Where South Carolina women's basketball debuted in first NET rankings of 2025-2026 season

South Carolina women’s basketball owns a 7-1 overall record through the first month of the 2025-2026 season. The Gamecocks lost on a last-second shot to the Texas Longhorns but beat every other team on the schedule, including Clemson, Duke, and Southern Cal. This week’s AP top 25 included Dawn Staley’s team at No. 3 in the country.

When the first NET rankings of the season came out on Monday, South Carolina slotted in at No. 6 nationally. They were also third in the SEC. Ahead of the Gamecocks sat the LSU Tigers (1), UConn Huskies (2), Texas Longhorns (3), UCLA Bruins (4), and Michigan Wolverines (5).

The NET, for those unfamiliar, is the most important ranking metric used by the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee. It factors in Team Value Index (essentially a team’s on-court results, location of games, and strength of schedule) and adjusted net efficiency ratings (how well a team plays in those games, adjusted for the quality of opponent and location of games).

NEW! Message board for South Carolina Women’s Basketball!

At the time of this writing, South Carolina holds a 1-1 record against Quad 1 opponents, having knocked off Southern Cal in a neutral-site contest (though it was in Los Angeles) and losing to Texas in Las Vegas at the Players Era Championship. The Gamecocks are 2-0 against teams from Quad 2, with wins over Duke and Clemson. USC hasn’t played a Quad 3 foe, and they are 4-0 against Quad 4 squads. Those lower quad games all came at Colonial Life Arena.

Coach Staley always creates one of the country’s top schedules, and because of that, South Carolina will have additional chances to improve their NET ranking very soon. In the team’s next four games, the Gamecocks will face two Quad 1 opponents and another from Quad 2. Road trips to Louisville and South Florida and a home contest against Penn State surround a matchup against a lower-level North Carolina Central squad.

Next up, on Thursday, December 4th, South Carolina will travel to Louisville as part of the ACC/SEC Challenge. The Gamecocks previously beat North Carolina (2023-2024) and Duke (2024-2025) in the Challenge. Thursday’s matchup between the Gamecocks and Cardinals will tip at 7:00 p.m. ESPN will handle the television broadcast, while the ESPN app makes the game available via streaming. Louisville sits at No. 14 in the updated NET rankings.

Then, on Sunday, December 7th, the Gamecocks will return home for a date with the North Carolina Central Eagles. Colonial Life Arena will host the noon affair. SEC Network will broadcast the action while it streams on the ESPN app. North Carolina Central is 315th in the current NET rankings.

NEW! Message board for South Carolina Women’s Basketball!