 How's everyone feeling today? I know I'm sweating like a point guard, being face guarded by Raven Johnson and Breezy Hall, but I'm gonna thank you for being here to recognize perfection. They say nobody's perfect, but this team was. They were perfect on game day, 38 straight times. What a team, what a year. From Paris to Cleveland, nothing but perfection. Who says you can't win them all? At this time, I'd like to introduce the City of Columbia Mayor, the Honorable Daniel J. Reckonman. Good afternoon, Game Cognition. What a beautiful day. Thanks for sticking it out. This has got to be a record crowd. I don't know that we've ever seen this many people downtown. On behalf of City Council, Ed McGow, Will Brennan, Tina Herbert, Audity Bustles, Peter Brown, Tyler Bailey, and our City Manager, Teresa Wilson, we welcome you to the celebration of our national champions, South Carolina. Welcome, Mr. President, Congressman Clyburn. I also would like to recognize all the elected officials here, mayors, Richland County Council, our state senators and representatives, sheriffs and police chiefs, please stand up and be recognized. Also want to take this time to really give a big thanks to the city staff for bringing this wonderful celebration to life. Thank you. The South Carolina women's basketball team brought the university, the state, the city, and its fams an unbelievable season. SEC champs, national coach of the year, topped off with a national championship, not only with grace, honor, grit, but with integrity. We as a Game Cognition love you all for what you have accomplished, but more so for who you are. My friend Patrick Davis, a fellow alumni, wrote a song called Numbers. And most of them mean nothing, but some of them mean everything. So let's talk about some numbers. Let's talk about 38 and 0. Let's talk about 3,247 points scored, an average of 85.4 a game. How about 1,761 rebounds? 102 assists, 332 steals, 297 blocks. And most impressive, the average attendance of over 16,000 people. I think for me as a girl dad, I look out and I saw 18.9 million people watch the national championship game for women's basketball. Probably what topped it off, which was the cherry on the Sunday there, was our very own alumnus, Miss Boston, sitting at the ESPN desk. So when I was growing up and young on Saturday mornings, there was a show that came on. It was called Schoolhouse Rock. And our fellow alumnus at South Carolina, who do you the blowfish incorporate this into their songs during a live show? But it taught us the most important, the most magical number is 3. So 3 is a magic number. Let's stand up and let's cheer for our national championship magic number 3. Welcome to the stage. Congressman James E. Clyburn. Congratulations. Mr. Mayor, Mr. President, Mr. Athletic Director, to the whole Gamecock family, thank you so very, very much. I've always been proud of my home state. But I have never been more proud than I was sitting in Cleveland in that arena watching all those people on the floor where their sentiments were, sitting with some people who were a bit nervous in the first part of that first quarter. And then they showed a picture of Coach Staley and she was not moved at all. I said to myself right then, we got this. In this great state, mixed in accomplishment, I tried to enter it into the proceedings of the House of Representatives into our congressional record. On this past Thursday, I was proud to stand with the other members of our congressional delegation and make a congratulatory comment on the floor of the House, and we entered into the congressional record my feelings about this great team, this institution, this city, and this state. And so I'm going to present today to all the coaches, all the players a copy of the congressional record of Wednesday, April 10th, and you will find your accomplishments in the proceedings of the State House of Representatives. And then each one of the players and the coaches will get a personal letter from me. Most of it is solid generic, except I've gone through each one of them and I've found a way to personalize a part of it. And I'm going to just read one little sentence in the one that I sent to Malaysia. Malaysia, your mother came up to me in Cleveland and reminded me that you live in the neighborhood that I live in. And so when I wrote this letter to you, I said, in addition to the win, you have made your team, your university, your family, and the State of South Carolina very proud and of course, all of us who live in the Greenview community. And now please welcome University President Michael Emeritus. What an unforgettable, perfect season. And I know many of us were thinking about it at the beginning of the season, but we were not so sure about it. And yet, here we are. Here we are celebrating today. Celebrating excellence right here. Celebrating success right here. Celebrating world-class talent right here. But also, celebrating right here, hard work, commitment, tenacity, teamwork. And we are celebrating the family environment that these teams created and protected. I'm so very proud of them. And of course, we are here also to celebrate the great leadership of Don Staley. Some people call it dynasty. I don't know what's the right word, but I know that you are building an empire. Thank you. This is a great moment in the history of our women's basketball program and athletics, but it's also a great moment for USC. It's a great moment for the city of Columbia and it's a great moment for the state of South Carolina. Whenever I go and whomever I talk to, they want to hear more about this team and how they did it. And I'm delighted to give them all the details, from Paris to Cleveland, until they stop me. So thank you, team. Thank you, Don. Thank you all of you for being here with us to celebrate and keep in mind that we're only six months away from the first game of next season. Please welcome our athletics director, Ray Tanner. Thank you, Brad. A few months ago, when this journey started, many people around the country weren't sure what the 2024 edition would be for Coach Staley's team. We all knew that it was a very talented five-star group. We knew that Don Staley and her staff are the best in the country. A relatively new team, a lot of people weren't sure where we would end up. We didn't think we would lose very many games. The last time I checked, we didn't lose any games. It reminds you that you make such a difference for these young women and our coaching staff. We know that 16,000-plus field colonial-life arena, and there were lots of games where quite honestly, we weren't threatened very much because of how good they were. But the times that we did get threatened, you made a difference in the outcome of what happened. You inspire this team. Of all the accolades that this team enjoys and should enjoy for six months to come, every team has an identity, the 17 champions, the 22 champions, and this team. For me, what stands out most about this team are two things. How selfless this group of young women were in today's world. How selfless. And as we all know, on any given day, there was another star, and nobody cared who got the credit. Please give it up for the 2024 national champions. Ladies and gentlemen, help me welcome home your South Carolina Gamecocks and the Mayor to present each player and staff for the proclamation. We'll start with the student-athletes in numerical order. A senior guard from Oceanside, California. Number zero, Tejna Pau Pau. And number two, Ashlyn Watkins. Tessa Johnson. A senior center from Brazil. Number 10, Camilla Clark. A junior forward from a senior center from Columbus, Ohio. Number 35, Sakeema Watkins. Your coaching staff. Assistant coach, Khadija Sessions. Assistant coach, Winston Gandhi. A little bit, so I just want you all to know, we just declared the month of April our national champion women's basketball month in Columbia, South Carolina. So on April 7th, 2024, South Carolina women's basketball secured the NCAA national championship against University of Iowa with a perfect season record of 38-0. The program's third national title, all three titles coming under the leadership of coach Dawn Staley. South Carolina women's basketball team is made of a powerhouse team whose commitment reflects in their stellar talent. The Gamecocks were the tenth team to finish a season undefeated national championship and led the country in attendance for women's college basketball games for non-straight seasons. The Gamecocks' victories are bigger than basketball. Its remarkable achievements reflect the spirit of women in sports and the importance of female athletes have a place front and center with their male counterparts. For that, we thank you. So on behalf of myself, the mayor and fellow city council members, we declare April is the University of Carolina Gamecocks NCAA women's basketball national championship month. But to be quite honest, what do you do with coach Staley? We named the street after her. We given her the key. We got a proclamation. We got a statue coming. You know, what do you do with a coach being named coach of the year four times? The coach of eight-time SEC championship team, the first African-American head coach men and women to win the national championship. We do for a fashion icon. We get her something new for her fashion, a new accessory. Team Tina Palpao had something to say. Gamecock Nation. On behalf of my team and I, first and foremost, we got to give all the glory to God. We want to be national champs. We want to be undefeated. We just got to thank him for giving us a healthy season and bringing us through this long season. And second, we just want to thank everyone who supported us throughout this journey. We want to thank our fans, you guys, and especially our coaching staff who brought this group of girls together to love each other, play selflessly, and just compete in that fun with each other. And lastly, in the words of Raiden Crockpot Johnson, it's time for a repeat tour. And now please welcome your coach, Don Staley. Thank you. I'm sure I'm going to miss out on telling, you know, as many people that deserve to be thanked, okay? I want to thank our mayor. I want to thank, you know, all the councilmen and women who put this special parade together. I also want to just congratulate all the people that were a part of the parade. I know we had some bands from Kenan. We had the band from Cardinal Newman. And we had some other people that really needed to be celebrated. So thank you. And everybody else that played a role in blocking the streets and just giving us an opportunity actually to love up on you. You, you, everybody out there, you, yes. Give yourselves an applause. I saw a lot of uncommon favorite t-shirts. And I don't know if everybody really understands what uncommon favor is. I'm going to sum it up because I grew up in a household where I had to be disciplined, right? Uncommon favor is when your mother or your father told you, I can show you better than I can tell you. Quite simply, after, after we planned to be here last year during this time, it wasn't harvest time. It wasn't. And it was a devastating loss to all of us, all of us that were a part of it. And I was hurt, deeply hurt, deeply, deeply. Not to destroy my faith, but I did ask why. I did. And most of us that really understand, we need to know. And we need to know when we need to know. But God sometimes says, I can show you better than I can tell you. So it's, it's incredibly an honor to coach this team here. It's an honor to work with the best coaches in the country. It's truly an honor to represent the city of Columbia and the state of South Carolina. Yes, it's an honor. We've had so many people that helped us get to this stage. We got, we got our fellas back here. We call them the highlighters who is the only team that beat us this year. And everybody, we got video people. We got, we got, we got performance coaches. We got athletic trainers. Molly Craig Hudson. We've had everybody. If I missed you, charge it to my head and not my heart. We, we work with a, with a president that is so supportive of all athletics. He makes, he makes every team at South Carolina feel like they're national champions. So I want to thank you, President Amaritas. And I got to thank our boss man, Ray Tanner for, for, for always saying yes. Really he does. He always says yes. And then when he says no, then I'll just go sit in front of him. And if you sit in front of him, he can't tell you no. So I haven't had to do that very often. So thank you boss man for allowing us to be here. Maria Hickman. Maria Hickman is our sports supervisor who has done an incredible job working with us. We're not, we're not that easy to deal with. Okay. Cause we know our standard and we know our worth. But Maria has a way of allowing us to navigate in this space of being, and being one of, one of the, one of the best teams on this campus. One, one of, cause there, there are other teams that are coming. You know, other teams are coming. But I appreciate you Maria for, for continually giving us an opportunity to spread our wings and to do some things that some other programs aren't able to do. To our players to, I want to give a special shout out to Camilla Cardozo who will skip WNBA draft orientations to be with you. If, if this is the last impression of what it is to be a national champion here at the university of South Carolina, you all, you all have made it a special time for her to take on to the next level, which is the WNBA where she'll continue to do us proud. But I thank you for giving her an awesome experience. She is a two-time national champion. So Camilla, and then, and then lastly to our players, and to everyone, I know I missed somebody. Diana Kovar, I know I missed you. Brad, I know I missed you. If I've missed you really, I charge it to my head and not my heart. But at the beginning of this season, I don't know why I said this. They actually asked me to say something on camera. Give me one word that's going to describe our season this year. And like me, I said, expect the unexpected. I don't know why I said it, but I said it and I, because I felt like we had enough on paper to compete at a really high level, whether that ends up in a national championship level or not. I didn't know. But again, these players, these players actually, and I have to go to our theme of this year, these players loved up on each other unconditionally, created a bond that created a heightened level of competitiveness to say, you can play us for a quarter, you can play us for two quarters, you can play us for three quarters. But by the time that fourth quarter comes around, we aren't going to lose. The band, it's not Lassie. The band, thank you. Thank you for always creating, you know, sweet music for us to win championships. And then lastly, this is Lassie. Lastly, it is our fans. Our fans, the ride, the seven block ride from, I don't know what street we started, but we're here right now. The love that you pour into us as we drove down Main Street, it is uncommon. And I really, really deeply appreciate your love, your unconditional love, although some of you guys are, you try to be coaches out there. You just can't coach on game day. That's the easy part. But I love you deeply. I hope we can end our season. Thank you. I hope we can end our season with us all in the same place at the same time on this beautiful day. So thank you so much for loving up on us. We really truly appreciate it. Thank you.