LSU added some Olympic star power to its future roster, as 2024 gold medalist Hezly Rivera announced her verbal commitment to the Tigers via Instagram on Thursday.

At just 16 years old, Rivera was the youngest member of a U.S. Olympic gymnastics team that finished atop the podium at the Paris Games. After returning from France, Rivera, who will graduate high school in 2026, took official visits to Florida, Oklahoma and LSU. The SEC powerhouses are among an exclusive club of eight programs that have won an NCAA title in women’s gymnastics, with LSU claiming its first national championship in April. 

In addition to her Olympic gold, Rivera won the 2023 junior all-around national title and was a part of the team that took silver at the junior world championships last year. Though she hasn’t yet shared her plans for the 2025 and 2026 elite gymnastics seasons, she’ll likely continue representing the U.S. at international competitions before making the move to Baton Rouge. The 2028 Olympics are also a possibility, as Rivera was initially pacing herself to peak for those Games before earning an unexpected ticket to Paris.

At the 2024 Olympics, Rivera didn’t make the three-person lineup on any events in the team final, but she did compete on the uneven bars and balance beam…

DESTIN, Fla. — There are two Greg Sankeys. The first one sometimes will say something that reminds you he was one of the people supporting the old ways and makes you wonder if someone who supported the old system can be trusted to build the new one.

The other Sankey, however, leaves hints that he does get it.

In his first public appearance since the historic NCAA vs. House settlement, on the eve of the SEC’s spring meetings, both sides of the SEC commissioner were on display. Which side wins out, and how quickly, will mean a lot.

The necessary background for those who need it: The NCAA has agreed to revenue sharing, directly paying its athletes, as part of last week’s settlement agreement. But it was merely one part of the larger whack-a-mole approach in dealing with college sports issues. The chaos of the transfer portal and NIL is left unresolved. And some stakeholders — media members, lawyers, advocates, coaches and administrators speaking privately — believe having a collective bargaining agreement with the athletes is the only way to do that.

But the first side of Sankey still sounded skeptical on Monday.

“To be in collective…

DESTIN, Fla. — The SEC convenes Tuesday for its annual spring meetings, and the good news for those involved is the future football schedule is not the main topic.

The bad news is the future football schedule is not the main topic.

Whether to go to nine conference games or stay at eight seems quaint now compared with the heavy reality that SEC presidents, athletic directors, coaches and commissioner Greg Sankey must confront this week: revenue sharing, roster limits and other results of the settlement in the House v. NCAA case.

SEC presidents voted unanimously — at least in the final vote it was unanimous — to approve the settlement terms, which if approved will result in around 22 percent of annual revenue being paid to athletes, starting next year. It’s a landmark agreement, and the timing is good for SEC administrators, who can start to hash out what comes next in Destin.

There are, of course, other things going in the conference: A quarterback at Georgia is suing Florida. Oklahoma and Texas officially join the league in July, and their coaches will be present in Destin for the first time. Nick Saban is no longer coaching football….

Aleah Finnegan was on the verge of tears the moment her feet hit the mat following her balance beam routine in the anchor spot of LSU’s lineup.

The Tigers entered the final rotation of the NCAA women’s gymnastics championship Saturday trailing Utah by .037, and though the Utes left the door open with a few mistakes on vault, LSU needed Finnegan to put up a clutch performance to replace the 9.3875 Savannah Schoenherr received after an uncharacteristic fall. Fellow Tigers Konnor McClain, Kiya Johnson and Haleigh Bryant recorded three straight scores of 9.950 or better to get the Tigers back on track, but the margin of error remained slim after Utah rallied to a strong finish.

With a shot at clinching LSU’s first national title teetering on the four-inch width of the beam, Finnegan delivered.

The 21-year-old, who will represent the Philippines at the Paris Olympics this summer, was rock solid from the moment she jumped to perch sideways for her mount. She floated through her difficult backhand spring, layout step-out, layout step-out series, tossed a front aerial with ease and capped the title-winning performance by drilling her full-twisting gainer dismount.

LSU started celebrating before the judges flashed Finnegan’s score, and when her 9.950 sealed the deal, there were…

It could be an elevator, a hallway or a corridor this weekend at one of the Final Fours, the men’s in Arizona or the women’s in Cleveland. Greg Sankey, commissioner of the SEC, has a team in each, so doubtless he will be at both. Len Perna, meanwhile, has an idea, and if he sees Sankey he may do everything in his power to get a minute.

At most, Sankey will smile politely, nod and keep the conversation short. For now, the chances of Sankey and his conference wanting any part of Perna’s idea are about as good as the SEC giving up football as a varsity sport.

Because that’s essentially what it would be doing here.

The notion of a college football “Super League” has been percolating for a while, and one idea finally went public on Wednesday, when The Athletic reported that a number of power brokers, including the presidents at Syracuse and West Virginia and Perna, the CEO of TurnkeyZRG, were pushing for a 70-team permanent group, employing athletes as players, making its own rules and leaving non-football sports to the existing conferences, as is.

Publicly, the reaction among SEC power brokers was crickets: Sankey and the presidents at…

Louisiana is banning licensed sportsbooks in the state from offering prop bets on college athletes.

The ban will go into effect Aug. 1, 2024, at 8 a.m. local time.

“It is the intention of the Louisiana Gaming Control Board to protect the integrity of sports betting as well as the safety and integrity of college athletes,” Louisiana Gaming Control Board chairman Ronnie Johns said in a statement. “We feel that this order accomplishes that goal.”

Prop bets allow fans to bet on how many points or rebounds a basketball player might have, or yards or touchdowns a football player might have, instead of or in conjunction with a game’s outcome or spread.

Bettors in Louisiana and the 37 other states where sports betting is legal can still bet on the totals, point spreads and outcomes of games. Prop bets on “full team statistical outcomes” will still be allowed in Louisiana.

Vermont, Ohio and Maryland banned college prop bets recently and other states have expressed an openness to bans or an examination of the issue within their states. Colorado, Arizona, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania and Oregon have rules in place prohibiting them. Illinois, Connecticut and Iowa don’t allow them for in-state teams.

Last week, NCAA president Charlie Baker released a statement calling…

ALBANY, N.Y. — It’s felt like Iowa and LSU have been on a collision course for a full year now, ever since the teams clashed in the national championship and one very famous basketball player taunted another very famous basketball player at the end.

So, on Selection Sunday, when the selection committee unveiled the women’s NCAA Tournament bracket, and we saw that these two teams could meet again — this time in the Elite Eight — we all immediately circled it. Many of us filled out our brackets in hopes that our picks could help it come to fruition, despite how difficult both teams’ paths would be to get here.

And then we got it. We got the dream matchup with a Final Four berth on the line. A heavyweight fight, a rematch, another legacy-making moment. Reporters debated whether it could break the mammoth women’s basketball TV viewership record that the last meeting in Dallas had set. Those of us here in Albany twiddled our thumbs and impatiently counted down the minutes to tipoff, hoping against all odds that a game with so much hype could actually live up to it.

And then it did.

With a 94-87 victory fueled by 41 points from Caitlin Clark, the Hawkeyes are back in the Final Four.

IOWA IS HEADED TO THE FINAL FOUR.

The No. 1 Hawkeyes take down No. 3 LSU 94-87 to reach…

ALBANY, N.Y. — There was joy, because of course there is when a team survives and advances in March. Flau’jae Johnson, who scored 24 points and willed LSU past UCLA, bounded over toward the Tigers’ family and friends in the stands with a big, bright smile.

But about 15 minutes later, Johnson’s guard was back up as she sat next to Angel Reese and Aneesah Morrow during a postgame news conference. So was Reese’s. Morrow’s, too. Yes, the Tigers were happy to be moving on to the Elite Eight. But they know exactly how the world sees them, and they don’t always appreciate it.

“We’re the good villains,” Reese said. “Everybody wants to beat LSU. Everybody wants to be LSU. Everybody wants to play against LSU. You’ve got to realize, like, we’re not any regular basketball team. Coach (Kim Mulkey) talks about it all the time; she calls us ‘The Beatles.’ People run after our bus. People are coming to our games. You’re seeing sellouts, you’re seeing people buying jerseys, you’re seeing more sellouts than the men.

“We’re impacting the game so much, and all of us are super competitive and want to win and do whatever it takes to win. We’re just changing the game.”

Reese noted that she gets criticized for her modeling, which she likes in addition to…

LSU coach Kim Mulkey had the same first reaction as the general public when the Tigers’ place in the 2024 women’s NCAA Tournament was revealed on Sunday night. “Initially, I just thought, ooh this is a tough, tough region.” The defending national champions were named as the No. 3 seed in the Albany 2 Region. It’s a quadrant headlined by Caitlin Clark and the top-seeded Iowa Hawkeyes, but it features a number of legitimate Final Four contenders. (You can print out our brackets and follow along here.)

Looking to become the first repeat champions since UConn in 2016, the Tigers will open the region with No. 14 Rice, which won the American Athletic Conference tournament championship, despite being the tournament’s 10th seed. The Owls last made the NCAA Tournament in 2019. They are coached by Lindsay Edmonds, who made the field of 68 numerous times over her eight years as an NC State assistant.

Hearing your name called on Selection Sunday never gets old pic.twitter.com/qnFExmtRS9

— LSU Women’s Basketball (@LSUwbkb) March 18, 2024

From there, the Tigers’ draw will get significantly tougher. Sixth-seeded Louisville has advanced to at least the Sweet 16 in six consecutive NCAA Tournaments and is deeply familiar with one of LSU’s star guards. Hailey Van Lith…

Several players were ejected from the SEC tournament final between South Carolina and LSU after a scuffle broke out at mid-court late in the fourth quarter.

The incident, which occurred with 2:08 to play with South Carolina leading 73-66, began after LSU guard Flau’jae Johnson stopped the progress of South Carolina’s MiLaysia Fulwiley as she dribbled up the court in transition. Johnson made contact with South Carolina’s Ashlyn Watkins. Gamecocks center Kamilla Cardoso then knocked Johnson to the ground.

Players ran to midcourt before coaches separated their respective teams. A fan, whom ESPN’s broadcast identified as Johnson’s brother, left the stands and leapt over the scorer’s table, and was briefly on the court before police escorted him off the floor.

LSU and South Carolina players got into a scuffle in the fourth quarter of the SEC Championship. pic.twitter.com/rXw1tb1jWM

— ESPN (@espn) March 10, 2024

After a delay that lasted around 20 minutes, officials called Johnson for committing an intentional foul and ejected Cardoso. They also ejected every player from each team’s bench for leaving their respective bench areas, except for South Carolina’s Sania Feagin, who did not leave the Gamecocks’ bench area, and Te-Hina Paopao, who was already at the…