To the fans who made it out to Colonial Life Arena on Monday for the viewing of the women’s basketball NCAA Tournament selection, it didn’t come as much of a surprise that their Gamecock team was a No. 1 seed. What did come as a surprise, though, was where they will be playing their games in the lead-up to the Final Four.
A night of celebration, which saw Tina Roy rap, the Carolina Girls perform and much more entertainment that had the crowd in high spirits almost the whole night, was briefly interrupted when it was announced that South Carolina would have to play its Sweet 16 and Elite 8 games in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Upon hearing this, Colonial Life Arena went silent. A few people shuffled in their seats. Then anger and confusion struck. Fans became visibly disgruntled, and one older man could be heard repeatedly saying, “I don’t believe it."
Yet beyond this, South Carolina had little to complain about. The Gamecocks are matched up against Jacksonville, a team who is experiencing March Madness for the first time. They get to play in front of what should be a sold out home crowd, a huge advantage that should make their first two games that much easier. On their draw, Dawn Staley said, “It's pretty surprising ... but we gotta do our job, and our job is to open up on Friday night, and take care of our business, and see where that takes us.”
South Carolina has its eyes on more than just a Final Four berth this year; they want to bring home a championship trophy. On what they need to do to achieve this, Asia Dozier laid it out simply: “We just need to stick to what we do, play hard every game and I think we will be back where we were last year and further.”
News writer Turner Harrison contributed to reporting in this article.