When the final buzzer sounded on South Carolina’s Final Four loss to Iowa in Dallas last year, questions and skepticism about the program’s future flooded in.
“How will the Gamecocks replace all five players from the program’s formative 2019 No. 1 recruiting class?”
“Will they be able to re-create that same level of success?”
“Will South Carolina ever become a dynasty similar to the likes of Tennessee and UConn?”
Coach Dawn Staley provided the answer to all three questions in definitive fashion. She led her team, composed of an entirely new starting lineup, to a 32-0 finish.
“There will never be another team like the team that we had,” Staley told ESPN in her postgame interview last year. “Not at South Carolina, I’m talking about in women’s basketball in general. The senior class, the selflessness that they provided to the women’s basketball community will never be duplicated.”
Staley’s point stands in one sense.
Yes, her starting five of seniors led by Aliyah Boston can’t be perfectly matched. Their impact on women’s basketball will be an example to others but never will be mirrored exactly.
Her 2024 class, however, did manage to replicate that success and is looking to build upon it by becoming the 10th team to complete an undefeated campaign en route to an NCAA title.
“I really don’t think about being undefeated,” Staley said to the media on Selection Sunday. “I think more about being the No. 1 overall seed because it’s a really hard place to be. It means you’ve played a really tough schedule, you’ve been successful and you’ve done something right for a majority of the season.
“For it to be us with the team that came into this season with so many holes and so many unknowns, I’m really proud they were able to get us back here.”
This week, Staley was named USBWA coach of the year for the fourth time in the last five years.
The sheer volume of her coaching awards speaks to her talent on the sidelines. What she was able to bring out of her roster this year says even more.
Among the seven players South Carolina lost to graduation were Boston, the 2023 WNBA Rookie of the Year, Los Angeles Sparks guard Zia Cooke, Atlanta Dream forward Laeticia Amihere and the 24th overall pick in the 2023 WNBA Draft, Brea Beal.
The Gamecocks entered the season with just one player who had starting experience aside from fifth-year transfer guard Te-Hina Paopao. The unknowns contributed to South Carolina being ranked sixth in the AP’s preseason poll.
By Week 2, the Gamecocks had jumped five spots and moved into No. 1 after beating top-10 Notre Dame in their season opener played in Paris. Staley’s team resided at No. 1 for the next 18 weeks as it marched toward back-to-back undefeated seasons.
Depth has been the Gamecocks’ best attribute with three players averaging double figures in scoring: Paopao, true freshman guard Milaysia Fulwiley and senior center Kamilla Cardoso.
Fulwiley exploded onto the college scene, scoring 17 points in her NCAA debut. Her consistency since has been pivotal in the Gamecocks’ success. In South Carolina’s SEC Championship victory against LSU, she scored 24 points.
Dynasty is not an identifier handed out lightly.
UConn has 11 national championships, including four in a row from 2013-2016, including two that came as part of an 111-game winning streak.
Tennessee is the only team to have appeared in all 42 NCAA Tournaments, winning eight titles in that time.
Staley was hired by South Carolina in 2008. Since then, she has had only two losing seasons (2009 and 2010) and missed the tournament just three times (2009-2011). She led them to their first NCAA title in 2017 with two-time WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson leading the way. In 2022, the Gamecocks won their second.
South Carolina needs to work to be categorized as a dynasty. As long as Staley is leading the program, it appears time is the only thing standing in the way.