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The men's basketball teams from Alabama, UConn, NC State and Purdue have all made their way to Glendale, Arizona for this weekend's Final Four and Monday's championship game. Meanwhile the women's teams from Iowa, UConn, South Carolina and NC State are in Cleveland for the women's Final Four.
The women take the stage on Friday night with the championship game on Sunday afternoon. The men's semifinal games will take place on Saturday with the championship game on Monday night.
UConn and NC State are represented in both Final Fours.
Semifinals:
Friday, April 5, 7 PM on ESPN
3-seed NC State (31-6) vs. 1-seed South Carolina (36-0)
Friday, April 5, 9:30 PM on ESPN (approximate)
3-seed UConn (33-5) vs. 1-seed Iowa (33-4)
Championship Game
Sunday, April 7, 3 PM on ABC
Semifinals:
Saturday, April 6, 6:09 PM on TBS, TNT TruTV
11-seed NC State (26-14) vs. 1-seed Purdue (33-4)
Saturday, April 6, 8:49 PM (approximate) on TBS, TNT TruTV
4-seed Alabama (25-11) vs. 1-seed UConn (35-3)
Championship Game
Monday, April 8, 9:20 PM on TBS, TNT TruTV
all times eastern
This has been South Carolina's championship to lose all season. The team has held the No. 1 AP ranking since the preseason. The Gamecocks are the only team, men or women, to go through the season unscathed at 36-0. The perfect season comes on the heels of a 36-1 campaign a year ago when South Carolina didn't lose until it was ousted by Iowa in the Elite 8. Of course, Dawn Staley team won the 2021-22 Championship with a 35-2 record that year. The Gamecocks have lost just 9 games combined over the last 5 seasons.
NC State wasn't expected to be here, but has proven its worthy with Sweet 16 and Elite Eight victories over 2-seed Stanford and 1-seed Texas. The team finished 2nd in the ACC to Virginia Tech, but the Hokies lost Elizabeth Kitley with a torn ACL in the regular season finale vs Virginia, and lost at home in the round of 32 by 3 points to Baylor. Sine then, the Virginia Tech basketball program has lost head coach Kenny Brooks to Kentucky and it looks like Georgia Amoore will spend her 5th year following Brooks after she entered the portal earlier this week.
As for the Wolfpack, they wound up playing the in ACC Championship game, but fell to Notre Dame. They are 11.5-point underdogs at FanDuel.com against South Carolina. This is the school's first Final Four on the women's side since 1998, and only the second all-time. The Pack were bounced in the first round a year ago by 10-seed Princeton. But Wes Moore's teams have made the Elite Eight or Sweet Sixteen in five of the last 6 non-Covid seasons.
This game features Wooden Award winners Paige Bueckers of UConn (2021) and Caitlin Clark of Iowa (2023). The Huskies own the most titles in the history of NCAA Women's Basketball tournaments with 11 and they're looking to make it 12 out of 23 over-all Final Four appearances, all under Geno Auriemma. Prior to Auriemma's takeover in 1985, UConn had experienced just one winning season.
Lisa Bluder has been the head coach at Iowa since 2000, winning just under 68% of all of her games. Her teams routinely make the NCAA tourney, but no national championship. Their have only been two Final Fours with the other coming last year when the Hawkeyes fell to LSU in the Championship game. This year, the Elite 8 rematch of LSU and Iowa set a women's basketball record of 12.3 million TV viewers. In fact, it's one of the largest TV audiences for any sport other than NFL football over the past year.
FanDuel.com has an over/under of 146.5 among the Final Four odds plays on Saturday. As noted above, NC State wasn't expected to make the women's Final Four and that group finished second in the ACC. The men's team finished 10th in the ACC with a 9-11 conference mark and entered the ACC tournament on a 4-game losing streak. But the Pack hasn't lost since that ACC tourney began and find themselves in the Final Four for the first time since Jim Valvano's squad made their magical run to the national title in 1983 as a 6-seed.
The Pack dispatched 2-seed Marquette 67-58 in the Sweet 16, and 4-seed Duke 74-62 in the Elite 8.
Purdue is looking for its first national title in its first Final Four appearance since 1980. The Boilermakers are led by 7'4" Zach Edey and it will be up to NC State's 6'9" DJ Burns to at least try to slow him down without getting in foul trouble. Burns is listed at 275 pounds and has become a fan favorite because of his size and personality.
Also See: 11-seed NC State and 4-seed Alabama Join 1-seeds UConn and Purdue in Final Four
UConn has been plowing its way through the tournament, beating everyone by at least 17 points. The Huskies stomped Illinois 77-52 in the Elite 8, while the Tide subdued Clemson 89-82. UConn has with 3 tourney wins by 25 or more points.
Alabama's strength is its ability to score and force the tempo. The Tide lead the nation at 90.6 points per game.
This is the first Final Four in Alabama's history, while UConn is looking for its 6th national championship which would tie North Carolina and only trail Kentucky's 8 and UCLA's 11.