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South Carolina women's basketball earns another top-3 spot in The Athletic's preseason top 25

Screenshotby: Kevin Miller15 hours agokevinmillerGC
South Carolina women's basketball coach Dawn Staley with point guard Raven Johnson. Photo by: Katie Dugan | GamecockCentral
South Carolina women's basketball coach Dawn Staley with point guard Raven Johnson. Photo by: Katie Dugan | GamecockCentral

This preseason, several outlets have lowered their rankings of South Carolina women’s basketball following the injury to senior forward Chloe Kitts. Kitts’ ACL tear (coupled with Ashlyn Watkins’ absence) prompted both On3’s Talia Goodman and the SEC coaches to push the Gamecocks below the Texas Longhorns in the Southeastern Conference.

Unlike so many others, The Athletic writer Sabreena Merchant did not fall into the trap.

According to Merchant’s preseason top 25, South Carolina is the No. 3 team in the country, behind only the UConn Huskies and UCLA Bruins. That is also one spot ahead of the next-highest SEC team, the Texas Longhorns.

You can see Mechant’s entire preseason top 25 below:

  1. UConn Huskies
  2. UCLA Bruins
  3. South Carolina Gamecocks
  4. Texas Longhorns
  5. LSU Tigers
  6. Tennessee Lady Volunteers
  7. Duke Blue Devils
  8. Oklahoma Sooners
  9. Maryland Terrapins
  10. NC State Wolfpack
  11. Michigan Wolverines
  12. TCU Horned Frogs
  13. Iowa State Cyclones
  14. Iowa Hawkeyes
  15. North Carolina Tar Heels
  16. Kentucky Wildcats
  17. Washington Huskies
  18. Minnesota Golden Gophers
  19. Richmond Spiders
  20. Baylor Bears
  21. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
  22. Southern Cal Trojans
  23. Columbia Lions
  24. Oklahoma State Cowboys
  25. Louisville Cardinals

NEW! Message board for South Carolina Women’s Basketball!

It is worth noting that Merchant wrote this week that the Gamecocks’ path to winning another SEC crown “will be as tough as ever” this season. She pointed to both Texas and LSU as legitimate challengers to the Gamecocks. She also included Tennessee and Oklahoma as top-10 teams and Kentucky in the top 20.

In some ways, that assessment is correct, as Carolina will be missing seven total players from last year’s team, including six who played significant roles, as Te-Hina Paopao, Bree Hall, and Sania Feagin are in the WNBA, MiLaysia Fulwiley and Sakima Walker hit the transfer portal, and Kitts and Watkins won’t play this year.

However, the Gamecocks signed arguably the best transfer portal class in the country and a pair of five-star freshmen.

Even with the losses, Ta’Niya Latson brings the go-to scoring that last year’s team just didn’t have. Madina Okot also provides the size, rebounding, and shot-blocking that weren’t consistently there. If the freshmen, wings Agot Makeer and Ayla McDowell, can contribute, Carolina will be just fine.

A starting lineup of Raven Johnson-Ta’Niya Latson-Tessa Johnson-Joyce Edwards-Madina Okot is among the best in the sport, and all five healthy reserves (Makeer, McDowell, Maddy McDaniel, Adhel Tac, and Maryam Dauda) are former five-star recruits.

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The road to competing for a fourth national title begins in less than a week. South Carolina will open the 2025-2026 regular season on Monday, November 3rd. The Gamecocks will host the Grand Canyon ‘Lopes at 7:00 p.m. at Colonial Life Arena. The game will not be on traditional television but will stream on SEC Network+.

NEW! Message board for South Carolina Women’s Basketball!