Category: South Carolina Gamecocks

Power ranking the 16 remaining teams in the women’s tournament

The frontrunners in the tournament are still the top-seeded teams, but lower-seeded teams are peaking at just the right time and anything can happen in March.

The tournament’s second round has come and gone with upsets galore busting everyone’s brackets. Ole Miss’s upset of No. 1 seeded Stanford shattered the last bracket.

The team field is a bit diverse with only two No. 1 seeds remaining in the tournament, South Carolina and Virginia Tech, respectively. Ole Miss, Miami, and Colorado shocked viewers when they took down their opponents and made it into the Sweet 16.

The frontrunners in the tournament are still the top-seeded teams, but lower-seeded teams are peaking at just the right time and anything can happen in March.

With that said College Sports Wire tried to rank the remaining teams in the Sweet 16.

Dawn Staley pays tribute to history-making HBCU with outfit

South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley never misses an opportunity to respect the culture and educate on the history of Black women in basketball.

South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley never misses an opportunity to respect the culture and educate on the history of Black women in basketball.

In her second-round game against South Florida in the 2023 March Madness Women’s NCAA Division I tournament, Staley wore Louis Vuitton pants and a Cheyney State jersey.

Cheyney State is an HBCU that played in the first Division 1 NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship tournament which took place in 1982. Not only did they play, but they also made it to the championship game. Cheyney State was and remains, the only HBCU to make it to the championship game and to the Final Four.

Cheyney State made it back to the tournament and won one game in 1983 and three games to advance to the Final Four in 1984.

Staley honored Cheyney State and her former coach, Yolanda Laney, by wearing Laney’s number and replica jersey. Laney led Cheyney State to the championship game back in 1982.

Staley’s outfit always turn heads because her style is impeccable, but this outfit has more behind it than a fancy label. The history it elicits is strong and important. Staley’s team played HBCU Norfolk State in the first round and beat them decisively. But, Staley took the time to go to the locker room and speak to the players and motivate them to keep pushing forward.

While Norfolk State lost to the Gamecocks, the ripple effect of playing in a game like this against the No. 1 seed was not lost on their coach or the media.

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Staley is constantly pushing the game forward and making sure she lifts others up along the way.

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First Round: South Florida beats Marquette in an overtime buzzer beater

With 31.2 seconds left in overtime, South Florida’s senior guard Elena Tsineke scored a jumper to win the game.

With 31.2 seconds left in overtime, South Florida’s senior guard Elena Tsineke scored a jumper to win the game. South Florida defeated Marquette, 67-65, to start Round 1 of the 2023 March Madness Women’s D1 NCAA tournament.

Marquette almost came back to win the game with four seconds left on the clock, but Mackenzie Hare’s three-pointer circled out of the basket. It was a nail biting way to end the game.

The Bulls trailed Marquette for the first 38 minutes of the game but had four players scoring double-digits. Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu led her team with 22 points and 16 rebounds.

South Florida will face the defending National Champions in the second round of the tournament when they take on Dawn Staley’s South Carolina Gamecocks. The game will take place in Columbia, South Carolina on March 19th at a time yet to be announced.

Look: These women’s college basketball stats may surprise you

LSU’s Angel Reese leads D1 women’s basketball with the most double-doubles with 28 through 30 games with BYU’s Lauren Gustin coming second with 26 double-doubles in 32 games.

The stage is set for the 2023 March Madness Women’s Division 1 NCAA tournament. The First Four games are Wednesday and Thursday, March 15-16. Before the action gets underway, we compiled some interesting statistics for the basketball aficionado.

All stats are current through games Sunday, March 12, 2023. While players like Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, and teams like the University of Connecticut and South Carolina being on the list aren’t surprising, some other teams and players are a bit less expected.

Villanova’s Maddy Siegrist holds the top spot in points per game with 28.9. Following a close second is Drexel’s Keishana Washington with 27.2 and rounding out the top three is the University of Iowa’s Caitlin Clark with 27.0.

While the top-scoring offense is Iowa with 87.5 per game, the top-scoring defense is HBCU Norfolk State with their opponent’s points per game being 50.

LSU’s Angel Reese leads D1 women’s basketball with the most double-doubles with 28 through 30 games with BYU’s Lauren Gustin coming second with 26 double-doubles in 32 games. The two then switch rankings when it comes to rebounds per game with Gustin taking the top spot with 16.6 and Reese taking second with 15.5.

BYU was not selected on Sunday to attend the tournament, so they will compete in the 2023 WNIT Postseason Tournament and will host the Rice Owls on Friday, March 17 at 7 p.m. in the Round of 64. Drexel women’s basketball also continues their season in the WNIT against Fordham on Thursday, March 16 at 7:00 pm ET.

Iowa, LSU, Villanova, and Norfolk State will all be in the 2023 March Madness Women’s Division 1 NCAA tournament, however, so you can catch Reese, Clark, Washington, and Siegrist in action.

For the full information on tournament including the schedule and how to watch the games, see our article here.

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South Carolina faces toughest schedule in 2023

South Carolina edges out Michigan State and West Virginia for the toughest schedule in 2023.

Which college football team is set to face the toughest schedule next season? Phil Steele compiled the list from 1-133 based on their opponent’s record from 2022.

The winner is…South Carolina.

The team that hails from Columbia, South Carolina, is heading into year three of the Shane Beamer era. They had some big upsets down the stretch with wins over Tennessee and Clemson to close out the season. They weren’t able to close it out with a win in the Gator Bowl, falling to Notre Dame.

In 2023, they will have their backs against the wall with a tough schedule. It starts on Sept. 2 against the North Carolina Tar Heels. They get into the SEC schedule in Week 3 when they travel to Athens to take on the two-time defending national champion, Georgia Bulldogs.

Other notable games are Sept. 30 in Knoxville against the Tennessee Volunteers and Nov. 25 against the Clemson Tigers. Both teams could be out for revenge when the game kicks off.

Among the top 10, it includes Ole Miss (62.1%), Missouri (61.8%), and Florida (61.5%) from the SEC. The Gamecocks are set to face 4 ranked teams, eight teams with winning records, and nine bowl teams from 2022.

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