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Good morning! UConn is the totality.
While You Were Sleeping: UConn’s unstoppable path
Watching UConn play basketball feels like watching a Denis Villeneuve film. There is pace and tension in both experiences. Above all, the narrative is relentless. Always forward. Never slow.
You know who looked great early in last night’s national title game? Purdue’s Zach Edey, a mountainous, 7-foot-4 human who is largely unguardable. UConn, relentless destroyer of teams, looked mortal — for just a few minutes. Then the surge.
- The Huskies brushed aside Edey’s early excellence en route to the program’s second straight national title last night. The 75-60 win was frankly jarring to watch. A six-point UConn halftime lead grew to 11 in less than five minutes. In 10, the gap was 16. The game was over.
- It’s easy to say Dan Hurley is now college basketball’s best coach. It’s hard to repeat a title in any major sport. The way UConn did it, especially in the tournament — the average margin of victory was 22.8 points, and the total +140 point differential is a tournament record — was pure dominance. Hurley isn’t going to Kentucky, by the way.
- Incredibly, UConn is now tied for the third-most national championships in NCAA history with six — and the first one came just 25 years ago in 1999. They are 6-0 in title game appearances, too. The proper adjective for that sort of run is “dynastic,” both in the short and long term.
A box score doesn’t tell us the entire story of any game, but the one from last night comes close. UConn didn’t have a superstar performance from anyone last night and still bulldozed a No. 1 seed. Purdue got 37 from Edey and that was about it.
No one has three-peated since John Wooden’s UCLA teams won seven in a row from 1967 to 1973 (the Bruins won 9 of 10, too, in that stretch). Duke looks like the betting favorite for next year as of now, but how can anyone discount Hurley?
Related: See our way-too-early Top 25 for 2025 here.
News to Know
Auston Matthews nears 70
Toronto’s American-born superstar netted his 65th goal of the season last night, becoming just the 13th player in NHL history to do so. Matthews has five games left to reach the illustrious 70-goal mark, which no one has reached since 1992-93. The biggest question now is if Toronto rests Matthews before the playoffs.
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Another viewership record smashed
The women’s college basketball national title game between South Carolina and Iowa drew an average of 18.7 million viewers, another record in a season full of them for the sport. It’s a staggering number that is somehow simultaneously unsurprising given the trend we’ve seen. It’s higher than most recent World Series games and even most NBA Finals matchups. See the full list of those here.
More news
- Nate Oats says he is staying at Alabama despite interest from Kentucky. One of our top candidates is off the list.
- The Charlotte Hornets will interview Lindsey Harding for their head coaching vacancy. Harding would be the first woman named head coach of an NBA team. Her resume is impressive.
- FIFA could host domestic league games in foreign countries after reaching an agreement in an ongoing lawsuit. That means possible La Liga games on American soil.
Photos of the Day: You can look at the sun here
Yesterday’s solar eclipse looked incredible (here in New Orleans, we got … clouds), with even better photos from across the globe. The photo above was taken in the early afternoon before the White Sox-Guardians game in Cleveland. Look how dark it is!
I also loved this one of a caddie at the Masters stopping mid-practice round to get a glimpse:
We have plenty more eclipse pics from the sports world here. So fun.
Down the Stretch: The NBA’s frantic final week
In many years, this last week of the NBA regular season is anti-climactic. Maybe we’re quibbling over some middle seeds or a final playoff spot, but there are rarely the stakes we see this week. Three things to watch this week:
- Who gets No. 1 in the West? The Timberwolves, Nuggets and Thunder are all within a game of each other. It feels especially important for Minnesota and Oklahoma City, two teams with greener rosters when it comes to the playoffs. Denver will be a favorite against anyone.
- Who do those teams play? Teams Nos. 6-9 (Suns, Pelicans, Lakers, Kings and Lakers) are all within 1.5 games of each other. There is a huge difference in earning the No. 6 seed and gaining full entry into the playoffs vs. risking a Play-In game and then drawing one of the top two seeds (if you make it).
- Where do the Sixers land? Philadelphia might be our most interesting story, with reigning MVP Joel Embiid back in the lineup after a lengthy absence and looking like his old self. The Sixers sit in seventh right now, but are just 2.5 games behind Orlando for the No. 3 seed, which indicates how tight the East logjam is. Again, huge difference between earning home-court advantage in a playoff series vs. suffering through a one-off Play-In game.
The good news about all this: No one outside of Boston will be resting stars down the stretch with so much on the line. We win.
See the full standings here and make sure to subscribe to The Bounce before it’s too late.
Watch This Game
NHL: Capitals at Red Wings (get tickets)
7 p.m. ET on ESPN
Detroit is in a tight race for a wild-card spot with just a week to play, sitting just one point up on the Penguins right now. High-pressure hockey is an elite product.
NBA: Celtics at Bucks (get tickets)
7:30 p.m. ET on TNT
Yes, this is a potential Eastern Conference finals matchup, but I’m more invested in the vibe check on both. Boston is 15 games up on everyone else in the East. Are they coasting? Meanwhile, Milwaukee has endured a bizarre season that’s left no one happy.
Pulse Picks
Trevor Immelman might be new to the CBS lead analyst chair at the Masters, but he’s lived multiple golf lives in one by this point. Brendan Quinn published a fantastic profile of the witty Immelman today, which is worth your time. The dude is just really likable.
I thought Ken Rosenthal’s column on the pitcher-injury wave was smart. Baseball has, for better or worse, reached peaked velocity and spin. That probably needs to change.
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Have you noticed Klay Thompson — the guy benched earlier in the season — surging lately? It’s helped the Warriors secure a Play-In spot and, as Tim Kawakami writes, has driven up the price on Thompson’s upcoming free agency. Don’t be shocked if the franchise legend is elsewhere next year.
Kyle Tucker has been (and will continue to be) a must-read as Kentucky and John Calipari separate. Yesterday, he wrote the partnership was stuck — and that Arkansas saved both from themselves.
Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: The MLB and MLBPA’s fight over the pitch clock.
Most-read on the website yesterday: The NAIA banned transgender athletes from participating in women’s sports.
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(Photo: Jamie Schwaberow/Getty Images)
