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Jeff Goodman criticizes SEC for using coinflip to break South Carolina, Texas No. 1 seed tie

Chandler Vesselsby:Chandler Vessels•about 21 hours•

ChandlerVessels

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SEC basketball logo - © Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

National college basketball analyst Jeff Goodman took a shot at the SEC’s tiebreaker method to determine the No. 1 seed in its upcoming women’s basketball tournament. Texas and South Carolina finished the regular season tied atop the league standings with a 15-1 record, the conference broke out the rule book.

Firstly, the SEC looks to head-to-head results to determine a winner. However, the Longhorns and Gamecocks split the season series 1-1, so were still at a stalemate. Other tiebreakers in place didn’t work because both teams went undefeated against the rest of the conference.

So, according to league rules, a coin toss was performed to determine the No. 1 seed, and South Carolina won. But many, including Goodman, found it ridiculous.

“A coin flip? C’mon,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

This marks the fourth straight season that South Carolina has been named the No. 1 seed in the SEC Women’s Basketball Tournament. The Gamecocks have also won four of the past five SEC Tournament Championships, including each of the past two.

They’ll look to once again stake their claim as the top team in the conference after Saturday’s coin flip results.

Texas is in its first season as a member of the SEC, so its tie for first place in the regular season standings is almost as good of a result as it could have hoped for. The Longhorns won the Big 12 Tournament in 2024 and would go on to advance to the Elite Eight.

With this, South Carolina will play their opening game at 12 p.m. ET as the first game on Friday while Texas will open their first appearance in that field by starting the second session at 6 p.m. ET later that night. That will be part of what SEC commissioner Greg Sankey expects to be another great event inside Bon Secours Wellness Arena.

“I would expect what we’ve seen today,” Sankey said. “lose games, an upset or two. Teams that are right on that cut line, that borderline, or inside the bubble or outside the bubble know they have another opportunity against the highest level of competition to show themselves in front of the selection committee.”