South Carolina women's basketball learns NCAA Tournament draw

South Carolina women’s basketball officially knows its draw for the 2025 NCAA Tournament after Sunday night’s selection show. The Gamecocks are the No. 1 seed in the Birmingham 2 region, starting out their tournament run at Colonial Life Arena this weekend as the No. 2 overall seed.

Dawn Staley’s team will face No. 16 seed Tennessee Tech on Friday, with a potential second-round match-up coming against the winner of the match-up between No. 8 seed Utah and No. 9 seed Indiana.

"I think that group is going to see some great basketball," Staley said. "They're going to participate in great basketball, they're going to see how we built such an awesome fanbase. I hope they bring their fans so we can all put on a really good show for women's basketball."

Looking further down the road, the other three hosting teams in South Carolina’s region who would join it in Birmingham if the chalk holds are No. 2 Duke, No. 3 North Carolina and No. 4 Maryland. Also worth noting is that the No. 5 seed in the region is Alabama, setting up a potential all-SEC match-up in the sweet 16 if the Crimson Tide pulled off an upset in College Park. Another SEC team, No. 7 seed Vanderbilt, is also in the bracket.

"I didn't even break it down that much," Staley said. "I think for us it's just Friday. I saw Friday Tennessee Tech and Indiana, Utah. Those are my focus points right now."

Full dates and times for the tournament will be confirmed shortly, but South Carolina traditionally hosts on Friday and Sunday the first weekend, which would put the first-round game on Mar. 21 and the second-round match-up on Mar. 23. From there they would be in another Friday bracket in Birmingham, continuing with games on Mar. 28 and Mar. 30 if they moved all the way through to the elite eight.

If South Carolina reaches the Final Four, those games are set for Apr. 4 and Apr. 6 in Tampa.

"Whether we were the number one overall seed or not, the draw is the draw," Staley said. "We're going to play each game like it's our last."

South Carolina is in the NCAA Tournament for the 14th consecutive season, looking for its seventh Final Four and fourth National Championship in program history.

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