3bet999 Andrej Stojakovic made 11 free throws to help craft a team-high 20 points, freshman Jeremiah Wilkinson had his second consecutive big game off the bench and Cal ran its winning streak to three with an 83-77 nonconference victory over Sacramento State on Sunday afternoon in Berkeley, Calif. Wilkinson finished with 16 points and Rytis Petraitis 13 for the Golden Bears (5-1), whose only loss this season was at Vanderbilt. Jacob Holt went for a season-high 25 points for the Hornets (1-4), who dropped their fourth straight after a season-opening win over Cal State Maritime. Seeking a fourth straight home win, Cal led by as many as 12 points in the first half and 40-33 at halftime before Sacramento State rallied. The Hornets used a 14-5 burst out of the gate following the intermission to grab a 47-45 lead. Julian Vaughns had a 3-pointer and three-point play in the run. But Cal dominated pretty much the rest of the game, taking the lead for good on a Petraitis 3-pointer with 14:50 remaining. Stojakovic, a transfer from rival Stanford, went 11-for-15 at the foul line en route to his third 20-point game of the young season. Cal outscored Sacramento State 26-17 on free throws to more than account for the margin of victory. Coming off a 23-point explosion in his first extended action of the season, Wilkinson hit five of his 10 shots Sunday. The Golden Bears outshot the Hornets 47.2 percent to 43.1 percent. Joshua Ola-Joseph contributed 10 points and six rebounds, Mady Sissoko also had 10 points and Petraitis found time for a team-high five assists. Holt complemented his 25 points with a game-high eight rebounds. He made four 3-pointers, as did Vaughns en route to 18 points, helping Sacramento State outscore Cal 30-21 from beyond the arc. EJ Neal added 16 points for the Hornets, while Emil Skytta tied for game-high assist honors with five to go with seven points. --Field Level MediaBudget squeeze: Bendigo Health forced to spend an extra $4.3m on WorkCover

Both Oklahoma and Providence are hoping they'll have key pieces back in place when the two undefeated teams square off in the first round of the Battle 4 Atlantis on Wednesday in Paradise Island, Bahamas. The Friars (5-0) are expected to have Bryce Hopkins available, according to a report from Field of 68. Hopkins was averaging 15.5 points and 8.6 rebounds last season before suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament Jan. 3. He returned to full-go practices last week, and Tuesday, Providence coach Kim English said Hopkins would be a "game-time decision" against the Sooners. "It's been a process," English said. "We're not rushing it." But English praised Hopkins' progress since the Friars' last game, Nov. 19, when Hopkins went through pregame warmups. "I thought he looked better than I remembered," English said. "He's been in our system for the past year. His patience, his understanding, his versatility on offense and defense ... it's been great to see him in practice." The Sooners (4-0) are hopeful that they'll get Brycen Goodine back. Goodine played for the Friars for two seasons from 2020-22 before transferring to Fairfield for two seasons and then to Oklahoma this offseason. Goodine suffered an ankle injury in the Sooners' opener Nov. 4 and has not played since. "He's a really tough kid and trying to push through it," Oklahoma coach Porter Moser said. "It will truly be one of those game-time decisions. He hasn't gone a full practice yet, just been pieces of practices." Playing with Goodine and Jadon Jones, expected to be two of the Sooners' top outside shooters, Moser said he's learned plenty about his team's offense. "When you're down those shooters, it's really a great weapon to know that a lot of other guys can knock down the open shot," Moser said. "It's been a huge takeaway." The Sooners have been led by Jalon Moore, who is averaging 18.8 points per game, and freshman Jeremiah Fears, who is averaging 15.5. Providence has been led by senior guard Bensley Joseph, who is averaging 11.8 points and 4.0 assists per game. Oklahoma has not played a game closer than 16 points yet this season, with an average margin of victory of 24 points. Providence has won its five games by an average of nearly 17 points per game. The teams will square off against either Davidson or No. 24 Arizona in the second round Thursday, with the winners playing each other in one semifinal while the losers play in a consolation semifinal. --Field Level MediaIndiana football coach Curt Cignetti was named the Home Depot National Coach of the Year on Thursday night during the College Football Awards Show broadcast on ESPN. Cignetti has led Indiana to the nation's biggest turnaround in his first year with the Hoosiers. At 11-1, the Hoosiers have improved by eight games from the 2023 season, and the Hoosiers have reached the College Football Playoff for the first time. Indiana's 11 victories are a school record and mark the first double-digit win season in Hoosier history. The Hoosiers went 8-1 in Big Ten play, which is the most Big Ten wins by an IU team since joining the conference in 1900. Indiana will take on Notre Dame in the playoff's opening game on Friday, Dec. 20, inside Notre Dame Stadium at 8 p.m. The game will air on ABC/ESPN with a special Friday night College GameDay on site in South Bend starting at 3:30 p.m. and leading up to kickoff. Cignetti is also a finalist for the Eddie Robinson National Coach of the Year and a part of the Paul "Bear" Bryant Coach of the Year Award watch list. Earlier this month, he was named the Hayes-Schembechler Big Ten Coach of the Year from the conference coaches and the Dave McClain Coach of the Year from the media that covers the Big Ten.

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Costco ( COST 0.88% ) is a store I frequent almost weekly, thanks to the good prices and the shockingly fresh produce. That said, I've never owned the stock, even though it has the type of impressive dividend record that attracts my attention. Sometimes I wish I had bought it, though, because paying full price for a great company can often lead to strong returns. But what about buying it today? Would adding Costco to your portfolio right now set you up for a lifetime of strong returns? Costco's business model is strong The first thing that investors have to get their heads around when it comes to Costco is the business. It is not your typical retailer -- it is a club store. Customers, like me, pay a yearly fee for the privilege of shopping at Costco. Those membership fees, which basically have no costs associated with them, make up around half of the retailer's operating income. That changes the retail game in a very important way. Basically, Costco looks at its business in a totally different way because it isn't earning all of its money from product sales. Thus, keeping customers happy becomes the core objective, so it can keep those membership fees rolling in. The three primary ways it does this is by having cheap prices (membership fees allow it to accept lower margins), creating an enjoyable shopping experience, and having a great selection of products. The long-term success of the business tells you that it has succeeded quite well overall. The numbers speak for themselves. Over the past decade, revenues have grown at a compound annual rate of around 8.5%, while earnings have expanded at a 13.5% clip. As noted, the dividend has been increased every year for two decades, with the past decade's annualized dividend growth a very impressive 12%. Costco is the kind of retailer you'd want to own, but... I'm leery of retail stocks because, in general, retailers tend to go in and out of favor. When people move on to a different retailer, the financial effect on a now out-of-favor retailer can be very hard (think bankruptcy). It's why I prefer to own retail-focused real estate investment trusts (REITs), which can collect rent no matter what retailer occupies a well-located property. But Costco is one of those retailers that has bucked the trend because of its strong business model. The problem is that Wall Street knows just how good the company is, and it doesn't go on sale very often. COST PE Ratio data by YCharts. That's why investors looking at Costco will probably want to keep it on the wish list and not the buy list today. Using traditional valuation metrics is all you need. The price-to-sales ratio is around 1.6x today, versus a five-year average closer to 1x. The price-to-earnings ratio is 56x right now, versus a longer-term average that is just under 41x. Its price-to-cash flow and price-to-book values are both notably above their five-year averages, too. The dividend yield, my preferred valuation tool, is a tiny 0.5%, compared to a five-year average of around 0.7%. Almost any way you cut it, Costco is an expensive stock today. To be fair, I expect Costco to look expensive relative to the broader market just about all the time. The problem is that Costco looks particularly expensive relative to its own history right now. To paraphrase famed value investor Benjamin Graham , paying too much for a good company can be a bad investment. The current call on Costco Overall, Costco is a very well-run company with an advantaged business model. There are a lot of things to like about it, and it should probably be on most investors' wish lists. But right now, given the lofty valuation, it probably shouldn't be on your buy list. Buying it at the right price could set you up for life ... overpaying just to own it could leave you with "dead money" for years to come.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Darren Rizzi would be an unconventional choice to take over the New Orleans Saints' head coaching job on a permanent basis. That doesn't mean it can't happen. The Saints (4-7) had been on a seven-game skid when Rizzi, the club's special teams coordinator, was promoted. They've since won two straight, and as the club entered its Week 12 bye, prominent players were already discussing their desire to continue improving Rizzi's resume. “He’s definitely had an impact on our football team,” quarterback Derek Carr said after New Orleans' 35-14 victory over Cleveland last weekend. “We want to keep winning so that maybe he gets a chance to be the coach here for a long time. “That’s what we want as players,” Carr continued. "Hopefully, we can continue to have success, keep winning and give him that opportunity.” Before the Saints' demoralizing defeat at Carolina precipitated the firing of third-year coach Dennis Allen , Rizzi had never been a head coach at the NFL or major college level. The north New Jersey native and former Rhode Island tight end got his first head coaching job at Division II New Haven in 1999. He also coached his alma mater in 2008 before moving to the NFL with Miami in 2009 as a special teams assistant. By 2010, he was the Dolphins' special teams coordinator and added the title of associate head coach in 2017 before ex-Saints coach Sean Payton lured him to New Orleans in 2019. A common thread shared by Payton and Rizzi is that both worked under Bill Parcells. Parcells — known best for winning two Super Bowls as coach of the New York Giants — was coaching the Dallas Cowboys when Payton was his offensive coordinator. Rizzi, who grew up a Giants fan during the Parcells era, got to know his childhood idol during his first couple years in Miami, where Parcells executive vice president of football operations. Since his promotion, Rizzi has spoken to both Payton and Parcells. And he has begun to employ motivational techniques reminiscent of Payton, who left New Orleans in 2022 as the franchise leader in wins (152 in the regular season and nine in the postseason — including New Orleans' lone Super Bowl triumph). Payton as a big believer of symbolic imagery and motivational props, from baseball bats distributed before contests that were expected to be especially physical to gas cans left in the lockers of aging veterans whose performance was key to the club's success. Rizzi, who describes himself as a “blue collar” guy, has his own spin on such things. He began his tenure by asking players to accept individual responsibility for the metaphorical hole the team had dug itself and asked them all to embrace the idea of filling it up — one shovelful at a time. He even has brought a shovel — as well as a hammer, tape measure, level and other construction tools — to team meetings to help make his points. Saints tight end Taysom Hill, who also plays on special teams, has gotten to know Rizzi well during a half-decade of working together. Hill doesn't sound surprised to see Rizzi's combination of work ethic, enthusiasm and personal touch resonating across the entire team now. He also made a lot of changes , from weekly schedule adjustments to reconfiguring players' lockers by position. “He has a really good pulse on what we need collectively as a team to get ready for a football game," said Hill, who scored three touchdowns and accounted for 248 yards as a runner, receiver, passer and returner against Cleveland. “Guys have responded to that.” Because Rizzi's first victory came over the first-place Atlanta Falcons , and because the Falcons lost again last week, the Saints now trail Atlanta by just two games with six to play. Suddenly, the idea of the Saints playing meaningful football down the stretch is not so far-fetched. “We’re starting to get our swag back, and that makes me happy,” Rizzi said. ”We’re going to have some downtime now to kind of press the reset button again and see if we can make a push here." When the Saints return to action at home against the Los Angeles Rams on Dec 1, they'll do so with a level of momentum and positivity that seemed to steadily drain out of the club between their first loss of the season in Week 3 through the six straight setbacks that followed. While Saints players have tended to blame themselves for Allen's demise, they've been quick to credit Rizzi for the turnaround. “He’s pointed us and steered the ship in the right direction,” Carr said. “Hopefully, we can just keep executing at a high level for him, because we love him.” AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nflBoth Oklahoma and Providence are hoping they'll have key pieces back in place when the two undefeated teams square off in the first round of the Battle 4 Atlantis on Wednesday in Paradise Island, Bahamas. The Friars (5-0) are expected to have Bryce Hopkins available, according to a report from Field of 68. Hopkins was averaging 15.5 points and 8.6 rebounds last season before suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament Jan. 3. He returned to full-go practices last week, and Tuesday, Providence coach Kim English said Hopkins would be a "game-time decision" against the Sooners. "It's been a process," English said. "We're not rushing it." But English praised Hopkins' progress since the Friars' last game, Nov. 19, when Hopkins went through pregame warmups. "I thought he looked better than I remembered," English said. "He's been in our system for the past year. His patience, his understanding, his versatility on offense and defense ... it's been great to see him in practice." The Sooners (4-0) are hopeful that they'll get Brycen Goodine back. Goodine played for the Friars for two seasons from 2020-22 before transferring to Fairfield for two seasons and then to Oklahoma this offseason. Goodine suffered an ankle injury in the Sooners' opener Nov. 4 and has not played since. "He's a really tough kid and trying to push through it," Oklahoma coach Porter Moser said. "It will truly be one of those game-time decisions. He hasn't gone a full practice yet, just been pieces of practices." Playing with Goodine and Jadon Jones, expected to be two of the Sooners' top outside shooters, Moser said he's learned plenty about his team's offense. "When you're down those shooters, it's really a great weapon to know that a lot of other guys can knock down the open shot," Moser said. "It's been a huge takeaway." The Sooners have been led by Jalon Moore, who is averaging 18.8 points per game, and freshman Jeremiah Fears, who is averaging 15.5. Providence has been led by senior guard Bensley Joseph, who is averaging 11.8 points and 4.0 assists per game. Oklahoma has not played a game closer than 16 points yet this season, with an average margin of victory of 24 points. Providence has won its five games by an average of nearly 17 points per game. The teams will square off against either Davidson or No. 24 Arizona in the second round Thursday, with the winners playing each other in one semifinal while the losers play in a consolation semifinal. --Field Level Media