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Today's Connections: Sports Edition has a timely theme, and if your bracket has already been busted (or even if it hasn't been), you should do well. If you're struggling with today's puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn't appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic's own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today's Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today's Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: More points!

Green group hint: Home for hoops.

Blue group hint: March Madness.

Purple group hint: Exceptional hoopsters.

Answers for today's Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Ways to score.

Green group: Areas on the basketball court.

Blue group: Locations of this year's women's Final Four teams.

Purple group: Women's NCAA tournament most outstanding players.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today's Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today's Connections

The theme is ways to score. The four answers are 3-pointer, floater, free throw and layup.

The green words in today's Connections

The theme is areas on the basketball court. The four answers are corner, elbow, paint and wing.

The blue words in today's Connections

The theme is locations of this year's women's Final Four teams. The four answers are Austin, Columbia, Los Angeles and Storrs.

The purple words in today's Connections

The theme is women's NCAA tournament most outstanding players. The four answers are Azzi, Boston, Cash and Fudd.

Quick tips for Connections: Sports Edition

#1: Don't grab for the easiest group. For each word, think about other sports categories it might fit in – is this a word that can be used in football, or to describe scoring options?

#2: Second meanings are important. The puzzle loves to use last names and even college names that mean other things, to fool you into thinking they are words, not names.

#3: And the opposite is also true. Words like HURTS might seem like a regular word, but it's also the last name of at least one pro athlete.