South Carolina, the No. 1 seed in its region, returned many players from last year’s title team but dropped three games this season, including a November road loss to UCLA that snapped a 43-game winning streak. The Gamecocks also suffered defeats to Texas and UConn in February, the latter ending their 71-game home winning streak.

Chavez, who had narrowed her options down to South Carolina, Texas Tech, Texas, LSU, Oklahoma and UCLA, ultimately decided not to join forces with the reigning champions. Instead, she shared why she chose Oklahoma: "They have great coaches-a great playing style-they match how I want to play,

South Carolina’s women’s basketball head coach, Dawn Staley is clearly one of the elite coaches in the sport. In 16 seasons as the leader of the Gamecocks women’s team, she has won three national championships and has led them to six final four appearances in the last nine years.