South Carolina's bracket for the 2025 NCAA Tournament was announced on Sunday. The Gamecocks secured the No. 1 spot in the Birmingham 2 Region, and players gathered together with fans at the Colonial Life Arena to watch the announced.
On the front row, MiLaysia Fulwiley, Tessa Johnson, Chloe Kitts, Ashlyn Watkins, Sania Feagin, Adhel Tac, Te-Hina Paopao, Bree Hall and the rest of the South Carolina players were seated. As the announcement was made, the players and fans erupted in joy, and the team shared the video on X.
"The moment 😍"
The Gamecocks begin their campaign on Friday when they face No. 16 seed Tennessee Tech. Along with the two teams in the region are No. 6 seed Utah and No. 9 seed Indiana. The winner of the two games will play the second round on Sunday.
Dawn Staley expressed disappointment with South Carolina's seeding
After the unanimous run to the NCAA championship last year, South Carolina came back with almost the same roster and enjoyed a good regular season, losing just three games, all to ranked opponents.
The Gamecocks went on to enjoy success in postseason as they won the SEC Tournament, defeating No. 1 Texas in the championship game.
Nevertheless, South Carolina wasn't the overall No. 1 seed, as it went to the UCLA Bruins who were the No 1 team in the AP polls for 12 weeks straight. Dawn Staley expressed disappointment with that.
"I think we did much more than probably any other overall number one seed, she said (via The State). "We 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.
“My gut was the number one overall seed because we put the work in,” Staley said. “That’s what my gut gives me. But man says otherwise, and I don’t really put my faith in man. So we’ll play with it. We’ll play it. We’ll play the cards that we’ve been dealt.”
South Carolina had one of the toughest schedules, playing against 11 ranked teams in the most competitive conference. Meanwhile, UCLA played against eight in their first year in the Big Ten.
"I’d like to get some feedback on how they came to that conclusion, Staley said. "Because we put together, we manufactured a schedule that, if done right, it should produce the overall number one seed.
"But I will say this: We’re going to make adjustments to our schedule in the future if the standard is the standard. If that’s the standard, then we can play any schedule and get a number one seed."
However, South Carolina goes into the tournament as the top favorites to win the title, thanks to their experience.
Dawn Staley, Geno Auriemma, or Kim Mulkey - who is NCAAW's highest-paid coach? Find out here