AP Exclusive: Behind-the-scenes with women’s NCAA champions

South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley greets fans as the team returns to the team's hotel following Women's Final Four NCAA basketball tournament, Sunday, April 3, 2022, in Minneapolis. South Carolina defeated UConn earlier in the night to win the national championship. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

They laughed at each other. They laughed with each other. They shared meals, shared moments, dared teammates to play them in ping-pong, got serious when it was time for schoolwork and got very serious when it was time for basketball.

Say this for the South Carolina women’s basketball team: Regardless of the outcome, they went to the Final Four fully committed to enjoying and savoring the moment. Even though it seems like playing on the college game’s biggest stage is an annual event now, nothing was taken for granted and nobody needed to explain that the memories created over the season’s last few days would last forever.

The real “fun” for them, however, would only come from cutting down the championship nets on Sunday night.

So all those pent up emotions erupted after they completed a wire-to-wire run as the top-ranked women’s basketball team in the nation by knocking off UConn 64-49 Sunday night in the national title game.

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