The squad that opens the 2024–25 season ranked first is one item that won’t change. While Kamilla Cardoso is now a member of the WNBA, Dawn Staley is the beneficiary of everyone else’s contributions to South Carolina’s perfect national championship run.
The Gamecocks face tougher conference competition now that Oklahoma and Texas have joined the SEC. With its move to the Big Ten, USC will be the early favorite in the conference. Though UConn, led by national player of the year favorite Paige Bueckers, will likely have an opinion on that, the Trojans may also be South Carolina’s strongest rival nationally. And given the new coaching staff and the more difficult SEC schedule ahead, is this the first time Tennessee misses the tournament?
In 2025, the NCAA tournament will appear differently. The NCAA still needs to decide how to set up the bracket because the Pac-12 is essentially gone and the ACC (18 teams), Big Ten (18 teams), Big 12 (16 teams), and SEC (16 teams) are larger than ever.
Let’s suppose for the time being that there will be 31 automatic bids in addition to one at-large. The assumption is that more teams from larger conferences will be able to compete. This increases the possibility that two clubs from the same conference will be required to play each other in the second round by the selection committee. There is still a two-regional format, with Spokane and Birmingham serving as hosts.
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