Aug. 17—The word out of Ubben Basketball Complex this summer about has been positive.

Visit rouesnews.click for more information.

That the junior guard on the Illinois women's basketball team has had a very good summer.

It's no surprise the 5-foot-7 Peoria native would make progress in her second full offseason program with the Illini. But it's also an important step for her after a sophomore year that had its share of highs and lows.

That summer of growth continued when Guyton played for the Brazil senior women's national team at the AmeriCup South American qualifiers. Brazil ended up taking third place after finishing 3-2 at the event to earn a place in the 2027 AmeriCup, with Guyton averaging 14.4 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game on 44/30/57 shooting.

Guyton did more than enough at the tournament to impress Brazil coach , who selected Guyton and fellow Illinois teammate for her roster at the FIBA Women's Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournament.

The Illini will have three players there, as forward will play for Team Canada. The Olympic pre-qualifying tournament starts today and runs until next Sunday in Guadalajara, Mexico. It's a pathway for national teams to eventually qualifying for the 2028 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

"Really proud of her," Illinois associate head coach said of Guyton's performance for her national team this summer. "You know, I think the major thing that she's doing that's she carrying over from here is I'm seeing her lead on the court. Their team gets an offensive rebound, their kicking it back out and she's setting the team up and getting them in what they need. ... She's playing really hard. Aaliyah can shoot the ball. We all know that. We've experienced it here."

But McEntire wasn't done there.

She was even more effusive in her praise of Guyton.

That a more confident, comfortable Guyton has really shown up this summer. Those strides started after her sophomore year ended in late March with the Illini's second-round NCAA tournament loss to Vanderbilt and have continued through the spring and into eight weeks of summer workouts and now with team Brazil.

"Aaliyah actually looks really different," McEntire said. Guyton produced 6.3 points, 2.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game last season on on 39/38/85 shooting.

"I'm excited for everybody to see her," the Illinois associate head coach continued. "She put in a ton of work in the spring in getting healthy. She put a ton of focus on her body. She was meal-prepping every night. Her and a couple of her teammates got in on that together. And so, they were cooking every night. She's transformed her body. She feels very strong right now (and) is moving really well. I think those are the biggest growth areas that she's had during the spring into the summer so far."

Read full story at source

The Associated Press on Monday, Aug. 17, released its annual preseason AP Top 25 poll, an annual tradition that marks college football one step closer to the start of the season.

And, of course, generates plenty of talking points.

Visit somethingsdifferent.biz for more information.

REQUIRED READING: College football rankings: SEC teams in preseason US LBM Coaches Poll top 25

Much like the US LBM Coaches Poll that was unveiled on Aug. 4 for the 2026 season, Big Ten programs Ohio State and Oregon take up the top two spots in the AP poll. They are followed by Georgia, Texas and Notre Dame to round out the top five (the only difference between the two polls is a swap of the Longhorns and Fighting Irish).

The SEC has nine teams represented in the earliest iteration of the 2026 college football rankings, matching the number from the Coaches Poll. Georgia and Texas lead the way in the top five, followed by Texas A&M, Ole Miss and Oklahoma in the top 10; LSU and Alabama in the top 15; Tennessee in the top 20; and Missouri as the last team ranked.

Vanderbilt, coming off a season in which it went 10-3 and featured a Heisman Trophy finalist in quarterback Deigo Pavia, was not ranked in the top 25. Instead, the Commodores finished with eight total votes. What other SEC programs received votes in the preseason AP Top 25? Here's a look:

SEC teams in preseason AP Top 25

SEC teams bolded. First-place votes in parentheses.

1. Ohio State (40)
2. Oregon (14)
3. Georgia
4. Notre Dame (6)
5. Texas
6. Indiana (8)
7. Miami (1)
8. Texas A&M
9. Ole Miss
10. Oklahoma
11. LSU
12. Texas Tech
13. Alabama
14. BYU
15. Southern California
16. Michigan
17. Washington
18. Penn State
19. SMU
20. Tennessee
21. Utah
22. Iowa
23. Houston
24. Louisville
25. Missouri

Others receiving votes: Clemson 112, Florida 51, Boise State 43, Arizona 32, TCU 11, Navy 10, South Carolina 10, Illinois 9, Oklahoma State 8, Vanderbilt 8, Pittsburgh 7, Virginia Tech 6, Minnesota 5, UNLV 4, New Mexico 4, Georgia Tech 4, Louisiana 4, James Madison 3, Auburn 3, Memphis 2, California 2, Liberty 1, Western Michigan 1, Tulane 1, Virginia 1.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: College football rankings: Preseason AP Top 25 for SEC

Read full story at source