The South Carolina Gamecocks have been ranked the third best team remaining in the NCAA tournament.
The South Carolina Gamecocks are back in the sweet sixteen this year after wins over Tennessee Tech and Indiana. The Hoosiers, like last year, gave the Gamecocks a bit of a scare, but as great teams do, they pulled out a win in the end of it.
Prior to the start of the tournament, South Carolina was pinned as a one-seed and the second-best top seed in the tournament behind UCLA, a team they lost to during the regular season. However, now heading into the third round, ESPN has ranked the Gamecocks as the third-best team remaining in the tournament behind UCLA and UConn ranking at the top. Here is what Charlie Creme had to say about Dawn Staley’s team.
“Even during last year’s romp to an undefeated national title, the Gamecocks had one slight scare,” Creme said. “It came against Indiana in the Sweet 16. Those same Hoosiers made South Carolina work again this year in the second round. Indiana led at halftime and pushed the Gamecocks deep into the fourth quarter. While the bench delivered monster numbers in the opening-round win, Dawn Staley leaned more heavily on her starters and South Carolina went inside more against Indiana. Chloe Kitts had a double-double (10 points, 11 rebounds) and Sania Feagin (10 points) had the best NCAA tournament game of her career beyond the second round.”
With that said, ESPN did pick South Carolina unanimously to advance to the elite eight and to beat Maryland this weekend, but it doesn’t look like the experts think the Gamecocks will ultimately repeat when it is all said and done.
