Gamecocks women not dreaming of California for NCAAs

South Carolina received help when it needed it to win the SEC regular-season championship.

That might be the last favor the Gamecocks receive this season.

USC is undoubtedly a No. 1 seed in the upcoming NCAA women’s tournament, but is almost undoubtedly not going to be placed in the NCAA regional closest to its campus. Just as it was last year, Notre Dame is also a No. 1 seed and seemingly bound for Lexington, Ky., for the regionals.

That leaves Stockton, Calif., as the most likely destination for USC, which is as unfair as it is far from Columbia. But as longstanding as it is and despite millenials’ efforts to seek answers for it, life is not fair.

The positive? Any Gamecock fans who make the trip won’t have to pack gloves and winter coats, just in case a Nor’easter decides to start tearing through the Midwest and end up in South Dakota, like last year. They can pack the sunscreen and straw hats they normally wear this time of year for games at Founders Park.

The negative? California is a long and expensive trip for fans, and the team, after having sizable fan turnouts for home, away, SEC tournament and what will be two home NCAA tournament games, will be playing in front of a pocket of garnet if it gets to the third round.

The NCAA has never been known for following its own precedent, but it announced its reasons for sending USC to Sioux Falls instead of Lexington last year and one would assume they stay the same this year. Even in a tournament where regionals are awarded based on potential attendance and number of seed doesn’t matter as much as geography, the NCAA has rules.

When deciding which No. 1 seed goes where, the NCAA first looks at distance from the campus to the regional. If it’s less than 350 miles, it’s considered a bus trip. More, a flight.

The NCAA didn’t take into account that USC fans routinely drive to Lexington for football and basketball and don’t consider it a flight. The NCAA does, so it was a flight, and the NCAA also said that a flight is a flight, so if the Gamecocks were going to have to fly to Lexington, they might as well fly to Sioux Falls.

Notre Dame, 326 miles from Lexington, is still a drive to Lexington and the Fighting Irish just won the ACC tournament to supposedly clinch a No. 1 seed. It seems illogical the NCAA would suddenly switch gears and send the Irish elsewhere so the Gamecocks could play closer to home, but then again, “illogical” often comes up when talking about the NCAA.

The other three regionals are in Bridgeport, Conn., which will unquestionably have No. 1 UConn. Despite losing in the Big 12 championship game, Baylor stands to get a No. 1 seed and be placed in Oklahoma City, 288 miles from its Waco campus.

The Gamecocks should be a No. 1 seed after winning the SEC regular-season title and the tournament, including a win over Mississippi State. The Bulldogs were ahead of USC in the last rankings, but wound up losing three of their final five, including one to USC. They should have fallen from the top four, and the teams bumping USC for fifth in the last rankings (Maryland, Oregon State) shouldn’t jump over the Gamecocks for third or fourth.

There’s always the hope of the NCAA changing its mind and sending the Gamecocks to the Bluegrass, but the blue of the Pacific Ocean seems more likely.

This story was originally published March 8, 2017 at 4:35 PM with the headline "Gamecocks women not dreaming of California for NCAAs."