The offseason is barely underway, but inside the South Carolina basketball facility, the work has already resumed. Gamecocks guards Tessa Johnson, Maddy McDaniel, Agot Makeer, and Ayla McDowell were spotted back in the gym — and what they were specifically working on is worth paying close attention to.
The report is simple but telling: guards getting up threes.
Who’s in the Gym and Why It Matters
The four guards putting in offseason work represent the backbone of South Carolina’s returning backcourt. Let’s break down what each player brings to this conversation:
Tessa Johnson is the most experienced of the group — a physical, versatile guard who has played meaningful minutes in high-stakes games. Her ability to stretch the floor with a consistent three-point shot would make her exponentially harder to guard next season.
Maddy McDaniel is widely considered the heir apparent to Raven Johnson at the point guard position — arguably the most important developmental story on the entire roster. McDaniel handling the ball and also putting up threes in the offseason suggests she’s expanding her offensive toolkit beyond pure facilitation. A point guard who can shoot off screens and spot up from three changes the entire geometry of Staley’s offense.
Agot Makeer is a long, physical guard whose off-ball game could take a significant leap if her three-point shooting becomes reliable. Length combined with shooting range is one of the most difficult matchup problems in women’s basketball.
Ayla McDowell rounds out a backcourt that, collectively, plays more off the ball than on it — which makes perimeter shooting development not just valuable, but essential to their individual and collective growth.
What the Three-Point Focus Actually Signals
This isn’t random offseason activity. Guards voluntarily getting up threes in the early offseason — before summer workouts officially intensify — points to at least two deliberate strategic realities.
First, it’s about accuracy and consistency. The three-point shot in women’s college basketball has become an increasingly decisive weapon, and South Carolina’s perimeter shooting was an area that opposing defenses were willing to concede at times last season. If this group emerges in November as a credible three-point shooting backcourt, it fundamentally changes how defenses can approach the Gamecocks. Help defense becomes riskier. Closeouts become mandatory. Driving lanes open up. The entire offensive ecosystem improves when perimeter shooting is a genuine threat rather than an afterthought.
Second, it speaks to role preparation. With the possibility of high-profile portal additions — Kymora Johnson, Jordan Lee, or others — the returning guards may be sharpening the specific skills that will define their roles in a potentially deeper, more talent-loaded rotation. If a dynamic ball-dominant guard arrives in Columbia, Tessa Johnson, McDaniel, Makeer, and McDowell need to be ready to function as efficient off-ball weapons. Three-point shooting is the foundational skill for that transition.
The Larger Statement: Culture Doesn’t Wait for the Calendar
Perhaps the most important thing about this report isn’t what they’re working on — it’s that they’re working at all, this early, this deliberately.
South Carolina just came off a national championship game appearance. The portal is open. Recruiting visits are happening. The offseason noise is at maximum volume. And four guards are quietly in the gym, putting up threes.
That voluntary commitment — the kind that doesn’t show up in box scores or recruiting rankings — is precisely the culture that Dawn Staley has built and sustained through multiple championship runs. Nobody told these players to be there. Nobody was grading the workout. They showed up because that’s what Gamecocks do in the offseason.
Next November, when South Carolina’s backcourt starts knocking down threes against Maryland in Paris or UConn in Connecticut, remember that it started in a gym in Columbia in April — when most of the country was still talking about the season that just ended, and the Gamecocks were already building the next one.
The work never stops in Columbia. This is just the latest proof.
