You are obsessed with your personal beliefs. Saniya Rivers left for the same reason I’m sure Coop left. No fault in either of their decisions and none on Coach Staley.
And the team Coop played on featured 5 WNBA players she would’ve played as a freshman for any other team. Just because a coach prefers a player in THEIR system does not mean that player is better than one who does not fit that system. There was no talent gap, you are lying to yourself if you think Talaysia Cooper is not as talented as any guard on SC team.
It is obvious Tess Johnson is not a better talent than Talaysia Cooper. Coach Staley can prefer what ever player she chooses for her system.
So the gap you keep talking about is misinformed. Rankings as many of you obsess with shows Coop was a few spots behind Fulwiley and 7 ahead of Tess Johnson.
Based on hoopgurlz, which has recently been horrible with their prep ratings, particularly when it comes to South Carolina prospects? I agreed with you about players not fitting into a coaches system, and that fit/not-fit doesn't equate to talented/not talented. Then you performed an about-face against what you just stated, and declaratively stated that Tessa Johnson is not as talented as Cooper is - based on what? Athleticism =/= talent, for anyone who ever watched Larry Bird play basketball. Perhaps if both Cooper and Johnson were to run 40yd dashes, Talaysia would beat Tessa 8 times out of 10, but that doesn't always boil down well on the field of endeavor unless that field is a running track.
T. Cooper (Freshman at SC): 24 gms appeared, 8.4 mpg, .389 FG%, .238 3pFG%, .381 FT%, 2.9 ppg, 1.8 rpg, 1.3 apg, 1.7 A:TO, 0.4 spg, 0.2 bpg
T. Johnson (Freshman at SC): 35 gms appeared (2 sts), 17.9 mpg, .447 FG%, .432 3pFG%, .863 FT%, 6.6 ppg, 1.7 rpg, 1.1 apg, 1.3 A:TO, 0.8 spg, 0.09 bpg
As far as Dawn Staley's "system", historically it is a system that Cooper fits into much better than Johnson does, But Johnson showed that she has a maturity in playing basketball that Cooper had not yet reached while at SC. And some could point out accurately that during Talaysia's freshman season, the Gamecocks were anchored by a WNBA starting unit that mostly were starters their entire career in Columbia, while this past season Tessa was on a squad that graduated that unit and were restarting while learning who their next starting unit would be, thus giving reserves and newcomers more opportunity to audition themselves that Cooper perhaps was not given in 22-23.
But in recent years Staley has deployed her reserves prolifically throughout the season, even during conference schedules, something some 90-95% of her peers in WCBB don't meet. In Cooper's freshman year at SC, the Gamecock bench actually averaged more points per game (36.0) than they did this season (33.9), and accounted for more of the toal scoring (44.9% of the Scoring Offense) than they did this season (39.7%), so really despite that veteran starting unit, Talaysia's benchmates had as ample if not more opportunity to contribute as Tessa's did, and they took strong advantage of it.
Tessa even raised her level once the postseason began, averaging 8.3 ppg in the SECT and 10.2 ppg in the NCAAT, shooting .419 overall for both tournaments and .370 from the 3pt line, and a very impressive 24-26 (.923) from the free throw line. She was 1 point shy of tying her career high - which was set during the regular season in a blowout win over Morgan State in which Tessa started and shot 7-9 - with 15 pts (which led the team) versus Oregon St. in the Elite Eight, and then shattered that best mark with a team-leading 19 pts in the NCAAT Championship game vs Iowa, which was tightly contested.
Per Hoopgurlz, Talaysia was a 5-star and rated 18th overall in her class, while Tessa was mostly rated as a 5-star but then was bumped down towards the end of her ratings cycle to a 4-star and 25th overall. Talaysia is a still very talented and athletic player - sometimes it has to do with a light clicking on inside of their heads and learning how, or realizing how, to implement those talents into playing dominating basketball. I alsways thought with how talented Laticia Amihere was coming out of high school that she could end up another Candace Parker before her college career was over and be the best of the "freshies", but she ended up being no more than a very talented and versatile reserve her whole career, because she couldn't get out of the way of her own God-given talent. Victaria Saxton was much the same way, to a lesser degree. Cooper may end up being an all-time Lady Vol for Tennessee - I certainly hope she does - but Johnson is just as talented as Cooper and also seems to have that "understanding" of how to implement her talents in a way that she could be a future star for the Gamecocks, if she isn't one already.....
