Axios Sports

LSU delivered a performance for the ages in Dallas to win the school's first basketball national championship, Axios' Jeff Tracy writes.

Driving the news: The Tigers crushed Iowa, 102-85, on Sunday afternoon, setting the record for points scored in a title game.

• The Tigers shot 54% from the field and a blistering 65% from deep (11-17), tying their season-high with 11 made threes.
• Not bad for a team who'd gone 7-38 (18%) from behind the arc across its previous three games.

The stars: Angel Reese, named the Final Four's Most Outstanding Player, recorded her 34th double-double of the year (15 pts, 10 reb) — the most ever in a single season.

• Jasmine Carson scored 22 points off the bench (7-8 FG, 5-6 3PT, 3-4 FT) after scoring just 11 total in the tournament's first five games.
• Starters Alexis Morris (21 pts, 9 ast) and LaDazhia Williams (20 pts, 5 reb) gave the Tigers a trio of 20-point scorers to round things out.

The backdrop: Kim Mulkey won her fourth championship (three with Baylor), breaking a tie with Stanford's Tara VanDerveer for third-most behind UConn's Geno Auriemma (11) and Tennessee's Pat Summitt (8).

• The Louisiana native led an epic turnaround, winning a title just two years after taking over a nine-win program — and one year after losing almost her entire team.
• LSU had nine new players this season, with Reese, Carson and Williams all coming via the transfer portal.

Impressive in defeat: Player of the Year Caitlin Clark put on another show for the Hawkeyes, scoring 30 points and dishing out eight assists.

• Clark's 191 points, 60 assists and 32 3-pointers are all records for a single women's NCAA tournament.
• She was responsible for 63% of Iowa's offense in the tournament through either scoring or assists.

The big picture: Sunday's game lacked the drama of the two semifinals, but still put a stamp on a tournament that could be looked back on in the future as an inflection point for the sport.

• The Iowa-South Carolina Final Four matchup drew an impressive 5.5 million viewers, an ESPN record for a women's semifinal.
• The momentum entering next season — with Clark, Reese and other stars set to return — should be through the roof.

Looking ahead: The long-undervalued rights to the women's tournament are up for bid next year. Couldn't ask for better timing.

Go deeper: The refs wrecked the national title game, but LSU rose above it (Slate)

The pitch clock is doing more than just speeding up at-bats. In some cases, it's changing how pitches are selected, Jeff and I write.

State of play: PitchCom — the device introduced last season that allowed catchers to electronically call pitches in an effort to combat sign stealing — can now be used by pitchers, too.

How it works: The wristband-like device has buttons for different pitch types and locations. When pressed, the call is relayed to the receiver, an earpiece worn by up to five defensive teammates.

• Last season, the catcher would make the call, and the pitcher would receive it before either shaking off that pitch or gearing up to throw it.
• This season, the pitcher can make the call — a necessary change with the advent of the pitch clock, which gives pitchers less time to shake off signs.

The intrigue: After decades of catchers making suggestions, pitchers can now call their own games.

• Look no further than Shohei Ohtani's first start: He wore the device and was so fast that he was issued a warning for pitching before the batter was set.
• Ohtani wore the device under his sleeve near his armpit instead of on his wrist or forearm, memorizing the keypad to seamlessly call his own pitches.

The big picture: The pitch clock is working as intended, with games so far 28 minutes shorter than last season. But it's also creating games-within-the-game.

• And given the rule's novelty, pitchers will continue to test its limits as the season progresses.
• Roger Clemens even suggested that we could see pitchers intentionally commit clock violations to gain an upper hand.

Lamont Butler's buzzer-beater on Saturday was just the fifth in Final Four history — and the first in which the team was trailing before the shot.

The others:

• Jalen Suggs, Gonzaga def. UCLA (2021)
• Kris Jenkins, Villanova def. UNC (2016)
• Lorenzo Charles, NC State def. Houston (1983)
• Jerome Whitehead, Marquette def. Charlotte (1977)

What he's saying: Butler's sister, Asasha Lache Hall, was shot and killed in January 2022. Speaking Sunday, Butler said he felt her presence during the biggest moment of his life.

I think about her every day. Ever since she passed. She was one of my biggest supporters, and I know she's up there happy right now, watching me play the game that I love.

And I think she was with me with that shot. She probably guided the ball in a little bit. I miss her, and I'm just happy I'm able to do this for her.

Go deeper: A buzzer-beater for teammates, family and a fallen sister (SI)

🏀 Massive upset: The Trail Blazers (missing four starters) pulled off the largest NBA upset in 30 years on Sunday by beating the Timberwolves as 19.5-point underdogs.

🏒 60 wins: The Bruins won their 60th game on Sunday, joining the 2018-19 Lightning, 1995-96 Red Wings and 1976-77 Canadiens as the only teams to do so.

🎾 Miami winners: Daniil Medvedev and Petra Kvitová won the Miami Open, picking up hard court titles ahead of tennis' clay court season.

⚾️ Absolute bomb: Maryland shortstop Matt Shaw, a likely first-round pick in June, hit a 507-foot grand slam this weekend. Yes, you read that correctly. 507 feet!!!

The 2022-23 Atlanta Hawks are, quite literally, the definition of average.

By the numbers: The Hawks are 39-39 and have scored 9,209 points while allowing 9,210.

• They're 24-24 against the East and 15-15 against the West.
• They've been within one game of .500 for 72 consecutive days.

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Reigning NCAA champion Rose Zhang held on to win the Augusta National Women's Amateur, defeating fellow American Jenny Bae in a playoff.

BOSTON — The Orioles suffered one of the worst losses imaginable on Saturday. After Ryan McKenna dropped a routine fly ball that would have been the final out, the very next batter, Adam Duvall, hit a walk-off, two-run blast to give the Red Sox a 9-8 win.

ORLANDO — The previously winless Orlando Guardians beat the previously undefeated D.C. Defenders, 37-36, on Saturday in an XFL instant classic that featured five second-half lead changes.

MUNICH — Bayern beat Dortmund, 4-2, in Saturday's Der Klassiker to leapfrog their Bundesliga rivals atop the table and give new manager Thomas Tuchel a victory in his first home game.

MELBOURNE — Max Verstappen (Red Bull) won Sunday's chaotic Australian Grand Prix, holding off Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) and Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) in a race that featured three red flags and was completed behind a safety car.

MADRID — Reigning Ballon d'Or winner Karim Benzema scored a hat trick in the span of just seven minutes during the first half of Real Madrid's 6-0 thrashing of Real Valladolid on Sunday.

UConn and San Diego State face off tonight in Houston (9:20pm ET, CBS) for the national championship.

• State of play: The Aztecs have never played in a title game. The Huskies have played in four, winning all of them.
• Odds: Spread: UConn -7.5 | O/U: 132.5 | Money: UConn -345, SDSU +270 (via FanDuel)

More to watch:

• ⚾️ MLB: Mets at Brewers (2pm, MLB); Braves at Cardinals (7:45pm, ESPN+)
• 🏒 NHL: Golden Knights at Wild (8pm, NHL)
• ⚽️ Premier League: Everton vs. Tottenham (3pm, USA)

With a win tonight, UConn would tie Duke and Indiana for the fourth-most men's basketball championships, with five.

• Question: Which three schools have more?
• Hint: Only one has won in the past 10 years.

Answer at the bottom.

1. 🏀 Butler at the buzzer!
2. 🎾 What. A. Point.
3. ⚾️ Full extension
4. 🏀 Wemby!!!
5. ⚾️ Pitchers are athletes
6. ⚾️ Hot corner
7. ⚽️ Hat trick
8. 🏈 Toe-tap TD
9. 🏀 Posterized
10. ⚽️ Upper 90

Watch all 10.