The Samuelson sisters are taking over the Final Four again

DALLAS — Karlie Samuelson is nearing her 30th minute holding court for the media in a barebones auxiliary locker room within the American Airlines Center, a day before her Stanford Cardinals face the South Carolina Gamecocks in the NCAA Final Four. Still, despite the barrage of questions that far exceed any of her teammates, she’s beaming as she answers each question breezily. Certainly, it can’t hurt that so many of them revolve a subject she’ll never get tired of talking about: her sister.

Katie Lou Samuelson, Karlie’s younger sister, is the second-leading scorer for the UConn Huskies this season. She’s also a win away from the national championship game, and both sisters winning would set up a title game against each other. That might complicate their frequent text messages back and forth, but the Samuelsons aren’t thinking that far ahead quite yet.

“If we both win we’ll probably just focus on the game,” Karlie said. “But we’re just talking now.”

The Samuelson family flew into Dallas on Thursday night, and their dad may have concocted a hybrid “StanConn” shirt to simultaneously support both daughters. (Karlie says he has something like that planned, so stay tuned.) This is the second time Jon and his wife Karen have had two children in the Final Four, although it was simpler to root for them last time. In 2014, their oldest, Bonnie, was a senior on the Stanford team, while Karlie was a freshman. The Cardinals went to the Final Four that season, too, only to fall in the semifinals.

As it happens, the team they lost to was UConn. The schools have a history — UConn has a historic 111-game winning streak, but their last loss was in Nov. 2014 to Stanford, a game Karlie Samuelson scored eight points in. But Katie Lou didn’t join the Huskies until the following year, and now the potential championship rematch has a blood connection.

If the Samuelsons do play each other, it would be the first time in an official setting. But in reality, the two, and their sister Bonnie, have been facing each other and shooting together for a decade now. Their 1-on-1 games were always the most vicious — with two sisters on the court while the other waits on the baseline to sub in for whoever gets scored again.

“Bonnie and Lou just say I was the physical one on defense,” Karlie said. “Probably because I was always shorter, even when Lou was younger than me. They’re competitive. But I think that’s why we got good.”

It’s amusing that Karlie has earned public praise from legendary UConn head coach Geno Auriemma.

“I always loved Karlie,” Auriemma said earlier this year. “She’s one of my favorite players. She was one of my favorite kids when we were recruiting her. I bet you a week doesn’t go by when I don’t say, ‘Man, we got the wrong Samuelson. They got the one that plays really hard, is really emotional, dives on loose balls, plays good defense, gets her hands up on shooters. We got the wrong one.’ I must say that once a week just to get Lou pissy. It works all the time.”

The sisters know Auriemma’s words are a coaching tactic. (Karlie still admitted that it was “pretty cool.”) Even if he had been serious, it’s not like anything could divide the two sisters. Karlie says she watches every game Katie Lou plays, and usually texts her tips or pointers afterwards. Sometimes, when she doesn’t have anything to say, they just talk.

In the Elite Eight, UConn finished their 90-52 win against Oregon as Stanford was playing in the second half vs. Notre Dame. Katie Lou was so nervous she felt nauseous watching her sister, especially after the Cardinals trailed at halftime.

“I actually thought I was going to throw up,” she said in Dallas on Thursday. “My legs were super wobbly. But even after they won, we went out to practice and my legs were still weak. And I was like, ‘Oh great, now I’m going to have a bad practice.’”

Katie Lou, standing 6’3 while being a 42 percent three-point shooter, has emerged as the best of the three Samuelson sisters. Karlie — who hardly a slouch at 49 percent from three this senior season — remembers when Katie Lou outplaying her even when they were on the same high school team. But there’s no bitterness there, and Karlie will happily say they’re the reason she became as good as she has.

“Back in the day, it’d get ugly,” Karlie said. “My dad was like, ‘Hey, don’t play with them if you’re going to get mad.’ Bonnie and I will take credit for her being so good. We never went easy on her.”

Stanford still has an incredibly difficult matchup coming up against South Carolina, and advancing to the national championship. (It goes without saying that UConn is heavily favored in their matchup.) But one more chance against UConn and against her sister would be such a fitting way to end her final season, too. Even Kobe Bryant’s rooting for her.

Even if the sisters don’t end up facing each other, it’s just nice to be in the same city again. They hadn’t seen each other since Christmas. On Wednesday night, they went line dancing.

“I’m really proud,” Karlie said. It’s a mutual feeling.