How The Gamecocks NCAA Tournament Start Compares To Last Year
With the South Carolina Gamecocks dominant 88-41 victory over the North Carolina Tar Heels in their Round of 32 matchup on Sunday afternoon, Dawn Staley's squad currently possesses the largest collective margin of victory (+99) out of all the remaining tournament teams that have already played two matchups. The next closest team in that regard is Texas at +51. This margin is a significant indicator of how the Gamecocks are peaking in their on-court performance at the time when they need to the most. With the team long past the point of being in the shadows of last year's squad that featured 'the freshies,' how does their tournament start to this point stack up against the group that went to the Final Four last year?
Let's take a look at some of the numbers to see what kind of story they paint for us:
Average Margin Of Victory
2023: +29.5 | 2024: +49.5
Average Field Goal Percentage
2023: 40.8% | 2024: 50.4%
Average 3-Point Percentage
2023: 30.8% | 2024: 40.9%
Average Field Goal Percentage Defense
2023: 27.7% | 2024: 26%
Average Rebounding Margin
2023: +21.5 | 2024: +19
When looking at these statistics, from a surface-level standpoint, it's clear that this season's team is vastly exceeding what last year's team, which constituted five future WNBA draft picks, accomplished. The shooting at all levels of the floor is markedly better, the defense is seeing no dropoff, and the only area where last year's Final Four team might get this year's South Carolina squad is on the glass, especially when you give them the 2023 WNBA Rookie of the Year in Aliyah Boston. To be fair, last year's team had what most would consider a tougher road to start the NCAA Tournament, squaring off against a top-two defense (in terms of points allowed per game) in Norfolk State in the Round of 64 and battling a then-top 25 team in the South Florida Bulls in the Round of 32.
While this year's team hasn't faced quite the competition their predecessors did to this point last Spring, I believe that the overall inexperience this Gamecock squad had playing as a collective unit in the NCAA Tournament cancels that out entirely. The bottom line is that this South Carolina team, from a numbers and context standpoint, is outperforming last year's Final Four team.
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