Football schools are crashing the Elite Eight, plus Orioles vibes

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Happy Friday! Fire off a run-saving laser today.

A good night for football schools … and UConn

A quick look at the four teams who moved on to the Elite Eight last night, a couple of them while most of you – admit it – were asleep.

Clemson stuns Arizona: The Wildcats were eyeing a Final Four in Phoenix. Oof. Busted by the 7-seed Tigers.
UConn stays scary: They smashed San Diego State. That’s ninestraight in the tourney as they look to repeat. 👀
Down goes UNC: Bama … basketball school? Hey, Alabama orClemson will be in the Final Four after the Tide knocked off North Carolina in a barnburner.
Illinois is in: The Illini knocked off Iowa State. Next up: UConn. 😅

Here is an updated bracket. Four more games tonight, including No. 1 seeds Houston and Purdue.

Hey, what about the women’s Sweet 16?

Good question! Remember, they start action today.

What to watch: Top overall seed South Carolina plays tonight, and keep an eye on fellow No. 1 seed Texas, as they have to travel to Portland to play No. 4 seed Gonzaga. Here is a full bracket.

Reminder: Caitlin Clark plays tomorrow. Did you know about her effect on betting markets? For predictions on every Sweet 16 game, go here.

Highlights from Opening Day

The Dodgers dropped 20K at Rent-a-Center for 175 feet of blue carpet (the velvet rope kills me) following a $1.4 billion dollar offseason. But somehow that wasn’t the most important part of Opening Day. Here are three things that struck 😎 stuck out to us:

Baltimore is a vibe. The Orioles are a top-5 team in baseball (really!), have a fresh ace in Corbin Burnes, and they opened with a blowout in which Burnes gave up just one hit. They look scary. And yes, Mike Trout went yard so the Tungsten Arm O’Doyle Angels live on.

Fast games! 2:03. 2:23. 2:29. These are just ho-hum normal lengths of games yesterday. We noticed that even an Astros-Yankees game loadedwith great hitters and normal scoring landed at 2 hours 41 minutes. One more: The Diamondbacks scored two touchdowns IN ONE INNING and the game didn’t break three hours. Better pace lives!

The Padres won! But … ouch, Manny Machado.

News to Know

Rob Manfred talks Ohtani
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said he hopes the league’s investigation into the gambling allegations surrounding Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara will be “short.” He added: “It’s important in terms of assuring our fans about the integrity of the game that we verify the things that Mr. Ohtani has said.” Back in L.A. Ohtani got nothing but cheers.

USWNT player apologizes
Rising USWNT midfielder Korbin Albert apologized for social media posts she made this past week. Recently retired USWNT midfielder Megan Rapinoe was among those who responded strongly on Wednesday to anti-LGBTQ content reposted on TikTok by Albert.

More news

New York Jets owner Woody Johnson trashed reporting from … the league-owned NFL Network. He called it “nonsense.” Awkward.

A Russian hockey player will finally arrive in the NHL after forced military service and a prison sentence. No, really.

Caitlin Clark was among the 14 players selected for Team USA’s training camp roster in Cleveland. She’s good.

True or False: Down to the wire in the NBA

We have a little over two weeks until the Play-In Tournament begins, and most NBA teams have under ten games left. Instead of poring over the standings, we — myself and The Bounce writer Zach Harper — are going to play a game of True or False:

Take: The Oklahoma City Thunder — not the Timberwolves or Magic — are the best story in the NBA this season.

Zach: True! There are lots of great stories, including Wemby and the Rockets’ surge (OK, even the In-Season Tournament was cool), but for the Thunder to be as dominant as they are with this youth is just insane. On top of that, they’re fun to watch! It’s great basketball.

(A stat to melt your brain: OKC’s starting lineup has an average age of 22.6. 🤯)

Take: The Golden State Warriors should tear it down if they fall out of the playoffs.

Zach: False! Now … I have no idea how you make this team better in the offseason, but tearing it down won’t do anything either, because you can’t do a quick rebuild around a 36-year-old Steph Curry because you waste valuable years in doing so. I would dangle Andrew Wiggins’ deal and the young guys for the next disgruntled star and hope for the best.

Take: A “Boston vs. the Field” bet should get some Celtics action.

Zach: False! I’m not even convinced yet that Boston gets through the East, despite their dominance so far. Then if they face the Nuggets in the Finals like so many of us expect? They have nothing for Nikola Jokić and Denver actually has the defenders to slow down Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown enough. Again, if Boston even gets there…

Watch This Game

NCAAW: No. 3 Oregon State vs. No. 2 Notre Dame (Get tix)
2:30 p.m. ET on ESPN

Get your sports watching started early today with this women’s Sweet 16 matchup, projected to be the closest of the day. It’s hard not to root for Irish head coach Niele Ivey, too.

NCAAM: No. 5 Gonzaga vs. No. 1 Purdue (Get tix)

7:40 p.m. ET on TBS and truTV
The Boilermakers have survived past last year’s collapse point, but I still remain skeptical about this team. Meanwhile, Gonzaga — in the one year no one really expected them to do much — went out and hammered Kansas in the second round. This is likely our best game of the day.

Pulse Picks

For every player who makes it to The Show, there are many more John Gavins. They have to leave a Major League dream behind. We followed Gavin for an entire year following that decision. You are going to want to make time for this Stephen Nesbitt story.

When Draymond Green got ejected on Wednesday night, it drove Steph Curry to tears. Marcus Thompson writes that it also laid bare Curry’s burden.

Don’t know Rajah Caruth? He’s 21, got his start in virtual racing, and already has the attention of NASCAR. Jordan Bianchi has the story.

Remember the 19,000 Jaromir Jagr bobbleheads that got stolen in what sounds like a Simpson’s riff on the Goodfellas heist scene? The Penguins got them back. Here’s how it went down.

Dean Smith, Michael Jordan and UNC: Jason Jones has a cool story on how argyle became a uniform centerpiece for the Tar Heels.

Alex Rodriguez as an owner of an NBA team? It’s been in the works. But for now it seems he’ll remain a minority owner. More here.

(Photo: Todd Kirkland/Getty Images)