South Carolina women's basketball: Quick Sweet 16 preview

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• The schedule for the Sweet 16 was released shortly after midnight. (1) South Carolina plays (5) North Carolina at 7:00 pm Friday and the game will be on ESPN. (3) Iowa State and (10) Creighton will follow at approximately 9:30, but that game will be on ESPN2. The Spokane region also plays Friday. (6) Ohio State takes on (2) Texas at 7:00 on ESPN2, and (1) Stanford versus (4) Maryland follows on ESPN.
• For the first game since the before times, South Carolina is organizing a bus trip for FAMs for the Sweet 16. Information is available HERE or at gamecocksonline.com.
• Ah, best-laid plans. It was surely just a coincidence (don’t hurt yourself with that eye roll) that the NCAA set up the Greensboro Sweet 16 to pit Iowa against Iowa State and Dawn Staley against Adia Barnes. And it was definitely pure coincidence that the Elite Eight would be Aliyah Boston versus Caitlin Clark. Turns out you still have to play the games. Creighton upset Clark and Iowa and will play Iowa State. And North Carolina upset Arizona for the right to play South Carolina. If things go chalk – hardly a guarantee – the Elite Eight would still be Boston versus Ashley Joens, which isn’t too bad.
• South Carolina has never played Creighton and has played Iowa State just once, last season. South Carolina won 83-65 in Ames. Joens had 32 points, but South Carolina was content to let her keep shooting and shut down everyone else. Zia Cooke had 19 points and Aliyah Boston had 13 points and 15 rebounds and the Gamecocks controlled the glass and shot 47% from the floor. South Carolina is 8-11 against North Carolina all-time. The two teams used to meet regularly in early-season tournaments, but North Carolina seemed to lose interest after South Carolina won 79-48 in 2012. The Tar Heels won the next two meetings before the Gamecocks won in 2015. About that…
• Time is a flat circle, as the kids say. The last time North Carolina was in the Sweet 16 was 2015, and the Tar Heels played South Carolina in Greensboro. In that game Olivia Gaines hit a game-tying three with a minute left, Alaina Coates sank a pair of free throws, and then Tiffany Mitchell made the game-winning layup in a 67-65 Gamecock win. The two teams also met in the Sweet 16 in 2014, that time in Stanford, and North Carolina pulled off a 65-58 upset.
• Turns, out, rock fights were S.O.P. in the second round. Notre Dame scored 108 points but that was by far the exception. UConn shot even worse than South Carolina in a 52-47 win over UCF. Indiana beat Princeton 56-55, Michigan beat Villanova 64-49, and North Carolina led 28-17 at halftime before winning 63-45. There’s a reason they say “Survive and advance.”
• Aliyah Boston has 27 double-doubles this season. That is the seventh-most in a single season in NCAA history (tied with, and behind, too many people to list). The SEC record is 31 by Teaira McCowan in 2019.
• Boston has 399 rebounds this season, the second-most in a season in program history. She trails Katrina Anderson’s 434 in 1977-78. She has 273 defensive rebounds, three behind the school record, and 126 offensive rebounds, seven behind the school record (offensive and defensive rebounds have only been kept since 1987-88, so Anderson, Sheila Foster, and Denise Nanney aren’t included). Her per-game average of 12.1 rebounds would be tied for third-best. On the career list, Boston has 1,066 rebounds, good for fourth place. She probably won’t move up this season, but she is 129 behind A’ja Wilson for third, 164 behind Alaina Coates for second place, and 361 behind the great Foster for the career lead. It will be quite a chase next season. Boston has 85 blocks this season. Her personal record was 86 as a freshman, which is the fourth-most. She needs five blocks to catch Wilson for third, and 20 to tie Wilson for first place.