SPOKANE, Washington — No one is beating UConn.
Not USC on Monday night. Not UCLA, South Carolina or Texas next weekend, either. There are still three games left in the season, but you can be certain of this: When the buzzer sounds Sunday night, it’ll be Paige Bueckers and UConn cutting down the nets on the Huskies’ 12th national title, and first since 2016.
Every other team left standing has had its struggles. Overall No. 1 seed UCLA had its hands full with LSU. Defending champion South Carolina had to squeak by Duke. Texas got tested by Tennessee.
The Huskies, meanwhile, are simply too good, too deep — two days after Bueckers went off for 40, she had 31 while freshman Sarah Strong dropped a casual 22 on 8-of-13 shooting — and too ruthless. The No. 2 seed has rolled over everyone in its way so far, winning its first four NCAA tournament games by an average of 35 points, and Bueckers has been simply sublime.
She’s scored 105 points in her last three games, the most prolific three-game span in UConn history. Which, given the Who’s Who of players who’ve worn the Huskies uniform, is staggering. But Bueckers isn’t just a scoring machine, finishing with six assists, four steals, three rebounds and two blocks against USC.
USC did manage to make things interesting for a bit, paring a 19-point lead to just five at the end of the third quarter. But the only accolade missing from Bueckers’ illustrious UConn career is a national title, and the determination to fill that hole practically oozes off her.
After Azzi Fudd opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer, snapping an 0-for-9 streak, Bueckers scored on a pull-up jumper. Aubrey Griffin then stole the ball and fed Bueckers, who drained a 3. Then it was Bueckers’ turn to pick USC’s pocket, stripping a Kennedy Smith pass and hitting Fudd, who made another 3 to put UConn up 62-48.
There were still almost seven minutes left, but the game was effectively over and UConn was moving onto the Final Four, its 24th for those counting. And the fourth in as many years for Bueckers, who missed her junior season with a torn ACL.
Maybe this Elite Eight game with USC, a rematch of last year, would have been different if JuJu Watkins hadn’t suffered a season-ending knee injury in a second-round game a week earlier. Watkins is, like Bueckers, a generational talent, and she had USC’s last three points, as well as the assist on the Trojans’ final field goal, when they outlasted UConn in December.
But even with Watkins, it’s hard to see USC winning this game. Champion teams get better the deeper into the season they go, and no one is playing better right now than Bueckers and UConn.
And the last three games of the season won’t change that.
Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: UConn, Paige Bueckers will steamroll Final Four, win NCAA championship
