The South Carolina Gamecocks women's basketball program is rebuilding for what looks like a huge 2026-27 season. Under longtime head coach Dawn Staley, the roster she has built looks to be one of her most stacked in a couple of seasons.
But as any elite coach knows, you always have to be recruiting, even for future classes. Over the next couple months, Coach Staley is expected to host a pair of five-stars from the 2027 recruiting class. According to On3's Talia Goodman, Coach Staley and the Gamecocks will host five-stars Jezelle "GG" Banks and Jordyn Palmer. Palmer will visit South Carolina in September.
Banks is rated as the No. 1 overall prospect out of her home state of Virginia per 247Sports, playing high school basketball out of The Saint James in Springfield, Va. She is also rated by the outlet as the No. 4 overall player for 2027, and the No. 4 overall player in her class. She holds offers from several big-time programs, including LSU, Maryland, Notre Dame, Ohio State, TCU, Texas and UCLA, among several others. She will also take visits in the coming months to Texas, Ohio State and LSU, according to Goodman.
NEWS: Elite 2027 recruit GG Banks has set four official visits to Texas, LSU, Ohio State and South Carolina, she told @Rivals.
— Talia Goodman (@TaliaGoodmanWBB) July 25, 2026
Banks talked to Rivals about her recruitment and each of those four programs.
READ (+): https://t.co/VRsDrzmilX pic.twitter.com/KPLGyLqWHp
Fellow five-star Palmer is the nation's No. 2 shooting forward for 2027, playing out of Westtown School in Oxford, Penn. She is rated as the No. 1 overall prospect out of her home state, and the No. 6 overall player in her class. Palmer will visit South Carolina in September, as well as Ohio State, per Goodman.
Staley had a great recruiting cycle for the class of 2026, landing the likes of star guard Jordan Lee from Texas, as well as five-star Oliviyah Edwards, who was previously set to go to Tennessee. She also landed French basketball star Justine Loubens, who is set to arrive in Columbia later this offseason.
As South Carolina looks to make another deep run this season, Staley is also clearly preparing for the future by hosting the five-stars. The Gamecocks will begin their 2026-27 season in early November.
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