Women's basketball is having itself a moment as March Madness heads to the Final Four.
A year ago, 9.9 million people tuned in to see Angel Reese and LSU beat Caitlin Clark and Iowa in a national championship game made unforgettable by the two stars who backed up their talk with stellar play. The game was on a national network — ABC — for the first time since 1996.
Well, Clark and Reese were back for more and Iowa won a thrilling rematch in the Elite Eight behind 41 points from Clark. The Hawkeyes will face Paige Bueckers and UConn in one semifinal. In the other, North Carolina State will take on No. 1 overall seed South Carolina, which hasn't lost all season and has a chance to become the 10th perfect national champion.
Clark has been the talk of the sport all season, making a bid for a second straight Associated Press Player of the Year honor after becoming the all-time leading scorer in Division I history and selling out venues wherever Iowa went. She will share the stage in Cleveland this weekend.
1 South Carolina vs. 3 N.C. State (7 p.m. Eastern, Friday). The Wolfpack weren't even ranked in the preseason but they climbed to No. 3 in the AP Top 25 by December and have been one of the top teams in the country for months. Caitlin, JuJu, Paige and Angel have been in the spotlight, but N.C. State guard Aziaha “Zaza” James is a star, scoring 29 points and then 27 the past two games. The Gamecocks are deep and relentless, riding 22 points from center Kamilla Cardoso in the Sweet 16 and then 15 from Tessa Johnson in the next game to advance to the semifinals.
3 UConn vs. 1 Iowa (9:30 p.m. Eastern, Friday). The Friday night lights will be bright for the Clark vs. Bueckers show, two standout guards who make their teammates shine. Clark's scoring has been the talk of the sport, but she also leads the nation in assists per game while Bueckers is back in MVP form for the Huskies, who are in their record 23rd Final Four.
Every game of the women’s tournament will be aired — here is a schedule — on ESPN's networks and streaming services with select games on ABC. While ESPN will air the Final Four, the title game will be back on ABC, just like last season.
South Carolina is the overwhelming favorite to win its second title in three years and third overall, all since 2017. Behind the Gamecocks (in order) are Iowa, UConn and N.C. State, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.
The Final Four is in Cleveland on Friday night, April 5, with the championship game at 3 p.m. Eastern on Sunday, April 7.
From Caitlin Clark to Angel Reese to JuJu Watkins, the star power for March Madness is on full blast. A lot of those talented players happen to be freshmen, too. And some of their coaches certainly know their way around campus, since they are at their alma mater.
There was a lot of talk about how to stop Clark and her prolific scoring. It's been tried, with mixed success. The Pac-12 put seven teams in the tournament as the conference fades away, but none advanced to the Final Four.
The games at times have been overshadowed even with robust attendance and ratings. The NCAA had to replace one official at halftime when it was discovered she had a degree from one of the schools whose game she was officiating. Notre Dame star Hanna Hidalgo missed a chunk of the Fighting Irish’s Sweet 16 loss when officials made her remove a nose ring, which she had played with earlier in the tournament.
Away from the court, Utah players and coaches were subjected to racist taunts near their Idaho hotel, which was 40 minutes away from their game site. The NCAA also said one of the 3-point lines on the court used this past weekend in Portland, Oregon, was about 9 inches short of regulation at its apex during five games.
AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket/ and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness
UConn guard Paige Bueckers, right, hugs guard Nika Muhl after their win over Southern California in an Elite Eight college basketball game in the women's NCAA Tournament, Monday, April 1, 2024, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Howard Lao)
March Madness: How to watch the women's Final Four and what to watch for in the NCAA Tournament
March Madness: How to watch the women's Final Four and what to watch for in the NCAA Tournament
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign was seized with worry about the potential political damage from a tape that showed Trump bragging about grabbing women sexually without their permission, longtime Trump adviser Hope Hicks testified Friday at his hush money trial.
Hicks, a former White House official, was compelled to testify by prosecutors, who are hoping her remarks bolster their argument that the uproar over the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape hastened Trump’s then-lawyer to pay off porn actor Stormy Daniels to bury a negative story that could imperil his 2016 presidential bid.
Once one of Trump's closest confidants, Hicks provided jurors with a glimpse into the chaotic fallout from the tape's release just days before a crucial debate with Democrat Hillary Clinton. Hicks described being stunned and huddling with other Trump advisers after learning about the tape's existence from the Washington Post reporter who broke the story. Hicks forwarded the reporter's request to campaign leadership with the recommendation to “deny, deny, deny,” Hicks said.
“I had a good sense to believe this was going to be a massive story and that it was going to dominate the news cycle for the next several days,” Hicks testified. “This was a damaging development."
She added: "This was just pulling us backwards in a way that was going to be hard to overcome.”
Prosecutors used her testimony to strengthen their case alleging Trump worked to prevent damaging stories about his personal life from becoming public as part of a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 presidential election. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has sought to establish that link not just to secure a conviction but also to persuade the public of the significance of the case, which may be the only one of four Trump prosecutions to reach trial this year.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing and slammed the case as an effort to hurt his bid to reclaim the White House this November. The defense has sought to show that Trump was trying to protect his reputation and family — not his campaign — by burying embarrassing stories about his personal life.
Under questioning by Trump’s attorney, Hicks told jurors that Trump was worried about the effect of the tape on his family.
“I don’t think he wanted anyone in his family to be hurt or embarrassed by anything happening in the campaign,” she said.
Hicks’ proximity to Trump over the years has made her a figure of interest to congressional and criminal investigators alike, who have sought her testimony on multiple occasions on topics ranging from Russia election interference to Trump’s election loss and the subsequent Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
She appeared reluctant to be in the courtroom, taking a deep breath as she stepped up to the microphone and acknowledging she was “really nervous.” She later started crying on the witness stand when Trump lawyer Emil Bove started to ask her to reflect on her time at the Trump Organization before Trump brought her onto his 2016 campaign.
Referring to her former boss as “Mr. Trump,” she told the court she last communicated with him in the summer or fall of 2022. While no longer in Trump’s inner circle, Hicks spoke about the former president in glowing terms as the prosecutor began questioning her about her background.
She recounted how the political firestorm that ensued after the release of the tape was so intense that it knocked an actual storm out of the headlines. Before the tape became public, the news was dominated by a Category 4 hurricane that was charging toward the East Coast.
“I don’t think anybody remembers” where that hurricane hit, Hicks told jurors.
Hurricane Matthew, which hit Haiti and Cuba as a Category 4 storm, made landfall in South Carolina as a Category 1 hurricane on Oct. 8, the day after the “Access Hollywood” tape was made public.
In the aftermath of the tape's release, she asked Trump's then-attorney Michael Cohen to chase down a rumor of another potentially damaging tape. Hicks said she wanted to be proactive in seeking out the supposed tape because she didn't want anyone to be "blindsided.” There ended up not being one.
Then, four days before the 2016 election, Hicks said she received a request for comment from a Wall Street Journal reporter for a forthcoming story about American Media Inc. buying the rights to former Playboy model Karen McDougal’s story that she had an affair with Trump years earlier. Trump denies the allegations.
Hicks recalled reaching out to Jared Kushner in hopes he could use his connections to Rupert Murdoch, the owner of the Journal’s parent company, to help delay the story. Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, told her that he likely would not be able to reach Murdoch in time, Hicks testified.
Testimony will resume Monday. The case could last another month or more.
Prosecutors have spent the week using detailed testimony about meetings, email exchanges, business transactions and bank accounts to build on the foundation of their case charging Trump with 34 counts of falsifying internal Trump Organization business records. They are setting the stage for pivotal testimony from Cohen, who paid Daniels $130,000 for her silence before he went to prison for the hush money scheme.
One of the most pivotal pieces of evidence disclosed to jurors this week was a recording of a meeting between Trump and Cohen shortly before the 2016 election in which they discussed a plan to purchase the rights to McDougal’s story from the National Enquirer so that it would never come out. The tabloid had previously bought McDougal’s story to bury it on Trump’s behalf.
At one point, Trump can be heard saying: “What do we got to pay for this? One-fifty?”
In a victory for Trump just as court was ending for the week, Judge Juan M. Merchan denied a request by prosecutors to ask Trump, should he choose to testify, about being held in contempt of court for gag order violations in the case. Merchan said allowing it would be “so prejudicial it would be very, very difficult for the jury to look past that.”
Trump this week paid his $9,000 fine for violating the gag order that bars him from making public statements about witnesses, jurors and some others connected to the case.
His attorney, Todd Blanche, told the judge Friday they are appealing the finding that Trump violated the gag order. Blanche said that they took particular issue with penalties for what are known as reposts — instances where Trump shared someone else’s post with his followers.
Associated Press writers Eric Tucker and Colleen Long in Washington and Ruth Brown and Michelle Price in New York contributed to this report.
Former President Donald Trump arrives at Manhattan criminal court in New York, on Friday, May 3, 2024. (Charly Triballeau/Pool Photo via AP)
Former President Donald Trump appears at Manhattan criminal court before his trial in New York, Friday, May 3, 2024. (Curtis Means/Pool Photo via AP)
Former President Donald Trump appears at Manhattan criminal court before his trial in New York, Friday, May 3, 2024. (Mark Peterson/Pool Photo via AP)
Former President Donald Trump appears at Manhattan criminal court before his trial in New York, Friday, May 3, 2024. (Mark Peterson/Pool Photo via AP)
Former President Donald Trump appears at Manhattan criminal court before his trial in New York, Friday, May 3, 2024. (Mark Peterson/Pool Photo via AP)
Former President Donald Trump appears at Manhattan criminal court before his trial in New York, Friday, May 3, 2024. (Mark Peterson/Pool Photo via AP)
Former President Donald Trump arrives at Manhattan criminal court in New York, on Friday, May 3, 2024. (Mark Peterson/Pool Photo via AP)
Former President Donald Trump appears at Manhattan criminal court before his trial in New York, Friday, May 3, 2024. (Charly Triballeau/Pool Photo via AP)
Former President Donald Trump appears at Manhattan criminal court before his trial in New York, Friday, May 3, 2024. (Charly Triballeau/Pool Photo via AP)
Former President Donald Trump arrives at Manhattan criminal court in New York, on Friday, May 3, 2024. (Charly Triballeau/Pool Photo via AP)
Former President Donald Trump appears at Manhattan criminal court before his trial in New York, Friday, May 3, 2024. (Jeenah Moon/Pool Photo via AP)
Former President Donald Trump appears at Manhattan criminal court before his trial in New York, Friday,, May 3, 2024.(Charly Triballeau/Pool Photo via AP)
FILE - Hope Hicks, former White House Communications Director, arrives to meet with the House Intelligence Committee, at the Capitol in Washington, Feb. 27, 2018. Prosecutors say Hicks spoke with former President Donald Trump by phone during a frenzied effort to keep allegations of his marital infidelity out of the press after the infamous "Access Hollywood" tape leaked weeks before the 2016 election. In the tape, from 2005, Trump boasted about grabbing women without permission. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
Former President Donald Trump leaves court, Thursday, May 2 2024, in New York, following the day's proceedings in his hush money trial. (Mark Peterson/New York Magazine via AP, Pool)
Republican presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump awaits the start of proceedings for his trial at the Manhattan criminal court, Thursday, May 2, 2024, in New York. (Doug Mills/The New York Times via AP, Pool)
