Dawn Staley compares Paige Bueckers’ “narratives” with Caitlin Clark; sends out stern message to help lift South Carolina players

After wishing the 2025 NCAA championship results to be the same as its previous rendition, Dawn Staley compared the similarity in narratives around Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers. The legacies of two college stars, known for their unique scoring touch, are said to be affected in the absence of a national title.

Staley briefly touched on how the coverage of her team's feats takes a hit in light of the prominent discussions around opposing star players.

"Here's the thing, sometimes we create these narratives about great players - Caitlin was one of them, Paige is one of them right now - and we tend to forget the narrative about what our kids have been able to do and going for their third in four years," she said (at 16:38).

Nevertheless, Dawn Staley ensured to hand out her flowers to Paige Bueckers, highlighting her stature and skill set in college basketball.

"So there's a sentimental narrative about Paige - a great freakin' player, anybody would start their franchise with Paige because of her efficient way of playing, because of she's a winner, because she cerebrally just knows the game, just has an aura about her."

With that, Staley also noted that these narratives can often put her players to a disadvantage, be it through fan perceptions, creating distractions or psychological challenges.

"And she'll be the number one pick in the WNBA draft. She'll be an Olympian. She'll be all those things. But when you put a narrative out there, everybody sees that, and it puts us at a disadvantage."

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Dawn Staley's advice to lift both opposing stars and South Carolina

Dawn Staley also highlighted what she expects from media outlets in the last stage of the NCAA tournament. She urged media outlets to celebrate every legacy, be it a team or players, instead of just star players. Staley believes that every story can help build women's basketball into something bigger.

"I want the sentiments to be about our players and what our players have been able to do, equally, because there's room to do both. We can raise Paige up because she deserves that and raise our players up because they deserve that. And that's not talked about enough.

"There's room for it in our game. Let's not choose history, one's history over another program's history. Let's not choose one player over another player's history because we're all creating history for our game."

Dawn Staley's South Carolina and Paige Bueckers' UConn Huskies will fight for the title on Sunday at the Amalie Arena. ESPN's matchup predictor currently gives the Gamecocks a 42.9% chance to win.