Dawn Staley Notes South Carolina’s Path to ‘Build Chemistry’ Without Kamilla Cardoso

Despite already having one more loss on their record this season than they did throughout their entire 2023-24 campaign, Dawn Staley’s South Carolina Gamecocks squad is still undoubtedly one of the top teams in women’s college basketball.

Perhaps the biggest testament to the culture Staley has produced during her tenure at South Carolina is how her team manages to be perennial National Championship contenders despite losing elite players to the WNBA every season. This is proven by the Gamecocks going undefeated in 2023-24 without Aliyah Boston, who was the No. 1 pick in the 2023 WNBA Draft.

And this year, they’ve had to make do without center Kamilla Cardoso, who went No. 3 overall to the Chicago Sky in the 2024 WNBA Draft. However, Staley alluded to this constant rebuilding process being more difficult than she often makes it seem when speaking with WACH Fox reporter Matt Dowell on December 18.

“We had been together for a long time, so starting this year, it’s so new, there’s so much room to grow on both sides of the basketball,” Staley said when Dowell asked why this season has been a bit more of a process getting everyone comfortable. “It takes time to build chemistry. Like, we had really good chemistry with Kamilla. We still have good chemistry, but people are just trying to find their way in where they can impact on both sides of the basketball.

“And we’re getting it,” Staley continued. “We’re much better than we were a month ago, or two months ago. But we’re still that same team that played UConn without [Kamilla]… We just have to continue to tap into that.”

Staley deserves a ton of credit for shaping her current (and still exceptionally talented) roster into a National Championship favorite despite losing a player like Cardoso.