"Their path is a very good one": Analyst makes her feelings known on Dawn Staley and South Carolina's chances at back-to-back national championships

The South Carolina Lady Gamecocks enter the Women’s NCAA Tournament as one of the strongest teams in the nation. Dawn Staley’s squad is coming off a dominating run in the SEC tournament. SEC Network analyst Rebecca Lobo believes they have another advantage, the tournament bracket.

The Gamecocks were drawn in the Birmingham region, with Duke, North Carolina and Maryland taking the second, third and fourth seed in the region.

“You also have to feel good about their bracket, their potential opponents. Their two-seed is a Duke team that South Carolina beat in early December by 11. I think their path is a very good one, a very favorable one,” Rebecca Lobo said.

South Carolina’s 81-70 victory over the Blue Devils on Dec. 5 was their third win in a streak of 17 games without a loss.

After earning a share of the regular season SEC title, Dawn Staley’s team won by double digits against Vanderbilt, Oklahoma and Texas to claim the conference tourney championship. The 64-45 victory over the Longhorns was particularly shocking, as Texas is one of just three teams to defeat the Lady Gamecocks this season.

Forward Chloe Kitts has been on a roll, while Joyce Edwards leads the team in scoring and is hitting over 55% of his shots from the field. South Carolina is arriving at peak form just at the right time.

The Lady Gamecocks will start their tournament on Friday against the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles. They are looking to become the first back-to-back champions since UConn won four straight titles from 2013 to 2016.

Dawn Staley shared thoughts on South Carolina’s No. 1 overall snub

Despite finishing the year with a 30-3 record and powering through the SEC Tournament, the Lady Gamecocks did not earn the first overall seed. That honor was reserved for the 30-2 UCLA Bruins, who held an unblemished record until Feb. 13.

South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley questioned the decision, arguing that the Lady Gamecocks had a more difficult schedule.

"I'd like to get some feedback on how they came to that conclusion. Because we put together, manufactured a schedule that if done right, it should produce the overall No. 1 seed. But I will say this. We're gonna make adjustments to our schedule in the future if the standard is the standard,“ Dawn Staley said.

The Lady Gamecocks had the toughest schedule this season according to the NET. UCLA’s slate wasn’t far off, as the Bruins ranked sixth in the nation. However, while South Carolina had the fifth toughest non-conference schedule, UCLA came in at No. 40.

Regardless of who got the first overall seed, the real measure of success will come on Apr. 6, with the last team standing in this year’s Final Four in Tampa.