How SEC media predict South Carolina women’s basketball to finish in 2024-25

South Carolina women’s basketball was picked to finish first the SEC by league media, the conference announced Monday.

Since 2018, the Gamecocks have been picked to win the SEC five times (2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2024). Under coach Dawn Staley, USC has won eight SEC regular season titles (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024) and eight SEC Tournament titles (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2023, 2024). South Carolina has won 47 consecutive regular season conference games, which is an SEC record and the tenth-longest conference win streak in NCAA history.

The Gamecocks return all but one player from their 2023-24 undefeated national championship squad. Last year’s SEC Defensive Player of the Year Kamilla Cardoso was drafted No. 3 overall by the WNBA’s Chicago Sky this spring. But everyone else -- including 2024-25 preseason All-SEC honorees Te-Hina Paopao, Raven Johnson and MiLaysia Fulwiley -- is back.

In addition to those three guards, South Carolina retained All-Final Four Team member Tessa Johnson as well as seniors Bree Hall and Sania Feagin (who won gold and tournament MVP at World Cup in Mongolia with the 3x3 U23 national team last month). They’ll play alongside the nation’s No. 2 freshman class in Camden superstar Joyce Edwards and speedster floor general Maddy McDaniel as well as versatile Arkansas transfer Maryam Dauda.

Adhel Tac (6-foot-5), a top class of 2024 recruit who enrolled at South Carolina in January after sustaining a season-ending knee injury last fall, will also make her collegiate debut this season. Super-senior Sakima Walker, the Gamecocks only true center, is also back.

Junior forward and 2023-24 All-SEC Second Team member Ashlyn Watkins has been suspended from team activities since her Aug. 31 arrest on charges of assault and kidnapping. Staley reaffirmed Watkins’ suspension was still in place during a preseason practice availability last month, adding that “We’re not gonna move until her situation’s settled down a little bit. It’s out of her control. It’s out of our control.” Staley did not otherwise provide a potential timeline for Watkins’ return. Later on in the availability, Staley mentioned Watkins along with Feagin, Hall and Paopao as leaders of USC’s 2024-25 squad: “Upon Ashlyn’s return,” Staley said, “Ashlyn has a great voice in the locker room.”

South Carolina will play two exhibitions this month: one at Memphis Tuesday and one versus Clayton State on Oct. 28. The former will tip off on ESPN+ at 9:30 p.m. USC’s regular season begins Nov. 4 vs. Michigan in Las Vegas.