South Carolina women's basketball: Championship notebook
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- We knew rebounding would be a key: South Carolina dominated UConn on the glass in the Bahamas. South Carolina really crashed the glass at the start. South Carolina grabbed nine of the first 10 rebounds, including five offensive boards. That level of dominance didn’t last, but South Carolina still doubled up UConn on the glass.
- Geno Auriemma pointed out that offensive rebounds often lead to fouls. Free throw shooting might have been even more lopsided than rebounding. South Carolina was 17-26 from the line. UConn was 1-4.
- Hot take: Can Geno Auriemma win the big one? He’s 1-5 in his last six Final Four games. (That’s a joke.)
- Staley was asked who she was wearing. “What?” “That’s what they say to people on the red carpet, who are you wearing?” “Oh… Louis Vuitton.”
- South Carolina is the 13th team to go wire-to-wire ranked no. 1 and 12th to win the national championship.
- With the win, Staley earned $655,000 in bonuses this season. That’s in addition to her $2.9 million base salary.
- Staley believes the 2022 team is her best Gamecocks team. “I do think this is our best team, just the roster from top to bottom, the commitment to their roles. And then you’ve got to go back to last year, like no other team have played in back-to-back Final Fours. No other team has been the No. 1 team in the country from beginning to the end and then win the National Championship. Then they can defend. This team can really, really defend. I think we’re an elite defensive team. That’s the separator from my other teams.”
- Staley would not commit to getting another dog for this championship. She got Champ following the 2017 title, but said Champ doesn’t get along well with other dogs. If she does get a dog its name will be “Natty.”