It was a battle in Glendale as the University of Connecticut Huskies took down the Purdue Boilermakers 75-60 on Monday night. The Huskies secured their second consecutive national title, becoming the first men’s team to do so since the Florida Gators in 2006 and 2007. The win marked UConn’s sixth title overall. Purdue standout Zach Edey put in a Herculean effort posting 37 points and gaining the praise of UConn head coach Dan Hurley, who called him “truly a giant player.”

Missy Elliott has been busting down doors in the music industry since the ’90s. Now, in 2024, she’ll be headlining her own tour across North America. Officially dubbed Out of This World — The Missy Elliott Experience, Elliott will be hitting up 24 cities, and she won’t be alone, with Busta Rhymes, Ciara, and Timbaland joining the star on the road. “Fans have been asking me to tour forever but I wanted to wait until I felt the time was right because I knew if I was ever going to do it, I had to do it big, and I had to do it with family!” Elliott said in the official release.

Everyone seemingly watched the South Carolina Gamecocks complete their undefeated season by defeating Caitlin Clark and Iowa in the women’s national title game on Sunday, and the numbers more than back that up. According to ESPN, 18.7 million viewers tuned in for Dawn Staley and Co.’s championship win, with a peak of 24 million viewers, easily becoming the most-watched women’s college basketball game on record at the network (since 1992). It was also the most-watched basketball game, period — men’s or women’s, college or pro — on ESPN since 2019. Further illustrating the growth of women’s sports, Sunday’s audience was an 89% increase from 2023 and a 285% jump from 2022.

What a rise it’s been for Dude Perfect since launching its first trick shot video in 2009. Now with over 60 million subscribers on YouTube and 12 million followers on Instagram, the company announced on Tuesday that it is forming a strategic partnership with private equity firm Highmount Capital. The deal will allow Dude Perfect, made up of Cody Jones, Garrett Hilbert, Tyler Toney, Cory Cotton, and Coby Cotton, “to pursue bold new opportunities and projects, add to their slate of creative partnerships, and build a robust management team to lead the group to new heights.”

After finding success with its DJ feature run by artificial intelligence, Spotify is launching a feature that will utilize AI to create personalized playlists. The idea is that similar to ChatGPT, a user will be able to type in a written prompt, from which Spotify will take and create an entire playlist. The feature is currently in beta and will initially be released in the UK and Australia. According to TechCrunch, the company uses a range of third-party tools for its AI and machine learning experiences.

To cap off a record-breaking women’s tournament, the championship game between South Carolina and Iowa was the most bet-on women’s sporting event of all time at FanDuel, the company announced on Monday. The game between the undefeated Gamecocks and the Hawkeyes brought in a 22% higher handle than when Catilin Clark led her team to victory in the Final Four over UConn, which set the record just days before. Additionally, this year’s title game saw a 155% increase in handle and a 205% increase in bet count at FanDuel compared to 2023.