South-Carolina
South Carolina, Stanford, Ohio State and Colorado top seeds in early women’s NCAA Tournament reveal
South Carolina, Stanford, Ohio State and Colorado would be the No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament if it began now.
The NCAA women’s basketball selection committee on Thursday did its first reveal of the teams in line for the top 16 seeds.
“It was extremely challenging this year, but it needs to be remembered that this is just a snapshot,” NCAA women’s basketball selection committee chair Lisa Peterson said in a phone interview Thursday. “We were talking about this two weeks ago and it didn’t look like this then. It will continue to change.”
Peterson said the committee has been thoroughly impressed with what coach Dawn Staley has done at South Carolina with a new starting five.
“What Dawn has done this season can’t be understated,” Peterson said.
Just outside the top four teams were Caitlin Clark and Iowa, which is ranked No. 4 in the AP poll. The Hawkeyes, last year’s national runners-up, were projected as a 2 seed.
The top 16 seeds will host first- and second-round games with the regional rounds being played at two neutral sites for the second straight year. Portland, Oregon, will host half of the Sweet 16 and Albany, New York, will host the other eight teams.
South Carolina and Ohio State were projected as the top seeds in the Albany Regional with Stanford and Colorado in Portland. The unbeaten Gamecocks were the overall No. 1 seed.
Joining the Gamecocks in their bracket were No. 2 UCLA, No. 3 UConn and No. 4 Louisville.
Peterson said UCLA was moved from a different region to ensure that the bracketing principle of keeping the top four teams in a conference in different regions was protected. The Pac-12 had five of the top 16 seeds.
The Buckeyes would have No. 2 seed N.C. State, No. 3 Southern Cal and No. 4 LSU.
The other top teams in Stanford’s region were No. 2 Texas, No. 3 Oregon State and No. 4 Indiana. Colorado would be joined by Iowa, Virginia Tech and Kansas State.
Teams just outside the top 16 included Notre Dame, Syracuse, Utah and Gonzaga. Peterson said that there was a long discussion about whether the Zags or Louisville should be the 16th team. As of now the Cardinals had a slight edge.
The Final Four will be played in Cleveland on April 5 and the NCAA championship game is two days later.
The NCAA has been doing in-season reveals since 2015 to give teams an early idea of where they could be come selection night. Thursday’s reveal did not factor in the games scheduled for later that night. The NCAA will have one more reveal on Feb. 29 before the real seedings are announced on March 17.
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AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball
On Thursday, South Carolina managed to flip four-star EDGE Julian Walker from the Michigan Wolverines. The new Gamecock pledge then signed his paperwork to make things official with USC.
In South Carolina’s 2026 signing class, Walker (No. 72 nationally in the Rival Industry Ranking and No. 26 nationally in the Rivals300) ranks behind only Darius Gray (No. 45) in the Rival Industry Ranking and behind only Zyon Guiles (No. 24) in the Rivals300. Ranked 26th, he is also within future five-star range in the Rivals300.
The (second day of) Signing Day pilfering made national recruiting waves. In fact, Rivals’ Greg Smith called the flip one of college football’s best in the class of 2026. Walker’s Michigan-to-South-Carolina swap was one of Smith’s six biggest flips of the cycle.
Walker’s choice primarily came down to the Wolverines and the Gamecocks, but the North Carolina Tar Heels got involved late. His high school coach, Tom Knotts, even said that head coach Bill Belichick was “throwing money at him.”
In the end, though, relationships with South Carolina won out. Walker’s father, Jamil Walker, is on the strength staff at USC. Head coach Shane Beamer, defensive ends/outside linebackers coach Sterling Lucas, and defensive line coach Travian Robertson all have strong relationships with the dynamic pass rusher.
The Insiders Forum: Discuss South Carolina football!
A product of Dutch Fork High School just outside of Columbia, Walker will get to stay home with the Gamecocks. At 6-6 and 255 pounds, he could be a candidate to play early, though he has considerable developmental upside, too.
On Saturday, two days after his signing, Walker wrapped up a state championship season with the Silver Foxes. He was arguably the player of the game, as he logged three sacks and a defensive touchdown against Summerville.
Walker’s next time on a field will be in garnet and black. He will be part of a group of EDGE players looking to help replace the production of graduates Bryan Thomas Jr., JT Geer, and Demon Clowney.
Rising junior Dylan Stewart, rising senior Desmond Umeozulu, rising sophomore Jaylen Brown, and rising redshirt freshmen Jaquavious Dodd, Anthony Addison, and Kobby Sakyi-Prah all have eligibility remaining in the room. Redshirt senior George Wilson is also expected to apply for an additional year after an injury sidelined him for all of 2025.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Meechie Johnson scored 17 points and South Carolina beat Stetson 82-51 on Saturday.
Johnson made all five of his field-goal attempts, including two 3-pointers, and all five free throws while also handing out four assists. Grant Polk made 4 of 6 3-pointers and scored 12 points. Elijah Strong had a pair of 3s and 12 points for the Gamecocks (6-3), who shot 55%, including 44% from the arc (12 of 27).
Collin Kuhl, Ethan Copeland and Jamie Phillips Jr. scored 10 points apiece for the Hatters (3-8), who lost their fifth straight after shooting 32% and making just 4 of 21 3-pointers.
Stetson scored the first five points before South Carolina went on a 18-4 run capped by consecutive 3-pointers by Strong and the Gamecocks led the rest of the way. They finished the first half on an 18-3 run with Johnson scoring the final six points with a three-point play and a 3-pointer for a 43-24 lead.
The Gamecocks remained comfortably ahead in the second half, taking their largest lead of 33 with under three minutes to go.
Up next
Stetson is home against Rhodes College on Dec. 15.
South Carolina is home against The Citadel next Saturday.
Copyright 2025 WCSC. All rights reserved.
SPARTANBURG, S.C. (AP) — Mason Bendinger and Karmani Gregory scored 15 points each in South Carolina Upstate’s 78-67 victory over Western Carolina on Saturday.
Bendinger added six rebounds for the Spartans (6-5). Gregory added his 15 points while going 4 of 9 from the floor, including 2 for 5 from 3-point range, and 5 for 5 from the line while he also had six assists. Carmelo Adkins shot 4 of 10 from the field, including 2 for 7 from 3-point range, and went 4 for 4 from the line to finish with 14 points, while adding seven rebounds. Learic Davis scored 11 points and Isaiah Skinner 10.
The Catamounts (4-5) were led in scoring by Justin Johnson, who finished with 13 points and six rebounds. Cord Stansberry added 11 points, six rebounds and two steals for Western Carolina. Samuel Dada had 10 points and eight rebounds. CJ Hyland also scored 10 points.
Up next
Up next for South Carolina Upstate is a Saturday matchup with North Carolina on the road, and Western Carolina visits Virginia Tech on Thursday.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
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