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Tyler Everett

By Tyler Everett

Sports Betting Editor

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The NCAA Women's Elite Eight concludes with 2-seed UConn vs. 1-seed USC in the Regional 4 final tonight in Spokane Arena.

Unfortunately, just one of the two superstars for these teams will be in action. While UConn's Paige Bueckers is coming off two of the best games of her storied career, USC's future WNBA star, JuJu Watkins, is out after suffering a knee injury in the Trojans' second-round win over Mississippi State.

USC (31-3, 17-1 Big Ten) managed to knock off 5-seed Kansas State in the Sweet 16 without Watkins thanks to strong defense (the Wildcats were held to just 41 percent FG shooting) and big offensive games by Avery Howell (18 points) and Kennedy Smith (19 points), while Rayah Marshall added 10 points and 9 rebounds.

UConn (34-3, 18-0 Big East) has blown out all three of its tourney opponents to date. In fact, the Huskies have not been challenged since they lost to Tennessee back in early February, with one 20 or 30-point romp after another throughout their ongoing 13-game winning streak.

Thanks to their late-season dominance, the Huskies (-125 at DraftKings) are the clear favorites to win the national title, which will be decided on Sunday at 3 p.m. ET in Tampa (TV: ABC, ESPN).

UConn vs. USC Odds: Spread, ML, Total

How to Watch UConn vs. USC

Best UConn vs. USC Player Prop

How to Bet Paige Bueckers Player Props vs. USC

Paige Buckers o23.5 points (-110 at FD) -- 1 unit

Bueckers has been one of the top players in women's college hoops since the 2020-21 campaign, when she won the Wooden, Naismith and AP Player of the Year awards as a true freshman.

She missed part of the '21-22 season and all of '22-23 with injuries, but has once again been incredible throughout the last two years. She and the Huskies came up just short of a national title appearance a year ago, losing 71-69 to Caitlin Clark and Iowa in the Final Four, and she's been on a mission in this tournament.

Bueckers has averaged just under 20 points per game throughout her long career, but she's currently on another level after scoring 74 total points on 30-for-48 FG shooting over her last two games.

USC will do everything it can to make someone else beat her, but I like Bueckers -- who scored 22 points despite shooting just 9-for-22 (2-for-8 from 3) in an early-season loss to the Trojans -- to stay hot in this one.

It helps the case for Bueckers immensely that fellow Huskies stars Azzi Fudd (13.3 points per game) and Sarah Strong (15.9 ppg) are good enough to make USC pay if it sells out to stop Bueckers. With that in mind, Bueckers 5+ assists (+100 at DK) is another prop bet worth considering in this one.

UConn vs. USC Pick, Best Bets

USC would not have won 30-plus games this season if it was just a one-woman team. Still, the absence of Watkins does make it hard to see this one staying close for 40 minutes, even if star forward Kiki Iriafen -- who had 16 points and 11 boards in her team's early-season win over the Huskies -- has another big night.

It doesn't bode well for the Trojans that even with Watkins putting up 25 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists in the first matchup between these teams, they were just barely able to top the Huskies, 72-70.

I expect USC to come out motivated and keep this one respectable for 20 minutes or so, but I still like UConn to end up advancing and covering fairly comfortably.

This team has won all 13 games during its current hot streak by at least 19 points. That includes 72-53 and 70-50 victories over 9-seed Creighton, not to mention the 82-59 rout of 3-seed Oklahoma last Saturday.

In that one, UConn actually trailed the Sooners 36-32 at the half before dominating the second half, 50-23, en route to an 82-59 W.

Given that in the Huskies' eventual second-round blowout of 10-seed South Dakota State, the score (43-28) was also respectable at halftime, the Trojans are tempting to cover the first-half spread.

UConn vs. USC Best Bets

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