The USC women’s basketball team is the heart of Columbia. That heart still beats
Sometimes the basketball gods simply don’t smile upon you. Even when you do change your glasses and your chair.
As I’m certain you’re well aware, the University of South Carolina women’s basketball team’s season ended Sunday with an 82-59 loss to UConn in the national championship game in Tampa, Florida. With the loss, Coach Dawn Staley’s Gamecocks came up short of winning a second consecutive national title, and what would have been a fourth national crown overall. USC finished the season — an outstanding season, mind you — with a record of 35-4.
Now, as fans we tend to do some irrational things from time to time. “Fan” is short for “fanatic,” after all. As spectators, whether in the stands or at home watching on TV, we have no real control over the action on the court. But that doesn’t mean we can’t put certain vibes into the world. Call it aura or juju or maybe just searching for plain old luck. But we have our superstitions.
I’m prone to such madness.
For instance, earlier in this NCAA women’s basketball tournament, South Carolina faced Maryland in the Sweet 16. The Gamecocks were heavily favored, and yet found themselves down by 2 points at halftime. Watching from home, I decided that I had to do something to alter the juju. So I literally changed my shoes and hat, switched to a different pair of glasses and swapped chairs for the second half. The Gamecocks gutted out the win, 71-67.
I later learned that my father took things a step further during that Maryland game. He stepped out on the porch for a moment during the game, at which point USC surged ahead. When he found out they’d gotten a lead after he’d stepped out, he went back to the porch and stayed there for the rest of the game, and told me to text him score updates.
Now, do any of these histrionics really help a team to victory? Oh, of course not. The USC women’s success comes from expert coaching and an assembly of some of the best ballplayers in the nation. But, as fans, we have to believe we are helping in some way, even if it is just putting vibes into the universe.
But the aura came up short in Sunday’s national title game. When South Carolina found itself down 10 at halftime against the Huskies, I tried to switch things up. I changed shirts. I changed glasses. I took my socks off. I switched from the couch to a rocking chair. I changed drinking glasses. Hell, I even tried going out on the porch like my dad.
Alas, UConn was simply too good. Both on the court and on the ethereal plane where wayward fans appeal to the basketball gods.
The city’s team
Now that all the smoke has cleared, I can say that the 2024-25 South Carolina women’s squad was probably my all-time favorite basketball team, ever. College or pro, men or women, I’ll take this team — this coach and these players — over any other. And here’s why: Because they were at once great and imperfect.
This was a team that played the game with joy and swagger and ferocity and an incredible amount of skill. Watching Sania Feagin and Chloe Kitts battle opponents in the paint, or MiLaysia Fulwiley handle the ball on a fastbreak like an artist at a palette, or seeing super-freshman Joyce Edwards’ game blossom in real time, has been simply incredible.
But what made this year’s team particularly endearing was that they weren’t perfect or infallible. This wasn’t the 2023-24 team, that went 38-0 and rampaged to a national title. Rather, this year’s squad had a few stumbles along the way. Some losses, some adversity.
And don’t we all? Whether it’s in our careers or in volunteer work or with our families, don’t we all take some losses? Don’t we all have moments where we stumble, and we have to pick ourselves up and go again?
That’s why this team felt so special. Staley, and thus her players, strive for nothing short of the highest goals. Like, the very top of the mountain, where few would dare. And when you can’t make it there — in life or in basketball — then you reset and try again.
The USC women’s hoops program means much to fans and alums across South Carolina and the U.S. But I would argue this program is especially tied to Columbia, specifically. This team belongs to Columbia. The Capital City. The Met.
The bulk of basketball season is played in the winter, during those cold and dark months where we are just trying to make it out the other side, to brighter days. And in those cold times, this perfectly imperfect USC women’s team put the city on its shoulders and lifted our spirits. They aspired to nothing short of the best, and we were along for the ride, hoping to share just a little bit of the light.
The South Carolina women’s basketball team is the heart of this city.
That heart still beats.
