BOULDER, Colo. – Shortly before kickoff this year at Colorado home football games, the stadium starts to buzz with various celebrity guests and crew for “Coach Prime” Deion Sanders.

Some wear badges on the sideline in the shape of sunglasses. It’s called a “Prime Pass.” Some lug video equipment up the elevator with shirts that say they are part of the “Coach Prime” documentary film crew. Others stroll on the field with credentials that say they belong to SMAC Productions, part of a talent agency in Los Angeles that features Sanders as a client.

Each has a role in the show these days at the University of Colorado, a public school that has made a series of highly unusual moves to accommodate it and elevate this football coach as the public face of the university.

Many of those moves have paid off. Sanders has led the Buffaloes to a 4-1 start in his second season and will again take his team to the national stage Saturday night against Kansas State on ESPN.

But some are still skeptical about the list of accommodations for Sanders’ football program, including a big change last year in the acceptance of transfer players and even a ban this year on a journalist Sanders didn’t like.

“People have lost their damn minds on this campus,” said Roger Pielke Jr., a CU Boulder graduate and longtime professor.

USA TODAY Sports compiled a list of changes that have been made for Sanders’ benefit and discussed them with longtime observers of higher education, as well as new CU Boulder chancellor Justin Schwartz, who oversees the campus including the Buffaloes’ athletic department.

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Two general viewpoints emerged

∎ 1. The university is making a smart business play and already has reaped massive benefits from it at a time when college athletics is facing turbulent change, especially with players earning money from endorsement deals. This year alone, the Buffaloes have been selected for at least seven straight nationally televised games – on ESPN, NBC, CBS and Fox.

“We are the most innovative university in the country, so we have the most innovative coach in the country,” Schwartz told USA TODAY Sports in an interview. “We have the most entrepreneurial coach in the country, because we are one of the most entrepreneurial universities in the country.”

∎ 2. On the other hand, some say the university is going too far by giving the campus car keys to a charismatic new employee who could crash it and skip town afterward. 

“There’s a wide range of things that give the impression that this man and the program he has are on their own, that they can do whatever they want and we’re gonna stand behind it, whatever it is,” said Pielke, a longtime follower of CU football who previously taught a sports governance class in the CU athletic department.

Since hiring Deion Sanders in late 2022, the university has:

∎ Installed a more “generous” acceptance policy for transfer students, helping Sanders remake CU’s roster with 102 newcomer transfer players since last year. This change was considered critical to keep up with recently relaxed rules for transfer players in college sports and was announced at Sanders’ introductory news conference. It was in the works before then, but no other group on campus benefited from it more last year than his football program, as documented in a report by USA TODAY Sports. The university said it also contributed to an increase this fall in Colorado residents transferring to CU.

∎ The university gave Sanders a $250,000 gift that wasn’t in his contract for all the publicity CU received in his first season last year.

∎ It has allowed SMAC Entertainment, Sanders’ talent agency in Los Angeles, to act as an unofficial arm of the athletic department in some respects with publicity and game-day access for celebrities and VIPs.

∎ It has given SMAC wide latitude to film a documentary series on campus at no cost and allowed it to help regulate access to the sidelines and the locker room at games.

∎The university has sanctioned a ban on a Denver journalist that prevents him from asking Sanders questions at news conferences.

∎ It has permitted Sanders to disclose his outside income from endorsements in an unusual way − orally to university officials instead of in writing. That’s not against NCAA rules, but it is unlike virtually every other public school in major college football. And it keeps these disclosures out of public view.

∎ It produced a national commercial last year to promote the school based on the “Prime” theme.

And there’s more.

“In today’s competitive environment, schools may need to be innovative in order to compete,” said Harvey Perlman, a law professor and the former chancellor at the University of Nebraska. “However, a University that loses ultimate control over its campus or its employees faces considerable risks of it blowing up in their faces.”

‘Our kids ain’t getting in trouble’

Schwartz described it as just a different way of doing things for a different kind of coach, a nationally famous Pro Football Hall of Famer and marketing machine who has been in the public eye since the late 1980s.

Sanders has revived a football program that went 1-11 in the season before his arrival and since has led it to appearances on “60 Minutes” and the cover of Sports Illustrated. Schwartz points out that Sanders has appeared as guest faculty at business, law and media-related classes at the university and has overseen a team that earlier this year posted its highest cumulative grade-point average in program history (3.0).

Unlike at some other schools, Sanders also noted this week, “Our kids ain’t getting in trouble.”

The new chancellor went over some of the items on the above list after taking over July 1.

The journalist banned from asking questions

Before the season, the CU athletic department said in a statement that it would no longer take questions at football-related events from Denver Post columnist Sean Keeler. CU said Keeler had made “personal attacks” on Sanders in his columns. But those “attacks” also could be perceived as skeptical pushback against Sanders making bold claims about his team’s potential this year despite finishing 4-8 last year. Keeler had called him a “false prophet” and the “Bruce Lee of B.S.” in a column in February.

“We’re being transparent,” Schwartz said. “We’re saying coach made that decision. It’s his choice to do so. We support him, and we will credential another reporter, who can come and ask questions. We’ll answer them. This reporter can submit questions in writing. We will answer them. We’re not preventing information from getting to the Post, in any way, shape or form.”

Sanders’ contract with Colorado requires him to interact with “mutually agreed upon members of the media,” language that was not in the contracts of his predecessor or other coaches at CU.

‘How much control does a university have?’

Keeler is not banned from attending games as credentialed media, just asking questions at football events. That strikes some as Sanders being thin-skinned while a state university that teaches journalism is censoring questions from a journalist who criticized him.

“I just think when you’re the most visible face, the highest-paid person at a public institution, you’re fair game for the press and you should answer questions at any time,” said David Ridpath, a sports business professor at Ohio University and longtime member of The Drake Group, which pushes for reform in college sports. “You’re still at a taxpayer-supported institution. I don’t think even (former Alabama coach Nick) Saban did that. At the end of the day, how much control does have a university have over a high-profile coach? It probably comes down to very little.”

Schwartz said the university told the Post it could send another writer to ask questions instead. But news organizations generally don’t want to let the institutions they cover to dictate coverage decisions.

“We’re just letting you know… What we would consider or coach considers crossing the line, coach is probably not going to call on you and answer your questions,” Schwartz said.

Star-studded sideline at Folsom Field

Hip-hop artists and former star athletes have been frequent guests at games under Sanders, including NBA legend Julius Erving, rapper Lil Wayne and Hall of Fame football receiver Terrell Owens. This generates buzz for the university and showcases the program’s cultural relevance with potential recruits. Other schools would love to have this but don’t have a coach like Sanders to attract it.

To get a sense of how the university has been dealing with celebrity access at games, USA TODAY Sports requested CU’s policy for such sideline passes and corresponding guest lists for Sanders.

The university said in July that it didn’t have a policy for 2023.

“We don’t have any lists or system to track sideline passes for games,” the university said in response to the request in July. “These are just informally arranged on a case-by-case basis over email, phone, conversation, etc.”

By contrast, Texas and Nebraska turned over sideline access lists and policies upon request, with some redactions.

New Colorado sideline policy in 2024

USA TODAY Sports then rechecked this with Colorado last week and was told there is a new policy for 2024. It is described in a documented entitled, “Game Day Operations for Folsom Field – SMAC 2024.’

It covers those with Prime Passes − guests of Sanders, including celebrities and friends.

It says SMAC is to designate who is allowed into the locker room before and after the game. The document from CU also says for SMAC to remind the “Prime Pass” guests “that if they do not exit the field and the officials deem that we have too many folks on our sideline, then CU can get penalized for this and no one should want to put CU at a disadvantage.”

‘SMAC is given a set number of passes and distributes them, which is not unlike a TV network like ESPN getting a number of access passes from us and handing them out to their crew members,’ said Steve Hurlbert, a CU spokesman. He said access to Folsom Field is still determined and enforced by the CU athletic department.

‘It is an unusual relationship, but we have a really, really great partnership with SMAC,’ Hurlbert said.

Why does any of this matter?

“I would be concerned about the University giving up traditional administrative controls on what happens at the University and I think these run some risks,” Perlman of Nebraska said of these issues in general. “Allowing a coach to control or restrain media access is not consistent with the transparency expected of what is still a ‘public’ university.”

CU said that is not the case. Messages seeking comment from SMAC were not returned.

The Coach Prime media machine

Sanders brings more intense news media coverage, which means a different way of doing business in some respects on campus. “There is a different level of spotlight,” Schwartz said.

At other universities, media requests to interview the head coach go through the athletic department communications staff. With Sanders, it typically involves getting on his schedule through SMAC.

Sanders, 57, also prefers to craft the media image of his program through three favored YouTube channels that are granted exclusive access to his program, including the channel run by his eldest son, Deion Jr. The video bloggers who produce them are not employed by the university. One was flagged at least once for a minor NCAA rules violation last year involving how a recruiting prospect was publicized, leading to NCAA rules education for the coaching staff and the “creative team,” according to CU documents.

But they otherwise reach thousands of daily viewers online, helping promote Sanders’ program to potential recruits while leaving out anything he might not want viewers to see.

“In five or 10 years, how many coaches do you think are going to be doing that?” Schwartz asked. “It’s innovation and entrepreneurial. And you know, if nobody watches it, then it’ll stop. But there doesn’t seem to be a lack of interest in all media channels for all things Prime.”

‘I know how this thing is supposed to look’

Likewise, the “Coach Prime” documentary series on Amazon Prime is produced by SMAC Productions, which has editorial control over the project with input from CU, according to its contract with the university signed by SMAC co-founder Constance Schwartz-Morini, Sanders’ business manager.

The university gets no financial compensation for the series to film on campus but instead gets the benefits of the overall Prime publicity operation, which in turn has helped fuel a record number of applications for the fall semester and a 50% increase in Black applicants. Enrollment at CU Boulder this fall is a record 38,428.

“You’ve got to give me some kind of credit for knowing this game of football,” Sanders said Tuesday at his weekly pregame news conference. “I played it for 14 years. I covered it for 20 years. I covered more than some of you guys have covered it (in the media). And I know television. I know this game. I know people. I know management. I know what my expectation is. I know how this thing is supposed to look.”

Colorado is paying Sanders $5.7 million this year, and he is arguably underpaid given all the publicity and ticket sales he generates. That pay ranks fourth among public schools in the Big 12 Conference.

“We hope that Coach Prime finishes his career here,” CU athletic director Rick George said at a news conference Tuesday. “I think he can do significant things for us long-term… He and I are on the same page about where we want this program to go. It’s not a short-term fix, and we want to set it up to be sustainable for the future. I think what he’s done has been incredible.”

What is the risk?

By themselves, some of these tradeoffs might not matter to the average fan. But added together, Pielke sees the risk of the university giving away too much control to one person or sports team.

He’s seen it happen before in the early 2000s, when CU was engulfed in allegations that women were raped at a party for football recruits and that the football culture at CU had led to enticing recruits with sex and alcohol. Several top CU officials left the university amid the scandal. The university then reached a settlement in 2007 with women who sued the university. CU also made other changes as a result, and the football team mostly has struggled ever since.

“The way that the university administration has fallen in line behind the football program, to me, gets the dog and the tail mixed up,” Pielke said.

Schwartz, the chancellor, used a common term to describe the football team’s role with the university – the “front porch” that faces the public and gathers the university community. Similar front porches everywhere face reconstruction because of seismic changes in college sports, which includes universities soon needing more money to pay players for the first time.

To compete and keep up, Colorado believes it needs its main revenue-driver in sports to stay relevant in the digital age. Sanders is helping deliver that.

“We need football to be successful,” George said Tuesday. “We’ve got a lot of work to do. We still got a long season ahead of us in football. But I like where we’re positioned today.”

Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com

The San Francisco 49ers are alive and well.

Rumors of their demise proved exaggerated following a 36-24 victory over the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday night, a victory that vaulted the Niners back into first place atop the NFC West.

And if any one player deserves credit for keeping the reigning NFC champions afloat in a season thus far marred by injuries, inconsistency and fourth-quarter defensive collapses – well, look no further than All-Pro tight end George Kittle.

“Man, he’s a baller,” San Francisco quarterback Brock Purdy said of Kittle on Prime Video’s postgame show, “TNF Nightcap” after throwing him a pair of touchdown passes.

“Obviously, when you get the ball in his hands, he can do what he can – break tackles, he’s electric and just explosive, man, for a tight end. … He’s always open – you give him a chance, and he goes and makes the rest happen.”

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Kittle gathered in a 10-yard scoring pass early in the third quarter, nicely getting both feet down just inside the pylon before his momentum took him out of bounds. On his 9-yard TD midway through the fourth quarter he maneuvered into heavy Seattle coverage, giving Purdy just enough of a target inside the goal line on what proved to be the game-winning score.

Kittle, who missed the Week 3 loss to the Los Angeles Rams with a sore hamstring – one of the 49ers’ two defeats this season when they surrendered a 10-point fourth-quarter lead – is nevertheless tied for the league lead with five TD grabs.

“We talk about it all the time, and it’s something we’ve had to get better at this season,’ Purdy said. “Coach always says, no matter what the score is, our offense should be able to put up points when our team needs it.”

Kittle has clearly accepted that challenge, scoring in each of the past four games. He’s currently ranked by the analytics website Pro Football Focus as the NFL’s No. 3 tight end overall.

But for one of the team’s captains, a player who’s been critical to a group that’s reached four NFC title games and two Super Bowls over the previous five seasons, this year is personal to Kittle. And he’s aware the Niners could look significantly different in a year, when Purdy, now in his third season, is finally eligible for the gargantuan extension that’s likely to force fundamental changes to what’s arguably the league’s most talented roster. For San Francisco’s current nucleus, this is probably the last shot to win the organization’s first Super Bowl in 30 years.

‘It is incredibly important, it’s a dream I’ve had since I was a little kid. It’s something that I would like to achieve. I’d love to stand up there holding that Lombardi,” Kittle told USA TODAY Sports last month while promoting DirecTV’s streaming service, which doesn’t require a satellite to watch the NFL or other sports.

(And while Kittle enjoys using DirecTV’s “Nothing On Your Roof” capability to watch his alma mater, the University of Iowa, and likes catching Hawkeyes alum Caitlin Clark when she’s in action, his wife didn’t need to use it Thursday night, when he paid her a box visit after scoring his second touchdown.)

“You don’t really have to inspire me to go play football, like I don’t need a pep talk or anything like that. I love the game, it’s absolutely incredible – football, to me, is its own living, breathing organism. And you have to respect it, you have to put the work in, and you have to put the grind in, otherwise it knows you’re cheating the game. I just try to put that work in every single day,’ he said.

‘I know that when I am healthy, I’m a helluva football player. When I’m not healthy, I’m still pretty damn good.’

And if the accolades, which include five Pro Bowl nods, don’t bear that out, the numbers continue to do so. Despite missing a game, no tight end in the NFL has more than Kittle’s 28 receptions.

He also doesn’t think a team now battling injuries to key players like All-Pro tailback Christian McCaffrey, kicker Jake Moody and Pro Bowl corner Charvarius Ward was set back over the summer when left tackle Trent Williams and wideout Brandon Aiyuk held out seeking raises that were eventually granted before the regular season started.

‘I feel like we have a very similar energy to how it was last year – like, our team’s still here, our foundation is still here, our core group of guys is still here,” said Kittle. “We’re so incredibly hungry because we haven’t achieved our dreams of winning the Super Bowl.

‘When you have your core guys, I believe that we can really win a lot of football games.’

Still, that’s been an issue lately.

Defensive end Nick Bosa acknowledged the 49ers treated the Seattle game like a must-win affair. Head coach Kyle Shanahan said after Thursday’s victory that the team was still “sick about those two losses,” which occurred to divisional opponents (Rams, Cardinals), and admitted that maybe a perennial powerhouse had gotten “a little spoiled” and “too relaxed.”

With San Francisco level again at 3-3, the schedule isn’t about to let up, the next game a Super Bowl rematch with the Kansas City Chiefs followed by dates with the Dallas Cowboys and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

And maybe no one understands the gravity of the 49ers’ current opportunity more than Kittle, an eight-year veteran who turned 31 on Wednesday.

‘That was one thing I learned,” said Kittle. “When I was a rookie, I didn’t understand the sense of urgency, and maybe not as much my second year, either. But when you’ve played with guys like Joe Staley … Richard Sherman towards the end of his career, (then) you understand the sense of urgency.

“I feel like I’ve understood the sense of urgency since 2019 – like how you want to win, and you need to win if you’re gonna do it, because rosters change so much every single year. I still feel fantastic, and I’m gonna play until the wheels off or they kick me out of the league.

‘I’m gonna take advantage of every single day.’

Fortunately for the 49ers, he’s been more than true to his word.

***

Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Nate Davis on X, formerly Twitter, @ByNateDavis.

NEW YORK — Mention the Olympic Games, and Sabrina Ionescu can’t help but grin. 

It’s a small, private smile, she said, reserved for those who know how much went into the 26-year-old making her first senior Team USA roster. She helped the Americans bring home an unprecedented eighth consecutive gold medal. 

But other players in the WNBA Finals aren’t as shy about hiding their joy. Ask Alanna Smith about it, and the forward for the Minnesota Lynx smiles ear to ear, eager to talk about what it was like to play in her second consecutive Olympics.

The Liberty-Lynx championship series, where Minnesota holds a 1-0 lead after a come-from-behind 95-93 overtime win in Game 1 on Thursday in Barclays Center, features seven Olympians who played in Paris this summer representing America, Australia, Canada and Germany. (Include the semifinal teams and you’ve got 14 Olympians representing six countries.) 

While it’s easy to focus on the Olympic accomplishments of superstars like Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, both of whom started for Team USA throughout the Games, it’s the non-superstars who might have benefitted the most from their turn on the global stage — players like Ionescu, Smith, Minnesota guard Bridget Carleton and New York forward Leonie Fiebich.

“I think I draw a lot from my Olympic experience and even Olympic qualifying throughout not just the Finals but the whole WNBA playoffs,” Carleton told USA TODAY Sports. “With qualifying, those are three really high-pressure games in four days, you’re playing against really good teams and for me, I’m in a position to be a go-to player for Canada. It’s intense — and I think any experience at that level is going to bode well for you.” 

Liberty coach Sandy Brondello agrees. Brondello has served as Australia’s coach since 2017 following a 17-year playing career with the Opals. She coached Smith in Paris as Australia won a surprise bronze, their first Olympic medal in 12 years. She said the benefits of Olympians now competing for a WNBA championship can’t be overstated.

“It really helps them a lot because at the Olympics, every game is important, every game is like a (series) final,” Brondello said. “And so they have that experience in the big moment.” 

Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve — who led the Americans to gold in her first stint as Team USA’s head coach after two Olympics as an assistant — has talked candidly about putting a team together in Minnesota that wasn’t made up of standout individual talent but rather a group of solid players who excelled together. Two key pieces of that roster include Smith, who signed as a free agent after playing in Chicago last season, and Carleton, who has been with the Lynx for six years. 

Carleton got 15 of 67 Most Improved Player award votes after more than doubling her scoring output and assists numbers, and increasing her field goal percentage by more than nine points. Smith, who is athletic enough to guard players inside the paint and on the perimeter, earned second team All-Defense. She averaged a career high in blocks and steals, and had the second-best rebounding season of her career. 

“It sounds very American of me, but (the) WNBA is (the) best league in the world, talent-wise, so when they’re exposed to that and playing against it, (then) coming over and playing in the league, it helps grow the game individually and in their countries,” Reeve said. 

Ionescu is having a career year for the Liberty, but had much more of a supporting role in Paris. She played just 10 minutes in the final, and didn’t score. But she delivered three perfect passes when she subbed in during the third quarter, each of which her teammates converted to buckets in their 67-66 win over France. 

The Olympics are a good reminder, Ionescu said, that hard work always pays off, even if it takes longer than you anticipate. It also reinforces the importance of every single contribution, no matter how small. 

Some players aren’t as quick to draw a line from national team success to WNBA success, though. 

Fiebich, a breakout star for the Liberty, said she tries to keep her national team responsibilities separate from what she does for New York, because her role on each team is so different. 

In Paris, Fiebich averaged 10.3 points and 3.5 rebounds for an upstart Germany team that made its first knockout round in its Olympic debut. A 24-year-old rookie — she was drafted in 2020 but didn’t sign a contract to come to New York until this season — Fiebich finished as runner-up for Sixth Woman of the Year. She was also named to the All-Rookie team. 

Smith said the biggest difference between the Olympics and WNBA is that FIBA ball is punishably physical, forcing players to finish through contact. 

“As someone who’s foreign and didn’t grow up in the States — I went to college and that gave me a taste of American basketball — being able to play American style and then go to the international game really helps you learn how to adjust to different styles,” said Smith, who was named to the FIBA All-Star Five in Paris after averaging 11.5 points, 8.0 rebounds and 2.2 assists. 

She’s inspired by the Olympics, too. 

Smith knows most people drool over a big-time 3 or a crazy midrange jumper at the buzzer. But true to her defensive roots, Smith’s favorite Olympic moment came in the bronze-medal game, when teammate Steph Talbot — a member of the Los Angeles Sparks — blocked what would have been a tying 3-pointer from Belgium late. 

“That sticks in my mind so much,” Smith said. “It was a huge play that kept our momentum going.” 

That’s the type of impact Smith envisions making for her team. And if she can’t do it at the Olympics, she’ll settle for doing it in the WNBA Finals. 

Game 5 of the American League division series pits division rivals against one another as the Detroit Tigers face the Cleveland Guardians.

And the stakes couldn’t be any higher. The winner will move on; the loser goes home.

Despite being away from home for the elimination game, the Tigers find themselves in a comfortable spot. Tarik Skubal, their left-handed starting pitcher and the likely AL Cy Young Award winner, will take the mound five days after limiting the Guardians to three hits in seven scoreless innings.

After finally snapping a skid of 20 consecutive innings without a run, the Guardians avoided elimination Thursday with a 5-4 win in Detroit. David Fry played hero with a two-out, two-run homer in the seventh inning to wipe away a one-run deficit. Fry later executed a suicide squeeze that scored Brayan Rocchio with an important insurance run.

The winner of Saturday’s game will advance to the AL championship series against the New York Yankees, who eliminated the Kansas City Royals in four games in their ALDS.

Follow every MLB game: Latest MLB scores, stats, schedules and standings.

When is Tigers-Guardians ALDS Game 5?

First pitch is scheduled for 1:08 p.m. ET on Saturday, Oct. 12 from Progressive Field in Cleveland. 

How to watch Tigers-Guardians ALDS Game 5 

The game will be broadcast on TBS and Max. 

How to stream Tigers-Guardians ALDS Game 5

The game is available to stream by using Sling.

Tigers at Guardians odds, line 

The Detroit Tigers are favorites to defeat the Cleveland Guardians in Saturday’s ALDS Game 5, according to the BetMGM MLB odds. Looking to wager? Check out the top betting apps in 2024 offering the top betting promos and bonuses. 

Spread: Tigers (-1.5) 
Moneyline: Tigers (-125), Guardians (+105) 
Over/under: 6 

Tigers at Guardians ALDS Schedule, scores

Game 1: Guardians 7, Tigers 0 
Game 2: Tigers 3, Guardians 0 
Game 3: Tigers 3, Guardians 0 
Game 4: Guardians 5, Tigers 4 
Game 5: At Cleveland, 1:08 p.m. ET 

Tigers starting pitcher 

Tarik Skubal will get the start for Detroit. The left-hander went 18-4 with a 2.39 ERA and 228 strikeouts in 192 regular-season innings. This will be Skubal’s third postseason start of 2024, and he has yet to allow a run in 13 innings with 14 strikeouts and just one walk. He muzzled the Guardians in Game 2 of the ALDS, pitching seven innings and allowing three hits with eight strikeouts. He set down the first 13 batters he faced. 

Guardians starting pitcher 

Cleveland will go with Matthew Boyd, who only made eight starts during the regular season but shined. After missing more than a year due to injury, Boyd returned to the mound in August and compiled a 2-2 record with a 2.72 ERA in 39 2/3 innings with the Guardians. He opposed his friend and former Tigers teammate Tarik Skubal in Game 2 of the ALDS and held Detroit scoreless in 4 2/3 innings with five strikeouts. 

Tigers starting lineup

Cleveland weather for Tigers-Guardians game 

According to AccuWeather, gametime temperatures will be in the low-to-mid 60s with partly sunny skies in downtown Cleveland. Rain is in the forecast, but not until around 6 p.m. ET. 

Guardians lineup

Vince Carter was an NBA star.

An eight-time All-Star. Two-time All-NBA. 1998-99 Rookie of the Year. One of the 25 players who have scored at least 25,000 points in the NBA. 2000 Slam Dunk contest champ. Olympic gold medalist at the 2000 Sydney Summer Games. 2015-16 Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year. 2019-20 Sportsmanship Award.

Yes, he was a magnificent dunker – the dunk contest win and memorable slam over France’s Frederic Weis at the Olympics, known as the Dunk of Death, are evidence – but he also had game outside of that. He was a rebounder, passer and quality shooter.

His impact on basketball extended far beyond statistics and dunks.

He influenced a country that resonates today. Acquired by the Toronto Raptors as the No. 5 pick in the 1998 NBA draft, Carter helped turn Canada into a nation that produced multiple elite basketball players, a feat that seemed almost impossible three decades ago.

Carter is among the 13 players, coaches, contributors and executives who will be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame on Sunday.

Here is what you need to know about the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame enshrinement weekend:

When is basketball Hall of Fame weekend?

Saturday and Sunday

Why was the Hall of Fame weekend moved?

The event, originally scheduled for Aug. 16-17, was moved to help accommodate a longer global summer schedule including the Paris Olympics.

Where is Hall of Fame?

The Hall of Fame news conferences, tip-off celebration and awards gala will take place Saturday at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut, and the enshrinement ceremony is Sunday at the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts.

How can you watch on TV?

NBA TV will televise the Hall of Fame news conference at 2 p.m. ET Saturday, and the tip-off celebration and awards show at 8 p.m. ET Saturday. NBA TV will televise the enshrinement ceremony at 6 p.m. ET Sunday.

Who will be enshrined in the 2024 Hall of Fame class?

Players, coaches, contributors:

Seimone Augustus 
Dick Barnett 
Chauncey Billups 
Vince Carter 
Doug Collins 
Michael Cooper
Walter Davis 
Harley Redin 
Bo Ryan
Herb Simon 
Charles Smith 
Michele Timms
Jerry West

2024 Curt Gowdy Award recipients

J.A. Adande
Debbie Antonelli
SLAM Magazine
NBA Inside Stuff

2024 John W. Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award

JoAn Scott

Follow NBA reporter Jeff Zillgitt on social media @JeffZillgitt

LEXINGTON, Ky. — He waited for the all the cheers and applause to die down. He waited to gather his thoughts. Then, he spoke.

A visibly emotional Rick Pitino, back at Rupp Arena donned in Kentucky blue for the first time in decades, was a fitting finale Friday night to a Big Blue Madness event that honored the greatness of college basketball’s winningest program.

‘I am so happy to be back,’ Pitino said after grabbing a microphone. ‘I said, ‘Before I pack it in in coaching, I want to go back to Camelot for one more time.’ There’s no way I could return better. This is one of the best nights I’ve had in a long time, because I visit all my players. I visit the fans that made me happy for every single day for eight years.’

His triumphant return was in large part due to one of his former players: Mark Pope, a team captain of the 1995-96 club that — under Pitino’s watchful eye — captured the Wildcats’ sixth national championship, is entering his first season as UK’s coach.

‘We get to root for a gentleman that — there have been a lot of great coaches here, a lot of great ones,’ Pitino said, ‘but we get to root for someone that made Kentucky what he’s all about. It’s not about Pope. It’s not about Pope. You’ll never hear him say (it’s about him).’

That Pitino was in Lexington was no secret: Earlier this week, he confirmed rumors he’d attend Saturday’s football game between Kentucky and Vanderbilt at Kroger Field. It was widely speculated that appearance at the football would come on the heels of a Big Blue Madness sighting. Yet it never was officially announced — by Pitino, Pope or anyone else — whether the former coach would be in the building Friday night. Moments before he took the floor alongside other members of UK’s eight national championship squads, however, he was spotted in a tunnel at Rupp Arena.

As soon as he trotted onto the court, clad in a blue quarter-zip sweater notably featuring Kentucky’s interlocking ‘UK’ logo (in white), Pitino received the largest ovation on a night where they weren’t in short supply. Not with Pope on hand. Or in-state heroes Trent Noah and Travis Perry, already fan favorites as freshmen despite the fact they’ve yet to play a game for the Wildcats.

Yet Pitino’s reception outshined them all.

Despite wanting to shift the attention away from himself.

‘(He’s) the most selfless, humble young man I’ve ever coached in my lifetime,’ Pitino said, referring to Pope. ‘One of the great, great examples of what Kentucky basketball is all about. Mark Pope is going to lead you to greatness in every sense of the word.’

Of course, Pitino himself is still going strong.

He’s entering his second season as head coach at St. John’s.

Everywhere he’s been as a college coach, success has followed.

In 36 seasons at the college level, Pitino has an on-court record of 854-306 (.736) during stints at Hawaii, Boston University, Providence, Kentucky, Louisville, Iona and St. John’s. Pitino’s record, per the NCAA, is 731-303 after he was forced to vacate 123 victories during his time at Louisville, which included a national title in 2013 and a Final Four appearance in 2012.

Nowhere does he cast a larger shadow than in Lexington, however.

He guided the Wildcats for eight seasons (1989-90 through 1996-97), compiling a 219-50 (81.4%) record, taking a program that was within inches of the NCAA’s death penalty and delivering it back to prominence almost immediately. UK was ineligible for the NCAA Tournament in each of his first two seasons. In the six seasons the Wildcats were eligible, however, Pitino piloted them to the Elite Eight, or better, five times. That included a national championship in 1996, a national runner-up in 1997 and another Final Four in 1993.

Pope never shies away from an opportunity to praise Pitino.

Though UK’s newest coach kept his comments on his mentor brief Friday, Pope made it clear how much Pitino means to him earlier this year.

‘Every coach that has coached here has done amazing things, contributed to Big Blue Nation, but Coach Pitino changed me,’ Pope said during his introductory press conference in April. ‘And I will tell you, like, he changed me to my soul, changed my DNA as a human being. He allowed me to be someone who feels they can walk into any room and take on any impossible task.

‘And I will love him forever.’

This story was updated to add new information.

Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.

The Ole Miss football program is aware the Rebels are a topic in discussions about faking injuries.

Conversation has swirled this season regarding players feigning or exaggerating injuries and the advantage that creates. For defenses facing a high-powered, up-tempo offense, a well-timed cramp can help. Injury timeouts can slow down offenses at inopportune times and allow defenses to get reset.

They can also afford an offense the same benefit.

Ahead of a big game at LSU on Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC), Ole Miss addressed the topic in a Friday news release.

‘Feigned injuries has become a notable topic in college football, and we realize our program has been part of that discussion,’ the release said. ‘We have been in communication with the National Coordinator for Football Officiating and provided relevant medical information for his review to answer questions about recent injuries. We have also updated the SEC office, and our head coach will communicate with our coaches and players to ensure we conduct ourselves properly and are compliant in this matter.’

Ole Miss drew criticism online for triggering 11 injury stoppages against South Carolina in Week 6. Gamecocks coach Shane Beamer also seemed skeptical about the developments. The Rebels were also criticized for similar behavior when they hosted Kentucky.

Sam Hutchens covers Ole Miss for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at Shutchens@gannett.com or reach him on X at @Sam_Hutchens_