At the top of Dawn Staley’s preseason to-do list: Replace two Gamecock greats
As official practices start for the women’s basketball season, South Carolina has started right where it ended last year, at No. 1 — early power rankings from NCAA.com and ESPN have coach Dawn Staley’s squad at the very top.
It’s not hard to see why; the Gamecocks return nine of 11 players from last season’s 32-1 team that swept through SEC play, including three freshman starters expected to get even better as sophomores.
But as USC prepares to pursue a Final Four berth and national championship, there are still a few big questions facing Staley. Namely, who’s going to replace departed seniors Tyasha Harris and Mikiah Herbert Harrigan?
Harris and Herbert Harrigan started every game for Carolina last year and were the veteran leaders that kept the young Gamecock squad running smoothly. They combined to average more than 25 points, nine rebounds, seven assists, two steals and 1.8 blocks per game, and Staley repeatedly said they were the key to keeping the whole operation on track through a dream season.
And while the Gamecocks are certainly not short on talent, with nine former five-star recruits on this year’s roster, Staley indicated Wednesday that replacing the two seniors won’t be without challenges.
“I mean, they leave a big hole, although the players that we have fill them quite nicely for right now, and right now there’s just practice,” Staley said. “But I do think we’ll feel, probably more so, Ty’s absence, because she was a four-year starter for us.”
Replacing ‘Ty’
The two most likely replacements for Harris at the point guard position are junior Destanni Henderson, who thrived off the bench last season, and sophomore Zia Cooke, who started but played more off the ball while Harris was the floor general. Both need work, however, being full-time decision-makers with the ball in their hands directing the whole show, Staley said.
“You know, Destanni, her personality, she’s just just quiet, smooth, low maintenance, just comes to practice every day competing. The leadership doesn’t scream from her, it isn’t something that I think comes natural to her. So we’re just gonna let her lead the way she needs to lead and hopefully it will be impactful,” Staley said.
“Zia, on the other hand, is probably, when the game is on the line, you’ll see her going to another level. She’s not an everyday leader when it comes to being vocal and policing things over the dorms and she’s not that type. But when a game is on the line, when people aren’t doing what they’re supposed to do, she does not shy away from letting people know, it’s just not every day that she does it.”
With the start of official practices, Staley said she plans to focus on situational basketball to see who handles the pressure opponents are likely to throw at the lead guard. Regardless, South Carolina’s playbook will have to be stripped down without a four-year senior starter to orchestrate everything, especially one like Harris who was the consummate distributor.
“It’s gonna be a lot more condensed, a lot more,” Staley said. “Our playbook will probably be cut in half, 25% of what it once was. I just think we got young point guards, meaning they haven’t had to play the position full time. And then they’re different, they’ve scored the ball a lot more. They’re more aggressive offensively than Ty was.”
Replacing ‘Kiki’
Replacing Herbert Harrigan comes with its own set of challenges. The 6-foot-2 forward could defend from the perimeter to the interior and had a mid-range jumper that forced opponents to respect her outside the paint. But more than anything, she brought a fiery, aggressive personality that animated the entire team. When asked Wednesday who will replace her as the team’s “killer” this year, Staley gave an extended answer.
“I mean we have a few of them to be quite honest. I mean, when you think of personality and just outwardness, as far as being a killer, Zia Cooke comes to mind. But Brea Beal’s a killer. She’s talking a lot more, but she’s a killer. Aliyah Boston’s a killer. (Laeticia Amihere), killer. (Victaria Saxton), killer,” Staley said. “I mean, they all have a killer mentality but they’re super nice. You know, it almost bothers me how nice they are, I mean, to a certain extent, because I asked them a question like a week or two ago. I’m like, ‘Can nice players win a championship?’ And obviously they said yes, and it is a question that really, you know, bothers me.”
However, Staley noted a conversation she had with WNBA coach Cheryl Reeve, who told her about players on her Minnesota Lynx team who have also been nice off the court but “killers” on it. Staley also praised her players’ competitiveness and said she hopes to teach them to harness and push that.
Positionally, Amihere, Saxton and Grissett could all wind up stepping into Herbert Harrigan’s spot in the lineup. Grissett is the squad’s lone senior and brings a guard’s ball-handling ability with a 6-foot-2 frame, while Saxton emerged as a locker room leader last year and provides a burst in intensity.
Amihere, meanwhile, went through an up-and-down freshman campaign in which she was coming back from a major knee injury, then pulled away to play for the Canadian national team, missing a few games. The 6-foot-4 forward has a 6-foot-10 wingspan and high ceiling, and she looks like “a totally different player” this season, Staley said.
“People probably looked at Laeticia last year and they probably looked at me and probably said, why do I play her so much when she’s probably not performing as much as we need,” Staley said. “Here’s why — because I didn’t want her to have another freshman year. This year, because she got game experience, she understands and it won’t be her first time doing it again when we start to play again.”
This story was originally published October 15, 2020 at 1:43 PM.
