South Carolina Basketball: New assistant coach, transfer portal players coming from Duke?
By Kevin Miller
South Carolina basketball lost one of its assistant coaches last week when Fred Chmiel was hired to fill the head coaching vacancy at Bowling Green. Chmiel had been at South Carolina since 2015 and was credited with working closely with the Gamecock forwards during his tenure in Columbia. This means that some of the best South Carolina basketball players ever were coached by Chmiel. Names like A’Ja Wilson, Aliyah Boston, and Alaina Coates all played under his tutelage.
According to a report from Steve Wiseman of the Durham Herald-Sun and Durham News & Observer, Coach Dawn Staley is expected to hire Winston Gandy to fill Chmiel’s position on her staff. Gandy was the associate head coach as Kara Lawson’s top assistant at Duke but resigned from his role with the expectation of moving about three and a half hours south to Columbia. In addition to coaching at Duke, Gandy has worked in coaching with the Maryland Terrapins, Rice Owls, and the NBA’s Washington Wizards.
As part of Wiseman’s report, in addition to a new coach coming in from Durham, the Gamecocks might be in on two Blue Devil transfers. Shayeann Day-Wilson, a starting guard for the Devils, has been in the portal for a while and has plans to visit the University of South Carolina soon. On Wednesday, ACC Defensive Player of the Year Celeste Taylor announced she also would be putting her name into the transfer portal.
Taylor led the Blue Devils in scoring and steals and was second on the squad in rebounding and assists. Day-Wilson was third on the team in scoring and led Duke in assists. The starting backcourt for Duke last year also were the top-two players in terms of minutes for the 26-7 Blue Devils who finished second in the ACC.
With five players drafted to the WNBA (Aliyah Boston, Laeticia Amihere, Zia Cooke, Brea Beal, and Victaria Saxton) and two more seniors moving on (Kierra Fletcher and Olivia Thompson), the Gamecocks have plenty of room to add more talent through the transfer portal. Only three freshmen are slated to join the program, so four more scholarship slots are available for Coach Staley and her staff to use in the portal.
According to Wiseman’s report, Lawson declined to comment on Gandy’s resignation or Taylor’s and Day-Wilson’s portal decisions. South Carolina has not announced anything regarding Gandy’s hire.