CLEVELAND — The South Carolina women's basketball team has no losses this season.
Somehow, the Gamecocks also might not have enough love for what they've done by winning 36 games and securing a spot in the NCAA tournament's semifinals for the fourth time in a row, all despite a huge target on their backs.
While two sublime stars are soaking up much of the spotlight at this year's women's Final Four, the Gamecocks — undefeated, unafraid and unabashedly true to themselves — seem to be getting overlooked if not underrated.
They were No. 1 in the AP Top 25 the past four months and the overall No. 1 seed when the NCAA's 68-team field was announced three weeks ago, yet they're getting second billing this weekend.
But as her perfect (so far) team prepared to play North Carolina State (31-6) in Friday's first national semifinal at 7 p.m. Eastern on ESPN — an undercard of sorts to the main event featuring Iowa and guard Caitlin Clark taking on Connecticut and counterpart Paige Bueckers — Dawn Staley wasn't complaining about any lack of national respect or coverage.
She has fought those fights. Staley, named the women's college basketball coach of the year by The Associated Press on Thursday, was singularly focused.
"I want to win," said Staley, who also received the AP honor in 2020, when South Carolina went 32-1 and swept the Southeastern Conference regular-season and tournament titles but the NCAA tourney was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Win is all the Gamecocks have done this season, steamrolling through the SEC with little trouble and winning games by an average of 29.6 points. One of their wins was by 82, another by 70.
There's barely been a scare save their SEC tournament semifinal against Tennessee on March 9, when All-America center Kamilla Cardoso banked in the only 3-pointer of her collegiate career at the buzzer for a 74-73 win. Cardoso, a former prep standout at Chattanooga's Hamilton Heights Christian Academy, is a 6-foot-7 senior whose per-game averages of 14.1 points and 9.2 rebounds lead the Gamecocks.
N.C. State's starting lineup includes Chattanooga native Madison Hayes, a prep standout at East Hamilton whose standout defense has helped the Wolfpack reach the Final Four for just the second time, with the first trip ending with a semifinal loss in 1998.
AP photo by Carolyn Kaster / N.C. State senior guard Madison Hayes shoots during practice Thursday in Cleveland, where the Wolfpack will face undefeated South Carolina in the NCAA tournament's Final Four on Friday night.Outside of the SEC semifinal scare, South Carolina, which won NCAA titles in 2017 and 2022 and has steadily matured into one of the nation's top programs since Staley took over in 2008, has dominated like few other teams in recent memory.
"This is the best team she's had," said N.C. State coach Wes Moore, who joked about interviewing for the South Carolina job at the same time as Staley. "We all know she's an unbelievable coach, and she's had great players.
"They're loaded."
To the hilt. The Gamecocks are not only blessed with elite talent but extreme depth. They've gotten an average of 38.8 points per game from their bench in the NCAA tourney, allowing Staley to keep her players on the court fresh, stick with the hot hand and navigate foul trouble.
While Gamecocks fans and college hoop heads might not be surprised by the performance of a program that went 36-1 last season (South Carolina lost to Iowa in the NCAA semifinals), has won 107 of its past 110 games and is riding a 60-game home winning streak, Staley didn't think this squad had Final Four potential.
"I'm shocked," she said.
She knew replacing all five starters from a stacked 2023 team would be a challenge, and Staley expected there would be struggles as she pieced things together. What she didn't anticipate was that her joke-cracking, free-willed young team would be so immature.
"I'll say from the previous years, we had a lot of older players, they were fun, too," junior guard Bree Hall said. "But this team is like a different level of childishness. It's ridiculous."
Staley detected early signs of trouble. Her players were not conditioned, lacked focus and weren't living up to the high standards she and previous teams set at South Carolina.
"Some of them would miss breakfast," she said. "Some of them would miss meetings. Some of them just didn't respond to text messages. Like, why do they do that?"
But rather than pushing back, which was her first inclination, Staley gave some ground. She decided not to let the little things — a player not wearing the proper sweatpants — bother her and leaned on her upperclassmen to keep South Carolina's kiddies under control.
"She just kind of loosened up," said Hall, one of the holdovers from the NCAA title team two years ago. "She just realizes there's some things you can't take care of when it comes to us, and there's some things you just have to let go because it is who we are.
"She just kind of goes with the flow."
It's a new feeling for Staley, who has learned to enjoy a team two wins from what would be just the 10th undefeated season in NCAA Division I women's basketball history.
"I'm riding the wave," Staley said, "and I'm trying not to get in the way."
Friendly foes
Saniya Rivers has spent the past two days catching up with old friends and new enemies: Staley and the Gamecocks.
N.C. State's starting point guard won a national title as a freshman with South Carolina two years ago before transferring.
While she didn't want to go into detail Thursday about her decision, Rivers remains loyal to Staley. They've stayed in touch, reaching out via texts on birthdays and after big wins.
"She's the type of person you want to have in your corner for future opportunities even if she can't be your coach or I can't be her player," Rivers said. "We saw each other yesterday, hugged it out."
Rivers cut down the nets in 2022 wearing a South Carolina jersey, and she would like to do it again Sunday while wearing N.C. State's colors.
"I would love to have two rings on my hand," she said. "That would be really nice. My mom keeps it in the case. She wants me to get another one. I might have to bring them both out if that happens — when it happens."