Analyst calls out Dawn Staley over "harmless" compliments from Iowa HC Lisa Bluder: “All that over being called bar fighters”

South Carolina coach Dawn Staley couldn't lead the Gamecocks to a repeat national championship, falling to the UConn Huskies in the national championship game in April. During the offseason, Staley has been linked to the vacant New York Knicks job after the NBA team fired Tom Thibodeau last month.

During Wednesday's segment of the Aaron Torres podcast, analyst Aaron Torres rubbished Staley's candidacy for the Knicks job. He referenced how the Gamecocks' coach reacted to retired Iowa Hawkeyes coach Lisa Bluder's comments about her team in 2023.

"The Iowa coach, Lisa Bluder, had made some reference, 'they play tough, they’re bar fighters.' And if you actually just listen to the quote, it was the most nothing quote ever," Torres said (7:33).

"The insinuation was basically like, they're street fighters, they're tough, they're this, they're that. It's what you would say about any tough, physical basketball team.

"You'd say it about the Knicks of the 90s, you'd say it about Houston basketball, you'd say it about Auburn basketball. Dawn Staley was asked about that. The most harmless comment that has ever been made about any basketball team ever. It’s actually a compliment. It means they’re tough. It means they’re mean. Everybody says it all the time."

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How Dawn Staley responded to Lisa Bluder's comments

The comments by Lisa Bluder were made after the Iowa Hawkeyes beat the previously unbeaten South Carolina Gamecocks in the Final Four of the 2023 NCAA Tournament, leading to Dawn Staley's comments.

The South Carolina coach didn't take too kindly to Bluder's comments and had a scathing retort.

“We're not bar fighters," Dawn Staley said. "We're not thugs. We're not monkeys. We're not street fighters. I do think that's something brought into the game and it hurts. Some of the people in the media, when you're gathering in public, you're saying things about our team and you're being heard, and it's being brought back to me.

"So you cannot like our team and you cannot like me, but when you say things that you probably should be saying at home, on the phone, or texting out in public, and you’re being heard and you are a national writer for our sport, it just confirms what we already know. So watch what you say when you're in public and you're talking about my team in particular.”

Even after her reaction to Lisa Bluder's words, Dawn Staley has continued to be outspoken about the coverage that her team gets in the media even as they continue to set the standard in college basketball.