NCAA women's basketball: Was a coin toss the best way to decide the fate of the No.1 seed in the SEC?

South Carolina and Texas both finished atop of the SEC, each with a 15-1 conference record. With the expansion of the SEC, teams played each other once, with the exception of meeting one team twice.

The dilemma of the situation is that the Longhorns and Gamecocks split their pair of games against each other, so the head-to-head rule couldn’t come into play. Instead, the fate of the SEC tournament’s No. 1 seed was determined via a coin flip.

On each side of the coin featured the logo of the two schools. SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey went live with the coin flip on the SEC Network. The coin landed on South Carolina, giving the Gamecocks the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament.

Now, while a coin flip is always fair and gives each team an equal chance, does this still mean it was the best way to determine the No.1 seed?

One thing that could be considered is in-conference stats such as points per game or scoring margin. If this was the case South Carolina would’ve easily found themselves at the top. Against SEC opponents the Gamecocks average 82.6 points per game as opposed to Texas’ 71.3, which is 10th in the conference. South Carolina also has the highest scoring margin at 23.2 compared to the Longhorns’ 14.5.

However, basketball is a two-sided game and defense is just as important as offense. Texas wins the defensive battle, holding opponents to 56.8 points per game, compared to the Gamecocks’ 57.9.

Sticking to the defensive side, the Longhorns have a higher turnover margin at 4.62 and force 17.75 turnovers per game. South Carolina has a 3.50 turnover margin, forcing 15.75 per game.

Something else that can be considered is how each team fared against the top teams in the SEC. For example, LSU, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama are all ranked in the top 25. How did Texas and South Carolina assert their dominance against these teams?

The Gamecocks escaped an upset and defeated Kentucky 78-66 in the last game of the regular season. The Longhorns defeated this same team 67-49 just a couple of weeks earlier.

South Carolina defeated Alabama by 18 points, but Texas won their match against the Tide by 44, holding Alabama to just 40 points.

The Longhorns beat Oklahoma 80-73 in an exciting Red River Rivalry matchup. The Gamecocks won their matchup with the Sooners by an astonishing score of 101-60.

Both played fairly even matches against LSU and Tennessee. Texas beat Tennessee 80-76 and South Carolina topped the Lady Vols 70-63. The Longhorns defeated LSU 65-58 compared to the Gamecocks 66-56 victory.

The final way to settle the debate on who earned the No. 1 seed in the SEC tournament is to compare how Texas and South Carolina performed against each other.

The teams first met on Jan. 12 and the Gamecocks earned a convincing 67-50 win for their eleventh victory in a row.

The Longhorns bounced back on Feb. 9 to defeat South Carolina 66-62, ending the Gamecocks 57-game SEC win streak.

If you look at the beginning of the season, South Carolina was the better team. However, Texas has not lost since it fell to the Gamecocks and is riding a 13-game win streak heading into the SEC tournament.

The Longhorns are also the No. 1 seed in the AP poll and have been projected as the top overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, which should’ve been enough for them to be dubbed as the No. 1 seed in the SEC tournament.

At the end of the day, only one team can win the SEC tournament and it doesn’t need to be the No. 1 seed. Texas and South Carolina will have a chance to prove they’re the best by taking home the SEC crown.

Gianna Dowling is a second-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact her, email gmd5738@psu.edu.