BAYLOR @ SOUTH CAROLINABIG 12 / SEC ChallengeDec 2, 2018
Link to read entire articlehttps://www.thestate.com/sports/college/university-of-south-carolina/usc-womens-basketball/article213799609.htmlExcerpt from 27 June 2018 article by Greg Hadley @ The StateAs post-A'ja era beginsGamecocks have 'a lot of options' for a lot of guards"During its 2017 national title run,
South Carolina women's basketball ran a four-guard lineup out of necessity, centered around star forward A'ja Wilson. And now, after a season in which injuries and personnel forced the Gamecocks to routinely use three bigs on the floor at once, they
might return to a small ball lineup in 2018-2019 just without Wilson.
That was the message of coach Dawn Staley on Tuesday as she spoke to reporters for the first time since Wilson graduated from USC and left to play pro ball. Barring injury or a drastic turn of events, the 2018-2019 version of the Gamecocks will have more guards than they know what to do with, even as they have a massive hole to fill in the frontcourt.
"With the guards that we have, we have a lot of options. We can go traditional with three guards, two post players, or we can go small with four guards. I'm just excited because all of them are a lot different than each other. They're highly competitive, and they've improved," Staley said.
Junior Tyasha Harris, sophomore Bianca Jackson and senior Doniyah Cliney all started at guard for USC last season, and they will be joined by redshirt junior Te'a Cooper, who sat out as a transfer, redshirt senior Bianca Cuevas-Moore, who sat out because of injury, graduate transfer Nelly Perry, from Clemson, and freshman Destanni Henderson, the nation's top-ranked point guard in her class. Staley also said Tuesday that sophomore Lele Grissett, who came in last season as a forward and spent most of the year in that role, will shift to the wing moving forward.
"That's just another big guard that we have and will utilize in a way that we did last year," Staley said. "She has a lot of experience under her belt. I think she finally started to get at the end of the season where she needed to be and where she could make an impact, so we'll continue with her improvement."
That's eight total wing and backcourt players, including six with starting experience. In Staley's mind, that's a good problem to have.
"If you look at last season, it was a blessing in disguise, because players got a lot of experience that they would not have gotten, so it puts us ahead of the game this year," she said, while also adding that Henderson is "college ready" and urging people to not forget Perry.
"She will definitely be a great addition to our team," Staley said.
Staley didn't drop any hints as to who her starting five might be come October, but she did say that Cooper, who hasn't played since the spring of 2016 because of injury and transdfer rules, is ahead of schedule at summer workouts.
"Anytime a young person has to sit out for reasons beyond her control, beyond our control, it's heartbreaking, but now that the handcuffs are off of her, she sees the season right in front of her, she's approaching it in the way that she's in midseason form," Staley said. "From a strength and conditioning standpoint, she's ready to rock and roll. If we started today, she would be the only one that could play a 29-game schedule and not feel it."
Link to continue reading articlehttps://www.thestate.com/sports/college/university-of-south-carolina/usc-womens-basketball/article213799609.html
