No. 9 LSU women's basketball and No. 1 South Carolina took center stage for what easily felt like an NCAA Tournament game, possibly even a Final Four-esque type contest Thursday night inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

The Tigers (18-3, 5-2 SEC) gave the undefeated Gamecocks (18-0, 6-0) their best shot, but the upset bid fell short, 76-70, in front of a raucous, standing-room only crowd.

While Kim Mulkey and LSU have suffered three losses this season, if there's a silver lining to the defeat to the Gamecocks, it's that it was against the No. 1 team in the country and LSU looked its best during the regular season.

To that point, the Tigers' projected seeding in the NCAA Tournament was not affected by the loss to South Carolina.

The final month of the regular season draws near and as it arrives, let's take a peek at the latest NCAA Tourney projections for LSU.

ESPN: 3 seed (Portland 2)

ESPN women's basketball bracketologist Charlie Creme kept LSU on the 3-line in the Portland 2 region in his updated projections Friday morning. The Tigers would open against No. 14 Chattanooga and would face the winner of No. 6 West Virginia and No. 11 Miami in Baton Rouge. In Creme's bracket, LSU could matchup with UConn in the Sweet Sixteen in Portland.

HerHoopsStats: 4 seed (Albany 4)

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LSU FALLS SHORT OF SOUTH CAROLINA UPSET LSU women's basketball gave South Carolina all it could handle, but upset bid falls short

Megan Gauer's latest NCAA Tournament projections were released prior to the LSU-South Carolina game but the result shouldn't change her outlook for the Tigers. Gauer has LSU in the Albany 4 region as the 4-seed, playing No. 13 Toledo in the first round and then meeting the winner of No. 5 Notre Dame-No. 12 Middle Tennessee in round two. A possible NCAA championship rematch with No. 1 Iowa would be on tap in the Sweet Sixteen.

Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers and Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers and Cajuns coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU/UL athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Where LSU women's basketball stands in NCAA Tournament projections