GENO AURIEMMA

NCAA UConn South Carolina Basketball South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley cuts the net after a college basketball game in the final round of the Women's Final Four NCAA tournament against UConn Sunday, April 3, 2022, in Minneapolis. South Carolina won 64-49 to win the championship. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall) (Charlie Neibergall)MINNEAPOLIS — (AP) — Dawn Staley and Geno Auriemma hugged at midcourt after South Carolina ended UConn's undefeated run in NCAA championship games. “Look at the tradition of UConn and what they've been able to do,” Staley said. “They were determined to be champions today.”A year ago, South Carolina lost in the Final Four when Boston missed a layup before the buzzer.

Dawn Staley and Geno Auriemma hugged at midcourt after South Carolina ended UConn’s undefeated run in NCAA championship games.

The Gamecocks ended the Huskies' undefeated streak in championship games with their 64-49 victory and capped a wire-to-wire run as the No. 1 team in the country in The Associated Press poll.

The Connecticut Huskies had to lean on Paige Bueckers as hard as they could against South Carolina in the NCAA championship game.

NCAA UConn South Carolina Basketball South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley reacts during the second half of a college basketball game in the final round of the Women's Final Four NCAA tournament Sunday, April 3, 2022, in Minneapolis. With Staley calling the shots in a $5,000 letterman jacket, South Carolina took UConn to school on the boards and capped a wire-to-wire run as the No. This time it was Boston — the AP Player of the Year — and her fellow South Carolina post players who dominated on the game's biggest stage. Henderson had three steals, Boston blocked two shots and South Carolina forced 15 turnovers. South Carolina: The Gamecocks lose Henderson and Victaria Saxton but have all the talent to repeat as champions.

Dawn Staley and South Carolina buttoned up on defense and won their second national championship, stifling UConn for a 64-49 victory that ended the Huskies’ undefeated streak in title games.

Geno Auriemma and his UConn Huskies are 11-0 in NCAA championship games. The Huskies will look to continue that run when they face South Carolina for the women's basketball title on Sunday night. WINNING AT HOMEBueckers is looking to be the first UConn player to win a championship in her home city. DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPSBoth South Carolina and UConn have been stalwarts on defense all season long. “I think it’s just a mentality to have every single game,” South Carolina's Brea Beal said.

Geno Auriemma and his UConn Huskies have gone 11-0 in NCAA title games and will look to continue that success when they face South Carolina for the women's basketball title Sunday night.

NCAA Louisville South Carolina Basketball The South Carolina bench reacts after the second half of a college basketball game in the semifinal round of the Women's Final Four NCAA tournament Friday, April 1, 2022, in Minneapolis. South Carolina won 72-59 to advance to the finals. 1 overall seed in this year's NCAA Tournament will be the Connecticut Huskies, who produced a lockdown defensive performance of their own to reach the national championship. UConn has never lost in the NCAA final, sporting a staggering 11-0 record in national championships. South Carolina beat UConn in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in the Bahamas in November, pulling away from the Huskies in the fourth quarter with that stifling defense.

The South Carolina Gamecocks have had the top spot in the Associated Press Top 25 poll the entire season.

Paige Bueckers scored 14 points and UConn advanced to the national championship game with a 63-58 win over defending champion Stanford.

Kim Mulkey is The Associated Press women's basketball Coach of the Year in her first season at LSU.

There was a time, not that many years ago, when predicting who would win the women’s NCAA Tournament was not that difficult.

"Part of her wrist was completely cleanly fractured and dislocated," UConn head coach Geno Auriemma said of forward Dorka Juhasz after the game.

The top-seeded Wolfpack will try to end that drought and stop UConn's record streak of 13 straight trips to the national semifinals when the two teams play Monday night in the Bridgeport Region final. Raina Perez was the closest to being alive back in 1998 — being born a few months after that run by legendary N.C State coach Kay Yow's team. “It’s huge for this program and it will take a lot of hard work and grit, especially since it’s UConn,” Perez said of reaching the Final Four. No question about it," N.C. State center Elissa Cunane said. — the last coming in 2016 to end a streak of four consecutive ones.

It’s been 24 years since North Carolina State has reached a Final Four and during that time UConn has been to 18 of them, including the last 13 straight.

Paige Bueckers and Christyn Williams each scored 15 points to lead a balanced UConn offense in a 75-58 win over Indiana to advance the Huskies into their 16th consecutive regional final.

Freshman Azzi Fudd scored 16 points and hit two key free throws late as No. 2 seed UConn outfought No. 7 seed UCF 52-47 in a defensive slugfest Monday night to advance to an NCAA record 28th straight Sweet 16.

UConn and UCF will renew what has been a physical rivalry when the teams square off Monday night. The No. 2 seed Huskies, who routed Mercer in the opening round, are 13-0 against the No. 7 seed Knights, dating back to their days together in the American Athletic Conference, which UConn left in 2020 to rejoin the Big East.

UConn star Paige Bueckers is by all accounts physically fit again as her Huskies enter the women's NCAA Tournament looking for a 14th consecutive appearance in the Final Four and a 12th national title. The sophomore has averaged under 14 minutes a game since her return and scored 30 total points, 16 of them in the Huskies' Big East quarterfinal win over Georgetown.

SEC Kentucky South Carolina Basketball South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley watches the action during her team's loss to Kentucky in the NCAA women's college basketball Southeastern Conference tournament championship game Sunday, March 6, 2022, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey) (Mark Humphrey)Dawn Staley and South Carolina are once again a No. 1 seed in the women's basketball NCAA Tournament — a familiar role for the Gamecocks. South Carolina earned the the top overall seed in this year's tournament field, which was announced Sunday night. Expanding the field was one of the many changes to the women's basketball tournament in the wake of inequities revealed at last season's NCAAs. “They have all the pieces, all of their players playing,' said women's basketball selection committee chair Nina King.

South Carolina has expectedly earned the No. 1 overall seed in the women’s NCAA Tournament.

6 UConn put forth another dominant defensive effort to beat Villanova 70-40 in the Big East championship game Monday night. It was the 20th Big East tournament championship for UConn, which avenged a loss last month to the Wildcats. UConn (25-5) only had eight healthy players for that game with Paige Bueckers, Olivia Nelson-Ododa and Caroline Ducharme all sidelined. The only real question in the fourth quarter was whether the Huskies would be able to break their own record for fewest points given up in the Big East championship game. Villanova last played UConn in the Big East championship game in 2003, when the Wildcats snapped what was then the Huskies' NCAA-record 70-game winning streak.

Evina Westbrook scored 13 points, Aaliyah Edwards added 12 points and No. 6 UConn put forth another dominant defensive effort to beat Villanova 70-40 in the Big East championship game.

Paige Bueckers scored 16 points in her third game back from knee surgery and No. 7 UConn routed Georgetown 84-38 in the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament.

The prelude is past, the postseason is here. The UConn women’s basketball team may not be in its familiar position, poised for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and considered the team to beat, but the Huskies are embracing their position as dangerous underdogs. “We’re a different team [than earlier in the season],” UConn senior Christyn Williams said. “I feel like a lot of teams are ...

Paige Bueckers scored eight points in 12 minutes in her return from a knee injury that kept her out for more than two months.

10 UConn beat seventh-ranked Tennessee 75-56 on Sunday. Fudd got the start when it was announced about an hour before the game that the Huskies would be missing her classmate, Caroline Ducharme. Fudd scored the team's first basket — a 3-pointer — and finished the opening half with nine points as UConn (15-4) built a 32-25 lead. She scored the first four points to start a 14-0 run that gave the Huskies a 46-25 lead. Tennessee (19-4), which has now lost three of its last four games, didn't threaten the rest of the game.

Freshman Azzi Fudd scored a career-high 25 points in her first start to help No. 10 UConn beat seventh-ranked Tennessee 75-56.

Men’s and women’s basketball coaches across the country are coping with the challenge of physical conditioning that comes with COVID-19 pauses.

UConn Louisville Basketball Connecticut head coach Geno Auriemma, center right, talks with Dorka Juhasz (14) in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Louisville, Sunday, Dec. 19, 2021, in Uncasville, Conn. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill) (Jessica Hill)UConn's record 16-year run in the top 10 is over. 11 in The Associated Press women's college basketball poll Monday after losing to Louisville a day earlier. UConn had been ranked among the first 10 teams in the poll for 313 straight weeks dating back to March 7, 2005, when the team was also 11th. It's the 600th appearance in the AP Top 25 for Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer, who is 18 behind all-time leader Pat Summitt. ___More AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25Copyright 2021 The Associated Press.

UConn’s record 16-year run in the top 10 is over.

Bueckers underwent the surgery on Monday afternoon at UConn Health, the school announced. The reigning national player of the year fractured her left tibia at the knee on Dec. 5 in a win over Notre Dame. The injury, known as a tibial plateau fracture, was expected to take six to eight weeks to heal on its own. But the school said Tuesday that she also suffered a lateral meniscus tear when she was hurt and that both injuries were repaired during the surgery. Bueckers' recovery is expected to take two months from the date of surgery, the school said.

UConn says star Paige Bueckers has undergone successful surgery to repair the left leg fracture she suffered a week ago as well as a meniscus tear in that knee.

UConn sophomore Mir McLean has left the program and will transfer, UConn coach Geno Auriemma announced Monday. McLean, a little-used reserve from Maryland, played in 27 games at UConn and averaged 2.5 points and 2.0 rebounds. A former McDonald's All-American in high school, the 5-foot-11 forward played eight minutes this season, did not score and had two rebounds. “Mir is extremely smart and athletic and she has a lot of potential,” Auriemma said.

Coach Geno Auriemma said Saturday that Bueckers is in the process of getting more medical opinions on how to proceed. The reigning national player of the year fractured her left tibia at the knee last Sunday in a win over Notre Dame. The injury, known as a tibial plateau fracture, was expected to take six to eight weeks to heal on its own. Bueckers likely would be out about two months after any surgery is performed, Auriemma said. ___More AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25Copyright 2021 The Associated Press.

UConn star Paige Bueckers is considering surgery to repair the left leg fracture she suffered a week ago, which might mean missing more time than originally expected.

Third-ranked UConn struggled again without star Paige Bueckers but managed to avoid back-to-back losses for the first time since 1993, holding off UCLA 71-61.

UConn Georgia Tech Basketball Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma talks to forward Dorka Juhasz (14) during the first half of the team's NCAA college basketball game agains Georgia Tech on Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore) (John Bazemore)ATLANTA — (AP) — Georgia Tech shut down No. But Georgia Tech (7-2) pulled away in the fourth quarter before a raucous crowd of 4,578 — the sixth-largest in school history — to snap UConn's 240-game winning streak against unranked opponents. UConn, averaging 74.5 points a game with Bueckers, missed its first nine shots of the final period, along with committing six turnovers. Georgia Tech: The Yellow Jackets showed plenty of focus after the difficult news regarding Butts.

Georgia Tech shut down No. 3 UConn in its first game since an injury to reigning national player of the year Paige Bueckers, defeating the Huskies 57-44 in a defensive slugfest.

The Minnesota Lynx’s Cheryl Reeve will be the next USA Basketball national team coach, a person with knowledge of the situation said Tuesday. She will be the first professional women’s basketball coach to lead the team since Anne Donovan was courtside for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The U.S. is in a bit of transition with five-time Olympic gold medalist Sue Bird retiring from international play. Four-time Olympic gold medalist Sylvia Fowles, who plays for Reeve in Minnesota, also said she is retiring from USA Basketball. ___More AP women’s basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-basketball and https://twitter.com/AP_SportsCopyright 2021 The Associated Press.

This week's Battle 4 Atlantis men's college basketball tournament in the Bahamas headlines the list of offshore events returning to the sport amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The release of The Associated Press women’s basketball poll will be delayed a day because of a Monday afternoon matchup between the top two teams.

Scores, schedules and pairings for the 2021 Texas high school football and University Interscholastic League playoffs.

The men's tournament expanded to 68 teams in 2011 with four first-round games traditionally played in Dayton, Ohio. “This immediate expansion of the women’s basketball championship reinforces the fact that leaders within Division I are committed to strengthening aspects of the women’s basketball championship that directly impact student-athletes,” said West Virginia athletic director Shane Lyons, the chairman of the Division I Council. “The expanded bracket and championship opportunities for Division I women’s basketball student-athletes are paramount,” said UT-San Antonio athletic director Lisa Campos, the chair of the Division I Women’s Basketball Oversight Committee. The NCAA already had approved the women’s tournament using the phrase March Madness in its branding. “This action corrects an inequity that has existed between the men’s and women’s championships for a decade," Danielle Donehew, executive director of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association, said about tournament expansion, “and provides equitable postseason participation opportunities for Division I men’s and women’s basketball student-athletes.”___More AP women’s basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25Copyright 2021 The Associated Press.

The NCAA women’s basketball tournament is expanding to 68 teams beginning with the current season, giving it an equal number of participants as the men’s tournament as part of a concerted effort at gender parity.

UConn comes into this season ranked No. 2, having added the nation’s top recruit, guard Azzi Fudd, to a team that returns last year’s collegiate national player of the year, Paige Bueckers, and every other starter from a squad that went to it’s 13th straight Final Four.

The Associated Press preseason women's All-America team is out and Paige Bueckers of UConn is a unanimous choice.

Sue Bird’s impressive 17-year Olympic journey will come to an end this weekend.

A report examining how the NCAA conducts its championship events is recommending that the association considers holding the men's and women's Final Fours in the same location.

UConn coach Geno Auriemma has been recruiting more internationally. We have great players everywhere,” she said. "UConn produces great athletes.”It's not just past Huskies that are playing in the Olympics. Aaliyah Edwards is the youngest of the UConn group, playing for Canada, joining Kia Nurse who played in the 2016 Olympics. There are a lot of great Huskies here.

There is definitely a UConn flavor to the women's basketball being played in the Tokyo Games.

Jennifer Gillom says everything is a process.

U.S. assistant Dan Hughes is not the face of the Olympic women's basketball team and he couldn't be happier in his role.

The groundbreaking ruling that went into effect on enabling college athletes to profit from their name, image and likeness for the first time has sent college and university athletic directors and compliance officers scrambling.

Kobe Bryant is in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame now, along with contemporaries Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett, headliners of a group of nine who got their delayed and long-awaited enshrinement on Saturday night, more than a year after being announced as the Hall’s Class of 2020.

Michael Jordan will present Kobe Bryant for induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame next month.

Vanderbilt has hired Shea Ralph away from UConn to help revive the Commodores’ struggling women’s basketball program.

Haley Jones scored 17 points and Stanford beat Arizona 54-53, giving the Cardinal and coach Tara VanDerveer their first national championship in 29 years.

UConn's star guard became the first freshman ever to win The Associated Press women's basketball player of the year award Wednesday, March 31, 2021. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)SAN ANTONIO – Paige Bueckers is in a class all by herself. UConn's star guard became the first freshman ever to win The Associated Press women's basketball player of the year award Wednesday. “It’s amazing, surreal for people to think of me that highly and to be in that position as a freshman,” Bueckers said. But I don’t think you can.”___More AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/Womenscollegebasketball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

(AP Photo/Darron Cummings, File)SAN ANTONIO – Maryland coach Brenda Frese was honored as The Associated Press women's basketball coach of the year Wednesday for the second time in her career. Frese received eight votes from the 30-member national media panel that votes on the weekly AP Top 25. Obviously its going to be one I never forget,” said Frese, who also was AP coach of the year 19 years ago when she was at Minnesota. When Maryland won the Big Ten Tournament, Frese's father and mother, Donna, were in the stands in Indianapolis. “It's a memory I’ll cherish for a lifetime.”___More AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/Womenscollegebasketball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

(AP Photo/Eric Gay)SAN ANTONIO – NCAA President Mark Emmert promised the Women's Basketball Coaches Association he will work with coaches to fix the “stark difference” between the Division I men's and women's tournaments. He asked Emmert what he could do to make sure those people give women's basketball the same advantages and opportunities. “Maybe that’s what has to happen in women’s basketball?” Auriemma said. "Maybe women’s basketball has got to separate itself from the other women’s sports? Yet for the women's Sweet 16 and Elite Eight, only “NCAA Women's Basketball” was in the middle of the court.

(AP Photo/Eric Gay)Arizona has been having fun and playing good basketball, all the way to its first women's NCAA Final Four. The 11-time national champions are making their 13th consecutive Final Four appearance and 21st overall for coach Geno Auriemma. The Cardinal's first Final Four since 2017 is their 14th overall, trailing only to UConn and Tennessee's 18. The Wildcats hadn't even been in the women's NCAA Tournament since 2005, though they would have made it last year with a 24-7 record before the tourney was canceled because of the pandemic. Stanford is in its 34th consecutive women's NCAA Tournament, with Tara VanDerveer in her record 35th overall as a coach.

Bueckers scored 28 points and top seed UConn used a huge run spanning the final two quarters to beat No. 2 Baylor 69-67 on Monday night and reach a 13th consecutive Final Four in the women’s NCAA Tournament. After a timeout, Baylor fouled Christyn Williams, who missed both free throws to give the Lady Bears one last chance. The Lady Bears (28-3) had won the previous two, including a 74-58 win at Connecticut in January of 2020. The Lady Bears closed the action-packed first quarter with a 20-10 run and trailed 26-24 after one.

UConn guard Paige Bueckers (5) works the ball past Iowa guard Caitlin Clark (22) during the first half of a college basketball game in the Sweet Sixteen round of the women's NCAA tournament at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Saturday, March 27, 2021. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)SAN ANTONIO – The game was billed as a marquee matchup of uber-talented freshmen Paige Bueckers and Caitlin Clark. Williams scored 27 points and Bueckers added 18 to lead No. 1 UConn to a 92-72 win over fifth-seeded Iowa on Saturday in the Sweet 16 of the women's NCAA Tournament. “I thought we played a great team basketball game," Williams said.

UConn guard Paige Bueckers (5) drives under pressure from Syracuse guard Tiana Mangakahia (4) during the first half of a college basketball game in the second round of the women's NCAA tournament at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Tuesday, March 23, 2021. 1 seed UConn beat eighth-seeded Syracuse 83-47 on Tuesday night and advance to the Sweet 16 of the women's NCAA Tournament. The Huskies led 64-35 after three quarters and cruised into the Sweet 16 for the 27th straight year. The loss ended the stellar career of Syracuse guard Tiana Mangakahia, who returned from breast cancer this season. UP NEXTUConn will face Iowa in a Sweet 16 matchup of two of the country's best freshmen: Bueckers and Caitlin Clark.

(AP Photo/Eric Gay)SAN ANTONIO – UConn did just fine without coach Geno Auriemma. Bueckers scored 24 points — the most by a UConn player in her first NCAA Tournament game — and the top-seeded Huskies routed High Point 102-59 in the first round Sunday. “We just want to continue to win for him so he can get out here with us,” Bueckers said. Muhl injured her left ankle in the Big East Tournament opener, but returned for the Huskies' game the next night. “I think that was a little bit of improv from some of the players," High Point coach Chelsea Banbury said.

The freshman guard has lived up to it so far, delivering record-breaking performances and earning a spot on The Associated Press women's basketball All-American team Wednesday. She's only the third freshman to make the AP team, joining Oklahoma's Courtney Paris and UConn's Maya Moore. “Name one player that has taken a team this young to where we are today," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. She became the school's first women's basketball All-American last season. She was joined by Naz Hillmon, who is the first women's player at Michigan to earn All-America honors.

North Carolina State head coach Wes Moore cuts down the net after his team defeated Louisville in the championship of the Atlantic Coast Conference NCAA women's college basketball game in Greensboro, N.C., Sunday, March 7, 2021. 1 seed for the women’s NCAA Tournament. 1 seed for the first time, joining Stanford, South Carolina and Connecticut on the top lines for the San Antonio-themed regions for the women's tourney. 1 teams in The Associated Press women’s basketball poll this year, including the Huskies, who finished the season at No. Tennessee continued its streak of making the NCAA Tournament all 39 years.

“I didn't all the sudden go on spring break, I didn't go to Florida," he told reporters in a conference call on Monday. I didn't do anything.”The top-seeded Huskies are scheduled to leave for the tournament in San Antonio on Tuesday. According to federal and state health guidelines, Auriemma must remain in isolation for 10 days and may rejoin the team on March 24. The team's head physician said contact tracing protocols indicated Auriemma did not have close contact with any other team member since Friday. Auriemma said he will be talking to his assistant coaches while they are in Texas, but won’t be trying to coach from Connecticut.

It's the 16th time that the Huskies have completed the regular season as the top team in the poll. 1 seed in the women's NCAA Tournament when the field is announced Monday night. AdCONSISTENT WOLVERINESMichigan finished the season ranked 16th, marking only the second time in program history that the Wolverines were in the final poll. CONFERENCE SUPREMECYThe Southeastern Conference had six teams in the final poll with No. UNBEATEN LANCERSCal Baptist earned its first vote ever in the women's AP Top 25 after winning the WAC Tournament.

(David Butler/Pool Photo via AP)UConn, South Carolina, Stanford and Louisville are in line for the top seeds of the women's NCAA Tournament. The women's basketball selection committee revealed the top 16 teams to this point Monday night. 1 in The Associated Press women's basketball poll earlier in the day, would be the overall top seed. “I would say that for every line we had a healthy amount of debate,” NCAA women's basketball selection committee chair Nina King said. The two schools were joined by Arkansas, DePaul, Georgia Tech, Gonzaga, Missouri State, South Dakota State and Washington State.

The Huskies just won a fourth straight national championship. In 2004, Morley Safer interviewed coach Geno Auriemma about the secret to their success.