The present is all positive for UConn, Notre Dame, Oregon and Baylor, the teams headed to the Women's Final Four in Tampa, Florida, to compete for the 2019 national championship.
But how about their futures? Here's a glimpse at the recruiting pictures for the last teams standing.
Notre Dame:
We refuse to use the cliché about reloading, but you get the picture. Coach Muffet McGraw and the defending champions will lose stars Marina Mabrey, Brianna Turner, Arike Ogunbowale and Jessica Shepard (and potentially Jackie Young), but the Irish have help on the way in the form of two McDonald's All Americans in their 2019 class.
Samantha Brunelle, who won the 3-point shootout at the Powerade JamFest, has the kind of game and personality that Irish fans will fall hard for. The 6-foot-2 versatile forward from William Monroe High (Stanardsville, Virginia) has won gold medals with USA Basketball in both 3-on-3 and 5-on-5 tournaments. Brunelle was Virginia's Gatorade player of the year as a junior, when she averaged 30.0 points, 15.6 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 3.0 blocks and 2.2 steals. She missed a chunk of her senior season after having foot surgery in January, but Brunelle came back to put up 25 points and pull down 24 rebounds in her final high school game.
Anaya Peoples averaged 20.0 points, 7.7 rebounds and 3.7 assists as a senior, and led Schlarman Academy (Danville, Illinois) to back-to-back state championships. The athletic 5-10 point guard also struck gold with USA Basketball over the summer at the FIBA Americas U18 Championship in Mexico City. Against the other top seniors at the McDonald's game last month, Peoples scored 11 points and grabbed eight rebounds.
Notre Dame also has a verbal commitment from junior point guard Allison Campbell, who was Pennsylvania's Gatorade player of the year as a sophomore. She has led Bellwood-Antis High to back-to-back state titles.
