CLEVELAND — Everybody needed to speak in regards to the sport, which was anticipated after the South Carolina ladies’s basketball staff held off Iowa for an 87-75 victory and second nationwide championship in three years. However Daybreak Staley additionally needed to speak in regards to the different sport. Really, that’s not robust sufficient. She was going to debate it.
Basketball has performed such an vital position in her life that she protects it as fiercely as a mom would a new child. Her love for it’s matched solely by her respect for it. So whilst questioners requested in regards to the Gamecocks changing into simply the tenth staff in NCAA Division I historical past to complete a season undefeated, going 38-0, Staley purposely turned the highlight again to the one who was central in serving to to make this a transformative season and inflection level within the sport’s evolution.
“I don’t need to not make the most of this chance to thank Caitlin (Clark) for what she’s performed for ladies’s basketball,” she stated of the Iowa guard whose transcendent play helped drive document viewership numbers. “Her shoulders had been heavy and getting a number of eyeballs on our sport. And typically as an adolescent, it may be a bit a lot. However I assumed she dealt with it with class. I hope that each step of the ladder of success that she goes, she’s in a position to elevate no matter room she’s in.”
Minutes earlier, Staley had elevated herself to the higher rungs of a ladder in Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. She snipped the ultimate polyester strands from the web and positioned it round her neck. Then she turned every method and waved to followers.
As I later listened to her describe her emotions, Maya Angelou’s phrases got here to thoughts: “I’ve discovered that folks will overlook what you stated, folks will overlook what you probably did, however folks will always remember the way you made them really feel.”
That summarizes the 2023-24 ladies’s basketball season for me. Years from now, I’ll doubtless overlook Clark’s profession factors complete, what number of video games South Carolina received, why Kim Mulkey all the time appeared so indignant, and which gamers had been concerned within the transferring display screen on the finish of the UConn-Iowa nationwide semifinal. However I’ll always remember the sense of satisfaction derived from seeing the game come of age.
Dynasty?
🏆 @GamecockWBB pic.twitter.com/ij7ovmsJ1b
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) April 7, 2024
For many years, broadcast companions and the general public marginalized ladies’s basketball, ostensibly relegating it to the youngsters’ desk. The requires respect had been heard however ignored. However this season was totally different. The ladies now not requested for respect; they demanded it with the record-breaking viewership that stemmed from the genius of Clark, the high-level play of South Carolina, Iowa, UConn, LSU and others, and the storylines and grudge matches that set social media ablaze.
How far has the sport come? When the Ultimate 4 was held in Tacoma, Wash., in 1988 and ’89, the native newspaper didn’t ship any of its high sportswriters to cowl the occasion. It despatched a lowly neighborhood information reporter who had by no means staffed a serious sporting occasion. I do know as a result of that individual was me.
I used to be surprised there wasn’t extra curiosity after experiencing the depth of Tennessee coach Pat Summitt’s piercing blue eyes, the playmaking of Lengthy Seaside State guard Penny Toler, the generalship of Stanford guard Jennifer Azzi, the consistency of Tennessee ahead Bridgette Gordon, and the promise of Louisiana Tech heart Venus Lacy. However traction is difficult to come back by when broadcast rights are bought to a cable outlet that views you as an afterthought.
ESPN ought to be ashamed for that. The very fact is, it’s not deserving of what it now has — one of many hottest merchandise in sports activities. The ladies’s sport this yr attracted extra viewers than the NBA Finals, World Sequence, faculty soccer playoffs — you title it. And whereas there could be a drop-off with Clark leaving for the WNBA, the possibilities of a big decline appear distant at finest.
The reason being the abundance of elite groups and playmaking younger stars, together with USC freshman JuJu Watkins, who ranked second within the nation in scoring; Notre Dame freshman Hannah Hildago, who was must-see TV; and South Carolina freshmen MiLaysia Fulwiley and Tessa Johnson, who simply performed outstanding roles in profitable the Gamecocks their third nationwide championship in franchise historical past. After which there’s senior guard Paige Bueckers, who led Connecticut to the Ultimate 4 and ought to be within the operating for nationwide Participant of the 12 months subsequent season.
“I simply need our sport to develop. I don’t care if it’s us. I don’t care if it’s Caitlin. I don’t care if it’s JuJu or Hannah,” Staley stated. “I simply need our video games to develop, irrespective of who it’s. As a result of there’s lots of people which can be on the market rising our sport, a number of packages on the market rising our sport. We have to proceed to uplift them as nicely, as we take our sport to the following stage.”
GO DEEPER
Daybreak Staley created South Carolina’s good championship season out of final yr’s loss
There can be loads of time to debate the passing of the baton, so to talk. However Sunday was about recognizing those that, if not created this second, unquestionably constructed on the momentum created in latest seasons. And Clark was on the entrance of the road.
Earlier than disappearing from the dais for the ultimate time as a school participant, she mirrored on the issues she’s going to bear in mind and recognize most — her teammates, her coaches, and her assist inside and outdoors this system. And he or she will even take nice delight and satisfaction that she performed a component in making the ladies’s sport high of thoughts.
“Once I take into consideration ladies’s basketball going ahead, clearly it’s simply going to proceed to develop, whether or not it’s on the WNBA stage, whether or not it’s on the faculty stage,” Clark stated. “All people sees it. All people is aware of. All people sees the viewership numbers. Whenever you’re given a chance, ladies’s sports activities simply form of thrives. I feel that’s been the best factor for me on this journey. We began our season enjoying in entrance of 55,000 folks in Kinnick Stadium, and now we’re ending it enjoying in (entrance of) in all probability 15 million folks or extra on TV. It simply continues to get higher and higher. That’s by no means going to cease.”
(Photograph of Daybreak Staley: Gregory Shamus / Getty Photographs)