South Carolina Basketball: Gamecocks put two on yet another All-American list

South Carolina basketball stars Te-Hina Paopao and Kamilla Cardoso have racked up on the award nominations this season. As one of the top perimeter threats in the country and one of the biggest 2-way forces down low in college basketball, respectively, Paopao and Cardoso have earned every bit of the accolades they have received this year.

The two veterans are finalists for their national positional awards as Cardoso is one of five players up for the Lisa Leslie Award (given to the nation's top center), and Paopao is one of five players eligible to win the Nancy Lieberman Award (given to the country's best point guard). Cardoso is also one of four finalists for the Naismith National Defensive Player of the Year honor and was the SEC's Defensive Player of the Year.

Both players were selected to the AP All-American squad (Cardoso was on the 2nd team; Paopao was an Honorable Mention), and they each made the USBWA (United States Basketball Writers Association) All-American team, as well (Cardoso was on the 1st team; Paopao was on the 2nd team). Cardoso also picked up All-American honors from the Sporting News (2nd team).

On Tuesday, it was announced that Paopao and Cardoso were finalists for the WCBA All-American team.

The way WBCA All-American teams work is a bit complex. Essentially, the WCBA chooses All-American finalists from five regions across the country. From that list, they will choose their All-American squad. Cardoso and Paopao are two of the eight finalists from Region 2 (the region that includes the SEC and some other, smaller conferences). There are 52 total finalists.

Cardoso and Paopao will hope to continue South Carolina basketball's impressive run of WCBA All-Americans. The Gamecocks have placed at least one player on the All-American team in 9 of the past 10 seasons (Aliyah Boston x3, Ty Harris, A'ja Wilson x3, and Tiffany Mitchell x2). No other program can boast a WBCA All-American in 9 of the last 10 years.

The two All-American hopefuls will lead the Gamecocks in their Sweet Sixteen matchup with the Indiana Hoosiers on Friday at 5:00. The game will be played in Albany, New York and will be broadcast on ESPN.