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Carolina Panthers wide receiver Xavier Legette has an infectious personality. That much was on display shortly after the Panthers took him in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft. Legette, who was born in South Carolina, quickly went viral after the draft for hisaccent,love of horsesandculinary preferences. While some of those traits made him a unique personality, it was Legette's enthusiasm that really set him apart. He seemed genuinely excited to answer questions about his upbringing and had an infectious energy. So, whoever decided to send Legette to his first Carolina Hurricanes game, give him seats on the glass and mic him up was an absolute genius. The result was a hilarious and endearing video of Legette very quickly learning to love the sport. It began with Legette talking on the phone and telling a friend, "You didn't tell me the hockey pucks coming flying over here, man." It only got better from there. We had Xavier Legette mic'd up at NHL game and it was PURE ENTERTAINMENT 🤣pic.twitter.com/6HoSxW4wWS — Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport)May 29, 2025 Legette seemed to have a blast at the game. He reacted every time players hit the glass near him, complimented the players for their speed and physicality and took on a major rooting interest in the game. His excitement clearly came across in the video. At the end of the clip, Legette makes it clear he had a great time. "I ain't gonna lie," he said. "I'm gonna be back to one of these." Legette turned in a solid rookie season after going No. 32 overall. The 24-year-old hauled in 49 passes for 497 yards and 4 touchdowns. As the season went along, Legette worked his way into a bigger role with the Panthers, eventually playing in over 90 percent of the team's offensive snaps before an injury limited his production. Bigger things are expected in 2025. Legette should take on a larger role in the team's offense and pair with 2025 first rounder Tetairoa McMillan to give quarterback Bryce Young two promising, young targets. While Legette still has plenty to prove in the NFL, no one if going to match his enthusiasm on the field. Here's hoping that leads to plenty more excellent mic'd up moments during the Panthers' 2025 season.

The Minnesota Vikings believe in the vision general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has for the organization's future. The team reportedly handed Adofo-Mensah amultiyear contract extensionFriday after the team made the playoffs in two of his three seasons at the helm, according to multiple reports. With the move, both Adofo-Mensah and head coach Kevin O'Connell are under contract with the team for the foreseeable future. The#Vikingshave signed GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah to a multiyear contract extension, sources tell me and@RapSheet.The deal was signed Thursday night. Minnesota is 34-17 with two playoff trips since Kevin O'Connell and Adofo-Mensah arrived. Now both are signed for years to come.pic.twitter.com/q3EiJN9pix — Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero)May 30, 2025 The Vikings hired Adofo-Mensah ahead of the 2022 NFL season. The team has gone 34-17 under his guidance, making the playoffs twice since he took over. This story will be updated.

The2025 NCAA baseball tournamentis set to kick off Friday with regional action across 16 host sites. As is the case in any tournament, some teams will have an easier path to reach the super regional – and eventually the Men's College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska. Vanderbilt earned the No. 1 overall seed, but the Commodores don't necessarily have the easiest path to reach the CWS. REQUIRED READING:College baseball tournament bracket winners and losers start with SEC Meanwhile, Southern Miss wrestled away the No. 16 seed and the final regional hosting privilege, but the Golden Eagles are rewarded with the toughest path to even reach the super regional round. Here's a power ranking of the toughest regionals in the 2025 NCAA baseball tournament based on the mean RPI of the four teams in the bracket: No. 16 Southern Miss:19 Alabama:13 Miami:40 Columbia:60 Median RPI:33 The Golden Eagles barely earned the final top-16 seed to host the regional but will face the stiffest competition to reach the super regionals, which would be rewarded with potentially facing No. 1 Vanderbilt. The Crimson Tide will come in with a chip on their shoulder after being denied a hosting bid despite finishing ranked No. 13 in RPI. The Hurricanes and Lions present the toughest draws as No. 3 and No. 4 seeds, respectively. No. 14 Tennessee:10 Wake Forest:30 Cincinnati:34 Miami (Ohio):80 Median RPI:38.5 The defending national champion Vols don't have an easy path by any means, as Wake Forest and Cincinnati have proven to be strong teams with top-34 RPIs during the regular season. Tennessee has the second-toughest regional opener, having to square off against Miami (Ohio). If the Vols can come out of their regional, they'll be as battle-tested as any team in the super regional round. No. 8 Oregon State:7 TCU:17 USC:44 St. Mary's: 89 Median RPI:39.25 The Beavers earned the right to host not only a regional, but also a super regional if they can withstand the Corvallis Regional. Oregon State will have to get past a tough Horned Frogs team that narrowly missed making the tournament last season. USC is in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2015, while Saint Mary's won the West Coast Conference tournament championship. No. 2 Texas: 4 UTSA:25 Kansas State:37 Houston Christian:94 Median RPI:40 Not only did the Longhorns draw the short end of the stick by not getting the No. 1 overall seed, but they also have one of the hardest paths in the regional round. UTSA and Kansas State can give Texas a run for its money in the Austin Regional. First-year coach Jim Schlossnagle has his work cut out with this regional draw. No. 11 Clemson:9 West Virginia:28 Kentucky:38 USC Upstate:86 Median RPI:40.25 Clemson will be one of a few seeded programs on upset alert, having to face a dangerous Mountaineers team. The Tigers don't want to experience deja vu from last season when Florida walked into the Clemson Regional and knocked them off. Playing in the SEC, Kentucky also played a gauntlet of a schedule and could prove to be a major challenge in the regional. No. 10 Ole Miss:12 Georgia Tech:20 Western Kentucky:42 Murray State:90 Median RPI:41 Ole Miss is back in the regionals for the first time since 2022 and hosting for the first time since 2021. However, the road to a super regional for the Rebels will be anything but easy. The Yellow Jackets could very well have been hosting a regional if a game or two had gone their way in the regular season or the ACC tournament. Georgia Tech was projected to be one of the hosts leading up to the conference tournaments. No. 13 Coastal Carolina:8 Florida:18 East Carolina:66 Fairfield:74 Median RPI:41.5 Coastal Carolina could argue it was underseeded after finishing with the No. 8 RPI in the country through conference championships. Yet, the Chanticleers are the No. 13 overall seed and face a squad that ended up winning a regional as a guest last season in Florida. The Gators began the season 1-11 in SEC play but finished with 18 wins in their final 24 conference games. Florida is a dangerous visiting team, seeking its third consecutive College World Series trip. East Carolina and Fairfield are also ranked well within the top 75 in RPI. No. 1 Vanderbilt:1 Louisville:32 ETSU:36 Wright State:102 Median RPI:42.75 The Commodores earned the No. 1 seed after defeating Ole Miss 3-2 in the SEC tournament championship game and earning the No. 1 overall spot in the RPI heading into the selection show. Vanderbilt, despite a lofty baseball history, will be the top seed in the tournament for the second time in program history. Vanderbilt will have to get past a pair of top 36 RPI-ranked teams, but it will open with a matchup against a Wright State team that went 2-10 against Quad-1 opponents. No. 15 UCLA:15 UC Irvine:23 Arizona State:49 Fresno State:100 Median RPI:46.75 The Bruins will have a tough test against UC Irvine and face a former Pac-12 opponent in Arizona State. However, opening against Fresno State gives UCLA a chance to open the tournament with positive momentum. UCLA is playing in its first regional since 2022. No. 5 UNC:6 Oklahoma:26 Nebraska:50 Holy Cross:144 Median RPI:56.50 UNC draws a favorable road in the regional round after beating Florida State in the ACC tournament semifinals. While Oklahoma was tested in the SEC, the Sooners played the No. 213-ranked out-of-conference schedule and finished with a 9-9 road record. North Carolina went 25-6 at home this season. No. 3 Arkansas: 5 Kansas:24 Creighton:45 North Dakota State:152 Median RPI:56.50 Arkansas' path to the super regionals will start with North Dakota State, the No. 152-ranked team in RPI, but it will get tougher with matchups against potentially Creighton and Kansas from there. The Razorbacks posted a dominant 32-4 record at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville, Arkansas, this season. Despite finishing the season 20-32, the Bison clinched an automatic berth in the tournament after winning the Summit League tournament. No. 12Oregon: 16 Arizona:27 Cal Poly:29 Utah Valley:170 Median RPI:60.50 The Eugene Regional is anything but a cakewalk, despite being this low on the list. Arizona and Cal Poly each had strong 2025 regular seasons and have more than enough talent to steal the regional and pull off an upset. Utah Valley, which finished the season ranked No. 171 in RPI, is making its second-ever NCAA tournament appearance. No. 7 Georgia:2 Duke:31 Oklahoma State:46 Binghamton:163 Median RPI:60.50 Despite having the same media RPI as the Eugene Regional, it's clear the Bulldogs have a slightly easier path than Oregon. Duke is just outside the top 30 in RPI, while Oklahoma State finished the season 28-23 and 5-12 in Quad-1 games. Binghamton is making its sixth NCAA tournament appearance and owns a 1-10 record, with its lone win coming in the Greenville Regional in 2009. No. 9 Florida State:14 Northeastern:22 Mississippi State:35 Bethune-Cookman:200 Median RPI:67.5 Link Jarrett and Florida State missed out on a hosting seed by one ranking. The Seminoles likely would have played host if they had defeated North Carolina in the ACC tournament semifinals. While RPI doesn't suggest it, the Seminoles have to play a Northeastern team that has won 27 consecutive games and is arguably the hottest team in the nation. Mississippi State is an SEC squad that could also give FSU a run for its money. On the other hand, the Wildcats enter the tournament after beating FAMU in the Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament championship game in dramatic fashion on athree-run walk-off home run by Andrey Martinez. No. 3 Auburn:3 NC State: 33 Stetson:62 Central Connecticut:183 Median RPI:70.25 The Tigers earning the No. 3 overall seed probably shocked a lot of college baseball fans, as their 38-18 record likely did not jump off the page. However, Auburn was the No. 3-ranked team when it comes to RPI. NC State, however, is a team capable of knocking off the Tigers and the Hatters always play a tough out-of-conference schedule. Auburn opens the regional against Central Connecticut, which, despite a 31-15 record, went 0-2 in Quad-1 and 2 games. No. 6 LSU:11 Dallas Baptist:21 Rhode Island:68 Little Rock:238 Median RPI:84.5 While LSU has the lowest median RPI of any regional, that does not mean its path to hosting a super regional is easy. Dallas Baptist is making its fifth consecutive regional appearance, including having pulled off an upset in the Columbia Regional in 2021. Little Rock enters the tournament as the lowest-ranked team in RPI after finishing the season eight games below .500. The Trojans won five games in four days to win the Ohio Valley conference tournament and steal an automatic bid. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Ranking NCAA baseball tournament regionals by RPI

When the 2025NBAplayoffs began, theIndiana Pacerswere given 50-to-1 odds to win the title. Ten teams had better chances and most analysts didn't even mention them in championship conversations. But sometimes in the NBA, fate doesn't care about odds. Sometimes, it's just your time. We've seen it before. In 2011, the Dallas Mavericks stunned the world, sweeping Kobe Bryant and the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers, outlasting the young and hungry Oklahoma City Thunder led by Kevin Durant, and then conquering the seemingly unbeatable Miami Heat trio of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. I covered that team. I saw it unfold in real time – and no one saw it coming. Then came 2019. Kawhi Leonard's Toronto Raptors embarked on a similarly improbable journey. They survived a Game 7 thriller against the Philadelphia 76ers thanks to Leonard's four-bounce buzzer-beater, outmuscled Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks, and capitalized on key injuries to Durant and Klay Thompson in the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors. The result: a championship no one predicted, but one they absolutely earned. Now, in 2025, the Pacers are building a case that they might be next even if their dominant lead in the Eastern Conference Finals was shrunk to 3-2 by theNew York Knicks on Thursday night. They go home to Indianapolis on Saturday night for Game 6 with a chance to clinch a trip to the NBA Finals. You can't call a team a "team of destiny" without at least one miracle. The Pacers have had three. Since 1997, NBA teams trailing by seven or more points in the final 50 seconds of regulation or overtime are a combined 4-1,702. The Pacers account for three of those wins, and they've all come during this playoff run: Game 5 vs. the Bucks in the first round Game 2 vs. the Cleveland Cavaliers in the second round Game 1 vs. the Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals That last one, against New York, will go down in Garden infamy. With just 2:50 left, the Knicks held a 14-point lead. Before that game, teams leading by 14 or more in the final 2:50 of a playoff game were 977-0. They're now 977-1 thanks to an epic three-point barrage by Aaron Nesmith that stunned the Madison Square Garden crowd into silence. Every team of destiny has one thing in common: a superstar who raises his game to an all-time level. Dirk Nowitzki did it in 2011. Kawhi did it in 2019. Now, it's Tyrese Haliburton taking on that role. The 25-year-old from Oshkosh, Wisconsin – already an All-Star and Olympic gold medalist – has taken his game into the stratosphere. He's been at the center of every improbable comeback, orchestrating the chaos with poise, vision and confidence. In Game 4 against the Knicks, Haliburton delivered one of the greatest playoff performances ever by a point guard: 32 points, 15 assists, 12 rebounds – and zero turnovers. Read that again. A 30-point triple-double with 15 assists and no turnovers had never been done in the playoffs. Not by Magic Johnson. Not by LeBron James. Not by Chris Paul. Not by anyone – until now. Pacers forward Pascal Siakam said it best: "He makes our team go. Playing with him and knowing that he cares about putting us all in position to be successful is what makes him special." That was certainly true on Thursday; when Haliburton had a down night, the Pacers were dominated by the Knicks in a 111-94 defeat. Head coach Rick Carlisle – who led Nowitzki's Mavs during their 2011 miracle run – put it in historic perspective. "To not turn it over in any of those situations is remarkable. That's become his thing. There might be a stat category named after him someday – him and Chris Paul, guys like that," Carlisle said. "Stockton didn't turn it over much. LeBron didn't either. Tyrese takes pride in that. It's a motivating factor." Haliburton, ever steady, simply said: "I take pride in taking care of the ball. The more we take care of the ball as a team, the more shots we get, and the better our chances to win. … I'd rather do really anything else on a basketball court than turn the ball over." If the Pacers truly are a team of destiny and clinch a Finals berth, then their final exam may come in the form of the league's most dominant team: the Oklahoma City Thunder. OKC has been historically great this season, going 68-14 in the regular season. They haven't lost four in a seven game span all year – and that, of course, is what it would take to lift the Larry O'Brien Trophy. They clinched an opportunity to play for the championship on Wednesday with a124-94 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves, ending the Western Conference Finals in five games. But that's the thing about destiny: it doesn't care what's supposed to happen. The Pacers have already done the improbable. Three times. They've got a superstar playing perfect basketball. They're tough, unselfish, fearless – and they never think they're out of a game, even when everyone else does. So, are the Indiana Pacers a team of destiny? We'll find out soon enough. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account atCNN.com

With the Indiana Pacers just one win away from a trip to the NBA Finals, the team couldn't get it done in Game 5. The New York Knicks fought back,winning the contest 111-94and pushing the series to 3-2. It was a welcome sign for New York, which had mostly looked overmatched in previous games of the series. It may have also been a turning point for the Knicks, who finally have some momentum as the series shifts to Game 6 Saturday in Indianapolis. TNT analyst Charles Barkley may have summed it up best after Game 5, when he called Game 6 a "must-win" for the Pacers. His reasoning: If the Pacers drop two straight games and then have to go play a Game 7 in New York, the Knicks have a massive advantage. That puts a lot of pressure on the Pacers to finish the job in Game 6. Given what's at stake, that amount of pressure could prove overwhelming. Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton won't let that happen. Following Indiana's Game 5 loss, Haliburton urged histeammates to stay calmas the series heads to a Game 6, per ESPN. "We're a resilient group," Haliburton said after the game. "We always want to respond when things don't go well after a game like that. We understand what the stakes are. ... We're fine. There's no need to panic or anything." That's probably exactly what the Pacers need to hear after a disappointing performance in Game 5. Frustrations already seemed to be boiling over after the loss, as Pascal Siakam got into an awkward exchange with a reporter who questioned the Pacers' effort during the contest. "You good bro?... Who is this guy?" 😳👀Awkward exchange between Pascal Siakam and this reporter after Pacers Game 5 loss 😬pic.twitter.com/t3Y5bEeGhu — Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport)May 30, 2025 Throughout the entire playoffs, the Pacers have thrived on their ability to be calm in tense situations. The team has pulled offmultiple late-game comebacksin the postseason so far, showing poise when other teams would wilt under the pressure. At the center of all those comebacks is Haliburton, who has excelled most when the Pacers needed it. Given Haliburton's late-game heroics, he's the perfect person to tell the rest of his teammates to remain calm ahead of what should be a pressure-packed Game 6. If they can follow that advice, there's a good chance the Pacers will find themselves in the NBA Finals soon. If not, it's going to be much harder to remain calm if a Game 7 in New York is on the schedule.