South Carolina women's basketball: Are the Gamecocks having fun again?

South Carolina officially began preseason practice this week, although the Gamecocks have been hard at work all summer. They’ve got plenty of Xs and Os to figure out over the next six weeks, but there are also the intangibles to work out.

Unfortunately, due to the rules regarding media access, we typically don’t get a true feeling for the team’s mentality until the postseason. That’s when we get open locker rooms. 

Open locker rooms allow us to see players in a more natural environment, how they interact with each other, and get to understand their personalities. Even then, it’s a guess, but we can learn a lot about unspoken relationships.

Dawn Staley comes up with a theme for each season, but that is a premeditated concept meant to highlight the objectives for the season. Almost every year, an unofficial theme develops over the course of the season that better represents the players’ mentalities. 

Two years ago, the unofficial theme was “Dawn’s Daycare.” Staley, the fans, and the players all embraced the happy-go-lucky, unserious attitude the team had. It worked magnificently, culminating in the 10th undefeated season in NCAA history.

Last season, the Gamecocks were still nominally “Dawn’s Daycare.” They were still unserious, but after spending a month of the postseason visiting with players in the locker room, the happy-go-lucky attitude was definitely missing.

There was not only pressure to repeat, but pressure to be perfect. After UCLA broke South Carolina’s winning streak, I talked to Tessa Johnson. I tried to lighten the mood by joking that I’d forgotten how to cover a loss. She deadpanned something along the lines of, “I guess we gave you something to write about.” 

That’s not to pick on Tessa at all. But it shows how every loss felt extra heavy. 

“We were undefeated and now we LOST?”

Last season, the Gamecocks were still goofy, and they were still Dawn’s Daycare, but that happy-go-lucky, nothing-to-lose attitude was missing. They had a lot to lose, and the pressure weighed on a team that was far from perfect.

Pat Riley called it “The Disease of Me.” When you win, everyone wants a piece of you. I never detected any discontent in the locker room, but I could tell it wasn’t as close. When the media walked in, players were in their cliques, huddled in different corners.

Some of it was normal. Bree Hall, the self-described “aunt” of Dawn’s Daycare, always rolled her eyes and floated toward the edge of the lunacy. But she was definitely a part of everything.

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Some of it was not. MiLaysia Fulwiley was always isolated in her own corner. I asked a few other players why Fulwiley didn’t join the shenanigans, planning to write a story about it. They told me she did, but I wasn’t around for it. (Despite being one of the Gamecocks’ most visible players, Fulwiley disliked group interviews, which was part of the reason she always stayed off to the side.)

I’m not blaming it all on Fulwiley. I’m merely using her as an example. She had to answer questions about the game, her playing time, and her shoes, despite the fact that she has never seemed comfortable with her level of fame.

The vibes just weren’t the same.

We won’t truly understand the vibe for this season’s team for another six months. All we have now are social media posts and vague rumblings out of practice.

But the vibes we have are good. Tessa Johnson and Chloe Kitts have been best friends for a while, and their social media posts suggest both are rejuvenated. In high school, Raven Johnson and Ta’Niya Latson were best friends on and off the court, and on social media, they appear to be overjoyed to be reunited. 

I could go on. Adhel Tac and Maryam Dauda are everyone’s bestie. Freshmen Agot Makeer and Ayla McDowell seem to be the proverbial little sisters.

These players appear to adore each other.

Do they really? We may not know until March, and even then, it’s a guess.

But I’m picking up good vibrations.

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