South Carolina faces top overall seed Stanford in the Final Four Friday night.

1. The last time...

South Carolina and Stanford have met one other time in the Final Four. In 2017 in Stockton California, South Carolina came back from a nine-point halftime deficit for its first win over the Cardinal. Allisha Gray scored 18 points, and A’ja Wilson had 19 rebounds and three blocks to lead a suffocating second half defensive effort.

Dawn Staley has said that in that game South Carolina’s initial game plan wasn’t working, and the coaches needed halftime to explain the changes they wanted to make. Four years later she revealed the actual halftime conversation.

“We were down by, I think, nine points at halftime and we weren’t playing our best basketball,” Staley said. “We were just trying to get to the locker room and make some adjustments. Once we got to the locker room I asked our team, a serious question, why can’t you all execute what you want to execute. One of our players raised her hand, it was Kaela Davis, and she said, ‘It’s because we’re millennials.’ Millennials? I’m like really, that’s the answer that you have? And we all laughed and and we broke it down and came out and cut into their lead and ended up winning the game.”

South Carolina, of course, went on to win the national championship. That was the first time Staley had ever beaten her mentor Tara VanDerveer, either as a player or coach. She lost to VanDerveer’s Cardinal twice in the Final Four as a player, and each of those times Stanford went on to win the national championship. So history certainly favors tonight’s winner.

2. Stanford’s Long and Winding Road

The tournament bubble has been nothing new for Stanford. The Cardinal spent most of their season in hotels due to pandemic restrictions in Santa Clara county. Stanford played just six actual home games and was on the road for nearly two months straight. It became a bonding mechanism for the team, creating an us-against-the-world atmosphere.

“I think the adversity we dealt with helped us in our game, just being down and digging in,” Tara VanDerveer said.

“We see each other pretty much every hour of every day,” said Lexie Hull. “I think we’re fortunate because we really like each other. It’s not a bad thing that we have to live together. We like it.”

3. Stanford Threes

Stanford has been on a tear from behind the arc in the NCAA Tournament. The Cardinal came in with the fifth-most threes in the country on the sixth-best percentage, and have gotten even better in San Antonio. They are averaging 12.5 three-pointers per game and shooting 46.7% from three.

It’s a stark contrast from South Carolina. The Gamecocks are shooting 30% from three and have attempted 50 three in the tournament, the same number Stanford has made. South Carolina isn’t going to try to outshoot Stanford, just do enough to keep them honest.

“Hopefully we can shoot the ball well enough outside the three just to hold serve,” Staley said. “If they’re able to shoot their average in threes and be as efficient as they are on twos it’s going to be a long night for us.”

4. Final Four-ish

This Final Four doesn’t quite feel like a Final Four. The pomp and circumstance are largely missing. There are no cheerleaders, fans, or celebratory send-offs. There aren’t even mascots, or rallies for travelling fans.

Staley is in her sixth Final Four, three as a player and three as a coach. Only the basketball part feels like the Final Four.

“It feels a lot different,” Staley said. “It feels a lot more confined, but yet it feels like a Final Four. I only see three other teams. The signage around here, the signage at the hotel. I only see three other teams. That makes it special. I look on social media and I see teams that have gone home and talk about being in the bubble for 15 days or 16 days, whatever it is, and I’m thankful. I hope I’m confined for another four days. This is the pinnacle of our game. This is what we practiced, sacrificed, cried for, worked for. If it doesn’t feel like the Final Four, you’re in the wrong place. You have to put that energy into it.”

VanDerveer is in her 12th Final Four, all as a coach, and had a similar impression. She spoke before practice, and said Stanford’s routine felt like a Final Four routine, but the atmosphere was missing.

“They changed the food a little bit. We’re doing a buffet now, which is great,” she said. “There is a little feel to it. Coming over to the gym today we had a police escort. The court is new and different, and there’s logos and things in the locker room. I think there is a sense of it, but it’s a COVID Final Four. It’s muted. There’s not the people all around, there’s not the band at the sendoff, there’s not all the stuff. It is very different.”

5. Scouting the Cardinal

Stanford’s calling card all season has been its depth. The Cardinal go nine deep and only one player, Kiana Williams, plays over thirty minutes. Eight players are averaging at least 5.8 points per game, and Ashten Prechtel, the star of Stanford’s come from behind win in the Elite Eight, didn’t even play in the first half of that game.

“Depending on what the other team is doing it might favor someone’s strength, or someone might be in foul trouble,” VanDerveer said. “I have total confidence in everyone on our team and if the situation presents itself I know they’ll step up and do what they need to do.”

From South Carolina’s perspective, the depth presents a scouting problem. With just two days to prepare, Staley said South Carolina hasn’t been able to game plan for each individual player.

“You have to focus on conceptually what they do,” Staley said. “Defensively I think we have an understanding of how we want to play them and their personnel and some concepts they want to use. For us, we’ve got to give it back to them. We do some things that are deliberate and distinctive on the offensive end. and we have to make sure that they are making adjustments on the defensive side of the ball.”

Stanford is a team that really doesn’t have any weaknesses, but there are two areas of concern. The Cardinal are not as good a rebounding team as the Gamecocks, and they have had trouble putting together a complete game in the tournament.

Stanford is plus-10.4 on the glass on the season, but just plus-5.2 in San Antonio. That pales next to South Carolina’s plus-14.8 for the season and plus-14.2 in the tournament.

“The most obvious thing is we have to rebound,” VanDerveer said. “If our team is not going to be on the glass, we’ll be coming home Saturday morning. We must rebound. You’ve got to limit turnovers. They really get out and run in transition. These aren’t things that are any big secrets.”

Stanford trailed by as much as 14 against Louisville in the Elite Eight. South Carolina, on the other hand, has made a habit of fast starts, including a 14-2 start against Texas and 10-2 first quarter run against Georgia Tech.

“If we come out like we did against Louisville we’ll build ourselves too big of a hole to come back from,” Hull said

The Ws

Who: #1 South Carolina vs #1 Stanford

When: Friday, April 2, 6:00 pm eastern

Where: Alamodome (North, Court 1), San Antonio, Texas

Watch: ESPN