TAMPA, Fla. — South Carolina women’s basketball is in a familiar place.
The No. 1 seed Gamecocks (34-3) and defending national champions are playing in their fifth consecutive Final Four. Their opponent is No. 1 Texas (34-3), which they’ve faced three times this season already. Tipoff on Friday is 7 p.m. in Amalie Arena (ESPN).
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On Thursday morning, ESPN analysts chatted about Dawn Staley’s squad.
“I think with South Carolina, it sort of feels like you’re dammed if you do, dammed if you don’t,” ESPN studio host Elle Duncan told The Greenville News. “If you beat the brakes off people, people are like, ‘Oh you’re not playing anyone,’ but if you play a close game it’s like, ‘Oh, what’s wrong with South Carolina,’ but these teams are in the Elite Eight for a reason.”
The Gamecocks picked up a 71-67 win over No. 4 seed Maryland in the Sweet 16 then a 54-50 win over No. 2 Duke in the Elite Eight.
A unique element to the Final Four for South Carolina is that the other remaining teams are the only three to beat the Gamecocks since Iowa did on March 31, 2023. No. 1 UCLA and No. 2 UConn went 1-0 against them in non-conference games and Texas is 1-2 against them, picking up a four-point win in Austin on Feb. 9.
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That is feeding into some doubt about the Gamecocks’ ability to repeat.
“I think it’s really scary that you have a South Carolina team that has not found consistency, that hasn’t come close to playing its best basketball and is still in the Final Four,” Duncan said. “Based on talking to them (Wednesday), I expect a team that is riding a little bit of a chip on their shoulder because of the narrative that they can’t do it.”
After Sunday’s win in Birmingham, Staley mentioned she hopes that offensive flow improves.
Joyce Edwards, a freshman forward who is averaging a team-high 13 points this season, scored 22 in the first round against Tennessee Tech hasn’t scored more than six points in any of the past three games.
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ESPN analyst and former Tennessee women’s basketball player Andraya Carter was asked about Edwards specifically and from a player perspective, what Edwards might want to hear.
“I loved her mindset and attitude,” Carter said. “Reminding her of how talented she, remind her she is seeing these defenses because she’s that good. She wouldn’t be seeing these defenses if she wasn’t that good, reminding her to take a second to pause and try to not get sped up. Reminding her this is all happening because of her talent level and how great she is, that she is great enough to figure it out as well.”
Carolyn Peck, an ESPN commentator and Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame coach, said she watched Edwards and Staley in practice work through some of the defenses she faced against Maryland ahead of the Duke game. Though normally Edwards gets the benefit of tired defenders or second-string players since she comes off the bench, she faced a lot of issues in the paint as teams knew to collapse on her to prevent offensive production.
REQUIRED READING: Why Dawn Staley is unlikely to call timeout in Final Four. South Carolina players love her for it
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“You can only learn how to handle that by going through it,” Peck said. “You can’t just watch it on film or draw it up. You have to feel it, be on the floor and see.”
Peck said Edwards came out and sat alone on the court in the empty gym in Birmingham, Alabama, ahead of the Duke game, just looking out in the area and at the court.
“I think she let her mind quiet and slow down,” Peck said. “I think that she will be ready coming to the Final Four, knowing what to expect. The pressure has intensified, but I think she knows what to expect.”
Although UConn and UCLA have won by larger scoring margins in Elite Eight games, Duncan said if the Gamecocks advance to the national championship, it isn’t just a chip on their shoulder from losing to the opponent already.
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“They have the confidence of having just been here,” Duncan said. “They’ve been here really recently and know they haven’t played their best basketball.”
Lulu Kesin covers South Carolina athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email her at lkesin@gannett.com and follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @Lulukesin
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: ESPN analysts discuss Dawn Staley, South Carolina ahead of Final Four
