Why Dawn Staley has calls to make to players’ parents before USC’s first game
Dawn Staley has been working the phone over this past week.
South Carolina women’s basketball has one of the country’s deepest rosters ahead of the 2021-22 season that tips off Tuesday, with every member of last season’s Final Four team returning and the addition of last year’s No. 1 recruiting class. Staley also picked up Syracuse transfer Kamilla Cardoso, the reigning ACC Co-Defensive Player of the Year.
With that level of depth, Staley wanted her players’ parents to know what to expect. She planned to make calls ahead of South Carolina’s first game, a top-five matchup at N.C. State, to prepare families for the inevitable. There are 40 minutes in each game and 16 players to manage across the season.
“We’ll call them … just let them know, ‘Your daughter is going to go through a major change of playing a lot, not playing or playing a little,’ ” Staley said. “And that’s going to rock them a little bit. But we just need you to be parents, support them and see them through this.”
How does a player maximize their minutes on a loaded roster? Staley’s message has remained consistent: focus on a strength and perfect it. Staley said the trouble starts when one player tries to be the best at what’s another player’s strength — and that could result in falling behind.
“If you’re disciplined and doing what you do best, it should present you with carving out some time to get out on the floor,” Staley said. “If you aren’t, I mean, you’ve got to get to the back of the line to try to work it back, but by then it’s too late.”
Last year’s starting five is an all-star lineup already. Staley asserted that Associated Press preseason All-American forward Aliyah Boston is indisputably the best player of her size playing college basketball this year.
Senior Victaria Saxton is a seasoned veteran who ranked sixth in the SEC with 1.5 blocks per game and was named to the NCAA Hemisfair Region All-Tournament team last season after finishing with 12 points and eight rebounds in the Gamecocks’ Elite Eight win over Texas. Junior Laeticia Amihere emerged late last season, averaging 10 points per game on 51.2% shooting in the NCAA tournament.
Cardoso made a splash in the Gamecocks’ exhibition against Benedict, leading South Carolina with 18 points and 13 rebounds. Freshman Sania Feagin has already been named to the Katrina McClain Award watch list for the nation’s top power forward and comes to Columbia as the No. 1 forward from the 2021 class.
Staley said this year’s post-play rotation is starting to come together, with the three veterans (Boston, Saxton and Amihere) toward the top, and Cardoso and Feagin not far behind.
The guards have presented Staley with more of a puzzle.
“You’ve got to be productive,” Staley said on putting together a guard rotation. “If you haven’t been productive consistently, you’re probably lower in the depth chart. They’re still fighting it out, so I can’t say who those people are right now. But it’s fair to say it’s pretty competitive.”
Of last year’s starters, senior point guard Destanni Henderson led the SEC in assists last season and was named to the preseason All-SEC second team this year. Junior guard Zia Cooke collected preseason All-SEC first-team honors this season and matched South Carolina records throughout last year’s Final Four run, and Staley said junior guard Brea Beal is a glue of the team, an “unsung hero” who tends to be overlooked.
Add freshmen Raven Johnson, a Naismith Player of the Year award winner and top point guard in the class of 2022; three-time Gatorade North Carolina Player of the Year Saniya Rivers; and McDonald’s All-American Bree Hall, and Staley has a list of formidable options.
Staley has a realistic view of the newcomers’ roles on the team. She wants them to have their moments, but she’s aware they all have room to grow as freshmen.
“We’re going to bring them along, but we’re gonna win basketball games first,” Staley said. “(If) they’re part of that rotation, great. If they’re not, they’ll have a pretty good understanding of why.”
South Carolina’s goal is focused and lofty. The Gamecocks aim to win their second national title under Staley and their first since 2017. But they have a tough slate ahead, including a regular season meeting with every team in the AP preseason top five and the possibility of facing Geno Auriemma’s UConn twice before February.
The reality of USC’s schedule is what makes every moment imperative in the fight for playing time.
“We’ve got a tough schedule,” Staley said. “People are going to have to really play, contribute and be productive out there to stay long on the floor.”
South Carolina women’s basketball season opener
Who: No. 1 South Carolina Gamecocks at No. 5 N.C. State Wolfpack
When: 5 p.m. Tuesday
Where: Reynolds Coliseum (5,500) in Raleigh, N.C.
TV: ESPN
This story was originally published November 5, 2021 at 8:00 AM.
