From The Sports Desk: Final Four redux

College basketballFrom The Sports Desk: Final Four reduxThe women’s Final Four features the same four teams from last year. Will this year play out any differently?Listen to this article with a free account00:0000:00South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley celebrates Monday after defeating the TCU Horned Frogs in Sacramento, Calif.Thien-An Truong / Getty ImagesShareAdd NBC News to GoogleApril 2, 2026, 3:01 PM EDTBy Rohan Nadkarni and Tim RohanThe women’s Final Four tips off tomorrow night in Phoenix. Four top seeds battling for supremacy, the same four teams from last year. Can South Carolina topple UConn? Can UCLA avenge its early-season loss to Texas? We break down the matchups below.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.Also, our NBC News team will be live-blogging the Final Four games all weekend. Come hang out with us for real-time analysis and check out the website for more coverage.UConn vs. South CarolinaSarah Strong of the UConn Huskies and Hannah Hidalgo of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish battle for a loose ball on March 29, 2026 in Fort Worth, Texas. Elsa / Getty ImagesThe first game is a rematch of last year’s national championship tilt, which the Huskies won by 23 points. Can coach Dawn Staley and the Gamecocks do the unthinkable and end UConn’s undefeated season and bid for back-to-back titles?Key player/matchup: While Azzi Fudd is perhaps the biggest star on UConn, sophomore forward Sarah Strong is the team leader in points (18.6) and rebounds (7.6) per game. Strong scored 24 and collected 15 rebounds in the Huskies’ win over the Gamecocks in last year’s Final Four.Key stat: How about two key stats, as this game could come down to which team can create extra possessions. South Carolina is the significantly better offensive rebounding team, posting a 39.8% offensive rebound rate, 13th-best in the country, whereas the Huskies rank 74th. Meanwhile, UConn led the nation in steals per game with 15.7....