Dawn Staley on reaching Final Four: 'We beat the odds'
Dawn Staley is happy to “beat the odds.” The South Carolina women’s basketball coach has an undefeated squad that’s favored to win it all at this point.
South Carolina fell short of that goal last season. But Staley’s crew rallied and then some in 2024.
Referring to preseason odds on where the Gamecocks would finish, Staley said her team exceeded those outside expectations and aren’t done yet.
“Just proud. Just proud because we beat the odds,” Staley said. “The odds said that we weren’t — we shouldn’t make it back to the Final Four. Just proud of our team and for them believing in themselves. They created a certain level of chemistry and culture, and they stuck with it, and then they allowed us to coach them. They trusted us to coach them, even when it didn’t feel good to them personally at different times of the season.”
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Staley’s crew took care of Oregon State 70-58 in the Elite Eight to improve to 37-0 on the season.
“Then overall I just think that — I think God has a funny way of dealing with people, and I’m one of his, and for us to lose the way we lost last year and for him to bring us to this point today makes me believe a little bit deeper,” Staley said.
“The strength is my faith in who he is because — I don’t know what the Bible verse is, but I know that when you’re at your worst and your weakest moments, He’s at his best, and He started working on that the day that that buzzer sounded last year during this time. I’m proud of our team, and I don’t want to ever not give God the glory for giving us uncommon favor.”
Going into the Final Four, Staley actually enjoyed not just beating hte odds, but playing earlier so she could enjoy the growth of women’s basketball.
South Carolina will take on NC State, but got to watch LSU vs. Iowa and UConn vs. USC.
“I don’t know, but I like it. (Laughter). I really do. Like go ahead, take the spotlight, put it somewhere else. Let this team continue to thrive in the space that they’re given,” Staley said of South Carolina being perhaps under the radar this year. “Hopefully at the end of the day, next week this time, I’m hoping that we give a lot of people a lot to talk about.
“But it’s like that. I mean, I’m looking forward to tomorrow night’s game. Now that we’ve won, I’m going to sit back and I’m going to enjoy it like everybody else, like probably millions and millions of people are going to tune into that game. I’m going to be one of them. I don’t have Nielsen ratings in my house, but you can count me in, to watch the game tomorrow night.”