Who: #1 South Carolina (35-0) vs. #7 Maryland (28-6). Greenville, SC

Time/TV: 7:00 on ESPN

Line: SC -14.5, Total 136.5

History: All-time SC leads 4-2, AD, (After Dawn). The Gamecocks have won the last 3 meetings. This is the first meeting between the two school in the NCAA Tournament. In the last five meetings, all of which have been top-15 matchups, South Carolina is 4-1, including three wins in College Park.

Last Meeting: South Carolina claimed an 81-56 victory on Nov. 11 in College Park. The Gamecocks used a late 30-17 run to bury the home team. The surge included a 14-4 run over the period’s final 3:11, including a combined eight points from Kamilla Cardoso. Aliyah Boston had 16 and Zia Cooke had 18. The Gamecock held Maryland to 30% from the field and out-rebounded the Terps 55-32. Maryland's best player, and current projected second overall pick in the WNBA Draft, Diamond Miller, did not play in that matchup.

Dawn Staley has said numerous times that the Elite 8 game is the toughest. While that hasn't necessarily been the case for the "Freshies," we are going to take Coach Staley at her word. The Terps have a balanced fast-paced attack. Maryland has a top-10 scoring offense and surpassed 90 points in five Big Ten games.Three players average double digits points per game: Miller with 19.6, senior Abby Meyers with 14.3 and sophomore Shyanne Sellers with 14.

When Maryland loses, it's because their offense isn't clicking. Which it wasn't for large portions of their Sweet 16 victory over a Notre Dame that was down two starters. Maryland is the most guard heavy team in the country. They don't have a true post player. That means two things: 1. Maryland is likely to pack the lane and try to swarm Boston and Cardoso, but it should give Carolina plenty of second chance opportunities. 2. The Gamecock bigs will need to step out and play more defense on the perimeter.

Dawn Staley wasn't coy about their strategy to deal with the Maryland offense. “You give and take when you play that way,” Staley said. “The give is they may make some threes. The take is they may miss some, we rebound, and we push it back at them,” Staley said. “A lot of times when teams play that way, they’re not good at defending the way they play. We’ve got to challenge that tomorrow.”

At this point, our readers know all the stats and accolades for this amazing group of women. We told you before the tournament that we felt Stanford and UConn presented the two stiffest challenges, they both got upset. We wanted to take a look at the five other teams still standing and give some brief thoughts on the threat level to South Carolina's repeat chances.

1. Iowa - South Carolina a better and deeper team than Iowa, but they have a generational offensive player in Caitlyn Clark. Clark torched Louisville, a good defensive team, for 41 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists. This the matchup that the country wants to see. South Carolina and Brea Beal against Clark. This game will likely feature last season's Naismith Award winner in Boston and this year's in Clark. The Gamecocks should win, but Clark is a wildcard.

2. Maryland - For most of the reasons outlined above. From seeing Maryland in person, the Gamecocks win this game if they play well. At some point, Carolina is going to have show more of the offense they've established all season to go along with their suffocating defense. Like the UCLA game, this will be a Carolina home game in Greenville.

3. LSU - The first game in Columbia got away from the Tigers and then things snowballed. It was probably the most complete game the Gamecocks have had all season. LSU has a lot of talent but can't match the Gamecocks depth or size. The nightmare scenario for anyone playing Bayou Bengals is that Angel Reese and Alexis Morris are both on during the same game.

4. Ohio State - We don't think the Gamecocks will have the same amount of trouble that UConn did with the Buckeye press if they matchup in Dallas. Madison Greene is the x-factor here, she shoots the three at 56%. Ohio State verses LSU would be a phenomenal matchup.

5. Virginia Tech - The Hokies are South Carolina light. They do about everything Carolina does, except the Gamecocks do it better. Although it means absolutely nothing at this point, I still can't get over Virginia Tech losing at Clemson, a team the Gamecocks controlled from the opening tip.