Howdy, I’m your host, Austin Knoblauch, filling in for Houston Mitchell. Let’s get proper to the information.
: The solutions had run out. The worst case had caught as much as .
There was no extra outrunning the truth that loomed over this complete NCAA match, not with on the top of her powers and the total weight of the Connecticut onslaught raining down on them. , there was no additional the Trojans may go. And as soon as once more, it was the Huskies who slammed the door, ending USC’s season within the Elite Eight as soon as once more with a , identical to that they had final March.
That their season led to the very same place, on the doorstep of their first Remaining 4 in virtually 4 a long time, was no much less painful to swallow for the Trojans, who should watch their crosstown rivals, UCLA, tackle Connecticut subsequent weekend with a nationwide title berth on the road.
However as she stood in entrance of her gamers, heading off tears, coach Lindsay Gottlieb harkened again to the speech she made within the shedding locker room a 12 months earlier than.
She advised them then that the usual had been raised at USC. Expectations would quickly be hovering. It was as much as them to satisfy them.
Her phrases proved prescient, as this season proved a completely completely different problem. And though on paper, it may appear that this system got here no additional, Gottlieb, on the finish of her fourth marketing campaign as coach, knew that wasn’t true.
“Though we’ve misplaced on the similar level and stage, I believe our staff 100% delivered on elevating that bar and elevating that normal,” Gottlieb stated. “That is the place we wished to be, and we now really feel disenchanted that we didn’t take this step this 12 months, however clearly there are circumstances that make it actually exhausting at this stage to win this one. This was the toughest one to win.”
DODGERS
: On Thursday and Friday evening at Dodger Stadium, a typical chorus echoed from the house plate escalators as the gang was submitting out.
“One-hundred-sixty-two and 0!” one fan shouted Thursday, whereas administering two-handed high-fives to passers-by.
“One-hundred-sixty-two and 0!” one other yelled Friday, soliciting a refrain of cheers again in response.
In a 162-game baseball season, such perfection is just about unattainable. However for now, followers can carry on dreaming.
As a result of six video games in, their staff has been, properly, good.
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UCLA MEN’S BASKETBALL
has suffered an enormous setback in its plans for subsequent season: will not be returning.
The 7-foot-3 middle who may turn out to be a gargantuan story for his subsequent staff is planning to play elsewhere after two seasons as a Bruin. Mara’s departure was confirmed by two individuals near the scenario not licensed to publicly disclose his plans as a result of they haven’t been made public.
Mara is a two-way drive who can rating in quite a lot of methods and cross like some extent guard whereas additionally blocking photographs, altering others and protecting an untold quantity from being taken.
However he didn’t play a heavy allotment of minutes till the second half of the season, presumably accelerating his departure.
LAKERS
: The have “acknowledged the magnitude” of each recreation they should play because the season winds down, their saying they should play every of them with an urgency to find out their very own playoff seeding destiny within the super-competitive Western Convention.
It actually is easy for the Lakers: Maintain successful and that can enhance their seeding within the unforgiving West.
And win the Lakers did on Monday evening, pulling out a over the Rockets at Crypto.com Area. It was an particularly vital win as a result of the fourth place Lakers are chasing second-place Houston within the Western Convention standings.
LeBron James got here via within the clutch from the free-throw line and on protection, with big-time contributions from key function gamers Gabe Vincent and Dorian Finney-Smith as Luka Doncic fought via a poor capturing evening and a banged up left elbow.
James sealed the sport with two free throws with 11.1 seconds left and an emphatic block of Alperen Sengun with eight seconds remaining, protecting the Lakers forward by 4.
KINGS
: Don’t consider this as ’s closing season behind the microphone for the . Consider it as an encore.
Nickson deliberate to be {golfing} by now. He deliberate to be following his grandkids, Casey and Avery, to their video games and attending the birthday events and anniversaries he needed to miss in additional than 5 a long time as a hockey broadcaster.
The Kings had different plans, summoning Nickson to a gathering in the summertime of 2023 the place he nervous he could be fired earlier than he may inform them he was able to retire. As an alternative the Kings advised Nickson, their longtime radio voice, they wished him to simulcast the radio and TV calls. And so they wished a two-year dedication.
“Had it not been for the change, final 12 months may need been my final,” he stated.
RAMS
: will not be an agenda merchandise for house owners on the NFL annual assembly.
However talks with the agent for the operating again are on common supervisor ’s and vice chairman ’ to-do listing right here within the subsequent few days.
Williams, a three-year veteran who has rushed for greater than 1,000 yards in every of the final two seasons, is eligible for an extension.
“All of us need this to work out,” Snead stated Monday. “It’s simply, can we agree upon a, let’s name it, a contract the place we each really feel prefer it’s a win-win.”
CHARGERS
: The introduced in maybe their greatest offseason signing underneath the duvet of darkness on a Friday night. In fact a -coached staff would make an offensive lineman the key weapon of its offseason plan.
Contemporary off a , Mekhi Becton has the Chargers head coach already dreaming of what a retooled offensive entrance may appear to be.
“The run blocking is elite. Move blocking as properly, elite,” Harbaugh stated of Becton on Monday, talking on the NFL house owners assembly in his first feedback with reporters since free company opened three weeks in the past. “It’s simply exhausting to get round him. Simply begin visualizing that measurement, that size on the fitting facet of the offensive line with Mekhi there and Joe Alt.”
Needing to spice up the offense round quarterback , Becton’s addition may quietly be the offseason’s highest influence transfer. Harbaugh expects the 6-foot-7, 363-pound Becton to start at proper guard, the place the previous first-round decide performed throughout the Philadelphia Eagles Tremendous Bowl run. He’ll complement rising star proper sort out Joe Alt, the 6-foot-8 former fifth general decide.
CLIPPERS
: and every scored 21 factors, added 18 factors and 20 rebounds and the beat the Orlando Magic Monday evening.
added 20 factors and 6 steals for the Clippers, who received for the eleventh time in 14 video games.
Paolo Banchero led Orlando with 26 factors. Franz Wagner added 21 factors for the Magic, who shot 39% and misplaced for the eighth time in 10 residence video games.
ANGELS
: hit a tying triple within the seventh inning and gave the their first lead with a grounder within the tenth in a over the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday evening.
had two RBIs for the Angels, who scored three runs on sacrifice flies and at last went forward within the tenth with out a hit. After two walks loaded the bases, Schanuel despatched a chopper to second baseman Brendan Donovan, whose throw residence was late as scored for a 4-3 lead.
Trout added a deep sac fly to middle that scored Paris.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1930 — American golfer Bobby Jones begins his Grand Slam season by successful the Southeastern Open.
1938 — Joe Louis knocks out Harry Thomas within the fifth spherical in Chicago to retain his world heavyweight title.
1940 — Governor Herbert Lehman of New York indicators the Dunnigal invoice, which legalizes pari-mutuel wagering and outlaws bookmakers on the state’s racetracks.
1954 — Detroit Pink Wings proper wing Gordie Howe scores 2 objectives and an help, and units a Stanley Cup playoff report for quickest aim from the beginning of a recreation (:09).
1972 — The primary collective participant’s strike in main league historical past begins at 12:01 a.m. The strike lasts 12 days and cancels 86 video games.
1973 — Boston’s John Havlicek connects on 24 subject objectives and finishes with 54 factors the Celtics defeat Atlanta, 134-109, in Sport 1 of the Jap Convention semifinals.
1978 — NY Islanders RW Mike Bossy turns into first NHL rookie to attain 50 objectives in a season.
1981 — Edmonton C Wayne Gretzky has an help (his 103rd) to interrupt Bobby Orr’s 10-year mark for many assists in a single NHL season.
1984 — Southern Cal beats Tennessee 72-61 for the NCAA girls’s basketball title.
1985 — Villanova shocks Georgetown with a 66-64 victory to win the NCAA basketball title. The Wildcats, led by Dwayne McClain’s 17 factors, shot 79 % from the sector, making 22 of 28 photographs, and added 22 of 27 free throws.
1989 — Jim McAllister of Glassboro State hits 4 residence runs and drives in 9 runs in 4 at-bats in a 21-5 five-inning rout of Delaware State.
1990 — Betsy King holds on for a two-stroke victory over Kathy Postlewait to win the LPGA Dinah Shore match.
1991 — Duke ends years of frustration with a 72-65 victory over Kansas for its first nationwide title in 5 championship recreation appearances and 9 journeys to the Remaining 4.
1992 — Per week earlier than the Stanley Cup playoffs are set to start, the NHL gamers strike for the primary time within the league’s 75-year historical past. The strike lasts 10 days.
1996 — Kentucky wins its first nationwide title in 18 years with a 76-67 victory over Syracuse.
1999 — Detroit Pistons G Joe Dumars turns into tenth participant in NBA historical past to play 1,000 video games with the identical staff.
1999 — Philadelphia 76ers head coach Larry Brown wins his 900th professional recreation.
2000 — Michelle Kwan wins her third World Determine Skating title by pushing via all seven triple jumps. The triple toe-triple toe lifts Kwan above Russians Irina Slutskaya and final 12 months’s champion, Maria Butyrskaya.
2001 — twentieth NCAA Girls’s Basketball Championship: Notre Dame beats Purdue, 68-66.
2002 — With Juan Dixon and Lonny Baxter main the way in which, Maryland wins its first nationwide championship with a 64-52 victory over Indiana.
2007 — Morgan Pressel turns into the youngest main champion in LPGA Tour historical past with a recreation properly past her 18 years, closing with a 3-under 69 on the Kraft Nabisco Championship. Pressel performs her closing 25 holes over Mission Hills with out a bogey as Suzann Pettersen blew a four-shot lead with 4 holes to play.
2007 — American tremendous swimmer Michael Phelps smashes his personal world report within the 400m particular person medley (4:06.22) to win his report seventh gold medal on the World Championships.
2011 — Jarome Iginla scores his second aim of the sport with 5:03 left to achieve 1,000 factors and assist Calgary rally to beat St. Louis 3-2.
2016 — Golden State Warriors consecutive residence successful streak ends at 54 video games.
2018 — Arike Ogunbowale hits a 3-pointer with a tenth of a second left to provide Notre Dame a 61-58 win over Mississippi State and its first girls’s nationwide championship since 2001. Notre Dame, trailing 30-17 at halftime, pulls off the most important comeback in title recreation historical past, rallying from a 15-point deficit within the third quarter and a five-point deficit within the closing 1:58.
2020 — All England Garden Tennis Membership cancels Wimbledon for the primary time since World Battle II due to the COVID-19 pandemic; complete grass-court season deserted.
Compiled by the Related Press
