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WBB - Impressive Non-Conference Schedule Fleshing Out For 2021-22

ConwayGamecock

ConwayGamecock

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South Carolina played what was rated by most online sources a top-5 RPI, SOS, and NET schedule last season (2020-21), and still advanced to their third Final Four appearance in program history. This was with a fairly young roster, with fairly thin depth at certain positions.

The 2021-22 Gamecock team appears to be somewhat different in various scary ways - if you're an opponent of the Gamecocks. Not only do they return every single player from last season's squad, but they add to that roster the #1-ranked recruiting class of the 2021 cycle, which involves four (4) 5-star, McDonald's All-Americans.

And that's not all: they ALSO add a tremendous sophomore post player in Kamilla Cardoso-Silva, who transferred in from Syracuse after winning the ACC Freshman of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year honors.

So the 2021-22 Gamecocks will be a powerhouse team. And in keeping with Coach Dawn Staley's tradition, the 2021-22 schedule will provide a powerhouse schedule of opponents to challenge them.

Here is the non-conference schedule as it fills out. We will keep updating the schedule to it's conclusion.

 
Nov. 9th (TBD) - at North Carolina State (Raleigh, N.C.)

Nov. 12th (TBD) - vs South Dakota (Sanford Pentagon, Sioux Falls, S.D.) (Sioux Falls Invitational)

Nov. 17th (TBD) - vs Clemson (Columbia, S.C.)

Nov. 20th (TBD) - vs Buffalo (Paradise Island, Bahamas) (Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament)

Nov. 21st (TBD - if applicable) - Semifinals vs winner between Oklahoma and Oregon (Paradise Island, Bahamas) (Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament)

Nov. 22nd (TBD - if applicable) - Finals vs finalist between Connecticut, Minnesota, South Florida, and Syracuse (Paradise Island, Bahamas)(Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament)

Nov. 29th (TBD) - vs North Carolina A&T (Columbia, S.C.)

Dec. 3rd (TBD) - vs Kansas State (Columbia, S.C.) (SEC/Big-12 Challenge)

Dec. 12th (3:00 pm) - vs Maryland (Columbia, S.C.) (Jimmy V Classic)

Dec. 15th (TBD) - vs Duke (Durham, N.C.)

Dec. 21st (TBD) - vs Stanford (Columbia, S.C.)

Feb. (TBD) - vs Connecticut (Columbia, S.C.)

 
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UConn, NC State, Maryland should be top-10 when we face them. If we get a game with Oregon, they could be up there too. I like that Dawn isn't afraid of scheduling tough non-con games. If everything clicks, we could be in store for a special season.

 
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Really looking forward to this season. Think that this could be a national championship team.

 
Added Kansas State, which announced their pairing against us in the SEC/Big-12 Challenge Wednesday, as well as both Clemson and NC A&T, who both announced their respective non-conference schedules today.

There's still scuttlebutt out there that games with Duke and possibly even defending champion Stanford are trying to be hammered out by Coach Staley for this season. All of our non-conference schedule info comes from the Ath. Dept.'s announcements of the teams that we're scheduled to play against, or from public announcements from tournament committees. We haven't officially put out any scheduling yet.....

NC A&T won their conference tournament last season, and therefore were automatic qualifiers for last season's NCAAT. They lost in the 1st Round to NC State....

 
ConwayGamecock said:
Added Kansas State, which announced their pairing against us in the SEC/Big-12 Challenge Wednesday, as well as both Clemson and NC A&T, who both announced their respective non-conference schedules today.

There's still scuttlebutt out there that games with Duke and possibly even defending champion Stanford are trying to be hammered out by Coach Staley for this season. All of our non-conference schedule info comes from the Ath. Dept.'s announcements of the teams that we're scheduled to play against, or from public announcements from tournament committees. We haven't officially put out any scheduling yet.....

NC A&T won their conference tournament last season, and therefore were automatic qualifiers for last season's NCAAT. They lost in the 1st Round to NC State....
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Well, the Stanford game got hammered out - will be a home game in CLA on December 21st, just before Christmas break. As with most non-conference games on the schedule thus far, we're finding the news out more from the opponent's athletic websites and social accounts than from our own sources, as Coach Staley likes to be a little mysterious about the scheduling:


Having Maryland, Stanford, and Connecticut in front of our home fans should insure that we'll lead the nation in average home game attendance once again for 2021-22. And another unbelievable schedule set up by Coach Staley and staff - ESPN's "way too early" top 25 has Connecticut, Stanford, and Maryland at #1, #3, and #5 respectively, with NC state #8 and Oregon - a possible opponent for the Gamecocks in the 2nd Round of the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament should the Ducks get past Oklahoma, and the Gamecocks advance past Buffalo - is ranked #10.

Sports Illustrated ranks CT #1, Stanford #3, and Maryland #4 in their Top 10 pre-season rankings, and include Oregon at #7 and NC State at #9.

 
And the final opponent that was talked about - Duke - has been added to the schedule for December 15th:


This completes the loose end of a contractual Home and Away set of games scheduled between South Carolina and Duke. The home game in Colonial Life Arena has already been played - a 72-52 win over then 14th-ranked Duke December 3rd of the 2017-18 season - and the away game scheduled at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, N.C. for the 2018-19 season was postponed due to a bad winter storm that hit North Carolina around that time. So we sort of "owed" a home game for Duke, and this finally takes care of that.

This game finally resolves all games with opponents talked or speculated about for the 2021-22 season. There are apparently 3-4 more available slots for other non-conference games (remember holiday invitational tournaments like the Battle 4 Atlantis only count as one (1) scheduled game, no matter if you end up winning 2-4 games in them): perhaps after the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament, or after the SEC/Big12 Challenge game with Kansas State. Perhaps Coach Staley has a couple of opponents already set aside, but held off on securing a date for, until the final games with Stanford and Duke were taken care of. If so, I assume any remaining games to be scheduled will happen quickly now in the few days. We'll see....

 
The official conference schedule for 2021-22 was put out today:

https://gamecocksonline.com/sports/womens-basketball/schedule/2021-22

Home games are:

Ole Miss

Kentucky

Texas A&M

Vanderbilt

Alabama

Mississippi State

Auburn

Tennessee

Away Games are:

Missouri

LSU

Arkansas

Florida

Kentucky

Georgia

Texas A&M

Ole Miss

ESPN's early pre-season top 25 include SEC teams #14 Kentucky, #18 Tennessee, and #22 Texas A&M. Not a great prediction for the once-mighty SEC, and I'm amazed that Georgia isn't somewhere in there if not towards the top 10. They were ranked during most of the 2nd half of last season, and were ranked 10th in the AP's final poll before the NCAA tournament, and bring back most of their starters plus brought in a pretty talented class.

South Carolina plays Kentucky twice home and home, Texas A&M twice home and home, and Tennessee once at home. We will play Georgia once on the road. I feel Kentucky and Georgia poses the biggest threats against a 16-0 season, with Tennessee being in CLA. Arkansas have improved their inside depth, but so did we, and they lost a huge x-factor in Dungee graduating. Kentucky will always be a threat with their own x-factor Howard still on the team, but they were out-manned in the paint, and will be again I feel. Texas A&M was SO senior-laden last season, their experience and maturity carried them, but they lost starters Aaliyah Wilson, N'dea Jones, and Cierra Johnson who accounted for their top 2 and 5th scorers and top 3 rebounders, so there will be some rebuilding going on there. The UGA road game will be a huge threat unless they fall off substantially from where they were last season, with essentially the same players.

I'll be working on a new overall schedule for the Gamecock WBB 21-22 season soon...

 
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