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Analyzing NBA prospects of Mountain West basketball players pre-combine | Sports

Three basketball players from the Mountain West received invites to the 2025 NBA Combine this year, an event that begins today in Chicago and goes through next Sunday. It’s the most invites from the conference since 2020, which had an expanded pool of players participate in a virtual combine as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Colorado State wing Nique Clifford, San Diego State wing Myles Byrd and Nevada jumbo-guard Kobe Sanders will all showcase their skills for NBA scouts this week. Each of those three (plus a few other players who began their careers at Mountain West schools) have a range of possibilities for potential draft spot and prospects for how their careers may fare. We’ll take a look at each for all of the prospects covered here. The “Consensus Big Board” referenced for each player comes from rookiescale.com. It is, as the website explains (and in more detail), a compilation of media draft content that provides an overall view of where prospects are ranked by the whole of those who follow the NBA Draft process closely. Nique Clifford (Colorado State) Consensus Big Board Rank: 20th Draft Day Age: 23.4 Height: 6’5″ Weight: 199 Clifford will hear his name called from the podium

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How the new Pac-12 standings would have looked in football, basketball for the 2024-25 season | Sports

The new Pac-12 is still one more season away from coming to fruition, but it’s worth comparing how the eventual group of teams are doing currently. More importantly, it’s a good time to speculate on which teams would have done the best this past sports season. The Pac-12 will be mixing and matching teams from at least three different conferences (old Pac-12, Mountain West and West Coast) with another team yet to be added, likely from a fourth league. How will these teams mix and who will find themselves at the top of the hierarchy in various sports? Those questions will remain unanswered for now, but we can look at this past year to get the beginnings of an idea. We’ll both look at what the 2024-25 standings for each of the three most viewed sports — football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball — to get an idea for who would have been the best. But alongside, that, there will be a peek into the future of what the Pac-12 may look like in these respective sports compared to its peers. Let’s start with the big money sport: football. Football 2024 New Pac-12 Football Standings School ESPN SP+ Rank Overall

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Utah State athletics celebrates perfect APR marks from nine programs | Sports

LOGAN, Utah – The NCAA released its annual Division I Academic Progress Rate (APR) report on Tuesday, and nine Utah State athletic programs earned perfect scores of 1,000 from the single-year report for the 2023-24 academic calendar. In addition, four programs – women’s cross country, golf, softball and women’s tennis – earned perfect multi-year scores of 1,000, which are compiled over four years ending in the 2023-24 reporting year. USU’s multi-year APR score is 986. “Utah State University student-athletes continue to showcase their history of academic success with our most recent APR scores,” said USU Vice President and Director of Athletics Diana Sabau. “Our coaches and academic support staff play a pivotal role in our achievements in the classroom, highlighted by nine teams recording perfect APR scores of 1,000. At Utah State, we focus on excelling in the classroom and striving for championships on the playing field.” The nine Utah State teams to earn the NCAA’s Public Recognition Award with a perfect score of 1,000 from the 2023-24 reporting calendar include women’s basketball, men’s cross country, women’s cross country, golf, gymnastics, softball, men’s track & field, soccer and women’s tennis. Public Recognition Awards are awarded to teams finishing in the

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Moving up 4th in the NHL draft in the lottery adds to the Utah Hockey Club’s exciting summer | Sports

When the Utah Hockey Club selected Tij Iginla with the sixth pick and took 10 other players in the first draft since the team moved to Salt Lake City, fans were excited, thinking they would be in the NHL right away. General manager Bill Armstrong tried to temper expectations, telling them, “No, it takes some time.” After an unexpected victory off the ice Monday night in the draft lottery, the expectations for the club’s future are Rocky Mountain high once again. Utah won the second random draw of lottery balls to move up from the 14th pick to No. 4, adding to an already momentous summer that could feature a free agent spending spree with tons of salary cap space and an owner not afraid to spend money, the first phase of massive arena renovations taking place and the full-time name getting unveiled before next season. “It’s a game-changer for us,” Armstrong said on a post-lottery video call with reporters. “These are exciting times for Utah. … Just great stuff for the franchise. I can’t express in words on the excitement of when that happened and the opportunity in front of us.” Armstrong has over $22 million in room, and

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Utah State transfer portal player breakdown — Zach Keller | Sports

Utah State lost its starting center – the 6-foot-11 Aubin Gateretse – to graduation this offseason and needed to find some size to replace him. Former Utes forward Zach Keller, standing 6-foot-10, is a solid candidate to do the replacing. But a similarity in size is about all Keller shares with the man whose role he’ll try to fill as Keller will bring a much different skillset than the rim-running/rim-protecting Gateretse did. Jerrod Calhoun landed a stretch big with Keller who’s gone toe-to-toe with some of the best teams in the country across three seasons in the ACC and Big 12. Keller’s experience in some of the best conferences in the country is something Calhoun was quick to point out in the press release announcing Keller’s signing. But more important to this breakdown will be what skills he brings to the table, something else Calhoun touched on. “Zach’s skill set fits our style of play perfectly, as a player who can be impactful both inside and out,” Calhoun said. “We look forward to seeing Zach thrive in our system.” So let’s go through how that skill set fits the Aggies style and what to look out for with Keller’s game.

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Utah Jazz extend coach Will Hardy’s contract through 2031 | Sports

Will Hardy is being given more time to continue the rebuild of the Utah Jazz. The Jazz announced Monday that Hardy has signed a contract extension, one that could keep him as head coach through the 2030-31 season. He’ll enter his fourth season with the Jazz next fall. “Will’s leadership has been invaluable to our program,” Jazz CEO Danny Ainge said. “He has established a vision for our players and a strong foundation of core values, competitive habits, and growth mindset. He is one of the brightest young coaches in our league, and we are incredibly fortunate to have him.” Hardy has gone 85-161 in his first three seasons with the Jazz, missing the playoffs in each of those three years. Utah won 37 games in his first season, 31 in his second and just 17 this season — by far the worst record in franchise history and the worst record in the NBA this season. The Jazz — who didn’t play anyone over the age of 27 in the final weeks of this season and finished the year with the youngest roster in the NBA — clearly understand why that was the case, and the extension shows they’re happy

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Owners of NBA’s Jazz and NHL’s Utah Hockey Club unveil renovation plans to add seats to arena | Sports

The owners of the NHL’s Utah Hockey Club and NBA’s Jazz are beginning a massive renovation of their downtown Salt Lake City Arena that will eventually increase hockey capacity to roughly 17,000 and basketball to nearly 19,000 fans. Smith Entertainment Group announced its plan Wednesday after a meeting of the Salt Lake City Council earlier in the week. Officials said the initial stage of renovations this summer should boost the number of full-ice view seats by 1,400: 1,000 new ones and upgrading 400 that had a sightline of just one end of the rink in the team’s first season in the city. After a historic season welcoming the NHL to Utah, Delta Center is about to be transformed into a fundamentally new dual-use arena.The basketball experience will remain one of the loudest in the NBA with seats as close to the action as before, hockey fans will enjoy better… pic.twitter.com/Jod3OXFZkf — Delta Center (@deltacenter) April 30, 2025 “Just in Year 1 (post-renovations) we’re going to see a great improvement for the lower-bowl capacity for hockey,” Jazz president Jim Olson said on a video call with reporters. Rendering of the newly remodeled Delta Center to better accommodate both hockey and basketball. 

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Utah State basketball reported to be part of Charleston Classic in 2025-26 | Sports

According to a report from CBS Sports college basketball reporter Jon Rothstein, Utah State men’s basketball will participate in an additional field of four teams in the 2025 Charleston Classic. Alongside the Aggies, it is reported that Boston College, Tulane and Davidson will be participating teams. The primary field of the Charleston Classic will feature teams from major conferences, reported to be West Virginia, Georgia, Clemson and Xavier. The Aggies would not compete against any of those four teams as part of this multi-team event (MTE). The four-team format seems to suggest it will be a two-game event for the Aggies, much like the NIT Season Tip-Off which USU participated in this past season. The Aggies played two games as part of a four-team tournament, beating St. Bonaventure in the first round and then North Texas in the championship game. Head coach Jerrod Calhoun has previously indicated a preference for MTEs where his team plays two games as opposed to ones where they would play three games in three days. Per Rothstein, which teams will match up against which in the opening round has not yet been determined and no timetable is set for an official announcement from the tournament

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Utah State transfer portal player breakdown — Kolby King | Sports

Kolby King marks the most recent addition to Utah State men’s basketball’s transfer class for the upcoming 2025-26 season. The Aggies lost a potential key returner at point guard in Deyton Albury, and King appears to be the top candidate to replace the lost production. There’s a pretty easy comparison between the two, but ultimately there’s more to it as we’ll examine below. As a quick introduction, head coach Jerrod Calhoun described King as a “dynamic guard who brings toughness, athleticism and high-level shot making ability to the court.” All of those things play out on film and King should make a great addition to the Aggies’ rotation. “His ability to impact the game on both ends fits perfectly with our style of play,” Calhoun continued. “Kolby is battle-tested and well equipped to create for both himself and his teammates. We look forward to adding him to the mix with our talented returners and signees.” With that introduction settled, let’s get things started. A note on source for stats in this piece. Basic averages (points, rebounds, etc.) come from Sports Reference, as do the advanced stats of Win Shares and Box Plus/Minus. Bayesian Performance Rating comes from EvanMiya.com as does any

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Utah State transfer portal player breakdown — MJ Collins | Sports

Utah State added a bundle of transfer commits on Monday, but even in the crowd of players who signed up to don the Aggie Blue and Fighting White, Collins stands out as a potential impact guy for what fans are hoping is another finish in the upper part of the Mountain West standings. Head coach Jerrod Calhoun got to be picky with his transfer recruits and Collins withstood the scrutiny despite some worrying numbers on his stat page. In USU’s press release announcing the signing, Calhoun praised his versatility, length and athleticism. “We are thrilled to welcome MJ to the Aggie family,” Calhoun said. “MJ’s exceptional versatility on the perimeter will allow him to make an immediate impact at all three levels of the game. His length and athleticism will provide a major lift for us on the defensive side of the ball. MJ has thrived at the highest levels of college basketball and his winning pedigree will be a welcome addition to our program.” Let’s dig into exactly why Calhoun is placing his faith in Collins and where he can impact the game the most. As a note on source for stats in this piece. Basic averages (points, rebounds,

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