No. 1 South Carolina's SEC-clinching win vs. Alabama puts HC Dawn Staley in elite company

Considering Staley nearly retired from coaching last summer, Thursday's accolade means even more. Appearing on a recent edition of ESPN's "College GameDay," she said walking away from the game was a real possibility. Ultimately, the Hall of Famer returned and the program has to be grateful. 

Despite needing to replace five starters from last season, the Gamecocks clinched an SEC three-peat with Thursday's win over Alabama – South Carolina's eighth SEC title in 11 years. 

Forever a motivator, Staley scoffed at crowning South Carolina an SEC dynasty after Thursday's victory. 

"We've been pretty successful. I think Tennessee had a dynasty. I don't know where we measure up to them," Staley said via 107.5 The Game. "But unless we're doing things they haven't done consistently, you can't really call it a dynasty."

Tennessee has 18 SEC Championships for the record, adding eight NCAA Championships since 1987. Meanwhile, South Carolina has 13 conference titles and two NCAA Championships in 2017 and 2022. 

While Staley isn't ready to consider her team a dynasty yet, this year's club has more incredible feats to accomplish ahead of the SEC and NCAA Tournaments. 

South Carolina's blowout win over Alabama moved the Gamecocks to 26-0 (13-0 in conference) on the season. With three regular-season games remaining against Kentucky (11-16, 4-9), Arkansas (18-10, 6-7) and Tenessee (16-9, 9-4), the Gamecocks are on the brink of finishing undefeated for the second consecutive year.