BASKETBALL
Cooper Flagg announced where he will be taking his first three official college visits in an Instagram post Wednesday afternoon.
Flagg, a Newport native and the country’s top high school basketball prospect in the Class of 2024, revealed on the social media platform that he will be taking official visits to Duke, Kansas and Connecticut. Flagg visited Duke unofficially earlier this month.
Flagg will be a senior at Montverde Academy in Florida after reclassifying from the Class of 2025 earlier this month. According to 247 Sports, the order of the visits is unspecified, but they will take place this fall.
Since leaving Nokomis Regional High after guiding the Warriors to the 2022 Class A title, Flagg has continued to pile up accolades on the national level, including USA Basketball’s Male Athlete of the Year award last year.
BASEBALL
EASTERN LEAGUE: Jimmy Glowenke lined an RBI single to right field with two outs in the top of the ninth inning, lifting the Richmond Flying Squirrels to a 9-8 win over the Portland Sea Dogs at Hadlock Field.
Portland starter Chih-Jung Liu didn’t get out of the second inning, allowing six runs on six hits as Richmond opened a 6-1 lead. The Sea Dogs got single runs in the first and second before adding three in the third, keyed by a two-run triple by Alex Binelas.
Binelas added a solo homer in the fifth to make the score 8-6, and Corey Rosier and Chase Meidroth each hit RBI doubles in the eighth as Portland tied the game.
Blaze Jordan finished with three singles for Portland, while Andy Thomas had three hits for Richmond.
SOCCER
MLS: Lionel Messi had two assists and converted a penalty kick as Inter Miami rallied from a two-goal deficit to beat MLS-leading Cincinnati 5-4 in penalties in a U.S. Open Cup semifinal at Cincinnati.
WOMEN’S WORLD CUP: The players’ union representing the Women’s World Cup winner kissed without her consent by the president of the Spanish soccer federation said that his inappropriate act should not go unpunished.
Jenni Hermoso, who was kissed forcibly by federation head Luis Rubiales during Sunday’s awards ceremony, said in a statement that the FUTPRO players’ union and her agent would “defend my interests and speak on my behalf.”
The union continued the statement by adding: “We are working so that the acts like the ones we witnessed don’t go unpunished, are sanctioned, and that pertinent measures are adopted to protect the soccer players against actions that are unacceptable.”
HOCKEY
NHL: The Arizona Coyotes signed Coach André Tourigny to a three-year contract extension, ensuring he will be at the forefront of the franchise’s rebuilding process.
• Auston Matthews has put pen to paper on a deal that is set to make him the NHL’s highest-paid player.
And the Toronto Maple Leafs – and their fans – can finally exhale.
The star center signed a four-year, $53 million extension that ties him to the team that selected him first overall at the 2016 NHL draft through the 2027-28 season.
The deal carries an average annual value of $13.25 million, which will make Matthews the league’s highest-paid player beginning in 2024-25, surpassing Colorado star Nathan MacKinnon’s $12.6 AAV.
• The New York Rangers re-signed Alexis Lafrenière, inking the young winger to a two-year contract worth $4.65 million.
Lafrenière will count just over $2.3 million against the salary cap each of the next two seasons.
COLLEGES
FOOTBALL: Branson Robinson, who showed his potential to emerge as a lead running back in 2023 for No. 1 Georgia by rushing for two touchdowns in the Bulldogs’ 2022 national championship game win over TCU, will miss this season after suffering a ruptured patellar tendon.
Robinson rushed for 330 yards and three touchdowns while playing in 12 games last season as Georgia won its second straight national championship.
• Iowa’s Noah Shannon, who has acknowledged his involvement in sports wagering, has been suspended for the season, Coach Kirk Ferentz announced.
Ferentz told reporters in Iowa City the school would appeal the NCAA’s decision.
Shannon has not been charged in the state’s criminal investigation of illegal sports wagering by athletes at Iowa and Iowa State. The senior from Aurora, Illinois, has started 28 games and came out of spring listed No. 1 at left defensive tackle.
Ferentz said Shannon made at least one wager on an event involving a Hawkeyes team in another sport, which is an NCAA violation punishable by a permanent loss of eligibility.
Shannon said on Aug. 11 he had cooperated with the NCAA and provided information.
TENNIS
U.S. OPEN: John Isner will retire from professional tennis after playing at the U.S. Open, he announced, bringing an end to a career that included one Grand Slam semifinal appearance and a victory in the longest match in the sport’s history.
TRACK & FIELD
WORLDS: Britain’s Josh Kerr pulled off the biggest upset at the meet in Hungary, Budapest, outrunning heavily favored Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway to the line for a win in the 1,500 meters.
Kerr finished in 3 minutes, 29.28 seconds to join Jake Wightman as the second British runner in two years to upset Ingebrigtsen at worlds.
A few minutes later, another Norwegian avoided the same fate. Olympic champion and world-record holder Karsten Warholm ran away from a stacked 400-meter hurdle field to climb back on top in that race after injuries derailed him last year.
Warholm crossed in 46.89 seconds, a full three paces and .45 seconds ahead of surprise silver medalist Kyron McMaster of the British Virgin Islands. American Rai Benjamin finished third and defending champion Alison dos Santos of Brazil clipped the eighth and 10th hurdles and finished fifth.
In the women’s pole vault, Katie Moon of the U.S. and Nina Kennedy of Australia tied for the gold medal.
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