Dawn Staley Scolds Paige Bueckers Media Focus Before UConn-South Carolina Title Game

South Carolina Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley wants the coverage of her team and Paige Bueckers to be more equal.

Apr 4, 2025; Tampa, FL, USA; South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley reacts during the first quarter in a semifinal of the women's 2025 NCAA tournament against the Texas Longhorns at Amalie Arena. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

The two most dominant and arguably the most popular women's college basketball teams are facing off in the 2025 NCAA national championship game on Sunday, when Geno Auriemma's UConn Huskies and Dawn Staley's South Carolina Gamecocks go toe to toe.

Sports coverage is always centered around superstars. This is certainly the case in women's basketball, which is proven by the attention that global icons Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese have received over the past several years.

There's no bigger star in women's college basketball right now than UConn guard Paige Bueckers, which means she receives the most attention. While Dawn Staley can recognize that, she seems to think that her squad deserves a bigger chunk of the media's spotlight, which she conveyed when speaking with the media on April 5.

"I can't not address it, because it's happening. It happened to us last year. Everything was about Caitlin Clark, and her legacy, and her ability to win a national championship. Yet, we were coming into this thing undefeated, doing something that's unprecedented at the time. It's hard," Staley said of Bueckers having most of the media's spotlight, per an X post from Front Office Sports reporter Colin Salao.

"And we find ourselves back here in a similar situation. So I want the sentiments to be about our players, and what our players have been able to do. Equally. Because there's room to do both. We can raise Paige up because she deserves that, and we can raise our players up because they deserve that. And that's not talked about enough," Staley added.

"There's room for our game for all of us to be covered. Let's not choose a history, one program's history over another program's history... because we're all creating history for our game."

Dawn Staley on the narrative of South Carolina facing another superstar in the national championship.

“We can raise Paige up because she deserves that. We can raise [South Carolina] players up because they deserve that. … There’s room for our game.” pic.twitter.com/HUptjwtDkV

— Colin Salao (@colincsalao) April 5, 2025

While one could argue that Staley and her team receives more coverage than just about every other school, she does present a fair point.