The GIST: Selection committee controversies, heartwarming reaction videos, legendary broadcaster Dickie V making us emotional…March Madness is officially upon us. We have special edition tourney previews heading to your inbox tomorrow and Wednesday, but first, here’s Selection Sunday’s biggest moments, by the numbers:

14: SEC teams in the men’s bracket, a record number from one conference. The SEC was the most competitive men’s conference all year, so it’s no surprise that its regular-season champ, Auburn, and its tourney champ, Florida, both earned No. 1 seeds.

• The SEC women also crushed it with a league-leading 10 teams in the bracket. Guess it literally just means more.

35: The number of consecutive tournaments the No. 7 seed Kansas men have appeared in, a Division I record. The Jayhawks were the preseason No. 1 but suffered a brutal season in the cutthroat Big 12. Nonetheless, you can never count out head coach Bill Self’s blue-blooded squad.

• An even more impressive streak? The No. 5 seed Tennessee women made their 43rd straight tourney last night. In fact, the Lady Vols have made every single bracket since the first women’s tournament in 1982. Unreal.

9: Top-25 wins for the women of USC this season. That strength of schedule earned the Trojans a No. 1 seed over Paige Bueckers and her powerhouse No. 2 seed UConn, one of the committee’s toughest calls.

10: First-time dancers. On the men’s side, SIUE, Omaha, High Point, and UC San Diego are in for the first time ever, while Arkansas State, Fairleigh-Dickinson, George Mason, UC San Diego, Grand Canyon, and William & Mary earned their programs’ first bids on the women’s side. Groovy.

Infinite: Eyebrows raised after struggling UNC made the men’s bracket as a First Four contender, the selection committee’s most controversial pick, especially considering committee chair Bubba Cunningham just so happens to be UNC’s athletic director. Hmmm.

The GIST: The Big Dance isn’t the only shimmying and shaking happening on the hardwood. After last night’s semifinals, tonight’s Unrivaled final is set: Rose BC vs. Vinyl BC at 7:30 p.m. ET.

• And this one’s for all the marbles, plus a cool $50K for each member of the championship-winning squad. Cha-ching.

Thrilling semifinals feature two double-digit comebacks: The first game of the night was the Chelsea Gray show — the point gawd put the Rose on her back, scoring 21 straight points (of her league record 39 total) in Rose BC’s 63–57 comeback win over Laces BC. Then Vinyl BC followed suit, rallying from a 10-point fourth quarter deficit to eliminate the top-seeded Lunar Owls 73–70.

• These teams played just one week ago, and the Rose thoroughly dominated the Vinyl to the, ahem, tune of 74–46. Gray was also instrumental in that dub, dropping 33 points while the Vinyl shot 0% (yes, zero) from three. That almost certainly won’t happen again — buckle up.

Zooming out: No matter which team takes home the inaugural title, one thing is certain: The biggest winner has been women’s basketball. From opening weekend garnering 31M views on Bleacher Report platforms to the 1-on-1 tournament’s season-high 377K viewership to the growing number of investors, the brand-new league thrived in its debut.

• And Unrivaled delivered more than just entertainment for fans and cash for investors: The league changed the game for athletes, offering top-tier facilities, childcare services, increased pay, and so much more.
• The bar is high, and the timing couldn’t be better: WNBA players opted out of their collective bargaining agreement in October, and Unrivaled’s unprecedented standards will undoubtedly influence those negotiations. As they should.

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UpLift. College hooper Kiandra Browne wears a hijab and created UpLift to offer affordable, modest athletic wear to her fellow athletes. She’s balancing business, basketball, and a master’s degree — talk about a full-court press.

Sydney Bordonaro, the stylist behind the killer looks of WNBA and Unrivaled stars including Chelsea Gray. High fashion meets on-court swagger.

A Shamrock Shake, of course. If you can’t get one at your nearest McDonald’s, this copycat recipe will do the trick.