Gamecocks still have unfinished business in SEC

The banner has been ordered, the ring-size guide is en route and the trophy is getting the “University of South Carolina” nameplate affixed. For the third year in a row, Dawn Staley’s Gamecocks are SEC champions.

With four regular-season games to go, beginning Thursday night against Georgia, third-ranked USC can relax. Rest some players, take it easy – USC has the title, so the rest of the season doesn’t matter.

That’s the mentality Staley and the Gamecocks won’t accept.

“We don’t talk about it outright, we talk about playing disciplined basketball,” Staley said. “We’re still trying to play a full game of being disciplined on both sides of the ball.”

There’s still a lot on the table. A win against Georgia gives the Gamecocks sole possession of the championship. Staley said after the win over Tennessee that she wants to be greedy, to win them all, which would give her just the second 16-0 SEC season in league history.

There’s also the looming presence of the NCAA Tournament, which USC wants to enter as a No. 1 seed for the third straight year, preferably landing in the Lexington (Ky.) Regional. That’s the closest to home for the Gamecocks and their loyal fans. They’re in good shape now, but that can disappear without a strong finish.

Notre Dame, which leaped over USC for the No. 2 spot in the AP Top 25 this week, is also eyeing Lexington. Like the Gamecocks, the Fighting Irish’s only loss was to Connecticut, and they’re 12-0 in their conference.

While USC still has the No. 2 spot under UConn in the NCAA’s bracket projection, it wants to do everything it can to stay there and assure itself the Lexington bid. Only one way to do it, and USC has already embraced it by purposely not celebrating the championship in Knoxville.

“See, this year, we’re just going to finish the season out first before we celebrate anything. The past two years I’ve been here, we’ve had a claim on the title and we slipped up toward the end,” center Alaina Coates said. “This year, we’re just trying to continue the season without any hiccups and finish out so we can just outright be champions, and be 16-0.”

Staley said she’s also thinking of the mark, but hasn’t mentioned it to her players because she wants them thinking only of the next game.

“They were here last year,” Staley said, recalling the 15-0 start that ended in the loss at Kentucky. “They understood what could have taken place last year and I think in the back of their minds, that’s what they want to accomplish.”

NOTES: Senior Asia Dozier (right hand) is improving but won’t play Thursday, her fifth straight missed game … USC will wear pink uniforms for the “Play4Kay” initiative. USC’s chapter of Zeta Tau Alpha will host a lap of honor at halftime for breast cancer survivors, including USC assistant coach Nikki McCray-Penson.