The Gamecocks weren’t always the college basketball powerhouse we know them as now. Before Susan Walvius took over as the program’s head coach, South Carolina had only been to the NCAA Tournament six times and missed it for six consecutive years. Walvius led the team to NCAA Tournament appearances in 2002 and 2003. When Staley took over in 2008, the Gamecocks had endured four consecutive losing seasons and one with a 16-16 record.
Staley eventually turned South Carolina into one of the best programs in the country, but it took some time to establish herself as a coach whom top recruits wanted to play for and someone who could regularly coach one of the best teams in college basketball.
Arkansas coach Kelsi Musick is in a similar position as Staley was all those years ago. She is in her first season as the Razorbacks’ head coach, taking over a program that hadn’t found much success in recent years. Staley was asked about what advice she had for the first-year head coach after South Carolina secured a 93-58 win over Arkansas. She delivered an important lesson on roster building.
“A lot of times, we have our preferred choices in players, right?” Staley said in her postgame media availability. “There’s an A list, and there’s a B list, and the C list. Take players that want to be here, no matter what list they’re on. Sometimes, very early on, we try to wait to get the big fish, right? Sometimes, you lose the big fish, and you lose the ones on the B list and the C list, and then you’re just out getting anybody. So, anybody that’s interested in playing for Arkansas, I would say go get them.”
She also added, “We all want the talented player, but the talented player doesn’t always want to make a decision in time for you to make a decision and not lose the other players that you can get on your list.”
Changing Arkansas’s trajectory will be a long-term process
Arkansas now has an 11-7 record, losing to Texas Tech, Harvard, SMU, Arkansas State, Vanderbilt, Alabama, and South Carolina. Most of these losses aren’t bad for a team like Arkansas. Texas Tech and Vanderbilt are two of four still undefeated teams, South Carolina is a top-three team in the country, and Alabama just took down sixth-ranked Kentucky.
So, considering that this is her first season with the team, the roster is primarily made up of younger players, and Arkansas doesn’t typically land top recruits, Kelsi Musick is off to a decent start. Still, it will take some time to turn Arkansas into a more competitive team. Recruiting is a big part of that. Landing players who truly want to play for you and your team is invaluable in today’s college basketball landscape and with the prominence of the transfer portal.