ON TODAY'S SCORECARD
UConn With a U

Steve Pikiell used to hate it when someone approached him and his teammates at the airport and asked what school they played for.

The stranger would hear the name UConn, notice the Husky logo emblazoned on Pikiell's clothes and inevitably ask, "Is that in Alaska?"

"No," the former point guard would have to explain. "It's UConn with a U, not Yukon with a Y."

That was an easy mistake to make back in the late 1980s, before a former agricultural college surrounded by nothing but livestock and farmland became an unlikely destination for some of the nation's most decorated basketball prospects.

The men have emerged as a modern-day blue blood, climbing to a tie for third behind UCLA and Kentucky for the most national titles despite not capturing their first one until 1999.

They bring a 69-18 SU/54-32-1 ATS mark in this event since 1991, including a jaw-dropping 17-1 SU/ATS record the last three years.

Braylon Mullins' dramatic last-second 40-footer against Duke last Sunday ensured that this would be the sixth time that UConn's men's and women's teams reached the Final Four in the same season.

UConn has been the women’s basketball standard-bearer for more than three decades. Now it’s the men’s turn.

Safe to say, no one ever confuses UConn and Yukon anymore.

San Antonio over DENVER by 6

Yes, Denver is battling to hold off Houston and Minnesota for the coveted No. 6 seed in the Western Conference playoff race, while San Antonio sits just two games back of Oklahoma City for the top spot. But let’s cut to the chase — the Spurs are the hottest team in the league, winning 22 of their last 24 games into today’s clash. And you know they’ll have the full arsenal on deck after resting Victor Wembanyama for load management on the back-to-back following heavy minutes the night before. How valuable is Wemby? Try 15-1 SU the last 16 games when the ‘Slim Reaper’ been in the line-up. It tells the whole story. San Antonio also has payback on its mind after a 136-131 home loss to Denver three weeks ago — a game in which the Nuggets stormed back from a 20-point third-quarter deficit to snap the Spurs’ five-game win streak. Revenge has been profitable for San Antonio: the Spurs are 8-1 ATS (4-0 ATS on the road) when seeking payback in this series. Meanwhile, the “gold diggers” have come up empty, posting a woeful 3-12 ATS mark in their last 15 games against avenging opponents this season. Red-hot, rested, and revenge-loaded — you know what to do.

From this week’s PLAYBOOK NBA Only Hoops Newsletter

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Question: Bears QB Caleb Williams said he had no idea NBA Hall of Famer George Gervin’s nickname was “Iceman” and that his motive for trying to trademark the name was about “control.” Are you buying it?

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Last Week’s Question: “Should the NFL let delusional teams trade as many draft picks as they want?”

Best Answer: Captain Morgan replied: “Absolutely—nothing says entertainment like a five-year rebuild starting in 2032.”

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Yahoo Sports shares a feature they call “Why We Love Sports.”

Readers submit heartwarming stories that tie life and sports together. This was this week’s submission...

Simon O. from Palo Alto, CA said, “I grew up in a house with two parents completely uninterested in sports. I remember saying the sports section made the best packing paper — because it would never be used for anything else.

But by the mid-90s, Stanford men's basketball was becoming harder to ignore in my hometown of Palo Alto. A program that hadn't made the NCAA Tournament from 1942 to 1988 suddenly found life, reaching the second round in back-to-back seasons.

Even in our non-sports household, my mom started watching. My breakthrough came in 1997, when underdog Stanford ended Tim Duncan's Wake Forest career to reach the Sweet 16 for the first time in 55 years.

Watching one of the greatest college players ever walk off the court after losing to my hometown program flipped a switch. I didn't fully understand it then, but I was hooked. I had my team.

Stanford returned nearly everyone the following season (1997-98) and added twin superstars Jason and Jarron Collins. The hype felt real. In the most unlikely twist, my mom and I bought season tickets.

The team didn't disappoint. They finished 26-4 and earned a No. 3 seed in the Midwest Regional. Next thing I knew, we were staring down a Sweet 16 matchup against No. 2 seed Purdue.

The day before that game, my eighth-grade teacher told me my mom was waiting in the front office and that I needed to go meet her. Being pulled out of class midweek rarely signals good news.

She told me to grab my things. We were leaving. Not because anything was wrong — but because we were going to the airport. She had decided we were flying to St. Louis to watch Stanford play in the Sweet 16.

That game ended up being a classic. With 57 seconds left, Stanford trailed 71-65. It felt over. But March Madness never really ends until the clock hits zero.

A few plays later, a three-point play cut the lead to one. Stanford still needed a stop. Then it happened: Arthur Lee jumped the inbound pass, deflected it to Mark Madsen, who dunked it and then celebrated in a way generously described as "dancing."

I remember sitting next to my mom while all of this unfolded, trying to process how lucky I was to witness it. That play sent Stanford to its first (and still only) Final Four.”

Neat stuff, heh?

A former college football player is among the four astronauts on NASA's Artemis II mission that will send its crew to the moon and back during a 10-day operation.

Going to the moon: Victor Glover, 49, wrestled and played defensive back at Cal Poly during the 1996 season before graduating in 1999 with a degree in general engineering.

What they're saying: "He may not have been the fastest guy out there or the most athletic guy out there, but he was going to succeed since he was the best technician out there," former Cal Poly head coach Andre Patterson told NYT. "That's who he is at his core."