Daily Briefing — March 28, 2022: STANFORD STANDOUTS — Cardinal outlast Texas for Final Four berth

Elsewhere, South Carolina rolled right over Creighton — although Aliyah Boston did see her double-double streak snapped. Oh, and Arizona State has a new head coach.

Watch List, Monday, March 28

(All times in Eastern, all rankings reflect tournament seeding)

Bridgeport regional final

#1 N.C. State v. #2 UConn, 7 p.m., ESPN

Wichita regional final

#1 Louisville v. #3 Michigan, 9 p.m., ESPN

NCAA Roundup

Baylor: Center Queen Egbo declared for the WNBA draft. She was not on our draft board, nor most others.

Georgia Tech: Point guard Lotta-Maj Lahtinen will go pro instead of using her fifth year of eligibility.

Coaching carousel

• Arizona State: Hired Natasha Adair away from Delaware to be its next head coach. Adair’s a very good coach and all, but the fact that a program that invests as much money in its program as Arizona State hired someone who hasn’t been at the Power Five level in a decade and only made the tournament once is quite striking.

Transfer portal

New to the portal:

• Kateri Poole, point guard, Ohio State. The sophomore was the composite No. 30 player in the class of 2020; her other finalists during her high school recruitment were Louisville, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Rutgers. Kentucky and West Virginia have since changed coaches, though Kentucky’s new coach was likely Poole’s primary recruiter; Rutgers’ head coach hasn’t been on the sideline since.
• Georgia Woolley, off-ball guard, Buffalo — the reigning MAC Freshman of the Year

Saturday, March 26 recap

(All rankings below reflect tournament seeding)

Greensboro

#1 South Carolina beat #10 Creighton, 80-50, for the program’s fourth Final Four berth in the past seven tournaments. Every healthy player on its roster saw the floor. Creighton trailed by only three at the first media timeout, then got outscored through halftime 33-15. The Gamecocks grabbed “only” 12 offensive boards, their sixth-fewest of the season, mostly on account of shooting 50.9% and earning 27 free-throws.

Greensboro Region Most Outstanding Player center Aliyah Boston led South Carolina with 19 points on 7-for-9 from the field and 5-for-8 from the line in 28 minutes — ending her double-double streak at 27, second-longest all-time; big Victaria Saxton had 11 points on 3-for-6 FG (5-6 FT) and 11 rebounds (six offensive) for a double-double in 21 minutes; All-Greensboro Region point guard Destanni Henderson notched 12 points on 5-for-9 shooting (2-2 3pt.), three rebounds, three assists, and three steals without a turnover in 29 minutes.

Joining Boston and Henderson on the all-region team were Iowa State point guard Emily Ryan, North Carolina combo guard Deja Kelly, and Creighton off-ball guard Lauren Jensen.

Spokane

#1 Stanford beat #2 Texas, 59-50, for its ninth Final Four in the past 14 tournaments. Save for a 1.5-minute period in the early third quarter, the game was entirely within two possessions before the mid-fourth. The teams combined to shoot 35.0% from the field, while Stanford went 3-for-17 from three and Texas went 11-for-20 from the line; the Cardinal assisted on 14 of its only 19 baskets and blocked 11 Longhorn shots; the teams combined for 46 fouls.

Spokane Region Most Outstanding Player point wing Haley Jones led Stanford with an 18-point, 12-rebound double-double on 4-for-11 from the field (0-1 3pt.) and 10-for-11 from the line, plus four assists, two blocks, and four turnovers without sitting; All-Spokane Region center Cameron Brink had 10 points (4-9 FG, 1-4 3pt.), six rebounds, and six blocks against four fouls in 22 minutes — although a particularly egregious call turned a would-be seventh block into one of those fouls; All-Spokane Region wing Lexie Hull scored 20 points on 7-for-14 shooting (2-4 3pt., 4-6 FT) with three rebounds and two assists against three turnovers.

Texas All-Spokane Region point guard Rori Harmon notched 14 points (6-18 FG, 1-4 3pt.), seven rebounds, and six assists while playing all 40; the four-player rotation of bigs combined to average 7.6 fouls per 40 minutes.

Joining Jones, Brink, Hull, and Harmon on the all-region team was Longhorn wing Joanne Allen-Taylor.