A showdown between Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark could very well happen again this year in the NCAA Tournament, but if it does it will come well before the Final Four.
Iowa and LSU met one another in the national title game last year as two of women’s college basketball’s biggest stars went head-to-head on the national stage in a game for the ages, which ultimately led the Tigers to capture the NCAA crown.
This year if the two teams meet it will come in the Elite Eight which means that one of the sport’s biggest stars will not be in the Final Four.
Clark has of course been the face of women’s basketball this season as she’s obliterated every record there was including becoming the NCAA’s all-time scoring leader and she’ll look to cap her college career with that elusive national title that LSU kept her from winning last year.
The on-court battle between Clark and Reese was one of the major storylines of last year’s national championship and Reese has continued to be the dominant player she was last year.
Reese averaged 19.0 points and 13.1 rebounds per game while starting 29 games this past season.
LSU is hoping to become the first back-to-back champion since UConn did it in 2015 and 2016.
The Hawkeyes earned their first No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament since 1992 and are the second overall seed in the tourney behind undefeated South Carolina, which toppled the Tigers in the SEC championship game earlier this month.
But the road to the Final Four will be littered with potential challenges, especially with Reese and LSU potentially waiting to knock them out.
The Albany 2 Region not only boasts LSU, but UCLA, Kansas State and Colorado, setting it up to one of the toughest brackets in this year’s tournament.
That proves equally as true for LSU, which as the No. 3 seed, could face Louisville and UCLA just to get to a potential rematch with Iowa.
Iowa could potentially face Colorado before even getting the chance to see LSU in the Elite Eight.
“After you get out of the first round every team is basically a top 25 team,” Clark told reporters on Sunday night. “That’s basically what you’re looking at and we were on the upset side of that my sophomore year and then obviously we were very fortunate last year. You need a little luck, you need a good draw, you need to be playing your best basketball.”
Iowa will open the tournament facing the winner of Holy Cross and UT-Martin.
LSU faces Rice in the first round.