He was a small part of a very big deal. Continue reading…Country Music News – Taste of Country
Month: April 2026
More than 2,500 players flooded the men’s college basketball transfer portal this offseason, triggering a seismic shakeup across the sport. But amid all the movement, programs like Florida, Duke and Illinois worked to retain key pieces. Now, with the portal closed and the NBA early-entry deadline in the rearview mirror, the picture for next season is finally coming into focus. Who’s poised to rise, and who took a step back? Let’s get into it. Here’s my updated way-too-early men’s college basketball rankings for next season: Previous Ranking: 21 Gone are Braden Smith, Fletcher Loyer and Trey Kauffman-Renn, who contributed more than 52% of the team’s scoring this past season. C.J. Cox and Omer Mayer will be looked at to take a big step forward, while Princeton transfer Caden Pierce — the 2023-24 Ivy League Player of the Year — is expected to take over one of the starting spots in the frontcourt. Previous Ranking: NR Despite losing the program’s all-time leading scorer, Bruce Thornton, to graduation, Jake Diebler should still field one of the most talented teams in the Big Ten next season. He’s bringing in a strong transfer class, highlighted by former Cal guard Justin Pippen, who is expected to join returner John Mobley Jr. in the starting backcourt. Diebler also landed five-star freshman Anthony Thompson, the highest-rated recruit to arrive in Columbus since Jared Sullinger in 2010. Losing forward Devin Royal will hurt, but rising sophomore Amare Bynum looks ready to take the next step. Previous Ranking: 17 Fresh off the most successful year in program history, Fred Hoiberg will look to build on the success his team had this past season. Pryce Sandfort, who earned All-Big Ten honors this past season, should be one of the top players in the conference next year. Hoiberg is set to bring in multiple new faces via the transfer portal. That group includes Boden Kapke (Boston College), Trevan Leonhardt (Utah Valley) and Sam Orme (Belmont), all of whom could end up in the starting five. Previous Ranking: 20 After entering the transfer portal, point guard Robert Wright III announced that he will be back at BYU for his junior season in 2026-27. He will be joined by five-star freshman standout Bruce Branch III, who is widely regarded as one of the top 2026 prospects in the nation. The Cougars will also get a boost with the addition of transfer guard Collin Chandler, who is set to return home after spending his first two seasons playing at Kentucky. Previous Ranking: NR After leading the Hurricanes to a 26-9 mark and a Round of 32 appearance in the NCAA Tournament in his first season, Jai Lucas will have an even better roster in Year 2. Lucas landed the No. 7-ranked portal class in the nation, highlighted by a pair of standout additions in Villanova transfer Acaden Lewis and former Georgia big man Somto Cyril. They will join forward Shelton Henderson, who was one of the top freshmen in the ACC last season. Previous Ranking: 18 Whether standout guard Tyler Tanner remains in the NBA Draft or not will determine how high the ceiling is for this Vanderbilt team next season. If Tanner does return to Nashville, he should be a preseason All-American and an early front-runner for SEC Player of the Year. He would be joined by an impressive five-man transfer class that includes T.O. Barrett (Missouri), Berke Buyuktuncel (Nebraska), Bangot Dak (Colorado), Ace Glass (Washington State) and Sebastian Williams-Adams (Auburn). Previous Ranking: NR Indiana head coach Darian DeVries completely retooled his roster this offseason, bringing in a six-man transfer portal class that currently ranks third in the nation, according to 247Sports.com. The class is highlighted by a dominant frontcourt duo of Aiden Sherrell (Indiana) and Samet Yigitoglu (SMU). They will be joined by former Notre Dame standout Markus Burton, who should be one of the top newcomers in the Big Ten next season if he can remain healthy. Previous Ranking: 16 Houston coach Kelvin Sampson will have to replace four starters from a team that finished 30-7 last season. That means a bigger role for forward Joseph Tugler, who averaged 8.4 points and 5.3 rebounds per game in his junior year. The Cougars do bring in the top-ranked center prospect in the nation in 7-foot-1 big man Arafan Diane. Previous Ranking: 12 Rick Barnes’ team enjoyed a memorable run to the Elite Eight last season, but the Volunteers will be tasked with replacing standout guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie and freshman Nate Ament, who is projected to be a first-round pick. Barnes brought in a loaded transfer portal class, highlighted by Terrence Hill Jr. (VCU) and Jalen Haralson (Notre Dame). Previous Ranking: 6 Alabama coach Nate Oats got a contract extension earlier this month. That is perhaps the only certain thing pertaining to this roster next season. Standout guard Aden Holloway, who was arrested on felony drug charges on March 16, announced he plans to enroll at the university, with hopes to rejoin the team. Freshman forward Amari Allen is testing the NBA Draft waters, but will he stay in the draft or return to Tuscaloosa? Jaxon Richardson and Qayden Samuels are both elite recruits who will join them next season. Previous Ranking: 11 St. John’s head coach Rick Pitino made it clear that it would be near impossible to replace a player like Zuby Ejiofor, who defined everything this program is about. However, Pitino always seems to find success in the portal, and that should be no different this offseason. He has already landed an elite-level scorer in Donnie Freeman (Syracuse) and will pair European point guard Quinn Ellis with returning guard Ian Jackson. Look for Pitino to add at least one or two more players via the portal. Previous Ranking: 13 The Cavaliers are set to return their leading scorer and rebounder next season. Thijs De Ridder, a 6-foot-9 forward from Belgium, enjoyed a breakout freshman campaign and should be one of the top interior players in the sport next year. Look for Chance Mallory to take over the starting point guard role for Ryan Odom’s team. Previous Ranking: 9 After guiding Iowa State to its third Sweet 16 appearance in five years, head coach T.J. Otzelberger agreed to a new contract that will keep him leading the Cyclones through 2036. He will have to replace Tamin Lipsey, Joshua Jefferson and Milan Momcilovic, which will not be easy, but bringing back Killyan Toure and welcoming in a five-man portal class is a great place to start. Previous Ranking: NR The Trojans might be the most interesting team in college basketball this offseason. Guard Rodney Rice is returning from injury, while standout freshman Alijah Arenas is back for his sophomore season and should benefit from a full summer in the weight room. Forward Jacob Cofie returns in the frontcourt, and the additions of Georgetown transfer KJ Lewis and UConn transfer Eric Reibe have me excited to see how Eric Musselman pieces this roster together. Previous Ranking: 23 Texas head coach Sean Miller needs center Matas Vokietatis to make the jump from good to great next season, but he won’t be alone. TCU transfer David Punch should provide valuable support up front, while Colorado transfer Isaiah Johnson is one of the best unknown players in the nation. Previous Ranking: 8 Gonzaga head coach Mark Few is returning three of his top-five scorers from a year ago, led by Braden Huff. Houston transfer Isiah Harwell is looking for a breakout sophomore campaign and the Zags always have a few diaper dandies waiting in the wings. Previous Ranking: 10 Arkansas is losing standout guard Darius Acuff, but if Meleek Thomas decides to return to college, he will join forward Billy Richmond III to make up a solid core from last year’s Sweet 16 team. Five-star freshman Jordan Smith Jr looks like the real deal. I think the Hogs are loaded. Previous Ranking: 4 Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo has the best point guard in the nation in Jeremy Fears Jr. But if this team wants to reach its full potential, Izzo will need forwards Coen Carr and Cam Ward, along with shooting guard Kur Teng, to take another step forward. Charlotte transfer Anton Bonke could provide valuable help down low as well. Previous Ranking: 5 Arizona is losing a lot of talent, but head coach Tommy Lloyd has managed to retain two starters in Motiejus Krivas and Ivan Kharchenkov, which means this group will have a very high floor. North Carolina transfer Derek Dixon will be given some freedom to create, while five-star freshman Caleb Holt could be special. Previous Ranking: 7 Freshman standout Braylon Mullins turned down the NBA for another chance at a national title with UConn. He will be joined by point guard Silas Demary and forward Jayden Ross as key veterans. Add in Duke transfer Nikolas Khamenia and Dan Hurley has real weapons at every position. Previous Ranking: NR The Cardinals went out and spent a lot of money to put together a team that I think is title worthy. Let’s start with the best defensive center in the country: Flory Bidunga. He’s flanked by Iowa transfer Alvaro Folguieras, fresh off his clutch NCAA Tournament performances. In the backcourt, Oregon transfer Jackson Shelstad runs the point and Arkansas wing transfer Karter Knox rounds out a roster that has a little bit of everything. Previous Ranking: 2 The Blue Devils are set to return three starters next year, but I just feel like this group relied on Cameron Boozer so much that it’s hard for me to put them higher. Snagging Wisconsin transfer John Blackwell will help replace the scoring of Isaiah Evans, and head coach Jon Scheyer is bringing in a new crop of five-star freshman. It’s another “Final Four or Bust” year in Durham. Previous Ranking: 3 With a returning backcourt of Elliot Cadeau and Trey McKenney, Dusty May has the foundation for another strong team. Tennessee transfer JP Estrella and Cincinnati transfer Moustapha Thiam were brought in to replace Morez Johnson Jr. and Aday Mara in the frontcourt. It’s hard to see them matching last year’s defensive dominance, but it will be interesting to see how it all comes together. Previous Ranking: 1 I had Illinois as the No. 1-ranked team in my way-too-early top 25 last month, but I think head coach Brad Underwood should still feel good about this group at No. 2 after returning six of his top nine scorers, led by Andrej Stojakovic and David Mirkovic. The addition of Providence transfer Stefan Vaaks should help fill the void left by Keaton Wagler’s departure. Previous Ranking: 22 The Gators jumped up to No. 1 after forwards Thomas Haugh and Alex Condon announced they would return to Gainesville next season. Center Rueben Chinyelu is testing the NBA waters, but is expected to return as well. Adding Kentucky transfer Denzel Aberdeen to their backcourt makes them the top team in the land on paper.Latest Sports News from FOX Sports
The Sunshine State has joined Texas, California and a handful of other states in the battle of mid-decade redistricting.
On April 29, 2026, in a near party-line vote, the Florida Legislature adopted new congressional maps drawn by a staffer of Gov. Ron DeSantis. The GOP-led effort could lead to four more of Florida’s 28 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives turning Republican. Florida redrew its maps with the same underlying population data just four years ago.
Mid-decade redistricting in Florida was all but inevitable once Donald Trump made partisan map-drawing a national priority. Florida’s Republican legislators had little incentive – or political cover – to resist.
I’m a political scientist, and my research focuses on voting and elections. I’ve served as an expert in redistricting cases in Florida, and I’ve been tracking Florida voters’ opinions on DeSantis’ 2026 redistricting efforts.
What Florida voters think about gerrymandering overall
University of Florida Ph.D. student Rolland Grady and I conducted a representative survey of more than 2,300 Florida registered voters drawn randomly from the publicly available Florida voter file.
Participants had one week, from April 6-13, 2026, to fill out our web-based survey linked to an email invitation. We did not offer any incentives to respondents providing us with their opinions.
The results show broad, principled opposition to partisan gerrymandering in Florida. Roughly two-thirds of Florida voters we contacted said they oppose redrawing district lines to advantage a political party.
What they think about their own party gerrymandering
But beyond gauging how Florida voters feel about gerrymandering in theory, we wanted to see how they responded to actual scenarios of mid-decade redistricting, and whether it mattered to them which party was leading the redistricting.
So we designed an experimental survey: Before respondents were asked how they felt about mid-decade redistricting, each participant was randomly shown one of five different statements.
The control version of this statement read, “The redrawing of congressional district boundaries typically occurs every 10 years, immediately following the U.S. Census.”
The other versions gave that control statement, and then added information about a particular state – California, Texas or Florida – that was redrawing its maps, and which party was endorsing that gerrymandering.
Finally, there was a version of the statement that included the control statement, told voters that Republican Ron DeSantis was endorsing the redistricting in Florida, and then added a third line of text: “As you might know, in 2010 citizens in Florida passed the Fair Districts Amendment with bipartisan support of more than 60% of the vote.”
According to our survey results, Florida Democrats are intensely opposed to gerrymandering for partisan purposes when it is framed as benefiting Republicans. This strong opposition may increase the focus of big donors on Florida, helping to drive fundraising for Democratic candidates. It may also mobilize some Democrats to come out to the polls in November. But when it comes to persuasion, most Democrats who plan to vote in the midterm elections are already highly engaged and unlikely to support GOP candidates anyway.
Florida Republicans also oppose mid-decade redistricting in the abstract. Not surprisingly, support for drawing lines to help the GOP increases when framed as something DeSantis is pursuing, but only by 15 percentage points.
This suggests some latent, principled discomfort among GOP voters. On the other hand, strong messaging from Republican leaders, particularly Trump, in the run-up to the election may override concerns about fairness. Partisanship and leader-motivated behavior will drive many Republican voters to rationalize the GOP’s effort to increase their congressional margins by four seats.
Where independent voters fall
Finally, our poll finds that Florida independent voters have strong and consistently principled opposition to partisan gerrymandering; their support rarely exceeds 15% under any condition. But in Florida, independent voters, who are often registered with no party affiliation, are less politically organized or active than registered Republicans and Democrats. And it’s likely that these voters redrawn into a new congressional district will be even less knowledgeable about who represents them when it’s time to pick candidates.
It is possible that Democrats will be able to use GOP gerrymandering in November to get independent voters to the polls and oppose Republican candidates. But opposition to gaming the system is just one of many factors that will shape how independents vote. Other issues, such as concerns over the rising cost of living, immigration, foreign policy and presidential approval, usually play a much greater role in determining candidate choice in midterm elections.
The Florida GOP’s mid-decade redistricting gambit reveals a troubling truth about American democracy: Voters oppose partisan gerrymandering in principle but tolerate it in practice when their side benefits.
So even though a majority of Florida voters disapprove of the GOP’s effort to tilt the state’s map even further toward electing Republicans, I’m not expecting widespread punishment of Republican incumbents due to these redistricting efforts.
DeSantis is betting that Trump’s influence will paper over GOP voters’ discomfort, that Democrats will stay demoralized, and that independents will stay home in November.
How GOP gerrymandering could backfire
But just because the GOP’s gerrymandering won’t sway voters away from their party doesn’t mean it won’t end up hurting them at the polls.
DeSantis’ map crams Democrats into just four of 28 districts – a high-stakes gamble that requires lightning to strike twice. To succeed for the GOP, the map requires both 2024’s Democratic and independent voter apathy and 2022’s swing to the right by independents.
But midterms tend to bring lower turnout, and today’s economic squeeze plus Trump’s dismal approval ratings make another 2022-style GOP surge highly unlikely.
The worst case for the GOP would be a 2018-style blue wave. It would destroy DeSantis’ gerrymander and could potentially flip three South Florida GOP seats and two in Central Florida to Democrats. Aggressive redistricting may meet unintended consequences come November.
See you in court
Florida Democrats and other groups will likely sue under the state constitution’s Fair Districts amendments, which were adopted in 2010 by Florida voters of all political stripes. These amendments to the Florida Constitution expressly prohibit redrawing districts with the intent to favor or disfavor a political party or an incumbent.
But DeSantis and his lawyers are setting the stage to defend the mid-decade partisan gerrymander. They fully expect that the Florida Supreme Court will strike down the Fair Districts amendments’ ban on partisan redistricting. The odds are stacked against the citizens of Florida who support fair districts.
In my view, the real losers here are the Florida voters, particularly those who approved the state’s Fair Districts amendments in 2010, which were a bipartisan triumph.
Daniel A. Smith is an Advisory Board Member of Common Cause Florida and President of ElectionSmith.
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The country superstar has disappeared from the public eye. Continue reading…The Boot – Country Music News, Music Videos and Songs
The country superstar has disappeared from the public eye. Continue reading…Country Music News – Taste of Country
If you’re shopping at Walmart and looking to stock up on fiber-rich food and drink options, fill your cart with these products and thank us later.
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Ella Langley is undoubtedly having a major moment in country music right now and that momentum was recognized in a big way last night when she was honored with the Powerhouse Award at Billboard’s Women in Music event.
The event took place at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, California, bringing together a powerful lineup of female artists and industry leaders for a night dedicated to celebrating some of the most influential voices in music today.
When it was time for Langley to be recognized, Lainey Wilson, a recipient of the Billboard Rulebreaker Award in 2023, stepped up to the stage and presented her fellow country superstar with this year’s Powerhouse award.
“She comes from the kind of place where you learn early how to work hard, tell the truth, and stand ten toes down in who you are and the stories you were born to tell. That’s what makes this Powerhouse Award feel so right,” Wilson stated.
“That right there is a powerhouse if I have ever seen one, Ella, come on over here, girl,” she added before inviting Langley to join her on stage. The Alabama native began her speech by joking that she had “procrastinated” writing down what she would say in the moment, so instead she spoke from the heart.
“Lainey, I love you so much. I’m so grateful you’re here. Thank you for sitting at dinner with me. I love you so much. Thank you, Billboard, for recognizing country music in this way. And I mean, Lord, it’s just crazy to see what’s happening and thank you for having me here. I’m so grateful for the women on my team. My team is predominantly women, so I’m very grateful for women tonight because I would not be standing here without them at all,” Langley gushed.
She went on to name several members of her team, including her manager, her photographer and her stylist for all the do to help in her life each day. Closing out her speech, Langley reflected on what the Powerhouse Award means to her, sharing that it represents “strength,” “resilience,” and the determination to keep pushing forward for a dream she’s had her entire life.
“It’s coming back when you don’t necessarily want to, but you feel like I’m going to. I’m going to fight for this. I’m going to fight for this thing that I love to do. And this is something I’ve wanted to do my whole entire life. There hasn’t been another dream for me. There wasn’t a day that I wanted to be anything else. So to get this award, I think all those years of kicking down doors to me, powerhouse didn’t go to waste, I guess. And here it is with me winging it. Thank you so much, Billboard,” she added.
Later on in the evening, Langley treated guests to a performance of her chart-topping “Choosin Texas.”
The praise from her friend Wilson started on the red carpet, prior to presenting the award. In a conversation with Good Morning America, she emphasized how “important” it is as women to hold hands, show support and always lift each other up. Wilson also expressed her admiration for the “Choosin’ Texas” singer/songwriter and the impact she’s making on this generation of country music.
“When I found out that Ella wanted me to be here to present her the Powerhouse Award, I was like, ‘I’ll be there. I’ll be there in a heartbeat.’ I’m so proud of her. I feel like what she is doing and has done is just, it’s unreal and she is kicking down barn doors and I’m just proud of my friend.”
When asked what, in her eyes, makes Langley a powerhouse and deserving of the award, Wilson responded, “Her grit, her grind. She has this fire about her that you kind of have to have in this business, but she’s got a little bit of that extra, that thing, you know what I’m saying? When she walks into a room, she’s not just walking into it. She is kicking the door open.”
In addition to Ella Langley, the night also honored female acts across various other genres including KPop Demon Hunters (EJAE, AUDREY NUNA, and REI AMI), The Beaches, BINI, Kehlani, Laufey, Mariah the Scientist, Tate McRae, Teyana Taylor, Thalía, and Zara Larsson, and Executive of the Year Beth Matthews.
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Old-school restaurants are often known for being a little stuck in their ways, and this diner falls into that category. Here’s why ketchup is off limits there.
Mashed – Fast Food, Celebrity Chefs, Grocery, Reviews
The Double Down 2026 Tour will include baseball and football stadiums nationwide. Continue reading…The Boot – Country Music News, Music Videos and Songs
The Double Down 2026 Tour will include baseball and football stadiums nationwide. Continue reading…Country Music News – Taste of Country