South Carolina might be ranked outside the top five in an in-season poll for the first time since 2021, but that doesn't mean the Gamecocks are done for.
The team had a pair of dominant victories this week and still looks poised to be a major contender once March rolls around. Don't sleep on the Gamecocks.
Let's take a look at some news items surrounding South Carolina women's basketball.
Gamecocks get back on track
Nothing helps you put a bad loss in the rearview mirror like a pair of dominant wins that help remind your team what it really is.
We can ignore the 40-point win over Arkansas. There was no reason to think that game against the Razorbacks would be competitive, as they rank 150th in Her Hoop Stats rating, the SEC's worst mark. Arkansas is just 9-20 on the year and is 2-12 in SEC play, only beating Auburn and Texas A&M, to teams that are also deep in the SEC standings.
But SC beating Vanderbilt by 28 is certainly worth noting. The Commodores have hit a rough patch after being ranked earlier in the year, but this is still a team capable of big games. It beat Arkansas and Alabama earlier in the year and has the most exciting freshman in the country, Mikayla Blakes.
South Carolina held Blakes to 3-for-10 shooting inside the arc and while her 19 points led the team, no one else was really able to get going against the suffocating Gamecocks defense.
Offensively, the team just overpowered Vanderbilt, with MiLaysia Fulwiley scoring 24 points on 10-for-15 shooting off the bench. It was just a huge team effort for SC, leading to the victory. The team's last five SEC games have featured four wins by 17 or more points, though that pesky loss to Texas was wedged in there.
Looking ahead to the Kentucky game
You shouldn't look past an opponent. On Thursday, the Gamecocks go on the road to face a good Ole Miss team that isn't ranked, but that received four votes in this week's AP poll.
But the big game to circle is the season finale, with South Carolina playing host to No. 15 Kentucky.
Led by the scoring prowess of Georgia Amoore, the Wildcats have played some very good basketball, but some metrics point to them maybe not being as good as their current ranking. The team is 30th in net rating and 31st in Her Hoop Stats rating, both good numbers but not quite as elite enough to — on paper, at least! — pose a threat to South Carolina. And yeah, yeah, basketball isn't play on paper, but Kentucky's lost to both Texas and LSU this month and faces Tennessee on Thursday night. Just from a schedule perspective, this is a rough patch, and concluding it against SC is a killer for the Wildcats.
Don't pencil this in as a guaranteed win for the Gamecocks, but if South Carolina is the team we think they are, this should be a double-digit win.
Where does SC sit in bracket predictions?
The loss to UConn dropped the Gamecocks to the No. 6 spot in the country, but South Carolina is still in line for a top seed in the NCAA Tournament if things go its way.
ESPN's bracketology was last updated on Tuesday. Charlie Creme has South Carolina getting a No. 1 seed in the Birmingham region, which coincidentally happens to be the region where he has UConn predicted as a No. 2.
It might seem weird to think SC will be ahead of UConn despite UConn having the dominant head to head win, but the Gamecocks still have a better overall resume than the Huskies. Sure, losses to UCLA, Texas and UConn sting, but the team also has a win over Texas as well, plus has defeated LSU, Tennessee, TCU, Duke and NC State.
UConn's best win is over South Carolina and that's certainly a great win. Let's not take anything away from it. The Huskies thoroughly outplayed the Gamecocks. But if bracket seeding is about the full resume, UConn has losses to Tennessee, USC and Notre Dame on its resume and its only other wins over currently ranked teams were against North Carolina and Creighton.
That's not to say things can't still change. Another loss to Texas in the SEC tournament would go a long way toward knocking South Carolina off that top line, for example. But I tend to believe Creme here — if the Gamecocks win out, they're a No. 1 seed come March.