South Carolina Wins March Madness, Dawn Staley Dynasty Solidified

Though March Insanity ended over spring break, there’s nonetheless a lot to be mentioned concerning the packed month of riveting competitors between the NCAA ladies’s groups. Composed of heartbreaking losses, miraculous wins, and devastating accidents, the match had each basketball fan on the sting of their seat. 

Regardless of an injury-ridden season, the College of Connecticut managed to advance as much as the nationwide championships. Within the Elite Eight, there was the primary double additional time as level guard Paige Bueckers led the Huskies with 27 factors to their 14th consecutive Remaining 4, though ahead Dorka Juhász suffered a painful wrist harm within the first quarter. Whereas each groups scored lower than normal, UConn defeated former defending champions Stanford College 63–58. 

Within the nationwide championship, nonetheless, UConn was no match for the College of South Carolina. Led by guard Destanni Henderson, level guard Zia Cooke, and ahead Aliyah Boston, the SC Gamecocks dominated with a 64–49 win. UConn head coach Geno Auriemma had his first defeat in a nationwide championship recreation, whereas the Gamecocks’ head coach Daybreak Staley secured her second championship win and have become the primary Black head coach, in both males’s or ladies’s basketball, to win a number of nationwide championships.

South Carolina’s story to the championship recreation is one in all redemption and resilience. They have been a favourite within the 2020 March Insanity match till it was canceled attributable to COVID-19. In 2021, South Carolina fell to Stanford by one level within the Remaining 4, as Aliyah Boston didn’t make a layup that would’ve received the sport. South Carolina was decided to work tougher for the following season, and the outcomes rapidly turned obvious. The Gamecocks led the preseason ballot as the primary seed and stayed on the high of the weekly Related Press’ Prime 25 polls for the following 18 weeks of the common season, even with an upset loss to the College of Kentucky within the Southeastern Convention championship recreation. 

In only one season, Daybreak Staley defeated powerhouse coaches Geno Auriemma, Kim Mulkey of Louisiana State College, and Tara Vanderveer of Stanford. The Gamecocks entered March Insanity 2022 because the No.-1 seed total, and within the first recreation, they solely allowed Howard College to attain 21 factors, one of many lowest scores in NCAA historical past.

Regardless of their accomplishments, it appeared as if South Carolina was repeatedly ignored and misrepresented all through their season. Even once they received, ESPN reporter Holly Rowe by chance confused Aliyah Boston for a totally totally different participant, Aaliyah Edwards of UConn. Additional, earlier than their recreation in opposition to College of Louisville within the Remaining 4, Insider reporter Meredith Money wrote an article about how South Carolina didn’t present up for the nationwide anthem, whereas Louisville did. The piece was inaccurate, missed vital context, and manipulated Staley’s quotes from two years in the past about racial justice. Extra insultingly, Money initially failed to say that Creighton College, a predominately white staff, didn’t present up for the nationwide anthem of their video games both. In a later interview, Staley talked about how the piece was distracting her and her gamers proper earlier than the championship recreation.

Whereas I used to be watching totally different March Insanity video games or promos, I additionally seen how media retailers portrayed Aliyah Boston. After lacking the successful layup in opposition to Stanford, a video of Boston breaking down into tears rapidly circulated social media. After that, each time Boston was talked about, the video would inevitably present up. No different participant had their response to a loss frequently introduced up like hers. Regardless of how a lot Boston has completed, it nearly felt like they have been attempting to restrict her to this one second as a advertising and marketing tactic for March Insanity as a substitute of highlighting her many achievements. 

I hope extra folks can recognize the “Dawnasty” being constructed by Coach Staley and her gamers as a result of they’re definitely a drive to be reckoned with subsequent season. And though they confronted heartbreak and uncertainty prior to now two years, they may now not be outlined by them. As Aliyah Boston mentioned after successful, “Everybody had an image of me crying on the finish of the Remaining 4 [last year] they usually put it all over the place … however right this moment we’re nationwide champions and [I’m crying] glad tears,” earlier than smiling on the digicam.