FILE – South Carolina’s Aaliyah Boston smiles after a college basketball game in the final round of the Women’s Final Four NCAA tournament against UConn in Minneapolis on April 3, 2022. South Carolina won her 64-49 and won. South Carolina placed her first in the Associated Press’ Top 25 Women’s Basketball Poll on Tuesday, Oct. 18. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
APs
Columbia, South Carolina
No. 1 South Carolina has a sweeter, more satisfying motive to go for the NCAA championship after winning the title one season ago.
Gamecocks want to feel the confetti fall again before a veteran team that includes consensus Player of the Year Aaliyah Boston, dynamic Zia Cook and defensive stopper Blair Beal wraps up their stay on campus .
“Our goal was to win four of them,” Cook said of the NCAA title. “I think the fact that we only won one makes us a little more hungry.”
Cook and Gamecox’s 2019 top-ranked recruiting classes are very close to their annual championship goals. When the 2020 tournament was canceled due to the pandemic, they were ranked No. 1, the SEC Tournament Champions, and won 26 straight games.
The following season, South Carolina missed a last-second chance in a 66–65 loss to eventual winners Stanford before reaching the Final Four.
Cook, Boston and Beale were all hard-edged, said coach Dawn Staley, who won the trophy in the end.They dominated Final Four victories against Louisville and UConn in Minneapolis last April. did.
“They put work on the back burner,” she said. “And we’re the only team that can say we’re going to fight back-to-back, and that’s our goal.”
Staley said her players have returned with similar focus and confidence that comes from reaching the summit.
“It’s all pressure. It’s just another kind of pressure,” Staley said. “When he’s on one of the best teams in the country, it puts pressure on him. He’s on one of the best teams in the country, and when he loses in the final four, it motivates me every day.”
South Carolina coaches support seven seniors or juniors who have learned Staley’s ways over the years. Boston said it needs to speed up practice or get younger players who don’t get the hang of it defensively.
“We all have to prepare for what’s to come and what we want to achieve,” said Boston.
title hangover
Aaliyah Boston, another preseason AP All-American named this fall, has had a busy offseason, including a day (June 4) in her home country of the U.S. Virgin Islands. There was a parade in the capital of Charlotte Amalie, followed by a ceremony. “It’s fun,” she said. “But it’s time to get back to work.”
departure
Several players on the national championship team decided to leave shortly after the parade in downtown Columbia. One, freshman Sanya Rivers, headed to North Carolina. Her two-year guard Destiny Lyttelton moved to Southern California. Destanni Henderson, who scored 26 points in the title game win over UConn, was a first-round pick in the WNBA Draft.
arrival
With so much experience coming back, Staley and Gamecock didn’t have much room to add. South Carolina signed 6.3-foot forward Ashlyn Watkins and 6-foot guard Thalecia Cooper, who signed him to five-star recruits, both of whom he was ranked among the top 18 college prospects by ESPN.com. I was. Staley also added Georgia Tech transfer his guard Keira Fletcher. Kiera Fletcher was a four-year starter for the Yellow Jackets and was released from a leg injury.
stay at home
South Carolina’s postseason roads don’t leave the state until the Final Four. Starts in Greenville, about two hours from campus, for the SEC tournament. Gamecocks is likely to be a top-four seed, so he’ll be playing his first two games in the NCAA at home. Sweet 16 has been reduced to two sites instead of four, with eight teams playing from two regions. The East Coast site is in Greenville, where the SEC tournament is held.
schedule
South Carolina opens at home to East Tennessee on November 7, followed by No. 17 Maryland on November 11 and No. 2 Stanford on November 20. February 5th. The SEC games begin December 29th at Texas A&M. The Gamecocks will face their two top rivals in the conference on February 12th at LSU 16th and 5th Tennessee on February 23rd.
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Other AP Women’s College Basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https:/ /twitter.com/AP_Top25
This story was originally published October 26, 2022 at 8:00 AM.
