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The 2023 NCAA Women’s National Championship game was a highly anticipated matchup between LSU and Iowa, with stars Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark expected to take center stage.

However, in the first half neither were able to be the consistent story due to foul trouble that sidelined both, which meant there was opportunity for someone other than the big names to become the headliner. Luckily for LSU, Jasmine Carson was ready for the spotlight, as she stepped up to hit all seven of her first half shots, including five three-pointers as she led the Tigers to a 59-42 lead at the break.

Her final three of the half came at the buzzer on a wild bank shot to end the second quarter, which told the story of LSU’s opening half.

The Tigers seemingly could not miss against Iowa’s defense that was so focused on trying to deny paint touches to LSU’s bigs, that they let the guards have plenty of looks from deep. After executing the strategy to perfection against South Carolina, LSU was ready for Iowa and, most crucially, buried jumper after jumper as the Hawkeyes tried to pack the paint.

LSU would push their lead out over 20 points early in the second half, but then Clark and Iowa would mount their first big run of the game, as they started to see shots fall, steadily chipping the LSU lead down to single digits — with Clark setting the all-time women’s tournament record for points in a single tournament in the process.

However, while Iowa was able to make that initial run, they could never close the gap on the Tigers, because LSU simply continued making shots. Alexis Morris wasn’t part of the three-point barrage, but she piled up 18 points thanks to some silky pull-up jumpers from the midrange.

In the end, LSU piled up 102 points in a truly stunning offensive performance, taking down Iowa in a near perfect offensive performance. Reese, despite the foul trouble, finished with 15 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists to earn her 34th double-double of the season, setting an NCAA record. Carson finished with 22 points, as her dominant first half off the bench was arguably the difference in the game, while Ladizha Williams added 20 for the Tigers. It was an all-time effort from the Tigers who collect their first women’s title in school history, capping off a truly impressive tournament run in style.

For Iowa, it’s a bitter end to a spectacular season, as they’ll certainly have frustration with the officiating, but given their choice of defensive system — which stymied South Carolina — a game in which LSU shot 11-of-17 from three was always going to be disastrous for them. Clark finished with 30 points and eight assists despite sitting for much of the second quarter with three fouls, and there’s certainly a question of whether the game would’ve gotten this out of hand with her playing her usual massive minutes load. Still, in a total team effort like LSU got offensively, it’s hard to imagine with that shooting this game goes much of a different way and, no matter any issue with officiating, it’s a performance Iowa fans have to just tip their cap to the Tigers on.

The 2023 NCAA Women’s National Championship game was a highly anticipated matchup between LSU and Iowa, with stars Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark expected to take center stage.

However, in the first half neither were able to be the consistent story due to foul trouble that sidelined both, which meant there was opportunity for someone other than the big names to become the headliner. Luckily for LSU, Jasmine Carson was ready for the spotlight, as she stepped up to hit all seven of her first half shots, including five three-pointers as she led the Tigers to a 59-42 lead at the break.

Her final three of the half came at the buzzer on a wild bank shot to end the second quarter, which told the story of LSU’s opening half.

The Tigers seemingly could not miss against Iowa’s defense that was so focused on trying to deny paint touches to LSU’s bigs, that they let the guards have plenty of looks from deep. After executing the strategy to perfection against South Carolina, LSU was ready for Iowa and, most crucially, buried jumper after jumper as the Hawkeyes tried to pack the paint.

LSU would push their lead out over 20 points early in the second half, but then Clark and Iowa would mount their first big run of the game, as they started to see shots fall, steadily chipping the LSU lead down to single digits — with Clark setting the all-time women’s tournament record for points in a single tournament in the process.

However, while Iowa was able to make that initial run, they could never close the gap on the Tigers, because LSU simply continued making shots. Alexis Morris wasn’t part of the three-point barrage, but she piled up 18 points thanks to some silky pull-up jumpers from the midrange.

In the end, LSU piled up 102 points in a truly stunning offensive performance, taking down Iowa in a near perfect offensive performance. Reese, despite the foul trouble, finished with 15 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists to earn her 34th double-double of the season, setting an NCAA record. Carson finished with 22 points, as her dominant first half off the bench was arguably the difference in the game, while Ladizha Williams added 20 for the Tigers. It was an all-time effort from the Tigers who collect their first women’s title in school history, capping off a truly impressive tournament run in style.

For Iowa, it’s a bitter end to a spectacular season, as they’ll certainly have frustration with the officiating, but given their choice of defensive system — which stymied South Carolina — a game in which LSU shot 11-of-17 from three was always going to be disastrous for them. Clark finished with 30 points and eight assists despite sitting for much of the second quarter with three fouls, and there’s certainly a question of whether the game would’ve gotten this out of hand with her playing her usual massive minutes load. Still, in a total team effort like LSU got offensively, it’s hard to imagine with that shooting this game goes much of a different way and, no matter any issue with officiating, it’s a performance Iowa fans have to just tip their cap to the Tigers on.

Durand Bernarr has come a long way since competing on the BET reality competition show The Next Big Thing. The independent singer and songwriter has worked with Grammy Award-winning artists Erykah Badu, Anderson .Paak, and Kaytranada, to name a few. But his latest album Wanderlust has fans confident that his time accepting the coveted award is coming soon.

Back by his band Tithe And Offering, drummer Frank Moka, keyboardist Devin Smith, guitarist Sam Hoffman (support keyboardist), and bassist Egberto “Budda” Foster, Jr., Durand brought his signature blends of funk, soul, and R&B to NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert series. After his introduction, the musician was sure to light an incent to set the mode before opening with “Leveled,” off Wanderlust. With his background singers Terron Austin, Roy Pattern, Jr., and Jason Paul, Durand quicking turns the room out with his buttery vocals.

Other songs included in his setlist include “Chops (Reprise from STUCK.),” “Sam’s Vibe,” “Company,” “Mango Butter,” “Relocate,” “Freefall,” “STUCK,” and “Melody.”

During one of his chats with the crowd, he declared, “I’m not meant to be understood; I’m meant to be experienced,” and there’s no argument there. Outside of the stellar musicality displayed by the singer, the background vocalist, and the live instrumentalists, Durand gave the at-home viewers something to bite into as everyone was dressed in the Disney show The Proud Family cosplay. Durand in full Uncle Bobby costuming from hair to toe.

Fans took to social media to react to the fun early Halloween wardrobe from the musicians.

Of course, Durand and crew couldn’t help but sing the show’s theme song in a clip uploaded to Twitter.

Watch Durand Bernarr’s full Tiny Desk Concert above.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Durand Bernarr has come a long way since competing on the BET reality competition show The Next Big Thing. The independent singer and songwriter has worked with Grammy Award-winning artists Erykah Badu, Anderson .Paak, and Kaytranada, to name a few. But his latest album Wanderlust has fans confident that his time accepting the coveted award is coming soon.

Back by his band Tithe And Offering, drummer Frank Moka, keyboardist Devin Smith, guitarist Sam Hoffman (support keyboardist), and bassist Egberto “Budda” Foster, Jr., Durand brought his signature blends of funk, soul, and R&B to NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert series. After his introduction, the musician was sure to light an incent to set the mode before opening with “Leveled,” off Wanderlust. With his background singers Terron Austin, Roy Pattern, Jr., and Jason Paul, Durand quicking turns the room out with his buttery vocals.

Other songs included in his setlist include “Chops (Reprise from STUCK.),” “Sam’s Vibe,” “Company,” “Mango Butter,” “Relocate,” “Freefall,” “STUCK,” and “Melody.”

During one of his chats with the crowd, he declared, “I’m not meant to be understood; I’m meant to be experienced,” and there’s no argument there. Outside of the stellar musicality displayed by the singer, the background vocalist, and the live instrumentalists, Durand gave the at-home viewers something to bite into as everyone was dressed in the Disney show The Proud Family cosplay. Durand in full Uncle Bobby costuming from hair to toe.

Fans took to social media to react to the fun early Halloween wardrobe from the musicians.

Of course, Durand and crew couldn’t help but sing the show’s theme song in a clip uploaded to Twitter.

Watch Durand Bernarr’s full Tiny Desk Concert above.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

April Fool’s Day was supposed to be a bloodbath on Twitter: That’s the day Elon Musk had threatened to remove all blue checkmarks that weren’t subscribed to the service’s not very popular for-pay Twitter Blue. That didn’t happen. What did happen was Musk pettily removed the authentication for a newspaper he didn’t like, then he muddied the language for anyone with a checkmark, making it difficult — but not impossible — to tell who’s a legacy account and who is coughing up a monthly fee.

First up, early on Sunday Musk went after The New York Times, removing the blue checkmark to their main account — but not the others tied up with the publication. At the time no other paper had been similarly affected. As per The Washington Post, Musk effectively made an example of NYT because they, like other publications, many celebrities, and even the White House, announced they would not fork over $8 a month to keep their blue checkmark.

On a pissy post dropped in the middle of the night, Musk called NYT “propaganda” that “isn’t even interesting.” He then called their feed the “equivalent of diarrhea” and “unreadable.” He added, “They would have far more real followers if they only posted their top articles. Same applies to all publications.”

Ever since Musk debuted Twitter Blue late last year, it was somewhat easy to tell who was legacy and who was a subscriber: Simply clicking on the checkmark itself told you which one they were.

That brings us to Musk’s second, much more cataclysmic move: Mid-afternoon Sunday, those with legacy accounts noticed that the description on their accounts, which revealed who was legacy and who was Twitter Blue, had been rewritten, so that all bore the same description: “This account is verified because it’s subscribed to Twitter Blue or is a legacy verified account.”

Among legacy accounts — and those who care about being able to tell which accounts are legit and which are imposters — the move was not well met. Some dragged Musk. Others made sure to let everyone know they were not paying him to use Twitter.

Others asked who to contact at Twitter to simply remove their checkmark entirely.

Some argued that Musk doesn’t understand that blue checkmark verifications are meant to stop people from falling for impersonation accounts of prominent people, including celebrities and journalists. Or maybe he knows and doesn’t care.

Of course, there are ways to circumvent Musk’s damage.

Surely Musk is not pleased with how few celebrities want to pony up to pay for Musk’s expensive toy.

Anyway, chaos reigns on the service where people used to simply post pictures of cats and food they ate.

(Via Washington Post)

April Fool’s Day was supposed to be a bloodbath on Twitter: That’s the day Elon Musk had threatened to remove all blue checkmarks that weren’t subscribed to the service’s not very popular for-pay Twitter Blue. That didn’t happen. What did happen was Musk pettily removed the authentication for a newspaper he didn’t like, then he muddied the language for anyone with a checkmark, making it difficult — but not impossible — to tell who’s a legacy account and who is coughing up a monthly fee.

First up, early on Sunday Musk went after The New York Times, removing the blue checkmark to their main account — but not the others tied up with the publication. At the time no other paper had been similarly affected. As per The Washington Post, Musk effectively made an example of NYT because they, like other publications, many celebrities, and even the White House, announced they would not fork over $8 a month to keep their blue checkmark.

On a pissy post dropped in the middle of the night, Musk called NYT “propaganda” that “isn’t even interesting.” He then called their feed the “equivalent of diarrhea” and “unreadable.” He added, “They would have far more real followers if they only posted their top articles. Same applies to all publications.”

Ever since Musk debuted Twitter Blue late last year, it was somewhat easy to tell who was legacy and who was a subscriber: Simply clicking on the checkmark itself told you which one they were.

That brings us to Musk’s second, much more cataclysmic move: Mid-afternoon Sunday, those with legacy accounts noticed that the description on their accounts, which revealed who was legacy and who was Twitter Blue, had been rewritten, so that all bore the same description: “This account is verified because it’s subscribed to Twitter Blue or is a legacy verified account.”

Among legacy accounts — and those who care about being able to tell which accounts are legit and which are imposters — the move was not well met. Some dragged Musk. Others made sure to let everyone know they were not paying him to use Twitter.

Others asked who to contact at Twitter to simply remove their checkmark entirely.

Some argued that Musk doesn’t understand that blue checkmark verifications are meant to stop people from falling for impersonation accounts of prominent people, including celebrities and journalists. Or maybe he knows and doesn’t care.

Of course, there are ways to circumvent Musk’s damage.

Surely Musk is not pleased with how few celebrities want to pony up to pay for Musk’s expensive toy.

Anyway, chaos reigns on the service where people used to simply post pictures of cats and food they ate.

(Via Washington Post)

It has been a very busy weekend for WWE, as they get set for the second night of WrestleMania 39 on Sunday, but behind the scenes, they’ve also been working hard finalizing a sale that is expected to get done officially on Monday.

Ever since Vince McMahon returned in January to the company after retiring due to numerous scandals, he has been pursuing a sale and they have apparently found a buyer that will keep him around as a significant part. Shortly after his return, his daughter, Stephanie McMahon, stepped down as CEO with Nick Khan elevating to that role.

Per Alex Sherman of CNBC, WWE will sell 51 percent of its shares to Ari Emanuel’s Endeavor Group, which owns UFC, and, most interestingly, the leading companies in wrestling and mixed martial arts will apparently be joined as one publicly traded company.

A deal could be announced as soon as Monday. UFC and WWE are expected to form a new publicly traded company as part of the agreement, according to the people, who declined to be named due to the confidential nature of the discussions.

Endeavor is slated to own 51% of the new combat sports and entertainment company, while WWE shareholders would get 49%, according to the people.

Vince McMahon will stay on board as an executive chairman, with Nick Khan continuing as the president of the wrestling side and Dana White remaining the president of UFC. It’s fascinating to see the two companies, which once were not exactly friendly with one another (but have since embraced each other more), join under one umbrella. How that changes the business for WWE, in particular, remains to be seen, but it will mark the first time it leaves the hands of McMahon family control, albeit with most of the major decision-makers remaining as part of the company, at least initially.

Cordae might not have any regrets about turning down the invite to collaborate with Maroon 5, but when it comes to linking up with contemporary Christian rapper NF, he’s all for it.

Although the “Two Tens” rapper hasn’t commented publicly on the pregnancy news his girlfriend, professional athlete Naomi Osaka, shared at the top of the year, the revenue earned from the tour would certainly add the financial security blanket for the baby’s coming arrival.

The tour will kick off in mid-July, beginning in Columbus, Ohio. Although it will formally wrap up in London this October, Cordae’s last day on tour will be on September 3 in Laval, Quebec. View the full tour schedule below.

Pre-sales for the Hope Tour begin on Wednesday, April 5, at 10 am, while the general sale is set for Friday, April 7, at 10 am local time. For more information, click here.

07/12 — Columbus, OH @ Schottenstein Center
07/14 — Rosemont, IL @ Allstate Arena
07/15 — Minneapolis, MN @ Target Center
07/16 — Lincoln, NE @ Pinnacle Bank Arena
07/18 — Grand Rapids, MI @ Van Andel Arena
07/20 — Newark, NJ @ Prudential Center
07/21 — Boston, MA @ Agganis Arena
07/22 — Philadelphia, PA @ The Liacouras Center
07/24 — Greensboro, NC @ Greensboro Coliseum Complex
07/25 — Huntsville, AL @ Propst Arena at the Von Braun Center
07/26 — Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena
07/28 — Orlando, FL @ Addition Financial Arena ^
07/29 — Duluth, GA @ Gas South Arena
07/31 — North Little Rock, AR @ Simmons Bank Arena
08/01 — Tulsa, OK @ BOK Center
08/02 — Fort Worth, TX @ Dickies Arena
08/04 — Glendale, AZ @ Desert Diamond Arena
08/05 — Anaheim, CA @ Honda Center
08/06 — San Francisco, CA @ Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
08/08 — Portland, OR @ Veterans Memorial Coliseum
08/09 — Seattle, WA @ WAMU Theater
08/11 — Salt Lake City, UT @ Vivint Arena
08/12 — Denver, CO @ Ball Arena
08/23 — Vancouver, BC @ Rogers Arena
08/25 — Calgary, AB @ Scotiabank Saddledome
08/26 — Edmonton, AB @ Rogers Place
08/27 — Saskatoon, SK @ SaskTel Centre
08/29 — Winnipeg, MB @ Canada Life Centre
09/01 — Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena
09/02 — Ottawa, ON @ Canadian Tire Centre
09/03 — Laval, QC @ Place Bell

^ – without Cordae

Cordae is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

DDG may have admitted that he is indeed “way too petty” on his latest single, but fans of his girlfriend, singer and actress Halle Bailey, are adding that he also jokes way too much. For the large part, most musicians held back from participating in any over-the-top April Fool’s Day pranks. But apparently Usher and DDG didn’t get the memo.

While Usher’s was a short-lived professional prank that he would be joined on stage on April 1 by his former collaborator Beyoncé within seconds, he revealed that it wasn’t going to happen. On the other hand, DDG’s prank took things a bit further.

In a tweet posted at 9:53 am, the rapper uploaded a picture of an ultrasound with the caption “can’t wait to be your dad .” Although he didn’t explicitly state who the expecting mother was, fans assumed that the mommy-to-be was The Little Mermaid actress, sending social media into a spiral.

Fans quickly headed over to Bailey’s social media profiles to see if they had missed anything. But her last post was of herself in a bikini with her mid-drift exposed on vacation, celebrating her birthday on March 27.

Later, just before 2 pm, the rapper returned to Twitter to confirm that it was just an April Fool’s Day prank. DDG is known for trolling and even pulling pranks on fans. In fact, there’s a long-running conspiracy theory prank that the rapper continues to do, known as the “real DDG voice.”

Even DDG’s family isn’t shielded from his trolling, as shown across his YouTube page.

So, no, Halle Bailey is not pregnant.

Usher may be the uncrowned king of Vegas, thanks to the success of his Usher: My Way Las Vegas residency, but on April 1, he almost became the most hated man in America — or at least Raleigh, North Carolina. During his set at Dreamville Festival, the “Glu” singer decided to have a little fun with the crowd.

Instead of provocatively feeding fans strawberries, the musician wanted to step into the role of prankster before April Fool’s Day came to a close. Before the audio engineer could cue up the next track in his set list, Usher instructed them to pump the breaks. The recording artist then took a moment to address the eager crowd.

“I said I would have a special surprise for you tonight, ladies and gentlemen,” said the singer, continuing, “You guys want to know what that surprise is?”

As the crowd’s anticipation grew, he declared, “Ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, put your hands together for the one, the only — Beyoncé.” The concertgoers erupted with cheer as the lights dimmed. But after a few seconds, when the “Break My Soul” singer didn’t take the stage, fans grew uneasy. Usher then confessed that it was all a prank, “April fools.”

While the pair have collaborated in the past on music, in music videos, and onstage, Dreamville Festival 2023 was not going to be the place for their reunion.

Fans took to social media to share their reaction to the prank, with some even claiming to have been in attendance.

Look’s like if you want to see The Bey Hive queen, you’re going to have to grab tickets to the Renaissance World Tour.