TAMPA, Fla. — It’s time for the clash of the juggernauts, a battle of an emerging dynasty versus the one that will not die. Two coaching legends. One player seeking an elusive title to cement a legacy in what will be her final collegiate game.
South Carolina and Connecticut will meet in the NCAA championship on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, ABC) in a matchup many picked in their brackets three weeks ago, whether they thought it was realistic or a dream game. There’s a gravitational pull of the two programs vying for supremacy in a game that’s slowly building parity, but still revolves around its powers. And Paige Bueckers, one of the best players in the country, will star on the national stage in her final collegiate game.
“It does feel like the two most prominent programs right now in women's college basketball are playing for the right to be national champions,” UConn head coach Geno Auriemma said after winning the most lopsided Final Four game in NCAA history.
Auriemma, an 11-time national champion at UConn, will square off against South Carolina’s Dawn Staley, a three-time champion coach with a more modern style. Auriemma holds an edge in the series, 8-4, but they’ve split their two postseason games. They are connected by Philadelphia roots and USA Basketball success.
The title game is a rematch of the 2022 national championship and the second meeting of the year. UConn blew South Carolina out by 29 in February, snapping the Gamecocks’ 71-game home winning streak. Plenty more history is on the line between them.
South Carolina could win a rare repeat championship, joining UConn, Tennessee and USC as the only ones to do it in the NCAA era. UConn is amid its longest championship drought of nine years, and Bueckers, the guard all over the illustrious record books, is still chasing a title. It will be her final collegiate game before heading to the WNBA.
“I definitely think that’s a team mindset is that we want to do it for Paige, we want to do it for the upperclassmen who, this is their last chance at it and they’ve given so much to all of us, so much to this program, these last five and six years,” said Azzi Fudd, who decided to stay at UConn an extra year.
Bueckers will play in only her second national championship game in ...
