South Carolina Basketball: Gamecocks disrespected by national analyst's ranking

South Carolina basketball finished off one of the most dominant seasons in the history of women's college basketball, going undefeated and knocking off the greatest scorer in the history of the sport when they whipped Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes in the national title game.

Only Kamilla Cardoso is gone from last year's rotation as the 6'7" center was taken with the third overall pick in the WNBA Draft by the Chicago Sky. Freshman stars like MiLaysia Fulwiley and Tessa Johnson are another year older and look ready to become All-SEC players, and veteran contributors Raven Johnson, Te-Hina Paopao, Ashlyn Watkins, Chloe Kitts, Sania Feagin, and Bree Hall return. Three 5-star incoming freshmen (Joyce Edwards, Maddy McDaniel, and Adhel Tac) will join the fray, as well.

Yet, there are some who doubt the Gamecocks.

Talia Goodman, one of the rising stars in the world of covering women's basketball, has made a lot of fans recently with her work. However, her most recent piece has made an enemy out of some South Carolina basketball fans.

When On3's lead women's basketball reporter published her post-spring top-25 rankings, Goodman did not rank South Carolina at the top of the poll.

Instead, Goodman placed the Southern Cal Trojans at the top of her list, falling into the trap of offseason transfer portal hype. To be fair, the Trojans made a ton of noise in the portal, adding Stanford Cardinal defection Kiki Iriafen and former Oregon State Beaver star Talia Von Oelhoffen. Star sophomore JuJu Watkins and a top-3 recruiting class will bolster Southern Cal's legitimate chances of being a championship contender.

But putting them ahead of the Gamecocks? That decision feels immature.

As Goodman says in her article, "Don't doubt the Gamecocks--we all saw how that turned out last season." Dawn Staley's team has been the best unit in college basketball for some time, and next year's team is the best returning group she has had in any offseason of her career.

Could Southern Cal (or another team) pull off an upset and snatch the title away from the Gamecocks? It's possible. However, picking that to happen is far from the smartest bet.

The South Carolina basketball team completed their "Revenge Tour" this season, and the "Repeat Tour" is in effect.