| | | | | | | Presented By IBM | | | | Axios Sports | | By Kendall Baker ·Apr 04, 2022 | | π Good morning! Kansas (-4) vs. North Carolina for all the marbles tonight. Who ya got? π Join us: Tomorrow is Axios' inaugural What's Next Summit! Register here to attend virtual sessions with Laurene Powell Jobs, JosΓ© AndrΓ©s and others. Today's word count: 1,586, a 6-minute read. Let's sports ... | | | | | | 1 big thing: π The Dawn of an era |  | | | Photo: Ben Solomon/NCAA Photos via Getty Images | | | | South Carolina throttled UConn, 64-49, on Sunday to complete a wire-to-wire season of dominance and win its second national championship, Axios' Jeff Tracy and I write. - Why it matters: The Gamecocks are now one of just eight programs with multiple titles, joining UConn (11), Tennessee (8), Baylor (3), Stanford (3), Notre Dame (2), Louisiana Tech (2) and USC (2).
- Wild stat: This was UConn's first loss in a national title game, men or women. The women had been 11-0 (all under Geno Auriemma) and the men are 4-0.
Game recap: South Carolina's defense and rebounding prowess (+25 edge) gave UConn fits all night, and anytime the Huskies chipped away at the lead, their answer was fast and furious. - Senior swan song: Senior Destanni Henderson went out on top in more ways than one, scoring a career-high 26 points in her final game. Mic drop.
- Most Outstanding Player: Aliyah Boston's 30th double-double of the season (11-16) made her the first national champion to average 15 points (16.8) and 15 rebounds (15.2) during the tournament.
What they're saying: "I've been thinking about this since last season, because everybody had a picture of me crying," said Boston, who missed a would-be game-winner against Stanford in last year's Final Four. "But today we're national champions, and [all I have are] happy tears!" The big picture: Dawn Staley's ascension to greatness has charted an eerily similar path to Auriemma's, roughly three decades apart. - Auriemma, 68, inherited a program in 1985 that had never been to the tournament. Four years later, he made it there. Eleven years after that, he won his second title over a coach widely considered the GOAT (Pat Summitt).
- Dawn Staley, 51, inherited a program in 2008 that was coming off two decades of mediocrity. Four years later, she made her tournament debut. Ten years after that, she won her second title over a coach many now consider the GOAT.
Looking ahead: UConn hasn't won a championship since 2016, its longest drought since winning the first of its 11 titles in 1995. Is the dynasty over? - "I like our chances [next year]," said Auriemma, whose senior class will graduate without a title for the first time since 2008.
- Paige Bueckers returns, as does fellow No. 1 recruit Azzi Fudd. And the Huskies will add two more top-five recruits in Ayanna Patterson and Isuneh Brady.
Fun fact: The last time South Carolina won the title was in 2017. The men's champion that year? UNC… π₯ Watch: Highlights (YouTube) |     | | | | | | 2. π When sports is poetry |  Data: Sports Reference; Chart: Jacque Schrag/Axios Saturday's Duke-UNC game was hyped as one of the biggest games ever — and it somehow exceeded expectations. The Tar Heels won, 81-77, in an instant classic that will be talked about for generations. By the numbers: UNC's win not only ended Mike Krzyzewski's career — it also evened their head-to-head record during the Coach K era at 50-50. Truly unbelievable. - Coach K's first loss at Duke was to UNC on Dec. 5, 1980. His last loss was also to UNC, on April 2, 2022.
- See that chart above? I may hang it in my office. You can't script a rivalry better than that. You can't script anything better than that.
The big picture: UNC beating Duke in Coach K's final game is arguably the best "stick it to your rival" moment in sports history — especially when paired with the Tar Heels' win last month at Cameron Indoor. "North Carolina has one upped Duke for eternity, and there is nothing that any Duke fan or anybody from Duke can do about it." — Jon Rothstein, CBS Photo: Jamie Schwaberow/NCAA Photos via Getty Images Photo of the night: Caleb Love, who dreamed of going to Duke but wasn't offered a spot, vanquished Coach K and the Blue Devils with one of the biggest shots in UNC history. He also had a game-high 28 points. Sports, man... Go deeper: | | | | | | | | 3. ⚽️ World Cup: USA, England in Group B |  Data: FIFA; Table: Thomas Oide/Axios The USMNT is back in the World Cup, but advancing past the group stage in Qatar will be far from easy. Group B: The U.S. (No. 15 in the FIFA rankings) will be joined by England (No. 5), Iran (No. 21) and the winner of a June playoff: either Wales (No. 18), Scotland (No. 39) or Ukraine (No. 27). - The doomsday scenario was avoided during Friday's draw, but if Wales gets through, this will be one of the toughest — and certainly deepest — groups in the field.
- The juggernaut: England (+650) has the third-best odds to win the World Cup, per FanDuel, trailing only France and Brazil (both +500).
Schedule: The U.S. begins play on Nov. 21 against the winner of the playoff. Then it's England the day after Thanksgiving (leftovers at halftime!), and Iran four days later. All three matches will be at 2pm ET. - Nov. 21: vs. TBD (One of four matches on opening day)
- Nov. 25: vs. England (8-2-1 all-time against U.S, but 0-1-1 in World Cups)
- Nov. 29: vs. Iran (1-0-1 against U.S., including 1-0-0 in World Cups)
The bottom line: Gregg Berhalter has eight months and two international windows (June and September) to prepare his team. The countdown has officially begun. Go deeper: Group-by-group analysis (ESPN) | | | | | | | | A message from IBM | | Can artificial intelligence predict the Masters? | | |  | | | | The Masters used IBM Watson to analyze five years of historical data on hundreds of players and more than 100,000 shots, enabling them to predict the scores of every player, in every round of the Tournament. You can check out how they did it here, and see the predictions in the Masters app. | | | | | | 4. ⚡️ Lightning round |  | | | Tiger Woods practiced at Augusta on Sunday. Photo: Gregory Shamus/Getty Images | | | | ⛳️ Tiger watch: Tiger Woods remains a game-time decision for this week's Masters but reportedly "played beautifully" at Augusta on Sunday. This video makes me feel like he's in. π Class of 2022: The 13-member Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2022 includes Manu Ginobili, Tim Hardaway, Swin Cash, Lindsay Whalen, Bob Huggins and George Karl. π Clinched: The Panthers became the first NHL team to clinch a playoff spot on Sunday. Florida (48-15-6) has a commanding lead atop the Atlantic Division, nine points clear of Toronto (44-19-5). π Montverde sweeps: Montverde Academy (Fla.) won both the boys and girls high school basketball national championships over the weekend. Powerhouse, confirmed. π Aussies dominate: The Australian women crushed England in the Cricket World Cup final. They've now won seven of 12 World Cups all-time and 38 of 39 matches in the past four years. | | | | | | | | 5. ⛳️ Women's golf: Youngsters shine |  | | | Photo: David Cannon/Getty Images | | | | Anna Davis, 16, doesn't even have her driver's license yet. That didn't stop her from making history at Augusta, Jeff writes. Driving the news: The high school sophomore from Spring Valley, Calif., became the youngest-ever winner of the Augusta National Women's Amateur on Saturday. - Davis carded a 69 in the final round and finished one-under for the tournament to beat LSU junior Latanna Stone by one stroke.
- The ANWA debuted in 2019, just seven years after the club welcomed its first female members.
What she's saying: "I don't think I've ever played in front of that many people," Davis, who can begin talking to college recruiters in June, told ESPN. "I was just out there having fun." Jennifer Kupcho poses with the trophy after taking a celebratory swim. Photo: Harry How/Getty Images The big picture: Judging by the success of past ANWA winners, it may not be long until Davis is back in the spotlight. - Jennifer Kupcho, 24, the inaugural ANWA champion, held off Jessica Korda on Sunday to win the Chevron Championship, the first LPGA major of the season.
- This was Kupcho's first LPGA win and it came in record-setting fashion, with her 54-hole score (-16) setting a new tournament record in the final LPGA Tour event at Mission Hills.
Go deeper: When the spotlight shines on women at Augusta (NYT) | | | | | | | | 6. π© Pray for Kings fans |  | | | Welcome to Sacramento, Domantas. Photo: Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images | | | | The Kings were eliminated from playoff contention for the 16th straight season on Sunday, breaking the record for the longest postseason drought in NBA history. π₯ Watch: How the best ever Kings team missed the NBA Finals, then deteriorated (YouTube) | | | | | | | | 7. π The world in photos | | Photo: Megan Briggs/Getty Images MIAMI — Carlos Alcaraz, 18, won the Miami Open on Sunday, becoming the third-youngest Masters 1000 champion, behind Michael Chang (1990 Toronto) and fellow Spaniard Rafael Nadal (2005 Monte Carlo). Photo: Jaime Crawford/Getty Images ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Colin Kaepernick put on a throwing exhibition during Saturday's Michigan spring game, where he served as honorary captain and was joined by Spike Lee, who's directing his docuseries. - What he's saying: "I can help you win games," said Kaepernick in a message to NFL teams.
Photo: Sameer Al-Doumy/AFP via Getty Images PARIS — The 45th Paris Marathon was gorgeous — and cold (36 degrees). | | | | | | | | 8. πΊ Watchlist: The grand finale |  | | | Graphic: Axios Visuals | | | | Five months of basketball culminates tonight in New Orleans, as No. 8 UNC and No. 1 Kansas — two of the three winningest programs ever — face off for the championship (9:20pm ET, TBS). - The Tar Heels' six titles rank third behind UCLA (11) and Kentucky (8), and if they win tonight they'll match 1985 Villanova as the lowest seed to win it all.
- The Jayhawks' three titles are tied with Villanova for seventh-most ever, one behind UConn. Their most recent championship came in 2008 over Memphis.
The Roy Williams Bowl: Bill Self took over at Kansas in 2003 for Roy Williams, who left to coach UNC. When Williams retired last year, he hand-picked Hubert Davis as his successor in Chapel Hill. More to watch: | | | | | | | | 9. π NFL trivia |  | | | Photo: Michael Zagaris/Getty Images | | | | Frank Gore, who plans to sign a one-day contract with the 49ers and retire, ranks third all-time in NFL rushing yards with 16,000. - Question: Who does he trail?
- Hint: Their careers didn't overlap.
Answer at the bottom. | | | | | | | | 10. π₯ Top plays: Weekend edition | | Giphy - ⚾️ Billy "Spider-Man" Hamilton
- π Aaron Gordon, omg
- ⚾️ Over the fence grab
- ⚽️ Pedri!!!
- ⚽️ Bend it like Salma
- ⚽️ What a save
- π Lacrosse or hockey?
- π Lonnie (Sky) Walker
- π That pass though
- π Tatum drops the hammer
Watch all 10. | | | | | | | | A message from IBM | | The Masters app is serving up AI insights on every player in the field | | | | | | | | IBM Watson natural language processing capabilities analyzed more than three million articles about every golfer at the Masters. The resulting player insights are then made available on the player profile pages in the Masters app. See how they did it. | | | | Talk tomorrow, Kendall "Can finally spell Krzyzewski" Baker Trivia answer: Emmitt Smith (18,355) and Walter Payton (16,726) π Thanks for reading. Follow us at @kendallbaker and @jeffreytracy, and tell friends to sign up for Axios Sports. |  | It's called Smart Brevity®. Over 200 orgs use it — in a tool called Axios HQ — to drive productivity with clearer workplace communications. | | | | | | Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. If you're interested in advertising, learn more here.
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