Tara VanDerveer, Jay Wright and more celebrate Dawn Staley on Women's History Month

South Carolina coach Dawn Staley was in the spotlight as she was celebrated during Women's History Month. In an Instagram post on Tuesday, Uninterrupted posted a series of images with quotes from Tara VanDerveer, Jay Wright and other basketball stakeholders celebrating Staley's legacy and core principles.

In celebrating Women’s History Month, the Instagram post highlighted Staley's success and impact in basketball.

The carousel post had comments from other basketball coaches and players alike celebrating Dawn Staley’s "incomparable" achievements.

Former Villanova coach Jay Wright and former Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer spoke highly of Staley.

“She’s very comfortable with who she is. She’s authentic,” VanDerveer said.

“If you look at what she has done as a player and coach, it’s incomparable,” Wright said.

As a player, Dawn Staley was a six-time WNBA All-Star (2001-2006) and two-time Naismith College Player of the Year (1991, 1992). As a coach, Staley is a three-time NCAA Tournament champion (2017, 2022, 2024) and a nine-time Southeastern Conference Tournament champion.

Dawn Staley speaks out on South Carolina missing out on No. 1 overall seed

South Carolina’s Dawn Staley didn’t hold back when addressing the decision to hand UCLA the No.1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. While South Carolina still holds a No. 1 seed in its region, Staley made it clear that she believed her Gamecocks deserved the top spot.

The Gamecocks had a dominant win over Texas in the SEC Tournament championship game. An X post on Monday showed Staley expressing her thoughts on the committee's decision.

"Obviously, it's disappointing. It really is," Staley said. "I'd like to get some feedback on how they came to that conclusion. We put together and designed a schedule that, if evaluated properly, should have resulted in us being the No. 1 overall seed."

For the first time since 2021, the Gamecocks will head into the NCAA Tournament without the No. 1 overall seed.

Dawn Staley suggested that the Gamecocks might rethink its scheduling strategy in the future.

"We're going to make adjustments to our schedule if the standard is the standard,” Staley said. "If that's the case, then we can play any schedule and still secure a No. 1 seed."

Staley also expressed frustration over what she saw as inconsistencies in the selection process and highlighted the improved performance from last season. As March Madness unfolds, all eyes will be on South Carolina as they respond on the court.