South Carolina women’s basketball is back to its familiar spot. After the Gamecocks beat Kentucky on Sunday afternoon to clinch their ninth SEC regular season title of the Dawn Staley era, they still had to wait to find out what exactly that meant for conference tournament seeding.
With South Carolina and Texas both finishing 15-1 in conference play and splitting the two games against each other, the top seed in Greenville came down to a coin flip. South Carolina won the toss televised live on SEC Network, and will hold down the No. 1 seed in the SEC Tournament for the fourth consecutive year.
This means the Gamecocks will start their postseason on Friday, Mar. 7 playing at noon ET, with one of three possible opponents. No. 9 seed Tennessee will play the No. 16 seed to be determined on Wednesday, with the winner of that game advancing to face No. 8 Vanderbilt on Thursday. The winner of that game will move to the quarterfinals and take on South Carolina.
The toss result also has ramifications on potential semifinal match-ups. Since the No. 1 seed avoids both the second and third teams in the semifinals, South Carolina would avoid both Texas and LSU until the championship game, while the Longhorns and Tigers are lined up to play each other in the semifinals if both win on Friday. If the chalk holds, South Carolina’s semifinal opponent would be No. 4 seed Kentucky.
South Carolina is going for its third consecutive SEC tournament title and ninth overall.
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