Roundup: The Ogwumikes are basketball's royal family

Jul 21, 2017

Mirin Fader of Bleacher Report calls the Ogwumikes the first royal family of basketball in this feature story about the four sisters – Stanford grads Nneka and Chiney are established WNBA stars while Erica and Olivia are hooping it up at Rice. I'm a Big Baller deep down inside, but I'll take the four Ogwumike sisters over the three Ball brothers in a family feud on the court.

O.J. Simpson was granted parole Thursday in Nevada (ESPN), meaning he could be released from prison as early as Oct. 1 after serving the minimum nine years for his role in a Las Vegas hotel heist to recoup his own memorabilia.

Must-read of the day – Nicki Jhabvala of The Denver Post writes this story about former Colorado football fullback Jordan Murphy and Reichen Posey and their shared pain from surviving mass shootings five months apart in the Aurora movie theater (Murphy) and Sandy Hook Elementary School (Posey). The thing that brought Murphy, 24, and Posey, 11, together, outside of this connection? Football.

Washington State quarterback Luke Falk was named to the Walter Camp Player of the Year watch list, it was announced Friday. Other quarterbacks on the list from the Pac-12 include Jake Browning (Washington), Sam Darnold (USC) and Josh Rosen (UCLA).

Washington football coach Chris Petersen was named to the Dodd Trophy watch list (Pacific Takes). Other coaches from the Pac-12 include Stanford’s David Shaw, USC’s Clay Helton and Utah’s Kyle Whittingham.

Junior college transfer Josh Nurse committed to the Utah football team, Lynn Worthy of The Salt Lake Tribune reports. Nurse is a wide receiver from Blinn College in Brenham, Texas, and he told the Trib that he will be on campus by the time preseason camp starts July 28.

Cal men’s basketball signed Darius McNeill to its incoming freshman class, Rusty Simmons reports. McNeill is a four-star recruit according to ESPN. He originally signed with Iowa State before he was granted a release in May.

Zack Rosenblatt reports that Lorenzo Romar’s arrival in Tucson was a big reason why Allonzo Trier decided to return to the Arizona men’s basketball team for his junior year. Trier has known Romar since the rising junior was 9 or 10 years old.

Adam Wright will now coach both the men’s and women’s water polo teams at UCLA, AD Dan Guerrero announced Thursday. Wright led the men’s team to back-to-back NCAA championships in 2014 and 2015 and takes over the women’s program from Brandon Brooks, who stepped down in June.