Same university. Same portal window. Two completely different crises — and one of them is far more urgent than the headlines suggest.
While Dawn Staley sits comfortably in the driver’s seat of one of the most coveted programs in women’s college basketball, the South Carolina men’s program finds itself staring down an eleven-scholarship vacancy with a 13-19 record as its most recent sales pitch. The contrast isn’t just stark — it’s a masterclass in what program-building looks like at its best and worst, playing out simultaneously on the same campus.
The Men’s Program: A Roster That Needs to Be Built From Scratch
Let’s not sugarcoat it. The South Carolina men’s program is not navigating a roster refresh. It is attempting a near-total reconstruction.
After going 12-20 in 2024-25, the Gamecocks improved to a still-deeply-troubling 13-19 this past season — one more win, same fundamental problem. Head coach Lamont Paris received another chance and, reportedly, more financial resources to fix it. So far, the most tangible result of that investment is a single portal commitment: combo guard Kory Mincy, formerly of Presbyterian and George Mason.
Mincy is a genuinely solid addition. Paris’ last two rosters have been chronically short of dependable point-guard play, and a veteran guard who has navigated multiple programs brings a level of experience the Gamecocks have desperately lacked. But let’s be clear about the math: South Carolina still has eleven scholarship spots to fill.
The returning roster is almost alarmingly thin. Graduate Eli Sparkman, sophomores Hayden Assemian and Grant Polk, incoming freshman Marcus Johnson — Meechie Johnson’s cousin — and Mincy. That’s five. Meanwhile, the departures read like a full starting lineup and then some: Jordan Butler, Christ Essandoko, E.J. Walker, Abu Yarmah, Eli Ellis, Cam Scott, and Elijah Strong are all in the portal, with four additional seniors exhausting their eligibility.
The coaching staff has also taken hits. Assistants Eddie Shannon and Will Bailey have departed, leaving a vacancy alongside newly hired Bob Donewald — who comes with credible experience, having spent six years under Chris Beard at three different programs. The infrastructure is being rebuilt simultaneously with the roster, which compounds the difficulty enormously.
Several names have been linked to USC through visits or reported interest, many with Columbia ties or regional connections. But beyond Mincy, nothing has materialized. The portal window being open for over a week with eleven holes to fill should be generating urgency — and it is, even if the public-facing activity has been quiet.
Here’s the sobering reality: South Carolina can’t afford to be picky right now. The program’s immediate need isn’t a true center or a specific offensive archetype. The need is simply players — coachable, defensively willing, Paris-system-compatible bodies who want to be in Columbia. Roster philosophy is a luxury. Right now, this is triage.
The Women’s Program: The Luxury of Patience
Across campus, the situation couldn’t be more different.
With the portal window closing at midnight on April 20, not a single South Carolina women’s player has entered. Zero attrition. Zero chaos. Just a program quietly evaluating which of the nation’s best available players it wants to invite into a dynasty.
Staley has three scholarship spots to work with following the departure of three seniors. She doesn’t have to fill all of them — she has historically preferred carrying slightly under her full allotment — but after a season ravaged by injuries, her calculus may have shifted toward building more depth than usual.
Three high-profile visitors have already made the trip to Columbia. Kymora Johnson, Virginia’s All-ACC point guard, has visited. Jordan Lee, Texas’s sophomore scoring guard whose last game was in the Final Four — same as the Gamecocks — was on campus and was spotted at USC’s baseball game on April 14. And Oliviyah Edwards, the No. 3 recruit in the country who committed to Tennessee before requesting her release after the Lady Vols’ disappointing season, was also present at that same baseball game alongside Staley personally.
The layering here matters. These aren’t courtesy visits or exploratory conversations. These are three legitimate, high-upside prospects who would represent meaningful program additions — and all three have been given the full Staley experience. The baseball game appearance, the personal attention from a Hall of Fame coach, the exposure to the program’s culture — this is deliberate and choreographed recruitment from a staff that knows exactly what it’s doing.
But here’s the part that defines South Carolina’s position most clearly: Staley doesn’t have to take anybody. Three high school players — headlined by consensus top-five recruit Jerzy Robinson — are already committed and on their way. The foundation for next season is structurally sound before a single portal addition is made.
As one observer framed it plainly: “She isn’t desperate in the least. But if somebody wants to come and join USC in its quest for a seventh straight Final Four, she will gladly take a look-see.”
That sentence encapsulates the entire power dynamic. Staley isn’t recruiting from need — she’s recruiting from strength, selecting additions that would elevate an already elite roster rather than filling holes in a broken one.
The Same Institution, Two Completely Different Standings
What makes this story genuinely compelling is that both programs are operating inside the same portal window, at the same school, under the same institutional umbrella — and the experiences are almost unrecognizable from each other.
The women’s program represents what sustained investment, elite development, and winning culture produces: a program so desirable that its coach can afford patience while the nation’s best players audition for three available spots. The men’s program represents what happens when results don’t materialize and roster continuity collapses — a frantic reassembly project with an eleven-scholarship deficit and a sales pitch built on potential rather than proof.
Paris deserves some measure of patience. Rebuilding a program from near-zero is genuinely hard, and the financial commitment from the administration appears to be real. Mincy is a good sign. But the scoreboard doesn’t lie: one more win over two seasons of attempted reconstruction is not a trend in the right direction, and the pressure to fill eleven scholarships with quality players — not just warm bodies — is enormous.
For Staley, the portal window is an opportunity. For Paris, it is a lifeline.
The difference between those two words is the difference between the two programs right now — and closing that gap will require far more than a good portal class.
