The recently unveiled statue of Kobe Bryant outside Crypto.com Arena has been revealed to contain several egregious typos. German basketball journalist Andre "Dre" Voigt published photos on social media showing that the engraving of the box score for Kobe's 81-point game was riddled with errors. Jose Calderon's name is misspelled as "Calderson". Von Wafer's name is misspelled as "Vom". Finally, an instance of Coach's Decision is misspelled as "decicion". A subsequent report by ESPN noted that the Lakers had been made aware of the errors and would rectify them in the near future.
The statue, just the eighth in Lakers history, was unveiled on February 8 as part of a larger celebration to commemorate the team legend. The Lakers also wore their Kobe-designed Black Mamba jersey variant for the first time since Kobe's death in early 2020.
Caitlin Clark Pays Tribute To Kobe Byrant
Elsewhere, Caitlin Clark paid tribute to one of the greats, posing for photos to replicate Kobe's iconic trophy poses. Shot by Bri Lewerke, Clark hit the poses that came from Kobe's three-peat in 2002. Iowa captured their third consecutive Big Ten title in a wild OT thriller against Nebraska. Trailing by 11 at the half, Iowa needed a huge 30-point second half from Caitlin Clark to force OT. In the extra period, the Hawkeyes were finally able to pull away from the relentless Huskers. With the win, Iowa has likely captured a No. 1 seeding during next week's Selection Sunday. Iowa had a fairly easy run to the title game, beating Penn State and Michigan, both by double digits.
The automatic bids for the women's bracket are quickly filling up. UT Martin was the first to secure a bid. Despite losing the OVC title game to Southern Indiana, the Skyhawks are going dancing due to Southern Indiana's postseason ineligibility. Meanwhile, Notre Dame, South Carolina, USC, and Texas won the other Power 5 berths alongside Iowa. However, the biggest shock of the conference tournaments was in the WCC, where Portland, for the second year in a row, stunned ranked Gonzaga in the title game. Conference tournaments run until Sunday, where the final winners will be chosen just hours before the tournament bracket is announced.
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