The Guru National Report: South Carolina/UConn Showdown One Game Away Battling in the Bahamas

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

The collegiate basketball season is not even two weeks old but on the women’s side in the Bad Boy Mowers Women’s Battle For Atlantis on Paradise Island in the Bahamas just one game stands in the way of a top two showdown Monday afternoon between No. 1South Carolina and No. 2 Connecticut, two powers who are already set to meet on the backside of the season on their regular non-conference schedules.

The event got under way Saturday afternoon with Dawn Staley’s top-ranked Gamecocks slamming Buffalo 88-60, which UConn wiped out Minnesota 88-58.

However, the final step is no easy deal.

In the other games, No. 9 Oregon in the most competitive of the four pairings got by Oklahoma 98-93 winning at the finish, while American Athletic Association favorite South Florida put away Syracuse 77-53.

Thus in Sunday’s semifinals. Oregon will meet South Carolina at 2:30 p.m. while Connecticut faces South Florida at noon.

In two consolation bracket games, Oklahoma will Buffalo at 7:30 p.m. and Syracuse will meet Minnesota at 5 p.m.

The winners of the consolation games will meet for fifth place Monday and the losers will play for seventh.

Those will be after the title game at noon on ESPN2 and the third-place game on ESPNU at 2:30 p.m.

Though the rosters have since changed and one more NCAA tournament occurred in the bubble conditions in San Antonio, with Stanford edging PAC-12 rival Arizona when the last shot didn’t go down in the Alamodome last spring, two storylines exist in Sunday’s semifinal.

In 2020 before the NCAA tournament was cancelled the Gamecocks and Ducks of Oregon, who then had Sabrina Ionescu, each had valid claims to become the reigning champion.

UConn, meanwhile, had the rare potential of having its long-running streak of Final Four appearances go by the wayside.

Matching with South Florida and Connecticut reunites two teams who several times battled in the American Conference championship before the Huskies took off for the Big East last season, leaving the Bulls to withstand state rival UCF to break the perfect mark that Connecticut held.

In Saturday’s games,  Christyn Williams poured down 32 points for the Huskies (3-0), enabling Hall of Fame coach Geno Auriemma to move a game within Stanford coach Tara VanDereveer 1127-1121 for the all-time Division I women’s win record, though besides UConn’s Sunday game, Stanford, which fell to seventh after the home upset by then-No. 25 Texas, will visit West Coast Conference power Gonzaga in Spokane, Wash.

Sara Scalia had 17 for the Gophers (3-2)  of the Big Ten, coached by Lindsay Whalen, the former WNBA and Olympic star, besides being an All-American at her alma mater, which she now coaches.

“Once our defense got really good and we stopped giving up some of the threes that we were giving up, and the dribble penetration, our defense fueled our offense,” said Auriemma. “That’s how we’ve got to play, but sometimes I have to be reminded that this was only our second game, and a lot of these other things will click as the tournament goes along.”

Said Whalen, not too dismayed with the loss, “there were times I felt good about how we played the second-ranked team in the country.”

Auriemma said he told her, “If they shoot the ball like they did in the first half, they’re going to win a bunch of games.”

South Carolina, meanwhile, scored 19 of her 23 points in the first half on the way to the 88-60 win over Buffalo by the Gamecocks (4-0).

Dyaisha Fair scored 22 for Buffalo (1-1).

Syracuse transfer Kamilla Cardoso scored 12 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, and dealt six assists.

Among the four ranked teams in the field, No. nine Oregon was in the most danger of an upset, playing Oklahoma of the Big 12.

The Ducks trailed by 10 with just over seven minutes left in regulation. 

Nyara Sabally had a career high 30 points, of which 20 were tallied after the half. She also grabbed 11 rebounds.

The Ducks (3-0) used a 38-26 rally in the final quarter.

Several foul shots going down secured the win.

“Honestly, I’m just glad we survived that,” said Oregon coach Kelly Graves. “We played well down the stretch — especially offensively — and made some plays. Nyara down the stretch really put us on her back and made what seemed like every play.

Oregon is playing shorthanded, only nine players are in uniform, with Te-Hina Paopao and Endyia Rogers sidelined with injuries while freshman Taylor Bigby and Taylor Hosendove are also not competing.

Oregon stormed back from its late deficit with a 10-0 run to knot the score and then scored twice more  to stay ahead.

Sydney Parrish tied her career mark with 18 points, while Sedona Prince had 11 points and 11 rebounds for her first double double.

Taylor Robertson had 29 points, firing 7-of-9 from the perimeter, for the Sooners (3-1).

“What a great game for women’s coach basketball,” said Oklahoma coach Jennie Baranczyk who succeeded retired Sooner Sherrie Coale. “That’s what this tournament is all about, really, high level basketball. But it’s really hard to come out on the wrong side of this one.”

In the other game, No. 23 South Florida got 18 points and 12 rebounds from Bethy Mununga to oust Syracuse out of the winners bracket 77-53.

The Bulls improved to 3-1 with the win while Mununga also grabbed 10 rebounds.

Sydni Harvey and Elena Tsinker each scored 17 for USF which later in the season will play home and home with Temple in conference play in The American.

The winners pounded the boards for a 50-30 advantage.

Syracuse (2-2) got 14 points from Christianna Carr..

In other Sunday games of note, No. 4 Indiana visited Quinnpiac and got all the Hoosiers (4-0) could handle before slipping past the Bobcats (2-1), the favorites in the MAAC.

No. 10 Louisville took a single digit victory 61-53 at the Pac-12’s Washington (2-1) in Seattle to win the Cardinals’ third straight after dropping the season opener to Arizona.

Florida Gulf Coast improved to 5-0 after beating Fairfield 83-61 at Disney to earn a sweep of the ASun/MAAC challenge. In the other game Stetson edged Manhattan 57-55.

Cal-Baptist at home edged UC-Irvine 93-88 in overtime.

Missouri Valley favorite Mikssouri State won easily over Southern Cal 67-41.

Tulane of the American stayed unbeaten at 4-0 beating visiting South Alabama 86-53.

Looking ahead to Sunday, besides the Bahamas tourney, No. 6 Baylor will be at No. 3 Maryland at 1 p.m. in the Terps’ XFinity Center in College Park, while No. 16 Tennessee hosts No. 12 Texas at 1 p.m. in Knoxville as the visitingLonghorns look to take another big win following the recent upset at Stanford.

No. 20 UCLA will be hosting Virginia at 6 p.m.

Columbia looks to stay unbeaten visiting Georgetown at 2 p.m., while Duke is at Alabama at also at 2.

Fordham continues its rigorous non-conference slate hosting Michigan State at 2 p.m. while Ohio Valley favorite Belmont visits UCF of the American.

Marist continues its western swing visiting Arizona State at 3 p.m.

North Carolina plays TCU  at 4:30 p.m. joining the Duke game as part of the Maggie Dixon Classic in Fort Worth, Texas.

In the Midwest the area rivalry continues with Northwestern visiting DePaul in Wintrust Arena in Chicago.

And that’s the report.