Two historic Final Fours are in motion, plus an NBA brawl

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Good morning! Let an MIT physicist make something for you today.

FIGHT: The lads were scrapping last night

We start this morning not with the Final Four, but with chippiness. Arguments in basketball are routine, as is trash talk. Last night’s brouhaha in Minnesota was so much more — a real brawl. Just look at this:

A fight breaks out in Minnesota between the Timberwolves and Pistons:

🎥 @WolvesClips pic.twitter.com/T1jfvDHF6P

— The Athletic NBA (@TheAthleticNBA) March 31, 2025

Those are the Pistons and Timberwolves, spilling into the first row of seats as anger and fists fly. It started after Ron Holland’s hard foul on Naz Reid, who started jawing with Holland. Suddenly, a mob of players and coaches — with Donte DiVincenzo and Isaiah Stewart notably in the middle of it — let loose. 

Five players — Reid, DiVincenzo, Holland, Stewart and Marcus Sasser — were ejected. Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff and Wolves assistant Pablo Prigioni also got the boot. We’ll probably hear about suspensions this week. 

Wild. Read our full story here. On to some calmer hoops:

Final Fours: We’re in the endgame now

Taste that? We’re still digesting plenty of chalk in both the men’s and women’s NCAA Tournaments, with the men’s Final Four set and the women’s halfway there. All six of those Final Four teams are No. 1 seeds; the final two women’s Elite Eight matchups pit Nos. 1 and 2 seeds against each other. 

Cinderellas are fun, but cinderellas also don’t win titles. Every single one of these teams left has a shot to take home a ring. There is real intrigue — and real fun — in that. 

There’s history at stake going forward: 

• On the women’s side, everyone expected No. 1 overall seed UCLA to be here, but its tough win over LSU (😭) was historic anyway — this will be the first Final Four in program history. In a program filled with basketball lore, the women’s team finally has a chapter to add.
  
  
• Similar things can be said for men’s No. 1 overall seed Auburn, which advanced to the program’s second Final Four appearance with a gutty victory against Michigan State. The Tigers have never won a national title.
  
  
• And then there is Houston, which walloped Tennessee to advance to its second Final Four in five seasons. Cougars coach Kelvin Sampson is a living legend but has never won a national championship. This could finally be the year. 

Of course, South Carolina is also here on the women’s side, like usual — but its path has been harder, and yesterday’s close win over Duke could be seen as an internal warning about the road ahead. 

The women finish up the Elite Eight tonight. More on that in a bit. While you wait, read Austin Mock’s updated projections on the men’s side, where the data still favors Duke.

News to Know

No timeline for Rodgers
In what has become an excruciating waiting game, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said yesterday there is no indication when free-agent quarterback Aaron Rodgers will make a decision about his future, leaving Pittsburgh in limbo for now. Rodgers met with the Steelers two weeks ago, but left without signing a deal. The Steelers only have Mason Rudolph as a viable QB option right now. More context — including what’s ahead — here.

More news

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Explainers: About those ‘torpedo’ bats

One sentiment swept through baseball fandom this weekend: Wait, they made a new bat? And now everyone is hitting home runs? We’re just figuring that out? 

That’s what happens when the Yankees pelt nine home runs in one game. People take notice when the bats are shaped a little differently, looking like torpedoes — or maybe slender bowling pins? — rather than the long, cylindrical barrel shape we’re used to. 

Is this cheating? Is it as new as we think? No and no. A few points as this story continues to churn: 

• The bats are perfectly legal. Essentially, these bats are the same bats we know, with the placement of the barrel — where the most mass lies in the stick — shifted according to player preference. Adjusting the sweet spot to a player’s swing rather than adjusting the swing to the sweet spot. Revolutionary.
  
  
• They’re also not that new. Former Yankees coach and MIT physicist Aaron Leanhardt led the invention of the torpedo bat, which made its debut last season as some Yankees tried it out. Leanhardt’s backstory is fascinating.
  
  
• While word about the bats spread around baseball in the offseason, interest obviously exploded over the weekend. Players around the league are already talking about trying them out. I suspect we’ll see more torpedoes shortly. 

Just don’t expect Aaron Judge to change his bat, and who could blame him? He has four home runs in three games played this season, and a 2.461 OPS. 

The MLB record for team home runs in one season is 307. The Yankees have 11 in three games, which means they’re on pace for … 594 (lol). 

Let’s torpedo our way to the end here:

Watch and Listen

📺 NCAAW: No. 2 TCU vs. No. 1 Texas
7 p.m. ET on ESPN
I had a hard time picking between this and the ensuing game between UConn and USC. I opted for what should be the closer contest, and for watching Hailey Van Lith, who’s been on fire for the Horned Frogs. This is a day when I wish JuJu Watkins was healthy. 

📺 NBA: Celtics at Grizzlies
7:30 p.m. on TNT/Max
I’m still interested to see how the Grizz look after the shocking firing of coach Taylor Jenkins. They’re 0-1 since his dismissal, and get the defending champs here. 

Get tickets to games like these here.

🎙️How will USA, Canada and Mexico co-host a World Cup amid the current political climate? Good question. Listen on Apple and Spotify.

Pulse Picks

The A’s begin their awkward residency in Sacramento this week. Evan Drellich spent four days there touring the park and reporting on how things will work. It’s going to be really weird. 

The Premier League is back this week, and the race for a top-five finish should please any thrill-seeker. 

Shakyla Hill just wanted a law degree. Instead, she became a quadruple-double threat — literally — at Grambling State. Great story from Jason Jones. 

Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: Our story on the Yankees’ torpedo bats, which still blows my mind. 

Most-read on the website yesterday: Lauren Merola’s handy guide on what to know about the men’s Final Four teams.

(Top photo: Matt Krohn / Imagn Images)

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