How South Carolina rebuilt itself and became an even bigger juggernaut after roster overhaul
CLEVELAND — It was at halftime of the season opener in Paris when Bree Hall made the realization that South Carolina was good. Like, good good. Kamilla Cardoso and Ashlyn Watkins had the same feeling.
For years, the Gamecocks have been good. Actually, they’ve been great, a modern NCAA powerhouse in the footsteps of Southern Cal, Tennessee and Connecticut. They have competed in the past three Final Fours and six of the past nine, and they won the 2022 national title led by Dawn Staley, winner of four of the past five Naismith Coach of the Year awards.
But the undefeated team's berth in this particular Final Four was not inevitable. For the first time since 2018, South Carolina entered the preseason without its “Freshies," the class that went 129-9 over four years and had “no issues” in their tenure, Staley said. She celebrated five of her seven departing seniors drafted into the WNBA, then transitioned to a new era that she said had her considering early retirement.
“You get used to your life being a little easier as a coach on and off the court,” Staley said Thursday ahead of the semifinal against NC State (7 p.m. ET, ESPN). “And then once they all graduate, you have this different set.”
When players arrived on Day 1 this season, the majority were out of shape, she said. Sports performance coach Molly Binetti had the tall task of working with “probably the most out-of-shape, really not-very-competitive team” she ever had, Staley said. The young players didn’t understand the importance of program cornerstones ranging from discipline to eating breakfast to basic communication.
“The young ones always keep their phones on ‘do not disturb,’” junior forward Sania Feagin said. “And it’s like, no one is even disturbing you, why do you have your phone on do not disturb? People being late, alarms not being [on].”
Staley wasn’t ready for the struggles of a younger team, and she didn’t have an established veteran presence to take hold of situations. Those outside the program couldn’t see any of that, but they know that any team inserting five new starters will have growing pains. Back in September, it was hard to see a path to Cleveland.
Not anymore.
“I think it’s the best team South Carolina has had. No doubt in my mind,” NC State head coach Wes Moore said. “Because they can shoot it.”
South Carolina’s statement came immediately. Ranked No. 6 in the Associated Press poll, South Carolina tripled up then-No. 10 Notre Dame in the second quarter of the season opener, 24-8, and dropped triple digits in a 100-71 victory. The team hit five 3-pointers, eclipsing their 2022-23 average and showcasing that they knew what deficiency had kept them from the title game. Te-Hina Paopao, a senior transfer from Oregon, went 2-for-4 from beyond the arc. She’s shooting 46.3% this season, better than anyone on the previous four South Carolina rosters.
Cardoso, who recently announced she will enter the WNBA Draft, said she knew after the win in Paris that the Gamecocks had put it together. The 6-foot-7 center transferred from Syracuse, where she was the ACC Freshman of the Year, and spent two years playing behind Aliyah Boston, the 2023 WNBA Rookie of the Year.
“Everybody counted us out. Everybody thought we were going to lose,” Cardoso said after the Gamecocks won the Albany 1 regional and clinched a return to the Final Four. “We went out there and put on a show. This team, we’ve been working really hard since summer to build chemistry, to be good on the court [and] outside of the court.”
After reigning champion LSU lost its opener, South Carolina moved up to No. 1 in the poll and never relinquished the spot. The Gamecocks' first major test was a single-digit win over North Carolina. Two weeks later, they faced Utah in a neutral-site game in the Hall of Fame showcase at Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut. Alissa Pili, another WNBA forward prospect, dropped 37 points and nearly led the Utes to a victory.
“After we won that game, that was our realization that, yeah, I think we can play against anybody,” Hall said.
They won in different ways, when their shot was on and when it wasn’t. They secured a close win against LSU in the regular season, blew out traditional powerhouse UConn and survived a late scare by Tennessee in the SEC tournament. Of course it was a 3-pointer that kept the undefeated season alive. Unexpectedly, it came off the hands of Cardoso, who had never made one in her four-year career.
“The way we think, we always knew,” sophomore Raven Johnson said. “We knew this summer that we were going to be better than the team from last year. We knew what we had to bring. We knew what last year’s team was missing. And we said we got those, we got the weapons.”
On the court, they’ve always been well-balanced, with such a strong bench that Staley often goes nine deep in the first quarter of key games. Seven players average at least eight points per game; only three are in double digits, and Cardoso leads all at 14.1.
“I just don't see a lot of weakness, really, in anything they do from any angle,” Oregon State head coach Scott Rueck said after a loss in the Elite Eight.
Off the court, the Gamecocks had a concentrated focus on developing chemistry as an entirely new group. Feagin said that collective newness helped create an even stronger bond than the roster had last year. And Staley learned to fall back, pivot and do things differently than she has done before.
“The transition was hard, but then once I started to look at it as a challenge, I wasn't going to let them get the best of me, our staff or our program or what we've built,” she said.
Looking back now, as the final game of the season nears, it’s clear the result is the same.
“It's a new normal,” Staley said, “but the standard is still the standard, which I really, really appreciate.”
