Dawn Staley shares strong take on future of women's college basketball
Arguably the two biggest stars in women’s college basketball moved on to the WNBA after last season in Iowa guard Caitlin Clark and LSU forward Angel Reese. However, Dawn Staley believes the future of the sport is still in very good hands.
Staley doesn’t agree with any of the speculation that the sport will not be as popular moving forward.
“The game isn’t going anywhere. The game has been great for a very long time,” Dawn Staley recently told TMZ.
Staley believes that there are plenty of stars left in the sport and that if they are showcased correctly, women’s college basketball will continue to thrive. She believes the sport would have had excellent TV ratings earlier if it was shown regularly on TV.
Instead, it took Caitlin Clark for women’s college basketball to start being showcased properly, per Staley.
“I think that the decision makers and the people that pour the resources into our game decided to do that. And they decided to do it with a person like Caitlin Clark, who deserved it,” Staley said.
Even with Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese no longer in women’s college basketball, plenty of other stars remain. In fact, Staley has one on her own team.
“Now there’s some stars, now. I’ve got one of them. I coach one – Malaysia Fulwiley. You’ve got JuJu [Watkins]. JuJu’s balling. You’ve got Hannah Hidalgo at Notre Dame,” Staley said. “You have a lot of household names. Young names that our game can sustain itself if you pour in the type of resources that you poured in over the past two years.”
Whether it’s to watch Fulwiley, Watkins, Hidalgo or someone else in 2024-25, Staley expects plenty of eyeballs to once again be on women’s college basketball.
Her South Carolina team lost Kamilla Cardoso off of last year’s national title team but returns just about everyone else.
“I think women’s basketball is in a great place where not just that we’re in high demand, the people want to see, the people want to follow the stars of our game. They want to know what they’re doing. They want them to be on every time they play a game,” Dawn Staley said. “So it ain’t on us. The talent’s there. The recognition is there. The demand is there. It’s time for the decision makers to decide women’s basketball is going to be on national television.”
Games were readily available for viewing last year. Staley is hopeful they will be again this year, too.