COLUMBIA — Tennessee Tech coach Kim Rosamond used to sit and watch South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley play college basketball on television.

Staley was lighting up the ACC at Virginia from 1988-92 and Rosamond was a high schooler in Louisville, Mississippi, preparing to play college ball at Ole Miss.

“I sure won’t say I modeled my game after her because I was nowhere near the player she was but what I loved about (Staley) was her toughness, the way she led her teams,” Rosamond said Thursday of Staley. “I remember watching her, the admiration I always had for her.”

Even after it was revealed the two coaches would face off in the NCAA tournament first round on Friday (4 p.m., ESPN), the competitive fire didn’t wash away the friendship.

On the eve of No. 1 South Carolina vs. No. 16 Tennessee Tech, Staley sat in the press conference beside her dog Champ as she usually does, though her dog had his own nameplate courtesy of Rosamond.

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Days before, Rosamond posted an image with her two dogs, Dolly and Dean, and wrote a message saying she would be bringing Champ a custom NCAA nameplate. The gift was a callback to the 2024 tournament when Staley made a joke about Champ not having one.

“It did but it didn’t,” Staley said when asked if the gesture took her by surprise. “As dog lovers, I think (Rosamond’s) dogs come first like Champ and anytime that you can provide a cool gesture, I know Kim, I’ve known her for a long time, she’s coached in this league, I’m super happy for and I’m over the top that she would extend such a nice gift to my boy.”

Rosamond immediately joined Ole Miss’ coaching staff after her playing days ended, then after a stint at Middle Tennessee, went back to SEC play in 2007 when she was an assistant at Vanderbilt. Staley began her coaching career in the SEC a year later.

Rosamond coached under Melanie Balcomb at Vanderbilt, who went on to work as South Carolina’s director of coaching offensive analytics for the 2016-17 season, the first season Staley won a national title.

Rosamond said Staley’s associate head coach Lisa Boyer is someone she’ll always call if the teams have a common opponent and has known Boyer for years.

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“You knew it was going to be special,” Rosamond said of Staley’s early South Carolina days. “What I love so much about what (South Carolina) has done now is I think they’ve done it as well or better than anyone right now is taking modern day basketball, the speed, size, skill, the transfer portal and NIL. That’s something you have to manage every day but still blending it with the honor of the old school toughness and discipline. I love the way Staley’s teams play, I love the way they honor the game, I love the way they respect the game, I love the way they respect the opponent.”

On Friday, the Golden Eagles (26-5) will either pull off an upset to extend their current win streak to 18 in a row or go home with a loss to Staley’s squad.

These programs have only played six total times with the most recent game on March 15, 1989, when South Carolina was the No. 6 seed in the NCAA tournament and was upset by No. 11 Tennessee Tech at home.

“Just tremendous respect on my end for what Dawn and her staff has built here,” Rosamond said.