Staley, South Carolina get hero’s welcome home
COLUMBIA, S.C. » Dawn Staley proudly marched her latest NCAA championship trophy in front of the wild, cheering “FAMS” who’ve supported her throughout South Carolina’s rise from SEC alsoran to three-time tournament winners.
About 7,500 fans, who Staley and her team have called “FAMS,” for the love and loyalty they bring, turned out at midday to celebrate the Gamecocks 87-75 victory over Iowa.
“It’s an incredible honor to come back to this,” Staley said, a day after the victory that finished off a 38-0 season. “To come back to you.”
It has been a slow burn to fill the 18,000-seat Colonial Life Arena. The Gamecocks averaged 6,371 fans in 2013-14 when they went 30-5 and lost in the Sweet 16. A season later, Staley signed Columbia area standout A’ja Wilson and the crowds and titles followed.
Wilson was the centerpiece of a group that won four straight Southeastern Conference tournament titles and the NCAA crown in 2017. And all the while attendance boomed.
South Carolina drew an average of 16,067 this season to lead the country, the 10th straight year it has led the way in average attendance. Staley has taken care to shout out her fanbase throughout the team’s championship run.
South Carolina, which won its second title in three years, received all 35 first-place votes from a national media panel. South Carolina was No. 1 every week this season except for the preseason poll, when the team was sixth, and at 38-0 became just the 10th team to finish a season undefeated.
Iowa was a unanimous choice at No. 2, the Hawkeyes’ best finish since the final poll of 1988. Final Four participants UConn and N.C. State were third and fourth, respectively. The Huskies have been in the top 10 in the final poll every year since 1994.
North Carolina State was unranked in the preseason.
USC was fifth, earning its first ranking in the final poll since 2014 and its highest slot at the end of the season since the Trojans were third in 1986.
LSU, Texas and Oregon State — all reached the Elite Eight — and Stanford and UCLA rounded out the top 10.
South Carolina, Iowa, UConn top final poll
Tennessee hires Caldwell as coach
Tennessee athletic director Danny White moved quickly and went outside the historic Lady Vols’ program in hiring Marshall coach Kim Caldwell as its fourth head coach in the NCAA era.
White fired Kellie Harper on April 1 after five seasons at her alma mater and a 108-52 record. She replaced Holly Warlick, promoted to replace Summitt and fired after going 172-67 in seven seasons.
Tennessee will pay Caldwell $750,000 in base pay a year through March 2029 under the memorandum of understanding signed Sunday morning. The agreement includes a clause for a pay raise before May 1 of any season she wins a national championship.