Charlie CremeESPN.com23:55 ET12 minutes read
How will Caitlin Clark and Iowa fare against South Carolina?
Monica McNutt sees No. 1 South Carolina take on No. 2 Iowa in the Women’s Final Four.
Iowa has not been in the Final Four since 1993. LSU is back for the first time in 15 years. Virginia Tech has never been. This was the first Elite Eight since 1985 not to include UConn, Tennessee or Stanford. New blood was the hallmark of the 2023 NCAA Women’s Tournament, and now so much of that is going to Dallas. Parity in women’s basketball is real.
And then there’s South Carolina. Monday’s win over Maryland marked the Gamecocks’ school record, 36th win of the season. They have now won 42 in a row. The Final Four seemed like a foregone conclusion for a year since they hoisted the trophy in 2022. If South Carolina completes its perfect run in Dallas, the Gamecocks will become the 10th team to finish the season undefeated. UConn was the last undefeated team in 2016 and the youngest back-to-back champion.
The next step for the Gamecocks is a clash that just about every watcher of women’s football has been yearning for all season, and now Iowa-South Carolina is stepping onto the big stage. It’s the game’s toughest defense against the most prolific offense, and while they’re not a direct match, it’ll feel like having Aliyah Boston and Caitlin Clark on the floor together.
The entire Final Four is full of stars. LSU’s Angel Reese has been making stat lines all season that seem incomprehensible at times. Elizabeth Kitley is a two-time ACC Player of the Year. Point guard Georgia Amoore has become a star in this NCAA tournament.
Despite all the Final Four newcomers, nothing will be greater than South Carolina’s quest for repetition and perfection.
The Gamecocks are, of course, the #1 team in our Final Four team rankings.
Aliyah Boston’s double-double puts South Carolina in the Final Four
Aliyah Boston has 22 points and 10 rebounds for her 82nd career double-double in South Carolina’s win over Maryland.
South Carolina gamecocks
NCAA Tournament Seed: #1 Overall (Greenville 1)
Path to Final Four: Defeated Norfolk State 72-40; defeated South Florida 76-45; defeated UCLA 59-43; defeated Maryland 86-75
The Gamecocks achieved a national championship a year ago. Only one team in the NCAA tournament came within 10 points. This team is even better and even more comfortable on the road. Although Maryland narrowly lost and was the first opponent to score more than 45 points, the regional finals were essentially decided early on in the fourth quarter. The dominance was just so thorough, and South Carolina makes it look so routine as they improved to 36-0 in the pursuit of back-to-back titles and a perfect season.
Unsurprisingly, the Gamecocks’ top two players delivered their most impressive performances of the tournament in the biggest game of the season. Aliyah Boston held his ground with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Zia Cooke had 18 points remaining with eight rebounds. The Final Four will need and likely get more of that from Boston and Cooke. Boston has played better against better competition this season, with double-doubles against Maryland (twice), Stanford, UCLA (regular season), and UConn. She missed a rebound against LSU.
As much as Boston is the team’s individual star, South Carolina’s team concept, particularly on defense, continues to lead the way. The Gamecocks are first in the country in points allowed per game, field goal save percentage and shots blocked per game. Every team that has played South Carolina scored below their average. Now comes the biggest test with Iowa leading the nation in scoring (87.6 PPG).
Next: vs. Iowa on Friday (9 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Caitlin Clark takes Iowa to the Final Four with 41 triple-double points
Caitlin Clark scores 21 points in the first half and Iowa doesn’t look back as the Hawkeyes advance to the Final Four.
Iowa Hawkeyes
NCAA Tournament Seed: #2 (Seattle 4)
Path to Final Four: Defeated SE Louisiana 95-43; defeated Georgia 74-66; defeated Colorado 87-77; defeated Louisville 97-83
Caitlin Clark couldn’t leave enough alone. After her 10th rebound against Louisville, she had the first 30-point triple-double in NCAA tournament history. Then she went on. And score. Two free throws later, she had 41 points and vaulted to the first 40-point triple-double the NCAA tournament has seen. It capped one of March’s best performances of all time: 41 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds. Unstoppable throughout the season, Clark has reached even higher levels in the last two weeks. She is averaging 30.0 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 11 assists per game per game, and only Georgia kept her under 50% shooting in the second round.
All of the numbers are amazing, but perhaps most telling is that she’s either scored or assisted in 62% of Iowa’s points in four tournament games. The shootings of Gabbie Marshall and McKenna Warnock helped boost those assist numbers, but they also find themselves wide open due to the attention Clark receives as well as her ability to line up her teammates perfectly.
After both games in the Seattle 4 Regional, Clark referred to her teammates as a tight circle. The lineup of Clark, Marshall, Warnock, Monika Czinano and Kate Martin has started 90 games combined. That’s an amazing number in any sport, anytime. Considering these are the days of transfer portal upheaval and coaching, the longevity of this Hawkeyes connection is even more amazing. This is the team Lisa Bluder has built on since taking over as coach in Iowa in the spring of 2000 and returning the program to the Final Four for the first time in 30 years.
Next: vs. South Carolina on Friday (9 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Virginia Tech Reaches Final Four Behind Elizabeth Kitley’s Big Game
Elizabeth Kitley hits a double-double with 25 points and 12 rebounds to take Virginia Tech past Ohio State and into the Final Four.
Virginia Tech Hokies
NCAA Tournament Seed: #1 (Seattle 3)
Path to the Final Four: Defeated Chattanooga 58-33; defeated South Dakota State 72-60; defeated Tennessee 73-64; defeated Ohio State 84-74
The moments don’t get much scarier than Monday night’s second quarter against Ohio State. Point guard Georgia Amoore was punched in the face and went down. She staggered to her feet and had to be taken to the dressing room. The key to Virginia Tech’s postseason success and primary ball handler against the vaunted Buckeyes press was out of the game. And it didn’t look good. And then, just as quickly, everything was fine. Amoore returned to the bench, gave coach Kenny Brooks a thumbs up and was back in the game. Moments later, Ohio State withdrew its press because Amoore broke it too easily. A little over an hour later, the Hokies were in their first Final Four.
The chemistry between Amoore and center Elizabeth Kitley is unmistakable. It also brings tangible results. They combined for 49 points against Ohio State and have paved the way for 15 straight wins. Nine of those were against teams in the top 25. Another was against a team from Miami that made the Elite Eight. Virginia Tech, undefeated since Jan. 26, has earned its place in Dallas.
Next: vs. LSU on Friday (7 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Reese sets SEC record as LSU leads Miami in Elite Eight
Angel Reese records an SEC-record 32 double-doubles in a season as the 3-Seed Tigers defeat the 9-Seed Hurricanes 54-42 to advance to the Final Four.
LSU Tiger
NCAA Tournament Seed: No. 3 (Greenville 2)
Path to the Final Four: Defeated Hawaii 73-50; defeated Michigan 66-42; defeated Utah 66-63; defeated Miami 54-42
Score aside, defeating Miami in the Elite Eight isn’t one that LSU would put in a time capsule. The offense was sluggish, the shooting was abysmal and the rhythm was non-existent. But winning ugly is always better than the alternative. LSU shot just 30.2% from the field and made a 3-pointer (Miami didn’t score and teams went 1-for-27 from the deep, their worst combined performance in the tournament in 23 years).
But in just two years at Baton Rouge, Kim Mulkey has brought the Tigers back to the Final Four, a venue where they were regulars from 2004-2008. Last season, LSU finished in second place with a team built mostly from transfers. She preached patience. This season’s edition, with another large contingent of new faces, wasn’t listening. LSU, with a Sunday starting lineup consisting of three freshman transfers and one freshman, came together steadily throughout the season and won the program’s first Final Four in 15 years.
Angel Reese, who has an SEC-record 32 double-doubles after moving from Maryland, is both the team’s glue and its top player. Despite a subpar shooting night against the Hurricanes, Reese was the best player this side of Clark in the NCAA tournament, boxing in with 22.5 points, 17.3 rebounds, 2.5 steals and 3.8 blocks per game. Even without scoring, Reese changes the game. Shortly after Miami recovered from a difficult start to level the score at 18 on Sunday, Reese made back-to-back steals, one that also required a sporting save on the sidelines, resulting in two baskets from Sa’Myah Smith. Just over 30 seconds later, Reese fired a crosscourt overhead bounce pass at Alexis Morris for a layup. The six-point run with all the Reese-initiated plays resulted in a breakup, and Miami never got close the rest of the game.
For much of the season, LSU was criticized for a weak, non-conference schedule. But maybe it really was a stroke of genius. This new group had a chance to develop without the pressure of losing games and started the season 23-0 before suffering their first loss to South Carolina on February 12. Confidence and chemistry have now carried the Tigers into the final weekend of the season.
Next: vs. Virginia Tech on Friday (7 p.m. ET, ESPN)