Associated Press

The Big East Conference and ESPN announced a six-year digital media rights deal on Tuesday.

Big East Commissioner Val Ackerman said in a statement that the agreement gives “all 22 of our sports — especially women’s basketball and Olympic sports — the visibility they’ve earned and the access our fans expect.”

“This exciting partnership with ESPN reinforces our commitment to placing Big East teams front and center on the leading digital sports platform,” Ackerman said.

ESPN had the rights to the Big East from 1980 to 2013. The revived partnership comes after ESPN lost Big Ten media rights to Fox, NBC and CBS in 2022.

“We’re pleased to welcome the Big East back to ESPN,” Nick Dawson, the network’s senior vice president of programming and acquisitions, said in a statement. “This agreement returns one of the country’s premier conferences and its tradition of excellence to ESPN platforms. We look forward to this new chapter in our relationship with the Big East.”

ESPN+ will stream over 300 Big East events annually. Financial terms of the deal were not included in the announcement.

The Big East wrapped up a competitive 2024-2025 campaign led by the UConn women’s basketball team, which won its 12th national title in April. The St. John’s men’s basketball team had a strong regular season, earning a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament before being eliminated in the second round by No. 10 Arkansas.

___

AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports

---

The Elon baseball program and head coach Mike Kennedy has announced the hiring of Ryan Conroy as the program’s new pitching coach on June 25, 2025. A former Phoenix pitcher from 2016-18, Conroy joins the Phoenix after five years in the Baltimore Orioles farm system and a stint with Cressey Sports Performance as a pitching coach.
 
Conroy joins the Phoenix coaching staff after five seasons in pro baseball where he reached as high as AAA in the Orioles’ farm system. Conroy has spent the last year with Cressey Sports Performance as a pitching coach. During his time with Cressey, he worked directly with MLB All-Star and former Elon pitcher George Kirby. He also worked collaboratively with other pros such as Tanner Houck, Nick Pivetta and Jesus Luzardo.
 

During his time in the pros, he appeared in 98 games and compiled 226 professional innings. He most recently spent time with the Norfolk Tides, the Orioles AAA affiliate in 2023. Conroy was drafted by the Orioles in the eighth round of the 2018 MLB Draft after he spent three years in the maroon & gold. At Elon, he struck out 163 batters over three seasons in over 200 career innings pitched. Conroy, along with Kyle Brnovich and George Kirby, formed the Phoenix weekend rotation in 2018. The trio all spent time at the AAA-level or higher and were all drafted in the top eight rounds of the MLB Draft.

“I am ecstatic with this hire. Ryan IS Elon!  He played here. Played at a high level. He loves to compete. He understands the culture and commitment it takes both on the field and in the classroom to be successful,” said head coach Mike Kennedy. “He understands how I tick, and he understands the passion I have for this great university. He cares deeply about the history of this program and those like him who poured everything they had into Elon Baseball. He worked tirelessly to be a great player and now will do the same in developing our pitching staff. Ryan is one of the best young pitching minds in baseball. The impact he will have on the development of our pitching staff will be immeasurable. If you are serious about development, there will not be a better fit. You will get better here!”

March 19, 2017. 3,032 days. Louisville basketball is starving for a March Madness victory. This program changed after Donovan Mitchell declared for the NBA Draft, and while the program would have most likely won in 2019-2020, the fact is that Louisville has gone that long without an NCAA Tournament win.

Now, with Mikel Brown Jr. joining the team, the 5-star phenom will bring hope and excitement back to the Cardinals fans, which is long overdue. From the moment Mitchell was drafted by the Utah Jazz, this program has taken a massive step backward. However, with Brown leading the program, the fan base has been rejuvenated, and he has reenergized the fans heading into next season.

The incoming freshman will face a massive challenge and a lot of pressure, but he is already the fans’ favorite player and hasn’t even played a minute for Kelsey yet. Brown has made it clear this offseason that he just wants to win, and the fans are all in on this historic commitment.

Related: Louisville basketball’s Mikel Brown Jr. proves he’s the best PG in college basketball

Mikel Brown Jr. was the exact spark Louisville basketball fans needed

Brown announced his commitment to Louisville in January 2025, completely transforming this program. The Cardinals had a successful season last year, as they made their first-ever ACC Championship game and earned more wins than in the previous three seasons combined. However, the excitement surrounding Brown has this program not just looking for a successful 2025-26 season, but it is making Louisville a massive landing spot for 2026 5-stars.

Brown recently earned his second gold medal with Team USA at the FIBA U19 World Cup. The 6-foot-5 point guard secured a spot on the FIBA U19 All-Star Five after leading Team USA in points, assists, 3-pointers, and efficiency.

He will make his debut for the Cardinals in early fall, in October, and the fans cannot wait for that day. Everyone has the date circled, and Louisville fans and Brown just have one thing in common: a National Championship.

Louisville has one of the most historic programs in college basketball, and it’s crazy that this program has gone 3,032 days without a win in March Madness and 4,472 days since winning the National Championship game. The program hopes Brown can be the next Donovan Mitchell and spark this program back to life, securing a couple of NCAA Tournament wins.

Mitchell guided Louisville to their last win back in 2017 when the Cardinals defeated Jacksonville State 78-63. Brown is projected to be a one-and-done superstar, as many media outlets have the 5-star being a top-five pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, meaning this upcoming season is Louisville’s best chance in a long time at a deep postseason run.

This program has been craving for a superstar, and after watching the FIBA World Cup, they definitely got one. Brown has the skills and mindset to be Kelsey’s No. 1 guy next season, and the fans finally have a 5-star they are excited for.

Related: Louisville’s Mikel Brown Jr. is putting the world on notice and the ACC is shivering
Related: Louisville basketball’s Mikel Brown Jr. has Kentucky fans admitting the hype is real

For all the latest on Louisville basketball’s offseason and recruiting, stay tuned.

• EA Sports College Football 2026 features some fictional players due to NIL contract opt-outs and late roster additions, including nine for Ohio State.
• Topping Ohio State’s fictitious players is sophomore running back Jayson Ball, an elusive bruiser with an 87 rating.
• Many other college teams are missing actual players, including a whopping 43 for the West Virginia Mountaineers.
• The game can be edited to replace fictional players with names and likenesses of real ones.
• Official roster updates could be issued after the game’s standard release on July 10.

Who are the nine mysterious players on Ohio State’s roster for EA Sports College Football 2026, and what did the game do with 11 incoming Buckeyes freshmen?

Fans of OSU have a wealth of talent in the game, including sophomore receiver Jeremiah Smith (98 overall rating) and safety Caleb Downs (96 overall rating) adorning the cover, but those who have secured the game’s early deluxe edition are a little baffled by a running back named Jayson Ball, a sophomore from Cleveland with an 87 overall rating as an elusive bruiser.

More: Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith, Caleb Downs top-rated players in EA Sports College Football 26

Well, he’s fictitious along with eight other video Buckeyes whose ratings aren’t close to Ball’s. Meanwhile, 11 members of OSU’s incoming class are missing, including five-star cornerback Devin Sanchez and running backs Anthony Rogers and Isaiah West.

How did this happen?

The answer is multi-pronged, including a likelihood that a sizable number of players didn’t opt into EA Sports’ name, image and likeness contract despite the company increasing its NIL payout from $600 plus a deluxe edition of the game in 2025 to $1,500 plus a deluxe edition in 2026.

Other actual players who have been excluded might have committed to a school late in the recruiting process or transferred too late via the portal for inclusion in the 2026 game’s opening rosters. 

Not having those players creates voids within an 85-man roster, and that’s when Jayson Ball walks or rolls into Ryan Day’s virtual office via programming magic.

Speaking of Day, he’s one of more than 300 actual coaches whose likenesses are now included in the game as a series first. As for missing and made-up players, there are likely more than you may think with 136 Football Bowl Division programs in the game. 

That is a lot of roster holes to fill, and Ohio State’s nine pretend players might not be a lot comparatively. It’s a pittance compared to West Virginia, which has 43 actual players who aren’t included. That’s half of the Mountaineers’ roster comprised by fillers.

The good news for purists is the game’s editing function.

Those with time to edit can transform fictitious players into actual players by adjusting names, heights, weights, positions, ratings, and other traits. Once the game’s standard version is released July 10, EA Sports programmers are expected to issue update patches at some point to correct rosters.

In the meantime, Buckeyes fans can form a strong 1-2 punch in their backfield with their new elusive bruiser, Jayson Ball, and Bo Jackson, an actual OSU player not related to the former Auburn/NFL/MLB superstar of the same name. 

Got all that?

Good, now go hit the video gridiron.

Dispatch reporter Brian Hedger can be reached at bhedger@dispatch.com and @BrianHedger.bsky.social

Get more Ohio State football news by listening to our podcasts