Daily Briefing — Mar. 4, 2022: Ralph won’t talk about Bruno (or officiating)

Elsewhere, Georgia Tech and Wake Forest tried to drive viewers into psychosis, Aijha Blackwell accused Sophie Cunningham of being presumptuous and condescending (here’s the context), Georgia got knocked out of the SEC tournament, and 13-seed Vanderbilt was robbed of a second upset win. What a day!

W Roundup

Free agency

• Theresa Plaisance: Signed with Las Vegas.
• Destinee Walker: Signed a training-camp deal with Dallas.

Visit our offseason trackers page to see all the other free agent moves and how they affect team’s caps, other front-office changes, and more — in neat, colorful fashion!

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Watch List, Friday, Mar. 4

(All times in Eastern)

Must-watch

#11 Maryland v. #14 Indiana, 1:30 p.m., BTN

Good games

#16 North Carolina v. #21 Virginia Tech, 11 a.m., ACC Network Extra

#12 Iowa v. Northwestern, 6:30 p.m., BTN

Also watchable

Ole Miss v. #23 Florida, 3:30 p.m., SEC Network

UMass v. Fordham, 7:30 p.m., ESPN+

#10 Michigan v. Nebraska, 9 p.m., BTN

Pac-12 or Big 10 on national television (or national streaming)

#13 Ohio State v. Michigan State, 11:30 a.m., BTN

Thursday, Mar. 3 recap

(All rankings below reflect tournament seeding)

ACC tournament

#5 Virginia Tech beat #13 Clemson, 82-60.

#6 Georgia Tech beat #11 Wake Forest, 45-40. A single Lotta-Maj Lahtinen free-throw with four seconds left stood between this game and tying the ACC tournament record for its lowest-scoring game ever. Yellow Jacket big and ACC Defensive Player of the Year Lorela Cubaj slammed her jaw into the ground on a hard fall in the second quarter and did not return to the game, taking until the fourth quarter just to return to Georgia Tech’s bench.

#7 Miami beat #10 Duke, 61-55.

#9 Florida State beat #8 Boston College, 63-58.

Big Ten tournament

#5 Indiana beat #13 Rutgers, 66-54.

#6 Nebraska beat #14 Illinois, 92-74.

#7 Northwestern beat #10 Minnesota, 65-60.

#8 Michigan State beat #9 Purdue, 73-69.

Pac-12 tournament

#1 Stanford beat #8 Oregon State, 57-44. The Cardinal led 16-2 after the first quarter. Point wing Haley Jones had 20 points on 9-for-21 shooting and 14 rebounds for a double-double, plus six assists against just one turnover; Cameron Brink had 10 points on 4-for-8 from the field and 2-for-2 from three, six rebounds, two blocks, and no turnovers and only one foul — she seems to be evolving, and we’re all doomed.

#2 Oregon beat #7 UCLA, 63-60.

#5 Colorado beat #4 Arizona, 45-43.

#6 Utah beat #3 Wazzu, 70-59.

SEC tournament

#5 Florida beat #13 Vanderbilt, 53-52. The Commodores led by 13 entering the fourth quarter, and lost the lead on a phantom foul call with nine seconds to go. Vandy head coach Shea Ralph opened her postgame saying, “I’ve been instructed many times on my walk here not to talk about the officiating. So I won’t.”

#7 Kentucky beat #10 Mississippi State, 83-67.

#8 Arkansas beat #9 Missouri, 61-52 in overtime.

#11 Alabama beat #6 Georgia, 74-62.

A10 tournament

#6 Fordham beat #14 George Mason, 66-50.

#9 Davidson beat #8 Richmond, 66-62.

#12 George Washington beat #5 La Salle, 64-54.

WCC tournament

#7 Santa Clara beat #10 Pacific, 93-69.

#9 Loyola Marymount beat #8 Pepperdine, 64-54.

*Receiving Votes