Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I’m still reeling from Hulu deciding to prematurely end its Oscars stream before the two biggest awards of the night.
In today’s SI:AM:
🏀 Women’s hoops roundup
🏈 Titans on the clock
⏱️ Combine reports from Indy
Now the real drama begins
March Madness is so close you can smell it. The big men’s conferences still have to finish up the regular season, but the top women’s conferences wrapped up regular-season play on Sunday. And it was a fascinating final day. Let’s check out some of the most interesting results.
No. 1 Texas Longhorns defeat Florida Gators, 72–46
Texas is having its best season in more than two decades, achieving a No. 1 ranking in the AP poll for the first time since 2004. Sunday’s win wrapped up a 29–2 regular season for the Longhorns. Those two losses came against two of the best teams in the country—the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the South Carolina Gamecocks. The Longhorns have the best record in the country in Quad 1 games at 12–2. They should be favored to reach their first Final Four since 2003.
Ole Miss Rebels defeat No. 7 LSU Tigers, 85–77
LSU is entering the conference tournament on a sour note, having now lost two in a row and facing the prospect of having star guard Flau’jae Johnson sidelined with a leg injury.
The Tigers lost on Thursday in overtime against a very good Alabama Crimson Tide team in Tuscaloosa and then lost again at home on Sunday against Ole Miss. The Rebels have built quite the impressive résumé, on the other hand. They now have five Quad 1 wins and rank in the top 30 nationally in both offensive and defensive efficiency.
Georgia Bulldogs upset No. 11 Tennessee Volunteers, 72–69
Elsewhere in the SEC, Tennessee ended its regular season with a baffling home loss to a lousy Georgia team (12–18). The selection committee had been high on the Volunteers, ranking them 12th in its most recent top 16, but that was before Tennessee lost its last two games of the regular season.
No 19. Maryland Terrapins beat No. 12 Ohio State Buckeyes in overtime, 93–90
What’s the best part of March? Buzzer beaters. And Maryland’s Sarah Te-Biasu had a great one to give her team an overtime win at home, driving down the court and launching a three-pointer from a dead sprint.
SARAH CALLS GAME!! 🔥 #faMily 🐢 pic.twitter.com/PIrPeQo2l4
— Maryland Women’s Basketball (@TerpsWBB) March 2, 2025
Audi Crooks helps Iowa State Cyclones’ bubble case
Iowa State might not be sweating so much come Selection Sunday after a big win over the No. 14 Kansas State Wildcats. The Cyclones had been one of the last four teams in the field in ESPN’s latest bracket projection released Friday. They had been ranked eighth in the preseason AP poll but failed to pick up any signature wins before Sunday, going 0–9 in Quad 1 games. Crooks, Iowa State’s star center, stepped up to give her team a much-needed quality win, though. She had 36 points on 14-of-18 shooting and 10 rebounds in an 85–63 win. We’ll see if that was enough to move the Cyclones (21–10) off the bubble.
TCU Horned Frogs grind out another quality win
TCU is in the middle of what is easily the best season in the program’s history. The Horned Frogs are ranked 10th in the latest AP poll and finished out their regular season with a gritty 51–48 win over the No. 17 Baylor Bears to move to 28–3 on the year. They’ve already set a new program record for wins in a season (the previous mark was 25 in 2004) and are poised to make their first NCAA tournament appearance since ’10.
The Horned Frogs are led by LSU transfer Hailey Van Lith and Sedona Price, who’s in her second season in Fort Worth after starting her career with the Oregon Ducks. Both players are averaging 17.6 points per game and are critical to a TCU offense that ranks second nationally in points per 100 possessions. Baylor’s excellent defense (31st nationally in defensive rating) held TCU in check, but the Horned Frogs showed that they can win even when they aren’t lighting up the scoreboard. It was their first win this season when scoring fewer than 60 points.
The best of Sports Illustrated
- Albert Breer has the latest on how the Titans are approaching their choice with the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft.
- Matt Verderame made predictions for the fate of each NFL team’s top free agent.
- Daniel Flick was at the NFL combine in Indianapolis and filed daily reports on the biggest risers and fallers at each position group. Here are his dispatches on defensive linemen and linebackers; defensive backs and tight ends; quarterbacks, receivers and running backs; and offensive linemen.
- Karl Rasmussen laid out the biggest names that could be on the move ahead of this week’s NHL trade deadline.
- The son of a legendary caddie was on the bag for this week’s surprise winner on the PGA Tour. Max Schreiber spoke with Joe LaCava Jr. about carrying the bag for Joe Highsmith.
- South Carolina was awarded the top seed in the SEC women’s basketball tournament after a coin flip was used to break a tie atop the standings with Texas.
The top five…
… things I saw yesterday:
5. Ben Stiller’s tweet about the Knicks while sitting in the audience at the Oscars.
4. KK Arnold’s nasty ballhandling on this layup.
3. Jalen Brunson’s effortless behind-the-back assist.
2. LeBron James’s clutch chase-down block.
1. A rare NHL buzzer beater for the Maple Leafs’ Matthew Knies.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as SI:AM | A Thrilling End to the Women’s Hoops Regular Season.