The South Carolina women’s basketball team was named one of the four No. 1 seeds in the 2021 NCAA tournament on Monday night.
South Carolina Athletics Communications and Public Relations
In its 17th participation in the NCAA Tournament of all time, South Carolina (22-4) won seed # 1 in the Hemisfair region and will face Mercer Bears (19-6) on Sunday, March 21 at 6 pm with contest scheduled to be broadcast by ESPN in the opening round of the event. No. 6/5 Gamecocks will play in San Antonio in the first round and, if they advance to the second round, will face the winner of the first round game between No. 8 Oregon State (11-7) and No. 9 Florida State (10-8) on Tuesday, March 23.
Gamecocks repeated the title of champion of the SEC tournament this season, after one of the most difficult calendars in the country. The South Carolina opponent’s win percentage of 0.680 is the best in the country and its 13 games against ranked opponents are the highest in the country. Gamecocks were ranked in the top five in the AP survey in all but one week this season, including three weeks in the first place.
This is the ninth consecutive bet from the NCAA Tournament for Gamecocks, the longest streak in the program’s history. South Carolina reached the NCAA Final Four for the first time in 2015 before capturing its first NCAA Championship in 2017. Gamecocks played 10 Sweet 16s in their previous 16 times in the event, reaching that round in seven of their last eight appearances in the tournament and advancing to Elite Eight three times in his last five NCAA Tournaments. South Carolina has a record of 30-15 in the event.
This marks the fifth # 1 seed of all time for Gamecocks, after winning the position in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. South Carolina advanced to Final Four as # 1 seed in 2015 and 2017.