ADVERTISEMENT

WBB: Press conference recap

C

ChrisWellbaum

Guest
Final Four Media Day was held this afternoon in Dallas. Here is a quick recap of the Gamecocks' time at the podium.

Kaela Davis has upped her scoring average by seven points per game in the tournament. Instead of settling for jump shots, she is frequently driving the ball and going to the rim. "It's just been attacking the paint, being aggressive, not just settling for jump shots, just kind of looking past that first defender, and, like I said, trying to get points in the paint," she said.

A'ja Wilson is making her second appearance in the Final Four. The Gamecock came out very tight early in the game last time, and Wilson talked about what she learned from the experience. "I've learned that it is just a different feeling, it really is. I mean, when you got to play, you don't know if the next game is guaranteed, you don't take anything for granted," Wilson said. "That's something I really want to tell my teammates. The biggest thing I've been preaching is I don't want my teammates to feel the way I felt last year and the year before that. It's not a good feeling. I want to try my best to kind of get this team to not have that feeling, want to have the opposite feeling of what I felt. It's something that I've tried to make them aware of. I'm pretty sure they all know you can't really take this game of basketball for granted."

Staley recalled what she learned. "The margin of error is so small, so small. I mean, if Aleighsa Welch makes a shot on one end, we're up three, and the ballgame's over," she said. "But because she missed, we go down, we defended extremely well, so much so we got a blocked shot, it was an air ball that (...) She put it back in. That's the margin of error, an air ball that turned put them up by one."

Davis and Wilson were each asked what the most important thing Dawn Staley has taught them is. Davis said Staley forced her to become a better all-around player. "I was really just on the defensive end, just kind of staying engaged, staying locked in with whatever we're doing, whatever's going on," Davis said. "For me, I think it's just been a way to not only be effective offensively but, you know, be an overall player and be effective defensively as well. Especially when I had a little lull there, offensively I wasn't doing great, I had to find a way to stay on the floor and be productive while I was there."

Wilson couldn't settle on anything. "I don't think I can actually, like, pinpoint how much she's really helped me with my game, honestly. She's helped me all around, whether it's mentally, physically, emotionally throughout. Just taking the game in," Wilson said. "What do you always say? When you give something to the game, the game always gives it back to you."

Staley played for Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer on the 1996 Olympic team, and has frequently cited VanDeveer as one of her biggest influences. " that entire year, just opened my eyes to seeing basketball coached and played at a different level. The amount of pressure that was on our team, on Tara, she made us feel all of the pressure that was on her. She didn't want the team to fail," Staley said. "I feel like from my experiences with her, she taught me how to approach the game, how to approach pressure situations, and how to execute while being under that amount of pressure."

Staley also talked about the adjustment she has made since Alaina Coates went down with an injury. Staley has gone to a smaller, quicker lineup both out of necessity and an effort to reinvent the team on the fly. "You exhale for a second because you feel bad for her. Then once that moment passes, you got to get your healthy bodies ready to go," Staley said. "We never looked back. We never fretted it. We never felt like we didn't have enough in the room to get it done. The part that I'm proud of is the way that they've come together. They actually have gotten closer because of it. That's what you need your teams to do in an adverse moment. I mean, you can't foresee the chemistry part of it. A lot of what we're doing is because of the closeness of this team, because of Alaina's injury."

Staley joked that the men's team has probably hurt some of the women's team's fan support in Dallas. "They'll probably get all of our fans because it's their first time going to the Final Four."

VanDerveer talked about her memories of coaching Staley. The two have kept in touch since, although VanDerveer joked that sometimes players tell coaches what they want to hear, so it's possible Staley never really liked her. "I always have respected Dawn's competitiveness, her work ethic, her absolute passion for the game of basketball," she said. "If she tells you she beat me in chess, she's a liar. We just compete. I love Dawn. I'm so proud of her. Not surprised at all. I think she's just a great role model for the young women coming up. I mean, she carried our country's flag. She's everything you could look for in a coach, and a friend. It's just a great story. I just want her to keep it going."
 
ADVERTISEMENT