Could you imagine the outcries of horror that would sound throughout WCBB if word got out that Dawn was "poaching" kids from the rosters of other schools? It already happens at the graduate transfer level on the men's side and it's very looked down upon.
I have trouble believing Dawn is stupid enough to put herself in a precarious situation as such.
If Stevens does end up at SC, what probably happened... She enjoyed spending time with Wilson and Staley last summer for Team USA, Duke's season didn't turn out so great, Stevens was unhappy, She reminisced on her experience and thought it would be cool to join Dawn.. so she decided to transfer..
Meanwhile, at SC, word probably got around that Stevens was thinking about transferring there.. Jatarie White, who already plays behind Wilson at the 4 and doesn't care to play at Center, caught wind of this and wasn't excited (Stevens would be direct competition for White at the 4, but Stevens doesn't mind playing at the 5) so she decided to transfer.
By the way, this is all hypothetical but if Stevens did transfer to SC... this is how I imagine it played out.
We have to remember, Stevens is from NC... she was recruited by Dawn out of high school and played for her last summer. If there's a top high school player in SC, NC, Georgia, Tennessee, Florida or Alabama odds are very good that Dawn knows about her and has reached out to her/recruited her... so when these kids up end not going to SC, there's still a prior relationship there... then, they visually see what Dawn is building at SC and decide that it's a much better situation for them ..so they transfer. For evidence of this see Alisha Gray and Kaela Davis.. Dawn recruited both players hard out of high school.. Gray actually committed to SC
FIRST before switching to UNC to join what was once a stellar Tarheel class.
So when these players end up transferring to SC, it's not "out of the blue"... it's really just tying up a relationship that existed already, the player just literally couldn't see yet what Dawn was selling them.. because it wasn't there yet, but now they can "see" it.. with our SEC play, NCAAT appearances and great attendance.
Or maybe Dawn is poaching kids off rosters
... truth is, we'll never know for sure until some Sports Illustrated journo does a spotlight piece on it from a confidential source. Or when Mike & Mike talk about it on ESPN...