Two head coaches with a combined 54 seasons of leading Division 1 programs.

A team with 11 returning players including all five starters vs. a team with one returning starter and nine new players.

College basketball’s Player of the Year with Pete Maravich-like scoring and ball-handling skills nicknamed “Ponytail Pete” vs. a unanimous first-team All-American rebounding machine nicknamed “Bayou Barbie.”

No. 3 seed LSU (33-2) and No. 2 seed Iowa (31-6), schools with proud basketball traditions but without a single national title, collide in Dallas’ American Airlines Center Sunday at 2:30 p.m. in the NCAA women’s basketball championship game.

The Tigers, thanks to a 29-point fourth quarter fueled by guard Alexis Morris and forward Angel Reese, overcame an 11-point deficit for a 79-72 semifinal win Friday over No. 1 seed Virginia Tech 79-72. It was the first Final Four win in LSU men’s and women’s basketball history after nine combined appearances.

“We have nine new pieces, (returnee) Alexis Morris is the only one we had that really had playing experience,” LSU second-year head coach Kim Mulkey said. “This is quite a run. This is quite a year.”

In Friday's nightcap semifinal, guard Caitlin Clark scored 41 points for the second straight game as No. 2 seed Iowa upset No. 1 seed and defending national champ South Carolina 77-73.

“I know a lot of people lost a lot of money in Vegas and elsewhere last night,” Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder said. “Not a lot of people betting on the Hawkeyes. So, we're just going to keep believing. We have one more game to our season.”

Though LSU had its highest scoring game of the NCAA tourney in the semis comeback conquest of Virginia Tech, the Lady Tigers have advanced through the Big Dance because of their defense and rebounding.

LSU’s five NCAA tourney victims – Hawaii, Michigan, Utah, Miami and Virginia Tech – shot a combined 38 percent from the field, averaged just 53.8 points per game and outrebounded by an average of 41.2 to 32.6.

The Tigers are going to need every bit of defensive sweat equity to derail Iowa junior guard Clark, college basketball’s Player of the Year who almost single-handedly has carried the Hawkeyes to the brink of their first national title.

She’s averaging 27.7 points, 7.2 rebounds and 8 assists for the season. Her back-to-back 41-point games vs. South Carolina in Friday’s semis and Louisville in the regional finals raised her tourney scoring average to 32.2 points along with 6.2 rebounds and 10 assists.

“I take a lot of pride in being able to do a lot of different things for my team, whether it's scoring, but also I think the passing can get overlooked at times,” said Clark, who added she picked up the nickname “Ponytail Pete” in honor of the all-time LSU men’s great when she was in high school.

Mulkey, who once upon a time was a point guard who led Hammond High to four state championships and Louisiana Tech to two national titles, is thoroughly dazzled by Clark’s game.

“I don't know that I've ever seen a player that can do what Caitlin does,” Mulkey said. “Gosh, she’s special. She's going to get her points. That girl is phenomenal shooting the ball.

“But the most impressive thing to me, now that you're talking to an old point guard, is she makes everybody around her better. You have great players that can get numbers, but she makes others on her team better.”

Sluder feels the same way about LSU first-team All-American forward Angel Reese (a.k.a. "Bayou Barbie"), who ranks fifth nationally in scoring (23.3 points per game) and second in rebounding (15.6).

Reese, who transferred to LSU this season from Maryland, played Iowa twice in Big 10 Conference play in the last two seasons. She averaged 16.5 points and 8 rebounds vs. the Hawkeyes, scoring 25 points and grabbing 13 rebounds as a starter in Maryland’s 81-69 win over Iowa last season.

“Angel Reese is a fabulous basketball player and just seems to be playing a little bit more free at LSU,” Sluder said. “She's so agile down there, a different type of than (South Carolina center) Aliyah Boston who I thought was more physical.”

Iowa’s defensive gameplan against Boston and South Carolina’s large frontline was to drop most of its defenders in or close the paint and allow wide-open outside shots until the Gamecocks proved they could make them (which they didn’t hitting just 4 of 20 3-pointers).

LSU players, who have thrived on playing the disrespect card all season as motivation, said Sunday that Iowa defenders ignoring South Carolina’s outside shooters was, well.. . .

“I find it very disrespectful,” Morris said. “I don’t think you can just leave me open on the perimeter or just leave us open on the perimeter. I’m going to take that personally going into the game.”

Though Sluder said “we’re not going guard LSU the same way we guarded South Carolina. . .they shoot the ball better so we’ll have to change things up,” don’t expect Iowa to wander too far away using a similar defensive strategy against LSU.

The Lady Tigers average 38 points in the paint per game in the NCAA tourney, compensating for its chilly 19.7 3-point percentage (14 of 71).