2022 Women's Final Four Preview
Welcome to View from the Top, a NCAA women’s basketball newsletter focused on the title contenders and championship picture. View from the Top covers the top teams in the country with an eye towards March all season long.
It was a 27 point performance, including 23 points on 8-9 shooting in the second half and overtime, from Paige Bueckers that propelled UConn over NC State and sent the Huskies to their 14th consecutive Final Four.
Following the win, head coach Geno Auriemma addressed his point guard’s performance saying, “Programs don't win this game. Programs can get you to this game, but somebody needs to be big, like really big, to get you to the next two games, and somebody said, who's that going to be.”
He added, “Next weekend is the same thing. There's four teams out there, but there's three or four kids that they're going to decide who wins the National Championship.”
Each team that has made it to Minneapolis - South Carolina, Stanford, UConn and Louisville - has one of those players that can lead their team to lifting the trophy on Sunday night. It’s likely that at the end of the weekend, we’ll be talking about one of these four names:
South Carolina - Aliyah Boston
We’ve all seen the photo of Aliyah Boston crying after she couldn’t put the ball through the hoop in the final seconds of South Carolina’s loss to Stanford in the Final Four last year. Since, Boston has come back as very clearly the best player in the country this season, and was named both the Naismith Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year on Wednesday.
Boston has carried this Gamecocks team in many big moments this season. She had 18 points and 11 boards, to go along with five blocks and four steals, against Stanford in the South Carolina’s close win earlier. Boston also dominated on both ends against North Carolina to send her team to the Elite Eight, with 28 points and 22 rebounds - and added 19 points in the matchup with Creighton despite being triple teamed nearly the entire game. Even with the post talent in Minneapolis, she’ll be difficult to contain, and if the ball is in her hands again in the final seconds, I doubt South Carolina is coming up empty.
Stanford - Haley Jones
While one of this Cardinal team’s biggest strengths is their depth, the catalyst for the reigning national champions repeating has to be Haley Jones. Jones, who was named the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player in 2021, has already come up big in the Spokane regional for Stanford. She recorded consecutive double-doubles, and contributed to virtually every category in the box score in the wins over Maryland and Texas.
The versatility of Haley Jones’ game, and her ability to play so many positions on the floor, makes her one of the most challenging players in the country to guard. Even for three of the top six defenses in the country, according to Her Hoop Stats’ Defensive Rating, standing as potential opponents to a trophy, Jones is a tough matchup.
UConn - Paige Bueckers
Paige Buckers lights out performance in overtime against NC State pretty much sums this one up. Even not at 100 percent, Bueckers still has the ability to take over a game and put UConn on her back when needed. While Stanford is likely to do a better job on Bueckers defensively than the Wolfpack did, she is still going to find a way to score.
There’s a lot of things UConn can do on the defensive end to keep themselves in this game. But, if the Huskies are ultimately going to pull off the upset, it’s likely going to be Bueckers making big plays down the stretch and elevating UConn to the National Championship game.
Louisville - Hailey Van Lith
The Cardinals have a tough matchup ahead against South Carolina’s defense, but Hailey Van Lith has been playing on another level so far in the tournament. She’s scored 20 points in every single NCAA tournament game so far for Louisville. With the exception of the matchup against Tennessee, she has also been efficient in each of those performances. And she did add six assists against the Vols, despite a shooting only 33 percent from the floor.
One thing that hasn’t contributed much to her tournament output is perimeter shooting. She hit just five triples in the first four games. However, down the stretch of the regular season, despite a bit of a down shooting year, it felt like Van Lith had found her stroke from deep. If she can add that back in the Final Four she has an opportunity to send Louisville to the next round.