Recruiting is a win-some, lose-some game, and South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley was just reminded of that. Although the Gamecocks were targeting four-star guard Kaylor Buse from West Linn, Oreg., she announced she has committed to TCU.
While the news isn't all that surprising, it doesn't make this sting any less for Staley and the Gamecocks. Buse's final schools included TCU, Utah, Washington and Oregon, in addition to South Carolina. As you'll notice, South Carolina was the farthest school from her home state of Oregon.
4⭐️ recruit Kaylor Buse (ranked #52 in the Class of 2027) has committed to TCU 🐸 pic.twitter.com/YkjdGqYgJ8
— E J 🏀 (@EJayArrow) September 15, 2026
Another sign that the Gamecocks weren't going to land her was the timing of her announcement. As we previously wrote, Buse's commitment ceremony was set weeks before she was supposed to be on-campus for a visit to Columbia. As for her decision to choose TCU, she said it came down to her relationship with Horned Frogs head coach Mark Campbell:
“TCU’s also just a great program with great people,” Buse said via Rivals. “I’ve known Coach [Mark] Campbell for a while now. Outside of my recruitment, I know his wife Ashley. One of the people I look up to most is her dad Brad Smith. I’ve always known their girls. Their girls are great. We’re really close. I knew Mark even before he ended up starting to recruit me. You can tell he is super intentional with the players he recruits and what he does.”
South Carolina was supposed to host Buse on Oct. 3, which is when the Gamecock football team will be hosting Kentucky in Williams-Brice Stadium. Buse had already visited Washington and TCU, and took a visit to Utah on Sept. 12. The reasoning for her visit to Columbia coming last of her final schools is part of Coach Staley's longtime strategy of hosting targets in their final official visits.
Buse had taken unofficial visits to Oregon before, but had initially been scheduled to take an official to Eugene on Sept. 18, but it's unclear if that is still on the books with her commitment to TCU. The same goes for her scheduled South Carolina visit
Who else is South Carolina targeting in the class of 2027?
South Carolina's 2027 class still has zero verbal commits, but that could be changing in the coming weeks. The Gamecocks are set to host five-star guards in Jezelle "GG" Banks and Jordyn Palmer sometime this month. The Gamecocks have also offered five-star point guard Kaleena Smith out of Ontario, as well as four-star shooting guard Sydney Savoury.
While Buse's verbal commits to a school other than South Carolina isn't a huge surprise, anytime the Gamecocks lose out on a recruit is a bummer.
ALSO READ: Latest CFB polls suggestt Mississippi State-South Carolina will be a close one
Add us as a preferred source on Google