Women's NCAA Tournament: After so many blowouts, fans should be treated to tighter games in women's Final Four

The formalities are over. The women's NCAA Tournament is about to get real. A tournament marked by blowouts is down to the Final Four, and the teams in Phoenix are the ones everybody expected to be there. UConn (38-0) has been the No. 1 team in The Associated Press Top 25 since it won the national championship last year. South Carolina (35-3), UCLA (35-1) and Texas (35-3) each have held the Nos. 2, 3 and 4 spots. This year marks the first time since 1996 that the Final Four is made up of the same teams as the previous year, and it's the first time since 2018 that all four No. 1 seeds made it this far. The first national semifinal Friday pits South Carolina against UConn in a 2025 championship game rematch. Texas meets UCLA in the second semifinal. The championship game is Sunday. The average margin of victory through the first 64 games of the tournament is 20.8 points, with 26 games decided by at least 20 points and 17 by less than 10. The four teams still standing are among the top five in scoring margin for the season and in the tournament. UConn's season average of 37.8 points per game is on track to rank third all-time behind its record 40.6 in 2015 and 39.7 in 2016. South Carolina has an average margin of 29.6 for the season and 40.3 in the tournament. Texas' averages are 29.1 for the season and 35.5 in the tournament. UCLA's are 28 and 27, respectively. Since 2009, only five schools other than UConn or South Carolina have won championships. UConn has 12 titles and will be making its 25th Final Four appearance, both NCAA records. South Carolina has three titles and will be in its eighth Final Four and sixth in a row, the second-longest streak behind UConn's 14 straight from 2008-22. Texas' only title came in 1986, and its fifth Final Four is tied for sixth most. UCLA's only Final Fours have been last season and this season, and the Bruins are looking for their first title. Best of the best Top candidates for national player of the year include UConn's Sarah Strong and Azzi Fudd, UCLA's Lauren Betts and Texas star Madison Booker. All four are on the Associated Press All-America first team: Strong, the Big East player of the year, leads the Huskies in scoring (18.6), rebounds (7.6), blocks (1.6) and steals (3.4) and has scored in double figures in 51 straight games. The sophomore also is Big East defensive player of the year for a team that allows a nation-low 50 points per game. Fudd, a senior, averages 17.5 points per game and is fifth in 3-point accuracy (45.5 percent) and first in made threes (115). Betts, the Big Ten player and defensive player of the year, has averaged 24 points and is shooting 70 percent from the field in the tournament,. The senior blocked five shots in each of her last two games and holds the school career record with 239 in 101 games. Booker set Texas' NCAA Tournament scoring record with 40 against Oregon in the second round, and the junior averaging 22.5 per game in the tournament and 19.3 for the season. Edwards keeps rolling South Carolina's Joyce Edwards was national high school player of the year in 2024 and followed up with a freshman season that ended with her on the 2025 Final Four all-tournament team. She is one of the top players in the country in her second season. Her season scoring average of 19.7 points per game is best among Final Four players and she is scoring 20.5 per game in the tournament. With 24 points against TCU on Monday, Edwards tied the program record for 20-point games in a season (22). Fabulous freshmen Keep an eye on two freshmen who come off the bench, Blanca Quinonez of UConn and Agot Makeer of South Carolina. Quinonez, a forward from Milagro, Ecuador, was Big East freshman of the year and sixth woman of the year and made the all-region team in Fort Worth. Her average of 17.3 points per game in four tournament games is nearly double her average of 9.9 through the Big East Tournament. She's 8-of-13 from 3-point range over her last three games. Makeer, a guard from Thunder Bay, Ontario, who prepped at Montverde Academy in Florida, has scored in double figures for four straight games, including a career-high 18 against TCU on Monday.