It's so easy to be happy for Paige Bueckers

This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here’s Mike Sykes.

Good morning, Winners! Welcome back to the Morning Win.

As a journalist, I do my best to keep my projections off the people I cover. We all do. Of course, we all have thoughts and ideas about the athletes that we watch and the sports we consume, but a key part of the job is to do the job without making any assumptions about anyone.

In the end, we don't know these people. Even in this social media era, when we're closer to athletes than we've ever been before, we're still only getting mere glimpses into their lives. These are snapshots. We're seeing what they want us to see. We're hearing what they want us to hear.

Given that, it's dangerous to project thoughts and feelings onto athletes. Someone who you think might be a fantastic human being is capable of doing something sinister. On the other hand, someone who you think has publicly been the scourge of the earth might be decent behind closed doors. It's hard to tell sometimes.

With that being said, I couldn't help but be thrilled when Paige Bueckers hoisted the NCAA championship trophy with UConn on Sunday.

The game was never really close. UConn dominated South Carolina throughout, so we knew what moment was coming the entire way. The way that UConn ran through the tournament, this result wasn't really shocking. By the end, it felt expected. And yet, the chills I got when Geno Auriemma and Paige Bueckers shared this moment on the sideline were unbelievable.

That was such an unusual moment for me. Of course, as a fan, it's always so nice to see the emotional moments for a team when that team finally breaks through and wins it all. It's one of the best parts of this job. You get to document those big moments in people's careers.

But in this moment, I felt a little different. The emotions of this moment hit me directly in a way that I haven't felt in a long time. I spent the rest of my day trying to figure out why. I'm not a UConn fan. So why did this moment tug on my heartstrings the way it did?

Eventually, I realized that it wasn't about the championship at all. Really, I was just thrilled to see something good happen for someone whom I perceived as good.

I don't know Paige Bueckers. I have no idea what sort of person she truly is when the lights are off and the cameras are cut. But I have seen what she's publicly been through. The injuries, the heartbreak, falling short of expectations. None of that is ever easy to deal with. But she did. All the while, she continued to use her platform to lift others, always practiced gratitude and displayed a kindness that seems so hard to find in the world these days.

That's what makes it so easy to root for Bueckers. That's why, despite having no real connection to this team, you might feel connected anyway.

It's so easy to fall into the trap of believing that good things always happen to bad people and vice versa. Cynicism rules our day. It's certainly part of this job that I do. It's always good to keep a healthy does of that in both your front and back pockets.

But it's so nice to be disarmed every once in a while. Shoutout to Paige Bueckers for doing just that.

Ovi gets it done

Alexander Ovechkin's moment was so satisfying. Watching him score his 895th career goal to break Wayne Gretzky's all-time record that no one ever thought could be broken was just surreal. That's the only word I can use to describe it.

Everything about it was perfect. The timing of doing this to the same opponent, the celebratory moment, the play. Everything.

It's nice to watch an all-time great like this be celebrated. That seems like an obvious no-brainer today, but I promise you that it certainly wasn't just a decade ago. Ovi has always been this great. But the book on him was that he just couldn't win the big games. He wouldn't show up for the big moments. He didn't have a championship. The thought was he'd just go down as a prolific scorer and that would be all.

Fast forward to today and, not only is he a champion, but he's also the NHL's all-time leading goal scorer. Something that he, himself, didn't think he'd accomplish. "In this league? I think it's impossible," he said.

The impossible is done. Congrats, Great 8.

Fight for 4th

It seems like the NBA's playoff race always comes down to the final day of the season over these last few years. This one will be no different.

There's a week left in the season and the 4th seed in the Western Conference is still up for grabs. The Nuggets are only a half-game up on the 5th seed right now after yet another loss on Sunday. And, by the way, there's a four-way tie for the 5th seed.

Don't blink now but Denver could be a play-in team by the end of the week, y'all. This is insane.

By the way, the Lakers are not too far above the fray as No. 3. LA has a 1.5 game lead on the Nuggets but the Lakers play four games in six nights with the Thunder, Mavericks and Rockets being the first three of those four. Those are not easy wins.

This is going to be a tight one, folks. Buckle up.

Quick hits: Sunny days for The Masters? ... Diana Taurasi's self-roast ... and more

— Charles Curtis has good and bad updates for the weather at The Masters this week.

— Diana Taurasi hilariously roasted herself after being wrong about Caitlin Clark's WNBA preparedness. Robert Zeglinski has more.

— Ryan Ruocco's call for UConn's championship win was so perfect. This dude is so good.

— Ah, yes. It's that time of year again. Unwritten rules baseball. The best kind of baseball there is! Andrew Joseph has more.

— Nick Castanellos hammering a grand slam mere minutes after Ovi clinched the goal record is so poetic. This man really doesn't care about history! Mary Clarke has more.

— Mark Jones is all of us today.

That's a wrap, folks. Thanks for reading. Peace.

-Sykes ✌️