The 2024 NCAA Tournament national championship game is on Sunday. It is between the No. 1 seeds, Iowa Hawkeyes, and South Carolina Gamecocks. The Gamecocks are 37-0 and want to finish their season without losing a game. South Carolina beat NC State 78–59 in the Final Four. In the national championships on Friday, Caitlin Clark and Iowa (34-4) beat UConn 71–69.
The first game will start at 3 p.m. ET from the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Ohio. The best odds for South Carolina vs. Iowa put the Gamecocks as a 6-point favorite. The over/under for total points scored is 159.5. First, you should read what women’s basketball expert Calvin Wetzel has to say about the Iowa vs. South Carolina game and the title game.
Wetzel is the lead betting writer for HerHoopStats.com. He uses his background in math and deep knowledge of women’s basketball to turn the site’s prediction model into picks. Now that he is working with Stanford Ph.D. Aaron Barzilai, Wetzel is focusing on women’s college basketball. He has a record of 1384-988 (+371.33 units) since the beginning of the 2021-22 women’s college basketball season. This year, Wetzel correctly picked 66 of the 68 playoff teams and 62 of the 68 teams that were within one seed line. He also picked 13 of the 16 games in the second round. People who follow his picks have had great luck.
Now he is looking forward to the game between Iowa and South Carolina and has already made his picks and predictions. You can see his picks right now at SportsLine. For the South Carolina vs. Iowa college basketball game, here are some odds and trends:
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- Iowa vs. South Carolina spread: Gamecocks -6
- Iowa vs. South Carolina over/under: 159.5 points
- Iowa vs. South Carolina money line: Gamecocks -240, Hawkeyes +196
- IOWA: The Hawkeyes shoot 37.8% from 3-point range
- SC: South Carolina averages 46.3 RPG
- Iowa vs. South Carolina picks: See picks at SportsLine
What South Carolina can do to protect
It’s been impossible to beat the Gamecocks all season. South Carolina was third in the country in scoring attack (85.6%), third in 3-point percentage (39.3%), and fourth in rebounds (46.2). The Gamecocks had 18.6 assists, which was 13th best in the country.
For South Carolina, senior center Kamilla Cardoso is a rock in the middle. Cardoso has good footwork that lets him create good looks around the basket and make room for boards. The player from Brazil scores the most points (14.1), grabs the most boards (9.4), and blocks (2.5). It was a win over NC State for Cardoso, who had 22 points and 11 boards. Pick a team from this list.
The reason Iowa can cover
Clark will leave it all on the court in her last game as a college student. Clark has scored the most points in the history of Division I college basketball, and she can spread the floor with almost no trouble. She scores 32 points, gives 9 assists, and makes 38% of her three-point shots, which is the most in the country. Clark had 29 points and 15 assists in Iowa’s win over Colorado in the Sweet 16.
All around, she leads a very strong attack. The Hawkeyes can make great chances to score, but they are also happy to pass the ball. Iowa was number one in the country in scoring (91.9) and assists (21.2), but number nine in the country in 3-point shooting (37.8). In two of their last three championship games, they scored at least 89 points and made 40% of their three-point shots. Pick a team from this list.
How to pick between South Carolina and Iowa
Wetzel has looked at this game and is going under the number of points scored. He has also found a key factor that has him jumping all over one side of the spread. He’s telling SportsLine what it is.
