Women's National Championship Betting Picks and Prop Bets: South Carolina vs. Iowa

The women's NCAA Tournament has reached its final game, and we've got South Carolina taking on Iowa.

After a thrilling lead up to the National Championship, what can we expect from Sunday's title bout?

Let's dig into the betting odds via the women's college basketball odds at FanDuel Sportsbook.

All college basketball odds come from FanDuel Sportsbook, and lines may change after this article is published.

Women's National Championship Betting Picks

South Carolina vs. Iowa Betting Odds

Date and Time: Sunday, April 7th at 3 p.m. ET

Spread: South Carolina -6.5 (-110)

Total: 160.5

Moneyline:

• South Carolina: -310
• Iowa: +240

South Carolina vs. Iowa Statistical Breakdown

Advanced stats from Opta Analyst and Massey Ratings.

South Carolina

• Opta Overall Rank: 1st
• Massey Offensive Rank: 2nd
• Massey Defensive Rank: 1st

Iowa

• Opta Overall Rank: 3rd
• Massey Offensive Rank: 1st
• Massey Defensive Rank: 105th

South Carolina vs. Iowa Best Bet

South Carolina -6.5 (-110)

When you dig into the numbers, South Carolina rates out as the better team by a decent margin, and I think they'll be able to cover as 6.5-point favorites.

The Gamecocks are the nation's number-one squad by both Massey Ratings and Opta Analyst. They're well-rounded, too, ranking first in defense and second in offense, per Massey. They have no weaknesses -- at least analytically.

While Iowa is also one of the country's best -- third overall by Opta and second by Massey -- they do have a glaring weakness defensively. The Hawkeyes' D is 105th overall, per Massey. They've permitted at least 60 points to four of their five tourney opponents thus far. SC, meanwhile, has allowed only one Big Dance foe to clear 60.

Obviously, Iowa is really good, and Caitlin Clark is the type of scorer who can get hot and make a lot of these numbers worthless. But it's important to note just how much better South Carolina looks by the metrics. Opta gives SC an overall rating of 63.49. Iowa's is 50.90. Massey's power rating assigns SC a clip of 79.95 while Iowa checks in at 71.83.

In short, South Carolina is in a tier of its own this campaign, and there's a reason they're sizable favorites. There's a case to be made that they should be even bigger favorites, and I think the Gamecocks run away with a national title on Sunday afternoon.

South Carolina vs. Iowa Prop Bet

Caitlin Clark Under 30.5 Points (-130)

South Carolina's defense is tops in country by a significant margin. The Gamecocks' defensive rating -- per Opta -- is -29.28. The team with the second-best defensive rating holds a mark of -24.12, and that team is UConn.

On Friday night, we saw UConn sell out to stop Clark, and while it's impossible to truly shut down a player who owns a season-long 40.0% usage rate, the Huskies' defense did an excellent job, limiting Clark to 21 points on 7-for-18 shooting, including 3-of-11 from deep. The 21 points tied for Clark's fewest in a game this season, and the 18 shots were tied for her fewest in a game this season among contests where she played at least 30 minutes.

South Carolina is even more equipped to life difficult for Clark.

Now, I need to mention that SC had no answers for Clark in last year's Final Four as the Iowa star absolutely torched them, pouring in 41 points on 15-of-31 shooting (5-for-17 from three). Plus, that came against a Gamecocks defense that ranked second nationally in defensive rating. South Carolina has had a year to stew on that and think about what they can do differently. UConn also just showed them the way.

With everything on the line, Clark could push for 30-plus shots on Sunday, and that makes taking the under here pretty scary.

But all in all, I think South Carolina can mimic UConn's approach -- harassing Clark all over the court and attempting to force other Iowa players to beat them -- and SC has even more defensive prowess and ability than the Huskies do. I'm backing Clark to stay under 31.5 points.

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The above author is a FanDuel employee and is not eligible to compete in public daily fantasy contests or place sports betting wagers on FanDuel. The advice provided by the author does not necessarily represent the views of FanDuel. Taking the author's advice will not guarantee a successful outcome. You should use your own judgment when participating in daily fantasy contests or placing sports wagers.