Women’s March Madness Final Four: What to know

 

The NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament is down to its final four teams, as the best players left will battle for the chance to be the first champion of the post-Caitlin Clark era. 

Last year’s women’s championship game made history by garnering more viewers than the men’s title game for the first time ever. Now, without Clark, this year’s class of championship contenders has the tall task of trying to keep the spotlight on the women’s game. 

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UConn will face UCLA, and Texas will face South Carolina in the round. 

Here is a breakdown of the players looking to battle for that spotlight in the final two rounds: 

UConn and Paige Bueckers

UConn superstar Paige Bueckers has arguably taken Clark’s place as the biggest star in women’s college basketball this year. 

Bueckers has a chance to do what Clark never did – win a national championship. The 23-year-old Minnesota native will surely lean on her faith in God as she looks to achieve that goal. 

Bueckers has been one of the most outspoken players in the sport when it comes to crediting her Christian faith, having referenced it countless times while recovering from a torn ACL in August 2022. She thanked God while leading UConn to the Final Four last year, and this year, she saw that trend spread to other players in the sport.

“Yeah, I think people are more outward in their faith and more comfortable talking about it,” Bueckers told Fox News Digital at a press conference on Feb. 19 when asked if she sees embracing Christianity becoming more common in women’s basketball and sports as a whole. 

“I feel like the more you see it the more populized it becomes, and the more comfortable everybody comes with it,” she added. “But yeah, I definitely think it’s growing in terms of being outspoken about it.” 

If Bueckers’ faith is rewarded in this year’s March Madness run, and she leads UConn to the championship, she will make her mark on the most decorated history in women’s college basketball.

UConn already has 11 national championships dating back to 1995, and is considered the most prominent dominant dynasty in the sport. So the pressure is on Bueckers to maintain that standard, at least once, before she graduates. UConn last won the title in 2016, and the program’s current championship drought is its longest since winning its first title 30 years ago.

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After that, Bueckers will look to challenge Clark in the pros, as she is projected to be the No. 1 overall pick in this year’s upcoming WNBA Draft. 

Texas and Madison Booker

The Longhorns are led by star Madison Booker, who already has experience in high-stakes competition, specifically while representing her country.

The Mississippi native has already won three gold medals in International Basketball Federation (FIBA) youth tournaments. Booker helped the United States win a gold medal at the 2021 FIBA Under-16 Women’s Americas Championship in Mexico, where she averaged 6.2 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. 

The very next year, at the 2022 FIBA Under-17 Women’s World Cup in Hungary, she averaged 5.6 points, four rebounds and 2.3 assists per game en route to a gold medal.

The following year, at the 2023 FIBA Under-19 Women’s World Cup in Spain, she averaged 7.2 points and five rebounds per game for her third gold for the U.S.

This year, Booker was considered one of the best players in women’s basketball, winning SEC player of the year and earning AP First-Team All-American honors. She did it all at the age of 19, as she will not even turn 20 until the tournament is over. 

Unlike UConn and Bueckers, Booker and Texas are looking for a much rarer feat in their history. 

Texas has only ever won the national championship once, back in 1986. The program has been a perennial March Madness contender throughout its history and has even made it to the Elite Eight in three of the previous four years, but they lost each time. 

Now, the Longhorns are back in the Final Four for the first time since 2003. Booker is looking to channel her gold medal success representing her country to national championship success representing the great state of Texas.

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Defending champion South Carolina

South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley is looking to remind everyone who is in charge in women’s college basketball. 

Staley is seeking for repeat titles after defeating Clark in the national championship game last season, her fourth title overall. The team is in the Final Four for the fifth straight year and has also proven it can overcome the lack of a single superstar player like Bueckers and Booker, but can also overcome distractions as well.

Last season, Staley led her team to the title despite prompting controversy when she spoke in support of trans athletes in women’s basketball. 

During a press conference, OutKick’s Dan Zaksheske asked Staley her thoughts on the burning issue, and Staley did not hide her thoughts. 

“Yes, yes. So, now the barnstormer people are going to flood my timeline and be a distraction to me on one of the biggest days of our game, and I’m OK with that. I really am,” she said. “I’m of the opinion of, if you’re a woman, you should play. If you consider yourself a woman, and you want to play sports or vice versa, you should be able to play. That’s my opinion.”

However, like Bueckers, Staley also had no problem sharing her faith either, thanking God after winning last year’s title. 

“We serve an unbelievable God,” Staley said after the game.

“This is the unlikeliest group to do it. And sometimes, I mean, God is funny like that. He’s funny. He rips your heart out, and He makes you believe. He makes you believe the unimaginable.”

This year’s team will lean on a group that does not have a household name superstar, but a deep lineup of budding stars, including Joyce Edwards, Chloe Kitts and MiLaysia Fulwiley. 

Quiet juggernaut UCLA

UCLA finished the regular season as the No. 1 ranked team in the entire country after a dominant 34-2 campaign. 

For a school that has historically been defined by men’s basketball success, the women’s program has had no better opportunity to claim its spot in the sun than this year. UCLA has never won a women’s national championship, and this will be its first Final Four appearance ever. 

Head coach Cori Close has quietly and patiently built a juggernaut of women’s basketball since taking over the program in 2011. 

UCLA had not played in a regional since 1999 when they hired her. By her fifth season, UCLA was back in the Sweet 16, and the Bruins have missed only two regionals since. It is the most successful run the program has experienced in the NCAA era.

Now, the fruits of her 2022 recruiting class are coming to fruition, with stars Kiki Rice, Londynn Jones and Gabriela Jaquez set to make a run at history. 

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