How South Carolina women's basketball, Dawn Staley can finish regular season undefeated

COLUMBIA -- South Carolina women's basketball released its full non-conference schedule Friday, and the reigning national champions will test themselves against the best in the country long before the NCAA tournament.

The Gamecocks face 11 2022 tournament qualifiers and six WNIT qualifiers this year, including the reigning champion South Dakota State on Dec. 15.

Here's a look at South Carolina's regular-season path to repeating as national champions:

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Renewed rivalries — but no Oregon

Until last season, it had been a decade since South Carolina and Stanford faced off in the regular season. In 2012-13, the Gamecocks lost 53-49, but they beat the Cardinal 65-61 in 2021.

There is also postseason history between the two teams: Stanford beat South Carolina in the Final Four en route to winning the 2021 NCAA championship. The Gamecocks are 2-6 all time against Tara VanDerveer's team.

The Gamecocks were expected to play a home-and-home series with Oregon starting in 2022-23, but the Ducks are not scheduled this season. South Carolina told The Greenville News that the teams were in discussions in June, but no contract was signed.

South Carolina and Oregon had games scheduled in 2020 and 2021, but both were canceled because of COVID-19 and its impact on scheduling. They met during the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in the Bahamas last season with USC winning 80-63.

A brutal November with BYU, Clemson, more on the schedule

Dawn Staley didn't leave her team any room for growing pains with this schedule, placing some of the toughest matchups in the first month of the season.

After opening with an exhibition game against an easy opponent in Benedict on Oct. 31, the Gamecocks jump straight into BYU on Nov. 7. The Cougars finished No. 19 in the USA TODAY Sports/WBCA Coaches' Poll and earned a six seed in the 2022 NCAA tournament. They then travel to Maryland on Nov. 11 and in-state rival Clemson on Nov. 17.

The West Coast battles are also scheduled early. The Gamecocks head to California to face Stanford in arguably the best game of the season Nov. 20, and UCLA comes to Columbia on Nov. 29.

What to expect from UConn

When the rivals meet in Connecticut on Feb. 5, USC will be a clear favorite. Paige Bueckers is out for the season with a torn ACL, but the Huskies won plenty of games last season when their star was sidelined by another knee injury.

The Gamecocks canceled their regular-season game with UConn in 2022 after COVID-19 outbreaks left the Gamecocks with several SEC games to make up late in the season. The teams eventually met in the national championship game, which South Carolina dominated 64-49. Expect a similar result in this year's matchup, which provides a good test for USC heading into March.

SEC heats up in February

South Carolina went 15-1 in the SEC last year, dropping only a one-point loss to Missouri in its first game after the winter holiday break.

The Gamecocks have stacked all of their hardest conference opponents at the end of the season in 2023, which could prepare them for the tournament — or send the team in tired and banged up.

The lineup begins Feb. 12 with LSU, which reached the second round of the NCAA tournament last year in coach Kim Mulkey's first season. The Tigers should be even stronger this year with several elite players joining the team from the transfer portal.

South Carolina faces Florida on Feb. 16 and Ole Miss on Feb. 19, both of which reached the NCAA tournament in 2022. The Gamecocks then head to Tennessee on Feb. 23. The Lady Vols are a 2022 Sweet 16 team that also added major talent out of the transfer portal and returns most of last season's key starters. Georgia, another tournament qualifier, caps off the regular season.

Best case/worst case scenario for Gamecocks

The best-case scenario for South Carolina is nothing less than an undefeated season. There isn't one bad matchup for the Gamecocks this year with Aliyah Boston and Zia Cooke on the court.

Even the worst case likely places USC at the top of the regular-season SEC standings and as a top seed in the NCAA tournament. The Gamecocks drop one or two of the challenging road matchups against Stanford, UConn or Maryland and lose at least one of the late SEC games — likely to Tennessee in Knoxville. At worst, this is a four- to five-loss team.

Contact Emily Adams at eaadams@gannett.com or on Twitter @eaadams6.

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: South Carolina women's basketball: 2022-2023 schedule breakdown