Dawn Staley gets real on South Carolina life without WNBA star Kamilla Cardoso: "Still that same team that played UConn without her"

Kamilla Cardoso was an essential piece of Dawn Staley's rotation during South Carolina's undefeated NCAA title run last year. She averaged 14.4 points, 9.7 rebounds and 2.5 blocks on 59.4% shooting. However, the Gamecocks are without the star this season as Cardoso has transitioned successfully to the WNBA. The Chicago Sky picked her third overall pick in the 2024 draft.

Staley addressed Cardoso's absence in her 2024-25 roster on Wednesday. Nevertheless, the coach believes the Gamecocks will get used to her absence with a little more determination and chemistry.

"It's so new, it's so much room actually to grow on both sides of the basketball," Staley said about Cardoso's absence (4:50). "And I mean it takes time to build the chemistry. We had really good chemistry with Kamilla, we still have good chemistry but people are just trying to find their way and where they can impact it on both sides of the basketball."

"And we're getting there, 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 her, that played, I don't know, a couple of other teams that we played without her. We just have to continue to tap into that."

Cardoso, the Most Outstanding Player of the 2024 NCAA Tournament, missed five games due to an injury and to represent Brazil in the FIBA World Cup qualifiers in February. Behind the team-oriented playbook, USC won all five contests.

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Dawn Staley's schedule aims to maximize the potential of her student-athletes

Dawn Staley’s Gamecocks have had one of the toughest schedules in the nation. 10-1 record holder South Carolina has played only four home games this season. They have four top-10 ranked teams and five neutral site games.

However, Dawn Staley believes her team, despite the tough schedule, should step into games prepared because she aimed to balance basketball and studies while fixing the schedule.

"It's just basketball, nothing better to be doing during this time," Staley said on Dec. 3. "There's nothing like that. There shouldn't be anything competing for their time but books. So, it's pretty easy when it's that clear-cut. There's books and basketball, 'cause our schedule lends itself to only to be able to concentrate on that." (1:00)

Gamecocks started with neutral site games against Michigan and last year’s Final Four program NC State. After two home games, they technically played four back-to-back on the road (two visits and two neutral).

Gamecocks then hosted No. 8 Duke and visited No. 9 TCU before blowing out South Florida on Dec. 15. The upcoming five-game stretch is going to be the easiest run for Dawn Staley's crew this season before they face the No. 12 Texas.