arguing about the promise ring and other items, Aguilar recalled. At one point, he grabbed a knife and then a gun because, he said, he wanted to “irritate” and “scare” Jacky. According to evidence presented in the preliminary hearing, Aguilar and his girlfriend had been “trying to make each other angry” when Aguilar took ammunition and a 9mm gun from his father’s room and then drove to the Black Hill area in his truck with Jacky.
Jacky’s friend, McKall Taylor, went looking for her that night and found her. But after Aguilar shot Jacky in the leg, he began shooting at Taylor, who had no choice but to run to her car to get away. Her car was hit multiple times by bullets. Aguilar then shot Jacky a second time as she lay on the ground and Taylor drove away.
On Tuesday, Taylor’s mother, Lori Taylor, read a statement to the board on her daughter’s behalf.
“My innocence and freedom was taken from me,” she said.
McKall Taylor says the “horrifying events of that night will forever play in my head,” and the sounds of Jacky screaming and the gunshots as well as the sight of Jacky falling to the ground, will never go away.
“Francisco is a murderer who has zero remorse,” her letter states.
Likewise, Rosa Nunez told the board that for her and her family, “nothing in our world has felt safe since” that night as they all “continue to relive this horrific moment.”
After shooting Jacky and driving off, Aguilar says he called his father and “told him I was sorry for not being better, for not making good choices, I told him that I loved him. I was just planning on probably shooting myself, too.”
His father told him that although what he did wasn’t right, “he’d rather see me behind bars than in a casket,” and then told his son to “be a man about it. … This is where you have to change.”
Aguilar was arrested after his tires were spiked by police.
“An apology won’t fix what I did. I’ll never be able to fix what I did. But I want to say I’m sorry,” he said Tuesday. “I don’t even know how to fix what I did. I’m hoping I’m on the right track now.”
Johnson noted that Aguilar has done well during his short time being incarcerated. But that doesn’t change the fact “the crime was horrific,” he said.
The full five-member board will now take a vote. The board could decide to schedule another parole hearing for sometime in the future or could order that Aguilar serve his entire life sentence. But even if that were to happen, Johnson says Aguilar could petition every so often for a redetermination hearing.
The board’s decision is expected in several weeks.
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.
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