Dawn Staley's Unhappiness With The Media

[RPM101370]

Oh boo hoo for Dawn. If they had a better year they’d have a better placement. Period.

That said, they have great opportunities coming up. Greensboro, NC in 2019 and Greenville, SC in 2020. But heads up to Miss Pissy Pants: if a team from the Southeast/Mid-Atlantic has a better year and are higher seeded they will have first dibs on those slots.

2020 is especially interesting since there’s no regional in the Northeast. So a certain team we love will have to go SOMEWHERE. Wouldn’t that be a kick in her pants? (Calling it now: Notre Dame/Ft. Wayne...Oregon/Portland...Baylor/Dallas...UConn/Greenville. Warm up the whining...)

Also. Anyone want to break it to Dawn that the Olympics are in Tokyo: i.e. not in driving distance for the U.S. fans? Wahhhhhh! Not fair!

Future Dates & Sites

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Discussion of last year's data and what future types of sites were being looked at. Grist for the mill. Regionals see lowest attendance in 20 years

 

[DefenseBB]

So to all my SC brethren, enlighten me on “how many fans” do they think would follow the Gamecocks to any area site that the team would play in. I gave the numbers from 2015 when SC was a #1 seed and were placed in Greensboro, a mere 183 miles from Columbia. During that season, the Gamecocks averaged 12,143 fans per home game. The Greensboro site is arguably the closest a venue would be for SC and yet only 6,000 fans went to that Final when SC earned its first FF trip. North Carolina with Diamond Deshields and Duke were in the regional as well. So I am sure some of their fans went also. So again I ask “How many fans do you and Dawn think would go if tickets were available- 1,000; 2,000; 3,000?” More than that I am highly skeptical as the past shows no indication of those numbers that would be proposed. If games are convenient and at home in Columbia, fans show up (like the 1st two rounds will be), however to whine and complain like Dawn is when no facts are evident is exactly that- whining.

I really do enjoy @SCspur @cockhrnleghrn @Gamecockfan77 @sharris952 and what they bring. I also think SC won last years title was won fair and square as they took care of business. UConn did not. Our fans here need to simply tip their hat to our brethren and own the fact we didn’t. Nuf ced.

Likewise, our colleagues need to get over the Albany issue, they own it and stop grasping at straws the fans can’t go as they didn’t even go whe then game was 3 hours away but now they want to say they would go to Lexington? Come one, just stop it no evidence is there to show that.

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

So to all my SC brethren, enlighten me on “how many fans” do they think would follow the Gamecocks to any area site that the team would play in. I gave the numbers from 2015 when SC was a #1 seed and were placed in Greensboro, a mere 183 miles from Columbia. During that season, the Gamecocks averaged 12,143 fans per home game. The Greensboro site is arguably the closest a venue would be for SC and yet only 6,000 fans went to that Final when SC earned its first FF trip. North Carolina with Diamond Deshields and Duke were in the regional as well. So I am sure some of their fans went also. So again I ask “How many fans do you and Dawn think would go if tickets were available- 1,000; 2,000; 3,000?” More than that I am highly skeptical as the past shows no indication of those numbers that would be proposed. If games are convenient and at home in Columbia, fans show up (like the 1st two rounds will be), however to whine and complain like Dawn is when no facts are evident is exactly that- whining.

I really do enjoy @SCspur @cockhrnleghrn @Gamecockfan77 @sharris952 and what they bring. I also think SC won last years title was won fair and square as they took care of business. UConn did not. Our fans here need to simply tip their hat to our brethren and own the fact we didn’t. Nuf ced.

Likewise, our colleagues need to get over the Albany issue, they own it and stop grasping at straws the fans can’t go as they didn’t even go whe then game was 3 hours away but now they want to say they would go to Lexington? Come one, just stop it no evidence is there to show that.

We had about 6000 fans at the Regional Final in Greensboro; I was disappointed in the turnout though it isn't something I can control. How many would go to Lexington? I don't know; probably a few thousand. Kentucky is not an area where we have a lot of alumni. We have a lot in the tri-state area and Atlanta as far as outside SC. If there were more available tickets, I think we'd have a good crowd in Albany.

 

[SCGamecock]

Call it luck, breaks, whatever you will. The point of my original post is that Dawn is PO’d that SC is heading to Albany where she’ll likely have to go through a team she can’t beat to get back to the FF. Last year, everything opened up for Dawn like the parting of the Red Sea.

Last year the tournament was good to the Gamecocks. This year, not so much.

I recall Dawn making the same complaints last year that she’s making this year. Even with the “perceived” easier bracket Dawn had an issue with being sent across the country.. there were threads here about it. I’m sure you saw them.

She makes those same gripes this year and all of a sudden it’s about ducking UConn.

 

[SCGamecock]

Oh boo hoo for Dawn. If they had a better year they’d have a better placement. Period.

That said, they have great opportunities coming up. Greensboro, NC in 2019 and Greenville, SC in 2020. But heads up to Miss Pissy Pants: if a team from the Southeast/Mid-Atlantic has a better year and are higher seeded they will have first dibs on those slots.

2020 is especially interesting since there’s no regional in the Northeast. So a certain team we love will have to go SOMEWHERE. Wouldn’t that be a kick in her pants? (Calling it now: Notre Dame/Ft. Wayne...Oregon/Portland...Baylor/Dallas...UConn/Greenville. Warm up the whining...)

Also. Anyone want to break it to Dawn that the Olympics are in Tokyo: i.e. not in driving distance for the U.S. fans? Wahhhhhh! Not fair!

Future Dates & Sites

Well, if UConn were a #1 seed that year it’s no guarantee they’d get Greenville, especially if SC is also a #1 but even without it.. It’s still not guaranteed. A strong Tennessee, Louisville etc. would get that regional before UConn.

UConn would be a plane ride away from Greenville, and any of those other regionals... so it’s only fair that the NCAA committee does what they do to every other team and send the Huskies to Alaska because.. wait for it... “it doesn’t matter, you’re a plane ride away”..

 

[RPM101370]

Well, if UConn were a #1 seed that year it’s no guarantee they’d get Greenville, especially if SC is also a #1 but even without it.. It’s still not guaranteed. A strong Tennessee, Louisville etc. would get that regional before UConn.

UConn would be a plane ride away from Greenville, and any of those other regionals... so it’s only fair that the NCAA committee does what they do to every other team and send the Huskies to Alaska because.. wait for it... “it doesn’t matter, you’re a plane ride away”..

Yes. But if I have my 2020 teams right then Uconn could be the top #1 and get Greenville. They could also be the worst #1 and STILL get Greenville.

 

[DaddyChoc]

Let's just wait to see who wins the title before we decide how lucky they got.

anybody besides UConn winning it all... is LUCK!

 

[DaddyChoc]

So to all my SC brethren, enlighten me on “how many fans” do they think would follow the Gamecocks to any area site that the team would play in. I gave the numbers from 2015 when SC was a #1 seed and were placed in Greensboro, a mere 183 miles from Columbia. During that season, the Gamecocks averaged 12,143 fans per home game. The Greensboro site is arguably the closest a venue would be for SC and yet only 6,000 fans went to that Final when SC earned its first FF trip. North Carolina with Diamond Deshields and Duke were in the regional as well. So I am sure some of their fans went also. So again I ask “How many fans do you and Dawn think would go if tickets were available- 1,000; 2,000; 3,000?” More than that I am highly skeptical as the past shows no indication of those numbers that would be proposed. If games are convenient and at home in Columbia, fans show up (like the 1st two rounds will be), however to whine and complain like Dawn is when no facts are evident is exactly that- whining.

I really do enjoy @SCspur @cockhrnleghrn @Gamecockfan77 @sharris952 and what they bring. I also think SC won last years title was won fair and square as they took care of business. UConn did not. Our fans here need to simply tip their hat to our brethren and own the fact we didn’t. Nuf ced.

Likewise, our colleagues need to get over the Albany issue, they own it and stop grasping at straws the fans can’t go as they didn’t even go whe then game was 3 hours away but now they want to say they would go to Lexington? Come one, just stop it no evidence is there to show that.

they are a CHAMPIONSHIP team now... things may have changed

 

[cbraarj]

Wrong, I am a season ticket holder and did not miss a game home and away that year. She most definitely utilized that line up throughout the year. It was never highlighted until Coates was out for good but she used it normally in her first substitutions in the middle to latter part of the regular season prepping for a return match with UConn if they were successful enough. She even spoke about it on call in shows. Now as for her freshman year, I don't know what you saw coach, Welch played the 4 most of that year with Alaina being Alternated with Elem Ebiam. They played together coming off the bench and usually stretched the league.

Say what you want but I am a WCBB fan and no Dawn didnt because if she did know like you said. That would have been her strategy most of the games because it opened up the offense!

 

[oldude]

Well, if UConn were a #1 seed that year it’s no guarantee they’d get Greenville, especially if SC is also a #1 but even without it.. It’s still not guaranteed. A strong Tennessee, Louisville etc. would get that regional before UConn.

UConn would be a plane ride away from Greenville, and any of those other regionals... so it’s only fair that the NCAA committee does what they do to every other team and send the Huskies to Alaska because.. wait for it... “it doesn’t matter, you’re a plane ride away”..

The last time UConn had to get on a plane for a regional was in 2014 when they were sent to Lincoln, Nebraska. Attendance was great with 7-8,000 fans showing up for each session to watch the Huskies beat BYU & TX A&M.

That was the year that both UConn & ND were undefeated. ND ended up in the East and UConn was sent to Lincoln. That was also the year that Geno & MM got into their little kerfuffle when MM dissed Stewie at the POY award ceremony right before the championship game.

UConn beat ND 79-58.

 

[sharris952]

Stewie then, Durr this year. Muffet seems to have a habit of dissing POY in her conference.

 

[SCGamecock]

Stewie then, Durr this year. Muffet seems to have a habit of dissing POY in her conference.

I was SO happy to see Walz confront her on that.

 

[Gamecockfan77]

Look I’m sorry that SC’s fan base, which is clearly among the best in WBB, doesn’t have a nearby regional tournament that they can drive to to watch their beloved Gamecocks. But it still comes down to earning it by winning

So here's my point about winning. If Dawn and SC can reach the level close to UConn, to the point where surrounding cities like Greensboro, Charleston, Greenville, etc. can count on the Gamecocks being the #1 seed in the Region year after year, and showing up with 10-15,000 fans, SC fans would not have to fly to Stockton, CA or Albany, NY for the regional tournament.

I know that's a heavy lift, but that's what it takes to control your team's destiny.

The reason South Carolina hasn't had regional sites is not because our cities didn't care to bid on them. South Carolina, the state of, has been banned from hosting NCAA events, until recently, for something like 20 years.

As soon as that ban was lifted, Greenville and Columbia and perhaps Charleston, I don't know for sure, began bidding on the NCAA tournament sties. Greenville had a men's regional, will have the SEC WBB tournament several times, and will host a women's regional soon. Columbia is getting the NCAA Men next season.

If the NCAA doesn't think that South Carolina fans will sell more tickets than most any other fan base (of course I exclude UConn -- as always you are superior) that's the NCAAs error. Certainly the 2500 people that showed up to watch Notre Dame in Lexington that time couldn't have been all that impressive to them. But hey, it's their tournament and it was too much trouble for Muffett to go to Texas or out west then it's understandable. USC will go where they tell them.

 

[Gamecockfan77]

Oh boo hoo for Dawn. If they had a better year they’d have a better placement. Period.

That said, they have great opportunities coming up. Greensboro, NC in 2019 and Greenville, SC in 2020. But heads up to Miss Pissy Pants: if a team from the Southeast/Mid-Atlantic has a better year and are higher seeded they will have first dibs on those slots.

2020 is especially interesting since there’s no regional in the Northeast. So a certain team we love will have to go SOMEWHERE. Wouldn’t that be a kick in her pants? (Calling it now: Notre Dame/Ft. Wayne...Oregon/Portland...Baylor/Dallas...UConn/Greenville. Warm up the whining...)

Also. Anyone want to break it to Dawn that the Olympics are in Tokyo: i.e. not in driving distance for the U.S. fans? Wahhhhhh! Not fair!

Future Dates & Sites

Factually incorrect. We had a better season last season and were sent to California.

 

[DefenseBB]

We had about 6000 fans at the Regional Final in Greensboro; I was disappointed in the turnout though it isn't something I can control. How many would go to Lexington? I don't know; probably a few thousand. Kentucky is not an area where we have a lot of alumni. We have a lot in the tri-state area and Atlanta as far as outside SC. If there were more available tickets, I think we'd have a good crowd in Albany.

cockhrnleghrn-I don't mean to call you out but the attendance for the two games in Greensboro were 6,286 and 6,364 and at those games were North Carolina, Florida State and Arizona State so I find it highly unlikely that SC had 6,000 of those fans there as NC is a mere 56 miles from there and FSU would have traveled as well. The stadium hold 21,500 for basketball so even if you were 2/3's of the crowd, that's still a poor showing considering the teams participating.

There are two main points for all to consider reading this:
1. Teams don't travel as well as fans think they do once you get outside of a 4-5 hour drive. Heck, Greensboro from Chapel Hill is 56 miles, Columbia 183 miles and Tallahassee 560 miles.
2. WCBB attendance is solely tied to the school's radius except for the Final Four.

The NCAA needs to rethink it's strategy and go back to school venues like it did in 2014 for schools to host. Again, don't give me the "neutral court argument" as:
a) all the other NCAA sports play their rounds on campus venues at the lower seeded team until the final round (s)-think Lacrosse, Baseball, Softball, Field Hockey
b) the sport of WCBB is not a national phenomenon despite our efforts here. It is regional, based on those teams success.

I really don't want to see 3,750 people in a 20,000 seat Rupp Arena for the Lexington regional nor 3,500 fans in KC. What energy there is just gets sucked up by the empty space.

 

[DefenseBB]

Factually incorrect. We had a better season last season and were sent to California.

Hold on, just where exactly did you want to get sent last year considering the venues were Stockton, Bridgeport, Lexington and Oklahoma City? As I recall you were the 4th #1 seed behind ND, Baylor and UConn. Hence that is why you went to Stockton. ND went to Lex, Baylor to OKC. That was rationale by the NCAA.

I think you nailed it that if the state of SC will host, then your situation improves dramatically, provided the team stays relevant.

 

[southie]

Okay, let's get back to Dawn

She may say that she's disappointed for her SC fans not being able to drive to a nearby regional site to watch the Gamecocks play in person, but let's be real. She wants the "homecourt" advantage which would be present if a couple thousand SC fans were in the stands. She's just being very careful with her words.

 

[jaundicedeye]

Okay, let's get back to Dawn

She may say that she's disappointed for her SC fans not being able to drive to a nearby regional site to watch the Gamecocks play in person, but let's be real. She wants the "homecourt" advantage which would be present if a couple thousand SC fans were in the stands. She's just being very careful with her words.

Agreed. That is it, plain and simple.

 

[Gamecockfan77]

Hold on, just where exactly did you want to get sent last year considering the venues were Stockton, Bridgeport, Lexington and Oklahoma City? As I recall you were the 4th #1 seed behind ND, Baylor and UConn. Hence that is why you went to Stockton. ND went to Lex, Baylor to OKC. That was rationale by the NCAA.

I think you nailed it that if the state of SC will host, then your situation improves dramatically, provided the team stays relevant.

You said have a better season and USC would be placed close to home. USC has had several better seasons where it was not placed in the closest regional.

Maybe we should focus all our efforts on being the best #2 seed instead of going for the #1 seed? Now that's a clever plan that would definitely get the job done.

Reality is that the NCAA does not actually seed the way you keep insisting. It has lots of other things it is trying to accomplish only one of which, maybe?, is the S Curve.

I'm not really that upset about being sent to Albany. Truth be told, I'm only mildly irritated that it has happened 4/5 years. I do think it would be nice if the people who have been attending and busing to games with Dawn from the beginning could have an opportunity to go see their team play in a regional. And for a lot of those people, a plane ticket and three days in a hotel is not feasible. I think that's who Dawn is concerned about and I think that's genuine. She more than anyone I've seen has personally built a relationship with the fans who came out.

 

[SCGamecock]

Okay, let's get back to Dawn

She may say that she's disappointed for her SC fans not being able to drive to a nearby regional site to watch the Gamecocks play in person, but let's be real. She wants the "homecourt" advantage which would be present if a couple thousand SC fans were in the stands. She's just being very careful with her words.

Wait.... what?

So you’re telling me that teams/coaches lobbying for the regional nearest their campus is all about establishing some semblance of a home court advantage thereby hopefully improving your team’s chance to win and advance?

WOW! Really?

*mind explodes*

I thought it was about trying to get the regional with the best barbecue or whiskey!

 

[southie]

Wait.... what?

So you’re telling me that teams/coaches lobbying for the regional nearest their campus is all about establishing some semblance of a home court advantage thereby hopefully improving your team’s chance to win and advance?

WOW! Really?

*mind explodes*

I thought it was about trying to get the regional with the best barbecue or whiskey!

Wait . . . what ?

Dawn can't just come out and say what she means every time she gets in front of a microphone? She needs to own it. Quit saying she's disappointed for the SC fans; she is disappointed for her team not getting a homecourt advantage in the regionals that a handful of teams have enjoyed over the last few years.

 

[SCGamecock]

Wait . . . what ?

Dawn can't just come out and say what she means every time she gets in front of a microphone? She needs to own it. Quit saying she's disappointed for the SC fans; she is disappointed for her team not getting a homecourt advantage in the regionals that a handful of teams have enjoyed over the last few years.

That is exactly what’s she’s saying.

Anytime a coach makes a complaint like this to the NCAA it’s about getting THEIR fans to the game to establish a home court advantage. This is not a secret or some big breaking reveal. I can’t recall a coach ever coming out and saying what you insist on Dawn saying verbatim. I have no idea why you place Dawn on this pedestal of transparency and would expect her to be different than the rest of the coaching league.. but here we are. You. Dawn. And your feelings. Again.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

 

[southie]

That is exactly what’s she’s saying.

Anytime a coach makes a complaint like this to the NCAA it’s about getting THEIR fans to the game to establish a home court advantage. This is not a secret or some big breaking reveal. I can’t recall a coach ever coming out and saying what you insist on Dawn saying verbatim. I have no idea why you place Dawn on this pedestal of transparency and would expect her to be different than the rest of the coaching league.. but here we are. You. Dawn. And your feelings. Again.

She continues to be the ONLY one whining about this. Maybe I missed it, but let me know who else has whined so loudly this week. Last year, perhaps it was Brenda. Any others I may have missed?