South Carolina Basketball: Gamecocks get new professional contracts

South Carolina basketball has tons of players in the WNBA, and just as many more play in overseas professional leagues. However, some of those players will have an opportunity to play in another professional league in the United States.

This week, Athletes Unlimited Pro Basketball announced their 40-player roster for the unique professional league. Four South Carolina basketball alums will play as forward Laeticia Amihere and guards Tiffany Mitchell, Zia Cooke, and Allisha Gray were listed on the roster.

Te'a Cooper, who played for the Gamecocks for a short time after starting her career with the Tennessee Lady Volunteers and finishing with the Baylor Bears, is also on the AUSports roster.

The Athletes Unlimited Pro Basketball League is unlike any other. Lasting just five weeks, the league shuffles players around each game, and players earn individual "points" for how the team performs. According to the AUProSports website: "Win points are all about the team performance. They accumulate during both individual quarters and overall game wins. Each quarter is worth +60 points and overall games are worth +180 points."

Players also earn points for their personal performances as three MVPs are chosen from each game, with MVP1 earning 90 points, MVP2 earning 60 points, and MVP3 earning 30 points.

Players will gain points for putting up certain stats (made shots, assists, rebounds, steals, blocks, and drawing fouls) and lose points for others (missed shots, turnovers, and fouls).

Before each game, captains are selected, and the captains pick their teams.

Last season, Allisha Gray finished 4th in the unique league's overall point standings. She was the only former South Carolina basketball star to play last season. Odyssey Sims was the only player to finish higher than Gray in the standings last year who is returning to play in 2024.

Games will be available to watch on the WNBA app.