First, oh great and wonderful college football fans, let’s give a shout out to the Buffalo Bulls who won the Women’s NIT championship yesterday by defeating Troy 88-84. That leaves just a single women’s game left and it’s a classic before it even starts. UCONN (36-3/3 with a GCR Score of 62.82) is 11-1 in NCAA Finals with that lone loss coming at the hands of South Carolina (35-3/1 with a Score of 65.92) who is 3-0 in NCAA Finals. UCONN is playing in its 17th Final Four in the last 18 years, once won over 100 straight games and 4 straight championships, but their last win was in 2016. Since then, the Gamecocks have won 3 championships (2017, 2022, 2024) and made the Final Four the last 5 years. As the reigning champions, they have a chance to join UCONN, Tennessee, and Southern Cal as the only repeat champions in the NCAA era. Not to mention they play every year during the regular season just to make the rivalry that much stronger. Both coaches are from Philly, they both won gold medals as coaches (Staley as a player as well), both have multiple championships, fantastic players, and traveling fan bases. There are no surprises in the game. UCONN stopped a 71-game home winning streak by blowing out the Gamecocks earlier in the regular season. Does that provide confidence to the Huskies or does that set up revenge from the Gamecocks? We will find out at 3:00 Eastern today on ABC.
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UCONN won the Big East championship over Creigton by 20, given them a #2 seed. The then took out Arkansas St and South Dakota St to advance to the Sweet 16. Then wins over Oklahoma and a Juju-less Southern Cal earned a Final Four ticket. UCLA, their opponent in the semifinal and experiencing their first ever Final Four appearance (and for the coach) looked lost and could not keep up with the pace and strength of the Huskies – final 85-51. South Carolina beat Texas (2nd of 3 times) 64-45 to win the SEC championship despite losing a regular season game for the first time in 4 years. After beating Tennessee Tech and Indiana to play in the Sweet 16, the Gamecocks took out Maryland and Duke, both by 4 points. Each of SCAR’s 3 losses this season was almost like a wake-up call and their play improved. In the semifinal, they destroyed Texas again 74-57 and the game wasn’t that close. UCONN has some superstars who are going to make a tremendous impact in the WNBA and in this game. Nobody in the country has South Carolina’s depth. UCONN is favored by -6.5 largely on the play of Paige Bueckers and her ability to open the game because of the focus on her – Azzi Fudd has really stepped up. South Carolina doesn’t have a star – Coach Staley has repeatedly said none of her team will be starters in the WNBA – and none play more than 25 minutes a game, but that means you don’t know who it will be this game. Chloe Kitts (SEC tournament and Sweet 16 MVP)? MiLaysia Fulwiley (dynamo acrobat) or Joyce Edwards (phenom freshman) off the bench? Or Bree Hall’s defense slowing the UCONN attack? This will be a great game not only from an entertainment standpoint today, but also from a continuing growth and impact on the women’s game overall. The GCR will stick with the number 1 team in the country and call them to upset the surging Huskies: Gamecocks to win 54.7% of the time.
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That’s it for today. Thank you for reading and sharing with others, G
