When Dawn Staley recalled “embarrassing” Aliyah Boston over a meme: “Nice people don’t always get what they deserve”

Aliyah Boston's college career under Dawn Staley was one of a kind. The two-time National Player of the Year bagged several nationwide awards and also stormed through opponents with a 93% win record (129-9). However, one of the most daunting instances in Boston's career was when a photo of her crying became a meme in the basketball world.

While the forward used that meme as fuel for motivation, Staley ensured that Boston yielded maximum mileage from the stimulus.

"She's very sweet, she's nice and sometimes nice people don't get what they deserve because they'll just say it's okay," Staley said on the Breakfast Club in 2022. "So we're in the Bahamas and she just had probably a 25 and eight game, I think is normal for her but I embarrassed her a little bit because I said, 'Do you know why I want you to be dominant?.'"

"And she was like, 'So we could win the national championship.' I said, 'Yeah, that's part of it, go a little deeper,' and she was like, 'No.' I said, 'Because do you see that picture they put up? That meme they put up every time there's something with women's basketball and one of you crying?.'"

"So, I said, 'I'm motivated by you turning that frown into a smile, into happy tears, so you got to go be dominant.'"

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Aliyah Boston lived up to Dawn Staley's expectations

Aliyah Boston's meme stemmed from the 2021 NCAA Final Four loss to Stanford. The 6-foot-5 forward missed a crucial game-winning putback which could have sent Dawn Staley's roster to the championship game, forcing her to showcase her emotions.

However, Boston completely flipped the narrative around the same time next year as the South Carolina Gamecocks defeated the UConn Huskies 64-49 to lift the 2022 NCAA championship. Aliyah not only embraced her emotions from the previous year but ensured that the college hoops world witnessed her tears of joy in the post-game interview.

"I've been thinking about his since the last season because everyone had a picture of me crying in the Final Four," Boston said. "They put it everywhere. But today, we are national champions...so, if you guys want a smile, here you go, we're national champions."

As an icing, Aliyah Boston also earned the Final Fout Most Outstanding Player Award behind her averages of 17 points, 17 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.5 blocks on more than 50% shooting against Louisville and UConn.