Several players in the Birmingham Regional of the Sweet 16 are top prospects for the WNBA draft.
These 7 can’t miss prospects include Notre Dame’s Olivia Miles & Sonia Citron, Maryland’s Shyanne Sellers, South Carolina’s Te-Hina Paopao & Sania Feagin, and TCU’s Hailey Van Lith & Sedona Prince.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – In women’s March Madness Sweet 16 action starting here Friday, WNBA scouts will have their eyes on several players who could go high in April’s draft.

Any fans watching will see each of these players are set to dazzle WNBA arenas next year. Here’s a closer look at seven stars in Birmingham.

Olivia Miles, Notre Dame

Watch women’s Sweet 16 on Fubo (free trial)

She excels as a versatile shooter on a screen, averaging 15.5 points on 48.8% shooting, and has markedly improved from distance, up to 40.1% this year from 22.8% in the 2022-23 season. Her defense is more of a question mark, but she should develop at the professional level given time. Miles’ game with the ball in her hands is so good that any team that takes her can deal with the growing pains.

For The Win’s Megan L. Hall grades Miles as the second pick in her most recent WNBA mock draft.

Sonia Citron, Notre Dame

Sonia Citron is a solid outside shooter, hitting 38.1% from 3-point range. She makes her living as an off-ball guard with 14.2 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. 

She has the experience to get hot in late-game situations but must start playing more instinctually on offense, as she gets open looks as the third option. She has a strong defensive motor, averaging almost two steals a game, and she is the first to guard the opposing team’s best player. 

Hall projects Citron as the fourth pick in her latest WNBA mock draft.

Shyanne Sellers, Maryland

Shyanne Sellers can play at either the one or the two-guard spot. She is versatile as a playmaker and excels with the ball in her hands. She is a true two-level scorer who drives downhill often and gets to the foul line, where she shoots 86.4%. 

Sellers distributes the ball well and often makes the incisive final pass, averaging 4.1 assists per game. She rebounds in a secondary role but provides a spark on the defensive glass on longer shots. 

Her jack-of-all-trades playing style is perfect for the combo guard role, especially for someone with her size at 6-foot-2. 

Hall has Sellers as the fifth pick, going to the Washington Mystics, in her latest WNBA mock draft.

Hailey Van Lith, TCU

She can also catch-and-shoot well, especially off the pick. She plays solid defense and can rebound when needed, but due to her size (5-9) she struggles against bigger guards when down low. She disrupts passing lanes well, averaging 1.2 steals per game. 

Hall projects Van Lith as the 11th pick, to the Minnesota Lynx, in her latest WNBA mock draft. However, she is such a threat with the ball in her hands that teams could reach for her in the earlier part of the draft.  

Te-Hina Paopao, South Carolina

Te-Hina Paopao is a 40.1% career 3-point shooter over three seasons with Oregon and two with South Carolina. But she has molded into more of the prototypical 3-and-D guard this season, averaging 1.1 steals and 9.7 points per game. She cooled off from behind the arc this year, dropping to 37.1% shooting this year from 46.8% last season.

But she is a tenacious defender on the perimeter and creates havoc with her ability to break up passing lanes. (She recorded four blocks and two steals in South Carolina’s second-round NCAA Tournament win over Indiana.) She projects as a great depth piece with the potential to be a starter later. 

Hall projects Paopao as the ninth pick, to the LA Sparks, in her latest WNBA mock draft.

Sania Feagin, South Carolina

Scoring may not always be Sania Feagin’s go-to for her game. However, in the SEC Tournament, Feagin earned All-Tournament honors with a lights-out performance against Texas, when she shut down Madison Booker for 10 points on 4-of-13 shooting. 

Feagin is efficient, shooting 61.6% from the field, and rebounds well (4.5 per game), but not at the pace many expect of her. She logs just 19.3 minutes per game, so that could change with more playing time.

Her presence as a rim protector (1.5 blocks her game) gives her an upside at the professional level as she continues to grow into her game as a physical and efficient power forward with a knack for being a leader.

Feagin’s lack of a consistent outside shot threat hurts her in draft boards, but her defense establishes her as a gem in the draft that GMs might hunt for. 

Sedona Prince, TCU

Sedona Prince is possibly the best pure center in this draft class, but she could slide off the board due to myriad off-court personal issues. On the court, Prince uses her size (6-7) to average 17.5 points per game, and she is a consistent-yet-unflashy finisher. 

With second-chance points, she must kick out to the perimeter on the offensive rebound to distribute to TCU’s shooters. But she rebounds better than almost anyone on the court (9.5 per game), and she creates problems for the other team with an eye-popping three blocks per game, fourth in the country. 

Cooper Burke is a student in the University of Georgia’s Sports Media Certificate program.

NBA injuries are an unfortunate and unavoidable part of every season.

As the playoffs near, injuries to stars and key players are impacting the playoff race in the Eastern and Western conferences.

Some players are out for the season, some are day-to-day, some are hoping to return before the season ends.

How do those players and teams deal with injuries? Will the Dallas Mavericks overcome their long list of injuries just to make the play-in game? Will the Los Angeles Lakers get back on track with LeBron James and Luka Doncic? Will the Oklahoma City Thunder enter the playoffs with their starting five available?

Let’s take a look at key injuries around the league as the regular season winds down (stats through Wednesday’s games):

Golden State Warriors

Player injured: Stephen Curry
Issue: Pelvic contusion
Date out: March 20
Return date: TBA
Current seed: No. 7 in West

The good news for Golden State is that the team expects All-Star guard Stephen Curry back Friday. The bad news is that, offensively, they desperately need him. When Curry is playing, the Warriors have the sixth-best offensive rating (117.3). Without him, that number plunges to a league-worst 105.2 — and that was before the Warriors scored just 86 on the Heat.

If Curry were to require more time off, Golden State simply needs more assertive and decisive offensive engagement from Jimmy Butler. The same goes for bench players Jonathan Kuminga and Buddy Hield, but Butler is the star player who signed a two-year, $121 million extension with the team. In any case, it’s tough to see the Warriors making an extended run if Curry were to miss significant time.

Boston Celtics

Player injured: Jayson Tatum
Issue: Left ankle sprain
Date out: March 24
Return date: TBA
Current seed: No. 2 in East

They have the No. 2 seed practically locked up, sitting 4½ games back of the Cavs and 8½ up on the Knicks. There’s absolutely no reason to rush Jayson Tatum back from his twisted left ankle suffered Monday night. Over the past three weeks, the Celtics had been giving starters spot rest, anyway, as Jaylen Brown (back spasms), Derrick White (knee), Kristaps Porziņģis (conditioning) and Al Horford (left big toe sprain) each missed games here and there.

Despite that, Boston has won 22 of its past 27. Tatum worked out before Wednesday night’s game against the Suns and may be available to return. It doesn’t matter. The Celtics have ample talent to make up for a prolonged Tatum absence. They could let him go to the Maldives for a week and they’d still be the two-seed upon his return.

New York Knicks

Player injured: Jalen Brunson
Issue: Right ankle
Date out: March 6
Return date: TBA
Current seed: No. 3 in East

Similar to Golden State, the Knicks simply aren’t the same without Jalen Brunson (sprained right ankle), who leads the NBA in clutch points per game (6.0). Karl-Anthony Towns is averaging 26.1 points in the nine games Brunson has missed, but it has been Mikal Bridges averaging nearly 4 points more than his season average in Brunson’s absence that is keeping the Knicks competitive.

The complication is that Brunson is New York’s primary ball handler. The further complication is that his backup, Miles McBride (groin), has also been out. That has put the onus to distribute on Towns, Josh Hart and Cameron Payne, who started the past three games at point guard. Making this almost comically absurd, Wednesday night, Payne rolled his ankle.

Denver Nuggets

Player injured: Nikola Jokić
Issue: Left ankle
Date out: March 15
Return date: March 26
Current seed: No. 3 in West

Wednesday night showed just how essential Nikola Jokić is to the Nuggets. He missed five games with a left ankle injury, three of which resulted in Denver losses. And while the Bucks were without Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard, Jokić erupted for a 39-point triple-double. The Nuggets lead the NBA in points in the paint per game with 58.1. Jokić is the anchor; even when he’s not backing defenders down, his elite vision creates easy buckets for cutting players.

The Nuggets also have been managing separate calf and ankle injuries to Aaron Gordon. But the priority is keeping Jokić, who draws physical contact with his style of play, healthy. When he’s on the floor, the Nuggets are championship contenders. 

Milwaukee Bucks

Player injured: Damian Lillard
Issue: Blood clot
Date out: March 19
Return date: TBA
Current seed: No. 6 in East

Damian Lillard is out indefinitely with a blood clot in his right calf, and while nothing is more important than his health in this matter, it hurts to miss games with an All-Star sidelined in late March. There is belief that Lillard could return this season.

The 40-32 Bucks are locked in a tight race for seeding with Indiana and Detroit. Milwaukee is in sixth place – two games behind the Pacers and a ½ game behind the Pistons. Milwaukee is 8-6 without Lillard this season (2-2 since the blood clot diagnosis) and have a better net rating per 100 possessions with Lillard on the bench than with him on the court. Two-time All-Star Giannis Antetokounmpo and Lillard form the highest-scoring duo in the league, but Antetokounmpo says the Bucks will need to rely on defense with Lillard out. Ryan Rollins and Kevin Porter Jr. will receive more minutes, but no matter where the Bucks finish in the standings, they are in for a tough first-round series with no guarantee they get to the second round.

Los Angeles Lakers

Player injured: LeBron James
Issue: Groin strain
Date out: March 8
Return date: March 22

Player injured: Rui Hachimura
Issue: Left knee
Date out: Feb. 28
Return date: March 22
Current seed: No. 5 in West

LeBron James and Rui Hachimura have returned to the lineup, and that’s good news for the Lakers. Just before they were sidelined with injuries, the Lakers were on a roll and looked good with Luka Doncic finding his way with his new team. The Lakers had moved into second place briefly behind Oklahoma City.

The Lakers went 3-3 without James, and when he returned March 22, the Lakers lost two more games before beating Indiana on Wednesday on a James’ put-back at the buzzer. They are 44-28 and tied for fifth place in the West with Memphis – 2½ games behind second-place Houston, one game behind third-place Denver and three games ahead of sixth-place Golden State and the Los Angeles Clippers.

More important than home-court advantage in a playoff series for the Lakers is getting James, Doncic and the rest of the team back to the way they were playing during a 20-4 stretch before James’ injury.

Dallas Mavericks

Player injured: Anthony Davis
Issue: Adductor strain
Date out: Feb. 8 (first game with team after trade from Lakers)
Return date: March 24 (day-to-day)

Player injured: Kyrie Irving
Issue: Left knee (torn ACL, surgery)
Date out: March 3
Return date: Out for season
Current seed: No. 10 in West

The Mavericks were 28-25 and in eighth place in the West on Feb. 8 when they beat the Houston Rockets in Anthony Davis’ first game with the Mavs after the stunning Luka Doncic trade. However, Davis left that game with an adductor strain and missed Dallas’ next 18 games. On March 3, All-Star Kyrie Irving sustained a season-ending knee injury and now the 35-38 Mavericks are tied with Phoenix for 10th place, ½ game behind Sacramento as those three teams battle for the final two play-in games positions.

Davis returned March 24, helping Dallas to a victory against Brooklyn, but he sat out the next game on March 25 on the second game of a back-to-back. Also out for the Mavs: Dante Exum (fractured left hand), Daniel Gafford (sprained right knee), Dereck Lively II (right ankle stress fracture) and P.J. Washington (sprained left ankle). It’s been a difficult year with injuries for the team that went to the NBA Finals in 2024.

Orlando Magic

Player injured: Jalen Suggs
Issue: Left knee (surgery)
Date out: March 2
Return date: Out for season

Player injured: Mo Wagner
Issue: Left knee (ACL tear, surgery)
Date out: Dec. 21
Return date: Out for season
Current seed: No. 8 in East

The Magic’s 17-9 start was blunted by injuries to Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner, who missed a combined 54 games (34 from Banchero) earlier in the season. They are back in the lineup, however, Jalen Suggs (left knee) and Mo Wagner (left knee) are done for the season. Orlando, which had an impressive 47-35 campaign last season, is 35-38 and in eighth place in the East – ½ game behind seventh-place Atlanta and 2½ games ahead of ninth-place Chicago and 3½ games ahead of 10th-place Miami. The Magic have won three consecutive games and are 6-4 in their past 10 games with victories against Milwaukee, Cleveland and the Lakers.

Memphis Grizzlies

Player injured: Ja Morant
Issue: Hamstring
Date out: March 13
Return date: TBA
Current seed: No. 8 in East

Star Ja Morant has missed the Grizzlies past five games with a hamstring injury, and the Grizzlies went 2-3. He is expected back soon – perhaps this Saturday when the Grizzlies play the Lakers in an important game. Memphis is in a tight race with the Lakers and the Nuggets for the Nos. 3-4-5 seeds in the West. The Grizzlies also are without key reserve Brandon Clarke, who is likely out for the rest of the season with a sprained right knee.

Oklahoma City Thunder

Player injured: Jalen Williams
Issue: Right hip
Date out: March 10
Return date: TBA
Current seed: No. 1 in West

The Thunder have the best record in the league at 60-12 and have clinched the top seed in the West. All-Star forward Jalen Williams has missed seven consecutive games with a right hip strain, and the Thunder are dealing with strains, bruises and soreness to Aaron Wiggins (left Achilles tendinitis), Cason Wallace (bruised left knee) and Ajay Mitchell (sprained right toe). The key for Oklahoma City – one of two teams in the top five in offensive and defensive rating – is having healthy players for the playoffs. Giving them ample time to recover is paramount.

NEWARK, N.J. — Before Cooper Flagg takes his skills to pro basketball, most likely in the next few months, he showed the college world once again what he has in his tool chest.

Drives to the basket with ease and fluidity, a mid-range game beyond his years, and for good measure, a buzzer-beating three-pointer to end the first half. The freshman and his Duke teammates are off to the Elite Eight after a 100-93 win over Arizona in the East Regional semifinal on Thursday.

Flagg, the ACC Player of the Year, finished with an efficient 30 points, adding seven assists and six rebounds, and Kon Knueppel added 20 for Duke, which will play Alabama, a 113-88 winner over BYU, on Saturday for a spot in the Final Four in San Antonio.

The Crimson Tide used a three-point barrage to bury BYU, hitting an NCAA-record 25 shots on 51 attempts from downtown. Against the Blue Devils, don’t expect that repeat performance, but they will need to play a complete game to advance to their second straight Final Four.

What made Alabama so difficult to handle for parts of the year was its ability to get to the rim and finish. When they aren’t hitting layups or dunking, the Crimson Tide guards, mainly Mark Sears, can stretch the defense and hit open teammates. If they aren’t open, they will shoot it anyway.

Against BYU, those shots went down, but against Duke’s length and ability to pressure the ball, if the buckets aren’t falling, it could be a long and painful night.

Alabama didn’t have to do much when the ball was low on the block, scoring only 16 paint points, but will need to be diligent working it inside, especially if the Tide starts cold from the field. Bottom line, Alabama’s guards will have to do the heavy lifting for the majority of the game.

Duke finds multiple ways to beat teams, but it starts on the defensive end. The Blue Devils allow only 61 points a game and ranked fourth nationally in field-goal percentage, using their length with Flagg, center Khaman Maluach and reserve Patrick Ngongba, to clog driving lanes or put up low-percentage shots. Duke is no slouch on the offensive end either, and against Arizona, shot 60% for the game.

Offensively, Flagg, even at 6-foot-9, can run the offense, so Alabama must keep him above the free-throw line and throw multiple defenders at him before he has a chance to find open teammates, because if he does, it will most likely end in easy scores.

The Blue Devils’ proficiency in the paint also can be an issue for teams. Duke rarely beats itself with silly turnovers, so any chance Alabama has to convert turnovers into points, it must.

As SEC schools raid top players from mid-majors, Norfolk State’s coach explained why Cinderellas stand slim chance in March Madness: They’re ‘a glorified juco’ now.
As transfer rules loosened these last few years, coaches at power-conferences looked to the portal to build rosters, at expense of mid-major teams.
Cinderella showed signs of weakness in NCAA Tournament before this year. Perhaps, she’s not dead, but just hibernating for a year.

Norfolk State managed one of the great upsets in men’s NCAA Tournament history with veteran players who didn’t shy away from No. 2 Missouri in a first-round upset.

Kyle O’Quinn, one of Norfolk’s four senior starters, went off for 26 points in his penultimate game before being drafted into the NBA.

No chance Norfolk could hang onto a player of O’Quinn’s caliber for four seasons nowadays, amid college basketball’s transfer revolution. But don’t take my word for it. Just listen to what Norfolk coach Robert Jones said recently.

“Now, we’ve got to get a new team every year, every two (years),” Jones told WAVY-TV. “We’re basically a glorified juco.”

“Until mid-majors get the money that high majors have, we’re never going to be able to keep kids here for a long time,” added Jones, who was an assistant coach on Norfolk’s 2012 Cinderella team. “It’s easy to get them. It’s hard to retain them.”

Cinderella became a glorified community college, in Jones’ own telling. Maybe that helps explain why no team from outside a Power Four conference reached the Sweet 16 this season.

Tired of getting slapped by Cinderella’s slipper, power-conference coaches now acquire the best players off mid-major rosters.

This emerged as a natural evolution after the NCAA began to loosen transfer restrictions in 2021, amid a flurry of legal action. The rules further loosened after a 2023 court order that allows players to bounce from school to school, year after year, without penalty.

Mid-major standouts able to transfer freely without penalty can’t ignore the financial and exposure benefits of moving up to a high major. Coaches within the power ranks can’t ignore top mid-major players who possess the talents to become high-major stars, and mid-major coaches don’t have the clout to retain proven players.

Transfers supplanted the ‘diaper dandies’ who once dominated college hoops.

The NCAA maintains disinterest in collective bargaining or a contract-based employment model that might offer coaches more roster control. In lieu of that, the transfer carousel spins ‘round, and the top players from teams like Norfolk stampede toward Power Four rosters.

On cue, Norfolk’s top scorer Brian Moore Jr. swiftly entered the transfer portal after the team’s first-round NCAA loss to Florida. Last spring, Norfolk lost leading scorer Jamarii Thomas to South Carolina, as Thomas joined his third school in as many years. Thomas became the Gamecocks’ second-leading scorer.

“You can get (players), because a lot of kids want opportunities,’ Jones, the Norfolk coach, explained, ‘but once they get the opportunity, and then they blow up, it’s hard to retain them, because now the big boy is going to come.”

Auburn, Tennessee reflect transfer revolution in March Madness

A photo circulated in 2019 showed how Grant Williams looked as a freshman clinging to baby fat, compared to what he’d become as a chiseled junior forward on the frontline of one of the nation’s best teams.

Three years spent in Tennessee’s strength in conditioning program transformed Williams. He epitomized a Tennessee roster that coach Rick Barnes spent years developing. That Vols team ascended to a No. 1 ranking for a stretch of the season and reached the Sweet 16. Tennessee’s roster included no transfers on that team that won 31 games, and a fan base fell in love with a lineup it knew well.

Oh, how the sport changed in a matter of years.

Tennessee will play a Sweet 16 game against Kentucky on Friday with a transfer-fueled roster. Barnes’ 2024 recruiting class featured one high school recruit. More room for transfers.

Five transfers played in Tennessee’s second-round win against UCLA. Four came from mid-majors, including leading scorer Chaz Lanier.

Thanks, Cinderella, for putting in the legwork. Barnes will take it from here.

“Every year the excitement of putting together a team and putting the parts together is, honestly, it’s fun,” Barnes told reporters last spring.

It’s more fun when you’re the program gaining top players, rather than losing them.

The SEC advanced seven teams into the Sweet 16, an NCAA record for a conference. Several factors account for the SEC’s uprising. Expansion helped. SEC newcomers Oklahoma and Texas qualified for the field. Strong hiring and more effective scheduling became keys, too.

Also unmistakable, though, is that SEC schools flex muscle in the transfer sweepstakes.

Consider No. 1 overall seed Auburn, playing in the Sweet 16 on Friday.

Bruce Pearl took Auburn to its first Final Four in program history in 2019 with a roster he’d signed and developed. Now, he’s playing the transfer game, too.

Superstar Johni Broome is in his third year at Auburn after transferring from Morehead State.

Auburn’s Sweet 16 opponent, No. 5 Michigan, deploys a starting lineup exclusive to players who have transferred at least once. That includes Michigan’s star frontcourt of Vladislav Goldin and Danny Wolf. They played last season at Florida Atlantic and Yale, respectively, Cinderellas that won games in last year’s NCAA Tournament.

Instead of trying to run it back in a glass slipper, Goldin and Wolf turbo-charged Michigan’s rebuild.

“I don’t begrudge anyone (for transferring),” said Michigan coach Dusty May, who previously coached Goldin at FAU.

Can Cinderella make a comeback?

The Sweet 16, for the first time since 2007, features no team seeded No. 11 or higher, but Cinderella’s vitality has been threatened before.

The following year, in 2018, Loyola-Chicago charged into the Final Four as an 11-seed, a comeback for Cinderella, and Nevada reached the Sweet 16.

Perhaps, Cinderella has another comeback left in her next season.

No. 12 Colorado State, from the Mountain West, would have reached this year’s Sweet 16 if not for Maryland banking in a runner at the buzzer. No. 12 McNeese beat Clemson in the first round. Drake beat the big boys at their own transfer game. Using a lineup packed with Division II transfers, the 11th-seeded Bulldogs upset Missouri in the first round.

After Drake, Colorado State and McNeese exited the tournament, power-conference schools plundered their coaches. Players aren’t the only ones treating Cinderella as a pitstop.

Jones didn’t leave. Norfolk’s veteran coach is still plugging away, remolding a roster that must replace its transfer-bound leading scorer. Such is life at “a glorified juco.”

Blake Toppmeyer is a columnist for the USA TODAY Network. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer. Subscribe to read all of his columns.

The UFL is marching into its second season of existence, and the public focus surrounding the league is fixated on topics such as possible expansion and collaboration with the NFL, rather than whether or not the league needs a lifeline.

The UFL, of course, is the result of a merger between the USFL and XFL that was announced in December 2023. It also is the latest attempt to keep professional football in action during the spring. While our country has a borderline ridiculous appetite for football, that hasn’t quite carried over to spring football. Remember the Alliance of American Football of 2019? It had an impressive opening weekend, only to fizzle into football oblivion seven weeks later. Seven weeks! It was a humble reminder that it’s tough out there for start-up pro football leagues.

Dating back to World War II, only one start-up outdoor professional football league survived. It currently exists as the NFL’s American Football Conference. In 1960, the American Football League went head-to-head with the National Football League and succeeded, forcing a merger between the two leagues and spawning the unofficial national holiday that is the Super Bowl.

Whether the following leagues were direct competitors to the NFL, or just trying to fill a void in the football calendar in the timeframe after the Super Bowl, they provide a cautionary tale for anybody thinking about getting another pro football league off the ground.

XFL 3.0

Existence: 2023

What happened? Dany Garcia and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson purchased the XFL out of bankruptcy for $15 million and rebooted the 2020 version of the league. The XFL was successfully able to complete its first season, though it would not make it to a second. On Dec. 31, 2023, it was announced that the XFL and rival USFL would merge to create the new UFL.

USFL 2.0

Existence: 2022-23

What happened? The recreated USFL — with team names harkening back to its 1980s ancestor — opened play in April 2022 with all eight teams headquartered and playing home games in Birmingham, Alabama. For the 2023 season, which opened as XFL 3.0 was finishing its first season, the league expanded its home stadium footprint. After two seasons of play, it was announced that the USFL and XFL were merging to create the UFL.

XFL 2.0

Existence: Five weeks (2020)

What happened? Blame a global pandemic for the premature end of the second (but not last!) iteration of the XFL. Just five weeks into its 10-game schedule, the XFL joined every other sports league in suspending its season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The XFL initially stated it would be back in 2021, but a month later the league filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In August 2020, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and business partner Dany Garcia were among a group of investors that purchased the XFL’s parent company for roughly $15 million. The league did have a promising start in 2020. It drew larger crowds than its spring football predecessor, the Alliance of American Football, and had national television agreements with ESPN and Fox Sports.

Alliance of American Football

Existence: Eight weeks (2019)

What happened? The AAF jumped out to strong TV ratings, but financial problems emerged early and Tom Dundon — who also owns the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes — stepped in with a $250 million investment. Six weeks later, after trying to secure cooperation from the NFL Players’ Association to use young players from NFL rosters in AAF games, Dundon pulled the plug on The Alliance.

Fall Experimental Football League

Existence: 2 seasons (2014-15)

What happened? The FXFL was, well, small. It played with four teams in 2014 and just three in 2015. The league had hoped to be a developmental league for the NFL, playing its games in the fall and ending its season in November, which is normally a time when injuries can take a toll on an NFL roster. However, without official NFL support, the league never became profitable and closed operations before it could complete its second season.

United Football League

Existence: 4 seasons (2009-12)

What happened? A rare start-up football league to try to play its games in the fall, the UFL nearly benefited from a prolonged lockout in 2011 as the NFL and NFLPA worked out a new collective bargaining agreement. Instead, the NFL lockout was resolved in time for the 2011 regular season and the UFL wouldn’t be the only pro football option for TV networks that autumn. The UFL played the 2011 season, but its 2012 season was cut short after four weeks of play as the league succumbed to financing issues.

XFL 1.0

Existence: 1 season (2001)

What happened? Triggered by the marketing power of Vince McMahon and what is now the WWE (plus a partnership with NBC), the XFL opened to huge TV ratings. Those ratings quickly deteriorated as the season went along. Billed as ‘the toughest football ever,’ the XFL failed to live up to expectations. It was just bad football, featuring trash-talking TV commentators such as Jesse Ventura (then the governor of Minnesota) and borderline-inappropriate cheerleaders (there were, however, cool player nicknames on the back of jerseys). Less than a month after it played its championship game, the XFL folded after massive financial losses. Only the AAF failed faster than the XFL in 2001. Despite all of this, McMahon reincarnated the XFL for a 2020 launch.

World League of American Football/NFL Europe/NFL Europa

Existence: 15 seasons (1991-92, 1995-2007)

What happened? This start-up lasted the longest of any, thanks to the backing of the NFL. The original ‘World League’ featured three Europe-based teams, one in Canada and six teams in the U.S. This incarnation lasted two seasons and the league was put on hiatus until being brought back as NFL Europe in 1995 with each of its six teams based in Europe (it was rebranded as NFL Europa for its final season in 2007). The NFL assigned developmental players to NFL Europe teams, and the league’s track record for producing NFL talent was tremendous. Pro Football Hall of Famer Kurt Warner is the most notable alum. Others included QBs Jake Delhomme, Brad Johnson and Jon Kitna, LB James Harrison, DT La’Roi Glover, return specialist/WR Dante Hall, and kickers David Akers and Adam Vinatieri. Actor Terry Crews also played in the league. In 2007, as part of a new strategy to ‘make the NFL more accessible on a global scale,’ the NFL shut down NFL Europa and focused on the International Series of games in London (though it took until 2022 for the NFL to finally play a regular-season game in Germany, which was an NFL Europe stronghold).

United States Football League

Existence: 3 seasons (1983-85)

What happened? Playing its games in the spring, the USFL wasn’t a direct competitor to the NFL. However, it was competing for talent. The first salvo was the signing of 1982 Heisman winner Herschel Walker. While Walker never became a Pro Football Hall of Famer, five players enshrined in Canton did begin their pro football careers in the USFL: Jim Kelly, Steve Young, Reggie White, Sam Mills and Gary Zimmerman. A relatively modest beginning for the USFL got a huge jolt when Donald Trump bought the New Jersey Generals. Trump worked to convince other USFL owners to move its league games to the fall. With the USFL planning a 1986 move to fall games, Trump then convinced USFL owners to file an anti-trust lawsuit against the NFL. This did not go well. The USFL was awarded $1 in damages and the league was done.

World Football League

Existence: 2 seasons (1974-75)

What happened? Aligned as a direct competitor to the NFL, the WFL signed a number of notable NFL players, including a trio from the Super Bowl champion Miami Dolphins: Larry Csonka, Jim Kiick and Paul Warfield. The league’s first season ended with the league champions — the Birmingham Americans — having their uniforms repossessed. Despite that obvious financial trouble, the WFL came back for more in 1975. It didn’t survive long enough to hold another title game, folding midway through its season. 

Continental Football League

Existence: 5 seasons (1965-69)

What happened? This is where Bill Walsh got his first head coaching gig, coaching the San Jose Apaches in 1967. The Continental Football League survived until the AFL-NFL merger, when teams folded and the league was no more.

All-American Football Conference

Existence: 4 seasons (1946-49)

What happened? The AAFC — like the American Football League after it — was a legitimate competitor to the NFL. For the 1950 season, three AAFC teams — the Baltimore Colts (a separate franchise than the team currently located in Indianapolis), Cleveland Browns and San Francisco 49ers — were merged into the NFL. The Browns — winners of all four of the AAFC championship games — were an instant powerhouse in the NFL. They defeated the defending NFL champion Philadelphia Eagles in a famous 1950 season-opener, then won the league title that season and played in the NFL championship game in seven of their first eight NFL seasons. 

Pacific Coast Professional Football League

Existence: 9 seasons (1940-48)

What happened? The PCPFL operated mostly during a time when the furthest west NFL franchises were the Chicago Bears and Cardinals and the Green Bay Packers. In 1941, Jackie Robinson played in the PCPFL as a running back for the Los Angeles Bulldogs. Before becoming NFL pioneers with the L.A. Rams, Kenny Washington and Woody Strode — Robinson’s teammates at UCLA — played for the Hollywood Bears. Popularity in the league decreased due to the Cleveland Rams’ move to Los Angeles in 1946, as well as the presence of the AAFC’s Los Angeles Dons.

All the pro football news on and off the field. Sign up for USA TODAY’s 4th and Monday newsletter.

WASHINGTON — Alec Bohm’s 2024 season did not end so much as it faded away, a digression that culminated when he was benched during the Philadelphia Phillies’ defeat at the hands of the New York Mets in the National League Division Series.

And then the Phillies tried to disappear him altogether.

With a third base musical chairs engulfing baseball’s trade and free-agent markets, the Phillies shopped their 28-year-old homegrown product, dangling his name and listening to trade offers but ultimately holding onto the kid they drafted third overall in 2018.

Even if Bohm tried to tune out that noise, his more veteran teammates knew he could’ve been gone, that it could’ve easily been someone else standing in the batter’s box late Thursday afternoon, two outs in the top of the 10th inning of a back-and-forth Opening Day tussle against the Washington Nationals.

And Bohm proved his bosses wise to keep him.

He drove the first pitch he saw from lefty Colin Poche into the left field gap, one-hopping the left field wall to drive in the go-ahead runs in what became a 7-3 extra-innings conquest at Nationals Park.

That capped a 3 hour, 9 minute affair that started as a pitching masterpiece – starters MacKenzie Gore and Zack Wheeler combined to strike out 21 batters and allow five baserunners in their six innings – until the sun receded and the relievers came on.

The Phillies were just an out away from facing a tie game and the automatic runner at second in the bottom of the 10th before Bohm bailed them out.

It was a relief for a club aiming to defend its NL East title – the win, and that the guy who delivered it is still around.

“Obviously, they were real,” first baseman Bryce Harper, who shares an agent with Bohm, says of the trade rumors. “He had a possibility of going somewhere else. A lot of guys in here, man, including myself, we love that kid over there. He plays the game hard, understands what it takes.

He just needs to not put pressure on himself too much, just have fun, enjoy what he does. What a big at-bat for him right there.”

 It was a glorious way for Bohm’s season to begin given how the last one ended.

He had a career first half, toting an .830 OPS into his first All-Star Game appearance, until a gradual slide snowballed into a lost second half. In his final 20 games, he batted just .169 with three extra-base hits in 80 plate appearances.

The vibes were nearly as bad: Bohm carried the slump into the NLDS, during which he went 1 for 13 and was benched by manager Rob Thomson for Game 2.

And then came the offseason, and the looming changes facing a Phillies club that’s made three consecutive postseason appearances but backslid each time: From pennant winner to NLCS loser to NLDS loser.

Catcher J.T. Realmuto and designated hitter Kyle Schwarber can be free agents after this season, with Bohm and outfielder Nick Castellanos to follow after 2026. The time had arrived to ponder a preemptive roster reconstruction.

“I’ve been through those also,” says Wheeler, who struck out eight over six innings. “Your name’s out there a good bit, you think you’re gone. He’s here with us. He’s our third baseman, he’s a really good hitter, he’s become a good fielder and I’m happy to have him.

“He’s a competitor. Just glad he’s with us.”

Bohm’s late-season abyss was a bummer for all involved, given his methodical climb from the occasional depths of his early career. A 2021 demotion inspired him to shore up his defense considerably, and he gradually added power and cut down on strikeouts, reaching the 20-homer mark with just 94 punchouts in 2023.

Meanwhile, the Phillies only continued to add around him, with Schwarber and Castellanos and Trea Turner joining the Harper-driven core to create this raucous playoff run since 2022.

It would’ve been tough if Bohm were asked to leave the party.

“It’s not very often you get to play three, four seasons in a row with the same group in professional sports like this,” Bohm said Thursday. “It’s nice to be back here, back where I’m comfortable and familiar.”

Thomson appreciates Bohm’s place on his journey.

“I think he’s in a really good headspace right now,” says Thomson. “He’s very confident, he’s controlling his emotions very well. He’s matured. He’s swinging the bat well.”

That wasn’t the case for the Phillies most of Thursday. Gore struck out 13 Phillies and they fanned 19 times overall – “Obviously, we don’t want to punch 19 times. That’s comical, right?” says Harper – before they broke through.

Harper and Schwarber hit first-pitch homers off Lucas Sims and Jose A. Ferrer in the sixth, with the only late-inning blip the two runs new reliever Jordan Romano squandered in the eighth inning, which he began with a walk and a hit batter.

So, they pressed on to extras, where the automatic runner and a walk to Harper were sandwiched around a strikeout and popout, leaving it to Bohm.

He got it done, just Game 1 of what the Phillies hope will be many more beyond the 162 currently on their schedule.

Not quite the last dance, but they can hear the music playing.

“It’s an opportunity to do it, possibly, with guys who might not be here next year, right?” says Harper. “Our main goal is to get in the postseason and make a long run.”

The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.