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Friday night there will be millions of viewers glued to screens to watch an epic basketball match-up: UConn versus Iowa in the NCAA Women’s Final Four. Tickets are going for well over $2,000 on the resale market to see record breaker Caitlin Clark against Minnesota’s own Paige Bueckers.

How and what to watch

The Final Four beckons

The appetizer for the Iowa-UConn game is a highly anticipated matchup between North Carolina State University and undefeated University of South Carolina, which features Tessa Johnson, a freshman with ties to Albertville. 

The women’s game is the biggest thing in sports right now and Minnesota Lynx General Manager Clare Duwelius spoke about it with Morning Edition Host Cathy Wurzer. 

Hear the conversation using the audio player above, or read a transcript of it below. It has been lightly edited for clarity.

You’re in Cleveland, along with Coach Cheryl Reeve and other Lynx staffers. What’s the level of excitement there? 

The city is really buzzing, and it’s all centered on women’s basketball, fortunately for us. And our crew and a lot of other league personnel are running around the city and kind of networking and just taking it all in. There’s a lot of events going on, but obviously the main event are the games tonight and Sunday, so we can’t wait to see the basketball. The product is going to be great tonight. So we’re just really excited.

Folks like you and Coach Reeve have been in this business for a while. Did you in your wildest dreams see attention like this coming? 

I think for those of us that have been in the game for a long time, it was definitely not outside of reach. I think the bigger issue is we’re kind of now starting to get the media attention and coverage and, and those sorts of things that the game and the players have always deserved. We’ve had a great product for many years. Now it’s just great that others are kind of jumping along and enjoying what we’ve been fortunate enough to enjoy for, you know, decades. And the product isn’t dropping off after this year. And so that’s the really exciting thing as well.  

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So you think the momentum is sustainable? 

Absolutely. Yeah. The freshmen even that you’re hearing a lot of buzz around — as well as Caitlin and Paige and a lot of others that are going to be going pro very soon, if not this year — you know, names like Hannah Hidalgo and JuJu Watkins, they’re going to kind of buoy this thing for many years to come and they’ll just keep getting better. So absolutely.

All eyes will be on that UConn vs. Iowa game, but I wanted to mention South Carolina and Tessa Johnson from Albertville. Tessa and Paige put Minnesota high school girls’ basketball on the map. 

Yeah, we’re really proud of those players in particular. And we always say it, maybe it’s because we’re from the area and the region, but Minnesota is really a hotbed of women’s sports, women’s basketball. So obviously we couldn’t be more proud of Paige and Tessa and everything that they’re doing, putting Minnesota on the map. And you know that they’re just phenomenal players. So we’re very proud that we get to tout them as our own. 

As you’re at the game, I know you’re watching for potential people to draft. Who do you have your eyes on? 

You know, we’ve been hard at work for a long time, traveling all across the country since November and really keeping our eyes peeled doing our due diligence early because now you know, we’re approaching the draft here in 10 days. We have, in large part, put most of our, all of our work and so now we’re kind of just enjoying and watching the great games that will conclude the collegiate season. So, we feel like we’ve got our ducks in a row, but we’ve been watching for the whole season, which has been good. 

Okay, we’ll see who you’re going to try to go for. 

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Hotbed for women's hoops in Minnesota goes beyond Bueckers

Any predictions on who’s going to win the final four? Who do you have: UConn, NC State, South Carolina or Iowa? 

I have a bunch of brackets floating around just for fun. I’m from Iowa, so I do have a little bit of bias there I have to admit. But, I think they’re going to be great games. I think it’s hard to top a team that has been undefeated all season and the way that South Carolina program has showed up year after year, even with rosters changing one through five, is really impressive. So that’ll definitely be a tough team to top I think. But, I’m just pushing for good basketball really. 

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Lynx General Manager Clare Duwelius is in Cleveland for this weekend’s NCAA Women’s Final Four. She spoke with Morning Edition host Cathy Wurzer about the tournament, which features two Minnesota players, and the WNBA draft on April 15.

Lynx GM talks Final Four, Minnesota basketball and the WNBA draft

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