“Living her best life and she’s only in her 20s”: When Dawn Staley credited A’ja Wilson for finding herself

In her 17-year tenure at the helm of the South Carolina Gamecocks, Dawn Staley has produced several of today's WNBA standouts. The list includes Aliyah Boston and Kamilla Cardoso but is capped off by three-time WNBA regular season MVP A'ja Wilson.

Wilson played under Staley from 2014 to 2018. With the leadership of the WNBA legend coupled with her unmatched play on the inside, the program won the 2017 NCAA championship with Wilson taking home MOP honors.

Since then, Wilson has garnered a stacked resume in the WNBA, inserting herself already among one of the league's best ever. As her mentor through college, Staley shared in an episode of "Taking the Pulse: A Health Care and Life Sciences Video Podcast" from the summer how the Las Vegas Aces star was able to find herself when she was up-and-coming.

"I think A'ja Wilson figured out who she was at a very early age. She's probably living her best life now, and she's only in her 20s. She's got a lot more years to live, and to live free and unapologetically. I think that is so cool," Staley said (Timestamp: 19:00).

"I think some young people feel like the mistakes they made are defining. They're not. They're just a part of the transformation of you in the most transformational years of your life."

After her successful collegiate career, there's no doubt that Wilson has not only replicated but has outmatched that success in the WNBA, much to the delight of Staley. The ceiling is still high for the 28-year-old stalwart, as she'll retire as a bonafide WNBA legend.

For Staley, she is invoking the same mindset towards her current crop of Gamecocks (14-1), who are ranked No. 2, with their next SEC matchup being against the Texas A&M Aggies on Thursday.

Dawn Staley feels a sense of pride with the success of her Gamecocks alumni

As players like A'ja Wilson and Aliyah Boston have gone out to carve out remarkable WNBA careers, Dawn Staley couldn't feel more proud of her South Carolina Gamecocks alumni.

Later in the podcast, the defending national champion coach said in response to host Tina Emerson's question (Timestamp: 19:39):

"Pride. It's a proud moment because we win a lot of games, a lot of championships. We actually benefit from them. It's our job to give them their life goals, what they wanna be in life, and lot of them is going to the WNBA. To see them actually hearing their name called on draft day, it's quite incredible."

With aspirations of a national title repeat this season, there's hope that Staley could have another proud Gamecocks moment this year with them hoisting the trophy once again.