South Carolina women earn NCAA's top overall seed. A look at teams it'll host in Columbia
COLUMBIA – It’s official.
Wire-to-wire No. 1-ranked South Carolina (29-2) has earned the top overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, as the 68-team bracket was unveiled during the DI Women’s Basketball Championship Selection Show Sunday night.
The Gamecocks, who were upset in the SEC Tournament Championship Game by Kentucky, will head up the Greensboro regional, hosting the first two rounds of the tournament at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia. On Friday, USC will meet the winner of the play-in game between 16 seeds Howard and Incarnate Word, who’ll play in a First Four contest in Columbia at 9 p.m. Wednesday, on their home court Friday, March 18.
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8-seed Miami will face 9-seed South Florida Friday.
Should Dawn Staley’s team advance, it will play its possible Sweet 16 and Elite Eight games at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina March 25 and 27, respectively. It's there that South Carolina and National Player of the Year frontrunner Aliyah Boston could meet 2-seed Iowa and Caitlin Clark, another top player candidate, if both teams take care of business.
The Final Four will be at the Target Center in Minneapolis, with the semifinals on April 1 at 7 and 9:30 p.m. before the National Championship Game on April 3 at 8 p.m.
Let’s a take a look at the other squads South Carolina is hosting in Columbia for the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament:
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No. 8 Miami Hurricanes (17-11)
Miami, as the No. 7, reached the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament championship game, where it lost to North Carolina State. The Hurricanes have found themselves in the NCAA Tournament thanks to their defense of late. Miami held No. 4 Louisville to 59 points and No. 20 Notre Dame to 54 points in wins in the ACC tourney. Senior guard Kelsey Marshall averages 14 points per game.
No. 9 South Florida Bulls (24-8)
USF lost to Central Florida in the American Athletic Tournament championship game. Another great defensive club, the Bulls have the 11th-best scoring defense at 53.8 points per game as teams make just 36.1 percent of their shots. Thanks to senior forward Bethy Mununga’s 11.6 rebounds per game, South Florida is one of nations’ best offensive rebounding teams, pulling down 14.3 per game. Mununga also can score as she has 13 double-doubles in 2021-22.
No. 16 Incarnate Word Cardinals (13-16)
UIW won four games in four days to capture its first Southland Tournament championship as a No. 5 seed and first NCAA Tournament bid in program history. Junior forward Tiana Gardner took over for the Cardinals in their run to the league title, averaging more than 14 points and 8 rebounds per game during the conference tourney. Sophomore guard Jaaucklyn Moore posts 17.9 points per game to lead Incarnate Word.
No. 16 Howard Bison (20-9)
Howard won the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament title. Tandem Destiny Howell and forward Anzhane' Hutton have fueled the team's run to the MEAC championship, averaging 12.9 and 11.1 points per game, respectively. At more than 41 per game, the Bison are one of the better squads at rebounding with three separate players collecting at least 6 boards each time out.
Cory Diaz covers the South Carolina Gamecocks for The Greenville News as part of the USA Today Network. Follow his work for all things Gamecocks on Twitter: @CoryDiaz_TGN. Got questions regarding South Carolina athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: South Carolina women are NCAA's top seed. Look who else is in Columbia
