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TEMPE — ASU gave No. 1 Arizona one of its only single-digit games of Big 12 play so far in the rivals’ first meeting this season, and the first half of Saturday’s encore was just as tight.
The Sun Devils and Wildcats were knotted up at 38 at the break following 20 minutes where all but 18 seconds were within five points or less.
Arizona led by seven for those 18 seconds, and ASU point guard Moe Odum hit 3s on two of the next three Sun Devil possessions to make sure things stayed close.
Odum led all scorers in the first half with 12 points on 5-for-10 shooting. Arizona center Motiejus Krivas led the Wildcats with 11 first-half points.
Massamba Diop was up for the Krivas challenge and scored the game’s first points on a post-up jumper. He had six points and two blocks in the first half, also diving for a loose ball that became a pile up.
While Diop retained possession, Arizona wing Ivan Kharchenkov left the pile egging on the Arizona fans in attendance, which had Tempe’s Desert Financial Arena feeling more like a neutral court.
Later in the half, Diop drew blood from Arizona forward Koa Peat, though it was deemed incidental contact as it appeared to occur when bumping into Diop’s shoulder.
Peat, who was held to six points on eight shots in the first half, had to exit and was stitched up.
Arizona (21-0) entered the matchup as one of the nation’s only two remaining unbeaten teams. 21-0 Miami (OH) hosts 7-13 Northern Illinois at 1:30 p.m. MST on Saturday.
Phoenix Suns guard Jalen Green (hamstring) is off the injury report and available to play in Friday’s game against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Guard Devin Booker remains out with a right ankle sprain. He’s expected to be reevaluated soon after going down last Sunday.
Green has missed the past three games after exiting Phoenix’s loss to Atlanta on Jan. 23 after just 4:14 of work off the bench.
Since arriving to Phoenix via the Kevin Durant trade, Green has appeared in four of 46 games. In his first start as a Sun in a November win over the Los Angeles Clippers, Green dropped 29 points on 50% shooting to go along with three rebounds, three assists and two steals in 22:59 minutes.
He added another extended showing on Jan. 20 behind 19:56 minutes off the bench in a win over Philadelphia. He chipped in 12 points, two rebounds and three assists in the victory.
Missing Green and Booker haven’t stopped the Suns from stringing together back-to-back wins, highlighted by Thursday’s dominant showing against the Detroit Pistons.
Dillon Brooks had himself a career night behind 40 points on 13-of-22 shooting. He added eight rebounds, four assists, a steal and one block in 33 minutes.
For Cleveland, guard Darius Garland is out with a right great toe sprain. Forward Evan Mobley (left calf strain) and guard Max Strus (left foot surgery) are also sidelined for the tilt.
Guard Craig Porter Jr. is listed as questionable with left knee soreness.
The Suns take on the Cavaliers at 7 p.m. Catch all the action on the Arizona Sports app, 98.7 and ArizonaSports.com.
The Arizona Diamondbacks, like most teams in Major League Baseball, entered the 2026 offseason with serious needs to address after an 80-82 campaign.
Despite not opening up the wallet quite as much as the last two seasons, the Diamondbacks still made moves to shake up the roster over the course of two months.
However, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale barely gave the Diamondbacks a passing grade with a C- in his National League offseason grades.
The Diamondbacks were able to pull off a couple of moves in their hopes of getting back to the playoffs, but they still have holes. The D-backs resigned Merrill Kelly to a one-year, $20 million contract after trading him to the Texas Rangers in July. They acquired former Gold Glove third baseman Nolan Arenado to replace Eugenio Suarez. They took a flier on starter Michael Soroka. And they re-signed backup catcher James McCann.
Still, they have yet to address their bullpen. Their best two closing options are A.J. Puk and Justin Martinez, but each are recovering from elbow surgeries. Puk could return in mid-season while Martinez is expected to be out until late season. They will rely on Kevin Ginkel and Ryan Thompson for the time-being.
As a C- would suggest, the Diamondbacks did manage to achieve some of their offseason goals. Signing Soroka and bringing back Kelly brings needed depth to a starting rotation that will be without Corbin Burnes until July.
Re-signing Zac Gallen is another possible option the team continues to entertain, according to MLB Network’s Jon Heyman.
Arizona also chose to roll the dice on acquiring Nolan Arenado, potentially finding a suitable replacement for Eugenio Suarez at third base and filling a dire hole in the infield.
On the other hand, areas like the bullpen and outfield still have lingering questions surrounding them.
Coming off a season with 4.82 ERA out of the bullpen, the Diamondbacks will be relying on low-risk, short-term additions to hold things down while Puk and Martinez continue to recover. Taylor Clarke returns to the club on to a one-year deal while other arms like Shawn Dubin, Jonathan Loáisiga, and most recently Derek Law, come in on minor league contracts.
The outfield will go the opposite route by focusing on having young pieces gain experience. Trading Jake McCarthy to the Rockies and the uncertainty around Lourdes Gurriel Jr.’s return from a torn ACL opens up the left field job heading into spring training. Outfielder Jorge Barrosa, infielders Blaze Alexander and Jordan Lawlar, and even top prospect Ryan Waldschmidt could be in the mix for the role.
PHOENIX — Dillon Brooks was thrilled, Oso Ighodaro was furious and the moment their Phoenix Suns teammates knew was coming had finally arrived.
OK. While they knew it was coming, they didn’t know it would be that bad.
At first, Ighodaro couldn’t recall six weeks later the exact play that lit the flame, but an eavesdropping Collin Gillespie from the other side of the locker room chimed in that he did.
Late in the second quarter against the Golden State Warriors in mid-December, De’Anthony Melton brought the ball up for Golden State and Brooks met him at halfcourt. Melton glided around Brooks, a bad gamble by the nine-year vet, and Melton finished at the rim past Ighodaro and Jordan Goodwin.
Brooks was mad at Ighodaro for not blocking it. Ighodaro was mad that Brooks was mad when Brooks was the one who made the mistake.
You’ll see that Brooks physically emoted his dissatisfaction, and then he voiced it to Ighodaro while walking back up the floor. The second-year big man briefly shared his thoughts as well, and after a timeout two possessions later, months of Ighodaro being pestered brought the breaking point.
Brooks instantly started letting Ighodaro have it before the whistle was even blown. Ighodaro initially turned around to listen and declined to counter. Then, on second thought, he decided to yap back. It intensified during the walk to the huddle and fully uncorked there.
Brooks was beaming with pride when asked about if afterward.
“Finally, he yelled at me. Finally,” Brooks said. “Been waiting for that, been getting under his skin for about three months. Finally, he exploded.”
Did he ask for that emotion out of Ighodaro or force it out of him?
“I asked to begin with,” Brooks said. “But…”
That “but” is a crucial element to what Brooks’ presence means to a basketball team. Despite what the headline suggests, Ighodaro deserves all the credit for his big-time jump as a sophomore into one of the best backup bigs in the NBA, but it’s hard not to think how different this would look without Brooks borderline bullying him.
It started right away over the summer, long before training camp.
“Probably the first day he was there or something!” Ighodaro told Arizona Sports. “He got there early, was working out hard and kind of set the tone from the jump.”
Brooks learned how important that was from his own league beginnings in Memphis. Veterans like Mike Conley and Marc Gasol were always in his ear.
In different ways!
“Mike always used to tell me that every game was a learning experience, and that’s what I tell my young guys. Everywhere I’ve been, that’s been my main thing,” Brooks said. “Marc gave me tough skin. My first year, he never called me by my name. … He’s a good guy.”
Brooks did not want to share the nicknames — Ighodaro also declined to go into specifics on the methods behind Brooks’ motivation.
What Brooks has learned in this role is who is built for it and who is not. Within a week of jawing at his own guys over the summer, he had identified his targets.
“Yeah, cuz I talk a lot. I see it right away,” Brooks said. “And then I divert and find other ways to try and get my message across and different learning aspects because (within) the team aspect, sometimes you gotta pick and choose which battles to take.
“At the end of the day, everyone in this locker room knows I speak from no ill intention. I just want you to be better. I know from my personal growth that it makes you feel good overall, it makes you want to keep going and be an addictive person to that feeling.”
That’s why Ighodaro was always letting it slide. Not snapping back. But in that moment, he couldn’t hold it in anymore.
“Usually the stuff he’s getting on me he’s right (about), but that time he was wrong, so that’s why I yelled,” Ighodaro said.
Was Gillespie surprised seeing that unfold?
“Kind of,” he said across the locker room and a few other teammates. “I wasn’t surprised that he yelled back, but it was the way he yelled back.”
Gillespie is closer to Ighodaro than just about anyone on the roster. Had he seen him like that before?
“No.”
Ighodaro was selected by the Suns 40th overall in the 2024 NBA Draft after Phoenix’s front office did flips through multiple trade hoops to land him.
A cerebral four-year player at Marquette, Ighodaro came to the league with a package of attributes well-suited for the shape the game has taken. He’s an excellent passer with a terrific feel for the game and has elite speed for his position that he most predominantly uses on the defensive end.
His rookie season was derailed by an inconsistent role on an even more inconsistent team. This year, however, Ighodaro was armed with a head coach in Jordan Ott that had a system perfect for his unique skills and a consistent role.
He has thrived.
“We gotta give Oso props, man,” Suns guard Devin Booker said. “He’s stepped it up, he’s gotten better every opportunity he’s had out there and he’s seen his role grow throughout. Him and Dillon have their little pitty-patter back and forth, and Dillon has challenged him on the defensive end.”
The mundane 5.5 points per game do not tell the tale, and you’d be foolish to rely on it as a judge for how effective Ighodaro is.
“He does unique things that some big men don’t have,” Brooks said of Ighodaro. “He does little things on the offensive and the defensive end. … He’s got a lot of tools that he can tap into. He’s willing to listen, and he’s willing to work and you see it coming out.”
Sort through the best lineup combinations, duos and trios when it comes to efficiency, and Ighodaro is littered in ’em. Phoenix’s bench routinely swings game as one of the NBA’s premier units, thanks a lot to him and Gillespie.
In 614 minutes together, Phoenix is outscoring teams by 11.7 points per 100 possessions when the pair of Ighodaro and Gillespie is out there. There are 370 combinations of pairs across the league who have played at least 500 minutes together, and all of the highest net ratings with two reserves (if their squads are fully healthy) are via the Suns. Ighodaro is part of a few.
His phenomenal chemistry with Gillespie was almost too obvious to see from afar before they even started playing together. While Gillespie has started through the injury woes, he has been the first sub out, a clear effort to get him even more time with Ighodaro.
Ighodaro has been assisted by Gillespie 23 times, nine more than any other teammate. And in a ridiculous inverse, Ighodaro, as a center, has assisted Gillespie 21 times, only trailing Devin Booker for the most.
It’s a beautiful partnership to watch.
“I love playing with him because he’s a high-level decision-maker, great passer and then he’s really quick in and out of setting screens. … Whenever I’m out there on the floor with him, I’m always trying to play the game with him,” Gillespie said.
Ighodaro, to Booker’s point and the primary desire of Brooks’ badgering, has showcased true positionless potential as a perimeter defender.
One of his signature moments of the season in a clutch situation was shutting down New York Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson, all “6-foot-2” of one of the NBA’s masters of finding just enough room to get off his shot.
Lead ball-handlers are almost preprogrammed these days to seek out mismatches, and against a full switching look, that means bringing up the center to set the screen.
Brunson got his down three with under a minute to go. He went to a hesitation dribble, trying to get Ighodaro to flinch. No dice. The crossovers didn’t yield an advantage, so he quickly reset by stepping out before taking one more go, and thought he could either get an immediate step-back off or get Ighodaro to bite enough for a shooting foul. Ighodaro positioned himself perfectly to avoid contact, and Brunson got stuck in the air for the game-sealing turnover.
“He wants to be a dominant defender, he wants me to be a guy that switches on and people want to give the ball up,” Ott said of Ighodaro.
As he has started getting more comfortable with the beats of rhythm inside opposing offenses, Ighodaro is becoming more of a defensive playmaker. There is a lot of upside in that area for him to get better.
He’s only at 1.6 stocks (steals plus blocks) per game this season, but that will continue to trend up thanks to his explosive athleticism and natural instincts.
6’11 and 23 years old moving insane on the defensive end…
Holds opponents to 0.70 PPP in isolation. 98th percentile D-DPM. Suns elite defensively when he’s on the court. Some special defensive disruption stuff here. Worth paying attention to. pic.twitter.com/OZZvrGmeV7 https://t.co/btQIaOStqm
— Basketball University (@UofBasketball) January 29, 2026
The most improvement has come on the offensive end.
Ighodaro’s role is no secret. He is a “hub,” meaning he will get the ball 20-plus feet out from the basket and run a dribble-handoff, make a pass toward another action happening elsewhere or improvise.
That last one has been the most promising growth.
The nifty finds through small windows have always been there for Ighodaro as a passer. What’s emerging is the confidence to fake out the defending big.
Modern offenses have dozens of dribble-handoffs and ball-screens run a game, which a center can get lullaby’d to sleep into playing on the back line of it. There’s only a handful of 5s who will aggressively attack the basket with those spaces off just three or fewer dribbles.
While Ighodaro doesn’t have the tightest handle around, he’s seeing the floor better to know with his quickness that all he needs is one brief moment of hesitation from that defender before he evaporates him on his path to the rim.
But the most obvious strides have been made as a screen-setter.
Along with the process of getting much stronger that all young big men must go through, Ighodaro is understanding how to use his combination of physicality and agility in those microsecond moments.
Every time I brought up his screen-setting to a teammate, that guy was glowing with praise. Gillespie referred to the screens as “awesome” and he’s not wrong. These players understand the minutia and craft that goes into becoming a reliable screen-setter. It is the most under-appreciated skillset in basketball.
The key is, most of them aren’t legal. The true masters of the art form are finding that grey area where they can get away with moving ever so slightly while setting it and maybe there’s a sneaky lil’ grab or two in there, too.
“I think damn-near 90% of the screens set in games are moving,” Ighodaro told Arizona Sports. “I think I do a good job of sprinting up and then trying to slow down at the very end, and then reading the defender.”
Grayson Allen expanded on what the Suns are looking for out of their screeners.
“I think one of the phrases the coaches have been using is ‘arrive alone,'” he told Arizona Sports. “And so for him, a guy whose usually got a speed advantage, the way he sprints up into screens from the baseline or just randomly in transition against teams with [more aggressive coverages], when he gets there quicker than the defending big, it messes them up and creates advantage for us. … When he does that, it’s a big thing.”
Ighodaro noted that a pivotal aspect is how to screen for each ball-handler. With Gillespie, it’s some more of the rapid-fire releases you saw earlier. For Booker, he has to stick hard and create separation for Booker from his defender.
A snippet of that:
There is plenty more for Ighodaro to get better at.
It starts at the free-throw line, where he is doing a good job of winding up more consistently. But he is making only 47.8% of them through a shaky shooting form. Ighodaro worked hard at it in the summer and has made some tweaks, tweaks that aren’t consistent each night.
The long-term hope is that he eventually develops some type of jump shot, whether that’s down to just a midrange look or corner 3s. He’s already working at it.
Either would be a major help in expanding his offensive skillset for scoring beyond just his often-used floater. He has graded in the 99th and 95th percentile among bigs the last two seasons with the frequency of shots he has taken from the “short midrange,” where he is shooting a tolerable 44% this year.
Anyone at his experience level still has more work to do on defense, and Ighodaro’s next steps are becoming more versatile when it comes to schemes. Last year’s coaching staff had him playing a lot of drop coverage, something he never did in college. There are sprinkles of it this season because he can’t only be switching. Upping the aggro beyond that and using more hedges and flat-out traps are in the mix more too, reps that are invaluable with his stellar process of downloading the geometry of the floor in real time.
Even if those additional leaps never come or it takes longer than the Suns would hope, he’s still a big piece of what they do and one of the reasons why Phoenix is the surprise of this NBA season.
Whether Ighodaro knows that or not, he doesn’t expect to hear it from Brooks anytime soon.
“Oh, he’s never gonna tell me that. Just tough love. I know deep down that he cares about me,” Ighodaro said through a playful laugh and grin.
Kendall Jenner’s new Super Bowl commercial for Fanatics Sportsbook plays on her reputation of dating NBA players and leaving a Kardashian family curse on the discarded partners. Among those people is Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker, who surely is one of the exes mentioned in Jenner’s “Betting on the Right Guy” commercial.
“Any basketball player who dates me kind of hits a … rough patch,” Jenner says in the ad, showing off a mansion, classic car and private jet. “While the world’s been talking about it, I’ve been betting on it. How did you think I afforded all this? Modeling?”
The catch: Jenner is going to be making some Super Bowl bets, and the commercial ends with her teasing that fans can bet with or against her by downloading Fanatics’ app.
Here’s where our friend Devin Booker comes in.
The marketing campaign put Jenner on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon. There, searching for Super Bowl advice, she called Tom Brady to help her make a pick. It was a well-played bit by Jenner, as Brady blabbered about DVOA statistics and yards-per-attempt averages before Jenner revealed she’d be picking the Patriots to beat the Seahawks.
Fanatics posted a replay of the visit with Fallon on its Instagram account, and guess who popped up in the comments?
“I bet a million the Seahawks get that ring before you do @kendalljenner 🤗” Booker’s account posted in the replies.
“@dbook 🙄 how’s the ankle?” she snapped back, referencing Booker’s very real ankle injury that is keeping him out at least Thursday night against the Detroit Pistons.
Then came the zinger from Booker: “@kendalljenner come rub it,” he wrote.
Are they back together? Still friends?
We don’t need to pry that much.
What we do know: Booker, Jenner and Brady all have strong ties to Fanatics owner Michael Rubin.
And so this is likely a genuinely master-planned marketing campaign that’s hitting your TV but also embedding itself well into the social media comment sections.
Another week has passed and the Arizona Cardinals remain without a head coach.
Following the Cleveland Browns’ hiring of Todd Monken on Wednesday, the Cardinals now represent just one of two teams with a head-coach opening alongside the Las Vegas Raiders.
Joining The Pat McAfee Show, former Cardinals defensive lineman J.J. Watt said the waiting game likely has to do with one big factor: Quarterback.
“Right now, they need to figure out what their quarterback situation is for the future,” Watt said Wednesday. “When you’re a head-coaching candidate and you’re sitting there and looking at opportunities, the No. 1 first thing you’re looking at is who’s the quarterback of the team and is this somebody that I can build off of. Am I going to tie myself to this and my personal success, knowing this might be my only shot at the apple? Can this be my future?
“There’s a reason I went out there. I thought we had a chance to win. We started out 7-0, we were very successful and everything was going great and then it kind of fell apart. But it’s a beautiful place. It’s a great place to go, and when you get the players right, everything can happen. But that’s why it’s still vacant in my mind right now, and that’s why it’s not necessarily super attractive at the moment because you don’t have an answer for what that quarterback future looks like.”
Yes, the Cardinals still have signal caller Kyler Murray under contract, but the belief is the QB has played his final games for the franchise after seven seasons and just one playoff appearance.
And although Arizona didn’t win as many games with Jacoby Brissett under center, the offense looked noticeably better with the journeyman running the show.
Brissett, however, doesn’t represent a realistic long-term answer at quarterback. A solid bridge option? Sure. But with limited draft options and an iffy free agent pool in 2026, the avenues for Arizona landing its next franchise option this offseason seem bleak.
While the quarterback situation ranks No. 1 in Watt’s eyes when talking about head-coaching vacancies, it’s one of the many factors head-coaching candidates must weigh when deciding.
“Then after quarterback, you start to look at the organization as a whole and you like how it’s run and if you think there’s potential for them to add an influx of cash and everything to help build this roster to be as good as possible and the staff,” Watt said.
“But No. 1 comes down to quarterback, and right now, they don’t have that solution for what their quarterback solution is going to be, so that’s what makes it tough.”
The Cardinals’ head-coaching search is currently more than three weeks in since Arizona fired Jonathan Gannon on black Monday, the day after the season ended.
Eight other teams have since filled their vacancies. That includes the Buffalo Bills firing Sean McDermott and hiring Joe Brady despite getting in on their search later than everyone else.
Arizona, meanwhile, remains in the interviewing phase of the process, with a meeting set up with Seattle Seahawks Klint Kubiak on Saturday.
Las Vegas is also in the mix and has a clearer quarterback situation given where they sit in the 2026 NFL Draft. With the No. 1 overall pick, the Raiders are expected to land their next franchise signal caller and Indiana QB Fernando Mendoza.
Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce has committed to playing in the Annexus Pro-Am at the 2026 WM Phoenix Open on Feb. 4.
And no, there is no news on whether or not Taylor Swift will be joining in on the festivities at TPC Scottsdale.
“Travis Kelce is one of the most accomplished and recognizable athletes of his generation,” tournament chairman Jason Eisenberg said in a press release. “His championship pedigree, competitive mindset and star power make him a tremendous addition to the Annexus Pro-Am and an exciting presence for our fans during tournament week.”
The three-time Super Bowl champion and 11-time Pro Bowler just wrapped up his 13th NFL season, all with Kansas City. Across 17 starts, Kelce recorded 76 catches for 851 yards and five touchdowns in 2025.
Kelce also watched Arizona Cardinals tight end Trey McBride surpass or tie multiple NFL records this past season, including most consecutive games with at least five catches.
McBride, along with linebacker Zaven Collins and safety Budda Baker, are also taking part in next week’s Pro-Am.
Other celebrities who have committed include Cardinals legend Larry Fitzgerald, Olympic gold medalist Carli Lloyd and Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Emmitt Smith.
The NBA rescinded Dillon Brooks’ technical foul picked up in the Phoenix Suns’ 106-102 win over the Brooklyn Nets, the league announced Wednesday.
It marks the third technical foul Brooks has had rescinded this year.
He now sits at 14 techs on the season, just two away from triggering a one-game suspension. Phoenix has 35 games left to play this season.
“I just feel like that play wouldn’t have happened if they blew their whistle with the foul called, because it ended up being a foul call and then they had to give me a T after because I’m trying to get the guy off me,” Brooks told reporters postgame.
The technical foul call came with just 27 seconds left in the first half. According to crew chief Curtis Blair in a pool report with Arizona Sports’ Kellan Olson, the technical was due to Brooks pushing Egor DÑ‘min to the ground after a loose ball foul.
Brooks wasn’t just called for a technical in Tuesday’s game. He also picked up a flagrant 1 call in the first quarter for making illegal contact with Nic Claxton while going for a loose ball.
Brooks currently has four on the season. Two more flagrant 1s or a flagrant 2 would result in a one-game suspension.
Brooks was Phoenix’s second-leading scorer in Tuesday’s win behind 26 points on 9-of-15 shooting. He added three rebounds, three assists, a steal and a block in 34 minutes of work.
Phoenix is back in action Thursday night against the Detroit Pistons. The game tips off at 7 p.m. and can be heard on the Arizona Sports app, 98.7 and ArizonaSports.com.
Jaguars defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile is returning to Jacksonville and out of the running for the Arizona Cardinals’ head-coaching job.
The Jaguars announced the return of both Campanile and offensive coordinator Grant Udinski on Tuesday.
Campanile was one of 16 known head-coaching candidates Arizona inquired about this hiring cycle and among the reported finalists for the job.
He was among the only coaches to receive a second interview with the franchise.
The attention now turns to Los Angeles Rams OC Mike LaFleur, who has spent the past two days with the Cardinals, and former Atlanta Falcons head coach Raheem Morris for Arizona.
Campanile opts to return to Jacksonville after finding success in his first season on the job in 2025. It was a short but impressive stint for Campanile, who turned a bottom of the barrel defense into one of the stingiest.
On top of being the top rushing defense (85.6 yards allowed per game), the Jaguars gave up the eighth fewest points (19.8). They were 11th in total defense (303.6).
The Jaguars’ defensive play helped them to a 13-4 record and a postseason berth under first-year head coach Liam Coen. Jacksonville’s season came to an end in the AFC Wild Card round with a 27-24 loss to the Buffalo Bills.
Before his time in Jacksonville, Campanile served as a linebackers coach and run game coordinator for the Green Bay Packers in 2024. His other NFL stop was as a linebackers coach with the Miami Dolphins from 2020-23.
Arizona’s head-coaching search has extended to Campanile, Broncos DC Vance Jospeh, 49ers DC Robert Saleh, Rams coordinators Chris Shula and Mike LaFleur, Packers DC Jeff Hafley, Bills OC Joe Brady, Chargers DC Jesse Minter, former Falcons head coach Raheem Morris, Seahawks OC Klint Kubiak, Chiefs OC Matt Nagy, Steelers OC Arthur Smith, Texans DC Matt Burke, Patriots passing game coordinator Thomas Brown and Dolphins DC Anthony Weaver.
Arizona also reached out to former Baltimore Ravens HC John Harbaugh after his firing. Harbaugh, however, agreed to terms with the New York Giants after meeting with their brass.
Saleh ended up taking the Tennessee Titans’ head-coaching gig before meeting a second time with Arizona.
Brady was promoted to Bills head coach on Tuesday, while Minter heads to the Ravens as their next head coach.
Hafley, meanwhile, takes over as Miami’s new head coach, and Smith is heading back to college as Ohio State’s offensive coordinator.
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — The Buffalo Bills are staying in-house by promoting offensive coordinator Joe Brady as their new head coach, two people with knowledge of the decision told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
The people spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the team has not announced Brady’s hiring. One of the people said Brady agreed to a five-year contract to take over a Josh Allen-led perennial winner that has accomplished everything short of reaching a Super Bowl.
Brady was on the list of candidates for the head-coaching job in Arizona and had an interview with the Cardinals a week prior to accepting the promotion in Buffalo.
The 36-year-old Brady just completed his fourth season in Buffalo and his second full season as coordinator. He previously served as quarterbacks coach before taking over the offense after Ken Dorsey was fired midway through the 2023 season.
Brady’s promotion brings continuity to Buffalo a little over a week after Sean McDermott was fired following a nine-year tenure.
Brady has no previous head-coaching experience over his eight NFL seasons. He broke into the league with the New Orleans Saints by spending two seasons as an offensive assistant under Sean Payton. He left the Saints to serve as passing game coordinator on LSU’s 2019 national championship team.
Considered an up-and-coming head-coaching candidate, Brady returned to the NFL by taking over as the Carolina Panthers offensive coordinator before being fired late into the 2021 season.
Brady shares a bond with McDermott, as both played college at William & Mary. Brady played receiver and upon graduating in 2012, he took on a role with the Tribe as linebackers coach.
Brady was the first to interview for the Bills job in a search that began on Jan. 21. Buffalo eventually met with nine candidates in an interview process led by general manager Brandon Beane that included Allen. Buffalo was the 10th and final team to have a coaching vacancy, and missed out on interviewing John Harbaugh, who was hired by the New York Giants.
Among the candidates were former Giants coach Brian Daboll, who was Buffalo’s offensive coordinator before landing the job in New York. The Bills also interviewed Jacksonville offensive coordinator Grant Udinski and 44-year-old quarterback Philip Rivers, who removed his name from consideration three days after meeting with Buffalo.
Under Brady, the Bills offense took a far more balanced approach in part to take the load off Allen. Brady also introduced what became known as an “Everybody Eats,” share-the-wealth approach to the passing game, which followed Buffalo trading leading receiver Stefon Diggs to Houston in April 2024.
The approach worked the following season, with Allen earning NFL MVP honors for his 28 touchdowns passing (plus 12 rushing) and a career-low six interceptions and a receiving group led by Khalil Shakir’s 76 catches for 821 yards.
This season, the Bills offense ranked fourth in the NFL in total yards and tied for fourth in scoring. Though Buffalo was knocked for a middling group of receivers, fourth-year running back James Cook finished with 1,621 yards rushing to become the first Bills player to lead the NFL in rushing since O.J. Simpson in 1976.
It’s now on Brady to get the Bills over the hump.
In nine seasons, McDermott transformed a longtime loser — ending Buffalo’s 17-year playoff drought in his first season — into a franchise that became the NFL’s only team to qualify for postseason in each of the past seven years.
Buffalo posted 10 or more wins in each of those seven years and enjoyed a five-year stretch as AFC East champions before going 12-5 and finishing second to Super Bowl-bound New England this season.
On the downside, the Bills became the NFL’s first team to win a playoff round in six straight years but not make the Super Bowl. The closest Buffalo came were AFC championship game appearances in 2020 and ’24, both ending in losses at Kansas City.
The shortcomings led to owner Terry Pegula saying he believed the Bills “hit the proverbial playoff wall” in firing McDermott following a 33-30 overtime loss at Denver in the divisional round on Jan. 17.
Buffalo’s past three playoff losses were each decided three points. That doesn’t include a 42-36 overtime loss to Kansas City in the 2021 divisional round. The game was dubbed “13 Seconds,” reflecting how much time was left in regulation for the Chiefs to gain 44 yards to set up Harrison Butker’s game-tying 49-yard field goal.
The coaching change comes with Allen entering his ninth NFL season and set to turn 30 in May. The franchise is beginning a new era with the Bills moving across the street into a newly constructed $2.1 billion stadium.
Sometimes it’s not hard to diagnose why a team loses a basketball game.
And if you’re a Phoenix Suns fan, you didn’t need a PhD to figure out the team’s 111-102 loss to the Miami Heat on Sunday night at Mortgage Matchup Center.
In today's #VinnysView, Vince talks about #Suns life without Devin Booker and Jalen Green pic.twitter.com/QXfE494WAx
— Bickley & Marotta Mornings on Arizona Sports (@Bickley_Marotta) January 26, 2026
It’s hard to win an NBA game when you go into it shorthanded and the available players can’t make shots.
Devin Booker and Jalen Green were in street clothes again after both exited the loss in Atlanta early Friday. So, head coach Jordan Ott needed others to step up. Outside of Dillon Brooks, Isaiah Livers and Mark Williams, nobody did.
The Suns’ offense, which completely bogged down after Booker went down with a seven-point lead late in the third quarter Friday, remained stuck in quicksand against “Heat Culture”. Their 13 assists were the second-lowest total of the season. Their 20% accuracy from three-point range also was the second-worst mark of the year. It’s hard to win when Royce O’Neale and Grayson Allen combine to hit 1-of-11 from long range. The Suns are now 0-3 when O’Neale doesn’t hit a least one three.
The Suns’ calling card this season, regardless of player availability, has been effort and generating opponents’ turnovers. Well, Miami took pretty good care of the ball and you’ll rarely out-hustle a Miami team for 48 minutes, so more light got shined on the Suns’ poor shooting.
This isn’t a time for doom and gloom, though. The Suns announced Booker’s sprained right ankle will be re-evaluated in a week. That’s good. But considering his absence lines up with the most robust one-week schedule of the season with five games in eight days, it’s not ideal.
Hopefully the Brooklyn Nets, who have lost five straight and 13 out of their last 15, will be the visiting remedy the once-again banged-up Suns need to get right on Tuesday night.
Arizona State Sun Devils coach Bobby Hurley called out his players for their lack of focus and listening, and the ASU home crowd for its “sterile environment” after Wednesday night’s loss to West Virginia.
However, the Sun Devils and their home crowd responded on Saturday night with a much-needed win, led by a determined level of focus.
“We had a meeting, actually, about it. He wasn’t wrong. We wasn’t deliberately ignoring him,” ASU guard Moe Odum told reporters postgame. “When the coach draws something up, and we don’t run it right after, that’s considered not listening. So, he was right. We was not listening. We was not running out of bounds plays correctly, and he got on us for that.
“He came out and said we don’t listen, which is true. We came back, and we had a meeting — the staff, the players — we just said, ‘We got to change it. It’s that simple.'”
The Sun Devils closed out their two-game homestand with an 82-68 win over Cincinnati, forcing 15 turnovers and shooting 46% from 3-point range.
“I’m not like a total idiot. I’m probably a partial idiot,” Hurley said. “There was a part of what I said to hopefully get through to the players, to be able to lock in a little more and concentrate on some of these little details. The margin of error is very slim at this level and in this league to win games. So you can’t afford to not be on the same page as much as possible.”
Hurley said his team proved on Saturday night what he’s felt all year: They don’t give up, they fight and they battle.
“It’s hard to always know what the response would be, but that’s why I, after the game the other night, I told everybody that I love coaching this team because they are tough and resilient and they battle, and that’s what they did,” Hurley said. “We had a really good practice yesterday. I think there was carry over effect to that to this game.
“It was probably the best we’ve been concentrated and focused the day before a game. We looked like the team that we were early in the season.”
ASU had a goal to hold the Bearcats under 70 points. Cincinnati scored 68 points, shooting 24% from 3-point range and 49% from the field.
Hurley said ASU may not be able to match up at every position against all the teams in the Big 12 every single night, but he felt good about the “quality of basketball” that was played on Saturday.
“Coming into this game, I respect how hard we competed. That’s a good sign. Take whatever positives we can take out of this, and then we have to figure out a way to get ready to play again here real soon,” Hurley said. “We were really good at Arizona, and I thought, ‘Heck, if we can play the No. 1 team in the country to a one-possession game under a minute, that says something — we can be competitive.’
“Then we laid an egg at Houston. So we’ve got to string together some quality games.”
In Hurley’s comments after ASU’s loss to West Virginia, he called out Anthony “Pig” Johnson, specifically, for not being in the right position to set a screen.
“We got to pick it up. Now that means everyone’s looking at us like we just don’t listen,” Johnson said postgame. “Now, we gotta all come together just because on the outside looking in, it looks bad, so now we gotta make it look way better, that we come together rather than going our individual ways.”
Johnson had 11 points on 3-of-8 shooting with four made free throws in 23 minutes against Cincinnati. He also credited the crowd for being into the game and creating an advantage.
Odum said Hurley talked with the team before the game and told them if they want the crowd to support them, they have to win games.
“There’s all these things that I say — even in terms of the crowd, that should be the first thing that I said tonight, but I didn’t really mention that I thought that they were really good,” Hurley said. “I think we gave them something to cheer about, so it’s a two-way street. It was far better, and we had a good advantage in that regard.”
ASU currently sits in 12th place in the Big 12 standings, at 11-9 with a 2-5 record in conference play.
The Sun Devils hit the road to play UCF on Tuesday before returning home to host No. 1 Arizona on Saturday to end their January slate.
The Arizona Diamondbacks haven’t been resting on their laurels during the offseason after an 80-82 campaign in 2025. The D-backs brought back James McCann and Merrill Kelly on short-term deals while adding Michael Soroka and Nolan Arenado to the mix.
However, Zac Gallen entering free agency created a glaring need for more starting pitching depth that, to some degree, still remains.
Re-signing Kelly after trading him away at the deadline appeared to have cleared things up at least. The Diamondbacks, as it stands, will most likely be rolling into Opening Day with a rotation of Kelly, Brandon Pfaadt, Eduardo Rodriguez, Ryne Nelson and Soroka until Corbin Burnes’ targeted return in July.
But Rodriguez and Pfaadt’s inconsistencies, Soroka’s injury history and little proven depth behind them mean there’s a chance they could still add a starting pitcher.
Which brings us back to Gallen. He still hasn’t found a new home since turning down the one-year, $22.05 million qualifying offer from the club.
Teams like the Baltimore Orioles, San Francisco Giants and Chicago Cubs are considered to be some of the top landing spots for Gallen, but the Diamondbacks also continue to entertain the possibility of a return, according to The Athletic’s Jim Bowden.
The Diamondbacks would love to get him back and are considered the frontrunners to re-sign him (and wouldn’t have to give up a draft pick to do it).
The 2023 All-Star amassed a 3.61 ERA in seven seasons with Arizona but is coming off a career-worst season where he posted a 4.83 ERA and tied for the fifth-most home runs allowed (31).
Bowden’s ranking of Gallen as the second-best overall free agent is a testament that his talent on the mound is still highly regarded despite the down year.
RHP Lucas Giolito (31)
Not long after the news of Gallen declining the qualifying offer emerged, reports came out that the Diamondbacks had spoken to Giolito.
Giolito has pitched for four different teams since 2023 and declined a $19 million mutual option from the Boston Red Sox after compiling a 3.41 ERA across 26 starts in 2025.
The main concern surrounding the nine-year MLB veteran is his recent injury history. He missed the entire 2024 season after undergoing internal brace elbow surgery and was unavailable for the Wild Card series against the New York Yankees due to right elbow discomfort.
While there haven’t been any further intel on talks between the two parties, Bowden still lists Arizona as a potential suitor for the sixth-best overall free agent.
RHP Chris Bassitt (36)
If the Diamondbacks are looking for back-end rotation help at a relatively cheap price, Bassitt may be worth looking at.
He’s coming off his 11th season as a major leaguer where he had a 3.96 ERA in 170.1 innings for the Toronto Blue Jays, including 8.2 innings in the postseason where he recorded a 1.04 ERA out of the bullpen.
Despite his mileage, Bassitt hasn’t made fewer than 25 starts or turned in an ERA above 4.16 since 2018.
While top contenders like the Tigers and New York Mets are the current favorites, his projection of a two-year, $32 million contract from Just Baseball means the Diamondbacks wouldn’t have to surrender much to round out the rotation.
RHP Max Scherzer (41)
Anyone up for a reunion?
The former Diamondback who played two seasons (2008-09) has already put together a Hall of Fame resume after 18 seasons, but he’s not keen on retiring yet.
Scherzer started 17 games for the Blue Jays and turned in a career-worst 5.19 ERA. However, his ALCS Game 4 performance where he pitched 5.2 innings and gave up only two runs to pick up the win proves that there’s still something left in the tank.
Bringing back an old face of the organization could give Arizona a seasoned veteran who’s valuable in the clubhouse at a bare minimum.
The Arizona Cardinals’ list of head-coaching candidates has included 16 known prospects since the franchise got to work after Jonathan Gannon’s firing.
It got shorter this week with some of those candidates taking other open positions. On Friday, ESPN’s Adam Schefter told The Pat McAfee Show he knows of three candidates whom he believes Arizona remains interested in.
“The Cardinals just had in Anthony Campanile..
I think they’re also looking at Raheem Morris and Mike LaFleur” ~ @AdamSchefter #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/NegXJUQy1K
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) January 23, 2026
“They had in Anthony Campanile, the Jaguars defensive coordinator, yesterday,” Schefter said. “I still think they’re looking at Raheem Morris and Mike LaFleur, the Rams offensive coordinator who’s involved this weekend.”
Campanile is the only known candidate among the trio that has met twice with the Cardinals this coaching search.
He turned around Jacksonville’s defense for the better in 2025, with the Jaguars allowing the fewest rushing yards (85.6) and eighth fewest points per game (19.8). It was just Campanile’s first year as a defensive coordinator, too.
Before his time in Jacksonville, Campanile had prior NFL stops with Green Bay (2024) and Miami (2020-23).
Morris is the lone head coach of the bunch.
He’s on the hunt for a new job after back-to-back 8-9 seasons as the Atlanta Falcons’ head coach.
On top of his time in Atlanta, Morris also served as Tampa Bay’s head coach from 2009-11.
His all-time record as a head coach, including his 11-game stint as Atlanta’s interim in 2020, is 37-56 (.398).
He’s also got some NFC West experience working as the Rams’ DC from 2021-23.
LaFleur, another person who has worked under Rams head coach Sean McVay, is the only candidate among the trio preparing for a conference championship this weekend.
The brother of Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur, Mike LaFleur has been Rams OC since 2023.
This past regular season, the Rams ranked atop the NFL in total yards (394.6), passing yards (268.1) and points per game (30.5).
The Arizona Cardinals are going to have options when the No. 3 overall pick rolls around this NFL Draft.
One of those potential options just declared for April’s spectacle in Miami’s Francis Mauigoa.
“(To) the University of Miami, thank you for giving me the best three years of my life,” Mauigoa said Thursday on Instagram. “Coach (Mario Cristobal) and coach (Alex Mirabal), thank you for giving me a once in a lifetime opportunity.
“The hard work and the culture y’all have instilled in me are something I will carry on for the rest of my life. ‘How you do anything is how you do everything.’ … With that being said, I am officially declaring for the 2026 NFL Draft.”
While Utah’s Spencer Fano has gotten a lot of love as potentially the top offensive tackle taken this draft, don’t sleep on Mauigoa.
The Miami Hurricane is coming off a stellar season and was a key part in helping his team reach the national championship game.
The Associated Press First-Team All-American allowed just two sacks and four QB hits all year, according to Pro Football Focus. That includes clean sheets in both departments throughout four College Football Playoff games.
For a Cardinals team that could certainly use an upgrade at right tackle, especially with Kelvin Beachum and Jonah Williams becoming free agents, Mauigoa would check a box.
ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. paired the lineman with the Cardinals in his mock draft released Wednesday.
Mauigoa would have just missed the chance to join his brother, linebacker Kiko Mauigoa, with the Jets, but I still have Francis as a top-three pick thanks to his mauling play style, experience (41 career starts) and overall consistency as a blocker. Since Kelvin Beachum is a free agent, Mauigoa could slide in at right tackle and help spring James Conner and Trey Benson for big runs next season. The quarterback situation is still unsettled, but no matter who is under center, the protection has to be right.
Either way, the Cardinals are going to need to address the offensive line this offseason after it struggled mightily in 2025.
Currently, undrafted free agent Josh Fryar, practice squad edition Demontrey Jacobs and Christian Jones make up the depth at tackle behind starter Paris Johnson Jr. Getting some added depth along the interior wouldn’t hurt, either.
Mauigoa joined fellow projected top-five pick and Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza in announcing his entrance into the draft this week.
Mendoza is currently projected to be the No. 1 overall pick, landing with the Las Vegas Raiders.
For the first time, the Arizona Cardinals Foundation will host a fundraiser for the Valley’s special needs community.
On Saturday, Feb. 21, the Cardinals Climb will transform the NFL franchise’s home, State Farm Stadium, into an “immersive climbing and hiking experience” for a cause, according to the team.
The event is for all ages and will support four of the Cardinals’ beneficiaries: Barrow Neurological Foundation, Southwest Autism Research & Resource Center, Special Olympics Arizona and Treasure House.
Arizona Sports 98.7 is teaming up to generate awareness and raise money for the special needs community, and you can help us toward that goal.
Join Wolf & Luke’s Ron Wolfley and Burns & Gambo’s Dave Burns by signing up on our team, or donate directly to the cause at https://cardinalsclimb.com/teams/azsports.
“Our goal is to create a lasting peer-to-peer fundraiser that is extremely impactful, not only in our local Arizona community, but across the country, and we believe this is just the beginning,” Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill said in a press release. “This cause is deeply personal for so many within our organization and throughout the community, and it’s inspiring to see the passion and commitment it has already generated.
“The Cardinals Foundation was built to make a lasting impact on the lives of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and this event gives us a powerful platform to do just that,” he added. “By uniting our fans, partners and community members around a shared purpose, we have the ability to create a lasting impact.”
A new event coming to State Farm Stadium in February will help with fundraising for four charities centered around helping kids with special needs.
Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill shares more about what the indoor hiking event will entail on the @BroomheadShow. pic.twitter.com/ggktRAhNgj
— KTAR News 92.3 (@KTAR923) September 12, 2025
We’re stronger when we climb together.
With your help we can make strides in the support and resources put towards individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
— Arizona Cardinals (@AZCardinals) September 11, 2025
The Glendale football stadium will have hiking trails laid out throughout for guests of all abilities to traverse, with every one leading to the 50-yard line.
After everyone’s had a chance to try out the trails, there will be several activities, including a concert on the Great Lawn.
Cardinals legend Larry Fitzgerald said on X that he is “proud to support” the spring fundraiser and used the event’s hashtag #ClimbWithUs to spread the news.
Registration is now open online for Valley residents interested in supporting the event, where they can also pledge a donation.
Also online, residents can become Climb Leaders, who will recruit others and raise funds as a team rather than as an individual.
