The 76ers will be without Joel Embiid and Paul George when they face the Orlando Magic in Tuesday night’s NBA Cup game at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
The perennial All-Stars were scratched from the game on Tuesday afternoon.
George is sidelined with a sprained right ankle. Meanwhile, Embiid will miss his eighth consecutive game because of knee injuries. The 2023 MVP was listed as questionable on Monday evening and Tuesday morning.
So what happened?
“Just not quite there yet [to play],” coach Nick Nurse said of Embiid before the game. “I mean, you guys know that we said yesterday that he practiced fully, and he participated in most, well, I don’t know, parts of the shootaround today, but just not quite there.”
If Embiid’s still not quite ready, why did the Sixers list him as questionable?
“I guess I would say there was a chance he would be ready,” Nurse said. “I think that’s what we have to do. It was trending towards he was going to play.”
This contest will mark the seventh straight game Embiid has missed as the team manages the soreness in his right knee. He also missed the Sixers’ 111-108 home loss to the Detroit Pistons on Nov. 9 because he doesn’t play on back-to-back nights to rest his left knee.
Embiid, who has no structural damage to his right knee, had been listed as day to day. The 7-foot-2, 280-pounder has already missed 10 of the Sixers’ 16 games because of knee ailments. He is averaging 19.7 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 1.5 blocks in 23.3 minutes.
Sixers center Joel Embiid watches his teammates play the Orlando Magic on Oct. 27.
George injured his ankle in Sunday’s 127-117 loss to the Miami Heat. The nine-time All-Star had 10 points and five assists in his third game of the season. He missed the first 12 as he recovered from a left knee injury.
Nurse was asked if there was any additional information on George’s ankle that caused him to be downgraded from probable to out.
“Nope,” he said. “Just that it is reported soreness in the ankle after the game the other night. He has not been in anything since then, and we’re just trying to keep following up with that and see where he is.”
The 6-8, 220-pounder is averaging 13.3 points, 4.7 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and one block in 22.0 minutes.
Nurse said the Sixers have yet to determine whether George will miss an extended period of time with the injury.
“I think we’re in the process of checking in to see what exactly is wrong and what the extent of it is,” he said. “We’ll, obviously, give you that when we have it.”
Two other starters, Kelly Oubre Jr. (sprained left knee) and VJ Edgecombe (left calf strain), and reserve center Adem Bona (sprained right ankle) will remain sidelined for Tuesday’s game.
As a result, Tyrese Maxey and Dominick Barlow, who started the first two games in place of George, are the Sixers’ only available starters from the opening day lineup.
Last year, Arcadia University transformed a basketball gymnasium on campus into the home of its newest athletic programs: men’s and women’s wrestling.
“Compared to most wrestling rooms, we have a very open facility,” men’s coach David Stevens said. “We have three full-size wrestling mats and a turf field. We have treadmills, standalone bikes, and a weight room. [Arcadia] did a really good job of supporting us.”
As the facility was under construction, women’s coach Michael Childs gave prospective members of his 11-athlete squad an up-close look at the progress.
“I took [recruits] through a construction site with our facility that was being built,” Childs said. “There were certain days that they had to wear hard hats when they went through the building. I could show them pictures on my phone, and the education piece kind of sold itself. … The more difficult part was selling them a vision for the program.”
“Wrestling is very popular in the state of Pennsylvania and has very passionate fans, but countrywide, it is still a niche sport,” Childs said. “So introducing that to the Arcadia community in general and the administration, it’s been a growing year for us.”
Focus on ‘family’
The men’s roster features 32 wrestlers, primarily freshmen. The team leadership comes from a group of older wrestlers who entered the season nationally ranked.
Senior Caden Frost was ranked No. 15 in the 149-pound weight class, graduate student Logan Flynn (285) was No. 6, and senior Jacob Blair (133) was No. 8.
Blair and Flynn followed Stevens, their former assistant coach, to Arcadia from Delaware Valley University, while Frost transferred from New England College.
“It’s a lot of leading by example,” Blair said. “We’re trying to build something here with longevity and make an impact not only this year, but also down the road. We’re trying to create good team camaraderie and spirit because this is something none of us have ever experienced. We’ve never wrestled on a team with 25 freshmen.”
Arcadia wrestling is in its first season.
The Knights (1-3) secured their first team win on Nov. 8 over Eastern, 27-20.
Stevens believes the young roster will grow significantly over the course of the season, which begins in November and culminates with the NCAA championships in March.
“We tell every recruit that if you join this team, you become part of a family,” Stevens said. “We haven’t had the early success that we expected or that we wanted. But I think that’s what a family does, is that even through the hardships, we don’t give up on each other. We truly believe that we’re going to do something special here in our first year.”
The three leaders went undefeated in Arcadia’s most recent competition at Misericordia University.
“We talked about how you either have to buy in now or hop off,” Blair said. “But the fire under these guys is that they truly want to be here and want to be college wrestlers. They know it’s going to take hard work, because it’s a grueling sport, both mentally and physically.”
While the Arcadia women’s team (0-2) is a MAC member, there are fewer than 100 NCAA women’s wrestling programs nationwide. The limited number means that all programs, regardless of division, will vie for the same national championship.
In addition to helping freshmen adjust to the rigors of college athletics, Childs must also prepare his team to face some of the country’s top wrestlers.
“I think that the biggest challenge for us is bringing our student-athletes along to understand what this commitment is,” Childs said. “It’s not just your morning lifts and your daily practices. It’s a lifestyle. We’ll potentially be seeing world team members in competitions, All-Americans, and Olympians. So it’s really exciting, and it’s really challenging.”
Taylor McCue, a junior, is the only non-freshman on the Arcadia women’s wrestling roster.
Junior Taylor McCue is the only non-freshman on the women’s roster. From goal-setting meetings to decorating the locker room before competitions, the team is establishing its identity.
“The best thing that I can do for the success and growth of this program is to surround it with good people, and that’s what I’m trying to do,” Childs said. “We had our first tri-meet a couple weeks ago on our floor. After our event, we had a parent social, and over a hundred people were there. It was pretty cool to see.”
Freshman Molly Lubenow (right) in action for Arcadia.
A sport on the rise
Arcadia’s addition of a women’s wrestling program follows the rapid expansion of the sport nationwide. According to the NCAA, 17 schools began offering women’s wrestling programs in 2024-25 alongside its promotion to a championship sport.
The inaugural NCAA women’s wrestling championship will take place this spring.
Both Arcadia programs see themselves as leading the growth of wrestling. They also aim to bring national attention to the small university through success in Division III.
“Why I’m grateful to be at Arcadia is the support they give us,” Stevens said. “High school and even college programs are usually focused on other sports that more people are familiar with. But here at Arcadia, we feel like they’re really investing in us and giving us a great opportunity. This is a place that I want to continue to grow.”
The Temple women’s basketball program had not taken a trip outside the United States since 2019, when it competed in the Cancun Challenge in Mexico.
Coach Diane Richardson wanted to take a similar trip with her team this season, and this time the Owls are set to land in the Bahamas for the Baha Mar Hoops Nassau Championship.
Temple will play No. 20 Michigan State at 6:30 p.m. Friday, then Clemson or Western Carolina on Sunday.
The trip will give the Owls a chance to bond and experience a foreign country, Richardson said, while also continuing to gain experience against difficult competition in preparation for American Conference play.
“Not only is it a competitive environment with the sports, but they get to see the culture and all of that other stuff,” she said. “We’ll do some cultural things while we’re over there, too.”
Temple’s Tristen Taylor drives against Villanova’s MD Ntambue during Saturday’s game.
When the Owls head to the islands Wednesday, they’ll have a special guest with them.
New York Liberty forward Jonquel Jones is a Bahamas native and Richardson’s adopted daughter. Jones will be with the Temple players for most of the trip to help show them the culture.
The Owls have competed in multiteam events in the last two years. They went to Tempe, Ariz., for the Briann January Classic in 2023 and Berkeley, Calif., for the Raising The B.A.R Invitational last season. However, this event will be a different experience, Richardson said.
“They’re going to swim with the dolphins and maybe some yoga with the flamingos,” she said. “So we’ll do some nice cultural things. Take up a lot of the different Bahamian meals … and meet some of the townspeople. It’ll be a great experience.”
The Spartans are unbeaten through six games and have scored at least 90 points in each game. Michigan State also will be the fourth team the Owls face this year that made the NCAA Tournament last season.
Savannah Curry and Temple lost big to Kelsey Jones and Villanova on Saturday.
Depending on the results of the first round of games, Temple then will face Clemson or Western Carolina. The Tigers had a losing record last season but are 4-2 so far. The Catamounts entered Tuesday with a 2-4 record.
“It’s important for us to be challenged early, so that we’re used to that,” Richardson said. “And then we’re resilient and can fight through some things because we’ll be challenged by some Top 25 teams. And when we get to conference play, it won’t be a heavy lift because we’ll have been through it already.”
It looked like Sunday’s game in Dallas was going to be everything the Eagles needed. In the end, they wound up getting exactly what they deserved. Lack of focus, poor execution, conservative play calling. The Eagles picked each of these poisons, and died a miserable 24-21, walk-off death. In the aftermath of a defeat that knocked the defending Super Bowl champs out of the top spot in the NFC, The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McLane and Mike Sielski scrutinize head coach Nick Sirianni’s scheme and approach, and explain how these factors have contributed to the Eagles’ issues. They also forecast what the Eagles – specifically a potentially short-handed defense – can expect with the surging Bears coming to town on Black Friday.
unCovering the Birds is a production of The Philadelphia Inquirer and KYW Newsradio Original Podcasts. Look for new episodes throughout the season, including day-after-game reactions.
Time and time again this season, the Eagles seem to provide fleeting promise on offense, only for that glimmer to be extinguished in a matter of drives.
The offense followed that familiar formula in the Eagles’ 24-21 loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, going up 21-0 in the second quarter and never scoring again. The Cowboys’ 24 points were tied for Dallas’ fourth-lowest total of the season, so naturally, it is not the Eagles’ defense but the offense that will spend continued time under the public microscope in the aftermath of the loss.
Was the deflating defeat to the Cowboys a sign that the Eagles are beginning a slide similar to the one they suffered in the second half of the 2023 season? Or, perhaps more rationally, was it just a sign that this Eagles team isn’t bound for Santa Clara, Calif., and Super Bowl LX in February?
There’s plenty of football left in the Eagles’ schedule, starting with the 8-3 Chicago Bears on Black Friday. The Bears are on a four-game winning streak, most recently posting a narrow 31-28 victory over the Aaron Rodgers-less Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday afternoon.
Here’s what we know (and what we don’t) about the Eagles going into their Friday the (Week) 13th matchup against Chicago:
Penalty palooza
After the Dallas game, Nick Sirianni characterized the Eagles’ 14 penalties as “uncharacteristic.”
However, at this point in the season, the Eagles’ mistakes have become very characteristic.
Going into Monday night, the Eagles ranked sixth in the league in penalties against at 84, according to nflpenalties.com. Their infractions have cost them 721 yards, which also ranks sixth in the league. Their opponents have been called for 64 penalties by comparison, which is tied for fifth fewest in the league.
The Eagles have been among the NFL’s most penalized groups this season.
What was notable about the Eagles’ penalties against the Cowboys was that they often wiped out big plays. For example, in the third quarter, Dallas Goedert had a 20-yard reception that would have put the Eagles in Cowboys territory, but Matt Pryor’s illegal formation penalty while lined up as the sixth offensive lineman in the jumbo package negated Goedert’s play.
The Eagles couldn’t overcome that 5-yard loss, ultimately forcing them to punt.
That sloppiness must be reversed if the Eagles want to have long-term success into the playoffs. They can’t keep beating themselves, especially seeing as one of the NFC’s best, the Los Angeles Rams, have incurred a league-low 51 penalties.
But the good news for the Eagles going into Friday’s game? There are few teams that have been as undisciplined as the Bears this season.
Chicago has been called for 87 penalties, which is tied for fourth in the NFL. The Bears’ opponents have incurred 61, which is tied for the second-fewest in the league. It’s worth acknowledging that the Bears have been flagged more frequently on the road (49 on the road, 38 at home), just like the Eagles (47 on the road, 37 at home).
Run ragged
It’s becoming increasingly clear that the Eagles can’t thrive offensively if they don’t have a running game to fall back on this season.
The running game fueled their 2024 Super Bowl run. It powered their 2021 offensive turnaround that reversed their 2-5 start to the season and earned them a playoff berth. But the Eagles can’t lean into the running game this year because of their lack of efficiency for the majority of the season.
Saquon Barkley averaged a season-low 2.2 yards per carry against the Cowboys. After the game, left guard Landon Dickerson partially attributed that inefficiency on the ground to the Cowboys’ five-man front.
Will Nick Sirianni and Kevin Patullo be better prepared for the Bears defense than they seemed to be for the Cowboys?
He suggested that the Eagles were not fully prepared for that wrinkle even though the Cowboys had deployed five-man fronts in the weeks leading up to the game, especially the previous week against the Las Vegas Raiders. That was the Cowboys’ first game since acquiring defensive tackle Quinnen Williams from the New York Jets at the trade deadline.
The Eagles should be able to run on this Bears defense. But will they? Over the last three weeks, the Bears have conceded 470 rushing yards, third highest in the league among teams that have played three games in that span. They’ve allowed 5.3 yards per carry in that time frame, also third in the league.
Secondary attrition
Three starters in the Eagles’ secondary — Reed Blankenship, Adoree’ Jackson, and Drew Mukuba — were hurt against the Cowboys and did not return to action, putting their statuses for Friday’s game in question.
Mukuba, the rookie safety, was spotted after the game using crutches and not putting any weight on his right foot, which sported a boot. Sirianni said Monday that Mukuba, who sources confirmed to The Inquirer will need leg surgery, will be “out for some time.” Jackson entered concussion protocol, just five weeks after suffering a concussion in the Week 7 game against the Minnesota Vikings.
Reed Blankenship’s availability would offer a huge lift to a banged-up Eagles secondary.
If Blankenship (thigh), Jackson, and Mukuba can’t play, the Eagles’ questionable secondary depth is going to be tested again, this time by Caleb Williams and a Bears passing offense that has scored seven touchdowns (no interceptions) in their winning streak.
Jackson was the first player to go down in the third quarter. Cooper DeJean moved to outside cornerback and Michael Carter, whom the Eagles acquired from the Jets at the trade deadline, took over at nickel cornerback. DeJean had a tough time on the outside, allowing four receptions on five targets for a team-high 148 yards, according to Pro Football Focus.
When asked about Mukuba, Sirianni listed a number of potential candidates to play at safety against the Bears, including Carter and Sydney Brown, who took over for the injured Blankenship in the third quarter. Sirianni also noted that Blankenship is “still manning everything back there” in his response to a question about personnel going forward, so he may have the best chance of playing Friday out of all the injured members of the secondary.
Based on Sirianni’s response, DeJean may not be a candidate to move to safety. He had some experience playing the position during training camp. Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio could also look to the practice squad and tap Andrè Sam to start at safety.
Caleb Williams and the Bears’ passing offense have been explosive at times under first-year coach Ben Johnson.
It’s been an inconsistent year for the Bears’ passing attack. Williams’59.2% completion rate ranks last among 29 quarterbacks who have had at least 238 drop backs this season, according to Pro Football Focus. Still, the Bears have generated the sixth-most explosive passing plays of at least 20 yards (39) this season.
Rome Odunze, the Bears’ No. 9 overall pick in the 2024 draft out of Washington, is leading the way. He’s had a team-high 13 explosive receptions for a total of 330 yards this year.
Old friends
If the Eagles’ secondary depth becomes an issue on Friday, scrutiny might intensify against the Bears given their familiar defensive personnel.
The Bears have a pair of former Eagles defensive backs on the roster in Kevin Byard and C.J. Gardner-Johnson. Byard, the 32-year-old safety, joined the Eagles in 2023 at the trade deadline after spending the first eight years of his career with the Tennessee Titans. That was a disastrous season for the Eagles defense as a whole, as Sean Desai was demoted and Matt Patricia took over as defensive coordinator over halfway through the season.
Old friend C.J. Gardner-Johnson will face the Eagles for the first time as a member of the Bears this week.
Byard moved on to the Bears that offseason. He has been a bright spot in Chicago’s defense, tying for the NFL lead in interceptions with five.
But Byard’s departure from the Eagles isn’t as notable as Gardner-Johnson’s. The 27-year-old defensive back has bounced around the league since his March trade to the Houston Texans. The Texans cut him in September. The Ravens signed him to the practice squad and cut him in a span of a week in October.
Then, in late October, Gardner-Johnson found a home with the Bears, whose defensive coordinator, Dennis Allen, is his former head coach with the New Orleans Saints. The Bears have been a strong fit for Gardner-Johnson so far, as he has started three of the last four games at nickel cornerback, notching three sacks in that span.
His presence has been particularly important for the Bears, who are navigating injuries to three of their top linebackers, including former Eagle T.J. Edwards. With the Bears utilizing nickel and dime packages more often lately, Gardner-Johnson has seen his playing time increased over his last three starts. He was on the field for 98.6% of the defensive snaps in Week 10 against the New York Giants, 100% in Week 11 against the Minnesota Vikings, and 90.3% in Week 12 vs. the Steelers.
The Eagles replaced Gardner-Johnson with Mukuba this offseason. But he was technically available in October to serve in a depth role for cheap if the Eagles wanted him. While hindsight is always 20/20, the timing of Gardner-Johnson’s return to Philly is interesting nonetheless.
While you still might be reeling in frustration after the Eagles’ 24-21 loss to Dallas on Sunday — when the Birds gave up a 21-point lead and didn’t score a single point after halftime — the changes you think should be made won’t be happening.
At least, not right now.
Nick Sirianni does not plan to change who is calling the plays. The Eagles coach expressed faith in his first-year offensive coordinator on Monday, noting that he has not considered taking play-calling duties away from Kevin Patullo.
The Eagles have the pieces to be Super Bowl contender again, but they’re hurting themselves. They have consistently failed to run the ball and sustain a passing offense through a full game.
Heading into Week 13, it seems like all fingers point to one common issue: the play-calling. It’s clear whatever the offense is doing is not working. Even former Super Bowl MVP quarterback Nick Foles said, “There’s an art to play-calling that not everyone has, and it’s not showing up this year.”
Yet Sirianni believes “we’ve got the right people” to make a course correction this late in the season.Well, let’s see if Jeffrey Lurie feels the same way.
Former North Catholic football player John Kane holds a 1978 team photo while former teammates gather at Dagwood’s Pub in Torresdale on Nov. 16.
The 50th anniversary Thanksgiving Day game between the North Catholic Falcons and the Frankford Pioneers in 1978 is one many seniors from the North Catholic football team haven’t forgotten. That’s because the Falcons were heavy underdogs but pulled off an improbable win over the Pioneers at Veterans Stadium. While the school closed its doors in 2010, the Norphans have kept the legacy of that game alive: “It was the last game we’d ever play together and we went out as a winner.”
Sixers center Joel Embiid has missed six games because of an issue with his right knee.
Joel Embiid’s injury status is either’s the NBA’s biggest mystery or the 76ers’ best-kept secret. The former MVP has missed seven games because of knee injuries and will likely remain out as he continues to nurse a new issue with his right knee. What’s his status? “The same as it was,” coach Nick Nurse said Monday, hours before Embiid was listed as questionable. “He’s still day to day.”
As for Tyrese Maxey, he’s more concerned about Embiid, a person he wants to see healthy on and off the court. “Yes, basketball is our career, but life is life, you know what I’m saying?” Maxey said. “You only get one life. So you’ve got to live life to the fullest. And as long as people are happy, his family’s good, he’s good, and he can get on the basketball court as much as possible, I’m happy.”
Flyers center Jett Luchanko was traded on Monday from Guelph to Brantford.
Monday brought good news for Flyers fans worried about Jett Luchanko’s development, as the speedy center was traded by Guelph to fellow Ontario Hockey League club Brantford.
This is a significant development, as it will see Luchanko join the OHL favorites, who have yet to lose in regulation across 23 games and are expected to contend for a Memorial Cup. With the Bulldogs, Luchanko will play alongside improved talent and in more high-leverage games, both of which should allow the Flyers to get a better picture of where he is from a developmental perspective.
While Luchanko is jetting off to Brantford, Rick Tocchet is a few months away from a trip to Milan as an assistant coach with Team Canada for the Olympics. But will Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim be joining him? Jackie Spiegel talked with Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper on Monday about Sanheim’s chances.
Eagles coach Nick Sirianni (left) is standing by his offensive coordinator, Kevin Patullo.
The worst thing the Eagles can do right now is the thing that everybody wants them to do. Nick Sirianni isn’t going to do it. You don’t make a change in play-calling duties after a late afternoon road game in the week of Thanksgiving when you are scheduled to play on Friday. Anybody who calls plays for this offense is going to face the same challenges as Kevin Patullo, writes columnist David Murphy.
What you’re saying about the Eagles’ loss
We asked: What bothers you most about this Eagles loss? Among your responses:
Oh where to start. All of it. A sloppy, poorly played game from start to finish. Too many penalties and costly fumbles. Zero offense in the second half. Poor coaching. Most of all losing to the Cowgirls is like a punch in the gut. Will take a while for this stinging loss to subside. — Kathy T.
What bothers me the most is a lack of consistency. Great teams are consistent. Obviously, not every game can be a good one but yesterday was the epitome of this season. Blane the head coach, OC, OL, Hurts holding the ball, Barkley, etc., this team will not advance to the SB playing this helter-skelter game. — Rick W.
Three things bother me. First, the defense, so strong the previous two weeks, disappeared for the last 35 minutes. Second, the OL seems to have taken a step back from the last two years. The split-second timing just isn’t there. And third, Saquon Barkley has lost his magic. He’s not even an average running back this year. Too many commercials? Too much golf? The fourth-quarter, drive-killing fumble just can’t happen. I think the first one is curable. I’m not so sure about the other two. — Joel G.
Both the wife and myself said at halftime, watch them go back into conservative play calling. They think they have the game won but if they do they’re going to lose the game. — Ronald R.
The thing that bothered me most was having to watch the smiling, laughing Jerry Jones with all his friends in his private box. This was the most frustrating Eagles game I have watched in a long time. How can a reigning SB Champ blow a 21-point lead? Jake missed a FG, Saquon fumbled, Hurts sometimes looked like the SB winner, but also often looked like the return of Sam Bradford or Norm Snead. The officials looked like they were handpicked by Jerry Jones, the Eagles defensive backfield could not cover the Cowboys’ two top receivers, and the coaching, play calling, defensive line, and offensive line all could have done better. — Everett S.
What bothers me most is the complacency after the early 21-0 lead, especially on offense. A good team will view this loss as a wake-up call and immediately right the ship.— James F.
We compiled today’s newsletter using reporting from Jeff Neiburg, Jeff McLane, David Murphy, Mike Sielski, Gina Mizell, Keith Pompey, Jackie Spiegel, Alex Coffey, Jonathan Tannenwald, Gabriela Carroll, Lochlahn March, Sean McKeown, Ryan Mack, and Greg Finberg.
By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.
That’s it for me this week. Jim will be back in your inbox with Wednesday’s newsletter. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving. — Bella
The Phillies have been relatively quiet so far this offseason, which presents the opportunity for some hypothetical exercises.
Here are three trade ideas for the Phillies that could address their winter to-do list, and reasons that they may or may not work if they came across Dave Dombrowski’s desk:
Infielder Aidan Miller to the Red Sox for outfielder Jarren Duran
Why it could work
Boston already has a logjam in its outfield, and top outfield prospect Jhostynxon Garcia is near-MLB ready. That makes the Red Sox logical trade partners for the Phillies, who need outfield help.
Duran, who primarily plays left field but has seen time at all three outfield positions, has a controllable contract through 2028. Last season, the 29-year-old slashed .256/.332/.442 and hit 16 home runs. He also posted 11 defensive runs saved, which ranks second behind Steven Kwan among MLB left fielders. He’s speedy as well, ranking in the 91st percentile of sprint speed.
Miller, the Phillies’ No. 2 prospect, would bolster the Red Sox’s infield depth.
Boston Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran hit 16 home runs in 2025.
Why it might not
Ideally, the Phillies need a right-handed bat, and Duran is a lefty. Their No. 2 prospect is a high price to pay for yet another left-handed outfield bat. But that’s likely the cost for a player of Duran’s caliber with three years of team control and several clubs needing outfield help. Even so, it would be a big blow to an already thin farm system.
Duran doesn’t counteract the Phillies’ main offensive weaknesses, either. He had a strikeout rate of 24.3% and a chase rate of 31.1% last season. His career OPS against lefties is .620, compared to .837 against righties.
The Red Sox might also prefer to use one of their biggest trade chips to prioritize their more immediate need of starting pitching.
The trade
Pitcher Gage Wood, pitcher Alex McFarlane, and infielder Aroon Escobar to the Orioles for catcher Adley Rutschman
Why it could work
If Plan A of re-signing J.T. Realmuto doesn’t work out for the Phillies, they will need to turn to Plan B. But the catching free-agent market this winter isn’t exactly robust, so trading for one might be the most logical avenue.
There has been trade buzz surrounding Rutschman since the Orioles signed their top catching prospect, Samuel Basallo, to an eight-year extension in August. Rutschman is under team control through 2027.
The 27-year-old switch-hitter was is coming off his least productive major league season, and was limited to 90 games with oblique strains. Even so, he had an above-average chase rate (21.7%) and whiff rate (14.5%) in 2025. Over his four-year career, Rutschman has a .254/.344/.412 slash line.
The Orioles need pitching. The Phillies’ top pitching prospect, Andrew Painter, was off the table at the trade deadline, and it’s unlikely that has changed. To avoid including their top three prospects — Painter, Miller, and Justin Crawford — it probably would require a bigger package to net Rutschman.
McFarlane, 24, is the closest of the three included prospects to being major league ready was recently was protected by the Phillies ahead of the Rule 5 draft. He finished the 2025 season, his first back from Tommy John surgery, as a reliever with double-A Reading and posted a 4.84 ERA across two levels.
Wood, whom the Phillies plan to develop as a starter, was the Phillies’ first-round draft pick out of Arkansas this year.
Rounding out the package is Escobar, the Phillies’ No. 5 prospect. He had a .270 batting average and .774 OPS across three levels, ending the season with a September promotion to double A.
Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman slashed .220/.307/.366 in 90 games in 2025.
Why it might not
Rutschman is coming off a down year, and the Orioles would be selling low on a player who was envisioned as the future face of their franchise when he was drafted first overall in 2019.
While the Orioles vastly underperformed preseason expectations in 2025, finishing last in the American League East, Baltimore president of baseball operations Mike Elias could be banking on a return to contention in 2026. There’s certainly precedent, after the Blue Jays went from last to first in the AL East in one year. If so, Baltimore might prefer to keep Rutschman around, as he’s more polished behind the plate than Basallo.
From the Phillies’ perspective, sending away three top-30 prospects would be a big setback for a farm system that already is lean. They also would be betting that Rutschman would bounce back from a career-low OPS+ of 90.
And if the Phillies re-sign Realmuto, this trade would be redundant.
The trade
Third baseman Alec Bohm and pitcher Jean Cabrera to the Mariners for catcher Harry Ford
Why it might work
Bohm, who is entering his final year before free agency, has been the subject of trade rumors for two straight offseasons. The Mariners need a third baseman, with Eugenio Suárez now a free agent.
Seattle’s top catching prospect, Ford, is blocked from a starting role by Cal Raleigh, the 2025 AL MVP runner-up. Ford, 22, made his major league debut in September and played eight games for the Mariners, but he currently doesn’t have a path to regular playing time. Ford played 97 games in triple A last season, where he hit .283 with an .868 OPS. Behind the plate, he had zero passed balls and caught runners stealing 23% of the time.
He could make sense for the Phillies whether they re-sign Realmuto or not. After sending Eduardo Tait to the Twins in the Jhoan Duran trade, the Phillies lack future catching depth. Bringing Ford into the fold also would help the Phillies get younger.
Garrett Stubbs and Rafael Marchán are under contract with the Phillies for 2026. If Realmuto signs with another team, Stubbs or Marchán could work in a tandem with Ford as he continues to develop.
Why it might not
If the Phillies are trading from their major league roster, they will have to make additional moves to fill the holes it creates. That means they suddenly would be in the market for a third baseman.
That is, unless the Phillies are confident that Otto Kemp and/or Edmundo Sosa will be a sufficient stopgap until Miller is ready for the majors. But third base is not the strongest defensive position for Kemp (minus-7 outs above average) or Sosa (0 OAA).
The Mariners could be looking for an even higher price for Ford, who is ranked as the No. 42 prospect in MLB.
Not long after North Catholic’s building and campus were sold in 2011, an alumnus found pieces of sports equipment in a nearby dumpster. Ruby-red helmets, game-used footballs, and faded trophies were discarded carelessly, bound for a landfill, until this anonymous Samaritan fished them out.
To the seniors who were part of the school’s 1978 football team, these items were anything but garbage. They represented cherished memories, including the greatest of all: the 50th anniversary Thanksgiving Day game between the North Catholic Falcons and the Frankford Pioneers.
The “Norphans” — derived from “North Catholic” and “orphans” — are determined to keep the legacy of that game alive. For decades, it was a Northeast Philadelphia tradition. The neighboring high schools, one public and one Catholic, played from 1928 to 2009, not for a state championship or a league title, but for bragging rights.
The 50th anniversary pushed an already-intense rivalry to new heights. Eagles coach Dick Vermeil relocated his team’s practice to Franklin Field so the high schoolers could play at Veterans Stadium. Twenty-five thousand people showed up, including politicians and scores of local reporters.
A souvenir from the Frankford-North Catholic 1978 football game. For decades, North Catholic and Frankford had a heated rivalry that played out in a Thanksgiving Day game.
The Falcons were heavy underdogs. They’d gone 5-6 that year and had lost their previous four Thanksgiving games to Frankford. The Pioneers were a bigger team, with a renowned coach in Al Angelo, who led them to a 7-1-1 record en route to a city title in 1978.
But North Catholic was gritty. And on Nov. 23, it pulled off an improbable win, beating its rival, 21-14, in the seniors’ final game together.
As the Falcons walked off the field, nose tackle John Kane imagined returning for the 100th anniversary in 2028. That became impossible in 2010, when North Catholic closed because of dwindling enrollment, rendering the Thanksgiving tradition a thing of past.
But the 1978 North Catholic seniors still have remnants of that game, recovered from the dumpster. They still have the film. They still have the memories, and they still have one another. And for that, they are grateful.
“It was the last game we’d ever play together, and we went out as a winner,” said offensive lineman Chuck Cianci. “It was our championship.”
‘Our Super Bowl’
North Catholic and Frankford occupied the same swath of Northeast Philly, about a mile and a half apart. The high schools’ proximity made the Thanksgiving game a hotly contested neighborhood event.
Kane compared it to the “Catholics and the Protestants in Northern Ireland.” Cianci said it was like “hell week.” Stories of past Thanksgiving games were passed down from generation to generation. Local children dreamed of playing in it — and quickly learned to embrace the rivalry.
Fullback Tim Keller, then a freshman, recalled taking the bus home after the Falcons lost to the Pioneers, 12-7, in 1974. As the North Catholic bus turned off Adams Avenue and onto Roosevelt Boulevard, the Frankford bus pulled up alongside it.
“The next thing you know, the windows came out, and the [North Catholic fans] were throwing the [bus] seats at them,” Keller said. “We lost the game and tore the bus apart.”
North Catholic and Frankford played their Thanksgiving game at Veterans Stadium on Nov. 23, 1978.
A police officer pulled the vehicle over. He allowed women and children to exit, but raucous students and adults spent their Thanksgiving at the 15th Police District on Levick Street.
“The cop gets on [the bus] and says, ‘Sit down!’” Keller said. “And we’re like, ‘We can’t. There are no seats anymore.’”
The officer took the North Catholic fans’ IDs but did not search their pockets. They smuggled a bottle of wine in and passed it from cell to cell.
Even when the games weren’t competitive, the rivalry remained intense. North Catholic was shut out every Thanksgiving from 1975 to 1977. Frankford put up a combined 65 points over that span.
But the Falcons entered the 1978 season with a singular focus. North Catholic coach Jeb Lynch started harping on the Thanksgiving game during the team’s summer workouts at Allentown College of St. Francis de Sales (now DeSales University).
They practiced from morning until night, turning their car headlights onto the field when it became too dark to see.
It ended up being a lackluster season. By Thanksgiving week, North Catholic had lost four consecutive games, including a 49-11 drubbing by Archbishop Ryan.
Nevertheless, the excitement around the 50th anniversary was palpable. It was all anyone in the neighborhood talked about. Teachers and students expressed their support — some in unorthodox ways.
North Catholic slotback Dan Galiczynski took an electronics class his senior year. He was struggling. A few days before the game, his teacher, a religious brother, offered him a lifeline.
“The brother said, ‘Dan, all you’ve got to do is beat Frankford,’” Galiczynski said. “‘And I’ll give you a 72.’”
(He chose 72 because it would allow Galiczynski to “barely pass” without exaggerating his electronics savvy.)
A poster from the 1978 game brought by former North Catholic football players gathering at Dagwood’s Pub in Torresdale on Nov. 16.
Before 1978, the Thanksgiving game had been played at Temple Stadium (which was demolished in 1997) or Franklin Field, but to commemorate the 50th, Angelo proposed that it be moved to Veterans Stadium. The city signed off on the idea and arranged for Frankford to use the Eagles’ locker room. North Catholic was to use the visitors’.
Just before 9:45 a.m. that Thursday, the Falcons walked out of the tunnel to thousands of screaming fans. They looked up and saw friends and family in the crowd.
Frank Correll, who played on special teams, got goose bumps.
“We all came from small neighborhoods,” he said. “So it was overwhelming. Now you understand why these guys all come out for big football games running around and jumping. There’s a lot of energy. And this was, for our school, our Super Bowl.”
High school heroics
It didn’t take long for things to get contentious. Frankford fans began chanting “We don’t want turkey, we want Falcon!” Some threw whiskey bottles at North’s captains during the coin toss.
As handles of hard liquor careened through the autumn air, tailback Harry Ulmer turned to Cianci.
“He was like, ‘What’s going on?’” Cianci said. “That wasn’t good. That wasn’t good.”
Despite the hostility, North Catholic got off to a promising start. Defensive back Ray Dovell recovered a fumble on Frankford’s first possession, setting the Falcons up at the Pioneers’ 21-yard line. Moments later, Ulmer rushed for a touchdown to give North Catholic an early lead.
Frankford responded with a 60-yard touchdown drive. But a two-point conversion attempt failed, leaving North Catholic with a 7-6 lead with 10 minutes, 23 seconds left in the second quarter.
North Catholic vs. Frankford in a Thanksgiving game at Veterans Stadium on Nov. 23, 1978.
Then North Catholic got another break. Defensive back Joe McCourt intercepted a pass from Frankford quarterback Chris Yurkow, and ran 18 yards to reach the Pioneers’ 30-yard line.
With less than two minutes to go in the half, North Catholic was desperate to add to its lead. But on the next three plays, the team didn’t get any closer to the end zone; it went backward, losing 6 yards.
Now, there was only a minute remaining. North Catholic sat on the 35-yard line, too close to punt and too far for a field goal. Lynch settled on a conservative play. He wanted to run the ball.
But Cianci had other ideas. The offensive lineman jogged into the huddle.
“Coach just wants you to run the ball,” he said. “We’re not doing that. What do you want to do?”
Wide receiver Tim Weidenmiller looked at quarterback Tony Daulerio. The team had practiced a tight end out-and-up play but hadn’t used it in the game yet.
“I can beat this corner right now,” Weidenmiller told him.
“All right,” Daulerio responded. “Let’s do that.”
On fourth-and-16, Daulerio hit Weidenmiller for a 23-yard pass that put them at Frankford’s 12-yard line. Ulmer then ran it in for his second touchdown of the day, giving North a 14-6 lead at the half.
In the third quarter, Frankford blocked a North Catholic field goal and recovered the ball at its own 33-yard line. The Pioneers drove 67 yards to tie the game, 14-14, with 4:04 left in the quarter.
North Catholic vs. Frankford was a Thanksgiving game tradition. The Falcons beat the Pioneers on Nov. 23, 1978.
Ulmer exited with a sprained ankle. Running back Dave Paul replaced him and ran 26 yards for a touchdown, but the play was called back for a clipping penalty. The ball was returned to the 29-yard line.
Galiczynski walked over to his coach.
“Listen,” he told Lynch. “I’m a senior. Dave Paul is a sophomore. I ran tailback my whole junior year. Put me in.”
“Go ahead,” Lynch responded.
Galiczynski scored two plays later. The Falcons made the extra point, giving them a 21-14 lead with 10:22 left.
The Pioneers had ample time to score, but North held the line. Defensive back Paul Golden finished the game by intercepting Yurkow’s Hail Mary pass with just over a minute remaining. The clock ran out. The Falcons crowd roared.
A few players lifted Lynch on their shoulders as they triumphantly marched off the field.
“We got to this game, in this special place, and we won it,” Cianci said. “And to look around and see the fans, and how much joy they had … it was unbelievable. We were like folk heroes.”
A new tradition
After graduating, the seniors from the 1978 North Catholic team went their separate ways. Some moved out of the city, some moved out of the state. But the group stayed in touch while supporting each other from afar.
In the early 1980s, Cianci was accepted into the police academy. A few months later, he was told classes for that semester had been canceled. He had to find a new job until the academy opened up, and happened to run into Galiczynski at a local softball game in Philadelphia.
Cianci explained his predicament.
“Danny said, ‘You can work with me in construction,’” Cianci said. “And he put me to work until the academy called me back. That’s the kind of friendship we have.”
Former North Catholic football players Paul Golden (from left), Tim Keller, Joe McCourt, and Mike Butler catch up on Nov. 16 at Dagwood’s Pub in Torresdale.
In 2018, Tommy Campbell, a senior defensive tackle on the 1978 team, fell ill. He was diagnosed with amyloidosis and a rare blood disease. His heart and liver were failing him. The North Catholic graduate spent six months on life support in the intensive care unit.
Campbell worked as a mechanic for an airline at Dulles International Airport in suburban Washington. The airline’s insurance company told him it wasn’t going to cover a heart and liver transplant because of the blood disease.
His wife, Karen, began a letter-writing campaign to persuade the insurance company to pay for the operations. Multiple members of the 1978 North Catholic team joined in.
Linebacker Pat Jordan, a 1978 senior captain, took it a step further. He was a longtime plumber with Local 690. The union used the same insurance as Campbell, so Jordan decided to apply some pressure.
“He went to the international, and said, ‘Listen, we need to do something. This is one of my best friends,’” Cianci said. “‘We’re going to call the insurance company. We’re going to threaten to pull our insurance for all union members if they don’t get this approved.’”
The company reversed its decision and covered Campbell’s surgery. To this day, he believes his teammates saved his life.
“These were guys I hadn’t seen in 30-35 years, coming to the plate,” Campbell said. “Everybody should be lucky enough to feel that.”
Jordan died unexpectedly on Feb. 3. He was 63. The 1978 seniors toasted to him during a reunion last summer in North Wildwood.
Former North Catholic football players gather together on Nov. 16.
This is their annual tradition now. There are no more North Catholic-Frankford games to go to. The local Thanksgiving games that remain just don’t feel the same.
So every July, the Norphans will meet at the beach before they head to Keenan’s Irish Pub. They’ll celebrate Jordan, linebacker Frank Wodjak, guard Ken McGuckin, and other fallen teammates.
They’ll wear black-and-red polo shirts with uniform numbers stitched into their sleeves and relive a day that still feels like dream.
“And we’ll toast,” Galiczynski said, “until the last of us is standing.”
The worst thing the Eagles can do right now is the thing that everybody wants them to do. Nick Sirianni isn’t going to do it. He has said it all season and he said it again on Monday, even though he did not need to. You don’t make a change in play-calling duties after a late afternoon road game in the week of Thanksgiving when you are scheduled to play on Friday. Even if Sirianni was entertaining the idea of demoting offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo, doing it this week is almost a non-starter.
But let’s be clear. He shouldn’t be entertaining such a move, short week or not. It doesn’t make sense on a practical level. It doesn’t make sense on a logistical level. And it certainly doesn’t make sense on an existential level, as the Eagles have seen before.
“I feel like we’ve got the right people, as players, as coaches, that have had success, and we’re all searching for answers to make it more consistent,” Sirianni said Monday. “There’s some good things, there’s obviously some not so good things. We have to find the things that we can really hang our hat on and the complements that come off that.”
It matters not whether you believe him, or whether he believes himself. Whatever he or you or the players think of the job Patullo has done in his first 11 games calling plays, the important thing is that he is the one who has been doing it. It has been his voice over the headset. It has been his messaging in the meetings. From a command and control perspective alone, changing coordinators this late into a season would introduce a whole new list of things that could go wrong. But what really matters is the message such a move would send.
Offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo “did a good job” of calling plays against the Cowboys, Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said.
Sirianni and the Eagles say they learned a lot of lessons a couple of years ago when their 10-1 start to the 2023 season ended with six losses in their last seven games. The biggest of those lessons is the one that so many of us can’t seem to wrap our heads around. Firing a coordinator this late into a season can do more harm than good, however much he deserves the blame.
We all remember how the movie ended in 2023, right? When the Eagles stripped defensive coordinator Sean Desai of his play-calling duties on Dec. 17, the circumstances were remarkably similar to now. They were coming off two of their ugliest outings of the season, the second of them a 33-13 loss to the Cowboys at Dallas. But they were 10-3, still very much in the running for the top seed in the NFC playoffs, and only a few weeks removed from back-to-back statement wins over the Kansas City Chiefs and the Buffalo Bills. The ship was hardly sinking. Then Capt. Matt Patricia took charge.
There’s a strong argument to be made that the 2023 season ended the day they demoted Desai. Up until then, the Eagles still had the confidence and swagger of a defending conference champion. They were a good team going through a rough patch. There was no reason to think otherwise.
By demoting Desai and replacing him with Patricia, the Eagles made an unprompted announcement that things at One NovaCare Way were more dire than they seemed. From that point on, every week brought more dysfunction.
Sirianni barely survived the fallout. It took him until last February to finally shake off the last of the weakness.
The Eagles demoted defensive coordinator Sean Desai during the disastrous finish to their 2023 season.
The kicker, of course, is that the defense didn’t get better. In Patricia’s first week on the job, the Eagles allowed a touchdown pass with 28 seconds left to lose a game to the Seattle Seahawks that they’d led throughout. The next week, they allowed 25 points to Tommy DeVito, Tyrod Taylor, and the Giants, with New York’s potential game-tying touchdown drive ending at the Eagles’ 26-yard line. After that, they lost a 35-31 shootout to an Arizona Cardinals team that hadn’t cracked 30 points all season.
Demoting Patullo has even less potential upside. Anybody who would replace him is already in the building. That person would almost certainly try to do things the same way the Eagles have been doing them throughout Sirianni’s tenure as coach. Kellen Moore didn’t take the secret recipe box with him to New Orleans. He just happened to be calling plays with an offensive line that was averaging 6 yards per carry.
Sirianni will get some ridicule for his messaging during Monday’s news conference. The worst thing you can tell an emotionally unstable Eagles fan is that everything is well.
The head coach didn’t even go that far. He was asked if he’d considered making a change in play-calling duties. He answered definitively.
“No, I haven’t,” Sirianni said. “Again, I think that we’re always looking for answers, as coaches we’re always looking for answers and we’re never into assigning blame, it’s just looking for answers. … It’s every piece of the puzzle: coaching, playing, execution, scheme, everything … have to be better in all of those aspects. Yesterday, I thought Kevin did a good job of calling. Obviously, he’s going to want plays back just like every player and myself, we all want plays back. … It’s never in football one thing. So, no, I haven’t considered that.”
Anybody who calls plays for this offense is going to face the same challenges as Patullo. The Eagles have an offensive line that is missing its best player in Lane Johnson and looks incapable of the same dominance it showed on the road to a Super Bowl last season. They have a quarterback who isn’t confident enough in his arm to make the sorts of throws that Dak Prescott was making into traffic on Sunday, when the Cowboys overcame a 21-point deficit and the Eagles offense stalled for three quarters of a 24-21 Dallas win. They have a superstar wide receiver who looked like a distant third behind George Pickens and CeeDee Lamb as the best receivers on the field. They have a superstar running back who doesn’t have the same burst he did last season.
In order for Sirianni to make a change, he would need to be reasonably confident that things would get better. If not, things would get appreciably worse. Sirianni and the Eagles would be operating from a position of weakness for the duration of the season. The worst thing they can do right now is panic. We’ve seen how that sort of thing ends.
NEW YORK — Maggie Doogan turned and launched a three-pointer from the top of the key, then yelled, “What?” when the ball splashed through the net to give Richmond a 13-point lead at Columbia last week. The former Cardinal O’Hara star grinned when she sank another deep shot to continue her team’s fourth-quarter surge.
After a cold shooting start, Doogan was Richmond’s leading scorer (16 points) and added nine rebounds, four assists, and three blocks in a key early-season matchup between mid-major programs that won NCAA Tournament games in March. And when a reporter in the postgame news conference suggested she had struggled offensively in the 77-67 road victory, coach Aaron Roussell playfully responded with, “Tough ‘evals,’ man.”
“I think it’s a pretty good stat line, with all due respect,” Roussell said. “ … I’ll take those ‘off’ nights from her.”
That illustrates the heightened expectations for Doogan, the reigning Atlantic 10 Player of the Year and perhaps the best mid-major player in women’s college basketball. The 6-foot-2 do-everything forward is averaging 23.1 points, 10.9 rebounds, 5.3 assists, and 1.4 blocks through the Spiders’ first seven games. That includes a monster performance in last week’s 72-57 victory over Temple, when she racked up 31 points, 14 rebounds, and nine assists.
Her ascent has coincided with Richmond’s, which last season won a second consecutive A-10 regular-season title and its first March Madness game in program history. The 5-2 Spiders, whose only losses so far are to No. 4 Texas and No. 8 TCU, were ranked in the preseason Associated Press top 25 poll and are receiving votes now.
Doogan acknowledges building this legacy is “not at all” what she envisioned when she signed with Richmond. But Roussell calls her a “perfect model” for player development, with the versatility to anchor the Spiders’ read-and-react offensive system. In this new era of college athletics, Doogan also made an increasingly rare decision to not entertain NIL opportunities from power-conference programs and stay at Richmond for her final season.
Richmond’s Maggie Doogan dives for a loose ball in a 2023 game against Villanova.
Also fueling Doogan’s rise? Her on-court diligence and quest for basketball intel. That sets the standard for everybody in the Spiders’ program — including its coach.
“You can’t fake anything with her,” Roussell said in a telephone interview last week. “You can’t be a teammate and not work hard around her. You can’t be her coach and not invest in her and not put the time in with the film. Because she’s going to have questions, and you need to be able to answer those.
“That’s probably been different for me coaching her than maybe any other kid that I’ve ever coached.”
Spiders?
When Doogan was a sophomore in high school, her mother, Chrissie, gave her a Richmond T-shirt as an Easter present.
“Mom, I’m not going to a school where Spiders are the mascot,” Maggie jokingly retorted.
But the Doogan family, based in Broomall, already had a connection to the Richmond coaching staff. Assistant Jeanine Radice, then at Marist, had recruited Chrissie (née Donahue) before she became La Salle’s second all-time leading scorer and member of the school’s athletics Hall of Fame. Then they stayed in touch as Chrissie entered coaching at La Salle, Cornell, and Cardinal O’Hara, where she currently is the school’s athletic director.
So Mom initially sent Maggie’s film, which highlighted her basketball IQ, to Radice. Maggie later demonstrated her outstanding shooting at one of Richmond’s camps, Roussell said. And the coach recognized untapped potential.
Maggie, meanwhile, was interested in branching out from the Philly area but remaining within a reasonable driving distance. She wanted strong academics and the opportunity to play right away. And while visiting Richmond’s campus, she fell in love with the “gorgeous” red-brick buildings.
“It was an easy choice once I really looked into it,” she said.
Cardinal O’Hara’s Maggie Doogan holds the the championship plaque as she celebrates with teammates after beating Archbishop Carroll for the Catholic League title in 2022.
Chrissie wondered whether Maggie’s lanky frame would be strong enough when she entered college. Roussell, though, deliberately took her early development slowly, because the coach “really wanted to make her earn” playing time. A broken hand kept Doogan sidelined for about five weeks, forcing her to step back and observe and pick coaches’ brains from the bench.
“I don’t know if they put something magic in my hand,” Doogan said, “but I was just kind of a different player and took that big leap. That kind of just gave me more confidence at the collegiate level.”
Her breakout game fittingly came in a nationally televised overtime victory over St. Joseph’s. Roussell called her “unguardable” as she totaled 28 points, six rebounds, five assists, three blocks, and two steals. By her sophomore season, she was the Spiders’ leading scorer for a team that won 29 games and the first A-10 championship in program history.
In Roussell’s positionless system, Doogan could be viewed as a post player with excellent perimeter shooting and playmaking skills — or a wing who can make an impact inside on both ends of the floor. She not only impressed with her commitment to the weight room and on-court work, but with her film study and tactical aptitude.
Roussell jokingly calls it “stressful” to coach Doogan because of the information she constantly demands. She is not afraid to approach her coach during a shootaround and respectfully ask why they have chosen a specific strategy against an opponent. And the Spiders have changed elements of game plans — before or during a matchup — because of something Doogan observed.
Roussell already says he hopes his “retirement job” is as an assistant coach on Doogan’s future staff.
“The level and the layers of which she thinks about the game is already like a coach,” Russell said. “ … I never want her to be bashful or not tell me what she’s feeling during a game or seeing during a game.”
Those qualities propelled Doogan’s numbers to jump again as a junior, to 17 points, 7.1 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 1.2 steals per game. She shot 55.5% from the floor, including 40.6% from beyond the arc. She helped Richmond win a second consecutive regular-season A-10 title, and became the program’s first conference player of the year since 1990.
But after a St. Joe’s buzzer-beater upset Richmond in last season’s A-10 tournament — a game during which Doogan took just five shots and scored five points — she and Roussell had “frank conversations” about what the Spiders consistently needed from her. Doogan went home for spring break and “didn’t speak for three days. … She was miserable,” Chrissie said.
Roussell believes that gave Doogan an extra dose of motivation for a monster NCAA Tournament, after Richmond earned a No. 8 seed in an at-large berth.
She racked up 30 points on 5-of-8 shooting from three-point range, along with 15 rebounds and six assists, in a dominant 74-49 victory over ninth-seeded Georgia Tech. She totaled another 27 points on 11-of-18 shooting, seven assists, and six rebounds in an 84-67 loss to top-seeded UCLA, which advanced to the Final Four.
“I had a lot of pride. A lot of pride,” Doogan said of her team’s March Madness run. “ … Once you kind of step back, and a couple weeks later, I was like, ‘Wow, we really did that.’”
Richmond forward Maggie Doogan toward the basket as Georgia Tech guard Kara Dunn defends during last season’s NCAA Tournament.
Still, “literally the second we got back” from the NCAA Tournament, Roussell said, he and Doogan needed to have another honest discussion about her plans for the 2025-26 season. That is the reality in this transfer-portal era, because mid-major players regularly leave for power-conference programs that can offer more lucrative NIL deals.
Chrissie acknowledges she “got some calls on the side” to gauge Maggie’s interest in exploring options. She had to ask her daughter, “Would you leave for any certain amount?” Though Roussell received no indication from the family that he should be worried, he added, “I’m no dummy. I know the pursuers were out there.”
But Maggie and Roussell were aligned on how special this season could be for the Spiders — and that she wanted to finish her college career where it started.
“Not everybody would have made the decision that she did,” Roussell said. “There was a lot of loyalty involved. Now, do I think this was a great fit for her and this was the right answer? Yeah. But she left money on the table by coming back here, and that’s not something every 21-year-old is doing.”
Added Doogan: “Honestly, it’s home. And I wouldn’t want to spend my last year anywhere else.”
After Richmond’s win at Columbia, Chrissie sent Maggie a text about the two turnovers she committed during the game’s final minute.
“Wow, thanks for the love,” Maggie sarcastically responded.
Consider that evidence that the coach-player aspect of this close mother-daughter bond has never fully dissipated. Neither have other characteristics Maggie says she acquired while growing up as a Philly basketball kid. She immediately highlighted her toughness, that “I don’t really like to take a lot of B.S. from people, and I think I get that from back home.” She also credits her time at O’Hara with fostering her vocal leadership, which was on display while speaking up during timeouts throughout Richmond’s win at Columbia.
“I’m trying to calm everybody down, which hopefully works,” she said after that game. “I kind of know what [Roussell is] thinking, and I’m good at talking with everybody else. I think it’s kind of why I’m on the floor.”
She also is navigating life as a player who, before the season, was ranked among ESPN’s top 25 returners in the country.
She acknowledged after the Columbia game that she felt more defensive “crowding” while in the paint and a greater focus on wherever she was on the floor. Roussell is pleased that Doogan is executing on individual focuses, like better finishing, drawing fouls around the rim, and improving as a playmaker and rebounder. Being invited to last summer’s Team USA’s Women’s AmeriCup team trials, where she competed alongside some of college basketball’s best players, also boosted her confidence, Roussell said.
“She has not hit her apex yet,” Roussell said. “There is really good basketball in her future that will be better than what she is now.”
Yet the Doogan family is embracing Maggie’s final college season, which Chrissie compares to the ending of a book.
A group in Richmond gear swarmed Maggie for hugs following the Columbia win, then posed together for a photo op. Her grandparents make the four-hour drive to Richmond for nearly every home game. And whenever Chrissie visits, she notices children wearing No. 44 jerseys with “Doogan” on the back.
“As a parent, you’re like, ‘Wow, this kid,’” Chrissie said. “People all over Richmond know her.”
Richmond’s Maggie Doogan looks on after shooting as Georgia Tech center Ariadna Termis watches.
That’s the impact of Doogan becoming a perfect model of development and versatility.
And the player who stayed at her mid-major school through her entire career.
And the person who continues to set the standard for her program’s historic rise.
“It’s going to be awful whenever she takes off that jersey,” Chrissie said of Maggie. “I know there will be tears shed. But she’s got so much to be proud of, and so much to be excited for this season.
“We’re just trying to take it one game at a time, one practice at a time, and enjoy the ride.”
