Hawkeyes will win national title

Iowa shocked the college basketball world when it halted South Carolina’s undefeated run to clinch a spot in Sunday’s national championship game.

And it’s hard to imagine betting against the Hawkeyes in the final.

Caitlin Clark was brilliant in Friday’s 77-73 semifinal win over the top-seeded Gamecocks, scoring or assisting on 75 percent of Iowa’s points to spark the team’s first win in the Final Four.

That’s nothing new for the Wooden Award winner, who ranks third in scoring (27.7 PPG) and first in assists (8.6 APG) across the entire season.

She’s upped those totals in the tournament, averaging 32.2 points and 10.4 assists en route to five Hawkeyes wins — with the first four coming by an average of 21 points.

That includes back-to-back 41-point efforts for Clark against two of the best teams in the country.

LSU deserves credit for its path to the title game, too, but Kim Mulkey’s group simply hasn’t been as dominant nor as battle-tested to this point.

The Tigers faced just two ranked opponents before the NCAA Tournament, which included a 24-point loss to the very South Carolina team that Iowa beat on Friday.

They also nearly lost to Utah in the Sweet 16 and trailed Virginia Tech by nine in the fourth quarter before rallying to set up Sunday’s showdown.

Betting on College Basketball?

LSU will have a size advantage in the final, but Iowa was the smaller team against South Carolina, too.

It didn’t matter with Clark’s sheer brilliance on display, and I’d expect a similar showing in this one.

The play: Iowa -3.5.