The two reasons NCAA committee chair says UCLA, not South Carolina, deserves No. 1 seed
For the first time since 2021, the South Carolina women’s basketball team is not the No. 1 overall seed for the NCAA Tournament.
Big Ten Tournament champion UCLA landed that honor when the women’s bracket for March Madness was revealed Sunday night.
The Gamecocks were the No. 2 overall seed behind UCLA, a team the Gamecocks lost to 77-62 on Nov. 24. The Bruins were the Big 10 Conference Tournament champions, defeating rival Southern Cal.
NCAA selection committee chair Derita Dawkins explained the rationale for the overall seeding in an interview Sunday with ESPN’s Holly Rowe. The home blowout loss to UConn on Feb. 16 was one factor that hurt the Gamecocks, Dawkins said.
“There were two key factors behind UCLA and South Carolina,” Dawkins told ESPN. “One was the head-to-head matchup. And the other was in our criteria, which was competitive in losses. South Carolina suffered a 29-point loss to UConn. Those were the two key differences in those resumes.”
ESPN’s Charlie Creme had the Gamecocks (30-3) as the No. 1 overall seed in his final projections that came out before the bracket was revealed. He thinks the committee might have given the Gamecocks some added motivation with the perceived slight at being the No. 2 overall seed.
The Gamecocks had a legitimate claim to the top overall seed with a Division I-best 16 quad wins. USC also was No. 2 in the NET rankings behind UConn.
“I thought they should have been the No. 1 overall seed,” Creme said. “They have more Quad 1 wins than any team in the country. They had the toughest schedule that anyone played in the country. When you win more big games against all the other best teams, I think that warrants getting the No. 1 overall seed.
“I think that gives Dawn Staley and her crew just a little more motivation. I don’t think the rest of the field wants Dawn Staley to have more motivation.”
In the Gamecocks’ path to the Final Four in the Birmingham 2 Region are the likes of No. 2 Duke, No. 3 North Carolina and No. 4 Maryland. USC has played and defeated all three of those teams in recent years.
“There is not a team here whose style or makeup makes you feel any kind of trepidation,” ESPN’s Rebecca Lobo said of USC’s region. “You feel kind of good matchup-wise.”
South Carolina enters the tournament on a seven-game winning streak. The Gamecocks dominated its way to winning the Southeastern Conference Tournament championship. USC won all three games by 18 points or more, including the 64-45 win over Texas in the SEC title game.
“They are playing their best basketball right now,” ESPN’s Carolyn Peck said. “The way they looked in the SEC Tournament, you didn’t want to be in South Carolina’s bracket.”
This story was originally published March 16, 2025 at 9:26 PM.
