After Uconn, in South Carolina Sprint in Easy final four victories, the table is planned for a classic of all time in the title game

Tampa, Florida – It is time for the shock of the mastodons, a battle of an emerging dynasty compared to that which will not die. Two training legends. A player looking for an elusive title to cement an inheritance in what will be his last college game.

South Carolina and Connecticut will meet in the NCAA championship on Sunday (3 p.m., ABC) in a match that many chose in their slices three weeks ago, that they thought it was realistic or a dream game. There is a gravitational traction of the two programs in the running for supremacy in a game which slowly builds parity, but which always revolves around its powers. And Paige Bueckers, one of the best players in the country, will play on the national scene of its latest college game.

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“It seems that the two most important programs at the moment in female university basketball are playing for the law to be national champion,” said UCONN head coach Geno Auriemma, after winning the most unbalanced final match in NCAA history.

Auriemma, 11 times national champion in Uconn, will compete against Dawn Staley of South Caroline, a triple champion coach with a more modern style. Auriemma has an advantage in the series, 8-4, but they divided their two games into playoffs. They are connected by Philadelphia Roots and USA Basketball Success.

The title match is a revenge match of the 2022 national championship and the second meeting of the year. Uconn exploded the South Carolina on February 29 in February, slamming the home victories sequence of 71 gamecocks. Many more history is at stake between them.

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South Carolina could win a rare repeated championship, joining Uconn, Tennessee and USC as the only ones to do so in the NCAA era. Uconn is in the middle of his longest drought in the nine -year championship, and Bueckers, the goalkeeper throughout the illustrious records, is still pursuing a title. It will be his last college game before heading to the WNBA.

“I really think it is a team spirit, it is that we want to do it for Paige, we want to do it for the upper classes which, it is their last chance and they have given so many things to all of us, to this program, these last five and six years,” said Azzi Fudd, who decided to stay in Uconn an additional year.

Bueckers will only play his second national championship match in four years. The other appearance was in Minneapolis, on the road to his hometown of Hopkins. UCONN was late, 22-8, in the first quarter and never recovered in defeat of 64-49.

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It was the second national title of South Carolina, preceding their victory in 2024. Head coach Dawn Staley never lost in his three game games for the title, which includes last year’s victory over Iowa. The Gamecocks each won by a margin greater than 12.

“When you think of the final ovens to which they have gone, the coherence of their program and the ability to win the national championships several times and to be able to gain consequences, these are all things that are incredibly difficult to maintain,” said Auriemma.

Staley and Auriemma, in separate press conferences, said that past performance will not help them win on Sunday. Their national championships are not already in the bag. Staley was so strong that she said “nothing” twice.

“By saying that we are undefeated in national championship matches, this is not the case – I want it to help, I would have liked it to do it,” said Staley after the Gamecocks finished a 74-57 victory against Texas on Friday. “Locate us 10 points because we are undefeated. I feel really good about it.”

The current lists are very different from the versions that have gathered in the 2022 title game.

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The South Carolina ran through the Decorated Center Aliyah Boston with Destanni Henderson and Zia Cooke guards paying 37 points in the title match. All three were drafted in the WNBA, led by Boston as a choice n ° 1 in 2023.

The only postpones are Bree Hall and Sania Feagin, the two reservations in 2022 which are now responsible for settling tone as beginners. Hall does not succeed in several points, but she is the best defender of the team and will be responsible for closing Bueckers and Fudd.

“Breezy does not have much credit for the contributions of which she gave our program during her four years,” said Staley.

The massive UCONN differentiator is health. Bueckers and Fudd, who left the bench and played 17 minutes with a stomach disease in 2022, played most of the year together for the first time. Their support distribution is completely new and very impactful.

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Sarah Strong, the new first year of the year, approached her career summit in 3 points of 3 points, reaching two at the start of three attempts to keep the defense honest and finish with four. Friday, she led Uconn with 22 points and eight rebounds. She is already, in the minds of her teammates, wise beyond her years.

“Something that impresses me the most in her, it is how mature she plays and how equal she is,” said Fudd. “You can never know if she has 20 points and 20 rebounds, you could not say.”

Strong, recruit n ° 1 in the class by ESPN, is the future of the program. Southern Carolina has its own to Joyce Edwards, who came as a recruit n ° 3. The attacker broke out on Friday, marking two figures for the first time since a performance of 22 points in the Victory of 60 points of the NCAA on Tennessee Tech.

She hit her high average score clip directly with 13 points, plus 11 rebounds, six assists and a flight. Staley said that after the regional final, coaches would strive to simplify things for Edwards in a few days between matches.

“We need her,” Staley said earlier in the week in Birmingham. “We are going to win a national championship, we need better production of Joyce.”