South Carolina WBB mixed up its Selection Show party plan. How’d it go?
In a week, the Columbia Museum of Art will unveil a gallery showcasing the work of Columbia native Rodney McMillian. On Sunday, though, it hosted a celebration with the Columbia area’s most-famous citizen, Dawn Staley.
Over the years, Selection Sunday has become something South Carolina fans can set their watch to. The Gamecocks have made 14 straight NCAA Tournaments and have entered March Madness as a 1-seed for the last six years — which is all to say, much of Sunday’s celebration was not new.
USC is again a No. 1 team in the NCAA bracket, set to face off against a 16-seed — the winner of a First Four game between Southern and Samford — Saturday at Colonial Life Arena, which, at this point, is much of the same.
What wasn’t the same: The fact that South Carolina learned of its fate inside a museum at an event that felt like a mix between a cocktail party and wedding reception. And it might be example No. 3,758,238 of how much college athletics has evolved.
The gathering was put on by Rae Rose Media, which describes itself as a “sports-centric media company working closely with women’s athletic programs and female athletes to elevate their brands.” Proceeds from the event, USC said in a news release, go toward the women’s basketball program’s “enhancement fund.”
“I thought it was great,” Staley said of the event. “I know that we probably experienced thousands of fans in Colonial Life Arena, but I thought (of) doing something different and just kind of introducing ourselves to Rae Rose, which is a media company that that our team is working with to provide NIL opportunities for our players, because you have to be in this space.”
Since 2021, the Gamecocks had always held their Selection Sunday watch party at Colonial Life Arena, a free event that often attracted a good-sized crowd. This year’s event took a different approach.
Aside from 100 free tickets given away, the cost for entrance into the event started at $50. There was a $125 “deluxe pass” that included food and 50% of merchandise, and a $250 “VIP package” that included a free shirt along with a private dinner with the team.
Michele Doto and Lisa Cash opted for the VIP package, eating dinner at a table with Gamecock stars Joyce Edwards and Maryam Dauda, eventually moving around and chatting with different players.
Doto eventually found senior Raven Johnson, thrilled to be able to show off the “Raven ‘Crockpot’ Johnson” shirt she was sporting.
“I’ve been wearing it to all the games,” said Doto, a women’s basketball season-ticket holder since the Carolina Coliseum days. “I told her when I saw her (that) I might wear it next year because I’m gonna miss her so much.”
Another fan who opted for the $250 VIP package was Aisha Haynes, who works at USC’s Center for Teaching Excellence. She’s been going to Gamecock women’s basketball games since she enrolled in USC back in 2000, and has been present at the 16 Selection Sunday events since then.
“I actually really liked it here. (It) was like a more-intimate setting, a more upscale event than the other ones,” said Haynes, who ate dinner at a table with Adhel Tac and Alicia Tournebize. “I remember having the ones at Williams-Brice Stadium.”
Those cost money, too. In 2017, 2018 and 2019, Staley’s team held their Selection Sunday watch party at “The Zone” inside Williams-Brice Stadium, bumping the price from $12 (or free if you were a fan club member), to $22 to $25, respectively.
Charging for Selection Sunday shows is not new. Holding a watch party inside a museum with a DJ, magician, bar, and $100 T-shirts for sale (or free if you got the VIP package) is unique. But, perhaps, in the revenue-sharing era of college athletics, it will become more mainstream, a new way to monetize an event while providing fans — those who are willing to pay — with a premium experience never before offered.
“I wanted to make sure that the people that paid their money got their money’s worth, and that is top priority for us,” Staley said. “Because if people go to budget and come and they want more than just access to our place. ... And you know that’s what we wanted to accomplish, and I hope we did accomplish that tonight.”
Therese Griffin certainly thought so. A season-ticket holder in Section 113 since 2014, Griffin (who said she would’ve bought the VIP package if it hadn’t sold out) paid for the $125 deluxe pass that allowed her to purchase the exclusive shirt at half-price ($50 instead of $100) — a tee that she plans on wearing for the NCAA Tournament and when she travels to Paris next year to watch the Gamecocks.
But shirts fade. What doesn’t fade is the selfie her niece took with Staley on Sunday night, a photo she was proud to show off. Or the dozen or so pictures Griffin herself took with the team.
“We got (pictures) with Raven, Chole (Kitts). We got Tessa (Johnson),” Griffin said. “We got everybody.”
This story was originally published March 16, 2026 at 7:00 AM.
