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CLEVELAND — Hard to believe an unbeaten team that is the overall No. 1 seed and is winning its games by almost 30 points could be overlooked, but here we are.

South Carolina has coasted into yet another Final Four, largely unnoticed because of all the attention on Iowa’s game against LSU in the Elite Eight, a rematch of last year’s national championship game. Now Caitlin Clark and Iowa face Paige Bueckers and UConn, the two best guards of their generation playing for a spot in Sunday’s title game.

But do not take the lack of a spotlight as a sign of deficiencies on the part of the Gamecocks. South Carolina is as relentless as it is ruthless, as N.C. State will soon discover.

The Gamecocks are tenacious on defense, as all of Dawn Staley’s teams are. Kamilla Cardoso might as well wear a “Do Not Enter” sign for as immovable as she is inside and Ashlyn “Swatkins” Watkins is continuing South Carolina’s grand tradition of shot blockers.

Where this team is different than South Carolina’s other juggernauts is its range from outside. It’s going to get its points inside. But sag off Raven Johnson again, and she will make you pay. Tessa Johnson and Te-Hina Paopao, too.

And while the Gamecocks gave up big leads against both Indiana in the Sweet 16 and Oregon State in the Elite Eight, they also know how to work their way out of trouble and have several ways to do it. They’ll lock down on defense and let that open up opportunities for them on the other end and, by the time an opponent knows it, what seemed like a gettable game is now out of reach.

These Gamecocks aren’t the calm, serious group that won the national title in 2022 and reached the Final Four again last year. This bunch is goofy, hyper — “a different level of childishness,” as Bree Hall put it. But they’ve figured out their own way to win.

And by the time everybody else figures it out, South Carolina might just be cutting down the nets.

Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: South Carolina vs NC State prediction: Gamecocks win in Final Four