Everything Dawn Staley said after South Carolina’s Elite Eight win
South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley spoke with the media following the Gamecocks’ 80-50 Elite Eight win over Creighton on Sunday at Greensboro Coliseum. Here’s what she said:
Opening statement: I just want to say that being here in Greensboro and all the people, you walk in the arena, at the hotel, really made us feel special. And I know I’m one that really looks at, you know, and I feel when people are genuinely just happy and inviting and host our tournament.
And we felt that every time we walked in the door, it was always a greeting. It was always, you know, how you doing. And that makes me feel really good, because it gives our players like an incredible like student-athlete experience. It’s not all about basketball. It’s a big part of it. But when you walk into an arena and you feel the love for everyone that’s working here, the yellow coats and everyone, the people at the hotel, the proximity, were just incredible, just over the top.
And then I’d like to just kind of think Creighton. I mean, congratulate them on a tremendous year. Nobody probably had them in their bracket being in the Elite Eight first time in their program history. And it is really something to be proud of.
I mean, we had a lot of firsts a few years ago, and I hope they hold on to it and come back stronger and move further in the tournament because it only strengthens our game and it helps our game. So congratulations to them.
And I just want to say to our local media who have been just examples of treating our program like a real sport, for years, like years. This isn’t like, you know, it just happened. You cover us. You wear your heart in your writings. You wear it when you’re in front of the public on our local news. And you wear it. You know, we win, you feel it. We lose, you feel it. And we can feel that in how you cover our team. We really appreciate it for treating us that way because every program doesn’t get what we get, and I value what you do for us. So thank you.
On celebrating the Elite Eight win and preparing for the Final Four: We got a couple of days to do it. Our players celebrated. They’ll probably celebrate again. I hope they go to class tomorrow. And then, you know, we got a quick turnaround, because I think we leave on Tuesday.
So I think we’re going to enjoy it. We don’t play until Friday. We’ll watch who our opponent would be tomorrow. It feels good to be the first one to go in and kind of watch everybody else sweat it out. But we’re going to enjoy it. You got some young players who have no clue what it means to go to a Final Four.
So we’ll probably have to -- you know, we’ll probably have to hold them back a little bit because they just don’t know the whole excitement of it. And then you have some older players who have been here before, and they have one thing on their mind and that is to win a national championship. And we do it game by game. It was pressure-packed the entire season, and it’s a relief to know that we’re back and now we can settle in and try to get this thing done.
On the junior group, who call themselves “The Freshmen”: I feel that that particular group has learned how to just embrace the margin of error each and every day, and they practice like it. They play like it, you know, even through our losses. They really understood it.
And I think just having the experience of what we had to go through in the Final Four last year, it’s helped guide them. But it didn’t control them. Like they were unafraid to make plays or do things out there on the floor. So they’re just a year older, with a year more understanding of how to navigate through it and not get too high with the highs or low with the lows.
On Aliyah Boston’s mindset as a high-profile player this year: I think it’s truly important. I think when you’ve had to play under the gun like Aliyah has all season long, she’s mature enough to handle it. She’s grounded. She knows who she is, and she never gets out in front of anything. She just takes the day as it comes. She takes her play as it comes.
And that’s just a real good sign of just maturing and knowing who you are, knowing your worth and knowing that she’s probably the Player of the Year. It’s hard to play under that gun. And I think it also helps that other people have brought up some other candidates for National Player of the Year. Makes her work a little harder and focus in a little bit more because that’s one of the things that she wanted to accomplish.
On lessons learned after loss to Kentucky: Well, I’ve never lost track of who we were. I mean, we’ve always been a really good basketball team. Through the two losses that we’ve had, and you have a tendency to lose focus on who you are when you lose a basketball game. And did we enjoy it? No. We didn’t enjoy losing three weeks ago.
But it helped us focus, and we just went back to that margin of error. We didn’t -- we let it get out of hand in the SEC tournament championship, and Kentucky made us pay for it. But then we had time to regroup, and then find our way to winning four games to get back to the Final Four. And, you know, I think now we’re in a good place to understand. There’s no other position in the season that we have to be super focused on those things.
On handling pressure of the Final Four: I mean, we’ve created habits all season long. And the habits that we’ve had I don’t think we’ll stray too far from it. We got a core group of players who just want to win, so I think they have a really good pulse on our team.
And they’re able to calm things down when needed, and they’re also enjoy the moment just like young people. It’s what we came to do. This year has been one in which we had a target out there, not a target on our back, we had a target out there to win a national championship. And we put ourselves in this position, and I think win, lose or draw, it won’t be from not trying as hard as they can.
On setting an example for players and players being role models: I mean, I want our players to be who they are. And I hope that I set an example of sharing, you know, sharing my experiences, my love for the game, my love for the people in the game. And I just -- and I think they do that. But when we hosted the first and second round of the NCAA tournament the First Four, you don’t really realize your impact until you hear other people say things. Like, you know, I think it was the incarnate word, some of their players, really thought it was a big deal to be playing on the court that South Carolina plays on. They thought it was a big deal to just kind of be around the place that I coach.
And when young people do it, like you hear some older people here and there, but when young people who are our competitors say those things, and they’re unafraid to say it, like that’s what those young ladies felt. And they laid it on the line, even though we’re in a competitive battle. That says a whole lot. That makes me feel truly special, and it helps me understand our worth.
You know, our game is being watched by young people, young women, and is being admired by the people that’s in it. And I just hope that our players really understand their impact on our game, and hope they give it back. And they do. They do. Without a doubt, they give it back to our fans. They give it back to anybody. They were just so gracious to take pictures with everybody in the arena, no matter if we’re going to get back at 3 or 4:00 in the morning. I mean, that’s what it’s about is paying it forward.
On reaching the Final Four in back-to-back-seasons: It’s huge. It’s huge. And A’ja Wilson has never been able to do back-to-back Final Fours. So she’s gotta give credit to this team.
But, I mean, it’s great. I’m just super happy for -- you know, I’m super happy for all of our team, but truly super happy for our juniors who experienced three years ago where we had a pretty darn good team that could have gone far in the tournament and it was just abruptly stopped. And then you’re just left holding the bag, like that’s it, you know.
And then they come back and get us to the Final Four and lose in a heartbreaking way. And then it’s hard to give back. Like our game is so good that, I mean, I was nervous all day today, just, I mean, it was a long day, on a Sunday, nervous, because of who our competition was and just anxious to play, anxious to give back, just so our players can really experience being in the Final Four, our young players. Just understanding how hard it is and also to have them celebrate something as monumental as this is getting back there back to back.
On the Gamecocks playing with a target on their back: I mean, here it is. I mean, we’re going to face whatever music that’s playing. We -- I guess I have trust in our players. Like I know them. I know them well. Actually, I know the core of them pretty well.
So I think with that group you just have to look at them, look them in the eye and see where they are, if they’re focused, and probably 95 percent of the time -- probably 100 percent of the time they’ve been focused all season long.
It’s probably the younger ones that have, you know, they don’t know. They don’t play a whole lot, so they got a whole lot going on in their lives, and they really don’t understand how to do it every single day, like to be on. I mean, it’s really hard to be on every single day.
But we work towards that. It’s the very thing that the core group of our team, they came here because of that. They watched us go to Final Fours and win national championships, and they wanted to be in the hot seat like that.
So I think it’s a product of our culture. It’s a product of our coaching staff and our, you know, our program, all the people in our program. They make this thing work, like every single person, from our DOBO to our director of play, they -- we’re working. Like we only show them great examples of working. So wherever that target is, we just perform under the work that we put in.
On offensive adjustments: I mean, probably the biggest adjustment we made was on the defensive side of the ball. We just really concentrated on whoever had the ball, that we were going to all-out pressure them and make them put the ball on the floor.
Like I don’t think you can allow Creighton -- they did a really good job with us doing that 17 assists on 21 baskets. They averaged 20. They average 30 threes. They averaged 10 makes. So we had to figure out how to take away something, one of the big things that they do to teams.
And then for us from an offensive standpoint, we knew they were going to crowd Aliyah, which would have made it single coverage with our other big. And once they had single coverage, we wanted them to go. And then as the game was going on, they were doubling Aliyah before she had the ball, when she got the ball.
And then it created scoring opportunities for Brea Beal and Lele and some of our other guards, and Henny. Once we have single coverage and we know that they’re not going to rotate over because they’re going to lean heavy on keeping two people on Aliyah, it made it a lot easier for us to make decisions and make baskets.
On Aliyah Boston’s double-double streak ending: I mean, this is what she’s supposed to do. Seriously, like that’s what she’s supposed to do. I mean, I think she’s a great talent.
I think it goes to show how relentless she is. She’s really a relentless player, relentless rebounder. But when it’s all said and done, Aliyah just wants to win, so she’s going to do the things to win basketball games, and it’s fortunate for us she did it in a double-double fashion.
On attentiveness and commitment to finding time for people: I mean, it comes from coaching in Columbia, South Carolina, for 14 years. We give our fans access to us, and in return we lead the nation in attendance for, I don’t know, eight years now, seven, eight years.
I mean, it’s people -- I’m really conscious of people spending their money, budgeting to come to Greensboro. Some people already had their plane tickets to Minnesota, and they would tell us throughout the year, and it’s like, I mean, let’s take it one game at a time.
But I’m just happy that they choose our program to spend their money, to bring their families. And it takes a second to take a picture. A second to take a picture. And a second to give them just a memory, an experience. And one of our fans told me his grandmother told him, when you treat people good, they treat you better. And that’s what the fans have done in Columbia, South Carolina, in supporting us.
On gender equity issues in college basketball: Someone asked that question. It’s units. It’s being able to get, you know, similar. I mean, I guess equity. Like CBS, TBS, TNT, TRU TV. Right? That’s the men’s tournament. So when we’re able to market ourselves in that way, that’s a lot of dollar signs, when you’re able to be in all of those networks.
And I’m not saying anything against ESPN, which they do a great job at putting our game forward, but let’s make it competitive. Let somebody bid out our tournament and maybe we’ll have a few more networks to show our games, and then maybe, just maybe -- and I’m just going to throw this out there -- we’re playing at 7 and 9 on a Sunday night. I wonder why. Well, maybe because the men played at 2 and 5.
And I know we’re good. I think the men, whether they played at 7 and 9 tonight, would have had a packed house. Doesn’t matter. If we played a little bit earlier, maybe we had some more people in the stands. And they did a great job at filling this arena up.
But it’s just little things like that that make a huge difference. And I’m not trying to start any controversy, but units, you know. Our game can be a game in which is valuable, like in term of dollars and cents. And once we’re able to get there, we’ll find our true value.
On collecting confetti after Elite Eight win: I mean, it’s important because, you know, we are dream merchants for young people. The young people on our team, they want to win. They want to win. They want to go to Final Fours. They want to win national championships. They want to win SEC tournament championships, SEC regular champions. They want to win the Bad Boy Mowers championship in the Bahamas. They want to do all of that.
And we are creating lifelong memories. And I think confetti is just a tangible thing as reminders of what you’ve accomplished. And I’ve been a confetti collector for every like championship that we’ve had. And it is just a constant reminder of going to get it, you know, going to get it, creating these great experiences for our players and our coaches and everybody in our program, because we work really hard.
And it’s really hard to get to a Final Four, really hard. So I’m just happy that we’re able to do it, and I’m going to keep collecting it.
This story was originally published March 27, 2022 at 11:16 PM with the headline "Everything Dawn Staley said after South Carolina’s Elite Eight win."
