Breaking news:.Te Hina announce her return back with full commitment South Carolina ….
South Carolina is back on top this welcome home..
Breaking news:.Te Hina announce her return back with full commitment South Carolina ….
Te Hina coming back puts the Gamecocks in the drivers seat to win it all again.
South Carolina is back on top this season after losing five starters, including 2023 WNBA No. 1 draft pick Aliyah Boston, and a top reserve from last year’s team. How did the Gamecocks reload? Call it strategic planning by Staley, along with her ability to convince players to buy into future roles. That’s harder to do in today’s transfer portal world, where many players seek immediate individual success.
But Staley did it, and several players who accepted taking a back seat last season, are now driving the Gamecocks.
“This whole season has been learning lessons through winning,” Staley said at the SEC tournament, where South Carolina won its eighth title. “We won a lot of basketball games, but there were a lot of things that we need to work on. This team has responded time in and time out.”
The roadmap to getting a No. 1 seed for the fourth season in a row started well before South Carolina fell to Iowa in last season’s national semifinals. That was an emotionally difficult loss for a program that had seemed so likely to repeat its 2022 national championship. With players such as Boston, Zia Cooke, Brea Beal, Victaria Saxton, Kierra Fletcher and Laeticia Amihere moving on, the Gamecocks lost the majority of their of experience and leadership.
Staley recruited in preparation for this. She knew there were talented younger players in place for 2023-24. She also got the perfect fit that South Carolina needed from the transfer portal: Guard Te-Hina Paopao added more 3-point shooting consistency, which had been an Achilles’ heel in the loss to Iowa.
Yet even with so many of the correct pieces, South Carolina still had to live up to the challenge of being the powerhouse everyone expects. Over the summer, Staley had moments of doubt.
Dawn Staley and the South Carolina Gamecocks are the No. 1 overall seed heading into the women’s NCAA tournament for the second consecutive season. They enter March Madness undefeated — for the second year in a row — and at 32-0 are the only remaining unbeaten Division I team in men’s or women’s college hoops. They are once again the betting favorite to win the championship.
How they got here is a different story entirely, and it just might help the Gamecocks win their third title in seven NCAA tournaments.
Several women’s teams have been championship contenders in successive seasons, with star players leading the way. Think Chamique Holdsclaw (Tennessee Lady Vols, 1996-1998), Diana Taurasi (UConn Huskies 2002-2004), Candace Parker (Tennessee 2007-08), Maya Moore and Tina Charles (UConn 2009-10) and Breanna Stewart (UConn 2013-2016).
