South-Carolina
Final Four Thoughts and Prediction
South Carolina is making its fifth consecutive trip to the Final Four and the seventh in program history. This year they will be returning to the scene of their first Final Four – the Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida. South Carolina fell short in the 2015 Final Four when Tiffany Mitchell was unable to connect on a difficult shot against Muffin McGraw’s Fighting Irish on the game’s final play. Connecticut cut down the nets in 2015 and are favored to do so again ten years later. While this number changes as the money pours in, UConn is the favorite at -155. The Gamecocks are next at +250 followed by UCLA at +750 and Texas at +850. To provide a point of reference for those numbers: in 2023: the unbeaten Gamecocks were -330 and LSU (eventually champion) was +700. So while UConn is the favorite, it’s not by nearly as much as the Gamecocks have been the last two seasons or like Huskies were in the early-to-mid 2010s.
Below are some of our thoughts on the field of four and the last weekend of basketball. Gamecock Scoop and Alan Cole will be following the Gamecocks in Tampa and will have extensive coverage throughout Carolina’s hopeful championship run.
Let’ start with the Gamecocks. For most of the tournament South Carolina’s defense has shown up. Duke exploited the Gamecocks out of the halftime break but for the most part Carolina’s defense hasn’t been the problem. In the last three games, the Gamecocks haven’t gotten into transition to score easy baskets. (A few MiLaysia Fulwiley moments aside), and Carolina’s half-court offense has been stagnant. Carolina can beat Texas the with the way they’ve played the last three rounds, because Texas plays a very similar style, but they won’t beat UCLA or UConn. The Gamecocks were 7-for-23 from 3-point range in Birmingham and Te-Hina Paopao is averaging 7.3 points per game in this tournament. Both of those number must improve if South Carolina is going to cut down another set of nets. The Gamecocks have needed 4th quarter comebacks the last two rounds. With UCLA’s size, Texas’ smothering defense and UConn’s incredibly efficiency- 4th quarter comebacks will be a tall task in Tampa.
UCLA enjoys an advantage that the Gamecocks have the last four seasons, a player that presents a physical mismatch for everyone else in the field. Lauren Betts is 6’7 and is averaging 20 points and nearly 10 rebounds a game. When teams try to collapse on Betts, the Bruins have four guards that shoot over 35% from three including junior star Kiki Rice.
Paige Bueckers is doing everything that Caitlyn Clark did last year but unlike the Hawkeyes, the Huskies have two other potential top WNBA Draft picks on their roster to fall back on. Azzi Duff, I mean Fudd, looks healthy and Sarah Strong is the freshman of the year. UConn ranks in the top five in the country in field goal percentage (No. 1), points per play and per 100 possessions (No. 1), 3-point percentage (No. 5), assists per game (No. 3), fewest turnovers per game (No. 3) and margin of victory (No. 1). UConn is short team without a true dominant post. Betts and Bruins might be the toughest matchup for the Huskies of their three possible opponents.
The Gamecocks have seen Texas three times, splitting a home-and-home in the regular and in the finals of the SEC Tournament. They know each other. From the three matchups this season, if you can control Madison Booker, you are going to beat the Horns. Texas just doesn’t have another scorer that scares quality opponents. The Longhorns also do not shoot the three ball well. If an opponent can build a double-digit lead early, Texas will struggle to make up ground. The Horns are tenacious on defense and are an excellent rebounding team.
Stephen: I’ve ridden with the Gamecocks throughout this tournament, but you’d have to have been blind to say that the UConn Huskies haven’t looked like the better the team the last two months. On February 16th, walking out of the CLA after witnessing UConn roll the Gamecocks by 29, I dismissed it as a one-off. A game which the Gamecocks played poorly and Connecticut played its’ best game in almost a decade. Now it looks like it was the first time that UConn was fully healthy this season and a showcase for that they were capable of. South Carolina can still beat UConn, as can UCLA, but right now Connecticut looks like the country’s best/hottest team. UConn over Carolina.
Alan: I think I have to side with Stephen on this one. UConn has not only been playing the best basketball in the country for the last month, but continued to improve throughout the NCAA Tournament. The Huskies have looked a little better every weekend, while South Carolina’s halfcourt offense has been invisible nearly the entire tournament other than the Tennessee Tech game and the second half against Indiana. Can it come back? For sure. And I wll never fully write off a Dawn Staley team. But right now it feels like UConn’s to lose, and i think UConn beats South Carolina.
HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WPDE) — One person was critically injured in a motorcycle crash in the Longs area on Thursday afternoon, according to Horry County Fire Rescue (HCFR).
Just before 2:00 p.m., crews responded to the area of Old Highway 31 near Hidden River Road.
MORE: 1 critically injured in vehicle rollover near International Dr.
One person was transported to the hospital as a result of the motorcycle crash, HCFR said.
Officials ask that drivers avoid the area as lanes of traffic are currently blocked.
The incident is under investigation by the South Carolina Highway Patrol with assistance from the Horry County Police Department.
Dawn Staley & Gamecocks on ‘rusty’ start in huge win over Southern U
Dawn Staley and Joyce Edwards on their ‘rusty’ start in their first game in two weeks that turned into a massive 69-point win NCAA tournament.
Sports Pulse
COLUMBIA, SC ― With the clock winding down and pressures of the Women’s NCAA Tournament rising, South Carolina senior guard Raven Johnson isn’t playing just to win. She plays in honor of a voice she can no longer hear – but that she still carries with her every time she steps onto the court.
That motivation was on full display Monday night, as the No. 1-seeded Gamecocks took down No. 9 USC to advance to the Sweet 16. Johnson earned her 1,000th career point ― what would prove to be her last point at Colonial Life Arena ― on a steal and fast-break layup that brought a roar from the crowd. The Gamecocks will face No. 4 Oklahoma Saturday in Sacramento, with another Elite Eight appearance on the line.
For Johnson, the moment symbolized something deeper – a career shaped by the memory of her late grandfather. Johnson’s family watched as she achieved the milestone, her mother, grandmother and twin brother. It was a full circle moment for a player whose journey took root in her grandparents’ home.
Her grandparents helped raise her and her twin brother, Richard Johnson. The family lived together and she often calls her grandmother “mother” and her grandfather “papa,” reflecting the impact they had on her upbringing.
“My grandparents did a really good job,” Johnson said. “We wouldn’t be playing sports if it wasn’t for them.”
The Boones introduced the twins to basketball through their church and spent countless hours training them, often pushing them past their limits. A sergeant first class in the Army Reserves, he supervised soldiers in his unit and brought that same discipline to his grandchildren on the court, being demanding, structured and determined.
“I remember being outside and he was training us and I thought it was so hard. I wanted to give up,” Johnson said. “I used to cry, and he would be like ‘You’re not going to cry in my face, and you’re not going to give up.’ It was little things like that that made me tough.”
The standard of grit, accountability and composure, is something Johnson carries today.
“She’s just a winner and she’s a great point guard,” said South Carolina senior guard Ta’Niya Latson, who also played with Johnson at Westlake High School in Atlanta. “When she’s confident, we’re confident. When she’s poised, we’re poised. It’s hard to have that type of personality and leadership on the court, but she carries it well.”
Rodrick Boone was diagnosed with stomach cancer in December 2012 and died in April 2013 while Johnson was at a tournament in New Orleans. She was 10 years old.
“I remember I shut down,” Johnson said. “My mind went blank. I was like ‘What?’ I thought he was untouchable.”
Months after her grandfather’s death, something shifted in her mindset.
“I think that’s my why,” Johnson said. “I keep going today because he is my why.”
As a child, Johnson didn’t even like basketball. She preferred T-ball and cheerleading and thought basketball wasn’t for girls, until she saw Notre Dame’s Skylar Diggins and began to see herself differently.
“She was so pretty to me and I remember asking ‘Can I be girly and hoop?’” Johnson said.
She was the only girl on her recreational team, earning the nickname “Killer” for her defensive intensity alongside her brother, nicknamed “Thriller” for his offensive ability. The boys tested Johnson by playing physical and trying to push her out of the sport.
“I used to be cooking them out there a little bit, and I think they didn’t like that,” Johnson said.
She said the boys trying to make it hard on her actually made her tougher both physically and mentally.
Her grandmother, Connie Boone, said her grandfather would be proud of what Johnson has become.
“He might be crying but he would be happy about it,” her grandmother said. “You start them young, but you never know what the outcome is going to be.”
Johnson imagines the conversations she’d be having with her papa if he was still here.
“He would still be on my butt riding me, he’ll tell me maybe I need to fix something,” Johnson said. “He’ll be happy and I think he’ll be like ‘All right let’s get back to the drawing board. Let’s get ready for the next opponent.’”
She knows her papa is always watching, and she talks to him a lot at night.
“I just want to tell him that I’m going to keep pushing through even when it gets tough,” Johnson said. “He’s always telling me to push through because nobody cares. Nobody cares if you’re at your lowest, nobody cares.”
On Monday, fans chanted “Raven, Raven, Raven” as she walked off the court for the final time at Colonial Life Arena, Johnson’s moment was bigger than the scoreboard.
It was about diligence, progress and a promise kept.
With another game ahead and the possibility of a deeper tournament run, she isn’t finished. She continues to push and play for the voice that gave her a reason to begin.
Alyssia Hamilton is a student in the University of Georgia’s Carmical Sports Media Institute.
Rochester, N.Y. — An Orleans County man faces a peeping tom charge in South Carolina after a woman said he left an audio recording device in her home.
According to an incident report from the Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office, an officer responded to the home Jan. 24 for a report of a possible peeping tom or voyeurism incident. The victim told the officer she had been in a relationship with Nicolas Vagg from May-October 2024 and said he traveled from New York to visit her in 2024.
The woman told the officer she found a small black rectangular device in her bedroom. She later determined it was a recording device. She said she connected the device to her phone and found audio recordings captured during her time with Vagg, as well as others from her interactions with another man after she and Vagg broke up.
Vagg, 32, of Albion turned himself in Tuesday, according to the report. He was charged with sex/ peeping tom, eavesdropping or peeping.
Georgetown County Detention Center records indicate Vagg was initially held on $2,000 bond and released later Tuesday.
The victim received a no-contact order of protection, according to the incident report. Vagg’s next court date is scheduled for May 28.
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