Dawn Staley created South Carolina’s perfect championship season out of last year’s loss

Date:

CLEVELAND — As Dawn Staley stood before her team during a meeting a night before the national championship game, she took a swig of water and began to cough.

“You about to cry, Coach?” a player called from the back of the room.

“No,” she said and then paused. “But I might on Sunday if we win.”

The players laughed, but her assistants sensed sincerity with those words. They’ve seen the burden Staley has carried this year as she has adjusted to a team that’s younger and looser. A team that sometimes wouldn’t respond to text messages or would show up late to meetings. A team that is so unlike the group that graduated a season ago.

Staley has jokingly referred to this season’s roster as a day care, and no one in the Gamecocks locker room really rebuffs that point. They wear it as a badge of honor with their own unique sense of humor. And yet, they won and won and won on the floor as they chased just the 10th undefeated season in women’s college basketball history.

The coaches huddled on the sideline with a minute to go, with the 87-75 win over Iowa assured, the clock just performative at this point and the national championship trophy all but added to their growing case. Staley’s tears began to fall. They continued to fall as she embraced her coaches and…

Read more…

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Share post:

Latest News

More like this
Related

FIBA: Ify Okoro on how Nigeria made history at the 2024 Olympics

Swish Appeal quickly caught up with Ify...

Gabby Williams practices, says return to Storm feels ‘like home’

Kevin Pelton, ESPN Senior WriterAug 23, 2024, 05:55 PM...

Top WNBA Teams Play in Weekend Race to the Playoffs

The Connecticut Sun earned...

Big 12 renewing discussions about adding UConn, longtime expansion target: Sources

Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark has renewed his pursuit...