Staley – The story of Bueckers eclipses the exploits of South Carolina

Tampa, Florida – Southern Carolina coach Dawn Staley questioned the story that surrounded Uconn Paige Bueckers and her quest to win a national championship, saying on Saturday that she had overshadowed any discussion about what her players have done.

The Gamecocks will try to repeat themselves as national champions on Sunday during the national title against the Huskies, who beat them for a season earlier in the season. Bueckers tries to win his first national title with the Huskies in his last season with the program.

It was asked Staley if she felt that Bueckers needed to win a title to cement her heritage as a big one in the match. Last year, we asked a similar question to Caitlin Clark, which the South Carolina played in the match for the national title. South Carolina beat Iowa 87-75 to finish 38-0 as national champions.

“Sometimes we create these stories about great players – Caitlin was one of them; Paige is one of them right now – and we tend to forget the story of what our children have been able to do, going for their third in four years,” Staley said on Saturday. “There is a sentimental story on Paige. A great player of oddity. Everyone would start his franchise with Paige because she is a winner. … But when you put a story there, everyone sees it, and that puts us in disadvantage, whether you want to believe it or not.” It’s everywhere in all of this. “”

Staley said she wanted the discussion about Bueckers and her players on Sunday. Uconn has not won a national championship since 2016 and lost against South Carolina in the title for the title in 2022, when Bueckers scored 14 points in the second year.

“She is a great player, but it is not because you are a great player that you have to win the national championship to legitimize it,” said Staley. “Paige is legitimate. Her career is legendary. She will leave an inheritance in Uconn, whether she wins one or not.

“I just want to put it there. I can’t resolve it because it happened to us. It happened to us last year. Everything was about Caitlin Clark and its inheritance and its ability to win a national championship. However, we come back to this undefeated thing, doing something unprecedented at the time. We are in a similar situation.”

Although the South Carolina is not undefeated this time, the Gamecocks resisted three defeats in the regular season to find a way to come back. This includes a defeat of 87-58 against Uconn in February which managed a sequence of home victories of 71 games.

The players thought about this defeat on Saturday, but it also served as a motivation to learn and correct the mistakes so that they can make their quest to repeat. Southern Carolina has not lost since then, and although it needs a return victories in three games of the NCAA tournament – including Sweet 16 and Elite Eight – The Gamecocks presented their full potential in a 74-57 victory against Texas in the semi -finals on Friday.

“(Uconn) was a loss so embarrassing for us, and we knew that we are going to come back stronger and even better,” said goalkeeper Te-Hina Paopao. “We are a completely different team now, so we have to show it tomorrow for 40 minutes.”

Indeed, they now have a chance to repeat themselves as champions for the first time in the history of the school. In addition, Sania Feagin, Raven Johnson and Bree Hall all have the opportunity to win their third national title in four years for Gamecocks.

“I want the feelings to concern our players and what our players have been able to do – also because there is room to make both,” said Staley. “We can raise Paige because it deserves it and raise our players because they deserve this. And that did not speak enough. There is room for that in our game so that we are all covered. Do not choose a story, its story about the story of another program. Do not choose a player in relation to the story of another player because we all create the story for our game.”