Women’s Final Four bracket set: 3 1-seeds, 2 from Pac-12 and 1 potential juggernaut

The Women’s Final Four is set with some big-time star power and a trio of 1-seeds.

All due respect to the Men’s NCAA Tournament but the Women’s tournament has provided more compelling games and incredible performances from the stars of the sport. And the Final Four should deliver a few more instant classics.

The Final Four field is set for Friday’s pair of games that should be must-see TV.

The first game sees 1-seed South Carolina take on fellow 1-seed Stanford who had a furious second-half comeback against 2-seed Louisville to advance to the Final Four. Stanford outscored Louisville, 52-25 to erase the deficit and advance to their 14th Final Four.

Women’s Final Four features a trio of 1-seeds, 2 Pac-12 teams

That game tips at 6 p.m. ET and will be televised on ESPN. This is the third Final Four for the Gamecocks under head coach Dawn Staley who could be gunning for back-to-back titles if last year’s tournament wasn’t canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Gamecocks will be tested by the Cardinal who won the Pac-12 over Arizona who joins them in the Final Four.

In the nightcap, 1-seed UConn takes on 3-seed Arizona with that game on ESPN at 8 p.m. ET.

This is the 13th straight trip to the Final Four for the Huskies so they are used to playing on this stage. Meanwhile, this is the first for the Wildcats who are led by All-American guard Aari McDonald and head coach Adia Barnes who is the second former WNBA player to coach a team to the Final Four.

UConn freshmen phenom Paige Bueckers has been one of the stars of the tournament after outdueling fellow freshman Caitlin Clark in the Sweet Sixteen. The Huskies survived a close battle Baylor that was marred by a controversial non-foul that preserved the win for UConn.

Who do you have winning these games and meeting in the national championship game and eventually cutting down the nets as the national champ?

I’m going with UConn over South Carolina. And I’ll go with Bueckers being the Most Outstanding Player of the Women’s Tournament.

It’s probably the chalk pick, but the best teams win in women’s basketball. Whoever ends up winning it all will be a deserving champion and I hope the last three games of the season match the excitement we’ve seen so far this tournament.