Is UCLA the most neutral women's hoops champ? Plus, NFL backup QB carousel

The Pulse Newsletter 📣 | This is The Athletic’s daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox.Good morning! Enjoy those brunch leftovers today. Coming up: 🐻 The people’s champ? 🏒 Coaching shakeup 🏈 The other QB carousel Title Town: May the … most neutral team win?This one wasn’t even close. Ever.UCLA absolutely thumped South Carolina for its first women’s NCAA basketball championship yesterday, putting an exclamation mark on the Bruins’ magical run. Senior guard Gabriela Jaquez paced the team with 21 points, adding 10 rebounds. Lauren Betts, the 6-foot-7 senior center, had 14 points and 11 rebounds; she was South Carolina’s undoing, forcing its bigs to settle for outside shots instead of daring her in the paint. All of UCLA’s points were scored by its seniors, a class elevated by Betts’ presence and talent, as Sabreena Merchant writes. Seemed it. Betts — the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player — was felt everywhere on the floor, and the 79-51 victory was the third-largest margin of defeat in women’s tournament title-game history.The Bruins won all but one of their playoff games by a minimum of double digits. Despite the dominance, UCLA felt like the neutral fan’s champion this tournament — and that’s coming from a USC alumna. (For newsletter purposes, I am ditching all self-awareness and am convinced I can be neutral toward my rival school. Definitely impartial. Totally got this.)Advertisement