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UConn looks to beat all four No. 1 seeds


Paige Bueckers and Aaliyah Edwards celebrate in the fourth quarter of their win over Stanford on Friday.

Paige Bueckers and Aaliyah Edwards celebrate in the fourth quarter of their win over Stanford on Friday.
Image: beautiful pictures

It’s not a full-blown classic Monday in Bridgeport But UConn knocked out another No. 1 seed on Friday night, knocking out defending national champion Stanford, 63-58.

Paige Bueckers led UConn with 14 points overnight as two of the best teams in America combined to shoot 9 to 37 out of three. It was a defensive struggle, for sure, but also a lot of simple misses, which sometimes happen in big games and do nothing to lessen the drama as the final minutes approach and full of action. That’s what Stanford grinds and grinds, but never gets closer than two points.

The Huskies will face South Carolina on Sunday night for the title, after the Gamecocks handled Louisville, 72-59, in their first semifinal in Minneapolis.

In 2011, Texas A&M was seeded second in the Dallas Region, beating #1 Baylor in the Elite Eight, then beating Stanford in the semifinals, but won the championship with a win over #2 seed, Notre Dame .

Seven years earlier, second seed Maryland beat top seeds North Carolina and Duke to win all (hello, boys), but the Terrapins regional final in Albuquerque was a win over No. 5 Utah, when the top seed Ohio State was knocked out by Boston College in the second round.

What was the last time a UConn team would try? It was 2005, when Baylor was placed second in the Tempe area, beat North Carolina in the Elite Eight, then went to Indianapolis and wiped out LSU and Michigan State.

Only two other teams have ever made the trio, and it happened during the years against Tennessee that won the championship in 1987, then were knocked out by Louisiana Tech in the semifinals the following year.

That makes it a rare achievement that Geno Auriemma didn’t have as a coach, while Pat Summitt did it with Tennessee and Kim Mulkey with Baylor. Of course, that’s because UConn is nearly always the No. 1 seed, but that doesn’t change that it’s a rare occasion to have something the most winning coach in the history of the sport didn’t. can do.

So whatever happens on Sunday, it’s going to be unprecedented, because the Huskies will either score a hat trick beating the first seed, or Auriemma will lose for the first time in a national championship match. Gia, since he’s 11- 0 when they’re all on the line.



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