The Guru’s NCAA Report: Unbeaten South Carolina Rallies Over Iowa, Ending Caitlin Clark’s Collegiate Career And Gaining Dawn Staley’s Third NCAA Coaching Crown

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

CLEVELAND — It’s wire-to-wire for Hall of Fame coach Dawn Staley and her South Carolina Gamecocks from an opening day shocking blowout of Notre Dame in Paris, France, to Sunday’s rally here over the Caitlin Clark-led Iowa Hawkeyes in an 87-75 victory in Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse to become the tenth unbeaten NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament champions.

A sellout crowd of 18,300 was on hand, including NFL Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts cheering for Staley, now the first Black coach, male or female, with three national titles. The Gamecocks are now 109-3 the last three seasons. 

The only remaining suspense to close the season is the TV rating on the ABC broadcast coming Monday following a record broken twice within a week, over 12 million watching the LSU-Iowa rematch on ESPN last Monday in the Albany (N.Y.) Elite Eight game of last season’s championship won by the Tigers.

That was broken Friday night when 14.2 million, peaking at 17 million, watched on ESPN the Iowa-UConn showdown featuring the match of Clark and the Huskies’ Paige Bueckers.

That became the most viewed women’s hoops game on record and the largest audience for an ESPN basketball broadcast.

Last season the championship round, the first on ABC, drew 9.8 million viewers.

The Associated Press also reported record betting action in Las Vegas on the Women’s Final Four, especially the title game, with the most wagered on any women’s sports event.

 The magnet for all this, including record attendance wherever she played, was Clark, whose final career scoring number was 3,951 points, tops for men or women at the major collegiate level.

“The emotions will probably come the next couple of days,” Clark said. “I don’t have much time to sit around and sulk and be upset.

“I don’t think that’s what I’m about either. Yeah, I’m sad we lost the game, but I’m also proud of myself, I’m so proud of my teammates, I’m so proud of this program. There’s a lot to be proud of.”

The Hawkeyes threw the first punch zipping off to a 10-0 lead with Clark, the all-time NCAA Division I career scoring champion who finished the period with18 points, a record for the championship, and 30 in the game.

Her signature deep three at the end of the first period broke former Tennessee all-American Chamique Holdsclaw’s NCAA tournament career record of 179 and Clark finished with 192 points.

But it was all Gamecocks (38-0) the rest of the way as the North Philadelphia-born Staley claimed her third title since 2017, and second in three seasons, this one coming after graduating five starters from a team that went through last season with a perfect record until Iowa (34-5) stunned them in the national semifinals in Dallas.

Syracuse transfer Kamilla Cardoso, the Brazilian center who made the switch prior to 2022-23, had 15 points and 17 rebounds, besides blocking three shots and voted the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.

Staley, in a rare public display of emotional tears of joy after the game, guided her team through a season of growing parity in her sport with a multitude of upsets.

“I’m super excited to share this moment with our team,” she said. “They are incredible human beings and young people who trusted, believed, figured out a way to help each other learn and grow, and ultimately become champions.

“When young people lock in and have a belief, and have a trust, and their parents have the same trust, this is what can happen. They made history. They etched their names. In the history books.”

Later at the postgame press conference, Staley, said, “It was emotional for me because how it ended last year. I’ll leave that there.”

Soon after the game ended, Staley praised Clark, saying, “I personally want to thank Caitlin Clark for lifting up our sport. She carried a heavy load for our sport.

“She’s going to lift that league (WNBA) up as well. Caitlin Clark, if you’re out there, you’re one of the GOATs of our game. We appreciate you.”

Clark said of what she leaves as her legacy, “I don’t want my legacy to be, oh, Caitlin won X amount of games or Caitlin scored X amount of points.

“It’s what I was able to do for the game of women’s basketball. It’s the young boys and young girls that are inspired to play this sport or dream to do whatever they want to do in their lives,” she continued.

“I think it’s just the people that we’ve brought together, the joy we’ve brought to people, the way people are recognizing women’s basketball as a sport.

“It’s fun to watch. Everybody loves it. It can be on the highest of stages. I think you see that with the viewership numbers. To me, for it to come down to 40 minutes and for me to validate myself within 40 minutes, I don’t think that’s a fair assessment,” she said.

“To be honest, I don’t have many emotions of, like, this is the end. For me. Over the course of the next week, things change in my life quite a bit.”

With three titles, Staley, the USA Olympic gold-winning coach 2021, ties Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer, the overall collegiate record holder in coaching wins (1,216), for fourth in NCAA Division I behind LSU’s Kim Mulkey with three at Baylor and one with the Tigers; while the late legendary Tennessee Hall of Famer Pat Summitt had eight, and Connecticut’s Geno Auriemma, who grew up in Norristown, the leader at 11, the last occuring in 2016, which was the Huskies’ fourth straight.

Auriemma also trails VanDerveer by just three wins.

 Among Staley’s graduates last season was Aliyah Boston, who became the overall No. 1 pick and rookie of the year from the WNBA Indiana Fever, which also holds this season’s top choice and expected to select Clark next Monday when this season’s draft is held in Brooklyn at an Art museum.

Tessa Johnson had a Gamecocks high 19 points, Oregon transfer Te-Hina Paopao had 14 points, propelled by 3-for-4 on 3-point attempts, and Chloe Kitts double doubled with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Iowa’s Kate Martin scored 16 behind Clark, while Sydney Affolter scored12, and Hannah Stuelke, who factored into the narrow semifinals win Friday night over Connecticut, had 11 points.

South Carolina commanded the boards, outrebounding the Hawkeyes 51-29 and 18-7 on the offensive glass, leading to a 48-32 domination of the paint and 30-16 on second chance points.

Depth was also a major factor, the new champions outscoring the opposition 37-0 on bench points.

“That’s an outstanding team,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder saluted the Gamecocks. “I’m proud of my team, though. Finishing national runnerup two years in a row is an amazing first. Nobody thought we were going to be here at the beginning of the year, so that makes it pretty special.”

When Bluder recruited Clark, whose collegiate career started during the Pandemic season of 2020-21, both foresaw an achieved goal of reaching the Final Four.

After the Gamecocks gained their largest advantage at 14 points in the fourth quarter with 7:40 left in regulation, Iowa made one more push to come back, narrowing the gap to five three minutes later.

But the comeback stopped dead cold there, South Carolina reeling off a 7-0 run the rest of the way.

The win was satisfying to Raven Johnson, who took the loss to Iowa personally a year ago.

She sees more titles coming considering the youth of the current group.

“This team, we’re going to be good,” she said. “Coach Staley, we have the best coach in the country, in the nation, in the whole world. It’s no telling what she’s going to add to the pieces that’s already here. I just say be on the lookout.”

Off the roster switch, Staley’s group entered the season ranked sixth after holding first in the Associated Press women’s poll all the way in 2022-23.

But following a slew of upsets happening elsewhere the first week, the Gamecocks powered quickly back to the top spot holding off all challengers.

The one near upset nearly occurred when Southeastern Conference rival Tennessee, a program that bedeviled Staley as an all-American and national player of the year at Virginia, was ahead with a few ticks of the clock left in regulation.

But Kardoso grabbed a pass and connected on her first career 3-pointer, to keep the Gamecocks unbeaten.

That shot may have ultimately doomed Lady Vol coach Kellie Harper, who was fired from her alma mater on April 1.

Ironically, on a day that South Carolina, which grew to dominate the SEC under Staley after she left Temple in 2008, wins its third crown, Tennessee, two coaches removed from the legendary and late Pat Summitt, went outside the Lady Vol family with the hire from mid-major Marshall of Kim Caldwell, who earned the 2004 Spalding Maggie Dixon NCAA Division I Rookie Coach of the Year.

Caldwell has one year of experience in Division I,  though she has won everywhere she went.

 The hire came reportedly after athletic director Danny White was rejected by Duke’s Kara Lawson, the one tie-back as a player under Summitt at a Power 5 program, Indiana’s Teri Moren, and NC State’s Wes Moore, whose Wolfpack in their second Final Four appearance, were handled by South Carolina in Friday’s semifinal opener.

Meanwhile, with a new TV eight-year deal last winter with ESPN worth $115 million per year for 40 sports, the lion’s share reportedly to go to women’s basketball, NCAA president Charlie Barker said Sunday ahead of the title game tipoff, the finance committee is looking to give women’s teams in the tournament, potentially as early as next season, similar structure financial compensation known as units to what men’s teams earn, worth millions, especially for going deeper into the rounds.

“We just signed a new contract with ESPN and women’s basketball is a big and important part of that deal,” he said. “It will also send a huge signal to women’s basketball generally about the fact you play in the tournament, you do well, you will benefit financially as well as in the other ways.”

Staley, during Saturday’s preview press conferences for the title game, said, “You look at what the 68 teams are going to divide up, I think I saw $170 million between the 68 teams.

“When you start bringing in revenue like that,  it will move your campus in a different direction when it comes to women. So we’ve got to fight for that.”

Next season the landscape will look much different among schools, like Iowa and South Carolina, in Power 5 conferences.

The PAC-12 will only exist for the football programs of Washington State and Oregon State, under an NCAA grace period, after ten other schools realigned elsewhere, though the other sports of those two programs will compete in the West Coast Conference.

The Big Ten will be adding Southern Cal, UCLA, Washington and Oregon, while the Big 12 picks up Arizona, Arizona. State, Colorado and Utah, but lose Texas and Oklahoma to the Southeastern Conference.

The Atlantic Coast Conference gains Stanford and California from the PAC-12 while SMU is coming from American Athletic Conference that has Temple as a member.

NCAA 2024 Women’s Tournament by Bracket Pairings

 (All results thru the championship)

  

 ALBANY REGION 1

 

First Four – South Carolina Hosting

Wednesday, March 20

Colonial Life Arena

Columbia, S.C.

7 p.m. ESPNU

No. 16 Sacred Heart 24-10F vs. No. 16 Presbyterian 21-14 W:49-42

 

First Round – South Carolina Hosting

Friday, March 22

Colonial Life Arena

Columbia, S.C.

2 p.m. ESPN

No. 16 Presbyterian 21-15F at No. 1/AP1 South Carolina 33-0 W:91-39

11:30 a.m.

No. 8 North Carolina 20-12 W:59-56 vs. No. 9 Michigan State 22-9F

 

Second Round

Sunday, March 24

Colonial Life Arena 

Columbia, S.C.

1 p.m. ABC

No. 8 North Carolina 20-13F at No. 1/AP1 South Carolina 34-0 W:88-41

 

First Round – Indiana Hosting

Saturday, March 23

Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall

Bloomington, Ind.

1:30 p.m. ESPN2

No. 13/AP25 Fairfield 31-2F at No. 4/AP14 Indiana 25-5 W:89-56

4 p.m. ESPNN

No. 12 Florida Gulf Coast 29-5F vs. No. 5/ AP18 Oklahoma 23-9 W:73-70

 

Second Round

Monday, March 25

Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall

Bloomington, Ind.

6:30 p.m. ESPN2

No. 5/AP18 Oklahoma 23-10F at No. 4/AP14 Indiana 26-5 W:75-68

 

First Round – Oregon State Hosting

Friday, March 22

Gill Coliseum

Corvallis, Ore.

8 p.m. ESPNU

No. 14 Eastern Washington 29-6F at No. 3/AP12 Oregon State 25-7 W:73-51

10:30 p.m. ESPNU

No. 11 Texas A&M 19-13F vs. No. 6 Nebraska 23-11 W:61-59

 

Second Round

Sunday, March 24

Gill Coliseum

Corvallis, Ore.

 4 p.m. ESPN

No. 6 Nebraska 23-12 at No. 3/AP12 Oregon State 26-7 W:61-51

 

First Round – Notre Dame Hosting

Saturday, March 23

Purcell Pavilion

Notre Dame, Ind.

4:45 p.m., ESPN2

10 Marquette 23-9F vs. 7 Ole Miss 24-8 W:67-55

2:15 p.m. ESPN

No. 15 Kent State 21-11F at No. 2/AP9 Notre Dame 27-6 W:81-67

 

Second Round

Monday, March 25

Purcell Pavilion

Notre Dame, Ind.

2 p.m. ESPN

No. 7 Ole Miss 24-9F at No. 2/AP9 Notre Dame 28-6 W:71-56

 

Sweet 16

Friday, March 29

MVP Arena

Albany, N.Y.

5 p.m. ESPN

Nos. 1 /AP1 South Carolina 35-0 W;79-75 vs. Nos. 4/AP14 Indiana 26-6F

2:30 p.m. ESPN

Nos. 2/AP9 Notre Dame 28-7F vs. Nos. 3/AP12 Oregon State 27-7 W:70-65

 

Elite Eight

Sunday, March 31

MVP Arena

Albany, N.Y.

TBA TV-TBA

No. 1 South Carolina 36-0 W:70-58 vs. No. 3 Oregon State 27-8F

 

PORTLAND REGION 4

 

First Round – Texas Hosting

Friday, March 22

Moody Center

Austin, Texas

3 p.m. ESPNU

No. 16 Drexel 19-15F vs. No. 1/AP4 Texas 31-4 W:82-42

5:30 p.m. ESPN2

No. 8 Alabama 24-9 W:82-74 vs. No. 9 Florida State 23-11F

 

Second Round

Sunday, March 24

Moody Center 

Austin, Texas

6 p.m. ESPN

Nos. 8 Alabama 24-10F at No. 1/AP4 Texas 32-4 W:65-54

 

First Round – Gonzaga Hosting

Saturday, March 23

McCarthy Athletic Center

Spokane, Wash.

7:30 p.m. ESPN2

No. 4/AP16 Gonzaga 31-3 W:75-56 vs. No. 13 UC Irvine 23-9F

10 p.m. ESPNU

No. 5/AP21 Utah 23-10 W:68-64 vs. No. 12 South Dakota State 27-6F

 

Second Round

Monday, March 25

McCarthy Athletic Center

Spokane, Wash.

10:30 p.m. ESPN2

Nos. 5 Utah 23-11F at No. 4/AP16 Gonzaga 32-3 W:77-66

 

First Round – NC State Hosting

Saturday, March 23

Reynolds Coliseum

Raleigh, N.C.

2:30 p.m. ESPNU

No. 14 Chattanooga 28-5F at No. 3/AP11 NC State 28-6 W:64-45

12 p.m. ESPN

No. 11 Green Bay 27-7F vs. No. 6 Tennessee 20-12 W:92-63

 

Second Round

Monday, March 25

Reynolds Coliseum

Raleigh, N.C.

4 p.m. ESPN

No. 6 Tennessee 20-13F at No. 3/AP11 NC State 29-6 W:79-72

 

First Round – Stanford Hosting

Friday, March 22

Maples Pavilion

Stanford, Calif.

7:30 p.m., ESPN2

10 Maryland 19-14F vs. 7 Iowa State 21-11 W:93-86

10 p.m., ESPN2

No. 15 Norfolk State 27-6F at No. 2/AP5 Stanford 29-5 W:79-50

 

Second Round

Sunday, March 25

Maples Pavilion

Stanford, Calif.

10 p.m. ESPN

No. 7 Iowa State 21-12F at No. 2/AP5 Stanford 30-5 W87-81ovt

 

Sweet 16

Friday, March 29

Moda Center

Portland, Ore.

10 p.m. ESPN

Nos. 1/AP 4 Texas 33-4 W:69-47 vs. Nos. 4/AP16 Gonzaga 32-4F

7:30 p.m. ESPN

No. 2/AP5 Stanford 30-6F vs. Nos. 3/AP11 NC State 30-6 W:77-67

 

Elite Eight

Sunday, March 31

Moda Center

Portland, Ore.

TBA TV-TBA

Nos. 1/AP4 Texas 33-5F vs. No. 3/AP11 NC State 31-6 W:76-66

 

ALBANY REGION 2

 

First Four – Iowa Hosting

Thursday, March 21

Carver-Hawkeye Arena

Iowa City, Iowa

7 p.m. ESPNU

No. 16 UT Martin 16-17 vs. No. 16 Holy Cross 21-12 W:72-45

 

First Round – Iowa Hosting

Saturday, March 23

Carver-Hawkeye Arena

Iowa City, Iowa

3 p.m. ABC

No. 16 Holy Cross 21-13F W: 72-45 at No. 1/AP2 Iowa 30-4 W:91-6

5:30 p.m. ESPN2

No. 8 West Virginia 25-7 W:63-53 vs. No. 9 Princeton 25-5F

 

Second Round

Monday, March 25

Carver-Hawkeye Arena

Iowa City, Iowa

8 p.m. ESPN

Nos. 8 West Virginia 25-8F at No. 1/AP2 Iowa 31-4 W:64-54

 

First Round – Kansas State Hosting

Friday, March 22

Bramiage Coliseum

Manhattan, Kansas

4:30 p.m. ESPNN

No. 13 Portland 21-13F at No. 4/AP15 Kansas State 26-7 W:78-65

7 p.m. ESPNN

No. 12 Drake 29-6F vs. No. 5/AP18 Colorado 23-9 W:86-72

 

Second Round

Sunday, March 24

Bramiage Coliseum

Manhattan, Kansas

2 p.m. ESPN

No. 5/AP18 Colorado 24-9 W:63-50 at No. 4/AP15 Kansas State 26-8F

 

First Round – LSU Hosting

Friday, March 22

Pete Maravich Assembly Center

Baton Rouge, La.

4 p.m. ESPN

No. 14 Rice 19-15F at No. 3/AP8 LSU 29-5 W:70-60

1:30 p.m. ESPN2

No. 11 Middle Tennessee 30-4 W:71-69 vs. No. 6/AP23 Louisville 24-10F

 

Second Round

Sunday, March 24

Pete Maravich Assembly Center

Baton Rouge, La.

3 p.m. ABC

No. 11 Middle Tennessee 30-5F at No. 3/AP8 LSU 30-5 W:83-56

 

First Round – UCLA Hosting

Saturday, March 23

Pauley Pavilion

Los Angeles, Calif.

7 p.m., ESPNN

No.10/AP UNLV 30-3F vs. No. 7/AP24 Creighton 26-5 W:87-73

9:30 p.m. ESPN2

No. 15 California Baptist 28-4F at No. 2/AP6 UCLA 26-6 W:84-55

 

Second Round

Monday, March 24

Pauley Pavilion

Los Angeles, Calif.

8:30 p.m. ESPN2

No. 7/AP24 Creighton 26-5F at Nos. 2/AP6 UCLA 27-6 W:67-63

 

Sweet 16

Saturday, March 30

MVP Arena

Albany, N.Y.

3:30 p.m. ABC

Nos. 1/AP2 Iowa 32-4 W:89-68 vs. Nos. 5/AP18 Colorado 24-10F

1 p.m. ABC

Nos. 2/AP6 UCLA 27-7F vs. Nos. 3/AP8 LSU 31-5 W:78-69

 

Elite Eight

Monday, April 1

MVP Arena

Albany, N.Y.

TBA TV-TBA

Nos. 1/AP2 Iowa 33-4 W:94-87 v. No. 3/AP8 LSU 31-6F

 

PORTLAND REGION 3

 

First Four

 

Virginia Tech Hosting

 

Wednesday, March 20

Cassell Coliseum

Blacksburg, Va.

9 p.m. ESPNU

No. 12 Vanderbilt 23-9 W:72-68 vs. No. 12 Columbia 23-7F

 

Connecticut Hosting

 

Thursday, March 21

Gampel Pavilion

Storrs, Conn.

7 p.m. ESPN2

No. 11 Arizona 18-15 W:69-59 vs. No. 11 Auburn 20-12F

 

First Round – Southern Cal Hosting

Saturday, March 23

Galen Center

Los Angeles, Calif.

4:30 p.m. ESPN

No. 16 Texas A&M-CC 23-9F at No. 1/AP3 Southern Cal 27-5 W:87-55

2 p.m.

No. 8 Kansas 20-12 W: 81-72 ovt. vs. No. 9 Michigan 20-14F

 

Second Round

Monday, March 25

Galen Center

Los Angeles, Calif.

10 p.m. ESPN

No. 8 Kansas 20-13F at No. 1/AP3 Southern Cal 28-5 W:73-55

 

First Round – Virginia Tech Hosting

Friday, March 22

Cassell Coliseum

Blacksburg, Va.

3:30 p.m. ESPN2

No. 13 Marshall 26-7F at No.4/AP13 Virginia Tech 25-7 W:92-49

6 p.m. ESPNU

No. 5/AP19 Baylor 25-7 W:80-63 vs. No. 12 Vanderbilt 23-10F

 

Second Round

Sunday, March 24

Cassell Coliseum

Blacksburg, Va.

8 p.m. ESPN

 No. 5/AP19 Baylor 26-7 W:75-72 at No. 4/AP13 Virginia Tech 25-8F

 

First Round – Connecticut Hosting

Saturday, March 23

Gampel Pavilion

Storrs, Conn.

1 p.m. ABC

No. 14 Jackson State 26-7F at No. 3/AP10 Connecticut 30-5 W:86-64

3:30 p.m. ESPN2

No. 11 Arizona 18-16F vs. No. 6/AP22 Syracuse 24-7 W:74-69

 

Second Round

Monday, March 25

Gampel Pavilion

Storrs, Conn.

6 p.m. ESPN

Nos. 6/AP22 Syracuse 24-8F at No. 3/AP10 Connecticut 31-5 W:72-64

 

First Round – Ohio State Hosting

Friday, March 22

Value City Arena

Columbus, Ohio

2:30 p.m. ESPNN

10 Richmond 29-6F vs. 7 Duke 21-11 W:72-61

12 p.m. ESPN

No. 15 Maine 24-10 at No. 2/AP7 Ohio State 26-5 W:80-57

 

Second Round

Sunday, March 24

Value City Arena

Columbus, Ohio

12 p.m. ESPN

No. 7 Duke 22-11 W:75-63 at No. 2/AP7 Ohio State 26-6F

 

Sweet 16

Saturday, March 30

Moda Center

Portland, Ore.

5:30 p.m. ESPN

Nos. 1/AP3 Southern Cal 29-5 W:74-70 vs. No. 5/AP19 Baylor 26-8F

8 p.m. ESPN

No. 7 Duke 22-12F vs. Nos. 3/AP10 Connecticut 32-5 W:53-45

 

Elite Eight

Monday, April 1

Moda Center

Portland, Ore.

TBA TV-TBA

Nos. 1/AP3 Southern Cal 29-6F vs. No. 3/AP10 Connecticut 33-5 W:80-73

 

Women’s Final Four

Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse

Cleveland, Ohio

National Semifinals

Friday, April 5

7 p.m. ESPN

AR1 No. 1/AP1 South Carolina 37-0 W:78-59 vs. PR4 No. 3/AP11 NC State 31-7F

9 p.m. ESPN

AR2 No. 1/AP2 Iowa 34-4 W: 71-69 vs. PR3 No. 3/AP10 Connecticut 33-6F

 

National Championship

Sunday, April 7

3 p.m. ABC

AR1 No. 1/AP1 South Carolina 38-0 W: 87-75 vs. AR2 No. 1/AP2 Iowa 34-5