South Carolina women's basketball: Gamecocks top NCAA's second top 16 reveal
South Carolina Women’s Basketball: News • Recruiting • Schedule • Roster • Stats • SEC Standings • NCAA Polls • Scholarship Chart
South Carolina topped the NCAA selection committee’s second top 16 reveal, which was announced on Thursday and included some juicy made-for-tv matchups.
Amidst lots of uncertainty, the Gamecocks were one of the few sure things. The Gamecocks are the top-ranked team in the NET rankings, the AP poll, and the Coaches’ poll and have the most ranked wins in the country (six).
Beneath South Carolina, things got more interesting. Ohio State and Stanford swapped spots, and UCLA jumped from the seventh overall seed to the fourth top seed. Colorado, who was the last one seed, dropped to a four seed.
The most intriguing change is Iowa. The Hawkeyes dropped from fifth overall to seventh, which isn’t a huge drop but puts them in danger of falling to a three if they lose to Ohio State on Sunday and then early in the Big Ten Tournament. But the big story is that the committee matched Iowa with South Carolina.
[GamecockCentral for $1: In-depth coverage and a great community]
The entire top 16 is:
1. South Carolina
2. Ohio State
3. Stanford
4. UCLA
5. Virginia Tech
6. Texas
7. Iowa
8. Southern Cal
9. LSU
10. UConn
11. NC State
12. Oregon State
13. Colorado
14. Indiana
15. Gonzaga
16. Oklahoma
Top 10
- 1
CFP contenders
31 teams remain in contention
- 2
Hunter Heisman
Colorado star becomes betting favorite
- 3New
Klatt predicts CFP
FOX analyst has a new 12-team field
- 4Hot
Michigan loses QB
Carter Smith decommits from Wolverines
- 5
Kurtis Rourke returns
Indiana QB set to play vs. Michigan State
These rankings are considered a snapshot in time, as if the season ended today. They are not rankings that the committee builds on for future rankings. That is important to remember, especially with Virginia Tech losing Thursday night.
Teams are seeded on an approximate S-curve, so the committee tries to pair the strongest 1-seed (1st overall) with the weakest 2-seed (8th overall). However other bracketing rules (primarily having to break up the Pac-12 teams) prevent a true S-curve.
For the second season, the NCAA tournament has only two regional sites. South Carolina is in the Albany region. South Carolina is paired with Iowa, Oregon State, and Oklahoma in the Albany 1 region.
The Albany 2 region is Ohio State, Southern Cal, LSU, and Colorado. Ohio State and Southern Cal opened the season against each other in Las Vegas. Portland 3 is Stanford, Texas, NC State, and Indiana. Portland 4 is UCLA, Virginia Tech, UConn, and Gonzaga.
