The Huskie men have dominated on their way to their seventh Final Four, and will be looking for their sixth National Championship. The women have made their 23rd Final Four, in search of their 12th title, but first since 2016.
The men have trailed for only 28 seconds in the entire tournament, while the women will be engaged in what might be the most watched game in all of college basketball this year.
Dan Hurley cut down the nets in Dallas on Saturday night in Dallas after his Huskies used a 30-0 run to rout Illinois. The Huskie men have won games by margins of 39 (Stetson - Round 1), 17 (Northwestern - Round 2), 30 (San Diego State - Sweet 16), and 25 (Illinois - Elite 8) to have a shot at becoming the first back-to-back men’s champions since Florida in 2006 and 2007. For Connecticut in the Final Four, their only loss was in the 2009 national semifinal to Michigan State, which was Draymond Green’s freshman year.
The women on the other hand have faced a much tougher road. The women were a 3-seed, while the men were the top overall seed. The Huskie women have wins of 22 (Jackson State - Round 1), eight (Syracuse - Round 2), 8 (Duke - Sweet 16), and 7 (USC - Elite 8).
Should either UConn or NC State pull off the double-dip, they would be just the fourth program in history to accomplish such a feat, and the second in the last two weeks. The Minnesota State Mavericks won both the Division II men’s and women’s basketball championships last week. The men won 88-85 over Nova Southeastern on a last-second three-pointer, while the women had an easier time in their 89-73 victory over Texas Women’s University.
So why will the women be a better game to watch than the men? The men will go up against Alabama as an 11.5-point favorite. The women will be a 2.5-point underdog on Friday night against the Iowa Hawkeyes.
And there you have it…Paige Bueckers against Caitlin Clark for a shot at the championship Sunday night in Cleveland.
There are many that are referring to this as their National Championship game, regardless of the outcome against undefeated South Carolina or NC State. For the Gamecocks, they are seeking a second title in three years, while giving the SEC their third consecutive championship.
Put this in perspective if you can…the Gamecocks pulling off the undefeated season would be their first. Connecticut’s women have done it six times previously. Only Baylor and Tennessee have also accomplished the perfect season in women’s college basketball. Remember that no men’s program has done the same since Indiana in 1976.
The UConn women have as many perfect seasons as their men are likely to have championships by the end of this weekend.
Bueckers was a finalist for the Wooden and Naismith Awards, having a bounce-back season after missing all of last season with a torn ACL. While Clark won every major piece of hardware there was after her record-setting season, Bueckers may win Most Outstanding Player if the Huskies finish their story on Sunday. The 22-year-old redshirt junior is the first player in 25 years to have three 25-point, 10-rebound, and 5-assist games in the same NCAA Tournament. Bueckers has already announced she will return to Storrs for her senior season.
The magnitude of the Clark/Bueckers match-up is something we do not get in college basketball at any level. You do not have the marquee match-ups against two Player Of The Year-caliber talents nearly as often as you might in college football. Players leave early for the NBA or WNBA Draft, and on the men’s side that is often after their freshman year. For Clark, as a senior, and Bueckers to stay in school long enough is what makes this all the more exciting. Clark set the all-time NCAA scoring record this season, as we all know. Bueckers won the National Player of the Year Award in 2011, becoming the first freshman in history to do so, while Clark has won the previous two.
Purdue’s Zach Edey is likely to win his second National Player of the Year award next week, as his Boilermakers are seeking redemption. After being only the second team in men’s tournament history to lose in the first round to a 16-seed a year ago, Purdue is in the Final Four against the NC State men on Saturday. Virginia, the only other team to lose to a 16-seed, won the National Championship the following year (2019). Edey deciding to come back drew mixed reviews from experts who projected him to be a lottery pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. Instead, Edey has slipped to a projected second-round pick in June.
There is no one of Edey’s caliber remaining in the tournament, regardless of the match-up possibility the rest of the way, especially at center. Sure, DJ Burns Jr. at NC State would be interesting, but Burns is not the offensive focus that Edey is. In fact, Edey averages almost twice as many points (25.0) to Burns (13.0).
All signs might post to a Connecticut double-dip however. While Minnesota State became just the third program to accomplish this feat, the Huskies own the other two (2004 and 2014).
Either way, settle in for this generation’s “Larry vs. Magic” tilt, just one game short of the promised land.
-JC24