April 4 (UPI) — South Carolina’s Aliyah Boston said the Gamecocks are the newest women’s college basketball dynasty, and their 2022 title win holds more weight because it blemished UConn’s previous 11-0 record in championship games.
Boston made the comments after the Gamecocks beat the Huskies 64-49 in the 2022 NCAA Division I women’s basketball tournament finale Sunday at Minneapolis. The tournament’s Most Outstanding Player totaled 11 points and 16 rebounds.
“I definitely think we have [established a dynasty] over the past couple of years,” Boston told reporters in a postgame news conference. “You’ve been able to see this program and how it continues to grow.
“I think it’s a school kids will want to come to because of the atmosphere we have here and coach [Dawn] Staley is the best.”
Staley, hired in 2008, led the Gamecocks to the NCAA tournament in each of the past 10 seasons. The Gamecocks, who won their first title in 2017, went to the Final Four four times during that run.
UConn coach Geno Auriemma and the Huskies earned a spot in the tournament each year since 1989. They last won a title in 2016 for their fourth-consecutive championship. The Huskies also won in 1995, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2009 and 2010, before their 2013-16 run.
“A lot of people use that as the standard, but look at South Carolina and how much it has developed,” Boston said. “Coming into the game, the conversation was about how coach Auriemma was 11-0 in title games. But coach Staley was 1-0.
“Now here she goes at 2-0.”
Staley, who became the first Black coach — male or female — to win two Division I basketball titles, said she felt a “great deal of pressure to win” because she is a Black coach and because the Gamecocks were ranked No. 1 since the start of the season.
She also said she doesn’t believe the Gamecocks have reached dynasty status if it means matching Auriemma, which she may never do.
“I don’t think winning two national championships or back-to-back Final Fours is considered a dynasty in my day and age, but [it does mean that] for Aliya and in the social media age.
“Look at the tradition of UConn and what they were able to do. They are the standard. If it takes 11 national championships to be a dynasty, I’ll probably fall short of that because I’m probably not going to be in the game long enough for us to win 11.”
Staley also said the Gamecocks (35-2) belong in the conversation as one of the most-dominant teams in college basketball history.
“With the schedule we played and how we lost our two games,” Staley said. “We didn’t have dominating performances in all of our games, but part of being dominant is being able to win when you aren’t playing to the best of your ability.”
Staley, a six-time WNBA All-Star and Basketball Hall of Famer, has a 366-105 record over her 14 seasons with the Gamecocks. South Carolinas went 165-160 and made the NCAA tournament just twice in 11 seasons under previous coach Susan Walvius.
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