SI:AM | March Madness’s Best Game Happened Last Night
Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I’m really regretting not making the 30-minute drive to Bridgeport for the epic NC State–UConn game.
If you’re reading this on SI.com, you can sign up to get this free newsletter in your inbox each weekday at SI.com/newsletters.
This might have been the best game all March
If you were disappointed by the anticlimactic men’s Elite Eight games over the weekend, I hope you caught the instant classic between No. 1 North Carolina State and No. 2 Connecticut in the women’s Elite Eight last night.
UConn prevailed 91–87 in the first double-overtime game in the Elite Eight or later of a women’s tournament. The game had everything: clutch shots, missed calls and heroic performances from players on both sides.
Huskies star Paige Bueckers, who is looking closer to her usual self after missing a big chunk of the season with a knee injury, took over when it mattered most. She led all scorers with 27 points, 17 of which came in the fourth quarter and in the overtime periods.
Jakia Brown-Turner and Elissa Cunane were fantastic for the Wolfpack. Cunane used outstanding footwork to get easy baskets down low, finishing with 18 points (on 8-of-13 shooting) and nine rebounds. Brown-Turner led NC State with 20 points, none more important than the three-pointer she hit with less than a second remaining in the first overtime to tie the game.
Bueckers had plenty of help in leading UConn to victory, both from Azzi Fudd (19 points) and Christyn Williams (21 points)—and from the officials.
UConn’s frontcourt duo of Aaliyah Edwards and Olivia Nelson-Ododa was forced to play much of the game in foul trouble after 6'5" Dorka Juhász went down with a wrist injury early in the game. Nelson-Ododa really should have fouled out with 1:43 left in the first overtime when she bumped Kayla Jones on a layup, which would have forced UConn to play an undersized lineup the rest of the way.
The other less obvious but more consequential no-call that went the Huskies’ way came in the final seconds of the second overtime. UConn had the ball in the frontcourt with 10.1 seconds on the clock leading by two points. NC State played lockdown defense on the inbounds pass, and Nelson-Ododa took quite a while to find an open teammate. I’ve watched the replay several times this morning with a stopwatch, and it definitely took her longer than five seconds to get the ball in.
NC State already had to overcome playing in front of a pro-UConn crowd in the Huskies’ home state. It didn’t need the refs to make things even harder.
Controversy aside, the win was an impressive one for UConn. The Huskies have now advanced to a ridiculous 14th straight Final Four, where they’ll face Stanford on Friday in the second semifinal for the right to play the winner of Louisville–South Carolina. The first semifinal will feature top overall seed South Carolina taking on Louisville, which overcame Michigan last night with a 62–50 win.
Do you want to be on the cover of SI?
For the June issue of Sports Illustrated, we’re putting together a package on the 50th anniversary of Title IX and we want to feature SI readers on the cover of the issue. Click here to see how you could have a chance to be a part of the project.
The best of Sports Illustrated
Eric Jamison/AP
In today’s Daily Cover, Jeff Pearlman writes about the man who tried to save the woman killed by Henry Ruggs III and how the crash still haunts him.
Ben Pickman has one key factor for each team in the women’s Final Four. … Stephanie Apstein spoke with Cody Bellinger about his lousy season last year and his even worse spring training. … Conor Orr explains why teams should hold off on trading talented running backs such as Christian McCaffrey and Saquon Barkley.
Around the Sports World
The NFL will now require teams to hire at least one woman or person of color as an offensive assistant. … Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich was reportedly poisoned after taking part in Ukraine peace talks. … As expected, Fox is promoting Kevin Burkhardt to be its new No. 1 NFL play-by-play broadcaster. … Senators owner Eugene Melnyk has died. … The Bills’ new stadium will be financed by a record amount of taxpayer funds. … Albert Pujols says this will be his final season in the majors.
The top five...
… non–Elite Eight plays from last night:
5. Connor McDavid’s top-shelf, backhand goal
4. Tage Thompson’s game-winning goal for the Sabres (that were down 4–0 to the Blackhawks)
3. Kenyon Martin Jr.’s game-tying shot attempt for the Rockets goes in and out and sits on the rim for an eternity
2. Alec Burks’s dagger three for the Knicks against the Bulls
1. De’Anthony Melton’s dunk over Kevon Looney
SIQ
On this day in 1984, the day after a fleet of moving trucks pulled up to the Baltimore Colts’ headquarters in the middle of the night and absconded to Indianapolis, the franchise’s relocation was officially announced. In the days leading up to the move, what was the state of Maryland’s last-ditch effort to keep the team in Baltimore?
Yesterday’s SIQ: What was Paul “Triple H” Levesque’s original ring name?
Answer: Terra Ryzing. Get it? Like terrorizing. It’s a terrible name, so no wonder it didn’t stick.
Levesque used the name when he first started training as a wrestler and in his early days with WCW. In 1994, he was given a new name and gimmick: Jean-Paul Levesque, a well-to-do Frenchman.
When Levesque was hired by WWE in 1995, he worked a similar gimmick with a different name. He was originally supposed to go by Reginald DuPont Helmsley, but he balked at the name and suggested changing it to something that could be shortened to initials, thus Hunter Hearst Helmsley was born. Levesque said in a 2014 interview with Chris Jericho that Shawn Michaels immediately started referring to him as Triple H. And the rest is history.
From the Vault: March 29, 1976
Rich Clarkson/Sports Illustrated
Are those Marquette jerseys not the most hideous you’ve ever seen? I hate everything about them. That shade of blue is atrocious, the numbers are enormous and I can’t get over the team name being on the waist.
The uniforms may have been awful, but that Golden Eagles team was fantastic. They had six future NBA players and lost only one game leading into the NCAA tournament and finished second in the final AP poll of the season. But they lost to Indiana in the Mideast Regional final.
Indiana was a juggernaut that year. The Hoosiers went on to win the national title, defeating defending champion UCLA in the national semifinals and Michigan in the title game. They finished the year with a 32–0 record and remain the last men’s team to complete an undefeated championship season.
There was another unbeaten team in the Final Four that year, though. Rutgers entered the tournament 28–0 and beat Princeton, UConn and VMI to run its winning streak to 31 games and reach the program’s only Final Four. But a potential undefeated-vs.-undefeated showdown was thwarted by Michigan in the national semifinal.
Check out more of SI’s archives and historic images at vault.si.com.
