Dawn Staley explains how this South Carolina team has kept her in the present

Dawn Staley and the South Carolina Gamecocks are a unique team in 2024. The No. 1 team in the country clinched the SEC regular season title with a 72-44 win over Alabama Thursday.

But this squad is a little different than others in the past for Staley. She simply said the team keeps her in the present.

What she means by that is she doesn’t always know what to expect from this group, since they’re young. But hey, South Carolina is a national title contender once again.

“This team keeps me present, it really does,” Staley said postgame. “It keeps me present like, how do we as coaches not get in the away but also continue to coach them up so they can play the right way? I think we’re always in a way honestly, I think we’re always in the way because we really can’t take our foot off the gas with them. They’re so young they’re so free, like free they’re free and sometimes free is wrong. They play free and sometimes it looks great and other times it’s just flat out wrong. 

“And the wrong part is what keeps us up, that keeps us like always on edge to see if this is going to be the team that we started out being in June. Like we’re still trying to look for that June team and they find a way to play above that time and time again.”

The Gamecocks improved to 26-0 with the win. In the victory over the Crimson Tide, Ashlyn Watkins led the way with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Bree Hall added 13 points and one rebound.

The other girls in double figures were Tessa Johnson with 12 and Sania Feagin with 10 points.

Dawn Staley addresses if South Carolina is an SEC dynasty

Staley went on record after winning her second national championship in 2022 saying that she isn’t ready to call South Carolina a dynasty despite making the Final Four in each of the last three seasons. The Gamecocks have more or less owned the SEC since the early 2010s. 

Despite these facts, Staley still isn’t budging on the dynasty conversation, even within the SEC. According to her, the Gamecocks are still chasing greatness.

“We’ve been pretty successful, like pretty successful,” Staley said postgame. “But I think Tennessee had a dynasty. I don’t know where we measure up to them. But unless we are doing things that they haven’t done consistently, you can’t really call it a dynasty especially because somebody else that reigns supreme in this conference.”