Five takeaways from the non-conference schedule

South Carolina released its nonconference schedule on Friday. Here are five takeaways from the schedule.

The schedule is not as challenging as last season
Last season, South Carolina scheduled nonconference games against teams ranked second, fifth, eighth, ninth, and 11th in the preseason AP Poll. Using the final AP Poll, there were games against teams ranked first, third, sixth, seventh, ninth, and 25th. Eight nonconference opponents made the NCAA tournament.

That’s just the non-conference schedule. It doesn’t include SEC opponents.

Dawn Staley likes a challenging schedule, but she admitted that the schedule ended up being more difficult than she prefers. The pendulum has swung back in the other direction this season.

But it isn’t easy
The new opponents announced on Friday lacked star power, but that was because the biggest games had already been announced. South Carolina has games scheduled against seven opponents that made the 2025 NCAA Tournament.

The Gamecocks will play opponents ranked third or fourth, fifth, and seventh in the final 2024-25 AP Poll. Using preseason power rankings, there are opponents ranked fourth or fifth, eighth, and 20th by The Athletic or third or fourth, eighth, 17th, and 19th (ESPN).

It’s a drop-off from last season, for sure, but there are some additional things to consider. None of those games is at home, which adds to the strength of schedule. Also, the game against Southern Cal in Los Angeles would have been a top-five matchup – and possibly a 1-vs-2, if Juju Watkins hadn’t torn her ACL.

When last season’s NCAA tournament seeds were announced and South Carolina was only the second overall seed, Staley said if the NCAA wasn’t going to reward the Gamecocks’ strength of schedule, she would reevaluate the way she scheduled.

The SEC schedule will make up for any perceived weakness in the schedule. SEC teams were ranked fourth, eighth, 11th, 15th, 16th, 17th, and 20th in the final AP Poll. They are ranked third, fifth, sixth, seventh, 18th, and 21st in The Athletic’s power rankings, with two more just outside the top 25. ESPN had SEC teams ranked fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, 11th, and 13th, plus one more just outside the rankings.

It looks like a usual schedule except for one thing
There are some elite opponents like Duke and UCLA or Texas, a tough ACC/SEC Challenge game against Louisville, and a marquee series against Southern Cal.

There are the usual games against mid-majors that South Carolina is likely to face in the second round of the NCAA tournament in Grand Canyon, USF, and Florida Gulf Coast.

There are a couple of games against HBCUs (NC Central and Coppin State), and a pair of local guarantee games (Winthrop and Queens, since Charlotte is a suburb of Rock Hill).

What’s missing is the huge home game. Providence is in the bottom half of the Big East, and Penn State is a Big Ten team in name only. There’s no UConn, Duke, UCLA, Maryland, or Stanford, all teams that have played in Columbia in the past five years.

The best nonconference opponent visiting Columbia this year is either Grand Canyon or Clemson. That doesn’t move the needle, unfortunately.

Traditional Power 2 home-and-homes are on the decline
They aren’t dead. Around the country, there are home-and-homes featuring Southern Cal, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Tennessee, and others.

But most of those involve UConn, which, as a Power 2 program in a mid-major conference, has to schedule tough to make up for a weak conference. 

Home-and-homes are being replaced by neutral-site games that can provide NIL opportunities for players. Staley mentioned this trend in her appearance on Michelle Obama’s podcast last week.

“We play games for money, and that money goes directly to our players,” she said. “Things like that now, we have to go away from our home. We’ve got to give up home games and play a lot of games on neutral sites in order for us to do that. But to stay in this space and to be competitive, you have to do some out-of-the-box things.”

What’s the deal with Coppin State?
The biggest surprise on the schedule is undoubtedly the Coppin State game. Not only is South Carolina going to Baltimore to play the Eagles, but the game is on January 18. That means South Carolina loses the conference bye that it got back by ending the UConn series. 

Last season, when Coppin State came to Columbia, Staley warned us that there was a return game. We just didn’t believe it. We don’t know why she wanted to play in January, but it had to be her call.

As for the location, would it surprise you to learn that two of the top five recruits in Rivals’ 2027 class (#2 Ivanna Wilson-Manyacka and #4 Jezelle Banks) are from the Baltimore area? And the Gamecocks are recruiting both?

Non-conference schedule
Date – Opponent/Record/Postseason
November 3 – Grand Canyon 32-3 (16-0 WAC) NCAA First Round (13 seed)
November 7 – Bowling Green 18-13 (11-7 MAC)
November 11 – Clemson 14-17 (6-12 ACC)
November 15 – vs. Southern Cal 31-4 (17-1 Big Ten) Elite Eight (1 seed)
November 19 – Winthrop 14-15 (8-8 Big South)
November 23 – Queens 10-19 (4-14 ASUN) (entering 4th season as D1)
November 26 – vs. Duke (29-8 (14-4 ACC), Elite Eight (2 seed)
November 27 – vs. UCLA/Texas 34-3 (16-2 Big Ten), Final Four (1 Seed)/35-4 (15-1 SEC) Final Four (1 seed)
December 4 – at Louisville (ACC/SEC Challenge) 22-11 (13-5 ACC) NCAA Second Round (7 seed)
December 7 – NC Central 9-21 (6-8 MEAC)
December 14 – Penn State 10-19 (1-17 Big Ten)
December 18 – at USF 23-11 (13-4 AAC) NCAA First Round (12 seed)
December 20 – at Florida Gulf Coast 30-4 (18-0 ASUN) NCAA First Round (14 seed)
December 28 – Providence 13-19 (6-12 Big East)
January 18 – at Coppin State 19-15 (8-6 MEAC)

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