Next up on Staley, Gamecocks' to-do list: SEC tourney title

Updated Mar. 1, 2022 4:53 p.m. ET

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Coach Dawn Staley and her top-ranked South Carolina Gamecocks have taken care of one goal by winning their sixth Southeastern Conference women's basketball regular season title.

Now, they're preparing for the next step.

South Carolina comes to Music City looking for the Gamecocks' seventh SEC Tournament championship in eight seasons, an NCAA Tournament tune-up for a program trying to get back to the Final Four for a second straight year.

“It’s all a learning experience,” Staley said. “Our core group of players really set the example how things need to get done. Hopefully, everybody’s continuing to learn because we’re going to need them in the next phase of our season, which is postseason.”

A postseason Staley and company hope starts with an SEC tourney title.

The top-seeded Gamecocks (27-1) have won 15 straight led by first-team All-SEC guard Destanni Henderson and Aliyah Boston, who was named the

South Carolina already has a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament locked up. Last season the

No. 6 LSU is the biggest threat at the SEC tourney with coach Kim Mulkey having guided the Tigers to the largest turnaround in league history by a first-year coach. The Tigers (25-4) earned the No. 2 seed after being picked to finish eighth after winning only nine games last season.

LSU has won this tournament only twice and not since 2003. Mulkey, with her three national titles at Baylor and 19 NCAA appearances, already sounds more focused on what's next with her Tigers looking at a No. 2 seed for the NCAA Tournament.

“I don't feel like conference tournaments do anything for those who have already validated where they should be seeded in the tournament,” Mulkey said. “The regular season means more to me than any conference tournament.”

This is the SEC's seventh women's tournament in Nashville and first since 2018, taking advantage of the men heading to Tampa for a break from Music City. The tournament opens Wednesday with Texas A&M playing Vanderbilt followed by Auburn and Alabama.

Tennessee, picked to finish second, is the No. 3 seed despite losing three starters to injuries with a fourth missing 12 games. The Lady Vols play their first game Friday along with fourth-seeded Mississippi.

INJURY ISSUES

The top two seeds could be without key player apiece. South Carolina center Kamilla Cardoso has an upper-body injury that kept her out of the regular season finale. “Knowing Kamilla, she's going to want to play," Staley said.

Alexis Morris sat out LSU's win at Tennessee last weekend after spraining an MCL in her knee in a win against Alabama. She's LSU's second-leading scorer averaging 15.8 points a game. Mulkey said she doesn't know if Morris will play in the tournament.

UPSET POSSIBILITIES

Even with South Carolina's dominance, nothing has been guaranteed in this league this season. Missouri handed South Carolina its lone loss of the season Dec. 30 in Columbia, Missouri. Auburn, the tournament's 14th seed, has a pair of upsets on its resumes after knocking off then-No. 4 Tennessee in January and then-No. 21 Georgia to wrap the regular season.

Vanderbilt beat then-No. 15 Florida last week for the Commodores' first win over a Top 25 team since March 2020 and one of Texas A&M's four SEC wins came on the road at Kentucky.

LAST TIME, FIRST TIME

This tournament will wrap up Texas A&M coach Gary Blair's final season, unless the Aggies can pull off several upsets and win it all. He

This time, the Aggies (14-14) come in as the No. 12 seed playing 13th-seeded Vanderbilt (13-17) in the tournament opener. The Commodores are led by

SEMIFINAL REMATCHES

If the bracket holds, the top four seeds are on target for meeting again Saturday in the semifinals after wrapping up the regular season against each other.

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More AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

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