NCAA selection committee projects South Carolina as No. 2 seed

If the season were to end today, South Carolina women’s basketball would make the NCAA tournament as the No. 8 team overall and a No. 2 seed.

That’s according to the NCAA selection committee itself, which revealed its first rankings of the top 16 teams in the country on ESPN on Thursday. As the lowest No. 2 seed, USC would likely be placed in the same region as the No. 1 overall seed — undefeated Connecticut. If UConn wins out and remains No. 1, it would be placed in the Albany region.

The Gamecocks have earned No. 1 seeds for four straight years and have six consecutive NCAA berths to their names. They have never been named a No. 2 seed.

Of the 16 teams ranked by the committee Thursday, eight were teams South Carolina has faced or will face this season: No. 16 Georgia, No. 15 Rutgers, No. 14 Texas A&M, No. 13 Missouri, No. 6 Tennessee, No. 5 Notre Dame, No. 2 Mississippi State and No. 1 UConn. That is the most of any seeded team.

This story was originally published January 18, 2018 at 7:59 PM with the headline "NCAA selection committee projects South Carolina as No. 2 seed."