Dawn Staley is a fan of super teams, particularly those built by the homegrown method she has used in her 16 seasons as the head coach of South Carolina’s women’s basketball program.
Staley has recruited some of the game’s best and kept them with the Gamecocks in an era when the transfer portal and the NCAA’s more relaxed rules on immediate eligibility make moving from one school to another seemingly as easy and uncomplicated as an uncontested layup.
The Gamecocks were No. 1 throughout last season and were 36-0 before falling to Iowa in the NCAA tournament semifinals. Now, with a new season set to tip off soon, they’re looking up in both the AP Top 25 and the Southeastern Conference predictions at reigning national champion LSU.
The Tigers feature dynamic Angel Reese and two of the top transfers of the offseason in Aneesah Morrow (DePaul) and Hailey Van Lith (Louisville). Morrow had 53 double-doubles in 66 games with the Blue Demons, while Van Lith was a natural leader with the Cardinals, who made to it least Elite Eight of the NCAA tourney — with one Final Four appearance — in each of her three seasons with the Atlantic Coast Conference program.
Expect both of them to slide easily into LSU’s starting lineup and form a super squad with Reese and Flau’jae Johnson, who started every game as a freshman during the Tigers’ breakthrough championship season.