Monday night’s Elite Eight Iowa-LSU game was a rematch of the 2023 Women’s National Championship Game. Broadcast on ESPN, it was the most-watched NCAA women’s basketball game of all time, with over 12 million viewers. That game was just the beginning and sets the tone for must-see TV as the Women’s Final Four kicks off on Friday. The matchups will include the South Carolina Gamecocks versus the N.C. State Wolfpack, and the Iowa Hawkeyes versus the UConn Huskies.
South Carolina (1) versus NC State (3)
For the second consecutive year, South Carolina enters the final week of play with an impressive undefeated record. The Gamecocks have been a force to be reckoned with throughout the season and for the past 15 years, Dawn Staley has been the Gamecocks’ head coach. The Gamecocks are ranked in the top five in the country as a team in essential categories, including points per game (85.6), field goal percentage (49.2%), rebounds (46.2) and blocks (7.9).
“NC State can’t beat South Carolina,” Bloomington South math teacher Sean Dorsey stated.
Bloomington South Senior Madisyn Kress and junior Addie Crider highlighted South Carolina’s record as a determining factor in their predictions. “South Carolina [is going to win] because they’re undefeated,” the two agreed.
South Carolina star freshman Milaysia Fulwiley comes off of the bench and is the teams’ second leading scorer behind projected WNBA first round pick Kamilla Cardoso, which demonstrates the team’s depth. Further showcasing their powerful roster, South Carolina led in bench scoring 51-0 during their Second Round contest against the North Carolina Tar Heels.
After conducting interviews with handfuls of South students for two days, no N.C. State believers surfaced. This is the Wolfpack’s first trip to the Final Four since 1998. It’s been so long since their last appearance, in fact, that no one on the N.C. State roster was alive the last time they made it there.
The Wolfpack went “from not ranked to the Final Four,” boasting a 7-2 record against Associated Press Top 25 teams in the regular season.
The Gamecocks will be favored headed into the matchup, but so were the No. 2 seeded Stanford Cardinal and the No. 1 seeded Texas Longhorns when they went toe-to-toe against the Wolfpack. Both of those games ended in 10-point upsets of each team.
ACC coaches and media members picked N.C. State to finish eighth in the league and the team didn’t earn a spot in the inaugural preseason Associated Press Top 25, with none of its players named to the preseason All-ACC team.
In 2022, Wolfpack guard Saniya Rivers left South Carolina and transferred to N.C. State. In 2024, she faces her old team in hopes of claiming another upset win on their way to the National Championship Game.
Iowa (1) versus UConn (3)
This is a highly-anticipated, star-studded matchup that puts two of college basketball’s biggest stars, Iowa’s Caitlin Clark and UConn’s Paige Bueckers, against each other for a chance to play for the National Championship.
Clark’s first NCAA Tournament run ended with a loss to Bueckers and the UConn Huskies in the Sweet 16. Clark and Bueckers were former Team USA teammates and each has won the National Player of the Year Award, Clark her junior year and Bueckers her freshman year.
After Clark’s 41 point, 12 assist, and seven rebound performance against LSU on Monday night, UConn women’s basketball head coach Geno Auriemma joked: “I hope Caitlin Clark had a personal agenda against LSU. I know there’s nothing personal between me and her. I don’t need to be seeing her drop 50 on us next weekend, you know?”
According to ESPN’s Matchup Predictor, the UConn Huskies have a 60.6% chance of beating the Iowa Hawkeyes in the Final Four, but who do South students and faculty think will win this matchup?
Science teacher Angela Thomson said, “If Iowa doesn’t win the Final Four for the women’s contest, I believe that the officials have been bought and sold for the East Coast. What else could be the answer? Iowa should be the winner.”
Junior Jackson Plessinger answered with no hesitation. “Iowa, for sure. They have Caitlin Clark and she’s a dog.”
Clark continues to break records. During Monday’s game, Clark broke several NCAA tournament records, including the record for most career assists, surpassing Temeka Johnson. Clark also surpassed Diana Taurasi and Taylor Robertson for the most career three-pointers made in NCAA tournament history by tallying 100 so far and became the first player in NCAA tournament history to have three career 40-point games. During the 2024 NCAA tournament so far, Clark has racked up 129 points, 29 rebounds, and 40 assists.
Sophomore Daniella Grimes shared a different perspective, “I think UConn is going to win. [Even though] Paige Bueckers [is back from injury], there’s no news about her, [yet] there’s all this news about Caitlin Clark. I think that Paige Bueckers doesn’t get [the] recognition [she deserves] because she was out for a whole season [due to injury]. [UConn] isn’t seen as good because of all of their injuries. You can see they have potential and they can beat any team if they try as hard as they can. I think they’ll make it all the way,” Grimes said.
Dorsey then asserted, “Iowa’s very good, but I think they’ll fall short [against UConn]. [It’s] going to be a good game.”
In Bueckers’ freshman season, she won several awards including the Wooden Award, the Naismith Trophy, AP Player of the Year, and USBWA Player and Freshman of the Year. On December 5th of her sophomore season, in a game against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Bueckers sustained a tibial plateau fracture and lateral meniscus tear in the final minute of the game. She returned to the court on Feb. 25, but heading into her junior season, Bueckers tore her ACL while playing a pick-up game.
Though Bueckers has returned, Huskies Jana El Alfy, Azzi Fudd, Aubrey Griffin, Ayanna Patterson, and Caroline Ducharme are all out for the season. Despite their luck, the Huskies reached their 23rd Final Four this season. Bueckers is back and better than ever, scoring 112 points, 36 rebounds, and 20 assists so far in this year’s tournament.
Coverage of the Final Four is as follows:
(1) South Carolina vs. (3) NC State | 7 p.m. ET | ESPN
(1) Iowa vs. (3) UConn | 9 p.m. ET | ESPN
