Thompson: As big as this women’s Final Four stage is, these stars are bigger
The Athletic has live coverage of Texas vs. South Carolina and UCLA vs. UConn in the 2025 Women’s Final Four.
TAMPA, Fla. — The South Carolina news conference — thanks to five-star point guard Jezelle “GG” Banks from Ursuline Academy in Delaware, serving as a correspondent for Overtime — steered toward the luxury swag of Dawn Staley. Guards Raven Johnson and Te-Hina Paopao were asked to pick a favorite outfit of the Gamecocks coach. It’s a tough call. This is Louis Vuitton Dawn we’re talking about.
But we never got the answer. Staley interrupted with, let’s say, a generational difference that might make the choice tough for the 22-year-olds.
“I wear too much clothes for probably these two,” Staley said. “They don’t have an appreciation for the fully clothed. These two? Uh-huh.”
The two players cackled in rebuttal.
“Just her,” Paopao said, touching the shoulder of Johnson. They cracked up even more.
Nothing about this whole scene suggested the biggest game of their lives was on deck. But it wasn’t obliviousness. It was comfort. Ease. Familiarity. This is what they do.
The remaining quartet in the Final Four is star-studded in every sense. This may be the first time for a couple of teams and their stars. But none of them seem new to this.
They’re so familiar with the warmth of bright lights that they no longer sweat. They’ve either been on massive stages before or boast an aura made for such elevation. They’re familiar with the weight associated with such stakes or know the kind of adversity that gives pressure a proper hue.
No Cinderellas here. These are bona fides. They exude it. Thursday’s session seemed fun to them. The best teams, featuring players unbothered by the moment, figure only to add to the quality of the matchups.
Perhaps most impactful in their comfort on this stage is how their sport groomed them for this pinnacle. Unlike in years past, the Final Four isn’t their introduction to a mass audience. They’ve long been magnets for attention as their wing of basketball is steadily growing in popularity.
This stage isn’t too big for Paige Bueckers. It may not be big enough, actually.
The face of this Final Four has been out of this world in this tournament, and nothing suggests she won’t be ready for UConn’s showdown against UCLA on Friday.
She missed the 2023 tournament after tearing her left ACL. Last season, she wore the heartbreak of an epic duel with Caitlin Clark and Iowa. She’s been hurt. She’s endured heartbreak. She’s missed shots. She’s turned the ball over. She knows none of it will break her.
She’s made big shots. Won big games. Graced magazine covers. Won awards. Earned respect in the culture. And now the 23-year-old is headed to WNBA stardom as the presumed top pick in the draft 10 days from now. Some franchise will hand her the keys to its kingdom.
Her peace is tangible in her play and how she wears these dramatized settings. Bueckers has normalized magnitude.
“I think faith is a huge part of it,” she said, “and just leaning on your work. You have a foundation that you’ve built by how hard you work in the weight room, on the court, off the court, who you are as a person. Just leaning on that and trusting that your work will always show.”
Of course, she has a coach for whom this is old hat. Geno Auriemma spent part of an interview this week talking about the women from his program who’ve ascended to Hall of Fame status. Sue Bird and Maya Moore are nominees — and should be locks — for induction in 2025.
He’s been part of grooming Bueckers into the superstar she’s become.
“What’s the definition of courage?” Auriemma said. “It’s not: not being afraid. It’s grace under fire. Being able to perform under the biggest pressure when you are scared that it might be over and what if we lose. … That’s why the great ones are so exalted because not all of us, hardly any of us, have that ability to perform like that under those circumstances.”
This stage isn’t too big for Lauren Betts.
She’s so ready for it, she got her nails done. The bright spring-colored tips complement the gold rings shining on the hands that hold the Bruins’ fate. The 6-foot-7 post managed to stand out in Los Angeles. The city of stars. Westwood is its own stage. Not even the mania following JuJu Watkins could diminish Betts.
“I mean, it’s L.A. There’s a lot going on over there, too,” she said. “I will say the humidity (of Tampa) is taking me out. Like, I can’t. But the spotlight, all that’s going on, it’s very L.A. like.”
Don’t worry about these UCLA women. Because they don’t seem worried. They have mastered the vibe of belonging while being the first team in program history to make it this far. It would make sense they’re just good actors. You know, L.A. and all. Perhaps they’re feigning composure in the face of a giant.
May not be a safe bet. Kiki Rice has been in big games her whole life. Gabriela Jaquez watched her brother, Jaime, do it at UCLA before graduating to the Miami Heat. This team isn’t out of its depths.
Cori Close went to learn from Auriemma in her early days as UCLA’s coach. She took her whole team to watch a UConn practice.
“He’s a master teacher,” Close said. “He’s done it in a style of play that I really enjoy, just personally, especially on the offensive end, and trying to think about as a young, first-year coach at that point what was that going to look like for me.”
“If I had known,” Auriemma quipped, “I wouldn’t have let her in.”
This stage isn’t too big for Texas’ Rori Harmon.
Her Instagram is suddenly flush with commercials and promotions. A tax provider. A skin care company. A chicken chain. Watches. Energy drinks. Workout gear. Point guard. Pitch woman.
This was earned cachet. It took so much to get here, to face South Carolina. A torn ACL ended last season for Harmon. There were struggles to find her game and confidence at times this season, under the pressure of reclaiming her excellence. But Texas is in the Final Four for the first time in over 20 years because Harmon has proved to be, as the kids say, one of them ones.
“I think it’s her time to shine, honestly,” said Maddie Booker, the Longhorns’ best player. “All through the ups and the downs, coming back from an ACL injury, people still saying Rori’s been falling off. I don’t think she is. … I think it’s time for her to show up. I think she will. … She’s still a star. Don’t care what nobody say.”
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
UCLA Bruins, South Carolina Gamecocks, Connecticut Huskies, Texas Longhorns, Women's College Basketball, Opinion, Women's NCAA Tournament
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