As the women’s NCAA Tournament bracket started its reveal Sunday night, there was little uncertainty about who would be the field’s top seed. South Carolina, the SEC’s regular-season and conference tournament champion, is looking to become only the 10th team to complete an undefeated campaign with a national title.
The Gamecocks were chosen as the No. 1 overall seed and will play in one of the two Albany regions. The rest of the field will look to top the Gamecocks, who enter March Madness having won all 32 of their games. Although this year’s group has an entirely new starting lineup from the South Carolina team that also entered last year’s NCAA Tournament undefeated, the current iteration sports an offensive and defensive rating that ranks top-two nationally.
Coach Dawn Staley has relied on her roster’s depth, with five players averaging double-figure scoring and nine averaging double-digit minutes. Senior center Kamilla Cardoso, the SEC Defensive Player of the Year and a first-team All-SEC selection, has been central to their success on both ends. Cardoso, however, will miss South Carolina’s first NCAA Tournament game after being ejected for fighting late in its SEC tournament championship victory.
The Gamecocks are looking to advance to their fourth consecutive Final Four, and a national title victory would be their second in three years.
Below are the full matchups in Albany 1:
No. 1 South Carolina vs. No. 16 Sacred Heart/Presbyterian
No. 8 North Carolina vs. No. 9 Michigan State
No. 4 Indiana vs. No. 13 Fairfield
No. 5 Oklahoma vs. No. 12 Florida Gulf Coast
No. 3 Oregon State vs. No. 14 Eastern Washington
No. 6 Nebraska vs. No. 11 Texas A&M
No. 2 Notre Dame vs. No. 15 Kent State
No. 7 Ole Miss vs. No. 10 Marquette
GO FURTHER
South Carolina nabs women’s NCAA Tournament top seed; Iowa, USC, Texas get other No. 1 seeds