South Carolina basketball recruiting targets all over top-10 rankings

South Carolina basketball coach Dawn Staley is one of the best recruiters in college sports. The Gamecock head coach brings in some of the top talent to Columbia each recruiting cycle, and she is well on her way to doing it again in the class of 2025.

The Gamecocks do not have a commitment in the class (there are not many '25 nationally-ranked players who have made college pledges yet), but Coach Staley has her South Carolina basketball program involved with some of the elite recruits in the country.

This week, On3 released their first "On3 Her" rankings for the class of 2025, and the list is riddled with USC targets. There are three players in On3's top-10 who have already committed (Sienne Betts, UCLA Bruins; Dee Alexander, Cincinnati Bearcats; Hailee Swain, Stanford Cardinal), leaving seven uncommitted prospects.

Of those seven, the Gamecocks are involved with at least six of them. Publicly, Aaliyah Chavez (point guard, ranked #1), Jazzy Davidson (combo guard/wing, ranked #2), Zakiyah Johnson (guard, ranked #4), Agot Makeer (wing, ranked #6), Divine Bourrage (guard, ranked #7), and Aaliyah Crump (guard, ranked #8) all have acknowledged mutual interest between them and Carolina.

Obviously, the Gamecocks won't land all of those targets (there is a scholarship limit, and that's a lot of guards), but being involved with so many great players is a good thing. It is far too early in most of those recruitments to know how realistic South Carolina's chances are of receiving any of these top-10 commitments. However, if Dawn Staley does what Dawn Staley does, the "rich" of women's college basketball could get even richer.

Even without considering any class of 2025 additions, though, the current South Carolina basketball roster is loaded with players with multiple years of eligibility.

Guard Te-Hina Paopao, wing Bree Hall, power forward/center Sania Feagin, and center Sakima Walker will be gone after the 2024-2025 season, but everyone else can return.

Versatile forwards Ashlyn Watkins, Chloe Kitts, and Maryam Dauda and point guard Raven Johnson have two years left in college (though, Johnson is WNBA Draft-eligible after this year). Guards MiLaysia Fulwiley and Tessa Johnson have three more seasons. The class of 2024 included three 5-star prospects (forward Joyce Edwards, guard Maddy McDaniel, and center Adhel Tac) who can spend four years in Columbia.