The titans have fallen! The South Carolina women’s basketball team have dominated most of the season. However, in the Final Four of the NCAA basketball tournament, the Gamecocks found their match. South Carolina dropped their semi-final game against the Iowa Hawkeyes, surprising everyone. After the game, though, Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley made sure to address some unsavory rumors around her team, per The Sporting News on Twitter.
“We’re not bar fighters. We’re not thugs. We’re not monkeys. We’re not street fighters. … So watch what you say when you’re in public and you’re talking about my team in particular.”
Dawn Staley said that a national media member had some criticism of the South Carolina women’s basketball team playing style. According to her, the unnamed media member “crossed the line” in the criticism of their playstyle, saying that it perpetuated dangerous narratives. The Gamecocks are a physical team, and they aren’t afraid to grind it out and frustrate their opponents.
The Gamecocks’ undefeated streak made them the target of criticism from other fans. Some of the criticism was clearly nonsense, while others had some merit. Unfortunately, there were some comments that ventured into derogatory comments. South Carolina’s women’s basketball team is mostly Black, and some of the comments made about the players did have some racial undertones (such as calling them “thugs”).
South Carolina’s domination of the women’s basketball scene has now come to an end. As for Aliyah Boston, the star power forward/center is likely headed into the WNBA as the top pick in the draft. Iowa will now face LSU for the NCAA Tournament crown.
The post ‘We’re not bar fighters’: Dawn Staley goes scorched earth on South Carolina basketball critics after Final Four loss to Iowa appeared first on ClutchPoints.
