South Carolina women's basketball: 2025 Recruiting Update

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Before we look at possible future Gamecocks, let’s review the current and soon-to-be-former Gamecocks.

Departures:
G – Te-Hina Paopao (Graduate)
W – Bree Hall
F – Sania Feagin

Possible departures:
PG – Raven Johnson is a redshirt junior who is eligible for the WNBA Draft
F – Ashlyn Watkins is a junior, but she turns 22 in October, which makes her eligible for the WNBA Draft

Returning players:
G – MiLaysia Fulwiley
G/W – Tessa Johnson
F – Chloe Kitts
PG – Maddy McDaniel
F – Joyce Edwards
P – Adhel Tac

South Carolina has eight of 15 scholarships occupied.

Needs:
It would be good to add a point guard in case Johnson decides to move on. The same goes for a big forward, where you’re always looking to add depth. A big, athletic guard who could help on the wing would be nice, but not a necessity.

As always, though, talent trumps needs. Just because a player doesn’t fill a need doesn’t mean South Carolina won’t take her if she’s good enough.

Also, it goes without saying that that transfer portal is a wild card that is impossible to predict. 

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Overview:

South Carolina needs two or three players for depth, but the 2025 class feels like it could be a bridge class for South Carolina. 

Thanks to back-to-back top-three recruiting classes South Carolina’s roster is pretty well-stocked. There are no glaring needs that need to be addressed. 

Plus when you look at the recruits across the country, the 2025 class doesn’t seem to be as deep with talent as the 2024 or 2026 classes. South Carolina is in good shape with a number of 2026 recruits so the focus might be more on next year’s class.

This thought process is reflected in the relatively small number of outstanding offers from South Carolina.

The small asterisk:
South Carolina has traditionally struggled to get West Coast recruits to come across the country to play. It’s understandable – you are a long, expensive trip from home. It’s always been a given that the Gamecocks are working uphill to get those players.

But West Coast basketball will be practically unrecognizable beginning in 2024. Tara VanDerveer has retired from Stanford after nearly 40 years, putting the premier West Coast program in flux. Realignment, which killed the Pac-12 and put teams in the Big Ten, ACC, and Big 12, means teams are going to be making those long, expensive flights anyway. 

The current players have already complained about the travel. Players all talk. If it’s as bad as they fear, could that push more recruits east?

The huge asterisk:
The NCAA has agreed to a settlement in  House v. NCAA. It still has to be approved, but the settlement would allow for direct payments to players in the near future – likely in time for the class of 2025. (Roster limits could also change, but that probably won’t have a huge impact.)

Right now no one knows what those payments will look like, especially for women’s basketball. If I were advising an elite prospect, I would wait to commit until there is some clarity, perhaps even skipping the early signing period. Everyone is in wait-and-see mode right now.

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Targets:

Divine Bourrage
Aaliyah Chavez
Aaliyah Crump
Jazzy Davidson
Jaliya Davis
Lauren Jacobs
ZaKiyah Johnson
Deniya Prawl

Former Targets:
Dee Alexander
Sienna Betts
Lara Somfai

This list is not necessarily complete. Some players don’t reveal their offers, while others may exaggerate a program’s interest.

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