The conversation around a joint men's and women's Final Four has resurfaced.

UConn is back on top of women’s basketball, winning its 12th national championship by routing defending champion South Carolina 82-59 behind Azzi Fudd’s 24 points.

The women’s Final Four is full of star players, top seeds and historic programs.

Hailey Van Lith's memorable five-year college basketball career is over.

Lauren Betts had 17 points and seven rebounds despite spending the entire second quarter on the bench, and top overall seed UCLA reached its first Final Four of the women’s NCAA Tournament with a 72-65 victory over LSU.

With back-to-back games of at least 30-plus points and 10 or more rebounds, UCLA center Lauren Betts certainly appears unstoppable.

Aneesah Morrow had 30 points and 19 rebounds, Kailyn Gilbert had a critical block that set up Mikaylah Williams' a go-ahead layup with 1:07 remaining, and No. 3 seed LSU rallied past second-seeded N.

As the NCAA Tournament heats up, the styles of Notre Dame's Niele Ivey, LSU’s Kim Mulkey, Alabama’s Nate Oats, South Carolina’s Dawn Staley and a handful of other coaches stand out in a sea of coaches in team polo shirts and quarter-zip pullovers.

Madison Booker scored 25 points, and No. 1 Texas held on to beat ninth-ranked LSU 56-49 on Saturday night to advance to the Southeastern Conference Tournament championship game.

South Carolina showed once more who’s in charge of the Southeastern Conference.

No. 2 South Carolina and No. 5 LSU featured the last two national champions and two of the best teams in the country this season.

Being a private person from a small town is why Kim Caldwell keeps her business to herself.

The WNBA now has all of its head coaching spots filled after there were eight open positions this offseason.

Caitlin Clark made nine 3-pointers and finished with 41 points and 12 assists in a sensational performance as Iowa knocked defending national champion LSU out of the women’s NCAA Tournament with a 94-87 victory, advancing the Hawkeyes to their second straight Final Four.

The 3-point line for the women’s NCAA Tournament at Moda Center had a discrepancy in distance at each end of the court that went unnoticed through four games over two days before Texas and North Carolina State were informed of the problem ahead of their Elite Eight matchup.

The Los Angeles Times has edited a column it published last week about the LSU women’s basketball team ahead of its game against UCLA following criticism from Tigers coach Kim Mulkey, who blasted it as sexist and hurtful.

In a women’s NCAA Tournament where Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, LSU coach Kim Mulkey and undefeated South Carolina have dominated the headlines, the Pac-12 Conference is making sure it doesn’t go away quietly in its final season.

Angel Reese had 20 points and 11 rebounds and third-seeded LSU responded to a nine-point third-quarter deficit with a dominant finish to defeat upstart No. 11 seed Middle Tennessee 83-56 in the second round of the women’s NCAA Tournament.

LSU coach Kim Mulkey is sharply criticizing and threatening legal action against The Washington Post.

Coach Jeff Walz and Louisville have knocked a reigning national champion out of the women’s NCAA Tournament in the past.

Bree Hall made a go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:14 remaining, and No. 1 South Carolina rallied from an 11-point deficit to beat ninth-ranked and defending national champion LSU 76-70.

LSU forward Angel Reese helped the Tigers beat Virginia Tech in her return from a four-game absence.

LSU star forward Angel Reese is ending her four-game absence and rejoining the No. 7 Tigers in advance of their match-up with ninth-ranked Virginia Tech on Thursday night.

LSU star Angel Reese hasn't been seen with the seventh-ranked and defending national champion Tigers since they arrived at the Cayman Islands Classic basketball tournament.

The unexplained absence of LSU star forward Angel Reese is bringing unwanted scrutiny to No. 7 LSU and coach Kim Mulkey as they try to defend their national title.

It was a wild and historic opening day in women’s college basketball with a monumental upset and stellar debuts.

Defending national champion and No. 1 LSU lost to No. 20 Colorado 92-78 on Monday night in the Hall of Fame Series.

For the second consecutive year, Caitlin Clark of Iowa is a unanimous pick for The Associated Press preseason All-America team in women's basketball.

LSU is ranked No. 1 in the preseason AP Top 25 women's basketball poll for the first time in school history.

LSU women's basketball coach Kim Mulkey is publicizing that she had two stents put in a major artery this summer in an effort to promote screening for life-threatening arterial blockages.

A person familiar with the situation says LSU women's basketball coach Kim Mulkey has agreed to a 10-year contract worth about $32 million.

The NCAA's first girls basketball academy is being called a big success.

President Joe Biden has appealed for more support for female athletes during a White House event celebrating Louisiana State's championship women's basketball team.

President Joe Biden has scrapped the idea of inviting to the White House the NCAA champion Louisiana State women’s basketball team along with Iowa’s players, who lost the title to LSU.

LSU’s 102-85 victory over Iowa in Sunday’s national championship game was the most-viewed NCAA women’s basketball game on record.

LSU’s national championship women’s basketball team has returned to campus where thousands of fans gathered to welcome them back.

This year’s record-breaking women’s NCAA Tournament featured breakout stars, upsets and capped off with the flamboyant Kim Mulkey leading LSU to its first basketball championship.

LSU's Angel Reese isn't apologizing over gestures toward Iowa star Caitlin Clark late in the Tigers' 102-85 victory in the NCAA championship game.

LSU won its first basketball title in school history, overcoming Caitlin Clark and Iowa 102-85 in the national championship game.

Iowa coach Lisa Bluder is celebrating the state's 6-on-6 heritage with the Hawkeyes a win away from their first national title.

Caitlin Clark has captured the attention of basketball fans with her historic performance in the NCAA Tournament.

LSU is going to the women's national championship game for the first time.

LSU coach Kim Mulkey says she hasn't spoken to Brittney Griner since the former Baylor star returned to the U.S. from a Russian prison.

LSU coach Kim Mulkey is returning to Texas for another Final Four.

South Carolina is two wins away from completing the 10th undefeated season in women's college basketball history.

Angel Reese had 18 rebounds and LSU returned to the women’s Final Four for the first time in 15 years by beating Miami 54-42.

Alexis Morris hit two foul shots with 10 seconds to play as No. 3 seed LSU reached the Elite Eight for the first time since 2008, beating second-seeded Utah 66-63, Down 64-63, the Utes had a chance to back in front, but Jenna Johnson — a near 75% foul shooter — missed both attempts with 4.7 seconds to go.

There will be no Big 12 regular-season title for the Baylor women for the first time in 13 seasons.

Kamilla Cardoso had 18 points and 13 rebounds, Zia Cooke scored 17 and No. 1 South Carolina beat third-ranked LSU 88-64 in a showdown of the last two unbeaten teams.

Angel Reese had 30 points and 19 rebounds to tie a LSU record with 19 straight double-doubles and the third-ranked and unbeaten Tigers pushed their program-record winning streak to 19 games with a 79-76 victory over Arkansas on Thursday night.

Seimone Augustus has become the first female athlete at LSU to have a statue unveiled on campus.

South Carolina remains the unanimous choice at No. 1 in The Associated Press women's basketball poll.

Rylan Bannon became just the third Baltimore player since 2000 to get a hit on the first pitch of his big league career, Jorge Mateo and Anthony Bemboom homered and the Orioles beat the St. Louis Cardinals 3-2.

Kim Mulkey is The Associated Press women's basketball Coach of the Year in her first season at LSU.

Hannah Sjerven scored 16 points and Chloe Lamb had 15 as the 10th-seeded South Dakota women beat Baylor 61-47 to advance to their first Sweet 16.

LSU has moved into the top 10 of The Associated Press women's basketball poll for the first time in 13 years.

The Michigan women's basketball team is now ranked sixth in The Associated Press Top 25.

South Carolina remains the No. 1 team in The Associated Press women’s college basketball poll despite its first loss of the season.

Tennessee is back in the top 10 of the women’s AP Top 25 for the first time in nearly three years.

The Associated Press preseason women's All-America team is out and Paige Bueckers of UConn is a unanimous choice.

South Carolina coach Dawn Staley has received a seven-year contract worth $22.4 million.

Kobe Bryant is in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame now, along with contemporaries Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett, headliners of a group of nine who got their delayed and long-awaited enshrinement on Saturday night, more than a year after being announced as the Hall’s Class of 2020.

Vanessa Bryant got a private tour to see some of the newly remodeled Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Friday, viewing the exhibit that will honor the life and legacy of her late husband before the rest of the world gets their first look.

Kobe.

Hall of Fame coach Kim Mulkey has left Baylor to return home and take over the LSU women’s basketball team.

Michael Jordan will present Kobe Bryant for induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame next month.

Haley Jones scored 17 points and Stanford beat Arizona 54-53, giving the Cardinal and coach Tara VanDerveer their first national championship in 29 years.

(AP Photo/Darron Cummings, File)SAN ANTONIO – Maryland coach Brenda Frese was honored as The Associated Press women's basketball coach of the year Wednesday for the second time in her career. Frese received eight votes from the 30-member national media panel that votes on the weekly AP Top 25. Obviously its going to be one I never forget,” said Frese, who also was AP coach of the year 19 years ago when she was at Minnesota. When Maryland won the Big Ten Tournament, Frese's father and mother, Donna, were in the stands in Indianapolis. “It's a memory I’ll cherish for a lifetime.”___More AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/Womenscollegebasketball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

Bueckers scored 28 points and top seed UConn used a huge run spanning the final two quarters to beat No. 2 Baylor 69-67 on Monday night and reach a 13th consecutive Final Four in the women’s NCAA Tournament. After a timeout, Baylor fouled Christyn Williams, who missed both free throws to give the Lady Bears one last chance. The Lady Bears (28-3) had won the previous two, including a 74-58 win at Connecticut in January of 2020. The Lady Bears closed the action-packed first quarter with a 20-10 run and trailed 26-24 after one.

As of Saturday, there had been two confirmed positive tests at the women's tournament with over 15,400 administered. PAC-12 STRENGTHThe Pac-12 is showcasing its strength at the NCAA Tournament in both the men’s and women’s events. Six conference teams qualified for the women’s tournament: Stanford, Oregon, Oregon State, Arizona, Washington State and UCLA. And it’s led to some mutual support: Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer has been texting Oregon State men’s coach Wayne Tinkle, among others. Night in and night out in the Pac-12, we’re playing teams like Stanford, UCLA, great teams, Oregon State, Oregon.

... Oregon State opponents are shooting just 31.3% overall and 23.1% from 3-point range in the NCAA Tournament. That Missouri squad lost a regional final to an Oklahoma team coached by Kelvin Sampson, who’s now at Houston. … Arkansas is in a regional final for the first time since 1995, when it lost to UCLA in the championship game. … Arkansas’ Justin Smith is averaging 20.3 points and 11 rebounds in three NCAA Tournament games. Arizona and Indiana are both in an NCAA regional final for the first time.

The freshman guard has lived up to it so far, delivering record-breaking performances and earning a spot on The Associated Press women's basketball All-American team Wednesday. She's only the third freshman to make the AP team, joining Oklahoma's Courtney Paris and UConn's Maya Moore. “Name one player that has taken a team this young to where we are today," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. She became the school's first women's basketball All-American last season. She was joined by Naz Hillmon, who is the first women's player at Michigan to earn All-America honors.

6 Baylor beat West Virginia 76-50 to win the Big 12 Tournament on Sunday. It is the ninth Big 12 Championship in the last 10 tournaments for top-seeded Baylor (25-2). Dijonai Carrington added 14 and Moon Ursin had 12 points and 10 rebounds as the Lady Bears won their 17th straight game. “We didn’t shoot the ball well and took a lot of bad shots,” West Virginia coach Mike Carey said. AdThe Lady Bears dominated in the paint outrebounding West Virginia 46-33 and scoring 54 points in the paint.

South Carolina coach Dawn Staley confers with forward Aliyah Boston on the sideline during the second half of the team's NCAA college basketball game against Mississippi State in Starkville, Miss., Thursday, Jan. 28, 2021. 1 in The Associated Press women's college basketball poll. South Carolina, which originally fell from the top spot after losing to North Carolina State, beat the Huskies last season for the first time in eight tries. Here are other tidbits from the poll:MILESTONEMonday marked the 800th women's college basketball poll in the AP's history. Ad___More AP women's college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

“And those players that don’t want to play, don’t have to play,” he said. “And those coaches that don’t want to coach, don’t have to coach. “The NCAA has to have the almighty dollar from the men’s tournament," she said. “Maybe it’s easy if you’re at a Power Five football school and you’re making millions and millions and millions of dollars,” Auriemma said. ___More AP women’s basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

UConn has two more chances to play nonconference ranked teams, with Tennessee and South Carolina on the schedule. Conversely on the men's side, a majority of the current Top 25 have played at least one ranked nonconference opponent. The lack of marquee nonconference matchups could cause the NCAA women’s basketball selection committee some agita when trying to figure out who deserves to be in the NCAA Tournament and where teams should be seeded. We’ll have lively discussions.”Longtime ESPN and CBS analyst Deb Antonelli was sad that so many women's basketball games have been canceled or postponed. “COVID is COVID and we don’t want to penalize a team for the uncontrollable.”___More AP women’s basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

3 UConn after Lady Bears coach Kim Mulkey tested positive for COVID-19. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)The Latest on the effects of the coronavirus outbreak on sports around the world:___Browns coach Kevin Stefanski expects to be back with his team this week after missing Sunday night’s playoff win over Pittsburgh with COVID-19. Stefanski tested positive for the novel coronavirus last week and had to watch Cleveland’s 48-37 victory over the Steelers from his home’s basement. ___The Baylor women’s basketball team has had another game postponed because of COVID-19 issues. Coach Kim Mulkey missed that game after being exposed at Christmas to a family member who tested positive for the virus.

(Stu Forster/Pool via AP)The Latest on the effects of the coronavirus outbreak on sports around the world:___Oaklawn Park in Arkansas plans to allow limited fans during its winter-spring horse racing meet that runs Jan. 22-May 1. Current season box seat-holders and Oaklawn Jockey Club members can enter the grandstand with weekly reservations. The switch gives St. Pete promoters hope that more spectators will be permitted to attend the popular street festival as pandemic restrictions loosen. That move opened room on the schedule for St. Pete to request a later race date. The season ultimately did not start until June and St. Pete was moved to October as the finale.

Baylor head coach Kim Mulkey is shown during the second half of an NCAA women's college basketball game against South Florida Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020, in Tampa, Fla. No. 3 UConn after Lady Bears coach Kim Mulkey tested positive for COVID-19. 3 UConn after Lady Bears coach Kim Mulkey tested positive for COVID-19. Baylor said it began restricting team activities after Mulkey tested positive on Monday, the same day she had been planning to rejoin the team. Auriemma said he and Louisville coach Jeff Walz have talked the last couple of weeks about finding a time to play each other.

Oregon State lost its lone game last week, falling to Washington State and dropping out of the poll from No. 1 for the third consecutive week. Louisville, UConn, North Carolina State and South Carolina followed the Cardinal again in the poll. Michigan State replaced Oregon State in the poll, coming in at No. South Carolina (157), Mississippi State (120) and Louisville (93) are the only other teams that had longer active streaks than Oregon State's.

The NCAA announced Monday that San Antonio is the likely host site for the 64-team tournament next March. The NCAA expects the tournament to be played in late March and early April as usual, though there is a chance it could be shorter. “We don’t have an answer for that today.”This won’t be the first time a women’s tournament will be played at one site. From 1972-1977, the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women played a 16-team postseason tournament at one site. The NCAA Tournament was first played in 1982.

The NCAA Division I Council on Wednesday, June 17, 2020, approved a plan to allow college basketball players to start working with their coaches for the first time since the pandemic wiped out March Madness. The summer access period for men's and women's players will begin July 20. The summer access period for men's and women's players will begin July 20. The NCAA basketball tournaments were cancelled days before the fields were scheduled to be selected because of the coronavirus outbreak. It will also consider adding more activities for basketball players during the July 1-19 period.

FILE - In this April 13, 2016, file photo, Los Angeles Lakers forward Kobe Bryant smiles during the first half of his last NBA basketball game, against the Utah Jazz in Los Angeles. Because of the coronavirus outbreak, the reopening has been pushed back two months to July 1 and the induction ceremony is being postponed, either to October or the spring. Complicating the potential possibility of a spring 2021 induction: The Hall doesnt know what the NBA and college basketball seasons will look like then. Doleva said the Hall decided against inducting Bryant alone and gave no thought to having a separate ceremony for him. Theyre all Hall of Famers, and all Hall of Famers are equal in the eyes of the museum.___More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports