CITY OF MILWAUKEE - The NBA Champions 2021

"A look at ‘Greek Freak’ Giannis Antetokounmpo’s journey from hardships to hero" PBS NewsHour 7/21/2021

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  The city of Milwaukee is celebrating its first national basketball championship in 50 years.  It's a delirious moment for a city and a smaller-market team that once won with the great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Oscar Robertson.  Fans are cheering the team and its new superstar leader Giannis Antetokounmpo — the seventh player in NBA history to score 50 or more points in a final.  Stephanie Sy reports.

NCAA - Basketball Scandal

"College basketball bribery scandal could ensnare dozens of universities" PBS NewsHour 9/26/2017

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  College basketball is embroiled in yet another scandal.  Ten people, including NCAA assistant coaches, an agent and a top executive at Adidas, have been charged with bribery involving thousands of dollars used to influence student athletes.  Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports joins Jeffrey Brown to discuss what these accusations reveal about the “dark underbelly of college basketball.”

THE STREAK - ! University of Connecticut Women's Basketball !

"How UConn women's basketball became synonymous with winning" PBS NewsHour 2/14/2017

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  The UConn Women's basketball team hasn't lost a game since 2014.  That streak -- 100 straight games -- has never been approached by any other NCAA team -- male or female.  William Brangham talks to Christine Brennan of USA TODAY about this groundbreaking accomplishment.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM (NewsHour):  To put this streak in context, the UConn women haven't lost a basketball game since 2014.  No one has beaten them in over 800 days.

And inside that span, they also won two of their record four national championships.  One analyst called the UConn women — quote — “the most dominant program in the history of college basketball, period.”

For more on these amazing women and their legendary coach, Geno Auriemma, I'm joined by USA Today's Christine Brennan.

Welcome back to the NewsHour.

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, USA Today:  Great to be here, William.  Thank you.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM:  So, explain this phenomenon that is these women.  How do you explain their dominance?

CHRISTINE BRENNAN:  Well, no one saw this coming, if you consider, UConn had won four national championships in a row.  And …

WILLIAM BRANGHAM:  Amazing, in and of itself.

CHRISTINE BRENNAN:  That's right.

And the top three players from that, the seniors who won all four years, all went in the WNBA draft first, second, and third.  So, of all players coming out of college, they were the best three.  They all left.

So, everyone thought this was going to be a down year for UConn.

SPORTS - Should Student Athletes be Treated Like Pros?

"How should colleges address conflicts between academics, athletics and money?" PBS NewsHour 4/8/2014

Excerpt

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  More than 21 million viewers tuned into last night’s NCAA men’s championship basketball game, a heady moment for the University of Connecticut fans, but also coming at a point when schools are facing new pressures about how they balance competing interests among athletics, academics and money.

Jeff is back with that story.

JEFFREY BROWN (NewsHour):  March Madness spilling over into April, a time when millions enjoy the thrills of college sports.

Last night, confetti filled the air of AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, after the University of Connecticut beat Kentucky for the men’s basketball championship.  Tonight, the UConn women have their turn at a title tonight against Notre Dame, in a first-ever battle of unbeatens.

But amid the on-court excitement, a national debate grows over big-time college sports and the status and role of what are called student athletes.  One potentially ground-shifting decision came last month, when a regional director of the National Labor Relations Board ruled that Northwestern University football players have the right to unionize.

The team’s former quarterback Kain Colter led the push.  He told the Aspen Institute last week that most college athletes, who don’t go pro, need protection.