In 2014, then Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban made a prediction. He said the NFL would implode within a decade.

‘I think the NFL is 10 years away from an implosion,’ Cuban said then. ‘I’m just telling you: Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered. And they’re getting hoggy.

‘Just watch. Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered. When you try to take it too far, people turn the other way. I’m just telling you, when you’ve got a good thing and you get greedy, it always, always, always, always, always turns on you. That’s rule No. 1 of business.’

Cuban was talking about the then expanding television package, and how he believed playing games on days other than Sunday and Monday was a bad business decision.

‘They’re trying to take over every night of TV,’ Cuban said. ‘Initially, it’ll be, ‘Yeah, they’re the biggest-rating thing that there is.’ OK, Thursday, that’s great, regardless of whether it impacts (the NBA) during that period when we cross over. Then if it gets Saturday, now you’re impacting colleges. Now it’s on four days a week. It’s all football. At some point, the people get sick of it.’

When I reached out to Cuban on Saturday night about what he thinks he got wrong (he was far from alone in believing that), he said, in part, to USA TODAY Sports: ‘I thought that they would saturate every night of the week and that would destabilize their partners. There is still uncertainty when your biggest revenue source is legacy media, but without question they are the number one viewing option.’ (More on this in a story to come later.)

This look into the past leads us to the present, and the NFL’s league meetings this week in Florida. This particular gathering of NFL owners might be the unofficial beginning of the inevitable that’s starting to happen. No, not an implosion, but an expansion. An expansion we knew was coming: the league reportedly is preparing to make a more assertive push for an 18-game season.

While an 18th game could be several years away (maybe), Yahoo is reporting that the NFL wants to intensify those already-existing conversations with the union essentially now.

We need to understand something. Talks or pushes or whatever you want to call them … an 18th game is going to happen. It’s inevitable. Like Thanos. (Talking the first time Thanos made half the population disappear, not the second time he tried and failed … but I digress.)

The league has wanted this for some time. This is a dream of many owners. They see massive dollar signs. They think the current media rights deal isn’t big enough. They see the sport as a giant ATM. Spitting out huge bucks and ratings. The hEaLTHH aND sAFFTy stuff well, whatever. The NFL will pay lip service to it but the money comes first. The money always comes first.

All of this leads to a really important question: Can there ever be such a thing as too much NFL?

That’s what Cuban was basically asking 11 years ago and right now, it seems, the answer would be no. The NFL can do no wrong. This past season NFL games were 72 of the 100 most-watched events. There have been times in recent years when that number was even higher. In 2023 it was 93. But 72 is still staggering. Right now, the league could go to a 20-game season, and people would watch. There are fantasy football championships to win, after all.

But will that hold?

I wrote an entire wrong book about the potential demise of the NFL that was wrong and did I mention wrong? So my predictions stink. We are in the middle of the kind of sports dominance perhaps this country hasn’t seen since baseball captivated the American consciousness. What the NFL is doing seems even more giant than that.

There’s also this human being thing to have everything be linear; a start and a stop. Maybe the NFL has no stop. Just dominance or near-dominance and it stays this way until warp drive is invented.

The NFL, however, keeps doing things that seem contradictory to long-term (or even near-term) success. They are, as the saying goes, high on their own supply. The market is absolutely flooded with the product and maybe people view the product as so good, they’ll keep watching. Yet we all know that in the last week or two of the season playoff teams sit starters, or players on losing teams check out. Some of the games at the end of the year are absolutely unwatchable. That would become a bigger problem with an 18th game.

For now, though, none of that seems to matter. The NFL just keeps churning along. It confounds even brilliant people like Cuban.

Will that popularity continue when the league goes to 18 games? Not if.

When.

Half of the NCAA men’s tournament Final Four spots are filled. Florida is a representative of the SEC after beating Texas Tech and Duke is there from the ACC after dispatching Alabama. The other two will be determined Sunday in a pair of Elite Eight matchups

The action will start from the Midwest Region in Indianapolis. Top seed Houston is coming off a dramatic win against Purdue with the benefit of a last-second inbounds play. Tennessee will be playing in their fourth Elite Eight, but have yet to reach the Final Four. On the plus side, the Volunteers were in this spot last season and can draw from their experience in a loss to Purdue.

The second matchup takes place in Atlanta. Auburn, the tournament’s No. 1 overall seed, looked to be in trouble in the second half against Michigan during the Sweet 16. Then Denver Jones stepped up with 3-point shots, and the Tigers blew away the Wolverines to make just their third Elite Eight in school history. Michigan State is no stranger to this situation but struggled Friday with Mississippi and faces a bigger challenge here.

No. 1 Houston vs. No. 2 Tennessee

Time/TV: 2:20 p.m., ET, CBS

Like defense? You’ll be in love with this game. The Cougars and Volunteers are first and eighth in fewest points allowed, respectively. They’re also third and fourth in field-goal percentage defense. Points will be hard to come by for both teams. The matchup at point guard is one to watch. Houston has Milos Uzan, an Oklahoma transfer, to run the offense. Tennessee counters with Zakai Zeigler, who is the heart and soul of the team on both offense and defense. Both teams boast big bodies inside that should be interesting to watch. An edge there could be critical. While the disappointing history of the Volunteers will get a lot of attention, the Cougars have had their own disappointments in the past four tournaments when trying to return to their first Final Four since 2020. They’ll be plenty motivated.

No. 1 Auburn vs. No. 2 Michigan State

Time/TV: 5:05 p.m., ET, CBS

If experience matters, then there should be lots of optimism for the Spartans. Tom Izzo has been here 10 previous times and gone 8-2 in regional finals. He knows how to get a team ready on a short turnaround with a Final Four berth on the line. But it also takes players to get it done on the court. Michigan State possesses the size to match up with Tigers big man Johni Broome (18.5 ppg and 10.8 rpg), though it will require a team effort to slow him down. Auburn, however, is more than just Broome, forcing the Spartans to be aware of perimeter scorers that include Jones, Chad Baker-Mazara and Tahaad Pettiford. Should the Tigers prevail, it would be quite to coup to take down the Big Ten’s two Michigan schools along the way.

And we’re onto the Elite Eight in women’s March Madness! What a slate of matchups we’ve got ahead. All four No. 1 seeds — UCLA, South Carolina, USC, Texas — are still alive, but their opponents are real threats.

Paige Bueckers and No. 2 UConn keep cooking, Bueckers dropping 40 points in the Sweet 16 against Oklahoma. Hailey Van Lith and No. 2 TCU continued their historic run, Van Lith pouring in 26 to upset Notre Dame.

So, here is the full Elite Eight March Madness schedule and expert predictions from reporters across the USA TODAY Sports Network.

South Carolina vs. Duke women’s basketball predictions

Time, TV: 1 p.m. Sunday (ABC)

Meghan L. Hall, For The Win: South Carolina
Lulu Kesin, The Greenvile News: South Carolina
Cydney Henderson, USA TODAY: South Carolina
Jenna Ortiz, Arizona Republic: South Carolina
Maxwell Donaldson, The Gadsden Times: South Carolina

If South Carolina wants to beat Duke and keep its title defense alive, the Gamecocks will need contributions from more than just Chloe Kitts and MiLaysia Fulwiley. South Carolina is in pursuit of its fifth consecutive Final Four, while Duke looks to move on to the Final Four for the first time since 2006.

UCLA vs. LSU women’s basketball predictions

Time, TV: 1 p.m. Sunday (ABC)

Meghan L. Hall, For The Win: UCLA
Lulu Kesin, The Greenvile News: LSU
Cydney Henderson, USA TODAY: UCLA
Jenna Ortiz, Arizona Republic: UCLA
Nancy Armour, USA TODAY: UCLA
Maxwell Donaldson, The Gadsden Times: LSU

This matchup marks a rematch of last year’s Sweet 16, when LSU defeated UCLA 78-69. The Bruins are in search of their first Final Four appearance, while LSU looks to return to the Final Four for the first time since their title run in 2023.

Texas vs. TCU women’s basketball predictions

Time, TV: 7 p.m. Monday (ESPN)

Meghan L. Hall, For The Win: TCU
Lulu Kesin, The Greenvile News: Texas
Cydney Henderson, USA TODAY: TCU
Jenna Ortiz, Arizona Republic: TCU
Nancy Armour, USA TODAY: Texas
Maxwell Donaldson, The Gadsden Times: TCU
Jordan Mendoza, USA TODAY: TCU

The Horned Frogs advance to their first Elite Eight appearance (and Hailey Van Lith’s fifth) riding a 13-game win streak, and will meet No. 1 Texas and Madison Booker, the SEC Player of the Year, in the Elite Eight. Texas’ offense has grabbed all the headlines, but the Longhorns defense has stepped up in the NCAA tournament. Texas forced the nation’s top scoring offense into 18 turnovers, nine of which came in fourth quarter.

UConn vs. USC women’s basketball predictions

Time, TV: 9 p.m. Monday, ESPN

Meghan L. Hall, For The Win: UConn
Lulu Kesin, The Greenvile News: UConn
Cydney Henderson, USA TODAY: UConn
Jenna Ortiz, Arizona Republic: UConn
Nancy Armour, USA TODAY: UConn
Maxwell Donaldson, The Gadsden Times: UConn

USC proved they are fully capable of winning without Watkins in a 67-61 win over No. 5 Kansas State. Freshman guard Kennedy Smith led the way with 19 points. The Trojans will be tasked with slowing down a red-hot Bueckers, who’s in midst of a legendary streak in the final women’s NCAA Tournament of her career. She scored a career-high 40 points in UConn’s win blowout win over No. 3 Oklahoma.

About USA TODAY Sports’ 30 Days to the NFL draft series, which started March 25: Every five days, we will focus on a unique aspect of the 2025 draft, which is April 24-26.

ESPN’s Louis Riddick is among the smartest of all NFL analysts. He’s a former NFL player, NFL team executive and all brains. Occasionally, I go to him when I need something explained like I’m a first grader. My question to Riddick this time: Why are so many people suddenly enthralled (at least seemingly so) with Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart? Who is this dude and why am I hearing so much about him?

Few players this year have climbed faster up draft boards (hate that phrase but here we are) than Dart. Unless you’re an Ole Miss fan, or a hardcore draft expert, the entire Dart phenomenon is puzzling. Dart seems, you know, OK. Not a special player. Certainly not a first rounder. Or even a second rounder. At least, to me.

This is where Riddick comes in. This is why he thinks teams like Dart.

‘He is a great leader, tough and competitive as hell,’ Riddick told USA TODAY Sports, ‘has a high degree of football intelligence.’

‘He can throw with accuracy,’ Riddick said, ‘can buy time in the pocket/make things happen as a runner at an (above) average success rate.’

So I’m starting to understand.

Then Riddick said this.

‘But he is streaky and does not have elite traits in any one area.’

Riddick would later add while talking about Dart on an ESPN show that he didn’t believe the quarterback should be in the top 10 overall conversation.

But I continue to hear from team officials that I trust that Dart could go high in the draft, maybe as high as the top 10. I’ve heard some teams like him better than Shedeur Sanders. Which is absolutely insane. Yet that seems to be the case. I’m not reporting this as an insider. It’s bits and pieces here and there. And sure, it’s always lying season around NFL draft time. Still, I believe it. This is why I reached out to Riddick.

The second-best QB on some teams’ boards.

Do you understand how bonkers that is? But again, I’ve been hearing the same thing.

NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport said the Giants and Browns have both spent extensive time with Dart. Rapoport believes Dart could go late in the first round.

‘We focus so much on (pick) No. 3 and (pick) No. 2 and, ‘What are the Browns gonna do?’ and ‘What are the Giants gonna do?’ in the first round,’ explained Rapoport. ‘The second round picks get just as interesting … at 33 or 34, which is what the Giants and Browns have. Both those two teams can leap up a couple spots … and maybe snag that third quarterback in the first round.’

‘Jaxson Dart … has, in fact, spent extensive time with the Browns, with the Giants, and some others who are trying to learn (about) him and trying to figure out where he slots in. Even if those teams don’t take a quarterback in (round) one, there is a chance they can leap up and take one a little later in one.’

This all coincides with emerging reporting about Sanders. Another ESPN writer, Jeremy Fowler, said on Saturday he texted with a half-dozen team executives, and asked if they have a first-round grade on Sanders. Fowler explained four said no, and two said yes.

Again, this could all be a smokescreen. That’s always possible. It just doesn’t seem like it is.

There are several reasons why Dart’s name is rising.

First, he has ability. Dart was first-team All-SEC in 2024 while leading the team to a 10-2 record. He threw for 4,279 yards and 29 touchdowns.

In the team’s Gator Bowl victory over Duke in January, Dart completed 77.1% of his passes for 404 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions. Ole Miss won, 52-20.

Dart also has something teams are increasingly looking for in their QBs: mobility.

Second, in relation to Sanders (and this is important), some teams believe Sanders comes with heavy baggage. They think the Sanders family is a reality show and want no part of it.

Shedeur has been nothing but professional his entire college career. He’s mature far beyond his years. It would probably stay that way once he got to the NFL. Also, if you’re an NFL coach or front-office executive who is afraid of a strong personality, then you’re in the wrong profession.

Dart will be one of the most interesting players to watch in this draft. Will he get selected ahead of Sanders?

Probably not.

But it’s getting interesting.

SPOKANE, Washington — With or without JuJu Watkins, USC’s goal remains the same.

It might sound preposterous, the idea that the Trojans can still win a women’s basketball national championship without one of the most transcendent players in the game. One who contributed nearly a third of USC’s points, mind you, and gave the defense its bite.

But USC, the top seed in Spokane Regional 4, is convinced it can. After getting past a gritty Kansas State team on the strength of its freshmen Saturday night, who’s to tell the Trojans differently?

‘We still have the common goal of winning a national championship,’ Kennedy Smith, who tied her career high with 19 points, said after the the 67-61 win.

‘With Ju going down, obviously it was a bit of adversity that we had to face,’ Smith said. ‘But just having her in our presence — we talked to her before the game and she was still rooting us on, things of that nature — (we’re) just keeping her in our hearts and minds and playing for her as well as for each other.’

A team has two choices when it loses a player of Watkins’ magnitude: Come apart or dig deep and find a way to persevere. Given USC’s youth — three of the eight players who were on the floor Saturday were freshmen, including leading scorers Smith and Avery Howell (18 points), and a fourth was a sophomore — it would have been understandable if the Trojans had buckled.

It’s not even been a week since Watkins suffered the season-ending knee injury in the second-round game against Mississippi State. The NCAA tournament is still trying to come to grips with her absence. How could USC not also be feeling adrift?

And yet they’re not. Not yet, anyway.

When the Trojans left their team hotel for the game, every player was wearing a T-shirt with Watkins’ face and signature bun on it. They had a JuJu Funko Pop on the bench. They talked with her before the game and FaceTimed her from the jubilant locker room after.

‘We’re just trying to keep her spirit with us,’ USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb said. ‘She’s just such an incredible young person, and I think the way the team has responded says a lot about them, but also a lot about her and the true amount of chemistry that they have with each other.’

If Watkins believes the Trojans can win without her, then how can the Trojans not?

It was not an easy win, by any means. USC was scrapping for buckets all night and had to make free throws down the stretch. Kiki Iriafen wasn’t a factor offensively, but her defense was critical, never more so than when she grabbed a critical rebound with 32 seconds left.

There’s no one like Watkins, and no one can make up for her absence. But they can all raise their individual games.

In addition to tying her season high in points, Howell had four steals, doubling her previous best, and matched her season-best with eight rebounds.

‘I don’t think I’m necessarily trying to do exactly what she does because I don’t think anyone can really replicate what she does for our team,’ Howell said. ‘But I’m trying to kind of fill in at least that competitive mindset, that dog mentality that I think she has.’

It gets harder from here, however. USC now plays UConn in what had been the most anticipated matchup of the entire tournament. The decisive ‘Paige vs. JuJu’ game after UConn beat USC in last year’s Elite Eight and the Trojans beat the Huskies in December.

Instead, it will be up to Watkins’ teammates to try and derail Paige Bueckers and the Huskies.

‘We have her in our thoughts and we’re supporting her from here and we’re taking her competitive nature onto the court with us every single time we step there. We know that she’s back home supporting us, having a watch party, doing everything she can to give us that good JuJu, you could say,’ Howell said, breaking out in laughter at her own joke.

‘They’re a great team, so it’s going to be a tough game,’ Howell said a few minutes later. ‘We’re going to enjoy this one right now, but then it’s back to business.’

Watkins wouldn’t have it any other way.

On the sideline coaching a Sweet 16 matchup against No. 4 seed Maryland, South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley didn’t look like her usual vibrant self. She was somber, and her face calculated.

Her South Carolina Gamecocks team found itself behind ― again. In back-to-back March Madness performances, South Carolina was down at halftime. It happened while playing the No. 9 seed Indiana Hoosiers in the second round, and Maryland, despite having just a two-point lead at halftime, had the defending champs on the ropes, too. South Carolina looked frazzled, rattled even, and no one was coming to save them from their mountain of first-half blunders.

At the very minimum, the Terrapins seemingly figured out a framework that forced the Gamecocks to abandon their high-intensity brand of basketball, which leans heavily on a defense that creates transition points and an offense that breaks down opponents one painful shot at a time. When the third quarter arrived, a visibly frustrated Staley was still encouraging her players when, slowly, a possession at a time, they forced several stops.

Then, as the Gamecocks inched into the fourth, guard MiLaysia Fulwiley came alive.

Milaysia Fulwiley’s electric day saves South Carolina

Fulwiley is a walking highlight reel. At any moment, one of her sensational baskets or behind-the-back passes could end up on SportsCenter. However, she was more than a viral clip for South Carolina on Friday. She was their savior.

Her 23 points off the bench were a game high and included 16 in the second half. ‘When you have a dynamic player like MiLaysia, you put the ball in her hands,’ Staley said postgame. ‘And you allow her to just create her magic, and she did that for us today.’

Magic feels very fitting for what it would take to erase the rolling ball of first-half mistakes by South Carolina and move the Gamecocks to the next round. There were terrible shots and not nearly enough ball movement, and the Gamecocks let Maryland practically get any look they wanted.

By the game’s end, four Terappins were in double figures, and one of the few saving graces outside of Fulwiley was that forward Chloe Kitts found some more points to add to the final total. Maryland also lost some of its Cinderella magic and turned into a pumpkin, giving up the ball five times as time wound down.

South Carolina is dangerously close to a March Madness upset

Still, it’s hard to ignore that if not for some heroics, South Carolina would be left stunned, wondering what happened to their repeat championship. Fortunately, they’re continuing on to the Elite Eight, where they’ll face No. 2 seed Dule at 1 p.m. ET Sunday on ABC.

‘We know that if we play like that again, we’re going home,’ senior Te-Hina Paopao said. ‘It’s just something that we don’t want to experience again, and it’s something that we know we can do better, and we can do a better job to our standard.’

‘The underestimated is dead,’ Kitts explained. ‘We should not be underestimating anybody … We just need to remember who we are and go out there and play like it’s our last.’

Kitts nailed the overarching sentiment that South Carolina needs to understand. The Gamecocks are the reigning national champions and can compete with any team. That said, the field has adjusted, and whatever target is already on their backs has seemingly grown in size overnight.

‘I just think anytime you are coming off a national championship, you are the targeted one. Everybody ― everybody ― wants to knock you off your throne,’ Staley said postgame.

‘With this particular team, they’ve never been in that situation where they’ve won, and then they gotta defend the championship. And we went undefeated so they tend to forget … We had some close moments of losing that they just kind of tuck those moments away.’

Unfortunately, South Carolina can’t sweep those moments under the rug. The Gamecocks won’t keep getting away with so many hijinks. The ugly is staring the team in the face, daring the players to address it or face the consequences. If the Gamecocks aren’t careful, another team will gladly snatch their crown and walk off into the sunset as if that was the plan the whole time.

All four No. 1 seeds — UCLA, South Carolina, USC and Texas — advanced to the Elite Eight of the 2025 women’s NCAA Tournament.
South Carolina will face Duke, UCLA will take on LSU, Texas will play TCU, and UConn will face USC in the Elite Eight.
Star players like UConn’s Paige Bueckers and LSU’s Aneesah Morrow have put up big numbers in the tournament so far.

Despite the growing parity in women’s college basketball, all No. 1 seeds — UCLA, South Carolina, USC and Texas — advanced to the Elite Eight, which tips off on Sunday and concludes Monday. The lowest seed to advance to the regional finals is No. 3 LSU, a seeding head coach Kim Mulkey says has been ‘good to us.’ (LSU won its first national championship in program history in 2023 as a No. 3 seed.)

No. 1 seeds have historically had the most success in the tournament, winning 32 national championships in the tournament’s 42-year history. No. 2 seeds have won the tournament seven total times, while the lowest seed to ever win a title has been a No. 3 seed three times.

But before we get ahead of ourselves, here’s everything you need to know about the 2025 women’s NCAA Tournament, including a breakdown of each region and the best players to watch in the Elite Eight.

WOMEN’S 2025 NCAA TOURNAMENT: Big upsets are rare in women’s March Madness

No. 1 South Carolina vs. No. 2 Duke women’s basketball

Time, TV: 1 p.m. Sunday (ABC)

Both South Carolina and Duke did just enough to advance to the Elite Eight. The defending champion Gamecocks trailed No. 9 Indiana and No. 4 Maryland at halftime in the second-round and Sweet 16 respectively, marking the first time South Carolina has faced a halftime deficit in two straight games since 2017. The Gamecocks rebounded and MiLaysia Fulwiley scored a go-ahead layup with 2:22 remaining to secure a 71-67 win over Maryland to advance to its fifth straight Elite Eight. Meanwhile, Duke also struggled in the Sweet 16 and only scored 47 points in its win over rival North Carolina, marking its second-lowest point total of the season (31% FG, 5-of-24 3PT). Only two Duke players reached double digits and the Blue Devil’s bench outscored the starters, 26-21. The Elite Eight matchup will mark a rematch of a regular-season game in December, when South Carolina defeated Duke 81-70 after leading by as many as 25 points. Chloe Kitts tied her career high at the time with 21 points in the regular-season matchup. If South Carolina wants to beat Duke and keep its title defense alive, the Gamecocks will need contributions from more than just Kitts and Fulwiley. South Carolina is in pursuit of its fifth consecutive Final Four, while Duke looks to move on to the Final Four for the first time since 2006.

No. 1 UCLA vs. No. 3 LSU women’s basketball

Time, TV: 1 p.m. Sunday (ABC)

Two of the most dominant post players in the nation will face off in the Elite Eight in UCLA’s Lauren Betts and LSU’s Aneesah Morrow. Both are on a tear. Betts recorded a historic 31-point, 10-rebound performance in UCLA’s 76-62 win over No. 5 Ole Miss, shooting 93.8% from the field, which ties the record for the highest field-goal percentage in an NCAA Tournament game with a minimum 15 attempts. She’ll meet her match in Morrow, who had 30 points and 19 rebounds in LSU’s 80-73 win over No. 2 NC State. Flau’Jae Johnson was held to a season-low three points in the win and suffered a scratch to the eye that caused double vision, but Mulkey said Johnson will be ‘good to go.’ Sunday’s matchup will mark a rematch of last year’s Sweet 16, where LSU defeated UCLA 78-69. The Bruins are in search of their first Final Four appearance, while LSU looks to return to the Final Four for the first time since their title run in 2023.

No. 1 Texas vs. No. 2 TCU women’s basketball

Time, TV: 7 p.m. Monday (ESPN)

TCU continues to rewrite record books following a dominant performance from veteran guard Hailey Van Lith, who scored a game-high 26 points (10-21 FG, 2-5 3PT), nine rebounds and four assists in TCU’s 71-62 win over Notre Dame, the most points she’s dropped in all five of her career Sweet 16 appearances. The Horned Frogs advance to their first Elite Eight appearance (and Van Lith’s fifth) riding a 13-game win streak. Van Lith, the Big 12 Player of the Year, will meet No. 1 Texas and Madison Booker, the SEC Player of the Year, in the Elite Eight. The Longhorns outlasted No. 5 Tennessee 67-59 to advance to the regional final for the fourth time in five years. Texas’ offense has grabbed all the headlines, but the Longhorns defense has stepped up in the NCAA tournament. Texas forced the nation’s top scoring offense into 18 turnovers, nine of which came in fourth quarter.

No. 2 UConn vs. No. 1 USC women’s basketball

Time, TV: 9 p.m. Monday, ESPN

When the 2025 women’s NCAA Tournament bracket was first unveiled on Selection Sunday, many circled the potential Elite Eight matchup between the No. 1 USC Trojans and the No. 2 UConn Huskies, setting up a highly anticipated rematch between JuJu Watkins and Paige Bueckers. We got the matchup, but it will look a different as one superstar will be missing. Watkins suffered a season-ending injury early in the Trojans’ 96-59 win over No. 9 Mississippi State. USC proved they are fully capable of winning without Watkins in a 67-61 win over No. 5 Kansas State. Freshman guard Kennedy Smith led the way with 19 points. The Trojans will be tasked with slowing down a red-hot Bueckers, who’s in midst of a legendary streak in the final women’s NCAA Tournament of her career. She scored a career-high 40 points in UConn’s win blowout win over No. 3 Oklahoma, days after tying her previous high of 34 points in UConn’s second-round win over South Dakota State. The veteran is now No. 4 on the UConn’s all-time scoring list (2,375 career points), surpassing Katie Lou Samuelson (2,342) and Tina Charles (2,346). She’s 27 points away from passing Napheesa Collier (2,401). 

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LSU head coach Kim Mulkey joined UConn’s Geno Auriemma in voicing her displeasure over the super regional format.

No. 3 seed LSU traveled over 2,000 miles away from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for its Sweet 16 matchup against No. 2 seed NC State in Spokane, Washington. The Lady Tigers defeated the Wolfpack 80-73 following a dominant 30-point, 19-rebound performance from Aneesah Morrow. LSU advanced to the Elite Eight for the third consecutive year to face No. 1 overall seed UCLA. The regional winner will then make a cross-country trip to Tampa Bay, Florida, for the Final Four, which tips off Friday.

‘I agree with Geno on everything he said about these super regionals only being in two places. We sold our soul too early,’ Mulkey said on Friday. ‘This game has gotten better. And, man, if you still had four regionals, can you imagine the attendance? I know our fan base. They can’t afford to come to Spokane. But they could if it was a little bit closer.’

The NCAA dropped from hosting games at four locations to two regional sites for the women’s tournament in 2023. The women’s March Madness event will have two regional sites through 2028: Fort Worth, Texas, and Sacramento, California, next year; Philadelphia and Las Vegas in 2027; and Portland, Oregon, and Washington, D.C. in 2028.

Mulkey said the NCAA must step up and ‘fix this.’ She added, ‘We don’t have to wait until the contract’s up. Let the people keep their super regionals. Just go add two now. I’ve never ever been one to believe that you can’t work things out if it’s better for the game.’

Mulkey’s main objection about the super regional format involves fans.

‘I wish our fans were here,’ Mulkey continued. ‘I know those of us who came from far have great fan bases. … It matters a lot. Maybe it doesn’t win a game for you, but the reason it matters is you build programs a lot of times, and you can sell to recruit your fan base, your attendance.’

What did Geno Auriemma say about super regionals?

Meanwhile, Auriemma’s main issue with two super regionals is the jam-packed scheduling. For example, UConn and Oklahoma had to be at the Spokane Arena early on Friday, with the Sooners’ press conferences starting just after 8 a.m. while the Huskies practiced at that time. 

‘In a normal world, run by normal people, there would only be four teams here. Which means there would be no games (Friday), the games would be (Saturday). Which means we wouldn’t have to get up at 6 a.m. to have an 8 o’clock practice here this morning for an hour,’ Auriemma said. ‘Which means we wouldn’t have to get up at 5 a.m. to have a 7:30 shoot around for half an hour. Takes us longer to get through security than to actually be on the court, okay? God bless whoever wins Monday night, okay, and they have got to fly cross country, which is all day Tuesday, then they have two days, Wednesday and Thursday, to play the biggest game of their life.’

UCONN coach Geno Auriemma rips super regional format. ‘They ruined the game’

Women’s NCAA Tournament scores, upcoming schedule

All times Eastern; Numbers listed are seeds.

Sweet 16 — Friday, March 28

No. 2 Duke 47, No. 3 North Carolina 38 
No. 1 South Carolina 71, No. 4 Maryland 67
No. 3 LSU 80, No. 2 State 73
No. 1 UCLA 76, No. 5 Ole Miss 62

Saturday — Saturday, March 29

No. 2 TCU 71, No. 3 Notre Dame 62
No. 1 Texas 67, No. 5 Tennessee 59
No. 2 UConn 82, No. 3 Oklahoma 59
No. 1 USC vs. No. 5 Kansas State | 8 p.m. | ESPN (Fubo)

Elite Eight — Sunday, March 30

No. 1 South Carolina vs. No. 2 Duke, 1 p.m. | ABC (Fubo)
No. 1 UCLA vs. No. 3 LSU, 3 p.m. | ABC (Fubo)

Elite Eight — Monday, March 31

No. 1 Texas vs. No. 2 TCU, 7 p.m. | ESPN (Fubo)
Winner of No. 1 USC/No. 5 Kansas State vs. No. 2 UConn, 9 p.m. | ESPN (Fubo)

Final Four — Friday, April 4

At Amalie Arena in Tampa Florida

Semifinal 1: 7 p.m. | ESPN (Fubo)
Semifinal 2: 9:30 p.m. | ESPN (Fubo)

National championshp — Sunday, April 6

At Amalie Arena in Tampa Florida

Semifinal winners, 3 p.m. | ABC (Fubo)

SPOKANE, Wash. — Paige Bueckers knows how to throw a going-away party.

A day after confirming she’ll enter next month’s WNBA draft, where she is all but guaranteed to be the No. 1 pick, Bueckers dropped a career-high 40 points on Oklahoma on Saturday and sent UConn into the Elite Eight for the fourth time in her career.

“Honestly, we just wanted to keep our season going as long as possible,” Bueckers said after the 82-59 win. “We all love playing together, we love playing here. We just love this program and everything it means, so we want it to keep going as long as possible.”

The 40 points is a UConn record in the NCAA tournament, mind-boggling when you consider the players who have come before Bueckers. Diana Taurasi. Sue Bird. Maya Moore. Breanna Stewart. Napheesa Collier. And on and on.

Still, even that milestone can’t convey how sublime ‘Paige Buckets’ was. With UConn trailing Oklahoma at the half, Bueckers simply took over. She single-handedly outscored the Sooners in the second half, 29 to 23. She had 19 in the fourth quarter, on 8-of-9 shooting, despite playing only seven minutes.

She shot almost 60% for the game, including 6 of 8 from 3-point range. Bueckers also had six rebounds, three steals and an assist.

“Paige was spectacular,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “That was as good a game as I’ve seen her play the whole time she’s been here. At the most important time.”

Again, given the Who’s Who of UConn’s former players, that’s about as high praise as it gets.

But that’s Bueckers.

She arrived at UConn as one of the most heralded prospects in the school’s history and has done nothing but meet the expectations and then some. On and off the court.

She was the first freshman ever to win player of the year honors. She has taken UConn to the Final Four in each of her previous three seasons. (She missed the 2022-23 season with a torn ACL.) Before Caitlin Clark and JuJu Watkins took the country by storm, it was Bueckers who showed there could be a market and a mania for female athletes.

She has used her platform to lift up not only other women, but people of color. She is humble, aware of her spotlight but not enthralled by it. She is more comfortable sharing the credit with her teammates, even when she could claim all of it for herself.

She is, in every sense of the word, a real one. And she’s not going to waste a second of whatever she’s doing.

“We see this every day at practice, right? Every day at practice there’s long stretches of exactly what you saw today and little by little it’s dawned on her, I think, that there is no next year. There is no, ‘I can get this anytime I want,” Auriemma said.

“You’re going to have to get it now or it won’t be available anymore.”

That this is Bueckers’ last season was always assumed. She has another year of eligibility because of the knee injury but, at 23, she’s been at UConn for five years now. WNBA teams are salivating over her the same way they did Clark last year. UConn honored her at its final home game.

But Bueckers didn’t make it official that she’s headed for the W until Friday, which automatically made the expectations on her and UConn, already outsized, even larger.

‘Paige is held to a different standard than a lot of other kids,’ Auriemma said. ‘Paige can do things during the course of a game that most people can’t do. But she’s certainly not going to win tonight’s game or Monday’s game by herself. And if we lose, it’s not because she lost it.

‘So we’ve been talking about that a lot these last couple of weeks to just kind of put her at ease, because the outside pressure just keeps growing and growing and growing.”

That pressure, though, pales in comparison to the prospect of not ever playing for UConn again. Bueckers knows the day is coming. She knows she has, at most, three games left with Auriemma and her teammates. She knows her college career is now measured in minutes rather than months or years.

And while she is ready for whatever comes next, as a player and a person, she’s not ready to go just yet. As a result, this last ride might wind up being Bueckers’ best yet.

Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.

ATLANTA – Bruce Pearl had an interesting framing for overall No. 1 seed Auburn’s matchup with Michigan State on Sunday for a spot in the Final Four.

And by interesting, we mean utterly nonsensical.

“We’re a team made up of only one five-star (recruit),” Pearl said Saturday. “One of the things I reminded my guys of, there are several guys on the Michigan State roster that are McDonald’s All-Americans. I have one, and that’s Tahaad Pettiford. He’s pretty good.

“Most of our guys are guys that were mid-major (transfers) or junior college or Division II. I’m not going to let Michigan State play the underdog card even though we’re the No. 1 seed and they’re the No. 2 seed. No, they’re Michigan State. They’re Kansas, they’re Duke, they’re North Carolina, and we’re Auburn. We know our place.”

These blatant mind games are disingenuous on multiple levels, but that’s no surprise. We are talking about Pearl, after all, who has been the sport’s preeminent carnival barker (in addition, of course, to being a great coach) since he hit the big time 20 years ago.

Still, it’s worth pointing out that Auburn is rated higher than Michigan State in the predictive metrics like KenPom.com (No. 4 versus No. 7) and the Torvik ratings (No. 3 versus No. 12). The oddsmakers have made Auburn a 4½-point favorite. And as far as the McDonald’s All-American hit, he’s wrong about that one, too.

The Spartans have two former Burger Boys on the roster, and one of them – Xavier Booker – averages 12.8 minutes and didn’t even play in their Sweet 16 victory over Ole Miss.

And while it’s true that Auburn’s roster is heavily influenced by transfers from places like Morehead State (Johni Broome), Florida International (Denver Jones) and Alabama-Huntsville (Chaney Johnson), Pearl can’t exactly play the poverty card when it comes to recruiting. Since 2020, he’s had five former McDonald’s All-Americans in his program while Izzo has had just three.

So the idea that Auburn, a team that stands at 31-5 and mowed down arguably the toughest regular season schedule in the history of the sport, has now flipped to underdog status is ridiculous on its face. And in response, Izzo brought out an old story from his time as a 28-year old assistant when former Spartans great Kevin Willis was trying to get out of class.

“I remember (then-MSU coach Jud Heathcote) saying, ‘Kevin, I’ve been conned by the very best in the world. So don’t try it.’”

One of the great things about Izzo is that, even if he can come off at times as a whiny old guy lamenting how much better things used to be in college basketball, he’ll always give it to you straight.

And he’s secure enough in who he is as a coach that he doesn’t need to lower himself to engage in head games or misdirection. Because it’s all baloney.

“Listen, Bruce and I are friends,” Izzo said. “We’ve been friends since he was (a young assistant) at Iowa. He’s done an incredible job there. I’ve been through so many of these, I’ve been the 2 seed got beat by a 15. I’ve been a No. 1 seed that hasn’t gotten out of the first weekend. So I don’t buy any of that stuff. But if it makes him feel better, I’ll be the favorite. Whatever they want me to be, I’ll be, but the game will be won by the players. Not the bettors, not the media, not even the coaches. The game will be won by the players who play the game.”

In other words, when it comes down to one 40-minute basketball game with a chance to reach the Final Four, none of that stuff matters. The expectations, the pedigree of the program, how many stars the recruiting analysts gave players two or three years ago – it’s all irrelevant.

The simple test is this: Would you rather have Auburn’s roster or Michigan State’s roster to play this game? And would you rather play it in Atlanta or Detroit?

On both counts, advantage Tigers – everywhere except in the vicinity of Pearl’s lying lips.

“Auburn. Auburn,” Pearl insisted when he was asked directly who the underdog is in this game. “This is the third time in our history we’ve gone to the Elite Eight. This is uncharted water for us. We’re talking about Michigan State. We’re talking about Tom Izzo.”

And that’s where, to be slightly fair to Pearl, you can do enough mental gymnastics to at least find an advantage for Michigan State. Izzo is 8-2 in Elite Eight games. He specializes in these exact scenarios, particularly in the short 40-hour turnaround coaching staffs have to navigate to get a team prepared for a completely different opponent than the one they played in the Sweet 16.

Pearl is just 1-1 in Elite Eight games, and that loss came in 2010 when his Tennessee team lost to Michigan State 70-69.

So, yes, Izzo’s experience in these scenarios matters. And if Michigan State pulls the upset – yes, upset – we will get a whole week of “Izzo did it again” storylines after it looked like his program had declined a bit the previous four years.

But it’s strange that Pearl believes he needs to pump up his team by sending a message that Michigan State is the big bully on the block this time. All season long, Auburn was right around the No. 1 ranking and seemed to take great pride in being college basketball’s best team.

Now, suddenly, they’re the Little Sisters of the Poor playing against a so-called blueblood that hasn’t won a national title in 25 years and mostly recruits from the bottom end of the top-50?

It doesn’t make sense. But it also isn’t going make much difference, other than giving Izzo a reason to laugh.

“You get to this point, there are no underdogs,” Izzo said. “If he wants to make us a favorite, I’m cool with that. And he wants to make us an underdog, I’ve been in that role before, too. I think that’s the advantage of being where I’ve been. I don’t know if seed matters. I don’t know if the underdog matters. I think the players matter. The players play the game.”