NFL
By: Jeffrey Newholm
What is beauty?
Is it merely subjective, i.e., “in the eye of a beholder?”
Or is there an inherent value in performance art, as Plato mused about his mystical forms in BC, long ago?
Granted, the Greek philosopher was not fortunate enough to live to see NCAA women’s basketball. If Plato were still around, however, surely, he would reinforce his argument that formidable athletic feats provide value in and of themselves (no X word-gymnastics needed).
As the women’s big dance enters its second weekend this Friday, 16 teams remain to decide which four mascots will party in Tampa for the Final Four. True, JuJu Watkins’ terrifically unfortunate injury reduces anticipation for the regionals. The intrigue will, thankfully, continue on the bracket chalkboard.
Team NBS Media has a thorough preview of the four regionals and selects a betting favorite for will-be cardsharps.
(Hopefully bearing more fruit than Sir Charles’ typical parlays.)
Spokane Regional One
UCLA vs. Ole Miss (Friday, 10 pm Eastern)
UCLA, not mighty South Carolina (and more on the Gamecocks in a moment), earned the top overall seed. Lauren Betts, the Bruins’ formidable center, muscled her squad through the Big Ten tournament and two convincing NCAA triumphs in Los Angeles. However, the Bruins have not won a major championship since Ann Meyers led her Bruins to an AIAW title in 1978.
No such fact as being “due?” Be careful: a sleeping bear is already agitating brackets.
Team NBS Media “boldly” (and incorrectly) called Baylor’s demise too early and too often. Perhaps the Bears’ atomic clock hit midnight at last thanks to a convincing Rebel performance in Waco. Mississippi forced 21 turnovers from Baylor in the second-round achievement while Starr Jacobs lived true to her name by becoming just the 14th rebel to score a career 1,500 points.
What would an American tournament be without a rebellious underdog? Not one belonging for fans this March.
NC State vs. LSU (Friday, 6:30 pm Eastern)
Ingenious coach Wes Moore’s Wolfpack faced an unthinkable scenario in State’s opening round matchup in Raleigh. The fierce Vermont Catamounts trailed by but a single tally at halftime and threatened as the potential first #15 seed to win a women’s tournament. Thankfully for the pack, State’s superior strength and stamina wore down Vermont in the second half. For a sweet measure, the pack returned the Michigan State Spartans to history’s dustpan 83-49.
State reached the Elysian Final Four fields last season, only to have South Carolina cruelly expel the pack back to earth. A better field still may await, with the Gamecocks mercifully on the other side of the overall bracket.
Energetic supercoach Kim Mulkey leads a hoops renaissance in Baton Rouge. With a roster impressively retooled from their 2023 championship, the Tigers prowl in Spokane behind double-double queen Aneesha Morrow and rap hero Flau’jae Johnson.
Did the Tigers “back into” their 2023 crown due to South Carolina’s earlier loss? Mulkey and Johnson sing a different tune this year. A Tiger backs into nothing.
Best Final Four Bet (lines courtesy oddschecker.com)
LSU Tigers +300
UCLA is an impressive favorite at near-even -120. Remember the advice that landed Milwaukee Kareem Abdul-Jabaar: “never call an even bet.” LSU is a smart risk with a better return.
Birmingham Regional Two
South Carolina vs. Maryland (Friday, 5 pm Eastern)
Like Caitlin Clark’s rightfully earned and near-universal praise from 2024, the glossary is running out of platitudes for Dawn Staley’s mighty gamecocks. Despite losing vital players from the 2024 championship and, before that triumph, all five starters from their 2023 near-miss, South Carolina merely reloads without any need to rebuild.
Did the Gamecocks need added motivation from their two-seed and Indiana’s startling upset predictions in the second round? No. Will it help an already stacked team? If the country’s best squad (sorry, Bruins) fights harder, were this possible, Columbia’s fire trucks may as well get their parade tune-up appointments ASAP.
Maryland is the Terrapin with 68 lives. Despite crucial injuries and a fall from top form in the mid-2010s, coach Brenda Freese always finds a manner to keep her Terps in contention. Despite 45 points from the Crimson Tide’s Sarah Ashlee Barker in the round of 32, including three free throws with a second left in overtime, Maryland still fought through unthinkable odds to advance.
Is 2025 (A) a bridge year for Maryland or (B) a bridge too far in a vortex away from championship glory? Don’t B-elieve that extinction is near for a program that always fights to the last horn.
Duke vs. North Carolina (Friday, 2:30 pm Eastern)
While struggling NBA franchises flop for Cooper Flagg in men’s basketball (because losing is as cool as ever in that sport), the lady Blue Devils share no such over-convoluted ambivalence. In a tussle with laughably under-seeded Oregon, the Devils’ Ashlon Jackson cooked the Ducks with her Night Night taunt following a dagger three.
The Devils rise back toward their former utopian home, but the Gamecocks’ flaming sword likely blocks their return to a final Eden.
North Carolina features another men’s program mocked by skeptics and even threatened with (albeit implausible) litigation over a supposedly gifted NCAA berth. There is no such consternation, thankfully, for the lady Tar Heels. A sticky defense, per the school, held two straight opponents below 50 points for the first time since 1995.
The Heels seek redemption after a tumultuous 2019 coaching change set the program back a step. Anything pre-COVID, thankfully, may be a Jurassic era thanks to humanity’s progress towards and beyond our earlier states.
Best Final Four Bet
Pass
South Carolina is too strong a favorite at -380 to risk a large sum. They are a proper enough titan, however, that a short sell is equally foolish.
Birmingham Regional Three
Texas vs. Tennessee (Saturday, 3:30 pm Eastern)
The Longhorns keep charging at the defensive weapon, a gate, blocking their progress towards the Final pasture. Thankfully, former Mississippi State coaching wizard, Vic Schaefer, mentors a roster with enough size and speed to best any school.
On an ESPN special, Schaefer once said that a National Final loss with State “haunts me.” Bevo, mercifully, is a gentle enough animal not to haunt anyone, even in a regional loss.
Pat Summit will not walk through the halls of Tennessee again. However, her imprint stays at basketball’s proudest school. Unthinkably, the Vols have not reached the final weekend since 2008. That team’s best player, Candace Parker, retired from the WNBA. ¡Ay caramba! Happily, the Vols properly realized that Summit’s influence does not need a direct descendant from her coaching lineage. Kim Caldwell chooses to provide her talent for a fair, non-zero price. Nevertheless, her Volunteers bamboozled UConn in a Knoxville stunner, then recovered from a late-season reversal to reach Birmingham.
The hedonic championship horizon seems far away with the Longhorns stewing over similar playoff false-starts. Remember the iconic words from Pokémon: “Light years measure distance, not time!”
TCU vs. Notre Dame (Saturday, 1 pm Eastern)
Tremendous transfer Hailey Van Lith invigorates a Horned Frog team that was too long swamped by Baylor. Worse, two ineffective timeouts threatened to sink TCU’s championship hopes in Waco. The Bears missed their last shot, while Van Lith hooped through two challenges in Fort Worth to claim a bold Frog return to the regionals.
Conventional wisdom posits that a team needs playoff disappointments before achieving glory. Tell that to a Frog, however? One will receive only a dismissive croak.
Notre Dame, true, did lose a clover’s leaf with late regular-season losses. Be sure, however, to acknowledge that baller Hannah Hidalgo races toward Tampa anyway. After a short interbellum following Muffet McGraw’s retirement, McGraw’s mentee, Niele Ivey, found the missing leaf while adding a convincing fourth.
#3 seeds rarely advance past the regionals in the women’s tournament. The Irish, however, have more than the needed good luck.
Best Final Four Bet
Notre Dame +200
A tight call between the Longhorns and Irish. Notre Dame has the momentum and champion’s heart that will be enough to best a superior Texas roster.
Spokane Four Regional
USC vs. Kansas State (Saturday, 8 pm Eastern)
The women’s world held and lost its breath when JuJu slipped during a Mississippi State foul in Los Angeles. (Even UConn’s coach Geno had pronounced minutes earlier: “give me some JuJu!”) Thankfully for the Trojans, USC regrouped and convincingly dispatched State 96-59. Southern California still has ample talent to win at least one more contest.
One day at a time? No cliché, but rather, a powerful truth during a devastation.
Kansas State faced fourth-over peril in Lexington as Kentucky heaved four strikes that could have evicted the Wildcats from the big dance. With Serena Sundell reaching the school record for career assists earlier in the tussle, karma smiled on State as the Wildcats improbably missed all four attempts.
Did Kansas receive a fifth execution stay with JuJu’s injury? As Plato’s Greek contemporary, Zeno, saw about movement: one can never quiiiite change from one second to the next. Let alone extinguish the passion of a Wildcat, even by one ember.
UConn vs. Oklahoma (Saturday, 5:30 pm Eastern)
Paige Buckets, whoops, Bueckers is the tournament’s best remaining player. In a 2024 article, Team NBS Media wrote that parity too long delayed is parity denied. As the freshwoman Husky phenom, Sarah Strong, exemplified with a spectacular block in the first round (one of UConn’s team tournament-record 13), that parity may have to wait just a moment longer.
Even before JuJu’s injury, UConn may have been the strongest choice to reach Tampa. The executioner’s courtroom, however, will not yet adjourn with the Trojans still boasting an All-Star roster.
The Sooners won’t have to wait another second (too bad, Zeno) to compete, even with #1 recruit Aaliyah Chavez not arriving on campus yet. OU bullied a transitioning, post-Clark Iowa team in the second round. The 96-62 shellacking proved the second largest in Oklahoma history and promises a program rejuvenation not a moment premature.
UConn’s excellent history in the regional semifinal since 2008 (15-1) does not seem to offer significant promise of an upset. Here, however, is the ultimate refutation of silly movement paradoxes: past performance is no guarantee of present glory.
Best Final Four Bet
UConn -300
Do not overthink strategy concerning USC’s current capability. Irrespective of a (probably) strong performance from the Trojans, Bueckers is too determined to win a ring at her last chance to let the Huskies fall in a regional.
Plato is certainly watching women’s hoops now in the form of the world that he helped humankind understand. He may have one problem, however. With 16 focused teams balling so dazzlingly, what difference is there from the form world and our visible world of women’s basketball?
Hmmm. One needs a greater mind still than history’s smartest philosopher to discern that puzzle.
