Dawn Staley wasn’t one to bite her tongue, and she wasn’t about to start now. South Carolina Gamecocks earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA women’s tournament, but not the No. 1 overall seed. That honor went to UCLA. And Staley? She wasn’t thrilled. “Obviously, it’s disappointing,” she said. “We built a schedule that should produce the top seed.” She wasn’t alone in the debate. Across the world of college sports, coaches have opinions on how No. 1 seeds are decided. Even LSU gymnastics coach Jay Clark had something to say!

Jay Clark didn’t dismiss Dawn Staley’s frustration outright, but he admitted he wasn’t sure how much it really mattered. Reflecting on the seeding debate, the LSU gymnastics coach acknowledged that while rankings generate discussion, they don’t always translate into a real advantage. “How much good did it do Dawn Staley to complain about it? Probably not a lot,” Clark admitted at the LSU press conference on 17th March when asked about how much the No. 1 seed mattered following Staley’s remark. “I really, well, I generally try not to concern myself with it,” Clark said. “I don’t know. I think mathematically, it’s probably still possible, but look—Oklahoma should be number one. They’ve been the most consistent team from start to finish.”

LSU gymnastics coach. Clark’s stance was rooted in numbers. Oklahoma led the National Qualifying Score (NQS) rankings at 198.040, just ahead of LSU’s 198.005. But for Clark, consistency mattered more than anything. “It took us a while. Like we mentioned the Arkansas meet—they didn’t have one of those. So as far as I’m concerned, they are the number one seed,” he said.

That Arkansas meet, where LSU fell 196.600-196.875 on Jan. 24, was the Tigers’ lowest-scoring outing of the season. Meanwhile, Oklahoma never dropped below 197.550, which reinforces Clark’s point. “When you start out going 197.7 or 197.8 or whatever it was, and you never really miss a beat and continue to climb—that consistency is part of the deal,” he explained.

That steady improvement was evident for LSU, too. The Tigers went from a 197.300 season-opening win over Iowa State to a season-high 198.575 performance against Georgia. Their seven SEC wins helped them secure a share of the 2025 SEC Regular Season Title, their first since 2018. “We’ve been increasingly more and more consistent, and our scoring potential has gone up dramatically as we’ve progressed,” Clark said. “But as far as I’m concerned, they are the number one seed.”

Still, he wasn’t too caught up in the debate. “We’ll be a number one seed at a regional site, which means we’ll have the same draw as the other three number one seeds,” Clark noted. At the end of the day, he knew what really mattered: performance in the postseason. “And really, it doesn’t make much of a difference to me,” he said. “Look, you’ve got to go through everybody if you want to accomplish whatever your end goals are. While Clark kept a level-headed approach, Dawn Staley wasn’t nearly as indifferent

Dawn Staley sounds off after the no. 1 seed snub

For the first time since 2021, South Carolina isn’t the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Women’s Tournament. And Dawn Staley isn’t happy about it. “Obviously, it’s disappointing. It really is,” Staley said, per Matt Dowell on X. “I’d like to get some feedback on how they came to that conclusion.”

The Gamecocks, a program that has been a powerhouse under Staley, finished the season 30-3. They played 15 games against ranked opponents, had the most Quad 1 wins (16), and led the nation in combined Quad 1 and Quad 2 victories. Yet, when Selection Sunday rolled around, it was UCLA, not South Carolina, taking the top overall spot. So, what happened?

NCAA Selection Committee chair Derita Dawkins pointed to two key factors: UCLA’s head-to-head win over South Carolina (77-62 in November) and the Gamecocks’ 29-point loss to UConn. But Staley wasn’t buying that reasoning. “If having more Quad 1 wins doesn’t supersede some of the hiccups that we had during the season, I don’t know what will,” she said on ESPN’s Selection Sunday special. “If you do a blind test and put our résumé against any other team in the field? I think you’ll pick us. That’s just plain and simple.”

South Carolina’s dominance is undeniable, and the Gamecocks have been a No. 1 seed five years in a row, had COVID not disrupted the 2019-20 season, that streak would be six. Yet, as Staley put it, “If that’s the standard, then we can play any schedule and get a No. 1 seed.”