Harry Kane is a man on a mission. Not just for Bayern Munich but also for himself.

It's simple: the England captain finally wants to win silverware of note. Despite winning goal-scoring trophies and featuring in five finals, Kane has never tasted victory in a major competition, a run of futility that has even made some question whether Kane, regardless of all his goals, is made for the biggest stage. Those doubts have followed him to Germany, where his first year with Bayern Munich ended trophy-less, an unusual feat for the 33-time German league champions.

"I looked at the greats of the game and what made them great, and it wasn't just doing it in spells: it was doing it year after year," Kane told ESPN in an exclusive.

"That was a big drive of mine to be able to consistently be one of the best players in the world. And that drive will be with me until the end of my career, whether I finish with one trophy or 20 trophies. Ultimately, it won't change my mindset, what I want to achieve and how I try and achieve it."

Football, like professional sports in general, is all about opportunities and goals. The goal for Bayern is to win the UEFA Champions League final on May 31, which will be played at their home ground, Allianz Arena, for the second time in history.

The first Finale dahoam ("final at home") in 2012 ended in a heartbreaking penalty shootout loss to Chelsea. Kane, who himself played for Tottenham Hotspur in the 2019 final and lost to Liverpool, was not just signed to score against the Augsburgs and Werder Bremens of this world, but to lead Bayern to the summit of European football.

Kane is familiar with pressure and the fact that a prolific goal scorer like him doesn't get much praise for racking up 20 or 30 goals during a season. It is expected of him, but yet, he is proud of what he has achieved regardless.

"There's a lot of people out there who talk about football and commentate on football or do stuff on football who don't really understand football that much," he said. "I know there's been games where I've scored and not played great, and I've been spoken about in this high light, and there's been games where I haven't scored and been one of the best players on the pitch."

During the recent international break, Kane spoke about his aura and the feeling of how defenders play against him. They might approach him slightly differently because of what he represents, the huge price tag when he made his transfer to Bayern in 2023, the England armband, and his name recognition.

"I don't even know if aura was the right word," he said. "I just think: being on the big stage, more often than not, it just kind of puts you out there a little bit more. And I think the more you can do it in those big nights, the more respected you become."

At least two big nights await Bayern in the form of two Champions League quarterfinal matches against Serie A leaders Internazionale. After that, either Barcelona or Borussia Dortmund would be next in the semifinals. Quite the opposition en route to a possible final at home.

"[Winning the Champions League] has been a dream of mine pretty much my whole life," he said. "And we have the opportunity to do that this year. But also to do it at home in front of our fans at the Allianz, I think would make it that even more bit special. And I think when you have the opportunity to do stuff like that, it makes you excited."

While Bayern are slight favorites against Inter, they are dealing with some injury woes as defenders Dayot Upamecano and Alphonso Davies both suffered knee injuries, which could make the matchup even more fascinating.

"The expectation is to win everything every season. I felt that last year," he said. "We didn't win anything, and there was a lot of noise around the club, and probably rightly so. So, when you're at these clubs, the expectation is high not just for yourself but for the team."

But when it comes to his own performance and dealing with expectations and criticism, it's all about perspective in Kane's eyes.

"I feel like there's been a lot of great moments," he said. "I've given people a lot of joy over the years, and I hope even more joy is to come, but ultimately, if I keep doing what I'm doing, I know I'll be seen as a top player, but also a top person as well."

It's the kind of mature attitude that made Kane the top target for Bayern in 2023, in addition to his unquestioned talent on the pitch, and that make him the perfect representative for a globally operating club. At the same time, there is a maturity he brings to Bayern's attack filled with rising stars, most notably Jamal Musiala and Michael Olise. These two are usually the driving force behind Kane while the Englishman is their target player, be it directly at the offside line or a little bit deeper.

When asked about Musiala, Kane couldn't have been any more complimentary about the 22-year-old star.

"He's a great guy, first and foremost," he said. "Obviously still extremely young, but willing to learn, willing to work hard, and he's just got a good side to him, a good fun side to him that I think everyone loves. And then on the pitch he is one of the best I've played with."

Not bad praise considering Kane has played with many brilliant players at Tottenham and with England over the years.

It has been said that he hit it off quite well with younger teammates, but also with club veterans like Thomas Müller who, as things stand, won't continue as a player for Bayern come June. One thing Müller might not be so helpful with is Kane's progress in learning German.

"I think as an Englishman I'm quite spoiled," he said. "Obviously, a lot of people speak English around the world, and it kind of opens your eyes to learn a new language and how difficult it is for other people learning English. I've heard [Müller's] German is quite strong and quite hard to understand even for Germans. So maybe I'll go to someone a little easier to begin with, but who knows."

Learning German is just a way for Kane to connect even better in his everyday life in Munich. He confessed that the first months without his family in Munich were quite tough, but that he's settled in now. Whether this means he won't return to England to potentially break the Premier League goal-scoring record held by Alan Shearer remains up in the air.

"I've said throughout my whole career, I'm not someone who likes to think too far ahead," he said. "I'm extremely happy here. I think we have a fantastic team, fantastic coaching staff, and I just feel like, whilst I feel like I'm in the best condition, I want to play at the highest level possible. And this is as high as it gets."

NEW YORK -- A Georgia businessman who scammed former NBA players Dwight Howard and Chandler Parsons out of millions of dollars was sentenced Thursday to more than 12 years in federal prison.

A Manhattan jury in October convicted Calvin Darden Jr. of cheating Howard -- who had been one of the NBA's most dominant players in his prime -- out of $7 million in a bogus scheme to buy the WNBA's Atlanta Dream.

The 50-year-old Atlanta resident was also found guilty of bilking $1 million from former NBA forward Chandler Parsons in a separate ruse involving the development of then-NBA prospect James Wiseman.

A Manhattan federal court judge on Thursday ordered Darden to forfeit $8 million, as well as several luxury items he acquired with the ill-gotten gains, including a $3.7 million Atlanta mansion, $600,000 in artwork by Jean-Michel Basquiat, a Lamborghini and a Rolls-Royce.

Lawyers for Darden, who wasn't present in court when the sentence was handed down, declined to comment.

Darden was allowed to leave the proceedings after waiving his right to be present and telling the judge he had suffered a concussion last week while in custody, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Howard testified during the trial that Darden fooled him into giving him $7 million by convincing him that it was an investment toward the purchase of the Dream.

But the eight-time All-Star and three-time NBA defensive player of the year acknowledged he only learned he wasn't an owner of the Dream when ESPN reported the team had been sold to an investor group that included former Dream guard Renee Montgomery in 2021.

Prosecutors said Darden and a sports agent also conned Parsons into sending $1 million that was supposed to aid in the development of Wiseman, who was drafted by the Golden State Warriors as the second overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft.

But the two didn't know Wiseman, and the player never agreed to be represented by the agent as they claimed to Parsons. Wiseman last played for the Indiana Pacers before being traded to the Toronto Raptors, who waived him earlier this year.

Darden was ultimately convicted by a jury in October of wire fraud, bank fraud and money laundering charges.

He was previously sentenced to a year in federal prison in New York for impersonating his father, Cal Darden, a former executive at Atlanta-based United Parcel Service, in a failed bid to buy Maxim magazine.

Howard played for seven franchises after the Orlando Magic took him with the No. 1 overall selection in the 2004 draft. He won his lone NBA title with the Los Angeles Lakers during the pandemic-affected 2019-20 season.

Parsons had a nine-year NBA career playing for Houston, Dallas, Memphis and Atlanta teams.

The Dream were once co-owned by former Republican U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler, but she was pressured to sell after clashing with players over her opposition to the league's racial justice initiatives.

A local television news crew was stationed outside the Sawyer Hotel in downtown Sacramento on Sunday night, ready to catch every nuance of the magical moment the bleary-eyed Chicago Cubs stepped off their bus to enter the lobby. This was the first time a major league baseball team had arrived in Sacramento to play a legally sanctioned regular-season game, and no story was too small. If you ever wondered what Ian Happ looks like walking toward a hotel and being surprised by the presence of a camera and a reporter, CBS-13 was the channel for you.

"That was different," Cubs pitcher Matthew Boyd said. "But it's the first time a big league team has come to Sacramento, and they're excited. Baseball's that cool thing that brings everyone together."

It was quite a week for Sacramento -- more specifically, West Sacramento, the place with the street signs declaring it "The Baseball Side of the River." It got to host the first three games of the Athletics' expected three-season interregnum between Oakland and Las Vegas, and it got to call a big league team its own, even if the team has decided to declare itself simply the Athletics, a geographically nonspecific generic version of a Major League Baseball team.

It's tough to explain the vibe at Sutter Health Park for the first series. It looked like big league baseball and sounded like big league baseball; it just didn't feel like big league baseball. The crowds were mostly sedate, maybe because there's room for only about 14,000 fans, and maybe because the Athletics were outscored 35-9 over the course of the three games, the first and third of which could have been stopped for humanitarian reasons.

This is a team that is supposed to be better this season, and three games shouldn't change that expectation. It spent some money nobody knew it had on a free agent contract for Luis Severino and extensions for Brent Rooker and Lawrence Butler, moves that assured a payroll high enough to abide by the revenue-sharing rules of the collective bargaining agreement, but moves that improved the team nonetheless. (You've got to spend money to make money is an adage that, for the first time, appealed to owner John Fisher.) The A's have a universally respected manager in Mark Kotsay, several promising young players from recent drafts and the confidence that came from playing really good baseball over last season's second half. There is a creeping suspicion that they could be building something that could make West Sacramento proud.

It's a long, maybe even interminable season that will contain every iteration of peak and valley. Three games can end up being the equivalent of one breath over the course of a lifetime. But still, it's impossible to deny the Athletics brought back a lot of their old classics for their Sacramento debut: They walked 10 batters in Monday night's home opener; they kicked the ball around enough for four unearned runs in three games; they walked seven more Wednesday afternoon. The crowds were mostly quiet; the numerous Cubs fans were noisy until it felt mean, but the A's fans, when they found something cheer-worthy, reacted as if they were cheering for someone else's kid at a piano recital. As first impressions go, it could have been better.

The A's players, in their defense, are going through an adjustment period. When I asked closer Mason Miller how he likes Sacramento, he starts counting on his fingers and says, "I've literally spent five nights here." They're young, wealthy and accustomed to living in a new place every season as they progress through the minor leagues, and they're trying to view their new home as an opportunity to bond over experiencing something together for the first time.

"We're all new here," rookie second baseman Max Muncy says, "so even though I'm a rookie, I can earn some cred if I find a good restaurant and let everyone know." I mention the toughest reservation in town, a Michelin-starred, fixed-price restaurant less than 2 miles away.

"That sounds like a two-month wait," he says.

"Not if you tell them who you are," I joke.

"Yeah, I can't imagine doing that," he says. "Besides, if I say, 'Max Muncy,' when I show up they'll say, 'Oh great, we got this one.'"

The A's bigger concern is playing the next three seasons in a minor league ballpark and sharing it with a minor league team, the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats. It's kind of like a senior rooming with a freshman; the senior has dibs on just about everything, but he still has to deal with the roommate. For the A's, that means wondering how the field will hold up over the course of the 155 games it'll wear this season, and figuring out how to cope with having a clubhouse beyond the outfield wall, disconnected from the dugout.

Severino made his first home start for the A's on Tuesday night, and he had to tweak his routine to account for the new reality: Once he left the clubhouse, there was no going back. It was cold and windy, so he had to make sure his jacket made it to the dugout with him. The notes he likes to reference during the game had to be there, too. His usual practice of popping into the clubhouse to watch the game on television while his team hits ("It looks easier and more fun on TV," he says with a laugh) is on hold for home starts for the foreseeable future. He had to sit there with his teammates whether he pitched well or not -- on Tuesday: not -- and know that every one of his emotions would be picked up by at least five cameras.

"You just have to stick it out," Severino says. "You can't have all the stuff you have in a normal stadium. When you go out there, you have to bring everything with you. You have to try to stay warm and find out a different routine. It's not the same, but the thing is, it doesn't matter because it's happening, and we need to get used to it. Just treat it like spring training, because it feels like spring training."

Players coming off the bench to pinch-hit or play defense have nowhere to get loose. In any other park, they'd jump into the cage behind the dugout and take some swings or stretch out and run a few sprints. Here, they have to do whatever they can do within the confines of the dugout. "Just do some arm circles and maybe run in place," Cubs infielder Jon Berti says. "Make it old-school."

Just one of the three games sold out, an unexpected development after months of civic backslapping and grand proclamations about Sacramento cementing its status as a major league city. Tickets for Wednesday's game, which drew 9,342 fans, were selling on the secondary market for $20 about 30 minutes before first pitch. The A's have the highest median ticket prices -- $181 -- in baseball, according to data compiled by the ticket app Gametime. The idea was to employ the time-honored scarcity=demand concept to seize maximum profits from minimal opportunities, but one sellout -- the opener, which also included roughly 2,000 comped tickets -- in the first three games shows the A's remain capable of straining even the most fundamental economic concepts.

It's probably not fair to judge Sacramento's worth as a baseball town based on its willingness to support a team that won't be identified by the city's name during its time here. And it's definitely not fair to judge a region based on the number of fans eager to hand money to an owner who pulled the team out of Oakland after 57 years and is on his way to Las Vegas.

In the days after Kings/River Cats owner Vivek Ranadive joined with Fisher to bring the A's to Sacramento, someone identified to me as "as Sacramento as it gets" sent a text that illustrates the conflict that lives within the Sacramento sports fan:

So many thoughts as I've been following this:

1) I hate it in that we are just bailing out Fisher

2) I hate that we are basically acting as Seattle a decade ago with regards to the Kings and poached the A's away from Oakland. That's an awful feeling I wish on no one

3) I am interested to see if this actually goes anywhere other than just bailing out Fisher for 3 years while he waits out whatever magic is gonna happen in LV

4) Reeeeeally wish Vivek read the room on this one

5) We could buy $30 lawn seats and catch a ball from Mike Trout or even better, [Austin] Slater, on a Wednesday night in Sac. That would be wild

The A's are quick to point out that there weren't many crowds of 10,000 on Tuesday nights in Oakland. (There was just one last year, during the final homestand of the season.) Still, Sacramento is a city attempting to use this three- to four-year run to audition for its own big league team. And if the A's can't sell out a minor league stadium in an area with established fans of the team, what does that foretell for their eventual move to Las Vegas, where the team is forecasting sellout crowds, including nearly 5,000 tourists per game -- in a 33,000-seat stadium in an area with no connection to the A's?

But that's someone else's problem, some other day. Three trips this week to Sutter Health -- Sunday for the River Cats, Monday and Wednesday for the A's -- was a chance to watch big league baseball in a quaint, intimate ballpark. I thought it might be like venturing back in time, maybe what it felt like to watch a Philadelphia A's game in 1907 at Columbia Park if Columbia Park had a state-of-the-art video screen that looks like an 86-inch television hanging from the wall of a studio apartment. This would be baseball back when games were just games and big league ballparks didn't feel obligated to stock luxury suites with $300 cabernet and fist-sized prawns. Back to when every concession stand sold pretty much the same thing (at Sutter Health, each vendor has a set menu and one or two "specialty" items, like the pizza at Pizza & Pints) and fans could bring a chair or sit on the grass out in right field and dream of Mike Trout or Austin Slater.

Its charms are undeniable, but sustainable? The workers in the ballpark are all genial and helpful, thrilled with having major league baseball in their humble yard, but maybe we should check back in August. At the River Cats' game Sunday, I spoke with an employee working in the team store who laid out the process of turning it from a River Cats' store to an Athletics' store over the course of roughly 24 hours. Starting at 5 p.m. Sunday, three overlapping shifts worked through the night and well into Monday, folding and packing and hauling out all the minor league gear, storing it somewhere she isn't privy to, while hauling in all the big league gear, unpacking it, unfolding it and displaying it nicely enough that someone might feel compelled to forfeit $134.99 for an authentic JJ Bleday jersey.

As she detailed the process, and the time constraints, knowing this River Cats-to-A's and vice versa conga will take place roughly every 10 days to two weeks over the next six months, I was beginning to feel stressed just looking at every cap, sock, T-shirt, bobblehead, Dinger the mascot doll and performance men's half-zip pullover sweatshirt that awaited their attention.

"Will it get done?" I asked her.

She laughed.

"I guess it has to," she said, "but I'm off tomorrow."

And poof, just as there was no sign of the A's on Sunday, there was no sign of the River Cats on Monday. Everything brick red and gold was replaced by something kelly green and gold. Even the sign proclaiming Sacramento's Triple-A championships was replaced by one proclaiming the A's nine World Series wins, five in Philadelphia and four in Oakland. But, like everything else involving the 2025 Athletics, there is no geographic designation. As the A's know better than most, you are where you are until you're where you want to be.

TAMPA, Fla. -- South Carolina has plenty of familiarity with the other teams in the Final Four -- the Gamecocks lost to all of them this season.

That has provided an even higher level of motivation as they attempt to repeat as national champions. South Carolina faces Texas on Friday for a fourth time this season. The Gamecocks already avenged their regular-season loss to Texas with a win in the SEC tournament championship game.

But on the other side of the bracket, South Carolina lost to UCLA and UConn in the regular season. South Carolina heads into the Final Four at 34-3, its most regular-season losses since 2020-21, when it had five.

"I think that motivates us to want to play better," MiLaysia Fulwiley said Thursday during media availability. "We didn't have our great games versus them, and the teams that we played had outstanding games. They couldn't miss. So it makes me hope and pray and feel like the roles are going to be reversed. We're going to be the ones not able to miss, and we're going to be the ones that lock in and play the better basketball.

"We just have to go out there and show that our best basketball has yet to come. So it motivates me because we owe them one."

Indeed, South Carolina enters the Final Four not playing its best basketball. The Gamecocks needed to rally to win their past three NCAA tournament games after playing inconsistently for large stretches in wins over Indiana, Maryland and Duke.

It was a stark contrast to how well South Carolina had played after the UConn loss in February, which ended its 71-game home winning streak. After that loss, South Carolina won its eight games by double digits and did not have to sweat it out in the fourth quarter.

Indiana had a lead at halftime in its second-round game, while Maryland and Duke had leads in the fourth quarter. Forward Chloe Kitts said the focus during the past few days of practice was playing with confidence.

"We know what we can do. We've done it before. We talked about individually, everybody needs to be confident. We're here for a reason. We play at South Carolina for a reason. We're at the Final Four for a reason. So we just need to believe in ourselves and believe in our team."

UCLA handed South Carolina its first loss of the season back in November, ending a 43-game winning streak. At the time, players said they were still learning how to play with each other after changes to their lineup. UCLA ended up with the No. 1 overall seed in part because of its head-to-head win over South Carolina in November. South Carolina lost to Texas in February in large part because it got into foul trouble, coach Dawn Staley said Thursday. But the Gamecocks also beat the Longhorns twice, and Staley said, "We're not going to stray too far left or right from the things that we've done that were positive that would help us."

The UConn loss was especially shocking because it came at home, and the 29-point loss was South Carolina's largest margin of defeat since 2008. South Carolina already has a rematch with Texas, and would get another no matter who wins between UConn and UCLA.

"This is our only opportunity to show the world that we just had an off game," Fulwiley said. "We have enough in the room to compete against these teams, and I think we didn't really show that the first time. So we have to lock in and just be true to ourselves and understand that it's going to take all 12 of us to walk out with those wins, and I think we will."

Georgia transfer Silas Demary Jr. committed to UConn, the school announced Thursday, giving the Huskies one of the best guards in the transfer portal and a much-needed boost to their backcourt.

Demary visited UConn earlier this week after taking a trip to St. John's. The likes of Kentucky and BYU were also in pursuit.

A 6-foot-5 sophomore, Demary was ranked No. 10 in ESPN's transfer rankings. He averaged 13.5 points, 3.9 rebounds and 3.1 assists this season for the Bulldogs, leading them to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2015.

He was at his best down the stretch of the season, averaging 18.3 points, 3.6 rebounds and 3.5 assists over his last 10 games, shooting nearly 39% from 3-point range. He reached 20 or more points four times over that span.

Dan Hurley has been in search of a lead guard to play alongside returning starter Solo Ball and McDonald's All-American Braylon Mullins next season, and Demary fits that role. He's much more in the mold of two-time national champion Tristen Newton, who started at point guard for UConn in 2022-23 and 2023-24. Demary has the requisite size, defense and shot-making to lead the Huskies at both ends of the floor.

HENDERSON, Nev. -- The Las Vegas Raiders and new quarterback Geno Smith have agreed to a two-year, $75 million extension, a source told ESPN's Adam Schefter.

The contract has incentives that could push the total to $85.5 million and includes $66.5 million in guaranteed money, the source said.

Smith, 34, is now contractually tied to Las Vegas through the 2027 season. He had one year and $31 million left on the $75 million contract he signed with the Seattle Seahawks in 2023.

The Raiders traded a 2025 third-round pick to the Seahawks to acquire Smith last month.

Adding Smith solved the Raiders' need for a quarterback after the team struggled under Gardner Minshew and Aidan O'Connell in 2024. Most importantly, the arrival of Smith allows them to compete right away under the new regime of coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Spytek.

In 2024, Smith broke Seattle's franchise record for passing yards (4,320) and completion rate (70.4%) while throwing 21 touchdowns and 15 interceptions in 17 starts. He led the Seahawks to a 10-7 record, but they didn't qualify for the playoffs.

He will become the fifth player since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger to set a franchise record for passing yards and then start the following season with a new team, joining Jameis Winston, Jay Cutler, Ken Stabler and Bob Berry.

Over the past three seasons, Smith has been one of the league's most accurate passers, ranking fourth among all quarterbacks in completion percentage and first in off-target percentage, meaning he had the most throws on target, per ESPN Research. Over that same span, Raiders quarterbacks have ranked 25th in completion percentage and 23rd in off-target percentage.

Smith was a two-time Pro Bowl selection under Carroll in Seattle, recording 8,641 passing yards, 55 touchdowns and 21 interceptions in 37 games.

Carroll called Smith an "immediate fix" at the position during the NFL's annual meeting this week. However, he didn't rule out the possibility of drafting a quarterback this month.

Smith is the fourth quarterback in league history to earn multiple Pro Bowl selections under a head coach and then rejoin that coach on a different franchise. After the Seahawks moved on from Smith, they signed former Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold to a three-year, $100.5 million deal.

The Arizona Cardinals are making Pro Bowler Trey McBride the highest-paid tight end in NFL history with a four-year, $76 million extension, agents Mike Swenson, CJ LaBoy and Doug Hendrickson told ESPN's Adam Schefter on Thursday.

The deal includes $43 million guaranteed and a $19 million average per year, the highest ever for an NFL tight end.

The Kansas City Chiefs' Travis Kelce previously held the highest average per year for a tight end at $17.125 million, per the Roster Management System.

The Cardinals announced McBride's four-year extension but did not disclose financial terms.

McBride, 25, set career highs with 111 receptions and 1,146 yards last season. He also scored three touchdowns (two receiving).

Houston Rockets forward Dillon Brooks received an automatic one-game suspension after he was whistled for his 16th technical foul of the season during Wednesday's victory against the Utah Jazz.

NBA executive vice president Joe Dumars announced the suspension Thursday.

Brooks, who said he had hoped that the technical would be rescinded by the league, will be suspended for Friday's home game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. He is averaging 13.9 points, 3.7 assists and 1.7 assists this season.

The technical came just 4 minutes, 48 seconds into the game while Brooks was trying to post up Utah's Collin Sexton near the basket. With his back to Sexton, Brooks spun inside to attempt a turnaround jumper, but Sexton swiped the ball away before Brooks could get off the shot.

During the follow-through, Brooks kicked out his right leg, which appeared to strike Sexton near the groin. Sexton immediately doubled over in pain, as officials whistled a stop in play. After a brief review, referee Tony Brothers announced a technical foul for Brooks, resulting in a free throw for Sexton.

Once a player reaches 16 technical fouls, a potential suspension will increase by one game for every two additional technicals he receives. During the postseason, a player will need to accumulate a total of seven technical fouls before facing suspension.

Houston clinched its first postseason berth since the 2019-20 season, becoming the second team in the Western Conference to reach 50 wins.

ESPN's Michael C. Wright contributed to this report.