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Meet the 4-star recruit who is using NIL to promote adoption: ‘We hit the jackpot with him’

When Bear McWhorter was in the third grade, his mother, Vanessa, and father, Josh, sat him down alongside his sister to discuss an important family matter. The McWhorters had two happy and healthy children and a nice life in Cartersville, Ga., about 40 miles northwest of Atlanta. But the more Vanessa and Josh thought about […]

Published

3 weeks ago

June 5, 2025

Your Sports Nation

When Bear McWhorter was in the third grade, his mother, Vanessa, and father, Josh, sat him down alongside his sister to discuss an important family matter.

The McWhorters had two happy and healthy children and a nice life in Cartersville, Ga., about 40 miles northwest of Atlanta. But the more Vanessa and Josh thought about the future — leaning into their faith for clarity — the more passionate they felt about the possibility of adding to their family.

How would Bear and Lily feel about the McWhorters fostering, and potentially adopting, children in need?

Bear, now 17 and a four-star offensive lineman who is committed to Michigan, was initially in a bit of shock. He’d always been the baby of the family and had never thought about what it might feel like to add another sibling, let alone share his space with a stranger. But he supported his parents’ desire to open their home. And in September 2017, right as he was about to head out for football practice, he met 4-year-old Olivia for the first time.

“We ended up getting her and didn’t know how long we were going to have her or anything like that,” Bear said, “and ended up just having her forever. I love her.

“It just ended up being a great thing for our entire family.”

Seven years later, the McWhorters are a family of six. They formally adopted Olivia in 2019 and began fostering 4-month-old Lydia in early 2020, before finalizing her adoption in 2022.

Olivia is now 12 and the family’s best distance runner, hoping to eventually follow in her brother’s footsteps and compete collegiately. Lydia is 5 and learning new big-kid words every day.

Bear, who committed to Michigan in February over Clemson, South Carolina, Alabama and Florida, told every coach who recruited him over the years about his family’s story. And in March 2024 — after years of brainstorming with Josh about how he might be able to use his name, image and likeness for good — he launched a foundation to raise money and awareness for adoption and fostering.

The Brother Bear Foundation. Because every child deserves a family.

As some may know, I’m the proud big brother of two adopted sisters, and I couldn’t imagine life without them. With all the support I’ve received and the NIL opportunities I’ve been blessed with, I felt God has given me a platform to serve others.
We have taken the first steps to… pic.twitter.com/5R8DBx7qFJ

— ʙᴇᴀʀ ᴍᴄᴡʜᴏʀᴛᴇʀ (@BearMcWhorter) March 11, 2024

“I got two new little sisters,” Bear said. “And (it) really changed my view on life.”

Vanessa McWhorter knew when she and Josh officially signed up to foster in the state of Georgia that reunification between a child and his or her biological family was the ultimate goal.

“But Olivia’s story was really hard,” Vanessa said. “When she came to us — and I won’t share much of her story — they kind of knew she most likely was going to need an adoptive home.”

Olivia, now a thriving, sassy preteen, was born in nearby Rome, Ga., about 15 minutes away from the McWhorters and had already bounced around multiple homes in the foster system before she started kindergarten. On the day she arrived at the McWhorter family home that fall 2017 afternoon, she walked through the doors and called Vanessa “Mom” right away. Shortly thereafter, the two met Josh for lunch at Chick-fil-A.

“She had never been around bigger men before,” Vanessa said of her husband, a former offensive lineman who played collegiately at Furman. “(She told him) ‘You’re as big as the sun.’”

Bear said hello for the first time before that football practice later that afternoon. The two talked for a few minutes and Bear went on his way — not remembering much else. But Vanessa and Josh paid close attention to how their biological children interacted with Olivia. They were touched by both Bear and Lily’s kindness.

“They took her on as a sibling super quick,” Vanessa said.

“They never treated her like she was any different,” Josh followed.

In hindsight, Bear acknowledges those first few weeks were an adjustment.

Olivia had different life experiences. Bear was shocked when she lashed out or snapped at his parents — something that never would have been tolerated from him or Lily. But even as a fourth grader, the more he learned about her past, the more he understood.

“It’s not all her fault,” he remembers thinking.

“Being in a great family, a great home, everything like that, where you’re taken care of, I think it’s definitely something that all of us take for granted.”

About two months into her stay with the McWhorters, Olivia turned 5.

As the new kid at school and church, she didn’t have many friends to celebrate with. So Bear and Lily jumped right in as built-in best friends when the McWhorter family took her to the local aquarium and commemorated her big day with a “Frozen”-themed birthday cake.

In March 2019, the whole family gathered in the courthouse when her adoption became final and Olivia legally became a McWhorter.

“It was awesome,” Bear said. “It was kind of surreal, adding somebody to the family like that. But it was really, really cool and definitely a very happy day.”

If he only knew the McWhorters were just getting started.

The McWhorter’s agency recommended that the family go “on hold” for six months after Olivia’s adoption became final. The idea is for family members to bond with one another and get accustomed to their new norm before introducing another child into the home.

Six months later, the agency called again: “Are y’all ready to reopen?”

Vanessa and Josh agreed to open their home once again, but decided the odds of adoption were slim this time around. They were happy to foster and be a resource for another family thinking about adopting, but their home was a little full. Adding a fourth child wasn’t part of their plans.

“Then it was in January, the end of January of 2020, it was right before COVID and I got a call for a 4-month-old little girl, and of course my heart just stopped,” Vanessa said. “Three hours later, we had a baby.”

Bear was confused when Vanessa picked him up from school that day with a baby seat in her car. Because of the quick nature of the call and how fast the situation unfolded, there was no time for the McWhorters to fill the children in on what was happening. Olivia initially thought her parents were surprising their children with a dog.

Bear saw the baby.

“Who’s this?” he asked.

“And that’s how he met Lydia,” Vanessa said.

A few weeks later, the COVID-19 pandemic broke out and the McWhorters’ initial plans of serving as short-term caregivers for Lydia changed.

With infants among those at the highest risk during the pandemic, Bear remembers how scared his family was about having a newborn in the home amid all of the uncertainty. Throw in the fact that he had almost no experience with newborns — “I never liked being around babies” — and his whole world shifted.

“But it ended up being really, really fun,” Bear said. “(Lydia) has the most personality, and she is the smartest little kid I’ve ever met. And so just being around her so much, it was really, really cool for me.”

While Bear navigated schoolwork and football throughout the pandemic, the now 6-foot-3 1/2, 293-pounder picked up a few new skills, too. He became a pro at changing diapers. He learned how to burp Lydia with ease and was happy to jump right in any time her tiny tummy got the best of her.

“Bless her heart, she spit up every bottle she took. She had awful, awful reflux,” Vanessa said. “But he’s just such a happy-go-lucky kid. He adjusted really, really well, and he had so much fun with her, especially in those baby months.”

Lydia provided some lightheartedness for the family, too.

“She’s just got an unbelievable personality,” Josh said. “Even as a baby, there was something different about her, and she’s sort of become the center of our family. She was the (pandemic) entertainment. That’s for sure.”

As Lydia aged from an infant to a toddler and soon was in need of a permanent home, the McWhorters got serious about officially adding her to the family.

In 2022, they gathered around the kitchen table to log into a Zoom call and sign some paperwork in front of the judge who virtually presided over Lydia’s adoption. Afterward, the family had a small get-together with their loved ones to celebrate their newest daughter and sister, two years in the making.

Last month, Vanessa walked into Lydia’s bedroom to tuck her youngest daughter in and read her a book, when Bear came in to join. He sat through story time, then stayed back after Vanessa left the room to tell his little sister goodnight. He’s constantly quizzing her on math problems or going over writing lessons, even teaching her a few of his and his teammate’s favorite potty-humor jokes along the way while she cracks up every time.

“I look at Bear,” Josh said, “and I just think, ‘Man, we hit the jackpot with him.’”

The idea for the foundation was born in Josh’s truck during the hour-long trip to and from Bear’s training sessions in Canton, Ga.

With two hours together three nights a week, father and son chatted about many of life’s bigger topics. When they started to think about how Bear might be able to use his platform as an emerging national recruit to make some sort of a difference, they kept coming back to adoption.

“It was part of our family’s story, it was a part of his story. He loved his sisters,” Josh said. “And he wanted to create a way for other people to be able to experience that same joy.”

High school athletes in Georgia are allowed to profit off their name, image and likeness, and through his foundation, Bear sells “Brother Bear” T-shirts for about $25, with 100 percent of the proceeds going directly toward helping families foster and/or adopt. During his recruitment, several coaches, including South Carolina’s Shane Beamer and assistants from LSU and Arkansas, snapped photos with their shirts.

The vast majority of the funds raised by The Brother Bear Foundation, for now, are coming from T-shirt sales, but the operation could grow considerably as Bear’s profile increases over the next few years.

“We’ve not gone out and asked for donations,” Josh said, “even though we’re legally able to, until we know exactly where we’re going with this and who’s doing what.”

Later this summer, if all goes according to plan, Bear will meet a baby girl from Ghana whom he helped bring to the States — his $2,000 contribution helping the family with the costs.

“Seeing all the hard work and everything I’ve done to get to this position in football and (to) have this platform and be able to turn around and use it for something like that, it’s really, really cool,” he said. “I just hope that people realize that they can do it, too. They can open their home.”

praise the Lord!
if new to my page i was blessed with NIL (big thx to Glenda Mitchell and J Mroczko !)

we started the Brother Bear Foundation to help families adopt. today BBF gave $2k to the Gentry’s (first fam !) to adopt a baby from Ghana.

work hard – bless others. thats the… pic.twitter.com/9S0HG7ljZL

— ʙᴇᴀʀ ᴍᴄᴡʜᴏʀᴛᴇʀ (@BearMcWhorter) June 10, 2024

Josh, who works in finance, has made it clear that he and Vanessa will take care of the business side of things. It’s Bear’s job to use his platform to promote the foundation, invest in it himself and perhaps most importantly, do his part on the football field. The latter should be feasible for Bear, who is named after Josh but goes by Bear after Alabama legend Bear Bryant as a nod to his grandfather’s extreme Crimson Tide fandom. (Don’t worry, Grandpa has since come around on the Wolverines.)

In the meantime, Bear has one final summer at home, one last football season at Cass High before it’s off to Michigan. He plans to soak up every second and take what he has learned from his family with him to Ann Arbor.

Playing offensive line for the Wolverines, he said, may not be all that different from his role as brother to Lily, Olivia and Lydia.

“It’s a lot of protection and setting everybody straight,” he quipped.

“Opening up your home and your family to just welcome somebody that needs it — I just feel like it doesn’t get any better than that.”

(Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; Photos courtesy of the McWhorter family)

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NIL and transfers irk Ron DeSantis, who yearns for the glory days of college sports in Florida

Name, image and likeness (NIL) compensation and the transfer portal in major college sports continue to perturb Florida’s Governor. During comments at the University of South Florida College of Medicine in Tampa, Gov. Ron DeSantis reminisced about the way it used to be during the golden era of college football in Florida. “It’s tough. I mean, with […]

Published

11 minutes ago

June 25, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Name, image and likeness (NIL) compensation and the transfer portal in major college sports continue to perturb Florida’s Governor.

During comments at the University of South Florida College of Medicine in Tampa, Gov. Ron DeSantis reminisced about the way it used to be during the golden era of college football in Florida.

“It’s tough. I mean, with NIL and transferring and all this stuff,” DeSantis lamented. “It used to just be … all the Florida schools just kind of lock and load, (during) the ’80s and ’90s, even beyond that when you had the Urban Meyer years in Florida. And then it’s like, you know, particularly in the last five or 10 years, so much is going on. There’s a lot of moving parts.”

The Governor has called attention to the increased professionalization of amateur sports in recent years, including saying in 2024 that he wanted to work with other Governors to develop a regulatory “framework” because Congress wouldn’t do it.

DeSantis has griped about student athletes having too much leverage and about Florida programs in recent months on numerous occasions.

“I think this whole NIL may need some guardrails, and the transferring has gotten out of hand. You know, transferring once? Fine, you shouldn’t have to sit out. But to just treat it like a free agency where you don’t know who’s going to come back each year, I think that’s diluted college sports,” he said during other remarks in 2024.

“You get paid for name, image and likeness and stuff, which we supported in Florida. If people are going to make money off you, like, whatever,” DeSantis said in Waukee, Iowa, during his failed presidential campaign.

“But now it’s like, they sit out the bowl games and they do all this other stuff. … We’ve got to do something about that. I don’t know if that’s the right thing.”

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Seven of Eight Teams Announced for 2025 Baha Mar Hoops Pink Flamingo Championship

Story Links NASSAU, The Bahamas – An amazing destination resort greets a standout collection of women’s basketball teams when Baha Mar plays host to the 2025 Baha Mar Hoops Pink Flamingo Championship, Monday, Nov. 24 and Wednesday, Nov. 26 at the Baha Mar Convention, Arts & Entertainment Center. Veteran sports promoter bdG […]

Published

12 minutes ago

June 25, 2025

Your Sports Nation

NASSAU, The Bahamas – An amazing destination resort greets a standout collection of women’s basketball teams when Baha Mar plays host to the 2025 Baha Mar Hoops Pink Flamingo Championship, Monday, Nov. 24 and Wednesday, Nov. 26 at the Baha Mar Convention, Arts & Entertainment Center. Veteran sports promoter bdG Sports announced seven teams scheduled to participate in the eight-team field Wednesday.

Confirmed teams set to compete include Alabama, Belmont, Harvard, Minnesota, Ohio State, South Florida and West Virginia. All seven of the squads announced Wednesday advanced to postseason play a year ago, including five that appeared in the NCAA Tournament.

Once the final team is added, the event will feature two separate, four-team divisions resulting in two champions being crowned. Matchups and game times will be announced later. All games will be streamed.

“We are excited and proud to showcase a top-tier brand of hoops in the Bahamas once again as we continue to grow and expand women’s basketball and our events,” college basketball analyst and event contributor Debbie Antonelli said. “I’m known for saying, ‘The Product is the Narrative’ because we create opportunities to compete and the players and coaches deliver. Teams are returning because they trust bdG Sports to deliver another first-class event in an incredible destination location, and rest assured, it will be entertaining given the quality of competition!”

Alabama (24-9 in 2024-25) made its third consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament under head coach Kristy Curry a year ago. The Crimson Tide’s historic season included multiple program milestones, among them, a listing in the Associated Press poll in all but two weeks of the season (with its highest ranking of No. 18).

Belmont head coach Bart Brooks helped guide the Bruins (26-13) to a runner-up finish in the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament (WBIT) en route to program’s 10th consecutive 20-plus win season in 2024-25. Enjoying its deepest national postseason run in school history last season, Belmont has won seven national postseason games over the last five years.

Under head coach Carrie Moore, Harvard (24-5) notched arguably its best season in program history in 2024-25, earning its most wins in school history, claiming its first Ivy League Tournament title and appearing in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 18 years.

Head coach Dawn Plitzuweit’s Minnesota (25-11) squad capped the 2024-25 campaign, winning the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament.

Ohio State (26-7) made its fourth consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament in 2024-25, hosting games as a top-16 seed for the third consecutive season. Kevin McGuff’s Buckeyes finished the season ranked No. 19 nationally and have won at least 25 games in each season since the pandemic.

USF (23-11) capped the 2024-25 season with its 10th NCAA Tournament appearance under head coach Jose Fernandez, in his 25th season. The Bulls went 13-4 in conference play and secured their fourth league title by winning the 2025 American Athletic Conference Tournament, defeating Tulane, North Texas, and Rice on three consecutive days. The campaign marked Coach Fernandez’s 14th straight 19-win season and 12th 20-win season.

West Virginia (25-8) made its third straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament last season. WVU advanced to the tournament’s second round for the second straight season a year ago and has posted back-to-back 25-win seasons under head coach Mark Kellogg. The Mountaineers ended the season ranked No. 21 in the nation.

Alabama (2022), Ohio State (2023) and USF (2021) are making return trips to Baha Mar after previously competing in the Pink Flamingo Championship when it featured a non-bracketed format.

Eventual national champion UConn and regional finalist LSU each won its separate four-team divisions of the Baha Mar Hoops Pink Flamingo Championship last season.

TICKETS AND VIP PACKAGES ON SALE JULY 15
Tickets and VIP packets can be purchased at www.bahamarhoops.com beginning Tuesday, July 15.
Amenities of the VIP packages include a four-night stay at the Grand Hyatt Baha Mar, two courtside tickets to all games of the event, two tickets to the tournament’s VIP reception (Nov. 25) with dinner and open bar included, round-trip ground transportation from the airport and resort, two daily breakfast vouchers, welcome gifts and personal concierge service. (Airfare not included in the packages.)

MORE THAN BASKETBALL AWAITS AT THE BEAUTIFUL BAHA MAR RESORT
The remarkable Baha Mar resort serves as the backdrop to this basketball showcase. Anchored by Grand Hyatt and featuring SLS Baha Mar and Rosewood Baha Mar, the resort is situated on 1,000 acres overlooking Nassau’s famous turquoise ocean waters. The destination resort boasts more than 2,300 rooms, the largest casino in the Caribbean, a $200 million luxury water park, an 18-hole Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course, the Caribbean’s first and only flagship ESPA Spa and a collection of more than 45 restaurants and lounges.

ABOUT BAHA MAR HOOPS
Baha Mar annually plays host to one of the largest regular-season events in the sport of college basketball. Each November around the Thanksgiving holiday, 20 NCAA Division I men’s and women’s teams visit the stunning resort to compete in various basketball tournaments. In total, 20 games will be played over an 11-day span.

Each August, the resort also holds the Baha Mar Hoops Summer League, offering NCAA teams exhibition games against international competition as part of a foreign tour. The resort has welcomed men’s basketball teams from Kentucky, Louisville, Penn State, Rhode Island and Xavier for summer exhibition tours in recent years.

BAHA MAR HOOPS SOCIAL TAGS
Keep up to date with the latest information regarding Bah Mar Hoops via social media at @BahaMarHoops on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

ABOUT bdG SPORTS
bdG Sports is a sports and entertainment leader with a dynamic event management portfolio anchored with a focus in basketball and professional golf. The firm boasts an event schedule that has delivered significant economic impact to multiple communities throughout North America and the Caribbean while featuring broadcasts to viewers across the globe.

In basketball, bdG has a lengthy history of producing college basketball content. From summer exhibition tours to multiple high-profile in-season tournaments, bdG will contract nearly 150 regular-season men’s and women’s Division I basketball games annually. It boasts the record for the largest hoops crowd in Nevada state history (Duke-Gonzaga 2021 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas) and the second-most watched game since 2008 (Arkansas-Illinois on Thanksgiving Day 2024 with 5.1 million viewers). bdG is proud to be the only third-party operator which manages a conference tournament, assisting The Big West Conference Tournament each March in Henderson, Nevada. In professional basketball, bdG managed home games for the NBA G-League’s Ignite for its two years at the Dollar Loan Center.

In professional golf, bdG owns and operates two season-opening Korn Ferry Tour tournaments, The Bahamas Golf Classic at Paradise Island and The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic, both featuring $1 million purses. And among its newest events, the ESPN Ultimate Fantasy Football Weekend at Baha Mar each August.

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Kerrington Cross Named College Baseball Foundation All-American

Story Links CINCINNATI – University of Cincinnati baseball infielder Kerrington Cross was named an All-American by the College Baseball Foundation on Wednesday. It’s the third All-America honor for Cross, who also received the accolade from Perfect Game and ABCA/Rawlings. The College Baseball Foundation All-America team is just one team with 31 […]

Published

13 minutes ago

June 25, 2025

Your Sports Nation

CINCINNATI – University of Cincinnati baseball infielder Kerrington Cross was named an All-American by the College Baseball Foundation on Wednesday.

It’s the third All-America honor for Cross, who also received the accolade from Perfect Game and ABCA/Rawlings.

The College Baseball Foundation All-America team is just one team with 31 names. Cross was one of just two Big 12 position players to earn a spot, joining TCU’s Sawyer Strosnider.

Cross is the first Bearcat to make at least three All-America teams since Ian Happ in 2015.

// ABOUT KERRINGTON CROSS
Cross, who was named the Big 12 Player of the Year last month, turned in an incredible 2025 season. He hit .396 with 12 home runs, 50 RBI, 65 runs scored, 50 walks, a .647 slugging percentage, and a .526 on-base percentage. Cross ended the college baseball season ranking eighth in the nation in on-base percentage and 20^th in batting average.

In single-season school annals, his .526 OBP is the second-highest ever by a UC player, and his batting average is the eighth-highest.

Cross ended his career ranking third all-time in school history in runs scored (221), fourth in hits (260), fourth in home runs (41), fourth in triples (11), fifth in RBI (170), third in total bases (444), third in walks (153), and fifth in stolen bases (62) His 219 career games played rank eighth all-time.

He was a First Team All-Big 12 honoree this season, his third all-conference nod as a Bearcat. He became the seventh player in school history to earn at least three all-conference honors.

One of the best third basemen in the country, Cross was a Golden Spikes Award and Dick Howser Trophy semifinalist and was D1Baseball’s No. 1-ranked third baseman in the publications latest position rankings on May 7.

Cross graduated with his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from UC.

// CINCINNATI BASEBALL ALL-AMERICANS

Kerrington Cross (2025)

Ian Happ (2015)

Lance Durham (2009)

Josh Harrison (2008)

Kevin Youkilis (2000-01)

Steve Barhorst (1996)

Tim Burman (1974)

Pat Maginn (1967)

Billy Wolf (1965)

Bill Faul (1961-62)

// FOLLOW THE BEARCATS
For up-to-the-minute updates, follow @GoBearcatsBASE on X/Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

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The Model Buckeye, Bruce Thornton is Back to Win Games in 2025-26: “I Don’t Care What Else I Do”

He might hail from Georgia, but Bruce Thornton is the embodiment of a Buckeye. In the age of constant college basketball roster turnover due to the combination of NIL and the transfer portal (revenue sharing forthcoming), Thornton has had ample opportunity to leave Ohio State. He would have been forgiven for seeking a bona fide […]

Published

36 minutes ago

June 25, 2025

Your Sports Nation

He might hail from Georgia, but Bruce Thornton is the embodiment of a Buckeye.

In the age of constant college basketball roster turnover due to the combination of NIL and the transfer portal (revenue sharing forthcoming), Thornton has had ample opportunity to leave Ohio State. He would have been forgiven for seeking a bona fide contender after missing the NCAA Tournament with the Buckeyes for the third straight year, two of which he was their leading scorer.

But he stayed.

“I just stand by my morals,” Thornton said. “I just believe in staying true to people who did well by you. I’ve always been like that, since I was young. Staying with the same teams, staying with the same group of people, my friends from back home. I just stay the course. And I always reaped the benefits of staying loyal, and just put it in God’s hands.”

Thornton’s career accolades are great, but he came back for his final year with his one and only college team with one object in mind: winning games. Or as Thornton’s shirt read and the Buckeyes’ new mantra goes, “Winning over everything.”

“I’m just trying to win games,” Thornton said. “I don’t care what else I do.”

“I just believe in staying true to people who did well by you. I’ve always been like that.”– Bruce Thornton on returning to Ohio State

Yes, Thorton is going to be compensated on the NIL and revenue share side, but loyalty is a commodity in the modern-day NCAA hoops landscape. Thornton could have easily sought compensation elsewhere. But he instead showed his loyalty in abundance.

He’s also a two-time second-team All-Big Ten selection and will almost certainly become the first four-time team captain in Ohio State history as a senior. He’s 10th all-time with the Buckeyes in career assists at 408, and will climb to No. 3 all-time if he matches his output of 148 (4.6 per game) last year. His 1,487 points are 21st in school history.

Last year was the best yet for Thornton. He evolved into a potent 3-point shooter, knocking down 42.4% of his looks from outside to help register a career-high 17.7 points per game. His overall field goal percentage was a career-high 50.1% as well. His perimeter defense was stout, too, helping the Buckeyes finish 22nd nationally in opposing 3-point percentage (30.5%).

Those numbers came with a workload of 36.2 minutes per game, the third-most of any player in the Big Ten. With John Mobley Jr. back as Thornton’s backcourt co-star and depth in Gabe Cupps, Taison Chatman and Mathieu Grujicic, Diebler hopes he can provide his bigger star with fresher legs down the stretch of 2025-26.

“As the season went on last year, we tried to move Bruce around in the half court because he was so efficient as a scorer,” Diebler said. “But it was a heavy load that we asked him to carry last year and being able to have guys create for him sometimes makes it easier for him and also made us harder to guard. So we feel like we have way more playmaking in general, which will be really helpful for us. There’s going to be a lot more space on the court, which is something we tried to do going into last season, but as the season wore on, we just weren’t able to do that at the level we wanted to.”

Last year was the closest Thornton and the Buckeyes have come to a return to the tourney in the past three seasons.

Ohio State entered the final month of its schedule well within the projected 68-team field, then lost five of its last seven games, including an immediate exit from the Big Ten Tournament against Iowa. Even if the Buckeyes had beaten Indiana in their final regular-season game, they would have collected a first-round bye in the conference tourney and likely made the Big Dance.

That’s why Thornton said the littlest details, from free-throw shooting to defensive communication to team chemistry, matter.

“It’s a margin of one possession; we would have been in the tournament,” Thornton said. “So I make sure I hold these guys to a high standard, make sure we do all the small details because it matters. You might not see it then, but it can come back to haunt you at the end of the season or at the end of the game.”

With Cupps transferring in from Indiana, Chatman returning from a season lost due to injury and Grujicic coming from overseas, Thornton’s backcourt support will look entirely different than it did in 2024-25. There will be two new starters in the frontcourt too, with power forward Brandon Noel from Wright State and center Christoph Tilly from Santa Clara.

“We’re gonna fit together because there’s no egos,” Thornton said. “When you have no egos, it makes the job way easier. So we don’t care who scores, how we score, we just want the job to get done at the end of the day. Because if we’re all winning, everybody eats.”

Thornton is entering his fourth year as Ohio State’s maestro, captain and star. He feels better at it than ever before. There’d be no player more deserving of an end to the Buckeyes’ NCAA Tournament drought – his and the team’s journey gets underway in November.

“I just use everything I’ve been through,” Thornton said. “In college basketball, I’ve been at the dead bottom, been high up. So I’m just telling these guys, ‘It’s a roller coaster, yo. You’ve just gotta stay the course the whole time. Everything will take care of itself.’”

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Page Not Found | Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Copyright © 2025, Northwest Arkansas Newspapers LLC. (NWA Media) All rights reserved. This document may not be reprinted without the express written permission of Northwest Arkansas Newspapers LLC Material from the Associated Press is Copyright © 2025, Associated Press and may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or […]

Published

37 minutes ago

June 25, 2025

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This document may not be reprinted without the express written permission of Northwest Arkansas Newspapers LLC

Material from the Associated Press is Copyright © 2025, Associated Press and may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium. Neither these AP materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and noncommercial use. The AP will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions therefrom or in the transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages arising from any of the foregoing. All rights reserved.

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Oklahoma returning to prestigious college softball tournament

After what was supposed to be a rebuilding year for the Oklahoma Sooners in 2025, Patty Gasso isn’t backing down from any challenges in 2026. The Sooners will again compete in the loaded Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic during the 2026 college softball season after a one-year hiatus. The tournament recently released a long list of […]

Published

38 minutes ago

June 25, 2025

Your Sports Nation

After what was supposed to be a rebuilding year for the Oklahoma Sooners in 2025, Patty Gasso isn’t backing down from any challenges in 2026.

The Sooners will again compete in the loaded Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic during the 2026 college softball season after a one-year hiatus. The tournament recently released a long list of participants, including Auburn, BYU, Duke, Missouri, Nebraska, Northwestern, Oregon, Oregon State, Rutgers, San Diego State, South Carolina, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, UCLA, Utah, Washington and more.

Sooners will play in 2026 Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic

The announced field included five teams that made the 2025 Women’s College World Series in OU, Texas, Texas Tech, Oregon and UCLA. Texas beat Texas Tech in the championship series after the Red Raiders knocked out OU in the semifinals. The Sooners and Texas won’t meet as SEC foes, but a rematch between OU and Tech seems like a likely matchup to set.

Another fun matchup would be OU taking on Nebraska, which has two former Sooners in Jordyn Bahl and Hannah Coor and nearly made the WCWS this past season.

The 2026 Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic will be on Feb. 19-22 to start the new college softball season in Cathedral City, California. Last season, Gasso opted to start OU’s season in California still, but not in the challenging tournament with a brand new roster she had to figure. In 2026, though, the Sooners’ lineup will be loaded with returning talent and top transfer addition Sydney Berzon from LSU as their ace.

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