South Carolina Coach Dawn Staley Addresses MiLaysia Fulwiley Transfer Chatter
The South Carolina Gamecocks women's basketball team's 43-game win streak came to a sudden end on Sunday after they were defeated by the now No. 1 ranked UCLA Bruins.
In the aftermath of that defeat, the playing time (or lack thereof) of South Carolina standout guard MiLaysia Fulwiley — who played just three minutes and scored zero points in the loss — was a common talking point on social media.
Some fans made it clear that they thought Fulwiley should transfer schools at the end of the season because she wasn't getting the minutes she deserved.
It didn't take legendary Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley long to address this sentiment, which was included in a November 27 article by the The State's Lou Bezjak.
“It’s her process,” Staley was quoted saying in the article. “Everybody has a process. And everybody wants to say transfer but we trust over here. That’s with everybody. MiLaysia and I are good. Other people ask about issues and what is going on here, but our house is tight.”
Later on in the article, Staley speaks more about her and Fulwiley's current relationship standing.
“What’s important to me is the trust,” Staley said of Fulwiley. “She trusts me, I trust her and it is family trust. I don’t have a soundbite to give you other than we are all good. It is our process that we are going to continue to trust.
“It is not about UCLA, that she didn’t play the rest of the game. It is about that her picture is up here,” Staley said, pointing to posters of other South Carolina women’s basketball greats hanging around her in the practice gym, “and that she is in the league (WNBA) for as long as she wants to be.”
“And that is her process," Staley continued. "Sometimes that process forces you to be uncomfortable at times. But then you address things and move forward.”
The No. 4 ranked Gamecocks face the No. 15 ranked Iowa State Cyclones on Thanksgiving day. It will be interesting to see how many minutes Fulwiley receives.
Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.