Nov 20, 2019 3 min read

All-PSAC Football Teams announced

The California University football team had nine players, including five on the first team, named as All-Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference West Division selections.

Defensive lineman Gerald Brown, running back Nelson Brown, wide receiver Tyson Hill, defensive back Lamont McPhatter II and linebacker Israel Xavier were all first-team selections.

McPhatter became the first player from Cal to earn first-team status three in three consecutive seasons since Rontez Miles achieved the feat from 2010 to 2012.

Redshirt freshman linebacker Noah Dillow was named the PSAC West Freshman of the Year. He had 59 tackles, five-and-a-half tackles for loss and two interceptions after returning from a knee injury last season.

Leafs fire Babcock

The Toronto Maple Leafs have fired head coach Mike Babcock and replaced him with Sheldon Keefe.

Babcock had a record of 9-10-4 in 2019-20 for the struggling Leafs, who are 0-5-1 in their last six games, including five straight losses in regulation.

Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan flew to Arizona on Wednesday to break the news to Babcock along with general manager Kyle Dubas. Shanahan said that he felt he should be present as he hired Babcock in the spring of 2015.

Toronto, two points out of the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, fell 4-2 to the Golden Knights in Vegas on Tuesday night. Babcock’s last win for the Leafs, on Nov. 7 against Vegas, was the 700th of his NHL career. He has a career record of 700-418-19 with Toronto, Detroit and Anaheim.

Hired as part of a massive rebuild, the 56-year-old Babcock went 173-133-45 in his four-plus seasons with Toronto. He joined the Maple Leafs with an impressive resume, having won the Stanley Cup with Detroit in 2008 and back-to-back Olympic gold medals with Canada in 2010 and 2014.

Memphis’ Wiseman to return

The James Wiseman saga finally has a resolution.

After months of back-and-forth between Memphis and the NCAA, the sports governing body has cleared the heralded freshman to return to the basketball court on Jan. 12.

Wiseman will sit out a total of 12 games under a decision announced by the NCAA.

The sports governing body also announced Wednesday that Wiseman must donate $11,500 – the amount of impermissible benefits the NCAA ruled he received – to a charity of his choice to regain his eligibility.

Wiseman had filed a lawsuit to continue playing after the NCAA ruled him “likely ineligible” for receiving the impermissible benefits from Penny Hardaway – who was not the Memphis coach at the time.

The NCAA had ruled Wiseman was “likely ineligible” due to $11,500 Hardaway gave the center’s family for moving expenses from Nashville to Memphis in the summer of 2017. That started a legal battle that featured Wiseman suing the NCAA and obtaining a temporary restraining order to play two games.