Ahead of Southern University’s March Madness matchup against South Carolina, Dawn Staley made a bold statement about respect for HBCU basketball.
During media availability on Friday, Staley was asked about HBCU basketball and how the sport and its teams can get more respect.
“I think women’s basketball has been in the position where it is getting better and better on all levels. HBCUs have been given sometimes a raw deal because they’re just HBCUs and they’re not power fours… probably a little less than mid-majors as well…As you’re seeing, they’re super well-coached. Southern is super well-coached. They really understand what they’re doing. They play a battle-tested schedule. They beat a couple of power four teams.”
She used Southern University's success and victories over Big 12 opponents Arizona and Houston to make the point that out-of-conference victories could bring a level of respect to HBCU basketball programs.
“It is going to take games like that where you have to have eye-opening wins. Similar to the path that South Carolina took. For us, you need to play marquee games and win marquee games. I do think the more success HBCUs have in a tournament, they will no longer be looked at as play-in games and 16 seeds,” she said. “When you start to see that happen on a more regular basis, then you know that they’re taken a little more seriously.”
Dawn Staley has been a huge supporter of HBCU basketball, making it a point to schedule early-season games against HBCUs. She views it as a way to give HBCUs a platform to compete against one of the best teams in the sport and also gain money and exposure.
Ultimately, South Carolina emerged victorious against Southern University on Saturday afternoon, winning 103-34.
