After getting 'smacked' by UCLA, Dawn Staley and powerhouse South Carolina look toward future and how they'll regroup
· Yahoo Sports
PHOENIX — If there were ever more definitive proof that South Carolina is the program atop the basketball universe, it’s that they’re now saying the same things as Connecticut in the decades before them.
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“We do feel the pressure,” head coach Dawn Staley said. “We're used to winning and we're used to winning at a pretty high clip. How long you sustain that? We don't know. We just try to wake up every day and just be better than we were the day before.”
They weren’t better than they were on Friday, and it cost them in a second consecutive NCAA championship game. The Gamecocks were largely uncompetitive in a 79-51 loss to UCLA at Mortgage Matchup Arena in Phoenix on Sunday, delivering the Bruins the first NCAA championship in program history. They also won an AIAW title in 1978.
To reach this far and falter is significantly short of the South Carolina standard. The Gamecocks are not used to losing. They entered the game 206-15 over the last six years, all of which ended in the Final Four. They have two titles in that span, joining the program’s first championship win in 2017.
Unlike UCLA, South Carolina isn't losing a handful of star seniors, with Joyce Edwards (left) and Tessa Johnson (right) among the potential returnees. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)Sarah Stier via Getty Images“To get here is hard,” Staley said. “To win here is harder, right? We just have to keep getting here and make adjustments when we don't win. Obviously we got smacked today. We got to figure out how we smack back and put ourselves in the position where we're hoisting the trophy at the end of the day.”
It is more probable to lose back-to-back championship games than to win them. The Gamecocks are now the seventh to do so, failing to join legendary programs Tennessee and UConn by winning a third title in a five-year span. They are tied with three titles for third all-time behind Tennessee's eight, helmed by Pat Summitt, and UConn’s 12 with Geno Auriemma.
Of the 12 times a team has defeated UConn in the semis, only three have won championships. Both were their rivals. (Notre Dame in 2001 and 2018, and Tennessee in 1996.)
“There are too many great teams out here, too many great players and coaches that decrease your chances of winning national championships,” Staley said.
Staley continuously reloads with elite talent and puts the pieces together even in what look to outsiders like down years. She won her last title in 2024 with the daycare group that went undefeated, after graduating the “Freshies” class, led by WNBA All-Star Aliyah Boston.
She’ll now need to shore up the backcourt. Losing Raven Johnson, the head of the “seatbelt gang” defense who became a rare guard to win SEC Defensive Player of the Year, is a large task. She also developed into the most trustworthy late-game ball handler and an offensive threat. It wasn’t her day against UCLA (1 of 7), though she came off a standout defensive performance shutting down UConn’s Sarah Strong, who had a size advantage, and Azzi Fudd.
Ta’Niya Latson, the transfer who sacrificed being the Division I leading scorer at Florida State for a potential championship, fell short and missed shots she should have made on the largest stage. She’ll also head off to the WNBA Draft next week, where she’s a projected first-round pick.
“Obviously, we got to add some guard play, definitely some lead guard play, some more athleticism in the guard department,” Staley said. “I think our front line is pretty good, especially the ones that are coming back from injury, coming back to our team. We got to add some guard play.”
Staley will, unless players decide otherwise, return leading scorer Joyce Edwards, forward Madina Okot, developing 3-point shooting big Agot Makeer, and midseason international addition Alicia Tournebize. Tessa Johnson, whose “Tournament Tessa” moniker showed through a team-high 14 points, will also be a potential returnee.
The transfer portal will open on Monday for Staley to pilfer, an advantage those UConn teams never had in the height of their championships. It’s also a disadvantage. Anyone can grab a leading scorer or an experienced player to fill a gap, making such consistent runs to the top as difficult as Staley said.
That’s how UCLA built its title brick by brick, though it, too, faces a major offseason climb. All six of the Bruins’ top players were seniors. UConn will be the favored Final Four contender, while Texas loses fifth-year point guard Rori Harmon and center Kyla Oldacre, among other graduations.
The rehaul model is also how TCU continues to battle into the Elite Eight season after season. And why any other Sweet 16-level contender could turn into a Final Four one quickly. Notre Dame, which returns senior-to-be Hannah Hidalgo, will jump into that group.
And Vanderbilt, with its National Player of the Year contender Mikayla Blakes, rising sophomore point guard Aubrey Galvan and Coach of the Year Shea Ralph, is ready to take the SEC for its own.
“The trick is to continue to get here,” Staley said. “The more you get here, the more you increase your chances of winning. So we got a lot of work cut out for us.”