South Carolina women's basketball: How Joyce Edwards compares to other Gamecock greats

Joyce Edwards was one of the most decorated recruits in Gamecock history, and she lived up to the hype as a freshman. 

I compared Edwards to four other recent Gamecock greats: Aliyah Boston, A’ja Wilson, Alaina Coates, and Tiffany Mitchell. Boston, Wilson, and Mitchell are the three Gamecocks who have won SEC Player of the Year, making them obvious comparisons. Coates was the SEC Freshman of the Year, so I included her as well.

Edwards was named first-team All-SEC and Freshman All-American. She helped South Carolina go 35-4, win the SEC regular season and tournament championships, and finish as the national runner-up.

Boston’s freshman season was cut short by the pandemic (otherwise, we all know they would have won the national championship). The Gamecocks finished 32-1 and swept the SEC championships. Boston was the SEC and national Freshman of the Year, won the Lisa Leslie Award for best center, was a second-team All-American, was the SEC Defensive Player of the Year, and was first-team All-SEC.

As a freshman, Wilson helped South Carolina to a 34-3 record, an SEC regular season championship, and the program’s first SEC tournament championship and Final Four appearance. She was the SEC Freshman of the Year, first-team All-SEC, and third-team All-American.

Coates was a freshman on South Carolina’s first SEC regular season championship team. The Gamecocks finished 29-5 and made the Sweet 16. Coates was the SEC Freshman of the Year and Co-Sixth Player of the Year.

Lastly, we get to Mitchell. She was the first great player of the Dawn Staley era at South Carolina, but she didn’t necessarily look like a future SEC Player of the Year as a freshman. South Carolina went 25-8 that season and bowed out in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Mitchell made the SEC All-Freshman team.

Here’s how they compare statistically:

Bold indicates the highest average
Italics indicate the second-highest

The first thing that jumps out when compiling the figures is just how good these players are. We know they are good, but they were really good, really fast (except for Mitchell).

It’s not always fair to compare the team record and postseason finish. Mitchell walked into a completely different situation than Wilson, for example. But Edwards deserves some credit for the best tournament finish of the group (asterisk for Boston’s 2020 team).

Edwards struggled some in the NCAA tournament when opponents started double-teaming her more. She knows she’ll see more double-teams next season, and if she can handle them better, Edwards can take the next step. 

All the players on the list made significant strides in their sophomore season (except Coates, whose numbers went down slightly due to the arrival of Wilson).

Mitchell won the first of her two SEC Player of the Year awards as a sophomore. Wilson got the first of her three Player of the Year nods. Boston became the best player in the SEC but didn’t get the award, although she averaged a double-double and learned how to dominate games. 

That suggests that we’ll know if Edwards can be an all-time great by this upcoming season. The three players in the previous paragraph all have or will have their jerseys retired. Will Edwards join them?