Category: News

The Texas Longhorns are dancing no more. In the final game in the opening round of the 2021 NCAA Tournament, No. 14 Abilene Christian went blow-for-blow with the No. 3 Longhorns, and thanks to one of the most inspired defensive efforts you’ll ever see, managed to come out on top at the very end. When the dust settled after Wildcat forward Joe Pleasant hit a pair of cold-blooded free throws, ACU picked up a 53-52 win.

The story of the game was how Abilene Christian, which came into the game tops in the nation at turnover percentage, taking the ball away from Texas over at will. In a scene reminiscent of Longhorns coach Shaka Smart making the Final Four with VCU behind his “havoc” defense, ACU forced 23 Longhorns turnovers over the course of the game. That, combined with the Wildcats absolutely mauling UT on the boards (they had 20 offensive rebounds compared to Texas’ five), meant that even though they went 20-for-67 from the field, the Longhorns just got up so few shots (18-for-40) that it did not matter.

Still, Texas was right there at the end. Battle-tested guard Andrew Jones got a look to put his team ahead in the game’s waning moments, and his shot could not have been more pure.

On the ensuing possession, an attempted layup by ACU’s Reggie Miller went horribly awry, but the ball fell into the hands of Pleasant, who was fouled with 1.2 seconds left.

Pleasant, a 58.5 percent shooter, made them both, and after Texas’ hopes of a miracle went awry, Abilene Christian picked up its first NCAA Tournament win in program history over the university that runs its state.

To celebrate, one Wildcat threw up a Horns Down, which will certainly go over well in the greater-Austin area.

The win was historic in that it marks the first time in Tournament history that four teams seeded 13th or higher will advance to the second round. Abilene Christian will play next on Monday, when they’ll take on the UCLA Bruins.

Tenet became the film of the pandemic over the course of 2020, for better or worse. Christopher Nolan’s insistence that the film debut in theaters saw it delayed several times over the course of the year, finally seeing the dark of theaters (the ones that were open, anyway) in the fall in the United States. After all that waiting, the actual film saw a mixed bag of reviews and left many of those who made their masks smell like popcorn a bit, well, confused about what actually happened in the film.

For those that may not have seen it, or need another run at the movie to figure things out, HBO Max delivered some good news. The streaming platform’s Twitter account shared on Saturday that Tenet would finally come to HBO Max on May 1.

The news came with a trailer for the movie, which after all those delays is actually a good reminder for some what Tenet even is about. And though it’s a movie that was supposed to arrive nearly a year after the announcement, the news is significant. Nolan was insistent that the movie not debut with a streaming element, pushing for a theatrical run against all odds. But the time has finally come for the film to join the rest of the Warners new movie lineup on HBO Max.

If anything, the news offers even more weird ways to watch Tenet on various devices that would require a lot less work than putting the movie on five Game Boy Advance cartridges.

The Los Angeles Lakers won’t have LeBron James for a while, as the team’s do-everything forward is out indefinitely due to a high ankle sprain he suffered on Saturday afternoon against the Atlanta Hawks. While chasing after a loose ball, Hawks forward Solomon Hill landed on James’ leg, and the reigning NBA Finals MVP went down in pain.

After the game, Hill was called out by two of of James’ teammates. Lakers forward Montrezl Harrell and guard Dennis Schröder both spoke to the media after the game and accused Hill of not making a normal basketball play when James went down.

“A guy dove for a loose ball, took his leg out from up under him,” Harrell said, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN. “I really don’t feel like it was one of those loose-ball plays. He had to go through his leg to get the ball, man. He was turned sideways. The ball was behind him. I mean, you’re jumping at an angle, going across this way, I mean, I don’t know how you feel that’s a loose ball.”

Schröder shared this sentiment, calling it an “unnecessary play.” In response to all of this, Hill took to his Twitter account and made clear that his intention was not to hurt James, saying that doing so would be disrespecting the game.

The Hawks would go on to beat the Lakers, 99-94.

Zack Snyder’s four-hour Justice League cut finally hit HBO Max this week, and perhaps it’s the length of the film itself that’s delayed some reactions to what’s inside the reimagined superhero team-up. There are some big differences in the film, starting with a much more robust role and backstory for Cyborg. But that’s just the start of the changes for the R-rated film. And interestingly, one of the biggest fan reactions online was to the movie’s big bad, Steppenwolf.

Sure, he’s only one of the bad guys in the movie, with Darkseid looming large over everything in the Justice League universe. But he’s the one doing all of the work, searching the globe for the motherboxes he needs to be redeemed among his marauding conqueror brethren.

His new look in the Snyder Cut initially drew a lot of jokes when we first got a look at him last year. But after four hours of battling and anguish (mild spoilers ahead), people had a much different read on the character. A lot of people, well, thought he looked kind of adorable.

A mashup of Steppenwolf from the new cut even got the fancam treatment.

Fans actually felt bad that Steppenwolf tried very hard to keep up his end of the bargain and find redemption, only to not get much help from the other bad guys in the movie.

Some fans even pitched that Steppenwolf was the real hero of the Snyder Cut.

Whether that’s a bit too far is all your call, of course. But there’s a lot of movie there, so it’s no surprise that there are plenty of different interpretations of it all when you finally see it.

The Los Angeles Lakers will be without the services of LeBron James for the foreseeable future. According to multiple media reports, the injury that James suffered on Saturday afternoon against the Atlanta Hawks has been ruled a high ankle sprain, and there is no timetable for him to return to action.

James suffered the injury on Saturday afternoon against the Atlanta Hawks. Solomon Hill dove for a loose ball and ended up rolling on James’ right ankle early on in the second quarter, which sent the reigning NBA Finals MVP down to the ground in serious pain. James attempted to stay in the game, but after making a three determined that he was unable to compete.

An x-ray on James’ ankle reportedly came back negative, which certainly is a relief for the Lakers, but losing him for an indefinite period of time can only be described as a disaster for a team that is already without Anthony Davis, who is likewise out for an indefinite period due to achilles tendonosis.

Currently, the Lakers sit 28-14 on the year, putting them in third place in the Western Conference despite being the same number of games back of the 1-seed as the Phoenix Suns. In the ultra-tight West, though, they are only four games ahead of the 7-seed San Antonio Spurs, which would put them in the play-in tournament if they fell that far.

The final game of the opening round of the 2021 NCAA Tournament will not take place. The NCAA announced on Saturday evening that the tilt between Oregon and VCU has been ruled a no-contest, citing issues due to COVID-19 with the Rams. As a result, the Ducks will move on to the round of 32.

In a statement, the NCAA said that it could not identify specific players or personnel members who tested positive, and it is unclear if this is a matter of multiple people testing positive or contact tracing holding out close contacts.

The game was set to be the 7-10 matchup in the West Region — Oregon was the higher-seeded of the two squads — with the winner moving on to face the winner of the 2-15 game between Iowa and Grand Canyon.

For the fifth time in eight years, Texas Southern won the SWAC and qualified for the NCAA Tournament. Still, as a lesser-known school, participating in March Madness means that the university gets a spotlight on a national stage, something that is always really cool, even if the Tigers have danced a few times over the years.

This usually means that schools get a few fun “Do You Know?” segments at one point or another when they play. For the HBCU out of Houston that took on Michigan on Saturday afternoon, this included a pair of their most famous alums getting shouts: Former NFL player and current television personality Michael Strahan, and Grammy Award-winning rapper Megan Thee Stallion.

Ian Eagle was tasked with reading this, and because he is Ian Eagle, he decided to have a little fun with this. When Megan’s name came up, Eagle joked that she passed along a message to the team and proceeded to do an impression that was less than stellar.

Eagle is a pro, and he’ll do a few silly things whenever he’s calling a game in any sport, but I’ll level with you: I did not anticipate him doing any part of “Body.” Just call him Ian Thee Eagle.

Kanye West’s net worth has been a topic of interest this week, as some new fashion deals made the rapper give himself the title of the world’s richest Black man. According to a report from Bloomberg, his new net worth was somewhere in the range of $5.1 billion and $6.6 billion. These numbers could be credited to his Yeezy brand which was valued between $3.2 billion to $4.7 billion and the brand’s partnership with Gap, which was reported to be valued as high as $970 million.

West was thought to have $122 million in cash and stock, $110 million from his music catalog, and $1.7 billion in other assets, but according to Forbes, these numbers were grossly inflated. The publication recently reported that the aforementioned numbers were based on West’s speculative wealth and not on the actual money and assets he owns.

According to calculations from Forbes, West’s net worth is about $1.8 billion, a significantly large drop from the initial numbers. The correction comes as his Yeezy company was altered for a $1.5 billion valuation and not the $3.2 billion to $4.7 billion range that was initially given. Forbes added that the $970 million number of the Yeezy and Gap partnership is extremely speculative since the brands’ first collaboration has yet to be released.

Forbes also said that West’s reported $1.7 billion in assets was exaggerated, as the actual number is $160 million. This number was calculated based on a balance sheet that was obtained from the rapper’s team. The value of his art, jewelry, vehicles, furniture, and livestock proved that the $1.7 billion was inaccurate.

Despite the correction, West’s net worth still experienced a jump from $1.3 billion to $1.8 billion since he was announced as hip-hop’s second billionaire last year.

Justin Bieber is a little over a day removed from the release of his sixth album, Justice. While longtime Beliebers are happy that the new project is finally here, many of them hoped it would contain one of the singer’s unreleased songs— namely “Red Eye,” which was not made available on his album Changes following its debut in the singer’s 2020 documentary Seasons. While the song is not on the digital version of his sixth album, Bieber has given his supporters another way to get their hands on it.

The “Peaches” singer announced on Saturday that fans could obtain “Red Eye” by purchasing a special edition of Justice from his website. The song, which lists British DJ Troyboi as a guest act, can be bought on three different editions of Justice, each one boasting its own cover art.

The release of Justice didn’t come without a bit of controversy. Bieber faced some criticism for including Martin Luther King Jr. clips on the album. However, the King family gave Bieber the thumbs up for the move. “Thank you, @justinbieber, for your support, in honor of #Justice, of @TheKingCenter’s work and of our #BeLove campaign,” Bernice King, MLK’s daughter and CEO of The King Center, wrote in a tweet.

“Red Eye” is available for purchase on Bieber’s website here.

Justice is out now via Def Jam. Get it here.

LeBron James appeared to suffer an injury on Saturday afternoon during the Los Angeles Lakers’ game against the Atlanta Hawks. Early on in the second quarter of play, James and Atlanta Hawks forward Solomon Hill went for a loose ball, and Hill accidentally rolled up on James’ right leg.

While James attempted to stay in the game, merely heading over to the sideline and relacing his shoes, he pulled himself out after hitting a triple — James stood in the corner on the play and did not try to test his leg. Understandably, James was visibly frustrated as he headed to Los Angeles’ locker room.

The team eventually announced that James is our for the remainder of the game with a right ankle injury.

The Lakers are already without one of their two All-Star selections, as Anthony Davis has not played since mid-February due to achilles tendonosis. Being without Davis is already a gigantic burden for the Lakers, and not having James for any period of time would be a major lift. James has also been vocal about his desire to be named league MVP this season, and while he has been outstanding, being sidelined would potentially hurt his candidacy. On the year, Los Angeles is 28-13, two games back of the Utah Jazz for the one-seed in the Western Conference.

We’ll keep you updated as more information comes in about James’ status going forward and the extent of this injury.