Staley and South Carolina are chasing perfection, one win away from becoming the 10th undefeated team

South Carolina could possibly be the first undefeated team since UConn in 2016

CLEVELAND (AP) South Carolina is one win away from completing the 10th perfect season in NCAA Division I women’s basketball history.

UConn last did this in 2016, and this yr’s Gamecocks team could also be the most surprising of the bunch. Coach Dawn Staley lost all five starters from last season’s team, which entered the Final Four undefeated before losing to Caitlin Clark and Iowa. Sunday afternoon’s opponent: Clark and her Iowa State teammates, standing between a title and a 38-0 record for the Gamecocks.

“Even though you look back on the undefeated season, I don’t feel like that because we played bad basketball and it made us feel like we lost,” Staley said. “It’s really hard to imagine that we’re undefeated because I do not feel it. As a training staff, we now have to pinch ourselves to even know that is true, because deep down we see our shortcomings day by day.

South Carolina had several scares throughout the season that might have ended an ideal season. The Gamecocks trailed at halftime during the regular season to Duke, LSU and Tennessee before winning. The biggest threat got here in the SEC Tournament semifinals, after they needed a last-second three-pointer from Kamilla Cardoso to beat Tennessee and maintain their perfect streak.

Nine historic teams South Carolina is trying to hitch:

1985–86 Texas

The Longhorns were the first to stay undefeated, ending with a 34-0 record. They averaged 83.9 points per game, and that was before the three-point line existed. Texas cruised through the tournament, winning its first two games by 41 and 26 points. The Longhorns had a scare in the regional final before moving on to the Final Four with a 35-point victory over Western Kentucky and a 16-point victory over USC to win the championship.

1994-95 UConn

It was the first of 11 husky championships. Geno Auriemma’s squad was led by AP Player of the Year Rebecca Lobo. She averaged 17.1 points, shooting 50% from the field. UConn won its tournament games by a mean of 25.3 points, and its closest game was against Virginia, which resulted in a four-loss loss.

The Huskies defeated Pat Summitt and Tennessee in the championship game.

1997-98 Tennessee

After losing to UConn in 1995, Tennessee won three straight titles. The most up-to-date was a 39-0 season during which Summitt’s team was led by the “Three Meeks” – Semeka Randall, Chamique Holdsclaw and Tamika Catchings. Holdsclaw won the first of her two straight AP Player of the Year awards. The Lady Vols ended their historic streak with a 93-75 victory over Louisiana Tech in the title game.

2001-02 UConn

It was the start of a run of three straight national championships for the Huskies. The team included five future pros: Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Swin Cash, Tamika Williams and Asjha Jones. Each quintet averaged over 10 points per game. They made it through the NCAA tournament with the only game that was 18 points short: a title win over Oklahoma.

2008-10 UConn

UConn had two straight undefeated seasons, a part of a 90-game winning streak that broke the UCLA men’s record for consecutive wins. The Huskies were led by a trio of stars: Maya Moore, Renee Montgomery and Tina Charles, who combined for a mean of over 50 points per game in 2009. The team’s closest match in the 2009 tournament was an eight-point second-round victory over Florida. In the title game, the Huskies defeated Louisville by 22 points. The perfect 2010 streak almost resulted in the title game when the Huskies trailed Stanford 20-12 at halftime before cruising to a 53-47 victory.

2011–12 Baylor

Brittney Griner led Baylor to its first undefeated season, and the school became the first to win 40 games. Griner had 160 blocks on the season and the Bears had nine Top 25 wins during the regular season. Griner and Odyssey Sims were the stars of the team that helped the Bears win the school’s second national championship. Griner recorded 4 double-doubles in the tournament, culminating in an 80-61 victory over Notre Dame in the title game.

2013-14 UConn

The Huskies had one other generation of stars who helped the team win 4 straight titles. This was the second game of the quartet, and UConn had a balanced attack led by Breanna Stewart, Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis and Stefanie Dolson.

This was their first season in the American Athletic Conference after the dissolution of the Big East. The latest conference presented little challenge for the huskies. UConn advanced through the NCAA before facing an undefeated Notre Dame team in the title game. The two former Big East rivals had never faced one another in a title game before, and UConn prevailed 79-58.

2015-16 UConn

It was the end of an era for UConn as Stewart capped off her historic profession by leading the Huskies to their fourth straight title and eleventh place overall. She won Final Four MVP honors for the fourth consecutive yr. She averaged 19.4 points and 8.4 rebounds, shooting almost 58% from the field. UConn has only had one game decided by lower than 10 points this season, and it beat Syracuse by 31 points in the title game.

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