Is Geographic Propinquity Dawn Staley's Biggest Asset?

[Huskies Rule]

Dawn Staley is a top coach, although that scowl of hers could certainly scare away a few kids. But looking at her current roster, it sure seems like she is a huge beneficiary of 'benevolent' geography and being at the right university at the right time.

Every kid who matters on today's roster (except Cuevas) is literally a stone's throw away from Columbia. It's amazing when you look at it. And quite fortuitous. Staley can recruit on a half-tank of gas. Or on a nice day, on her bicycle.
-Wilson, Coates, Sessions, Dozier, (and Kaela Davis next year) all hail from South Carolina.
-Tiffany Mitchell and Jetarie White are from next door North Carolina. (and transfer Alisha Gray from Ga.)

Fortunate for Staley that basketball in her state and the immediate environs was so productive and yielded several top players. S.C. is different than most every other nationally ranked teams which tend to have far more wide-ranging geographic distributions of players. Besides Cuevas, the S.C. starters can pretty much walk home for some delicious Beaufort stew and boiled peanuts every night

This local geographic draw of talent is also in play in Texas, with UT and Baylor benefitting enormously from the considerable pool of home-grown talent which chooses to stay home. It will be interesting to see how Staley fares when the local/regional talent dries up a bit, and she can't rely only on top SC and NC kids who want to stay home. How well will she/does she recruit out-of-state. Interesting.

 

[trb123]

I had to google it.

pro·pin·qui·ty
prəˈpiNGkwətē/
noun

1. 1.
   the state of being close to someone or something; proximity.
   "he kept his distance as though afraid propinquity might lead him into temptation"
2. 2.
   technical
   close kinship.

 

[BRS24]

This is my favorite word, kid you not. My psychology teacher in HS told us a classic example of propinquity is how many people settle as adults within a certain mile radius of where they grew up. The word still sticks with me today. This is the guy who also said "thanks for stopping by" as the bell rung. I don't think he ever had anyone skip his class.

 

[ThisJustIn]

that's what UConn did at first... and there's a lot more talent in Dawn's area

 

[Ron and Vida]

I had to google it.

pro·pin·qui·ty
prəˈpiNGkwətē/
noun

1. 1.
   the state of being close to someone or something; proximity.
   "he kept his distance as though afraid propinquity might lead him into temptation"
2. 2.
   technical
   close kinship.

Seems like def #1 fits Staley's situation but def # 2 fits the boneyarders nicely.

 

[Bigpetunia]

Dawn is both a true warrior and a great coach. Talent emerges from every state in the country...no state, including SC, enjoys a monopoly on promising and aspiring young players. Therefore, any coach of any major State or private program has the potential advantage of propinquity. It's just a heck of a lot easier to benefit from in-state "loyalty" if you've developed a well-deserved reputation as a great molder of talent who inevitably makes good players better. Dawn has done that, literally from the ground up...and I applaud her!

 

[SCGamecock]

Dawn Staley is a top coach, although that scowl of hers could certainly scare away a few kids. But looking at her current roster, it sure seems like she is a huge beneficiary of 'benevolent' geography and being at the right university at the right time.

Every kid who matters on today's roster (except Cuevas) is literally a stone's throw away from Columbia. It's amazing when you look at it. And quite fortuitous. Staley can recruit on a half-tank of gas. Or on a nice day, on her bicycle.
-Wilson, Coates, Sessions, Dozier, (and Kaela Davis next year) all hail from South Carolina.
-Tiffany Mitchell and Jetarie White are from next door North Carolina. (and transfer Alisha Gray from Ga.)

Fortunate for Staley that basketball in her state and the immediate environs was so productive and yielded several top players. S.C. is different than most every other nationally ranked teams which tend to have far more wide-ranging geographic distributions of players. Besides Cuevas, the S.C. starters can pretty much walk home for some delicious Beaufort stew and boiled peanuts every night

This local geographic draw of talent is also in play in Texas, with UT and Baylor benefitting enormously from the considerable pool of home-grown talent which chooses to stay home. It will be interesting to see how Staley fares when the local/regional talent dries up a bit, and she can't rely only on top SC and NC kids who want to stay home. How well will she/does she recruit out-of-state. Interesting.

Are you a South Carolinian or have family here? Not many people from out of state call it by it's proper name.. Most people from out of the state refer to it as Lowcountry Boil. I'm from Charleston and locals from the Lowcountry call it either a Beaufort stew or a Frogmore Stew.

Interesting that you know that.

 

[SCGamecock]

To answer your question though.. and I hit on this in a thread earlier today.

We got really lucky with the 2014 class. We had an amazing amount of talent within a short drive of us. Wilson was 20 minutes from campus, Duckett was barely 15 minutes from campus, White was a little over an hour away, Cuevas is from NYC and Cliney is from Jersey.. both areas where we've gotten players from in the past.

I don't think we'll see that amount of elite talent in SC's backyard for awhile, let alone they all want to come to SC. As Dawn's program becomes recognized nationally, it's important that she continues to develop those pipelines to the Atlanta and Charlotte metros, but also to states like Florida and Tennessee. In our most recent class, we got 1 player from Massachusetts and the other from Florida, so Dawn is definitely recruiting the east coast.

She's also recruiting the west coast too. She extended offers to Valerie Higgins, Ionescu, Madison Stokes, Dijonai Carrington in the 2016 class, they're all from out West. We made the final 4 or 5 for Higgins, Stokes and Carrington. We offered Natalie Chou and made Lauren Cox's final 6. And we're currently in the top 5 for a few 2017 and 2018 Texas recruits. We made the final 2 for both Caretti and McCoy out of the midwest. We have a few offers for the 2017 and 2018 classes to kids from the midwest.. so she's definitely recruiting nationally but also not forgetting the regional recruits. Dawn knows that she'll have the best luck with kids from SC, Atlanta, Charlotte and anywhere in Florida so the majority of her efforts will be focused there.. but she's very willing to recruit elsewhere. It all depends on how well this team performs against the national powers. As the perception of SC WBB changes, so will the recruiting. We're not at that level of a UCONN, Notre Dame or a Tennessee yet where we can show up in a living room anywhere and expect a kid to come to our school. It takes a deliberate approach for us still.

 

[winlots]

Dawn Staley is a top coach, although that scowl of hers could certainly scare away a few kids. But looking at her current roster, it sure seems like she is a huge beneficiary of 'benevolent' geography and being at the right university at the right time.

Every kid who matters on today's roster (except Cuevas) is literally a stone's throw away from Columbia. It's amazing when you look at it. And quite fortuitous. Staley can recruit on a half-tank of gas. Or on a nice day, on her bicycle.
-Wilson, Coates, Sessions, Dozier, (and Kaela Davis next year) all hail from South Carolina.
-Tiffany Mitchell and Jetarie White are from next door North Carolina. (and transfer Alisha Gray from Ga.)

Fortunate for Staley that basketball in her state and the immediate environs was so productive and yielded several top players. S.C. is different than most every other nationally ranked teams which tend to have far more wide-ranging geographic distributions of players. Besides Cuevas, the S.C. starters can pretty much walk home for some delicious Beaufort stew and boiled peanuts every night

This local geographic draw of talent is also in play in Texas, with UT and Baylor benefitting enormously from the considerable pool of home-grown talent which chooses to stay home. It will be interesting to see how Staley fares when the local/regional talent dries up a bit, and she can't rely only on top SC and NC kids who want to stay home. How well will she/does she recruit out-of-state. Interesting.

HR: don't know much about her propinquity, but I never noticed any of that other stuff (mentioned in your post heading) being all that large. (Am in a particularly good mood tonight even despite the two disturbing injury reports; my wife had lost most of her vision in one eye and had laser surgery today which seems to have gone very well. Stay well, everyone....including Tuck and Jefferson)

 

[Huskies Rule]

Are you a South Carolinian or have family here? Not many people from out of state call it by it's proper name.. Most people from out of the state refer to it as Lowcountry Boil. I'm from Charleston and locals from the Lowcountry call it either a Beaufort stew or a Frogmore Stew.

Interesting that you know that.

You find an enemy UConn fan "interesting?" Heck, I'm flattered I'm a Yankee of the first order, from off, but I had a place on Kiawah for a long time and often made the short trip to Charleston, one of the most beautiful cities I've ever seen. As for the stew, I wasn't allowed to call it Frogmore because the 'little woman' would freak out- she just couldn't get past the amphibious appellation (the frog part). It was delicious.

I will have to be more civil in the future, neighbor. Small world, ennit?

 

[RockyMTblue2]

a great coach.

Overused term and specifically in this case.

 

[Kibitzer]

I can't top propinquity, but I'll toss 2 cents [Dang! Why doesn't my keyboard give me that $.02 symbol?] worth of lexicographical minutia.

The words fortuitous and fortunate both appear often in this thread to describe Dawn's good luck.

Surprise! These two words are not precisely synonymous! The primary definition of fortuitous is "by chance"; the secondary definition is "lucky," the same as the first one for fortunate.

OK, what do you expect for two pennies?

 

[VAUConnFan]

Coach Staley's biggest asset may very well be her name/her place in the game.

 

[ocoandasoc]

When Geno started building his program he got a lot of recruits through his connections in PA, some CT kids, and a talented girl from New Hampshire. That got him an enexpected Final Four in 1991 and made CT a regional power. And geographic proximity was a key in recruiting Rebecca Lobo which led UConn to a NC in '95. Only after you have a program with national success are you able to fully recruit on a national basis. South Carolina is about to cross that threshold. But they'll probably need to make the Final Four this year to ensure it.

There's a lot of buzz here in TN, by the way, about a tweet that Coach Staley sent last night, referencing comments made by Doris Burke about Tenn and their recent recruiting failures. Some think it was to support Holly; others think it was a recruiting tactic to make sure that any players that both SC and Tenn were recruiting were aware of the negative comments. I guess we'll never know for sure.

 

[Intpseeker]

There's a lot of buzz here in TN, by the way, about a tweet that Coach Staley sent last night, referencing comments made by Doris Burke about Tenn and their recent recruiting failures. Some think it was to support Holly; others think it was a recruiting tactic to make sure that any players that both SC and Tenn were recruiting were aware of the negative comments. I guess we'll never know for sure.

Hmmm...and here I thought Dawn was just sticking her oar in.

Wow! That would be pretty calculating on Ms. Staley's part, if so.

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

When Geno started building his program he got a lot of recruits through his connections in PA, some CT kids, and a talented girl from New Hampshire. That got him an enexpected Final Four in 1991 and made CT a regional power. And geographic proximity was a key in recruiting Rebecca Lobo which led UConn to a NC in '95. Only after you have a program with national success are you able to fully recruit on a national basis. South Carolina is about to cross that threshold. But they'll probably need to make the Final Four this year to ensure it.

There's a lot of buzz here in TN, by the way, about a tweet that Coach Staley sent last night, referencing comments made by Doris Burke about Tenn and their recent recruiting failures. Some think it was to support Holly; others think it was a recruiting tactic to make sure that any players that both SC and Tenn were recruiting were aware of the negative comments. I guess we'll never know for sure.

Dawn was definitely calling out the announcers.

We have certainly been lucky with an immense about of basketball talent in metro Columbia in recent years, but UCONN is still much closer to a lot more people. I'm not sure why there isn't more talent in New England. We've lost some local players, too. Xylina McDaniel is also from Columbia and is playing at UNC.