"The smartest player in the history": Dawn Staley lavishes praise on Aliyah Boston

South Carolina women's basketball head coach Dawn Staley praised Indiana Fever star Aliyah Boston in a recent podcast. Boston has been in excellent form this season, stepping up for the team after Caitlin Clark was sidelined with groin issues since last month.

On the "Post Moves" podcast with Boston and WNBA legend Candace Parker, which was shared on Wednesday, Staley reminisced about Boston's freshman year at South Carolina.

"In the beginning, I would say the Aliyah we recruited, the Aliyah that was so talkative and so inquisitive. And she got to South Carolina and she wouldn't say a word. Like nothing, like nothing like, and then I did, I had to talk. I was like, "well, why aren't you talking? Like, why aren't you?" And she was actually deffering. She was deffering to upperclassman and I just never saw her as the type," Staley said. (Timestamp: 16:57)

"Like I see her as a type. Right is right, wrong is wrong. Doesn't matter where the information is coming from as long as there is information. So I wanted Aliyah and I think once we started having those conversations, she just started blossoming... She is super smart. Like she probably came in as the smartest player like ever in the history of our program," Staley added.

Staley described her former player as someone who knew how to play the game both on and off the court. The Naismith Hall of Famer also attributed Boston's incredible talents to her parents.

Boston joined South Carolina in 2019, where she spent four years. She led the Gamecocks to their second national championship in school history in 2022. In the same year, Boston earned the NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player (MOP), Player of the Year, and Defensive Player of the Year honors. She was drafted by the Indiana Fever as the overall pick in the 2023 WNBA draft and went on to win Rookie of the Year.

Dawn Staley confirms interest in Knicks coaching job

South Carolina's Dawn Staley is regarded as one of the top head coaches in college basketball. Despite her impressive record as a three-time NCAA Tournament champion, Staley confirmed that she would have left the Gamecocks to join the NBA's New York Knicks as their franchise head coach.

"If the Knicks would've offered me the job, I would've had to do it," Staley said, said on a recent podcast with WNBA's Candace Parker and Aliyah Boston. "Not just for me, it's for women, just to break open that. And it's the New York Knicks. I'm from Philly, but it's the freaking New York Knicks. I did say that in the interview."

Staley ultimately did not get the job, which would have made her the first woman to coach an NBA team. The Knicks hired Mike Brown, who will oversee the team this season.