South Carolina adds 6-foot-6 center Madina Okot via transfer
South Carolina added another key transfer Tuesday in Madina Okot, a 6-foot-6 center who spent this past season at Mississippi State.
Okot is from Kenya and played two years at Zetech University in Nairobi. She also competed in the FIBA Africa Women’s Basketball League and for Kenya’s FIBA 3X3 senior team.
She averaged 11.3 points, 9.6 rebounds and 1.1 blocks for Mississippi State in 2024-25.
OMAHA, Neb. — Carrie Banks has been fired as Omaha women’s basketball coach after five straight losing seasons, athletic director Adrian Dowell announced Tuesday.
The Mavericks were 14-17 overall last season and tied for seventh in the nine-team Summit League at 5-11. None of her five teams finished higher than tied for fifth.
Banks was an assistant at Ohio State when Omaha hired her in 2020. She was 51-89 with the Mavericks.
“Today I informed Carrie Banks, our student-athletes and coaches in the women’s basketball program of my decision to make a leadership change for the head coaching position,” Dowell said. “After careful assessment of the program, I am confident that under new leadership, we can achieve an elevated standard of competitive success.”
Mike Patrick, who spent 36 years as a play-by-play commentator for ESPN and was the network’s NFL voice for “Sunday Night Football” for 18 seasons, has died at the age of 80.
Patrick died of natural causes on Sunday in Fairfax, Virginia. Patrick’s doctor and the city of Clarksburg, West Virginia, where Patrick originally was from, confirmed the death Tuesday.
Patrick began his play-by-play role with ESPN in 1982. He called his last event, the AutoZone Liberty Bowl, on Dec. 30, 2017.
“Mike Patrick called countless significant events over decades at ESPN and is one of the most influential on-air voices in our history,” said Burke Magnus, president of content for ESPN. “In addition to calling ESPN’s first-ever regular season NFL game and voicing the ‘Sunday Night Football’ franchise for 18 seasons, Mike’s work on college sports was exceptional.
“For 36 years, he called football and men’s and women’s basketball, including the Women’s Final Four and so many historic matchups between ACC rivals Duke and UNC. Our deepest condolences to Mike’s family and his many friends throughout the industry.”
