Monday night’s slate of Elite Eight matchups between USC and UConn and the 2023 title rematch between LSU and Iowa are sure to bring record-breaking viewership numbers across the country.
For some teams, getting this far in the tournament isn’t new.
UConn has been in two Final Fours since redshirt junior guard Paige Bueckers and senior forward Aaliyah Edwards have been in college. Iowa and LSU, of course, were in last year’s Final Four.
But for the No. 1-seeded Trojans, they haven’t made it this far in the tournament since 1994.
Although it’s daunting going up against an 11-time national champion in UConn, USC head coach Lindsay Gottlieb is “thoroughly confident” in her team’s readiness for the moment.
“We’re creating our own story, and it doesn’t feel like there’s a lot of pressure,” Gottlieb said during Sunday’s media availability. “We’ve been able to combine that joy for the game and gratitude to still be playing with an urgency and a toughness that you need to win in March.”
Gottlieb also credited the tough Pac-12 schedule with helping prepare her squad, saying some of those conference games over the past two months have felt like NCAA Tournament games.
This may be USC and UConn’s first meeting since Gottlieb took over as head coach in 2021, but it’s not the first time she’s ever met UConn head coach Geno Auriemma.
In fact, the two met initially back when Gottlieb was in high school and Auriemma was recruiting her best friend, Hilary Heieck (neé Howard). She ultimately chose Duke over UConn, but Gottlieb had a behind-the-scenes look into UConn women’s basketball for a brief moment in the mid-90s.
“Geno welcomed us into what they were doing,” Gottlieb said. “I felt like I had a front row seat to that explosion of women’s college basketball.”
But despite their coaches’ history, how do these storied programs match up against each other in the Elite Eight?
Two major storylines emerge when asking this question. First, it’s the height difference. Second, it’s the depth of the bench.
Of the players that traditionally see minutes for USC, nearly all of them are 6-foot or taller. USC’s two junior centers, 6-foot-4 Rayah Marshall and 6-foot-6 Clarice Akunwafo, have led the charge all season for the Trojans.
UConn’s two main bigs are just 6-foot-3 (Edwards and redshirt freshman forward Ice Brady). Otherwise, most of its other consistent players are 6-foot or shorter.
“They have size at every position, honestly. Their guards are tall, their posts are tall, so it’ll be a challenge,” Bueckers said.
Bueckers also said rebounding and defending as a team will be crucial if the Huskies want a chance to take down a No. 1 seed to advance to the Final Four.
UConn has struggled the entire season with the depth of its bench, with three of its top shooters and its two backup bigs out with season-ending injuries.
That leaves the Huskies with just nine available players — seven of whom Auriemma puts in on a regular basis. In Saturday’s Sweet 16 matchup against No. 7-seeded Duke, the Huskies only played one bench player.
Three of UConn’s players played 40 minutes on Saturday, including Bueckers, freshman guard KK Arnold and senior guard Nika Mühl. Edwards would have played more than her 29 minutes, but she picked up her fourth foul halfway through the third quarter and had to sit for 10 minutes.
“There is no way to mitigate it; it is what it is,” Auriemma said. “This is what we’ve got. This is how we got here. This is how it’s going to be, for better or worse. Luckily, there’s a day in between games.”
“I wish there was another way, but sometimes you find a lot of strength in this situation,” he continued.
USC, on the other hand, has a deeper, healthier bench. Against No. 5-seeded Baylor on Saturday, USC played eight total players. Other than freshman guard JuJu Watkins with 39 minutes, none of its other starters played more than 36 minutes.
Despite all of the hardships that UConn has faced and its inferior seed to USC, the Huskies are still 3.5-point favorites against the Trojans, according to BetMGM and FanDuel.
“If you look at our team, you can definitely say that we’re the underdogs, but our mindset going into the game is that we’re going to play like we do each and every game,” Edwards said. “I just think we can’t get too caught up in the rankings.”
USC and UConn tip off at 6:15 PT Monday at Moda Center in Portland, Oregon, while LSU and Iowa tip off at 4:15 PT at MVP Arena in Albany, New York. Winners advance to the Final Four.
“I think it’s going to be a great day for women’s college basketball tomorrow,” Gottlieb said.