Only four teams remain in this year's NCAA women's basketball tournament. And come Friday night, it will be known which two of those schools will be battling it out for the national championship Sunday.
The pair of Final Four matchups will take place at the Alamodome in San Antonio on Friday. In the first national semifinal, a pair of No. 1 seeds will go head-to-head as Stanford takes on South Carolina. Then No. 1-seeded UConn will look to fend off No. 3-seeded Arizona, which had never made it this deep into the tournament before.
Stanford is the No. 1 overall seed in the tourney and UConn is making its 13th consecutive Final Four appearance, so those two schools will be the favorites to advance. But anything can happen once teams reach this point in the tournament.
Here's everything else you need to know heading into Friday's Final Four matchups.
Final Four Schedule, Odds
Friday, April 2
No. 1 South Carolina vs. No. 1 Stanford (-5.5), 6 p.m. ET, ESPN
No. 1 UConn (-13.5) vs. No. 3 Arizona, 9:30 p.m. ET, ESPN
Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook.
Final Four Preview
It shouldn't come as a surprise that Stanford and UConn are the betting favorites. But South Carolina and Arizona are formidable opponents that are capable of reaching the national championship game.
Stanford is 29-2 and is on an 18-game winning streak, and its four NCAA tournament victories each came by at least 11 points. The Cardinal are coming off one of the most impressive showings of the tourney, as they defeated No. 2 Louisville 78-63. In that game, they erased a 12-point halftime deficit and dominated in the third and fourth quarters.
But Stanford may need to get off to a better start if it hopes to beat South Carolina, which is 26-4 and has also won each of its four NCAA tournament games by at least 11 points. The Gamecocks are coming off an impressive showing against No. 6 Texas in which they cruised to a 62-34 win and held the Longhorns scoreless during the fourth quarter.
"South Carolina is a very, very skilled and talented team, and I think if we come out in that first half playing like we did against Louisville that we'll dig ourselves too big of a hole, and that can't happen again," Stanford junior guard Lexie Hull said, per Daniel Martinez-Krams of The Stanford Daily. "So we need to come out ready, come out aggressive and not hold back."
While Stanford is making its eighth Final Four appearance since 2008, it hasn't reached the national championship game since 2010 and hasn't won a national title since 1992. Meanwhile, South Carolina won the national championship in 2017, making it the program that has most recently won a title among the remaining teams.
Although the Cardinal are favored to win this semifinal matchup, the line is only 5.5 points, so it wouldn't be surprising if the Gamecocks play a close game and potentially end up on top.
The betting line is much larger for the second Final Four game, with UConn favored to win by 13.5 points over Arizona. And that was to be expected after this matchup was set.
The Huskies are 28-1 this season, with their lone loss coming at Arkansas on Jan. 28. They rolled through the first three rounds of the NCAA tournament, winning each of those games by at least 20 points. In the Elite Eight, they edged No. 2 Baylor 69-67.
UConn freshman guard Paige Bueckers, who is averaging a team-high 20.1 points per game, is one of the best players in the country, and she will be looking to lead the Huskies to their first national championship since 2016.
To prevent an upset from happening, UConn likely will need to find a way to limit Arizona senior guard Aari McDonald, who is averaging 20.3 points per game. McDonald has scored more than 30 points in each of the Wildcats' past two games, which were victories over No. 2 Texas A&M and No. 4 Indiana.
Before this season, Arizona had never made it past the Sweet 16 of the women's NCAA tournament, and it had only reached that round once (1998). If the Wildcats hope to keep their historic season going, they will have to take down one of the best women's college basketball programs of all time in UConn.
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