Dawn Staley Lectures Media, Says South Carolina Players Aren't 'Monkeys' Or 'Thugs' After Final Four Loss

Virtue-signaling Dawn Staley -- who made news last year by canceling the program's game with BYU for no reason whatsoever -- blasted the national media following South Carolina's Final Four loss to Iowa.

It appears the longtime coach was NOT happy with how her team was allegedly portrayed throughout the tournament.

“We’re not bar fighters,” Staley said when asked about the narrative surrounding the team. “We’re not thugs. We’re not monkeys. We’re not street fighters. This team exemplifies how you need to approach basketball, on the court and off the court. And I do think that that’s sometimes brought into the game, and it hurts.”

Dawn Staley loves a good narrative

Wowzers -- them's are fightin' words, coach!

Now, Iowa coach Lisa Bluder did compliment Staley's Gamecocks ahead of the game, telling ESPN trying to out-rebound them was like “going to a bar fight."

But, as you just saw, Staley didn't exactly stop at the "bar fight" comment. The others -- including monkeys and thugs -- were evidently passed along to her earlier in the week.

“Some of the people in the media, when you’re gathering in public, you’re saying things about our team and you’re being heard, and it’s being brought back to me,” Staley said. “And these are the people that write nationally for our sport. So you can not like our team. You can not like me.

Dawn Staley is angry once again. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)

"But when you say things that you probably should be saying in your home, on the phone or texting out in public and you’re being heard, and you are a national writer for our sport — it just confirms, just confirms, what we already know. 

“…So don’t judge us by the color of our skin. Judge us by how we approach the game, and you may not like how we play the game. You may not like it. That’s the way we play. That’s the way I coach. I’m not changing.”

Staley and the Gamecocks lost to Iowa, 77-73, to snap a 42-game winning streak.

Staley and UConn coach Geno Auriemma also got into earlier this year after the Gamecocks defeated the Huskies in February.

Auriemma was critical of South Carolina's style of play after the game, and Staley blasted the coach on her local radio show later that week.

“We’ve been called so many things and I’m sick of it,” Staley said, via The Associated Press. “I’m sick of it because I coach some of the best human beings the game has ever had.”