Women's March Madness: Final Four and Championship Prediction

Albany 1: No. 1 South Carolina

Coming off of an undefeated season, 32-0, Dawn Staley looks to lead the Gamecocks to the Final Four for the fourth time in four years. Staley’s success in March is undeniable as she has coached the Gamecocks to the NCAA tournament for the past 13 consecutive seasons.

At South Carolina, she’s made the Final Four four times and won two national titles.

South Carolina’s biggest strength is their depth. After losing five starters from last season to this one, they were still able to work their way to an undefeated season in one of the toughest women’s basketball conferences, the SEC.

Transfer Te-Hina Paopoa, a senior guard, became a critical piece of this team bringing veteran leadership and averaging 11.1 points per game. She also nailed 73 3-pointers throughout the season.

The Gamecocks have scored 207 3-pointers this season compared to 163 last season. The Gamecocks look to ride their momentum of an undefeated season and make a deep run into March and are likely to become national champions.

Albany 2: No. 3 LSU

LSU has the most complete team in this region and almost beat the undefeated Gamecocks in the SEC tournament losing a close game, 79-72.

No. 1 Iowa holds the top seed in this region, and as great of players as Caitlin Clark and Hannah Stuelke are, the Hawkeyes do not have as much depth as the Tigers.

In March, playing game after game, having a deep bench that can support the stars becomes significantly more important when compared to the regular season.

For LSU, six players average more than ten points per game with Angel Reese at the top of that list with 19 points.

Although the Hawkeyes average 92.8 points per game and the Tigers average 86.7 points per game, Clark makes up 31.9 points.

If a team is able to shut Clark down, which is a hard task, the Hawkeyes do not have enough supporting offense to rally to a win.

LSU is known for playing aggressively and their tough SEC style of play will likely beat up against Iowa’s Big Ten style in the Elite Eight sending the Tigers to the Final Four.

Portland 3: No. 3 UConn

UConn enters the tournament underrated as a No. 3 seed. Paige Beuckers, star guard, returned from injury and led the Huskies to a 29-5 season.

She averaged 20.7 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.7 assists this season as she also led the Huskies to an undefeated Big East conference slate and earned Big East Player of the Year.

The No. 1 seed in the Portland 3 region is USC. I think USC is too young of a team to make it all the way to the Final Four. JuJu Watkins is only a freshman and I think USC will lose in the Elite Eight to UConn.

UConn has veteran talent in both Beuckers and Aaliyah Edwards as well as head coach Geno Auriemma. Auriemma currently holds second place for the most wins among active women's college basketball coaches, 1,209, behind Tara VanDerveer, 1,215, at Stanford.

Portland 4: No. 2 Stanford

The Pac-12 was a top basketball conference this season, and its final season, for the women sending seven teams to March Madness. Stanford played a very tough schedule and finished 28-5 and first in the Pac-12.

They are led behind Cameron Brink who averages 17.8 points, 12.0 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game.

The No.1 seed in the Portland 4 region is Texas who finished their season at 30-4 as a member of the Big 12. The Big 12 was not as competitive of a conference as the Pac 12.

I believe that Stanford’s intense regular season will help them make a deep run in March as well as the leadership from Coach VanDerveer.

Championship Game: No. 1 South Carolina vs. No. 3 LSU

Julia Henry is a first-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact her please email jbh6443@psu.edu.