Just one day before the NBA draft withdrawal deadline — Wednesday, May 28 at 11:59 p.m. ET — the sport of college basketball has drastically improved going into 2025-26 thanks to some big-time return announcements. Among them? A few former Kentucky targets, interestingly enough, beyond the major updates that came during and immediately following the combine.

Those included Boogie Fland’s withdrawal and transfer to Florida, Cedric Coward’s decision to keep his name in the draft, leading to Dame Sarr’s commitment to Duke, and Darrion Williams’ move from Texas Tech to NC State after pulling out, among others.

What are the latest updates ahead of the deadline? They’re coming in hot, so keep your head on a swivel.

Yaxel Lendeborg will play at Michigan

Maybe the biggest surprise of the draft cycle, the UAB transfer and Michigan signee was seen as a likely first-round pick with his eyes on the top 20 — and could have gotten there after a strong combine. Instead, Lendeborg announced Tuesday he would be pulling his name out of the draft to suit up for the Wolverines in Ann Arbor. He gives Dusty May a preseason First Team All-American with Michigan seen as a likely top-five program with one of the deepest and most talented frontcourts in college basketball alongside Morez Johnson Jr. from Illinois and Aday Mara from UCLA.

To open the portal cycle, Lendeborg was seen as Kentucky’s top frontcourt target with Auburn also under serious consideration. Combining his projected NIL value and serious draft interest, it was a high-risk, high-reward possibility for any program pushing for his signature. May gave him what he was looking for and his investment paid off.

Instead, Mark Pope and the Wildcats landed the likes of Jayden Quaintance, Mo Dioubate and Andrija Jelavic while bringing back Brandon Garrison and adding Malachi Moreno from the high school ranks.

Karter Knox returns to Arkansas

Once a Kentucky pledge, the younger brother of former Wildcat Kevin Knox decommitted to follow John Calipari to Arkansas for his freshman campaign. There, he shined — especially to close out the season — averaging 8.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.0 assists in 24.0 minutes per contest on 46/35/80 splits.

Knox joins the likes of DJ Wagner, Trevon Brazile, Billy Richmond, Darius Acuff and Meleek Thomas in Fayetteville.

Alex Condon looks for a Florida repeat

After winning a national championship as a sophomore, the Australian big who flirted with first-round status this cycle announced his return to Gainesville on Tuesday. He was ranked No. 38 in ESPN’s draft projections, and now, Condon will be picking up where he left off with Florida once again seen as a contender to win the whole thing in 2025-26.

“It’s a really good situation waiting for me there,” Condon told ESPN. “A great coach with Todd Golden. Teammates I won a national championship with. I have great chemistry with those boys. We have a good transfer class coming in. I expect guys to make a leap.”

He was an All-SEC honoree after averaging 10.6 points, 7.5 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.3 blocks in 24.9 minutes per game.

Milos Uzan gives Houston potential preseason No. 1 ranking

Lendeborg was the biggest surprise, but Uzan isn’t too far behind — thought to be keeping his name in the draft before ultimately withdrawing ahead of the deadline to return to Houston. There, he’ll be joining returning starters Emanuel Sharp and Joseph Tugler to go with blue-chip recruits Chris Cenac, Isiah Harwell and Kingston Flemings.

Uzan, an All-Big 12 Second Team member, helped lead the Cougars to conference regular season and tournament titles to go with a run to the national championship game. He was thought to be a likely draft candidate, leading to Houston’s decision to add Creighton transfer Pop Isaacs as his replacement. Instead, Isaacs flipped his commitment to Texas A&M as Uzan announced his return to Houston.

Mackenzie Mgbako is ready for Bucky Ball in College Station

Starting as a Duke signee, the former five-star backed away from his pledge to play at Indiana where he spent his first two years in college basketball. Mgbako averaged 12.2 points and 4.3 rebounds in 26 minute per contest across 65 games in Bloomington. With Mike Woodson out, the former McDonald’s All-American hit the portal and took an official visit to Kentucky as Pope explored his forward options this offseason.

It wasn’t a fit in Lexington, Mgbako instead finding one in College Station under first-year coach Bucky McMillan. He was one of the top performers at the G League Elite Camp and earned an invite to the NBA draft combine.

A potential second-round pick, he’s now set to join the SEC at Texas A&M in hopes of becoming a first-rounder in 2026.

ESPN previews Otega Oweh’s decision

The other college stars are pulling their names out of the draft, so what does that mean for Kentucky’s biggest star still waiting on a decision? ESPN still believes Oweh will return to Lexington, despite a strong showing at the combine.

We’ve been under the impression that Oweh ultimately would return to Lexington, but he scored in double figures in each of the combine scrimmages and said he was “going through the process as if I’m all-in.” With that said, he still isn’t projected to be picked despite the solid showing in Chicago.

Mark Pope and Kentucky have added 10 new players this offseason, but bringing back a second-team All-SEC performer such as Oweh potentially would push the Wildcats into the preseason top 10. Without him, Pope will have to rely more heavily on newcomers in five-star freshman Jasper Johnson and transfers Denzel Aberdeen (Florida) and Kam Williams (Tulane).

Oweh has until Wednesday at 11:59 p.m. ET to make a decision on his future. Will he run it back as a Wildcat?

The Field of 64 is set and the NCAA Baseball Tournament is finally ready to begin. That, of course, doesn’t mean it’s come without any controversy. In particular, this year the selection committee chair Jay Artigues faced questions about the mid-majors sitting on the bubble this year.

The Last Four teams in all came from Power Four conferences to the NCAA Tournament. The First Four Out, meanwhile, features three different mid-majors. Among those mid-majors on the outside looking in were the UConn Huskies, Troy Trojans, and Southeastern Louisiana Lions. That’s notable because Artigues himself is the athletic director at Southeastern Louisiana. Still, when he appeared on the selection show to explain those bubble decisions, it was UConn who he used as his example.

“That’s a great question and when we get to that point in it, there’s a lot of vetting,” Jay Artigues said. “There’s a lot of teams. It’s not necessarily Team A against Team B. Sometimes it’s Team A against Team D and E. If you look at UConn, obviously, they had a great season. They started out 13-7 and then they won 25 of their next 29 games, but one thing you have to take into consideration, only seven of those games were against Top 100 RPI teams. In those seven games, they were 3-4. So, when you really break it down, it makes it challenging.”

UConn finished the season with an RPI ranking of 40, a SOS ranking of 87th, and would go 12-15 against teams in Quad 1 and Quad 2. That ended up not being enough, in large part because there weren’t enough spots to go around for a mid-major team with that kind of resume. The Power Conferences simply took up too many spots already.

“When the committee looked at the last four to five teams going into the tournament,” Artigues said. “It just didn’t feel like they were better than those teams. UConn was 3-6 against the top teams in their conference, which is Creighton and Xavier. The rest of the league didn’t have a team of 100 RPI, which made it real challenging. That’s where the new era with expanded conferences created some serious compression for mid-majors. Mid-majors are challenging. I don’t think people realize outside of the three big conferences — you’ve got the SEC, ACC, Big 12 — SEC with 13 teams, ACC with nine, Big 12 with eight. That only leaves eight at-large spots, which makes it so challenging.”

Ultimately, those Power Conferences only get one automatic bid as well. However, given their resumes and the depth of those conferences, they’re bound to get those larger numbers of teams every season, particularly as conference realignment expanded their respective sizes. That’s where the squeeze is coming from on mid-majors when the selection committee meets to discuss the Field of 64.

“That’s coming from a mid-major guy. You see us [SE Louisiana] on the bubble as well. It makes it very challenging,” Artigues said. “And it really makes for some serious conversations toward the end.”

Five members of the Ohio State softball team – Morgan Frye, Kami Kortokrax, Sami Bewick, Taylor Cruse and Skylar Limon – have been named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team. To be nominated, a student-athlete must be a starter or important reserve with at least a 3.50 grade-point average at her current institution and must be in at least their second collegiate season.

Academic All-District honorees were considered for advancement to the CSC Academic All-America ballot. First, second and third-team Academic All-America honorees will be announced June 17.

Frye spent one season with Ohio State after graduating from Berry College and made the most of it. On the field, she hit .379 with 12 home runs, 38 RBI, 26 extra base hits and a .790 slugging percentage. In the classroom, she earned a degree in environmental assessment and will soon be enrolled in Ohio State’s Moritz College of Law.

Like Frye, Bewick transferred to Ohio State from Maimi University and started all 60 games this past season at third base. A .330 hitter, she scored 54 runs, hit nine homers and drove in 34 runs. She’s majoring in finance.

Kortokrax, a Westerville native, graduated in May with her degree in communications. She started all 217 games in her Buckeye career and finished with 213 hits, 39 home runs, 144 RBI and 142 runs scored.

Curse and Limon made up two thirds of the Buckeyes’ starting outfield. A sophomore, Cruse earned second team All-Big Ten and second team All-Region honors as she hit .308 with 16 home runs and 54 RBI on the year. She’s majoring in marketing. Limon, meanwhile, had the third-highest batting average on the team – .361 – and drove in 29 runs. She’s a psychology major.

The Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) has extended its partnership with the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) as an associate partner from March 2025 to November 2026.

Under this renewed partnership, AMFI will engage with audiences across marquee events including the World Para Athletics Championships (September–October 2025), the Para Commonwealth Games (July 2026), and the Para Asian Games (October 2026).

Navneet Munot, chairman of AMFI, remarked, “Our para-athletes personify grit, determination, and purpose—qualities that also define successful investors. Extending this partnership is a matter of pride for AMFI as we continue to draw powerful parallels between their incredible journeys and the value of consistent, long-term investing. We are honored to support these exceptional individuals as they pursue their dreams and represent our nation with distinction. Together we want to convey that dreams are fulfilled with long term effort and dedication”

Venkat Chalasani, chief executive, AMFI, emphasised, “This collaboration goes beyond sponsorship—it represents a shared mission to promote empowerment in every sense. Just as mutual funds aim to make financial wellbeing accessible for every Indian, our para-athletes demonstrate that no goal is out of reach. We look forward to walking this path together and celebrating every milestone for the nation. This partnership also aligns with and supports the Indian government’s efforts to strengthen the sports ecosystem and nurture talent from every corner of the country.”

Devendra Jhajharia, president, PCI, said, “I am proud to welcome the Association of Mutual Funds in India as our long-term partner and re affirming their faith in us for the second term. This collaboration represents a shared vision of excellence, perseverance and inclusion. Our para-athletes consistently demonstrate extraordinary determination and skill, and with AMFI’s support, we can provide them with the platform they deserve. This partnership will be instrumental as we prepare for upcoming marquee events and continue to build a robust ecosystem for para-sports in India. Together, we will inspire millions and showcase the remarkable abilities of our para-athletes.”

Neerav Tomar, founder and managing director, IOS Sports & Entertainment, said, “This partnership between the Paralympic Committee of India and the Association of Mutual Funds in India marks a crucial moment for para-sports in our country. By supporting our athletes as they prepare for prestigious competitions like the World Para Athletics Championships, Para-Commonwealth Games, and Para-Asian Games, AMFI is not just investing in medals, but in the inspiring human stories that define Paralympic sports. We are confident that this long-term association will significantly enhance the resources available to our para-athletes and help elevate Indian para-sports to new heights on the global stage.”

There’s no question that it has been a strong 2024-25 athletic year for Texas Tech. The Red Raiders captured eight total Big 12 championships, the most of any team in the conference.

In addition, the Red Raider men’s basketball team reached the Elite Eight and came within a blink of playing in the Final Four before a late collapse cost them a win against eventual National Champion Florida.

Off the field, the Texas Tech success has been evident as well. That’s especially true in the case of the football program, which has brought in a historic transfer class, one that is rated by some recruiting services as the No. 1 transfer haul in the country.

Of course, all of that winning was topped off this past weekend when the softball program qualified for the Women’s College World Series for the first time in its history. That remarkable accomplishment was powered by Texas Tech’s unprecedented NIL investment in softball, a non-revenue sport. The money poured into that program brought star pitcher NiJaree Canady to Lubbock for a reported $1 million per season and changed the trajectory of Tech softball almost overnight.

Now, as the Red Raiders prepare to play in this week’s world series in Oklahoma City, the attention the softball program and the entire athletic department is receiving has ramped up, and the conversation for most around the nation is about the success that Tech has had via the NIL market. But, as one might expect, not everyone is happy to see the rise of the Red Raiders.

Fans across the nation are jealous of Texas Tech’s success

Almost as soon as Tech recorded the final out of last weekend’s Super Regional victory over No. 5 national seed Florida State, criticism from jealous fans across the nation began to flow freely on social media. It wasn’t just Seminole fans that were angry, though.

Rather, fans of schools from all corners of the nation tried to claim that Tech’s World Series run is less legitimate than the accomplishments of the other World Series participants simply because of the NIL investment that Tech made in the program. Claiming that Tech was guilty of just buying a World Series appearance, those fans showed that there is going to be pushback against Texas Tech’s efforts to improve their standing in the highest-profile sports by using the current system that the NCAA has in place.