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At the end of April, South Carolina basketball supporters were shocked to learn that, following an outstanding haul in the transfer portal, Southern Cal Trojans should be considered the nation’s best team. Some even in the media shared this opinion.
Fortunately, it seems that the people supporting “the other USC” were either a vocal minority or were only enthralled with the transfer site buzz at the time. A significant outlet’s latest offseason poll avoided the click-bait trap of placing the Trojans first.
Rather, South Carolina basketball correctly topped the worldwide leader’s updated “way-too-early” rankings, which were made public by ESPN’s Charlie Creme. The latest media darlings, Southern Cal, shot up from #5 to #2.
In ESPN’s rankings, common sense and due appreciation for the championship prevailed. You read that right—the Gamecocks haven’t dropped a regular-season game since 2021. They also brought back every member of the rotation from the previous campaign, save for one.
Although the loss of Kamilla Cardoso is significant (literally), the Gamecocks have a top-3 recruiting class heading to Columbia, led by dynamic forward Joyce Edwards, who won numerous award committees’ national high school player of the year titles.
MiLaysia Fulwiley and Tessa Johnson, who are now sophomores but looked like rising stars as freshmen, suggest that Dawn Staley’s team might be even stronger the next season than they were for their perfect run in the 2023–2024 national championship campaign.
Undoubtedly, Southern California will field a strong squad in the upcoming season, and the Trojans are the most likely team to have a realistic chance of defeating the Gamecocks. However, until that time, there’s no reason to believe that the college basketball royalty will abdicate. As it should be, South Carolina basketball is ranked #1, and they will remain there until they are unstopped by another team.
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