Alabama News

General News

General

NBA Draft: Lean years still produce a 4-time All-Star

The NBA will hold its 79th draft on Wednesday and Thursday. Thirty first-round picks will be made starting at 7 p.m. CDT Wednesday at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. NBA teams have drafted 49 players from Alabama high schools and colleges in the first round, and AL.com is counting down to the 2025 draft with a decade-by-decade look at the state’s first-rounders, including the 2010s:

Only four players with Alabama basketball roots entered the NBA in the first round of the draft in the 2010s, although those picks produced a four-time NBA All-Star, the Alabama alumnus with the league’s highest career scoring average and an All-Defensive selection with a 12-year career.

The first decade of the 21st century showed a steep decline in the players from Alabama high schools and colleges selected in the first round of the NBA Draft, and the representation did not rebound in the second.

The previous decade had closed with one first-round pick in 2008 and two first-round picks in 2009 coming from state high schools and colleges. That snapped a six-year streak without a first-rounder.

When two more players with Alabama basketball roots went in the first round in 2010, it appeared a revival was at hand. Then came seven straight drafts without a first-rounder from a state high school or college, the longest Alabama gap since the 1964 through 1971 drafts passed without a first-rounder.

The first-round NBA Draft picks with Alabama basketball roots in the 2010s included:

2010: DeMarcus Cousins (LeFlore Magnet High School in Mobile), No. 5 by the Sacramento Kings

Cousins had been selected for the NBA All-Star Game four seasons in a row before tearing an Achilles tendon on Jan. 26, 2018. The 6-foot-10 center then suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament on Aug. 19, 2019. But Cousins persevered to play in 89 more games after missing the entire 2019-20 season. In the 2016-17 season, Cousins reached his career-high scoring average of 27.0 points per game. The next season, he had his best rebounding average at 12.9 and assists average at 5.4. In 654 NBA regular-season games, Cousins averaged 19.6 points, 10.2 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.1 blocks. Cousins won a gold medal as a member of the U.S. men’s basketball team at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

2010: Eric Bledsoe (Parker High School in Birmingham), No. 18 by the Oklahoma City Thunder

Like DeMarcus Cousins, the 6-foot-1 guard went from an Alabama high school to Kentucky, played the 2009-10 season for the Wildcats and entered the NBA as a first-round draft choice in 2010. Bledsoe had three of his first six seasons end prematurely because of knee injuries, and he did not play in the 2021-22 campaign after Feb. 4, when the Los Angeles Clippers traded him to the Portland Trail Blazers. Portland would have been Bledsoe’s fifth NBA team had he played, and he’s had two go-arounds with the Clippers, who originally obtained him in a trade on the night he was drafted. Bledsoe made the NBA’s All-Defensive team for the 2018-19 campaign while with the Milwaukee Bucks. In 756 NBA regular-season games, Bledsoe has averaged 13.7 points, 3.9 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 1.4 steals per game.

2018: Collin Sexton (Alabama), No. 8 by the Cleveland Cavaliers

The 6-1 guard became the first first-round pick for the Crimson Tide since 2001 when he turned pro after averaging 19.2 points per game in his only season at Alabama. Sexton became the third rookie in NBA history to average scoring at least 16 points per game while shooting at least 40 percent from 3-point range and 80 percent from the free-throw line, joining Larry Bird and Stephen Curry. In Sexton’s second NBA season, his scoring average rose to 20.8 points per game, and in his third, it went up to 24.3. But his fourth season lasted only 11 games because of a meniscus tear, and he’s played the past three seasons with the Utah Jazz after a trade. In 407 NBA regular-season games, Sexton has averaged 18.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 3.7 assists. Sexton has the highest NBA scoring average of any former Crimson Tide player.

2019: Chuma Okeke (Auburn), No. 16 by the Orlando Magic

The Magic drafted Okeke even though he had torn the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during a Sweet 16 game in the NCAA tourney. The injury caused Okeke to miss the entire 2019-20 season, and injuries became a theme for the 6-foot-6 during his four seasons in Orlando. Okeke played in nine regular-season games in the 2024-25 seasons – seven with the Philadelphia 76ers and two with the Cleveland Cavaliers. In 198 NBA regular-season games, Okeke has averaged 6.3 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.5 assists.

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.

General

LSU domination: New 2025 College World Series champs gear now available on Fanatics

The LSU Tigers are the national champions for baseball once again. The program won its second College World Series title in the past three years, this time taking down Coastal Carolina in a dominating sweep. LSU actually swept the entire World Series this year, capping an unbelievable 2025 season.

This is the Tigers’ eighth CWS title. They may be known for football, but they haven’t dropped off plenty in baseball. Their title-clinching game against Coastal Carolina took place on Sunday, where they ended up winning 5-3.

Fanatics released a bunch of LSU 2025 College World Series gear, which can be viewed here. Here’s a look at some of the best items we found:

Fans can also get free shipping with code “29SHIP” at checkout.

General

Start the 2025 NFL season with 25% off Philadelphia Eagles gear + Super Bowl jerseys on sale

The defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles are gearing up for another dominant run in 2025. After dominating the Kansas City Chiefs 40-22 in the biggest game of the year, the Eagles still have one of the strongest rosters in the entire league.

Their stellar offense that includes Super Bowl MVP Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley, A.J. Brown and Devonta Smith are all back and ready to compete for another title. Of course, the Eagles’ defense is still as strong as ever, as they have a young core of players at every level.

NFL Shop is currently running a 25% off sale on Eagles gear, which can be viewed here. Perhaps the best deals we found were on Eagles Super Bowl LIX jerseys, which have been placed on clearance:

Once again, the entire Eagles sale can be viewed here.

General

Casagrande: FSU QB trash talking Alabama is exactly what we needed

This is an opinion column.

Cheers, Thomas Castellanos.

You broke through the late-June college football malaise and made us think about … college football. Like the sport. The games of football and not the 4+4+5+11 College Football Playoff math.

Not the revenue sharing formulas.

Especially not the lawyers.

The new Florida State quarterback went all Joe Namath in an interview with On3 and reminded us there’s a football season with games coming up soon.

He talked all the trash, filled the bulletin boards and gave us something to write before beach season turns into football season.

You have a former Boston College quarterback coming to a program fresh off one of the biggest failures slinging mud at Alabama like he’s Diego Pavia.

Bravo.

“I’m excited, man,” Castellanos said to On3 about the season opener against the Crimson Tide as part of a wildly entertaining interview. “People, I don’t know if they know, but you go back and watch every first game that I played in, we always start fast. I dreamed of moments like this. I dreamed of playing against Alabama.

“They don’t have Nick Saban to save them. I just don’t see them stopping me.”

Pew Pew. Shots fired.

Here’s a quarterback who began his career at UCF, transferred to Boston College and is now at Florida State making June headlines like he’s at The U in the ’80s.

This is a Florida State team that entered last season No. 10 before belly flopping to a historic 2-10 disaster. It’s a team whose only 2024 wins came over Charleston Southern and in a 14-9 game with Cal.

That’s not the kind of momentum you’d want for another Alabama-Florida State season opener. There hasn’t been as much chatter compared to the 2017 meeting dubbed the Greatest Opener of All Time (or G.O.A.T) was more like a donkey.

Still, there were a few built in storylines to make Labor Day Saturday in Tallahassee interesting before Castellanos started writing checks with his mouth.

There’s some lingering bad blood at FSU when its undefeated ACC championship-winning team missed the 2022 College Football Playoff in favor of a one-loss Crimson Tide.

There’s also the Gus Malzahn factor.

The former Auburn coach will be in his first game as Florida State’s offensive coordinator when his old rival comes to town.

That’s spicy.

But it’s Castellanos who brought the real kick and a punch.

He’s not scared of a post-Saban Alabama team, nor is he worried about kicking the hornet’s nest. They’re soft, is the only takeaway from Castellanos’ comments.

What’s notable is what you haven’t seen or heard in the 24 hours since Tallahassee Talker went viral. There’s been no real response from Tuscaloosa.

No clap back.

There’s not much that has to be said to a transfer QB coming to a 2-win team, honestly.

Florida State got a few talented receivers in the portal including Tennessee’s Squirll White and USC’s Duce Robinson to help the effort.

It’s also true Alabama returns a decent chunk of its defense, including a front seven that could make life difficult on Aug. 30. He’ll see speed and athleticism at a level above the day in, day out in the ACC.

But I respect the confidence this guy’s showing for a program that was a punchline last year. Perhaps he’s trying to inject some fire into a locker room that not only lost 10 of 12 games last year, they were rarely even competitive.

A Week 2 home loss came to Castellanos and Boston College, 28-13 as the spiral began. It was a team built on transfer portal players (including a few former Alabama backups) but became a cautionary tale in the quick fix marketplace.

Where former top recruit DJ Uiagalelei flopped hard, FSU is banking on Castellanos to help bury the 2024 radar blip.

This transfer apparently isn’t afraid to talk and he might win back a few Alabama fans who read the full On3 interview. Turns out he wasn’t a big fan of first-year Boston College head coach Bill O’Brien.

Yes, that Bill O’Brien.

“BC wasn’t the school for me,” Castellanos told On3. “I wasn’t able to be myself, and I had to try to make myself be something I wasn’t. I just didn’t like it. Bill O’Brien and I butted heads early in the season. I got banged up a few games. We had a meeting, and it kind of blew up in my face. I did so much for that program, and I did everything that I could, and I just wasn’t repaid the right way.”

It got even more pointed from there as he points out the level of athlete at Boston College isn’t on par with Florida State.

This was truly one of the most blatantly honest interviews I’ve seen in a while. Castellanos clearly didn’t hold much back and, in this column, we’ve always cheered the big talkers in this sport.

The game became too sanitized and boring with robotic coaches and players doing all they could to resist the urge to say anything interesting.

Castellanos didn’t.

He made late June fun, so we’ll raise a glass to that.

Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.

General

Rep the red-hot Phillies with Nike’s latest ‘Lights Out’ MLB collection with free shipping

As the 2025 MLB season nears its midpoint, the Philadelphia Phillies have worked themselves into one of the elite teams in the league. Sitting with a 47-31 record as June nears an end, the Phillies are the third-best team in the MLB.

The Phillies have been pumping out tons of new gear for players and fans recently. Whether it’s the Stars and Stripes collection or All-Star game apparel, Phillies fans have plenty of options to choose from for new gear.

Throw another hat into the ring, as Nike and MLB debuted their ‘Lights Out’ collection, as each team gets an all-black look. The entire Phillies collection can be viewed here.

Here’s some of the gear listed for the Phillies ‘Lights Out’ collection:

All of the items above are eligible for free shipping with code “29SHIP” at checkout.

General

Turn off lights, appliances during heat wave, utilities ask north Alabama residents

Huntsville Utilities is asking customers in the Tennessee Valley to reduce their power consumption as the year’s first extended heat wave settles over the region.

Heat advisories are in place for much of Alabama, with “feels like” temperatures forecast to soar as high as 108 degrees Tuesday. The heat is expected to persist at least through Wednesday, according to AL.com.

Huntsville Utilities is requesting customers limit their use of electrical devices during peak hours – noon to 8 p.m. – by not running major appliances like dishwashers, washer/dryers, ovens and stoves, and turning off unnecessary lights.

The utility says the request is a result of the Tennessee Valley Authority implementing its “Emergency Load Curtailment Program.” Huntsville Utilities itself “has turned off all non-essential lights and electric equipment in (its) own buildings, as well as adjusted building thermostats,” according to a news release

A TVA spokesperson said the load curtailment program is standard procedure for utilities when demand is expected to rise. Duke Energy made a similar request Monday and Tuesday of customers in the Carolinas.

Grid loads are expected to top 31,000 megawatts, well short of the TVA’s all-time peak demand record of 35,319 megawatts, set in January. No grid problems arose during the January event, according to TVA.

Besides helping ensure a reliable power grid, reducing energy use can save on your power bill. TVA offers tips to conserve energy and money on its website.

General

How Kalen DeBoer is fixing Alabama football’s biggest problem from 2024

Alabama football never found consistency in Kalen DeBoer’s first season in charge. It wasn’t the top-level opponents that ruined the Crimson Tide’s College Football Playoff chances, instead it was teams that shouldn’t have had a chance against UA on paper.

During an exclusive interview with AL.com’s Beat Everyone podcast, DeBoer said Alabama was working to improve in those positions for the 2025 season.

“What we always are going to do is look at those things year-to-year and now we have experiences that we’ve been through as a team,” DeBoer said. “And again, that’s where the continuity is key, because we all know what it was that we went through and, so you’re just trying to do everything you can.”

The most obvious example came after the Crimson Tide beat Georgia early in the year. UA took over the No. 1 spot in the nation following the dramatic win, but then lost to Vanderbilt a week later.

The Tide had two losses later in the year, dropping a game to Tennessee, but was flying high after crushing LSU and Mercer, and would have had the CFP if it had simply won out. Instead, DeBoer and company went to Oklahoma and lost to a Sooner team that needed the win to obtain bowl eligibility at six victories, and lost that bowl to Navy.

After missing the playoff, Alabama faced another letdown. The Crimson Tide lost the ReliaQuest Bowl to a Michigan team missing most of its starters.

“There was a win and a loss afterward,” DeBoer said of the season’s trend. “I think it was different reasons for different losses. You can’t have excuses because nobody cares. It doesn’t matter.”

DeBoer and Alabama’s other coaches have focused on the consistency issue throughout the offseason. Defensive coordinator Kane Wommack said after the 2024 campaign that the Crimson Tide handled success poorly during the season.

UA’s head coach shared how he and his staff are going about fixing the problem.

“Creating adversity within a workout,” DeBoer said. “Creating adversity throughout practices, situational things that you’re gonna throw at the guys. And I think that’s the biggest thing, is we have to be great in the critical moments… We lost three games by one score or less– five, six and seven points. So it isn’t about one play, but it’s about those moments.”

Alabama will begin preseason camp in early August. The Crimson Tide will open DeBoer’s second season with an Aug. 30 trip to play Florida State in Tallahassee.

General

Key voting block that helped elect Donald Trump are now his biggest opponents, poll shows

A key voting demographic that began as Donald Trump’s second largest base of support in his second term is now the president’s largest opposition, according to a new poll.

Trump’s polling numbers with young people, or those between the ages of 18 and 29, was above water to start his second term, with a +5 net approval rating with that group — the second largest of any age group.

The only age group the president started off his second term with a higher approval rating than young people was those between the ages of 45 to 64 at a +15 approval rating.

During the campaign, Trump courted young voters, and there was some indication that the overtures worked: More than half of men under 30 supported Trump over Harris, but in 2020, the split was reversed, according to the Associated Press.

Trump was underwater by 1 point to start his second term with both the 30-44 and 65+ age brackets.

The president’s numbers have plunged with young people by 42 points since his inauguration; he’s now 37 points underwater with 18-29 year-olds — the lowest approval rating of any age group, according to the latest Economist/YouGov poll.

Trump is down 18 percentage points with 45-64 year-olds and 19 points with 30-44 year-olds, the poll showed.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

General

Birmingham Female Athlete of the Year: Two-sport star leaves huge legacy

Wenonah High School flag football coach Cedric Lane said he believes that the Birmingham Female Athlete of the Year hasn’t been given her due throughout her athletic career.

The Alabama Sports Writers Association Class 5A girls basketball Player of the Year. An AL.com Flag Football Terrific 20 choice. A five-year starter in basketball and a four-year – every season her school has fielded a team – starter at quarterback in flag football.

Underrated? Unbelievably, maybe so.

Wenonah’s two-sport superstar Samarian Franklin is the 2024-25 Birmingham Female Athlete of the Year and Lane, who is also the boys basketball coach for the Dragons, said it’s a well-deserved honor. “I don’t think people realize what she has done as a phenomenal athlete coming through the city of Birmingham. I want to say she was underrated. The things she’s done haven’t been spoken about enough. In years to come, it’s going to be a very big deal.”

Among the things she’s done in basketball in the Alabama High School Athletic Association:

Ranked third in season (221) and fourth in career steals (694).
Ranked seventh in season assists (288) and 11th in career assists (826).
Ranked 17th in season field goals made (320), 13th in career field goals made (1,056).
Ranked 27th in points scored in a season (852) and 29th in a career (2,807).
Ranked 27th in career free throws made (460), 26th in career free-throw attempts (687).

Franklin is Wenonah’s all-time leading scorer in basketball – male or female – with 2,807 points, surpassing the likes of former University of Tennessee forward Alexus Dye, who signed with the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun, and Angel Tate, who played at St. John’s and Texas Southern and professionally in Europe.

“They were real legends who played here,” Lane said, “and for her to come in here and outscore all of them is a big deal. I think she has 10 or 12 records in basketball – and probably all of them in flag. That record book is just opening up.”

Lane said he and the girls basketball coaches would debate if Franklin was better on the field or on the court. “It’s hard to say. She was so dominant in both,” he said. “Take her off either team and that team probably wouldn’t have had a chance with as big a role as she played.”

Franklin has signed to play point guard at Miles College next season, but Lane said she had her choice to play flag football at multiple schools. The Alabama Community College Conference is starting flag this season and, “all of them wanted her,” he said. “Miles doesn’t have flag, but hopefully they will add it. If she elected to change her mind, doors are open for her. It’s such a growing sport, those doors will definitely be open for more girls.”

In four years at Wenonah, Franklin led the flag football Dragons to a 75-6 record and the 2023 state championship. As a senior, she was responsible for 102 touchdowns – throwing for 5,424 yards in 25 games with 48 touchdowns and running for 2,715 yards and 47 TDs. On defense, she had 105 flag pulls, 17 interceptions and 7 pick-6 touchdowns.

“Think about 102 touchdowns in one season,” Lane said. “That’s a thing that usually isn’t done in a career. Flag is not like regular football – most of the scoring is done through passing. She was our running game, too.

“She’s a leader and she hates to lose. Being the starting point guard and starting quarterback goes hand-in-hand. Being the starter for so long, she really grasped the offense and what we wanted to do. She was able to teach the new girls what to do, how to run routes, how to get open. She was like another coach on the field. Even with audibles – she just got it. She started every game we ever played, even when she was sick, she played.

“I know one thing, I’m going to miss her.”

General

Teen killed in early morning south Alabama shooting

Atmore police are investigating a Tuesday morning shooting that left one teen dead, and another unidentified victim injured.

At around 1:50 a.m. officers responded to reports of gunshot victims at Atmore Community Hospital, according to a recent release.

Gabriel Hooks,17, had died due to his injuries, medical staff told police.

A second victim was flown to a trauma center, but their injuries appeared to be non-life threatening, according to the release.

Officers later learned the shooting occurred on Carver Avenue near 18th Avenue.

Investigators processed the crime scene and recovered dozens of spent shell casings, according to the release.

The investigation is ongoing.