As South Carolina women's basketball returns to the Final Four, the 2024 NCAA champions’ March Madness journey hasn’t exactly mirrored last year’s dominance. But their resilience has kept them very much in contention.
The Gamecocks bounced back from third-quarter deficits in their last two tournament games, relying on tight defense and smart positional rotations to wear opponents down.
“It is that type of year, that for us, there’s not any blowouts,” head coach Dawn Staley said after her team’s Elite Eight win over Duke. “We have to grind for every single win that we can get.”
South Carolina taps into depth after WNBA departures
After losing center Kamilla Cardoso to the 2024 WNBA Draft, the Gamecocks harnessed their depth, relying on strict minute restrictions to disrupt game flow and launch second-half runs.
Sophomore standout MiLaysia Fulwiley has popped off the bench, complementing leading scorer Joyce Edwards and inside show-runner Chloe Kitts.
One of the team’s key veteran leaders, senior Te-Hina PaoPao has been a grounding force as the only player averaging 25+ minutes per game.
Defense is key to Gamecocks victory
For the Gamecocks to become back-to-back champs, they’ll have to lean hard on their time-honored calling card: defense.
"Look, I mean, at this point it's not going to look pretty. Okay? It's not," Staley said after South Carolina narrowly escaped Sweet 16 opponent Duke. "There are stretches in each game that is not going to look pretty… Some of it's not going to look as smoothly as us coaches and players envision or how you practice, but you certainly have to get down and play the kind of game that's presented in front of you, and we'll do that."
“If we’re not scoring a whole lot of points, then we gotta up our defense,” she continued. “If we’re scoring a lot of points, we gotta up our defense.”
Diana Taurasi is officially retiring from basketball, the WNBA legend told TIME Magazine on Tuesday, capping off a decorated and lengthy college and professional career.
"Mentally and physically, I’m just full," Taurasi said in the exclusive interview. "That’s probably the best way I can describe it. I’m full and I’m happy."
Taurasi's unmatched basketball career
Taurasi exits first and foremost as a winner, earning three straight NCAA championships with UConn before going as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2004 WNBA Draft to Phoenix, where she led the Mercury to three league titles over the course of her 20-year tenure with the team.
The 42-year-old also picked up six consecutive Olympic gold medals along the way — more than any other athlete in the sport's history. Even more, she snagged all six without ever losing a single Olympic game.
In addition to her domestic efforts, Taurasi played a prominent role in the European game, winning six EuroLeague titles as well as multiple championships with teams in Russia and Turkey.
The 2009 WNBA MVP leaves the court as the league’s all-time leading scorer and three-point shooter, as well as a two-time WNBA Finals MVP, 11-time All-Star, and a two-time NCAA Most Outstanding Player, among other individual honors.
"She has a way of making people feel connected to her, but also like the best version of themselves," Taurasi’s UConn and Team USA teammate Sue Bird — who hung up her jersey in 2022 — told ESPN after the news broke.
In a statement, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert also weighed in, calling Taurasi "one of the greatest competitors to ever play the game of basketball on any stage."
Taurasi leaves iconic legacy as she retires
Having helped build the WNBA into what it is today, Taurasi created a legacy defined not just by her resume, but by leaving the game better than she found it.
"Until someone comes along and eclipses what she’s done, then yes, she is [the GOAT]," UConn boss Geno Auriemma, who coached Taurasi both in college and on Team USA's 2012 and 2016 Olympic squads, said about the basketball superstar.
As for Taurasi, she fully expects a future player to surpass her stats, as the retiring legend continues to embody a competitor’s perspective on the game she leaves behind.
"My scoring record or the six gold medals, someone’s going to come around that has the same hunger, the same addiction to basketball, and put those records in a different way, a different name," she told TIME.
"That’s what sports is all about. That’s going to be fun to watch. Hopefully not soon."