Recapping the best and worst from South Carolina women's basketball season
From Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, South Carolina, to Times Union Center in Albany, New York, USC women's basketball's 2017-2018 season lasted 36 games, encompassing five months, 29 wins, an SEC tournament title and an Elite Eight berth. Here are the highest highs and lowest lows from that time.
Best moment: Mississippi State
The culmination of the best three-game stretch of the season, the SEC championship game gave South Carolina vengeance against Mississippi State for the Gamecocks' loss in early February and at least partially reasserted USC's control over the conference, spoiling the Bulldogs' perfect season.
Best of all for South Carolina, it was a game it thoroughly deserved to win as Dawn Staley got her typical starring performance from A'ja Wilson but also strong supporting efforts from Tyasha Harris and Mikiah Herbert Harrigan, along with clutch baskets from Doniyah Cliney and Alexis Jennings, to lead almost the entire way.
Best moment off the court: Senior night
Feb. 22, 2018, the date of the final regular season home contest of the year against LSU, was A'ja Wilson Day, both figuratively and literally. Not only did Wilson dominate at Colonial Life Arena in one of her final appearances, grabbing a career-high 24 rebounds and scoring 27 points, but Columbia mayor Steve Benjamin also signed a proclamation declaring that Thursday to be officially A'ja Wilson Day in the city, as nearly 13,000 fans applauded her, all wearing her trademark string of pearls.
Worst moment: UConn — twice
It's not just that South Carolina lost to Connecticut — almost every team does that. It was how the Gamecocks did it, twice, looking confused and disorganized on defense and incapable on offense without Wilson, and on a national stage, not helping the whispers of critics who say the team was lucky last season that it didn't have to face the Huskies in the NCAA Tournament.
On Monday night, the refrain from many was that UConn was simply shooting out of its collective mind, and there was nothing USC could do despite its above-average offensive production. But while it's true that the Huskies had an exceptional night from the field, even by their lofty standards, the South Carolina defense was a mess and gave up far too many open looks as Connecticut's superior ball movement exposed the Gamecocks' 251st-ranked perimeter defense.
Worst moment off the court: Missouri
This one isn't really South Carolina's fault, but it was still an ugly moment nonetheless that at least threatened to tarnish the program's good name on a national scale.
A full explanation of the beef/squabble/back-and-forth between Mizzou and USC would take far too long to describe, but you can check out a full timeline of the controversy here. Suffice to say, when Gamecock fans are accused by a rival AD of spitting on opposing players and hurling racial epithets, it's not a PR person's dream, though no evidence has yet been uncovered that would back those accusations.
The whole thing is still ongoing, as Staley's defamation lawsuit against Jim Sterk is currently pending in Richland County court.
MVP: A'ja Wilson
I mean, duh?
Wilson was the preseason national player of the year favorite, and she did not disappoint, putting together one of the best seasons in school history to cap off the greatest career in program history. What else can you say except that Wilson will go down in history as one of South Carolina's greatest athletes ever, and her impact on the court, in the community and in women's basketball as a whole is immeasurable?
Most Improved Player: Tyasha Harris
The sophomore point guard had to grow up quickly, transitioning from fifth option and distributor on a team full of veteran players last year into a team captain and legitimate scoring threat in her own right. She responded by breaking the program record for assists in a season with 220, swiping 72 steals, tied for ninth most in USC history, and nearly doubling her point total from her freshman season.
She was far from flawless — at times she faded into the background on offense and wasn't as aggressive as Staley wanted, and she also shot less than 30 percent from 3 — but it was still a big step forward that earned her All-SEC second-team honors from the conference's coaches.
Rookie of the Year: Bianca Jackson
Pressed into service with injuries to seniors Lindsey Spann and Bianca Cuevas-Moore, Jackson played a whole lot of minutes this year, even more than A'ja Wilson or Alexis Jennings. In fact, no other USC freshman has played more minutes in Dawn Staley's 10-year tenure in Columbia, and she earned SEC All-Freshman honors for her effort.
Jackson, the daughter of two Division I basketball head coaches, didn't put up the most gaudy statistics, but she flew under the radar with solid contributions and sound defense, and ended up averaging nearly seven points, three rebounds and two assists per game.
Final verdict
After losing to UConn on Monday in the Elite Eight, Staley and the Gamecocks proclaimed themselves mostly happy with their season, citing the departures from last year's team and the injuries to numerous players as evidence of adversity they overcame to advance to their fifth consecutive Sweet 16.
"We found ourselves in a place in which only us believed that we could be here," Staley said.
The Gamecocks certainly played with an edge all year, considering themselves underdogs disrespected by many fans and pundits. Ultimately though, they never actually dipped below No. 10 in the rankings, were pretty consistently considered a No. 2 seed and were the preseason favorites in the SEC.
The injuries, including a sprained ankle and a case of vertigo for Wilson, certainly threw those preseason predictions into doubt, especially with the dominance of Mississippi State. In the end, however, South Carolina advanced about as far as could reasonably be expected in the NCAA Tournament given what it lost — nothing more, nothing less.
Ultimately, a season that ended in the second weekend of the tournament this year cannot really be called a disappointment, but neither can it be called an unexpected, unqualified success. Elite programs make the Elite Eight with regularity, and South Carolina did that.
This story was originally published March 28, 2018 at 11:39 AM with the headline "Recapping the best and worst from South Carolina women's basketball season."