Staley thinks No. 1 South Carolina is national champ

COLUMBIA, S.C. » South Carolina coach Dawn Staley believes her top-ranked Gamecocks are the women’s basketball national champions, even without an NCAA Tournament trophy to put in their display case due to the pandemic-shortened season.

“Why not?” she asked Thursday. “A national championship trophy was made. It’s sitting somewhere.”

The NCAA decided against officially crowning champions after its signature tournaments were called off due to the coronavirus pandemic that has sent much of the world into lock down. Staley spoke from her home where she’s spent the past month managing her program and ensuring her players don’t linger too much on what they missed.

Still, Staley said there’s plenty of evidence to back up her belief the Gamecocks should be recognized as the best this season.

They finished 32-1, winning 26 straight games since their lone loss to then-17th-ranked Indiana in November.

South Carolina finished 16-0 to win the SEC regular season, then followed it up by rolling to the tournament title winning the three games last month by an average margin of victory of 24 points.

The Gamecocks expected to be the tournament’s No. 1 overall seed and have a path in the tournament that would not have required them to leave their home state; the regional was scheduled for Greenville where South Carolina won its SEC Tournament crown — until the Final Four.

But that’s when the global pandemic hit the United States, shuttering all college sports including the NCAAs..

“Us not being able to play in the NCAA Tournament when it’s all said and done which was the end of the season, then, yes, I do think we should be national champions,” she said.