Dawn Staley gave her players social media back after No. 1 ranking. Here’s why
For years now, it’s been a tradition for South Carolina women’s basketball — when the season starts, players leave social media. But on Monday evening, for a few hours, the Gamecocks returned online.
There have been occasional exceptions to coach Dawn Staley’s blackout policy, such as during winter break. But this time was different. This time, they were celebrating a historic moment.
For the first time in nearly five years, the Gamecocks have ascended to No. 1 in the Associated Press Top 25 rankings. And while it’s standard for coaches and players to dismiss any talk of rankings as unimportant, Staley saw Monday’s poll release as a significant moment for her team, full of freshmen experiencing something brand new.
“Social media is a big part of who they are and who they’ve grown up to be. It’s a big part of their lives and I want them to enjoy it, just be more conscious of it, and I want them to chronicle what’s happening in their lives at 18 to 22 (years old),” Staley said. “So the tweets, the Instagram posts, they’re gonna have them for a lifetime, and I just didn’t want them to miss out on having that, on having something historical, because it is historical for them because they’ve never experienced it before. So I wanted give them that.”
Having reached No. 1 back in 2015, Staley said she didn’t personally get too excited by the ranking. And she was also quick to note that the Gamecocks are far from a unanimous No. 1 — ten of 30 AP voters put someone else at the top of their ballots, and USC checked in at No. 2 in the USA Today coaches poll a day later, behind Baylor.
But she didn’t mind giving her player an opportunity to revel in the moment, albeit briefly. By Tuesday, players were back off social media, and practices since then have been “normal,” Staley said.
Sure enough, both her veteran and young players expressed limited excitement over the new ranking.
“It feels good, but we’re gonna stay level-headed and humble about it and just continue what we’ve been doing,” senior guard Tyasha Harris said.
“I’m very excited, but it doesn’t change anything,” freshman guard Zia Cooke added.
That response is something Staley anticipated — it’s why she felt comfortable letting them on social media in the first place. All year long, she’s praised the maturity of her younger players and the leadership of her older ones in allowing the team to focus solely on basketball without outside distraction. And nobody wants to be the one to change that.
“A lot of things that we have to deal with with some teams, we don’t have to deal with with this particular team, and that gives us, as a coaching staff, great comfort in knowing they can handle some things,” Staley said. “They can still celebrate while working hard and really honing on the details of what it takes to win each game as they come.”
South Carolina’s first test as the No. 1 team in the country comes Thursday against Missouri. The Gamecocks and Tigers became fierce, at times fiery, rivals over the past few years, fueled by close on-court results and off-court controversies. This season, however, Mizzou is struggling mightily without graduated star Sophie Cunningham; the Tigers are 4-13, 1-3 in the SEC.
As a result, USC will be heavily favored to cruise to its 11th consecutive win ahead of an MLK Day matchup with another rival, No. 10 Mississippi State. But recent trips to Columbia, Missouri have been tough on the Gamecocks.
“It’s Missouri. It’s become a rivalry. Hopefully we can do something that we haven’t done in the past two visits that occurred up there, is win a basketball game,” Staley said of the state of the series. “That’s our focus, is on the basketball side of it and just getting a win on the road, which will be tough.”
WHEN DO THE GAMECOCKS PLAY NEXT?
Who: No. 1 South Carolina (16-1, 4-0 SEC) vs. Missouri (4-13, 1-3 SEC)
When: 8:30 p.m. Thursday
Where: Mizzou Arena, Columbia, Missouri
Watch: SEC Network
Listen: 107.5 FM in Columbia area
This story was originally published January 15, 2020 at 6:27 PM with the headline "Dawn Staley gave her players social media back after No. 1 ranking. Here’s why."
