Firsthand view of the changing of the guard
Editor’s note: Emily Adams began the season covering the topranked South Carolina women’s basketball team. She joined the Courant in mid-january and now covers the Uconn women. As the two teams prepare to meet Sunday she offers a unique perspective on covering both teams in the same season.
Out of 48 games I covered as a beat reporter for the South Carolina women’s basketball team, 47 were wins. Amid an undefeated showdown with LSU, an SEC tournament championship and a Final Four run, no victory felt as emotionally charged as an 81-77 win at Uconn on Feb. 5, 2023.
Kamilla Cardoso, usually an even-tempered presence for South Carolina, left the court in tears after fouling out despite a career performance. Uconn coach Geno Auriemma was assessed a technical for protesting a call by throwing a water bottle onto the floor. Frustration from Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley over Auriemma’s postgame comments unfolded back and forth through the media, evoking memories of his classic feuds with Tennessee’s Pat Summitt or Notre Dame’s Muffet Mcgraw.
The Huskies’ loss in 2023 was their first home loss in the history of the series, and it was their fourth defeat in the last five meetings with South Carolina after winning the first eight. Witnessing the Gamecocks’ intensity before, during and after that historic win showed exactly how much the young rivalry with Uconn matters in Columbia.
Nothing can take Uconn’s dynasty away, but South Carolina represents a changing of the guard from the perennial powers as college sports move into a new
era. For perhaps the first time ever in the rivalry, the No. 11 Huskies (20-4) feel like true underdogs as they prepare to face the No. 1 Gamecocks (22-0) on Sunday before a sold-out crowd at Colonial Life Arena.
Switching beats midseason emphasized the stark differences between a remarkably deep South Carolina team over-performing expectations and a Uconn squad fighting to keep it all together amid unimaginably bad injury luck. Aubrey Griffin, one of five players with season-ending injuries in 2023-24, tore her ACL against Creighton on Jan. 3. It was my second day on the job.
The Huskies’ culture leans into tradition and history, for good reason. It’s impossible not to feel the magnitude of the shelves, laden with glittering gold and crystal, that greet visitors at the entrance of the Werth Family Basketball Champions Center in Storrs where the Huskies practice. South Carolina’s day-to-day setup is much humbler: The Gamecocks train on a yellowed floor inside the cavernous Carolina Coliseum that served as their home court from 19682002.
Yet the programs are more similar than they are different, in part because Staley and Auriemma have their roots in the same places. Both were raised in the Philadelphia metropolitan area — though Staley quipped last year ahead of the game that Auriemma’s hometown Norristown wasn’t in the 215 area code that defined a true Philadelphian. As a King of Prussia native, I can’t argue. But there are elements of a shared culture instilled in both from a young age: A fierce competitive streak, the value of tough love, blue-collar work ethic and a diehard passion for your sports teams.
Staley, 53, is 16 years younger than Auriemma and represents a youthful new age of coaches. She dons Louis Vuitton tracksuits and Balenciaga jeans on game days, leaning into streetwear style and modern fashion compared to the more classic presentation of Uconn assistant Chris Dailey in her perfectly tailored suits and stilettos. Staley is constantly online, from engaging with recruits to firing back at troll commenters on X (formerly Twitter). She runs social media accounts for her dog Champ and occasionally takes center stage in a player’s Tiktok dance.
Auriemma’s cameo in a KK Arnold Tiktok a few weeks ago was far less willing, though that’s not to say that Staley doesn’t have a harsher side; Her blunt delivery could often be mistaken for an Auriemma quote without attribution. But the Huskies coach leans into his crotchety image, earning the nickname “Grandpa” from the team according to Paige Bueckers.
When the biggest spotlights are on, so many of the traits that drew fans to Auriemma in his early years are the same in Staley. The Uconn Hall of Famer, like Staley, has never been afraid to speak his mind or ruffle feathers, but he also has an easy charisma and biting sense of humor that has endeared him to generations of young athletes. The South Carolina coach, too, has become known for a press conference one-liner — her quip about fans calling her “boo” is only the latest example.
Staley’s pair of NCAA championship trophies don’t fill the same amount of space in their cases on the arena concourse as Auriemma’s 11. Still, she is the only coach that has won a national championship in the last decade with fewer than 30 years of head coaching experience. It’s hard to imagine a harder place to play in the country right now than Columbia, South Carolina, having witnessed that sold-out crowd, but I’ve seen enough second-half comebacks in just three weeks to know that counting out the Huskies is always a dangerous game.