The Stanford Cardinal are your 2021 NCAA women’s basketball champions.

As was the case in their Final Four win, Stanford won it all in dramatic fashion with another thrilling finish.

Up one with the ball and less than 10 seconds left to go, the Cardinal turned it over with a shot-clock violation that gave Arizona one more chance to win it all.

Wildcats guard Aari McDonald, who led all scorers with 22 points, was able to get off one final shot before the buzzer but missed, and Stanford held on for the 54-53 win.

The Cardinal, the pre-tournament favourite to win it all at +150 odds, became the first team ever in men’s or women’s NCAA history to win both the semifinal and the final by a single point.

Here is the Morning Coffee for Monday April 5, 2021.

One Win Away From Perfection

Stanford’s championship run can be added to the list of notable preseason or pre-tournament favourites to win it all since sports shutdown early in the pandemic.

The Tampa Bay Lightning (+800) were the preseason favourite to win the Stanley Cup in 2020.

The Los Angeles Lakers (+300) were the favourite to win the NBA title.

The Los Angeles Dodgers (+350) were the World Series favourite.

The Alabama Crimson Tide (+240) were the national title favourite in college football.

As the first Pac-12 team to win the national championship since 1992, we can add the Cardinal to the list of preseason or pre-tournament favourites to win it all.

Now the focus shifts to the men’s side where Gonzaga will get the opportunity to follow in their footsteps as another pre-tournament favourite.

Gonzaga, which was +200 to win the title on the men’s side before the March Madness got underway, is currently a 4.5-point favourite versus Baylor.

With a win tonight, the Bulldogs can match 1975-76 Indiana and 1956-57 North Carolina for the most wins in an undefeated season since the NCAA tournament began in 1939.

Gonzaga has won 29 of its 31 games this season by double-digits.

Still, they barely survived a Final Four showdown with UCLA that they won on a buzzer-beater in overtime.

Now comes their toughest test of the season against a Baylor side that is 27-2.

The Bulldogs and Bears have a combined win percentage of .967, which is the best all-time for an NCAA tournament championship game.

Sticking with the theme of preseason favourites, it’s worth pointing out that Baylor was the No. 2 team in the AP preseason poll.

Per ESPN Stats & Info, this will be the fifth time since the AP preseason poll began in 1961-62 that the No. 1 and No. 2 teams meet in the title game.

The No. 2 seed won each of the previous four such meetings.

Maple Leafs Hand Flames Another Loss

The Toronto Maple Leafs (-150) beat the Calgary Flames 4-2 on Sunday night for their third straight win.

John Tavares had a goal and an assist. William Nylander had a pair of assists.

Auston Matthews scored his league-leading 25th goal.

Toronto has won three in a row and is 6-0-1 over its past seven games.

On the flip side, Calgary has lost three in a row and seven of its last eight overall.

The Flames have been held to two goals or fewer in each of their last seven losses.

Johnny Gaudreau has gone six straight games without a goal. Sean Monahan has gone 12 straight without a goal. Elias Lindholm has one goal in his last nine games.

It didn’t take long for the optimism surrounding Darryl Sutter’s arrival to disappear.

The Ohtani Show

Shohei Ohtani put on an absolute show for the Los Angeles Angels (-130) in a 7-4 win over the Chicago White Sox on Sunday Night Baseball.

Ohtani, who became the first starting pitcher to bat second in the order in more than 100 years, hit the hardest home run of the season and threw the fastest pitch by a starter this season in the same game.

Mike Trout remains the favourite to win American League MVP at +220 odds.

The second choice on that board? Trout’s teammate Ohtani, who is currently listed at +1200 odds along with New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge.

Trout and Ohtani helped the Angels take three of four from the White Sox to start the season.

Chicago, which opened the year tied for the fourth-shortest odds to win the World Series at +1000, has already been bumped down to +1100.