South Carolina Gamecock’s head coach, Dawn Staley is known for a strong yet resilient locker room. It was the sheer resilience that kept the Gamecocks roster striving against the UConn Huskies during the 2024-25 national championship. Despite a fantastic run for the title, the Gamecocks failed to stand their ground against the Paige Bueckers, Sarah Strong, and Azzi Fudd trio and their journey came to an end with Huskies winning the trophy.

While Staley has a culture that allows athletes to have a strong bonding while developing their unique skill sets under the headstrong coach, a loss of one player comes at the cost of the entire team. Especially if it is a standout player. At just five-feet-ten, this standout guard has an exceptional run under Dawn Staley’s system. With 11.7 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 2.0 assists per game in her sophomore year with South Carolina, the MVP has decided to switch to Kim Mulkey’s locker room instead.

Witnessing the transfer of Gamecock’s strongest players is never easy. Especially if it is MiLaysia Fulwiley. However, on being asked on The Breakfast Club podcast regarding MiLaysia’s shocking departure, the strong coach was all praise for the guard. She explained how the player visited Staley before taking the giant leap. And Staley did not try to stop her either. Instead, she asked whether Filwiley was sure of the decision. She even persuaded her to take the leap and advised her to not look back.

College hoops analyst and Sports Director for Wach Fox in Columbia, Matt Dowell shared a four-minute clip on X (former twitter) with a caption that read, “Dawn Staley spoke in-depth about MiLaysia Fulwiley and her transferring from South Carolina Gamecocks on ‘The Breakfast Club’ this morning.” In the clip, Dawn Staley can be seen professing her love for the player. When questioned whether she found it surprising, the HC said, “Surprising, no. I think you know, being in this space, you become to expect the unexpected, right? I still have much love for MiLaysia. Like, much love.”

Explaining the whole scenario surrounding Filwiley’s transfer, Dawn reminisced, “She and her mom came in. She said, “I think I want to give into transfer portal.” So, I am like, “Okay, well, you think or you know?” And she said, “I know.” And I said, “Well, I only want you happy.” Elaborating on the dialogue between the coach and her student, Staley instilled confidence in Filwiley, giving her a chance to reconsider her option. But once MiLaysia was sure of the route she wanted to pursue, instead of coercing her into staying, the HC left the decision to the player and where she will be most happy.

“Like I really do only want our players happy,” Staley added. “Whether that’s with us or somewhere else, just be happy. And I told her Don’t look back.” Emphasising on the fact that the player’s happiness is the utmost factor for any team’s success, Staley wants her players to be happy wherever they land.

On 25th April,  Fulwiley, the team’s second-leading scorer, transferred to the conference rival LSU Tigers. Fulwiley took to Instagram to celebrate the decision, posting in an LSU jersey with the caption, “Geaux Tigers 💜💛”.

“I think she’s going to have a promising career,” Staley said. “I do think she’s a generational talent −that will leave never. She does things on a basketball court that I’ve never seen a woman do. She will continue to do that, and we will continue to be happy for her except for the one or two times we have to play (LSU).”

And as MiLaysia steps into LSU Tigers, thanks to transfer portals, she is going to enrich Kim Mulkey’s roster while joining hands with strong athletes like Flau’jae Johnson and Mikaylah Williams.

MiLaysia Fulwiley, Darius Adams, and Nate Ament: Is the transfer portal wave the new normal?

This year’s transfer portals have jolted the college teams and left other teams high and dry. With the entire Baylor Bear’s men’s roster empty, the bizzarre scenes at the portals just doesn’t end here. While several athletes added their name in the roster for better experiences and opportunities, others went to different programs looking for more lucrative NIL deals.

In the middle of the transfer portals came another shocking scenario this year. The de-commitments from players. While some fresh recruits already commit to programs, they later switch the decision. After official commitments. This phenomena, though relatively new, has been practiced by several recruits and talented athletes.

Talking about men’s program, whether it was Darius Adams de-committing from UConn or Caden Lewis switching his Kentucky decision, the trend of de-commits is not just limited to one team. Terming this trend a new normal for players from well-to-do schools, national analyst DeShaun Tate had said, “I think it’s more new normal, to be honest with you. I think that what we’re seeing right now with it just being about three guys primarily, more so talking about from blue blood schools.”

And an ACC reigning championship team like the Duke Blue Devils have seen the worst side of the transfers, where atleast two players de-committed from the program. After one of the finest prospects in Nate Ament, decommitted from the Tennessee Volunteers, he is not the only one to do so. Another highly anticipated player to join the program, Shelton Henderson also de-committed from Duke this season and joined the Miami Hurricanes, clearly influenced by his positive relationship with former Duke coach Jai Lucas.

Though transfer portals help the career trajectory of the athletes before they step into the professional world, the de-commits are stressful for the coaches and the teams. Especially for head coaches like Jon Scheyer and Scott Drew who had to re-build their respective rosters using the portals to recruit the transferred candidates.