WBB: Five Things to Watch - SEC recap

SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

South Carolina’s season ended early, with a Friday night exit from the SEC Tournament. They now have a week off to wait for Selection Monday, so what will be on their minds?

1. Bracket Watch

There are still a few conference tournaments going on this week, but not much should change for South Carolina. The quarterfinal loss in the SEC Tournament dropped South Carolina from a three to a four, according to Charlie Creme. As a four seed, South Carolina will still get to host the first two rounds in Charlotte. The good news is that also bumped South Carolina from the Albany region to the Greensboro region (South Carolina made its first Final Four in 2015, also in Tampa, by winning the Greensboro region). The bad news is that the Greensboro region is loaded, with Baylor, Iowa, and NC State as the top three seeds, and Arizona State, Missouri and Clemson lurking.

2. End of an Era

It’s worth looking back at South Carolina’s unprecedented run in the SEC Tournament. The last time someone other than South Carolina (it was Tennessee) won the tournament was 2014. In those halcyon days, Donald Trump was a goofy reality TV star, Steve Spurrier was still the goofy coach of the Gamecocks (not the goofy coach in an upstart league) talking about “Phay-roh” Cooper, and Champ Staley hadn’t even been born yet.

During the streak, South Carolina won 12 straight games (South Carolina has only won eight other games in the SEC Tournament). South Carolina hadn’t exited the SEC Tournament without a single win since 2010.

But probably the best way to explain South Carolina’s unprecedented dominance in the SEC Tournament is to say, not even Tennessee did it.

3. “We’ll be back.”

Dawn Staley was, understandably, not in a good mood after the loss to Arkansas. Her frustration with the team’s inconsistency over the final weeks of the season was evident, as was this team’s failure to live up to the standards she had established for the program (they are pretty high). Staley has made several wait until next year comments this season, referring to her top-ranked recruiting class. With those reinforcements in mind, she channelled Douglas MacArthur, saying she shall return.

“The message to this team and everybody who has a little South Carolina fatigue is we'll be back,” Staley said. “We'll be back to Greenville, South Carolina. Hopefully we won't end the tournament prematurely.”

4. Recruiting roundup

Speaking of that heralded recruiting class, the accolades continue to roll in. Point guard Zia Cooke was named a first team Naismith All-American. Aliyah Boston was named second team, and Brea Beal was named third team. Boston and Beal were also named Player of the year in Massachusetts and Illinois, respectively. For Beal, it was her third Player of the Year honor, which is believed to be a record in Illinois.

But wait! There’s more.

Beal, Boston, and Cooke were all selected to the Jordan Brand Classic. That game is April 20. The three were previously named McDonald’s All-Americans, with that game being played March 27 in Atlanta. Those three were also named WBCA High School Coaches’ All-Americans. A fourth player, Laeticia Amihere, who has already enrolled at South Carolina, was an honorable mention. And those are just the honors I can remember.

Cooke is the most tantalizing member of the class. After she scored 43 points in a game in December, the highlight video went viral. It allegedly got over 5 million views on Twitter, and was picked up by every sports blog in every corner of the Internet. Zia was this year’s Zion. Her hometown paper, The Toledo Blade, ran a feature on Cooke this past Sunday. You can read it HERE, but one of the best nuggets is this: Cooke played quarterback, running back, cornerback and safety on the football team. She only quit football because Eastern Michigan offered her a basketball scholarship in seventh grade and she realized that she could make a living if she focused on basketball.

As for current players, on Monday Tyasha Harris was named a finalist for the Nancy Lieberman Award, which goes to the nation’s top point guard. The other finalists are Crystal Dangerfield (Connecticut), Sabrina Ionescu (Oregon), Destiny Slocum (Oregon State), and Tiana Mangakahia (Syracuse).

5. What’s next?

The NCAA Selection show is Monday, March 18, at 7:00 pm. South Carolina will find out then where it will be seeded. If South Carolina does host in Charlotte, the first round games will be on Friday, March 22, and the second round games will be on Sunday, March 24.