⚽️ Y! Sports AM: 3 stars, 7 goals
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🚨 HEADLINES
⚾️ Final Four: The College World Series semifinals were finalized on Wednesday, with No. 16 West Virginia (who trounced Troy, 12-0) set to face No. 5 North Carolina and No. 3 Georgia (who beat No. 6 Texas, 2-0) set to face Oklahoma.
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🏒 Torts out in Vegas: John Tortorella will not return as head coach of the Golden Knights, the team announced Tuesday, two days after losing in the Stanley Cup Final. Torts was only hired in March on an interim basis, and there was no guarantee he'd be retained beyond that.
🏈 Smith's brain to be studied: Aldon Smith's family will donate his brain to the Boston University CTE Center to determine whether CTE played a role in the former lineman's death after he passed away on Saturday at the age of 36. (Read my buddy Adam's post about his friend, Aldon).
⏱️ Lyles sets world record: Reigning Olympic 100m champion Noah Lyles broke the 150m world record on Tuesday at the Golden Spike meet in the Czech Republic. He notched a time of 14.67 seconds, eclipsing the previous mark of 14.92 set in April by Jamaica's Kishane Thompson.
🏈 Jordan's last dance: Cameron Jordan, the eight-time Pro Bowl defensive end who's spent all 15 of his NFL seasons with the Saints, is returning to New Orleans for "one final season." The 37-year-old has 132 career sacks, second only to Von Miller (138.5) among active players.
See what else is trending on Yahoo Sports.
⚽️ WORLD CUP: 3 STARS, 7 GOALS
(Dan Mullan/Getty Images)Three of the world's best scorers took the field on Tuesday for their World Cup openers. And boy, did they deliver.
Kylian Mbappé got things started in New Jersey, scoring twice in France's 3-1 win over Senegal to move into third place on the World Cup scoring list with 14 goals.
(Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)Erling Haaland followed with a brace of his own in his World Cup debut, leading Norway to a 4-1 victory over Iraq in Foxborough.
(Charlotte Wilson/Getty Images)Lionel Messi saved the best for last, scoring a hat trick in Argentina's 3-0 win over Algeria in Kansas City to leapfrog Mbappé and tie Miroslav Klose for the most goals in World Cup history (16).
Up next: Cristiano Ronaldo and Harry Kane, two more world-class scorers, take the field today for Portugal and England. How many times will they find the back of the net?
🏀 NBA MOCK DRAFT 9.0
(Dillon Minshall/Yahoo Sports)With the 2026 NBA Draft less than a week away (next Tuesday), we've got a fresh two-round mock draft, courtesy of Yahoo Sports' Kevin O'Connor.
Drama at the top? On Monday, ESPN's Shams Charania reported that AJ Dybantsa and Darryn Peterson both believe they'll be the first pick. Dybantsa worked out for both Washington and Utah, while Peterson worked out only for Washington and won't meet with any other teams.
Top 10:
- Wizards: AJ Dybantsa (BYU)
- Jazz: Cameroon Boozer (Duke)
- Grizzlies: Darryn Peterson (Kansas)
- Bulls: Caleb Wilson (UNC)
- Clippers: Darius Acuff Jr. (Arkansas)
- Nets: Mikel Brown Jr. (Louisville)
- Kings: Keaton Wagler (Illinois)
- Hawks: Brayden Burries (Arizona)
- Mavericks: Karim López (Mexico)
- Bucks: Kingston Flemings (Houston)
Full mock draft:Picks 11-60
Be sure to check out our 2026 NBA Draft Guide, which features full scouting reports for every prospect, player comparisons, and multiple big boards.
⛳️ JACKSON KOIVUN: GOLF'S NEXT AMERICAN STAR?
Koivun after leading Auburn to another national championship last month. (Tanner Pearson/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)Jackson Koivun has conquered college golf. Now he's set his sights on becoming the No. 1 player in the world.
Jay Busbee, Yahoo Sports:
Don't let the clear eyes and the calm, measured voice fool you. Jackson Koivun is an assassin with the highest of goals: "I want to be," he declares, "the number-one player in the world."
He says it in the middle of a long conversation, he says it without bravado or defiance, he says it with the same certainty that he'd say the sky is blue and the Auburn summers are hot. And he's about to get the chance to carry through on it.
Later this week, Koivun, the star of Auburn's national champion golf team, will make his final start as an amateur at the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills. Soon afterward, he'll officially turn pro, making his first start as a professional in early July at the John Deere Classic.
He'll surrender his amateur, guaranteed slot at the Open Championship, which you only do if you're highly confident you'll play your way back into the field very soon. "He's the most positive, optimistic person I ever coached," says Nick Clinard, Koivun's head coach at Auburn. "Negative thoughts never really creep into his mind."
Koivun hits a shot from the bunker during Monday's practice round at Shinnecock Hills. (Andrew Redington/Getty Images)The college-to-pro pipeline in golf isn't quite as sanctified as, say, football or basketball. So let's put this in a cross-sport context: Koivun is the most anticipated amateur in a generation, on the level of LeBron James or fellow Auburn Tiger Cam Newton. Yes, he's that good.
Koivun, who's forgoing his senior year, is a two-time individual national champion and a three-time SEC champion, plus he's led Auburn to two national titles. He already ranks 28th in the world in true strokes gained, per DataGolf, among multiple recent major winners.
During his three years in college, he won 11 times — six this past season alone — and finished with 34 top-10s and 87 rounds below par, all of which are school records. His career 68.89 scoring average is the best in NCAA history.
Shall we keep going? We'll keep going. His freshman year, Koivun won all three major individual awards — the Ben Hogan, the Fred Haskins and Jack Nicklaus awards — along with the Phil Mickelson Outstanding Freshman Award. This past year, he again won all three individual honors, becoming the first player ever to hit the trifecta twice.
⚾️ MLB POWER RANKINGS
(Bruno Rouby/Yahoo Sports)Three NL teams sit atop our latest MLB power rankings, in which Yahoo Sports' Jordan Shusterman highlights a first-time All-Star candidate or two from each team.
(Bruno Rouby/Yahoo Sports)Dive in: Find your team
📺 WATCHLIST: WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17
(Yahoo Sports)⚽️ World Cup, Day 7
Cristiano Ronaldo's sixth and final World Cup begins today in Houston, where Portugal faces DR Congo (1pm ET, Fox). Then it's England vs. Croatia in Dallas (4pm, Fox), Ghana vs. Panama in Toronto (7pm, FS1) and Uzbekistan vs. Colombia in Mexico City (10pm, FS1).
Climbing the ladder: Ronaldo and England's Harry Kane have both scored eight career World Cup goals, two shy of joining the 15 players who've scored at least 10. It's not hard to imagine both of them entering that exclusive club this summer considering Ronaldo is, well, Ronaldo, and Kane just scored 61 goals across 51 games this past season.
⚾️ CWS, Semifinals
The College World Series Final Four begins today in Omaha, where No. 5 North Carolina faces No. 16 West Virginia in one semifinal (2pm, ESPN) and Oklahoma faces No. 3 Georgia in the other (7pm, ESPN).
Where it stands: North Carolina and Oklahoma are undefeated, so they need only one win to advance to the CWS Finals. If either lose, winner-take-all games will be played tomorrow.
More to watch:
- ⚾️ MLB: White Sox at Yankees (7pm, Prime) … Chicago (38-33) currently sits atop the AL Central with 38 wins in mid-June. Two years ago, they won 41 games all season.
- 🏀 WNBA: Liberty at Sky (8pm, USA); Aces at Mercury (10pm, USA) … New York (10-4) and Las Vegas (10-4) are tied for the league's second-best record behind Minnesota (11-3).
Got plans tonight? Gametime is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events in your city. Get tickets now!
⚽️ WORLD CUP TRIVIA
(Yahoo Sports)Lionel Messi is now tied for first in World Cup goals with 16 and Kylian Mbappé ranks fourth with 14.
Question: Who ranks third with 15?
Hint: South America.
Answer at the bottom.
⛳️ U.S. OPEN: MAKE YOUR PICKS
(Tracy Wilcox/PGA Tour via Getty Images)The third major of the PGA Tour season tees off tomorrow at Shinnecock Hills. Which golfer will come out on top? Will the winner be under par? Who finishes higher: Scottie Scheffler or Rory McIlroy?
Make your picks:Golf Pick 'Em is live, and we have a Yahoo Sports AM group that you can join to see where your picks stack up against us and other readers. And yes, the group winner(s) get a prize.
Picks are due by 6:30am ET tomorrow, so get them in now! And make sure you're in the "Yahoo Sports AM" group to compete alongside Kendall, Jeff and other readers.
Trivia answer: Ronaldo (Brazil)
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