BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Tessa Johnson didn’t think they would lose. The thought wasn’t even on her mind because the South Carolina sophomore never had in her collegiate career.
“Coming into the season, I was thinking, OK, another undefeated season,” Johnson said.
Players seemed to forget coming out of their 2023-24 undefeated national championship season how hard winning a title is, head coach Dawn Staley said ahead of the program’s 11th consecutive Sweet 16. No. 1 South Carolina plays No. 4 Maryland in the Birmingham 2 regional on Friday (5 p.m. ET, ESPN).
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“You kind of get drunk off that success and think, oh, we can do it again,” Staley said. “It’s much harder than they could have ever imagined.”
That lack of memory led to an upset at UCLA’s house that shifted the rest of their season, and that of the NCAA tournament bracket, while hopefully providing what Johnson called a “wake-up” call that lifting a trophy is difficult. Her first loss as a college athlete snapped a 43-game winning streak, and the Gamecocks’ three losses this year are equal to that of the last three seasons combined.
“When you are winning a lot, it’s kind of hard to remember that you can lose,” sophomore MiLaysia Fulwiley said. “I think this year showed us that. It just made us want to even more, honestly. Now we understand how it goes.”
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For the first time in four years, South Carolina is not the No. 1 overall seed, falling behind No. 1 overall seed UCLA in the NCAA women’s basketball committee’s eyes. It theoretically makes the quest for their first repeat title in program history even harder. Staley took issue with the decision on Selection Sunday and said on Thursday she should have been more clear she wasn’t trying to “diminish what UCLA earned and deserved and accomplished.”
But she does believe South Carolina deserved it, and the committee should adjust their approach in the future.
The Gamecocks played 19 Quadrant 1 games and won 16 of them. Maryland is the 16th team ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 poll that South Carolina will face this year, and it will be AP ranked teams the rest of the way should the Gamecocks keep advancing. Staley always stacks non-conference foes that will test her team in myriad ways with March and the Final Four on the mind.
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“It’s not based on trying to pad wins, because we’re not like that,” Staley said. “We try to pad championships. The only way you do that is you play a really good, competitive non-conference.”
Their three losses were to UCLA in November, and to Connecticut and SEC foe Texas in February. They are all top-two seeds in the field, and top teams in rankings. UCLA lost two games, both to rival USC, but has only two wins in the top 15 of Her Hoop Stats ratings, versus 10 for South Carolina.
“If we’re unable to get a No. 1 seed because we lost in a head-to-head, I mean, would you play that?” Staley said. “Would you think about playing UCLA if they’re going to use that against us? Would you think about, if you lose to UConn, you know, by 29 points, but you compete and you got the No. 1 schedule in the country, and you could never get it back?”
Staley said she will keep playing the high standard of schedule she manufactures because she’s a competitor.
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“We’re going to play the games,” Staley said, “but I do need the committee to look at it from our vantage point, which is, you’re telling me we can’t ever — we lose three games. And to play the schedule that we play, we can’t ever be considered for the No. 1 overall seed?”
But it also prepares them for March and matchups like Maryland. The Gamecocks will need their best defense to show up while avoiding fouling. Maryland averages 81 points per game (10th), scoring 21.5% of its points from the free throw line (33rd). The tough defenses of either No. 2 Duke or No. 3 North Carolina await in the regional final.
The margins become thinner in March, experience wields a larger impact and Staley hopes their experience playing the best without flinching will show itself late in tight games. Ultimately, the matchups are the only thing that matter, not seeds, and a team’s tournament trajectory can shift in an instant.
“Every single one of our losses came at a time when we needed it, and we came out better because of it,” Staley said. “I hope it’s enough to get us to the finish line.”
