South Carolina Basketball: The biggest (early) questions for Dawn Staley’s team for the 2023-2024 season
By Kevin Miller
5 Questions around South Carolina Basketball for the 2023-2024 Season:
Will the outside shooting be better this year?
For the most part, Gamecock basketball was not a threat to shoot the ball from outside in the 2022-2023 season. Other than Zia Cooke and Brea Beal, most players on the team were reluctant to shoot the ball with any consistency from behind the arc, and that cost them in the Final Four when Iowa packed the paint and dared other Gamecocks like Kierra Fletcher and Raven Johnson to shoot the rock.
Dawn Staley’s group has to be better from deep this season. Bree Hall, Chloe Kitts, and even Raven Johnson have all shown the ability to shoot the ball at times, but their willingness to shoot and their consistency will have to be there in order to open things up for Kamilla Cardoso, Sakima Walker, and the rest of the players who do most of their damage down low.
Newcomers Te-Hina Paopao and Milaysia Fulwiley have been deadly shooters at times in their previous stops (Oregon and Keenan High School, respectively), and the Gamecocks will need them to knock down shots so that the “Iowa defense” doesn’t become the way to defend the Gamecocks. Though a post player primarily, Walker has a good shooting touch that could be a big factor.
Because of the talent on the roster and the low post dominance of Kamilla Cardoso, the Gamecocks do not need to shoot the ball like the dynasty Golden State Warriors (though, if they do, no South Carolina basketball fan will be upset by that development). However, a repeat of last season’s dearth of shooting cannot happen.
Thankfully, all signs point to the Gamecocks producing much better from the arc moving forward. How good they can be offensively may just depend on how much better those shooting numbers can be.