Women’s Final Four: The key players, storylines to watch and what’s being said in Cleveland

The women’s Final Four will be held Friday night at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland, Ohio.

South Carolina, the top overall seed, will face third-seeded North Carolina State in the first semifinal game, to be determined at 7 p.m. ET. The game between No. 1 Iowa and No. 3 Yukon continues at 9 p.m. ET.

In a season of high media attention and growing viewership, this women’s Final Four matchup looks to be another night of thrilling games we’ve seen in the women’s NCAA Tournament thus far.

Below, we’ll break down the upcoming storyline, what players need to know, and everything important said at Thursday’s media day.

Caitlin Clark vs Paige Backers

Iowa State head coach Lisa Bruder told the media Thursday that she doesn’t want Friday night’s University of Iowa semifinal game against Union University to be advertised as “Paige vs. Caitlin.” But with women’s college basketball gaining so many new fans invested and national attention, the superstar talents of both of these guards are definitely great television.

“Obviously we have one of the best players in the country on our team and I’m excited about that. But I don’t want this to be a match that’s advertised as Kaitlyn vs. Paige. And… I know that’s already the case,” she said. “But I don’t want that. I want it to be an Iowa vs. UW game and let these two women do what they do best.”

Clark and Bakkers know each other well. Two extremely talented hoopers in their youth, both from the Midwest and accustomed to playing in the spotlight.

“We had a lot of fights in AAU and with Team USA. She’s just a competitor, she wants to win and she has tangible elements of the game. She knows how to play. and has a great IQ,” Bakkers said. “The best thing about her is that she competes. She wants to win at all costs. So when she goes into the match, I know it’s going to be a great matchup.”

Gabby Marshall, a fifth-year student at the University of Iowa from Cincinnati, Ohio, talked about the challenge of having to play against the Buccaneers on Friday. Marshall said one of his main focuses for the upcoming game will be to protect Bueckers, limiting his shots and touches and trying to make things more difficult.

“She’s just so smooth,” Marshall said of Bakkers. “Whenever the defense takes something away from her, she always counters. She’s a really, really good player. I think she’s similar to Caitlin in some ways, but I don’t like the challenge. I’m ready for it.”

Marshall said many of his friends and family will be in attendance to play in his home state. Marshall added that he enjoys playing defense even more now in college than he did in high school. She believes her strong defensive play helped her earn time on the court.

“Honestly, I think defense is just heart and energy and effort. Those are things you can control. You don’t have to be a particularly talented person to play defense. It’s really all about It’s effort and that’s something I can trust my team to give and bring to me every night. I take pride in my defense,” Marshall said.

Undefeated vs Underdog

Being the underdog is nothing new for this NC State team, which defeated top seeds Stanford and Texas to advance to Cleveland. The third-seeded Wolfpack talked Thursday about how that mentality has helped them make this incredible March Madness run.

“Like Coach Moore said, it’s good to be a party crasher and disrupt the team,” junior guard Asiaha James said. “I feel like it gives us more confidence that we can make a difference even though people look down on us.”

“We’ve been underdogs all season since the season started,” added fellow guard Saniyah Rivers. “It gives us confidence, but at the same time we feel like it gives us so much motivation, not just the motivation that we have to prove something. We played all season with a scar. And it’s still the same thing. We’re the underdogs. Like our coach said, we’re party crashers and we’re coming to crash the party.”

The team will definitely be considered an underdog again on Friday, as South Carolina is an 11.5-point favorite to win the championship. According to DraftKings. But the play of Rivers and James has been key to the team’s success so far in the NCAA Tournament with both players serving as scoring opportunities. Rivers was on South Carolina’s team during the 2021-22 season, so he will also play on the official team.

You could tell by the atmosphere when speaking to the media Thursday that the Wolfpack team was simply having fun. North Carolina State head coach Wes Moore, now in his 11th season, talked about how much his team enjoyed singing during a visit to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland on Wednesday. But Moore knows Friday’s test won’t be easy.

“We have to take easy points for them. They’re so good that we don’t need any help,” Moore said. “Transition D, we’ve got to find a way to get back. And they can run. And make layups, get layups. Offensive boards. We’ve got to find those. No. And they’re a great offensive rebounding team…and we’ve got to shoot the ball well. We’ve got to hit some threes, loosen up our defense a little bit and spread out our defense.”

Last 4 program history

North Carolina State last made it to the Final Four in 1998 under legendary coach Kay Yow. This will be the team’s first trip under head coach Wes Moore, who took over in 2013. The Wolfpack made it to the Elite Eight again in 2022, but lost to UW in a heartbreaking double overtime loss.

With Clark leading the Hawkeyes, Iowa State will advance to the Final Four for the second year in a row. Last year, they lost to LSU 102-85 in the national championship game.

“We don’t have to be who we were last year,” Clark told the media Thursday. “That doesn’t help us succeed. This is a whole new team. And this is a whole different dynamic. Let’s make this our own. That’s exactly what we did. And that is what we’ve been doing to get us back to this point.”

South Carolina, which lost to Iowa in the semifinals in 2023, has been to the NCAA Tournament for the 12th straight year under head coach Dawn Staley. The Shamcocks enter the season undefeated at 36-0.

UW, another women’s basketball program known for historic success, never imagined it would make it to Cleveland this year due to the team’s plethora of injuries.

Head coach Geno Auriemma joked Thursday that he had a lot planned for this weekend, but that didn’t include a trip to Cleveland.

“If you had talked to me in June of this year, I would have said, ‘Yeah, it was us and South Carolina competing for the national championship.'” Then, as things started happening, I was like, what? I started to believe something different. We have to be realistic, but we live in a world where expectations are unrealistic at UConn. But you have to be realistic. ” Auriemma said. “I have to look at my team and say, no matter what happens, do we have an answer? If the answer is no, then you just pray that it doesn’t happen.” That’s all you need. Or, knowing there are no answers, he just prays that two things don’t happen. Therefore, there are many questions that will not be answered in tomorrow’s game. ”