Fresh off of a 30–3 season and a third consecutive SEC Tournament title victory, the defending-champion South Carolina Gamecocks earned a No. 1 seed in the women’s NCAA tournament on Selection Sunday.
But it wasn’t the top overall seed in the tourney, a fact that drew the ire of Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley.
“I mean, I’m not in the room,” Staley said, via Matt Dowell on X. “Obviously, I think we did much more than probably any other overall No. 1 seed. We outdid ourselves even from last year … with the amount of quality wins that we had. But I guess the committee was looking at something else.”
Staley, stating that South Carolina “put the work in,” said she expected her program to be the top overall seed. The Gamecocks played 19 Quad 1 games and racked up 16 wins in those contests, the most of any program in the country. But unlike last year’s undefeated team, this year’s South Carolina team suffered three losses, one of which apparently cost them with the selection committee.
“Two key factors between UCLA and South Carolina. One was the head-to-head matchup,” NCAA selection committee chair Derita Dawkins told ESPN’s Holly Rowe on the selection show. “The other was one of our criteria is competitive in losses, and South Carolina suffered a 29-point loss to UConn. Those were the two key differences in those résumés.”
Staley feels the Gamecocks’ navigation of its tough schedule was all for naught in the eyes of the committee. She vowed to make “changes” to the program’s schedule in the future.
“Obviously, it’s disappointing,” Staley continued. “I’d like to get some feedback on how they came to that conclusion. Because we manufactured a schedule that, if done right, it should produce a number one overall seed. But I will say this We’re gonna make adjustments to our schedule in the future … If the standard is the standard. If that’s the standard then we can play any schedule and get a No. 1 seed.”
