Expect The Unexpected To Serve As Theme For South Carolina WBB In 2023-24
Media day for SEC Women's Basketball took place this past Thursday in Birmingham, AL. The representatives for the South Carolina Gamecocks were head coach Dawn Staley, junior wing Bree Hall, and transfer guard Te-Hina Paopao.
Preceding the first official practice for the Gamecocks, Staley relayed the theme for this year's season: "Expect the unexpected." She further explained what that meant when she took the podium, using Bree Hall as an example.
Dawn Staley speaking at 2023 SEC Media Day
Vasha Hunt - USA Today Sports
"I think it's hard for Breezy to make the transition of maybe getting every third rep, (and) now she's got all the reps that she must take in practice, and that's a build-up to what she's going to have to do when the games start. That's a process, but she knows. I think it'll be putting on an old shoe once she gets out there to play. The preparation's a little bit different - [because] she's gonna start. She's got to be on. You have to practice those processes as a player, and now that she's a junior, she knows what we want. It's just getting her the experience to do it night in and night out."
Along with replacing her whole starting lineup, for the first time in three years, Staley's team is not the preseason No. 1 team in the nation or the SEC. LSU, who won the national title last April, was put in that spot, and while Dawn underplayed being selected as the preseason No. 1 team, she also believes it can serve as motivation.
"I mean, I approach it the same way whether we're 1, 10, 12, not ranked," she said. "It's just a prediction. It really is a prediction by people who I hope they study the game. I mean, it's not a rebuild. It's not a rebuild for us because we're very talented. Like, we got talent on our team. We just lack a little bit of game-day experience. We're in a position where we're in the hunted, we're hunting. That's not a bad place to be," Staley said. "LSU has the national throne, and I'm sure there's some other teams out there that will be in front of us on paper, but I think when it's all said and done, our players are gonna rise to the challenge," she added.
The preseason-ranked No. 6 Gamecocks will play their first regular-season matchup against the #10 Notre Dame Fighting Irish in Paris, France on November 6th.
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