We’ve seen an incredible run from Dawn Staley with the South Carolina Gamecocks‘ women’s basketball team since she took that head coaching job in 2008. The latest element there is a 64-49 victory over the Connecticut Huskies in Sunday night’s national championship game, giving Staley and the Gamecocks their second championship overall and their first since 2017 (and also handing famed UConn coach Geno Auriemma his only loss ever in a national championship game, reducing him to 11-1 in those games).
In the wake of that victory, the college basketball world had a lot of praise for Staley. There was also a lot of praise for leading scorer Destanni Henderson (who had a career-high 26 points and also shone on defense), for national player of the year (and tournament MVP) Aliyah Boston (who had 11 points and 16 rebounds in this game, following up a dominant 23-point, 18-rebound showing against Louisville in the semifinals), and for the Gamecocks as a whole:
https://twitter.com/NicoleAuerbach/status/1510807003303714817
I wrote this the other night after South Carolina beat Louisville, but after that balletic spin move from Aliyah Boston to put South Carolina up 22-8, sheesh, you've just gotta say… there's no one like Boston.https://t.co/1CP8teqkYM
— Chantel Jennings (@ChantelJennings) April 4, 2022
This continues a remarkable run for Staley and the Gamecocks. They finished this year 35-2 and 15-1 in conference, giving them sole ownership of first place in the SEC for the fourth time in Staley’s tenure (they also tied for first in 2014-15). The Gamecocks are now 366-105 under Staley (a .777 winning percentage), with two NCAA titles and two further Final Four appearances. And this may be far from their last title, considering what Staley seems to be building in Columbia.
[The Associated Press; photo from Matt Krohn/USA Today Sports]