Good Morning! Today is Monday, March 31. Here’s what happened over the weekend in the world of sports.

MEN’S MARCH MADNESS

We’ve got ourselves a Final Four! For the first time since 2007-08 and only the second time in modern tournament history (1979), all four one seeds have reached the final weekend. Here’s how they each made it to the pinnacle of the sport:

• Houston crushed Tennessee in the Elite Eight, but before that, they pulled off one of the plays of the tournament to take down Purdue in the Sweet 16. Watch this awesome game-winning out-of-bounds play drawn up by head coach Kelvin Sampson:

• The Cougars will take on Duke, who continue to look like the best team in the country. The Blue Devils held the top-scoring team in the country, Alabama, to just 65 points in the Elite Eight.

• On the other side of the bracket, Florida pulled off an impressive victory against Texas Tech. Walter Clayton Jr. looked like Steph Curry down the stretch– take a look at this clutch three-point bucket:

• Florida plays SEC rival Auburn, who defeated the Michigans this weekend. The Tigers came back from nine points down and outscored the Wolverines 39-17 in the Sweet 16. And on Sunday, the Tigers were just a little better than Michigan State, overcoming injuries and Tom Izzo to defeat Sparty 70-64.

WOMEN’S MARCH MADNESS

We have two of the Final Four teams on the women’s side, and two incredible Elite Eight Games lined up for later tonight:

• UCLA and South Carolina are the top two overall seeds in this year’s tournament and the first two teams to make the Final Four. UCLA got revenge after last year’s loss to LSU in the Elite Eight, while South Carolina eked out two close wins over Maryland and Duke.

• In tonight’s first matchup, (1) Texas takes on Hailey Van Lith and TCU. Van Lith has been one of the stars of the tournament this year, as the veteran point guard dropped 26 points to lead the Horned Frogs over Notre Dame in the Sweet 16. We’ll see how she matches up against Madison Booker and the talented Longhorn defense tonight.

• Between the third and fourth quarters of a tight Sweet 16 game against Oklahoma, UConn head coach Geno Auriemma was asked by sideline reporter Holly Rowe about the aggressiveness of his star, Paige Bueckers. “…there are times where she has the ball and the defense, they know she’s not going to shoot it. I’m thinking, ‘Shoot it, you’re open.’ So hopefully in the fourth quarter she will just… I don’t know. Maybe you should talk to her,” he said. Well, Paige responded with 19 points in the fourth and ended the contest with 40, a UConn single-game tournament record. Absolutely incredible from the Huskies, who are now up against USC in the Elite Eight. Playing without the injured JuJu Watkins, the Trojan role players and freshmen stepped up big time to beat Kansas State and set up this must-see matchup.

MLB

Opening weekend is in the books! In case you missed it, there were some great moments around the league:

• The big story in baseball are the New York Yankees and their newfangled “Torpedo” bats. You can read more about the unusual shape and advancement in bat technology here, but there’s no denying the results so far– the Pinstripes hit 15 homers over the weekend, including nine on Saturday. Former Yankee Nestor Cortes even gave up home runs on the first three pitches of the game! Amidst the whole new-bat thing, however, it’s important to note that Aaron Judge hit each of his three homers using the same-old, regular piece of lumber that he always uses.

• Red Sox slugger Rafael Devers begrudgingly agreed to move to DH this year in order to make room for other players. It hasn’t gone very well– Devers became the first player ever to strikeout 10 times in the first three games of the season. After two more Ks on Sunday, Devers has started the season 0-16 with one walk.

• We have four remaining undefeated teams: the Dodgers (duh), Yankees (Torpedo power), Cardinals (!), and Padres (😎).

Finally, I don’t anticipate this becoming a regular segment, but it’s time for the Weekend Walk-Off WRecap!

BEST DEBUT WALK-OFF: Rookie Kameron Misner hit his first career home run on Friday in the Tampa Bay Rays’ first-ever home outdoor game, played at Steinbrenner Field. It was pretty awesome.

BEST PLAYER TO HIT A WALK-OFF: Everyone was worried about Mookie Betts after he lost 15 pounds and couldn’t eat due to a mysterious illness just before the season started. Well, the 2018 MVP is feeling a lot better now– he crushed a walk-off three-run home run in the 10th inning to beat the Detroit Tigers on Friday.

REMIX AWARD FOR MOST WALK-OFFS: Congratulations to the… Miami Marlins? Projected as one of the worst teams in baseball this year, Miami started off their season with THREE walk-off victories. Couldn’t be a much worse start to 2025 for the Pirates, who were on the wrong end of those results.

NBA

The Brooklyn Nets called up Gonzaga legend Drew Timme this weekend. The undrafted big man recorded a double-double in his NBA debut, and followed it up with the go-ahead basket and 19 points the next day. Drew Timme playing great basketball in March… I guess some things never change!

We’ve got a fight in Minnesota! Seriously, seven players and coaches were ejected after the Timberwolves and Pistons threw hands during the second quarter:

TENNIS

Novak Djokovic competed for his 100th career ATP singles title on Sunday in the finals of the Miami Open. The win would put him in rare company, joining Roger Federer, Jimmy Connors, Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert, and Steffi Graff as the only tennis players to accomplish the feat. Standing in his way was a lengthy rain delay, humid temperatures, and a 19-year-old wunderkind, Jakub Mensik. Those obstacles were too much for even one of the greats to overcome, as Mensik upset Novak 7-6, 7-6 in a wildly impressive performance. Congratulations to the young Czech on his first-career title– I’d wager there are many more in his bright future.

NOTEWORTHY NEWS

A surprising move in Memphis, as the Grizzlies fired head coach Taylor Jenkins. The winningest coach in franchise history, Jenkins led the Grizzlies for almost six seasons. Memphis is currently in fifth place in the west, although they’ve struggled in recent weeks. Something unusual must have happened…

A not-so-surprising move in Maryland, as Kevin Willard announced he’s leaving the Terrapins to become the head coach at Villanova. It’s been an unfortunate few weeks for Maryland and their men’s basketball program, who have dealt with this move hanging over the team and overshadowing their Sweet 16 run.

TODAY’S BIG GAMES (all times Eastern)

MLB: Braves @ Dodgers, 10:10 PM

NBA:

• Celtics @ Grizzlies, 7:30 PM on TNT/Max

• Rockers @ Lakers, 10 PM on TNT/Max

WOMEN’S ELITE EIGHT:

• (2) TCU vs (1) Texas, 7 PM on ESPN

• (2) UConn vs (1) USC, 9 PM on ESPN

"We believe Justin is the starter. We believe in Justin. We believe we can win with Justin, so we're excited about Justin," –New York Jets general manager Darren Mougey, speaking to reporters (and definitely not to himself in the mirror every morning) about new quarterback Justin Fields