The South Carolina women’s basketball season ended in Phoenix with a national championship game loss to UCLA. But for three Gamecocks, a new and more significant chapter begins Monday when the WNBA Draft convenes and years of development, sacrifice, and growth get translated into professional opportunity.
With Madina Okot’s eligibility appeal officially denied by the NCAA on Wednesday, all uncertainty has been removed. Raven Johnson, Ta’Niya Latson, and Okot are headed to the draft. And the projections across the sport’s major outlets suggest all three could hear their names called in the first round.
Maryam Dauda: The Professional Path Continues Elsewhere
Before examining the three projected picks, it is worth acknowledging Maryam Dauda’s next chapter — even though it will not unfold on draft night.
Dauda is not expected to be selected, and she has already charted her own course. She plans to play professionally overseas and has received an invitation to try out for the Nigerian national team — an opportunity that reflects the global reach of her game and the reputation she built through two seasons of quiet, selfless contribution in Columbia.
Her path is different, not lesser. The professional basketball ecosystem extends well beyond the WNBA, and international leagues offer competitive, compensated careers for players of Dauda’s caliber. The Nigerian national team invitation, in particular, speaks to her standing as a legitimate international prospect. Dawn Staley called her contributions “unmatched.” The basketball world, in its own way, is confirming it.
Raven Johnson: The Defensive Anchor Who Became a First-Round Certainty
Of the three projected picks, Johnson presents the most analytically interesting case because her professional value is almost entirely built on a skill set that traditional statistics systematically underrepresent.
She was never South Carolina’s leading scorer. Her offensive numbers fluctuated throughout her career, and her three-point shooting was never a reliable weapon. What she was, consistently and at an elite level for five seasons, was the best on-ball defender in college basketball — a disruptive, relentless, physically imposing point guard who made every opponent’s offensive game plan harder to execute.
The outlets are spread across a range that reflects the genuine debate about where that skill set ranks among this year’s prospects:
CBS Sports is most bullish, projecting her at No. 6 to the expansion Toronto Tempo. Title IX Sports has her at No. 7 to the Portland Fire. USA Today places her at No. 9 to the Washington Mystics. ESPN and The Athletic both land at No. 10 to the Indiana Fever. Bleacher Report is lowest at No. 11, also to Washington.
The spread from 6 to 11 is not a disagreement about whether Johnson is a first-round pick — every outlet agrees she is. It is a disagreement about how much the professional game values the specific things she does exceptionally well. WNBA teams that prioritize defensive identity and floor management will see her closer to the top of the board. Teams with more immediate scoring needs may evaluate her differently.
What is not in dispute is the record she leaves behind. The Gamecocks went 145-8 when Johnson was active. She was part of four national championship game appearances. She exits as one of the most decorated players in program history, and the franchise that selects her will be getting a foundational piece of defensive culture that winning organizations genuinely need.
Ta’Niya Latson: The Scorer Who Became a Complete Player
Latson’s projection range tells a story about how dramatically her professional profile evolved during a single season in Columbia.
She arrived at South Carolina as the nation’s leading scorer at Florida State — a prolific offensive player whose defensive engagement and overall efficiency left professional scouts with legitimate questions. She leaves as a projected lottery pick whose development curve convinced multiple major outlets that she belongs in the top ten.
The current projections place her between seventh and thirteenth overall, with genuine clustering in the eight-to-ten range. USA Today has her at No. 7 to the Portland Fire. Bleacher Report and The Athletic both project her at No. 8 to the Golden State Valkyries. CBS Sports places her at No. 10 to the Indiana Fever — a landing spot that makes considerable analytical sense given the Fever’s need for perimeter creation alongside Caitlin Clark. Title IX Sports has her at No. 9 to Washington. ESPN and The Athletic’s Valkyries projection at No. 8 reflects Golden State’s need for a guard who can create off the dribble and finish through contact. ESPN is the outlier at No. 13 to the Atlanta Dream, where former Gamecocks Allisha Gray and Te-Hina Paopao already play.
The Indiana projection carries particular intrigue. The Fever, already building around Clark’s unique gravity, benefit enormously from a guard who draws fouls and finishes at the rim — those skills create spacing for Clark’s shooting without requiring a second ball-dominant creator. Latson’s game, as it evolved in Columbia, fits that mold precisely. She is no longer just a scorer. She is a player who makes an offense function better when she is on the floor.
Her farewell Instagram post — “Thank you SC” — and the rush of teammates to her comment section captured something real about what this season meant. The WNBA Draft on Monday will confirm that the basketball world saw it too.
Madina Okot: The Courageous Journey That Ends in a Professional Contract
Okot’s draft projections cluster in a tighter range than Johnson’s or Latson’s, reflecting a clearer consensus about her professional value as an elite interior presence.
ESPN, The Athletic, and Bleacher Report all project her in the range of 12 to 15. ESPN and The Athletic have her at No. 15 to the Connecticut Sun. Bleacher Report places her at No. 12, also to Connecticut. USA Today and CBS Sports both project her to the Atlanta Dream at No. 13. Title IX Sports is the outlier at No. 16 to the Seattle Storm.
The Connecticut Sun projection makes analytical sense — they are a franchise historically built around interior size and two-way play, and Okot’s rebounding dominance and improving offensive game fit what that organization values. The Atlanta Dream projections are equally logical given the presence of former Gamecocks on that roster and the team’s need for frontcourt depth.
What the range of 12 to 16 tells you is that every outlet believes Okot belongs in the first round, with the specific landing spot dependent on how individual franchise needs align with the draft board. For a player who began her basketball career in Kenya in 2020, averaged an SEC-best 10.6 rebounds per game, and finished third in the nation with 22 double-doubles in her first and only South Carolina season, hearing her name called in the first round of the WNBA Draft will represent the culmination of a journey that Dawn Staley accurately described as courageous.
Three Gamecocks, One Draft, One Legacy
The depth of South Carolina’s representation in Monday’s first round is not coincidental. It is the measurable output of a program that actively develops players rather than simply showcasing talent that was already there.
Johnson spent five years in Columbia becoming the best defensive point guard in college basketball. Latson spent one season transforming from a one-dimensional scorer into a legitimate two-way prospect. Okot spent one season proving that a player who began her basketball career four years ago in East Africa belongs among the best post players in the country.
All three will hear their names called Monday. All three earned it. And every high-level recruit and transfer portal target watching the broadcast will understand exactly which program was the last stop on their college journey before the professional world came calling.
The draft is Monday. South Carolina’s fingerprints will be all over it.
