NCAAW: Wilson, Mitchell headlines South Carolina, starting with five

Last season, the top five women’s basketball teams in the country were the South Carolina Gamecocks, the Oregon Ducks, the Baylor Lady Bears, the Maryland Terrapins and the UConn Huskies. In Swish call, we are taking a look at the best initial lineups ever for each of these programs.

Here are the first five games of all time for South Carolina’s No. 1 Gamecocks:

PF: A’ja Wilson

3x First-Team All-American, 3x SEC Player of the Year, 4x First-Team All-SEC, 2x SEC Defensive Player of the Year, 3x SEC All-Defense Team, 2x SEC MVP Tournament, SEC Freshman of the Year, 1x Wade Trophy, 1 John R. Wooden award, 1 player of the year at Naismith College, 1 AP player of the year, 1 USBWA player of the year

Mississippi State vs. South Carolina — A’ja Wilson is a star in every sense of the word, and she shone more when she led the Gamecocks in their first NCAA championship.

Let’s start with an easy one, right?

Simply put: If you think about the Dawn Staley era of basketball Gamecocks, the first player that comes to mind is probably A’ja Wilson. She personifies the rise of the South Carolina program under Staley and led the Gamecocks to their first NCAA title in 2017 as one of the most dominant bigs in the country and the tournament’s most outstanding player. Wilson was elected SEC Player of the Year three times, All-SEC Player of the Year four times and Naismith College Player of the Year as senior in 2018 – just a few of his large collection of high school honors.

Even all these honors, however, do not tell Wilson’s complete story. Her passion for the game and her grandiose personality quickly made her a fan favorite in South Carolina, and when she graduated and was summoned to Las Vegas Aces as the WNBA’s No. 1 overall pick in 2018, Wilson’s bravery had made she is a universally adored star.

She is the program’s best scorer ever (2,389) and kick blocker (363), yes, and has accumulated more NCAA awards during her time in South Carolina than you can imagine. However, there is an aura around Wilson that you don’t find with any star player – she It’s Gamecock basketball, and is therefore a no-brainer in this hypothetical five-star.

C: Alaina Coates

2x First All-SEC Team, 2x Second All-SEC Team, 2x All-Defensive SEC Team, 1x SEC 6th Player of the Year, SEC Freshman of the Year, 2x All-America Honorable Mention

UConn Huskies vs South Carolina Gamecocks — Alaina Coates was among the country’s best rebounds – and most efficient scorer – during her time in South Carolina.

During a time when the SEC was considered by many to be the largest and most difficult conference in the country, South Carolina was its largest and most difficult team – largely thanks to Wilson and Alaina Coates’ attacking court.

A 1.80 m center with a wide frame and a tendency to finish in painting, Coates brought an impressive physical presence to Gamecocks best summed up by two statistics: an average school career of 9.3 rebounds per game (in just 23, 5 minutes played) and a cumulative percentage of goals of 62.2%. Coates regularly bullied opponents down and on the glass with teams often unable to match their size, while she swallowed offensive rebounds and finished easy shots on the edge on numerous occasions.

Although a foot injury interrupted Coates’ career in the NCAA, she still holds the Gamecock women’s basketball record for total defensive rebounds (850) and has a pair of All-SEC First Team honors to her name. Coates was prepared by Chicago Sky in second place in the 2017 WNBA Draft.

SF: Tiffany Mitchell

1x First All-American Team, 2x Third All-American Team, 2x SEC Player of the Year, 3x First All-SEC Team, 1x SEC Tournament MVP, 1x Dawn Staley Award

Connecticut v South Carolina — A fearsome player in her own right, Tiffany Mitchell was huge in building the South Carolina program into what it is today.

Typically, the origins of a powerful NCAA college basketball program can be traced back to a handful of players – “building blocks” who took the program to its first taste of success and set the table for future recruits.

Tiffany Mitchell is one of those players for South Carolina. Described by Gamecocks’ official website as the “most decorated female basketball player in the program’s history” (which may or may not include Wilson), Mitchell was the star of the new Staley teams that always seemed on the verge of great things – if only they could land one or two more impact players.

This mission was accomplished just one season after Mitchell’s graduation. Staley acquired Allisha Gray (North Carolina) and Kaela Davis (Georgia Tech) as transfers and South Carolina won the national championship.

Mitchell enjoyed several seasons of efficient scoring, using his strength to continuously reach the rim and finish, strengthening the guards several inches taller than she was. She continues to play that aggressive basketball brand with Indiana Fever, for whom she was drafted in 2016.

In a way, though, Mitchell remains with the Gamecocks – a player who was an integral part of the foundation of today’s women’s basketball empire.

PG: Shannon Johnson

1x Second-Team All-American 3x First-Team All-SEC, South Carolina Letterman Association Hall of Fame

Johnson heads for the basket — Shannon Johnson was the first choice of the South Carolina WNBA draft. His most productive years came with the Orlando Miracle.

Believe it or not, South Carolina women’s basketball really existed before Dawn Staley took over as coach. While Shannon Johnson’s Herculean efforts in the mid-1990s may have come at the wrong time for the show – South Carolina has reached the NCAA tournament five times in the previous six seasons with Nancy Wilson training the team – it has not made her achievements less impressive.

In fact, Johnson is one of only three female basketball players at Gamecock to have his shirt retired from the program. From 1993 to 1996, Johnson accumulated 2,230 points, averaging well over 20 points per game over three consecutive seasons. She remains the only player in South Carolina’s history to accomplish that feat.

The WNBA did not yet exist when Johnson graduated in 1996, but she played in GLA for a few seasons before becoming the first choice of the South Carolina WNBA draft in 1999. Johnson had an 11-year productive career at WNBA, making stops in Orlando (later Connecticut, when the franchise changed), San Antonio, Detroit, Houston and Seattle. Johnson was nominated for four WNBA All-Star teams – the top of any South Carolina WNBA product – and started with the US team during the 2004 Olympic Games gold medal in Athens.

SG: Martha Parker-Hester

2x Metro Player of the Year, 1 Metro Tournament MVP, Metro Newbie of the Year, South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame, South Carolina Letterman Association Hall of Fame

Going further back in time, Martha Parker-Hester was one of the first female basketball stars in South Carolina. Like Johnson, her shirt number was retired by the Gamecocks and she is a member of the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame.

Unfortunately, there’s not as much content available on Parker-Hester as for the other players on our list, but according to the South Carolina Women’s Basketball Record Book, her 1,728 points scored are eighth in the program’s history, while she occupies the third position in steals (284). During Parker-Hester’s university career (1985-89), South Carolina played at the Metro Conference; she took the team to number one in three of her four seasons.

If you search for Parker-Hester now, you’re much more likely to trip over her doctor’s page. After receiving her undergraduate degree in South Carolina, she returned to study at the School of Medicine. She now practices family medicine in Columbia, South Carolina, as a doctor.

Head coach: Dawn Staley

305-98 cumulative record, 3x SEC tournament champion, 1x NCAA National Champion, 1x NCAA Final Four, 1x NCAA Elite Eight, 3x NCAA Sweet Sixteen

NCAA Womens Basketball: SEC Conference Tournament-Mississippi State vs South Carolina — Dawn Staley has already trained Gamecocks for a couple of perfect SEC seasons and a national championship. So what next?

Dawn Staley is a women’s basketball legend – there is no doubt about that. As much as she performed as a player, though, her coaching resume can be even more impressive when it’s all said and done.

Having just completed her 12th season as a head coach in South Carolina, Staley built Gamecocks’ women’s basketball program from scratch. Now it is one of the best in the country. Since the 2013-14 season, Staley’s Gamecocks has finished first in the SEC four times, going 16-0 twice, and has won the conference tournament three times. She, of course, also oversaw the only NCAA championship in the program’s history in 2017, and even if you include your early years in Columbia, her cumulative record for head coach in South Carolina is an impressive 305-98.

The best part: Staley is just getting started. South Carolina’s women’s basketball games became one of the country’s best draws during the NCAA season, and the Gamecock nation developed a shoulder weight similar to that of its head coach. Staley trained Gamecocks for an overall record of 32-1 in 2019-20 – the best in the program’s history – and a figure that will keep them in contention for years to come, now bringing in the best recruiting classes regularly.

Other players considered: Allisha Gray, Kaela Davis, Jocelyn Penn, Sheila Foster, Beth Hunt

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