Ranked sixth in this season’s inaugural AP Poll and picked second in the SEC Media poll for the first time in nearly a decade, early skepticism around South Carolina’s status as the sport’s, or even the conference’s, best team now appears silly after a dominant opening 11-game stretch.
But now a bolder question beckons in Columbia: could this be the best NCAA women’s college basketball ever? As South Carolina concludes its non-conference slate next week, here are four reasons why the Gamecocks may cement themselves among the all-time greats this season.
Efficiency queens
Looking just at South Carolina’s flawless 11-0 record or its lofty margins of victory sells the Gamecocks’ strong start short, as they have been rolling quality opposition with often comical efficiency. In fact, entering Tuesday’s game against Bowling Green, South Carolina had compiled an adjusted efficiency margin of 64, per HerHoopStats. This laughable but statistically legitimate assertion suggests that South Carolina would outscore a median DI opponent by 64 points per 100 possessions, placing the Gamecocks into a stratosphere only reached by the cosmonauts over in Storrs,…
