COLOMBIA – Recruitment is like the strokes in the middle of the court that Dawn Staley plays on the table after each workout. Sometimes they fall, but most do not.
She has made a lot of noise lately.
“You have to rotate a lot. And it’s not just about turning in the direction the conversation is going, because it’s going to many different places, “said the South Carolina women’s basketball coach.” We go through periods when I’m not always the optimist; sometimes I think we’re wasting our time. Sometimes, I want to reduce our losses and, I would say, 99.9% of the time, our technical assistants convince me of the precipice. Because sometimes I just feel like it’s not going to happen ”.
Staley is feeling a lot more excited these days. Three of the country’s best recruits – Saniya Rivers, Sania Feagin and Bree Hall – promised the USC last week, making official what Staley did with a series of tweets in the previous days. There is yet another commitment that has not been publicly announced, which means that a group that is already proud of ESPNW numbers 3, 6 and 26 will improve in some way.
Staley cannot discuss recruits by name until they sign a letter of intent, but his path to winning the class is almost the same as winning the country’s No. 1 class in 2019 and Class 2 in 2014. Having an elite program certainly help, and not many have done what Gamecocks have done in the past seven years.
But having a relentless group of assistant coaches around Staley is the key, and to whom she gives most of the credit when recruits are hired, sealed and handed over.
“I’m not very patient when it comes to that, but they are,” said Staley. “They are very good at just knowing each recruit’s pulse.”
The big chart with the names of recruits for each of the next classes is in the Gamecocks’ offices. Players are listed not for their recruiting rankings, but for how well the preliminary contact went.
“Especially when you have the best recruits we’re looking for, it has to be divided, because you have to spend a lot of time with them,” said Staley. “(The assistants) say who they want, because they know the answer they are getting from certain recruits.”
Technical assistant Jolette Law led the search for Brea Beal last season. Fred Chmiel took Aliyah Boston. Assistant coach Lisa Boyer was primarily responsible for Laeticia Amihere.
Staley kept in touch with all the players throughout the game and helped Law with Zia Cooke and Olivia Thompson. The five formed last year’s best classified class.
“You want everyone’s best effort. Everyone needs to be involved, ”said Boyer last year. “Dawn has to do the lion’s share when it gets to the heart of the matter. At that point, when you get tense, you are just trying to keep the circle closed. “
Staley was used to changing tactics at any time, when she was building her career as one of the best playmakers she ever played. All game plans on Earth do not help when the opponent does something that no one expected.
Recruitment is dealing with teenage players who are being told that they are the beauties of the next great class in any of the country’s basketball powers. There are several adjustments, such as when to bring players for official visits and who to bring with them.
Boston and last year’s best general recruit, Haley Jones, visited USC together because of their close friendship. Cooke joined Jordan Horston (No. 2) and Rickea Jackson (No. 5).
USC wanted all five, but knew it would not be so lucky. Players want to be sure of playing time, and while nothing is promised, they can all read the USC depth of return chart.
Jones chose Stanford, Horston chose Tennessee and Jackson went to the state of Mississippi. Gamecocks stayed with Boston (No. 3) and Cooke (No. 4), and started them alongside Beal in every game last year.
There were good feelings about them all during the process. But there were no confirmations until they made their official engagement ceremonies.
“Even when Aliyah called, it looked like she was letting us down easily. I don’t think she intended to do that, but suddenly, ‘I decided to come to the University of South Carolina’, and we were crazy, ”said Chmiel last year. “At first it felt like a separation!”
With three freshmen playing such important roles in a SEC 32-1 championship season that saw the Gamecocks end the year in first place, the USC 2020 class consisted of one player. Eniya Russell, the nation’s No. 43 player, will be in Columbia this season.
Next year’s class needed to be bigger due to the 2019 class set for juniors in the 2021-22 season. Rivers, Feagin, Hall and the mysterious promise intend to continue to build on the foundation that Staley laid a long time ago.
It will not stop there. Classes 2022, 2023 and now are coming.
“I try to answer all of them at least once a week, on the phone or FaceTime or Zoom. And assistant coaches are texting them and checking with them, so we have the weekly recruiting meeting, where we talk about everyone we communicate with, ”said Staley. “With this particular class, it was spread across all coaches. We will land four, and basically all four coaches helped each one. “