South Carolina women's basketball: Grooming greatness - How Dawn Staley uses tough love to make MiLaysia Fulwiley elite
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From the moment MiLaysia Fulwiley signed with South Carolina, Dawn Staley has publicly labeled the local star a generational talent. But with generational talent comes some hard coaching.
It happened with A’ja Wilson, another hometown star. When Wilson won SEC defensive player of the year, Staley was unimpressed, saying, “I wouldn’t have voted for her.” That refusal to accept mediocrity helped make Wilson the best player in the world (suspicious MVP votes be damned). Now Staley has her focus on Fulwiley.
Fulwiley became a viral sensation with her behind-the-back layup against Notre Dame, and her every move draws breathless anticipation. Staley doesn’t care. When Fulwiley messed up a couple of defensive assignments and gave up two open threes against North Carolina, Staley benched her for the rest of the game.
It was a page out of Staley’s personal history, but not as a coach. She recalled how as a player, after being cut from the 1992 Olympic team, coach Tara VanDerveer gave her some tough coaching.
“If the Olympic Committee needed a point guard, do you think I would recommend you?” Staley recalled VanDerveer asking her. Staley assumed the answer was yes. “‘No, I wouldn’t. You turn the ball over too much.’ That’s hard to swallow, but I got it. Message heard. If I didn’t have instances like that, I wouldn’t be a three-time Olympian.”
Staley needed to be challenged.
“It’s all growing pains,” Staley said. “It’s all stuff to make you uncomfortable. You ain’t gotta like it, but you certainly have to do something about it. That’s going to help your cause.”
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That’s why, after Fulwiley played only three minutes at North Carolina, Staley assured everyone, “She’ll know exactly why she didn’t get extended minutes.”
Staley’s tough coaching is balanced with praise. Fulwiley has said that Staley constantly tells her how good she can be, but makes it clear she’s not there yet.
“I feel like we’re being vocal toward each other,” Fulwiley said. “She tells me what I need to do and what I’m not doing in the game and what I need to get better on. I take it and I use it and work on it. I feel like our chemistry is vocal, making sure we’re being vocal.”
Against Duke, Fulwiley was on the court in the fourth quarter. She did what the coaches asked, and Staley said she was “super proud” of how Fulwiley responded to being benched.
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“MiLaysia is a great player. Seriously,” Staley said. “To be able to handle the adverse situation in North Carolina, to talk to her and address it. Sometimes she doesn’t really understand and then we talk and she has a better understanding. If I had to ask her what was the difference between – and I did – North Carolina and Duke, she said defense. Plain and simple. Offensively there’s nobody in the country that can touch the things that she can do, but if she doesn’t defend you’re giving up more than you’re giving. That’s hard, especially when it’s a tough competition, tough environment. Sometimes having her experience sitting and watching (is) paying dividends for the rest of the year. She understands. She’s a different player in practice defending the basketball. It’s hard to swallow as a great young player, for her family, for the community, it’s hard. It’s hard for me to have her sit there, but I’m all for making her uncomfortable early so we never have to experience that again. I’m hoping that’s the case.”
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Three plays since the North Carolina benching illustrate Fulwiley’s growth. They aren’t necessarily spectacular plays, but they are mature plays.
After the Clemson game, I wrote that Fulwiley “often drives headfirst toward the basket without an exit strategy.” She’s getting better about paying under control.
Against Duke, Fulwiley drove into a crowded lane but kept her head up and kicked the ball out to Bree Hall for an open three.
The next two came against Utah. Late in the second quarter, Fulwiley hit a spot-up three-pointer. It looked like an adlib, but assistant coach Khadijah Sessions revealed on social media that the play, a handoff from Chloe Kitts to Fulwiley for the shot, was something they practiced all week.
Later in the game, Fulwiley put Utah’s Alissa Pili on skates as she drove for a layup. What set the play apart was that Fulwiley was under control for the entire play. Instead of going full speed, she adjusted her pace to get the Utah defense off-balance and then blew by Pili.
The three plays each show growth in Fulwiley’s play and a focus on doing the mundane things right.
“I think I’m really just being where I’m supposed to be, knowing I’ve got to do all the little things that matter, even in practice, just treating it like a game and trying to get better each and every day,” Fulwiley said.
