Daily Briefing — April 3, 2022: JACKED UP — South Dakota State cruises to 2022 WNIT title

This is also, notably, the last day of college basketball this season. It’s a sad fact indeed, but it’s only the case because we’ve got the national championship today! South Carolina and UConn go head-to-head in Minneapolis to cap off March Madness 2022, a rematch of the Battle 4 Atlantis this past Thanksgiving in which the Gamecocks throttled the Huskies in the second half en route to a 16-point win. This is a fundamentally different UConn team than the one that only scored three fourth-quarter points in that first matchup — but will that be enough?

Watch List, Sunday, April 3

(All times in Eastern, all rankings reflect tournament seeding)

National championship

#1 South Carolina vs. #2 UConn, 8 p.m., ESPN

Saturday, April 2 recap

Arkansas: Wing Sasha Goforth revealed that she’s been playing through gastroparesis since high school, and that “the combination of [that] and anxiety… became too much.” She’s stepping away from basketball, and while she didn’t specify that meant for good, it certainly seemed implied. Read her whole post; it’s incredibly heartfelt.

WNIT Championship

South Dakota State beat Seton Hall, 82-50, for its first-ever WNIT title. The game was tied at four just over two minutes in, and then the Jacks went on a 21-1 run (that’s not a typo). They also went on a 10-2 run in the second quarter and scored 11 unanswered in the late third.

South Dakota State allowed the Pirates to shoot just 26.6% from the field while assisting on 20 of its own 30 buckets; the Jacks had a +27 rebounding margin (again, not a typo). Backup big Kallie Theisen led with a 16-point, 11-rebound double-double in 17 minutes on 6-for-11 from the field and 4-for-7 from the line with six offensive boards, three assists, and no turnovers; off-ball guard Haleigh Timmer had 14 points on 5-for-11 shooting (2-5 3pt.), five rebounds, and two assists; big wing Myah Selland notched 12 points on 4-for-12 from the field (1-3 3pt.) and 3-for-6 from the line, 11 rebounds, five assists, and two steals against three turnovers; wing Paiton Burckhard tallied 13 points on 6-for-10 FG (1-3 3pt.) and seven rebounds (three offensive) in 19 minutes.