Multiple South Carolina basketball targets included at top of new recruiting rankings

This week, 247Sports debuted their first women's college basketball recruiting rankings. The national outlet published its rankings for the class of 2025, and several South Carolina basketball recruiting targets were near the top.

The country's top prospect, Texas guard Aaliyah Chavez, is considering Dawn Staley's team, though prying her out of the Lone Star State (or LSU) could be difficult. Staley's success and the Gamecocks' status as the top program in the land gives USC a puncher's chance, though.

Wings Agot Makeer, (ranked #4 by 247Sports), Deniyah Prawl (ranked #6 by 247Sports), Zakiyah Johnson (ranked #12 by 247Sports), and Jaida Civil (ranked #13 by 247Sports) all included South Carolina basketball on their most recent lists of top schools.

As typically is her style, Staley has kept things pretty close to the vest as she has recruited the 2025 class. There has not been a player in the cycle to commit to the Gamecocks, but USC has been close on several elite prospects who chose other schools.

As things stand today, it appears as if Coach Staley and her staff will treat the 2026 cycle as a bigger priority than 2025. Elite players in the '26 cycle (including Saniyah Hall, Oliviyah Edwards, Olivia Vukosa, McKenna Woliczko, Jordyn Jackson, Amari Byles, and Brooklyn Hall) have expressed early interest in the Gamecocks.

With so much young talent on the current South Carolina basketball roster (there are five former 5-star prospects who are freshmen or sophomores heading into the 2024-2025 season), a big Gamecock signing class isn't necessary for 2025.

On the flip side, Carolina has four seniors and three juniors who could become draft-eligible if they meet certain academic requirements. Because of that potential roster turnover, there will have to be some new faces on next year's roster. However, the young talent gives the Gamecocks the flexibility to utilize the transfer portal for some of the replacement efforts.