For the second consecutive year, the women's Final Four features the same four No. 1 seeds: UConn, UCLA, Texas, and South Carolina. The quartet is headed to Phoenix for national semifinal games on Friday, April 3, with the championship game on Sunday [1].

The matchups have shuffled. This year UCLA faces Texas in the first semifinal, while UConn takes on South Carolina in the second. ESPN's women's basketball analysts rank UConn as the team to beat, but the UCLA-Texas game is the one drawing the most pre-tournament analysis as the more evenly matched contest [2].

Texas enters riding a wave of momentum. The Longhorns have won 15 consecutive games and are playing with the kind of defensive intensity that coach Vic Schaefer has built his career around. UCLA, under coach Cori Close, brings the tournament's most efficient offense and a roster built around versatile guards who can score from anywhere on the court [3].

Both programs are chasing something elusive. UCLA's last national championship came in 1978. Texas has never won one. In a Final Four dominated by the blue-blood programs of UConn (12 titles) and South Carolina (4 titles), the UCLA-Texas semifinal carries the weight of programs trying to break through [4].

Tip-off is set for Friday evening in Phoenix. The winner faces either UConn or South Carolina on Sunday.

-- Amara Okonkwo, Lagos