The South Carolina women's basketball team's dominant 72-44 win over Alabama on Thursday both improved their record to 26-0 on the season and represented the 600th win of Dawn Staley's coaching career.
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This milestone makes Staley just the 20th active Division I coach to earn 600 wins — and her doing so in her 24th season coaching places her alongside coaching legends like Pat Summitt, Geno Auriemma, and Tara VanDerveer; all of whom also reached the 600-win mark in only their 24th season.
That being said: Don't let Staley catch you calling her team a dynasty.
Staley addressed the media after Thursday's big win, and was asked whether she believes her team is a dynasty in the SEC.
Dawn Staley on if her program is an SEC dynasty. #Gamecocks pic.twitter.com/X1nlfcZgvX
— 107.5 The Game (@1075thegame) February 23, 2024
"We've been pretty successful," Staley said. "I think Tennessee had a dynasty. I don't know where we measure up to them. But unless we're doing things they haven't done consistently, you can't really call it a dynasty — especially when somebody else reigns supreme in this particular conference."
Staley is certainly correct about Tennessee being a dynasty. Under the aforementioned Pat Summitt, the Lady Vols won a whopping winning eight NCAA National Championships, 16 SEC championships, and made a record-setting 31-consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances.
South Carolina, in contrast, has won two National Championships (although a third may be on the way) and seven SEC championships during Staley's 15-year tenure as head coach.
So while it may be true that Staley's resumé can't match up with Summit's quite yet, that doesn't necessarily mean that South Carolina can't be considered a dynasty.
Take the NBA's Pacific Division. Nobody can deny that the Los Angeles Lakers were a dynasty when they won three consecutive NBA titles from 2000 to 2002.
Yet, their success doesn't mean that the Golden State Warriors making five straight NBA Finals appearances from 2015-2019, winning three of those, then winning another championship in 2021 can't be considered dynastic.
In other words, there doesn't have to be only one women's basketball dynasty in SEC conference history.
Although we also respect Staley's commitment to humility, and not being content in her outstanding coaching accomplishments.
What's for certain is that, if South Carolina can remain undefeated this season and/or produce another NCAA championship, people will probably start to deem Staley's team a dynasty — whether she likes it or not.
