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🎤 QUICK START ✍️

⚾ Michael Kay revealed the New York Yankees’ new secret during Opening Weekend on the call for YES Network. With the Yanks on their way to an MLB record for homers in the first series of the season, Kay reported on the team’s choice to use “Torpedo” bats with bigger barrels this season. Before you ask — yes, they are legal.

🏀 Zach Lowe is back, as Bill Simmons announced Sunday night that the popular former ESPN NBA analyst is joining The Ringer. Lowe was part of a surprise round of layoffs last fall in Bristol and has been on hiatus this basketball season. But Simmons said Lowe will write and podcast at The Ringer, joining just in time for the NBA playoffs and offseason.

🐯 Kim Mulkey was up to her usual shenanigans postgame after a loss in the Elite Eight, challenging a reporter over how many Final Fours he had played in as he noted this was her program’s second-straight loss in the fourth round of the NCAA tournament. After the KLSU reporter said zero, Mulkey responded, “ So it’s probably pretty good, huh?”

🚨LEADING OFF 🚨

A best-case scenario for March

Hidden beneath all the talk about NIL, the transfer portal, Cinderellas and grumpy coaches is the simple fact that 2025 is the year of the superstar in college basketball.

In Cooper Flagg at Duke and Paige Bueckers at UConn, both tournaments have full-fledged superstars on the precipice of turning pro who are making March Madness must-see TV. As a result, the men’s tournament was at 32-year highs after the first weekend while the women’s tournament was up 43 percent over 2023 (though down from 2024’s Caitlin Clark mania-fueled surge).

Both Flagg and Bueckers figure to continue delivering massive attention and ratings into their respective Final Fours. The chance to watch each of them fight to capture the squirmiest championship in sports — the NCAA basketball title — is gripping. This moment to sit at the mountaintop before they start over again as pros later this year.

The last time men’s college basketball had a star like this in the Final Four was… 2012? With Anthony Davis and Kentucky? That year’s national championship win over Kansas delivered 21 million viewers, a great mark for a natty that doesn’t include Duke or North Carolina. But you might have noticed that Flagg does in fact play for Duke, and of course CBS will be rooting for the Blue Devils to play for the title. Flagg could bring in more than 20 million viewers for that game for the first time since 2017.

All that’s in the balance for Bueckers is, well, the positive momentum of the entire sport that was kicked into hyperdrive by Clark in 2023 and 2024. After Clark graduated from Iowa, it was told that Bueckers would be a key part of the storytelling and fan excitement around women’s basketball this year. But with as many injuries as Bueckers and her teammates have battled in her five seasons in Storrs, that was no sure thing.

Now, Bueckers plays Monday night for the chance at her fourth Final Four. A win would give sports fans a name and story they know in Tampa, and keep the numbers rolling for ESPN and ABC next weekend.

College basketball has plenty of problems to work out. But great players with compelling styles of play at historic programs still generate attention. This year, we have two of them doing it at the two biggest possible schools.

📣 SOCIAL EXPERIMENT 🌟

📺THE PLAY-BY-PLAY🎙️

How sports are changing in 2025

This week, our sports media talk show The Play-By-Play hosted Morning Consult brand researcher Ellyn Briggs to teach us everything about how sports are changing in 2025. For the lowdown on how Gen Z connects with live sports and athlete personalities to the intersection of sports and politics, new league launches and more, check it out here!

📈💰INDUSTRY INSIGHTS🧐

• Gary Danielson opened up on his decision to retire from the lead CBS Sports college football game analyst role he’s had for 35 years after this season. In an interview with Puck’s John Ourand, the former Lions and Browns QB said he was surprised by the reaction to his announcement and that he was mindful of leaving “a couple years early rather than one year late,” and wanted to retire while he was still well-regarded rather than after slipping in his job.

• ESPN is giving Erin Dolan a spot in its UFL booth, in a potential sign of the future. The network’s sports betting analyst already has a prominent role on the ESPN Bet show and Sunday NFL Countdown, and now will bring her expertise to the broadcast. Could gambling experts become more common as third wheels calling games?

• The YES Network CEO joined a Yankees broadcast over the weekend amid a carriage dispute between the New York-based sports network and Comcast. Jon Litner attempted to frame Comcast’s desire to push YES into a more premium tier as preferential treatment for SNY, which it owns 8 percent of. However, Comcast has placed its NBC Sports regional networks in premium tiers for years — meaning Litner’s claims are not quite accurate.

️‍🔥THE CLOSER🔥

‘NCAA Championship In the Studio’ is as great as ever

Besides Caitlin Clark, the breakout stars of last year’s NCAA women’s basketball tournament were the panel on ESPN’s NCAA Championship In the Studio.

The network went smaller with its studio show as Clark pushed for a return to the title game, and found something instantly. Though Elle Duncan, Andraya Carter and Chiney Ogwumike had few reps together, they sizzled. The show found a natural balance of breakdown, banter and bite. Especially during a tournament with so much outside noise and culture war surrounding it, the show provided a basketball-first conversation around an incredible tournament. Given how many millions of new fans tuned in for the first time, the trio was likely responsible for bringing people into the fold in 2024 as anyone not named Caitlin.

Their task this year was slightly different. Without a natural sensation like Clark to build coverage around, the show had a heavier lift. Yes, there was South Carolina threatening to repeat, and Bueckers vying for her first natty. America learned the name JuJu Watkins last spring and didn’t forget it. But with this year’s breakthrough UCLA squad or the transfers at TCU, there was more to tell.

NCAA Championship In the Studio met that moment. Whether it was an interview with Dawn Staley on Saturday morning or giving context for Hailey Van Lith’s journey from a lowlight reel against Clark last season at LSU to a 26-point explosion to send TCU to the Elite Eight, they aced it. Duncan’s chops and natural passion as a host combined with Carter’s concise breakdowns and Ogwumike’s smooth storytelling work perfectly together.

This show wasn’t broken and didn’t need fixing. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t still deserve a major shoutout in its second year together during another awesome women’s tourney.