South Carolina Basketball: Gamecocks put two on USBWA All-American squad

Dawn Staley's South Carolina basketball squad is the best team in the country, and if they win the national championship like they are highly favored to do, they will have won three titles since the 2016-2017 season (and might have had four if not for Covid-19 canceling the 2020 postseason). No other team has gotten multiple national championships during that same period.

What makes the Gamecocks so good?

Well, having two All-Americans certainly doesn't hurt. It was announced this week that South Carolina basketball stars Kamilla Cardoso and Te-Hina Paopao were both on the USBWA's All-American squad. Cardoso was a 1st team inclusion, while Paopao made the 2nd team. Cardoso also was named to the Sporting News All-American team.

If the Gamecocks are to win their third national championship, they will need to get big-time efforts from their two All-Americans in the NCAA Tournament.

The Gamecocks are one of three teams to get multiple players on the three NCBWA All-American teams, joining the UConn Huskies and Virginia Tech Hokies, Both the Gamecocks and the Huskies had a player chosen for the 1st team and one chosen as a 2nd team inclusion. The LSU Tigers and Ohio State Buckeyes each put one player on an All-American team and one on the Honorable Mention squad.

The entire USBWA All-American team can be seen below:

1st Team

Caitlin Clark (Guard, Iowa Hawkeyes)
Paige Bueckers (Guard, UConn Huskies)
JuJu Watkins (Guard, Southern Cal Trojans)
Cameron Brink (Forward, Stanford Cardinal)
Angel Reese (Forward, LSU Tigers)
Kamilla Cardoso (Center, South Carolina Gamecocks)

2nd Team

Hannah Hidalgo (Guard, Notre Dame Fighting Irish)
Te-Hina Paopao (Guard, South Carolina Gamecocks)
Mackenzie Holmes (Forward, Indiana Hoosiers)
Aaliyah Edwards (Forward, UConn Huskies)
Elizabeth Kitley (Center, Virginia Tech Hokies)

3rd Team

Georgia Amoore (Guard, Virginia Tech Hokies)
Dyashia Fair (Guard, Syracuse Orange)
Jacy Sheldon (Guard, Ohio State Buckeyes)
Madison Bookers (Forward, Texas Longhorns)
Alissa Pili (Forward, Utah Utes)

Honorable Mention

Raegen Beers (Forward, Oregon State Beavers)
Cotie McMahon (Forward, Ohio State Buckeyes)
Aneesah Morrow (Forward, LSU Tigers)
Rickea Jackson (Forward, Tennessee Volunteers
Lauren Betts (Center, UCLA Bruins)