GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — Dawn Staley’s third-ranked Gamecocks have been nearly unbeatable in Southeastern Conference Tournament games played in Greenville, South Carolina.
South Carolina has won six of seven SEC Tournaments — including five straight — played at Bon Secours Wellness Arena, which is about a 90-minute drive from the school’s campus in Columbia.
Diehard Gamecocks fans, clad in garnet and black, make the annual pilgrimage there by the thousands giving South Carolina an undeniable home-court advantage. This week is expected to be no different when the top-seeded Gamecocks (29-2, 15-1) descend on Greenville looking to win their 10th conference title under Staley in 18 seasons and secure a No. 1 seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament.
South Carolina’s success has raised the question — almost annually now — on whether it’s a fair venue for other SEC teams which aren’t able to generate the same fan support because of the proximity to the event.
Staley has heard the complaints.
But the four-time Naismith Coach of the Year argues that her team’s success isn’t a direct result of playing in Greenville.
“I do believe we have won outside of Greenville, right?” Staley said, pointing to the school’s tournament titles in Little Rock, Arkansas (2015), Jacksonville, Florida (2016) and Nashville, Tennessee (2018).
“Do I think we are successful because we are in Greenville? No, I think we are successful because we have had really good teams,” Staley added. “Do I think that the crowd is bias? Yes, because it is a close proximity to our campus. So there is a little bit of an edge (for us), but you still have to play the games.”
But there is no denying the Gameccocks have dominated in Greenville.
They are 18-1 in SEC Tournament games there under Staley, as opposed to 16-7 in other cities — although many of those losses came before she built the Gamecocks into a perennial national power.
Money plays a factor in the SEC’s decision to move the tournament to Greenville.
South Carolina’s fans, which come and stay for the entire weekend, and annually pack the 15,000-seat arena, make it a profitable venture for the conference.
“It’s about money, and at the end of the day, our kids are the ones who suffer for that if you get into a game where you’ve gotta play them,” Texas coach Vic Schaefer said. “They are always gonna have way more people than we’re gonna have. It is what it is.”
LSU coach Kim Mulkey understands the reasoning behind the tournament being in Greenville every year but one since 2019.
“South Carolina and Greenville, they have invested in that and they keep bidding on it and they keep saying, ‘Hey, we’ll show up.’ And they do — and that’s how you get it,” Mulkey said. “I would think that competitors want it in other places closer to their fans, but hey, get off your rump and bid on it.”
Five teams in the AP Top 10
The SEC is undeniably the most stacked conference in the country in women’s basketball featuring five of the top seven ranked teams in the nation — No. 3 South Carolina, No. 4 Texas, No. 5 Vanderbilt, No. 6 LSU and No. 7 Oklahoma — in the AP Top 25.
That means one team — in this case, Oklahoma — was not able to secure a double bye.
That means the fifth-seeded Sooners (23-6, 11-5) will play on Thursday against the No. 12 seed Florida/No. 13 seed Mississippi State winner and would need to win four games, rather than three, to win the tournament.
Blakes burning it up
Vanderbilt has secured the No. 2 seed behind the conference’s most explosive scorer Makayla Blakes.
The 5-foot-8 sophomore guard became the first SEC player this century to average more than 30 points per game in conference play, while helping the Commodores (27-3, 13-3) set a school record for regular-season wins.
Blakes has scored at least 30 points in 12 games, but coach Shea Ralph said the entire team is responsible for its success.
“They’re a resilient bunch,” Ralph said. “They’re relentless in all the things I ask them to be that I can’t coach. They show up with that every single day, and I think, as human beings, that can be hard to do, especially when you’re young and you’ve got lots of distractions.”
Texas (28-3, 13-3), led by senior Madison Booker, is the third seed, while LSU (26-4, 12-4), which features the dangerous trio of Flau’jae Johnson, Mikayla Johnson and South Carolina transfer MiLaysia Fulwiley, is the No. 4 seed.
Will Tennessee make NCAA Tourney?
Tennessee has won a record 17 SEC titles and stood for decades as a national powerhouse in women’s basketball. But the Vols could be in danger of missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time since its inception in 1982.
The Vols (16-12, 8-8) have lost six straight games and eight of the past 10.
Despite the struggles, most pundits believe the Vols will still get in based on the team’s No. 22 NET ranking, No. 28 Strength of Record (WAB), and quadrant 1 wins against Stanford, Alabama, and Kentucky. But coach Kim Caldwell would prefer not to see her team back into the tourney.
“We need a win,” Caldwell said. “We need a win in the SEC Tournament to gain some momentum and take it from there.”
Tennessee enters as the sixth seed and will play Thursday night against the winner of Wednesday night’s No. 11 seed Alabama/No. 14 seed Missouri matchup. The Vols have defeated both teams this season.
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AP Sports Writers Teresa Walker and Brett Martel and freelance writer Mark Rosner contributed to this report.
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