The Final Four is almost here. Each of the four teams remaining in the NCAA women’s tournament has made at least four previous trips to the national semifinals.

UConn leads the way and will be making its 22nd Final Four appearance on Friday while Stanford will be making its 15th. South Carolina and Louisville will each be making their fourth appearances.

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UConn: 22

With 21 previous Final Four appearances, UConn is no stranger to the game’s biggest stage. The Huskies have featured in every Final Four since 2008, making 14 straight runs to the semifinals, and they have gone on to win the tournament seven times in that span.

In the Huskies’ 21 appearances before this season, the team advanced to – and won – the NCAA tournament final 11 times. UConn has never finished as the runner-up in the NCAA tournament, which just adds to the program’s impressive résumé.

Minneapolis, the site of this year’s Final Four, holds special meaning for the Huskies – it’s where UConn won their first national title in 1995.

Stanford: 15

Both Tara VanDerveer and Geno Auriemma joined their respective teams in 1985 and, since then, have brought them unprecedented success. While UConn’s Final Four success has no equal, Stanford and Tennessee are the only two other programs to reach more than 14 Final Fours.

Since its two NCAA titles in the ’90s, Stanford has made eight other Final Four runs – including last year when the Cardinal won the title again. Twice they’ve been runner-up, in 2008 and 2010.

Tennessee, UConn and USC are the only teams to win back-to-back national titles. Stanford will be looking to become the fourth this season, and if the Cardinal pull it off, they’ll join an elite club of champions.

South Carolina: 4

Unlike Stanford and UConn, South Carolina’s Final Four dominance has come within the last 10 years. After making their first Final Four in 2015, the Gamecocks made their second in 2017 and went on to win their first national title.

South Carolina made the Final Four again last year, losing to eventual champion Stanford by one point.

Since then, they’ve only gotten better, finishing the 2021-22 regular season the wire-to-wire No. 1 team in the nation.

Louisville: 4

While Louisville has made the Final Four three times prior to Friday and the championship game twice, the Cardinals have yet to win a national championship.

But they’ve been one of the nation’s better – if not slightly underrated – teams in the past few years, making the Final Four in 2018. All four of their appearances have come in the Jeff Walz era.

“We’ve been pretty good all year,” said Walz after the team’s Elite Eight win. “It’s not this year. You go back five years, we’ve won the third-most games.”

Naomi Osaka advanced to the third round of the 2026 Australian Open with a three-set victory over Sorana Cirstea on Thursday.

But the hard-fought win was overshadowed by a heated exchange at the net and a subsequent public apology from the former Japanese fan favorite.

After Osaka defeated the unseeded 35-year-old 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 at Margaret Court Arena, the two shared a tense handshake before Cirstea reportedly called Osaka out for her on-court conduct. The issue apparently centered on Osaka’s habit of shouting "Come on!" to celebrate points, specifically between Cirstea’s first and second serves — a move the Romanian considered both a distraction and a breach of sportsmanship.

In her immediate postmatch interview, Osaka dismissed Cirstea's complaints.

"Apparently a lot of 'come-ons' that she was angry about, but whatever," Osaka said. "I think this was her last Australian Open, so, okay, sorry she was mad about it."

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However, during her subsequent press conference, Osaka apologized for her dismissive tone.

"I'm a little confused. I guess that emotions were very high for her," Osaka said. " I also want to apologize. I think the first couple of things that I said on the court were disrespectful. I don't like disrespecting people. That's not what I do."

Osaka went on to clarify that her vocal outbursts are self-motivating and not an attempt to rattle her opponent.

Cirstea, who recently announced that the 2026 season will be her last on the WTA Tour, later downplayed the incident. She called it a "five-second exchange between two players," insisting that "there was no drama."

Osaka, the No. 16 seed, will next face unseeded Australian Maddison Inglis in the third round on Friday.

How to watch Naomi Osaka at the Australian Open this week

No. 16 Naomi Osaka takes the court against Australia's Maddison Inglis this Friday (time TBA), live on ESPN.

While competing at the 2026 Australian Open this week, US tennis star Coco Gauff is giving back to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), with the world No. 3 WTA player announcing a $150,000 donation to the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) to fund HBCU tennis scholarships on Tuesday.

"Education has the power to change lives, and I hope this gift will help students achieve their dreams," said Gauff in a Tuesday statement.

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Even more, this week's donation marks the two-time Grand Slam champion's second UNCF contribution in as many years, with her $100,000 pledge in 2025 bringing Gauff's total gift to $250,000.

"I feel like HBCU tennis a lot of times doesn't get the funding that they need," Gauff said after advancing to Thursday night's Australian Open third round. "I would always try to uplift marginalized communities and support where I can."

One of the youngest major donors in organization's 80-year history, the 21-year-old star's Coco Gauff Scholarship Program has already sponsored multiple HBCU tennis athletes.

"My family has a deep-rooted history with HBCUs," Gauff wrote in a 2025 press release. "As a young Black athlete, I understand how impactful it is to see people who look like me thriving in both sports and education…. My hope is that this scholarship gives more young Black players the confidence to chase their dreams, knowing they have a strong community behind them and a bright future ahead."

PWHL players made their voices heard this week, as The Athletic published the results of the third-year league's first-ever anonymous player poll on Wednesday, surveying athletes on everything from the best trash-talkers to which nation's team will win Olympic gold at next month's 2026 Winter Games.

Leading the poll's individual accolades is 34-year-old Team Canada and Montréal Victoire captain Marie-Philip Poulin, dubbed the PWHL's best player by 80% of respondents.

Poulin's Team USA counterpart, Seattle Torrent forward Hilary Knight, snagged second as each standout prepares for a fifth career Olympic run.

As for who will win gold in Italy, all but one player predicted a Canada vs. USA Olympic Final, with a 50/50 split on the eventual victor.

Athletes also answered overarching questions about the growing league in the player poll, with Detroit earning the most nods as a PWHL expansion city — though Denver and Chicago also scored double-digit votes.

As for the future face of the league, current New York Sirens forward and 2024 PWHL No. 1 draftee Sarah Fillier narrowly edged out current University of Wisconsin senior and Team USA Olympic defender Caroline Harvey in the players' poll.

Toronto Sceptres forward Emma Maltais beat out Montréal's Abby Roque by one vote for the title of top PWHL trash-talker, though most players tapped her for quantity over quality — an assessment Maltais herself agrees with.

"I'm not trash-talking," clarified the 26-year-old Canadian. "I'm just yapping."

WNBA star Angel Reese is lighting up the silver screen, with the Chicago Sky forward racking up multiple film and TV credits during the league's offseason.

On Tuesday, Netflix revealed that Reese will play a character called "Trainer Barbie" in the second season of the streamer's hit show, The Hunting Wives.

Already a fan of the series, Reese's told Hunting Wives creator Rebecca Cutter to "just let me know if you need me for season 2" on X last summer — a conversation that helped spark the basketball star's casting.

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Tuesday's news follows last week's announcement that Reese and Las Vegas Aces star center A'ja Wilson will each voice a role in the upcoming animated film GOAT, produced by the NBA's Golden State Warriors superstar Steph Curry.

When the film hits theaters on February 13th, fans will see Reese as Propp, a polar bear, while Wilson plays a reptile called Kouyate.

Reese first opened her acting portfolio by playing herself in a cameo in the October 2025 Netflix film A House of Dynamite, with Hunting Wives marking the 23-year-old's first foray into a scripted series.

The eight-episode second season of the Netflix show is currently in production, though a premiere date is still unknown.