May 31, 2025; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton (0) holds the trophy after game six of the eastern conference finals against the New York Knicks for the 2025 NBA Playoffs at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images
Tyrese Haliburton and the Pacers punched their tickets to the NBA Finals
Haliburton finished the series off with a 21-point, 13-assist performance to push the Pacers to the series win in six games.
The former Cyclone had over 20 points or over 10 assists in five of the six games and will now make his first ever trip to the NBA Finals.
THE PACERS’ TIME IS NOW 👋
Hali brings Indiana back to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2000 🔥 pic.twitter.com/4IRR1DT58I
— ESPN (@espn) June 1, 2025
The thing that sticks out about Haliburton is the willingness to talk his talk over the course of the series.
From the choke sign to the ‘overrated’ stuff, he’s backed up what’s coming out of his mouth.
he did the premature choke in game 1 and backed it up by winning the game in OT. he wore all black tonight and backed it up by closing out the series. legendary stuff, shoutout to tyrese https://t.co/Pa3r5b95GB
— Molly Morrison (@mollyhannahm) June 1, 2025
‘cers in 6 pic.twitter.com/cCjASm1qNF
— Tyrese Haliburton (@TyHaliburton22) June 1, 2025
And now, for the second time in three years, a former Cyclone is front and center for a professional team that’s competing for a league championship.
The other coming from Brock Purdy’s trip to the Super Bowl with the 49ers in 2023, it will be interesting to see how Cyclones take in the series. Much like that one, I’d say most of America is rooting against the opponent.
NBA Finals TV Schedule
Thurs. June 5 | Game 1 @ OKC, 7:30 p.m. ABC
Sun. June 8 | Game 2 @ OKC, 7 p.m. ABC
Wed. June 11 | Game 3 @ Indiana, 7:30 p.m. ABC
Fri. June 13 | Game 4 @ Indiana, 7:30 p.m. ABC
Mon. June 16 | Game 5 @ OKC, 7:30 p.m. ABC
Thurs. June 19 | Game 6 @ Indiana, 7:30 p.m. ABC
Sun. June 22 | Game 7 @ OKC, 7 p.m. ABC
Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff to do Cy-Hawk game
The pregame show announced that it will be on hand for the 2025 Cy-Hawk game, which will kick off at 11 a.m. on Saturday, September 6 on FOX.
I grew up College Game Day fan and really haven’t tuned in a ton to Fox’s product (I’m also skeptical of their production because of their below average motorsports broadcasts) but it’s clear that this is a really big deal to a lot of fans.
It will be interesting to see the show and Iowa State go for its first Cy-Hawk win with a national show in attendance.
New Cyclones in CFB 26 video game
The first details of EA Sports’ second edition of the College Football video game since its rebirth are out, and three new Cyclones will noticeably be in the game.
The program confirmed that head coach Matt Campbell, defensive coordinator Jon Heacock and offensive coordinator Taylor Mouser will all be featured in the game.
It’s new in this installment, that the coaches’ themselves were eligible to be in the game and Iowa State will take advantage of it.
Elsewhere, Colorado’s Deion Sanders and North Carolina’s Bill Belichick each have reportedly declined EA’s invitation to be in the game. I’m curious to what the negatives are there, but good on Iowa State to get the visibility.
Official Visit weekends over the next 14 days
This is Iowa State football’s bread and butter when it comes to recruiting. Over the last few years, the pair of official visit weekends the program hosts in June has secured a number of commitments.
There are a number of targets coming between both weekends including four-star prospects Messiah Tilson (WR, week 1) and Ian Premer (TE, week 2).
We’ll have more on the full names of everyone visitors later this week – make sure you’re subscribed to the premium forum to get the earliest details as things go on this month.
Quick hits
Edmonton – Florida volume 2
These two behemoths are heading back to the Stanley Cup Final. It’s disgusting – OK, I’m just a little salty about my team.
But this Stanley Cup series should be something electric. Florida has spent the better part of the playoffs by “running” teams and throwing cheap shots left and right.
While Edmonton has done the same in a lesser extent, the Oilers are getting everything out of their role players and skill guys and look even more dangerous than last year, despite the dropoff on talent on paper. It starts Wednesday.
NHL Finals announced TV schedule
Wed. June 4 | Game 1 @ EDM, 7 p.m. TNT
Fri. June 6 | Game 2 @ EDM, 7 p.m. TNT
Mon. June 9 | Game 3 @ FLA, 7 p.m. TNT
SEC makes some history
You’re probably accustomed to hearing it, but the Southeastern Conference has made even more history this month, after sending media members a 7-page document that says its teams face a “regular season gauntlet,” this week.
Wright State upended the No. 1 overall seed in the college baseball tournament in Vanderbilt, knocking them out of the tournament on the first weekend.
WRIGHT STATE ELIMINATES NO. 1 OVERALL SEED VANDERBILT IN THE REGIONAL 😱 pic.twitter.com/7GBVS9zjWC
— ESPN (@espn) June 1, 2025
With Texas A&M Softball being knocked out a week ago, it marks for the first time ever that the No. 1 overall seeds each failed to make it out of their home-field regionals.
If you didn’t think it could get any better, No. 2 Texas went down at home to in-state rival UTSA, losing a pair of games to the Roadrunners to be knocked out of the event.
.@TexasBaseball getting blown up in Austin by @UTSABSB, 7-1 (7) in an elimination game for the Longhorns. UTSA embarrassing Texas in the NCAA Austin Regional. UT fans 👇not happy. pic.twitter.com/qK4OH02qXC
— Mark Berman (@MarkBerman_) June 2, 2025
WWE releases its most likeable superstar
I debated on putting this in here until I saw the attention that this news got on Sunday.
WWE chose to release R-Truth, who’s at the end of his current contract, but is one of the most unanimously liked athletes that I’ve ever seen. People like that always stick out to me – and I don’t know if we’ll ever see a guy that has as few enemies (or haters) than R-Truth.
When I stopped watching wrestling a few years back, it was because they’d release all the guys I loved to watch. I hope this isn’t the rinse-recycle part of the circle.
Im sorry to inform you all. I just got released from WWE. I want to thank WWE for the ride, but MOSTLY I want to thank each and EVERYONE OF YOU who was along for the ride, Thank you for all the love, support, and appreciation you have given me over the years. Thank you 🙏🏾
— Ron Killings (@RonKillings) June 1, 2025
