One of the biggest stories of the women’s college basketball season will be South Carolina. The Gamecocks are attempting to win their second straight national championship and third in four years. Dawn Staley’s squad went 38-0, but this season will be a new challenge. Kamilla Cardoso, the 2024 Final Four Most Outstanding Player, is in the WNBA. Junior forward Ashlyn Watkins is serving a suspension after being charged with first-degree assault and battery and kidnapping.
To help us understand more, we recently caught up with Lulu Kesin of The Greenville News. The top-ranked Gamecocks play their season-opener Monday night against Michigan in Las Vegas. The game will be broadcast on TNT.
Note: This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
Awful Announcing: Does South Carolina have as good a chance at repeating as any in recent memory?
Lulu Kesin: “Yes, for sure. I don’t think they’ll have any issues getting to at least the Elite Eight. Granted, it depends on the bracket. Who knows if they’re put in the bracket with USC or UConn or something like that. But they likely will have the same regular-season success as they’ve had in the last three, four years.”
How is this team different?
“This is the first time in about 10 years that they haven’t had a dominant post player. That’s a huge change. It’s an entirely different type of offense for them, even though they return so much of their team. It went from A’ja Wilson to Aliyah Boston to Cardoso. Now, they have post players with potential, but it’s going to be a slow process in terms of finding somebody or a pace of offense or style of offense. It’s going to be a small forward- or guard-centric offense, in my opinion, and based on what Dawn has said.”
Who will play the 5 spot?
“I would say right now Sania Feagin. She’s a senior (and will probably) start in that traditional five spot, with Chloe Kitts at the small forward. But it’s different. Kamilla Cardoso, at 6-foot-7, could post up anyone and South Carolina’s ball movement was great. Even on a double team, they created opportunities to feed her the ball. (This season will be) just a little different. It’s not the traditional inside-out game with a dominant center.”
Who will be the best player: Raven Johnson or MiLaysia Fulwiley?
“I would say MiLaysia. It’s so hard. Raven is so good on defense, but MiLaysia is so versatile on offense with her passing. She can play with anyone. Her ability to change the flow and the momentum of the game within an instant, I think it’s just rare and it makes South Carolina so special. I’d argue that she’s the best on the team this year.”
Is there a newcomer who could make an impact?
“Freshman Joyce Edwards, she’s from South Carolina. She scored 39 points in the two exhibition games. Obviously, South Carolina didn’t know that when they lost Cardoso, they’d also sort of lose Watkins. Watkins filled in for Kamilla in the five games she missed last season. So it was sort of like ‘Oh, it won’t be that big of a deal when Cardoso graduates.’ Now, they’re without Watkins. That’s where I think Joyce Edwards will completely impact the game because, as Dawn Staley said, she’s limitless. She can play the 1 through 5. I think that she’s going to come off the bench and potentially be the team’s highest scorer, in my opinion, because she’s able to play wherever Dawn needs her.”
What is the status of Watkins?
“There’s still not a court date. She’s still suspended from the team. It’s unknown when she’s returning or if she’ll return.”
How have your interactions with Staley been?
“Very positive, very accessible, very kind, respectful, super down to earth, and very easy to talk to. Every time I’ve asked her a question, I felt like she’s very much cared to listen and answer. I think a lot of people can say that (about her). She loves to talk basketball, but she also loves to talk about who her players are off the court. She doesn’t shy away from talking to the media and doesn’t shy away from any potential questions.”
Which opponent has the best chance to deal South Carolina its first loss?
“I think it could be at UCLA on Nov. 24, only because Lauren Betts is so tall. It’s an early test in terms of how can (the Gamecocks) defend if they’re undersized. That could be a loss. They play NC State (on Nov. 10 in Charlotte). I don’t think NC State is going to be the same level and South Carolina blew them out in the Final Four last year. I would say in terms of the non-conference, definitely UCLA and Texas. They play a home-and-home series. I think Texas, whether that’s Jan. 12 at home or Feb. 9 in Austin, both of those games will be tough.”
Who is the face of women’s college basketball this season?
“Does it have to be a player? I think it should be (UConn’s) Paige Bueckers. She’s proven that. How I feel about a lot of these preseason takes is South Carolina as a team should be No.1 until they prove otherwise. I think last year with Caitlin Clark and Iowa dominated so much of the conversation. Now looking at the big picture, there has to be acknowledgment of what South Carolina did and the historic season that they had.
“I’m a reporter and I’m mainly involved in their statistics and that obviously skews my thinking a little bit. But the program has done so much that I think they should be at the top of every conversation. What makes them so special is that they have 13 players you have to scout for. They don’t have that one star that’s the face of the program.”
Did you always want to be a reporter?
“I didn’t even know about journalism until high school. I always wanted to be an athlete. I played sports my whole life and was inspired by different basketball players. And then once I realized I wasn’t good enough to play college basketball, I was like, ‘OK, maybe I’ll be an athletic trainer.’ Then I was like, ‘I’m bad at math.’ I can never go to medical school. I happened to fall into journalism.”
Who has been a role model or mentor for you?
“I’ve always looked up to Mirin Fader, and I’m incredibly grateful I get to call her a friend. She’s my idol and will always be because of the standard she sets for feature writing and sports writing.
“She was my co-worker for a year at The Ringer and she was in my ear every day, whether I was not confident, whether I was doubting myself. She’s edited my work. She’s helped me through prepping for interviews. But she’s also just talked to me about my goals and what I want to accomplish and what I want to get out of things in this journalism industry and talked to me so much about what to care about, what not to care about. She’s just like this endless bottle of advice.”