DENVER -- If it were up to Zion Williamson, he would have already made his debut for the New Orleans Pelicans.

That's what the No. 1 pick in the 2019 NBA draft told ESPN's Jorge Sedano prior to the Pelicans' Christmas night game against the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday.

Williamson told Sedano that he "trusts the organization" in its decision-making and said that his rehab process has been about more than just the recovery from surgery to repair the torn meniscus in his right knee.

The 19-year-old also said the Pelicans are trying to teach him how to walk and run differently -- working on the kinetic chain of his body.

In the past week, Williamson has slowly started working his way back. He's done individual shooting drills and group drills but hasn't gone 5-on-5 or even 3-on-3 just yet, only 5-on-0 drills.

After the Pelicans have finished a shootaround or practice in the past week, Williamson has stayed back with a group of coaches and staffers and worked for anywhere from an hour to 90 minutes walking through plays and running up and down the court.

New Orleans executive vice president of basketball operations David Griffin has said that Williamson has to pass preseason conditioning tests before he's cleared to make his debut.

The preseason conditioning tests are similar to the way an NFL player takes a preseason test in case of a concussion.

A source within the organization told ESPN that before Williamson makes his on-court return, the team would like him to undergo at least two or three practices doing full work. A source told Sedano the team is targeting just after the new year for those practices.

Williamson averaged 23.3 points and 6.5 rebounds on 71.4% shooting for the Pelicans in four preseason games. He missed the final game because of knee soreness and underwent surgery Oct. 21, the day before the regular season started.

Mitchell Swepson, the Queensland wrist spinner, is in line for a Test debut at the SCG and a place on next year's tour of Bangladesh after he was added to Australia's squad ahead of the final match of the series against New Zealand.

Having first toured with Australia's Test team to India in 2017, Swepson has been pulled out of the Brisbane Heat BBL squad in order to prepare for long-form bowling with the national squad during the Boxing Day Test at the MCG.

Peter Siddle, meanwhile, has been cleared from the Test squad to return to BBL duty with Adelaide Strikers, having been part of the team's lead-in to the MCG Test, where he had enjoyed notable success for Victoria in Sheffield Shield matches this season. The spare bowling spot in the Test team went to James Pattinson in place of the hamstrung Josh Hazlewood.

"Having Mitch in Sydney gives us the option to play two specialist spinners if the conditions demand," selection chairman Trevor Hohns said of Swepson. "We will make those assessments when we get to Sydney.

"Having Sids as the 13th man and his experience at the MCG has been invaluable. His insights have greatly assisted the fast bowlers for this Test and it was great having him around the group.

"James has been with the squad through the summer, has performed well in Sheffield Shield matches and is thoroughly deserving of his recall to the team."

Swepson has claimed 12 wickets at 26.58 for Queensland so far this season, including a match-winning haul of 7 for 92 including a hat-trick against Victoria at the MCG. He looms as the most likely spin bowling partner for Nathan Lyon on turning surfaces in Bangladesh in June, though the allround abilities of Ashton Agar saw him play alongside Lyon and Steve O'Keefe in Bangladesh in 2017.

Tellingly, Swepson has dramatically cut his economy rate this summer, conceding just 2.36 runs an over when he had never before been taken for fewer than 3.78 runs per over in a Shield season. Australia's tactics for Test matches under the coaching of Justin Langer have focused on a stifling pressure on opposing batsmen, particularly overseas.

There are fighters who found success in the Octagon, and there are fighters whose success transcended the Octagon.

The latter group featured superstars whose contributions weren't necessarily defined by their records. They didn't just excel in the sport, they changed it.

Over the past decade, three such athletes stood out for how they impacted MMA. One was a pioneer, one may be the greatest fighter of all time and someone associated with a landmark policy change and the other simply is the biggest star in the sport's history.

ESPN's Brett Okamoto, Jeff Wagenheim and Marc Raimondi break down the contributions that made these three the most influential over the past decade.

Conor McGregor

No fighter in the history of mixed martial arts has made a greater impact on the sport than McGregor has over the past decade. Period. End of discussion.

That is to take absolutely nothing away from any of the great athletes who have shaped and carried MMA to where it is today, but none of them came close to defining it as much as McGregor. The UFC's World Tour in 2015 -- the greatest promotional campaign the company has ever embarked on -- was because of McGregor. The UFC brand selling for $4 billion in 2016, was, in no small part, because of McGregor. A crossover event with Floyd Mayweather? That was because of McGregor. The Irishman's impact on MMA has been felt from a competitive and business standpoint. Amazing, when you consider he essentially did all of it in a span of roughly five years.

Of course, not all of McGregor's exploits can be characterized as positive. His persona and legacy have changed -- a lot -- in recent years. He's gone from virtually unknown, to star, to champion, to superstar, to spectacle in a very short amount of time. There is no denying McGregor is still good for a sport that has always fought for new viewers and mainstream attention, but the way in which he's demanding that attention has become disappointing.

Still, ask any sports fan if they are familiar with Conor McGregor, and the answer is very likely to be yes. He is the biggest star the sport has ever produced and it has reached a new level of popularity because of him.

-- Okamoto

Jon Jones

How Jon Jones defined the decade isn't as simple as looking at his record inside the Octagon. His impact may have started there, but it extends far beyond the steel structure.

Jones entered this decade coming off a defeat. OK, that's sort of a joke. The record does show a Jones loss to Matt Hamill in December 2009, but his disqualification for landing illegal elbows has been hotly disputed. And something no one will dispute: Until those forbidden elbows landed, Jones was obliterating Hamill with every attack allowable, as he has done to everyone else who has stepped into the cage with him, to varying degrees, before and especially since.

On March 19, 2011, Jones became the youngest champion in UFC history. And boy, did the 23-year-old do it in style. On the morning of his challenge of light heavyweight belt-holder Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, Jones and a couple of his coaches left their Newark hotel in search of a quiet place in northern New Jersey for meditation. What they stumbled upon instead was an elderly couple being robbed, whereupon Jones ran down the suspect and held him for police. Hours before the biggest cage fight of his life, Jones had become a crime fighter worthy of the Justice League.

Since taking the belt from Shogun, "Bones" has fought 13 times without a defeat. There have been other MMA greats this decade, but every one of them -- from Ronda Rousey to Demetrious Johnson -- has eventually faltered. Not Jones. He has remained the gold standard of sustained excellence inside the cage.

Outside the cage has been a different story. The fiascoes have kept on coming, from news conference brawl to hit-and-run car accident to disorderly conduct with a waitress in a strip club. For fans and especially UFC officials, Jones has been as much hold-your-breath as he's been breathtaking.

But some of Jones' failings have helped define the decade. Two of the three times he's been stripped of his title belt, it's been for failed drug tests. The Jones drug test saga has put a main-event spotlight on the UFC's transition from the testosterone-replacement therapy (TRT) era. It was intended as a leveling of the playing field, but it turned into what to all appearances was anything goes. Today we're in a current period of U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) rule, which has resulted in high-profile fights having to be canceled. For Jones, as with other top-shelf fighters who've run afoul of USADA, entire résumés have been shrouded by question marks.

A year ago, Jones failed a third drug test but was ultimately cleared, and that led to a defining moment: UFC 232 was moved in its entirety from Las Vegas to Los Angeles to allow his rematch with Alexander Gustafsson to go on. Despite all the turmoil Jones has created over the past decade, the change of venue demonstrated just how important this man continues to be for the fight promotion and the sport.

-- Wagenheim

Ronda Rousey

There is no separating Ronda Rousey and the growth of women's MMA over the past decade.

Rousey's skill, star power and charisma as Strikeforce champion convinced UFC president Dana White to allow women to fight for his promotion. Prior to Rousey's rise, White infamously said women would "never" compete in the UFC. He didn't think there was enough depth. Rousey changed his mind.

The first women's fight in UFC history was Rousey taking on Liz Carmouche in the main event of UFC 157 on Feb. 23, 2013. Rousey won with her trademark armbar submission at 4 minutes, 49 seconds of the first round. There were those at the time who disagreed with Rousey and Carmouche headlining over the co-main event between former champions Lyoto Machida and Dan Henderson. Now, almost seven years later, that notion seems ridiculous.

Including UFC 157, 13 UFC pay-per-view events and 27 total UFC cards (almost 10 percent) have been headlined by women. Rousey headlined a record six of those PPVs. Due to her marketability, dominance and no-nonsense approach, Rousey took a promotion that had no women's fights into one that regularly had women in featured spots.

"Ronda was the perfect person in the perfect place at the perfect time," said the PFL's Kayla Harrison, a former two-time Olympic judo champion and longtime friend of Rousey. ... "She opened up the door for women like me. She didn't even open it -- she kicked that s--- down."

Women in mixed martial arts didn't start with Rousey, of course. The Strikeforce headliner in 2009 pitting Cris Cyborg and Gina Carano on Showtime was extremely influential. Carano was one of Rousey's inspirations to fight after Rousey won the Olympic bronze medal in judo in 2008. Even before Cyborg vs. Carano, there were big women's fights.

But Rousey took things a giant step further in the UFC, where women are now essentially paid on average as much as men are -- a big difference between MMA and other major sports. Rousey brought with her the bantamweight division, but there are now four divisions for women in the UFC: strawweight, flyweight, bantamweight and featherweight.

Inside the cage, Rousey's run of dominance was unprecedented and may never be seen again. She started her career 6-0 with all first-round armbar submissions and was awarded the UFC women's bantamweight title when she signed in 2012 after holding the Strikeforce belt. The UFC purchased Strikeforce a year earlier.

Rousey (12-2) won her first six UFC fights, all but one by first-round stoppage. During one three-fight stretch in 2014 and 2015, she defeated Alexis Davis, Cat Zingano and Bethe Correia in a combined 64 seconds. Rousey became the biggest mainstream star in UFC history in 2015, crossing over into movies like "Furious 7," "Entourage" and "The Expendables 3."

Holly Holm ended Rousey's undefeated streak by knockout at UFC 193 on Nov. 15, 2015. Rousey returned at UFC 207 on Dec. 30, 2016, but was knocked out again by Amanda Nunes, essentially ending her MMA career. But Rousey's legacy was already cemented. She still holds the UFC women's record with six title defenses. In 2018, Rousey became the first woman inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame -- not just for her individual accomplishments, but how she transformed the game for women in MMA.

-- Raimondi

Take a guess at which Big 12 team allowed the fewest yards per game this season.

Baylor? After all, the Bears' fast, physical defense was the biggest reason the team won 11 games.

Wrong.

TCU? Gary Patterson's defensive wizardry regularly puts the Horned Frogs at or near the top of the league.

Incorrect.

The answer may surprise you: Oklahoma.

Yes, that Oklahoma. The one that a year ago fielded a defense that, at times, served as a punchline and was porous enough that coach Lincoln Riley made a midseason coordinator change.

While the Sooners once again ride a powerful offense and Heisman Trophy finalist into the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl, their defense will be the most valuable unit when they face LSU's explosive offense.

"I couldn't be happier with our defense," Riley said. "The way those guys have played with so much new; we knew it could be done here, and our guys believed it, our coaches believed it, and we got a pretty good defense here."

Under defensive coordinator Alex Grinch, the Sooners' defense transformed from liability to asset. With a focus on speed, simplicity, mentality and takeaways, Grinch led the unit from worst to first in average yardage allowed.

Choose your metric, chances are the Sooners have made dramatic improvements. Oklahoma made significant strides in points allowed per game (101st in the FBS in 2018; 48th this season), yards per play (102nd to 41st), third-down defense (119th to ninth), defensive efficiency (92nd to 34th) and defensive S&P+ (84th to 36th).

They were third in the Big 12 this season in scoring defense (behind Baylor and Kansas State), second in third-down efficiency, fourth in yards per play and fourth in defensive efficiency after finishing last or second-to-last in the league in each category in 2018.

Here's how they did it:

'Speed D'

Around the Switzer Center, the Sooners' team headquarters, defensive players can be seen roaming around the building in T-shirts with the phrase "Speed D" emblazoned across the chest.

It's a nickname that didn't originate in Norman, but dates back to Grinch's time as Washington State's defensive coordinator. It's there -- where Grinch accomplished the difficult task of fielding a quality defense opposite Mike Leach's pass-happy, Air Raid offense -- that he cultivated the identity that continues to be a staple of his defense today.

While having fleet-footed defenders helps (Grinch this spring had his defensive linemen lean up to get faster), it's not solely focused on foot speed.

"Speed D is really just about playing fast," safety Brendan "Bookie" Radley-Hiles said. "It's about knowing your responsibility from how the offense is going to line up. And once your eyes are in the correct place and you know what you're doing, you can play at a fast tempo."

To play fast, Grinch aims to simplify. The less players have to think about, the faster they can play.

"Coach Grinch's defense isn't crazy complex," Radley-Hiles said. "It's very simple, but you have rules. Once you follow those rules, you're anticipating, you're getting ready."

Effort is non-negotiable. Riley calls the unit an "effort-based defense," and that means players flying to the ball at maximum speed and playing to the whistle. The latter part has been critical for the Sooners this season, particularly in the Big 12 championship game.

Late in the fourth quarter with the Sooners clinging to a three-point lead, Baylor quarterback Jacob Zeno hit speedy receiver Chris Platt for a 78-yard gain. Platt was sprinting behind the defense and had nobody between him and the end zone, but Oklahoma cornerback Tre Brown chased him down from behind at the 17-yard line.

The Bears ended up settling for a field goal on the drive, tying the game rather than taking the lead, and the Sooners eventually went on to win in overtime."It's a bad play defensively, but it's everything that we talk about, what we want to be as a defense," Grinch said afterward. "Find a way. If that referee doesn't throw two hands in the air, we've got a shot to get a takeaway, or to hold to three [points]."

The Sooners have done a much better job of holding teams to field goals this season. After being dead last in the nation in 2018 by allowing touchdowns on 83.3% of opponent's red zone possessions, Oklahoma has trimmed that number to 62.8%, putting them 79th nationally.

In September, Grinch emphasized the importance of effort, saying "If we're not recognized for effort at the University of Oklahoma, then I'm a con man and they're a fraud."

Mentality

From the moment their season began -- a Sept. 1 home win over Houston -- Sooners defenders have cited their mentality as a key ingredient to their success.

After that victory, which was the unit's first live test-drive under Grinch, safety Pat Fields noted that "the attitude and the mentality of everybody was completely different."

Riley says that's where their success began.

"It first starts with mentality," he said. "You can have the greatest schemes in the world on any three sides of the ball, if you don't pair it with the right mentality, you got no chance."

Grinch's message to the defense focused on a series of "one-week evaluations" rather than looking at the collective body of work.

"It's [like] golf," he said. "You birdie the first hole and triple-bogey the second, it doesn't do you a whole lot of good on the scoreboard for a round of golf. It's the same thing for our sport."

It was his way of letting the players know that, just because they had a great performance one week, it didn't mean anything the next.

"Not necessarily talking about it but being about it," defensive tackle Neville Gallimore said. "Every day, just understanding it's not about what everyone's thinking and it's not about the outside noise, it's about how we plan to operate as a group. If we're not meeting that standard, I mean, winning's great, but it's about how we're trying to do it to our standard."

That standard means that Grinch is going to critique the details. Radley-Hiles recalled a time early in the season when he got a pass deflection, but Grinch showed him where he took an incorrect step that prevented him from turning it into an interception. Players appreciate Grinch's sweating of the small stuff and attack practice with the type of attitude and effort he desires.

He understood the mental hurdles his players had to clear after difficult times in the past

"I think these kids have been through a lot," Grinch said in November. "I think sometimes I discount what we took over. Maybe there were some ghosts in there that we've gotta make sure we have an understanding of as a defensive coaching staff that we're working through."

Said linebacker DaShaun White of Grinch: "That guy's given us an identity on the defensive side of the ball. Our confidence is so much higher... Credit to him for just really practicing our tails off and giving us confidence."

'Takeaways equal victory'

Those three words are one of Grinch's oft-used expressions and they ring true. Of the top 10 teams in the country in takeaways this season, nine of them have double-digit wins. Two of them (Clemson and Ohio State) are in the playoff; LSU is only a few takeaways behind them.

It's been perhaps the biggest point of emphasis for Grinch this season. Notably, the Sooners haven't produced takeaways at quite the clip he hoped. Currently they have 11, the same number they had in 2018, which puts them near the bottom of the FBS. A five-game turnover-less streak in the middle of the season disrupted what appeared to be positive early-season progress in that department.

However, when the Sooners have taken the ball away has been critically important.

Though it didn't officially go in the box score as a turnover, defensive back Parnell Motley intercepted Iowa State quarterback Brock Purdy on a two-point conversion late in the fourth quarter of the Sooners' 42-41 win over the Cyclones.

The next week, with his team trailing by double-digits at Baylor and the season on the line, Motley stripped Bears running back Ja'Mycal Hasty to end the streak and help spark an historic comeback. Late in the game, Nik Bonitto intercepted Baylor quarterback Charlie Brewer to seal that win.

Players say Grinch yells "Takeways! Takeaways!" before, during and after every drive. And if the Sooners don't have one by halftime, he'll write the word on the whiteboard immediately.

The five-game turnover-less streak in midseason was bookended by six takeaways in the Sooners' first four games and five in their last four.

While the defense has been good overall, the turnover ups and downs are symbolic of the fact that the Oklahoma defense has been far from perfect. The 48 points it allowed to Kansas State, when the Wildcats ran wild over the Sooners, was an eye-opener. The 20 points allowed in the fourth quarter of Iowa State was disconcerting as well. And a poor first half in the November clash with Baylor -- though it was aided by offensive turnovers -- made life difficult.

Facing LSU, the nation's third-highest scoring team, the FBS leader in yards per game, will be Oklahoma's toughest challenge to date. Not only will the Sooners face Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow and Biletnikoff Award winner Ja'Marr Chase, they'll have to do it without two key players. Oklahoma's sack leader, defensive end Ronnie Perkins, is suspended for the game and Delarrin Turner-Yell appears unlikely to play after suffering an injury in practice.

Riley said Monday that the Sooners are "not a one-man show up front" and expressed confidence in his team's ability to compensate for the loss of Perkins. Gallimore, who has been consistently disruptive at nose guard, and Kenneth Murray, a first-team All-Big 12 selection at middle linebacker, have been key cogs to the front seven all year long.

Regardless, the Sooners wouldn't be here without the efforts of their defense. In the Big 12 championship, Riley's offense had a fourth-and-3 at the Baylor 47 with fewer than 90 seconds left in a tie game. Rather than go for the win with Jalen Hurts and CeeDee Lamb at his disposal, Riley opted to punt, trusting his defense.

Baylor played for overtime and in that period, the Sooners smothered Zeno to secure their spot in the playoff.

It was the culmination of a season-long effort to turn things around, which the Sooners did successfully.

"We wanted to be the starting point for something special," Gallimore said. "Coach Grinch gave us that opportunity."

Eight years ago, on the third floor of a Holiday Inn off Route 411 in Rome, Georgia, a single phone call set off a chain reaction that would someday affect Joe Burrow, Jalen Hurts and all of college football.

Russell Wilson still remembers the call. "Like it was yesterday," he says now.

In town that spring to play a minor league baseball game as a second baseman with the Asheville Tourists, Wilson was on the line with his NC State football coach. Wilson had just missed spring practice to play baseball but wanted to return to the football team for his senior season.

Then Tom O'Brien told him he would no longer have his starting job.

A three-year starter at quarterback, Wilson could not accept that. What he did next took quite an emotional toll, but it fueled one of the biggest trends to shake the sport of college football -- the rise of graduate transfers.

Burrow and Hurts are only the most recent examples to use the grad transfer rule and flourish at a second school, taking their teams to the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl on Saturday (4 p.m., ESPN and ESPN App).

They can thank Wilson for setting the stage. Wilson can thank Greg Paulus.

In 2006, the NCAA passed a rule that allowed graduates to be eligible to play if they transferred to a graduate program at another school regardless of sport and any previous transfer. But many administrators pushed back, believing they had just opened the door to free agency in their biggest sports.

Within nine months, membership overrode the rule. Any graduate in the sports of football, men's basketball, women's basketball, baseball or men's ice hockey who wanted to transfer would need to go through the waiver process in order to play immediately.

Waivers opened the first door for graduate transfers such as Paulus. In 2009, Paulus made an unprecedented decision to leave the Duke basketball team after graduation and play his final remaining season of eligibility with the Syracuse football team. He got his waiver, and he started for the Orange. Beyond the oddity of switching sports, nothing Paulus did that season pushed him or his team into the national conversation. Syracuse went 4-8, and Paulus went on to coach basketball.

But what Paulus did stuck with Mark Rodgers, who worked as a baseball agent and also represented two-sport athletes -- including Wilson.

Growing up in Richmond, Virginia, Wilson starred in football and baseball and wanted to play both sports in college and the pros. NC State baseball coach Elliott Avent went to watch him play in a tournament in Salem, Virginia. He saw a raw shortstop who could make every throw and never missed a ball. A man sitting next to him in the stands turned to Avent and said, "Son, if you think he can play shortstop, you should see him throw a football. He's the best quarterback this state's ever had."

Avent stared at the man. Although he wasn't a football coach, he knew enough about football. So he started peppering the man with names. Better than Michael Vick and Ronald Curry?

"This guy told me, 'He's the best,'" Avent said.

So Avent told the Wolfpack football coaches about him. Wilson was largely ignored in recruiting circles because of his size: 5-foot-11, 180 pounds. NC State agreed to let him play football and baseball. Within a year, O'Brien took over as football coach, and the dynamic shifted. He expected Wilson around the team in the offseason, and that limited the amount of time Wilson had for baseball.

Still, Wilson decided to join the Colorado Rockies for spring training in early 2011 after they drafted him in the fourth round the previous year. He had already graduated and thought that missing spring football would not jeopardize his spot on the team.

But O'Brien had another quarterback he felt good about in four-star prospect Mike Glennon. O'Brien faced a dilemma. Do you tell Wilson he can come back and risk losing Glennon, who has waited for his chance to start? And what if Wilson decides to forgo football and Glennon has already left the team?

O'Brien did not return a phone message seeking comment, but he said in 2014, "Michael would have graduated that year. He could move on if he wanted to at the end of that year. So that was just all part of the decision-making process. It had to happen. You could have one quarterback, you could have two quarterbacks or you could have no quarterbacks." In 2016, Wilson made headlines when he delivered the commencement speech at Wisconsin and gave a different take on his call with O'Brien.

"He said, 'Listen, son, you're never going to play in the National Football League,'" Wilson told the Wisconsin graduates. 'You're too small. There's no chance. You've got no shot. Give it up.' Of course, I'm on this side of the phone saying, 'So you're telling me I'm not coming back to NC State? I won't see the field?' He said, 'No, son, you won't see the field.'"

Those comments again renewed the debate about how and why Wilson left NC State. Former teammate George Bryan said nobody on the team had animosity toward him.

"It was one of those situations where Coach O'Brien had to make a decision on what he needed to do, and he made his decision and everybody respected it," Bryan said. "We hated to see Russell go. If anybody on the team hated to see him go, I was one of them because I started off with Russell. We were redshirted together. We played on scout team together. We created a really good connection."

After Wilson hung up the phone in his hotel room in Rome, Georgia, in late April 2011, he felt emotional. He'd spent four years at NC State, the one school that supported his football and baseball dreams. He never wanted to leave. Now he had to make a decision.

Did he want to give up on football completely and focus solely on baseball? No. Wilson loved football and believed wholeheartedly he could be an NFL starting quarterback. But he also loved baseball and felt he had not given enough of himself to that sport, either.

"I was like, 'OK, am I going to play baseball the rest of my life?'" Wilson said. "'Is it going to be football? Is it going to be both? What does that look like?' That was really the harder challenge, to be honest with you."

Enter Paulus.

Rodgers was now advising Wilson on his baseball career, and the two had grown close after Wilson's father died in 2010. Rodgers remembered Paulus had transferred from Duke to Syracuse but was fuzzy on the details. Was it because he played a second sport? Rodgers called the NCAA to get clarity.

What he learned surprised him and Wilson, and some coaches, too. Earlier in 2011, the NCAA passed a new grad transfer rule, allowing graduates in all sports to transfer and gain immediate eligibility without a waiver as long as they were enrolled in graduate school. If they had previously transferred, they would need a waiver to play immediately.

"Everybody was like, 'What? He can play?'" Rodgers said. "We were doing what we thought was in Russell's best interest. We had no clue this would open up that Pandora's box."

Wilson settled on Wisconsin and Auburn as his top two choices. Then-Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema quickly noted the difference between recruiting a high school prospect and a 21-year-old college graduate. He didn't need to win Wilson over with social media messages or fancy graphics. He needed to win Wilson over with the truth.

Wilson was smart and mature enough to understand the value of another degree. From a football perspective, the truth started and ended with the players returning to the team for 2011, not to mention the pro-style offense that would help him convince skeptical NFL scouts that he could play at the next level.

Wilson met with the Badgers' skill players on the first night of his official visit. The next morning, he arrived in time to see the offensive linemen max-squatting. Before Wilson left, Bielema took perhaps the biggest risk of the recruiting process. He told Wilson if he did not choose Wisconsin, he should play at Auburn because football needed him.

A week later, Wilson called. He was coming to Wisconsin.

"When it happened, I felt like we hit the lottery," Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez said.

Although opinions about grad transfers had shifted enough to change the rule, not everyone in college sports was on board.

"At that time, it was probably a mixed bag," Alvarez said. "Some people didn't agree with it, and felt that if you invested three or four years with an athlete and now he's matured and polished, it's not right for him to pick up and take his skills for someone else to benefit from. I know there were people that felt that way. I always felt if they've gotten their degree, that's what they came there for. They spent their time there. If they choose to leave because it might benefit them or they're unhappy, that's their prerogative."

Wilson left baseball on June 27. Around 6 a.m. on July 1, he loaded up a U-Haul and drove it to Madison. Bielema made no promises to Wilson about winning the starting job. But for Wilson, that was the only objective. To get there, he poured himself into the playbook. He made notecards on which he wrote down every play, every audible and every adjustment and studied them like a 10-year-old doing math flashcards.

On top of that, he had to win over his new teammates and coaches as quickly as possible, pushing aside how strange it felt to start over five years into his collegiate career.

"We hit it off the first time we sat down with each other on his visit," former Wisconsin receiver Nick Toon said. "He's one of those guys that walks in the room and people are drawn to him, and people vibe with him and get behind him and rally around him."

With the help of Toon, Jared Abbrederis, Kevin Zeitler, Ricky Wagner, Travis Frederick, Peter Konz, Montee Ball, James White and Melvin Gordon, Wilson immersed himself in the program. They worked out together and studied together. One day at a player-led workout, Wilson asked his new teammates whether they wanted to play crossbar.

They all looked at him, puzzled. Wilson stood at the 30-yard line and dropped back to pass, and the football hit the crossbar dead center. His teammates stared, silently wondering, What just happened?

By the time fall practice came around, it was obvious Wilson was not there just to play football.

He was there to make a point.

Within the first five minutes of the first practice, Bielema turned to offensive coordinator Paul Chryst. They looked at each other. Where skeptics saw a short quarterback, Bielema and Chryst saw a quarterback with a very high delivery, great arm strength, exceptional vision and a natural feel for the game. They had their starter.

Wilson guided Wisconsin to a 6-0 start and a No. 4 ranking in the Associated Press poll, throwing for 1,557 yards, 14 touchdowns and only one interception. Although preseason expectations were high, Wilson was playing at the highest level of his career. By November, he and Ball found themselves in the Heisman conversation.

When that season ended in the Rose Bowl, Wilson had thrown for a career-high 33 touchdown passes and a career-low four interceptions, and completed a career-best 72.8% of his passes. Wisconsin finished 11-3, and eventually, all 11 starters on that team found themselves on an NFL roster.

A backup quarterback at Texas Tech took notice. Jacob Karam wanted his own opportunity to become a starter. Through all the media coverage around Wilson, he learned about the grad transfer rule. In 2012, Karam used the rule to gain immediate eligibility at Memphis.

"He was the one that opened my eyes to it," Karam said. "I felt like I tried to model my play after Russell Wilson, but even for him to do that and transfer, it showed a lot of courage to me, especially since he had such a great baseball and football career at NC State."

In the years that followed, grad transfer numbers increased dramatically. According to NCAA data, the number of graduate transfers in Division I football has nearly tripled since 2013, from 58 to 166 in 2018. Part of the reason is that the number of freshmen enrolling early in school also has increased, giving athletes the opportunity to graduate in three or four years with eligibility remaining in their playing careers.

But the way Wilson played in 2011 helped. What if he had gone to Wisconsin and been the backup?

"He'd be playing for the Colorado Rockies right now," Rodgers said.

"He definitely was a trailblazer looking back," Toon said. "We're in a much different time, and there are a lot more people taking advantage of that currently, but he was one of the example-setters for people to transfer and have a large amount of success at a new college, and so he's definitely one that probably will go down in the history books relating to the grad transfer rule."

Of course, not every grad transfer turns into a Heisman contender (or winner) like Wilson or Burrow or Hurts. It takes the right player at the right time on the right team for everything to work out just right.

For every grad transfer quarterback who has transcendent success, many others go the grad transfer route and either fail to win starting jobs or play outside the national spotlight.

What is indisputable is the way Wilson brought an inordinate amount of attention to a heavily debated rule that had its fair share of detractors in 2011, helping change attitudes along the way. What was once viewed with raised eyebrows is now met with head nods and approval. Grad transfers are a new normal thanks to what many now call "The Russell Wilson Rule."

There is even an NCAA proposal to further restrictions loosen on graduate transfers. It would no longer require grad transfers to enroll in graduate school but instead allow them to go for another baccalaureate degree or take non-degree courses, a graduate certificate program or graduate classes.

"We didn't know it was going to become that popular," Wilson said. "It's a good thing, though. The reason why I say it's a good thing is because to be honest with you, I think kids go into college wanting to obviously go to that university and play great there. But if something happens, it also gives them a little bit of motivation to graduate early."

After Wilson left NC State, Glennon started for two years. Both players were drafted, but Wilson's NFL career has skyrocketed. His success with the Seattle Seahawks also helped pave the way for shorter quarterbacks like Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray to become No. 1 draft picks the past two years.

As for NC State, the Wolfpack have seen two more quarterbacks drafted since Wilson and Glennon left.

Both were graduate transfers.

ESPN's Brady Henderson contributed to this story.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr says James Harden's offensive brilliance has changed the way teams have to defend him night to night.

In the wake of Golden State's biggest win of the year, a 116-104 decision over the Houston Rockets on Wednesday, the Warriors held Harden to just 24 points after he came into the contest averaging almost 39 points. Kerr noted that his group worked hard in its preparation before facing the NBA's leading scorer.

"James has basically forced the whole league to reconsider how to defend," Kerr said. "Him in particular, but even how to guard pick-and-roll, with the number of 3-point shooters people have. So I've seen a lot of innovative stuff out there.

"Toronto did something interesting with him a few weeks ago. Luke Walton ran a box and one the other night against him in Sacramento," Kerr added, referring to a defense in which the defender on Harden plays man-to-man while the other four play zone. "That's who James is. He's so good that you have to try to do your best to keep him off balance."

The defensive challenge to stop Harden on Wednesday started with veteran swingman Glenn Robinson III, who played a very solid game, while chipping in with 18 points of his own. On top of Robinson's performance, the key for the Warriors is that they repeatedly threw bodies at the former MVP and tried to set up traps when possible.

Warriors forward Draymond Green specifically praised assistant coach Jarron Collins for setting up the defensive scheme that stifled Harden and the rest of the Rockets throughout the game.

"That game plan was f---ing phenomenal today," Green said. "It don't get much better than that."

Green, who played one of his best games of the season on both ends of the floor, agreed with Kerr's feeling that Harden's offensive ability has changed the way teams must defend him on a regular basis.

"You have to," Green said. "When a guy's averaging 40, you can't keep doing the same thing -- you're going to get the same results. So I don't think there's anyone in the league that can cover him one-on-one. You can try to make it tough on him, but he's won MVP and became who he's become hitting tough shots. He's made a living now off of the step-back. That used to be one of the toughest shots in the game of basketball. He's now made it a patented shot.

"So you definitely have to switch up the way you guard [him], and we was able to do it successfully tonight."

With the Warriors doing everything they could to limit Harden, the Rockets couldn't find another answer offensively. Houston guard Russell Westbrook went just 11-for-32 from the field, as the Rockets made just 37 of the 100 shots they took.

"That was their scheme, that was the game plan," Harden said. "Looks like it worked. [We had] a lot of opportunities, a lot of great opportunities that we just didn't convert on. It's pretty simple."

The biggest key for the Warriors aside from the consistency of pressure on Harden was that they held him to just one free throw attempt on the day -- a feat even more impressive considering he came into the game averaging 12.8 free throw attempts a game.

"The best thing we did was not foul him," Kerr said. "You know, one free throw- and after the first quarter we didn't foul Westbrook much either and so that kept the game going and it allowed us to play in open space because their defense is really good in the half court so the tempo was right for us."

For his part, Westbrook is convinced that this game was just a blip on the radar, not a trend the rest of the league will follow.

"It's nothing we ain't used to," Westbrook said. "It happens, tonight we missed shots so it worked. You know, move on to the next one. Good luck though trying to do that."

The Warriors will take it given that they came into the game toting a 7-24 record in a season that has been littered with injuries. The win marked the largest upset in a Christmas game over the last 30 years as the Warriors came in as an 11.5 point underdog, according to Caesars Sportsbook.

Injured stars Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson beamed with pride from the bench, as two-way guard, and Curry's brother in-law. Damion Lee had one of the best games of his career with 22 points, 15 rebounds and four assists. Most of all, the Warriors took pride in the fact that they were able to win a game against a team they have dominated over the last few years. When asked if this was his team's best win of the season, Kerr responded quickly.

"Well, yeah, but there haven't been that many to choose from," he said, as reporters chuckled. "It was a great win. Great win. Obviously we're playing a great team, Christmas Day and we've been through a tough first half of the season or third, whatever it is, so mostly I'm happy for the players, they deserve this. And I'm happy for our fans, this is a good Christmas present for them because they're here every night cheering for us."

Slugger Edwin Encarnacion and the Chicago White Sox are in agreement on a one-year deal for $12 million with a club option for 2021 at $12 million, sources told ESPN on Wednesday.

Dominican Republic reporter Yancen Pujols first reported that Encarnacion, who turns 37 next month, was joining the White Sox.

Encarnacion batted .244 in 109 games last season with the Seattle Mariners and New York Yankees. The Yankees acquired the three-time All-Star from Seattle in June to bolster a lineup sapped by injuries. Cash from the Mariners in the trade meant the deal cost New York just $8 million of the $25 million he was owed in 2020, including a $5 million buyout.

Encarnacion was leading the American League with 21 homers at the time, but a strained left oblique limited the first baseman and designated hitter down the stretch. He hit .249 with 13 homers, 37 RBIs and an .856 OPS in 44 regular-season games with New York.

He hit .308 while the Yankees pounded the Minnesota Twins in the AL Division Series, but he slumped badly in the AL Championship Series against the Houston Astros.

Encarnacion has averaged 37 homers and 106 RBIs since 2012 and helped slug the Toronto Blue Jays to back-to-back appearances in the ALCS in 2015 and 2016. His 239 homers in Toronto ranks third behind Carlos Delgado (336) and Jose Bautista (265) on the Blue Jays' career list.

His three-run drive in the 11th inning to beat the Baltimore Orioles in the wild-card game in the 2016 playoffs gave Toronto one of its most indelible moments since Joe Carter's World Series walk-off handed the Blue Jays a second consecutive title in 1993.

Through his 14th season, Encarnacion has a career .263 average with 414 home runs and 1,242 RBIs for Cincinnati, Toronto, Cleveland, Seattle and the Yankees.

The White Sox have been loading up around a promising young core, hoping to challenge in the AL Central after seven consecutive losing seasons. Encarnacion joins former AL Cy Young Award winner Dallas Keuchel and catcher Yasmani Grandal as big-money additions this offseason.

The White Sox agreed Saturday to a $55.5 million, three-year deal with Keuchel, a day after finalizing a one-year contract with two-time All-Star pitcher Gio Gonzalez. They also brought back Jose Abreu on a $50 million, three-year deal and acquired outfielder Nomar Mazara from the Texas Rangers.

The White Sox were 72-89 last season, well behind the 101-win Twins and 93-win Cleveland Indians in their division. But they believe they are in position to make a big jump after missing the playoffs for the 13th time in 14 years since their 2005 World Series championship. That's because young players established themselves in the majors and promising prospects remain in the pipeline.

Tim Anderson led the majors with a .335 average last season. Yoan Moncada had a breakthrough year, hitting .315 with 25 homers and 79 RBIs. Eloy Jimenez showed pop as a rookie, with a .267 average, 31 homers and 79 RBIs. Prized outfielder Luis Robert figures to debut next spring, and top prospect Nick Madrigal might also be ready to get significant time at second base.

Keuchel and Gonzalez will join a rotation led by All-Star Lucas Giolito that also includes Reynaldo Lopez and Dylan Cease. Promising young right-hander Michael Kopech is also expected to return following Tommy John surgery.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Lindsey Vonn popped the question to New Jersey Devils star P.K. Subban.

"Merry Christmas and happy holidays everyone!! On our 2 year anniversary, in a "non traditional" move, I asked PK to marry me and he said, Yes," Vonn tweeted on Christmas Day. "Yes (bashful emoji) ! Women aren't the only ones who should get engagement rings!"

The former ski racer closed the tweet with the hashtags "MerryChristmas" and "equality."

Vonn linked a picture of herself and Subban with the ring, with the couple wearing matching striped pajamas in front of a Christmas tree with three dogs in the foreground. She also posted a close-up of Subban flashing the ring, with the words "drip drip"and a blue teardrop.

Vonn also said on social media in August that they were engaged.

The 35-year-old Vonn recently retired from a skiing career that included three Olympic medals, four overall World Cup titles and 82 World Cup race wins, a record for a woman.

The 30-year-old Subban and won the 2013 Norris Trophy with Montreal as the NHL's top defenseman. He was traded to New Jersey from Nashville.

Vonn had a high-profile relationship with Tiger Woods. She previously was married to former ski racer Thomas Vonn, and kept his last name after they separated.

New Zealand won the toss and decided to bowl against Australia

New Zealand have taken the brave decision of bowling first on a well-grassed MCG pitch as they aim to level the series in their first Boxing Day Test for 32 years.

There has been much focus on the MCG surface since the abandoned Sheffield Shield between Victoria and Western Australia earlier this month. The previous two Test pitches at the ground have been slow and low with pressure on the venue to improve the surfaces.

Tim Paine admitted he was unsure what he would have done had he won the toss as while the pitch is enticing for the bowlers today there is hot weather forecast during the match.

Australia have resisted the temptation to play a rare five-man attack with just the one change from Perth as James Pattinson replaces the injured Josh Hazlewood.

New Zealand confirmed their XI yesterday with Trent Boult returning from his side injury and Tom Blundell brought in to open the innings in place of the out of form Jeet Raval.

Australia 1 David Warner, 2 Joe Burns, 3 Marnus Labuschagne, 4 Steven Smith, 5 Matthew Wade, 6 Travis Head, 7 Tim Paine (capt & wk), 8 James Pattinson, 9 Pat Cummins, 10 Mitchell Starc, 11 Nathan Lyon

New Zealand 1 Tom Latham, 2 Tom Blundell, 3 Kane Williamson (capt), 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Henry Nicholls, 6 BJ Watling (wk), 7 Colin de Grandhomme, 8 Mitchell Santner, 9 Tim Southee, 10 Neil Wagner, 11 Trent Boult

PHILADELPHIA -- As Joel Embiid toed the free throw line, raised the ball to eye level and prepared to release, the Philadelphia fans began to chant, "Trust the Process!"

Those three words have been the 76ers' rallying cry as the franchise climbed from the pits of perpetual losing to one of the Eastern Conference's most formidable teams. It has been so synonymous with Embiid's growth as a player, his nickname in Philadelphia is Joel "The Process" Embiid.

The free throws swished through the net Wednesday and Philadelphia marched toward a 21-point halftime lead against the league's best offensive team -- the Milwaukee Bucks. It was the Sixers' 3-point barrage, though, that helped them to a 121-109 victory over Milwaukee.

"I think this team is designed for the playoffs," Sixers coach Brett Brown said after the game. "I believe the road we have traveled so far has been a little bit erratic at times."

There have absolutely been bumps. This season, the Sixers have had a tendency to play up or down to their competition. They have suffered bad losses to bottom-dwelling teams such as the Washington Wizards, for example. But against the best offensive team in the NBA, Milwaukee, they came out with a fire. Their shooting, too, has been inconsistent. On Wednesday, they made 21 3-pointers, tying the franchise record.

"Coach just told us before the game he wants us to continue to shoot the ball with confidence," center Al Horford said. "We have a lot of capable shooters. We have a lot to prove in that department. Tonight was one of those nights that they started to fall."

During his postgame news conference, Embiid said he considered Wednesday the Sixers' best performance of the season.

"You are playing the best in the league," Embiid said after his 31-point, 11-rebound outing. "We came out and showed that we are right there. We still have a long way to go obviously, but we are right there and we are going to keep on getting better."

Before the game, Brown talked about the matchup like a test. He called the Bucks "NBA royalty." Defensively, stopping Giannis Antetokounmpo -- whom he called a "runaway train" -- was a full-team task. It turned out, his enormous frontcourt was up for it.

Embiid and Horford defended Antetokounmpo for the majority of the game, forcing the reigning league Most Valuable Player to take tough, contested shots. He finished 8-for-27 from the field on his way to 18 points. According to ESPN Stats & Information research, it was the first time Antetokounmpo had missed more than 18 shots.

"They just played harder than us, better than us," Antetokounmpo said. "There are going to be some nights that you don't make shots. But you got to keep making plays, you got to keep believing in yourselves. You cannot back down. I wasn't having my best night tonight, but at the end of the day my teammates want me to keep shooting the ball. I want to keep shooting the ball."

Through the first three quarters, Philadelphia (23-10) dominated Milwaukee on both ends of the floor. At one point, the Sixers had built a 30-point lead. But after Ben Simmons scored with 4 minutes, 30 seconds left in the game to put Philadelphia up 115-94, Milwaukee went on a 14-3 run.

Anteokounmpo completed an alley-oop from Khris Middleton, Middleton hit a 3-pointer, Sterling Brown hammered down a dunk and the Bucks whittled the Sixers' lead to single digits for the first time since the second quarter. With 43 seconds left, Horford made a 3-pointer that sealed the Sixers' victory.

The Sixers forced the Bucks into their toughest single-game shot quality of the season, according to Second Spectrum tracking data, with Milwaukee's expected effective field goal percentage falling 5 percentage points worse than its league-leading mark of 53.8%. The loss drops the Bucks to 27-5 -- still the best record in the NBA.

"We had to go through this today," Antetokounmpo said. "This is good. I like it. Obviously you know I don't like losing, but at the end of the day I think sometimes when you lose this way you get better as a team."

Brown, on the other hand, said the Sixers were finally finding a rhythm. "You are under a microscope of trying to move this team forward and get it whole and improve it," he said, "but I think the landing spot is exciting."