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How to watch Tennessee vs. South Florida: Odds, storylines for women’s NCAA Tournament matchup

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How to watch Tennessee vs. South Florida: Odds, storylines for women’s NCAA Tournament matchup


The fifth-seeded Tennessee Lady Vols are a made-for-TV team with a fast offense and a knack for draining 3-pointers. No. 12 South Florida faces a massive uphill battle that may get a small boost from Tennessee’s weaknesses on defense. Tennessee is favored by nearly 20 points.

We’ve got a breakdown of the strengths and weaknesses on both sides of the matchup, plus odds, projections and expert picks. Team profiles written by The Athletic’s Michael Waterloo.


How to watch Tennessee vs. South Florida

  • What: Birmingham 3 Regional, first round
  • Venue: Schottenstein Center — Columbus, Ohio
  • Time: 8 p.m. ET, Friday, March 21
  • TV: ESPN
  • Streaming: Fubo (try for free)
  • Watching in-person? Get tickets on StubHub

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No. 5 Tennessee Lady Vols

Strengths: The Lady Vols push, push, push on offense, as they play a quick style. They rank second nationally in scoring, thanks in part to Arkansas transfer Samara Spencer and South Carolina transfer Talaysia Cooper. Opponents facing Tennessee must be ready for a barrage of 3-pointers. The Lady Vols rank third nationally in made 3-pointers and finished second in 3-point attempts.

Weaknesses: Their offense is stellar, and it’s a good thing because their defense struggles, as we saw in their SEC tournament loss to Vanderbilt. They rank in the 19th percentile in points allowed per game. So when the 3s that Tennessee relies on aren’t falling, it can make for a long day at the office if the Lady Vols aren’t getting defensive stops. Adding to the defensive issues are the number of fouls by Tennessee. Tournament games can be decided at the free-throw line. Tennessee averaged north of 20 fouls per game, which just isn’t a recipe for success in March.

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Outlook: This Tennessee team is fun. The fast-paced, high-scoring nature of this squad is made for TV and the tournament. It’ll all come down to how they play defensively. Tennessee, despite the number of 3-pointers hoisted, ranks in the 97th percentile in offensive rebound rate, so if the Lady Vols can keep possessions alive for second-chance points and limit transition buckets, their offense can overcome their defense like it has all season.

No. 12 South Florida Bulls

Strengths: The Bulls do enough well without doing anything especially great. Sixth-year senior Sammie Puisis leads the scoring pace for the Bulls, averaging 14.8 points per game and shooting 39.5 percent from 3.

Weaknesses: Puisis can shoot from a distance, but the Bulls focus on shot attempts from inside the arc. If defenses are isolating Puisis, can someone like Vittoria Blasigh take on the scoring assignment?

Outlook: South Florida has advanced to the Round of 32 in two of the last three seasons, so it isn’t impossible. But advancing past the first weekend? I’d be surprised.

This matchup can also be streamed on ESPN+.

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Tennessee vs. USF odds

Streaming and Betting/Odds links in this article are provided by partners of The Athletic. Restrictions may apply. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication

(Photo of Talaysia Cooper, Ruby Whitehorn, and Kaniya Boyd: Sarah Stier / Getty Images)



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Florida college Republicans group chat reveals racist texts: ‘Avoid the coloreds like the plague’

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Florida college Republicans group chat reveals racist texts: ‘Avoid the coloreds like the plague’


It only took three weeks for a group chat for conservative students at Florida International University (FIU) to become a place where participants eagerly used racist slurs, prompting widespread condemnation from community leaders.

Abel Alexander Carvajal, secretary of Miami-Dade county’s Republican party and a student at FIU’s College of Law, reportedly started the chat after the killing of Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, in September 2025.

But on Wednesday, the Miami Herald published leaked WhatsApp conversations in which the college Republicans made racist, sexist, antisemitic and homophobic comments, including variations of the N-word used more than 400 times. Knowledge of the chat’s existence was revealed on the same day that Republican lawmakers in Florida pushed forward a bill to rename a one-mile stretch of road alongside FIU in honor of Kirk.

William Bejerano, who the Herald noted once tried to start an anti-abortion group at Miami Dade College, was the most prolific user of the N-word. Using the slur, Bejerano called for dozens of acts of extreme violence against Black people, including crucifying, beheading and dissecting.

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Dariel Gonzalez, then the College Republicans’ recruitment chair, who has recently applied to become a GOP committee member, responded to the calls for violence by saying: “How edgy.” He repeatedly used “colored” to describe Black people, including writing: “Ew you had colored professors?!” and “Avoid the coloreds like the plague,” according to the Herald.

Carvajal, who was appointed to a two-year role on the city of Hialeah’s planning and zoning board earlier this year, confirmed to the paper that the group chat was his doing, but he denied knowledge of the problematic comments until the publication contacted him about its logs last week.

“It’s been five months since this was sent and this is the first time I’ve seen this message,” Carvajal told the Herald.

“I guess to an extent, I bear some responsibility, cause I created a chat. But if I had seen this at the moment, I would have removed [Bejerano] from the chat. I probably would have even blocked his number.”

The Herald found that Carvajal had deleted 14 messages sent by other participants in the chat and 42 of his own messages before the publication obtained the chat’s logs.

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He also participated in some of the racist discussions. While referring to a Black student who allegedly left FIU’s College Republicans after a member of the group “called her a [N-word]”, the Floridian reported that Carvajal wrote: “Why didn’t miggress leave?” Elsewhere in the chat, the publication reported that Carvajal used “Miggress”, “Migglet” and “Migger” to refer to Black women, Black children and Black people, in general.

At one point, Gonzalez wrote: “You can fuck all the [K-word, a slur for Jewish people] you want. Just don’t marry them and procreate.”

Ian Valdes, the Turning Point USA FIU chapter president, responded, “I would def not marry a Jew,” before changing the group chat’s name from “Uber [R-word slur for disabled people] Yapping” to “Gooning in Agartha”. “Gooning” is a gen-Z slang term for male masturbation, while “Agartha” is a mythical white civilization promoted by Heinrich Himmler, one of the most powerful leaders in Nazi Germany next to Hitler.

Gonzalez reportedly described Agartha to the group chat as “Nazi heaven sort of”.

Kevin Cooper, the first Jewish chair of the Miami Dade Republican party, condemned the group chat in a statement published to X and called for Carvajal’s resignation.

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“The majority of our board voted to request Carvajal’s resignation. We have commenced removal proceedings and look forward to resolution from the Republican Party of Florida,” he wrote.

That call was echoed by Juan Porras, a Republican state representative and Miami-Dade GOP state committee member, who said in a statement: “Leadership carries responsibility. When someone in a leadership role engages in this kind of behavior, it damages the trust placed in our party by voters across Florida. For that reason, I am asking the Miami Dade Republican party secretary to step down from this position.”

In a joint statement, Florida Republican state senators Alexis Calatayud, Ileana Garcia and Ana Maria Rodriguez denounced the chats and called for the expulsion from party leadership of its participants.

“The individuals in the group chat have exposed how profoundly misaligned their beliefs are to the views of the Republican party of Florida,” their statement said. “We call for the immediate expulsion of the individuals disseminating from any level of leadership of the Miami-Dade Republican Party … We will not tolerate bigotry or discrimination.”

Multiple leaked group chats from young Republicans have created controversy in recent years.

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Last year, Politico published messages from a group chat of more than 100 conservatives across the country in which users also made racist and antisemitic comments. In 2022, a Young Republican group chat from North Dakota was revealed as a cesspool of homophobic and antisemitic rhetoric.



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Federal judge blocks DeSantis executive order declaring CAIR a 'terrorist organization'

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Federal judge blocks DeSantis executive order declaring CAIR a 'terrorist organization'


A federal court in Tallahassee has issued a temporary injunction blocking Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ executive order designating the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) a “terrorist organization.” U.S. District Judge Mark Walker’s order comes nearly three months after DeSantis signed his executive order on Dec. 8. The order directed Florida’s executive and Cabinet agencies, as […]



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Gas prices rise in South Florida amid U.S. and Israel’s conflict with Iran, as the stock market also reports a dip

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Gas prices rise in South Florida amid U.S. and Israel’s conflict with Iran, as the stock market also reports a dip



Four days into the Iranian conflict, gas prices are rising at many stations in South Florida.

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“I’ve traveled all over the United States,” says Stacey Williams. CBS Miami spoke to him as he was gassing up on the turnpike. He paid $66 for 20 gallons of diesel to fill his pickup truck. Williams has noted the fluctuations in fuel as he drives to locations for his work on turbines. He just spent three weeks at the Turkey Point Nuclear Power Plant south of Miami.

“The salary we get paid per hour does not add up to what we pay for gas, housing, and food,” he says.

Mitchell Gershon is also dealing with the higher gas prices. He has to fill three vehicles constantly for his business—Thrifty Gypsy, a pop-up store at musical venues. He’s back and forth from Orlando to Miami and says fuel is costing him 20% more. When asked how he handles these fluctuations, he said, “Have a little backup cash so you are ready for it.”

The rise in oil prices contributed to a drop in the stock market on Tuesday, which means some retirement accounts dipped, too. CBS Miami talked to Chad NeSmith, director of investments at Tobias Financial Advisors in Plantation, for perspective on the drop.

“We are seeing most of the pullback today. Yesterday was a shock,” he says. He’s not expecting runaway oil prices but says investors should stay in the loop: “Pay attention to your portfolio. Stick to your goals. Have a plan because these things are completely unpredictable.”

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That unpredictability has Williams adjusting his budget. “You just cut back, cut corners, all you can do,” he says.



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