A man accused of breaking into a music store in Pittston, Pa., was asked by TV news crews if he had anything to say. He said, “Go Eagles.” The Super Bowl champs are in the playoffs.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Good morning. I’m Steve Inskeep. A Pennsylvania man was given a platform to speak and made use of it. Dale Sourbeck is accused of breaking into a music store in Pittston. Police say surveillance video shows him stealing two guitars. WNAP reports a TV camera caught the arrested man escorted to a police car. And when he was asked for comment, he replied, go Eagles. He was cheering on the Philadelphia pro football team that’s trying to return to the Super Bowl in the playoffs on Sunday. It’s MORNING EDITION.

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NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

We have a roundup of the week in sports, including the latest on the Chicago Bears, quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the Baylor Lady Bears women’s basketball team.

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Now, time for sports.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

SIMON: Da (ph) Bears, da Eagles, da playoffs. And where the stars at night are big and bright – Baylor’s Lady Bears hand the UConn Huskies their first regular season loss since – I don’t know – 1874. Tom Goldman joins us. How are you, Tom?

TOM GOLDMAN, BYLINE: I’m good. How are you?

SIMON: I’m fine. Thanks. How am I? The Bears are in the playoffs. The wildcard team…

GOLDMAN: (Laughter).

SIMON: They played last year’s Super Bowl champions, the Eagles, on Sunday. The Eagles are the reigning champions. They’re great. The Bears have a smothering defense with Khalil Mack at linebacker – probably the reigning defensive player in the league. I loved what he said yesterday – you live for these games. Now, isn’t defense considered even more important in the postseason?

GOLDMAN: You do live for these games, Scott.

SIMON: (Laughter).

GOLDMAN: Defense wins championships, right?

SIMON: Yes.

GOLDMAN: I mean, Bear Bryant said so.

SIMON: Yeah.

GOLDMAN: But, Scott, are you ready for some football science?

SIMON: Sure. Sure.

GOLDMAN: OK. Researchers at Cal State Northridge…

SIMON: Yeah.

GOLDMAN: …Set out to uncover whether the old adage…

SIMON: Whenever you say researchers, I know you’re going to spoil my good time. But go ahead. Yeah.

GOLDMAN: I thought you’d fall asleep. Yeah. The old adage, defense wins championships, they wanted to find out, is that true? And their statistical analysis found it is true. The fewer regular season yards a team gives up, that leads to more playoff wins. But they also discovered the more yards gained by an offense, the more playoff wins. So apparently, great defense and great offense wins championships, which, of course, means the Bears will need contributions from young Mitchell Trubisky in his first NFL playoff appearance and the rest of the offense.

SIMON: I just have to mention Tarik Cohen – 5-foot-6. If he were, in fact, going to be bar mitzvahed, he couldn’t reach the podium at 5-foot-6.

GOLDMAN: (Laughter).

SIMON: Just about the most fun runner to watch in the league – New York Times did a nice profile of him this week.

GOLDMAN: It’s always mind-boggling to think about looking down on NFL players. He is fantastic. Let’s not forget the Eagles also have a 5-foot-6 water bug, Scott. Darren Sproles has been dazzling and darting for 14 NFL seasons. His return from injury late in the season really helped the Eagles, along with backup quarterback Nick Foles. And they’ve got the Eagles fans thinking this team can beat those scary Bears in Chicago and make another run at the Super Bowl.

SIMON: I don’t even know why even they call Nick Foles a backup quarterback anymore.

GOLDMAN: I know.

SIMON: He’s always there when it counts.

GOLDMAN: I know.

SIMON: A 23-year-old starting quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs is kind of the obvious MVP pick this year, isn’t it?

GOLDMAN: He kind of is. Patrick Mahomes – he has taken full advantage of a league that does everything it can to make life easy for quarterbacks. This season – only his second in the NFL – he threw 50 touchdown passes. And he passed for over 5,000 yards. The only other QBs to throw at least 50 touchdown passes – guys named Tom Brady and Peyton Manning. And his style is just so much fun to watch. You know, he plays sandlot football, really. He’s thrown a pass left-handed. He’s thrown a no-look pass. The big question, of course, with his carefree style – can that succeed in the pressure cooker of the playoffs? I’ll bet it does.

SIMON: So is Tom Brady just kind of taking a nap, waiting for the playoffs to begin and show us what he’s made of all over again?

GOLDMAN: You know, outside the Boston area, it feels a little bit like he’s under the radar, out of the spotlight. You know, the Patriots had a workman-like season for them this year. And then when they lost a couple of games in a row in early December, that prompted the latest round of talks that the dynasty is over. But they have rallied. They won a key game last week. And Tom Brady looked like super Tom Brady. He threw four TD passes. They look like a team and a quarterback ready to go. I’ll bet teams still don’t want to play them in the postseason.

SIMON: And, as we mentioned, Baylor defeated UConn. Actually, I said 1812 or something like that – wasn’t it 2014 – first regular season loss UConn’s had. How did Baylor do it?

GOLDMAN: With size and great defense. UConn’s shooting percentage in that game was 29.4 percent. That’s reportedly the lowest in 20 seasons. The Huskies did the bulk of their scoring from long distance because going inside was an exercise in futility against Kalani Brown, 6’7″, Lauren Cox, 6’4″. Those two simply owned the territory around the basket. And now UConn has to start another streak that will last for a decade.

SIMON: NPR sports correspondent Tom Goldman, thanks so much for being with us, my friend.

GOLDMAN: You’re welcome.

(SOUNDBITE OF STEVE WINWOOD’S “PHOENIX RISING”)

Copyright © 2019 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

The University of Connecticut women’s basketball team did something on Thursday that it hasn’t done in years. It lost during the regular season, after having a stunning run of more than 100 victories.

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Something remarkable happened last night in women’s college basketball. The University of Connecticut lost.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: For the first time, Kim Mulkey’s got a win against number one. A signature upset in Waco, Texas.

(CHEERING)

CORNISH: Baylor managed to do something no team had done in years during the regular season – beat the mighty UConn Huskies. The streak ended at 126 games. Connecticut Public Radio’s Frankie Graziano was on campus today getting a reaction.

FRANKIE GRAZIANO, BYLINE: It was quiet at UConn’s student union. Students are on winter break. But junior Rushil Thakkar was there studying for a science test.

RUSHIL THAKKAR: One of the greatest dynasties in sports. But last night, they lost their streak after 126 games, which is pretty tragic. But still regular season.

GRAZIANO: For the students that were still on campus, there wasn’t a lot of concern about the basketball squad. Emily Reid is a junior who plays on the ice hockey team.

EMILY REID: It’s definitely the best team in the country. So it’s a really big deal, I’d say, when they lose just because it’s not frequent.

BOB JOYCE: To go that long over four years without a regular season loss is extraordinary at any level.

GRAZIANO: That’s Bob Joyce, the voice of the UConn women for 18 seasons. That includes a time the team went on another unbelievable run – four consecutive championships, 111 straight victories. No other team, men or women, had won that many games in a row in the history of NCAA Division I basketball.

JOYCE: It starts at practice. Their work ethic is extraordinary, and this is the result you get. And not only just this win streak, but all the national championships they’ve garnered over the last – the quarter-century, it’s just some amazing numbers that people can throw out at you.

GRAZIANO: UConn missed 70 percent of its shots in the loss against Baylor last night. No Huskies team had done that poorly since the 1990s. Mechelle Voepel covered the game for ESPN.

MECHELLE VOEPEL: To put this together and not really have very many nights – oh, heck – over the last 25, 30 years like they did last night just speaks to how incredibly consistent that they have been. And I think that’s something everybody who follows sports has to just sort of marvel at.

GRAZIANO: Voepel says there’s no reason for UConn fans to panic just yet. The team will be a favorite when the NCAA tournament starts in March. Despite UConn’s regular-season success, the school has gone several years without winning a national title. The team made it to the Final Four without losing a game in its last two years but lost both times in the semifinals. Back on campus, Rushil Thakkar, the science student, isn’t worried that the team’s dynasty is over, not with Geno Auriemma as head coach.

THAKKAR: I guess it’s just a credit to Geno to say that two losses in two years is something for concern for UConn women’s when, you know, there’s other teams out there that have lost much more than that.

GRAZIANO: The UConn Huskies get a chance to start another streak Sunday. That’s when they play the University of Houston. For NPR News, I’m Frankie Graziano in Hartford, Conn.

Copyright © 2019 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

The high school coach in Missouri is accused of using his triplet sons to cheat. An opposing team accuses the coach of swapping in one of his three sons to gain an advantage on the free throw line.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Good morning. I’m Rachel Martin. A high school basketball coach in Missouri is under pressure after allegedly using his triplet sons to cheat during a game. Rick Luna and his Dora High School team were playing Licking High over the weekend. Parents and players from Licking accused Coach Luna of secretly swapping in one of his three sons to gain an advantage on the free-throw line. You know, being triplets, the referee didn’t notice. An investigation is ongoing, but it won’t change the final score. Coach Luna and his team won by 2.

Copyright © 2019 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

The NFL playoffs begin this weekend and, like always, there’s plenty of drama and intrigue both on the football field and off. Which teams will make it a step closer to the Super Bowl?

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

You got to hand it to the NFL. The regular season began four months ago, immersed in controversy over player protests and declining TV ratings. And now here we are, the day before the playoffs start, with ratings back up and a lot of excitement about a postseason with, arguably, no clear favorites. Our co-host, Noel King, spoke with NPR sports correspondent Tom Goldman to give us a preview of what’s to come this playoff season.

NOEL KING, BYLINE: So before we get to this weekend’s games, what is behind the jump in TV ratings? What happened?

TOM GOLDMAN, BYLINE: Well, first, I will tell you what the ratings jump is. It’s a 5 percent climb compared to last season. Since this season started, 46 of the top 50 rated TV broadcasts were NFL games. And then the average number of viewers streaming NFL games was up a whopping 86 percent.

Now, Noel, there are going to be some who say it’s because the players have stopped protesting, or, at least, TV cameras are not showing them. But that’s perhaps giving too much significance to the protests causing ratings declines the previous couple of years. Really, the main reason ratings are back up is that the games have been great – tons of passing and scoring this season. There were a record number of touchdowns, a record number of games decided by three or fewer points, and NFL fans like that.

KING: So is this kind of exciting football with all the scoring going to continue on into the postseason?

GOLDMAN: Probably not.

KING: (Laughter) That’s a heartbreak.

GOLDMAN: Yeah, really. Sorry to let you down. In fact, offense did die down late in the season. Plus, Noel, as you well know, defense wins championships. And, in the playoffs, teams tend to slow things down. They play more conservatively, and a good defense becomes even more important.

KING: Getting boring, y’all.

GOLDMAN: (Laughter) Not boring. A lot of people love defense.

KING: (Laughter).

GOLDMAN: But those are the weirdos. OK (laughter).

KING: So let’s talk about this weekend’s wild-card round of the playoffs. These are the teams that are good enough to qualify for the postseason but not the teams with the best records who got the byes in this round.

GOLDMAN: Right.

KING: Which games do you – are you looking forward to most this weekend?

GOLDMAN: Let’s break it down into Saturday and Sunday. I’m calling tomorrow comeback Saturday. All four teams playing – Indianapolis, Houston, Seattle, Dallas – all four had rough starts and turned their seasons around, none more dramatically than Indianapolis. The Colts began the season losing five of their first six games. Quarterback Andrew Luck had missed the entire 2017 season because of a hurt throwing shoulder. And there were doubts he could lead them out of the early season hole. But he did it, and the Colts look really good right now.

KING: All right. So that’s Saturday. What about Sunday?

GOLDMAN: Sunday, you have Baltimore hosting the LA Chargers – no longer the San Diego Chargers. Now, Baltimore will start a 21-year-old rookie quarterback, Lamar Jackson. He’s the youngest quarterback ever to start a playoff game. He’s a dynamic player, fantastic runner, not as great of a passer yet. The Ravens also have the best defense in the NFL, and they’re going against a very good Chargers team led by veteran quarterback Philip Rivers. A couple of weeks ago, these two teams played, and Baltimore’s defense dominated. It should be an interesting rematch.

Then you’ve got defending champion Philadelphia against the Chicago Bears with their great defense. Now, Philly made it to the playoffs on the last day of the regular season behind backup quarterback Nick Foles, who, for a second straight year, has taken over after Philadelphia’s starting quarterback was injured. Now, last season, all Foles did was lead the Eagles to the Super Bowl title. This season, he’s led Philly to three straight wins, a playoff spot. And, Noel, eternally pessimistic Eagles fans are feeling the magic again.

KING: NPR’s Tom Goldman previewing the NFL playoffs. Thanks, Tom.

GOLDMAN: You’re welcome.

Copyright © 2019 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Noel King talks with New York Times reporter Howard Megdal about WNBA star Kristi Toliver, who’s also an assistant NBA coach — she’s being paid a fraction of the salary of other assistant coaches.

NOEL KING, HOST:

When Kristi Toliver was hired as an assistant coach by the Washington Wizards, she was just 1 of 3 active women coaches in the NBA. Coaching was a career goal for Toliver. She’s also a WNBA star. She plays point guard for the Washington Mystics. But a problem emerged. If she wanted to coach in the NBA, she’d need to accept a tiny salary – $10,000 a year. Now, NBA assistant coaches typically make $100,000 a year or more. Some make over a million.

Howard Megdal broke this story for The New York Times. He’s with me via Skype to explain why it is that a talented female coach is earning peanuts coaching men in the NBA. Good morning, Howard.

HOWARD MEGDAL: Good morning.

KING: So Kristi Toliver is a player and a coach. As a player, she makes a normal WNBA salary. As a coach, she’s earning next to nothing – $10,000 a year. How did that happen?

MEGDAL: Well, it happened, in part, because progress has exceeded what the collective bargaining agreement between the players and the WNBA allow for. So the last collective bargaining agreement called for players to be able to be paid up to $50,000 as a team for offseason work. Now, that offseason work, by definition, did not include coaching because at that time, there were not coaches who were WNBA players.

So she came up against a very simple issue, which is that $50,000 was the max that could be paid to all the players for offseason work, and 40,000 of that had already been promised to her Mystics teammate Elena Delle Donne.

KING: So we’ve got a talented woman coach, and she can’t make more than $10,000 a year. Did Kristi Toliver or the Wizards try to fight this? Because, as you lay out in your story, it is really galling. It just seems wildly unfair.

MEGDAL: And that is precisely it. It is galling and unfair. And, yes, they both tried to fight it. And the Wizards, to their credit, tried to do so as well.

KING: In your piece, you spoke to Kristi Toliver, and she seemed frustrated, but she also seemed pretty optimistic. What was your impression of her as a player, as a coach, as a person?

MEGDAL: I’ve covered Kristi for a long time. She’s one of the brightest people that you’re going to meet in any profession. So I wasn’t surprised about it. I also think there’s been an ethos in women’s basketball, and really women’s sports as a whole, that there’s an effort to trailblaze today so that tomorrow’s battles are a little bit easier to fight or don’t even have to be fought at all. And I think that may play a part in it.

KING: Even though Kristi Toliver is only one person in this situation, this is likely to come up in a new contract negotiation – that this is a very unfair set of circumstances?

MEGDAL: It will definitely come up. The players association is very committed to this. And for the league, it’s an opportunity to have a significant number of talented basketball minds coach, as well. So it’s an extra influx of talent. So it really is something that both sides have a financial interest in getting solved.

KING: Could this have happened with a male player who also wanted to coach? Say you’ve got a talented point guard, and he says, in the offseason, I want to coach a women’s team. Would he be in the same situation, where there is a cap on how much he could be paid as a coach?

MEGDAL: The short answer is nothing like that would occur. The cap is much higher than $50,000 on the men’s side. The money is significantly different as a whole in the NBA. And as a result, it simply wouldn’t be something that would be punitive for an NBA player who is tempted to do that.

KING: Howard Megdal is the editor of High Post Hoops, which is a site dedicated to women’s basketball, and he broke this story about Kristi Toliver in The New York Times. Thanks, Howard.

MEGDAL: Thank you.

(SOUNDBITE OF SABZI’S “SPEARMINT SPEARS”)

Copyright © 2019 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.