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The ladies’s Last 4 is about.
And followers can anticipate two unimaginable matchups in Dallas.
4 of the highest ten groups within the ultimate Related Press ballot are represented, and the 4 groups headed to Dallas all positioned inside the highest ten within the ultimate NET rankings.
On one facet of the bracket you might have an all-time nice staff in South Carolina, with the presumptive first-overall choice within the WNBA draft in ahead Aliyah Boston. Standing of their approach of an undefeated season? Iowa and Caitlin Clark, maybe the largest story of March.
On the opposite facet of the bracket, the upstart Virginia Tech Hokies have crashed their first Last 4, however they’re on the lookout for much more. They’ll tackle an LSU staff led by Angel Reese, who transferred to LSU after two robust seasons at Maryland, and has taken her recreation to even larger ranges in her first season within the SEC.
Here’s a have a look at every of the groups on their option to Dallas for the ladies’s Last 4.
South Carolina (1-seed) vs. Iowa (2-seed)
South Carolina Gamecocks (36-0)
The nationwide championship of the ladies’s NCAA match has completed the season undefeated six occasions since 2000. That listing options a number of Breanna Stewart UConn groups, a number of Maya Moore UConn groups, Brittney Griner’s 2012 Baylor squad, and Diana Taurasi’s 2002 UConn staff. Basically, you want an all-time nice staff led by an all-time nice participant to do it. South Carolina seems to verify each bins. Led by presumptive No. 1 general WNBA draft decide Aliyah Boston, South Carolina is searching for back-to-back nationwide titles. Boston is an unimaginable inside scorer and defender who additionally dominates the glass, however she’s removed from this staff’s solely weapon. Level guard Zia Cooke really led the Gamecocks in scoring this yr, and her daring drives to the rim have been virtually unimaginable to include for opposing defenses. Add in 6’7 Brazilian heart Kamilla Cardoso, senior ahead Laeticia Amihere, and senior guard Brea Beal, and South Carolina merely has a lot dimension, expertise, and expertise.
That is beginning to really feel like an all-time nice staff, and so they can mint that standing by going via Caitlin Clark’s Hawkeyes and successful one other nationwide title. There’s a brand new superpower in girls’s faculty hoops, and it belongs to Daybreak Staley. — ROD
Iowa Hawkeyes (30-6)
Standing in the best way of South Carolina’s undefeated season?
Girls’s basketball’s “transcendent expertise.”
Iowa’s Caitlin Clark has been maybe the story of March, along with her play drawing consideration from the likes of John Cena, LeBron James, Dick Vitale, and extra. In Iowa’s win over Louisville, which superior the Hawkeyes to their second Last 4 in class historical past, Clark had a recreation for the ages. She poured in 41 factors, added 12 assists, and grabbed 10 rebounds, turning into the primary participant in NCAA Match historical past — males’s or girls’s — to place collectively a 40-point triple-double.
Clark is a big a part of Iowa’s offense — which leads the nation because the Hawkeyes common 87.6 ppg — however she is definitely not alone. Monika Czinano averages 17.2 ppg, and her presence down low usually forces groups into a tricky determination when Clark and Czinano play a two-woman recreation. Take this bucket towards Colorado within the Candy 16, when the double-team on Clark opens up the chance for Czinano within the paint:
Additionally becoming a member of the scoring parade for the Hawkeyes is ahead McKenna Warnock, who averages one other 11.1 ppg for Iowa.
South Carolina definitely seems like an all-time nice staff, however the Hawkeyes are going to have one thing to say about that this weekend. — Mark Schofield
LSU Tigers (3-seed) vs. Virginia Tech Hokies (1-seed)
LSU Tigers (32-2)
Two phrases, one identify: Angel Reese.
LSU’s sophomore phenom took her recreation from the unimaginable and pushed it into the stratosphere this season by completely dominating each recreation this season, each in scoring and on the glass.
There’s extra to LSU than simply Reese, however she’s the nucleus of what makes this staff tick. Averaging properly over a double-double throughout this match, Reese actually confirmed the type of ludicrous expertise she had throughout a second spherical beatdown of Michigan State by which she put up 25 factors and pulled down 24 boards, casually blocking 6 pictures for good measure within the Tigers’ 66-42 win.
Astoundingly balanced at each ends of the ground, LSU have been a Prime 5 staff in each offensive and defensive score this season — one thing solely South Carolina can boast of the groups remaining within the Last 4. With Reese locking up the entrance courtroom and commanding a double staff it’s allowed for the guard duo of Alexis Morris and Flau’jae Johnson to shine in their very own proper, even when meaning taking extra of a again seat on the offensive finish.
One other enormous factor to this staff is its astounding depth. LSU can fairly go 9 deep into their rotation, which can put on out plenty of groups left within the discipline (or actually anybody who isn’t South Carolina).
While you pair the ludicrous star energy of the Tigers’ Massive 3, with a rotation that may relaxation them as wanted, you find yourself with one thing particular. Make no mistake: The 2023 LSU Tigers are particular. — James Dator
Virginia Tech Hokies (31-4)
For the primary time within the historical past of the ladies’s Last 4, “Enter Sandman” will make an look.
The Hokies superior to the Last 4 for the primary time of their program’s historical past because of their win Monday night time over Ohio State. Head coach Kenny Brooks took over a program in 2016 that had not even reached the match since 2006, however now Virginia Tech is 2 wins away from a nationwide title. Heart Elizabeth Kitley, who averaged 18.2 ppg and 10.7 rpg this season, notched one other double-double towards the Buckeyes, scoring 25 factors and grabbing one other 12 rebounds within the Hokies’ 84-74 win.
However one other enormous motive that the Hokies not solely beat Ohio State, however superior to the Last 4, was the play from their guards. Dealing with a Buckeyes staff that likes to deliver full-court stress, the Hokies broke down Ohio State’s press early and sometimes, with Georgia Amoore, Cayla King, and Kayana Traylor main the best way. These early factors towards the press pressured the Buckeyes out of their stress look, and helped open up Virginia Tech’s offense. Amoore added 24 factors towards the Buckeyes, and knocked down 4 three-pointers within the recreation, bringing her complete for the match to twenty. That matches the mark set by Kia Nurse again in 2017 via 4 match video games, in accordance with ESPN.
A type of threes closed out the third quarter, and is price a glance:
Virginia Tech’s run to the Last 4 is spectacular not only for the short turnaround on the program, but additionally for the hurdles the Hokies confronted within the match. Virginia Tech wanted to energy previous perennial powerhouse Tennessee, in addition to a Buckeyes staff that had simply knocked off Connecticut.
Their subsequent aim? Listening to “Enter Sandman” blaring in Dallas. “Within the summertime, we play ‘Enter Sandman’ in our home, and we simply run round and simply begin leaping up and down,” Brooks mentioned, “as a result of it’s part of Virginia Tech. And the truth that we will deliver pleasure to Virginia Tech, to Hokie Nation, that tune comes on, it means all the pieces. It means all the pieces.” — Mark Schofield
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