You really do find out so much more about people in their low moments than in their high ones. That goes for everything, though for our purposes we're looking at it through the lens of sports.

Last Sunday, South Carolina lost to Kentucky in the women's SEC championship on a top-of-the-key three-pointer from Dre'una Edwards with 4.2 seconds to play. The inclination was to call it an upset, but the Wildcats have been on a heck of a run since their last meeting with South Carolina a month ago, winning their final six regular-season games before the conference tournament.

It was just the second loss of the season for South Carolina, who has been the top-ranked team in the country all season and still the favorite to win the national championship when the tournament starts next week.

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Of course it was frustrating and disappointing for the Gamecocks, who were 15-1 in the SEC, two games clear of the field in the conference standings and had won six of the previous seven SEC title games. And yet, when Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley sat down to record her opening thoughts for her "NetLife" podcast this week, she did what she has been doing for years: championed the women's game.

This time, she also championed Kentucky head coach Kyra Elzy, another member of the sorority of Black coaches Staley does everything she can to support.

"Our SEC tournament, the outcome was not what we anticipated, going down to Nashville and competing, we fell short of our goal," Staley said. "I would give us probably a low-B, B-minus with our performance. ... We ran into a super-hot Kentucky women's basketball team that just hung in there with us and then they stole the game and the championship in the end.

"But I'm super happy for Kyra Elzy and her team because probably five weeks ago everyone thought they were just an easy win, but then they got hot. They got healthy, they got hot and now they find themselves on an incredible winning streak and I'm super happy.

"I don't like the fact that it's at our expense but I'm happy for just women's basketball. I'm happy for everyone else's happiness and the growth, and a different storyline, a different narrative, and we just, from a South Carolina women's basketball perspective, we gotta get back on the horse and we gotta ride it because there's a lot of basketball left to be played."

Read that last paragraph again: I don't like that it came at our expense, but I'm happy for women's basketball.

Staley's words are even more refreshing, particularly against the backdrop of the behavior of other big-name coaches lately, like UConn's coach Geno Auriemma, who won't let go of a slight from former Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw, or LSU's Kim Mulkey, who appeared to come this close to slugging an official in the face while disputing a non-call and had to be restrained by her assistants and players.

Don't misinterpret this. Passion is great. It has never been lacking from the women's game. No one wants women's coaches to be meek and docile or players to accept whatever substandard treatment they're offered from the NCAA and some of its respective administrations.

Women's basketball is growing. The ratings show it, the attendance shows it, the NIL deals show it. As more teams go from being merely competitive to legitimate threats to make it to the Final Four or beyond, as more corporations see the value in investing in the product, it's going to keep gaining popularity.

Staley isn't afraid of that growth, isn't afraid to see other teams and other coaches shine, especially ones who look like her. Carolyn Peck, the first Black woman to win a national championship (with Purdue in 1999) gave Staley a piece of her net from that title game. She asked Staley to pay it forward when Staley won her own NCAA crown. Staley did that in 2017.

Rather than settle on one coach, last November Staley sent a piece of her net to the 70 Black women who are coaching college teams around the country, giving them the tangible evidence of what's possible, just as Peck did for her.

"[March Madness] will be comprised of a lot of great basketball that will make somebody proud, glad or crying sad and I am just hoping that we are the former versus the latter," Staley said on "NetLife." "But I'm looking forward to some great basketball from the 68 teams that will be named on Selection Sunday, a lot of smiling faces, a lot of happy coaches and a lot of earned bids to represent their programs and their universities in the biggest and the best — the NCAA tournament. Just want to congratulate all the teams, all the coaches, all the conferences, may luck be on your side throughout the tournament."

That doesn't mean losses don't eat at her; they do. Staley has called herself a "sore loser."

But she loves basketball. She knows that everyone can have success. She'll work harder to make sure she and her team win as often as possible, and if you beat them, she knows you've earned it and she'll applaud your win.