Monday night’s WNBA Draft at The Shed at Hudson Yards in New York City represents yet another landmark moment for the South Carolina women’s basketball program. Three Gamecocks — Raven Johnson, Ta’Niya Latson, and Madina Okot — will be in attendance as projected first-round picks, and if all three hear their names called in round one, it will be only the third time in program history that Dawn Staley has produced three first-round selections in a single draft.
Before breaking down the individual projections, the broader context demands acknowledgment. South Carolina leads the nation with 12 overall picks and six first-round selections since 2020. At least one Gamecock has been selected in nine of the last 11 WNBA Drafts. Under Staley, three drafts have featured at least three Gamecock selections, including last season’s edition. Three Gamecocks were among the top 10 picks in both 2017 and 2023 — a feat only seven programs have ever accomplished. South Carolina Athletics
That is not coincidence. That is a system — a culture of development that has consistently taken elite recruits and turned them into professionals who are ready to contribute from day one.
Now, three more Gamecocks are ready to take that step.
Raven Johnson — The Winner Who Knows Her Role
Senior Stats: 9.9 points, 5.1 assists, 4.0 rebounds, 1.5 steals
Raven Johnson enters Monday night’s draft as one of the most evaluated and genuinely understood prospects in the class. As a starter, Johnson helped the Gamecocks to three straight Final Fours, including the undefeated 2023-24 national championship. This season she was a finalist for both the Dawn Staley Award and the Nancy Lieberman Award, and ranked fourth nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio. South Carolina Athletics
The analytical case for Johnson rests primarily on defense and winning culture. Johnson played in three consecutive NCAA national championship games with South Carolina, would give any team an elite perimeter defender who can contribute right away, and has improved significantly as a playmaker. CBS Sports Her 6-foot-2 wingspan at 5-foot-9 is a legitimate physical advantage that makes her difficult to shoot over and allows her to guard multiple positions.
The most popular mock draft destinations are Indiana — where she would reunite with former Gamecock Aliyah Boston and where she could provide elite perimeter defense alongside Caitlin Clark — and the two expansion teams, Portland and Toronto, both of which are building rosters around winning culture rather than raw star power.
Mock Draft Range:
The Athletic and ESPN both have Johnson at No. 10 to the Indiana Fever. CBS Sports and SB Nation project her at No. 6 to the Toronto Tempo. The Athletic’s positioning at Indiana connects her to Clark’s backcourt, while Bleacher Report slots her at No. 11 to the Washington Mystics. The range of No. 5 to No. 11 reflects broad consensus that Johnson will go in the first round, with variance driven by which expansion team or lottery team needs her most.
Ta’Niya Latson — The Scorer Who Proved She’s More
Senior Stats: 14.1 points, 3.6 assists, 2.9 rebounds, 1.7 steals
The analytical complexity of Latson’s draft profile is what makes her the most interesting prospect of the three South Carolina players heading into Monday night. Her raw scoring numbers dropped dramatically from Florida State to South Carolina — from 25.2 points per game to 14.1. But the numbers that matter to professional evaluators actually improved.
Under Dawn Staley’s tutelage, Latson increased her field goal percentage to 48.6 percent while significantly cutting down on her turnovers. Latson’s strength will always be her scoring — she can get into the paint and draw fouls at will — and while she’s probably not going to be as prolific of a scorer in the WNBA as she was at Florida State, her shot creation will be invaluable. Swish Appeal
The mock draft range on Latson is the widest of the three Gamecocks, reflecting genuine disagreement about where her skills fit best. USA Today and Tankathon place her as high as No. 7 to Portland, where her scoring ability could be the focal point of a young team building around her. ESPN projects her as low as No. 13 to the Atlanta Dream, where she would complement Angel Reese and Allisha Gray in a deep, veteran lineup. CBS Sports and SB Nation both have her at No. 10 to Indiana.
The most compelling destination case is Golden State, where the Valkyries need shooting and creation off the bounce — and where Latson’s ability to get to her spots in transition perfectly matches coach Natalie Nakase’s offensive philosophy. The Athletic and Bleacher Report both project her to Golden State at No. 8.
Mock Draft Range: No. 7 (Portland) to No. 13 (Atlanta Dream), with the heaviest concentration around picks 7-10.
Madina Okot — The Ceiling Pick Who Has Only Scratched the Surface
Senior Stats: 12.8 points, 10.6 rebounds, 1.4 blocks, 1.0 assists
No player in this draft class carries more pure developmental intrigue than Madina Okot. She began playing organized basketball in 2020 in Kenya. She arrived at South Carolina after two seasons at Zetech University and one at Mississippi State. Her entire NCAA career spans two seasons. And yet she averaged 12.8 points, 10.6 rebounds, 1.3 steals and 1.4 blocks for the national runner-up Gamecocks, ranked tied for third in the nation in double-doubles, and was a finalist for the Lisa Leslie Award as the nation’s top center. ESPN
The detail that has most impressed evaluators is something that barely existed a year ago: her three-point shot. Okot had never attempted a three-pointer in NCAA play before this season and made 44.8 percent of her 29 attempts at South Carolina. A 6-foot-6 center who can step out and punish teams from the perimeter fundamentally changes how she must be defended — and that development, at this stage of her career, is precisely the kind of growth trajectory that keeps general managers up at night trying to decide whether to take the shot.
Finishing her collegiate career at a program that regularly churns out WNBA talent could only have done her good. The Connecticut Sun are firmly in the phase of acquiring young talent and seeing what sticks, so they can afford to take a swing on Okot at the end of the first round. Swish Appeal
The Atlanta connection is equally logical. With Brittney Griner having departed for Connecticut in free agency, the Dream have a genuine need for a physical center who can anchor the paint. Okot’s size, rebounding, and developing perimeter game make her a natural fit in Atlanta’s system. CBS Sports, Sports Illustrated, and USA Today all project the Dream selecting her at No. 13.
Mock Draft Range: No. 10 (Indiana) to No. 15 (Connecticut), with the heaviest consensus around picks 13-15.
The Historical Weight of Monday Night
If Johnson, Latson, and Okot are all selected in the first round, the Gamecocks will have accomplished something that only their own 2017 and 2023 classes have done — sending three players in the first round of a single WNBA Draft. The Gamecocks did so in both 2017 and 2023, after winning the national championship. Garnet and Cocky
This 2026 class did not win the championship — they fell to UCLA in the title game — but the depth of professional talent they are sending to the league makes its own kind of statement. South Carolina is not just producing champions. It is producing professionals, year after year, at a rate no program in the country can match.
Raven Johnson brings the defensive tenacity and winning DNA of a five-time Final Four participant. Ta’Niya Latson brings the scoring brilliance of the nation’s former leading scorer, now sharpened by a year in the most demanding system in women’s college basketball. Madina Okot brings one of the most compelling development stories any draft has seen in recent memory — a player who started playing basketball six years ago and is about to be selected in the first round of the most prestigious women’s basketball draft on the planet.
Dawn Staley has been building toward Monday nights like this one for nearly two decades. The program has produced consistent WNBA draft picks throughout her tenure, turning South Carolina into one of the premier destinations for players with professional aspirations. South Carolina Athletics
Tonight, three more Gamecocks prove it all over again.
