Sound navigation and ranging (SONAR) system market: Growing preference for deploying integrated SONAR system. Naval agencies focus on deploying integrated SONAR systems as an ASW measure owing to the increased deployment of underwater manned/unmanned platforms. To diminish the dominance of enemy submerged vehicles, many countries are enhancing their existing resources with advanced SONAR systems. This is further encouraging vendors to launch innovative systems and offer services to the governments across the globe. For instance, Ultra-Electronics Holdings Plc offers integrated SONAR systems to various naval agencies to help them augment and transform their conventional ASW mechanism. The company has integrated both military off-the-shelf and commercial off-the-shelf systems and components, including advanced technology readiness level elements and in-service equipment, to ensure a cost-effective and high-performance integrated SONAR system. Furthermore, they also help in transmitting data from a hydrophone array or sonobuoy sensor directly to the graphical displays of naval control rooms. These advancements will further drive the market growth during the forecast period.
"The growing focus on improving marine transportation safety and increasing collaboration among countries for fastening technology transfer options will further boost market growth during the forecast period", says a senior analyst at Technavio.
Key Questions Answered in the Report:
Which are the leading segments in the market?
What are the major challenges inhibiting the sound navigation and ranging (SONAR) system market growth?
What are the key trends and opportunities in the market pertaining to the sound navigation and ranging (SONAR) system market?
Who are the major vendors and their key offerings for the sound navigation and ranging (SONAR) system market?
Leading Sound Navigation and Ranging (SONAR) System Market Participants ASELSAN AS ASELSAN AS offers ASIST - Submarine Intercept Sonar System.
Furuno Electric Co. Ltd. Furuno Electric Co. Ltd. offers the full circle scanning sonar model CSH-8L MARK-2, color sector scanning sonar model CH-37BB and other models.
Kongsberg Gruppen ASA Kongsberg Gruppen ASA offers High Resolution 1171 Sonar Heads, Simrad CS90, an omnidirectional broadband fish-finding sonar, and other models.
Related Report on Industrials Include: Global Commercial Aircraft PMA Market- The commercial aircraft PMA market is segmented by type (engine, component, and others) and geography (APAC, North America, Europe, MEA, and South America).
To get extensive research insights:Download FREE Sample Report
Global More Electric Aircraft Market- The more electric aircraft market is segmented by application (manned and unmanned), geography (North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and MEA), and key vendors.
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About Us Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focuses on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.
In an NCAA Tournament that has been rife with surprises, the No. 1 seed Baylor Bears and second-seeded Houston Cougars managed to avoid the upset bug to advance to a Final Four matchup on Saturday in Indianapolis. Baylor (26-2) has won all but one of its four 2021 NCAA Tournament games by double digits, advancing to the Final Four by fending off a comeback by Arkansas to win the South Region championship. The Cougars (28-3) turned back surprising Oregon State in the final of the Midwest Region to extend its winning streak to 11 games and earn a spot opposite the Bears.
The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every Division I college basketball game 10,000 times. Over the past four-plus years, the proprietary computer model has generated an impressive profit of $2,200 for $100 players on its top-rated college basketball picks against the spread. Anyone who has followed it has seen huge returns.
Baylor vs. Houston money line: Baylor -220; Houston +180
BAY: The Bears are 4-0 against AP top-10 teams this season
HOU: The Cougars have won 11 straight neutral-site games
Why Baylor can cover
The Bears lead the country in 3-point shooting percentage (41.8) but have shown the ability to win even when they are struggling from behind the arc, rallying to beat Villanova in the Sweet 16 despite hitting just 3-of-19 shots from deep. Leading scorer Jared Butler is 6-of-24 from long range in the past four games, a big reason why he is averaging 13.0 points in the NCAA Tournament as opposed to 17.1 in the regular season. He is averaging 4.8 assists and 2.0 steals in the tournament.
While Baylor ranked among the top scoring teams in the country, the Bears placed three players on the Big 12 All-Defensive team in Butler and fellow guards Davion Mitchell and Mark Vital. Mitchell is showing why he earned conference Defensive Player of the Year honors, registering 13 steals in six postseason games. He is third on the team in scoring at 14.0 points per game and riding a streak of 12 consecutive contests in double figures.
Why Houston can cover
Much like Baylor, the Cougars rely on their backcourt to provide the bulk of their offense, led by leading scorer Quentin Grimes. Named the Player of the Year in the American Athletic Conference, the junior guard is averaging 18.0 points in the NCAA Tournament while hitting at least four 3-pointers in each game. Grimes and second-leading scorer Marcus Sasser (13.5 points per game) have played stellar defense, combining for 16 steals in the tournament.
One key for the Cougars in their last two victories was the ability to shut down the opposition's leading scorer, holding Syracuse'sBuddy Boeheim and Oregon State's Ethan Thompson to a combined 23 points on 6-of-25 shooting. Houston also dominated the glass in each of those matchups, winning the battle of the boards by a combined 81-60. That's not surprising for a team that was third nationally in offensive rebounds at 14.3 per game.
How to make Houston vs. Baylor picks
The model is leaning over on the total, projecting the teams to combine for 148 points. It also says one side of the spread hits almost 60 percent of the time. You can only see the pick at SportsLine.
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Bill Orcutt spent the 1990s as a member of the experimental hardcore trio Harry Pussy, but since returning to music in 2009, he has mostly performed solo. His playing is a fountain of ideas; whether he’s on acoustic or electric, he generates enough notes to sound like an entire band. But something special happens when he partners with veteran improvising drummer Chris Corsano. Their last LP, 2018’s Brace Up!, featured 12 tracks that zipped by in 33 minutes, and each abrasive jam had its own character. Sometimes it came over as a noise-music spin on primal rock’n’roll—James “Blood” Ulmer covering the Ventures, say—and sometimes it veered into soundcape territory. You could hear Orcutt singing and moaning along as they bashed out the tunes in the room, capturing moments when his mouth realized where the music was going next before his fingers did. Its energy and playfulness had you wishing for another collaboration, and soon.
With Made Out of Sound, Orcutt and Corsano return with a slightly different kind of record. They recorded the album in 2020 during the pandemic, so instead of raising a holy racket together in one space, they played separately. Corsano cut his drum parts on his own and then sent them to Orcutt, who improvised while listening to what Corsano had laid down. In notes with the release, Ocrutt says, “I was watching the waveforms as I was recording, so I could see when a crescendo was coming or when to bring it down.” Orcutt overdubbed an additional guitar, relegating one to some notion of “rhythm” and another “lead,” though what you hear doesn’t match any conventional idea of that distinction.
So Made Out of Sound is a hybrid piece—improvised, but with advance warning of where the music is going, which brings an element of composition. And it turns out that this combination of approaches makes for some gorgeously life-affirming music. These pieces are certainly prettier and less aggressive than those on Brace Up!, and that’s mostly up to Orcutt. During more relaxed moments, they bring to mind the spindly probing of the Tren Brothers, the Dirty Three side project comprising guitarist Mick Turner and drummer Jim White. Corsano’s free playing seems at all times to hover in the space between a steady beat, an explosive roll, an exploratory warm-up, and an ecstatic solo; he hits his kit with the same pace and force as their last outing, but here it’s a touch less pugnacious, perhaps owing to the room he recorded in. And Orcutt’s guitars are less cutting and sharp, with a warmer tone that rings and clangs while notes hang in the air, as if we are hearing a recording of a giant wind chime left outside during a hurricane.
Together, they make a rare kind of racket—music where the precise form is hard to apprehend while the obvious beauty comes pouring through. On “Some Tennessee Jar,” Corsano pays particular attention to cymbals, his hands falling on the metal in dense waves, as Orcutt plays a sustained repeating figure on one guitar while the other climbs up and down the neck to outline a melody that is exuberant yet shaded with a darker atonality. On “Thirteen Ways of Looking,” Orcutt creates a withering mass of bent notes, sometimes lurching higher for a single piercing tone, while his partner moves from dense pounding to light caresses on cymbals. And on “Man Carrying Thing,” Orcutt’s dual guitars solo furiously, either fusing into a single line or clashing dissonantly, while Corsano makes his snare and toms sound like a brick of fireworks exploding.
It’s a joyful noise. This is one of the more uplifting records of experimental music in recent memory. There’s something about how Orcutt and Corsano push each other that leads to work that pulses with the life force—these pieces bring to mind sunlight hitting a maple leaf, cells dividing under a microscope, a deep thirst quenched. Along with his 2019 solo album Odds Against Tomorrow, Made Out of Sound makes an excellent introduction to the gorgeous and challenging work of Orcutt’s second act.
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Four people, including a child, were killed in a shooting at a business complex in Orange, California, Wednesday evening, officials said.
The suspect and another person were injured and taken to a hospital, police Lt. Jennifer Amat said, adding that there was no ongoing threat to the public.
Police said officers arrived to an active shooting scene about 5:30 p.m.
There was a shooting involving an officer, police said, but more details were not immediately clear. The officer was not injured, Amat said.
Amat did not know the conditions of the suspect or the other injured person. Police were expected to release more information Wednesday night.
The building appeared to have several offices. Amat did not say where the victims were found, but said of the incident, "as far as we know it was an actively evolving situation, so it was not contained to just one area."
Gov. Gavin Newsom called the events "horrifying and heartbreaking," and said in a statement that "our hearts are with the families impacted by this terrible tragedy tonight."
U.S. Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., said that she was monitoring developments.
“I’m deeply saddened by reports of a mass shooting in Orange County, and I’m continuing to keep victims and their loved ones in my thoughts as we continue to learn more," she said in a statement. "My team and I will continue to monitor the situation closely.”
The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were responding, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles field office said.
Orange is a city of about 140,000 people, 30 miles southeast of Los Angeles.
Issues of diversity and equity are top of mind for many candidates, including ones for school board. Hear Unit 5 school board candidates talk about enhancing teacher diversity. Plus, one of Governor J.B. Pritzker's executive orders has put a chill on malpractice lawsuits; Eric Stock has a graphic report. A mentorship program in Bloomington-Normal provides new opportunities. Finally, the Illinois State University Food Recovery Network is receiving national recognition.
Single-game tickets for Sporting Kansas City’s first four home matches of the 2021 MLS regular season are now on sale at SportingKC.com/tickets.
Individual match tickets for contests at Children’s Mercy Park through May 29—beginning with the highly anticipated home opener against Orlando City SC on April 23 and continuing through a Memorial Day Weekend matchup versus Houston Dynamo FC—can be purchased at the links below.
Sporting Kansas City announced last week that Children’s Mercy Park will begin the season with a reduced capacity of approximately 6,500 fans. Sporting will continue to implement comprehensive health and safety protocols at all home matches, including a limited-capacity seating plan and mandatory face coverings for supporters.
Single-game tickets for Sporting’s remaining regular season home matches will go on sale to the general public at a later date. Click here to view the club's 34-game regular season schedule and click here for Sporting's slate of upcoming theme nights.
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(AP) - It’s not easy to bury a team as good as USC, let alone in a half, no matter how easy Gonzaga made it look. Somehow, coach Mark Few called it in advance.
While everyone was fixating on the top-seeded Bulldogs’ make-it-rain offense, one reporter took the opposite tack. He asked Few the day before their game against the high-flying Trojans whether his defense was getting lost in the shuffle. He replied like he’d been waiting days for that question.
“I think,” Few said, “we’ve had some excellent, I mean, off-the-chart performances, and some terrific halves.”
Gonzaga’s defense dropped one of those like an anvil on No. 6 USC in Tuesday night’s Elite Eight contest. Michigan, the bracket’s other No. 1 seed in action, played decent defense against everyone in a UCLA jersey except No. 3, Johnny Juzang, and man, did he make them pay.
The Zags won’t make that mistake when they face the Bruins in one Final Four matchup come Saturday with the chance to extend their perfect (30-0) season. Baylor, the other top seed still standing and the likeliest giant-killer left, plays No. 2 Houston in the other.
Juzang scored 14 of UCLA’s first 16 points and finished with 28, more than half the total in a 51-49 win, He had five more than the Bruins’ four other starters combined and the bench wasn’t much help either. Five teammates took just three shots in 34 minutes and contributed zero points to the effort. Yet that proved enough after Michigan missed its last eight tries, including four in the final 11 seconds that would have put them ahead.
“There’s one or two possessions that can either help you or hurt you and for us,” as coach Juwaan Howard charitably put it, “we came up short.”
The Zags in full flight are something to behold. They were up 7-0 after just two minutes, 15-4 after five and 49-30 at the half. Barely two minutes past intermission, it was 56-34. The rest of the second half was more a formality than a competitive game. Final score: 85-66.
If you’re sensing a pattern here, you should be. Most of the traffic is going one way.
The Zags scored inside, in transition and from behind the 3-point line. They’re so easy on the eyes with the ball in their hands that it’s easy to overlook how often they got it back without a made USC basket. Unless, that is, you had an assistant coach charting turnovers (seven of their 10 total in the opening 12 minutes), steals, offensive rebounds and desperation shots that probably weren’t a good idea in the first place.
Trojans coach Andy Enfield had that breakdown within arm’s reach when he sat for the postgame press conference. USC shot just 39% from the field, 27% from behind the arc and grabbed a dozen less rebounds. He didn’t need to look.
“It was a little surprising,” he shrugged, “because we’d been playing great basketball.”
So has Baylor, which showed plenty of firepower and some of the same grit on the other end while de-fanging No. 3 Arkansas a night earlier. The Bears have forced plenty of turnovers against three previous tournament rivals — Wisconsin, Villanova and the aforementioned Razorbacks (15) — with a reputation for taking care of the ball.
Guard Davion Mitchell, a buzzsaw with the ball in his hands, often winds up drawing the toughest defensive assignment, too.
“Obviously, I think he’s the best defender in the country,” Baylor coach Scott Drew said. He added: “We call him Off Night, because people tend to have off nights with him. But he’s a nightmare to bring the ball up against. And he sets the tone for our defense.”
Gonzaga and Baylor were scheduled to play in early December before the Zags program ran afoul of the sport’s COVID-19 protocol. Both were in a separate class from the rest of college basketball at the time. Then Baylor’s bout with the virus came late in the season, requiring a pause of three weeks plus.
After everything else fans weathered throughout this wacky season, a few more days might finally deliver a national championship game worth the wait.
Gonzaga vs. U.C.L.A. Houston vs. Baylor. Here are the ups and downs with each team.
With some blowouts and plenty of busted brackets, we have arrived at the N.C.A.A. men’s Final Four. And the semifinal matchups promise some good story lines with a Texas intrastate clash and a top-seeded juggernaut facing one of the last teams selected to be in the field of 68.
After its 81-72 win against Arkansas, Baylor (28-3) made it to its first Final Four since 1950 and the Bears look as ready as ever. The Bears, the top seed in the South region, are a strong defensive team that is going to give Houston its most challenging matchup in the tournament. The Bears also have great 3-point shooting — the best in the men’s game at 41 percent.
Baylor is led by three skilled guards — Jared Butler, MaCio Teague and Davion Mitchell — who combine to score 46.5 of the team’s 83 average points per game.
The important thing for Baylor is to take advantage of its shooting strengths. Houston’s defense is a hard one to get past, but Baylor has the shooters to do it. They just have to make the shots.
Drawbacks
Baylor struggles with turnovers, averaging 11.7 per game. That carelessness with the ball sometimes hurts the Bears, like it did when they allowed Arkansas to make a comeback from 17 points down. Houston’s elite and quick defense could take advantage if that happens again.
If defense wins championships, Houston could take the crown.
Highlights
Defense, defense, defense — No. 2-seeded Houston (28-3) out of the Midwest region is great at it. The Cougars are making their first Final Four appearance since 1984 and looking like a team ready and able to stop any offense in its path. Houston is able to close in quick and force turnovers, making it the second best defense in men’s Division I, holding opponents to just 57.6 points per game.
Houston is led by Quentin Grimes, a transfer from Kansas who has found much success with the Cougars. Grimes averages 18 points and 5.8 rebounds and is key to the team’s offensive strategy.
The Cougars are also a great rebounding team, which will be particularly important against Baylor’s 3-point shooting to take those second-chance points away from the Bears.
Drawbacks
Houston has to be able to either set the pace of the game or keep up with Baylor on the offensive end. It is clearly a strong team when it comes to preventing its opponents from making shots, but Houston still must make its own.
Grimes is important for the Cougars offense, but he isn’t all of it, and can’t be if Houston expects to beat Baylor.
Gonzaga is the favorite's favorite.
Highlights
Undefeated No. 1-seeded Gonzaga (30-0) is not the team to be make mistakes around. The Bulldogs, who easily won the West region, are dominant because they take advantage of turnover opportunities to score. This team also shares the ball well, averaging 18.6 assists.
The Bulldogs also score an average of 91.8 points per game — the most of any men’s team in Division I. They are extremely efficient, push the pace and can keep up with any kind of defense.
Gonzaga is led by Corey Kispert, who averages 19 points. Close behind is Drew Timme, averaging 18.9 points and 7.2 rebounds — he has scored a combined 45 points in the last two games. He is one of the most multifaceted players in college basketball and is one of several pro prospects among the Bulldogs.
No one has shown itself able to really threaten the Zags in their attempt to be the first undefeated champion since Indiana in 1976. It will be a big challenge for U.C.L.A. to get in the way.
Drawbacks
Gonzaga is good, if not great, at most things. It made Southern California look completely outclassed on Tuesday night and showed some well-earned swagger in the process. But U.C.L.A. has toppled plenty of other teams in this tournament, including top-seeded Michigan.
U.C.L.A. is the underdog no one expected.
Highlights
U.C.L.A., a No. 11 seed who had to play a First Four game just to enter the round of 64, is easily the surprise of this semifinal quartet after winning the East region. Coach Mick Cronin has no players with previous N.C.A.A. tournament experience on his roster. The Bruins are here for the first time since 2008, and are the second team to go from a play-in game to the Final Four.
The Bruins have had quite a path here, playing in two overtime games, including in the First Four against Michigan State. Upsetting Michigan, 51-49, they found a way to force the Wolverines into turnovers and take advantage. If the Bruins have proved anything in this tournament, it is resilience.
U.C.L.A. is a talented 3-point shooting team at 37.2 percent. Johnny Juzang averages 15 points and 4.1 rebounds, and he has continued to contribute in big ways even while contending with an ankle injury during the postseason. He scored 28 points in the round of 8 win.
“Nobody picked this, nobody believed in us,” Cronin said in a sideline interview after the win against Michigan. “That’s how we like it.”
Drawbacks
The U.C.L.A. bench had no points in its win against Michigan. Its lack of depth could be a big problem against the versatile Bulldogs. If the Bruins don’t get contributions beyond their starters, they will have an even steeper climb keeping up with Gonzaga’s quick offense.
The Bruins have also struggled from the free throw line in their last few games which could cause problems, especially if they are being forced to drive instead of taking shots from behind the arc.
It is no secret that the Bruins are going to have to play the best game of their season to compete with Gonzaga, but they have been full of surprises this postseason.
A collaboration between VI-grade and BlackBerry QNX has enabled real-time active sound design for the entire vehicle soundscape through the integration of QNX’s Active Sound Design (ASD) software with VI-grade’s NVH Simulator.
Vehicle sounds are typically formed in a studio away from other vehicle sounds – of the engine, tires, wind and other sources – and are therefore often not right for the actual vehicle environment. This can be a time consuming and costly process as these sounds, which are subsequently tested on real prototype vehicles, must be then recreated from scratch if not suitable.
“Design of active sound profiles, whether for engine sound enhancement, electric vehicle sound enhancement or exterior sound for meeting Acoustic Vehicle Alerting Systems standards, used to be performed separately from the noise and vibration aspects of the vehicle. The active sound design sound profiles were first developed in the ‘vacuum’ of the studio, and then combined with the rest of the vehicle sounds only on actual vehicles, which of course requires prototype vehicles and significant time horizons,” said Dave Bogema, director of NVH solutions at VI-grade.
Developers can now work more interactively with a complete NVH simulation of the target vehicle and experience the sound design in a highly realistic way. The VI-grade NVH Simulator connects QNX’s ASD software to other sound and real-time data sources in the vehicle so that tests and modifications can be done much earlier in the design process.
Bogema continued, “With this combination of technology, sounds can be designed and tuned on a computer, in the context of all other vehicle sounds, over the entire operating envelope of the vehicle, and evaluated with a free driving, driver-in-the-loop simulation, drastically reducing the need for prototype vehicle testing and tuning.”
Len Layton, acoustics business development manager, BlackBerry QNX, added, “We are thrilled to announce this partnership with VI-grade. The integration of QNX ASD with the VI-grade NVH Simulator allows automotive sound designers and NVH engineers to design and tune sounds for vehicles much faster and more efficiently than ever before, eliminating slow and costly development on prototype vehicles and moving this development to the desktop. By designing sounds with the full vehicle soundscape as context, better sounds can be designed and implemented faster.”
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Gonzaga's countdown to perfection has ticked to two.
The Bulldogs are back in the Final Four, two wins from becoming the first undefeated team since the 1976 Indiana Hoosiers.
And, after all those upsets, the March Madness apex in the Hoosier State will be a high-seeded affair.
Gonzaga is a No. 1 seed. So is Baylor. Houston, a 2. UCLA is an 11, but it's also the all-time leader in national championships.
There also will be a trip down Southwest Conference memory lane.
But the Zags will be the team to beat.
Gonzaga (30-0) has been an offensive juggernaut rarely seen in college basketball. Fast moving and free flowing, the ultra-efficient Zags have steamrolled everyone in their way, winning a Division I-record 27 straight games by double digits.
An 85-56 dismantling of Southern California in the Elite Eight stretched their win streak to 34 games over two seasons and put them back in the Final Four for the second time in the past four NCAA Tournaments. Gonzaga came up short in a loss to North Carolina in the 2017 national title game, but has its sights set on finishing it off this time — and grabbing a piece of history.
“Everyone wants us to keep moving forward, but that’s not how we roll,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “This is a heck of an accomplishment. We’re going to take it and savor it for what it is. That doesn’t lessen our desire to win this game, the next game or win two more games.”
The next one won't be easy. Mick Cronin will make sure of that.
The former Cincinnati coach has returned UCLA to relevance after a couple of mediocre seasons. In two years at Westwood, he's added a level of toughness that's helped them go from the First Four to the Final Four after losing their last four games entering the NCAA Tournament.
UCLA (22-9) has grinded out five wins in the NCAA tourney, including No. 2 seed Alabama and a 51-49 takedown of top-seeded Michigan in the Elite Eight. The Bruins are in the Final Four for the first time since 2008 and play the kind of game that might be able to slow the Gonzaga machine.
“Obviously, I knew the expectations. It's pretty clear at UCLA,” Cronin said. “I understood it and I wanted it.”
The Texas half of the draw will have a Southwest feel.
Baylor and Houston were both members of the Southwest Conference, which splintered in 1996. The Bears were there when the league started, circa 1914. The Cougars made the move from independent to SWC status in 1975.
The latest versions of the two programs are nearly identical: long, athletic, quick, breath-squeezing defense.
Baylor went on a long rebuild to finally get here.
The Bears were embroiled in one of the darkest scandals in college basketball history, when Patrick Dennehy was murdered by teammate Carlton Dotson in 2003. Coach Dave Bliss then resigned after it was revealed he encouraged players to lie about Dennehy to cover up NCAA violations.
In stepped coach Scott Drew.
Drew took the Baylor job after serving a one-year stint succeeding his father, Homer, at Valparaiso, and he went through some extra-lean years early on in Waco.
He's since molded the program into a national powerhouse.
The Bears (26-2) were unstoppable this season before a COVID-19 pause slowed their roll, but they've been back to their dominating ways in March.
After twice failing at the regional final under Drew, Baylor beat Arkansas in the Elite Eight to reach the Final Four for the first time since 1950 — when the bracket was eight teams and the City College of New York Beavers won the national championship.
"Once we got into the (first) season and you found out that most of your team were walk-ons and most of them weren’t over 6-foot-2, then you realized it might be tougher than you originally thought," Drew said. “But obviously the goal was always to build a program that could consistently compete and have an opportunity to play in March.”
Kelvin Sampson has made a similar imprint on Houston.
The Cougars had lost the luster from the Phi Slama Jama days, reaching the NCAA Tournament once in 22 years before Sampson was hired in 2014.
Sampson gradually built Houston back up, taking it to the NCAA Tournament's second round in 2018, the Sweet 16 the next year. The fleet-footed Cougars (28-3) were dominating this season and grinded down their first four NCAA Tournament opponents to reach their first Final Four since losing in the 1984 national championship game.
The run has intriguingly come in Indiana, home of the NCAA and where Sampson's career nearly came to an end. He was forced out at Indiana in 2008 due to NCAA sanctions and now, 13 years later, has completed to circle back to the Hoosier State to compete for a national championship.
“We’ve taken a group of kids to get them to believe and they’ve accomplished something that no matter what happens this weekend, it’s something that nobody can take from them,” Sampson said. “They’ll always be known as a Final Four participant. They played in the Final Four.”
UCLA, which was one of the last four at-large teams selected to the NCAA tournament and earned an 11-seed, became the first team since VCU in 2011 to advance from the First Four to the Final Four, holding on to upset top-seeded Michigan 51-49 on Tuesday night.
The Bruins move on to face overall No. 1 seed Gonzaga on Saturday.
"Unreal, man. Unreal. I love every single one of these guys," UCLA guard Johnny Juzang said. "It's incredible, man. Surreal. Surreal. Something growing up, you just dream about. And to do it with such an amazing group of guys, such incredible staff, such incredible coaches, makes it just so wonderful. It's beautiful. It's beautiful sharing this moment with your brothers and just great, great people. Incredible."
The Bruins led for most of the final 25 minutes of the game, but a missed Jaime Jaquez 3-pointer in the final minute and Juzang going 1-for-2 from the free throw line with six seconds remaining opened the door for Michigan.
The Wolverines first went to Franz Wagner with 11 seconds left, but he air-balled the go-ahead 3-point attempt. After Juzang missed his second free throw, Michigan's Mike Smith had a pull-up 3-pointer rim out, and Wagner's desperation 3 at the buzzer didn't fall either.
"We got the look, got the shot that we wanted," Michigan coach Juwan Howard said. "Unfortunately there's not much you can do with 0.5 seconds, but that shot was a nice little heave. Unfortunately it just didn't go in. Before that we got an open look and just fell short, but overall, I love the fact how our guys executed down the stretch."
Juzang was UCLA's main source of offense for most of Tuesday night, scoring 14 of the Bruins' first 16 points and finishing with 28 points. He left briefly after landing awkwardly following a rebound, but he got his right ankle retaped and reentered the game.
Juzang single-handedly kept UCLA in the game during the opening stretch when Michigan had a seven-point lead and the Bruins couldn't get anything going on the offensive end. Juzang, combined with a terrific game plan from Cronin, enabled UCLA to claw back into the game and enter halftime with a four-point cushion.
"Just approached it like another game," Juzang said. "We've been super locked into this tournament. As a player, you don't like to add pressure to yourself. I know the whole team was just worried about 'we're going to leave it out there on the floor and we're going to give it everything we've got.' I mean, the shots just happened to go in and teammates were finding me."
Cronin rotated Cody Riley and Kenneth Nwuba at the center position, helping limit Michigan big man Hunter Dickinson on the interior. The Bruins' defense forced Michigan to create offense in isolation situations, with the Wolverines getting very little from off-ball movement. And, once again, the pace of the game was being played in UCLA's favor.
Unfortunately for Michigan, none of that changed in the second half. UCLA jumped out to a nine-point lead before Juzang hurt his ankle and Michigan regained the momentum. The Wolverines took a one-point lead on two occasions, but UCLA -- like it did after Alabama's Alex Reese sent Sunday's game to overtime with a buzzer-beating 3 -- took its punches and fought back.
"To find a way to beat them with defense the way we did tonight, obviously extremely proud of our team," Cronin said. "It was just resilience. ... I think that stat sheet can get crumbled up tonight."
When Cronin was picked to replace Steve Alford the day after the 2019 national championship game, it wasn't a universally acclaimed hire. There were questions about Cronin's fit, not only for a Midwest native moving to the West Coast, but in terms of how the grind-it-out style he used at Cincinnati would work at a blueblood school like UCLA.
"April 9th, 2019, I told you, I spell fun W-I-N," Cronin said. "You have to find a way to win, and these guys are having the most fun they have ever had in their life back in that locker room because they won. I told them I was going to teach them how to win."
The Bruins finished strong in Cronin's first season and were a bubble team entering the final days of the 2019-20 season before the NCAA tournament was canceled. And there was plenty of optimism entering year two, before bad luck hit Westwood. Five-star point guard Daishen Nix opted to go to the G League instead of enrolling at UCLA; Chris Smith, arguably the team's best player, tore his ACL in the middle of the season; and Jalen Hill has missed the past two months due to personal reasons.
UCLA lost its last four games leading up to the NCAA tournament, including a quarterfinal loss in the Pac-12 tournament to Oregon State. The Bruins started the NCAA tournament down by 13 points to Michigan State late in the first half; at the time, ESPN's win probability for UCLA was 12.2%.
But the Bruins came back to beat the Spartans in overtime, knocked off BYU and Abilene Christian by double-figures, then knocked off 2-seed Alabama in overtime to advance to the Elite Eight.
"We've had our ups and downs during the season, but it's such a beautiful thing, the way that we have come together for this postseason," Juzang said. "It's just a feeling of everybody's just so unified. It's like one unit, and we're just all sharing in each other and rooting for each other. I mean, I think that's why we're at this point and just playing for each other. Just a lot of love, man. We're not done yet. But so far, it's been beautiful, the ups and downs, and that makes moments like this even more special."
After UCLA's win over Alabama on Sunday night that sent the Bruins to the Elite Eight, Cronin made it clear he wasn't content without a trophy.
"Somebody said, 'Well, now you've been to an Elite Eight.' That's not why I came to UCLA," he said on Sunday. "I've got a lot of friends in the NBA, they make fun of people that have rings that say conference champion. There's only one. Whoever wins the NBA title is the world champion. So for me, we've got to win three more games."
One down, two more to go. First up will be one of the toughest tests of Cronin's career: Unbeaten Gonzaga.
At this point, though, nobody is counting out UCLA.
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UCLA Bruins outlast Michigan Wolverines to reach Final Four of NCAA men's tournament - ESPN
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TACOMA, Wash., March 31, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Sound Physicians, a physician-founded and led organization providing services across the acute episode of care, is expanding its critical care service in the greater Dallas region through its acquisition of Southwest Pulmonary Associates, LLP, a critical care and pulmonary medicine group based in TX. This new partnership includes four ICU programs and multiple post-acute facilities and pulmonary clinics. The Southwest Pulmonary team will continue to provide the full spectrum of pulmonary and critical care services to patients in the community.
The four new critical care programs from the acquisition are in partnership with Texas Health Resources system in Dallas, Plano, Allen, and Frisco.
"This partnership strengthens our relationship with Texas Health Resources and fits within our strategy to partner with high-quality critical care groups, top hospital systems, and exceptional providers. Southwest Pulmonary is a leader in the Dallas community and has built an outstanding reputation of providing the best care to patients and families for decades. We are excited to be working together," said Stephen Matchett, MD, Chief Executive Officer, Critical Care, at Sound Physicians.
Sound's critical care team will focus on continuous improvements in quality, patient outcomes, satisfaction scores, and financial performance through a unique blend of preeminent physician leadership, highly-engaged intensivists, advanced practice providers, and a proven performance management model. Sound Physicians has a twenty-year history of transforming outcomes across acute care episodes, including improved safety and patient outcomes in the intensive care unit.
Sound Physicians is a leading physician partner to hospitals, health plans, physician groups, and post-acute providers seeking to transform outcomes for acute episodes of care. For 20 years, our high-performing and affordable care models have combined physician leadership, clinical process, technology, and analytics to consistently improve clinical and financial performance. We are pioneers in value, working together with our partners and community providers to bridge gaps in patient care, from hospital to home. Visit us at www.soundphysicians.com.
The Los Angeles wellness-driven startup has developed Sound Bites, oval shaped snacks made from all-natural ingredients, such as whole egg crystals and real cacao. That in itself is not unique, but the patented process it employs to create them is. Sound Nutrition’s revolutionary technology uses ultrasonics, which it says preserves vital nutrients, develops flavour and creates the signature texture of the snacks.
Sound Bites are developed with four guiding elements – substance, texture, taste and flavour – captured in a ‘health-some’ and enjoyable eating experience.
On the nutrition side, the company is encouraging consumers to redefine the role of snacking in their lives. While most snacks will fulfil a craving between meals, Sound says its Sound Bites also creates a feel-good, post-consumption experience.
This includes feeling satiated without feeling overly full or lethargic. The ‘clean burn’ and higher level of mental clarity results from eating premium, natural snacks without artificial, over-processed ingredients. The bites are conducive to more active lifestyles and contain ingredients designed to sustain physical energy.
Sound’s patented ultrasonic technology uses high-frequency, low-amplitude sound waves that gently vibrate ingredients into a discrete shape in just a fraction of a second, thereby “cooking’ or forming food without applying heat, which preserves its nutritional integrity.
The ultrasonics also develop the snacks’ unique flavour and texture. While the four flavours each differ slightly in texture – with varying levels of moistness, density and chewiness – all Sound Bites have what the startup describes as a ‘rich, buttery mouthfeel that melts away with a clean finish’.
Seeking its first title since 2016, UConn faces an Arizona team making its debut in the national semifinal. Two No. 1 seeds, Stanford and South Carolina, will play in the other matchup.
The 2021 women’s basketball Final Four has all the narratives a fan could want.
The dynastic Connecticut program looks to reclaim its spot at the top. The historically great Stanford program aims to recapture its former glory. South Carolina, the recently built program, is establishing itself as a perennial contender. And Arizona, the first-timers, work to make their mark.
If you missed the Elite Eight games and even if you didn’t, here’s a primer on what to look forward to as the nation’s top teams head to the national semifinals, with UConn facing Arizona and Stanford playing South Carolina.
Connecticut is ready to reassert its trademark dominance.
It is probably a surprise to no one that Connecticut is in the Final Four. But predictably or not, for the 13th consecutive year, Coach Geno Auriemma and the Huskies are competing in the national semifinals after eking out an Elite Eight win over Baylor. The Bears had led Connecticut by as many as 10 points, but crumbled after losing arguably their most important player, the 2020 Naismith Defensive Player of the Year DiDi Richards, to a hamstring injury late in the third quarter.
The Huskies’ close win showed their strengths — and where the young team and its freshman starters still occasionally stumble. First among those strengths is freshman Paige Bueckers, a player of the year candidate who has already exceeded the sky-high expectations she faced when arrived at Connecticut. She scored 28 points in the victory over Baylor, and has averaged 22.5 points in four tournament games.
“Paige does a lot of things that you can’t explain,” Auriemma said after the game. “There are a lot of things that Paige has to learn, that she doesn’t handle so great right now. But like all great players, she can sense the moment, and she has the ability to fill that moment.”
The biggest boost for Connecticut so far in the tournament, though, has been the top-tier play from those around Bueckers. Junior Christyn Williams and redshirt junior Evina Westbrook have given the team a boost from behind the 3-point line, and the 6-foot-4 junior Olivia Nelson-Ododa has become an unlikely distributor, with 11 assists in her past two games. Freshman forward Aaliyah Edwards successfully worked alongside Nelson-Ododa to contain Baylor’s strong post players, evidence of how much the two bigs could impact games for the Huskies going forward.
It has been five years since Connecticut’s last title, as long of a gap as the program has had between championships since it won its first in 1995. The Huskies were stopped in the Final Four three times in a row before last year’s tournament was canceled because of the pandemic, but with Bueckers, the Huskies have a generational talent to help push them back to the highest level.
Arizona’s Aari McDonald has the firepower to keep pushing it to new heights.
Between the third-seeded Wildcats’ upset win over No. 2-seeded Texas A&M and their tenacious Elite Eight victory over No. 4-seeded Indiana, Arizona is already much farther into the tournament than the program has ever been. That history comes courtesy of Aari McDonald, Arizona’s star senior guard, who scored 64 points in the past two games and has been an unstoppable force on both ends of the floor.
“When you know, you know you’re feeling it,” McDonald told reporters after the game. “I wasn’t doing too well in the regular season, taking bad shots and stuff. But now I’m really just taking what the defense is giving me.”
McDonald, the Pac-12 player of the year, is helping Coach Adia Barnes recreate some of the same tournament magic that Barnes led during her own Wildcat career, when the program reached its first Sweet Sixteen. With the win against Indiana, Barnes became only the second former W.N.B.A. player to lead a team to the Final Four — the first being Dawn Staley, who is also back in the semifinals on the opposite side of the bracket with South Carolina.
McDonald’s impact is unmatched among her teammates, although senior forward Trinity Baptiste has given the team some much-needed size and contributed a double-double against Indiana. The team plays relentless, high-energy defense that allows the Wildcats to force a lot of turnovers, especially against teams that might underestimate them.
“We just need this confidence and momentum going into UConn,” McDonald said of the team’s Final Four matchup. “UConn, we already know what they’re about: powerhouse, well-coached, skillful players. But hey, I got my chances with my teammates. Ride or die, I’m going to war with them.”
South Carolina’s young core is ready to cement its status as a powerhouse.
When the Gamecocks won their first title in 2017, they had the best player in the country in A’ja Wilson, the 2020 W.N.B.A. most valuable player. Staley looked ready to claim another trophy last season, going 32-1 thanks to a slew of young talent that didn’t yet have statues in Columbia, S.C., but were good enough that it seemed like it would only be a matter of time until they did.
Then the pandemic hit, and the Gamecocks’ momentum was at least temporarily stifled. This season, they lost four times — all to ranked teams, but still showing some of the immaturity of their young core.
“When we got knocked down four times this season, they got back up stronger, and I like that,” Staley said in a television interview after Tuesday’s win against Texas. “They haven’t even scratched the surface of how good they can be. We’re happy but we’re not done yet.”
With its 28-point victory over No. 6-seeded Texas, the program had its largest win in the N.C.A.A. tournament since that 2017 title run — and held the Longhorns to the lowest point total in the Elite Eight or later. That defense was driven by 6-foot-5 center Aliyah Boston, who had two blocks and two steals along with eight rebounds.
Boston typically fuels both the defense and the offense, scoring efficiently under the basket, but increasingly South Carolina’s quick guards have stepped into the starring role. Junior Destanni Henderson and sophomore Zia Cooke are both scoring threats anywhere on the floor, but Cooke sometimes hits shooting slumps at the wrong time and South Carolina’s offense falls out of its groove. The Gamecocks are playing their best basketball of the season now, though, and look more than ready to compete against the best teams in the country — even the ones that have already beaten them once this year.
Stanford has the grit to play from behind.
The Cardinal breezed easily through their first three tournament games, barely seeming to break a sweat as they hit 43 3-point shots. Then they met up with a scrappy No. 2 seed Louisville team in the Elite Eight that spent more than half of the game in the lead, ahead at one point in the third quarter by 14 points.
But Coach Tara VanDerveer led the team to its 14th Final Four, thanks to its typically balanced shooting. Bench players like the 6-foot-5 sophomore Ashten Prechtel, who played just 16 minutes but made all six of her shots for 16 points, a key contribution when shots from Stanford’s senior leader Kiana Williams weren’t falling.
Stanford, the top overall seed, regained its footing because it has so many players who can shoot — its strength is offense, and even in a game when it wasn’t scoring confidently, the Cardinal had still made seven 3-point shots by the final buzzer.
“I just had to change my mentality,” Williams said on ESPN after the game. “I was forcing things — I think I wanted it too bad. Once I got that first shot to go in, it started going from there.”
Facing a big tournament test against Louisville has likely better equipped the Cardinal what’s to come. Now, the challenge for Stanford will be whether its defense can stifle a team with as many skillful shooters as its own.
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N.C.A.A. Tournament Women’s Final Four: A First-Timer Crashes a Group of Powers - The New York Times
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Mechelle Voepel covers the WNBA, women's college basketball, and other college sports for espnW. Voepel began covering women's basketball in 1984, and has been with ESPN since 1996.
Charlie Creme projects the women's NCAA tournament bracket for ESPN.com.
The women's Final Four field, which includes three No. 1 seeds, runs the gamut of experience. The UConn Huskies are looking for their 12th NCAA championship, while their semifinal opponent, the Arizona Wildcats, are in the Final Four for the first time.
On the other side of the bracket, coach Dawn Staley guided the South Carolina Gamecocks to the Final Four for the third time in the past six tournaments, and the Gamecocks' defense was suffocating in its Elite Eight victory.
South Carolina will take on the Stanford Cardinal, who are making their 14th Final Four appearance and give the Pac-12 two teams in the national semifinals. The No. 1 overall seed, Stanford battled back to beat Louisville after facing its largest deficit of the season Tuesday. The Cardinal are deep, and their many scoring options are a big part of how they have gotten this far.
Here's a look at Friday's matchups in the Alamodome -- South Carolina and Stanford tip at 6 p.m. ET (ESPN/ESPN App), followed by Arizona-UConn at 9:30 p.m. ET (ESPN/ESPN App) -- and what we think of the updated ESPN Basketball Power Index, which says UConn is the favorite.
How much does it matter that UConn has more Final Four experience than any women's program in the country, while Arizona is making its first appearance in the national semifinals?
Creme: Even though Christyn Williams and Olivia Nelson-Ododa are the only Huskies with any true Final Four experience, I think it does matter that the UConn program has been many times before and Arizona is new to the event. And that's because it is an event. It's the biggest few days any of these players have experienced in their basketball lives up to this point and it's not the same as playing a game, no matter how big, in the regular season.
The UConn coaches know exactly how to manage their players through the differences in routine and the magnitude of the moment. Everything Adia Barnes and her staff have done at Arizona is nothing short of spectacular, but she and her assistants are as new to this as the Wildcats players. Experience is important and not just on the court. All the additional media obligations are one of the extras that players often note as the biggest adjustment of going to a Final Four. Given their success over the years, the Huskies have the solution to minimizing the impact that can have on the players, but that has come from experience, something no one at Arizona has.
However, a couple of things do play in the Wildcats' favor. This Final Four is different. They won't have to travel there, get used to a new hotel or figure out how to keep players busy during the down time. The routine in San Antonio will largely be the same as they have experienced for the past two weeks, even if the pressure of the games ratchets up a few notches. There also won't be as much media at this Final Four, and with all of it being done via videoconference, the players aren't shuffled around as much.
Barnes might also be able to draw on the advice of some other Pac-12 coaches with recent trips to the Final Four. Cal (2013), Oregon State (2016), Washington (2016) and Oregon (2019) have all helped showcase how much the conference has grown beyond Stanford in the past decade. Arizona is the latest program to ride that wave. The league has risen in national prominence, and these Final Fours are evidence of that. It should be noted that each of those Pac-12 teams was also making its first Final Four trip, and all four lost in the semifinals.
Voepel: It matters a ton, for all the reasons Charlie said. This is a meeting of two very different generations of coaches who are both successful. No one has accomplished more than Geno Auriemma's 11 NCAA titles. It's hard to imagine we'll ever see another program replicate this, and for the growth of the sport, it's probably best if that's the case.
But fresh faces in the Final Four are good, too, and we are getting that with Barnes. She's the second former WNBA player to lead a team to the Final Four -- South Carolina's Dawn Staley was the first -- and she can talk to players with first-hand experience about what's needed to be a pro.
Barnes has been part of both of Arizona's biggest highlights as a program: what she's doing now as a head coach, and what she did as a player in leading the Wildcats to the 1998 Sweet 16. (She faced UConn back then, too, in the regional semifinal.) Her long history with the program and the Tucson community are big positives in terms of engaging fan support, as is winning. This Final Four trip will help Barnes in recruiting as she will work to continue to stay near the top of a very competitive Pac-12. But when it comes down to matching up with UConn right now, that's a really tall order.
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After defeating Indiana 66-53, Arizona players and coaches storm the court together in jubilation.
Arizona star guard Aari McDonald has scored 30-plus points in each of her past two games. How will her style of play test UConn, and how will the Huskies look to defend her?
Creme: McDonald's speed differentiates her from any other player in the game. Announcers, opposing coaches and probably every scouting report in the Pac-12 say make McDonald, a lefty, go to her right. Easier said than done. Staying in front of her is so difficult. The strategy usually is to give her some room to accommodate for that speed and go under any ball screens Arizona will use to get her space to operate.
The problem in the past two games is that McDonald has used that extra room to hit 3-pointers at a blistering rate. In the Wildcats' two wins in the regionals, against Texas A&M and Indiana, McDonald made 11-of-18 from 3-point range after being a 30% shooter for the season. If she stays that hot there really isn't a defense for her.
UConn has one of the best team defenses in the sport. Geno Auriemma isn't afraid to play zone, which should impede McDonald's driving angles. In 6-foot-5 Olivia Nelson-Ododa he also has a shot blocker to hinder McDonald's ability to finish at the rim, something at which she normally excels. Williams is also a defender who can be a little physical with McDonald. She was effective at slowing down Iowa's Caitlin Clark in the regional semifinals, although McDonald's speed is at a different level.
Voepel: The thing we see again and again with UConn is that the Huskies relish defensive challenges. They take great pride in making a great scorer have to work harder against them than she would against any other team.
As Charlie said, McDonald's speed is a major factor that you are not going to see very often. But because UConn has such a versatile defense, the Huskies can find ways to, if not neutralize it, at least keep it from hurting them as much as it hurts other teams.
That said, McDonald has looked as confident these past two games as she has all season, and that's something she's going to bring with her into Friday's matchup. After all, she has faced some very good defenses already here in San Antonio with Texas A&M and Indiana, plus the regular-season matchups with Stanford.
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Paige Bueckers goes off for 28 points in the Elite Eight to help the No. 1-seeded Huskies outlast No. 2 Baylor 69-67.
Youth and a lack of postseason experience haven't troubled Paige Bueckers. Should we expect her to handle the sport's biggest stage any differently?
Creme: I would expect nerves to have some impact on Bueckers. I also expect they won't last long. She has that experienced coaching staff to guide through the preparation and initial moments. That guidance should help Bueckers more quickly reach the point where Friday night is just another game. Once that first shot goes in, any nerves that Bueckers has should melt away.
Part of Bueckers' quick adjustment comes from the kind of player she has been her entire freshman season. She seems to have an atypical instinct to let the game come to her, while knowing exactly when she should step on the gas and then tap the brake again. That's why Bueckers rarely takes a bad shot and her field goal percentage is 52.8%, the second best among guards in the country.
Bueckers is just 14 points away from tying Breanna Stewart for the most points by a UConn freshman in the NCAA tournament. Bueckers had 13 in the first half against Baylor on her way to 28 in the Elite Eight. She has a chance to do in five games what Stewart did in six games in 2013.
Voepel: At this point, it would be far more surprising to see Bueckers get rattled, because we just haven't witnessed it. She has stayed poised and composed even in tense situations, and a lot of credit for that just has to go to her personality. It's hard to come to college basketball and be this ready from the first time you step on court, but she has been.
But the other part of the credit goes to both her teammates and Auriemma. With a different group of upperclassmen, Bueckers might have gotten the cold shoulder for all the attention she has received. But the Huskies juniors are savvy enough to know that is out of her control, and they also understand how much she is contributing to this team.
And Auriemma has said several times he has changed some things about his coaching style with this team of seven freshmen. He lets Bueckers have a little fun, and he has encouraged her without quite as much of the traditional Auriemma sarcasm. All of this has helped Bueckers have one of the smoothest freshman seasons we've seen, especially for someone who has so much weight on her regarding the team's success.
Texas notched the first scoreless quarter in women's NCAA tournament history since quarters were implemented in 2016. We've written plenty about South Carolina's defense, but has it hit another level heading into the semifinals?
Creme: If the Gamecocks are going to win a national championship it will come on the back of their defense. It's South Carolina's calling card. In two of their four games on the way to the season's final weekend, the Gamecocks didn't even score 65 points. That is the point: They don't have to. Three of those four opponents in the tournament have scored 53 or fewer points. South Carolina's defense was very good during the regular season. Now it's exceptional.
But doing something as extreme as holding another team scoreless over a 10-minute stretch requires some help. Bad offense by Texas contributed to the record-setting quarter. The Longhorns have had trouble with offensive consistency all season long. They were the good version in Sunday's upset of Maryland, executing in nearly every key moment. The offense that scored fewer than 60 points five times this season resurfaced on Tuesday. Playing against South Carolina doesn't help any team searching for offense.
Most analysis prior to the game focused on the individual battle in the middle between South Carolina's Aliyah Boston and Texas' Charli Collier. The Longhorns need Collier's scoring. They needed her to outduel Boston. She couldn't. Boston, who is the anchor of South Carolina's outstanding defense, pushed Collier around most of the game, holding her to four points on 2-of-10 shooting. Collier also never went to the free throw line. If Staley was hoping for a perfect defensive performance, Boston might have delivered.
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One-seed South Carolina cruises past 6-seed Texas 62-34 to makes its third Final Four appearance, all of which came under Dawn Staley.
Voepel: Staley is really pleased with how her team has played so far. The sophomores, of course, didn't get NCAA tournament experience last year, but they have played like veterans in this tournament. It was a process all season to get the defense to where it is now, but the Gamecocks have shown a lot of maturity during that journey.
"They are all able to put things to the side, focus on the task at hand," Staley said. "I am just incredibly proud of them. I'm glad I'm part of their village.
"They are incredibly strong. I do think we are mentally tough. I questioned that from time to time."
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Anna Wilson's first bucket of the game comes at the right time as she extends Stanford's lead to the delight of her brother, Russell.
Stanford's rally from a 12-point halftime deficit is its largest comeback of the past four seasons. What did that slow first half expose about the No. 1 overall seed? And what do the Cardinal learn from it to prepare for South Carolina?
Creme: Stanford just wasn't Stanford for 2½ quarters. The Cardinal uncharacteristically seemed to lack focus and didn't have the kind of intensity that an Elite Eight game against a No. 2 seed should warrant. The missed layups, poorly run sets and botched assignments on defense were perplexing.
Then down 45-33 with 5:29 left in the third quarter, Haley Jones scored on a putback off a Lexie Hull miss and Stanford flipped a switch. The Cardinal outscored Louisville 45-17 over the final 15½ minutes. It took a while, but the real Stanford showed up.
Ashten Prechtel, who didn't even play a full minute in the first half, made all six of her shots in the second half, including three 3-pointers for 16 points. Kiana Williams, who looked tight in the first half and made just 1 of 11 shots, was 5-of-9 in the second half. Her shooting touch returned and so did that smile. She now gets to finish her career in the Final Four in her hometown.
In one game we saw the worst of Stanford and the best. The second half was a microcosm of how devastating the Cardinal can be on both ends of the floor. The outcome was about Stanford finding its offense rhythm, but the defense contributed. too. Louisville went from open looks and nearly 52% shooting in the first half to 30% after halftime. If Stanford plays 40 minutes at that second-half level, Tara VanDerveer might finally get that third national title.
Voepel: We've been talking about Stanford's many weapons, and Tuesday we saw just how important that was. What also showed was that the Cardinal can take a punch and not lose their composure, because Louisville gave them a scare, and it didn't stop Stanford.
For the most part, Stanford has cruised past all its opponents since the Cardinal's last close game, which was Feb. 15 against Oregon, a 63-61 victory. Tuesday, they could have gotten rattled after such a tough first half, but they stayed the course and turned back into the team we've seen for most of the season.
We've talked about how good South Carolina's defense is, but Stanford is very good on that end of the court, too.
The updated BPI says UConn is a 44% favorite to win the title, with Stanford (30%), South Carolina (19%) and Arizona (7%) trailing the Huskies. Which team is your favorite after 60 games?
Voepel: I'm staying with Stanford. Yes, the Cardinal's first half no doubt frightened their fans, who are so hopeful that this is finally the year for them to win the championship again after such a long wait. But maybe Tuesday's game was their shaky one, and they won't have that happen again. They can't afford to against the Gamecocks.
I easily can see, though, why the numbers are going for UConn, which had the toughest Elite Eight opponent in Baylor, and survived that. The Huskies also have what appears to be a pretty big advantage in their semifinal against Arizona, while Stanford and South Carolina should be a real battle.
A lot is lining up for UConn to win its 12th championship. And we might see a repeat of the 2010 NCAA final that was right here in the Alamodome matching Stanford and UConn. Hopefully we won't see a game that is as bad as that one was (UConn won 53-47). But I just think there has been some Stanford mojo all this season that could carry the Cardinal through.
Creme: Like Mechelle, I picked Stanford at the start of the tournament. I would be lying if that first half by the Cardinal didn't concern me. That can't happen again if the Cardinal are going to win the title. While I don't think it will repeat itself, I am now leaning toward UConn to win its 12th championship.
While the Huskies might have had the toughest draw in the Elite Eight, they now have the benefit of playing a No. 3 seed in the national semifinals while the other two No. 1 seeds have to battle in the other game. Those same BPI numbers that favor UConn also have Arizona as the least likely team to win the title. The Wildcats are not an easy out, but mathematically speaking, should the Huskies get to Sunday night, it should be with a little more gas in the tank than what either Stanford or South Carolina will have.
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Women's Final Four 2021: Three No. 1 seeds advance, but Stanford, UConn remain favorites - ESPN
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