South Carolina's pursuit of perfection and back-to-back NCAA titles

More than a year has passed since the South Carolina women's college basketball team has lost. Can the Gamecocks go undefeated the rest of the 2022-23 season?

South Carolina is six victories from becoming the 10th team in NCAA Division I women's basketball history to run the table to win the national title — and the first team since UConn in 2015 and 2016 to win back-to-back championships. Breanna Stewart and UConn put together the last perfect season, going 38-0 in 2016.

South Carolina, which is projected to be the No. 1 overall seed when the NCAA tournament bracket is revealed on Selection Sunday (8 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN App), improved to 32-0 on Sunday as it won the SEC conference tournament final. That's the game that tripped up the Gamecocks last season, when Kentucky upset South Carolina in the SEC title game on March 6, 2022.

After that loss, South Carolina won six consecutive games to clinch its second NCAA championship. And the Gamecocks — led by reigning national player of the year Aliyah Boston and leading scorer Zia Cooke, who start alongside three other seniors — haven't fallen since. South Carolina has won 19 consecutive games against AP-ranked opponents.

We're tracking South Carolina's perfect run, examining how the Gamecocks compare to the previous nine undefeated women's national champions and revisiting perfect teams of the past.

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South Carolina's calling cards this season have been defense, rebounding and depth, strengths of many unbeaten teams of the past. ESPN's M.A. Voepel explains how the Gamecocks remind him of the 1986 Texas Longhorns team that became the first NCAA squad to go undefeated. Alexa Philippou dissects what stands out statistically about South Carolina compared