Two biggest threats to South Carolina in the SEC Tournament
No. 1 seed South Carolina will have a home crowd when the SEC Tournament begins in Greenville, South Carolina on March 6. The Gamecocks went 29-0 on the regular season for the second year in a row.
South Carolina are a talented and young group and one of the best defenses in the country, allowing 73.7 points per 100 possessions.
The team is on a hot streak, led by 2024 SEC Women's Basketball Coach of the Year Dawn Staley and Defensive Player of the Year Kamilla Cardoso. In complement to those honors, three players were named to the All-SEC Second-Team roster. On paper, this team looks perfect.
Can we see a perfect season for the Gamecocks? Maybe. But they still need to get through conference tournament play first.
Biggest threats in the SEC Tournament for the Gamecocks
2. Bayou Barbie and the LSU Tigers
Although the Gamecocks won the battle against the No. 2 seed LSU Tigers earlier this season, a rematch could have different results.
Angel Reese was named SEC Player of the Year, and Mikaylah Williams was also named SEC Freshman of the Year. Five Tigers earned recognition in the SEC postseason award class. Despite the fact that the Tigers are coming off a national championship last year, this season has yet to go the way they expected.
Last season, Reese recorded a double-double in all six of LSU's NCAA Tournament games, averaging 21.3 points and 15.2 rebounds per game. Now, this year, the Tigers are also joined by former Louisville star Hailey Van Lith, a veteran guard who is averaging 12.3 points per game while shooting 40.1 percent from the field.
But what the Tigers have that the Gamecocks don't is experience. The Tigers have been the underdogs before; they were last year. The Tigers lost to No. 3 seed Tennessee in last year's conference tournament and gained a No. 3 seed at the big stage. Yet, despite all odds, their talents brought them to the big stage to upset prominent opponents and come out on top.
While we have yet to determine how Reese and the Tigers will come out during this year's tournament, their resume backs them up to assume they could be this year's sleeper team in the SEC.
1. The pressure of March
As mentioned before, this is a young Gamecocks team that Staley has embraced.
The program lost a significant presence on the floor after Aliyah Boston left for the WNBA last season, but they still look like title contenders without their big star. Yet it is still worth noting how the pressure got to this team last year.
Last season, we saw the same from the Gamecocks — a perfect regular season with the hopes of going for the entire perfect season. But they ultimately fell to Caitlin Clark and Iowa in the Final Four. While they did win the SEC Tournament, this is a different team. This is a younger team.
Staley replaced all five starters this season compared to last season's team. It is awe-inspiring to do this and still continue not to miss a beat, but it still brings concerns when they play on the big stage.
This team has faced a total of six ranked opponents during the regular season, including a blowout 83-65 win against No. 11 UConn, but the pressure of March can get to any young player on the floor.
It will be thrilling to see how Staley plans to coach this young team to come to the SEC Tournament and see if they can complete the perfect season. But they must still get through conference tournament play to test the waters before heading to the big stage.