DALLAS — The collection of players, seated at the scorer’s table, waiting patiently to enter the game, was enough to make any coach go mad with jealousy.
That is unless you’re the coach on the opposite sideline, being forced to contend with those four players after having already dealt with the South Carolina starters … and then you might just be plain old mad.
In Monday’s Elite Eight victory in Greenville, S.C., that coach happened to be Maryland’s Brenda Frese. And the four players waiting to check in for the Gamecocks were Raven Johnson, Bree Hall, Kamilla Cardoso and Laeticia Amihere.
All four are former five-star recruits. One is 6-7. Another is an Olympian.
The four combine for exactly seven starts at South Carolina.
On any other team, these players would be starters and stars, but at South Carolina, they’re the reserves. And they’re happy with it.
“It’s remarkable that you have so many players that are willing to sacrifice those minutes and come off the bench,” Frese said.
But it’s not so remarkable to those who are, in others’ eyes, sacrificing those minutes.
Ask Amihere, an Olympian with Team Canada, a potential first-round WNBA Draft pick and a player who has never averaged more than 18 minutes a game for the Gamecocks in four years: Is it better…
