Dawn Staley Makes Bold Case for South Carolina as NCAA Tournament’s No. 1 Overall Seed
South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley isn’t leaving any room for doubt—she firmly believes the Gamecocks should be the top overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.
After storming through the SEC Tournament, South Carolina dominated Texas in the championship game, securing a 19-point victory and avenging their only conference loss of the season. With Selection Sunday approaching, the Gamecocks appear to be one of the strongest teams in the nation, and Staley didn’t hold back when making her case.
“When you win this tournament and play the schedule that we play, I do think we’re the No. 1 overall seed,” Staley said. “We manufactured our schedule to put ourselves in this situation. So I hope the committee doesn’t discount our entire résumé. There isn’t anybody in the country that has played the schedule that we have played, that had a share of the regular-season title, won this tournament and beat the No. 1 team in the country. … There is no one.”
South Carolina boasts an impressive 12 wins over Top 25 opponents and a 7-3 record against Top 10 teams, with their only losses coming against Texas, UConn, and UCLA.
Despite this résumé, some projections have the Gamecocks listed as a No. 2 seed—a notion Staley fiercely rejects.
“If you get so much credit for beating us, and yet when we have had some of the toughest stretches in the country and came out of it unscathed, you can’t discount that,” Staley argued. “You can’t discredit that. I’m going to speak up about it because you have to hear the voice of the other side. Because if you don’t think our body of work deserves it, then you need to speak out on it.”
With a dominant SEC Tournament performance and a resume that stacks up against anyone, Staley and the Gamecocks are making it clear—they expect to be sitting at the top when the NCAA Tournament bracket is revealed.
