Up Next

What Had Happened Was

What Had Happened Was: 4/3/17

Oh, you didn’t know? We got you.

Up Next From Sports

    South Carolina brings home national championship, defeats Mississippi State
    South Carolina Gamecocks forward A’ja Wilson (22) holds the trophy after South Carolina defeated Mississippi State 67-55 to win the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship on Sunday, April 2, 2017 at American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. (Richard W. Rodriguez/Fort Worth Star-Telegram/TNS
    Rhiannon Walker By @InstantRHIplay

    GAME. BLOUSES.

    Is there any lead that could possibly do justice to the fact that Mississippi State, a year after losing to UConn by 60 in the most lopsided regional semifinal in NCAA tournament history, defeated the Huskies, 66-64, after the latter had gone 865 days without experiencing a loss?

    Would it have been better to start this story by talking about the hero, the ever-determined Bulldogs guard Morgan William, who lost her father three years ago and hit the game-winning jumper in overtime to propel the Bulldogs to the title game?

    She did drop 41 points, the most by an SEC player in the women’s tournament, in the Bulldogs’ upset of No. 1 seed Baylor, a game she dedicated to her father.

    Maybe the lead should include Mississippi State coach Vic Schaefer coming up with the best coaching strategy — better than Notre Dame coach Digger Phelps’ game plan that thwarted UCLA’s 88-game winning streak in 1975 — to put a kibosh on UConn’s 111-game winning streak in the national semifinals March 31.

    Huskies coach Geno Auriemma broke out into a smile, and after the game he said he knew the shot was good as soon as he saw it leave William’s hands. Even though his team hasn’t lost since an overtime defeat to Stanford on Nov. 17, 2014, Auriemma could appreciate the way both teams left everything on the court and the way Mississippi State rose to the occasion.

    “I live for moments like this,” William told ESPN. “UConn, they’re an incredible team. For me to make that shot against them, it’s unbelievable. I’m still in shock right now. I wanted to take the shot. I wanted to take the shot, and I made it.”

    Schaefer consumed William in a bear hug, with former Mississippi State quarterback and current Dallas Cowboys star Dak Prescott embodying the kind of elation many felt after watching one of the greatest college basketball games ever.

    UConn rallied from a 16-point deficit, its biggest during its NCAA-record streak, to take a 59-56 lead in the fourth quarter. The teams were tied at 60 apiece when the Bulldogs had a chance to win it in regulation, but William’s shot was blocked by UConn’s Gabby Williams, sending the game into overtime.

    https://twitter.com/KerithBurke/status/848027953770442756

    BLESSINGS

    SOCIAL STATUS

    FOR THE CULTURE

     

    There was no wave of compassion when addicts were hooked on crack.

    Girls go missing and Washington, D.C’s, racial divide yawns wider.

    There is something powerful about attending an institution that was built for you.

    Brooklyn student accepted to 11 medical schools shares her study tips.

    Two Houston doctors facing removal by immigration officials are granted temporary stay.

    TOP THREE TWEETS

    1. PLEASE DON’T DO IT

    2. FACTS ON FACTS ON FACTS

    3. SELENA DID NOT COME TO PLAY

    ICYMI

    PICTURE PERFECT

    Rhiannon Walker is an associate editor at The Undefeated. She is a drinker of Sassy Cow Creamery chocolate milk, an owner of an extensive Disney VHS collection, and she might have a heart attack if Frank Ocean doesn't drop his second album.

    This Story Tagged: What Had Happened Was NCW Morgan William Mississippi State Bulldogs UConn Huskies