The confetti from April’s NCAA Championship game has long settled — but not in Columbia. While most college basketball programs are coasting through the post-season lull of late spring, two South Carolina Gamecocks have refused to let the sting of that 79-51 title game loss to UCLA fade quietly into the offseason. Ayla McDowell and Agot Makeer are back in the gym. The lab is open, and they are grinding.
Two Sophomores With a Point to Prove
The footage circulating from their recent workouts, captured by sweatelite on X, tells a story that words almost don’t need to. McDowell and Makeer — two rising sophomores who each flashed genuine promise in their debut seasons — are in the gym relentlessly shooting threes and working through point guard responsibilities. With spring exams wrapping up Wednesday and the program not due back for mandatory summer workouts until late June when Summer II classes begin, this is entirely voluntary. No one told them to be there. They chose it.
That distinction matters enormously.
McDowell finished her freshman season averaging 4.2 points per game on 36.3% shooting from three — a player who does a lot of things well, like shoot, rebound, and defend, but who fell out of the rotation in SEC play and hasn’t yet found the one elite skill that separates her at this level. The film sessions and three-point repetitions happening right now are her direct response to that reality. She has the range — the consistency is what she’s chasing, and you don’t find it sitting at home in May.
Makeer’s freshman line was more established — 7.2 points, 3.4 rebounds, 1.4 assists, and 1.1 steals per game — with her profile rising sharply during a brilliant NCAA Tournament run. The Canadian wing who Dawn Staley once described as having “an unlimited ceiling” appears to be fully committed to raising that ceiling as aggressively as possible this offseason.
Stepping Into a Leadership Void
Beyond the personal development angle, there is a structural reality driving what McDowell and Makeer are working toward: the point guard position is wide open, and it is the most critical position in Dawn Staley’s entire system.
Raven Johnson was a three-year starter at point guard for the Gamecocks. Her offense was inconsistent across her career, but her defense and leadership were constants. Point guard is the most important position on a Dawn Staley team, and Johnson leaves a significant void heading into 2026-27. She is now the 10th overall pick in the WNBA Draft, lining up for the Indiana Fever. The baton must be passed.
Maddy McDaniel is the presumed starter at the position for next season — a player who can get to the rim, draws fouls, plays solid defense, and rarely turns the ball over, but who has never run the team full-time, and whose three-point shooting needs improvement. That creates room for both McDowell and Makeer to develop secondary point guard capabilities — the ability to step in, direct the offense, and relieve pressure when needed — which explains exactly what the two are drilling in the gym right now.
Ashlyn Watkins: Almost There
The other major update circulating around the program involves the long-anticipated return of Ashlyn Watkins. The short answer is: she’s back in the building, but not yet officially back on the team.
Watkins voluntarily took the 2025-26 season off to focus on personal growth, community, faith, and family — and to recover from an ACL injury she suffered in January 2025 against Mississippi State. She announced plans to return to the Gamecocks for the 2026-27 season, writing: “I’m so grateful for my coaches, the USC medical team, my teammates, and everyone who’s supported me along the way. For now, I’ll be cheering on my team and working hard to come back even stronger in the 2026-27 season.”
Dawn Staley spoke confidently about her return during the season, saying simply: “Ashlyn took a year off. She will come back when that year is up. That’s sometime in May.”
That moment has arrived — and while Watkins hasn’t officially re-enrolled, she is already working out with strength and conditioning coach Molly Binetti. It is, by all accounts, a technicality rather than a genuine uncertainty. The re-enrollment paperwork is the formality; the commitment and the physical presence are already there.
Before her injury, Watkins was averaging 7.2 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks per game — numbers that signal the kind of defensive and rebounding force that transforms a frontcourt. Getting her back, alongside the anticipated return of Chloe Kitts, gives South Carolina a physically dominant frontcourt rotation that simply didn’t exist this past season.
What This All Means for 2026-27
The bigger picture here is a program that lost the national championship game by 28 points and responded not with excuses, but with urgency. Players don’t have to be in the gym right now. Summer workouts don’t officially start until late June. And yet, McDowell and Makeer are already in there — shooting threes, running point guard drills, and refusing to let the UCLA loss define what comes next.
Staley’s own words after the title game said it plainly: “We just have to keep getting here and make adjustments when we don’t win. Obviously we got smacked today. We got to figure out how we smack back and put ourselves in the position where we’re hoisting the trophy at the end of the day.”
The players heard her. The lab is open. The work has already started.
