The Stanford Cardinal own 2021.
It was a ridiculous season for Stanford women's basketball. The team was required to spend weeks away from home - nine weeks, to be exact - during the regular season because of COVID-19 restrictions in their California county, and it got to the point where head coach Tara VanDerveer didn't know if she could continue away from Palo Alto.
Well, she could, Stanford did, and now her team is the national champion.
The Cardinal narrowly outlasted No. 3 seed Arizona, 54-53, which was on a magical run of its own in its first-ever national championship game. Wildcats guard Aari McDonald, who ended the game with 22 points and was the hero for the team throughout this tournament, had a heave from the top of the key in the game's final seconds, but it drew only iron.
This is only the third national championship in Stanford's history and first since 1992, which is incredible considering how consistently in the mix the Cardinal have been over the years. Under VanDerveer, Stanford has made the NCAA Tournament every single year since 1988 and been to 27 Sweet 16s, 21 Elite Eights and 14 Final Fours in that time. This was the team's first return to the title game since 2010.
It's the second-straight game Stanford has won by one point, escaping South Carolina's last-second attempt to upend it, too, in the Final Four. Haley Jones was a big reason why.
The sophomore, who was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player after averaging 14.1 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 3.1 assists in the event, put up a team-high 17 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the field in the title game, plus nabbed eight rebounds Monday night.
Now for some other news from across the sport this week:
Nothing But News: March 30-April 5, 2021
The men's national championship game is set for No. 1 seed Gonzaga versus No. 1 seed Baylor - perhaps one of the most highly-anticipated men's title games of all time. We got here from a blowout win for the Bears over No. 2 seed Houston in the Final Four and the Zags pulling off a buzzer-beating overtime victory over No. 11 seed UCLA in one of the best games ever played.
Roy Williams retired after 33 seasons - 18 at North Carolina, 15 at Kansas. He leaves the sport with three national championships (2005, 2009, 2017), nine Final Fours (1991, 1993, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2016, 2017), 16 regular season conference titles, and seven conference tournament championships.
Texas found its next men's basketball coach. The Longhorns hired Chris Beard, snatching him away from in-state competitor Texas Tech, to replace Shaka Smart, who left for the Marquette job in March.
Maryland signed head men's basketball coach Mark Turgeon to an extension, then immediately gained commitments from two impact transfers - Qudus Wahab (Georgetown) and Fatts Russell (Rhode Island).
The Milwaukee Bucks signed Jrue Holiday to a four-year contract extension worth at least $134 million.
Now that the women's NCAA Tournament is over, attention can turn to the 2021 WNBA Draft, which is set for April 15. CBS Sports broke down what each WNBA team should look for in the draft.
The conversation (or debate or argument, however you want to frame it) between Draymond Green and prominent female basketball players, as well as other female athletes, continued, this time with Green doubling down on his previous comments.