FOR THE THIRD TIME IN FOUR YEARS, THE BIG TEN WILL BE IN THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME.

BUT, will it be the Big Ten’s first champion since 1999? (Unless you retroactively put Maryland in the Big Ten for the 2006 win, which I would respect.)

Last Hoopla: Déjà Bruins

The fireworks of South Carolina’s win over UConn (Geno Auriemma don’t be a complete and total embarrassment in your one and only loss this season challenge: FAILED MISERABLY) did set the tone for UCLA’s game with Texas, but not for said fireworks.

Instead, that 62-48 win earlier in the day was a mere appetizer for the defensive struggle that the Bruins fought through in the 51-44 victory over the Longhorns. It was redemption for UCLA’s only loss on the season — A game that ended 76-65, so these teams didn’t have to play like this — and it puts these Bruins in their first-ever national title game.

This matchup was remarkably consistent. Madison Booker hit her first shot of the game to put Texas up 2-0, and the Longhorns never led again. UCLA’s lead was as high as 13 and as low as 1, but UCLA always stayed in the lead and felt like the team driving play, a truly impressive feat considering how physically dominant the Longhorns had been all tournament long to this point.

Through the first three quarters, the largest scoring output was 22 points. Not from one team, but from both teams combined, and that came in the third. The first quarter went 14-6 UCLA, and the second went 11-6 Texas. A disgusting slop of a game because of elite defenses, lackluster shooting nights across the board and extra allowed physicality from the officiating crew. UCLA still couldn’t put up a strong second quarter, but the Bruins at least held Texas in check enough to maintain a lead at half.

The one-point margin came late in the third quarter after five straight points from Justice Carlton. Free throws put UCLA up five before a massive shift in momentum: A made three-pointer from Kiki Rice. In a game like this where nothing was going in anywhere — six total threes were made all game — that Rice shot to go up eight felt seismic.

The teams traded some points before Gianna Kneepkens hit another shot from deep to give the Bruins their biggest lead of 13 with 4:36 to play. That felt like a dagger, but credit Texas, who immediately found some life and went on a 12-2 run to bring this within one score with a minute to go.

UCLA missed its next shot, and Booker drove down the court with a chance to bring it within one on a layup.

Except, she had to get through Lauren Betts.

Betts finished with 16 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks, all of which were game highs for either team. She was the best player on the court in a game she needed to be, and she came through in the biggest moment on a defensive stop to seal the deal.

She had to be, because UCLA was not as sharp as it has been all season in some key areas. The Bruins and Longhorns were basically even on the boards (UCLA is the No. 1 rebounding team in the country), and UCLA committed 23 turnovers to Texas’ 12. As a result, the Longhorns attempted 21 more shots than the Bruins on the day (65-44), they just couldn’t make anything.

UCLA’s defense was tremendous all game long, matching Texas’ physicality and giving the Longhorns absolutely nothing easy on the inside. The Bruins did benefit from what is likely to be Booker’s worst game of her career: She finished with six points on 3-of-23 shooting. Some of that was UCLA’s excellent defense, but some of it was missed shots on midranges I’ve seen her make a million times.

It was a scrappy, scrappy, scrappy game and there were still only 17 free shows taken in total. In a game with less than 100 total points, the fact that UCLA still had four players in double figures (Betts, Kneepkens, Rice and Gabriela Jaquez) was extremely impressive.

UCLA survived and advanced, and now the Bruins get the Gamecocks. While these two teams haven’t faced this season, UCLA handedly beat South Carolina a year ago 77-62. Many of the same names from that game will face off again, but both the Gamecocks and the Bruins proved last night that previous losses don’t really mean anything at this stage of the season.

South Carolina is another team that does not rely heavily on shots from the perimeter (341st in 3PT rate) and only shot 2 of 6 from deep against the Huskies. That said, while the volume hasn’t been high, the Gamecocks absolute can hit them, making 16 of 23 in their previous two wins against TCU and Oklahoma.

UCLA has the rebounding advantage, but South Carolina is still a strong unit on the boards (9th in rate), but the Gamecocks are stronger on the offensive glass than on getting defensive boards which could open up second-chance opportunities.

Neither of these teams’ strengths are forcing turnovers, but South Carolina is also tremendous at avoiding turnovers with a 1.42 AST/TO ratio that’s fourth in the nation. Above all else, though, Dawn Staley’s team is a remarkable defensive weapon as it always is, allowing the fewest points per scoring attempt (0.84) in the country off the back of elite interior defense that has opponents shooting lower than 38 percent from inside the arc.

South Carolina’s scoring has primarily been through five players this season, but a sixth has emerged in a big way this NCAA Tournament. That name is freshman Agot Makeer, who went from averaging 5.7 PPG in SEC play to 14.6 PPG and 2.4 SPG this tourney. She has given the Gamecocks a massive spark off the bench and is a serious weapon who can shift momentum.

Before even getting to Makeer, those main threats are led by Joyce Edwards (19.5 PPG, 6.9 RPG, 2.9 Stocks PG) and Madina Okot (13.0 PPG, 10.8 RPG, 2.7 Stocks PG) on the inside, Tessa Johnson (12.8 PPG, 45.2 3PT%) and Raven Johnson (10.0 PPG, 5.2 APG, 41.4 3PT%) on the perimeter and Ta’Niya Latson (14.4 PPG, 3.7 APG) somewhere in between.

These two teams have a very similar well-rounded build, with UCLA having more three-point options in theory, but South Carolina having plenty of interior scorers to make up the difference. If the officiating is similar to what we saw last night, the score could also end up playing out that way, aka prepare for teams potentially playing through molasses.

Bart Torvik has this game nearly dead even, giving UCLA a 51% chance to win with a 70-69 final score. It should be an excellent game that could go either way, both with the winner and on if there will be any points scored or not.

Of course, my biased ass will be sticking with my UCLA pick, but I’m excited for what should be a great contest. An unfortunate note for me personally: I will (most likely, unless Frontier decides to be evil) be on a flight for the first half of this game, so if it’s going well that’s good luck and if it’s going poorly for UCLA at that point it is absolutely my fault.

Anyway, I’m glad to have the Big Ten back here with another chance to break the 27-year drought. The conference has had four opportunities since Purdue’s 1999 title, but Michigan State, Iowa (twice) and the Boilermakers all fell short, and the last three tries all lost by double digits.

The conference has been known for its failures at this point of the season on both the men’s and women’s sides, but the Bruins feel like the team that can break that spell. They are experienced, they are a cohesive bunch and they have all the tools to make it happen.

We will see if they do make it happen on Sunday. Me personally, I’m just happy to be here.

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