Dawn Staley seems unhappy as South Carolina awarded #2 overall seed for March Madness - "We outdid ourselves even from last year"

South Carolina Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley is in the midst of preparing her team for their national title defense. As Selection Sunday concluded for the upcoming NCAA tournament, the reigning national champions were determined to be the No. 1 seed of the Birmingham 2 Region but were placed No. 2 overall with the UCLA Bruins taking the top spot.

This is the first time that the Gamecocks are not the top-ranking program overall heading into the March Madness since 2021. For Staley, she seemed unhappy during her interviews after Selection Sunday as she claimed that they went through a tougher schedule this year as opposed to their previous seasons.

"My reaction? I mean I'm not in the room but obviously, I think we did much more than probably any other overall number one seed," Staley said. "We did outdid ourselves even from last year, with the amount of quality wins that we had. But, I guess the committee was looking at something else."

The tenured tactician then doubled down on the disappointment she and the whole team were feeling.

"I mean we're going to play it," Dawn Staley said. "Obviously, it's disappointing, it really is. I like to get some feedback on how they came to that conclusion because we put together and manufactured a schedule that if done right, it should produce the overall number one seed. But, I will say this, we are gonna make adjustments to our scheduling in the future."

"If that's the standard, then we can play any schedule and get the number one seed."

South Carolina finished the campaign with a 30-3 overall record, 15-1 during conference play, en route to winning the 2025 SEC tournament title.

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Dawn Staley affirms that the South Carolina Gamecocks will give it their all no matter the matchup

During the interview, Dawn Staley was also asked about how she and her team are perceiving their potential first round matchups and beyond that could come with their placement from Selection Sunday. The 52-year-old affirmed that no matter who they're facing, they'll give it their all.

"Whether we were the number one overall seed or not, the draw is the draw," Dawn Staley said. "We're going to play each game like it's our last and hopefully that leads us to a place where hopefully everybody in this room wants us to be." [0:29]

The South Carolina Gamecocks' postseason run will commence on Friday, March 21, when they face the No. 16-seeded Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles at home.