On Tuesday night, three players from Michigan’s national championship squad were selected in the first dozen picks. Morez Johnson, Jr. went with the ninth selection to Dallas. Fellow forward Yaxel Lendeborg was the 11th pick, taken by Golden State and center Aday Mara was the #12 choice, going to Oklahoma City.

After transferring from Illinois, Johnson quickly became a key piece of Michigan’s national championship team, starting all 40 games and averaging 13.1 points and a team-best 7.3 rebounds.  Lendeborg was the Big Ten Player of the Year last season, averaging a team-high 15.1 points to go along with 6.8 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game.  Mara transferred to Michigan from UCLA, becoming the first Spaniard to win an NCAA national championship. In his lone season with the Wolverines, he averaged 12.1 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists while playing in all 40 contests.

It’s the first time Michigan has had three first-round picks since the 1990 NBA Draft,

Wednesday night, two players from Big Ten champion Purdue heard their names called. All-time NCAA assists leader Braden Smith gets his shot with the Indiana Pacers, while Trey Kaufman-Renn was one of the final picks of the draft, going 59th to Minnesota.

Smith is the all-time NCAA assists leader, but his 6-foot size made him a question mark for many teams. The Chicago Bulls drafted Smith with the 38th pick, but immediately dealt him to the Pacers for Kam Jones, future picks and cash.

Kaufman-Renn was a three-year starter at Purdue, and improved his stock for the draft with what he showed at NBA pre-draft workouts.

Both Smith and Kaufman-Renn were on the Indiana All-Star team when South Bend Adams’ boss Chad Johnston was head coach.

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4-star recruits Julius Jones, Jr. and Andre Jones of Fort Lauderdale, Florida both committed to the Irish football program Monday, making their announcement on ESPN’s “Pat McAfee Show”.

“It’s just the mystique of Notre Dame — there’s only one in the world,” Julius Jones Jr. told McAfee. “When I was up there, I felt it, and it felt different from what they can do for me now to when I’m done with football.”

A three-time state champion at Florida’s St. Thomas Aquinas High School, Julius Jones, Jr. caught 58 passes for 876 yards and 14 touchdowns as a junior last fall.

Andre Jones is a 5-11, 175-pound defensive back and Notre Dame’s second commit in the 2028 cycle. He also had offers from Indiana, Texas A&M and Penn State.

Julius Jones, Sr.  ran for 3,018 yards across four seasons with the Irish, including a 1,268-yard campaign in 2003, and remains the sixth-leading career rusher in school history. He played seven seasons in the NFL.

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ESPN reports the 49-year-old May is finalizing a deal to become the head coach of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks.

May led Michigan to a 64-13 record over two seasons in Ann Arbor. In his previous job, he led Florida Atlantic to back-to-back NCAA tournaments, including the 2023 Final Four. He had ruled out other college jobs this offseason, but the NBA has always been intriguing to May.

He’s the first college head coach to take an NBA job since former Michigan coach John Beilein took the Cleveland job in 2019. The last to leave college immediately after winning a national title was Larry Brown at Kansas in 1988. Billy Donovan was the most recent NCAA title-winning coach to leave for the NBA, departing Florida for Oklahoma City in 2015.

Michigan’s players can now explore their options, as  a 15-day transfer window will open five days after a new head coach is hired or publicly announced.

Michigan appears likely to promote assistant coach Mike Boynton, who brings head coaching experience from his time at Oklahoma State.  His primary challenge is keeping a talented roster in place.

That roster includes Final Four Most Outstanding Player Elliot Cadeau, talented rising sophomore Trey McKenney and a new group of transfers.

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Brae Beadles, who spent the last two seasons as the top assistant at Edwardsburg, is the new Falcons hoops boss, pending board approval.

Before his tenure at Edwardsburg, the Jimtown alum was the Director of Basketball Operations for the Five Star Life basketball program. Under his leadership, the travel program expanded from 16 to 24 teams, and annual attendance for 1st–12th grade camps and clinics grew from 500 to over 800 players. Additionally, he created the “Coaching the Coaches” curriculum used throughout the entire Five Star organization.

“We are thrilled to have Brae join Fairfield Athletics,” noted Fairfield athletic director Chris Griffin. “He brings a clear vision for all levels of Fairfield basketball, and he is a leader our athletes and families will easily connect with. I am looking forward to the positive impact he will have on our community!”

Beadles shared, “My family and I are beyond thrilled to join the Fairfield community. It is an honor to lead a program with such deep-rooted traditions and a proud history. I can’t wait to get to work with our athletes.”

Beadles takes over for Brodie Garber, who returned to the girls program after the departure of Kyle Hartman for Warsaw. Fairfield’s boys were 16-6 last season and went to the semistate in 2024.

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Niles’ Brenden Olsen and Watervliet’s Caleb Jewell were both named to the squad released Thursday. The squad considers the top players in the state, regardless of what division they play.

Olsen, a University of Houston commit, led Niles to a 25-12 record and district title this season. Olsen terrorized pitchers, batting .446 with 50 hits, 50 runs scores, seven homers, 25 extra base hits and 25 stolen bases.

Jewell was omnipresent for a 26-8 Watervliet team this season, doing damage in nearly every phase of the game. A .362 batter, he stole 46 bases to spark the Panther offense. On the mound, the righthander pitched sparingly but went 3-0 with a miniscule 0.40 ERA.

29 players from around Michigan were named to the squad overall.

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Jerry Janowski’s Titans fired a 36-hole score of 630 at Prairie View Golf Club to record the school’s first top-10 finish in its brief history. Dane Sweikar led the way for Trinity with consecutive 78s on the par-72 layout.

Elkhart finished 13th overall, thanks to a brilliant performance by sophomore Ben Divido, wo finished 12th individually. Divido finished at four-over-par for the 36-hole event, including a 71 on Wednesday. The young Lion poured in four consecutive birdies to close out the front nine.

Divido’s brother, freshmen Brenden Divido, had the second-best score of any area golfer at 153.

Westfield shot a 16-over par (295-297-592) led by senior Hudson Kutchma’s first-ever individual crown to fend off state runner-up Center Grove (291-302-593) by one stroke and third-place, fourth-ranked Guerin Catholic (301-295-596) by four.

Kutchma handled a ton of drama, sinking a birdie putt on 18 to clinch the team title and force an individual playoff with Guerin’s Eli Wessel. Kutchma then went on to win the two-hole playoff to give Westfield the sweep.

As for other area teams, Warsaw finished 14th, Plymouth 15th and Saint Joseph 17th.

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Saturday night, the High-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs clinched their first playoff berth since 2022 with a 6-4 triumph over the Peoria Chiefs at Four Winds Field.

Josiah Hartshorn, Jose Escobar and Justin Stransky all belted first-inning homers as South Bend scored five in the first and never looked back. The victory clinches the Midwest League West Division title in the first half, as the Cubs win a first-half title for the first time in 10 years.

Daniel Wasinger’s squad raises its record to 37-21 for the season, closing the series with Peoria Sunday afternoon at 2:05.

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In Michigan, Marcellus’ magical baseball season ended with a 10-0 loss to Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart in the Division 4 state championship game. Marcellus (22-12) was making its first appearance in the championship game.

“That team is unreal,” Marcellus head coach Christian Hutson said. “That’s a buzzsaw.”

Indeed, Sacred Heart dominated from the first inning, Senior Teegan Duffy had an RBI single, junior Hank MacDonald an RBI groundout and then freshman Jaxon Moore had a two-run single to comprise the rally for Sacred Heart.

That was more than enough for senior Brady Davis, who was the star of this one. On the mound, he allowed just one hit while throwing all five innings, striking out eight. At the plate, Davis hit his first-ever home run, sending a shot over the big wall in right field with a man on in the fourth inning to give the Irish a 7-0 lead.

“I’ve always dreamed of hitting a bomb like that,’ Davis said. “So it was great.”

As for his squad Marcellus coach Hutson said, “Nobody believed we could make it this far. It’s an amazing experience. There’s nothing to be ashamed of for this group.”

In Indiana, South Central’s bid for a 1A state softball championship was squelched with a 6-0 loss to Barr-Reeve, which wins the school’s third state title of the school year.

Sydney Wilson’s two-run double in the 2nd started the scoring. Barr-Reeve tacked on two in the 5th and two more in the 7th, taking advantage of two of the Satellites’ five errors on the day.

For South Central, it’s the school’s second softball runner-up finish in the last five years. Tony Wallace’s squad closes out the season at 22-9.

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In 4A, Penn fell to Lake Central, 6-2 at the Steel Yard. The Indians jumped on Purdue commit Cayden Stcokbridge early, scoring three closer runs in the first, two on a triple by Jacob Forystek. Penn came as close as 3-2 in the fourth on Brody Cashen’s sacrifice fly, but Lake Central closer Marc Passo slammed the door shut, tossing 3-1/3 innings of shutout baseball.

In 3A, it’s a repeat of last year’s semistate championship as Andrean defeats NorthWood, 5-1. 59ers pitcher Louis Gage threw six innings of two-hit ball and Chase Nelson worked out of a 7th-inning jam to earn the save.  It was an emotional win for defending state champion Andrean, whose campus was devastated by a storm Thursday night.

In Class 2A, Lakeland’s best season in school history ended with an 8-2 loss to Bluffton. Senior Griffin Morgan homered and drove in four to lead an 11-hit attack for Bluffton, which makes its first state finals appearance next week.  Lakeland’s season ends with a record off 22-8.

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There’s a first time for everything, and the boys golf teams at Trinity Academy and Plymouth High School are enjoying those first times today. Both schools captured their first regional championships in the sport Thursday afternoon.

At Stonehenge, CC, Plymouth topped a talented field, edging Homestead by one stroke and Warsaw by two to grab the crown. All three schools advance to next week’s state finals.

Consistency was the key for the Pilgrims as Ben Nguyen, Bryce Busse and Caleb Harland all posted 75s, while sectional runner-up Dan Nguyen came in at 77.

Homestead’s Holden Orofino set the pace, grabbing medalist honors with a 68, but Landon Snyder was next with a 77. Luke Baumgardner led Warsaw with a 75.

Westview’s Luke Haarer also advanced with 71.

At Sandy Pines Golf Club in Demotte, a Trinity Academy squad that fielded its first golf team five years ago, fired a remarkable 299 to easily beat Elkhart by 11 strokes. Saint Joseph downed Valparaiso in a tiebreaker to earn the third state finalist spot.

Nathan Palmer led the way for the Titans, firing a blistering 68 on the par 72 layout to grab medalist honors. His brother, Gabe carded a 74 to help the cause.

Sophomore Ben Divido led the Elkhart charge with a 72, followed by Cameron Miller’s 75.  Saint Joseph relied on Tate Guyton’s 74 to pace the Huskies.

The IHSAA state finals will be conducted Tuesday and Wednesday, June 16-17, at Prairie View Golf Club in Carmel.

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