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Good morning! Make every 0.4 seconds count today. Inside:
Elite Company: Madness, condensed
Today, the men’s Elite Eight begins. We considered assembling a matching number of storylines, but the Elite Eight is all about reaching the Final Four, so let’s go with four instead. That might not make total sense, but March is for Madness.
Bracket status:
- The No. 1 seeds: Arizona is the slight favorite per BetMGM. Duke entered the tourney as the top overall seed, and last night held off Rick Pitino’s St. John’s 80-75. No. 2 UConn is up next on Sunday night after blasting No. 3 Michigan State. The other No. 1 still with us: Michigan, which just handled No. 4 Alabama 90-77 and now gets Tennessee.
- The throwback: In an era of college sports teams having transient rosters and hordes of players following their (likewise transient) coaches from town to town, No. 2 Purdue is a rarity. “At the high-major level this season, only 22 scholarship seniors will graduate from the same school where they started. … Purdue has three of them.” A 6.5-point underdog against Arizona tonight (8:49 p.m. ET, TBS/truTV).
- The Cinderella-ish? With all mid-majors long gone and no double-digit seeds remaining, No. 9 Iowa is the only remotely arguable candidate for glass-slipper status. Hey, it’s the Hawkeyes’ first Elite Eight since 1987, and they have Division II and Drake University DNA. They knocked out defending champ Florida before upsetting rival (and fellow semi-Cinderella) Nebraska, and today face another Big Ten neighbor: No. 3 Illinois (6:09 p.m. ET, TBS/truTV).
- The basketball conference of the year: We’ve mentioned a bunch of Big Ten teams in here, haven’t we? Since 1985, this is just the fourth time a conference has taken up half the Elite Eight. Guaranteed one Final Four spot, and could have three. Pleasingly, these are all traditional Big Ten members, too. So … is this the year the B1G breaks its quarter-century championship drought (2000 Michigan State)?
Loads of other men’s Sweet 16 notes here.
As for the women’s bracket, where the Sweet 16 is halfway done:
News to Know
Notre Dame stuns Vanderbilt
Hannah Hidalgo … omg. One of just three players from last year’s Irish team that was bounced in the Sweet 16, Hidalgo was downright relentless in an upset of No. 2 Vanderbilt, finishing with 31 points, 11 rebounds, 10 steals and seven assists. What a line. When the clock hit zero, she sprinted into the arms of coach Niele Ivey, who last spring didn’t even have enough players remaining to hold a pickup game. It’s an excellent story.
- Also yesterday: Duke ousted LSU on a step-back buzzer-beater from Ashlon Jackson that came this close to rolling out:
- Wow. Meanwhile UConn was frustrated by North Carolina — for a half. Likewise UCLA vis-a-vis Minnesota. For all our Sweet 16 takeaways, go here now.
- Can anyone beat the Huskies? The Athletic crew’s power rankings have your best bets.
Woods charged with DUI after rollover
First, the good news: No one was injured. But Tiger Woods was involved in another rollover crash yesterday, this one ending with his Land Rover on its side and Woods being taken to jail with, police say, “signs of impairment.” He’s charged with a DUI and refusal to submit to a lawful test, marking the latest in a series of car crashes and other setbacks. (Enough that we have a whole timeline.) The Athletic’s Brody Miller makes the case that we shouldn’t give up on Tiger, but it’s time to begin asking less of him in the sports realm.
More news:
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The NBA gave owners three proposals for expanding the draft lottery to prevent tanking. Are the proposals complicated? They are! Would they work? Who knows! The league is also floating some harsh new penalties for tankers. Read more.
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It looks like Trinidad Chambliss will be back as Ole Miss quarterback in his sixth year of college, after the NCAA lost another court ruling. Details here.
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North Carolina power forward Caleb Wilson declared for the NBA Draft, where The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie has him going No. 4.
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The Clippers and Pacers combined to play an unimaginably ridiculous final 0.4 seconds. Full story here. (Yes, it really requires a full story.)
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Yankees star Aaron Judge, a large man with an often-misinterpreted strike zone, successfully challenged a low strike and then went yard. You can watch it here.
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Jason Heyward announced his retirement after a 16-year career that included five Gold Gloves, two rings and one broken curse. Happy sailing, J-Hey.
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Italian cyclist Debora Silvestri is out of the hospital after a super scary crash that left her needing help to breathe. Godspeed.
đź“°Â Find more news here 24/7.
Watch Guide
📺 NCAAW: Sweet 16
12:30 p.m.-6:30 p.m. ET on ABC, ESPN
Michigan-Louisville should be a good scrap, and Oklahoma already beat No. 1 seed South Carolina once this year. But the best story is Virginia trying to become just the fifth double-digit seed ever to reach the women’s Elite 8 — and TCU is only a 9.5-point favorite, per BetMGM.
📺 USMNT vs. Belgium
3:30 p.m. ET on TNT, truTV and HBO Max
Incredibly, the U.S. men have won just one of their last 20 World Cup games against European competition — and that win came 24 years ago. This is a chance for the Americans to show they’re no longer star-struck by the world-class players many of them now count as club teammates. It’s also the penultimate friendly before Mauricio Pochettino names his Cup roster.
📺 MLB: Yankees at Giants
7:15 p.m. ET on Fox/MLB.TV
All 30 teams go today. The Yankees have already made franchise history by starting the season with back-to-back shutouts. Can they go a whole season without allowing a run? Chances are we’ll get our answer tonight!
Get tickets to games like this here.
Pulse Picks
Andy Lyons / Getty Images
MLB ballpark chefs are grappling with whether fans want traditional food or to try something new. Johnny Flores Jr. got the scoop on 11 of the more interesting food items you can get this season. Yum.
I got a chance a couple of nights ago to see Microwave on tour with Anthony Green (Circa Survive, L.S. Dunes, etc.) and All Get Out here in Dallas. If you’re into that kind of music (I am), it’s a brilliant tour — it goes til the end of April. (If you aren’t familiar with Microwave, start here — or for their best music video, here.) — Levi Weaver
The best shooter in college basketball says one word before he shoots: jellybean. Here’s why.
Journalistic integrity moment: I have not tried making this yet, and I might be too lazy to ever try. BUT. I did just text a friend, “Please make me these NYT Dubai chocolate chewy cookies for my birthday” (which, to be clear, isn’t any time soon, but that’s how much I want someone else to make these for me). — Hannah Vanbiber
Hell yeah I bought my craft-obsessed daughter a bag of rocks. TO PAINT! Get your ladybug on. These work well. — Chris Sprow
🎥 A few members of our MLB staff weighed in on what they’d change about the sport as commissioner.
“Paradise” isn’t a perfect show, but nothing has gripped me quite like it recently. It shares some DNA with “This Is Us” (same creator), but more with “Lost,” and there’s technically time to catch up before the Season 2 finale drops Monday (Hulu). — Torrey Hart
Unlike classic tabletops that pit you against your friends, cooperative games take that competitive energy and direct it toward a common enemy: the game itself. As Wirecutter’s resident board-game expert, I spent two months playing all sorts of options to find these six fun standouts. — James Austin
Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: Men’s Sweet 16 takeaways.
📫 That’s all for now! Say hello at thepulse@theathletic.com, and check out our other newsletters.