Dawn Staley makes the case for Gamecocks to be No. 1 overall seed in NCAA Tournament
There’s no doubt in Dawn Staley’s mind.
After the South Carolina women’s basketball team blew out top-ranked Texas in Sunday’s SEC championship game, the Gamecocks should be the No. 1 overall seed in this month’s NCAA Tournament. Not a No. 1 seed. The No. 1 seed.
Over Southern Cal, UCLA, Texas, UConn and anyone else.
“I just hope the committee doesn’t discount our entire résumé,” Staley said postgame at Bon Secours Wellness Arena. “There isn’t anybody in the country that has played the schedule that we’ve played.”
The NCAA women’s selection show is set for 8 p.m. next Sunday on ESPN.
The Gamecocks entered the week ranked No. 5 in the AP Top 25 and were projected as the No. 5 overall seed in the field (and the top No. 2 seed) in the NCAA’s final bracket reveal pre-Selection Sunday on Feb. 27.
Then USC marched into its conference tournament and won three consecutive elimination games against tournament-level teams, peaking with a 64-45 blowout win against the Longhorns in Sunday’s tournament championship game.
To get there, the Gamecocks beat Vanderbilt by 21 points in the quarterfinals and Oklahoma by 18 points in the semifinals.
They rose to No. 2 in Monday’s updated, post-SEC Tournament AP poll.
That gives USC a compelling case for the No. 1 overall seed.
Others in contention figure to be expected Big East champion UConn (30-3) and Big Ten champion UCLA (30-2).
Both of those schools have head-to-head wins against the Gamecocks. UCLA beat Southern Cal, another possible No. 1 seed, to win the Big Ten tournament championship Sunday. UConn plays Creighton in the Big East final Monday and is favored by 19.5 points.
Staley said the Gamecocks outpace all of them.
“I am going to go down fighting for what our team earned,” she said.
Evaluating South Carolina’s NCAA résumé
South Carolina (30-3) led Texas, which entered as the No. 1 team in the Associated Press Top 25 and the No. 2 overall seed in the last bracket reveal, by as many as 21 points.
The Gamecocks also held the Longhorns to a season-low 45 points (tied for the fewest in an SEC title game) and 29.6% shooting from the field. Both of those totals were Texas’ worst since a 67-50 loss on Jan. 12 to ... South Carolina.
South Carolina was the No. 2 team in the NCAA’s NET rankings system heading into Sunday and finishes with a 30-3 overall record and 16-3 record in Quad 1 games.
USC’s three losses this season came on the road at current No. 4 UCLA in November, on the road at No. 1 Texas in February and at home vs. No. 3 UConn in February.
Staley said she was “shocked” to see South Carolina fall to the No. 5 overall seed and the No. 2 seed line in the most recent bracket reveal two weeks ago, which followed their 29-point home loss to UConn.
The Gamecocks were a No. 1 seed and the No. 2 overall seed in the first bracket reveal Feb. 16, only trailing UCLA, who they had a head-to-head loss against.
In the Feb. 27 bracket reveal the No. 1 seeds were, in order of overall seed: No. 1 UCLA, No. 2 Texas, No. 3 Southern Cal and No. 4 Notre Dame. The Gamecocks were the top-ranked No. 2 seed (No. 5 overall), just ahead of No. 6 UConn and No. 7 LSU.
Said Staley: “(Teams) get so much credit for beating us, yet when we’ve had some of the toughest stretches in the country, and we came out of it unscathed? You can’t discount that. You can’t discredit that.”
The general consensus was that South Carolina beating Oklahoma to make the SEC title game, coupled with previously projected No. 1 seed Notre Dame losing in the ACC Tournament semifinals, secured USC’s status as a No. 1 seed.
Beating Texas only further locks in the Gamecocks as a top 4 overall seed.
No. 1 overall seed up for grabs
But can Sunday’s win propel South Carolina to the No. 1 overall seed?
That position comes with two major perks: Playing in the regional geographically closer to you (for USC, that would be Birmingham, Alabama over Spokane, Washington) and getting a day of extra rest by playing Friday-Sunday game splits instead of Saturday-Monday splits.
Staley thinks so. Her Gamecocks, as per usual, played a loaded non-conference slate and currently have the nation’s No. 1 overall strength of schedule ranking and No. 5 non-conference strength of schedule ranking in the NET rankings.
“We, again, manufactured our schedule to put ourselves in this situation,” she said.
At least one major bracketologist agrees. ESPN’s Charlie Creme said during a TV hit later Sunday night that South Carolina will be the new No. 1 seed in his bracket.
His No. 1 seeds, in order, are now South Carolina, UCLA, Southern Cal and Texas.
Wrote Creme: “South Carolina began the day as the fourth No. 1 seed. Then, after dominating Texas and later watching USC fall to UCLA, the Gamecocks ended Sunday as the No. 1 overall seed, which is where they should be on Selection Sunday.”
How to watch NCAA women’s Selection Sunday
- What: 2025 NCAA women’s basketball bracket reveal
- When: 8 p.m. next Sunday, March 16
- TV: ESPN
- Stream: via ESPN.com or the ESPN app
This story was originally published March 9, 2025 at 7:25 PM with the headline "Dawn Staley makes the case for Gamecocks to be No. 1 overall seed in NCAA Tournament."
