Dawn Staley once clarified her comments on Caitlin Clark winning the Dawn Staley Award.

Dawn Staley has made quite the impact on women’s college basketball. Besides transforming the South Carolina Gamecocks into regular title contenders and winning three national championships as coach, she also won the nation over with her talent as a player, which was on full display at Virginia during the 90s.

In 2013, the Phoenix Club of Philadelphia established the Dawn Staley Award to recognize the best guard in Women’s Division I college basketball. Over the years, many talented guards have won the coveted award, including Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark, who won it thrice during her time at Iowa.

Last year, Staley dealt with rumors of her dislike towards the former Hawkeyes star, in an interview with Bleacher Report’s Taylor Rooks. Ahead of Clark potentially winning the award for a third straight season, Staley said that she didn’t dislike Clark but believed that she deserved the award simply because of her talents.

“I like having these conversations because they need to be had,” said Staley. “They really need to be had, because it’s not hate. It’s like, people think I hate on Caitlin.

“I don’t like Caitlin is probably going to win the Dawn Staley Award for the third year in a row not because I’m favoring her, it’s because she can flat out play. Quite simple, quite simple.” (11:34).

Dawn Staley and South Carolina start their national championship defence strong

Dawn Staley and the South Carolina Gamecocks have started their title defence on the right note.

Dawn Staley and the Gamecocks enjoyed immense success last season, becoming the fifth team in NCAA history to win the national championship unbeaten. They started their title defence with a strong start, winning all but one game in the 2024-25 season.

After starting the season with five straight victories, the reigning national champions were halted in their tracks by then No. 5 UCLA, who replaced them at the top of AP’s Top 25 in last week’s update following a convincing 77-62 victory at Pauley Pavilion. Meanwhile, the Gamecocks fell three places to fourth in the weekly poll.

The Gamecocks bounced back in the Fort Myers Tipoff, scoring victories over then No. 15 Iowa State and Purdue. They moved up a place to third in AP’s Top 25 and will look to improve on their 7-1 record in the SEC-ACC Challenge, where they face the Duke Blue Devils on Thursday at 9 p.m. ET.