After 13 NFL seasons, including seven with the New Orleans Saints, safety Malcolm Jenkins has announced his retirement. Jenkins was the last remaining player from the 2009 Super Bowl champions. You can expect to see his number 27 in the Saints Ring of Honor sooner rather than later.

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One player who isn’t going anywhere is wide receiver Michael Thomas, though he has missed 26 of the Saints’ last 33 games with injury. Head coach Dennis Allen says he visited the All-Pro in California where he continues to rehab.

Cut 18 (20) “…just personally.”

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And…Former LSU defensive lineman and Evangel football coach Byron Dawson has been named head coach of the Centenary College Gents. Centenary will add football in the fall of 2024 after 50 years without a team.

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Conference USA has released its revised 2022 football schedule, after reaching separation agreements with Marshall, Old Dominion, and Southern Miss, who are leaving to join the Sun Belt conference. That means changes for Louisiana Tech. The Bulldogs’ non-conference slate remains the same with the season-opener at Missouri, followed by games against Stephen F. Austin, Clemson, and South Alabama. The conference home schedule starts on Oct. 8 with UTEP and includes Rice, Middle Tennessee, and UAB. On the road, Tech faces North Texas, Florida International, UTSA, and Charlotte.

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The New Orleans Pelicans are on the road tonight, visiting the Portland Trail Blazers and looking for their third win in their last four games. Outside of the Pels postseason push, the big story tonight is the return of CJ McCollum to the Rose City. McCollum was traded to New Orleans after spending nine-plus seasons with the Blazers. He says walking into the Moda Center as a visitor felt…different.
Cut 21 (11) “…that was unique.”

Portland visits the Smoothie King Center next Thursday.

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After 13 NFL seasons, including seven with the New Orleans Saints, safety Malcolm Jenkins has announced his retirement. Jenkins was the last remaining player from the 2009 Super Bowl champions. He appeared in 199 games in his career, with three Pro Bowl selections, and won a second Super Bowl ring with the Eagles in 2018. He also collected numerous awards for community service efforts and co-founded the Players Coalition, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving social justice and racial equality. He’ll definitely find his number 27 in the Saints Ring of Honor.

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Saints coach Dennis Allen spoke with the media at the NFL owners’ meetings. Allen was asked about his handling of the Jameis Winston situation, with the team flirting with Deshaun Watson before reaching an agreement with Winston to be the team’s unchallenged starter.

Cut 16 (19) “…to improve on.”

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The roster reshaping of the LSU men’s basketball team continues. Matt McMahon will be joined by one of his former Murray State Racers, guard Justice Hill. Hill averaged 13 points and five assists per game and was named first team All-Ohio Valley Conference last season. Guard Adam Miller and center Jerrell Colbert both announced that they were entering the NCAA transfer portal. LSU currently has eight scholarship players on the roster and no commitments prior to the spring signing period.

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In college baseball action, LSU won its third straight game, thumping UL-Monroe 15-4. Braden Jobert went deep twice for the Tigers and drove in seven RBI. UL came back from three-down early to hand Southeastern its eighth straight loss, 6-4. Louisiana Tech fell 7-4 to Dallas Baptist, and UNO scored a season-high 14 runs in its win over rival Tulane.

Tonight, Southern visits McNeese…but UL’s matchup with UNO has been postponed due to weather concerns.

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The New Orleans Pelicans start a pivotal four-game road trip tonight at Portland. The Pels are a full game up on both San Antonio and Los Angeles for ninth in the West.

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For the third consecutive game, LSU reached double figures in runs as the Tigers scored six in the first inning on their way to a 15-4 victory over ULM. Designated hitter Brayden Jobert is swinging a hot bat as he launched two home runs last night and had 7 RBIs.

Cole McConnell drove in three runs but it was not enough as Louisiana Tech fell to Dallas Baptist seven to four.

Julian Brock belted a two-run homer in the seventh as the Ragin Cajuns defeated Southeastern Louisiana six to four to sweep the season series.

Talvin Hester was introduced as the 19th men’s basketball coach in Louisiana Tech history yesterday. Hester says the Dunkin Dogs will play tenacious defense in order to win the Conference USA tournament…
cut 30 (10) “…on top”

The Saints have signed quarterback Andy Dalton to a one-year contract and he’ll serve as Jameis Winston’s back-up. The 34-year-old Dalton played eight games for the Bears last season, starting six of them, and completed 63-percent of his passes, throwing for 15-hundred yards and eight touchdowns.

So what does this mean for Taysom Hill who threw for nearly one thousand yards last season. Coach Dennis Allen says Hill will concentrate on playing tight end and catching passes in the red zone…
cut 17 (13) “…on the sidelines”
The NFL has changed overtime rules in the postseason. Each team will now get the chance to possess the ball at least once.

Conference USA says they’ve reached an agreement that will allow Southern Miss, Old Dominion, and Marshall to move into the Sun Belt for the start of the 2022 football season.

Talvin Hester was introduced as Louisiana Tech’s new head men’s basketball coach today. Prior to joining the staff at Texas Tech, where he helped the Red Raiders reach the Sweet 16 of this year’s NCAA tournament, Hester spent three seasons as an assistant in Ruston under Eric Konkol. Now, he will be calling the shots for the Dunkin’ Dogs. Hester says the Bulldogs will play tough, and they will play fast.

Cut 21 (20) “…do that.”

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The LSU men’s basketball team loses one player and gains another. Forward Shareef O’Neal has decided to enter the transfer portal. O’Neal played in 14 games for the Tigers. Coming in…former Northwestern State center Kendal Coleman, who becomes the first transfer signee for new coach Matt McMahon. The 6-8 junior averaged 15.4 point6s and 10.1 boards in 30 games and was one of only 15 players in the country to average a double-double last season.

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The New Orleans Saints secured their starter in Jameis Winston last week and Tuesday they found their backup. The Saints have reached agreement on a reported one-year $3 million deal with 11-year veteran Andy Dalton. Dalton spent last season with the Chicago Bears, going 3-3 as a starter. General manager Mickey Loomis spoke about the deal while attending the NFL owners’ meetings in Palm Beach, Florida.

Cut 22 (12) “…games with him.”

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The NFL announced that it has approved a tweaking to its overtime format next season. But, it only applies to the playoffs. The Indianapolis Colts and Philadelphia Eagles proposed a mandatory possession for both teams in all games, regular season and playoffs, but competition committee chairman Rich McKay said there was not enough support among owners to pass the rule unless it was amended to the postseason only. It passed by a vote of 29-3.

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Three games on the college baseball diamond tonight as the UL Ragin’ Cajuns visit Southeastern to take on the Lions. Tulane and UNO square off in a matchup of crosstown rivals, and UL-Monroe heads to The Box to battle 13th-ranked LSU.

Quarterback Jameis Winston says he loves the Saints and loves New Orleans and that’s why he’s excited to be still with the Black and Gold after the franchise flirted with a trade for Deshaun Watson. Winston beat out Taysom Hill to be the starter last season until a knee injury ended his season. This year Jameis will go into training camp as the starter…
cut 17 (13) “….this team”
And Winston is looking forward to throwing passes to Michael Thomas, who is expected to be healthy this year after missing all of 2021 with an injury.

Louisiana Tech will introduce its new men’s basketball coach today. Talvin Hester will replace Eric Konkol, who is now at Tulsa. The 43-year-old Hester was Konkol’s assistant at Tech for three seasons, before spending last season as an assistant at Texas Tech.

A change in the middle of LSU’s infield helped spark the Tigers to a series victory over Florida this past weekend. Coach Jay Johnson moved shortstop Jordan Thompson to second and Cade Doughty went from second base to short in an effort to improve the team’s shaky defense. Johnson says he’ll stick with those changes and expects his team to keep evolving as the season goes along…
cut 20 (15) “…..hopefully in June”
17th ranked LSU hosts ULM tonight at 6:30.

Collegiate Baseball also has Louisiana Tech ranked as they have the Bulldogs ranked as the 23rd best team in the country. Tech will host Dallas Baptist, which is ranked 19th by D-1 baseball.

The Ragin Cajuns are at Southeastern Louisiana. U-L Lafayette is 11-and-12 on the season.

Jameis Winston spoke with the media for the first time since signing his new two-year contract. Winston has survived a quarterback battle, a season-ending ACL tear, and the Saints’ flirtation with Deshaun Watson. Now, finally, it’s his team, and Jameis can’t wait to get started.

Cut 21 (13) “…with that too.”

New Orleans also announced it had reached an agreement to re-sign wide receiver, Tre’Quan Smith.

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The New Orleans Pelicans moved closer to securing a spot in the NBA play-in tournament with a remarkable 116-108 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday night. The Pels trailed by 23 in the second half but outscored LA 67-39 over the final 24 minutes. With seven games to go in the regular season, the Pelicans are a half-game in front of the Lakers and one-and-a-half games ahead of the Spurs. New Orleans starts a four-game road trip Wednesday against Portland, followed by crucial matchups against the Lakers, Clippers, and Kings.

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The road to the men’s Final Four ends in New Orleans, and now we know who will be traveling to the Crescent City after this weekend’s action. Some of the biggest names in college basketball will converge at the Caesar’s Superdome with Kansas, the lone-remaining one seed, meeting Villanova in one semifinal, and archrivals North Carolina and Duke will meet in the other, marking the first time the storied programs have ever met in the NCAA tournament. Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski will be making his 13^th and final Final Four appearance and his first-ever in New Orleans.

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The women’s Final Four will be set after tonight’s games. Number one seeds Stanford and South Carolina have already punched their tickets to Minneapolis. NC State takes on UConn in the first game of the evening, with Michigan and Louisville squaring off in the other.

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The LSU football Tigers are just two practices into the Brian Kelly era, but the players say the difference from last season is noticeable. Accountability and attention have been the two big buzzwords so far, says sophomore wide receiver, Jack Bech.

Cut 18 (19) “…get our degree.”

The New Orleans Pelicans pulled off one of the biggest comebacks in franchise history in beating the Los Angeles Lakers 116-108 on Sunday night at the Smoothie King Center in front of a sold out crowd. New Orleans trailed by as many as 23 but outscored the Lakers 67-39 in the second half. The Pels had never won a game when trailing by at least 20 at the midway point. They were led by Brandon Ingram, who scored 26 points in 26 minutes, and Trey Murphy III, who dropped 16 points on 5-6 shooting in the third quarter to spark the comeback. Jonas Valanciunas added another double-double with 19 points and 12 rebounds, and Herb Jones finished with 16 points and a career-high six steals. New Orleans now holds the season tiebreaker over LA and the ninth spot in the West with seven games to go in the regular season.

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The Pelicans also signed rookie guard Jose Alvarado to a four-year, $6.5 million contract. Alvarado, undrafted out of Georgia Tech, will get $3.4 million in guaranteed money over the next two years.

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Former LSU Tiger Shaquille O’Neal can add one more thing to his impressive resume…Academy Award Winner. O’Neal and Warriors guard Stephen Curry were among the executive producers of the short documentary, “The Queen of Basketball” about the life of women’s basketball pioneer Lusia Harris, the first woman drafted by an NBA team.

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The LSU football Tigers held their second spring practice on Saturday. Quarterback Myles Brennan says the attitude is completely different than when LSU ended last season against Kansas State in the Texas Bowl…

Cut 16 (20) “…has been awesome.”

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LSU baseball bounced back in a big way after being routed by Florida in the first game of their weekend series. The Tigers took the final two games, outscoring the Gators 27-6 in the process and evening their conference record at 3-3.

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The Men’s Final Four is set for next weekend in New Orleans, and bluebloods abound. Kansas will take on Villanova in one semifinal, the fourth appearance in NOLA for the Jayhawks, and North Carolina and Duke will meet for the first time in the NCAA tournament in the other semifinal.

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And Louisiana Tech is expected to name Texas Tech assistant Talvin Hester as the school’s next men’s basketball coach.

It was a big weekend for the LSU baseball Tigers as they took two of three from ninth-ranked Florida. The Bayou Bengals lost Friday night seven to two but came back to win Saturday 16 to 4 and 11 to two yesterday. Brayden Jobert hit two home runs and drove in five runs on Sunday.

Louisiana Tech is tied for first place in Conference USA after completing a sweep of FIU with a 13 to two win. Cole McConnell homered and drove in five runs.

The Ragin Cajuns and ULM took two of three from their opponents over the weekend. The Warhawks lost to Georgia State eight to five on Sunday, while the Cajuns doubled up South Alabama six to three as Carson Roccaforte has homered four times in four games.

Southern defeated Grambling 11 to 5 yesterday to take the series. Both teams are 3-and-3 in the SWAC. Nicholls swept Southeastern Louisiana and the Colonels lead the Southland with a 3-0 record.

LSU Quarterback Myles Brennan says he physically feels really good after missing all of 2021 season with a non-throwing arm injury. Brennan is back for his sixth season at LSU and he’s battling Arizona State transfer Jayden Daniels for starting quarterback. Brennan says battling for playing time is nothing new for him…
cut 17 (19) “….competition as well”

Ragin Cajuns Coach Michael Desormeaux says his quarterbacks didn’t play well in a scrimmage on Saturday as they look to replace longtime starter Levi Lewis.

In basketball news, The Pelicans rallied from a 20-point halftime deficit to beat the Los Angeles Lakers 116 to 108 last night to move into ninth place in the Western Conference Standings. The Final Four in New Orleans is set. On Saturday it will be Kansas versus Villanova and North Carolina against Duke.

Can March Madness get any madder? The Elite Eight of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament is set, with plenty of unexpected members. St. Peter’s becomes the first 15-seed EVER to advance to a Regional Final after beating Purdue 67-64. Eighth-seeded North Carolina beat UCLA, 73-66. Miami advances to the Elite Eight for the first time in program history by knocking off Iowa State, and Kansas topped Providence, 66-61.

Today, two teams will be able to make their travel plans for New Orleans. Houston faces Villanova in the South Regional Final, and out West Duke and Arkansas will battle it out for a spot in the Final Four.

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In the women’s tournament, top seeds South Carolina and Stanford moved one step closer to the Final Four as did Texas and Creighton. The Blue Jays making their first regional final. And today, Notre Dame faces NC State, Indiana takes on UConn, Tennessee battles Louisville, and South Dakota squares off with Michigan.

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LSU took another loss on the diamond, going down to Florida 7-2 on Friday night; the fourth setback in the last five games for the Tigers. LSU, now 1-3 in the SEC, was shut out for seven innings before getting single runs in both the eighth and ninth. Blake Money was knocked around in his return to the mound, allowing six earned runs in five innings. Hunter Barco went seven innings with eight strikeouts to puck up the win for the Gators. LSU also collected its 38th error of the season.

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Nicholls topped Southeastern 6-4 in the first game of their Southland Conference series. Grambling fell to Southern, 3-2. UNO got past Northwestern State, 7-6. McNeese dropped a close one, 4-6 to Houston Baptist, and UL-Lafayette beat South Alabama, 5-4 in 11 innings.

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The New Orleans Pelicans have a matinee performance today. The Pels host the San Antonio Spurs at 4 pm in the Smoothie King Center. New Orleans has won three of its last four games, including a 124-91 win over San Antonio a week ago. The Pels are two games up on the Spurs in the Western Conference standings with nine games left to play in the regular season.

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The New Orleans Saints have signed safety Daniel Sorenson to a one-year deal. Financial terms were not disclosed. He spent the last seven season with the Kansas City Chiefs.

LSU’s Matt House, is tasked with giving the Tigers back their teeth on defense. Talent has never been a question in Baton Rouge, but execution was poor and development slow during the final days of the Orgeron Era. Brian Kelly says House has all the skills needed to reverse that trend.

Cut 21 (17) “…that line quickly.”

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The New Orleans Pelicans have an opportunity to strengthen their grip on a spot in the NBA’s play-in tournament with back-to-back games against the Spurs on Saturday and the Lakers on Sunday. Thursday night the Pels won for the third time in four games, beating the Bulls 126-109, moving back into ninth place in the Western Conference standings. San Antonio sits at 11 and Los Angeles is in the 10^th position with nine games remaining in the regular season.

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In other basketball news, former LSU assistant Kevin Nickleberry has landed on his feet, joining the staff at Georgetown under Patrick Ewing. And Kim Mulkey has signed another prized recruit, with four-star wing Janae Kent out of Illinois joining the 2023 class.

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Pitching and defense need to come together for LSU’s baseball team as they begin a three-game series at 8th-ranked Florida tonight. The Tigers have committed 37 errors in 21 games this season and have allowed 27 unearned runs. LSU’s pitching staff has no clear cut starters and several tired relievers, so it could be a long weekend in Gainesville for Jay Johnson.

Cut 22 (14) “…there right now.”

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Other key college baseball series this weekend include: Louisiana Tech hosting Florida International, Grambling making a visit to rival Southern, Northwestern State takes on UNO, Tulane welcomes Dayton while South Alabama makes the trip to Lafayette to face the Ragin Cajuns, and Southeastern battles Nicholls.

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The NCAA men’s tournament field will be whittled down to eight after tonight’s action. Last night, Arkansas upset top-seeded Gonzaga, Houston beat Arizona, Duke topped Texas Tech, and Villanova defeated Michigan to advance. Tonight, tournament darling St. Peter’s takes on Purdue, Kansas faces Providence, Carolina and UCLA duel in a battle of blue bloods, and Iowa State takes on Miami.