wipes out Final Four hopes

Ty Harris and Dawn Staley

No. 1 Gamecocks heartbroken after national title hopes vanish SAD FAREWELL

Ty Harris doesn’t know how March and April would have played out — no one does, despite one “projection” — but there’s one thing the South Carolina point guard knows for certain.

“March Madness has that name for a reason. It’s madness, so you don’t know what can happen. Anything can happen, and we hadn’t played everybody,” the senior captain began. “But I do know we were the number one team in the nation to end it all. And right now.”

Harris was insightful, as was fellow South Carolina senior Mikiah Herbert Harrigan, when each spoke with Spurs & Feathers two weeks after the cancellation of the NCAA Tournament because of COVID-19. From their hometowns in Indiana and Florida, respectively, they spoke openly about their team’s potential national titlewinning season ending so abruptly and the start of their pro careers.

“I was heartbroken [when the tournament was canceled]. It hurt a lot knowing that we really had the pieces to compete for a national championship. And, you know, win a national championship,” Herbert Harrigan said. “It was heartbreaking.”

The SEC Tournament Most Outstanding Player was asked what she would think if the NCAA officially declared the Gamecocks national champions.

“I would have preferred to work and win the games to win the national champion

By Josh Hyber | Staff Writer • Photos by Allen Sharpe

It hurt a lot knowing that we really had the pieces to compete for a national championship. – MIKIAH HERBERT

HARRIGAN

ship,” she said. “If they were to give us the national championship, it wouldn’t feel the same.”

“I’d raise a banner,” Harris added. “We could raise a banner for being the number one team in the nation.”

Like thousands of South Carolina fans, Harris saw on March 23 how ESPN projected Baylor would beat the Gamecocks in a national title game if the tournament were actually played.

“I didn’t think too much of it,” she said. “Who’s to say that would really happen? It’s just projection. I just kind of laughed.”

“We will never know who would have won the 2020 national championship, but [our] team positioned themselves to be #1 in the country [and] should not be overlooked as much as we have been,” Gamecock head coach Dawn Staley wrote on Twitter.

South Carolina ended the season 32-1 with a 26-game winning streak. The Gamecocks swept through the SEC undefeated, winning both the regular season and tournament championships and beating opponents by an average of 26 points per game. As seniors, Harris and Herbert Harrigan were looking forward to leading the Gamecocks to a second national championship in four years.

Harris said she would be in favor of playing an unofficial game between the Gamecocks and any of this season’s top contenders somewhere down the line.

“I would. I think everybody feels that way though,” she said. “I feel like all the top teams feel like they would do the exact same thing. … I think that would be a fun thing to do.”

Harris and her family drove nine-and-ahalf hours from Greenville, S.C. to Noblesville, Ind. after the SEC Tournament. She planned on being home for four days before returning to Columbia for classes and to begin preparation for the final games of her college career.

Then, madness.

A couple of days into her stay at home the NCAA released a statement saying no fans could attend the tournament.

“I was upset about that, but somebody kept telling me, ‘Just be grateful that you can still play,’” Harris said. “And then that’s when [Utah Jazz player] Rudy Gobert [tested positive] and they suspended the NBA season.

“In the team group chat we were talking about, ‘What if they suspend or cancel our tournament?’ And we were all talking about how we didn’t want that to happen.”

The day before Harris was set to travel back to South Carolina, that happened. The NCAA officially announced the cancellation of the tournament. A text from Staley confirmed it.

Initially Harris felt sadness and disappointment.

“I don’t think the tears started coming really until everybody found out and all the

staff and trainers texted me saying how we had a great year and how they were so happy to be in my life,” she said. “Just finally realizing I won’t get to see them anymore.

“It was disheartening. We were heartbroken. I was heartbroken. I didn’t like it. But now that days and weeks have past, I’ve kind of faced the fact that there’s not going to be a tournament. I’ve moved on and I understand why they did it.

“I’m really focused on just the draft and seeing what’s going to happen in the WNBA.”

Harris was projected to be a first-round pick in the WNBA Draft on April 17. (One prominent mock draft had her projected as No. 5 overall.) Herbert Harrigan was projected as a second-round pick.

At 6-2, Herbert Harrigan may have to adjust from an interior presence who has an ability to stretch the floor to more of a perimeter-oriented player. “I’m open to new challenges, so that won’t be an issue,” she said.

She also said she’s open to playing overseas as well as in the WNBA. “If I have the opportunity, I would definitely do both,” she said.

While Herbert Harrigan averaged 13.1 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.8 blocks and led South Carolina to the SEC Tournament championship, Harris averaged 12 points, an SEC-best 5.7 assists and 3.5 rebounds

and capped her career by being named a consensus All-American. She won the Dawn Staley Award as the nation’s best point guard and was a finalist for the Wooden Award, the Naismith Award and every other player of the year honor.

Mikiah Herbert Harrigan

“I am blessed beyond measure,” she said when the awards were announced. “None of this could have happened without God, my teammates, coaches and trainers. Proud to be a Gamecock.”

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