Is UConn on the way to winning its first national title in nine years?
The Huskies are significant favorites to win the women’s Final Four after taking down USC on Monday night in the Elite Eight. UConn is -130 at BetMGM to win its 12th national title and first since 2016.
UConn was seeded No. 2 to USC in its Spokane 2 region but controlled the game on Monday night in a 78-64 win. Paige Bueckers had 31 points, six assists and four steals as Sarah Strong added 22 with a strong first half. Both Strong and Bueckers played all 40 minutes.
The Huskies became the favorites to win the national title before the Sweet 16 after USC’s JuJu Watkins suffered a torn ACL. Watkins was injured in the team’s second-round win, but the Trojans took care of No. 5 Kansas State in the Sweet 16 without her.
South Carolina opened the tournament as the favorite and is now +250 to win. The Gamecocks and Huskies are on opposite sides of the bracket; South Carolina will meet fellow SEC school Texas in the first semifinal on Friday, and UConn will play UCLA. South Carolina beat Duke 54-50 in the Elite Eight.
The Longhorns beat TCU on Monday and are +600 to win the national title while the Bruins are +700 to win the title after beating LSU on Sunday.
All four of the teams have played at least one of the other teams in the Final Four this season. UConn opened as an 8.5-point favorite over the Bruins while South Carolina is a 4.5-point favorite over Texas. That game will be the fourth this season between the two schools. The teams split the regular-season series with home wins and the Gamecocks beat Texas 64-45 to win the SEC tournament.
UConn beat South Carolina 87-58 in February in the third win of the Huskies’ current 14-game win streak. UCLA also beat the Gamecocks 77-62 early in the season.
