2025 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament: Committee chair reveals how UCLA got top seed over South Carolina

For the first time since 2021, South Carolina is not the No. 1 overall seed in the 2025 NCAA women’s basketball tournament. UCLA took the top spot, and committee chair Derita Dawkins explained the decision after.

South Carolina enters March Madness as the No. 2-ranked team in the NET rankings, fueled by a 16-3 record in Quadrant 1 games. UCLA, meanwhile, is No. 4 in the NET with a 13-2 mark in Q1 matchups and defeated South Carolina in a head-to-head matchup.

However, one key game made the difference, Dawkins said. South Carolina suffered a 29-point loss to UConn – a game that took place in the middle of conference play. The committee weighs “competition in losses,” and Dawkins said that margin is why the Gamecocks fell to the No. 2 overall seed in the NCAA women’s basketball tournament.

“There were two key factors between UCLA and South Carolina,” Dawkins told Holly Rowe. “One was the head-to-head matchup, and the other was one of our criteria, which is competitive in losses. And South Carolina suffered a 29-point loss to UConn. So those are the two key differences in those resumes.”

South Carolina had the toughest schedule in the country this year, according to WarrenNolan.com, while finishing 30-3 overall. In addition to UCLA and UConn, the Gamecocks also played Iowa State, NC State and Duke in the non-conference schedule.

UCLA, meanwhile, played the sixth-hardest schedule, per WarrenNolan. The non-conference slate included matchups against Louisville, Washington and Baylor, along with South Carolina.

Those strong opponents are why Dawn Staley said she was surprised the committee put UCLA ahead of South Carolina on the overall seed list. Going forward, she indicated conversations would potentially take place about how the Gamecocks will schedule moving forward.

“I’m a little bit surprised, because we manufactured our schedule to put ourselves in position to be the No. 1 overall seed,” Staley said. “I do think if you do the blind test and you put our resume against any other team in the field, I think you’ll pick us. That’s just plain and simple. I’m gonna speak on it tonight and then it’s not gonna be a motivation for us moving forward. It’s hard enough to win a national championship.

“We don’t need a chip on our shoulder. We do need to voice it. I do need to voice the fact that we put a schedule together. We got the most quad 1 wins and if having more quad 1 wins doesn’t supersede some of the hiccups we had during the season, I don’t know what will. So for us, maybe we don’t put ourselves in a position where we have hiccups so they don’t have to lower the standard for us to get a No. 1 overall seed.”