"I'm gonna go down fighting": Dawn Staley "shocked" as UCLA trumps South Carolina for #1 overall seed

South Carolina coach Dawn Staley was not pleased with the NCAA Tournament selection committee's decision to give UCLA the No. 1 overall seed instead of her team. The Gamecocks compiled a 30-3 record, won the SEC regular season and tournament titles, and are the defending national champion.

On Sunday, South Carolina defeated No. 1 Texas in the SEC Tournament final in dominating fashion, limiting the Longhorns to 45 points and scoring 64.

Dawn Staley cuts the net after winning SEC Tournament (Image Source: Imagn)

In the postgame news conference, Staley was asked about her team's seeding and whether they should have earned the top overall seed. She insisted her team deserves to be No. 1 after the schedule it played and winning the SEC Tournament.

"I just hope the committee doesn't discount our entire resume," Dawn Staley said (9:56 onwards). "There is nobody in the country that has played the schedule that we've played, that had a share of the regular season, and then winning the tournament, having beat the No. 1 team in the country.

"I'm shocked that we were the number two seed. I was very shocked ... we've had some of the toughest stretches in the country, and we came out of it unscathed. You can't discredit that.

"And I'm going to speak out about it because I have to 'cause if you don't think our body of work deserves it, then somebody needs to speak out on it ... I'm not going to go down without a fight. I am going to go down fighting for what our team earned."

The Gamecocks began their season as the preseason No. 1 team until a Nov. 24 loss to UCLA. They bounced back well, winning 17 games in a row after that. In that stretch, they defeated several ranked opponents, including Iowa State, Duke, TCU, Texas, Oklahoma, LSU and Tennessee.

Dawn Staley's South Carolina vs Cori Close's UCLA NET Rankings

While Geno Auriemma's UConn Huskies climb to the top of the NCAA NET rankings, South Carolina sits second and UCLA fourth, through the March 8 update.

Dawn Staley's team has the most wins against Quad 1 opponents with 15, while the Bruins have 13. UCLA, who finished second in the Big Ten regular season standings, also won the conference tournament on Sunday, defeating No. 4 USC 72-67.

Both teams definitely deserve to be in the conversation for the No. 1 overall seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament.

While the Feb. 27 in-season reveal of the top 16 teams had the Bruins on top, the final reveal on Selection Sunday next week will determine the official seeding.