South Carolina Basketball: Selection Sunday; What to know and how to watch
By Kevin Miller
South Carolina basketball fans have been treated to high-quality basketball during the 2022-2023 season as Dawn Staley’s team continues their reign as the best team in the land. The 2021-2022 National Champions are undefeated heading into the tournament and are just six victories away from back-to-back titles.
If they pull it off, they will be just the fifth program to ever go undefeated and the fourth to ever win consecutive championships. They will also have not lost in over 500 days by the time next season begins.
The six-game journey begins on Sunday when the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee will determine the road they must travel. An obvious and deserving first-overall seed, the Gamecocks will take on an overmatched 16th-seeded foe at home at Colonial Life Arena in round one. A victory would bring them the winner of the 8/9 game, and that second contest would also be at home.
The Gamecocks will then travel to Greenville (where they just won the SEC Tournament last week) for the Sweet Sixteen and, with another victory, the Elite Eight. If they keep winning, the Gamecocks will not have to leave the state of South Carolina until the Final Four. The Final Four would take place in Dallas, Texas, the same place Coach Staley, A’ja Wilson, and the Gamecocks won their first championship in 2017.
Perhaps most important for the Gamecocks will be the way the other top teams in the nation are seeded. The entire bracket will be revealed on Sunday night, and South Carolina fans can start imagining the teams that stand in their team’s way of basketball immortality.
Will the UConn rivalry include another chapter? Will conference foes LSU and Tennessee be factors? Will Iowa and Caitlin Clark (Aliyah Boston’s biggest competition for the National Player of the Year awards) be waiting somewhere down the line? Will the Gamecocks get a chance at revenge against Stanford for their Final Four loss in 2019? Sunday will hold the answers.
The seeding on Selection Sunday will be anti-climactic for South Carolina, but the day still will be full of excitement. The team is hosting fans in what they are calling FAMdemonium. Gamecock fans, affectionately known as “the Fams” by Staley, are invited to Colonial Life Arena to watch the event, take pictures with players, and celebrate the team’s accomplishments up to this point. Food trucks will open outside of the arena at 5:30, and events inside will begin just after 7:00. The event and parking will be free of charge.
If fans are unable to make it out to FAMdemonium, ESPN and the ESPN App will be broadcasting the Selection Show at 8:00.