South Carolina women's basketball: Three things we learned in Fort Myers

Over the holiday weekend, South Carolina women’s basketball swept a pair of games at the Fort Myers Tipoff. What did we learn from the trip to Florida?

1. The report of South Carolina’s death was an exaggeration.

I’m not sure anyone truly believed South Carolina’s title hopes were over after the loss at UCLA, but there were plenty of people eagerly awaiting a chance to dance on the Gamecocks’ grave. Instead, South Carolina responded exactly the way a title contender should, playing its two best games of the season. 

After the loss, I asked rhetorically, Does anyone really want to see a focused, ticked-off Gamecock team? Two 40-point wins later, the answer is clearly no.

[New! GamecocksW newsletter! Don’t rely on search engines and social media for your South Carolina women’s basketball information.]

2. Dawn Staley is settling into a rotation, and it is paying off

After the UCLA game, I wrote that South Carolina had 2019 depth, not 2022 depth. The short version is that there wasn’t a consistent rotation and playing time was changing too much from game to game as Staley hunted for the hot hand. 

That no longer appears to be the case. Staley still tinkered with playing time to suit matchups but for both games in Fort Myers, she had a consistent rotation.

In both games, Ashlyn Watkins, MiLaysia Fulwiley, and Tessa Johnson entered together shortly before the first media timeout. Against Iowa State, they replaced Sania Feagin, Bree Hall, and Raven Johnson. Against Purdue, it was Feagin, Johnson, and Te-Hina Paopao. Soon after, Joyce Edwards replaced Chloe Kitts in both games. 

It’s a quiet concession to two things. One is that South Carolina’s starting group is not as explosive as the bench, so Staley is quickly getting those players in the game. Secondly, it accommodates Raven Johnson’s shooting woes early in the season. Last year, she typically played most of the first quarter. Now she is sitting earlier and playing nearly six fewer minutes per game.

You may wonder why it took so long to settle on a rotation, but remember that South Carolina has only had all 13 players for four games, beginning with the game at Clemson.

[Win two tickets to the South Carolina-Duke WBB game]

3. The 803 connection is starting to click

Perhaps this is a result of the consistent rotation, perhaps it is the result of having practice time together, or maybe it’s something in the water. Whatever the cause, South Carolina’s three local players, Watkins, Fulwiley, and Edwards, played well together in Florida. 

Watkins and Edwards are playing well together in the paint and getting good at finding open spots when the other draws a double. They both are running the court whenever Fulwiley has the ball to get transition looks, or crashing the glass in case she misses.

Watkins and Edwards were named to the all-tournament team, and Fulwiley probably should have been. Individually, there are few players in the country that can match up with them, but almost nobody has three players who can handle their size, athleticism, and talent.