The Madness of March: Final Four Update for Women’s & Men’s Match Ups

Hannah Foley '19, Staff Writer

It is madness!

The Women’s March Madness Final Four has been set. Baylor, UConn, Oregon, and Notre Dame. Two 1 seeds and two 2 seeds. Games start in Tampa, FL on Friday, April 5th. Each team has a good chance of winning the tournament, so it will be a battle to the end.

Baylor vs Oregon is tonight at 7pm. A showdown between the best point guard in the country, Oregon’s Sabrina Ionescu, and the best center in the country, Baylor’s Kalani Brown. It will be a game of grit and who wants it more. Baylor has been struggling in the tournament the last few years, but they had decisively beaten every team so far in this tournament, and it doesn’t look like they would be stopping any time soon. Oregon came on to the scene a few years ago and haven’t taken their foot off the pedal since. This is the the first trip to the Final Four in Oregon women’s basketball history.

The biggest game of both tournaments is tonight, UConn vs Notre Dame at 9pm. This is a senior dominated game, and many of the players will be drafted next week in the WNBA Draft. UConn’s Napheesa Collier and Katie Lou Samuelson are racking up the awards and killing it on the court. Notre Dame’s Arike Ogunbowale hit two game winning shots (including one against UConn in last year’s Final Four) to bring the championship home to South Bend last year. She and her team are hungry for a repeat this year. They matched up once this year already, and UConn won 87-71, but there are no guarantees in March.

The Men’s March Madness Final Four has been set. UVA, Texas Tech, Auburn and Michigan State. No Duke… As the only 1 seed remaining, UVA is the favorite but no one would be surprised if Texas Tech, Auburn or Michigan State went home with the championship. The Final Four and championship is in Minneapolis, MN and start on Saturday, April 6th.

Auburn vs UVA is on Saturday at 6:09pm. Auburn has been a cinderella story so far. No one saw them going all the way to the final four, except Charles Barkley. UVA has avenged their first round lost last year. After a heart stopping win over an impressive Purdue team, Coach Tony Bennett and the UVA men’s basketball team are feeling like they are on top of the world.

Texas Tech vs Michigan State is on Saturday at 8:49pm. Michigan State is coming off an unbelievable win over Duke. No one saw this coming… actually, Coach Bentley kind of called it at the beginning of the tournament. Good call Coach! Tom Izzo is an outstanding coach and his Spartans play hard for him. Texas Tech is the biggest shock of this tournament. Even though they were a 3 seed coming in, they were on no ones radar to make it all the way to the Final Four. They have been really fun to watch. This game is sure to be a game to watch!

The women’s championship game is on Sunday at 6pm and the men’s championship game is on Monday at 9pm. Be sure to tune in to both the men’s and women’s Final Four to watch some great basketball!