• Coach Don Staley spoke to reporters after the Remaining 4 loss to the College of South Carolina.
• Staley addressed criticisms relating to the physicality of his gamers throughout the semi-finals.
• “This team is an example of how you should approach basketball on the court and off the court,” she mentioned.

Don Staley is pushing again in opposition to criticism of his workforce’s bodily prowess within the Remaining 4.

On Friday, the College of South Carolina ladies’s basketball coach spoke to reporters after the Gamecocks misplaced 77-73 to the College of Iowa Hawkeyes within the semifinals. Staley took the chance to deal with criticisms about his workforce’s physicality, when a reporter famous that different groups in contrast him to “rookies”.

—The Sporting Information (@sportingnews) April 1, 2023

“We’re not bar fighters. We’re not thugs. We’re not monkeys. We’re not street fighters,” Staley mentioned. “This team is an example of how you should approach basketball on the court and off the court. And I think sometimes that gets brought into play, and it hurts.”

Staley additional acknowledged that his roster wouldn’t change his fashion of play, and that he wouldn’t change the best way he coaches.

Staley mentioned, “Don’t judge us by the color of our skin. Judge us by how we look at the game.” “You might not like how we play the game… That’s how we play. That’s how I coach. We’re not changing.”

Staley defended his gamers, most of whom are Black, after retailers reminiscent of the new York Times And Vocal reported that black college students are punished extra severely than their white friends for related conduct. A NYT evaluation of Division of Schooling knowledge discovered that black ladies are 5 occasions extra prone to be suspended than white ladies.

Staley mentioned that some sports-media members have been brazenly essential of his workforce in public and that their feedback had backfired on him.

“When you gather in public, you talk about my team,” she mentioned. “You’re being listened to and it’s being brought back to me. These are the people who write for our sport nationally.”

Staley then steered that this pointed to a bias in opposition to the workforce.

“You may not like our team, you may not like me, but when you’re saying things that you should probably be saying on the phone in your house or texting in public and you’re being heard, and You’re a national writer for our sports, it just confirms what we already know,” Staley mentioned.

She added: “So watch what you say when you are in public and you talk about my team in particular.”