Aftermath: Gamecocks answer first of two key questions on Sunday
Dawn Staley, arguably the most popular and beloved person in the city of Columbia right now, grabbed the microphone at midcourt after Sunday’s 95-87 victory over Kentucky clinched a fourth straight SEC regular season title for USC and summed up the last four years of South Carolina women’s basketball with five words.
“So, here we are again,” she exclaimed.
Indeed.
The Gamecocks led wire-to-wire to knock off the rival Wildcats in front of another large and enthusiastic crowd at Colonial Life Arena, capping off a wildly successful weekend at CLA for both USC basketball programs.
Frank Martin’s team rocked Tennessee by 27 points Saturday afternoon to virtually secure an at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament.
Of course, we knew a while ago Staley’s team was headed to the NCAA Women’s Tournament and would likely host the first two rounds in Columbia just as they have the past two years since the NCAA altered the tourney format.
The lingering questions throughout the season have been: 1) would the Gamecocks win another SEC regular season title? and 2) would the Gamecocks earn a No. 1 seed for the NCAA Tournament?
It took until Sunday afternoon to answer the first question affirmatively. But the road to get through wasn’t always paved.
Going into Thursday night’s games, Mississippi State had sole possession of first place with just one conference loss to USC on Jan. 23 in Columbia.
The Gamecocks needed help, and they got it in a big way as Kentucky knocked off the Bulldogs, 78-75, in an overtime thriller at Lexington.
As soon as that game ended, the Gamecocks tipped off at Texas A&M. The door had been thrown open and USC stormed through with an impressive 80-64 win over the Aggies in College Station.
Tied again with Mississippi State in the SEC standings, all the Gamecocks had to do Sunday was beat Kentucky to clinch at least a share of the SEC regular season title and earn the No. 1 seed for the conference tournament, set to begin Wednesday in Greenville.
Easier said than done, obviously, considering the intensity of the USC-UK rivalry, but it got done.
“(Winning the SEC) was out of our control, but what we could control was us finishing strong and going on the road to play Texas A&M and then finishing up here at home,” Staley said. “If that put us into a position to get the title, then so be it.
“This one is pretty special because a week ago we didn’t control our own destiny. We fought our way back and we got lucky.”
Early Sunday evening, Tennessee polished off a dominating 82-64 victory over Mississippi State in Starkville, handing the Gamecocks the outright SEC regular season crown.
Because of the come-from-behind nature of this year’s regular season title - overcoming two last second losses to Tennessee and Missouri in the process - Staley acknowledged the road to this year’s crown was probably more challenging than the previous ones.
“It was much harder,” Staley said. “We had different personnel. The chemistry was a little bit different. The league is hard to win. And it’s hard to come into a season where you haven’t played many basketball games in this conference. All of that makes it difficult, but it’s a good difficult. We have learned from things that we had to bring to our players’ attention.”
As one of the top four seeds, the Gamecocks earned a double bye into the SEC Tournament quarterfinals (the men utilize the same format) and are scheduled to play their first conference tournament game Friday at noon against the winner of Thursday afternoon’s No. 8/9 battle.
“I like where we are (going into the SEC Tourney),” Staley said. “Our players are loose and we can play a variety of ways out there on the floor. We can play fast or we can play slow and pound the ball inside. We’re finally hitting our stride. A big part of that is having balance on the perimeter and in the post. It’s moving in that direction.”
When Selection Monday (March 13) finally arrives after an eight-day wait, we’ll find out the answer to the second question concerning USC’s chances of being a No. 1 seed for the NCAA Tournament.
In all likelihood, the Gamecocks must win the SEC Tournament to lock up a No. 1 seed. If they don’t, they’ll watch the brackets unfold on TV with a lot of nervous energy.
Going into Sunday’s games, the Gamecocks were No. 4 in the RPI behind UConn, Notre Dame and Mississippi State and ahead of Oregon State, Baylor and Washington. Kentucky was No. 14, so Sunday’s win should give them a boost.
If USC and Mississippi State square off in the SEC Tournament, that game would likely be for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tourney as well as the tournament trophy.
Figure UConn (winning streak is now over 100 games) and Notre Dame capturing their conference tournaments and attaining No. 1 seeds. That leaves four or five teams battling for the remaining two No. 1 seeds.
If Oregon State (won third straight Pac-12 regular season crown) or Washington wins the Pac-12 Tournament, that team would have a legitimate claim to a No. 1 seed as four of the top 11 teams in the country according to the RPI are from the West Coast-based conference.
“I don’t really mention that a whole lot,” Staley said. “The coaches are more locked into those things. Those things are out of our control. What we are in control of is playing well, executing and doing the things that got us here like prepping well and packing the same type of effort we’ve had.”
FINAL SEC STANDINGS (After games of Feb. 26)
South Carolina 14-2
Miss. State 13-3
Missouri 11-5
Kentucky 11-5
***********************
Tennessee 10-6
Texas A&M 9-7
LSU 8-8
Georgia 7-9
Auburn 7-9
Ole Miss 6-10
Alabama 5-11
Florida 5-11
Vanderbilt 4-12
Arkansas 2-14
NOTE: Top four seeds earn double bye into SEC Tournament quarterfinals on Friday.
