BYU legend makes major announcement about future plans

Jimmer Fredette isn't just rewriting his own story—he's looking to reshape an entire sport.
On a recent appearance on The Today Show, the former BYU sensation shared his excitement about taking on a powerful new role: managing director of USA Men's 3x3 basketball. His mission? Simple, but ambitious. 'We're trying to bring some more notoriety to the 3x3 game here in the U.S.,' Fredette said. 'I'm excited to be a part of it… and be able to hopefully win something in LA.'
Fredette's journey from Provo legend to international basketball ambassador is well-documented. In 2011, he was the NCAA's National Player of the Year, averaging 28.9 points per game while electrifying Cougar Nation. Now, at 36, he's pivoting from scorer to strategist, tasked with building the coaching staff and player pool for a sport still carving out its American identity.
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After retiring from professional basketball in April, Fredette's appointment came swiftly—but not surprisingly. USA Basketball CEO Jim Tooley praised him as a 'beloved athlete on the halfcourt' and a 'natural fit' for this pioneering role. Fredette's competitive resume includes gold medals from the 2023 Pan American Games and 2022 AmeriCup, and a stint on the U.S. team at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The U.S. men's 3x3 team fell short in Paris, missing the podium after Fredette suffered a tournament-ending injury. That loss still stings—but it's fueling his vision for 2028. 'I'm determined to help build a sustainable program for years to come,' he said. His leadership marks the first time USA Basketball has named a dedicated figurehead to oversee the 3x3 men's national program.
Related: BYU sparks major buzz with another addition through the transfer portal
Fredette's BYU days were legendary—but his next act might just be his most impactful. Cougar fans, take notice: Jimmer isn't done winning. He's just moved to a new court.
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Related: Getting to know Xavion Staton: BYU's 7-foot shot-blocking sensation
Related: BYU Basketball players are turning heads for unexpected choice

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Indianapolis Star

an hour ago

• Indianapolis Star

Will Buxton 1 on 1: Formula 1 regret leads to exploring America through calling IndyCar races

A onetime writer and lifelong devotee of Formula 1 who grew up in the United Kingdom, Will Buxton makes his living these days broadcasting IndyCar races on American television. Tabbed as the lead announcer for Fox Sports' inaugural season alongside analysts Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe, the excitable and gregarious 44-year-old has immersed himself in the history, prepared tirelessly and learned on the fly. Buxton, who had been to only three tracks on the NTT IndyCar Series schedule before taking the role, will reach the halfway point of his 17-race rookie season during the June 20-22 XPEL Grand Prix at Elkhart Lake's Road America. In a half-hour conversation with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Buxton talked about growing into the job, criticism, regrets, the season, the tracks — in particular the rural Wisconsin road course that comes next — and what he's trying to accomplish both on the Fox broadcasts and away from the booth. Here are highlights. Question: As the series hits the midpoint this weekend, how is your comfort level? Answer: I don't think you could ever be entirely comfortable doing play by play, I don't think you ever should be entirely comfortable doing play by play. There's always nerves. There's always massive tension. That expectation of the unknown is part of the allure. It's part of what keeps you coming back. We take what we do very, very seriously. We have a lot of fun doing it, but we all go into it with a huge amount of nerves every single broadcast, because you care. Can you characterize how your confidence level or however you want to describe it compares to before the season started? I wouldn't call it confidence. I think it's more comfort in terms of being more engrained with the championship, building more relationships, feeling more established and OK, we're not even half a season in, but that's the way the IndyCar Series is. It's incredibly open-armed and welcoming, and to have felt that has really aided my learning process and my ability, hopefully, to be able to bring out these characters and these stories and get people immersed in the wonder of IndyCar. Have you spent much time studying the broadcasts or does it pretty much need to be full steam ahead at this point yet? As difficult as it is and as horrible as it is to have to listen back to your own voice, yeah, every, every race, every week, every session, we all watch them back individually. We make notes, we bring them to bear at production meetings or private meetings and personal meetings that we have with the production crew, because we're always looking for ways that we can improve. And I think if we take the (St. Petersburg, Florida, season opener) and compare it to the St Louis race, (it's) a completely different broadcast, I think, a completely different sound, a very different look. And that goes not just for me, but for every member of the team. We have a brilliant director in Mitch Riggin who had never directed a single lap of racing, of auto racing, until we got to St. Pete. We have a diverse crew who have been involved in multiple sports, some of them in racing, some of them not in racing over their careers, and they've all been brought together to try to bring something fresh and something different to IndyCar. There's always things we can learn from (what) the fans are saying and the feedback that the fans are bringing to us. I think one of the most noticeable parts of that has been the pylon on the left-hand side of the screen that denotes who is where and what stage of the race they're in, what tires they might be running. That has changed every single race and I think that really exemplifies the constant desire to grow and to learn and to improve. Insider: Rising IndyCar star David Malukas knows 'I need to mature' on track, 'switch off' Team Penske rumors What you say is instantly out there forever. Are there a couple of things you said that you'd like to have back? About 98% of it. That's the addiction. That's what brings you back every time. You know there is no such thing as a perfect broadcast, there never will be, and the day that anybody achieves that, that's the day you quit, because it's never going to get any better. I started out in print. And I loved having the time to be able to craft and edit and amend and then get your article to a place where you are so happy with it, and then you send it in, and your editor ruins it. So to sort of be unedited is both freeing and also terrifying. You can try to polish it too much, and you can try to make it too perfect, but then it doesn't sound real, and you're not reacting in the moment. And the one thing that we want to do with this broadcast, and the one thing that we as a booth want to do, with myself and Townsend and James, is make the folks at home feel like they're sitting on the couch with us and that our reactions are their reactions and anytime something big happens, it's almost like you're jumping over the couch at them and putting your arm around the viewer and be like, 'Come on, my god, look at this, this is crazy,' and bring them in for the ride. Even the great calls, the legendary calls that go down in history and that we have, that resonate in our minds forever, the announcers who made those calls, they will still look at it and think, timing was a bit off, could have used a different word there. Insider: Why IndyCar's 1 million viewers on Sunday night is good ... but not as good as it looks How do you deal with critics? Anyone who likes to jump on social media and tell me that they don't think I'm good enough, trust me, that thought goes through my mind daily. You should always strive to be better and strive to improve. I find social media a challenge. There's been a very clear shift over the past decade from where it was as a place of community and interaction and trying to share joy and positivity to something that is now inherently negative and can be quite painfully toxic. And I find that a real sadness, because what it has done is it has made me intentionally kind of draw back from the interaction that I used to enjoy so much, and that interaction was all about bringing fans closer to the sport, but it's so difficult not to be affected by the tidal wave of negativity that I have kind of had to take a step back. But I do occasionally go on, and I do occasionally search my own name and have a bit of a giggle at some of the hideous stuff that is written, because you can't take it seriously. There's a great mantra out there, which is don't take criticism from people you wouldn't take advice from, and that's a good one to go along with. 'It's terrifying': Meet Will Buxton, next voice of IndyCar. (He's never attended an Indy 500.) I imagine Indianapolis was an outsized portion of your early preparation. How has the work or the focus changed since May? Actually, I've dedicated I'd say probably equal time to every race and to the championship and the history as a whole. Growing up in Europe, Formula 1 was the sport that I watched the most, and so a lot of its history and its major moments were things that just sort of seeped their way into my subconscious through osmosis. IndyCar is a championship I've always loved, but it wasn't as readily available in the European market as it was in the American market. And so the history and that side of the knowledge base that I need to have, I have had to work at that, and I will always have to work at that in order to get myself to that same place. The 500 was really interesting for me, and I did spend, obviously, quite a bit of time going into the history of it. The 500 is 110 years of history. You just have to do that much more to be that more aware of everything that has gone on there. But with every race weekend, I think you know, the first part for me is learning the recent history, certainly learning the history of the current drivers and what they've achieved on that track and how they might fare there. You've been to some of the tracks on the schedule, but not all, right? Pretty much every track for me is a new experience. I'd done the Milwaukee Mile (as a pit reporter). I'd been to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to do qualifying, but never the 500. I've been to Road America, that we're going to this week, but only as a guest of (racer-turned-broadcaster and fellow Englishman) David Hobbs when we were colleagues back in the NBC and Speed Channel days (of Formula 1 coverage in the United States), because he has a house out at Elkhart Lake. So been there, been to Siebkens (a famous local hotel/restaurant/bar with a long reputation among racers). Just once. Barber (Motorsports Park), for me, absolutely blew my mind. It was like an amalgamation of some of the most beautiful European racing circuits that I've ever visited. Going and doing a race under the lights on a short course oval like we did at (World Wide Technology Raceway outside) St. Louis was absolutely incredible. I'd been to Belle Isle before, so I've been to Detroit, but I'd never done the Detroit street race before, so it's lovely What I'm discovering is, and what I love about this year, is for my entire professional life, I've been used to traveling the world and experiencing different countries and different cultures. And I think it's true what people say about America, that every state and every city within those states you know, is almost like visiting a different country. … I'm loving that kind of cultural discovery of America. What were your impressions of the actual racetrack in your time at Road America? Hobbo actually took me out in a road car at Road America. And yeah, it's a tough track. The drivers all recognize it as a very, very tricky circuit. One of the ones they enjoy the most, obviously, is a circuit steeped in history, and one that you love to see still being on the calendar, because it's one of those ones that really means something to people. But I loved it. I loved driving around. I loved visiting Siebkens and the historical aspect of it. And I think that's what's so wonderful about this championship, going to your classic racetracks like your Laguna Secas and Long Beach and obviously Indianapolis and Road America and places like that, and then also discovering circuits that have only been on the calendar for a decade or less. We've got Arlington coming onto the calendar next year as a brand new race. I actually really enjoyed Thermal, and I know it gets bad press but I enjoyed the facility. I enjoyed the race. Because, again, I come from the world of Formula 1. We had drivers fighting their way up through the field. Will Power had an amazing race that day, and then we had a guy who had sat in third place for most of the race, came out 11 seconds behind the leader, and over the course of the next 10 laps, battled past the two dominant cars of the weekend and pulled off into the distance to win. That in Formula 1 terms is a generational race, but in IndyCar terms was seen to be somewhat below par, and that really taught me a very early lesson about what the expectations are in this championship for an exciting race. As the series has moved from place to place to place, have you had the opportunity to take in the surroundings, or has it been mostly hotel, booth and back? One of the big regrets of my 25 years in Formula 1 was that I don't think I took as many opportunities as I should have done to go out and explore and experience some of the amazing places that I got to visit. I went to China I want to say 12, 13, 14 times (covering Formula 1 as a journalist or broadcast host). I've never seen the Great Wall other than flying over it. Admittedly, the race was nowhere near it, but you'd think you'd probably try and take some time. We went to India a couple of times. I never got to the Taj Mahal. Those things, they're regrets, because you don't get to travel to those places all the time, and when you're traveling there for work, I probably should have taken a couple of days and got out and seen some of the great wonders of the world. I am trying to go and see everything I can. When we went to Barber, I made a point on my first day there, because I had about a half a day where I knew I wasn't needed to do anything, I went and explored the history of Birmingham, the civil rights movement, which is still very recent history of America ... and how important that is, not just to the history of this country, but to the present and the future of this country. And I'm trying to do that everywhere I go. I'm trying to take in the city, the area, the history, together, a fuller context of not just where I am in the moment and that city, but the country, which is one that I love. I've broadcast in America for such a long time, be it with Formula 1 or now with IndyCar, and I feel immensely privileged to be able to do so, but I don't think that you can properly broadcast to a nation unless you fully understand its history and its complex history and what makes the people and what makes the country what it is. So I'm trying to do that everywhere I go. 'Blown out of proportion': Nolan Siegel's radio rant no biggie for Team Penske's Scott McLaughlin After a wild night at World Wide Raceway, what are you looking for this weekend? St. Louis looked like it was going to be a Chevy weekend, and especially like it was going to be a Penske weekend. (Josef) Newgarden looked phenomenal. Obviously, (Will) Power took the pole. And then in the race itself, (Conor) Daly was so impressive. (Christian) Rasmussen was unbelievable. (Pato) O'Ward was in the hunt the entire night. And yet, here we are with not just another Honda win, but another Kyle Kirkwood win. And I think people have been sleeping on Kyle Kirkwood for too long. … And now he's emerged as the guy most likely to challenge Alex (Palou) for the title in 2025 and it's a wonderful story, and it's one I can't wait to tell. But can Penske find a way back? They're having an absolutely horrible season, and everything that could go wrong seems to be going wrong for them. So that's a fascinating narrative, and there are just so many young drivers looking for their breakthrough moment. (David) Malukas has been so impressive over the last few races, and I brought up Rasmussen, he's been mega as well, sixth at the Indy 500, third last time out in St. Louis. A wonderful breakthrough performance for PREMA Racing as well, with (Robert) Shwartzman finishing in the top 10 for them for the first time. There are so many great stories in the NTT IndyCar Series, and that's one of the things that brought me over from F1 was the fact that this, at its heart, is a drivers championship, where the driver makes the difference. And on any given Sunday, it doesn't matter where you start the race, you have a chance to win.

Chicago Tribune

7 hours ago

• Chicago Tribune

Senegal women's basketball team members denied US visas, prime minister says

The Senegalese women's basketball team has scrapped plans to train in the U.S. for the upcoming AfroBasket tournament in the Ivory Coast next month after several players and team officials had their visas denied, Senegal's prime minister said. Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko said Thursday on Facebook that the team would train in Senegal's capital, Dakar, 'in a sovereign and conducive setting.' The West African nation's federation said in a statement that the visa applications of five players and seven officials weren't approved. 'Informed of the refusal of issuing visas to several members of the Senegal women's national basketball team, I have instructed the Ministry of Sports to simply cancel the 10-day preparatory training initially planned in the United States of America,' Sonko said. The visa denials come amid a push by the Trump administration to have countries improve vetting travelers or face a ban on their citizens visiting the United States. Senegal wasn't on that list of countries and it was not immediately clear why the visas were denied. A State Department spokesperson told The Associated Press the department could not comment on individual cases because visa records are confidential under American law. The travel ban includes exemptions for the World Cup, the Olympics and any 'other major sporting event,' though it's unclear what is considered a major event. The team is coached by Otis Hughley Jr., who previously led the Nigerian women's basketball team. He was the men's coach at Alabama A&M before resigning in March. Senegal, which was going to train in the U.S. from Sunday through July 3, has finished either first or second in four of the last five AfroBasket championships over the last decade and has won 11 titles in total. The tournament determines Africa's champion, which earns entry into the FIBA World Cup next year in Germany.

USA Today

8 hours ago

• USA Today

Curtis Blaydes vs. Rizvan Kuniev prediction, pick, start time for UFC on ABC 8

Curtis Blaydes and Rizvan Kuniev meet Saturday on the main card of UFC on ABC 8 at Baku Crystal Hall in Baku, Azerbaijan. Check out this quick breakdown of the matchup from MMA Junkie analyst Dan Tom. Last event: 5-1 UFC main cards, 2025: 57-44-1 Curtis Blaydes vs. Rizvan Kuniev UFC Baku preview Blaydes (18-5 MMA, 13-5 UFC) aims to rebound from an interim title challenge loss against Tom Aspinall last July. In the fight prior, "Razor" stopped Jailton Almeida in the second round with ground and pound, earning his fourth career Performance of the Night bonus. Throughout his entire career, Blaydes has never lost back-to-back fights. ... Kuniev (13-2-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) makes his UFC debut against one of the toughest tests in the division. After a first-round finish in his second appearance on Dana White's Contender Series in August, Kuniev gets an opportunity to prove himself under the UFC's bright lights. Curtis Blaydes vs. Rizvan Kuniev UFC Baku expert pick, prediction Filling out the main card is a fight that the UFC has been trying to put together for some time now between Curtis Blaydes and Rizvan Kuniev. Despite Kuniev being brand new to the division, he's being matched up with one of the top-ranked perennial contenders in Blaydes. Kuniev's best win is an overturned no-contest to Renan Ferreira, where the Sanda fighter showed some grappling chops from both positive and negative positions. That said, Kuniev will likely have a harder time getting that kind of game going against a fighter who can both match him in size and wrestling. Blaydes has seemingly abandoned his wrestling faster than Daniel Plainview abandoned his son in recent years, but that doesn't change the fact that he's one of a literal handful of heavyweights who can actually wrestle, which counts for a lot. I'm not picking this fight as confidently as I should be, but the pick is for Blaydes to stay safe and secure a win by unanimous decision. Curtis Blaydes vs. Rizvan Kuniev UFC Baku odds The oddsmakers and the public favor the American, listing Blaydes -260 and Kuniev +205 via FanDuel. Curtis Blaydes vs. Rizvan Kuniev UFC Baku start time, how to watch Blaydes and Kuniev are expected to walk to the cage at approximately 4:35 p.m. ET. The fight broadcasts on ABC, ESPN and ESPN+.