South Carolina women's basketball reclaims top spot in NET after Texas domination
South Carolina women’s basketball has owned the top spot in the NET rankings for most of this season. When they haven’t, it’s typically been the Texas Longhorns who stole the crown. This time last week, USC was atop the NET, but before the Gamecocks’ and Longhorns’ top-5 matchup over the weekend, UT moved to the No. 1 spot.
Following Carolina’s dominant victory on Sunday afternoon, the Gamecocks are back at No. 1 in the NET rankings. As of Monday night, Texas was back in the No. 2 spot behind South Carolina. The two teams will play again later this season.
The NET, for those unfamiliar, is the most important ranking metric used by the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee. It factors in Team Value Index (essentially a team’s on-court results, location of games, and strength of schedule) and adjusted net efficient ratings (how well a team plays in those games, adjusted for the quality of opponent and location of games).
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Dawn Staley’s team has the best resume in women’s college basketball. UCLA (who beat the Gamecocks), Ohio State, and LSU (who plays against Carolina next week) are undefeated but haven’t played the same type of difficult schedule as South Carolina. USC also leads the country in Quad 1 victories (six) and neutral site wins (five). Both of those facts (byproducts of Coach Staley’s scheduling philosophy) will prepare the Gamecocks for March.
Because of the team’s strength of schedule, the Gamecocks will hold onto that No. 1 spot if they continue winning. The SEC is strong and will present a challenge to South Carolina, but the garnet and black should be considered the heavy favorite to win the league once again. USC has won eight of the last eleven regular season conference titles and eight of the last ten SEC Tournaments.
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Next week, the Gamecocks will have two Quad 1 opportunities on the schedule to pad their already impressive resume. One will be on the road, while the other will be within the friendly confines of Colonial Life Arena.
First, South Carolina will travel to Tuscaloosa to take on the No. 19-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide. The game will tip off at 7:00 but will not be broadcast on traditional television. Instead, SEC Network+ and the ESPN app will make the ranked affair available via streaming.
Then, the Gamecocks will return home for a matchup against the No. 13 Oklahoma Sooners. This will be the first SEC meeting between Carolina and the new-to-the-SEC Sooners. Sunday’s tip-off will be at 3:00 p.m. in Columbia. The “We Back Pat” contest will air on ESPN and stream on the ESPN app.
