The Final Four is finally upon us, yes the one in Minneapolis for the men, but also the Women's Final Four, will be taking place in Tampa. There is star power involved in this year's Final Four. Two-seeded Oregon is led by the NCAA all-time leader in triple doubles in Sabrina Ionescu, Notre Dame has guard Arike Ogunbowale who hit the game winner in the 2017 natty, and Connecticut has 6'3" sharpshooter Katie Lou Samuelson.
Katie Lou's Huskies will look to reclaim a national title, UCONN's 12th in school history. After winning four straight national titles from 2013-2016, UCONN has not won the last two championships (come on, they need to figure it out) and look to get back on top starting Friday night against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
Samuelson has been the steady force for the UCONN Huskies and has definitely been the senior leader for this team. There is no better way to end your collegiate career than claiming a 3rd career national championship ring. Katie Lou Samuelson will be the reason, should UCONN get back on top of the pedestal.
UCONN head coach, Geno Auriemma, knew how special Katie Lou was coming out of high school where she was a star at Mater Dei High School. Samuelson won multiple high-profile awards coming out of Mater Dei, winning the national player of the year by Gatorade, USA Today, McDonald's, and won the Naismith Trophy.
She also gained valuable experience on the international circuit playing for Team USA. Samuelson won five total gold medals ever since she turned 14, so no light is too bright for Katie Lou on the hardwood.
Katie Lou was built for this moment and has been raining in threes ever since she stepped foot on campus in Hartford. Throughout 37 games, while making 22 starts, Samuelson led the team as a freshman in three-point field goals made with 78. She did, however, miss one game due to injury, which was the national title game.
For someone who is 6'3'', just four inches taller than me (no big deal), one would think that Samuelson would just live in the paint scoring at will. That stereotype is what actually makes Katie Lou that much more dangerous around the three-point arc. A player who has a strong inside and outside game can be almost indefensible.
During her sophomore campaign, Katie Lou got even better. She averaged 20 points per game and shot a hot 42% from three-point land. Those numbers were tops in the country and on March 6th, 2017, Samuelson finished with 40 total points against South Florida. Katie Lou was unconscious from three as she made her first 10! from deep. That was a NCAA single game record for most made threes without missing.
According to Her Hoop Stats, Katie Lou's 119 threes were second in the country from 2016-2017 behind Michigan State guard Tori Jankoska. Sadly those efforts were not enough as the Huskies undefeated season fell short in the 2017 Final Four against the Mississippi State Bulldogs 66-64 in overtime.
Katie Lou and the Huskies were destined to avenge that loss in the Final Four to Mississippi State and Samuelson's numbers rivaled her sophomore year numbers. Samuelson got even better as a three point shooter as she led the entire country in three-point percentage at 47.5%. That is just about as absurd as it gets when shooting from downtown. That percentage helped lead to 17.4 points per game.
Her season high in points came on December 22nd against Duquesne where Katie Lou tallied 33 points after shooting eight-of-nine from behind the three-point arc. Throughout 32 games, Katie Lou scored in double figures in 30 of those games and as she was hot from the start, so were the rest of the Huskies. UCONN had their second straight undefeated regular season, running through the American Athletic Conference.
However, their 2017-2018 season had the same unfortunate result as the 2016-2017 Huskies did. After being the number one overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, the undefeated UCONN Huskies fell in the Final Four, in overtime, again. This time it was to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 91-89. Notre Dame's Arike Ogunbowale hit a step-back, crossover jumper with 1.0 seconds left to down the Huskies. (yes we have a rematch in the Final Four again.)
As stated before, this made it two straight years that the Connecticut Huskies did not win the national championship. Samuelson had put up incredible numbers but the end was the same result.
Katie Lou Samuelson came into her senior season, wanting that third national championship and UCONN dominated their competition once again through the regular season. It is hard for any team to have one undefeated season, much less three in a row.
Well they were not that far off as UCONN only lost two regular season games this year as they lost to now number one overall seed Baylor Bears. The other loss came at the hands of the Louisville Cardinals, both games on the road.
Katie Lou during this 2018-2019 season, averaged 18.5 points per game and her rebounding total was up to 6.5 rebounds per game. The star of Katie Lou Samuelson shined bright again as she was second on the team in points per game and rebounds per game. On January 13, 2019, Samuelson reached the 2,000 career point mark, the tenth ever UCONN Huskies' player to ever do that.
This season still has not been the easiest for Katie Lou as she battled a back injury for the last part of the season. She missed a few regular season games and the entire AAC Conference Tournament even though UCONN still won that tournament without her.
Even after finishing the season at 33-2, UCONN was listed as two-seed, something that has not happened since the 2006 NCAA Tournament.
After missing the conference tourney, Katie Lou was eased back into action and only played 22 minutes as UCONN steamrolled the 15-seeded Towson Tigers 110-61. In the second round game against the Buffalo Bulls, Samuelson played all 40 minutes as she finished with 17 points but was 1-of-6 from three point land as UCONN won easily again.
In the Sweet 16, Katie Lou played all 40 minutes against the UCLA Bruins but only finished with six points as UCONN won by eight. After three tournament games, Katie Lou was just getting back into action and struggled from the floor. The Elite 8 game against Louisville was classic Katie Lou.
In that game, Samuelson was back to her normal elite self as she finished with 29 points off of a 7-of-12 performance from three point land as UCONN avenged their regular season loss to the Cardinals by winning 80-73.
Even after being a two-seed UCONN finds themselves in familiar territory, back in the Final Four. People may still want to see the Huskies lose, except me (I picked them to win the title in large part to being a fan of Katie Lou) and it will be interesting to see if UCONN gets back into the National Championship game.
Baylor may be the best overall team but Oregon, Notre Dame, and UCONN all have the star power to win the title. All four teams are more than capable to take home the National Championship trophy.
My money is on Katie Lou Samuelson and the Connecticut Huskies to get back on top of the college basketball world. Katie Lou's three point shooting could prove to be the difference and it will be interesting to see how well she fares comes 8:00PM central time on ESPN. Katie Lou has had a great career, will it end in a third national title? I cannot wait to find out.
Sources:
ESPN
uconnhuskies.com