3 days Ago
COLUMBIA — Ashlyn Watkins, a forward on the South Carolina women's basketball team, happily swished one shot after another on Friday, making eight straight at one point before an errant attempt bounced high off the back of the rim. A manager swiftly retrieved the ball and returned it to Watkins, who began another stretch of makes. She kept smiling, as she continued to get "acclimated" (as coach Dawn Staley put it) to being back on the court.
Especially after being exiled for two months. Watkins, a junior, was charged with kidnapping along with first-degree assault and battery on Aug. 31.
The charges were dropped on Nov. 1 and she completed Pre-Trial Intervention. That’s a program designed to let first-time non-violent offenders have their charges dropped after meeting certain requirements.
She returned to team activities on Wednesday. “Ashlyn is back, we welcome her back,” Staley said, “we are going to let her get acclimated to being back on the team and we look forward to having our entire team back. We are at our very best when we have our full roster, especially healthy.
“So it feels good, it feels natural. It doesn’t feel unnatural to us. It feels we’re complete now.
” Certainly, the return of the 6-foot-3 Watkins is a welcome one for the top-ranked Gamecocks (1-0) even as she continues to get “acclimated” to being back. Dawn Staley's Gamecocks head into another season as national championship favorites Watkins averaged 9.2 points and 7.
1 rebounds while playing just more than 20 minutes last year, numbers accrued mainly as a reserve. Plus, she’s a tough defender who blocked 91 shots. Watkins’ kind of production perfectly aligns with USC’s stand-tall approach on that end of the floor.
And her return can only help alleviate some of the angst or concern coming from the Gamecocks’ trip to Las Vegas. They left the desert 1-0 after a season-opening win over Michigan. But even Staley said something was off; that USC came away with a 68-62 win to start the season undefeated, yet didn’t quite take care of business as expected.
She’ll find out if the kinks have been ironed out on Sunday when the Gamecocks play No. 9 NC State in Charlotte. And we’ll see how different things look with Watkins coming off the bench, at least for this week.
“If she’s out here,” Staley said, “she’s going to play.” No doubt. And she might have a landmark game; perhaps something comparable to the 20-rebound performance she had when the Gamecocks beat the Wolfpack in the national semifinals last season.
But what about after that? When things aren’t being held in a neutral facility in a neutral city between non-conference opponents? Carolina Coliseum on this afternoon was a safe, happy place. It was an environment where second chances are doled out to those who show remorse and do the work to try to make amends. That’s why Staley bluntly said, “we’re not going to keep revisiting it.
” Case closed, as far as she’s concerned. The university and legal system apparently agree. But it won’t always be like that outside of Columbia.
Gamecocks ease into title defense with comeback over Michigan The ugliest side of fandom will likely emerge at some point when the Gamecocks roll into town. USC is already every other team’s Super Bowl; now some of the less well-mannered fans will go out of their way to shame Watkins and company even if their team can’t beat them on the court. There’s no telling how much venom is already spewing on message boards throughout the SEC’s footprint and beyond.
But it’s easy to tune out what you don’t see if you don't have to see it. It’ll be those nights when the mocking and ridicule is in Watkins’ face that will present her sternest tests. The arrest, the public shaming, the steps needed for her to return .
.. Watkins will be forced to revisit it internally even as she tries to block it all out.
It’s a lot for any 21-year-old to handle; let alone a young, still-maturing athlete trying to compete at the highest level. “Ashlyn will be who she is,” Staley said. “She’s created some really good habits.
And you saw her make a terrible mistake that, if she could do it all over again, she wouldn't do it again. She’s got teammates; she’s got coaches; she’s got a support system; she’s got family. “So, you know, people are gonna be people.
She’s going to ignore them, obviously. And, if it gets to her at that point, then I’m gonna take up for her. Because that’s what we’re supposed to do.
” That’s Staley being the adult in the room. It’s one reason she’s been able to cultivate a championship culture. Unfortunately — for Watkins as well as her teammates, coaches and lots of other folks associated with the university — there will be lots of cold winter nights when some folks will be acting anything but adult.
And, for at least a little while, that’s something they’ll all have to get “acclimated” to dealing with. Gamecocks' Ashlyn Watkins cleared to return to team activities.
