South Carolina women's basketball: The Road to the Final Four - How a private conversation "flipped a switch"
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Under Dawn Staley, South Carolina has made the Final Four four times in the last seven NCAA tournaments, and almost certainly would have made a fifth appearance had the 2020 tournament not been canceled. Each team had its own story – from upstart party crashers to an unlikely run to a wire-to-wire juggernaut – but there is one thing they all have in common. There was one game during the season that put the Gamecocks on their path to the Final Four.
The Background
South Carolina was 3-0, with a win at #5 NC State and against a South Dakota team that was just outside the top 25 (plus a blowout of Clemson). But South Carolina hadn’t quite hit its stride. To be more specific, South Carolina was having trouble getting Aliyah Boston involved.
Through three games, Boston was averaging just 9.3 points and 5.3 rebounds. She had won a national player of the year award and was the SEC tournament MVP the previous season, but she wasn’t playing like it.
Everyone understood Boston had to get going if the Gamecocks were to make it back to the Final Four.
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The Game
South Carolina traveled to the Bahamas for the Battle4Atlantis tournament, and Buffalo was the first opponent. Boston led South Carolina to an 88-60 win with 23 points and seven rebounds in just 26 minutes. She thought she had played well and broken out of the slump.
After the game, Staley pulled Boston aside and, as she likes to say, “told her some things she didn’t want to hear.” This is your team, Staley said, and everything everyone else on the team does is based around you, and you are being selfish by not playing up to your potential.
Neither Staley nor Boston talked about the conversation at the time, and Staley didn’t reveal what happened until late in the season. At the Final Four in Minneapolis, some four months later, they reflected on the conversation.
“Very few athletes are able to be dominant and when you are one of those athletes, if you don’t have somebody around you that recognizes it, they’ll allow you to just fly under the radar and blend in with other people who aren’t going to excel at the rate that Aliyah can excel,” Staley said following the national championship. “I’ve been around a lot of great basketball players who have been dominant, and I saw it in her, and I would not allow her to be anything less than that, even if I had to hurt her. A lot of parents, they don’t want their children to hurt, and it’s almost a disservice to them. It hurts them. You have to put your child in an uncomfortable situation in order for them to grow.”
“Coach Staley was like, you’re not being dominant. This is not the Aliyah Boston that we’re expecting, we’re looking for,” Boston said. “It just flipped a switch. I’m glad she said something because it got me upset. I was like, I’m doing fine, like I’m playing good. That’s what is happening in my head. But she was able to point it out, and the next game I just came out and I was like, you know what? I’m not going to be denied. I’m going to go crash the boards. I’m going to do what my team needs me to do.”
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The Aftermath
South Carolina easily blew out Oregon the next day, so the change wasn’t immediately evident as Boston only played 22 minutes. Still, she had 16 points, eight rebounds, three assists, and two blocks.
It was the next game, a heavily hyped one-versus-two matchup against UConn, when Boston’s new approach became evident. The Huskies and another reigning player of the year, Paige Bueckers, were a popular pick to win – so popular that the AP delayed releasing the top-25 poll until Tuesday to accommodate a change at the top.
Instead, Boston dominated the game to the tune of 22 points, 15 rebounds, and two assists. She wore down the Huskies, and the Gamecocks easily pulled away in the second half for a convincing win.
After the game, Staley had an almost literal mic drop moment. Asked if Boston was the best player in the country, Staley answered, “Do I think she is the best player? 22 points 15 rebounds in a big-ass game.” Then she shrugged and ended the press conference.
It was an unusually bold statement by Staley, right down to the mild profanity. Now we know it was a message to Boston: This is who you need to be every game.
And she would be. Boston averaged 16.8 points and 12.5 rebounds, finished with 30 double-doubles (27 in a row), swept every player of the year award and defensive player of the year award, and the Gamecocks went wire-to-wire as the best team in the country. It was one of the best seasons ever for any Gamecock athlete, regardless of sport.
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Honorable mention:
The Stanford loss in 2021 Final Four
At SEC Media Day, Staley was asked when she knew South Carolina had what it took to win the national championship in 2022. She said that she knew following the 2021 loss to Stanford that the 2022 Gamecocks would be locked in and wouldn’t be denied.
