Women's Fastbreak On SI

Dawn Staley Sounds Off On South Carolina No. 1 Overall NCAA Tournament Seed Snub

South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley is not happy about her team not being the NCAA Tournament's top overall seed.

Grant Young

Apr 6, 2024; Cleveland, OH, USA; South Carolina Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley speaks to media during a press conference at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Apr 6, 2024; Cleveland, OH, USA; South Carolina Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley speaks to media during a press conference at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

For the first time since the 2021 season, the South Carolina Gamecocks women's basketball team is not the No. 1 overall seed of the NCAA Tournament. Instead, that distinction was given to the UCLA Bruins.

Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley made it very clear last week that she believed her team (who is still a No. 1 seed in their region) should have received that No. 1 overall seed after dominating Texas in the SEC Conference Tournament championship game.

And now she's making her feelings about them not receiving that seed even clearer.

"Obviously it's disappointing. It really is," Staley said of not getting the No. 1 overall seed, per an X post from Matt Dowell. "I'd like to get some feedback on how they came to that conclusion. Because we put together, manufactured a schedule that if done right, it should produce the overall No. 1 seed.

"But I will say this. We're gonna make adjustments to our schedule in the future if the standard is the standard. If that's the standard, then we can play any schedule and get a No. 1 seed," she added.

Another X post from Dowell added Staley saying, "My reaction? I mean, I'm not in the room. Obviously, I think we did much more than probably any other overall No. 1 seed. We outdid ourselves even from last year, with the amount of quality wins that we had.

"But I guess the committee was looking at something else."

As if the Gamecocks needed a chip on their shoulders to perform well during March Madness, it seems they now have one.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.

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