Lindsay Schnell

1 week ago | nytimes.com | Stewart Mandel |Lindsay Schnell

PALO ALTO, Calif. - The news last July came as a shock to the college sports industry. A softball star, pitcher NiJaree Canady, was leaving perennial power Stanford for Texas Tech, an afterthought in the sport. It was a commonly held assumption that few athletes would voluntarily leave behind a prestigious Stanford degree. But this was a new era. Canady, the national player of the year, had received a $1 million NIL deal - an unheard-of amount outside of football and men's basketball.

2 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Lindsay Schnell

PORTLAND, Ore. - Now that Nate Ament has committed to play basketball next season at Tennessee, tipping the Vols' 2025-26 roster from good to great, elated fans should seriously consider sending a thank you note to his older brother Frederick. Twenty-year-old Frederick can't take credit for Nate's 6-foot-9 height or his skill set (the forward is ranked No. 4 in the 2025 class). But he is the one who first convinced Nate to consider leaving soccer behind in favor of basketball.

1 month ago | nytimes.com | Lindsay Schnell

SAN ANTONIO - When Alijah Martin went to the Final Four two years ago, he played maybe the best game of his career in the national semifinals, scoring 26 points on 7-of-13 shooting and grabbing seven rebounds. But ninth-seeded Florida Atlantic, one of a handful of Cinderellas that stole hearts that spring, lost to San Diego State 72-71 on a buzzer-beater that night, sending Martin and the Owls back to Boca Raton.

1 month ago | nytimes.com | Lindsay Schnell

At this point, the Steph Curry comparisons might be inaccurate. With respect to the greatest shooter in NBA history, Curry never shined like this on college basketball's biggest stage. He never hit an impossible, fall-away corner 3 when his team desperately needed it, didn't score 34 points to push his team to the national championship game, didn't dazzle a football stadium packed with 68,252 fans. Curry, 37, saved all that for the NBA.

1 month ago | nytimes.com | Lindsay Schnell

SAN ANTONIO - Cooper Flagg has been at the center of college basketball all season, leading Duke to the Final Four, winning multiple player of the year awards and starring in numerous commercials. His family has been by his side through everything - his grandma actually makes a cameo in one of those commercials - and is looking for a way to commemorate the 18-year-old's historic season beyond all the hardware he's brought home. So, naturally, his mom is planning to get a tattoo.