March Madness: South Carolina still surviving and advancing ... and ruining the dreams of other teams

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The confetti falls. The fresh Final Four merchandise takes its rightful place. Dawn Staley makes her rounds in the arena, eliciting roars from each section of traveling fans as she ambles by, raising her hands in graciousness. As her players rise one by one to cut off a piece of net, the South Carolina head coach signs a newborn baby’s bottom for the first time.

Ahead of the Birmingham site’s regional finals, players scoffed at the idea when asked how they felt about their teams being favored or not, that they wouldn’t wholeheartedly take their team over any other.

Advertisement

It’s on a different level for South Carolina. There is a deep-seated belief they can’t lose. And really, why would anyone think they could? The Gamecocks are heading to their fifth consecutive Final Four despite playing, for the first time in that streak, a dangerous game of survive-and-advance.

“Look, I mean, at this point, it’s not going to look pretty, OK?” Staley said following another down-to-the-wire escape. “It’s not.”

No. 1 South Carolina came back from another fourth-quarter deficit to outlast No. 2 Duke, 54-50, in the Birmingham 2 regional at Legacy Arena on Sunday. It was the program’s second consecutive four-point winning margin and third straight close call.

That’s never been the name of the game for South Carolina in March.

Advertisement

“It is that type of year that, for us, there’s not any blowouts,” Staley said. “We have to grind for every single win that we can get and manufacture.”

In each of their previous four Final Four tournament runs that includes two national titles, they averaged a winning margin of at least 20 points per game through the Elite Eight. This year it’s 19.75 — buoyed almost exclusively by the 60-point first-round demolition of Tennessee Tech. The Gamecocks played four single-digit tournament games, one a season, and split them 2-2. This season alone, they’ve played two, and the 11-point win over Indiana came awfully close.

The margins peaked a season ago when they won by an average 28.75 points through the Elite Eight and 24.3 points throughout the championship run. Nearly the entire roster is back, but that doesn’t mean South Carolina — nor the competition — are the same.

Advertisement

“We can’t always go undefeated back-to-back, but this regional has definitely battle-tested us,” fifth-year senior guard Te-Hina Paopao said.

Paopao said a day ahead of the matchup she needed to make it clear to the team they had to be the aggressors from the start, unlike previous games when players indicated they may have been flying too close to the sun with their season on the line. Ahead of tip-off on Sunday, she kept telling teammates “hold up or fold up.”

“And they’ve been holding up,” Paopao said. “I’m just super proud of them just being able to get through this regional, because it was really hard to get through it.”

The Gamecocks advanced despite scoring just 54 points. The three times they scored below that in the regular season, they lost. Their bench, outscored 24-9 by Duke, didn’t lend them the advantage opponents fear and envy. Staley called for subs at 1:29 of the third quarter before Duke took its largest lead, 42-36, in the final 15 seconds of the frame. She stuck with them the rest of the way, and they outscored the Blue Devils, 18-8.

Advertisement

The Blue Devils kept to their identity, mucking the game up enough in hopes their defense could win the day. It almost did. Despite their own sloppy stretches, they had the opportunity when South Carolina's Bree Hall committed an offensive foul on the inbound with her team leading by two in the closing seconds. Ashlon Jackson’s 3-point attempt on the final possession was an airball and Hall made up for the foul with a clutch rebound.

Duke fouled Chloe Kitts, who initially asked Paopao, her point guard, to take the inbound pass. But with the knowledge her coaches believed in her, Kitts pumped herself up heading to the line. Sania Feagin told her to take a deep breath. Hall screamed at her.

“You’re unshakeable!” Hall said. “You’re unshakeable! You got this.”

Kitts sank both free throws to finish as the team’s leading scorer with 14 points, and earned the region’s Most Valuable Player.

Advertisement

South Carolina remains imperturbable no matter how it advances. No one on the roster knows anything but life in a Final Four. Until earlier this year, the Gamecocks' sophomore class didn’t think it could lose. They never had at that point.

In the offseason, Staley makes her rounds on the recruiting trail and in the transfer portal, selling recruits and established talent on their fan base, their WNBA alumnae, and, most importantly, their trophies. Babies grow up to become emerging talents who see themselves at the pinnacle of the sport wearing garnet and black.

Reality often provides reality. Most players never reach a Final Four. Most players are fortunate to be the last standing twice in a career. A very few sweep Final Fours over a collegiate career.

Advertisement

“I didn’t think it would be this good, I’m not going to lie,” Hall said. “This is like something a person would dream of.”

Feagin, who earned all-tournament honors, disagreed.

“I did,” Feagin said. “Because all they do is win here.”