South Carolina women's basketball: Recruiting questions after a busy week

This has been an eventful week in recruiting for South Carolina. It began when South Carolina got its first 2026 commitment on Tuesday when post Kelsi Andrews picked the Gamecocks. But then four players that South Carolina had hosted for official visits committed elsewhere.

Emily McDoanald (Kentucky), Sitaya Fagan (Southern Cal), Isi Etute (UCLA), and Somto Okafor (UCLA) each picked against South Carolina. Where does that leave the Gamecocks?

Should I be panicking?
No. For one thing, you shouldn’t let recruiting have that much impact on your life. For another, it’s still way too soon.

But if you are one of the people who have been panicking since July and view perennial top-five recruiting classes as a sign of trouble, who doesn’t care about facts or common sense, then by all means carry on.

Let’s say I’m one of the reasonable people. Should I be concerned?
Yes, it’s okay to be concerned. I’ve previously estimated that in a good year, you might sign 25% of the prospects you seriously recruit. Going 1-5 this week means South Carolina is batting .200, which isn’t far off. Plus, it only takes one player to make a class. 

Of course, South Carolina has also recently missed out on McKenna Woliczko (Iowa), Izzy Spaight (Texas), Oliviyah Edwards (Tennessee), and a few others, so the Gamecocks are below the Mendoza line. But they still have several more at-bats.

As always, though, I must remind you that just because a player puts South Carolina in her list of finalists doesn’t mean the Gamecocks were actually seriously involved. It’s hard to call a player who never even scheduled an official visit a miss.

Is there a common reason recruits are going elsewhere?
There doesn’t appear to be. I haven’t heard money brought up, although more on this later.

McDonald picked the program that had recruited her the longest. Fagan, Okafor, and Etute are international players, and a cosmopolitan city like Los Angeles is naturally going to have more to offer international kids than a small city like Columbia. (And considering Fagan shared a flyer about Southern Cal’s business opportunities for international students before she ever started her visits, it’s fair to say the Trojans were always her frontrunner.)

Is South Carolina doing something wrong in recruiting?
Since there isn’t a common thread, it’s hard to say. But there is one aspect South Carolina might have to revisit.

Dawn Staley has always liked to get the last visit. In a nutshell, she wants to be able to tell recruits, You’ve seen the rest, now see the best. It also limits wandering eyes because the players are wondering what else is out there. They’ve seen it.

However, there has been a trend in this class of programs getting recruits to commit on their visit. Saniyah Hall committed to Southern Cal on her visit in July. Edwards and Spaight did it this fall. Staley may have to reevaluate whether going last is still the best practice.

Recruiting has changed dramatically in the past four years, and it continues to evolve significantly year-to-year. Everyone is learning at the same time. If South Caroline is doing something wrong, it will adapt. 

Who is left?
There are still several big names left. Olivia Vukosa is supposed to visit in the coming weeks, as is Lola Lampley (October 16). Brihanna Crittenden, Sara Okeke, and Jerzy Robinson could visit as well. Robinson and Lampley are visiting LSU this weekend.

Kaeli Wynn has already visited.

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But doesn’t South Carolina need a big class this year?
Yes. After four years of two and three-player classes, plus losing a couple of players to the portal, South Carolina only has seven scholarship players for next season (assuming Ashlyn Watkins returns as planned). 

I’m on record as saying that the Gamecocks need to sign four or five players this class, but after talking to recruiting experts much smarter than me, I’m revising that to three or four players. 

In this NIL/revenue-sharing era, those big five-player classes tend to fall apart quickly. You are better off getting three or four players that you can develop for four years than having to replace four of your five freshmen every year.

Isn’t the transfer portal still a thing?
Yes, it is. This isn’t men’s basketball, where coaches are increasingly ignoring all but the blue-chip high school recruits in favor of transfers. The goal for a program like South Carolina remains to build through high school recruiting. But Staley has been excellent at cherry-picking players out of the portal, and that is going to continue to be a big part of recruiting.

In 2023, she needed a three-point shooter, so she got the best shooter in the country, Te-Hina Paopao. This year, she needed a scorer and rebounder, so she got the best scorer in the country and the top-ranked post. 

Since you are a contrarian, you might be saying, “But she missed Aneesah Morrow!” Yeah, well, they went undefeated, so I think it worked out.

Remember I said I’d talk more about money? I’m told South Carolina has been competitive with real money. 

However, multiple well-informed sources have told me that recruits are being offered Monopoly money to sign this year. It’s funny money that the programs can’t possibly deliver, either because they don’t have it or it won’t get approved by the clearinghouse. 

Expect a portal season like no other next spring when a bunch of freshmen who didn’t get paid what they were promised decide to transfer. Some of these players could still end up Gamecocks.

I’m still going to panic. It’s more fun.
Have at it.

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