Greetings from the Boston airport!

I’m getting ready to board my flight to Phoenix for the Final Four, but first, I wanted to give a little gratitude to everyone who has gone on this journey with me. This is my fourth full season covering women’s college basketball and I continue to marvel at how lucky I’ve been. That’s all thanks to people like you, who support my work.

But enough about me, let’s get to what matters: The Final Four! 

From the start of the season until now, it’s always been UConn, UCLA, Texas and South Carolina. Upsets are fun, but there is also something so satisfying about watching the best teams prove their worth game after game. Plus, it should make for three thrilling games this weekend!

You’ll get plenty of analysis from me at Hoops HQ and The Athletic, but today, at Inbox-and-One, let’s have a little fun. Here are my favorite moments from each team this season:

If you didn’t know, Sarah Strong’s mom, Allison Feaster is a basketball legend in her own right. She led Harvard to the first ever (men’s or women’s) 16-seed over 1-seed upset in 1998, when she averaged 28.5 points, 10.3 rebounds and 3.3 steals per game. She then went on to play in the WNBA.

So yeah, Feaster was one hell of a basketball player. Just not good enough to make her own daughter’s fake roster. 

Remember how Geno Auriemma used to take away the locker room when his teams weren’t performing properly? Hard to believe this is the same guy. He’s getting softer, and yet, the Huskies keep getting better. 

The country’s last two undefeated teams were UConn (still undefeated btw) and Vandy, a program coached by a former Husky in Shea Ralph. Just goes to show how dominant UConn has been and continues to be. 

It’s no secret that Sienna Betts did not want to play with her sister in college. In fact, Cori Close was worried that she’d lost Sienna when Lauren committed to UCLA out of the transfer portal. So to see them having a blast together this year has been special. 

Rice has always been talented, but this season she’s finally put it together and become the player I’ve always known she could be. Over her first three seasons, Rice showed flashes of brilliance. This season those flashes have become consistent. She’s an excellent passer, scorer and defender who is going to make a WNBA team very lucky when the draft comes around.

She single-handedly got this song on my March Madness playlist.

Several different vibes are happening here and I love them all. It’s just nice to see teams be elite while still being themselves. Vic Schaefer demands a lot from his players, but he also embraces their personalities. That’s a winning combo in my book.

Schaefer has some great sayings – Praise the Lord and Hook ‘em Horns! – but this may be my all-time favorite. It’s perfectly descriptive and as a writer I’m pissed I didn’t come up with it. 😉

I love when Oldacre goes coast to coast, followed by, of course, zero emotion because she is known for keeping a straight face. But seriously, having a 6-6 center take it the length of the court? What’s more fun than that? 

The moment itself was iconic, but the fact that Tessa Johnson’s bestie, Chloe Kitts, who is out with an injury, seems to have multiple pieces of “Who can guard Tessa?” merch in her wardrobe makes it even better. At its core, basketball is about having fun with your friends and that’s exactly the vibe this team gives.

If Alicia Tournebize stays at South Carolina she will probably have plenty more chances to cut the net. At least now she knows what to do!

This made me tear up. Isn’t this how every player hopes their coach will speak about them? Raven Johnson has done so much for South Carolina basketball and she doesn’t get nearly enough credit from outside sources. But with a coach like Dawn Staley hyping her up, who cares about anyone else?