CLEVELAND — As Dawn Staley stood in front of her team during a meeting the night before the national championship game, she took a swig of water and started coughing.
“Coach, are you going to cry?” a player called from the back of the room.
“No,” she said, then paused. “But if we win, I’ll probably be on Sunday.”
The team members laughed, but the assistants heard the sincerity of the statement. They’ve seen the burden Staley has shouldered this year as she adjusts to a younger, looser team. Teams that sometimes don’t respond to text messages or are late for meetings. This team is completely different than the one that graduated a season ago.
Staley jokingly referred to this season’s roster as a daycare center, something no one in the Gamecocks locker room really rejected. They wear it as a badge of honor with their own unique sense of humor. However, they won, won, won on the court as they chased their 10th undefeated season in women’s college basketball history.
With a minute left in the game and the coaches huddled on the sidelines, an 87-75 victory over Iowa State already sealed, the moment was just right and the national championship trophy almost added more momentum to their teams. Staley’s tears began to flow. They continued to fall as the minutes passed as she embraced her coaches and players. They continued as she knelt down to catch her breath during her postgame interview on the court. She didn’t try to stop them. She wants to process her emotions on the fly.
“I was so excited about last year’s finale,” Staley said. “It’s heavy, it’s heavy. You carry the weight of every player, all the coaches and staff who work so hard for our team. It’s a heavy burden to go undefeated and get things done. You change. Gotta be emotional because you just want to do it for them and you’re happy that you can do it — because there’s only one team that wins a national championship.”
Dawn Staley excited after South Carolina win 🥹
Led the Gamecocks to a perfect season 👏 pic.twitter.com/8oLjeIrgwM
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) April 7, 2024
Last year, Gamecocks were not like this one team. They’re probably the best team and the most talented team. South Carolina was ranked from the preseason through the entire tournament and was the overwhelming favorite to get the job done. But not the Gamecocks. They trailed Iowa State shockingly. This senior team is doing everything right as they compiled a 129-9 record in four seasons, losing just three games combined (by a combined seven points) during their junior and senior seasons. , however, they did not end their career with a victory. They failed like 350 other schools.
“Last year blew me away,” Staley said. “It shocked me.”
In Staley’s mind, that doesn’t quite count.
How could a team that did everything right not win a national championship? How could she not lead this group of players — players who never gave Staley a reason to complain or back down — across the finish line? How could Staley’s once-best team not win a championship?
“I think that’s what drives her,” assistant coach Lisa Boyer said. “We still talk about the fact that we didn’t get through it with that group of guys. They were extremely talented and a very strong group. … It’s hard to understand.”
As this season begins, Staley is continuing to process the end of last season. A team that features five new starters. Transferring from Oregon. No one averages more than 20 minutes per game, and no player has made more than three career starts. In many ways, this is a departure from her work last season.
Staley always talks about the look, sound and feel of the team. And this? It’s loud and silly. Staley said the players didn’t talk about anything in particular. This isn’t just different from last year’s group. They were unlike any other team she had ever had. Not only in some of their game mechanics on the court, but especially off the court.
In staff meetings, they are using words like “pivot” and “meet them where they are” more than ever. Staley talked about how, with a team this young, coaches need to be both coaches and captains to some degree. It’s more work, more energy. They were building the plane as it taxied down the runway.
“If we keep that attitude with the new guys,” assistant coach Jolette Law said, “it’s not going to work.”
“It’s push and pull, but the standards remain the same,” Boyer added. “You have to compromise with them.”
This push and pull means players are aware of shooting three-pointers in transition. (“When have you ever seen Dwayne Staley hit a 3-pointer in transition?” said former player and assistant coach Hadija Sessions. “Never.”) That meant the day before the game was canceled. No phone calls at night. That means giving players four days off after the SEC Championship Game. “She said, ‘Guys, this is what they need. They need space. They need to recharge themselves,'” Law said. “It’s just being able to understand the makeup and feel of what we have.”
deeper
Dawn Staley “is Philly”: Stories from the city that loved her
Brihall Jr. said she didn’t really realize how well Staley would fit in until the Gamecocks moved to North Carolina and Duke a month into the season. At a team dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, Hall asked Ariana Moore, the team’s director of basketball operations, if she and other players could order cheesecake for dessert.
“The past two years, when someone said, ‘You can ask the coach,’ it meant, ‘Don’t ask,'” Hall said. “Don’t even bother.”
But Hall did. Staley relented. The players got their cheesecake.
Amid the confetti and tears, these were perfect testaments: phone calls, days off, space, rechargeable batteries, cheesecake. This is the best evidence that Staley’s coaching career, now 2.5 years old, is far from over. These tears are testament to the weight she has carried this year, testing her every day.
“This is probably the first time in my career that a team has more endurance in certain areas. It’s like I can’t train their endurance,” Staley said. “So I’ve learned not to fight certain battles. It’s not a battle of core values, not the core principles of who we are and who I represent, but their identity, and they play it loose. They play it for free.”
Dawn Staley feels this way too💃
🎥 @yahoosportspic.twitter.com/1cUnegLyop
— The Athletic WBB (@TheAthleticWBB) April 7, 2024
A year ago, after the team had done well for four seasons, the journey didn’t end in celebration. A year ago, it didn’t end with the trophy being lifted and the net slung over Staley’s shoulders. But on Sunday, she climbed the ladder after a very different journey than before, and in many ways a more difficult one. It’s one that includes more transitions and adjustments, daily tests, and reflections on last season’s finale that shook her to her core. The sights, sounds and feel are completely different this year, and so is the ending.In many ways, Staley’s own sights, sounds, and feelings are different because This year’s.
Gamecocks may not do everything right, and they may not even come close, but they are something rarer: they are perfect.
(Photo: Gregory Shams/Getty Images)
