As you, the astute reader, are no doubt aware, there are a few events of note taking place in the sporting world this weekend. The conclusion of the pro football season and the start of the Olympic winter games in Italy will of course receive their share of the spotlight, but there are plenty of key contests in men’s college basketball over the weekend as well.

As luck would have it, there’s a Top 25 showdown in each of the five power conferences. A key tilt in the Big East gets things underway Friday night, and the Saturday slate includes one of the sport’s most intense rivalry games. Let’s delve into the Starting Five, shall we?

No. 3 Connecticut at No. 22 St. John’s

Time/TV: Friday, 8 p.m. ET, Fox

The Huskies quietly remain unscathed in Big East play, but the Red Storm can grab a share of the league lead with a win here at Madison Square Garden. St. John’s isn’t always the most efficient offensive operation, but forward Zuby Ejiofor’s work on the boards often makes successful possessions out of organized chaos. UConn gets great scoring balance with all its starters averaging in double digits, but if a big shot is needed it will usually be Solo Ball taking it.

No. 4 Duke at No. 18 North Carolina

Time/TV: Saturday, 6:30 p.m. ET, ESPN

Round one between these long-time ACC foes will be in Chapel Hill, where the Tar Heels have yet to lose this season. The Blue Devils, however, are looking to run away with the league race once again. While Duke’s national player of the year candidate Cameron Boozer rightly gets much of the attention, the Blue Devils are even harder to beat when Isaiah Evans is on target from the arc. UNC’s own standout freshman Caleb Wilson’s stats actually compare favorably with Boozer’s, but the Tar Heels will need better ball security than they displayed in their nearly disastrous second-half collapse against Syracuse in their most recent outing.

No. 6 Illinois at No. 10 Michigan State

Time/TV: Saturday, 8 p.m. ET, Fox

This week’s top-10 showdown in the Big Ten features teams heading in opposite directions. The Fighting Illini have won 12 in a row and are playing like Final Four contenders, while the Spartans have dropped their last two as some of the team’s on-court decisions have drawn the ire of opponents and coaches alike. Michigan State’s veteran floor leader Jeremy Fears is also likely to receive additional attention from game officials, so he’ll need to keep a level head. Illinois freshman guard Keaton Wagler will look to continue his hot shooting that has helped the Illini compensate for the absence of starting guard Kylan Boswell.

No. 16 Florida at No. 25 Texas A&M

Time/TV: Saturday, 8:30 p.m. ET, SECN

Kentucky and Tennessee are getting the main channel treatment from ESPN, but this one is actually for the outright SEC lead. That is still the case despite the Aggies’ close loss Wednesday at Alabama. They’ll be happy to be back at home, but the Gators have won seven of their last eight and appear to be peaking at the right time. There’ve been few answers for Florida’s interior trio of Thomas Haugh, Alex Condon and Rueben Chinyelu. The Aggies should have a depth advantage in the backcourt, but Ruben Dominguez and Rylan Griffen will have to be on target.

No. 8 Houston at No. 14 Brigham Young

Time/TV: Saturday, 10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN

The Saturday nightcap takes us to an all-Cougars showdown in the Big 12, where the host Cougars of BYU are trending the wrong way on a three-game skid. BYU’s issues have primarily been at the defensive end, which does not bode particularly well with Houston’s high-scoring guard trio coming to Provo. BYU will also have to keep Houston’s Joseph Tugler and Chris Cenac from controlling the boards, a more manageable task if center Keba Keita can avoid foul trouble.

• Patriots cornerback Christian Gonzalez hopes his Super Bowl 60 appearance will inspire young Latino football fans.
• After a strong 2025 season, Gonzalez made a game-winning interception in the AFC championship to send the Patriots to the Super Bowl.
• The Colombian-American player will face a tough matchup against Seahawks receiver and 2025 Offensive Player of the Year Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
• Teammates describe Gonzalez as a quiet but impactful player who remains calm under pressure.

FOXBOROUGH, MA – Christian Gonzalez understands Spanish better than he speaks it, and on this afternoon in the New England Patriots locker room, the (actually deserving) Pro Bowl cornerback claimed he was too tired to translate a message for his Spanish-speaking supporters.

But the proud Colombian-American said he hopes his appearance in Super Bowl 60 can spark young Latinos’ interest in football.

“That’s the goal,” he told USA TODAY Sports.

Gonzalez does not have significant plans to honor his heritage on Super Sunday, unlike the suit he wore when the Patriots drafted him 17th overall from Oregon in 2023. The inside lining featured the Colombian flag.

“It’s awesome,” Gonzalez said. “I rep my heritage hard. And I’m glad to put on for them.”

Hector Gonzalez, Gonzalez’s father, was born and raised in Colombia and moved to the United States to play collegiate basketball at the University of Texas-El Paso. His son inherited his athletic prowess. Instead of locking up ballhandlers, though, he shuts down wide receivers.

“I feel like I’ve just been doing what I got to do,” Gonzalez said. “Just trying to make the plays I got to make when my number’s called.”

After an injury-plagued rookie season, Gonzalez bounced back to finish fifth in Comeback Player of the Year voting in 2024; he was also a second-team All-Pro.

The 2025 campaign has been Gonzalez’s finest, though, even without an interception during the regular season. Opposing quarterbacks know better than to throw his way. In 14 games, he broke up 10 passes and recorded 69 tackles.

“He’s a real smooth guy, real smooth out of his transition,” fellow cornerback Carlton Davis told USA TODAY Sports. “You never see him panic. He’s just smooth all the time.”

Game-breaking interception against Broncos highlights Gonzalez’s big year

Gonzalez saved his biggest moment of the season for the final minutes of the AFC championship game against the Denver Broncos, when quarterback Jarrett Stidham floated a duck into the snowstorm. Gonzalez read the play perfectly and secured the pigskin – along with a Patriots’ Super Bowl berth.

“It definitely was a great moment for him, and the team in general, especially that deep into the game,” Patriots safety Dell Pettus told USA TODAY Sports. “I think it is a reflection of, like, the type of player and caliber of player he is. He’s a quiet guy. He might not get the recognition that he deserves. But when it’s time for him to make a play, or when the moment’s there, we know we can depend on him.”

Gonzalez is the type of person who won’t necessarily speak unless he has something to say – even then, it’s in a quieter tone. He’s still a great teammate and “dude,” according to Pettus.

“We got all the respect in the world for him and we appreciate him,” he said.

Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel noticed a difference in Gonzalez during the final weeks of the season and playoffs, he said. Earlier in the AFC title game, he had a run-stop at the line of scrimmage for no gain and was also credited with a sack.

“There’s just a presence, I feel like,” Vrabel said. “And again, not that there was anything that was wrong. I just felt him. I just felt when he blitzed, when he covered, when he – maybe it was just me, but I’ve got a pretty good seat for some of these games. And so, I just felt him start to continue to impact at a greater level. You heard him, you saw him, and obviously his play. So, that’s no secret that we’ll need him to play well, as well as the rest of our other good players.”

‘JSN’ vs. ‘Gonzo’ could be Super Bowl’s critical matchup

Gonzalez’s assignment in the Super Bowl will be one of his toughest, with Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba the 2025 Offensive Player of the Year. “JSN” and “Gonzo” both grew up in the Dallas area and graduated the same year, although they played in different divisions.

Gonzalez called Smith-Njigba “an amazing receiver” whose best attribute is his route-running ability, and he can run them all.

“He loves going up, getting that competition,” Gonzalez said. “Just got to be myself, make the plays when my number’s called.”

Davis said Gonzalez is not a big talker.

“Just hella chill, (keeps) to himself, really low-key guy, easygoing,” he said.

Davis’ locker isn’t next to Gonzalez’s though, which gives cornerback Alex Austin a unique perspective of the 23-year-old.

“Everybody says he’s quiet, but he talks (if) he’s cool with you,” Austin told USA TODAY Sports.

Gonzalez is somebody who can be goofy, who likes to play around and crack jokes with the fellas. His locker mate has helped Austin by teaching him the ways of “just staying mellow, man.”

“Gonzo is a very mellow person,” he said. “Someone who, whether it’s high or low times, is going to be himself. That’s something I take from him – just stay mellow and stay calm.”

Gonzalez told the Patriots’ team site after his rookie season that his favorite restaurant he discovered in Boston was a Colombian joint called El Peñol.

“It’s a great Colombian restaurant,” he said.

He picked up his passion for cooking from his father, who did the cooking in the household. Were it not for football, he said, culinary school would have been an option.

That makes sense to Austin.  

“We talking about empanadas all the time,” said Austin, who detailed how he and Gonzalez walked around Miami together the night before playing the Dolphins and searched for the best one.

Whether he’s intercepting passes, eating blocks on the edge or exploring a city with a teammate, Gonzalez’s heritage is a part of him.

Her love affair with ceramics started at the age of six, about two years before dad James introduced her to sliding sports in Lake Placid, New York. He was a bobsledder for the United States Airforce in the 1970s. She was his only daughter.

When James got sick – diagnosis: Stage 4 prostate cancer – Kirkby watched him deteriorate, delivering important messages from his deathbed. About how much he loved her. And how her little brother Matthew should walk her down the aisle.

Pottery provided an escape. Something to distract her mind and busy her hands as she confronted a future without her father. ‘I was a big daddy’s girl,’ she said. James died last summer.

Kirkby still works with clay, having purchased an open studio membership at Arts Center Lake Placid, so she can fit craftsmanship around training with USA Luge. She and partner Chevonne Forgan will compete in the Olympic debut of women’s doubles luge Wednesday at the Cortina Sliding Centre. Along with equipment and cold weather gear, Kirkby brought about 100 ceramic pins to trade at the Winter Games, a fraction of the 2,000-plus she’s handmade since July. 

She fancies herself ‘the MiCo ‘26 pin trading queen.’ What started as an outlet for her grief has blossomed into a dutiful enterprise. Each pin is stamped with the image of a women’s winter sport event or athlete (one exception being pins for Team Italy luger Dominik Fischnaller). Hilary Knight represents hockey. Kaysha Love and Elana Meyers Taylor represent bobsleigh. Mystique Ro represents skeleton. And Andrea Vötter and Marion Oberhofer of Italy represent doubles luge.

‘My sport is making its Olympic debut. How can I make the most of this moment to try and promote women’s sports?’ Kirkby said of the project’s origin. Having made ceramic gifts for family, friends and teammates most of her life, Kirkby also figured handcrafted mementos would prove most effective in advancing her cause.

‘Whenever I see someone again, someone I haven’t seen in maybe years, one of the first things they tell me is, ‘Oh, my God, I still have that cup you made me!’ … So this is definitely an item I can allow fans to have, and they aren’t going to forget. They will remember for years this item and how it affects them.’

Rabbi Alec Friedmann is another member of the Art Center’s open studio membership club. Like Kirkby, he found ceramics therapeutic. Fulfilling even. 

He is the product of two German refugees who fled their home for South Africa, where he was later born, during the Holocaust. His mother was an artist. Father was a metal worker. Following in his footsteps, Friedmann went to college for mining engineering and metallurgy.

While in school, he ‘got the calling” and decided to become a rabbi. 

‘Luck’ brought him to Lake Placid 33 years ago. After a stint as assistant to the president of Hebrew Union College, Friedmann started working as a chaplain for the New York State Department of Corrections. He did that for 20 years while also serving the Lake Placid Synagogue, which could only afford to take him on because he had another full-time gig. A dynamic, Freidmann said, that harkens back to rabbis of old. “They all had real jobs and did the rabbinic thing on the side.”

Freidmann started pottery at the Arts Center after retiring (or as he says, when one ‘take(s) off the old tires and put(s) on new ones’) from the Department of Corrections. It married his engineering background and his mother’s love of the arts perfectly. She worked with clay a lot, but never on a wheel.

After hearing about how Friedman used his 3D printer to replace a broken gear on the studio’s slab roller and to create a cutout for his kitchen tiles, Kirkby sought her own tool from him: A 3-by-4-inch cutout. She asked what he’d like in return. Just an espresso, he told her. Freidmann said, with a chuckle, he’s still waiting.

‘That just led to, ‘Well, can you do this?’ ‘Can you do that?’” Freidmann said. “And then she started thinking about the pins.”

Kirkby started her pin project at the end of July, rolling out slabs of clay, cutting out circles about the size of a silver dollar and stamping images of different sports onto them before firing. She gave Freidmann sketches of the art work, which he would take, reformat and upload to the CAD/CAM software used for 3D printing. The machine uses a thread of plastic 1.75 millimeters across to create whatever Freidmann asks it to. He said he can size the item within one hundredth of a millimeter.

The cutouts start about 29 millimeters, or just over an inch. After a bisque firing and a glaze firing, Freidmann said, they shrink to about six-sevenths of an inch. 

Pins are like currency at the Olympic Games. They can be exchanged for favors, used in place of real money or traded like at Disney World. On top of bringing a few hundred with her, Kirkby is selling pins on Amazon as well as local Cortina and Lake Placid shops Art House, Sparkle Jewelry and Gifts, USA Spirit Shop and Mt Van Hoevenburg, where Kirkby trains. Ten percent of proceeds go directly to the athletes whose names and images Kirkby used, while the rest ‘pay off the material cost and the minimum wage that I paid myself,” she said.

‘She’s very entrepreneurial, which is something that I admire,” Freidmann said. ‘And it’s really been a joy to just be a little piece of her adventure.’

Reach USA TODAY Network sports reporter Payton Titus at ptitus@gannett.com, and follow her on X @petitus25.

• Seattle Seahawks players Kenneth Walker III and Rashid Shaheed are entering free agency after the Super Bowl.
• Walker has been a key part of the Seahawks’ resurgent rushing attack, with four touchdowns this postseason.
• Shaheed, a wide receiver and special teams player, has expressed his desire to return to Seattle next season.

SAN JOSE, CA –  Two major offensive X factors for the Seattle Seahawks are entering free agency after the Feb. 8 Super Bowl – Kenneth Walker III and Rashid Shaheed.

Walker’s looming free agency hasn’t weighed heavily on his mind despite being Seattle’s starting running back for four straight seasons. He said he’s focused on winning his first Lombardi Trophy before thinking about what comes after his postseason surge that’s included four rushing touchdowns in two playoff appearances.

“That’s something we’ll talk about later on, after we win the Super Bowl. You know what I’m saying,” Walker said Wednesday. “Can’t focus on that right now.”

Walker hass played a leading role in the resurgence of the Seahawks’ rushing attack.

The Seahawks have compiled at least 120 rushing yards eight times, including the playoffs, since their Week 8 bye. They’ve rushed for more than 160 yards in four of their past five contests, with walker registering at least 97 rushing yards in three of the last five games. He’s tallied more than 100 yards from scrimmage in three straight games and those four rushing touchdowns are the most of any player this postseason.

The Seahawks are 7-1 this year when Walker has at least 100 yards from scrimmage.

“Crossing my fingers that he’s in the locker room next year as a Seahawk because he’s a piece that’s very vital to the success that we’ve had,” Seahawks guard Grey Zabel said.

The Seahawks have put an emphasis on their run game, specifically on wide zone runs, and it has paid dividends in recent weeks. Walker has averaged 4.7 yards per carry, the most among running backs with at least 20 carries this postseason.

“The way that our offensive line and our receivers and tight ends and our running backs have been able to communicate with each other and grow with that chemistry has only helped us a ton in the run game,” Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold said. “There’s a great chemistry going on. And I think that has a lot to do with kind of our success that we’ve been having in the run game in the last few weeks.”

Rashid Shaheed “absolutely” wants to return to Seahawks

Walker is coy about his uncertain future in Seattle. Shaheed is not.

Like Walker, the wide receiver and special teams ace is on an expiring contract. Shaheed told USA TODAY Sports he “absolutely” wants to be back in Seattle next season.

“Being here in Seattle has been a dream come true. It’s opened up so many opportunities for myself and my family,” Shaheed said. “This organization has been great to me since Day 1.”

Shaheed’s been a lightning rod for the Seahawks offense and special teams ever since Seattle acquired him at the trade deadline. He’s the only player in the NFL this season with both kick return and punt return touchdowns.

Known for his explosive speed, Shaheed’s 95-yard kick return touchdown ignited the Seahawks in their divisional round win over the San Francisco 49ers.

Shaheed had a quick response when USA TODAY Sports asked the speedster who’s going to be the fastest player on the field on Super Sunday.

“I got to say me, man,” Shaheed said. “I got to give that to me.”

Walker and Shaheed headline the Seahawks’ key 2026 free agents. Both have had essential roles in Seattle’s journey to Super Bowl 60.

Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Tyler Dragon on X @TheTylerDragon.

Luka Doncic seemingly suffered a leg injury in the first half of the Los Angeles Lakers’ Thursday night game against the Philadelphia 76ers.

He’s expected to undergo an MRI on his left hamstring on Friday, according to ESPN.

“Too early to say if it’s an injury,’ Lakers coach JJ Redick told reporters after the game. ‘(Doncic) had a sore hamstring.”

Doncic’s apparent injury occurred with 3:30 left in the second quarter after facing a double-team from two opposing players. The Lakers’ star turned the ball over on a bad pass as a result of the double-team and was seen grabbing the back of his left leg before checking out of the game and heading back to the locker room.

He did not return to the court with his team after halftime and did not start the third quarter. The Lakers ruled him out for the remainder of the game due to left leg soreness. Doncic finished the game with 10 points, four rebounds and two assists in 16 minutes of play.

Doncic was seen in multiple videos showing a level of frustration after the apparent injury.

He kicked the scorer’s table on his way off the court. Once in the tunnel, he was seen on the Spectrum SportsNet broadcast displaying further frustration.

Doncic’s status will be closely monitored with the Lakers hosting the Golden State Warriors at home on Saturday, Feb. 7.

This story has been updated with new information.