SEC Basketball: How South Carolina has remained dominant

Dawn Staley and the South Carolina Gamecocks put themselves on the map after winning the National Championship in 2017, the first in program history. After this, the Gamecocks pushed on the gas pedal and set themselves up as a women’s college basketball powerhouse.

South Carolina has appeared in each of the last four Final Fours, winning the national championship in two of them.

Since the 2021-22 season, the Gamecocks have a remarkable 111-3 record.

In 2022 South Carolina finished the season with a 36-2 record, falling to Missouri in the regular season and Kentucky in the SEC Championship game. These losses would not matter as Staley and her team defeated UConn in the national championship, handing the Huskies their first-ever loss in a national title game.

The Gamecocks would go on to win 42 games in a row, before falling to Caitlin Clark and Iowa in the 2023 Final Four.

South Carolina avenged its loss to the Hawkeyes in the 2024 National Championship, completing the perfect season at 38-0.

Even though the 2024-25 campaign just started, the Gamecocks already faced two of their toughest opponents. They defeated Michigan 68-62 in the season opener, and came out on top against then-No. 9 NC State in a rematch of the 2024 Final Four.

With these two victories, South Carolina has reached a 40-game win streak for the second time in program history. They now join UConn as the only teams in Division I to achieve multiple 40-game winning streaks.

Let's take a look at how exactly the Gamecocks got to where they are.

No Player of the Year finalists. No Preseason All-Americans. South Carolina didn’t even have the best player in the SEC last season.

So then how could a team with none of the top players be so dominant?

While a five-star recruit and No. 1 player in the nation can use their talent to carry a team a long way, that doesn’t always lead a team to the top.

Dawn Staley is a four-time Coach of the Year winner and is the only coach, men’s or women's, to win the award in three consecutive seasons. What Staley does so well is that she knows how to craft a true team.

Sure South Carolina has had star players like A’ja Wilson, Aliyah Boston and most recently Kamilla Cardoso, but in order to win individual accolades have to be pushed aside.

Basketball is purely a team sport. There are so many parts of the game that can’t be achieved without reliance on teammates. This is exactly how the Gamecocks win.

In the 2023-24 season all but one player appeared in 30-plus games. South Carolina had six players averaging nine plus points and nine players totaling over 200 points on the season.

In the NCAA tournament, the Gamecocks had two or more double-digit scorers in every game. With each game having a different leading scorer than the one before. In the national championship alone, the team had four players hit double-digits.

There were unlikely heroes off the bench such as MiLaysia Fulwiley and Tessa Johnson. Filwiley scored a career-high 24 points against reigning champion LSU in the SEC Championship game. Johnson hit her career-high 19 points in the natty.

South Carolina heads into every game not having to rely on a single player for a team victory. It’s anyone's game any day, which makes the team so complete and dominant.

The Gamecocks are even more fierce this season, returning all but one starter and holding much experience under their belts.

There is still plenty of room for history to be made as Staley and her team take on the new season.

Gianna Dowling is a second-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact her, please email gmd5738@psu.edu.