South Carolina women's basketball coach Dawn Staley on the Gamecocks: "Better than we were last year at this time"
During her media availability on Monday, South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley talked to reporters about her team ahead of the Gamecocks’ preseason exhibition on Tuesday against the Memphis Tigers.
The most notable quote from Staley’s brief time in front of a microphone has Carolina fans dreaming of another championship.
Coming off an undefeated title run, the Gamecock boss knew she would be asked to compare this year’s team to last year’s group. Her response, though, might surprise some. Coach Staley told the reporter scrum, “We’re better than we were last year at this time, I will say that. Just psychologically, having a better understanding of who we are and what’s our identity, we’re much better off. I mean, there’s some carryover from the success that we had last year. They knew what it took. It took a team full of players to get it done.”
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The feeling that this group is off to a better start than last year is one that has carried over into the preseason. When asked about how practice has been going, Staley quickly responded. “Great. I couldn’t be more pleased with the way they come in here and work.” She went on to say that the Gamecocks practiced less than 80 minutes on Monday. “That’s their norm,” she added.
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Despite the early “start” to the season, Staley believes her team’s offseason will have them ready to play Tuesday night. “They’ve been loose for a long time. They’re in character. I think they’re ready to go, ready to play someone other than our highlighters…this team is pretty tight. They really, really, really want the best for each other. They’re super unselfish, almost to a fault. [They also] really picked up where they left off. Hopefully, that magic carries us to another great season.”
Tuesday night’s matchup with Memphis is an exhibition for charity, and that is the most important thing. However, Coach Staley said the Gamecocks won’t be treating it as if the scoreboard doesn’t count. She explained, “We’re treating it as a game. We’ve got one, two opportunities to treat [an exhibition] like a real game. We like to simulate it and like to do it like we prep for a game, the way we want our players to prep for a game. We don’t get do-overs. And we certainly don’t get do-overs when we open the season with Michigan and NC State.”
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Freshman point guard Maddy McDaniel will not play against Memphis, and redshirt freshman center Adhel Tac might not, either. McDaniel had a surgical clean-up of some scar tissue in her knee, and Tac is finishing her rehab from her own knee injury. According to Staley, Tac is full-go at Gamecock practice but might not play a full load of minutes against Memphis. McDaniel should be ready for the start of the regular season.
You can watch Coach Staley’s entire conversation from practice below.
