Obetz will continue to host

COLUMBUS – With cross country expanding to four divisions this fall, the Ohio High School Athletic Association has announced the new divisional breakdowns, along with a new three-year contract with Fortress Obetz and Memorial Park to host three OHSAA cross country events each fall.

Divisional breakdowns for the fall sports of golf, girls tennis, soccer and girls volleyball will be announced on Monday. The 2025 football divisional breakdowns and regional playoff assignments will be announced May 1.

Since 2020, the OHSAA has annually held three cross country events at Fortress Obetz and Memorial Park in Southeast Columbus, including the Early Season Invitational in mid-August, the 7th-8th Grade Invitational in mid-October and the high school Cross Country State Championships on the first Saturday in November. The contract extension with Obetz is for the 2025, 2026 and 2027 seasons.

Mobley named NBA’s top defender

Evan Mobley said his goal coming into the season with the Cleveland Cavaliers was to win the NBA Defensive Player of the Year award.

He got it done.

The Cavs consider Mobley to be their best defensive player, and the league thought even more highly of him. Mobley held off fellow finalists Dyson Daniels of Atlanta and Draymond Green of Golden State for the award, the results being announced Thursday night in a broadcast on TNT.

“It just feels great to finally get this award,” Mobley said.

Saying “finally” might be a bit of a stretch. Mobley is only 23 — the fifth-youngest player to win the award, joining fellow 23-year-olds Dwight Howard, Jaren Jackson Jr., Alvin Robertson and Kawhi Leonard as winners of the Hakeem Olajuwon Trophy.

Mobley won the award in a season where he was an All-Star for the first time and set a career high for scoring.

“That was going hand-in-hand all year,” Mobley said. “I was trying to figure out how I could be more offensively productive and still maintain my defensive style and prowess. So, I feel like I did a good job this year and it clearly shows.”

But the case Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson made for Mobley was how different the Cavaliers’ defensive numbers were with Mobley on the court and without. Put simply, with him on the court, they were airtight.

“It’s a huge dip, like 12 places or something,” Atkinson said. “That really screams out, to me. Probably the No. 1 stat that I look at.”

It was a wide-open race with seven players getting at least one first-place vote and Mobley getting the top spot on only 35% of the ballots. There was a consensus, however, that he was a top-three player — Mobley was listed somewhere on 85% of ballots, by far the most of anyone in the DPOY chase.

Green won the award in 2017, was a top-three finisher for the fifth time, and was bidding to become the 11th player in NBA history to win it at least twice. Mobley won it for the first time, after finishing third in the voting in 2023. Daniels was a finalist for the first time.

Daniels was second in the voting, with Green third.

Daniels had 229 steals this season, the most in the NBA since Gary Payton had 231 for the Seattle SuperSonics in 1995-96. Daniels was also the first player to average more than 3.00 steals per game since Robertson for the Milwaukee Bucks in 1990-91. Nate McMillan averaged 2.959 in 1993-94 for Seattle; John Stockton averaged 2.976 in 1991-92 for the Utah Jazz.

“Clearly, in my mind, he’s the defensive player of the year,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder told reporters last month. “I think in a lot of people’s minds, the things that he’s doing, even offensively the double-doubles. I think maybe the conversation should go to his character, because, as I’ve thought about and answered those questions about his balance, his anticipation, a lot of the attributes that allow him to do are usually focused on what he does on the court. And I think the correlation between who he is as a player and who he is as a person is very high.”

Based on Daniels, Green and Mobley all being finalists, it’s reasonable to think that they will be on the All-Defensive team when it is released by the NBA later this spring. It would be the ninth All-Defensive selection for Green, the second for Mobley and the first for Daniels.

Egbuka goes from Bucks to Bucs

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — The Tampa Bay Buccaneers landed another playmaker for Baker Mayfield in the first round of the NFL draft, selecting Ohio State wide receiver Emeka Egbuka with the 19th overall pick on Thursday night.

The four-time defending NFC South champions were thought to be leaning toward selecting a player to bolster a defense that hasn’t been as reliable as usual over the past two seasons. Both with franchise career receiving leader Mike Evans about to turn 32 and trusty sidekick Chris Godwin coming off ankle surgery, Egbuka was an easy choice.

A cornerback, inside linebacker or edge rusher would not have been a surprise, however general manager Jason Licht and coach Todd Bowles made it clear in the weeks leading up to the draft that upgrading an already potent offense was a possibility, too.

The Bucs are coming off going 10-7 and losing to Jayden Daniels and the Washington Commanders in Tampa Bay’s second season with Mayfield at quarterback.

The offense flourished, with Mayfield setting career highs for passing yards (4,500) and touchdown passes (41) and the addition of rookie running back Bucky Irving helped transform the Bucs into a team that ranked fourth in the NFL in rushing after finishing last each of the previous two seasons.

The defense, meanwhile, had difficulty generating a consistent pass rush and only had seven interceptions — tied for the fourth lowest in the league.

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl