South Carolina Basketball: No. 1 transfer portal target announces commitment

The South Carolina basketball team added a big-time commitment earlier on Friday when Junior College National Player of the Year (and JuCo national champion) Sakima Walker committed to Dawn Staley’s program. The news came in a few hours before the top transfer portal player in the country Aneesah Morrow was set to announce her decision between finalists South Carolina, LSU, and Southern Cal.

Morrow averaged over 25 points per game and 12 rebounds per game last season at DePaul as she was an All-American and a finalist for the Wooden Award.

Morrow was seen as an LSU lean heading into her decision as she canceled her South Carolina visit that was set for this weekend and announced a surprise commitment date instead.

Friday afternoon, Morrow made her decision public.

Morrow committed to LSU. She follows fellow top-5 transfer portal player Hailey Van Lith (transfer from Louisvilla) in transferring to the Bayou Bengals and Kim Mulkey.

Morrow and Van Lith join elite forward Angel Reese and SEC Freshman of the Year Flau’Jae Johnson in Baton Rouge. Now, for the first time in what feels like forever, the South Carolina Gamecocks will enter next season (most likely) as something other than the overwhelming favorite to win the conference. LSU will almost assuredly be the betting favorite to win the SEC and the national championship.

This news does not, by any means, count out the Gamecocks in the 2023-2024 season. Even with the extreme roster turnover in Columbia, the Gamecocks should be expected to be a top-10 team the entire season and compete both for the conference championship and the national championship. However, Dawn Staley’s quest for a third national championship just got significantly more difficult.