Culture
N.C.A.A. Women’s Tournament: Creighton Upsets Iowa State in Round of 16
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GREENSBORO, N.C. — Creighton took down a No. 6 seed, Colorado. It defeated second-seeded Iowa. Now it has change into the uncommon No. 10 seed to achieve the spherical of 8.
Creighton delivered its third consecutive upset by beating the No. 4 seed Iowa State, 76-68, on Friday night time within the N.C.A.A. ladies’s event. The Bluejays will play South Carolina on Sunday for a spot within the Remaining 4.
Iowa State left path after path open for Creighton, and the Bluejays’ younger, sharp offense moved proper in. On protection, Creighton denied inside baskets for Iowa State.
This was already Creighton’s first journey to the spherical of 16 in program historical past. Creighton was one in all two No. 10 seeds nonetheless within the subject within the spherical of 16 after an upset win over second-seeded Iowa within the second spherical. The opposite No. 10 seed, South Dakota, performs No. 3 Michigan on Saturday within the Wichita area.
The Cyclones and Bluejays relied closely on their outdoors shooters: Mixed, the 2 groups tried 50 3-pointers.
Creighton pulled away within the third quarter and led by as many as 13 factors within the fourth. Guard Morgan Maly led the Bluejays with 21 factors.
Ashley Joens, a senior guard for Iowa State who was a second group all-American, sat out a lot of the primary half after committing two fouls. Emily Ryan as an alternative led the Cyclones with 22 factors.
The Bluejays let the clock run out and greeted a small however ecstatic group of Creighton followers, sealing their win with a ceremonial spritz of bubbles on the courtroom.
“This group continues to amaze me,” Coach Jim Flanery mentioned. “We’re so happy with how they’ve grown, what sort of combat they’ve and the way they play for one another.”
The group was a lot diminished after the Greensboro Coliseum drew native followers for the South Carolina vs. North Carolina recreation. An lively Iowa State band had distractions prepared for Creighton at each drive.
Dive Deeper Into the N.C.A.A. Tournaments
However one fan favourite caught round: Daybreak Staley, South Carolina’s coach, greeted followers within the stands earlier than taking a seat courtside to measure up the group that her Gamecocks could be dealing with on Sunday.
— Remy Tumin
Aliyah Boston dominates for the Gamecocks.
There might be just one winner within the battle of the Carolinas.
No. 1-seeded South Carolina, hungry for its first nationwide championship title in 5 years, edged fifth-seeded North Carolina within the spherical of 16 within the N.C.A.A. ladies’s event, defeating the Tar Heels, 69-61, on Friday night time.
Whereas the Tar Heels have been on a disruptive path within the Greensboro area, sending fourth-seeded Arizona packing on its dwelling courtroom within the second spherical, the younger group was no match for the depth of the Gamecocks. Aliyah Boston, the star junior ahead who has been the centerpiece of her group, secured her twenty seventh consecutive double-double with 28 factors and 22 rebounds, and the senior ahead Victaria Saxton delivered when her group wanted her most with 14 rebounds and two key blocks.
Boston secured all 13 factors for South Carolina within the fourth quarter.
However the win didn’t come simply. South Carolina struggled to maintain up with the speedy Tar Heels within the first half as they repeatedly drove downcourt, staying low and quick down the lane. The Gamecocks allowed 23 factors within the first quarter. Deja Kelly, North Carolina’s sophomore guard, danced round South Carolina’s protection to guide her group with 23 factors.
However Destanni Henderson and Zia Cooke responded with the velocity and scoring the Gamecocks wanted to remain afloat. Henderson completed with 13 factors and Cooke scored 15, ending the second quarter on her again after a profitable bounce shot. After they missed a basket, Boston got here in and completed it off with two, three, typically 4 Tar Heels almost hanging off her.
“That was a troublesome recreation — hats off to North Carolina for taking part in a particularly environment friendly basketball recreation,” Coach Daybreak Staley mentioned. “They pushed us to the restrict.”
The sport was the third Candy 16 matchup between the packages since 2014, and North Carolina’s first look within the third spherical since 2015, when it misplaced to South Carolina. The Gamecocks will subsequent face Creighton.
Gamecock and Tar Heel followers alike crammed the Greensboro Coliseum, only a three-hour drive from Columbia, S.C., and an hour’s drive from Chapel Hill, N.C., making a sea of sunshine blue and pink in opposition to South Carolina’s neon inexperienced and pink sneakers.
The Gamecocks had been on the lookout for redemption after dropping to Stanford final 12 months within the semifinals by two factors. However coming into Friday’s recreation, a Gamecock win was removed from a certain guess. Whereas their ferocious protection, among the finest within the event, has denied its competitors time and again, the Gamecocks’ offense has struggled to transform drives to factors.
“This exhibits it’s solely going to get harder and harder,” Cooke mentioned after the sport. “We’ve maintain our foot on the gasoline the entire time.”
— Remy Tumin
Texas elbows previous Ohio State in a bodily recreation.
SPOKANE, Wash. — Texas superior to the spherical of 8 for the second straight event with a 66-63 victory over Ohio State on Friday, aided by decisive play from its senior guard Joanne Allen-Taylor and the group’s go-to put up gamers, Lauren Ebo and Aaliyah Moore.
The Buckeyes’ greatest two scorers all season, Jacy Sheldon and Taylor Mikesell, mixed for 36 factors, not sufficient to beat the Longhorns’ bodily protection.
The No. 2-seeded Longhorns took an early lead, staying forward till Texas’ level guard, the freshman Rori Harmon, picked up two fouls within the first quarter when a cost and a blocking name didn’t go her approach in fast succession.
From that time, it began to look as if sixth-seeded Ohio State would possibly beat Texas at its personal recreation, urgent the Longhorns from baseline to baseline each time they inbounded the ball. Texas Coach Vic Schaefer mentioned that the press “is simply who we’re” earlier than the sport, nevertheless it was the Buckeyes who threatened turnovers each time the Longhorns needed to take the ball throughout halfcourt.
The Buckeyes ended the primary quarter with a 4-point lead thanks largely to Sheldon, who saved discovering methods to attain even when alternatives to shoot had been arduous to return by.
Allen-Taylor, who completed the primary half with 13 factors and added 4 within the second, allowed Texas to enter the locker room with a lead by muscling to the basket with simply three seconds left and coming away with the bucket and the foul. That she was in a position to escape the primary half with out a single private foul was significantly notable, given how bodily the sport was to that time. The groups mixed for only one profitable 3-pointer within the first half, and gamers needed to battle for each try whether or not it was past the arc or inside it.
“Her having a great day, it’s necessary for us,” guard Aliyah Matharu mentioned of Allen-Taylor. “I really feel like in the present day she was on. When she’s on, why not give her the ball?”
The Longhorns discovered slightly momentum halfway by way of the third quarter, forcing turnovers and scoring off them whereas getting second-chance factors. However Ohio State’s senior guard Braxtin Miller hit all however one shot she tried that quarter, scoring 8 factors and maintaining Texas from getting snug.
Nonetheless, the Buckeyes began to look rather less energized and started to put off their full-court press. Getting into the ultimate body, Texas had stretched its result in 5 factors.
Texas would lead by as many as 10 factors, till Ohio State pressured a collection of turnovers that introduced the sport proper again inside attain with simply 4 minutes remaining. The Longhorns’ lead shrank to 1 level as the sport clock wound down, and the Buckeyes had the ball. However Texas was in a position to make use of the protection that has been its calling card all season lengthy, drive a turnover and make its free throws to seal the win.
— Natalie Weiner
Stanford cruises previous Maryland.
No. 1-seeded Stanford regarded higher than ever on Friday night time because it cruised to its twenty third straight victory, lengthening the longest lively successful streak in Division I.
Stanford, the reigning nationwide champion, beat fourth-seeded Maryland, 72-66, to earn a visit to the Spokane regional remaining. For the second consecutive 12 months, the Terrapins will head dwelling after the Candy 16. The Cardinal will transfer on to face Texas within the Spokane regional remaining on Sunday.
Stanford guard Haley Jones proved to be an issue early on for the Terrapins, sinking a 3-pointer for the sport’s first basket and scoring 8 factors within the first quarter. The Cardinal regarded so in charge of each ends of the ground that Fran Belibi nearly replicated her dunk from Stanford’s first-round recreation, blocking Chloe Bibby’s 3-point shot and racing to the opposite finish to put in a finger roll.
Maryland was in a position to stifle Stanford’s offensive output considerably within the second quarter, however couldn’t translate its stops into profitable possessions. Then Stanford would discover a strategy to get the ball to its 6-foot-4 sophomore Cameron Brink miles away from the basket, and he or she would nonetheless make a 3-point shot — and Maryland’s arduous work on protection would instantly appear meaningless.
“I believe we noticed some actually good spurts,” mentioned Stanford Coach Tara VanDerveer. “However I believe we are able to do higher.”
Stanford’s Hull twins, Lexie and Lacie, grew up in Spokane. After they hit their first photographs of the sport inside a 30-second span late within the first half, the world erupted. Stanford took its largest lead of the sport to that time, cementing the sense that the Cardinal had been already staunchly in charge of the result. They led 39-23 at halftime.
The Terrapins had been combating to get again within the recreation early within the third quarter, when guard Diamond Miller picked up her fourth private foul as she was combating for a bounce ball. From that time the sport began to get out of hand, with Stanford’s lead stretching to 26 factors late within the third.
Although Maryland pulled inside 6 factors down the stretch, it solely served to make the dominating Stanford win look slightly nearer on paper than it was. Jones completed with 17 factors and 10 rebounds, and Lexie Hull accomplished the hometown tour as Stanford’s main scorer with 19 factors.
— Natalie Weiner
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Culture
Paige Bueckers vs. JuJu Watkins: How UConn, USC stars will keep women’s basketball in spotlight
![Paige Bueckers vs. JuJu Watkins: How UConn, USC stars will keep women’s basketball in spotlight Paige Bueckers vs. JuJu Watkins: How UConn, USC stars will keep women’s basketball in spotlight](https://static01.nyt.com/athletic/uploads/wp/2024/11/03175506/1104_PaigeVsJuJu-1.png?width=1200&height=630&fit=cover)
USC head coach Lindsay Gottlieb noticed a stranger approaching. She thought maybe she had spilled something and he was going to give her a heads-up. Instead, he stopped near their table and paused.
“Hey, Coach,” he said. “I thought it was you. I’ve gotta ask …”
She waited.
“Is JuJu really 6 foot 2?” he asked.
Gottlieb laughed. She answered — yes, JuJu Watkins is listed at 6 feet 2 — then joked that it depends on how much of Watkins’ iconic bun is counted. A big guard in the even bigger Big Ten was an enticing prospect for this L.A. sports fan. Even in the summer, he was eagerly anticipating the season, which will see USC — a team that appeared on national networks just three times last season before its postseason run to the Elite Eight — on ESPN, FOX, FS1 and NBC nine times before the Big Ten tournament.
He thanked Gottlieb, wished her luck and went on his way.
The exchange felt oddly familiar to Gottlieb, just not as the head coach of USC, a program she took over in 2021 when it was a basement dweller in the Pac-12. Instead, it reminded her of experiences during two seasons as a Cleveland Cavaliers assistant, when insatiable NBA fans wanted to break down every potential matchup and moment.
“For those of us who have really followed this game for a long time, we’ve known there have been great players before, we’ve known the great stories before, but now to see the rest of the world catch on and pay attention is really cool,” Gottlieb said. “Then you add to it this kind of position I’ve been thrust into, where we’re one of the programs that has one of these star players who is getting a ton of this attention. It’s a great responsibility. It’s a great opportunity.
“None of it is lost on me, that we’re sort of in the apex of this moment.”
More than 2,500 miles across the country, UConn coach Geno Auriemma can relate. For nearly four decades, some of the greatest stars to play the game have come through the Huskies’ gym. Yet the fanfare didn’t match what he saw on the men’s side.
Until now.
In early October, UConn announced it had sold out its season ticket packages for the first time since the 2004-05 season, after Diana Taurasi won a national championship as a senior.
That didn’t happen during the Maya Moore or Breanna Stewart years, or after 111 straight wins or four straight national titles. Not until now — Paige Bueckers’ final season in Storrs.
“There are people who have never had an opinion that have an opinion now or they want to know things that they never wanted to know, but now they’re familiar with names and events that in the past they wouldn’t think twice of,” Auriemma said. “The die-hard fans, they can’t wait for the season to start. But the casual fan has tuned in and got a sip of it, and now they’re intrigued.”
That groundswell of attention for women’s basketball is undeniable. Every number backs it up. Last season’s NCAA Tournament set viewership records, including a title game that drew 18.9 million viewers (besting the men’s title game by nearly 4 million, something most fans assumed could never happen). Iowa star Caitlin Clark’s uncanny knack for the big moment and ability to nail logo 3s drew in millions, but those fans found other players, teams and games to enjoy. Even taking Iowa’s NCAA Tournament games out of the equation, last year’s ESPN viewership rose 43 percent during March Madness.
Clark’s draw, as well as Angel Reese’s at LSU, continued into the WNBA. Indiana Fever attendance and viewership numbers soared; the same was true for Reese’s Chicago Sky. Again, these new WNBA fans stayed for the other massive talents.
Paige Bueckers’ Huskies bested JuJu Watkins’ Trojans in the Elite Eight, but both players registered 20-point double-doubles. (Steph Chambers / Getty Images)
Stars propel sports and leagues. They lure casual observers and convert them to die-hards. After Clark and Reese departed for the WNBA, there’s no letdown for college basketball stars helping carry the sport’s weight, but attention will be focused on two.
Anchoring two coasts, two conferences and two national title contenders are USC’s Watkins and UConn’s Bueckers. They’re playing at programs that are iconic in their own ways and recognizable worldwide. They’re both elite — potentially generational — and have the ball in their hands more than almost anyone else.
Watkins is the reigning Freshman of the Year attempting to resurrect the Trojans, who haven’t been relevant in her lifetime. She’s the hometown kid who turned out stars like Kevin Hart, Saweetie, LeBron James and John Wall at last season’s home games. The smoothness to her game and effortless quality make it seem like she has never rushed on the floor, whether she’s pulling up from 3 or attacking the basket (or hitting a shot anywhere in between).
Kevin Hart was in attendance to see JuJu Watkins and the USC Women’s Basketball team ✌️#ncaaw #fighton pic.twitter.com/31PLjQDknN
— WNBA Got Game (@wnbagotgame) December 20, 2023
Bueckers, who won national Player of the Year as a freshman four years ago, is in her final season at UConn. Even with its vaunted legacy, few high school players were more heralded coming into Storrs than she was. And yet, in her fifth year, a national championship — of which UConn has won 11 — has eluded Bueckers. She’s a rangy guard with enough savvy inside that even when she played the four last season, she was still named an All-American. A player so confident that she trademarked her nickname, “Paige Buckets,” before her sophomore season.
Watkins’ and Bueckers’ play, storylines and celebrity, as well as USC and UConn’s December meeting (a rematch of last season’s Elite Eight) are reasons people, including new fans, will tune in for women’s hoops this season.
But unlike players before them with those same attributes, they’re competing at a time of unprecedented transformation.
Because of an investigation that exposed grievous disparities in NCAA men’s and women’s basketball, the NCAA was forced to invest more in the women’s NCAA Tournament. Because of growing attention, ESPN — the women’s NCAA Tournament media partner — anted up last year and paid big money for the media rights to broadcast the event. Because of NIL, players such as Bueckers and Watkins are recognizable outside of women’s basketball circles, partnering with major companies like Nike and Gatorade. Watkins was spotted at the 2024 Cannes Lions Festival, threw out the first pitch at a June Los Angeles Dodgers game and won the ESPY for Best Breakthrough Athlete. Bueckers attended the U.S. Open, where Frances Tiafoe and Coco Gauff shouted her out, sat front row at New York Fashion Week and was featured on the JumboTron at a Los Angeles Rams game.
“There’s no boundaries on us, and because of that, you’re seeing talent, you’re seeing coaching, you’re seeing fan support, you’re seeing viewership — you’re seeing all of those things,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said. “This is probably the biggest movement in our game in its history, and it couldn’t happen at a more perfect time. … There are so many people tuned in; we met the moment.”
To continue meeting that moment, women’s basketball needs the next wave of stars. It needs teams with compelling storylines (Staley’s Gamecocks are a perfect example as reigning champs coming back to repeat after an undefeated season), but it also needs individuals like Watkins and Bueckers, whose stories and journeys this season will be as compelling as their play on the floor.
“It’s great that we have them because it would be a shame to follow up the star power of last year and then not be able to add to it this season,” Auriemma said. “We need to showcase these guys and these teams, and we need to play well. We need to give all these new people that are going to be watching something to be excited about so they want to come back.”
If Bueckers and Watkins do what their coaches believe, then new fans will certainly have reasons to keep tuning in and finding their next favorite players once Bueckers and Watkins move on to the pros.
Auriemma and Gottlieb, who have been around this game for decades, know this moment isn’t just different; it’s long overdue. What comes next (or, really, who comes next) will be what pushes the sport forward.
(Illustration: Meech Robinson / The Athletic; Top photos of Paige Bueckers and JuJu Watkins: G Fiume / Getty Images, Brian Rothmuller / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Culture
What is the New York City Marathon like from within the course?
![What is the New York City Marathon like from within the course? What is the New York City Marathon like from within the course?](https://static01.nyt.com/athletic/uploads/wp/2024/11/03170649/GettyImages-2182051442-scaled.jpg?width=1200&height=630&fit=cover)
It’s been said — often by me — that every city is at its best on marathon day. The bigger the city, the better the day, as hundreds of thousands of citizens line the courses for hours to cheer on tens of thousands of runners, most of whom they don’t know.
Now factor in the sparkling day autumn morning and afternoon in New York on Sunday, the sun glistening off the harbor and the downtown skyline as some 53,000 runners bounded (OK, some didn’t do much bounding, but who cares) across the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, tagging all five boroughs on the way to the finish, and you have the recipe about the perfect marathon.
The people of Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, take the medal for the loudest, longest throng. Tip of the cap to them, and to the people of the South Bronx who turn that part of the course into a mile-long fruit stand. You’ve never seen so many free bananas and oranges — and a good number of cookies and munchkins on offer, too.
Now add that star-studded cast of Olympians and other champions, and marathon day gets even more perfect.
I will admit bias. I’m a New Yorker. Sunday was my 15th New York City marathon. And as my mind drifted from the overwhelming gratitude for all that support from a crowd as colorful as the city to the slowly mounting pain in my quads, also kept thinking, “Wow, there must be some serious racing going on up front.”
And there was.
I finished and caught up with the results — Sheila Chepkirui outkicking defending champion Hellen Obiri in the final mile to win in 2:24:35 and Dutch star Abdi Nageeye topping a loaded field that included the Olympic champion and defending New York winner Tamirat Tola in of 2:07:39.
GO DEEPER
New York City Marathon results: Nageeye, Chepkirui stun historic fields
While I was sorry to have missed the finishes — sorry, those folks are a little too fast for me — I relished what this race had been.
It was a race, not a time trial, which so much of marathon racing has become.
In Chicago last month, with the help of pacers on a deadly flat course, Ruth Chepngetich shattered the women’s marathon world record, posting a time of 2:09:56.
Men’s races on these courses regularly flirt with the two-hour mark. It’s just a matter of time before that becomes the standard there. Then there’s New York and Boston. Hilly undulating courses without pacesetters. It’s all tactics and waiting for the moment to make a move or deciding to try to cover a competitor’s.
It’s a race that Tola and Obiri and a host of other Paris Olympians entered with high hopes despite having competed just three months ago on a brutal course. Because here they could think their way through the course, play cat-and-mouse for two-plus hours and then decide when to go.
They didn’t have enough on Sunday down the stretch. But what a treat it is to watch this kind of race. There’s a place for testing the limits of human achievement. New York — and Boston, too — will never be it.
And thank the running gods for that.
(Photo: David Dee Delgado / AFP via Getty Images)
Culture
Try This Quiz on Books That Were Made Into Great Space Movies
![Try This Quiz on Books That Were Made Into Great Space Movies Try This Quiz on Books That Were Made Into Great Space Movies](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2024/11/04/books/review/04Quiz-SPACE/04Quiz-SPACE-facebookJumbo.jpg)
Welcome to Great Adaptations, the Book Review’s regular multiple-choice quiz about books that have gone on to find new life as movies, television shows, theatrical productions, video games and more. This week’s challenge is focused on fiction and nonfiction works about space exploration that were adapted into popular films.
Just tap or click your answers to the five questions below. And scroll down after you finish the last question for links to the books and their movie versions.
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