Good morning \u2014 happy Wednesday. Austin Nivison here with a quick sports roundup: the Winter Olympics keep delivering, Team USA\u2019s women\u2019s hockey squad dominated Canada, Justin Verlander is returning to Detroit, LeBron\u2019s All\u2011NBA run has ended, and Tiger Woods\u2019 son has picked a college. Here\u2019s what to know today.<\/p>\n
5 things to know
\n1) USA women\u2019s hockey blanked Canada 5\u20130. The Americans came into the preliminary round favored but their margin of victory surprised many. Hilary Knight set (or tied) the U.S. women\u2019s Olympic scoring mark with an assist, and Team USA recorded its first Olympic shutout of Canada while cruising through the prelims (outscoring opponents 20\u20131) into the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n
2) Justin Verlander is back with the Tigers on a one\u2011year, $13 million deal. The veteran right\u2011hander is rejoining the franchise that drafted him and where he spent his first 13 seasons. At 42 he isn\u2019t the dominant ace of his 2011 Cy Young\/MVP year, but he should add veteran depth to a rotation that hopes to push Detroit toward October.<\/p>\n
3) Anthony Santander expected to miss five to six months after shoulder surgery. The Blue Jays will be without the outfielder\/DH as he recovers from an operation on his right shoulder. Toronto had hoped Santander would rebound from an injury-plagued 2025 (he was limited to 54 games last year with shoulder inflammation), but this latest setback now threatens much of his season.<\/p>\n
4) LeBron James\u2019 streak of All\u2011NBA selections ends. Because James missed his 18th game of the 2025\u201326 season with arthritis in his left foot, he fell short of the league\u2019s 65\u2011game minimum and will not extend his run of 21 consecutive seasons earning All\u2011NBA honors. Given how long he sustained that run, it\u2019s a remarkable record that may stand for a long time.<\/p>\n
5) Charlie Woods commits to Florida State. The younger Woods \u2014 currently ranked No. 21 in the USJGA and No. 9 in the 2027 class \u2014 announced he will play college golf in Tallahassee. He\u2019ll join other top junior recruits, including Myles Russell, in the Seminoles\u2019 lineup.<\/p>\n
NFL:Teams that could take big strides
\nWith the Super Bowl behind us, hopes are already shifting to 2026. Jared Dubin highlights five franchises with clear upside this offseason. The Tennessee Titans, coming off a 3\u201314 year, have huge offseason resources \u2014 plenty of draft capital and significant salary\u2011cap room \u2014 and a new head coach (Robert Saleh) who could produce immediate improvement if the front office spends aggressively to fill holes. The Dallas Cowboys are another team to watch; they\u2019ll face major personnel choices this offseason, including what to do about WR George Pickens if he hits free agency \u2014 some analysts predict he could end up with an AFC West contender.<\/p>\n
College basketball bracketology
\nAfter Arizona suffered its first loss Monday, Michigan (22\u20131) has taken over as the projected No. 1 overall seed in the latest bracketology. The selection committee appears to favor Michigan in part because the Wolverines have fewer Quad\u20114 opponents than Arizona, a factor that can matter when two resumes are close. David Cobb notes the committee often rewards teams that avoided weaker opponents. In other college hoops news, USC\u2019s freshman guard Aliya Arenas earned Freshman of the Week after a big win over Penn State \u2014 a notable comeback given she underwent knee surgery and was once placed in a medically induced coma following a serious car accident.<\/p>\n
Olympic men\u2019s hockey preview
\nMen\u2019s Olympic hockey action starts today, with Sweden facing Slovakia and the NHL\u2019s return to the Games after a 12\u2011year absence in full effect. Team USA, while not the clear favorite, boasts an elite goaltending group (including Connor Hellebuyck, Jake Oettinger and Jeremy Swayman) and hopes to capture its first men\u2019s Olympic hockey gold since 1980. For full team previews and live coverage of today\u2019s events, follow the ongoing Olympic updates.<\/p>\n
Quick hits \u2014 best and worst of the rest
\n(Short items from around sports, including other Olympic results and notable performances.)<\/p>\n
What to watch Wednesday
\n– Nordic combined: normal hill jump + 10km cross-country \u2014 Peacock, 4:00 a.m.
\n– Snowboarding: Women\u2019s halfpipe qualifying \u2014 Peacock, 4:30 a.m.
\n– Alpine skiing: Men\u2019s super\u2011G final \u2014 NBC, 5:30 a.m.
\n– Biathlon: Women\u2019s 15km individual \u2014 Peacock, 8:15 a.m.
\n– Freestyle skiing: Women\u2019s moguls final \u2014 USA Network, 8:15 a.m.
\n– Luge: doubles runs \u2014 NBC, 11:00 a.m.
\n– Speed skating: men\u2019s 1000m \u2014 NBC, 12:30 p.m.
\n– Curling: men\u2019s round robin (USA vs. Czech Republic) \u2014 Peacock, 1:05 p.m.
\n– Snowboarding: men\u2019s halfpipe qualifying runs \u2014 USA Network, 1:30 p.m.
\n– Figure skating: ice dance free dance \u2014 NBC, 1:30 p.m.
\n– Men\u2019s college basketball: No. 14 Florida at Georgia \u2014 ESPN, 7:00 p.m.
\n– NBA: Knicks vs. 76ers \u2014 ESPN, 7:30 p.m.; Spurs vs. Warriors \u2014 ESPN, 10:00 p.m.
\n– Women\u2019s college basketball: UCLA vs. Michigan State \u2014 Peacock, 8:00 p.m.<\/p>\n
Fan Take (NFL): The Titans\u2019 vast draft capital and cap flexibility make them the most intriguing long\u2011term project \u2014 if Tennessee spends wisely, it could accelerate a rebuild into a contender and shift AFC pecking order. Meanwhile, big free\u2011agent moves like where George Pickens lands will influence the offseason market and could reshape division races, making this a high\u2011stakes stretch for roster construction across the league.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Good morning \u2014 happy Wednesday. Austin Nivison here with a quick sports roundup: the Winter Olympics keep delivering, Team USA\u2019s women\u2019s hockey squad dominated Canada, Justin Verlander is returning to Detroit, LeBron\u2019s All\u2011NBA run has ended, and Tiger Woods\u2019 son has picked a college. Here\u2019s what to know today. 5 things to know 1) USA […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42736,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[859],"tags":[860],"class_list":["post-42735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-nfl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42735\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}