With South Carolina’s season over, who leaves roster? Who returns for Gamecocks?

The 2023-24 South Carolina women’s basketball season ended on Sunday with a thrilling 87-75 win over Iowa in the national championship game at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland.

After pulling off only the 10th-ever perfect season in women’s college basketball and winning a third national championship in seven years, coach Dawn Staley and the Gamecocks will quickly pivot to roster management for 2024-25.

South Carolina (38-0) is in a far more stable situation than it was last April, when seven scholarship players departed for either the WNBA Draft or graduation.

Of the 11 players on this year’s roster, six are underclassmen, 10 have at least one remaining year of eligibility and only one player is confirmed to be leaving.

There’s always the possibility of a Gamecock leaving because of a lack of playing time or other reasons. But Staley said earlier in the NCAA Tournament that she didn’t expect anyone on USC’s roster to depart via the transfer portal.

“For me, I would be surprised if any one of our players decides to get in the transfer portal,” Staley said March 21. “Not from lack of playing time or anything like that. It’s just how they’re treated. They’re treated like professionals. They’re communicated with. They’re listened to.”

Here’s a player-by-player breakdown from South Carolina’s roster:

Leaving

• Starting center Kamilla Cardoso had a COVID year of eligibility to use but announced last Monday that she had declared for the 2024 WNBA Draft. In ESPN’s most recent WNBA mock draft, Cardoso was projected to go No. 4 overall to the Los Angeles Sparks. A 6-foot-7 native of Brazil who transferred to USC in 2021 after one season at Syracuse, Cardoso was the SEC Sixth Woman of the Year in 2023 as Aliyah Boston’s backup. Cardoso was named the league’s defensive player of the year and an All-American this season as a senior.

Wait and see

• Backup forward Sakima Walker has an extra COVID year of eligibility but won’t make a decision on using her fifth year until after the season, she told The State. “I guess it’ll just be whether I feel like I want to do another year or how I feel after graduation,” she said. “Stuff like that, being away from home.” Walker, who started her career at Rutgers, transferred into South Carolina last summer from Northwest Florida State, where she was the junior college player of the year. She had the fewest minutes and points of any USC player this season.

Expected to return

• Starting guard Te-Hina Paopao had some WNBA Draft buzz but announced March 4 that she’d be returning to South Carolina in 2024-25 to use her fifth and final year of eligibility. An Oregon transfer who can play both guard positions, Paopao was excellent in her first season as a Gamecock and was among the nation’s leaders in 3-point percentage. She was an honorable mention All American by various outlets.

• Underclassmen guards Raven Johnson, MiLaysia Fulwiley and Tessa Johnson should all be key pieces of South Carolina’s rotation next season. Raven Johnson thrived as a passer and scorer in her first year as a full-time starter while dramatically improving her 3-point percentage. Fulwiley was the 2024 SEC Tournament MVP and one of the most exciting freshman players in the country. Johnson saw her minutes tick up down the stretch and put together a solid season as a shooter off the bench (ending with a big game Sunday).

• Much like Raven Johnson, veteran wing player Bree Hall slid right into a starting role this season and never looked back. Hall set career highs in points per game, field goal percentage and three-point percentage as a junior and had a number of clutch late-game performances. She’ll be one of South Carolina’s most reliable players (and a clear team leader) as a senior.

• Forwards Ashlyn Watkins and Chloe Kitts both saw their minutes increase dramatically this season and delivered efficient seasons, averaging almost 10 per points per game while playing about 20 minutes per game apiece. Kitts started the majority of the season for South Carolina before Watkins, who led the team in blocks, assumed the starting role at power forward for USC for most of postseason play. They’ll both be juniors next season.

• With Cardoso leaving for the WNBA, the talented Sania Feagin may be an experienced favorite to start at center for South Carolina as a senior. Feagin, a former No. 4 overall recruit, waited patiently for two seasons at USC and delivered as a junior, logging career highs in every statistical category as the top post player off the bench and even started three games.

• After signing as a member of the Gamecocks’ 2024 class last year, center Adhel Tac reclassified and enrolled early at USC in January. Tac — who suffered a season-ending knee injury her senior year of high school —medically redshirted and did not appear in a game for South Carolina but has traveled with the team all season. The No. 26 recruit in her class, she’ll have four years of eligibility left starting next season.

The incoming freshmen

• As per usual, Staley and company are bringing in a few more exciting freshmen. Five-star recruit Joyce Edwards of nearby Camden High School, who ranks as the No. 2 overall player in the class, arrives in Columbia this summer as the Gatorade Girls National Player of the Year. Edwards, a 6-2 forward, averaged 31.3 points per game as a senior. Four-star point guard recruit Maddy McDaniel also joins USC from Upper Marlboro, Maryland. She ranks No. 16 nationally in the class and, like Edwards, was a McDonald’s All-American.

South Carolina scholarship situation

NCAA Division I women’s basketball teams can have up to 15 scholarship players. South Carolina finished this season with 11 players on scholarship (not including forward Sahnya Jah, who entered the transfer portal in March). If everyone on USC’s roster returns outside of Cardoso, the Gamecocks would be at 12 scholarship players for 2024-25 including incoming freshmen.

If those numbers hold, South Carolina and Staley would have at least three open scholarship spots to use on potential transfer portal players. The Gamecocks could be on the lookout for an experienced center with 6-foot-7 Cardoso’s departure. As a national power, USC is usually active with a few prominent transfers every offseason and signed two last year (Paopao and Walker).