Iowa guard Caitlin Clark’s 41-point outing in Friday’s Final Four win over South Carolina was an all-time performance. The Hawkeyes star was already a household name as a two-time unanimous First-Team All-American and the 2023 National Player of the Year. On Friday, she took another step towards cementing her legacy, and is one win away from the program’s first national championship.
Clark scored well more than half of Iowa’s points in its 77–73 win over the previously undefeated, No. 1 Gamecocks.
Author: Michael
HOUSTON – Sometimes the best game plan in sports and in life is simple: eat well and get enough sleep.
That could be easier said than done for the No. 4 seed Connecticut Huskies (29-8), who play No. 5 seed Miami (29-7) in the Final Four Saturday (9:20 p.m., CBS) in NRG Stadium. No. 9 seed Florida Atlantic (35-3) and No. 5 San Diego State (31-6) open the national semifinals at 6:09 p.m.
UConn top players Jordan Hawkins and Adama Sanogo each are expected to have stomach issues on the day of the most important game of their lives.
Hawkins, a 6-foot-5 sophomore guard averaging 16.
For 36 games, it seemed the Gamecocks were the epitome of unbeatable.
The man on the Zoom screen, the one clad in a white T-shirt, his black hair closely cropped, is a runner.
Growing up in Dnieper, near Ukraine’s northern border, Artem Moroz ran and ran and ran. At first, he ran because running called to him. Then he ran because he cared about his health, because he wanted to stay active. Then he ran to complete marathons, grinding through the pain and lowering his times. But in all his days, through hundreds and hundreds of jaunts, he loved running through the forests in his hometown.
These forests were green, lush, magical.
Fifty years ago, two things happened in college basketball that shall never be duplicated: UCLA won its seventh straight NCAA championship, and Bill Walton made 21 out of 22 shots in the title game.
Nobody knew it at the time, but a dynasty ended that night in St. Louis after the Bruins blitzed Memphis, 87-66. More significantly, the entire concept of a men’s college basketball dynasty died. Nothing since has approached the utter hegemony the Bruins exerted over the sport.
Duke came closest, reaching five straight Final Fours from 1988-92 and winning it all in the last two of those trips.
“We’re not street fighters.” After Friday’s loss, Staley emphasized that South Carolina is “not changing.
Photo by Eakin Howard/Getty Images
Versatile South Carolina CB Cam Smith among first-round prospects in historic 2023 cornerback class
The 2023 NFL Draft cornerback class is historically loaded, featuring multiple high-end talents such as Penn State’s Joey Porter Jr, Oregon’s Christian Gonzalez, and Illinois’ Devon Witherspoon. There is a chance we see five or six cornerbacks selected in the first round, with the majority of them getting their due in terms of hype. However, the most underrated of the bunch might be South Carolina’s Cam Smith.
Michigan’s basketball team took a huge blow Friday when Hunter Dickinson decided to transfer.
The Wolverines big man decided his time in Ann Arbor is over three seasons, and that’s bad news for Michigan.
Head coach Juwan Howard released the following statement after Dickinson hit the portal, according to Wolverines Wire:
Today is bittersweet. While Hunter Dickinson’s departure is unfortunate, there are so many reasons to be thankful for and celebrate. This young man has accomplished so much in his three seasons.
DALLAS — On Friday morning, trying to fill the slow hours before the biggest game in program history, Iowa associate head coach Jan Jensen decided to see her boss. She went to Hawkeyes head coach Lisa Bluder’s hotel suite, and for a few long moments, the pair sat in uncharacteristic silence. Bluder was the one to break it.
We’re the only people who think we can do this.
“Yeah,” Jensen responded. “But that’s the only people that matter.”
Some of that was simple confidence, the kind of ordinary belief needed to fuel any upset victory. But some of it was rooted in specifics.
On the biggest stage, when the lights are the brightest, Caitlin Clark plays her biggest games.