Matt Now

So long State Farm Center. The High School Basketball season has come to a close. Now it's on to Baseball season, and the JUCO DII National Tournament next weekend. Hopefully I'll get media credentials next year. @AlHartwig1 @AdamDuvall @SchuckSports @ChrisDuerr @jwelge96

Forreston Sectional

Class of 2027 6’5” double/double machine Yakteodia Kizer transfers from @Michael88043706 to State Class 1A Champ Marshall (Chicago).

Byron Sectional

105 years ago today — May 31, 1921 — horror came to Tulsa. A thriving, self-made Black community known as "Black Wall Street" was brutally attacked by white mobs in one of the most devastating acts of racial violence in American history. They burned it to the ground. Hundreds of Black-owned homes and businesses — symbols of pride, prosperity, and hard-won success — were looted and reduced to rubble. At least 36 Black residents were murdered, over 800 were injured, and thousands more were left homeless, their dreams and life's work destroyed in a single night of terror. A community that had risen against all odds was violently crushed. We remember Greenwood. We remember the lives stolen. We remember the pain that still echoes.

SAINT MARY'S WALKS OFF UCLA ON THEIR HOME FIELD!! THE #1 OVERALL SEED HAS BEEN ELIMINATED

I will be attending the prospect camp @football_ncc on Tuesday, June 2nd. @RamFBHC @CoachWalker285 @EDGYTIM @scottybscout @AllenTrieu @CoachHo @offsznbrand @PrepRedzoneIL @247Sports @PrepRedzone @TomLoy247 @LemmingReport

@IHSA_IL Class 4A Bartlett Sectional bracket is set. Should be an exciting, competitive, fun week with this great group of schools & teams @LPLancersBB @Dukes__Baseball @BHSHawkBaseball #MSHSbaseball🦅 #IHSAplayoffs2026🏆

Triad Sectional Schedule Wednesday June 3 Game 1 at 2:00- Triad (32-5) vs Waterloo (24-8) Game 2 at 4:30- Jacksonville (27-7) vs Mascoutah (29-6) @TriadKnights @WHSBulldogBase1 @jville_baseball @MHS19Baseball @GSV_STL @STLhssports @PrepBaseballIL @ScoutConnectBB

Gonna need a @Jomboy_ Breakdown on this one 🙏

Intriguing look at RHP Dean Miller (@GBN_Baseball, 2026; Rollins College). Effectively induced weak contact throughout his outing. FB: 85-87 mph T88 mph; sink CB: 73-76 mph; late break CH: 77-80 mph; heavy fade Final Line: 5 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO 71% strike %

The off-line transfer count for 2026-27 is at 20.

Jonny Udoiwod will join his brother David, Cody Rader, D1 football recruit Ben Peterson, and multi-sport athlete Nelson Wendell. @GHS_BBasketball @UdoiwodBoyz @princejonny__

Class of 2029 6’0” point guard @princejonny__ transfers from @WAwarriorsBBB to @GHS_BBasketball .

I’ll have another transfer announcement after 7pm tonight.

Class of 2027 6’0” point guard TJ Wilson is transferring from @OHSPantherHoops to @OEWolvesbball.

Eagles will play Lincoln-Way West on Wednesday at Lincoln-Way Central in the Sectional Semis. 7 pm first pitch.

In 2020, COVID cut the MLB draft from 40 rounds to 5. Brandon Young went undrafted and signed with the Orioles for $20,000. He turned down his childhood Astros because Baltimore made him "feel like they had a plan for him". Two years later, Tommy John surgery wiped out his season after just 3 Double-A starts. He rehabbed across four affiliates in 2023, throwing 40 total innings. Then in 2024 he won the Orioles' Jim Palmer Minor League Pitcher of the Year. His rookie year wasn't pretty. He went 1-7 with a 6.24 ERA. But there were bright spots. He nearly threw a perfect game against Houston and logged an immaculate inning along the way. This offseason he simplified his pitch mix and changed his splitter grip mid-year, the results have followed: A 3-1 record and a 3.35 ERA so far in 2026. Asked as a teenager what he'd do after baseball: "I'm just going to play baseball." His father: "It could have gone either way with all the injuries and setbacks. He's worked harder than anybody I've ever seen." Young mentioned this spring: "I can never think I don't belong here. That's just not gonna work. I know I can." From the guy that took the $20K signing bonus. Tommy John. A 6.24 rookie ERA. Nobody has handed Brandon Young anything. He just kept showing up, with Led Zeppelin inked down his pitching arm and Hendrix on the speakers, until the game had no choice but to let him in. We love to see what he's bringing to the rotation so far in 2026 👏

He raped children, ma'am.

Regional champs 5ks ~ 3 hits ~ 0 runs 1 walk ~ 71% strikes

Pictures tell the story. 2026 regional champs. So proud of the boys. Soph Beau Barrows complete game 2 hit shutout backed by outstanding D and timely hitting. We now get the right to play in our own Sectional this Wednesday. Let’s go