The SEC may have finally defeated court storming

This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here’s Mike Sykes.

Good morning, Winners! The SEC may have figured out the secret to crushing court storming after upset college basketball wins.

Well, it's not really a secret. They're just fining schools when their students rush the court following big wins. It's not that complicated, but it is expensive. Just ask Vanderbilt, where it hasn't necessarily worked the best.

The fine system certainly seemed to work wonders in College Station on Tuesday night when Buzz Williams asked the students not to rush the court after the team's win over No. 1 Auburn. Now, we can debate whether it was the SEC's fine system that was the deterrent here or whether it was Williams himself that students didn't want to cross. This is the same dude who stopped play in the middle of a game to tell students to "quit cussin'" years ago. Crossing him doesn't seem like a great idea.

Regardless, though, the celebration after the biggest game of the season for A&M was certainly muted. This is the exact result the powers that be in the SEC and college basketball wanted to see when they implemented the fine system to get the court rushes under control.

On one hand, you understand why. Those court rushes can be dangerous. It generally creates a hectic scene for players trying to leave the court. We've seen players and fans get tangled up and hurt during these situations. No one wants to see that happen and, furthermore, teams don't want to be liable for that sort of thing.

On the other hand, WOW, it sucked watching A&M win. I mean, look at this.

It just didn't really feel like college basketball at the end, you know? There was no big celebration. It just...kind of felt like a normal game.

That's fine, I guess. I can't complain about doing what's best to keep the players safe. That's ultimately a good thing.

But the energy missing here at the end is what has always made college basketball special as a sport. When you take it away, what do you have? What makes the game special? What gives you those feels?

Keeping court storming under control is important. But I hope we can still find some room to let these college kids be college kids.

The 50,000 point man

LeBron James' resume just keeps on getting wilder. James scored his 50,000th career point (regular season + playoffs) on Tuesday night. The dude is inevitable.

Guys, think about it. This is James' 22nd year in the NBA. He's been playing NBA basketball since most of the people you know had landline phones in their homes. Some of you youngins probably don't even know what that is.

What floors me every time about James getting one of these point total records is that I remember when the big knock on him was that he couldn't shoot. He wasn't a scorer's scorer. He didn't have skill.

And look at how he got his 50,000th career point — on a 3-pointer.

We've seen so many different iterations of this man. He's reshaped his game repeatedly to fit the era he's playing in as best as possible and has done that through two decades. That just never stops being impressive to me.

Congrats, Bron.

A soccer halftime show???

The World Cup is coming to the United State for 2026 and you just knew they'd have to be a little extra about it. We can't help ourselves in this country, unfortunately.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino confirmed that the World Cup final in 2026 will, indeed, half a halftime show. He posted this on Instagram Wednesday morning.

Think of it as the same way the Super Bowl has a halftime show, except it'll be soccer.

That's kind of what makes this weird. It's soccer! There's never usually a halftime show. The beautiful thing about this sport is that it's in-and-out. You get the 45 minutes of play plus stoppage, a 15-minute halftime and then the other 45 minutes of play plus the final stoppage. That's it.

Adding a halftime show will extend things by quite a bit. You've got to wonder if it'll throw the game's rhythm off, considering how unusual this is.

But you know how it goes. Sports these days are less about the sport and more about the spectacle. The World Cup wants to sell its game, just like the NFL sells football throw the Super Bowl. It's strange. But it is what it is.

The only question left to figure out is who will be performing. Drake? Is that you???

Quick hits: Shedeur Sanders is falling? ... Long live Around The Horn ... and more

— Shedeur Sanders falls pretty far in this latest NFL mock draft. Charles Curtis has more on that here.

— Tony Reali gave fans a heartfelt message after the final episode date for Around the Horn was revealed.

— Tiger Woods was really hungry during his last TGL match. Meg Hall has more on that.

— Here's Christian D'Andrea on the biggest NFL veterans released so far, including Davante Adams.

— Here's Bryan Kalbrosky on NBA players ineligible for awards this season because of injury, including Kyrie Irving.

— Robert Zeglinski put together a Mavs timeline of misery. This is so sad.

That's a wrap, folks. Thanks so much for reading. Happy Wednesday! Peace.

-Sykes ✌️