Sports Saturday

WNBA Mock Draft: Who will be selected after Caitlin Clark goes No. 1?

This year’s draft class had the potential to be a total bust because several stars, including Clark, could have opted to return to college for a fifth season.

By Annie Costabile

Chicago Sky and WNBA

Kamilla Cardoso and Angel Reese could end up in Sky uniforms this season

The Sky own the No. 3 and No. 8 overall picks, a result of some costly dealmaking by first-year general manager Jeff Pagliocca.

By Annie Costabile

College Sports

DePaul's Chris Holtmann got off the mat and went back to work — like never before

Sports Saturday

Sportsbooks expecting boon from increased soccer action this summer

Outdoors

Chicago outdoors: Sandhills in snowy Nebraska, Morel of the Week begins and a monarch

Bulls

Bulls use mostly reserves, backups to beat Wizards

Sports Saturday

With play-in game approaching, Bulls have to balance rest and rhythm

Locked into the No. 9 spot and set for a home play-in game against the Hawks, Billy Donovan used Friday’s game against the Wizards to rest his core three.

By Joe Cowley

College Sports

Polling Place: How will No. 1 pick Caitlin Clark fare in the WNBA? And should the Sky draft Angel Reese?

Also, we asked how excited you are to see the Bulls in the NBA’s play-in tournament. Let’s just say voters didn’t struggle to contain themselves.

By Steve Greenberg

Outdoors

Wandering around southern Illinois: Painted bikes, caves, Tecumseh and rattlers

I traveled around southern Illinois at some new sites as an offshoot of covering the total solar eclipse. It brought a sharp reminder of just how much that region brings to our outdoors world.

By Dale Bowman

Outdoors

Digging details of nature and the total solar eclipse

Here are some more nuggets related to the nature world from the total solar eclipse on Monday.

By Dale Bowman

Bears

Bears GM Ryan Poles should stress quality over quantity in draft

With only four picks, the temptation to parlay No. 9 into additional picks will be tempting. But with Caleb Williams the presumptive No. 1, plus Montez Sweat and Keenan Allen, Poles is assured of a productive draft.

By Mark Potash

College Sports

Polling Place: Here are your men's and women's NCAA Tournament picks — and preferences

Caitlin Clark and the Hawkeyes have the most buzz on the women’s side — yes, it’s because she’s awesome — but the Gamecocks have yet to lose a game all season.

By Steve Greenberg

Chicago Fire

Fire look to capitalize on home-heavy schedule

The match Saturday at Soldier Field with the Houston Dynamo begins a stretch of four home games over the next five.

By Brian Sandalow

College Sports

Triton coach Brian Burns already making presence known by reaching national championship in first year

Burns has turned the Trojans into a legitimate national power at the highest level of junior-college basketball.

By Joe Henricksen

Outdoors

Chicago outdoors: Turkey flocks are among the notes

A question on the size of turkey flocks heads the notes from around Chicago outdoors and beyond.

By Dale Bowman

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College Sports

Bracket busters? UConn has been more like bracket gangbusters

Bet on it: Behind genius Hurley, UConn looks to go 6-0 against the spread in NCAA tourney for second consecutive year

By Rob Miech

Bulls

Bulls draw first blood in three-game ‘series' with former coach Tom Thibodeau's Knicks

The Knicks and Bulls hit an odd part of the schedule as the regular season comes to an end, playing three times in 10 days.

By Joe Cowley

Bulls

Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau continues to prove old Bulls regime wrong

In building a case for Thibodeau’s dismissal in 2015, the former Bulls front office played the minutes card and played it hard. That false narrative has stuck with Thibodeau, despite the numbers saying something different.

By Joe Cowley

Purdue center Zach Edey dunks against Rutgers.

College Sports

Final Four: Will N.C. State's DJ Burns Jr. — or UConn's Donovan Clingan — neutralize Purdue star Zach Edey?

Here are 10 things to think about during Saturday’s men’s semifinals.

By Steve Greenberg

Outdoors

Uncoiling some Chicago outdoors history

Sorting through pieces of change in history related to the natural world from smelt netting in Chicago to Michigan Maritime Museum to American white pelicans in Indiana to trumpeter swans in Palos.

By Dale Bowman

Bears

NFL mock draft: Predicting Bears' picks at No. 1 and No. 9

The Bears are zeroing in on what they want to do in the draft.

By Patrick Finley

Cubs

Polling Place: Here's how you voted on the Cubs', White Sox' outlooks in 2024

Last, we asked where baseball ranks on your list of spectator sports. First? Second? Third? Not even?

By Steve Greenberg

Reporters watch a video screen displaying the Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani (right) and interpreter Will Ireton.

MLB

Japanese baseball expert wonders what Shohei Ohtani left out in statement on gambling scandal

Ohtani’s 650-word speech hardly qualified as a news conference because those usually entail back-and-forth questions and answers with media figures. Author Bob Whiting has an interesting perspective on the Japanese star.

By Rob Miech

Outdoors

Chicago outdoors: Making a coot look good and enjoying/teaching suburban wildlife

A striking photo of a coot, an unphotogenic bird, and ruminations on a reader and his granddaughter enjoying suburban deer are among the notes from around Chicago outdoors and beyond.

By Dale Bowman

Bulls

Nets shoot Bulls out of the arena

The Hawks are only a half-game behind the Bulls for the No. 9 seed. DeMar DeRozan said it’s time to treat the remaining games like they’re all “one-and-dones.”

By Joe Cowley

Bulls

Bulls well aware of their perilous position in standings

While the No. 9 seed isn’t ideal, it’s where the Bulls have been for quite some time and where coach Billy Donovan wants them to stay with eight games left.

By Joe Cowley