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USA Today Sports Media Group

Sport

Michael Sykes

It’s Victor Wembanyama’s world and he can destroy it if he wants to

Victor Wembanyama Levis (Person) Michigan (Organization) TJ Watt Bol Bol Josh McDaniels Kevin Durant Robert Zeglinski Steelers Texas Tech

This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here’s Mike Sykes.

Good morning, Winners! Thank you so much for reading today. I hope you’ve had a fantastic week and have an even better weekend ahead of you.

Let’s talk about Victor Wembanyama today.

Look, man. I’m not saying any names *cough* SHAQ *cough*. But there are some people out there who keep trying to downplay the Victor Wembanyama experience. They say we’ve seen this before. Some people call him a glorified Bol Bol.

But I ain’t never seen Bol Bol — or anyone else — do this before. Not at this height.

WEMBY DAGGER 🥶 pic.twitter.com/IV6UcUtmqG

— NBA TV (@NBATV) November 3, 2023

That moment was the crowning jewel on Wembanyama’s 38-point, 10-rebound masterpiece against the Suns on Thursday night. At 19 years old this dude completely controlled the game.

Phoenix trimmed a 27-point lead down completely to tie the game in the middle of the fourth quarter. Guess who came in and did his thing? That’s right. Big Vic.

Through the final 4:15 of the game, Wembanyama outscored the Suns by himself — with Kevin Durant and Devin Booker, by the way. That pull-up 3-pointer you see above accounted for three of the ten points. I’d show you the rest but that’d take up the rest of this post. And, truth be told, it will probably make you sad that your team is going to have to deal with this dude for the next decade.

Buddy is not real. He truly is not from this planet. He cannot be. The one man who we all thought could relate says there’s no comparison.

“He’s his own player, person. He gon’ create his own lane, much different than anybody who’s ever played.”

Kevin Durant was asked about Victor Wembanyama comparisons to himself, and gave Wemby high praise: pic.twitter.com/0KmfiobDJc

— Gerald Bourguet (@GeraldBourguet) November 3, 2023

“Yeah, I don’t see anybody else in his game. I know we’re both skinny. And I’m sure he said he watched me growing up…He’s his own player, person. He’s going to create his own lane, much different than anybody who’s ever played.”

That is scary. That’s one of the best players ever telling you we haven’t seen this before. His team found out first-hand in two consecutive games.

There’s no waiting. This is truly Victor Wembanyama’s league. You’d better hope your team wins as many championships as it can right now. Because, man. Moving forward? The prospects are looking bleak, folks.

Will Levis might be … pretty good?

OK, maybe pretty good is a bit of hyperbole. But it’s pretty clear the dude can hold his own on an NFL field. The Titans may have lost to the Steelers on Thursday night, but Levis came out a clear winner.

Robert Zeglinski has more in his latest Thursday Night Football column.

“Levis’s numbers (22-of-39, 262 yards, one game-ending interception) from Thursday night don’t completely pop off the page. However, they’re not indicative of the impressive poise he showed against the Steelers’ vicious defense while playing on a short week on the road in Pittsburgh.

The Steelers entered Thursday with the NFL’s No. 9 defense in DVOA efficiency. They had forced 15 takeaways in just seven games, with only the Jacksonville Jaguars (18) having more. Oh, and T.J. Watt was doing typical T.J. Watt things. On paper, this was an objectively horrific matchup for a rookie quarterback making just his second career start. None of that mattered. A gutsy Levis made tough throw after tough throw, and it deserves recognition, even in defeat.”

There’s a light somewhere at the end of the tunnel here, Titans fans. Just hold on. Don’t lose hope just yet.

Michigan won’t get off easily

Not if the Big Ten’s coaches have anything to do with it, anyway. Coaches from around the conference reportedly want Michigan punished for allegedly stealing signs at games “immediately,” ESPN’s Pete Thamel reports.

In a 90-minute conference call between the schools, coaches voiced their frustration with the way the conference’s investigation into Michigan’s alleged activity was going. The NCAA has been investigating Michigan since October 19. Even more details have emerged with the reporting that team staffer Conor Stalions is at the center of it all. It’s even turned into a meme.

On Thursday, Purdue coach Ryan Walters even said that he “knows” Michigan was at his team’s games. Conveniently, Purdue plays Michigan this weekend.

“What’s crazy is they weren’t allegations. It happened. There’s video evidence. There’s ticket purchases and sales that you can track back. We know for a fact that they were at a number of our games, so we’ve had to teach our guys a new language in terms of some signals.”

The Big Ten is going to have to do something soon. The league’s coaches are getting restless. The rest of the world is watching. If this happened, letting Michigan and Harbaugh get away with this would cause quite a stir.

Keep your eyes on this situation. It could get messy.

Photo Friday: The Texas Tech Possum!

This possum so rudely — yet so perfectly — interrupted the action between Texas Tech and TCU on Thursday night.

I hereby motion to make this possum the official mascot of Texas Tech. What is a Red Raider, anyway? Ain’t nobody trying to walk around looking like Yosemite Sam.