O'Gara: Caitlin Clark is an icon, but Dawn Staley's just hit Mt. Rushmore status by clinching perfection
There’s only one Caitlin Clark. Her status among the greatest to ever play at this level wasn’t going to be in question with Sunday’s national championship result. We were reminded of that as she splashed jumper after jumper in what turned out to be a historic 18-point first quarter.
No player had ever scored more points in an NCAA Tournament women’s national championship than Clark. By day’s end, she’d hold the record for career NCAA Tournament points to go along with her all-time Division I scoring record (the magic number is 3,951, by the way.)
But even as Clark and the Hawkeyes sprinted out to a double-digit lead before getting on the board, there Dawn Staley sat. Stoic. Confident. Inevitable.
Dawn Staley doesn't look concerned. Relax, America.
— Saturday Down South (@SatDownSouth) April 7, 2024
Can you blame Staley?
This team had size for days, depth for days and most importantly, it had poise for days. That’s how you clinch perfection.
That’s how you become an icon.
Staley’s squad battled back from that early deficit and did the thing it did all year. That is, settle in and dominate. South Carolina’s national championship victory was the third of Staley’s illustrious career — only 5 programs in the sport have that many rings — and there shouldn’t be much debate that it was the most impressive.
Let’s put the Clark containment storyline on the back burner for a second and focus on the obvious. South Carolina lost all 5 starters from a Final Four team that lost just 1 game, which obviously came at the hands of Clark and the Hawkeyes in last year’s Final Four. That’s not the group that was supposed to become the first Division I team to run the table since 2016 UConn. That’s the group that’s supposed to show flashes and in an ideal world, it plays its best basketball down the stretch.
Instead, South Carolina players had a consensus moment when they realized that this group could be special. It was in the season-opener in France, wherein the Gamecocks trucked a top-10 Notre Dame team 100-71. They had 5 players finish in double digits and outscored a top-10 team 50-24 in the second and third quarter.
That unselfishness on the offensive end made South Carolina unstoppable. It had 4 different leading scorers in the 4 games it won to get back to its 4th consecutive Final Four. Fitting it was that a freshman, Tessa Johnson, was the leading scorer in the national championship. She had 19 points off the bench to fuel the Gamecocks’ 37-0 bench points advantage over the Hawkeyes.
Unlike last year when South Carolina’s offense couldn’t overcome an off game from All-American and future No. 1 overall pick Aliyah Boston, there was no defensive answer for Iowa. And on the flip side, Clark’s first quarter was where her day peaked. There wasn’t a 41-point game like last year’s semifinal upset. She was “held” to 30 points, but it took 28 shots to get there.
The storyline might’ve been “the best player vs. the best team,” but where does Sunday now put Staley among the sport’s best coaches of all-time? It’s hard to quantify in some ways because it strangely feels like Staley is just entering her dynasty era.
Three titles still trail active coaches like Kim Mulkey (4) and Geno Auriemma (11), but she’s now tied with Tara VanDerveer. Perhaps more important is that all 3 of Staley’s titles came since Auriemma’s last title with that unbeaten 2016 squad with senior Breanna Stewart.
South Carolina didn’t have anyone nearly as established as Stewart. As dominant as Kamilla Cardoso felt at times at 6-7, the first-year starter won’t be remembered like the former UConn great. The crazy thing about the 2023-24 South Carolina team is that 10 years from now, we might look back and realize that a pair of freshmen — Johnson and Milaysia Fulwiley — had the best careers. That speaks to the depth and of course, the coaching.
If Staley still isn’t considered among the best the sport has ever seen after clinching perfection, who is? You can say that the Gamecocks are a recruiting juggernaut who can now handpick the best talent in the country, but it’s hard to discredit Staley when the program had just 5 trips to the second round before her arrival. South Carolina fans know that. By now, the rest of college basketball should.
In a few weeks, Staley will turn 54 years old. By the time Auriemma was 54, he had 5 titles. The late Summit had 6. Staley still has a good bit of catching up to do if she wants to be remembered in the same way as those 2.
But on Sunday afternoon, she wasn’t worried about that. She was too busy appreciating what this all-time great team did.
In the postgame interview with Holly Rowe, Staley let her walls down and was brought to tears before she collected herself.
“I’m just super proud of where I work. I’m super proud of our fans. It’s awesome. It’s awesome. It’s unbelievable,” Staley said.
Unbelievable? Nah. Nothing should surprise us with Staley anymore.
And yet a ton of people who watched this game would not have even thought about watching if it wasn’t for Kaitlin Clark. She was the draw, Staley just happened to be there for it.
Dawn Staley is the draw, she is best coach in college period, her accolades don’t lie, cute try though, Caitlyn Clark, the draw, lol
she may be the best coach, or she’s at least currently running the best program, but make no mistake, clark has been the draw. maybe it was 50/50 for the elite 8 game against lsu, but she’s been the general public’s interest all season and the big pull of the historic #s these last 2 games that not even auriemma or staley could dream of attracting.
Yup P is right. Staley is a great coach. Too bad that byu thing still lingers.
Bro you are tripping, Clark is not even a blip on Staley’s map of greatness, Staley and SC equals ratings and more importantly wins, perfection…
Everyone loves Clark. Hope Staley gets a squatter.
You have the best coach and the most promising women’s program for the next 10 years, but I haven’t heard one conversation about Dawn Staley in the last two years. However, I’ve heard people talk about Caitlyn Clark more than any other women’s player in the last 15 years.
Then I don’t know who you’ve been listening to, Staley generates more space than Clark, period, everyone has an opinion on her and she has the accolades no other college coach currently has, and she’s perfect, that’s the draw, not one player, but a perfect team and perfect season, but cute try.
Another asinine comments from Booches. Some people are just born to troll, regardless of the subject.
You honestly don’t think Clark was the draw? Can’t fix stupid I guess.
True. Clark was the draw.
She may have stepped in it with her statement it is OK for men to play on women’s basketball teams. Would have been better to not take a side.
I agree, but that doesn’t change her accomplishments. They’re impressive.
Dawn Staley is the epitome of class. Her shout out to Clark was another example. I believe she is the third best women’s coach in history (Gino and Summit) and the best of this generation. And although I am not at all religious, I admire those who aren’t afraid to profess their faith in today’s social environment, regardless of their religion. Especially in light of events such as Biden banning religious imagery on White House EASTER decorations. Or people assuming all Muslims are terrorists. Separation of church and state is our constitutional mandate, but that doesn’t mean everyone should be secular or be quiet.
South Carolina had more players, but the game was won on the inside. Without Cardoso’s size, it would have been a much tighter game. She dictated the paint, was dominant and had no challenger.
Rebel: I have to disagree. We had the same number of players as Iowa. Iowa just doesn’t have depth outside of their starting five. Yes, Cardoso has a great height advantage, but without a long-range attack, Iowa would have done what they did last year . . . pack the paint and force SC to hit from the outside. SC’s other bigs made a huge difference. Kitts, Feagin & Watkins were 9 of 14 with 19 rebounds. Iowa’s reserves only had a total of 18 minutes. SC’s reserves played 75 minutes. THAT was the difference in my opinion.
what Staley accomplished was probably one of the best coaching jobs ever – she lost all 5 starters from last’s year regular season undefeated team and with all new players went undefeated –
unlike the whining coaches who cry that they need 3 years to put together a team
Staley has an outstanding program. They will likely be very tough for years. We need to compare her to Pat Sumlin or Gene Auriemma at UConn.
Thank you Coach Dawn Staley for be classy, you and your team. The Gamecocks are great and a classy team.
Thanks for that!
The lady is a great coach. Shifted defensive strategy in the second half and basically wore Clark out.
CUDOS for USU Basketball
What else can you say, ” USC and the team is perfection”.