CLEVELAND — Well folks, we’ve made it! Or we're just about there. The national championship game is Sunday and boy, has this tournament been everything we’ve wanted and then some.
Outstanding performances. Star-studded matchups. The big names delivering and the up-and-comers announcing themselves.
The only buzzkill has been the officials — talk about an evergreen statement. Once again, they inserted themselves into the game, this time with three seconds left in Iowa vs. UConn. You coulda woulda, coulda, shoulda all you want, but everyone can agree this type of thing shouldn’t keep happening.
The worst part is that it takes away from the players’ performances, and there have been some terrific ones.
So without further ado, here are the winners and losers from the Final Four semifinals:
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WINNERS
ESPN/ABC
In less than a week, ESPN has gotten Iowa and LSU in a rematch of last year’s title game. UConn-USC in a showcase of the game’s brilliant present (Paige Bueckers) and its even more dazzling future (JuJu Watkins). Iowa and UConn in a rematch of “the freshman phenom” game in the Sweet 16 of the 2021 tournament.
The ratings for the Elite Eight games were jaw-dropping — 12.3 million tuned in for the Iowa-LSU game and 6.7 million watched UConn-USC — and no doubt Friday night’s Final Four games will have drawn big numbers as well.
Now ABC gets to show Caitlin Clark and Iowa against unbeaten South Carolina in a rematch of last year’s Final Four game, where Clark and the Hawkeyes stunned the Gamecocks, and anyone who wasn’t already familiar with Clark realized she was something special.
“It feels like every time we're going into a game in this NCAA Tournament, it's like, 'Everybody wanted to see this,' just one after the next,” Clark said. "I think it's good for women's basketball.”
Gabbie Marshall, Iowa
What a night for the Cincinnati native. The senior guard, who is generously listed at 5-foot-9, drew the assignment of guarding Paige Bueckers Friday night. And boy, did she make Bueckers work for each of her 17 points. Bueckers took 17 shots to score those 17 points, and she never looked quite in rhythm.
But the biggest play came at the very end, with Iowa up 70-69. UConn had the ball, and nine seconds to get a good look — everyone in the gym knew who they were going to — when Marshall drew an illegal screen foul on UConn’s Aaliyah Edwards. Both UConn coach Geno Auriemma and Marshall screamed, though Auriemma’s yell was in disbelief and Marshall’s was in celebration. After Iowa’s win, Hawkeyes associate head coach Jan Jensen said Marshall “could contend for player of the game.”
It was extra sweet for Marshall, who will now get to play for a national championship in her home state. She won two Ohio high school state championships, playing at Ohio State, and has a huge crowd of family and friends cheering her on.
Ashlyn Watkins, South Carolina
When the 6-foot-3 sophomore forward was introduced at the postgame press conference, the moderator stumbled over her name a bit. Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley didn’t miss a beat.
“Did you want to call her Ashlyn ‘Swatkins,’ ” Staley joked. “Because that’s what we call her.”
Watkins is known for athletic highlights and has a habit of rejecting shots (she leads the team with 90 blocks), which always draws cheers. But she might need a new nickname based on how many rebounds she grabbed Friday night — 20, a career high.
The most impressive offensive board came in the first half, when Watkins skyed to grab an offensive board. But instead of gathering and bringing it down, she hung in the air and tipped it in, drawing “Ooooohs” from the crowd.
Should she decide she’s tired of basketball, we’re thinking Watkins could have a career in volleyball as an outside hitter. We pity whomever has to block her.
LOSERS
Kate Martin’s nose
The fifth-year senior was thisclose to finally making it through a season without blood gushing out of her nose. But with about 2½ minutes left in the third quarter Friday, Martin took an Aaliyah Edwards’ elbow to her face and had to leave the court, her nose bleeding.
“Kate Martin, what a warrior,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said. “I don't know what happened to her nose, but obviously we saw a lot of blood. That poor kid has broken her nose I think every single year she's been at Iowa. But she's a warrior. She's a leader. She's the heart and soul of our team.”
UConn’s offense
If you’d given UConn coach Geno Auriemma this stat sheet before the game, with the final score still to be filled in, he’d have taken it. Gladly.
Caitlin Clark was harassed into 7-of-18 shooting. Her 3-point shooting was particularly bad; she didn’t make her first until there was 8:10 left in the third quarter, and finished 3-of-11. Iowa as a whole wasn’t much better, finishing 7-of-25 from 3-point range.
The Hawkeyes also had 16 turnovers, which UConn turned into 19 points.
And yet, it’s Iowa that will be playing in the national championship game Sunday afternoon.
“The way we've won this year in games like this, is Aaliyah, Paige — especially those two, and then a third scorer — they all have big nights because that's what we need in games like this. Tonight we didn't get that. Tonight we didn't get that,” Auriemma said.
“Our defense was good enough to make sure we won the game tonight,” Auriemma said. “But offensively we just didn't have enough impactful players play their normal game.”
Anyone who thought N.C. State had a chance against South Carolina. Or that the game would be close.
Oh, you sweet summer children.
It’s good to have dreams. But a dose of reality is better. South Carolina is unbeaten – has lost a grand total of three games over the last three seasons, in fact – and the overall No. 1 seed for a reason. The Gamecocks are really freaking good.
This isn’t a slight on N.C. State. But this matchup was more like a Ferrari and a Mustang. Not even close.
A lot of people are betting on women’s basketball these days. And on Friday night, a lot of them lost.
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