As Dawn Staley, South Carolina pursue perfection, what Geno Auriemma might say | Toppmeyer

• South Carolina women’s basketball will be the only undefeated team in the NCAA Tournament.
• Dawn Staley will try to become the fifth coach to attain an undefeated NCAA championship. Geno Auriemma has six perfect seasons, but he doesn’t recommend the quest.
• Would South Carolina have benefited from a loss to Tennessee? You could make that case.

Geno Auriemma once described the pursuit of perfection as an unwelcome passenger on a season’s journey – so much so that he welcomed a regular-season loss.

“Fifteen or 20 years ago, there was only one thought in my mind: We need to win every single game. … The last couple years, I’d go into every big game on ESPN going, ‘Man, I hope today’s the day we get our ass kicked,’” Auriemma, UConn’s women’s basketball coach, told reporters in 2018.

Auriemma’s insight came from a coach who’s achieved six undefeated seasons, but he’d developed this idea later in his career that experiencing a loss forces a team to regroup.

No women’s hoops program has finished as undefeated national champions since Auriemma’s Huskies in 2016.

Dawn Staley’s South Carolina Gamecocks are trying to become the first SEC team to finish undefeated since the Tennessee Lady Vols went 39-0 en route to cementing their three-peat in 1998.

The Gamecocks (32-0) have been ranked No. 1 in the polls every week since Nov. 13.

After four months of carrying that crown, it’s starting to look heavy – despite what the Gamecocks may say.

“It’s no pressure,” Gamecocks guard Te-Hina Paopao said before the SEC Tournament.

Well, then, maybe the season’s grind is simply taking its toll.

The Gamecocks will enter the NCAA Tournament undefeated, but not invincible.

In the SEC Tournament, USC looked as vulnerable as it’s been at any point this season. The Gamecocks shot just 43% from the field in conference tournament victories against Tennessee and LSU.

They required the fortune of a buzzer-beating banked 3-pointer to beat the Lady Vols in the semifinals.

As Pat Summitt would say years after her only undefeated season, navigating a season without a loss requires a team to experience “some luck, stay healthy and get a break or two.”

South Carolina cashed in its good fortune against Tennessee.

The Lady Vols led by two points with 1.1 seconds remaining when they inexplicably decided not to defend South Carolina’s best player, Kamilla Cardoso, off a sideline inbounds pass.

Tennessee’s first mistake? Not guarding inbounds passer Raven Johnson, who enjoyed a clean path to trigger the pass.

Its second mistake? Leaving Cardoso alone at the free-throw line. No defender was within 8 feet of her.

Its final mistake? Letting a Gamecock get an open look at a 3. When only a 3 can beat you, defend the arc. Tennessee didn’t. Instead of remaining at the free-throw line, Cardoso drifted out a few more feet to catch the inbounds at the top of the arc.

Cardoso had attempted just one 3-pointer in her career. As an opponent, you don’t know if she can make that shot. You don’t know she can’t, either.

She could – and did.

To call Tennessee’s collapse a case of coaching and defensive malpractice would be an insult to those who commit malpractice.

Perfect record retained, amid an imperfect performance.

A day later, South Carolina led LSU by just a single point with fewer than five minutes remaining before digging in to protect the lead. Bree Hall made a couple of clutch baskets to provide breathing room.

Hall’s late-game 3-pointers also rallied the Gamecocks past LSU in Baton Rouge two months ago.

Hall ranks fifth on the team in scoring. That’s South Carolina’s super power. It’s a deep team that depends on no single player to beat an opponent.

South Carolina’s enviable depth of talent makes it a rightful favorite entering the Big Dance, but the Gamecocks were also the undefeated favorite entering last year’s tournament. They lost to Iowa in the semifinals.

Only four coaches have achieved an undefeated NCAA championship: Auriemma, Summitt, Kim Mulkey (Baylor) and Jody Conradt (Texas).

As I consider Cardoso’s semifinal buzzer-beater against Tennessee, I think the Gamecocks may have been better served had it rimmed out.

The pressure of going undefeated would’ve been gone. The Gamecocks still would’ve enjoyed a No. 1 NCAA seed. A loss could’ve helped recalibrate them and provided extra motivation for this stretch run.

South Carolina takes aim at becoming the NCAA’s 10th undefeated national champion. UConn accounts for six of those perfect seasons – and Auriemma’s experience tells him that perfection can be more of a hindrance than a helper in pursuit of a championship.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s SEC Columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @btoppmeyer.

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