Hey everyone, hope you’re doing well. I dropped a big feature story today about how Dawn Staley develops point guards. I talked to her individually, several of her former point guards even going back to her time coaching before South Carolina and basically just tried to understand how she processes development at the position she used to play.
I had a lot of interview content with Dawn which did not make it into the final story, and I wanted to share it with the subscribers. We appreciate you guys a lot. Your subscriptions make things like traveling to Hartford last weekend possible, and definitely will help with our March Madness coverage.
Here is some exclusive content from my one-on-one with Dawn:
Dawn on Raven Johnson:
“I think Raven just plays. We’re up 20 or down 20, I think she’s going to make the same pass. I want to teach her a little bit more about situational basketball, but I just want her to play now. I don’t want to mess with her too much, I think I could get in her head a little bit.”
On Raven’s defense:
“Raven is all out pressure. In the beginning of the season she was all-out pressure. So we got her to slow down and just play with her feet, and then just be patient enough to wait until an [opposing] point guard is vulnerable to take chances like that. She’s gotten a lot better with it.”
“Raven’s got really long arms so she’s able to disrupt, knock the ball away, and get some steals. As the novelty wears off of the pressure that she applies, because you can get used to the pressure and you figure out other ways to combat that, then we’ll strategize for her once that point guard makes the adjustment.”
I also talked with Zia Cooke one-on-one for this, and she told me that she has been waiting four years to pull off a certain move in a game. I asked her about watching Dawn’s tapes from her playing days and if anything stood out, and she mentioned this:
But when I asked Dawn about it she was joking that ZIa "couldn't pull that off" in a game and that if anyone on this team is likely to pull off some of her moves in the game, it's Johnson.
Here is the full story:
southcarolina.rivals.com
I had a lot of interview content with Dawn which did not make it into the final story, and I wanted to share it with the subscribers. We appreciate you guys a lot. Your subscriptions make things like traveling to Hartford last weekend possible, and definitely will help with our March Madness coverage.
Here is some exclusive content from my one-on-one with Dawn:
Dawn on Raven Johnson:
“I think Raven just plays. We’re up 20 or down 20, I think she’s going to make the same pass. I want to teach her a little bit more about situational basketball, but I just want her to play now. I don’t want to mess with her too much, I think I could get in her head a little bit.”
On Raven’s defense:
“Raven is all out pressure. In the beginning of the season she was all-out pressure. So we got her to slow down and just play with her feet, and then just be patient enough to wait until an [opposing] point guard is vulnerable to take chances like that. She’s gotten a lot better with it.”
“Raven’s got really long arms so she’s able to disrupt, knock the ball away, and get some steals. As the novelty wears off of the pressure that she applies, because you can get used to the pressure and you figure out other ways to combat that, then we’ll strategize for her once that point guard makes the adjustment.”
I also talked with Zia Cooke one-on-one for this, and she told me that she has been waiting four years to pull off a certain move in a game. I asked her about watching Dawn’s tapes from her playing days and if anything stood out, and she mentioned this:
But when I asked Dawn about it she was joking that ZIa "couldn't pull that off" in a game and that if anyone on this team is likely to pull off some of her moves in the game, it's Johnson.
Here is the full story:
GamecockScoop - How Dawn Staley develops the 'mini-coaches' of South Carolina's dynasty
How does Dawn Staley develop point guards, and how does her past influence it? On practice, principles and more.
southcarolina.rivals.com
