By: Nick Kilcourse

Check out all of the best Bulls action go to – gousfbulls.com

The South Florida women’s golf team looks to carry their spring momentum into Gainesville this weekend as they compete in the Gator Invitational, hosted by the University of Florida. The Bulls have posted their two best team scores this spring securing finishes of seventh and eleventh.

The 14-team field will consist of: Virginia (11), Ole Miss (15), Charlotte, Chattanooga, Eastern Michigan, Florida Atlantic, South Florida, Florida International, Florida, Jacksonville, Mercer, Michigan, South Alabama, Central Florida.

Junior Emma Kim enters her third consecutive tournament full of confidence aiming to build on her consistent performances this spring. After not competing in any fall events, Kim posted a score of 222 in both the PDI Intercollegiate and the Westbrook Invitational, improving her finish by 18 spots from the PDI to the Westbrook.

Both Leo Medeiros and Cherry Marley have been the consistent leaders for the Bulls throughout the season. They have combined for four top-10 finishes and seven top-25 finishes this season. With the strength at the top of the lineup and the emergence of the middle order, the Bulls have a promising recipe for success as they head into the latter part of the season.

The Bulls’ Gator Invitational lineup will consist of: Leo Medeiros, Cherry Marley, Alice Webb, Valentina Bosselmann and Emma Kim.

Stay up to date all weekend by following the action here. Be sure to follow the Bulls on Instagram.

ABOUT USF WOMEN’S GOLF
Tampa native AJ Newell, a former LPGA Tour Player and NCAA All-American, was named head coach of USF women’s golf by Vice President for Athletics Michael Kelly on June 3, 2024.

Newell will look over leadership of the Bulls’ program following a successful three-year stint as assistant coach at the University of Michigan, where she helped lead the Wolverines to three-straight NCAA Regional appearances, a 2022 Big Ten title, and the 2022 NCAA Championship Finals.

In the record-setting 2023-24 campaign, the Bulls won three times and finished in the top four in nine of 10 events. The three wins are the most in a season since four 2011-12. USF finished third in the American Athletic Conference Championship, which equals the best finish in the tournament in program history. In 2022-23 and 2023-24, the Bulls played in back-to-back NCAA Regionals for the first time since 2001-02. Senior standout Melanie Green, the AAC Conference Player of the Year in 2023-24, an all-conference performer in each of her four seasons, was named to the WGCA 2023-24 Division I All-American second team. Green qualified for the 2022 NCAA Regional as an individual and was named a 2023 All-American Honorable Mention. Green and the Bulls reached the NCAA Regional as a team in 2023, marking the program’s first postseason appearance in 11 years. Follow @USFWGolf on Twitter for the latest information concerning the program.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — LeBron James is well on his way to rewriting every previous definition of basketball longevity, and the 40-year-old star is now racking up numbers the NBA has never seen before.

James became the first player to score 50,000 combined points in the regular season and postseason on Tuesday night, surpassing the mark with a 3-pointer early in the first quarter of the Los Angeles Lakers’ 136-115 win over New Orleans.

James finished with 34 points against the Pelicans after toppling another milestone in his unprecedented career.

“I mean, that’s a lot of points,” James said afterward, rubbing his beard in wonder. “Obviously, the first thing that comes to mind is where I’m from. Picking up the game when I was a little kid and having a love for the sport, and hoping that someday I’d be able to play at the highest level. I’ve been able to do that and really enjoy my career. So it’s definitely an honor. It’s pretty cool to see that.”

James already is the top scorer in NBA history in both the regular season and the playoffs. Maintaining a spectacular level of play midway through his record-tying 22nd season, he is pulling away from the other greats of the game: Lakers great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who played 20 seasons, is a now-distant second with 44,149 combined points.

James got his milestone 3-pointer off an assist by Luka Doncic, a trivia tidbit that pleased both superstars. Doncic’s arrival in last month’s seismic trade with the Dallas Mavericks has invigorated both James and the Lakers, who look like championship contenders with a seven-game winning streak and 17 victories in their last 20 games.

James got his milestone 3-pointer off an assist by Luka Doncic, a trivia tidbit that pleased both superstars. Doncic’s arrival in last month’s seismic trade with the Dallas Mavericks has invigorated both James and the Lakers, who look like championship contenders with a seven-game winning streak and 17 victories in their last 20 games.

“It’s amazing, watching him do this stuff at this age,” said Doncic, who had 30 points, 15 assists and eight rebounds against New Orleans. “It’s just unbelievable, that 50K points. I can’t even explain how insane that is. He might get to 70K. You never know.”

The Lakers recognized the milestone at the next timeout, with public address announcer Lawrence Tanter saying: “Ladies and gentlemen, we all have just witnessed history.” James acknowledged the standing ovation with several waves from the bench.

James is tied with Vince Carter for the most seasons played in NBA history. But while nearly every other NBA player who lasted to his late 30s finished at a fraction of his peak powers, James shows no signs of decline in his 40s.

He was named the NBA’s Western Conference player of the month earlier Tuesday after he averaged 29.3 points, 10.5 rebounds, 6.9 assists and 1.2 steals in February while playing more than 35 minutes per game for the Lakers, who went 9-2 to surge into second place in the West.

With their victory over the Pelicans, the Lakers improved to 11-2 since acquiring Doncic.

James has played in 1,548 regular-season games, trailing only Robert Parish (1,611) and Abdul-Jabbar (1,560). If he stays healthy and elects to return for a record 23rd season, he will likely surpass Parish next winter.

James has also played in 287 postseason games, the most in NBA history. He became the league’s career playoff scoring leader on May 25, 2017, when he surpassed Michael Jordan’s total of 5,987 during the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Eastern Conference finals game at Boston.

James then became the top scorer in regular-season history on Feb. 7, 2023, when he topped Abdul-Jabbar’s record of 38,387 points during the Lakers’ game against Oklahoma City.

James’ prolific scoring is due in large part to his metronomic consistency. With his performance against the Pelicans, he has scored at least 10 points in 1,278 consecutive games since Jan. 6, 2007 — by far the longest such streak in NBA history.

James’ player of the month award for February was his 41st, extending his own league record. He is also the oldest player to win the award, surpassing a 37-year-old Karl Malone in November 2000.

___

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA

The Atlantic Coast Conference, Clemson and Florida State are ready to move forward together after legal fights that threatened the stability of the league.

Each approved a settlement Tuesday to end the crossfire of lawsuits between the member schools and the ACC, signing off on a deal that changes the revenue-distribution model in a way that would theoretically benefit both schools with marquee football brands. The deal also revises and clarifies the long-term costs for a school to leave the conference.

It doesn’t offer permanent security. Notably, the 2030-31 season now looms as a significant marker. But it does stabilize the coming years for a league that had heard doomsayers questioning its survival amid a growing revenue gap behind the Southeastern Conference and the Big Ten.

“Today’s resolution begins the next chapter of this storied league and further solidifies the ACC as a premier conference,” commissioner Jim Phillips said in a statement, noting the parties would dismiss pending lawsuits in Florida and the Carolinas.

“The settlements, coupled with the ACC’s continued partnership with ESPN, allow us to focus on our collective future — including Clemson and Florida State — united in an 18-member conference demonstrating the best in intercollegiate athletics.”

The approval came after the ACC’s Board of Directors — made up of university presidents and chancellors — gave its OK in a call Tuesday morning, followed by separate approval from trustees at Clemson and FSU.

Most notably, the revenue-distribution model will now incorporate TV viewership as a way for the league’s top programs to generate more revenue. That formula would see 60% of the league’s TV revenues go into a pot for distribution based on a rolling five-year formula tied to viewership ratings, while the remaining 40% would be distributed equally among the members.

The upside could be $15 million or more for top-earning schools, while it could also result in a decline of about $7 million for others, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press on Monday. That person spoke on condition of anonymity because neither the league nor the schools had publicly addressed the deal terms at the time.

It’s the latest in a series of what Phillips has previously called “aggressive” efforts to generate more revenue, which has included expansion to include California, Stanford and SMU, as well as this year’s launch of the “success initiative” that allows teams to keep money generated by their own postseason success.

A slideshow presentation for Clemson’s trustees, for example, projected that the viewership and postseason-incentives wrinkles could mean more than $120 million of new revenue for Clemson in the next six years.

“At the end of the day, this innovative distribution model which further incentivizes performance and investment will help strengthen the ACC,” Clemson athletic director Graham Neff told trustees before the vote. “A strong ACC is good for Clemson. And a strong Clemson is good for the ACC.”

The growing revenue gap — which amounted to roughly $6 million less per school than in the SEC and $15 million in the Big Ten according to tax documents from the 2022-23 season — had been at the root of the unrest. Schools had signed a grant-of-rights deal to give the ACC control of their media rights through the end of the league’s TV deal with ESPN in 2036, while the league could impose massive exit fees on any school that sought to leave for another league before the expiration of that deal.

Those costs had been a key subject of FSU’s December 2023 lawsuit and Clemson’s in March 2024, while the ACC had conversely sued both schools. The settlement now provides a roadmap to how any early exit might work.

Specifically, the slideshow at the Clemson trustee meeting reported the exit fee would be $165 million for the 2026 fiscal year, but would descend by $18 million per year until leveling off around $75 million for the 2030-31 season. And despite the grant-of-rights provision, any school that paid the exit fee would be allowed to exit with its media rights, according to that presentation.

That 2031 date would largely align with expiration of media deals for the Big Ten (2029-30 season) and the Big 12 (2030-31), while the SEC’s deal runs through 2033-34. And that could set up a potential countdown for massive realignment in the rapidly changing landscape of college athletics.

Then again, it’s hard to predict much beyond the immediate future. And that’s where the ACC has strengthened its footing.

It was roughly a month ago that ESPN exercised its option to extend its media base-rights agreement, aligning that deal with a separate one that covers their partnership for the ACC Network through 2036. The league is in its first year of expansion that has created $600 million in additional incremental revenue gains through the ACC’s ESPN deal, with the new arrivals agreeing to reduced or no TV money at all for the coming years.

The Phillips-championed “success initiative” could amount to about $25 million in a year for a school, tied mostly to performance in the expanded College Football Playoff. The viewership plan accomplishes a similar goal for Phillips: the additional money would theoretically be accessible to any league member, incentivizing a school to field a program that viewers want to watch because of its elevated success.

“I got hundreds of emails and text messages and phone calls from friends and people I didn’t know over the last 13 months encouraging us in this journey and I’m proud of where we’ve landed,” FSU trustee and former Seminoles quarterback Drew Weatherford said during that meeting.

“We made some commitments 14 months ago to make sure we could do everything in our power to compete at the highest level, and I think we’ve done that here.”

___

AP Sports Writers Will Graves in Pittsburgh and Mark Long in Florida contributed to this report.