After coming short of winning the national title again, Dawn Staley and the South Carolina Gamecocks are back to the drawing board. The team has now returned to training, including star guard Tessa Johnson, who was on a tear during last year’s run to the national final before she and the rest of the Gamecocks lost to UCLA. However, Johnson showed that she is putting in some work and trying to win the natty again.
Basketball coach Dre Sweat worked out with the Gamecocks guard and posted a video of her doing several drills, including floor skills, shooting and more.
Johnson was already one of the deadliest shooters from behind the arc in women’s college basketball, and it seems that she is working to improve upon that as she practices in preparation for the new season.
As for the one she had been training with, Dre Sweat had previously worked out with her BFF, Chloe Kitts, as well as former teammate and current Indiana Fever point guard Raven Johnson. He is often a collaborator with many other South Carolina stars and often helps them improve upon their game during the offseason.
Johnson will enter her senior year next season and is expected to carry the backcourt more now that Raven Johnson has left for the WNBA. She averaged 12.8 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game during her junior year and was a crucial part of the Gamecocks’ March Madness run.
Dawn Staley Says Players Being Are Reasons Why Tessa Johnson and Others Did Not Enter the Transfer Portal
Now in her senior year, Tessa Johnson is a rare example of a player sticking with just one school throughout her college career, especially in the NIL and transfer portal era. She had been with the Gamecocks from the very start, and so are many of her teammates, but why, though? Dawn Staley says it is because she and the other players are happy there.
“I think culturally speaking, our kids are happy,” Staley said. “Their parents are happy. When you’re in a situation where maybe everything isn’t 100% as you visualized, but when you’re genuinely happy, and when you have a voice, and when you have a path to success, it makes it a little bit easy to stay where you know what’s happening versus trying to go somewhere else and figure things out.”
Dawn Staley rarely loses players to the transfer portal, with players often sticking to her program throughout their college careers. There are a few exceptions, such as MiLaysia Fulwiley, who famously left for rival LSU, but Staley has often kept her core intact.
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