The 2026 NCAA Women’s Basketball Selection Show was on Sunday evening, and teams across the country were awaiting their respective seed and region.
Although the South Carolina Gamecocks failed to win both the SEC regular-season and conference tournament title for the first time in three seasons, the Gamecocks were expected to be one of the four top seeds.
On Sunday evening live on ESPN, the fate of Dawn Staley’s South Carolina team was finally revealed. As expected, the 31-3 Gamecocks earned the No. 1 seed in the Regional 4 in Sacramento 4, where most bracketology experts had the Gamecocks projected. In the first round, South Carolina will take on either the No. 16 Southern Jaguars or No. 16 Samford Bulldogs, who will play each other in the First Four.
IT'S OFFICIALLY MARCH, AND IT'S TIME TO DANCE 💃 pic.twitter.com/hWPDl1Zz18
— South Carolina Women's Basketball (@GamecockWBB) March 16, 2026
Other big-name schools in the Gamecock’s region include No. 3 TCU, No. 4 Oklahoma, No. 5 Michigan State and No. 8 Clemson. The Sooners actually upset South Carolina in overtime 94-82 on Jan. 22, handing the Gamecocks one of their just three losses on the year.
Although the end of South Carolina’s 2025-26 regular season hasn’t gone quite as well as Staley and her team anticipated, the Gamecocks have the talent and depth to make a deep run in this year’s tournament.