Women’s college basketball will crown a new national champion on Sunday afternoon in Dallas, when the No. 2 seed Iowa Hawkeyes meet the No. 3 seed LSU Lady Tigers at 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC.
It’s not the matchup we expected, but it has much history-making intrigue.
Driven by last season’s second-round upset, the Hawkeyes advanced to the program’s first Final Four since 1993 behind a core group that has started more than 90 games together. Their cohesion is amplified by the singular offensive brilliance of Caitlin Clark, who will shoot for a third-straight 40-plus-point game in the national championship. It also would not be surprising if Clark threatened Sheryl Swoopes’ record 47-point performance in a national title game or surpassed Swoopes’ all-time mark of 177 total points scored in an NCAA Tournament, both of which were achieved in 1993, the same year the Hawkeyes last reached the Final Four stage.
LSU introduces an alternative model of excellence. In her second season in Baton Rouge, Kim Mulkey has microwaved a championship contender, expertly navigating the modern culture of college basketball to mold a roster featuring nine new players, highlighted by transfer Angel Reese, into a potential title winner. In the national championship game, Reese will…
