The Road to New Orleans Ends: Women's D-I Final Four 2013

 

And so it is. The women's Final Four for NCAA Division I women's basketball begins Sunday.

A very interesting group of teams battling for the national title this year.

California is headlining this group of four, as they are making their very first Final Four appearance in impressive fashion. As Spokane region champions, they got through Fresno State in the first round, USF in the second round (two-overtime game), a shortened LSU squad in the regional semifinal and Georgia in the regional final. Lindsay Gottlieb (no relation to CBS' Doug Gottlieb) is in her fifth year as a head coach, her second at Cal and has transformed that program as the premier women's program in the PAC 12.

Louisville also has some good vibes. Besides their men's team in the Final Four in Atlanta, their women's program is in the Final Four in the Big Easy as well. People didn't expect Louisville to go this far, but it was their win against top seeded Baylor in the Oklahoma City regional semifinal that shook everyone's heads. Their game with Cal should be interesting on Sunday.

The only two number one seeds still alive will play each other on Sunday night in a semifinal as Notre Dame and Connecticut, both in their final years in the futurely-now-defunct Big East, will be the game to watch Sunday. Notre Dame was runners-up in 2011, but could be a contender to dethrone a very successfull Lady Huskies team.

With that in mind...

NATIONAL SEMIFINALS
Sunday
(2Spokane) California v (5OKC) Louisville
(1Norfolk) Notre Dame v (1Bridgeport) UConn

Both the semifinals on Sunday and the final on Tuesday night are live on ESPN.