See you on the other side

The GIST: As the women’s conference tournaments tip off and the men’s regular-season finale approaches, two youngsters are pulling ahead in the race for the sport’s highest individual honor: Player of the Year (POY).

• There are several POY honors, including the Wooden Award and those bestowed by the AP and other media outlets. But if we had to pick one as the most prestigious, it’d be the Naismith.

• That said, if a superstar truly rises above the competition, they’ll likely sweep ’em all.

Cooper Flagg, No. 2 Duke men: The aforementioned freshman phenom is 18 years old and already playing at a pro level. Coming in at 6-foot-9, he’s as agile as a point guard, strong in the paint as a power forward, and tough as nails. You only need to check his stats (28 points, eight rebounds, seven assists) from Monday’s 93–60 spanking of Wake Forest to see why he’s the POY frontrunner.

• However, Flagg has some stiff competition from a few league veterans, namely No. 1 Auburn forward Johni Broome. Voters also like Creighton’s Ryan Kalkbrenner, who was one rebound away from his third straight double-double last night.

JuJu Watkins, No. 2 USC women: She’s only a sophomore, but the guard, who could hunt down Iowa alum Caitlin Clark’s Division I scoring record, has already singlehandedly revived the Trojans. She pulled ahead in the POY race last Saturday, when USC secured the Big Ten regular-season championship with their win over No. 4 UCLA and their own POY candidate, Lauren Betts.

• Although Watkins is the heavy favorite, other contenders include No. 3 UConn guard Paige Bueckers, who’s been the face of the game for years, and fellow 2023–24 semifinalists Madison Booker of No. 1 Texas and Hannah Hidalgo of No. 6 Notre Dame. Stars, rising.

The GIST: The ACC has delayed a catastrophe, settling a group of lawsuits with member schools Florida State and Clemson to keep the conference together for at least a few more years, narrowly avoiding the path that would have turned them into the next Pac-12. Phew.

The background: The last two years of conference realignment chaos consolidated power in the Big Ten and SEC. Some think we may eventually be headed for a two-superconference system, making the schools who are not (yet) members nervous about being left behind.

• FSU and Clemson, the ACC’s most dominant football programs, feel they deserve to play with the big dogs — and, more importantly, want in on the Big Ten and SEC schools’ massive paydays. So they’ve been angling for an SEC invite, making their current conference home aca-awkward.

• Tensions escalated when FSU was controversially left out of the 2023–24 College Football Playoff (CFP). It might’ve been because their star quarterback was injured, but the school thought it was due to Big Ten and SEC favoritism and influence.

The lawsuits: Last winter, the two schools sued to get out of their media contracts with the ACC, which run until 2036 and have astronomically high exit fees. They hoped to negotiate a cheaper exit and try their luck with the SEC…but the ACC wouldn’t go down without a fight.

• The conference countersued to keep these massive money-making programs within the fold; the ACC dug their heels in as Clemson and FSU pulled away, and now, it’s mostly paid off.

The latest: The schools and the conference agreed to stay together under a few conditions. First, the ACC will progressively lower its exit fees each year until 2031, when they’ll reach $75M — a bargain compared to the current $165M rate.

• However, should any school — not just FSU or Clemson — try to leave before the media contract expires in 2036, the ACC would retain that school’s media rights and could sell them to the school’s new conference.

• The schools did walk away with one big win, as long as they put their money where their mouth is: The conference changed its revenue structure to reward larger TV audiences and CFP appearances. The ACC survives, the schools get paid, and everyone’s happy…for now.