[Follow live updates from the women’s Final Four.]
The last three games of the women’s 2020-2021 college basketball season will feature some familiar teams, as well as a newcomer ready for the comeback.
First-placed Stanford and South Carolina will repeat their 2017 Four Finals meeting in Friday’s first game, with the Cardinal hoping for a different outcome and the Gamecocks looking for a second title in the past five years.
Then, the number 1 seed Connecticut, a game in the Final Four, will face the No. 3 seed Arizona, whose star, Aari McDonald, will try to surprise the Huskies, the owners of a record of 11 national titles, and the new face of his program, Paige Bueckers.
Here are some details to be followed in the clashes. The first game starts at 6 pm EST and the second at 9:30 pm. ESPN will broadcast the two games:
How do you contain Bueckers and McDonald’s?
UConn’s Bueckers were named Associated Press Player of the Year, and McDonald of Arizona is the Pac-12 Player of the Year. This game will challenge them to take control and will also test the supporting players on each team. Connecticut beginners, most of whom have at least some previous tournament experience, will have an advantage in this regard.
“They are a confident team because it is a mapped territory. It is not mapped for us. They are used to it, ”said Arizona coach Adia Barnes. “But we peaked at the right time and, to win a championship, just beat that team once.”
McDonald played his best basketball of the season during the tournament, taking the Wildcats to tough teams. She scored more than 30 points in each of the last two games in the tournament, averaging almost 60 percent of pitches. She is quick and skillful in controlling the ball, with a skill that helps her find ways to score from anywhere on the court, close to almost anyone assigned to defend her.
Bueckers showed no nervousness from newcomers – she was the first freshman to win the award for best player – by playing her smooth and unpretentious game since the tournament began. Her supernatural vision of the court allows her to arm the other snipers on her team, including Christyn Williams and Evina Westbrook. They may be the ones with the gaudy statistics on Friday night, if Arizona decides to focus its defense on ending the Bueckers.
Who will have faster hands, the Huskies or the Wildcats?
Connecticut and Arizona’s defenses are two of the nation’s best at disrupting possessions and stealing the ball. Huskies win steals in 12% of their opponents’ moves, and Wildcats create takeaways in 13%.
Arizona also pressures teams to turn the ball over more than a fifth of their possessions, according to Her Hoop Stats. In the round of 16, Arizona stifled Texas A&M by repeatedly playing a full court pressure, leaving the Aggies so insecure that they turned the ball 19 times.
McDonald’s hands-on game and 2.7 steals per game earned her a share of the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year honors, but striker Sam Thomas is right behind her with an average of 2.4 takeaways. The Wildcats’ approach is to agitate, not dominate, their opponents. They will need to be as unpleasant as possible against UConn’s simplified attack, which has been one of the country’s highest scores.
UConn’s defense will likely focus on McDonald’s, as containing it is the key to stop Arizona. The problem is that few people have managed to do this this season, because in order to decrease the percentage of her pitches you have to follow her first.
Who will prevail in the battle of the great?
South Carolina and Stanford have talented young post-players with very different skill sets. Aliyah Boston, a sophomore in the Gamecocks, is listed as a striker, but plays more like a traditional center, dominant around the basket and in the glass, with the size and strength – as well as the skillful footwork – to dominate opponents . The fact that she averages a double-double is almost a footnote to the way she shapes South Carolina’s game overall.
“When she’s on the ground, you have to protect her with a player and probably half a player,” said South Carolina coach Dawn Staley. “So she gave us opportunities.”
Cameron Brink of Stanford, a six-foot freshman, does not have the same muscular ability as his fellow powders, but she can score quickly in the transition and – occasionally – shoot from behind the hoop. Brink has already helped the cardinal with his vertical jump trained in volleyball, which allows him to block and hit easily. It is still not dominant enough to attract double teams the way Boston usually does, but its reach on the ground allows it to spread defenses and open up clues for the cardinal’s smaller guards, like Kiana Williams.
The Boston-Brink confrontation brings to mind other levels of basketball, where coaches ponder whether a great traditional should serve as the centerpiece of the attack or whether flexibility in position is more important.
Can Stanford stay active in the 3-point shot?
The cardinal seemed to be upset for much of his round of 16 match against second-placed Louisville, and they betrayed one of the few weaknesses in an attack with many powerful markers.
Stanford needs to hit 3-point shots to win.
The cardinal hit a 3-point basket in the first half against Louisville and went to the break losing 12 points. Stanford hit six in the second half – still low, compared to 14 points from 3 points per game that averaged the first three games of the tournament, but enough to advance to the next level.
South Carolina does not shoot far behind the 3-point line, but defends itself well against long-range shots, allowing opponents to hit only 27% of their 3s.
The challenge with Stanford is that most of his players can hit a 3 when necessary. But if South Carolina manages to force these snipers up, where they will be welcomed by Boston and its prodigious blocking skills, Gamecocks will have a very real chance of silencing one of the most prolific attacks in the tournament so far.