CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC
Staley’s biggest concern heading into Final Four is her team’s youth
South Carolina coach Dawn Staley repeated one word to describe her team’s fourth consecutive Final Four appearance.
“I’m shocked,” Staley echoed three times during media availability in Cleveland ahead of Friday’s matchup against N.C. State.
The Gamecocks are a heavy favorite to win the national championship. So it might be surprising to hear Staley, who led her program to back-to-back undefeated seasons, say that.
No one had this team pegged to be back in the same position as last year’s squad, which was rife with WNBA talent, including Rookie of the Year Aliyah Boston. After her starting five graduated, Staley had to reestablish the identity and culture that was responsible for the program’s two NCAA titles, six Final Four appearances and 13 straight trips to the NCAA Tournament.
“I don’t know if I trusted the process very early on in the summer because the process, there wasn’t a process,” said Staley, who was honored Thursday as the AP women’s coach of the year for the second time. “It was more of just trying to fight for the culture and the chemistry we built over the past probably seven to eight years. And they came in so different than any of our teams that I just didn’t see — it was a hard starting point.”
The biggest difference with Staley’s 2023-24 team is the youth and inexperience. South Carolina has three players who were on last year’s team: Chloe Kitts, Sania Feagan and Ashlyn Watkins. None of them played a single minute, but the experience Staley said will be valuable.
That youth is also Staley’s biggest concern heading into the final weekend.
“They’re still very young,” she said. “We don’t know when the lull will rear its ugly head and force us to really find ourselves in a position where we really feel like we’re going to lose basketball games.” Staley’s team has won only four games by six points or fewer this season. One tight win came against LSU in January, two more were against Tennessee and the most recent was against fourth-seeded Indiana in the Sweet 16. The Gamecocks will have a big advantage in the paint with Kamilla Cardoso. Beyond starting center River Baldwin, the Wolfpack lacks height that can contend with Cardoso inside.
“I think this is the best team they’ve ever had simply because I think they’ve got so many people that can score the ball,” N.C. State coach Wes Moore said. “They’ve got so many really good shooters that you can’t sit down on Cardoso and collapse on her because they got a lot of people that can knock down threes around her.”
This is N.C. State’s fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance and its first Final Four appearance since 1998. Its road to the Final Four included wins over No. 1 seed Texas and No. 2 seed Stanford.
South Carolina has three main scoring threats in Cardoso, freshman guard Milaysia Fulwiley and transfer guard Te-hina PaoPao. All three average in double figures. Right behind them, though, are three more Gamecocks who average just under 10 points per game.
N.C. State, meanwhile, is led by Aziaha James, who’s averaging 16.7 points per game. The Wolfpacks’ remaining starters, including Saniya Rivers, who transferred from South Carolina last year, all average over 10 points.
Costabile’s pick: South Carolina.