The Golden State Warriors changed the way the NBA game was played by playing small, spreading the floor and relying heavily on the 3-point shot.

The successful tactic dribbled down to college basketball, with teams like Baylor, Virginia and Villanova winning national titles with their versions of position-less basketball.

Now that the NBA is starting to a shift with a resurgence of the big man, the college game is following suit.

“We trickle down from the NBA to college,” ESPN analyst and former coach Seth Greenberg said. “Everyone’s playing position-less basketball, but you can play position-less basketball with a big who can do a variety of things.”

College basketball still has plenty of teams sticking to the five-out scheme, but more and more are playing with four guards or wings working around a big man in the paint.

Follow every game: Latest NCAA Men’s College Basketball Scores and Schedules

No. 3 Purdue has funneled its offense through 7-foot-4 Zach Edey, the likely frontrunner for national player of the year who has led the Boilermakers to the No. 1 ranking twice this season.

No. 8 Arizona’s 7-footer Oumar Ballo has taken huge strides since following coach Tommy Lloyd from Gonzaga, teaming with Azuolas Tubelis to form one of the nation’s best frontcourts.

No. 14 Indiana funnels its offense through 6-9 Trayce Jackson-Davis, who is having an All-American-type season. Adama Sanogo helped No. 20 UConn rise as high as No. 2 earlier in the season. Kentucky’s Oscar Tschwiebe is the reigning national player of the year, though he hasn’t been quite as dominant this season.

Preseason No. 1 North Carolina hasn’t lived up to expectations, but Armando Bacot is a double-double machine, averaging 17.4 points and 11.0 rebounds per game.

“I love to see big men getting some love,” Gonzaga big man Drew Timme said. “The game has evolved and so have the big men.”

The big man’s domain is still on the low block, but coaches have found ways to get them involved in a game that’s become more free-flowing.

A popular action is for the big man to set a screen, often above the free throw line. If the screen doesn’t create an opening for a shooter, the big man can roll all the way to the basket, stop on a short roll to set up another teammate or crack back and set another screen.

Coaches also will set up big men in the dunker spot along the baseline between the basket and 3-point line, where they can be available when a driver draws in the defense.

Arizona has one of the toughest big-man sets to defend, swapping Ballo and Tubelis in a high-low action. The Wildcats get several easy baskets a game on the high-low and free up perimeter shooters when teams are forced to rotate a defender to help down low.

‘I love playing with big guys and I really value them,’ Lloyd said. ‘We spend a lot of time on our bigs touching the ball and we spend a lot of time teaching our guards how to pass the ball to the bigs so they get to touch the ball in advantageous situations.”

The advent of NIL deals has helped fuel this big man revival.

In the past, players with size would be tempted to give the NBA a shot, even if their prospects of making the league were marginal. The financial potential was just too enticing.

Name, Image and Likeness gives players an avenue to earn money while remaining in school, in turn giving them the opportunity to hone their games.

“I think just with the NIL, it allows people to just come back to college and feel more comfortable,” Bacot said. “But it also allows us to develop more and get better at our weaknesses, too.”

When the big men stick around, the better they get and the more cohesive their teams become.

Having a big man who has continued to develop and played in a system with the same teammates adds continuity and maturity that pays off; veteran teams are typically the ones making the deep March Madness runs, not those filled with one-and-done type players.

“I think you’re going to see more traditional post players, maybe not throughout the country, but I think you’re going to see more because those are the guys that are going to stick around,” Greenberg said.

And college basketball has become better for it.

___

AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

Kevin Love’s time with the Cleveland Cavaliers could be nearing its end.

Love and the team are finalizing a contract buyout, according to a report by The Athletic. If Love and the Cavs do end up parting ways, the Miami Heat, who currently hold the No. 7 seed in the East, could be a favorite to land Love’s services.

Love is the last remaining member of the 2016 championship team. He has spent parts of nine seasons with the Cavs, joining Cleveland shortly after LeBron James returned. Love was an All-Star with the Cavs in 2017 and 2018.

This season, though, Love averaged 20 minutes per game — the lowest total in any of his 15 NBA seasons — before falling out of the rotation entirely a couple of weeks ago.

Follow every game: Latest NBA Scores and Schedules

Cavs president of basketball operations Koby Altman said last week that he didn’t anticipate a buyout with Love. The Cavs made the Danny Green addition official on Wednesday, and Love had already fallen out of the 9-man rotation used by Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff prior to Green’s signing.

Love is the final year of a four-year, $120 million extension he signed shortly after James left for the Los Angeles Lakers in 2018.

The Boston Celtics are removing the interim tag off of Joe Mazzulla.

The team announced Thursday that Mazzulla, who has been serving as the interim coach during Ime Udoka’s suspension, has become the 19th head coach in franchise history.

The Celtics (42-17) have a two-game lead over the Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference and are looking to return to the NBA Finals after falling last year to the eventual-champion Golden State Warriors, 4-2. 

At 34, Mazzulla is the youngest current coach in the NBA and he and his staff will serve as coaches during the NBA All-Star Game that will take place Sunday in Salt Lake City.

Follow every game: Latest NBA Scores and Schedules

Here’s everything you need to know about the Celtics officially hiring Mazzulla.

Who is Joe Mazzulla?

Mazzulla had served as an assistant coach on the Celtics staff since 2019 prior to stepping into the interim role at the start of the season. In November, his first full month as Boston’s interim coach, Mazzulla was named the Eastern Conference Coach of the Month.

He started his coaching career as an assistant for Glenville State University, a NCAA Division II program, for two seasons after graduating from WVU in 2011. He then spent three seasons as an assistant at Fairmont State before he served one season as an assistant for the the Maine Red Claws of the NBA Gatorade League. Mazzulla became the head coach of Fairmont State University in 2017, posting a 43-17 record over two seasons, with one trip to the NCAA men’s tournament.

Mazzulla played four seasons at West Virginia University under head coaches John Beilein and Bob Huggins. The Mountaineers made four-straight men’s NCAA tournament appearances during Mazzulla’s collegiate career, including a Final Four run in 2010.

What does this mean for former coach Ime Udoka?

This all but marks the end of Udoka’s time with the Celtics and he will be free to pursue another head coaching job after a brief flirtation with the Nets when they fired Steve Nash. Internal and external pressure forced the Nets to go in a different direction.

Udoka, who played in the league seven seasons, had been considered one of the rising stars in NBA coaching circles after he led the Celtics to a 51-31 record and an NBA Finals appearance last season, his first as a head coach. 

What did Ime Udoka do to get suspended?

In September, the Celtics announced that Udoka would be suspended the entire 2022-23 season for ‘violations of team policies.” Several outlets, including USA TODAY Sports, reported Udoka, 45, had a relationship with a team staffer. ESPN reported that an independent investigation revealed Udoka “used crude language in his dialogue with a female subordinate prior to the start of an improper workplace relationship.”

The NFL and the Fritz Pollard Alliance can make a list from here to the moon and back of qualified minority candidates. They can hold “accelerator programs” every day of the year to introduce prospective Black and brown coaches to team owners.

None of it will matter. Because, with very few exceptions, NFL owners simply don’t want a Black or brown man to be their head coach.

Defensive coordinators, assistant coaches, even front-office executives – fine. But there’s no way they’re going to let a Black or brown man be the public face of their franchise, front and center on TV screens for the better part of three hours every Sunday.

And spare me the “Winning is all that matters, they’ll hire anyone!” blather. If that were actually true, explain to me why both the offensive and defensive coordinators of the team that lost the Super Bowl got fancy new jobs this week while the offensive coordinator of the team that won did not.

Aside from the new head coaches being white guys, that is.

Another NFL hiring cycle wrapped up Tuesday, and the results are as shameful as always. Of the five head coaches who were hired, just one is Black. That brings the grand total of Black head coaches to three, in a 32-team league where an estimated 60% of the players are Black.

Three other coaches identify as men of color.

“I think there’s progress, and we’re pleased to see progress. But it’s never enough,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said last week before the Super Bowl. “We always look to sort of say, ‘How can we do better?’ A number of the things we implemented last year have proven to be direct beneficiary of some of the changes that occurred.”

I’m not sure progress means what Goodell thinks it does.

Yes, the Tennessee Titans hired Ran Carthon as their GM after meeting him at an accelerator. Woo-hoo! That makes nine men of color now who are GMs or the equivalent and, in theory, that should eventually improve diversity when it comes to hiring head coaches.

But it’s the owners, almost all of whom are white and most of whom are men, who have the ultimate say. And their actions speak loud and clear.

Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy has done everything possible to show he’s deserving of being a head coach. Tutored Patrick Mahomes, who is now a two-time MVP in both the regular season and the Super Bowl. Orchestrated a Kansas City offense that was No. 1 in the NFL twice in the last five years, including this season when the Chiefs no longer had Tyreek Hill.

Oh, and that second-half turnaround in the Super Bowl, when the Chiefs scored on every possession to erase a 10-point deficit and beat the Philadelphia Eagles 38-35? Bieniemy again.

“Eric Bieniemy was tremendous down the stretch there, putting things together,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said after the game.

And yet, only one of the five teams with openings this year interviewed Bieniemy, and he didn’t make the Indianapolis Colts’ list of finalists. The Colts ultimately hired Eagles offensive coordinator Shane Steichen, with owner Jim Irsay saying he made his choice, “Knowing we’re going to have to find a young QB to develop.”

I’ll let that one sit there a while.

“There’s no reason he shouldn’t get one of these jobs,” Reid said Tuesday when asked about Bieniemy. “He’s too good of a football coach to not.”

Unfortunately, being good doesn’t seem to matter as much as being Black or brown.

The Buffalo Bills have had the No. 1 or No. 2 defense in three of the last four seasons, and defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier didn’t get a single interview. Steve Wilks went 6-6 and had the Carolina Panthers in playoff contention until Week 17 despite inheriting a sad-sack team and losing his best player less than two weeks later, and best he could get was another defensive coordinator job.

Jim Caldwell had the Detroit Lions’ only consecutive winning seasons in 30 years, and for that he now has the privilege of working for one of his white proteges in Carolina.

When asked about his sincerity to diversity, Panthers owner David Tepper effectively said, “But I have Black friends!” He noted the Panthers president is a woman and “we have two African-Americans” on the executive team.

“You break (the old boys’ network) by trying to get the best people possible in every role you can,” Tepper said.

But did he really?

Of the nine candidates Carolina interviewed, seven had offensive backgrounds, making it clear which way the Panthers were leaning. Of those seven, Caldwell was the only Black coach.

The two defensive-minded candidates? Wilks and Ejiro Evero, both of whom are Black.

‘We all want short-term results, but it’s important to have it be sustainable for the future,’ Goodell said. 

Short-term? It’s been more than 30 years since Art Shell became the first Black head coach in the modern era, 20 since the Rooney Rule was first implemented, and every offseason is a reminder of how little progress has been made.

Goodell and the league office can encourage more diversity efforts and the public can continue shaming the NFL. But the owners are the only ones who can level the playing field for Black and brown coaches, and that’s just not going to happen in their back yards. 

Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on Twitter @nrarmour. 

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes has a – let’s call it interesting – superstition.

Coming off of his second Super Bowl title, and second Super Bowl MVP, Mahomes had one of his quirks revealed.

In an appearance on ‘The Adam Schefter Podcast,’ Mahomes’ former backup Chad Henne, who just announced his retirement, shared a detail about the underwear Mahomes wears on Sundays.

‘He has a baseball background, so he has to have a certain thing each and every day,’ Henne said in the podcast. ‘He comes in, he does his work. His notes are written out a certain way. Same pair of underwear, which not a lot of people probably know, on gameday. He’s been wearing it since I’ve been part of it.’

In any case, it’s working.

Mahomes is already rewriting the NFL record book after only five seasons as a starter in the NFL. Aside from his and Kansas City’s success in the playoff – the Chiefs have at least appeared in the AFC Championship Game each of the last five years – Mahomes claimed his second career AP Most Valuable Player award.

Mahomes, 27, completed 67.1% of his passes for a league-high 5,250 passing yards and 41 touchdowns.

‘His preparation is unbelievable, how he goes about it,’ Henne said. ‘He knows exactly how many plays are in each section on Andy Reid’s call sheet. If it’s off by one play, it’s going to be mentioned that week. He dives into it deeply, and it’s fun to watch each and every day.’

In February for Black History Month, USA TODAY Sports is publishing the series “28 Black Stories in 28 Days.” We examine the issues, challenges and opportunities Black athletes and sports officials continue to face after the nation’s reckoning on race following the murder of George Floyd in 2020. This is the third installment of the series.

In 1954, when the U.S. Supreme Court issued its landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education, 8-year-old Alan Page in Canton, Ohio, wanted to become a lawyer — just like Thurgood Marshall, the NAACP chief counsel who had won the case declaring “separate but equal” education to be unconstitutional.  

Achieving that dream would mean years of expensive education for the son of a bar owner and a stay-at-home mom.

‘Mind you, I didn’t know any lawyers; I didn’t have any lawyers in my family,’ says Page, who was the youngest of four siblings. ‘But the power of the court’s decision in Brown left me with the impression that the law was about fairness, about justice, about solving problems, and quite frankly about helping people.’

History maker

Page says he started playing football at age 14 – around the time his mother died. He went to the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, on an athletic scholarship and in 1967 was a first-round draft pick by the Minnesota Vikings. A defensive tackle, he played in four Super Bowls and in 1971 was the first defensive player in NFL history to be named league MVP. But he never took his eyes off his real goal. 

‘The more education one has, the more opportunity one has, and the more choice one has,’ he says. So, he enrolled in law school at the University of Minnesota while still playing for the Vikings.

Page obtained his law degree in 1978. That year, the Vikings released him, and he went to the Chicago Bears. For three years during the offseason, he practiced law at a leading Minnesota firm, eventually becoming an assistant state attorney general.

‘My legal career was by design; my athletic career was by accident,’ Page says. He retired from the NFL in 1981 and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1988. In 1992, he won a seat on the Minnesota Supreme Court, was re-elected three times, and served until August 2015, when he reached the mandatory retirement age of 70. 

Four years before becoming the first African American justice on the state’s highest court, Page and his wife, Diane, created the Page Education Foundation. The foundation awards scholarships to racially underrepresented Minnesota high schoolers with college aspirations.

‘That first year we had 10 Page Scholars, this year we have 560,’ Page says. ‘As we approach our 35th anniversary, we’ve had more than 8,000 Page Scholars, all of whom have spent 50 hours per academic year in service to children.’ 

A true humanitarian

Page was named the 11th Heisman Humanitarian Award winner in 2016. In June 2017, a Minneapolis school was renamed Justice Page Middle School; and a new elementary school named for him opened in a St. Paul suburb in 2022. In November 2018, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Diane Page died in 2018; they were married for 45 years.

Today, Page is pushing for an amendment to the Minnesota state constitution that would declare a ‘fundamental right to a quality education’ that prepares children to compete economically. 

‘Minnesota’s children are entitled to an adequate education system,’ he says. ‘The proposed amendment would make a quality public education a civil right … and it would hold accountable the education system — which to date has systemically and systematically failed children of color, Indigenous children, poor children and disabled children.’

He adds, ‘Education is a tool that anyone can use to choose whatever their hopes and dreams may be…without the education, your ability to accomplish is limited.’  

The torch is in Kirby Smart’s grasp, the reign of power transferred. The only question left is how long he’ll retain the sceptre.

Smart wins like college football’s best coach. The Georgia boss motivates and develops like college football’s best coach. His recruiting machine hums uninterrupted, and he’s recently weaponized the transfer portal.

After years as wingman to overlord Nick Saban, the understudy headed out on his own and methodically usurped the throne.

Georgia, in January, became the sport’s first back-to-back champion since Alabama’s 2011-12 teams achieved the feat. A historic three-peat would cement Saban’s Crimson Tide as a fading object in Smart’s rearview mirror.

But beware the pothole that looms in front of Georgia, a snare created by the twin exits of its star quarterback and offensive architect.

The Baltimore Ravens hired Georgia offensive coordinator Todd Monken on Tuesday, completing a much-anticipated departure that Monken telegraphed before the national championship game when he described himself as a vagabond.

Smart, prepared for the transition, swiftly promoted analyst Mike Bobo to offensive coordinator.

Smart’s hire was an easy one – maybe too easy. Unimaginative, at least.

Bobo, the 48-year-old former Georgia quarterback, is an SEC mainstay, an established recruiter and a polished quarterback developer.

But this hire is as bland as Smart’s hire of Monken was bold.

Bobo’s career zenith occurred a decade ago while working for Mark Richt. More recently, he failed to spark South Carolina in his lone season as offensive coordinator in 2020, and he was fired after one season in that role at Auburn.

Even as Georgia gazes into a talent-laden future, other programs have been knocked off course after the combination punch of losing a standout quarterback and prized offensive mind.

Clemson’s offense lost its way after quarterback Trevor Lawrence and coordinator Tony Elliott departed after the 2020 season, the Tigers’ last time appearing in the College Football Playoff.

The exodus of once-in-a-generation quarterback Joe Burrow and key offensive engineer Joe Brady toppled Ed Orgeron at LSU.

Cam Newton flourished in Gus Malzahn’s offense. Then Newton departed, Malzahn left a year later, and Gene Chizik’s tenure, like Orgeron’s, cratered two seasons after winning a national championship.

Monken’s exit is neither surprising nor unique. Ten SEC programs installed new offensive coordinators this offseason. Such hires are especially important for a coach trained in defense, like Smart or Saban – or Orgeron or Chizik, for that matter.

Let me be clear: Smart is in no danger of duplicating Chizik’s fizzle or falling into an Orgeron-sized abyss. His program is on sturdy footing. Even before Monken and Bennett came along, Smart had elevated Georgia into the vicinity of the elite. Smart is too good a recruiter, developer and defensive schemer for Georgia to fade into mediocrity.

But enduring the loss of fulcrums like a Heisman Trophy finalist quarterback and an invigorating offensive coordinator is rarely as easy as Saban made it look.

Saban took teams to either the BCS national championship game or the College Football Playoff with seven different offensive coordinators and eight quarterbacks.

Saban’s offensive coordinator hires ranged from former head coaches he scooped off the scrap heap – Lane Kiffin, Steve Sarkisian and Bill O’Brien – to Jim McElwain, whose only FBS coordinator experience before Alabama was a lone season orchestrating Fresno State’s offense.

Rarely does Saban promote from within.

Smart’s hire of Monken is more reflective of a move Saban would make than his promoting Bobo.

This hire more resembles Smart’s initial installment of Jim Chaney, a proven veteran whose best days were behind him, or his promotion of James Coley after Chaney exited.

Coley didn’t pan out, and entering 2020, Smart needed a hire who would jumpstart Georgia’s middling attack and transition the Bulldogs from a heavy-hitter struggling to reach its peak to an unstoppable force reflective of its deep cache of talent.

An Air Raid disciple from Mike Gundy’s coaching tree, Monken didn’t exactly scream Georgia football. That’s what made Smart’s choice so intrepid.

Monken blended Georgia’s bullying run game with a more passing-friendly approach, especially after Bennett developed and grew into his system.

By 2022, Georgia’s offense ranked among the nation’s best units and its most balanced. The Bulldogs were the only team to rank in the top 10 nationally in rushing and passing. A good system paired with oodles of talent helped the cause, but Monken also proved a brilliant play-caller who used motions and shifts to manipulate defenses and scheme playmakers into space.

An optimistic view of the Bobo hire is that he spent last season as an offensive aide, so this promotion allows for systemic preservation. Plus, Colorado State produced one of its best offenses ever with Bobo as coach in 2017, and, under Richt, Bobo became instrumental in developing some of Georgia’s best quarterbacks.

That track record should not be ignored as Georgia prepares to elevate veteran backup Carson Beck to starter.

The pessimistic view of this appointment is the reality that Bobo’s career has been in a downward arc since 2017.

This changeover of quarterback and coordinator marks Smart’s final test.

Just how indispensable were Bennett and Monken?

All that’s left for Smart to complete his power heist is proving he can hire like college football’s greatest coach and endure transition in prominent areas of his program.

Tim McCarver, a stalwart catcher for 21 seasons in the major leagues before becoming a Hall of Fame broadcaster, has died at the age of 81.

According to a press release from the Hall of Fame, McCarver died of heart failure Thursday morning in his hometown of Memphis.

McCarver played 12 seasons with the Cardinals, teaming up with ace Bob Gibson to form the heart and soul of two World Series championship squads in 1964 and 1967. A two-time All-Star in St. Louis, he set career highs with a .295 average, 14 home runs and 69 RBI in 1967, finishing second to teammate Orlando Cepeda in the NL MVP voting.

Two years later, he was part of a blockbuster trade to the Philadelphia Phillies, where he would spend nine more seasons. McCarver also played for the Boston Red Sox and Montreal Expos as he became one of the few MLB players to appear in four different decades.

Remembering those we lost: Celebrity Deaths 2023

McCarver’s move to the booth

After his playing career ended in 1980, McCarver embarked on a second career in baseball, making an even greater impact on the game as a broadcaster. 

He made his first national television appearance in 1980 on NBC’s Game of the Week, which led to a full-time job broadcasting Phillies games from 1980-82, followed by stints with the New York Mets from 1983-98, New York Yankees in 1999, San Francisco Giants in 2002 and the Cardinals from 2014-19. 

Also during that time, he became a regular on national broadcasts – from ABC’s Monday Night Baseball to CBS to the short-lived Baseball Network and finally to Fox.

Joining Fox as its No. 1 baseball analyst in 1996, McCarver worked primarily with play-by-play announcer Joe Buck, covering a total of 23 World Series and 20 All-Star Games before stepping down after the 2013 season.

In 2012, McCarver received the ultimate broadcasting honor, winning the Hall of Fame’s annual Ford Frick Award.

“I think there is a natural bridge from being a catcher to talking about the view of the game and the view of the other players,” McCarver said at his induction in 2012. “It is translating that for the viewers. One of the hard things about television is staying contemporary and keeping it simple for the viewers.”

Tim McCarver remembered

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred: “Tim McCarver was an All-Star, a World Series Champion, a respected teammate, and one of the most influential voices our game has known.  As a player, Tim was a key part of great Cardinals and Phillies teams in his 21-year career. In the booth, his analysis and attention to detail brought fans closer to our game and how it is played and managed.  Tim’s approach enhanced the fan experience on our biggest stages and on the broadcasts of the Mets, the Yankees and the Cardinals.’

Cardinals principal owner and CEO Bill DeWitt: “Tim was a very popular player with the Cardinals and a key member of our World Series Championship teams in 1964 and 1967. He remained a fixture in the game following his playing career, earning Hall of Fame recognition as a national broadcaster, and in later years as a Cardinals television analyst and a member of the Cardinals Hall of Fame.’  

Phillies owner John Middleton: “The Phillies are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Tim McCarver and extend our most heartfelt condolences to his family, friends, former teammates and colleagues.’ 

‘Tim joined the Phillies at the height of his career and returned for his final six seasons as a veteran leader, helping the club to three straight NLCS appearances and, ultimately, their first-ever World Series title. Following his playing career, fans throughout the world, including here in Philadelphia, listened to him describe their favorite team’s most iconic moments with professionalism and class. For Tim’s leadership, friendship and voice, the Phillies are forever grateful.”

New York Mets organization: “We are saddened to learn of the passing today of Tim McCarver, who for 16 years in the television booth gave Mets fans an insightful, humorous and knowledgeable behind the scenes look into the game of baseball. Tim drew on his 21-year career as a catcher to give viewers a unique opinion on what went on between the lines. We send our condolences to his daughters, Kathy and Kelley, and the rest of the McCarver family.”

TEMPE, Ariz. — New Arizona Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon reviewed tape of Super Bowl 57 on Sunday night in his final hours as the Philadelphia Eagles’ defensive coordinator.

In Gannon’s last game as the Eagles’ defensive coordinator, the club allowed 24 second-half points and lost 38-35 to the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl 57.

Gannon was asked about the disappointing Super Bowl loss at his introductory press conference with the Cardinals on Thursday.

“It was hard because you feel for the players. When you get to that game, I don’t feel sorry for myself – I feel bad about the players,” Gannon said. “Everything that I do, that’s where be where your feet are. I’m always trying to learn from experiences that happen right in real time. That’s what I did. I feel bad about not being able to get that done. It was an excellent learning experience for me and I know I learned a lot from that game, things that I would need to do different moving forward to win that game.”

The Eagles defense had only given up seven points in each of its playoff wins prior to surrendering 31 in the Super Bowl (one touchdown was scored by the Chiefs defense). Furthermore, the unit allowed 340 total yards and didn’t pick up a sack in the game. 

During the regular season, the Eagles had the second-ranked total defense (301 yards allowed per game). The club tallied 78 sacks in the regular season and postseason combined, the third most in a single season in NFL history.

Arizona is hopeful Gannon provide a boost not only to the defense but the entire organization. The Cardinals are coming off a frustrating 4-13 season and finished last in the NFC West. Gannon is replacing Kliff Kingsbury, who was fired shortly after the regular season ended.

The Cardinals have only made the playoffs once since the 2016 season.

Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Tyler Dragon on Twitter @TheTylerDragon.

The two rivals will meet for the second time at 8 p.m. Saturday at Crisler Center in Ann Arbor as scheduled. The game comes five days after a campus shooting in East Lansing in which three students were killed and five others were injured.

After the initial release, MSU also canceled two women’s tennis matches scheduled for the weekend, Friday at home against Marshall and Sunday at Columbia in New York.

The Drake match was one of three athletic events postponed Wednesday in the wake of the Monday’s shooting, along with the MSU-Minnesota game and a women’s basketball game at Purdue. A women’s gymnastics road meet at Illinois scheduled for Friday also was postponed.

“The safety and physical and mental well-being of our students and staff is the primary focus of Michigan State athletics,” MSU athletic director Alan Haller said in a statement. “In consultation with mental health professionals and in conversations with our student-athletes it became apparent that a return to practice and competition is a crucial part of their recovery. Student-athletes were given an active voice in the decision to return to competition, as well as the autonomy to make their own individual choices about participation.

“Athletics can be a rallying point for a community in need of healing, a fact many of our student-athletes have mentioned to me. The opportunity to represent our entire community has never felt greater. I also recognize that everyone grieves in their own unique manner, and there are some who aren’t ready to return to athletic events. Those feelings are incredibly valid, and as Coach (Tom) Izzo so eloquently stated last night, I hope that we will all focus on taking care of one another.”

While MSU interim president Teresa Woodruff canceled all classes until Monday, a number of Spartan athletes will get back to their normal competition routines starting Friday — many of them away from campus:

Hockey: At Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin (9 p.m. Friday, 8 p.m. Saturday)

Women’s basketball: Maryland at Breslin Center in East Lansing (3 p.m. Saturday)

Wrestling: At Central Michigan in Mount Pleasant (7 p.m. Friday)

Baseball: Season-opening weekend in Phoenix, Arizona (6 p.m. Friday vs. Michigan; 3 p.m. Sunday vs. Fresno State; 8 p.m. Sunday vs. Arizona)

Softball: At Elon Phoenix Invitational in Elon, North Carolina (2:30 p.m. Friday vs. Elon; 5 p.m. Saturday vs. Saint Francis; Sunday,)

Men’s tennis: Drake at MSU Indoor Tennis Facility in Lansing (10 a.m. Saturday).

Track and field: At Silverston Invitational hosted by Michigan in Ann Arbor (4 p.m. Friday); At Alex Wilson Invitational hosted by Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana (10:30 a.m. Saturday)

Women’s golf: At Moon Golf Invitational in Melbourne, Florida (Sunday-Tuesday)

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari.