Now that’s how you celebrate Women’s History Month
From The GIST (hi@thegistsports.com)
Hello!
The women’s and men’s March Madness national tournament brackets are officially set (more on that below), meaning it’s time to hoop to joining our free-to-play GIST bracket challenge, where there’s $3,500 in cash prizes on the line. Go ahead, get’cha head in the game as you scroll through today’s news.
— Kansas City Current co-owner and NFL star Patrick Mahomes, teasing a possible Taylor Swift appearance at the team’s brand-new women’s soccer–specific CPKC Stadium, which is set to host this season’s championship. Long live the walls they’re crashing through.
March Madness
🎓🏀 Let the games begin
The GIST: Last night’s dramatic bracket reveal featured first-time dancers and perennial powerhouses aplenty, setting the stage for this week’s March Madness tip-off. It is time.
How it works: As discussed in yesterday’s Scroll, the 68-team women’s and men’s fields feature 32 automatic qualifiers who won their conference tournaments and 36 at-large bid recipients as decided by a 12-member selection committee.
- From there, teams were assigned seeds Nos. 1 through 16 and divided into four regions where they’ll battle it out in single-elimination play over the next three weeks.
- And if the math’s not mathing, both tourneys tip off their First Four action in the next 48 hours, where — you guessed it — four teams contend for spots in the official bracket. No pressure.
The top seeds: In the women’s bracket, No. 1 South Carolina unsurprisingly snagged the No. 1 overall seed after going undefeated for the second straight regular season. The other No. 1s? Caitlin Clark’s Iowa, who’ll be a top seed for the first time since 1992, JuJu Watkins’ USC, their first top billing since 1986, and Texas, No. 1 for the first time since 2004. Parity, is that you?
- On the men’s side, defending champs UConn nabbed the No. 1 overall seed after dominating their way through the Big East tournament, with Houston, Purdue, and blue blood UNC rounding out the rest of the No. 1s.
Women’s sports’ historic weekend
✍️ Rewriting the record books
The GIST: Beyond the aforementioned Madness, it was a truly incredible weekend for women’s sports, with records broken across the PWHL and NWSL. Now that’s how you celebrate Women’s History Month.
PWHL takes over NHL rinks: Two PWHL games were held in NHL arenas over the weekend as the league took over the cities of Detroit, Michigan, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. “Takeover Weekend” allowed thousands more fans to catch the action in person, and no surprise here, women’s hockey fans delivered.
- A U.S. record crowd of 13,736 fans saw Boston top Ottawa 2–1 in a shootout on Saturday, then yesterday, 8,850 people watched Toronto win their 10th straight game, setting a new Pittsburgh women’s hockey attendance record.
Kansas City Current open women’s soccer-specific stadium: On Saturday, Current co-owners Brittany and Patrick Mahomes brought the energy to the sold-out season opener at CPKC Stadium, one of the only women-specific soccer facilities in the world.
- The vibes were electric as 11,500 spectators willed the Current to a thrilling 5–4 victory over the Portland Thorns, a game that included a goal from KC’s 16-year-old rookie Alex Pfeiffer — now the youngest goal-scorer in league history.
Together With The GIST
🏀 Gear up for college hoops madness
Get ready to slam dunk into March Madness with The GIST's Bracket Challenge.
This year, we're bringing the heat with an epic tournament experience. Join fellow GISTers and shoot your shot for a chance to win cash prizes, alongside major bragging rights.
- Score big with a $1K grand prize for the best bracket in the women’s and men’s tourneys, while second and third place will take home $500 and $250, respectively. Cha-ching.
How to play: Sign up here to join the fun for free and we'll send you a reminder to lock in your picks before the madness begins.
⛳ World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler fought back from five strokes down to win THE PLAYERS Championship yesterday, becoming the first golfer to win back-to-back titles at the prestigious tournament. Making grandma proud.
🎾 World No. 1 Iga Świątek cruised to her second career Indian Wells title yesterday, while world No. 2 Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz claimed the men’s title for a second straight year. Aces.
⚽ CanWNT forward Janine Beckie returned from knee surgery to score two goals during the Portland Thorns’ NWSL opening weekend loss to the Kansas City Current. Fellow CanWNT player Bianca St-Georges netted two of her own in the North Carolina Courage’s win over the Houston Dash.
🥌 Canada’s Rachel Homan topped USA’s Tabitha Peterson 10–6 yesterday to remain undefeated at the Women’s Curling World Championship. The red and white will go for their fourth straight victory when they face Norway in pool play action today at 5 p.m. ET. Rock and roll.
🏈 One of the biggest questions of the 2024 NFL offseason has been answered: On Saturday, the Chicago Bears (who hold the No. 1 pick in the upcoming draft) traded quarterback Justin Fields to the Pittsburgh Steelers, where he’ll join Russell Wilson as the team’s new signal callers.
🏀 Still without RJ Barrett and the injured Scottie Barnes, the Toronto Raptors lost 111–96 to the Orlando Magic last night, extending their losing streak to seven games.
🥅 The Toronto Maple Leafs let a three-goal lead slip away and fell 5–4 in a shootout to the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday while the Edmonton Oilers suffered their own heartbreaking L: a 3–2 overtime loss to the Colorado Avalanche. Start fresh this week, boys.
Here’s what passed The GIST squad’s vibe check this week:
👕 What to shop
This merch collab by PWHL Boston’s Jamie Lee Rattray and TEAMLTD. Rattray is the first player in the league to launch branded merchandise. So here for it.
🎾 What to check out
Coco Gauff on the cover of Vogue. Fresh off her 20th birthday, the tennis phenom has her eyes on a Grand Slam (or two) in 2024.
🏒 What to read
This First Person essay discussing the profound impact of watching the PWHL. It's bigger than hockey.
Question of the Day
Tomorrow’s the first day of spring, so we have to ask: which sporting event are you most looking forward to this season?
On Friday, we asked what your favorite kind of pie is. 34% voted for pizza, 23% voted for apple, 22% voted for lemon meringue, and 21% voted for cherry. Delish.Today’s email was brought to you by Lauren Tuiskula, Alessandra Puccio, Marga Sison, Lisa Minutillo, and Briana Ekanem. Editing by Laura Pastore, Janine Kiefer, Emma Leishman, Rachel Fuenzalida, and Lindsay Jost. Fact-checking by Parul Kanwar. Ops by Briana Ekanem and Marga Sison. Ads by Katie Kehoe Foster, Alexis Allison, and Dee Lab. Managing edits by Lauren Tuiskula. Head of content Ellen Hyslop.