South Carolina Basketball: Gamecock signees make another All-American squad

South Carolina basketball signee Joyce Edwards is one of the best prospects ever to sign with the Gamecocks. Joining players like A'ja Wilson, Saniya Rivers, and Kelsey Bone, Edwards is a high school National Player of the Year award winner (both the Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year and Morgan Wootten National Player of the Year) who elected to commit to Dawn Staley's program.

Unlike the out-of-state Bone and Rivers (neither of whom worked out in Columbia), Columbia native A'ja Wilson took her multiple high school awards and parlayed them into several collegiate National Player of the Year honors and a National Championship win with the Gamecocks. The plan is the same for fellow Columbia-area native Joyce Edwards.

An elite defender with a nice offensive game, Edwards will join the best team in the country but is so good that she will find a role for Coach Staley's team quickly.

It should come as no surprise that Edwards has made several All-American teams during her senior year at Camden High School, and this week, it was announced that Edwards picked up yet another All-American honor as she was named a 1st teamer by national outlet MaxPreps.

Edwards is joined on the 1st team by Jaloni Cambridge (committed to the Ohio State Buckeyes), Kennedy Smith (committed to the Southern Cal Trojans), Syla Swords (committed to the Michigan Wolverines), and McKenna Woliczko (uncommitted sophomore who is considering the Gamecocks).

Fellow incoming Gamecock freshman Maddy McDaniel was named to the 2nd team.

McDaniel is a big-time guard recruit from Maryland who, like Edwards, was a 5-star player according to all the major recruiting outlets. She was the state of Maryland's MaxPreps Player of the Year for the past two seasons.

McDaniel has been on the national scene as a prospect since middle school and has a lot of similarities to South Carolina basketball coach Dawn Staley from her playing days. She has advanced ballhandling ability, elite quickness, and an aggressive competitiveness that guides her game.

Unfortunately, McDaniel suffered a knee injury during the playoffs this season. However, she was healthy enough to travel to the McDonald's All-American Game last week, though, she was unable to play.

Edwards and McDaniel are joined in the class by fellow 5-star Adhel Tac, a 6'5" post player who has already enrolled at the University of South Carolina.