South Carolina begins SEC Tournament play Friday at noon, so this will be the “Gamecock” part of the preview.
1. About last year
Last season, South Carolina went one and done in the SEC Tournament. The loss came at the hands of an Arkansas team that got hot and shot its way to the final, but it was still a shock for a team that had won the previous four tournaments and was essentially the host school. Dawn Staley was probably as angry as I’ve ever seen her after a game. She made no players available to speak (which threw off the postgame format, but doesn’t really matter).
“The message to this team and to everybody that’s a little South Carolina fatigued is we’ll be back,” Staley said after that game. “We’ll be back. We’ll be back in Greenville, South Carolina and hopefully we won’t end our tournament prematurely.”
Arkansas was a tough matchup, but last year’s team was up and down all season. It was also clear to anyone watching that not everyone that took the court was focused on winning. That is why Staley hasn’t felt the need to talk about the sins of last season.
“I haven’t brought that up,” Staley said. “We’ve got a different team. This team, they don’t have the habits of that team last year. We’re not going to dwell on it.”
“We know it’s pressure in itself,” she continued. “We tell them to stay in character. These players have to approach it the same way, even though the stakes are higher.”
Aliyah Boston said the right things after practice Wednesday. Whether she and the rest of the Gamecocks live up to it remains to be seen, but I’ve often referred to this season as a revenge tour, and the SEC Tournament is certainly part of that.
“We know what’s at stake,” Boston said. “We know there’s going to be pressure. We just have to stay focused. We’ve been focused throughout the season, so there’s no reason to change our mindset.”
2. Rest vs Rust vs Jitters
The drain of a thirty-game season was evident during last Sunday’s Texas A&M game. Rarely has a ten-point lead seemed so massive as it did in that game, when neither team seemed to have the energy to put together a big run. The extended break between games was welcome.
“It’s felt great,” Boston said. “It’s relaxing us and getting us prepared to go into this tournament.”
The possible downside is always rust, but for the freshmen-laden Gamecocks, there could also be jitters. Nobody knows exactly how they will handle their first tournament. Will they get nervous? Will the early start time and condensed schedule be a problem? Will the pressure finally be a factor? Staley admitted there is uncertainty, saying, “We don’t know.”
“We tell them to turn the page and stay in character,” Staley said. “It does change. The stakes get a little bit higher. The team that's able to take the floor and be who they were for thirty games - if we can do that it favors us.”
Sometimes teams that already played Thursday have an advantage on the teams with a double bye because they have that one game in and have built up a little momentum. It certainly helped Arkansas last year. Staley said the key for the Gamecocks will be to make any adjustments in a hurry, before digging a hole.
“Maybe we’ll have to adjust to that, but hopefully we’ll adjust quickly and be who we are, or who we’ve been,” she said.
3. Home-state advantage
The SEC Tournament is in Greenville, SC at Bon Secours Wellness Arena. This year is the second of three straight years there, a run that actually began with a standalone year in 2017. Greenville is also hosting the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight, and barring something absolutely wild happening, the Gamecocks will be in the Greenville region. That means that, with the Gamecocks hosting the first two rounds in Columbia, they won’t leave South Carolina unless they make the Final Four, the sort of luxury typically reserved for UConn.
“We won’t have a plane ride until we make it to New Orleans,” Staley said. “What we need to do is make it work for us, make it advantageous for us. You’ve got to play the games. Everybody else that plays in Greenville, comes here, they have a say in it.”
4. Scouting the Bulldogs
Although it was only a nine over and eight, Georgia pulled off the first real surprise of the SEC Tournament. Going in, Alabama wass, aside from South Carolina, the hottest team in the SEC. Their four-game winning streak was second longest in the SEC behind South Carolina’s 23, the Tide’s longest in over 20 years, and it included consecutive wins over Mississippi State and Texas A&M.
But Georgia used a big second quarter to take control and cruise to the win. Now Georgia, who was in Charlie Creme’s next four out, has a chance to pull off a huge upset that could push the Bulldogs into the NCAA Tournament.
In the regular season meeting in Athens, South Carolina raced out to a big lead early and continued to build on it for an 88-53 win. Georgia will try to control the pace and limit South Carolina’s offensive opportunities, something it was unable to do in the first meeting.
”You can’t let a team like South Carolina get up on you like that,” Joni Taylor said after that game. “At one point they were up 16-4 and they were just too good offensively to try to stop them and get yourselves out of that hole.”
5. The bracket
The tournament began Wednesday, with #13 Auburn defeating #12 Vanderbilt in a minor upset. Auburn moves on to play #5 Arkansas. Later, #11 Missouri took care of business against #14 Ole Miss, ending the Rebels’ season 0-16 in the SEC regular season and 0-1 in the tournament. Missouri will face #6 Tennessee. Attendance for the first session was 5,589.
The first three days of the tournament will be televised on the SEC Network. Games start at 11:00 am Wednesday, and then noon on Thursday and Friday. Those early games are of most interest to Gamecock fans, since they determine who South Carolina will play Friday at noon.
The semifinal games on Saturday switch to ESPNU, and start at 5:00 pm (South Carolina’s slot if it advances). The final is at 2:00 pm on Sunday on ESPN2. Tickets for all games and individual sessions are still available.
