They say the game is 80% mental.

NCAA loads the bracket

The 2025 NCAA women’s basketball tournament bracket is set, as Selection Sunday divvied out March Madness favorites, underdogs, and a few surprises along the way.

• UCLA earned the No. 1 overall seed, with South Carolina, Texas, and USC sitting atop the three other quadrants.

• UConn received a No. 2 seed despite the Huskies’ late-season momentum, with TCU, Duke, and NC State also sharing second-place bids.

• Once-No. 1 Notre Dame fell the farthest, entering the tournament as a No. 3 seed alongside LSU, North Carolina, and Oklahoma after a rough end to the season.

• As No. 4 seeds, Ohio State, Kentucky, Baylor, and Maryland will all get the opportunity to host the tournament’s first two rounds.

Big picture: While some teams were thrilled with the placement, a tinge of disappointment overshadowed other top contenders’ watch parties.

• “I'd like to get some feedback on how they came to that conclusion,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said after the NCAA announced the seeding. “We put together, manufactured, a schedule that if done right, should produce the overall No. 1 seed.”

• The NCAA committee told ESPN that South Carolina’s head-to-head loss to UCLA — in addition to the Gamecocks’ 29-point non-conference loss to UConn — played a major role in their determination.

Counting heads: With 12 teams bracketed, the Big Ten earned the season’s most NCAA tournament bids, followed closely by the SEC’s conference-record 10.

• The Ivy League saw three teams sneak into the competition, with No. 10-seed Harvard securing an automatic bid while both Columbia and Princeton won a spot in the First Four.

• Six different teams are making their NCAA tournament debut, as Arkansas State, FDU, George Mason, Grand Canyon, UC San Diego, and William & Mary up the Cinderella story stakes.

Bottom line: You have to beat the best to be the best, and the talent concentrated at the top of the NCAA bracket — regardless of seeding — is guaranteed to make for some tough competition when the Madness gets underway later this week.

NWSL hits the ground running

The NWSL kicked off its 13th season this past weekend, with last year’s top teams picking up right where they left off as Orlando, Washington, and Kansas City all started regular-season play with big wins.

• The Pride handed Chicago a 6-0 drubbing on Friday, with star striker Barbra Banda’s brace delivering the Stars their worst loss in franchise history.

• Washington held on against a new-look Houston, defeating the Dash 2-1 to follow up a rollercoaster Challenge Cup victory.

• Kansas City’s ability to find the back of the net hasn’t faltered, with 2024 MVP Temwa Chawinga leading the Current to a 3-1 win over injury-struck Portland.

Big picture: The rest of the weekend’s fixtures weren’t so lopsided, with each match finishing in a 1-1 draw.

• Gotham FC likely emerges as the middle-pack’s most aggrieved, after VAR confirmed defender Mandy Freeman’s controversial red card in the 86th minute against Seattle.

• Thanks to the mostly uniform results, Orlando now sit atop the table on goal differential, with Kansas City and Washington in close pursuit.

Bottom line: While momentum always shifts in the parity-rich NWSL, this season’s opening slate proved that 2024’s biggest success stories remain the teams to beat.

Lunar Owls ousted from Unrivaled playoffs

Unrivaled 3×3 Basketball’s first-ever semifinals took an unexpected turn on Sunday, as No. 4-seed Vinyl BC knocked freshly crowned 2025 MVP Napheesa Collier’s No. 1-seed Lunar Owls out of the competition with a 73-70 nail-biter.

• The Lunar Owls dropped just one game all season prior to Sunday’s loss, entering the postseason as the clear favorite to win it all — including the $50,000-per-player championship purse.

• “We consider ourselves underdogs, but that didn’t show in our locker room. We never stopped believing in ourselves,” said Vinyl forward Dearica Hamby after delivering the game-winning bucket.

Big picture: Vinyl will meet late-season dark horse No. 2 seed Rose BC in tonight’s finale, after a short-staffed Rose side overcame a double-digit first-half deficit to defeat the Laces 63-57 on Sunday.

• Rose’s Unrivaled Defensive Player of the Year Angel Reese sat out last night’s matchup with a hand injury, joining injured guard Kahleah Copper on the bench.

• In their absence, Rose point guard Chelsea Gray made all the difference, polishing off a single-game league-record 39 points with the game-winning three-pointer.

Bottom line: While Unrivaled co-founder Napheesa Collier has been the standout all season, that fact that her team will now watch the final from the sidelines only speaks to the league’s wider success.

Tune in: Unrivaled’s inaugural championship match tips off tonight at 7:30 PM ET, live on TNT.

Andreeva’s hot streak continues

World No. 6 Mirra Andreeva is on a roll, upsetting world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in Sunday’s BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells final after advancing past No. 2 Iga Świątek in the semis.

• Sabalenka started the tournament final’s first set strong, earning a 6-2 advantage at the first break before her 17-year-old opponent came back to finish things off 6-4, 6-3.

• “I didn’t try to overhit her, because I don’t think anyone can overhit Aryna, because she’s super powerful player,” Andreeva said after the match. “I tried to really create something to make her uncomfortable, and point by point, game by game, I managed to do that.”

Bottom line: Adding the 2025 Dubai Championships to her win tally last month, Andreeva entered Indian Wells on a hot streak — with the prospect of lifting her first-ever Grand Slam trophy skyrocketing after every top-ranked victory.

Sydney Leroux steps away from soccer

Angel City forward Sydney Leroux is stepping away from professional soccer to focus on mental health, the 34-year-old announced on Saturday — one day before the club’s season opener.

• “Anyone who knows me knows I'm a fighter — I always have been. I take pride in showing up, in giving everything I have, but right now I owe it to myself and my children to take a step back and take care of me,” the Olympic gold medalist and World Cup champion wrote. "This isn’t goodbye, I will be back, just like always in true Syd fashion.”

Big picture: The NWSL’s current collective bargaining agreement provides players up to six months of paid mental health leave.

• Leroux recently signed a contract extension with Angel City through 2027, giving her the space to decide when she’ll make her NWSL return.

Number of the day 

14 years, 8 months

At the age of 14 years and eight months, Gotham FC forward Mak Whitham became the youngest player to ever take the NWSL pitch on Saturday.