One area to watch on Mark Pope’s Kentucky Wildcats teams this season and future seasons is the frontcourt. How the Wildcats’ frontcourt defends and displays versatility is going to be a key to next season as the Wildcats pursue a ninth national championship.

A 5-star prospect in the 2026 class, Miikka Muurinen, has whittled down his list of schools that have offered him to seven. Kentucky is among those seven schools.

ESPN has the 6-foot-10, 185-pound Muurinen listed as the No. 11 player in their ESPN100 for the Class of 2026.

Muurinen is a native of Jarvenpaa, Finland, and he currently stars at Arizona Compass Prep in Chandler, Arizona.

Muurinen’s profile on 247 Sports Composite has him listed as the No. 9-ranked player in the country and No. 2 power forward. He is listed as the No. 1 player in Arizona.

Muurinen does not have an official visit to Kentucky scheduled. He only has visits scheduled at Michigan (Sept. 14) and Arkansas (Sept. 20).

If he commits to Kentucky, it would be a great addition to Kentucky’s frontcourt for the 2026-27 season.

Kentucky Reacts

In this week’s Kentucky Reacts survey, the majority of fans voted for Denzel Aberdeen to be UK’s third starter in the backcourt next to Jaland Lowe and Otega Oweh.

This survey was brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook.

Rising senior Miikka Muurinen has included Indiana in his final seven schools.

The 6-foot-11 forward from Finland will also consider Arkansas, Duke, Kentucky, Michigan, NC State, and North Carolina going forward.

According to the average of the national rankings, Muurinen is the nation’s No. 8 overall prospect and the No. 1 power forward in the 2026 class.

The 5-star attends Compass Prep in Arizona for high school.

Muurinen has already visited Arkansas and Michigan.  The IU staff is working to get him on campus for a visit.

Indiana has been involved with Muurinen since the new staff took over in the spring.  He formally announced an IU offer earlier this week.

Muurinen has not laid out a timeline to announce his college decision.  His junior season high school highlights are below.

For a complete look at all of Indiana’s 2026 targets, GO HERE.

 For complete coverage of IU basketball recruiting, GO HERE.   

The Daily Hoosier –“Where Indiana fans assemble when they’re not at Assembly”

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Women’s sports are in the spotlight this month as South Africa’s Banyana Banyana defend their WAFCON title, taking on Africa’s greatest players. With a victory against Ghana already under their belts, we’ll be tuning in to watch them stand up to Tanzania on Friday, 11 July, and Mali on Monday, 14 July. In the meantime, women’s football teams are also taking advantage of the Premier League off-season to get their time in the sun, at the Women’s Euros. It’s all live on Showmax Premier League now … but not every day is match day.

If you’re on fire to see women and girls kicking butt and snatching trophies through great teamwork, skill, and the power of will, we have some series and documentaries for you. Press play to see what it takes to become a champion, from the netball court to the race track.

Quick ticket links

Obstruction Season 1

Breekpunt Season 1

Spinners Season 1

Inside Spinners

Trompoppie Season 1

Reënboogrant Season 1 

Dare Me Season 1

Cheer, Drama, Murder

Makofi Season 1-3

Champions Season 1

Mr Throwback Season 1

Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty Season 1-2

Ballers Season 1-5

Edge of the Earth Season 1

Lionesses Part 1 and Lionesses Part 2

Breaking Records the Gerda Steyn Story

The Unbreakable Tatiana Suarez

Black Ferns, a Redemption

Lindsey Vonn The Final Season

Angel City Season 1

The Fastest Woman on Earth

Unstoppable: The Rebecca Nagel Story

Shine

Hero starts with her

Netball

Obstruction Season 1

Sports drama from Thembakuye Madlala, the creator of Showmax Original series Youngins. Seventeen-year-old Zenokuhle (Luyanda Zuma) has big dreams of making the Gauteng provincial netball team. But getting around her opponents on the court is child’s play compared to overcoming the obstacles in her everyday life, starting with her mom, Thandiwe (Bukamina Cebekhulu), who’s decided to uproot them and transfer Zenokuhle to a new school with a lacklustre netball team. While Zenokuhle blames her mom, her dad Mandla’s (Menzi Biyela) gambling addiction might be the root of the family’s troubles.

Tennis

Breekpunt Season 1

When 18-year-old Ashleigh Joshua (Spinners and Wyfie star Chelsea Thomas) sets her sights on becoming an international tennis champion, her mom Rozlynne (Lorcia Cooper Kumalo) and dad Dwayne (Sherman Faro) are more inclined to douse her dreams in cold water, than to cheer her on. There’s a strong message that “this is not for the likes of you”. But as Ashleigh’s talent shines, smart, ambitious Rozlynne faces a tough choice whether to stand up for her daughter, and stand up to her husband. Breekpunt’s tennis advisors included Pieter Becker, director of the High Performance Tennis Academy. 

Spinning

Spinners Season 1

We’re not talking about those spin cycle classes at the gym, we’re talking about extreme motorsport street car stunt performers. One of the drivers grabbing the Red Bull by the horns is Amber (Chelsea Thomas), the best young woman Spinner in The Hills. Her character is based on real-life driver Kayla Olifant, who was Chelsea’s stunt driver – especially for death-defying moves like her “suicide slide” in which she hangs backwards out of her driver’s side window, with her hair nearly touching the ground while her car drives in perfect circles. Don’t tell the insurance; we’d like to keep our woman driver discounts.

Also watch: For an inside look at Spinners’ stunts and more, watch the making-of doccie, Inside Spinners.

Cheerleading

Trompoppie Season 1

In the Showmax Original murder-mystery series Trompoppie, the rich Patterson family take shy, ambitious gymnast Luna (Melissa Myburgh) under their wing believing that she has the star quality to boost their daughter Zanne’s (Celeste Loots) Deacon College cheerleading squad to the next level. But when Zanne goes missing during Luna’s top secret initiation ceremony, everyone’s lacquered claws point at the new girl. If you’re a cheer-lover, this is unmissable. Aside from having backgrounds in dance and gymnastics, the cast trained and ate like real trompoppies for months – and Jane de Wet (Valerie) was a real-life cheerleader for the DHL Stormers and the IPL in India, while Maite Rakabe (Tracy) was a stunt performer on the movie The Woman King. 

Reënboogrant Season 1 

In this Showmax Original series inspired by Louise van Niekerk’s young adult novels, Hoërskool Reënboogrant Rhinos cheerleader Shani Brink (Minke Marais) has big dreams of translating her skills on the squad to a career in modelling or being an actress. Performance is performance. But she’s surrounded by mean girl frenemies looking to topple her off the pyramid – like rich girl Rachelle Labuschagne (Marelee Ferreira), and jealous social media terror Tina Swanepoel (Cara Kruger). And if you’ve seen Shani going “one one and two” at cheerleader practice, you know she’s not quite ready to step it up like a Trompoppie. 

Dare Me Season 1

American cheerleader drama series based on Megan Abbott’s novel of the same name. Sutton Grove High School’s cheerleading squad takes a dark turn after they get a new coach, Colette French (Willa Fitzgerald), who starts making drastic changes like body shaming the girls, demoting squad captain Beth Cassidy (Marlo Kelly), and elevating Beth’s quiet best friend, Addy (Herizen Guardiola). On the surface and on the field it’s all smiles and chummy togetherness, but underneath, it seems all too easy to turn young women’s competitive natures against one another. When your power structure is a pyramid, everyone wants to be on top. 

Also watch: The murder-mystery movie Cheer, Drama, Murder

Boxing

Makofi Season 1-3

Zambian boxing drama. Women can dish it out and take it! Anna (Chimwemwe Zulu) a passionate young boxer, inherits her dad’s Makofi Boxing Club after he dies in front of her in the middle of a match. Despite fierce opposition from the woman who used to be her greatest supporter – her mom, Izukanji (Yoko Chimanja) – hordes of haters including her sister Kalumba (Chacha Cottan), and the fact that her dad’s business partner Joe (Philip J Ngabwe) might be fighting dirty, Anna gets her gloves up and fights for her dreams at home and in the ring. And in doing so, she opens a space in the ring for women like her.

Sidelined!

Women might not be on the field, but they’re calling the shots behind the scenes in these series: 

Champions Season 1: Sne Modise (Jo-Anne Reyneke) takes charge of her family’s business – Soshanguve Giants Football Club.

Mr Throwback Season 1: Kimberly (Ego Nwodim) runs (real-life) basketball star Stephen Curry’s documentary film production company, Curry Up and Wait Productions, in this comedy series.

Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty Season 1-2: Claire Rothman (Gaby Hoffmann) is the first and only woman managing a major sports arena, the Forum, while Jeanie Buss (Hadley Robinson), daughter of LA Lakers owner Jerry Buss (John C Reilly), Jerry’s mom and bookkeeper Jessie Buss (Sally Field), marketing guru Linda Zafrani (Molly Gordon), and Laker Girls cheerleader head choreographer Paula Abdul (Carina Conti) rattle some cages as they try to make themselves heard above men’s egos in the business.

Ballers Season 1-5: High-profile sports journalist Tracy Legette (Arielle Kebbel) knows all the NFL’s darkest secrets and has the players’ best interests in mind in Seasons 1, 2 and 5 of this comedy-drama about the business of American Football.

Doccies

Edge of the Earth Season 1: HBO documentary miniseries on elite athletes taking part in extreme sports expeditions. Look out for mountaineer and free climber Emily Harrington, snowboarder Elena Hight, and canoeist Nouria Newman. 

Lionesses Part 1 and Lionesses Part 2: A behind-the-scenes documentary on the England women’s football team’s 2022 UEFA victory, and how they overcame massive obstacles including attitudes that sidelined them while the lion’s share of resources went to the men’s team.

Breaking Records the Gerda Steyn Story: Documentary on the South African ultramarathon runner and multiple-time Two Oceans and Comrades Marathon winner, following her 2024 running season. 

The Unbreakable Tatiana Suarez: Her story reads like the script for Million Dollar Baby, but MMA athlete Tatiana overcame a broken neck during the 2012 Summer Olympics, and cancer, to come back and win the 2023 season of reality series The Ultimate Fighter.

Black Ferns, a Redemption: Documentary tracing the rise of the New Zealand women’s rugby team the Black Ferns, from underdogs status to winning the 2021 Rugby World Cup.

Lindsey Vonn The Final Season: This gripping documentary follows 34-year-old downhill skiing champion Lindsey Vonn as a 2019 knee injury derails her plan to break the career record set by Sweden’s Ingemar Stenmark for most World Cup wins (86). 

Angel City Season 1: A three-part docuseries about the origins of Angel City Football Club, a Los Angeles-based professional women’s soccer team whose financial backers include Uzo Aduba, Jessica Chastain, America Ferrera, Jennifer Garner, Eva Longoria and Natalie Portman.

The Fastest Woman on Earth: HBO documentary on Jessi Combs, the racing driver, metal fabricator and Mythbusters Host, on a mission to break the women’s land speed record – set at 825 km/h by Kitty O’Neil in 1976 – and then to top her own record. 

Unstoppable: The Rebecca Nagel Story: In 2014 Rebecca Nagel lost the use of her legs in a car accident. But on 18 June 2022, Rebecca became the first-ever woman to complete a half marathon trail event. This South African documentary joins her on the trail.

Shine: Documentary. Nigerian sports journalist Tracy Chapele-Ugo is one of four fans in Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania and Ghana, who are going above and beyond to make football more enjoyable for others in their local community.

On a sweltering summer Tuesday morning, Temple Police Officer Jacob Sastre rushed a basketball down the court and threw a layup, adding two points in a friendly pickup game between Temple’s Department of Public Safety (TUDPS) and North Philadelphia campers.

“Community engagement is essential to our mission at Temple Public Safety. It’s important that children who live here in North Philadelphia see us not only as police officers, but also as mentors, allies and friends so they know that we care about them,” said Jennifer Griffin, Temple University’s chief of police and vice president for public safety. 

The spirited game happened on the brand new basketball court at Tanner G. Duckrey Public School, just off Temple’s campus in North Philadelphia, as children and police officers alike cheered from the sidelines.

“Police like to have fun, just like the children do,” Griffin said. 

Police Officer Leroy Wimberly said community policing is about building relationships that go beyond emergency calls, adding that the competition emphasized teamwork and connection. 

“Police work means getting involved in the community and being a part of the community,” Wimberly said. 

At halftime, officers handed out water bottles and chatted with the kids about school, sports and summer plans. 
In the end, it was the campers who took home the win, edging out the officers in a close 22-19 finish. As a reward, the young athletes received commemorative Temple basketballs, water ice and Temple T-shirts. 

The children also took with them bragging rights.

Rian Williams-Jackson recently graduated from Duckrey School and is now preparing for high school with hopes of going to Temple for dentistry. 

“They have a great program and it’s my dream to be a Temple Owl,” said Williams-Jackson.

The game wasn’t without lighthearted smack-talk. 

“Good luck, but the police are going to lose by 40 points,” Williams-Jackson said before the game started.

“Community policing is about being visible, showing up for our youth and reminding our entire community that we’re here for them,” Griffin said.
The basketball game is part of TUDPS’ ongoing community engagement efforts. Recently, Temple police painted a playground at Duckrey School. They also collected books for a local bookstore and provided lunches to a nearby shelter. 

Looking ahead, TUDPS is planning several events to engage with Temple students when they return to campus in the fall. Check out TUDPS’ full calendar of events here. 
 

The 2026 recruiting class for the Michigan men’s basketball team is currently a party of one, with Danish center Marcus Moller committing on Tuesday.

Today, we’ll break down what we know about Moller, go in-depth on his game and project what his role could be at Michigan.

What we know so far

At 7-foot-3, Moller is one of the most intriguing international prospects in the class. Moller is unranked at the moment, which is common for international recruits more than a year away from debuting in college basketball. He took a visit to Ann Arbor last month, and also took trips to SMU, Colorado State and Oklahoma State before choosing the Wolverines.

Moller represented Denmark at the 2024 FIBA U18 EuroBasket and at the 2025 FIBA EuroBasket 2025 Qualifiers. In 2024 — the larger sample size of games — Moller averaged 13.1 points, 7.4 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.7 blocks per game, while shooting 55.4 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from three.

In an interview with 247Sports’ Travis Barnham, it sounds like the pitch May made to Moller was similar to the pitches made to Danny Wolf, Morez Johnson Jr., and Patrick Liburd — at Michigan, you can improve as a player and expand your game.

“Coach May will put me in situations where I’ll be in a top program and I’ll be pushed to grow every day,” Moller said. “We share visions in regards to my development, and together we will elevate my game to the next level. He will push me to become the best version of myself as a basketball player as well as a person. His focus on the person and not just the basketball player builds a healthy environment for growth.”

Scouting Report

The biggest critique scouts often have for young bigs — who often undergo one or two massive growth spurts from ages 13-16 — is their footwork and fluidity. Oftentimes, young bigs can look like Bambi on an icy pond; they’re aware of their long legs, but they’re still working through how to move smoothly. This can be tough in a sport like basketball where the game moves fast and you’re constantly asked to multitask and process what’s happening around you quickly.

Moller showcases good footwork for his lanky frame on both ends of the floor, making it appears he’s conquered the growing pains young bigs often go through. He runs the floor well in transition, has a good feel in the pick-and-roll, and executes help-side and drop coverage well on defense.

In the EuroBasket qualifiers earlier this year, Moller was often playing against players that had 5-10 years of age on him. Like a younger brother dragged along with older kids in the neighborhood, playing against more experienced guys will only help him in the long run.

Moller is a good cutter who has a decent feel for where to rotate in the lane on drives. He’s an obvious lob threat who can finish effective drives. He’s also a good offensive rebounder who crashes the glass with tenacity and keeps the ball high for easy finishes; boxing him out is going to be challenging, even in a conference known for its size in the Big Ten.

Perhaps what’s most intriguing about Moller is his shooting touch. He’s closer to Vlad Goldin than Danny Wolf in terms of his comfort level shooting the three, but he did knock down threes as a pick-and-pop player when he didn’t roll to the rim. Looking at his mid-range makes, he has good touch on his jump shot.

Defensively, Moller is a good rim protector who can often block shots without getting more than a few inches off the ground. He also does a good job contesting shots without fouling, a skill that can take years for big men to master.

Like most young 7-footers, Moller has a skinny frame, but that can be worked on in a college strength program. He also doesn’t shy away from contact, which is always a great sign.

Moller’s future outlook on Michigan’s roster

Trying to predict what any college basketball roster will look like a year from now is like trying to predict the weather a year from now. That said, I like to think of young big men like cornerbacks in football — you can never have too many of them, even if some of them are developmental projects.

That may be what Moller is for Michigan. At worst, he’s a backup that you have to game plan for due to his size. At best, he could be a go-to player who finishes around the rim, racks up double-doubles and competes with the 7-footers that Matt Painter seems to be obsessed with at Purdue.

In terms of the short-term frontcourt needs, Yaxel Lendeborg and Will Tschetter each only have one year of eligibility. Meanwhile, Morez Johnson, Aday Mara and Malick Kordel all have multiple years of eligibility, but you can’t always count on them being in Ann Arbor more than one season with the transfer portal being a thing.

Moller can compete against some of those bigs in practice and can continue to grow his game. Seeing how Wolf improved his draft stock significantly likely piqued Moller’s interest in Michigan, and if that’s a dream May can sell to recruits and execute development-wise, Michigan can become the premier destination for young big men.

What are your first impressions of Moller, and what do you think his future has in store at Michigan? Let us know in the comments.

The U.S. Department of Justice Wednesday threatened to withhold billions of dollars in federal funding as it filed a lawsuit against the California Department of Education over the policy that allows transgender student athletes to compete in girls sports, just weeks after federal officials ruled the state violated civil rights.

The complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Santa Ana said the state education agency and the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) discriminate against female students by “allowing males to compete against them.”

“These discriminatory policies and practices ignore undeniable biological differences between boys and girls, in favor of an amorphous “gender identity,” the lawsuit said, claiming the state’s policy resulted in female student athletes’ losing scholarships and recognitions. 

The complaint echoed the ruling the U.S. Department of Education issued last month, saing the state and CIF were in violation of Title IX, a civil rights law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in any education program or activity. U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon had said the state’s policy of allowing men to “steal female athletes’ well-deserved accolades and to subject them to the indignity of unfair and unsafe competitions.”

The lawsuit specifically noted AB Hernandez, transgender athlete from Jurupa Valley High school, as Student 1, using the track and field athlete as an example of California’s alleged discrimination against female athletes, saying Hernandez’s records would not have resulted in medals if the student athlete had competed in in the boys’ competitions, including the ones held during the 105th California State Track & Field Championships in May.

“Student 1 placed first in the triple jump, tied for first in the high jump, and took second in the long jump,” the DOJ’s lawsuit stated. “Had Student 1 competed in the boys’ competition at that meet, his distances would have finished last in all three events, and he would not have even qualified to compete in the finals had he competed against the boys in the May 31, 2025, preliminaries.”

The Justice Department also mentioned Governor Newsom’s comments during his podcast in March in the complaint as he told conservative commentator Charlie Kirk that “it’s deeply unfair” for trans female athletes to be competing in women’s sports. 

“The Governor of California has previously admitted that it is ‘deeply unfair’ to force women and girls to compete with men and boys in competitive sports,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “But not only is it ‘deeply unfair,’ it is also illegal under federal law. This Department of Justice will continue its fight to protect equal opportunities for women and girls in sports.”

Through the lawsuit, the federal government wishes the court to force California to “permanently” reflect the U.S. Department of Education’s stance on transgender athletes while ordering the CIF to issue directives to schools, so they can prohibit “the participation of males in athletic competitions designated for females.”

The complaint also seeks to withhold $3.8 billion that’s set aside for the state for the remainder of the 2025 fiscal year. The federal funding can be issued as both discretionary grants and formula grants. 

The Justice Department said the state was projected to receive $44.3 billion in total from the federal government in the current fiscal year, which ends on Sep. 30, 2025. 

While Gov. Newsom is not the named as a defendant in the lawsuit, his office issued a statement, saying the state’s education department and CIF are following the School Success and Opportunity Act, which was passed in 2013 to allow transgender athletes to participate based on their gender identity while taking away discretion from individual school districts to determine their own policy on transgender student athlete.

“No court has adopted the interpretation of Title IX advanced by the federal government, and neither the governor nor they get to wave a magic wand and override it — unlike Donald Trump, California follows the law,” the governor’s office said Wednesday. 

“At a time when the Trump administration is withholding billions in funds for education, this ongoing attack is a cynical attempt to distract from the Trump administration’s defunding of nearly 3 million girls enrolled in California’s public school,” the statement added.

Also in response, Equality California, an LGBTQ+ civil rights organization condemned the lawsuit as a “cruel and baseless political stunt.”

“All students deserve a fair, safe, and supportive learning environment, including the opportunity to play sports. Transgender youth are not a threat, but they continue to be targeted by the Trump Administration in a coordinated campaign of hate and misinformation,” the group said.

The federal government is requesting trial by jury in their legal pursuit.