Brr, it’s cold in here
From The GIST College Sports (hi@thegistsports.com)
Hi!
Channel the energy of No. 4 Stanford women’s basketball superstar Cameron Brink, who declared for the WNBA Draft yesterday, and set your sights on bigger things…that you’ll conquer once March Madness is over, of course.
— The Hoyas’ tearful grad student forward Graceann Bennett on Georgetown’s impending head coach (HC) Darnell Haney, who stepped up as interim HC when former HC Tasha Butts lost her battle with breast cancer just two weeks before the season started.
- Haney led the Hoyas to a banner year, including their first-ever Big East tournament final on Monday night — the day after what would have been Butts’ 42nd birthday. Top-seeded UConn won the game and the title, but No. 6–seed Georgetown won everyone’s hearts.
Men's basketball
🏀 Last stop before the Madness
The GIST: As of today, nearly all of the 32 conference tournaments are underway, with automatic March Madness bids and a whole lotta confetti awaiting the winners. Here are the tourneys you won’t want to miss as you gear up for bracket-building.
The Big 12: In their first season in this hyper-competitive conference, No. 1–seed Houston is favored to take the Big 12 crown. But the Cougars will have to fend off serious challenges from No. 2 Iowa State, No. 3 Baylor, and maybe even No. 6 Kansas — although things keep shifting from bad to worse for the spiraling Jayhawks.
The Big East: Reigning national champ UConn proved they have the stamina to run it back — they locked up the regular-season title and the Big East’s No. 1 seed with ease. But there’s been chinks in the armor down the stretch, so they’d be fools to underestimate No. 2–seed Creighton or No. 3 Marquette this week.
The SEC: When the regular season ends with a four-way tie for second place, you know you’re in for one wild tourney. No. 1–seed Tennessee could earn a top March Madness seed with a trophy here, but not if surging blue blood No. 2 Kentucky, spoiler specialist No. 5 South Carolina, and the rest of this stacked group have anything to say about it.
Women's ice hockey
🏒 Light that lamp
The GIST: The puck drops on the first round of the national tournament tomorrow — aka perfect timing since women’s hockey is the moment. With a sustainable pro league that just can’t stop breaking barriers awaiting top NCAAers, expect this to be one of the most exciting and inspiring tourneys yet. Yo VIP, let’s kick it.
How it works: The NCAA Tournament has two stages: regionals and the Frozen Four. In tomorrow’s regional semifinals, the six lowest seeds battle for a (slap)shot at skating in Saturday’s regional final, where the top five squads lie in wait, well-rested from their first-round bye.
- The weekend’s survivors advance to the pinnacle of college hockey: the Frozen Four. On March 22nd, the last gals standing will take the semifinal ice with hopes of lighting lamps during the March 24th national championship game.
The favorites: The Ohio State Buckeyes snagged the No. 1 seed, despite falling 6–3 to reigning national champ and No. 2–seed Wisconsin in Saturday’s WCHA final. The Buckeyes and Badgers have met five times this season: Ohio State won the first three, but Wisconsin took the last two. A sixth showdown would mean a repeat of last year’s Frozen Four final.
- But don’t count out No. 3 Colgate. The Raiders sailed through last week’s talent-packed ECAC tournament, crushing all opponents — including two national Top-10 teams, Cornell and Clarkson — by outscoring ’em 18–3 across the tourney’s four games. Sheesh.
The dark horses: Unseeded Minnesota Duluth doesn’t have a bye like the top four seeds — but hey, Wisconsin won last year’s natty from a similar starting spot. The Bulldogs’ path goes through the formidable Ohio State, but if they can pull off their own miracle on ice, who’s to say they can’t win the whole damn thing?
- Unseeded Cornell will also face a first-round challenger — they open the tourney against Stonehill tomorrow at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN+ — but after sharpening their skills and skates in the brutal ECAC all season, they could have the stamina to cause chaos.
🏀 Women’s basketball
The No. 2–seed Texas Longhorns completed their postseason push with last night’s 70–53 championship win over No. 4 Iowa State, securing their third Big 12 tournament title and an automatic bid to March Madness. The dub strengthened the Longhorns’ case for a national No. 1 seed, a bracket position they’ve been jockeying for with Stanford. Hooked on a feeling.
🥎 Softball
Preseason–No. 15 LSU basked in their meteoric rise to the poll’s No. 2 spot with yesterday’s decisive 7–4 win over No. 3 Texas. The Tigers are Division I’s only remaining undefeated team, and they show no signs of slowing down.
- Elsewhere, No. 15 Alabama saved themselves from a sweep with Monday’s 3–0 shutout of No. 10 Florida, and the Tide will try to keep rolling against an old rival, No. 18 Florida State, tonight at 7 p.m. ET on ACCN.
⚾ Baseball
A wave of upsets crashed over NCAA baseball last night, with No. 6 Duke, No. 7 Wake Forest, and No. 8 Florida falling from the top. But No.13 NC State stumbled the hardest in their 18–3 loss to unranked intrastate foe UNCG. Grim.
🏆 National championships
Men’s swimming & diving and wrestling will keep the winter sports postseason party rolling today: Swimming & diving’s national qualifiers list will drop by 12 p.m. ET ahead of their March 27th NCAA tourney start, while the already-announced wrestling contenders will learn their all-important seeding for their natty, running March 21st through 23rd, during tonight’s 8 p.m. ET selection show.
Recs from our roster!
🤳 What to check out
This collab. Mattel and Nokia have teamed up to release a real-life, hot-pink Barbie flip phone. Excited is an understatement.
🍺 Where to watch the game
A Bar of Their Own, Minnesota’s first sports bar dedicated exclusively to women’s sports. More of this, please.
📕 What to read
Sidelined: Sports, Culture, and Being a Woman in America by Julie Dicaro. The GIST Book Club is all over this one for Women’s History Month. Read along with us on Fable.
Today's email was brought to you by Katie Kehoe Foster, Ruth Lenzen, Emma Fernandez, and Briana Ekanem. Editing by Lindsay Jost and Isabella Troia. Fact checking by Mikaela Perez. Ops by Lisa Minutillo and Elisha Gunaratnam. Ads by Katie Kehoe Foster, Lauren Tuiskula, and Dee Lab. Managing edits by Dee Lab. Head of Content Ellen Hyslop.