Final Four teams square off to set championship finale

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Mississippi State wants to write some more history in the women’s college basketball world.

For now at least, the Bulldogs are best remembered as the team that ended Connecticut’s 111-game winning streak in last year’s national semifinal, knocking off the mighty Huskies in overtime on a buzzer-beater by guard Morgan William. It was the shot heard around world, overshadowing Mississippi State’s loss in the final to South Carolina.

With virtually the same guard-strong lineup as last year, the Bulldogs are back in the Final Four seeking more. So of course are the ubiquitous Huskies, although the teams won’t meet again unless both are victorious in their national semifinal games tonight.

Mississippi State (36-1) first has to be get by Louisville (36-2) in the first game tonight. The winner plays the Connecticut-Notre Dame winner in the national championship game on Sunday. All four teams are No. 1 seeds.

“Last year’s experience was great,” said William, who became a celebrity thanks to her beast-slaying shot. “UConn, of course, and just to get back here, it’s a blessing. It’s hard to get back here two times in a row. So I’m glad we came back and made it back. We worked hard for this.”

Coach Vic Schaefer, a former assistant coach at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville,

said the Bulldogs are tempered by the fight in last year’s tournament and a long, rigorous season that saw them to go 32-0 until losing to South Carolina in the SEC Tournament.

“They’ve weathered every storm that’s come their way, worn a bulls-eye on their back from what they accomplished a year ago,” Schaefer said. “That’s extremely difficult to do. I’ve marveled at and been amazed at this group, this team, but when you really step back and look at the kids, these seniors in particular, you understand how we’ve gotten it done.”

Connecticut and Notre Dame were once in the same conference and would play four times a season, heightening the intensity of one of the best rivalries in women’s college basketball.

But now Connecticut, coached by Geno Auriemma, and Notre Dame, coached by Muffet McGraw, are in different conferences and that intensity has diminished. They play only once a season, with a second meeting usually coming on the grand stage of the Final Four.

“The neat thing about it is after every game in December, now I will say to her all the time, ‘I’ll see you in March.’ If I see you in March, it will be in the Final Four, so that’s cool,” Auriemma said.

There was a stretch between 2010 and 2013 when the two squads played 15 times. The Irish won seven times, twice knocking UConn out of the Final Four.

“I think now that we only play them once a year, there is some distance to the rivalry,” McGraw said. “I think that it always, of course, will be a rivalry just because they’re the best team in the country right now. But I think it’s not that intensity that we had when we were in the Big East because you’re constantly watching in your conference.

“Now we’re in the ACC, and we’re focused on that, and that’s the best conference in women’s basketball. We can’t really afford to be watching a lot of other teams. We really focused on that.

“So I think it definitely has lessened the intensity of the rivalry, but that could change tomorrow.”

While the Huskies are Final Four fixtures, the Irish are back in the national semifinals for the first time since 2015. This might have been one of McGraw’s best coaching jobs, having to overcome knee ligament injuries to four players during the season.

“It’s one of the most rewarding since ‘97 when we were a six seed and it was completely unexpected,” McGraw said. “Definitely been one where we worked hard for it.”