South Carolina women's basketball: How the Gamecocks won the transfer portal
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The transfer portal window has closed, most of the top players have committed, and South Carolina is one of the portal winners.
Other programs like Kentucky, Maryland, UCLA, and Southern Cal have bolstered their rosters with a bunch of big-name players. South Carolina has kicked the tires on a few players (most notably Kiki Iriafen) but has largely watched from the sidelines.
Unlike other teams, South Carolina has no holes that need to be plugged. South Carolina returns all but one player from last season when the Gamecocks were the deepest team in the country and went undefeated.
That’s why sitting out portal season is a win.
[WIN TICKETS: A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces vs. Puerto Rico national team in Columbia]
South Carolina lost Kamilla Cardoso, the third pick in the WNBA draft who was the Final Four MOP, but didn’t need to go to the portal to replace her because the roster has been built “the hard way.” That means high school recruits who have drawn comparisons to the two best players in program history.
South Carolina adds the most decorated high school player in the country, Joyce Edwards. Edwards is probably South Carolina’s best recruit since A’ja Wilson and is a positionless player who is an elite rebounder and defender who is unstoppable around the rim.
Adhel Tac, the second-ranked post in the class, is already on campus. Dawn Staley has compared the 6-6 freshman to Aliyah Boston, and Tac may have the biggest upside of any player in the class.
But the main reason South Carolina won portal season is that everyone is coming back.
It began when All-American Te-Hina Poapao announced she would return for her graduate season and continued into the offseason when nobody transferred.
Four starters return, but what makes South Carolina the favorite to repeat is that the entire supporting cast returns.
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Ashlyn Watkins averaged nearly a double-double in the games she started in place of Cardoso, and should have won SEC Sixth Woman of the Year. Tessa Johnson was South Carolina’s leading scorer in the national championship game. MiLaysia Fulwiley was the SEC tournament MVP. Chloe Kitts had a double-double in the title game despite sacrificing playing time for Watkins. And Sania Feagin is a senior who has willingly put the team first for her whole career.
Any of those players would have been a coveted, top-five player in the transfer portal. All could play 30 to 35 minutes and score 20 points somewhere else. Instead, they are all still Gamecocks. In this modern era of college sports, that is nearly impossible to do.
(I haven’t even mentioned returning starters Raven Johnson and Bree Hall or incoming freshman Maddy McDaniel, who is the second-ranked point guard in the class and was the player of the year in the talent-rich DC-metro area.)
One could argue – convincingly – that keeping this entire team and signing class together is more impressive than anything anyone else has done this offseason.
