From 68 honored guests (and some bitter bubble snubs) to four national championship contenders. The NCAA women’s basketball tournament is down to its Final Four, which will tip off Friday, April 4th, in Tampa, Florida.

The theme of both this year’s women’s and men’s March Madness has been the cream rising to the top. The men’s Final Four features four No. 1 seeds: Auburn, Duke, Florida, and Houston. The women’s remaining group includes three No. 1 seeds — South Carolina, Texas, UCLA — and a No. 2 that just happens to be the most prestigious blueblood in women’s basketball: UConn.

Superstar players and Hall of Fame coaches will make most of the headlines in Tampa, but on the stage where new stars are often born, there are some X factors that could be difference-makers in their team’s championship coronation.

Jana El Alfy, C, UConn

The Huskies will face UCLA in one national semifinal, and if they win, would play either South Carolina or Texas for the national title. Every one of those teams has a dynamic frontcourt, especially UCLA with 6-foot-7 center Lauren Betts. Which means UConn will need more than just their star-level production from their star guards Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd; they’ll need defense, rebounding, and maybe a little scoring punch up front. A good deal of that can be taken care of by 6-foot-2 freshman forward Sarah Strong, the team’s leader in rebounds, steals, and blocks, and its second-leading scorer behind Bueckers.

But if the Huskies can also get quality play out of Jana El Alfy, their chances of claiming an 11th national championship increase. El Alfy is a 6-foot-5 freshman from Egypt and a practicing Muslim who observed the Ramadan fast during UConn’s postseason. (Ramadan concluded this past weekend; during the Islamic holy month, Bueckers would wake up before sunrise to cook a suhoor meal for El Alfy.)

El Alfy averages 5.1 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. She has yet to crack 20 minutes in any of UConn’s NCAA tournament games so far, but she can make a sizable impact in short bursts of playing time. In just 12 minutes of action against Oklahoma in the Sweet 16, El Alfy grabbed nine rebounds, which helped the Huskies out-rebound a Sooners team that ranked No. 2 in the nation in rebounding. El Alfy had seven points and seven rebounds in a Big East tournament semifinal win over Villanova, and a 17-and-11 double-double (leading the team in both categories) in UConn’s season-opening win over Boston University.

MiLaysia Fulwiley, G, South Carolina

She’s not the biggest or the best player, nor is she the top pro prospect or the most marketable, but Fulwiley might be pound-for-pound the most exciting player remaining in the women’s tournament field. The Gamecocks’ second-leading scorer (11.9 points per game, 1.6 steals) is seemingly good for at least one “wow” highlight per night — usually involving some ball-handling wizardry to set up a dazzling shot for herself or an easy shot for a teammate.

The 5-foot-10 sophomore is the reigning SEC Sixth Player of the Year, and as a freshman she won SEC Tournament Player of the Year along with a national championship for an undefeated South Carolina squad. In this year’s Big Dance, Fulwiley led the Gamecocks with 23 points in its Sweet 16 win over Maryland, but that performance was sandwiched between games against Indiana and Duke in which she played about 10 minutes per game and scored just three and five points, respectively. Such is life for an off-the-bench spark plug who’s also prone to some turnovers that undoubtedly frustrate coach Dawn Staley. But when she’s on, Fulwiley is a can’t-miss playmaker.

Rori Harmon, G, Texas

It’s safe to predict that Madison Booker (16.5 ppg, 6.8 rpg) and Taylor Jones (12.1 ppg, 6.9 rpg, 1.9 bpg) will be two-way impact players in the Longhorns’ frontcourt for however long they’re in the Final Four. It’s also safe to say Harmon, a senior, will be the defensive linchpin in the backcourt. But what about her offense?

Harmon is averaging 9.3 points and a team-high 5.9 assists this season, but she shoots just 37.4 percent from the field and 28.2 percent from 3-point range. In Texas’ Elite Eight win over TCU, the Horned Frogs were sagging off Harmon and daring her to shoot — and she proved that strategy effective by going just 6-for-18 from the field and taking the most shots on the team; which really should be Booker’s role. Harmon shot 4-for-11 in a Sweet 16 win over Tennessee, and 1-for-7 against Illinois in the second round. Texas obviously won those games, but their Final Four slate may demand improved accuracy from Harmon.

Texas will face South Carolina in their national semifinal, which will be the fourth time the teams have met this season. The Longhorns went 1-2 in those matchups, and Harmon’s numbers pretty much matched her overall season output. If she can come up with a big offensive night or two — she scored 15-plus points four times this season, all wins for Texas — then her team could claim its first national title since 1986.

Gabriela Jaquez, G, UCLA

During this run to the Final Four, Bruins center Lauren Betts has been drawing comparisons to legendary UCLA bigs Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Walton with how she’s been dominating the competition. Meanwhile, perhaps the most accurate (and less prone to accusations of blasphemy) comparison of a current UCLA standout to a former UCLA standout would be a side-by-side with junior guard Gabriela Jaquez and former Bruins big Jaime Jaquez Jr. — who happens to be Gabriela’s older brother.

Jaime was the 2023 Pac-12 men’s Player of the Year who’s now with the NBA’s Miami Heat. As much as he was a productive star in college, he was also the ultimate little-things type of “glue guy” who excelled in the intangibles and made high-IQ hustle plays in clutch moments. That’s Gabriela’s game as well. She’s averaging 9.9 points and 5.2 rebounds, but her contributions don’t always make it onto the stat sheet.

UCLA faces UConn in their national semifinal, which means for the Bruins to have any hope of winning, they can’t let Huskies superstar Paige Bueckers go off. Jaquez will need to show up defensively in addition to making her usual blue-collar contributions all over the court.