UR MAG

UCLA basketballcoach Mick Cronindid it again Tuesday night— he keeps doing this — and someone needs to get him under control. I'd suggest Cronin needs to control himself, stop bullying his players and others, but these aren't isolated incidents. This keeps happening. It's who he is:

A bully. A vicious one.

Yeah, I hear some of you:Wah, wah, you're so soft…

Maybe so. But maybe being soft, being vulnerable, is more of what this world needs. Everywhere you look, on the streets and on social media and even in our seats of government, we're being hard, being invulnerable, being downrightmean. Look around. You like what you see? Not me.

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And what we're seeing from Bruins coach Mick Cronin is appalling. Here's what we saw Tuesday night, and please, see the whole picture. Don't focus on one thing — the foul by one of his players — and decide: Welp, that's what the kid deserved.

Nah. UCLA senior forward Steve Jamerson II didn't deserve this.

Neither did the reporter who asked Cronin, afterward, about the atmosphere in East Lansing, Michigan.

Here's how it started:

Michigan State's Carson Cooper is running down the court, ahead of the pack, going up for a dunk. The No. 15 Spartans lead UCLA by 27 with 4½ minutes left, well on their way to victory, when Cooper rises for a dunk. Behind him, Jamerson arrives a split-second late. He goes for the block, nothing dirty — watch the play yourself — but Cooper's momentum, combined with the contact Jamerson makes on his arm, sends Cooper to the floor.

Cooper rises, angry. Hey, that's his right. Jamerson stands his ground. His right, too.

And then Mick Cronin did one of the single cruelest things I've ever seen.

First, UCLA's Mike Cronin ejects his own player

You're picturing the scene, right? The Breslin Center is furious, turning all its rage on Jamerson. That was the crowd's right. So far, nobody has done anything wrong. Jamerson was hustling, competing. Didn't look frustrated, just a split-second late as he contested the shot. Cooper was angry. The crowd was furious.

It happens.

But then Cronin does something that can't happen. Cronin grabs Jamerson by the shirt, by the arm, and tells him to get out. Points angrily to a staffer, then to Jamerson, and gives the "get him out of here" signal.

Watchthe video. See that look on Jamerson's face? He's bewildered, dejected. The entire building has just turned on him, and now his coach is sending him off the court, into the locker room, to face all that fury by himself? The video shows students giving Jamerson the middle finger, and shouting at him. You can see the finger(s). Can't hear the shouting, thank goodness.

You hope Jamerson didn't hear it, either, but that's naïve.

This was the worst example, but just the latest example, of Cronin humiliating his players. His postgame news conferences tend to go viral after losses, because he questions his players' toughness or effort in the most straightforward terms, and has even suggested — rather blatantly — that his playersaren't smart enough.

"The most important thing for a teacher is for his students to have aptitude or they can't learn,"he said in 2024after a loss to Stanford. "If a team makes adjustments, we struggle to adjust to instruction on the fly."

"It's really hard to coach people that are delusional,"Cronin said in 2025after a loss to Michigan. "We got guys who think they're way better than they are. They're nice kids. They're completely delusional about who they are."

"You can't call your mommy; she can't help you,"he said in 2024. "You've got an opportunity of a lifetime and it may not last forever depending on your performance."

Cronin thinks he's old-school tough, and that players are soft. He's not the problem — they are.

"If you're hard on Little Johnny in this era," he said earlier this month, after a win at Rutgers, "you might get investigated."

At first, forgive me, I found it almost refreshing. Maybe that's because I was inclined to like Cronin — because I'd always liked Cronin — since meeting him 20 years ago when he was coaching Cincinnati and I was living there, covering college basketball for CBSSports.com.In 2011,when players from Xavier and Cincinnati brawled, Cronin's postgame disgust was so real, so deserved, I texted him that night to thank him for standing up for decency.

Now this is me, standing up for decency, and telling Mick — or telling UCLA — this has to stop. What happened to Steven Jamerson was the breaking point, for me.

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What happened afterward, to a reporter? Another brutal, bully move.

Then Mick Cronin bullies a reporter

This story hinges onXavier Booker,who spent the past two seasons at Michigan State before transferring to UCLA this season. The Breslin Center student section, the 5,000-strong Izzone, taunted Booker by chanting his name.

Afterward, a reporter asked Cronin what he thought about that.

"I could give a rat's ass about the other team's student section,"Cronin said. "I would like to give you kudos for the worst question I've ever been asked."

A second reporter starts to ask a question on another topic, but Cronin ignores him to turn on the first reporter. His team has just been embarrassed. Cronin's about to take it out on someone else.

"Youreallythink I care about the other team's student section?" he asks.

The second reporter tries to defend himself, and if his voice went up ever so slightly — and that's all it was — could you blame him? He was being humiliated by the coach of UCLA, with cameras running. He was standing up for himself, and you know bullies:

They don't like that.

"Are you raising your voice at me?" Cronin demanded.

The reporter, trying to calm the situation, backed down and said he wasn't.

"Yeah, you are, yeah, you are," Cronin said. "Come on, dude … everybody's standing here listening to you. Everybody. This is on camera. They can hear you. I answered the question. I could give a rat's ass about the other team's student section. I coach UCLA. I don't care about Michigan State students. Who cares?"

This was the biggest kid in the schoolyard, pushing down a smaller one and then mocking him. It's what Cronin had done to Jamerson, using the assembled crowd to reinforce his own cruelty.

This is who Cronin is with cameras rolling, and NBA scouts tell me he's even worse behind closed doors, at practice. A Western Conference scout, a longtime friend of mine, was discussing Cronin's recent odd behavior with me before tipoff at a recent Big Ten game. This was before the incident Tuesday night at Michigan State — that's how bizarre Cronin has been behaving — when the scout told me:

"He mother(bleeps) them in practice like you wouldn't believe," the scout said. "Oh, he (bleeps) them. Mick is the only coach I know who doesn't film his practice. You know why? He doesn't want evidence."

An Eastern Conference scout, another longtime friend who has attended UCLA practices, said he's heard the same — that Cronin doesn't film practice — and added: "John Wooden would be beside himself" at the way Cronin treats his players on a daily basis.

"Not sure why he's so combative," the scout continued. "He's an excellent coach, and actually a great guy off the court."

As I said, I've found Cronin to be charming away from the court as well, and was such a fan of his — past tense,was— thatI suggested the Indiana basketball program hire Cronin last seasonafter firing Mike Woodson. It's OK to admit when we're wrong.

What is Cronin waiting on? How about you, UCLA? Contrast UCLA's silence, its unspoken approval of Cronin, with what Kansas State did Sunday, firing basketball coach Jerome Tang for a postgame rant that included: "These dudes do not deserve to wear this uniform, and there will be very few of them in it next year."

You ask me, Kansas State wasn't standing up for its players but being cheap and opportunistic, using Tang's rant to try to fire its losing coach for cause — and get out of his $18 million buyout. That might stick in court, but probably not.

Contrast Cronin's postgame behavior Tuesday with Purdue coach Matt Painter the same night, when Michigan trounced his team at Mackey Arenaand Painter stuck up for his players,said he "liked" them and even "loved" them, and then joked with reporters afterward.

"That was way too much talking," he said as he rose to head back to the locker room.

"That's on you," a reporter teased.

"You have to own your part," said Painter, teasing back, maybe the nicest great coach ever.

Mick Cronin? If he's not the meanest coach in the country, God help the players of any coach who deserves the title more.

Find IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel onThreads, or onBlueSkyand Twitter at@GreggDoyelStar, or atwww.facebook.com/greggdoyelstar. Subscribe to the free weeklyDoyel on Demandnewsletter.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Mick Cronin ejects UCLA players, rips into reporter. Can't stop bullying

Texas Tech will be without star JT Toppin the rest of the way.

The Red Raiders announced on Wednesday that Toppin will miss the rest of the season with a torn right ACL. Toppin went down late inNo. 13 Texas Tech's 72-67 loss at Arizona State, and had to be helped off the floor.

Toppin tried to drive to the rim in transition late in the second half of the contest at Desert Financial Arena on Tuesday when he appeared to lose his balance right as he was going up. That sent Toppin crashing down to the court hard, and he reached for his leg almost immediately under the rim, clearly in a lot of pain.

After remaining down on the court for quite some time, Toppin was helped off and back to the locker room. He did not return.

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Toppin had 20 points and eight rebounds when he went down. The junior, who was named a preseason All-American back in October, has averaged 21.8 points and 10.8 rebounds per game this season.

Texas Tech now sits at 19-7 on the season with Tuesday's loss, which came just days after they knocked off then-No. 1 Arizona on the road.

The Red Raiders have been hanging with the top of the Big 12 pretty successfully this season, thanks in part to a big win over Houston late last month. They handed Duke its first loss of the season back in December, too, and currently sit in fifth in the conference standings entering the final stretch of the season.

But Toppin has undoubtedly been a major part of that success. While the rest of their schedule is relatively tame, save for a trip to Ames to take on No. 6 Iowa State next week, surviving the Big 12 tournament and making a run in the NCAA tournament without Toppin is going to be much more difficult.

Scottie Scheffler is the trendy pick to win everywhere he plays. As the World's No. 1 golfer, perhaps that's not breaking new ground.

For all of his success, however, Scheffler has yet to win at Riviera Golf Course in Los Angeles.

In fact, the four-time major champion has finished in the top 10 just twice (T7 in 2022, T10 in 2024) in six tries on the course. His third-place finish last year at the Genesis Invitational was achieved at Torrey Pines in San Diego, with the tournament calling an audible due to damage caused by the wildfires in Los Angeles.

Scheffler will look for that elusive victory at Riviera Golf Course when he tees off at the Genesis Invitational on Thursday. The Tiger Woods-hosted tournament features 14 of the top 15 golfers in the world and serves as the PGA Tour's second signature event of the year.

A stacked field notwithstanding, Scheffler is keeping his eyes on the course.

"Well, I think when you look at the golf course, it's a great golf course. I think it challenges us in some different ways," Scheffler said of Riviera GC. "Then I think you have a lot of history here, and it's a golf course that's stood the test of time.

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"The golf course has changed and evolved than when it was first built and I think it's evolved for the better and it still challenges us to this day, which is pretty cool. Like I said, greens got a lot of slope. The rough is a whole new challenge for us this week. Yeah, it should be fun."

Scheffler, 29, didn't have much fun in the first round of last week's AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am before catching fire on Sunday. He recorded three eagles to highlight his sizzling final round, extending his streak of top 10 finishes to 18. His run began last March at the Texas Children's Houston Open.

For Scheffler to have fun this week, he'll need to solve the par-4, 479-foot 12th hole -- and he knows it.

"Well, it typically plays into the wind unless you're off really early in the morning and the wind is blowing the other way," Scheffler said. "But typically you're playing the hole into the wind. The green goes like this in most spots. If you land it in the right bunker, it's probably going to plug. If you hit it left of the green, it typically rolls off into the rough. That's basically if you hit the ball in the fairway. It's also a really challenging tee shot, too, and it's like 500 yards. So there's a few things that make it quite difficult."

Scheffler, 29, has 20 PGA victories.

--Field Level Media

A New Jersey Catholic diocese outside Philadelphia hasagreed to pay $180 millionin a clergy sexual abuse settlement, the latest in a church scandal set off more than two decades ago.

The settlement, which must still be approved by a bankruptcy court, comes after the diocese had fought a state agrand jury investigationfor years beforerelenting last year.

The Camden diocese, like others nationwide,filed for bankruptcyamid a torrent of lawsuits after the statute of limitations was relaxed.

Here is a list of some of the other large clergy abuse settlements reached by the Catholic Church in the U.S.

Los Angeles

In 2024, the Archdiocese of Los Angelesagreed to pay $880 millionto more than 1,000 victims of clergy sexual abuse dating back decades.

The archdiocese, which covers Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles counties, had previously paid more than $740 million to victims, making the total payout more than $1.5 billion.

New Orleans

The New Orleans Archdiocese agreed topay at least $230 millionto hundreds of survivors of clergy sexual abuse under a settlement approved by a federal judge in December.

The settlement followed years of negotiations and included policies intended to prevent abuse from happening in the future. The archdiocese filed for bankruptcy in 2020 to avoid handling each of the more than 500 abuse claims separately.

San Diego, California

The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego agreed in 2007 to pay $198 million to settle more than 140 clergy sexual abuse claims.

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The diocese filed for bankruptcy in 2024 in response to roughly400 additional lawsuitsalleging priests and others sexually abused children decades earlier. The lawsuits were filed after California lifted a statute of limitations on childhood sexual abuse claims in 2019.

Northwestern US

The Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus, a Jesuit order, agreed in 2011to pay $166 millionto more than 450 Native Americans and Alaska Natives who were abused at the order's schools across the northwestern U.S. The order also agreed to pay $50 million to settle another 110 sex abuse claims in Fairbanks, Alaska, in 2007.

Orange, California

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange reached a $100 million settlement with about 90 victims of sex abuse in 2004. Three years later, the diocese agreed to pay another $7 million to settle four additional sexual abuse lawsuits.

Portland, Oregon

The archdiocese in Portland was the first Catholic diocese to file for bankruptcy in 2004 over sex abuse allegations after settling more than 100 cases. By the time the bankruptcy was complete three years later, the archdiocese had settled more than 300 claims andpaid out nearly $90 millionin claims and attorney fees. In 2019, the archdiocese agreed to pay nearly $4 million to settle eight additional claims of clergy sexual abuse.

Boston

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston agreed to pay $85 million to settle more than500 clergy sex abuse lawsuitsin 2003. The scope of the sex abuse crisis in Boston set off reports around the United States and the world of widespread abuse by priests and the church's efforts to hide it.

Covington, Kentucky

In 2006, the Diocese of Covington paid more than $81 million to more than 200 sexual abuse victims in a court settlement.A report from the diocesereleased in 2020 found that 59 Catholic priests and 31 others associated with the church had sexually abused children since the 1950s.

Philadelphia

As of 2022, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia has paid more than $78 million to settle 438 claims of clergy sexual abuse, accordingto a report. In 2023, the archdioceseagreed to pay $3.5 millionto settle an additional sex abuse case.

Wilmington, Delaware

TheCatholic Diocese of Wilmington, which serves Catholics in Delaware and the Eastern Shore of Maryland, agreed in 2011 to pay $77 million to roughly 150 clergy sex abuse victims.

Oakland, California

The Diocese of Oakland reached a $56 million settlement with 56 survivors of sexual abuse in 2005. The diocesefiled for bankruptcyin 2023 after more than 300 child sex abuse lawsuits were filed after a new state law temporarily extended the statute of limitations for child sex abuse litigation.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of days when theweather gets hot, dry and windy — ideal to sparkextreme wildfires— has nearly tripled in the past 45 years across the globe, with the trend increasing even higher in the Americas, a new study shows.

Climate Wildfire Weather

And more than half of that increase is caused byhuman-caused climate change, researchers calculated.

What this means is that as the world warms, more places across the globe are prone to go up in flames at the same time because of increasingly synchronous fire weather, which is when multiple places have the right conditions to go up in smoke. Countries may not have enough resources to put out all the fires popping up and help won't be as likely to come from neighbors busy with their own flames, according to the authors of a study in Wednesday's Science Advances.

In 1979 and for the next 15 years, the world averaged 22 synchronous fire weather days a year for flames that stayed within large global regions, the study found. In 2023 and 2024, it was up to more than 60 days a year.

"These sorts of changes that we have seen increase the likelihood in a lot of areas that there will be fires that are going to be very challenging to suppress," said study co-author John Abatzoglou, a fire scientist at the University of California, Merced.

The researchers didn't look at actual fires, but the weather conditions: warm, with strong winds anddry air and ground.

"It increases the likelihood of widespread fire outbreaks, but the weather is one dimension," said study lead author Cong Yin, a fire researcher at University of California, Merced. The other big ingredients to fires are oxygen, fuel such as trees and brush, and ignition such as lightning or arson or human accidents.

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This study is important because extreme fire weather is the primary — but not only — factor in increasing fire impacts across the globe, said fire scientist Mike Flannigan of Thompson Rivers University in Canada, who wasn't part of the study. And it's also important because regions that used to have fire seasons at different times and could share resources are now overlapping, he said.

Abatzoglou said: "And that's where things begin to break."

More than 60% of the global increase in synchronous fire weather days can be attributed to climate change from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas, Yin said. He and his colleagues know this because they used computer simulations to compare what's happened in the last 45 years to a fictional world without the increased greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels.

The continental United States, from 1979 to 1988, averaged 7.7 synchronous fire weather days a year. But in the last 10 years that average was up to 38 days a year, according to Yin.

But that is nothing compared to the southern half of South America. That region averaged 5.5 synchronous fire weather days a year from 1979 to 1988; over the last decade, that's risen to 70.6 days a year, including 118 days in 2023.

Of 14 global regions, only Southeast Asia saw a decrease in synchronous fire weather, probably because it is getting more humid there, Yin said.

The Associated Press' climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP'sstandardsfor working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas atAP.org.