Northeastern and Wisconsin, the top two college hockey teams in the country, will meet Saturday to decide the 2021 NCAA Champion. 

• Northeastern beat Minnesota Duluth 3-2 (OT) on Thursday while Wisconsin knocked off Ohio State 4-2. 

It’s a clash between a traditional power and a rising program. 

• No. 1 seed Northeastern lost one game all season en route to their first-ever Frozen Four. They’ve been the country’s most dominant team over the last two years and are currently on a 22-game unbeaten streak. 
• No. 2 seed Wisconsin’s seventh straight trip to the Frozen Four is an NCAA record. If the Badgers win the title, they’ll be tied with Minnesota for the most all-time (6). 

Players to watch: 

• Alina Müller (Northeastern): The Switzerland native was the leading scorer at the 2018 Olympics and repeated the feat this NCAA season with 37 points in 23 games. 
• Daryl Watts (Wisconsin): Müller had more total points, but Watts led the country in goals per game (0.94) and points per game (1.83). 

Tune in: Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN3/ESPN App

• Go deeper: Frozen Four preview (ESPN)

Get ready: The first round of the NCAA Tournament begins this Sunday.

• The winner is TBD, but we already have a loser: whoever decided this was OK. 
• For those who don’t want to click, the men’s players have been given a full, actual weight room.
• The women have been given a set of dumbbells, a yoga mat, and a single stationary bike… *deep, exhausted sigh*... At least we have some hoops to look forward to.

Sunday’s Can’t Miss Games: 

• No. 12 Central Michigan vs No. 5 Iowa: Freshman sensation (and the nation’s leading scorer) Caitlin Clark makes her tournament debut. (12:00pm ET on ESPN)
• No. 14 Middle Tennessee vs No. 3 Tennessee: Tennessee wants to show they’re back. Middle Tennessee wants to upend their interstate rivals. Sign us up. (2:00pm ET on ABC)
• No. 11 FGCU vs No. 6 Michigan: FGCU has Cinderella potential written all over them. The Eagles fly up and down the court, averaging an NCAA-best 11.9 threes a game. (3:00pm ET on ESPN2)

Monday’s Can’t Miss games: 

• No. 13 Wright State vs No. 4 Arkansas: The Razorbacks could be a sleeper pick this year, and Chelsea Dungee is must-watch TV. She dropped 37 points in Arkansas’ win over UConn, the Huskies’ only loss this season. (2:00pm ET on ESPN)
• No. 11 Bradley vs No. 6 Texas: Charli Collier is the presumptive No. 1 pick in the upcoming WNBA draft. Can she lead Texas on a deep run first? (8:00pm ET on ESPN2)
• No. 15 Mount St. Mary’s vs No. 2 Maryland: The Terrapins are a favorite among analysts, as well as former Presidents—Obama has them in his Final Four. (4:00pm ET on ESPN)

UConn in trouble? The Huskies are down to two coaches for the opening weekend after an assistant went home due to possible exposure. 

• Chris Dailey will be holding the clipboard. She’s 10-0 when covering for Geno Auriemma. 

Tune in: throughout the tournament, Imani McGee-Stafford will be hopping on the JWS Instagram to break down the action and the madness. 

• Her Final Four? Louisville, Maryland, Iowa and Arizona. 
• Disagree? Fill out your own bracket, and upload a pic with #JustWomensBracket. See you at tip off. 

Go deeper: NCAA Bracket: First Reactions (Just Women’s Sports) 

Paige Bueckers is now the third freshman to ever make the AP All-American first team, joining Oklahoma’s Courtney Paris and UConn’s Maya Moore. 

All 15 All Americans are in the NCAA Tournament:

• First Team: Bueckers (UConn), Dana Evans (Louisville), Aliyah Boston (South Carolina), Rhyne Howard (Kentucky), NaLyssa Smith (Baylor) 
• Second Team: Elissa Cunane (NC State), Naz Hillmon (Michigan), Aari McDonald (Arizona), Caitlin Clark (Iowa), Charli Collier (Texas)
• Third Team: Natasha Mack (Oklahoma State), Ashley Owusu (Maryland), Michaela Onyenwere (UCLA), Kiana Williams (Stanford), Chelsea Dungee (Arkansas)

The big picture: Bueckers may hog the headlines, but the story of this year’s All-American pool is its depth. 

• The Second Team includes the likely No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft (Collier) and the nation’s leading scorer (Clark). 
• The Third Team features three potential first-round draftees (Mack, Williams and Dungee). 
• Tl;dr: this NCAA Tournament is full of gamers, and the future of the W is in very good hands. 

The NCAA’s split soccer season is coming together. 

• Some teams, like Florida State, already played a fall season. (The Seminoles, in fact, are already ACC Champs.) They’re now jumping back on the field. 
• Other teams, like 2019 NCAA champ Stanford, just began playing this winter. 
• All teams are now building toward the College Cup. 

Top squads: 1. Florida State, 2. UNC, 3. UCLA, 4. TCU, 5. Duke, 6. Vanderbilt, 7. West Virginia, 8. Clemson, 9. Virginia, 10. South Carolina

Top stories: 

• What happened to Stanford? The (still) defending Champs lost Catarina Macario to Europe, but no one expected them to come out of the gates 1-2. They’ve since won three in a row and could be finding their groove. 
• The ACC is Queen: With five teams in the Top 10, the ACC is re-asserting itself as the best conference in the country after the Pac 12 finished with three-quarters of the last College Cup (in 2019).
• NWSL Draftees: Seven first-round NWSL picks are playing out their final collegiate seasons after Covid bumped soccer to the spring. All seven have been named to the Hermann Trophy Watch List. 

Up next: the College Cup, typically in December, will be played this May.

NCAA Volleyball is likewise humming along in its delayed fall season, though Covid has prevented some of the biggest programs from finding a rhythm. 

No. 1 Wisconsin was supposed to play No. 4 Minnesota last night. It would have been the Badgers first match since February (when they went on a Covid pause) as well as their first against a Top 10 team. 

• The game was postponed due to an outbreak among the Golden Gophers. 
• FWIW: the teams are still scheduled to play Sunday, 8:00pm ET on BTN. Fingers crossed. 

Today: No. 3 Kentucky vs No. 7 Florida, 1:00pm ET on SEC Network+

• The Wildcats are 16-0. The Gators have won 11 in a row. Something has to give in this SEC clash. 

AVCA Coaches Top 10: 1. Wisconsin, 2. Texas, 3. Kentucky, 4. Minnesota, 5. Nebraska, 6. Baylor, 7. Florida, 8. Washington, 9. Ohio State, 10. Purdue. 

Looking ahead: the entire 48-team NCAA Championship tournament will be held in Omaha, Nebraska, from April 13th through the 24th.

• The No. 1 team in the country is 22-0 as they enter the heart of their season. And while we don’t want to jinx them, these Sooners are firmly on track to end up an all-time squad. 

• 13 shutouts in their 22 games, during which they’ve outscored their opponents 267-25. 
• 77 homers this season. (Yes, that’s more than three a game.) 
• .470: their total batting average. (Their slugging average is .926.)
• 1.30: their combined ERA. 

New Balance has dropped a limited edition set of custom “Sweet Chaos” Tekela V3 cleats for USWNT midfielder Rose Lavelle. 

• Lavelle’s all-white, laceless boots feature a signature “Rose” logo on the heel.
• Only 116 pairs were made (in honor of Lavelle’s number 16). 
• If you hurry, you might be able to grab one. 

The big picture: we want more female athletes with signature cleats! 

• But in all seriousness, it’s awesome to see brands step up and make dope products for dope players. 

Catarina Macario, meanwhile, has announced that she has signed with Adidas. 

• The signing could prove to be a steal for the three stripes, given Macario’s potential and the fact that Nike has traditionally been the brand to scoop up USWNT stars. 

• The USWNT will take on France April 13 in Le Havre. Get pumped by watching highlights of their epic 2019 World Cup clash. 
• Concacaf is planning to launch a women’s soccer Champions League after the 2023 World Cup. Love it.
• WNBA 25th Anniversary swag is officially for sale. 
• The WNBA Players Association, meanwhile, is set to receive the Jackie Robinson Sports Award from the NAACP. Well deserved(!).

• Sports are coming back, as you’ve probably noticed, and one of the best ways to keep in touch with all the biggest stories is The GIST’s newsletter. 
• Made by women and covering both men’s and women’s sports, this 3x-a-week newsletter is a staple of the JWS staff’s media diet. Subscribe here!

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