Women’s college basketball Bracket Watch: Should South Carolina be ahead of UConn?

(Editor’s note: This article is part of the Bracket Central series, an inside look at the run-up to the men’s and women’s NCAA Tournaments, along with analysis and picks during the tournaments.)

On the last big Thursday slate of the power conference regular season, things officially heated up from a light simmer to a full-on basketball broiling. Absurd ACC matchups, powerhouse SEC showdowns and a few impactful Big Ten performances …. we’re gearing up for a tumultuous conference tournament week.

Players we’ve been watching for half a decade (literally!) are enjoying the emotions of senior night. The second and final NCAA Selection Committee reveal is in.

What can we take away from one of the most important days of the college season?

---

Let’s dive into SEC seeding.

As highlighted throughout the year, the SEC has been the country’s strongest conference, punctuated by six teams in the selection committee’s Top 16 reveal this week..

With Selection Sunday less than three weeks away, the NCAA selection committee released the women’s top 16 seeds for the second time this winter.

The No. 1 seeds ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/Wo40IJ1viS

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) February 28, 2025

One of the most contested aspects of the bracket reveal — and The Athletic’s brackets — has been how many SEC teams wind up in proximity to one another. Building out the bracket within the committee’s principles has been difficult this season given the SEC’s depth.

For starters, every time the bracket is built, I seed the teams to create the S-curve that then follows to balance out each region. However, a few principles take precedence, particularly the point laid out by the seeding procedures concerning the first four teams from a conference: Each of the first four teams selected from a conference shall be placed in different regional pods if they are seeded on the first four lines.

Derita Ratcliffe Dawkins, Arkansas’ deputy athletics director and a selection committee member, explained after Thursday’s reveal why three SEC teams were clustered in the same region (Birmingham 4).

“Adhering to the competitiveness that led to the seed that that team had, the committee felt comfortable following that s-curve as closely as we could, because again, that’s what those teams have earned by their play,” she said.

South Carolina wound up on the No. 2 line after losing to UConn shortly after the initial selection committee reveal, but the Gamecocks are seeded just ahead of UConn. Dawkins also weighed in on the importance of head-to-head competition.

“We take it all into consideration … using the UConn-South Carolina game that resulted in a 29-point win for UConn is part of what led to South Carolina not being on the No. 1 line anymore,” she said. “Looking at our No. 1, 2 and 3, those are teams that have not lost since our last reveal.”

I imagine that deciding how to seed the Gamecocks and Huskies was difficult for the committee, but I was surprised to see the Huskies seeded below the Gamecocks given the dominance of their performance. It’s pretty indisputable to me that South Carolina has the better resume in totality, which matters greatly, but it’s an interesting note nonetheless as UConn hasn’t lost since the last reveal, and only moved up one spot with that win.

With Notre Dame’s loss to Florida State and South Carolina’s win over Ole Miss, I swapped Notre Dame and South Carolina. Based on how the committee has continued to reflect its values in its top 16 seedings, I presumed this is how they would handle it.

Other SEC notes:

• Kentucky swapped with Tennessee after Thursday’s dominant win over Tennessee, and because of its head-to-head win over Oklahoma.

• I seeded Ole Miss 18th overall before the reveal. While results in the SEC tournament could create changes, the Rebels are likely out of hosting contention, barring a run to the SEC championship game and a win against LSU to close the regular season.

• Regardless of a win or loss to Alabama on Thursday, LSU was going to hold steady. (The Tigers lost in overtime.) The slight line of demarcation between LSU and the next team, NC State, was created by LSU’s fewer losses, an equal number of Quad 1 wins and a decisive head-to-head victory by LSU over the Wolfpack. Whether they had won or lost to LSU, Alabama needs another victory to propel itself into hosting and can help make that case in its final regular-season game against Oklahoma.

The Bracket Central series is part of a partnership with E*TRADE.

The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.

This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.