Tampa, Fla., will feature one team’s first appearance in the Final Four, compared to another team looking for a repeat of last year and its third national title in four years. There’s one team that hasn’t competed in the Final Four in 22 years, while another is the reliable visitor — a Final Four appearance in 16 of the last 17 years and 24 collectively under the same head coach.
Women’s college basketball’s giants will collide at Amalie Arena on Friday. Texas will meet defending national champion South Carolina in the first semifinal, while UConn and UCLA play the later game.
With all of the history and star power of these programs, asked the incredibly tough question: Which players, past and present, would be included on a starting five of each team representing this year’s Final Four? Longtime women’s college basketball fans Scott Dochterman, Richard Deitsch and Damon Sayles accepted the unenviable challenge (gulp!) and also added an all-time coach for each team.
Feel free to share your starting five in the comments section.
South Carolina Gamecocks
Dochterman’s starting five: C A’ja Wilson, C Aliyah Boston, G Tiffany Mitchell, G Zia Cooke, G Tyasha Harris
Dochterman’s coach: Dawn Staley
A consensus national player of the year honoree, Wilson scored 2,389 points and grabbed 1,195 rebounds in her career while leading South Carolina to the 2017 NCAA championship. Boston was instrumental in leading South Carolina to the 2022 national title, two other Final Fours and a 32-1 record in the COVID-19 shortened 2020 campaign.
Mitchell, who has her jersey retired alongside Wilson, won two SEC player of the year awards and guided South Carolina to the Final Four. Cooke and Harris were critical in the Gamecocks’ national-title seasons of 2022 and 2017, respectively.
It feels wrong to leave out first-team All-American Kamilla Cardoso, who led the Gamecocks to the 2024 NCAA title, but there already are two centers on the team. Forward Jocelyn Penn gets overshadowed by the success in the Staley era, but during the 2002-03 season, she averaged 23.9 points per game and led the SEC in steals and field-goal percentage. Sheila Foster, Shannon Johnson and Martha Parker have their jerseys retired and deserve mention, as well.
Deitsch’s starting five: C A’ja Wilson, C Aliyah Boston, C Alaina Coates, G Tiffany Mitchell, G Shannon Johnson
Deitsch’s coach: Dawn Staley
Wilson is the easiest pick of this entire exercise. Homegrown and charismatic, she is the player who turned the South Carolina program into a national juggernaut when, in April 2014, she opted to stay home.
Boston followed Wilson’s success by leading South Carolina to the 2022 national title and two other Final Fours. Johnson was a great scoring guard — the school’s second-leading scorer of all time with 2,230 career points. Mitchell was a two-time SEC Player of the Year and ranks among the program’s all-time leaders in games started and games played.
My last pick was Coates, who suffered an ankle injury late in 2022 that caused her to miss the tournament. She was dominant in the post and is the school’s best all-time in field-goal percentage and defensive rebounds. Zia Cooke and Tyasha Harris just missed out on the list.
Sayles’ starting five: C A’ja Wilson, C ...
