{"id":634489,"date":"2026-03-02T14:02:22","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T14:02:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/634489\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T14:02:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T14:02:22","slug":"bracket-watch-and-a-history-lesson-plus-trinity-rodmans-injury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/634489\/","title":{"rendered":"Bracket watch (and a history lesson), plus Trinity Rodman\u2019s injury"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Pulse Newsletter \ud83d\udce3 | This is The Athletic\u2019s daily sports newsletter. Sign up here<\/a> to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox.<\/p>\n

Good morning! This is March. Inside:<\/p>\n

Clearouts: More like rivalry watch<\/p>\n

I often view the sports calendar as a frenzied dance routine. Some weeks have multiple sports jockeying for position on the floor, while others give way for one sport to enter center stage. A shining moment, if you will.<\/p>\n

The Olympics are done, as is the NFL Scouting Combine. The NBA is churning, but we\u2019re still a month out from the playoffs starting. That means college hoops, both men\u2019s and women\u2019s, has been ushered to the front of our brains.<\/p>\n

Today, I want to use history \u2014 via Scott Dochterman\u2019s\u00a0list<\/a>\u00a0of the top 50 men\u2019s college basketball rivalries, published this morning \u2014 to look ahead at a bracket-laden future as we enter the final week of the regular season. We\u2019ll start at the top:<\/p>\n

1. Duke-North Carolina
Shocker. The fun part is that both of these teams are really good this year, and the Blue Devils (27-2) may be the best team in the country. Jon Scheyer may be\u00a0coach of the year<\/a>. The Tar Heels (23-6) are ranked No. 18 in the latest Top 25 poll and currently project as a No. 6 seed. But they did beat Duke in\u00a0an electric game<\/a>\u00a0a few weeks ago.<\/p>\n

3. Michigan-Michigan State
Maybe our best pound-for-pound entry here if you combine both the historic factor and current success. The only team better than Michigan right now may be Duke, and that\u2019s saying something for a deep field of talent this year. While the Wolvervines (27-2) are likely a lock for a No. 1 seed, the Spartans (24-5) are a top-15 team and will probably end up a No. 4 seed. These two sides also\u00a0ramped up<\/a>\u00a0their already-great rivalry this year.<\/p>\n

6. Kansas-Missouri
The No. 14 Jayhawks (21-8) have one of the best players in the country (freshman Darryn Peterson, when he plays) but Mizzou (20-9) should skate in\u00a0off the bubble<\/a>\u00a0after a good weekend. Let\u2019s hope they end up in the same bracket.<\/p>\n

10. The Big 5
I wanted to highlight this because it\u2019s both one of the best stories in college basketball \u2014 five mid-majors in the Philadelphia metro area who have a long-shared tradition of playing each other throughout the year \u2014 and one of our recent bummers, as only Villanova is projected to make the big dance this year. Womp.<\/p>\n

See Scott\u2019s full list here<\/a>. Just one note for now on the women, because, well, let me explain:<\/p>\n

UConn completed the\u00a011th undefeated regular season<\/a>\u00a0in program history yesterday\u00a0with a rout of St. John\u2019s to finish 31-0. The Huskies are a massive favorite to win it all (-295 on BetMGM, with UCLA trailing at \u2026 +675) and have frankly zapped some of the intrigue out of this season \u2014 thus far.
\nThe Huskies have won national titles in seven of those 11 undefeated regular seasons. The last two, 2017 and 2018, ended with losses in the Final Four. Hm.<\/p>\n

We have\u00a0a full women\u2019s bracket watch<\/a>\u00a0available to peruse competitors for UConn.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Happy March, everyone. Let\u2019s keep moving:<\/p>\n

News to Know\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Maddie Meyer \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

A racing nightmare
Jess McClain was having a perfect Sunday in Atlanta: leading the U.S. Half Marathon Championships with less than two miles to go. A win would\u2019ve delivered a national title, automatic qualification for the world championships and a $20,000 prize. Instead, the lead vehicle in front of her veered off course, and McClain and two others followed before course-correcting, though too late. McClain officially finished ninth, and an appeal was swiftly denied.\u00a0See the full drama here<\/a>. Brutal.<\/p>\n

USC\u2019s leading scorer leaves
Chad Baker-Mazara, who averaged 18.5 points per game in 26 appearances this year for USC, left the program yesterday, the school announced. It is awful timing for the Trojans, who sit on the bubble of the NCAA Tournament and need the 26-year-old Baker-Mazara, who had averaged 26 a game after leading scorer Rodney Rice went down with an injury in November.\u00a0What a 2026 collegiate sports story<\/a>.<\/p>\n

More news:<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Kings\u00a0fired coach\u00a0Jim Hiller,\u00a0an unsurprising move<\/a> in an awful season.
\nThe USWNT\u00a0enjoyed a solid 2-0 win over Argentina in the SheBelieves Cup, but\u00a0Trinity Rodman\u00a0left with an injury.\u00a0Uh oh<\/a>.
\nShane Lowry\u2019s\u00a0two-hole collapse allowed\u00a0Nico Echavarria\u00a0to win the\u00a0Cognizant Classic\u00a0yesterday.\u00a0See how it happened<\/a>.
\nThe\u00a0Nuggets\u00a0are still quite mad about\u00a0Lu Dort\u2019s foul\u00a0on\u00a0Nikola Joki\u0107\u00a0from last Friday.\u00a0Read their comments here<\/a>.
\nThere is much rancor over\u00a0Ohio State wide receiver Carnell Tate\u2019s 40-yard dash time\u00a0at the combine.\u00a0Catch up<\/a>.
\nFIBA\u00a0moved its\u00a0World Cup qualifiers\u00a0in Lebanon and Qatar due to the\u00a0ongoing conflict\u00a0in the region.\u00a0More details inside<\/a>.
\nAnother\u00a0T206 Honus Wagner card\u00a0sold, this one for $3.5 million.\u00a0It also has a fun backstory<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcf0\u00a0Find more news here 24\/7<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Watch Guide<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcfa MLB: Braves at Tigers
1 p.m. ET on ESPN
If you\u2019re around a screen in the middle of the day, this is worth a watch. A nice change of pace from our normal sports schedule at this time of year, and big-name free-agent starter Framber Valdez is starting for Detroit. Midday baseball, don\u2019t mind if I do.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcfa NCAAM: No. 4 Iowa State at No. 2 Arizona
9 p.m. ET on ESPN
Huge, huge game, particularly as we enter March. I expect a fun atmosphere as these two jockey for No. 1 seed status. This is a priority.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcfa NBA: Clippers at Warriors
10 p.m. ET on Peacock
Two big-name teams struggling in the Play-In zone play a stretch-run game that should matter. Tune in.<\/p>\n

Get tickets to games like this here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Pulse Picks\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Mark Blinch \/ NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n

A story I truly adored: Jared Weiss\u2019 tale of\u00a0Luke Kornet, the Spurs backup center who\u2019s really a blogger at heart.\u00a0Read this today<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll have a bigger roundup here this week, but our\u00a0NFL\u00a0staff wrote a great roundup of what they learned at the\u00a0combine\u00a0last week.\u00a0See their takeaways<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Another file for later this week is the\u00a0MLB fan survey, which published today. Let\u2019s start with: Is MLB headed in the right direction?\u00a0Results here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In what is always an entertaining read, Sean McIndoe has five post-Olympic break overreactions in his\u00a0NHL weekend rankings<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You know who\u2019s still good? The\u00a0Suns, who are powered by\u00a0an unlikely friendship<\/a>\u00a0between\u00a0Devin Booker\u00a0and\u00a0Dillon Brooks.<\/p>\n

Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: Connor Storrie\u2019s \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d\u00a0monologue<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Most-read on the website yesterday:\u00a0Our story<\/a>\u00a0behind that monologue \u261d\ufe0f.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udceb That\u2019s all for now! Say hello at thepulse@theathletic.com<\/a>, and check out our other newsletters<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Pulse Newsletter \ud83d\udce3 | This is The Athletic\u2019s daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":634490,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3723],"tags":[7,217,354,231,772,1544],"class_list":{"0":"post-634489","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-college-basketball","10":"tag-mens-college-basketball","11":"tag-ncaa","12":"tag-ncaa-basketball","13":"tag-ncaab"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116159955671109791","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=634489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/634490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=634489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=634489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=634489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}