{"id":183696,"date":"2025-08-29T02:48:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T02:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/183696\/"},"modified":"2025-08-29T02:48:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T02:48:10","slug":"i-didnt-feel-it-when-dawn-staleys-decision-between-uva-and-penn-state-came-down-to-something-unexpected","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/183696\/","title":{"rendered":"“I Didn\u2019t Feel It\u201d: When Dawn Staley\u2019s Decision Between UVA and Penn State Came Down to Something Unexpected"},"content":{"rendered":"

South Carolina Gamecocks<\/a> coach Dawn Staley once revealed the driving factor behind her decision-making during her college basketball playing days. On an episode of current LA Lakers coach JJ Reddick and co-host Tommy Alter\u2019s \u201cThe Young Man and The Three\u201d podcast in Jan. 2022, Reddick asked Staley how she committed to the Virginia Cavaliers for collegiate hoops.<\/p>\n

Staley<\/a> revealed that growing up in North Philadelphia, the living quarters of the University of Virginia resonated more with her than those of Pennsylvania State University, even with the latter being closer to her hometown. With this, Staley ended up choosing the Cavaliers after high school.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI visited Penn State first, and I\u2019ve said this a few times, but when I went there, I didn\u2019t feel it. Like I didn\u2019t feel it, and they actually lived in those old dorms where you\u2019ve got a room, you\u2019ve got a roommate, you\u2019ve got to take your bucket with your robe on, you\u2019ve got to go down the hall and shower. You\u2019ve got to collect all your stuff and go\u2026\u2019Ugh.\u2019 I didn\u2019t feel that. Then when I went to UVA on my official visit, it was plush,\u201d Staley shared (10:02).<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was like, I had a roommate, and I had three other rooms in this suite. We had a common area. We had like two or three showers, we had two or three stalls, and it was like an apartment. And if you grew up in the projects in North Philly, that was like\u2026I mean, I had my own condo. So, the dorms are what separated the two schools,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Staley went on to play all four years of her college basketball tenure with the Cavaliers from 1988 to 1992. The now 55-year-old\u2019s best year came in the 1990-91 season when she led Virginia to the national championship game against the Tennessee Volunteers. Despite losing to the Volunteers by three points, 70-67, in overtime, Staley was named the tournament\u2019s Most Outstanding Player.<\/p>\n

Read More: \u201cI Would Have To Do It\u201d: Dawn Staley Gets Honest About Considering New York Knicks Head Coaching Job<\/a><\/p>\n

Dawn Staley said she connected with then-Virginia Cavaliers coach Debbie Ryan<\/p>\n

On the same podcast, Staley talked about how important her connection with the program\u2019s coaching staff was in picking her college basketball program, apart from her living quarters.<\/p>\n

She said her connection with then-Virginia Cavaliers coach Debbie Ryan<\/a> was a big factor in her decision.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cWell, UVA started recruiting me. There were two schools that recruited me since I was in eighth grade: UVA and Penn State. Those were the only two schools that I visited. I only took two official visits. It was really important to build a bond with my coach. I built a bond with Debbie Ryan, and then, at Penn State], Rene Portland was the head coach, but I had a strong bond with the assistant coach, Dan Durkin. Those were the two schools [I visited],\u201d Staley shared (9:12).<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Also Read: \u201cIt Never Stopped Me From Imagining\u201d: When Dawn Staley Opened Up on Her Sideline Fashion and North Philly Roots<\/a><\/p>\n

College Sports Network has you covered with the latest news, analysis, insights, and trending stories in\u00a0football<\/a>,\u00a0basketball<\/a>, and more!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"South Carolina Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley once revealed the driving factor behind her decision-making during her college basketball…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":183697,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[1339,1317,1337,1338,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-183696","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-basketball","11":"tag-ncaabasketball","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115109776915610461","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183696\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}