The NCAA female basketball tournament is due to its last four teams, since the best players will fight for the opportunity to be the first champion of the era after Caitlin Clark.
The game of the women’s championship last year made history by obtaining more spectators than the male title game for the first time. Now, without Clark, the class of this year’s championship contestants has the high task of trying to maintain attention in the women’s game.
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Uconn will face UCLA, and Texas will face South Carolina in the round.
Here is a breakdown of the players seeking to fight for that center of attention in the two final rounds:
Uconn and Paige Bueckers
The UConn Guard, Paige Bueckers, #5, crosses the Student Section at Gampel Pavilion after a match against the South Dakota state in the second round of the NCAA University Basketball Tournament on Monday, March 24, 2025 in Storn, Connecticut. (Photo AP/Jessica Hill)
Uconn’s superstar, Paige Bueckers, could take Clark’s place as the biggest star in female university basketball this year.
Bueckers has the opportunity to do what Clark never did: win a national championship. The 23 -year -old Minnesota native will surely support her faith in God while seeking to achieve that goal.
Bueckers has been one of the most open players in sport when it comes to proveing their Christian faith, after having made it reference innumerable times while recovering from an acl torn in August 2022. He thanked God as he took Uconn to the last four last year, and this year, he saw that this trend extended to other players in the sport.
“Yes, I think people are more external in their faith and more comfortable talking about it,” Bueckers told Fox Digital at a press conference on February 19 when asked if he sees that embrace Christianity becomes more common in basketball and women’s sports as a whole.
“I feel that the more you see it, the more populated it becomes, and the more comfortable they all come with him,” he added. “But yes, I definitely think it is growing in terms of being open from that.”
If Bueckers’ faith is rewarded in the Madness March’s career this year, and takes UConn to the championship, she will leave her mark on the most decorated history in female university basketball.
UConn already has 11 national championships dating from 1995, and is considered the most prominent dominant dynasty in sport. Then, the pressure is in Bueckers to maintain that standard, at least once, before graduating. UConn won the title for the last time in 2016, and the current drought of the program championship is the longest since he won his first title 30 years ago.
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After that, Bueckers will seek to challenge Clark in professionals, since it is projected to be the general selection number 1 in the next WNBA draft this year.
Texas and Madison Booker
Madison Booker, #35 of the Texas Longhorns, reacts during the second half against the frogs with TCU horns in the Eight eight elder round of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament in Legacy Arena in the BJCC on March 31, 2025 in Birmingham, Alabama. (Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
The Longhorns are led by Star Madison Booker, who already has experience in a high -risk competition, specifically while representing their country.
The Mississippi native has already won three gold medals in youth tournaments of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA). Booker helped the United States win a gold medal in the FIBA Women’s Women’s Championship 2021 in Mexico, where he averaged 6.2 points and 6.7 rebounds per game.
The following year, in the FIBA 2022 Women’s Women’s World Cup in Hungary, he averaged 5.6 points, four rebounds and 2.3 assists per game on his way to a gold medal.
The following year, in the FIBA Women’s World Cup Sub-19 2023 in Spain, he averaged 7.2 points and five rebounds per game for his third gold for the United States.
This year, Booker was considered one of the best players in female basketball, winning the player of the year of the SEC and won the All-American honors of AP First-Tham. He did everything at the age of 19, since he will not even turn 20 until the tournament is over.
Unlike Uconn and Bueckers, Booker and Texas are looking for a much more rare feat in their history.
Texas has only won the National Championship once, in 1986. The program has been a perennial contender of madness throughout its history and has even reached the Eight elite in three of the previous four years, but lost each time.
Now, the Lonhorns are back in the Final Four for the first time since 2003. Booker has been looking to channel his success of gold medals that represents his country to the success of the National Championship that represents the great state of Texas.
South Carolina Defensor Champion
The then President Joe Biden walks with Dawn Staley, coach of the women’s basketball team at the University of South Carolina, for an event in the Eastern Hall of the White House in Washington, on Tuesday, September 10, 2024, to welcome the Gamecks Women’s Basketball team of the University of Carolina del Sur and celebrate its 2023-2024 NCAA championship season. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
The southern Carolina coach, Dawn Staley, is looking to remember all those who are in charge of women’s university basketball.
Staley is looking for repeated titles after defeating Clark in the national championship game last season, his fourth title in general. The team is in the Final Four for the fifth consecutive year and has also shown that it can overcome the lack of a single superstar player like Bueckers and Booker, but can also overcome the distractions.
Last season, Staley took his team to the title despite provoking controversy when he spoke in support of trans athletes in female basketball.
During a press conference, Dan Zakske from Outkick’s Staley asked his thoughts On the burning issue, and Staley did not hide his thoughts.
“Yes, yes. Then, now the people of Barnstormer will flood my timeline and it will be a distraction for me on one of the most important days of our game, and I agree with that. I’m really,” he said. “I am from the opinion of, if you are a woman, you should play. If you consider yourself a woman and want to practice sports or vice versa, you should be able to play. That is my opinion.”
However, like Bueckers, Staley also had no problem sharing his faith, thanking God after winning last year’s title.
“We serve an incredible God,” Staley said after the game.
“This is the most unlikely group to do it. And sometimes, I mean, God is fun like that. It’s fun. He’s heart and makes you believe. It makes you believe the unimaginable.”
This year’s team will rely on a group that does not have a superstar of the family name, but a deep alignment of treasury, including Joyce Edwards, Chloe Kitts and Milaysia Fulwiley.
Juggernaut quiet Ucla
UCLA Bruins players celebrate their 72-65 victory over the Lady Tigers of LSU to advance to the Final Four during the Eight eight round of the Women’s Basketball Tournament of the NCAA of 2025 held at Spokane Arena on March 30, 2025 in Spokane, Washington. (Photos of Tyler Shank/NCAA through Getty Images)
UCLA ended the regular season as team number 1 classified throughout the country after a dominant campaign 34-2.
For a school that has historically been defined by the success of male basketball, the women’s program has not had better opportunities to claim its place to the sun than this year. UCLA has never won a national female championship, and this will be his first appearance in Final Four.
Chief coach Cori Close has built a female basketball monster quietly and patiently since he took over the program in 2011.
UCLA had not played in a regional since 1999 when they hired her. In its fifth season, UCLA returned to Sweet 16, and the Bruins have lost only two regional ones since then. It is the most successful execution that the program has experienced in the era of the NCAA.
Now, the fruits of their 2022 recruiting class are reaching Fruition, with the Kiki Rice stars, Londynn Jones and Gabriela Joquez to run in history.
