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NCAAM Soobum Im / Getty Images The Pulse Newsletter ? | This is The Athletic’s daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox. Good morning! Make a basket “on purpose” today. Coming up: We have talked so, so much about your brackets this week, and rightfully so. Making picks and competing against your friends around a shared event is a beautifully pure form of community. Advertisement But I’d like to look past brackets for a bit this morning, as teams board buses to head to their games today. Arguably the greatest sporting event in our country tips off in mere hours, and the best part doesn’t lie in choosing the right upset or winning your pool. It’s about the stories and the emotions we see on screen, game after game, in both triumph and defeat. A few notes on today through that lens: Andy Enfield doesn't seem amused ? pic. twitter. com/uwaiph2aqk — CBS Sports (@CBSSports) March 19, 2026 We’ll have some more on the women’s tournament tomorrow for its tipoff. And yes, I’m not leaving you without some last-minute bracket advice: We have a full guide for procrastinators. Get to typing. Pulse men’s tourney picks: Enjoy the day. We’ll have everything you need to know tomorrow. Firstly: Wow. Look at this spread on yesterday’s Matt Leinart poll: If you didn’t catch yesterday’s edition, we asked readers if, in light of Leinart’s comments indicating he has refused to un-retire his No. 11 at USC, the Trojan legend was correct to feel the way he did. Nearly all of you supported the 42-year-old Leinart. And I agree. It’s a casualty of our new reality: And, as Until Saturday writer Jason Kirk posed to me: Should we stop retiring numbers, anyway? My heart says no, as seeing another LSU player wear No. 9 would end me. But there may be a cold truth there, too. This is laundry we’re talking about, anyway, and what happens when a school has 45 numbers left in a couple of decades? Thank you for voting. Moving on: Impact of the WNBA’s new CBA
Finally, the WNBA can move. For all the bluster about the league’s incredible financial come-up in the last few years, the lingering and often bitter negotiation about a new collective bargaining agreement finally ended late Tuesday night. Now the league and its players can focus on other important things: an expansion draft, a college draft and, most of all, free agency, where WNBA stars are set to see salaries skyrocket. Sabreena Merchant has more details on the road ahead. Advertisement The “No Offseason” podcast crew, including brand new co-host Layshia Clarendon (a former WNBPA VP), reacted to the deal in a special emergency episode last night, which is worth a listen today. Giannis, Bucks again at odds
The Milwaukee Bucks and franchise centerpiece Giannis Antetokounmpo are once again in disagreement over his future, as the team prefers Antetokounmpo — who has missed 32 games this year due to injury — sit out the remaining 14 games on the schedule to fully heal for the offseason … in which he could be traded. Antetokounmpo, meanwhile, is steadfast in his desire to finish the year on the floor. Can these two break up already? Sorry. See the full context here. More news: ? Find more news here 24/7. ? NCAAM: All tournament games
12: 15 p. m. -10: 10 p. m. ET on CBS, TNT, TBS and tru TV
Just find a screen somewhere, whether that’s furtively on your work laptop, a sports bar, your couch, whatever. This is a day of dreams. Embrace it. Get tickets to games like these here. The World Baseball Classic is gone, and Opening Day nears. Keith Law has breakout player candidates for the coming MLB season. See the list. Just as valuable: this year’s MLB Hope-O-Meter, which measures how each fan base is feeling heading into 2026. Vote here. NBA expansion? Jay King says the league has issues to fix first. Also: Can Las Vegas even support a team? Speaking of Maxx Crosby: What goes into an NFL physical anyway? Jayna Bardahl wrote about the entire process, and how it can go wrong. Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: The Leinart poll. Most-read on the website yesterday: Men’s NCAA Tournament consensus picks. ? That’s all for now! Say hello at thepulse@theathletic. com, and check out our other newsletters. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle Chris Branch is a senior writer for The Athletic's daily newsletter. Before joining The Athletic, he covered the Phillies for The News-Journal and worked as a content strategist for various industries. He graduated from LSU, where he worked for The Daily Reveille. Follow Chris on Twitter @cbranch89