South Carolina, ranked No. 1 overall, is led by Junior Aliyah Boston, the 6-foot-5 forward who has dominated the color for the most popular Gamecocks. Boston averaged 17 points, 12 rebounds and more than 2 blocks per game during the season on their way to Associated Press National Player of the Year.
UConn, meanwhile, is led by Paige Bueckers, last year’s International Player of the Year. She missed much of the season with a left knee injury but returned in February and is part of a trio of standout guards.
The title game is a rematch. South Carolina defeated UConn 73-57 in November’s Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas, drawing on 22 points from Boston and a suffocating defense that kept the Huskies to just 3 points in the 4th quarter.
UConn, the premier women’s basketball program for nearly three decades, finds itself in the odd position of underdog. A 2-seed in the tournament, UConn has had 11 starting line-ups this season due to a mix of injuries and Covid illness.
Still, UConn made it to the Final Four by leading 1-seeded NC State with an epic 91-87 win in double overtime, the first time in NCAA women’s tournament history to double a game in the Elite Eight or beyond extension needed. They followed that up with a 63-58 win over another 1-seed at Stanford on Friday night to reach the title game.
South Carolina is the highest-ranked team since preseason, sitting 34-2 year-on-year with each of their losses being 2 points or less.
The Gamecocks advanced to the Final Four by defeating 10-seeded Creighton 80-50 and then dropping 1-seeded Louisville 72-59 on Friday to reach the title game. In the win over Louisville, Boston with her pink and purple pigtails scored 23 points and grabbed 18 rebounds, the 29th double-double of her stellar season.
UConn, coached by Geno Auriemma, is led by his backcourt trio of guards in Bueckers, Christyn Williams and Azzi Fudd, who are each scoring over 12 points a game in the season. The title game takes place in Minneapolis and is a homecoming for Buckers, who grew up in suburban Hopkins.
This is UConn’s 14th consecutive Final Four appearance, dating back to 2007. The Huskies have made it to the championship game 11 times in their illustrious history – and recorded a perfect 11-0 in those competitions.
South Carolina has made the Sweet 16 every year since 2014 under coach Dawn Staley and won its first national championship in 2017. They were the country’s top-ranked side in 2020 when the tournament was canceled due to Covid-19 and last year lost in the Final Four.
The two teams last played at the NCAA tournament in 2018 when UConn defeated South Carolina 94-65 to advance to the Final Four.