With the regional finals wrapping up on Monday night, the field is now set for the women’s college basketball Final Four to begin Friday night at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida. Some familiar names will be making return trips to the Final Four including last years national champion, while the Oregon Ducks will be making their first ever appearance in school history. Below is the schedule and information about the teams:
#2 seed Oregon (33-4) vs #1 seed Baylor (35-1) Friday, April 5th/ 7 pm- After two straight losses in the Elite 8, the Oregon Ducks finally punched their ticket to their first Final Four with an 88-84 win over Mississippi State in the Portland regional final on Sunday. It will be the first time since 2016 that the MSU Bulldogs will not be part of the Final Four. They had finished as the national runners up the last two seasons. Sabrina Ionescu, who is the all time leader in women’s college basketball in triple doubles, had 31 points to lead the Ducks to Tampa. Oregon has wins over Portland State, Indiana, South Dakota, and then Mississippi State in the tournament. The Ducks will face a very tough test in the 35-1 Baylor Bears. Baylor cruised to the Greensboro, North Carolina regional title Monday night with an 85-53 win over Iowa. BU is the tournaments overall #1 seed, and has won 27 games in a row since their only loss way back on December 15 at Stanford. Baylor is making their first Final Four trip since they won the title back in 2012, and their fourth appearance overall. They have cruised in the tournament defeating Abilene Christian, California, South Carolina, and then Iowa with a win margin of 38 points per game.
#2 seed Connecticut (35-2) vs #1 seed Notre Dame (34-3) Friday, April 5/9:30 pm- The Connecticut Huskies do it again. UConn advanced to their record 12th straight Final Four, and 20th overall on Sunday, taking down a #1 seed Louisville 80-73 in the Albany, New York regional final. The Huskies seek their 12th title, and the first since 2016. Making the tournament this season UConn has also made an amazing 31 straight appearances in the big dance. Katie Lou Samuelson had 29 points and nailed seven three-pointers in Sundays win in the regional final. Connecticut has wins over Towson, Buffalo, UCLA, and Louisville in the tournament. The Huskies have 17 straight wins entering this Friday nights action, with the last loss coming back on January 31 to Louisville on whom they got revenge on in Sundays Elite 8 matchup. UConn has suffered two straight excruciating losses in the national semifinals, losing on a last second shot in 2017 to Mississippi State that ended their 111 game winning streak, and also ended their streak of four straight national titles. In 2018, the Huskies lost to Notre Dame on a shot with just one second left on the clock. Speaking of Notre Dame, the defending national champions are back in the Final Four again. The Irish get a rematch with UConn in the national semifinals again, after defeating Stanford 84-68 in the Chicago regional final Monday night. ND rallied from a seven point halftime deficit to the Cardinal, and scored 58 second half points. Notre Dame enters their ninth Final Four on Friday, seeking back to back titles and third overall. Like Connecticut, the Irish also have quite a string of appearances in the big dance as this year is their 25th straight. Arike Ogunbowale sent the Irish to the championship last season, hitting the game winning shot against UConn in the semifinals, and then a game winning three pointer at the buzzer in the title game against Mississippi State. Jackie Young had 25 points, and Ogunbowale had 21 in Monday nights win. ND has wins over Bethune-Cookman, Michigan State, Texas A&M, and then Stanford in this years tournament with an average win margin of 23 points. The Irish have 13 straight wins since a February 7 loss to Miami (FL).
The two semifinal winners will then square off to see who is the 2018-19 women’s college basketball champion when the national championship game tips on Sunday at 6 pm.
