Sports Illustrated Nov-09-15 NCAA College Basketball Preview

KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR The six-time NBA MVP, who converted to Islam in 1968, discusses the public's reaction to Muslim athletes today and how he expanded his career as an author after retiring in 1989. MAGGIE GRAY:What do you think the response would be today if a high-profile athlete converted to Islam? KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR: I don't think there should be any great uproar about it, unless that person started talking about some of the horrible things that certain people who claim to be Muslim do. As long as that person could be themselves and be an upstanding citizen, I think they should be allowed to have their religious freedom.... [Their religion] doesn't have to be something that makes us alienate them, unless they take a hostile or contrary attitude to being a U.S. citizen. MG:Do you…

Yost Toast Royals catcher Salvador Perez delivered a liquid tribute to manager Ned Yost after a 7--2, 12-inning victory over the Mets in Game 5 of the World Series on Sunday. The win was, typically, a come-from-behind job—Kansas City trailed 2--0 entering the ninth, then rallied for the eighth time in the postseason—and it clinched the second championship in franchise history, the first since 1985. Perez, who hit .364, was named the Series MVP (page 24). Riding Into History Victor Espinoza guided American Pharoah to a 6½-length win last Saturday in the final race of the colt's brilliant career, the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic at Keeneland Race Course (Point After). The victory took place just 70 miles from Churchill Downs, where Pharoah won the Kentucky Derby in May, the first leg of…

FOR OCT. 26, 2015 Learning about the cadre of contributors—producers, directors, announcers, cameramen and even rats—who helped capture the purity and electricity of Carlton Fisk's walk-off homer, I thought: Now that's teamwork. Eric Atwood, Marietta, Ga. Reading Tom Verducci's article about Game 6 of the 1975 World Series, I was struck by how different today's TV coverage is. Instead of trying to reach the largest audience possible, the majority of postseason games are now televised by secondary cable networks, bringing in significantly smaller audiences. Eric Larson, Maplewood, N.J. Rather than label Michigan punter Blake O'Neill a goat, Michael Rosenberg could have found a herd of goats on the Wolverines' coaching staff. By sending two gunners down the field to cover a punt that no one was back to receive, the coaches left eight men to…

THE 2015 Patriots are 7--0, or 8--0 if you count court cases, which has spurred talk about whether they can go undefeated. Sure they can. But should they? Going undefeated is like ice climbing: It sounds like fun until you actually try it. When teams start a season by reeling off a bunch of victories, they often end it by watching somebody else win the Super Bowl. The 1972 Dolphins were the last NFL team to go unbeaten. Since then, quite a few teams have looked like they might go undefeated, most notably the '85 Bears and the 2007 Patriots. Chicago lost once, in its 13th game—to Miami, appropriately—and that New England team won 18 straight games before losing to the Giants and David Tyree's helmet catch in Super Bowl XLII. If everybody…

DOES SUCCESS breed stability or vice versa? Who knows, but since coach Bill Belichick (who took over in 2000) and Tom Brady ('01) teamed up, the Patriots have won 167* games, most in the NFL, and dominated an AFC East† otherwise rife with coach and quarterback turnover. [The following text appears within a chart. Please see hardcopy or PDF for actual chart.] Quarterbacks since 2001 Head Coaches since 2000 *Brady missed the 2008 season with an injury †The Colts moved to the AFC South in 2002 13 8 BILLS 16 8 DOLPHINS 11 5 JETS AL TIELEMANS FOR SPORTS ILLUSTRATED (BRADY);ELSA/GETTY IMAGES (BELICHICK)…

THIS HAD ALREADY been an eventful year for Cowboys All-Pro receiver Dez Bryant, who signed a five-year, $70 million contract in July, then fractured his right foot against the Giants in Week 1. Bryant returned to game action on Sunday in Dallas, but that was not even the most notable event of his past week. To wit: OCT. 25 Bryant gets into a shouting match with defensive end Greg Hardy late in a 27--20 road loss to the Giants after Hardy rips the special teams for giving up a 100-yard kickoff return in the team's fourth straight defeat. Bryant later insists it was "just football." OCT. 26 An Instagram photo of Bryant holding a baby capuchin monkey, which he named Dallas Bryant, with the caption, "My new best friend" goes viral. OCT. 28 For the first…