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The GIST: Awards season didn’t end with the Oscars — college basketball’s best are racking up some serious hardware, with the ultra-prestigious Naismith and AP Player of the Year (POY) and Coach of the Year (COY) women’s trophies awarded before March Madness crowns a champ this Sunday.

POY: None other than Caitlin Clark, of course. The No. 2 Iowa guard has posted monster numbers all season, earning her both the Naismith and AP titles. Her mind-boggling buckets from way downtown and league-leading dimes are must-see TV, and if you didn’t cry watching her find out she won, you’re lying.

• Clark beat out No. 1 South Carolina’s Aliyah Boston, last year’s POY and this year’s Defensive POY, for the awards, making their Final Four matchup at 9 p.m. ET tonight the most anticipated game of the season. Chills.

COY: Speaking of South Carolina, their HC, the legendary Dawn Staley, won her second consecutive Naismith COY award for leading her squad to a still-undefeated season and creating a verified Gamecocks dynasty.

• That said, she’s sharing the spotlight with Indiana HC Teri Moren, whose record-setting season won her the AP award. How ’bout a round of applause?

The GIST: How about some good news with a side of bad news? Earlier this week, motorsports exec Craig Pollock publicized plans for Formula Equal, a Formula One (F1) team that’s 50% male and 50% female from the racetrack to the boardroom…and could be the newest face of sportswashing.

The details: Pollock has been secretly working on Formula Equal for the last four years, and recently confirmed submission of a bid to enter the championship. The exec, however, is in conversations with an unspecified “Gulf area country” to finance Formula Equal, saying he “hope[s] it’s going to work because … it does take a lot of money.”

• Some speculate the unnamed nation is the ever-controversial Saudi Arabia because of its public F1 ambitions. The country started hosting a Grand Prix in 2021 and is building another racetrack in hopes of hosting two F1 events annually.

Zooming out: F1 doesn’t have a great track record when it comes to sportswashing, regularly catching flak for staging races in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and Azerbaijan. Just this month, human rights advocacy group Reprieve said the championship “has never seriously engaged with human rights.”

• Formula Equal has all the makings of a green flag, but this sportswashing twist makes it feel like a black one.

*P.S. For more stories on the business of women’s sports, you’ll love our free, three-times weekly sports biz newsletter.

The GIST: There’s no bigger celebration of women’s college hoops than this weekend’s Final Four. Still searching for your perfect ’fit for the Big Dance? Look no further than Nike’s Sisterhood collection.

The drip: WNBA superstars Diamond DeShields and DiDi Richards and future W rookie Haley Jones are the faces of the Sisterhood collection, which celebrates the women’s hoopers who came before and the ones still to come. Trophy-worthy.

The deets: Designed to honor women and their importance in hoops culture, this collection supports every athlete — from Final Four contenders to pick-up game ballers.

• With new threads and classics redesigned with women’s bodies in mind, this drip is perfect for every kind of dancin’ queen.

🎓🤸 NCAA gymnastics: Pittsburgh Regional Semifinal — Today at 2 p.m. ET — ESPN+

• The women’s regionals rage on, but if you can watch only one location, pick Pittsburgh, where No. 2 Florida’s Trinity Thomas will shoot for the NCAA perfect 10 record. Stick it.

🎓🚣 NCAA rowing: San Diego Crew Classic — Today through Sunday — YouTube

• Get those shells in the water because collegiate rowing's first major regatta of the season is this weekend in sunny San Diego. Don’t forget that SPF.

⛳ LPGA: LA Open — Today through Sunday — Golf Channel

• Currently tied for seventh with her sister, Nelly, American Jessica Korda is this close to avenging her second-place finish at the 2021 LA Open, but can she slice through the competition?

🏀 NBA: Denver Nuggets vs. Phoenix Suns — Tonight at 10:30 p.m. ET — NBA TV

• Get ready for Western Conference fireworks as the Suns’ Devin Booker and now-healthy Kevin Durant look to defend their turf against the top-seeded Nuggets and two-time reigning MVP Nikola Jokić.

You’ve seen the Aflac commercials featuring South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley — you know, the ones with the goat — but did you know that Aflac is taking their partnership a step further by making a real impact on the growth of the women’s game?

• Through Dawn’s List, Coach Staley and Aflac collaborated to pinpoint and help address the real issues female athletes face on and off the court. Raising awareness is great, but coming up with a gameplan? Talk about a dream team.

The weekend calls for these GIST-approved reccos.