South Carolina women's basketball: July mailbag
On Wednesday, I opened the floor to women’s basketball questions on The Insiders Forum. Here’s a sample of what was discussed.
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(Questions and answers have been edited for clarity.)
CaroLuka77: What are your thoughts on this team as a whole? Do you see Dauda and Tac stepping into bigger roles this year?
I do think Dauda and Tac will have better seasons. I wrote about it in more detail a few weeks ago. They may not play 20+ minutes just because of all the frontcourt talent South Carolina has, but I think they’ll be productive minutes.
Overall, it feels like a wide-open championship race, and South Carolina being the betting favorite feels about right. I’m not sure everyone realizes how fantastic Ta’Niya Latson is because Florida State women’s basketball is so off the radar.
CarolinaInsiderII: Are you hearing anything in regards to Ashlyn Watkins’ rehab?
Nothing to report on Watkins, but it appears that she is on track. I believe she is on a 9-month schedule instead of the old 12-month, which would put her at full go shortly before the season starts. South Carolina treats injury information like nuclear launch codes (remember when Dawn Staley refused to acknowledge that Raven Johnson tore her ACL for an entire year?), so I’m not even supposed to say if I talked to Watkins in Birmingham and she said her knee felt good.
warriorcock said: Any thoughts/predictions for the ’26 class? It’s a critical one for sure.
It’s definitely critical, and I’ve been pointing to this class for a couple of years (2027 is pretty loaded also, but not quite like 2026).
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Talia Goodman wrote about where South Carolina stands yesterday. It tracks with what I’m hearing, although I don’t give Iowa the edge for McKenna Woliczko right now (of course, she still has her official visit there).
The current state of revenue sharing and NIL makes things hard to predict. Not only does the amount of rev share that schools are spending on women’s basketball vary wildly (there are FCS programs spending more on WBB than Power 2 programs), but there is the NIL clearinghouse mess. It’s really just as much of a cluster as football, right down to programs making promises they clearly can’t deliver, just smaller dollar amounts. Recruits want clarity before they commit.
GivEmDaSpurs said: Which freshman do you foresee having a bigger impact this year? Also, any feeling as to when we might get our first birdie in the nest?
I go back and forth on which freshman will have a bigger impact. Ayla McDowell was better in the all-star games, and she reminds me a lot of Bree Hall: a somewhat unheralded player whose hustle and defense make an immediate impact. But Agot Makeer has been an absolute stud at the U19 World Cup, and this tournament is a really good predictor of college success. Going back to the Breezy comparison, it may be like that 2021 freshman class, where matchups dictated whether Breezy or Saniya Rivers got more playing time in each game.
Don’t hold your breath on the birdies. Most are still taking visits. It will probably be the usual times: late August before school starts, October before basketball starts, and the November signing period.
