South Carolina Basketball: 5-star prospect with NBA father puts Gamecocks in top-5
By Kevin Miller
Dawn Staley’s South Carolina basketball team received its first commitment in the class of 2024 over the weekend when 5-star guard Maddy McDaniel pledged her services to the Gamecocks. Just a couple of days later, the Gamecocks find themselves in the top-5 for another elite prospect.
5-star forward MacKenly Randolph, daughter of NBA All-Star power forward Zach Randolph, announced her top-5 schools on Monday.
Randolph’s top five includes South Carolina, Notre Dame, Duke, Louisville, and Michigan State.
Randolph plays her high school ball at Sierra Canyon in Los Angeles, the same school where Bronny James and a number of other high-profile prospects on the men’s side have played in recent years. She led the Trail Blazers to a 31-1 record as a junior with the team’s only loss coming in the state championship game. She won the title as a sophomore.
Randolph was an All-State selection as a sophomore and as a junior, and she is expected to receive the honor for the third-straight year this season.
Like her father, Randolph’s game is built around three things: toughness (she is a solid rebounder and strong with the ball in her hands), a post game (she can score on the block and from the high post better than many other players her age), and making open jumpers (where her father’s range stopped at midrange, the younger Randolph can shoot the ball from deep, as well).
MacKenly Randolph is not overly athletic (she is a fine athlete just not elite), but it is a testament to her level of skill and toughness that she is effective as she is without possessing off-the-chart measurables.
Randolph is ranked as the 18th-best prospect and 5th-best forward in the country in the class of 2024 according to ESPN’s HoopGurlz rankings.
At 6’1″, Randolph has played all three frontcourt spots at different points in her career, including with the Team USA U-19 and Team USA U-17 squads. Both the U-19 group and the U-17 team won the gold medal.
A South Carolina basketball team set to lose its top post player after the 2023-2024 season (Kamilla Cardoso) could certainly use the boost of adding MacKenly Randolph to the class.
You can watch some of her film here.