Conference tournament preview: Can anyone upset South Carolina or UCLA? Will Duke repeat?

It’s officially March, which means it’s time to crown champions. Conference tournaments tip off this week, with all four power conferences beginning play on Wednesday. The championship games are spaced out for optimum viewing on Sunday. Not only are titles and automatic bids on the line, but so, too, are seed lines and at-large candidacies.

Here’s what we’re watching from the SEC, ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and Big East, plus a quick look at the Ivy, Summit and A-10 tournaments.

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SEC Tournament: Will anyone upset South Carolina?

Top 4 seeds: South Carolina, Vanderbilt, Texas, LSU
Dates: Wednesday-Sunday (title game at 3 p.m. ET, ESPN)

The SEC still runs through four-time reigning champion South Carolina. The Gamecocks (29-2, 15-1), led by Joyce Edwards, are out for their 10th tournament title in 12 years. Kentucky upset South Carolina in the 2022 final when Dre’una Edwards hit a game-winning 3-pointer to bring the seventh-seeded Wildcats back from down 15 points. Mississippi State won the 2019 tournament over 10th-seeded Arkansas, which upset No. 2 South Carolina in the quarterfinals.

Edwards is averaging 19.8 points per game, the most of any Gamecock since A’ja Wilson, while center Madina Okot put opponents on notice with a 5-for-5 showing from the perimeter against Alabama and Ole Miss a week ago. She won the battle with Kentucky’s Clara Strack in a 60-56 win on Sunday. It was the second-closest SEC game of the Gamecocks’ season.

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Here is what else we’re watching from the SEC: 

Which SEC team will move into the final NCAA Tournament No. 1 seed? The NCAA Tournament’s top three true seeds of UConn, UCLA and South Carolina are near-locks. The final No. 1 seed leans toward which of the elite SEC squads has a better showing. If either Texas (28-3, 13-3) or Vanderbilt (27-3, 13-3) reaches the tournament title game, it’s safe to pencil that team into the final top spot.

They traded spots in the two reveals by the NCAA women’s basketball…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/womens-college-basketball/article/conference-tournament-preview-can-anyone-upset-south-carolina-or-ucla-will-duke-repeat-142853623.html

Author : Cassandra Negley

Publish date : 2026-03-03 14:28:00

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