South Carolina women's basketball strengthens its No. 1 resume in NET rankings
South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley had a pretty good week last week. The head Gamecock signed the richest contract in the history of women’s college basketball, reaffirming her intention to stay in Columbia for a long time. She also led her Gamecocks to two ranked victories, one comfortable win on the road against Alabama and a 40-beatdown in Columbia over the Oklahoma Sooners.
The victories pushed South Carolina even further ahead of the pack in NET ranking. The Gamecocks already were No. 1 in the NET after beating Texas last Sunday. In fact, USC has held the top spot for most of the season, except for a few instances in which the Longhorns temporarily stole it.
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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It should come as no surprise that South Carolina owns the top NET ranking in women’s college basketball. Dawn Staley’s team has the best resume in women’s college basketball, and it isn’t particularly close.
The Gamecocks have eight Quad 1 victories and 11 combined Quad 1 and Quad 2 wins. No other team in the country has more than six Quad 1 triumphs or more than nine from Quads 1 and 2 combined. Carolina also is tied for the national lead in victories away from home with nine (five in neutral site games and four on the road).
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UCLA, by virtue of their undefeated record and head-to-head victory over the Gamecocks, deserves the top spot in the polls. However, if the Bruins slip, South Carolina (deservingly) will claim the No. 1 spot again. UCLA has just four Quad 1 wins and seven combined between Quad 1 and Quad 2.
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South Carolina’s next test is one of the biggest of the 2024-2025 season. The undefeated No. 5 LSU Tigers will travel to Colonial Life Arena for a Thursday night showdown. College GameDay will be in attendance as USC goes for its 17th in a row in the series vs. LSU. The Gamecocks also will look to lock down their 54th consecutive regular season SEC win.
The contest will begin at 8:00 p.m., and the GameDay coverage will start at 7:00 p.m. ESPN will broadcast both the pregame College GameDay show and the game that follows. The ESPN app will make it available for streaming.
