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Tampa, Florida-Final Four 2025 women finally arrived, with four heavy weights-Semno No. 2 and the three 1-SEMEN-IS clashed in Friday’s National Semifinals.
The first game (19:00 et, ESPN) has a SEC clearing between Texas longhorns and South Carolina Gamecockswho have already faced three times this season. The defense attorney of NCAA Champion Gamecocks went 2-1 against Longhorns, who have been in their first finals since 2003.
The Ucla bruins and Uconn Huskies (21:00 et, ESPN) are not so familiar to each other, the last meeting in November 2023 during the event of thanksgiving in the Cayman Islands. Bruins won this meeting, but Uconn has an advantage of 7-1 in the series. Bruins appear in their first NCAA Final Four, while Huskies played a total of 16 of the last 17 and 24.
But players and coaches said on Thursday that history has little at the moment if any influence at all. ESPN looks at the matches, chooses the winner and predicts which team reduces networks after Sunday’s title game (15:00 ET, ABC).
Ucla feels as if she was overlooked even though the total seed no. 1 is bruins underdogs?
Katie Barnes: SportsBooks treat Bruins as a big underdog: ESPN Bet has a 7.5-point loser. Although I chose Huskies to win this match, ucla is good! Bruins have Lauren Betts And the USC was defeated only this year. In this era of female university basketball, it is almost impossible to go through the season without “bad losses”. This is doubly true for those who are extending, such as Big, but that’s what he has done. Bruins are more than able to make life difficult for Uconn and win on Friday evening. In addition, they seem to have a slightly underestimation chip on their shoulders.
Andrea Adelson: I began to ask the coach UCLA Cori Close at her press conference on Thursday and opens: “You are the total number of seeds No. 1 …” And before I could finish, she said that it did not seem so based on the way ucla was covered throughout the season. Now add the fact that Uconn is popular and has the final four experiences – which Bruins not – and makes sense why it is a perceived loser. Paige Bueckers And Jano Auriemma manages a conversation, and while Bruins spent more time in the first place this season, it is easy to return to the team that was there. “This is this year’s Uconn team, not the last 10 or 20 years of the UConn team, and that’s our team of UCLA,” Close said. “I have a lot of confidence in this team, mentally and physically and tactically.”
Michael Voepel: Bruins stayed throughout the season. But they also showed more moxy and grit they could miss last year when they lost in Sweet 16 at LSU. Watch Kiki rice and forward Angela Dugalic gave a lot of recognition to junior ahead Janah Barkerwho moved from Texas A&M. “She did a great job, just brought another advantage, mentality to our team,” Rice said. “It started in the summer in the summer.
All this, along with their talent, is why Bruins are probably not the losers that they might seem. Obviously, these programs are far from each other in the last four experiences and history. However, it should be able to make it a very competitive game.
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Peck: Paige Bueckers is the most difficult player to protect in the Final Four
Carolyn Peck joined “NBA Today” to see the match Final Four between Uconn and UCLA.
Is there a way to slow Uconn’s Paige Bueckers?
Alexa Philippou: It looks like this is a different version of Bueckers than in recent years. Auriemma spoke about the fact that Bueckers were playing with less pressure in this postseason compared to Last, where she might feel that if she didn’t get 30-35 points per night, Huskies would lose. This year he said that these figures report-105 points and 59.1% of field shooting and 61.9% to 3-pointers in the last three peas-because he wants. “She has a completely different atmosphere about her,” Auriemma said. “Maybe it’s lighter, it doesn’t put so much pressure on it, and it’s just easier.”
Either way, seek ucla to limit the 3-point attempts of Huskies, rear door slices and defensive reflection-these factors that are approaching, told the media on Thursday, are the greatest predictors of the success of Uconn. The efficiency of Bueckers was out of the charts but Huskies have other players who can hit deep – Azzi advantage, Sarah Strong and Ashlynn Shadeprimarily. It’s a handful of stop, especially if they can get out in the crossing.
DELIVERIES ONLY: The Bueckers is so locked in that it seems unlikely that it could slow it down a lot. She knows it. Bruins’ focus could therefore be to make her work a little harder for her points and be as physical as they can be with her. But Bueckers is a type of player that almost constantly rises to this occasion, no matter how great the opportunity is.
Philippou: Huskies do not have a dominant center that coincides with Betts, but Auriemma knows about coaching such players. “When we came (to the finals four) with Kara (Wolters),” Auriemma said on Thursday, “I thought it was impossible to lose for us.” On 6 feet-7, Wolters was a key member of the Huskies ‘championship team’ 1994-95, which was 35-0. Also 6-7, Betts proved to be this difference throughout the season for Bruins. “It doesn’t matter what is happening at the offensive end,” Auriemma said on Thursday. “When it all falls apart and you really need a bucket, you have something that no one else has, and that’s what (Bruins) have.” But ucla is not just Betts. Bruins is surrounded by shooters who can knock 3-proofers, and she stands out during the double teams. That’s why Bueckers said that Huskies had to choose your poison: is it best to prefer Betts slowing down or close Bruins shooters? We’ll find out what Huskies thinks early on Friday. DELIVERIES ONLY: As Alexa said, super high -quality centers are rarer than any type of player, so Betts stands out in this final. And she proved to be a player of big games that can be dominant in attack and defense. If the monster has a game, ucla is a chance to make the finals especially good. Betts is the biggest reason, in fact, I choose Bruins to win. .@Carolynpeck Analyzes potential obstacles for each team in the female finals omp pic.twitter.com/b6stgessuie – EsPNW (@PNW) 3rd April 2025 Adelson: Coach South Carolina Dawn Staley said last week that to win the National Championship, Gamecocks will need more production from Edwards than they have earned in the last three NCAs tournament games, where they got a combined 15 points. Edwards had some of its least productive games of the season at the three previous meetings against Texas, so at this point – due to the history and recent history of the NCAA tournament – it is difficult to imagine the escape game, especially because Texas plays choking defense and limits the leading shooters of its last three opponents to get under their average. Philippou: The thing about South Carolina is that even though Edwards doesn’t play great, teammates are increasing around it, especially Ferdian and Chloe Kittswho was the most important player of MVP SEC MVP and Birmingham Regional. Kitts leads the team in scoring this postseason to 14.1 points for 60.3% of the field shooting, the blow in production something it feels is the product of its increased confidence. While Staley certainly wants Edwards to return to shape, at least helps the cats to play at such a high level. DELIVERIES ONLY: While Edwards wasn’t late late, it should be for her advantage that Gamecocks are playing another. Staley in Birmingham said that after the opening of the NCAA tournament, things come quickly, which can be especially difficult for a newcomer. But Edwards already knows Texas well, gained 10 and 11 points against Longhorns in two Gamecocks victories. Edwards said on Thursday that as a player has passed many “slumps” and is ready to end it. Adelson: We’ll see: Texas defeat South Carolina just a few months ago, ended the regular season of Gamecocks ’57 -game sec. South Carolina showed vulnerability throughout the season and its loss of 67–50 in January was not particularly close. It is a team of Gamecocks, which can sometimes cool down because of its poor selection of shot and tends to careless mistakes. At an earlier loss, multiple players got into the foul, which Staley said that she forced South Carolina to change her rotation of the players and the team synchronized. Texas has an impressive defense, so it is No. 1. If Madison Booker It can continue the production that the last four games had, Longhorns will have a chance to win. Philippou: The Defense of the Longhorns this season permanently held Gamecocks at the age of 60, but Texas scored anywhere from 45 to 66 points. While Posts Taylor Jones and Kyla Oldacre He will have to have big nights for Texas, no player is as important for the success of Longhorns as Booker. In Longhorns losses for Gamecocks she earned 17 combined points in shooting 7 to 32. Twenty points in shooting 7 to 22. She didn’t shoot effectively, but it was enough for what Jones and Oldacre did to get Texas victory DELIVERIES ONLY: Booker’s Pull-up Midrange Jump Shot makes her so dangerous and difficult to watch. A defensive specialist in South Carolina Bree Hall He said that on Thursday this kind of shot causes more problems than any other because it is hard to stop it. We should also mention first -class guards Jordan Lee and Bryanna Prestonwho joined for 25 points from the bench in Texas’ Sweet 16 victories over Tennessee. Both can help provide a rescue rope for an attack in Texas. Booker also praised the young to help the rest of the Longhorn remain free and relaxed. Adelson: South Carolina, Uconn Barnes: South Carolina, Uconn Philippou: South Carolina, Uconn DELIVERIES ONLY: South Carolina, UCLA Adelson: Uconn. Huskies are the most talented team from top to bottom, starting with Bueckers, who seems to be on a mission to etch his name among all the uconn giants with his own national championship. Uconn plays his best basketball at the right time. Barnes: Uconn. My intestine calls me Uconn. Bueckers plays as if desperately wants a championship. He takes over the games as I did not see it, do consistently since Huskies last played for the title, back in 2022. (Who could forget that the thriller against the NC state twice over time? Philippou: Uconn. In addition to what Katie and Andrea said about Bueckers, Trio Bueckers, strong and fudd, which makes Huskies the most dangerous. This is the best talent collection that remains in the tournament, and in combination with Auriemmy coaching and the rest of their depth, it is enough for Huskies to return to the mountains. VoEPEL: South Carolina. Gamecocks know what is in them: the ability to bomb teams with so many scoring options. We haven’t seen it against Duke in Eight, but this season it happened many times. If South Carolina can use its bench efficiently and build some good scoring promontory – along with a good defense that is always expected – Gamecocks can bring another trophy home.Is Lauren Betts the largest individual X factor in Final Four?
Southern Carolina Nováček Joyce Edwards fought in the region. Will it bounce back on Friday?
What is the Texas formula for beating South Carolina?
Which two teams will advance to the Sunday title game?
Which team will win the NCAA championship?
