Tuesday, February 4

Tag: South Carolina Gamecocks

South Carolina and Iowa prove if ‘given an opportunity, women’s sports just thrives’
10Apr By adminNo Comments
Sports

South Carolina and Iowa prove if ‘given an opportunity, women’s sports just thrives’

CLEVELAND — Everyone wanted to talk about the game, which was expected after the South Carolina women’s basketball team held off Iowa for an 87-75 victory and second national championship in three years. But Dawn Staley also wanted to talk about the other game. Actually, that’s not strong enough. She was going to discuss it.Basketball has played such an important role in her life that she protects it as fiercely as a mother would a newborn. Her love for it is matched only by her respect for it. So even as questioners asked about the Gamecocks becoming just the 10th team in NCAA Division I history to finish a season undefeated, going 38-0, Staley purposely turned the spotlight back to the person who was central in helping to make this a transformative season and inflection point in the gam...
Read More
Dawn Staley created South Carolina’s perfect championship season out of last year’s loss
10Apr By adminNo Comments
Sports

Dawn Staley created South Carolina’s perfect championship season out of last year’s loss

CLEVELAND — As Dawn Staley stood before her team during a meeting a night before the national championship game, she took a swig of water and began to cough.“You about to cry, Coach?” a player called from the back of the room.“No,” she said and then paused. “But I might on Sunday if we win.”The players laughed, but her assistants sensed sincerity with those words. They’ve seen the burden Staley has carried this year as she has adjusted to a team that’s younger and looser. A team that sometimes wouldn’t respond to text messages or would show up late to meetings. A team that is so unlike the group that graduated a season ago.Staley has jokingly referred to this season’s roster as a day care, and no one in the Gamecocks locker room really rebuffs that point. They wear it as a badge of honor ...
Read More
South Carolina tops Iowa 87-75 in national championship to complete perfect season
8Apr By adminNo Comments
Sports

South Carolina tops Iowa 87-75 in national championship to complete perfect season

CLEVELAND — Raven Johnson never shied away from her ultimate goal.She wanted a national championship, and she wanted it to come by beating Iowa.“Like I said, it was a revenge tour and there’s no better way than to play them in the championship and beat them,” Johnson said.Last year she became a social media phenomenon, but not in a positive way, when Iowa star Caitlin Clark waved her off when she was wide open at the 3-point arc. They didn’t respect Johnson’s scoring ability.In Sunday’s national championship win, Johnson didn’t do much scoring, but her defense helped the Gamecocks beat Iowa 87-75 to become the first undefeated national champion since UConn in 2016.The Pulse NewsletterFree, daily sports updates direct to your inbox. Sign upFree, daily sports updates direct to your inbox. ...
Read More
Iowa vs. South Carolina gives us the ending we wanted and the finale this season deserves
7Apr By adminNo Comments
Sports

Iowa vs. South Carolina gives us the ending we wanted and the finale this season deserves

CLEVELAND — Just when you thought this women’s basketball season couldn’t give any more, just when you thought it had drained itself of record on-court performances, all-time viewership numbers and compelling grudge matches, it is giving us an opportunity to witness all three in one game, pitting Iowa against South Carolina in the national championship showdown most fans and every ABC executive wanted.It had to end this way, right? Great player versus great team. The quest for the perfect ending versus the pursuit of the perfect season. An opportunity for South Carolina to avenge its only loss of the last two seasons. A way to cap a memorable season with a potentially unforgettable finale.If the Iowa-LSU regional final drew an average of 12.3 million viewers on a Monday night on cable, it...
Read More
WNBA 2024 mock draft: Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers and Cameron Brink headline
12Dec By adminNo Comments
Sports

WNBA 2024 mock draft: Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers and Cameron Brink headline

The 2024 WNBA Draft order is set. Indiana won the draft lottery Sunday, giving the Fever the first pick in what could be one of the deepest drafts in league history. Could is the operative word, as every draft-eligible senior in this class has the opportunity to return to college for a fifth season due to the COVID-19 bonus year given to every player who suited up in 2020-21.Indiana is the fourth team in the last decade to earn consecutive No. 1 picks after Seattle had the top selections in 2015 and 2016, Las Vegas had a three-year stretch of picking first from 2017-2019, and New York won the lottery in 2020 and 2021. The Storm won two titles with the duo of Jewell Loyd and Breanna Stewart, and the Aces have done the same with the trio of Kelsey Plum, A’ja Wilson and Jackie Young. The Fev...
Read More
Women’s college basketball power rankings: South Carolina returns to a familiar spot
22Nov By adminNo Comments
Sports

Women’s college basketball power rankings: South Carolina returns to a familiar spot

If the hope was that two weeks of basketball would have given a clearer picture of the hierarchy in women’s college basketball this season, that has not been the case. In fact, most of my conversations since Nov. 6 have featured some variation of, “Wait, is Team X good?”Aside from South Carolina at the top — stop me if you’ve heard that before — every other projected contender has taken its lumps. While the Gamecocks roll through their opposition, most teams around the country need some time to figure out new rosters and systems. Growing pains were expected, like LSU and Virginia Tech integrating new transfers, or Maryland and Indiana dealing with the graduations of WNBA first-round picks.Nevertheless, on the whole, the quality of play around the country has been better than expected. But...
Read More
Women’s college basketball top 25: LSU, UConn, UCLA lead 2023-24 rankings
29Sep By adminNo Comments
Sports

Women’s college basketball top 25: LSU, UConn, UCLA lead 2023-24 rankings

The 2022-23 women’s college basketball season ended on a high note as nearly 10 million viewers tuned in to watch LSU and Iowa — two teams on seemingly fate-driven runs — collide in the national championship. The Tigers took home their first title under Kim Mulkey and then turned the offseason into more wins by signing the top two players out of the transfer portal and welcomed the No. 1 high school recruiting class to Baton Rouge.But now, it’s a new season. Every team is 0-0. And though the Tigers remain the top team in our preseason projections, several other programs — some perennial powers, some new faces and some programs with chips on their shoulders — look like they could be holding the trophy in Cleveland in April.As squads rebuilt, reloaded and re-tooled this offseason, The Athle...
Read More