The transfer portal has closed, the rosters are set, and the verdict from the two most influential voices in women’s college basketball analysis is unanimous: South Carolina is the team to beat in 2026-27.
This wasn’t the consensus immediately after the national championship game. In the days that followed the final buzzer, the “way too early” rankings positioned UConn, Southern Cal, and Texas ahead of or alongside the Gamecocks. South Carolina was respected, but not feared — largely because the program was staring down the departure of three starters to the WNBA and the uncertainty of what came next. What came next turned out to be one of the most dominant offseasons in the history of the sport.
South Carolina now holds the top spot in The Athletic’s post-portal Top 25 and is the top overall seed in ESPN’s Bracketology. The shift wasn’t subtle — it was a wholesale re-evaluation driven by a combination of what the Gamecocks added, what they retained, and what happened to the programs that were once ahead of them.
The Athletic’s Sabreena Merchant moved South Carolina from fourth to first in her revised rankings, and her reasoning cut to the heart of what makes this roster construction so significant.
“Teams ahead of them either treaded water … or were Texas,” she wrote. “It’s a return to the South Carolina squads of yore with double-digit rotation depth. After a season when coach Dawn Staley had to let her players work through mistakes, she once again has to manage the egos and minutes of a stacked roster. But it’s one that gives the Gamecocks coaching staff plenty of options.”
That framing — a return to South Carolina squads of yore — is meaningful. Last season’s championship run was built on resilience and development. This year’s team is being built on sheer depth and talent accumulation that more closely resembles the dominant rosters that steamrolled opponents in earlier championship cycles.
ESPN’s Charlie Creme was even more direct in his assessment. “The Gamecocks are a significant favorite to win it all,” he wrote — language that goes beyond typical preseason hedging and signals genuine separation between South Carolina and the rest of the field.
Retention First, Addition Second
Before examining what South Carolina added, the retention story deserves its own moment of appreciation. The Gamecocks were one of only two Power Four programs — UCLA being the other — that did not lose a single player to the transfer portal this offseason. In a landscape where roster stability has become one of the most difficult things to maintain, that achievement is foundational to everything else.
You cannot evaluate the additions in isolation. The reason Jordan Lee and Oliviyah Edwards make South Carolina historically dangerous is precisely because they are being added on top of an intact returning core — not plugged into holes left by portal departures.
The Jordan Lee Factor
Lee’s arrival from Texas is the headlining portal move of the entire women’s basketball offseason, and The Athletic’s designation of her as the best transfer pickup in the country reflects the full scope of what this acquisition means.
Last season at Texas, Lee averaged 13.2 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game while shooting 34.8% from three — numbers that made her the Longhorns’ second-leading scorer and a consistent two-way contributor on a program that reached the Final Four. She brings athletic scoring, perimeter defense, and proven experience against elite competition to a South Carolina backcourt that was already formidable.
The zero-sum nature of this transaction also cannot be overstated. The program Lee left — Texas — now has to replace its second-leading scorer while simultaneously rebuilding from one of the most devastating portal exits in recent memory. South Carolina didn’t just get better; it got better at a direct rival’s expense.
The Edwards Effect and a Freshman Class That Keeps Growing
If Lee was the portal centerpiece, Oliviyah Edwards was the recruiting coup that cemented South Carolina’s status as the unanimous No. 1. A consensus top-five prospect who decommitted from Tennessee, Edwards brings significant frontcourt depth and long-term upside to a program that was already deep on the wing and in the post. Her arrival elevated an already highly-regarded freshman class — ranked fourth in the country before she signed — into something considerably more dangerous.
Edwards joins five-star guard Jerzy Robinson, a top-six national prospect, along with Kaeli Wynn and Kelsi Andrews in a freshman class that now represents one of the strongest single-year infusions of incoming talent the program has ever seen.
The Returns That Function Like Additions
Perhaps the most underappreciated dimension of South Carolina’s 2026-27 outlook is what the program is effectively getting back rather than adding new. All-American forward Chloe Kitts returns from the injury that cost her last season, bringing championship-tested versatility back to a frontcourt that won a title without her. Forward Ashlyn Watkins, who also missed last season, is expected to rejoin the program — reintroducing one of the most athletic and impactful defenders in the country to a roster that didn’t need the help but will gladly take it.
These aren’t new additions — they’re proven contributors returning to a program that already won a national championship in their absence. Their presence makes an already elite team deeper, more experienced, and significantly harder to match up against for 40 minutes.
The picture that emerges from all of this isn’t simply a good team entering a new season. It is a program that has systematically addressed every question mark, capitalized on every opportunity the portal and recruiting cycle presented, and done so without sacrificing any of the stability that defines its culture. The national media has noticed. The rest of the sport should take note.
