The 2020 recruiting class might go down in history as the best one in women's college basketball lore.

Five players ranked inside the ESPNW's top 100 rankings for the class will play in the Final Four, starting Friday. The top-ranked player in the class was Paige Bueckers, who signed with UConn, along with No. 23 overall player Aaliyah Edwards. Both have guided the Huskies back to the Final Four with a matchup against the No. 4 player in the class, Iowa's Caitlin Clark. In the other semifinal contest, No. 5 overall player Kamilla Cardoso, No. 11 overall player Te-Hina Paopao, No. 63 player Samika Walker and No. 1 overall seed South Carolina will square off against 3 seed Oregon State.

REQUIRED READING: South Carolina women's basketball vs NC State prediction in Final Four: Who advances to NCAA championship?

The talent goes beyond that. Clark helped dispose of the No. 2 and No. 7 overall players in the class: Angel Reese and Hailey Van Lith, as the Hawkeyes earned their revenge from last year's national championship with a 94-87 victory in the Elite Eight over the LSU Tigers.

The Clark-Bueckers matchup between 1 seed Iowa (33-4) and 3 seed UConn (33-5) will draw many of the headlines, as the world imagines a different universe where the two could have been teammates, but the matchup between No. 1 overall seed South Carolina (36-0) squaring off against 3 seed NC State (31-6) also promises to be an interesting one.

The Gamecocks and Wolfpack tipoff at 7 p.m. ET on Friday at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, followed by the Huskies-Hawkeyes matchup at 9:30 p.m. ET. Here's a look back at the 2020 recruiting class and how they have fared:

Notable espnW top 100 2020 recruiting class rankings

• 1. Paige Bueckers - Hopkins High (Minnesota) - UConn

• 2. Angel Reese - St. Frances Academy (Maryland) - LSU

• 3. Cameron Brink - Mountain View High (Oregon) - Stanford

• 4. Caitlin Clark - Dowling Catholic High (Iowa) - Iowa

• 5. Kamilla Cardoso - Hamilton Heights Christian Academy (Tennessee) - South Carolina

• 6. Diamond Johnson - Neumann-Goretti High (Pennsylvania) - Norfolk State

• 7. Hailey Van Lith - Cashmere High (Washington) - LSU

• 8. Sydney Parrish - Hamilton Southeastern High (Indiana) - Indiana

• 9. Priscilla Williams - Branson High (Missouri) - Oregon

• 10. Deja Kelly - Duncanville High (Texas) - UNC

• 11. Te-Hina Paopao - La Jolla Country Day School (California) - South Carolina

• 23. Aaliyah Edwards - Crestwood Secondary (Canada) - UConn

• 63. Samika Walker - Columbus Africentri High (Ohio) - South Carolina

Historic Class of 2020

Clark was named the Naismith National Player of the Year for the second consecutive season on Wednesday. She became just the eighth player in NCAA history to do so. The other achievements and records for Clark are numerous. A few of them are below:

• Iowa's all-time leading scorer

• Division I women's career scoring leader

• All-time leader in points among major women's college basketball players

• NCAA single-season record holder for 3-pointers

• All-time NCAA Division I men's and women's scoring leader

• Most points in a single season in Division I women's history

Reese helped lead LSU to beat Iowa in last year's national championship following her transfer from Maryland, getting the program its first title in school history. Reese, who won the Most Outstanding Player of the Tournament, had 15 points, 10 rebounds and five assists as the Tigers broke the record for points scored. The 6-foot-8 forward declared she had accomplished everything she set out for in her college career when she declared for the WNBA Draft on April 3.

“I’ve done everything I wanted to in college,” Reese said in her announcement. “I’ve won a national championship, I’ve gotten [Southeastern Conference] Player of the Year, I’ve been an All-American. My ultimate goal is to be a pro — and to be one of the greatest basketball players to play, ever. I feel like I’m ready.”

Bueckers broke the freshman record for assists for a UConn player with 168 in her first season with the Huskies. She won the AP Player of the Year, Naismith College Player of the Year, USBWA Women's National Player of the Year and the John R. Wooden Award and became the first freshman to receive those awards. She averaged 20 points, 5.8 assists, 4.9 rebounds and 2.3 steals per game and shot 46.4 percent from 3-point range as a freshman. Bueckers has re-emerged as one of the top players in the nation after dealing with a rash of injuries in her last two seasons, limiting her to 17 games in 2021-22 and causing her to miss the entire 2022-23 season. Bueckers will return to UConn for the 2024-25 campaign.

Brink helped lead Stanford to a national championship during the 2021 season. Her 424 blocks rank as the 14th most in NCAA history. She earned her third Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year this season, joining WNBA Los Angeles Sparks star Chiney Ogwumike as the only player to win the award three times. Brink was also named the Naismith Women's Defensive Player of the Year on Wednesday.

2020 class transfers

Bueckers, Brink, Clark, and Edwards are among the top players in the class who have stuck with their original school for the entirety of their careers. Reese transferred to LSU following a two-year stint in her home state Maryland. Van Lith joined her this offseason, transferring from Louisville. Cardoso started her career at Syracuse and now is a Gamecock. Parrish was part of an Oregon class that ranked No. 1 in the country but is now all but broken up. Parrish ended up playing for Indiana. Paopao transferred from Oregon to South Carolina.

2024 WNBA Mock Draft

Bueckers has already announced her intention to return to school. Clark is headed for the draft, joined by Reese.

Here's a look at a recent mock draft by The Athletic and how the 2020 class factors in:

1. Indiana Fever: Caitlin Clark | 6-0 guard | Iowa

2. Los Angeles Sparks: Cameron Brink | 6-4 forward/center | Stanford

4. Los Angeles Sparks: Kamilla Cardoso | 6-7 center | South Carolina

7. Minnesota Lynx: Aaliyah Edwards | 6-3 forward/center | UConn

8. Chicago Sky: Angel Reese | 6-3 forward/center | LSU

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Paige Bueckers, Angel Reese, Caitlin Clark: The historic 2020 recruiting class