Just kind of looking at things by position - I'm just going to list option that seems plausible. Probably am leaving some off, but on the same hand there are some players listed at positions they likely won't play a minute next year.
Point Guard - Destanni Henderson, Sr.
Raven Johnson, Fr.
Zia Cooke, Jr.
Destiny Littleton, Sr.
LeLe Grissette, Sr.
I think Henderson had an excellent first season as a starter. I think she deserved All SEC honors, but she can stand to cut down on the turnovers.
South Carolina really didn't have a back up PG last season at various points going with Cooke, Littleton, and even Grissette. None of those really worked that well.
Enter Raven Johnson, who is expected to get the backup minutes immediately. I've seen some folks suggest that Raven could play some point with Henderson moving off the ball at times, but I think it might be equally likely that you see Johnson get some playing time off the ball if she proves to be a reliable shooter.
I think having a backup here is a significant upgrade over last season if Johnson is as effective as expected.
Guard: Zia Cooke, Jr.
Destiny Littleton, Sr.
Saniya Rivers,Fr.
LeLe Grissette, Sr.
Eniya Russell, So.
Raven Johnson, Fr.
Olivia Thompson, Jr.
Bree Hall? Fr.
Zia Cooke earned second team All SEC Honors and lead the team in scoring last season. A somewhat up and down effort saw her shooting about 39% on threes and twos. She has often drawn criticism for shot selection but had cleaned that up by the postseason and had a great run there including an epic performance in the Final Four.
As with point guard, there was not a lot of effective depth behind her at the position.
Freshmen Raven Johnson, Saniya Rivers, and perhaps Bree Hall could all get a crack at playing time here. I thought Eniya Russell looked like a gamer in limited minutes, but for the most part she was consigned to garbage kind. It would be interesting to see if she can work her way into the conversation here, but it is going to be difficult.
Destiny Littleton got herself some minutes here and at the point and was seemingly more effective in the second half of season (perhaps farther removed from her double ankle surgery) but it was a mild surprise to me that she elected to come back.
It feels like there are two possible options to making a big upgrade to the depth here in Johnson and Rivers. Either could force themselves into starter minutes in a three guard look.
Wing: Brea Beal, Jr.
LeLe Grissette, Sr.
Saniya Rivers, Fr.
Bree Hall, Fr.
Laeticia Amihere, Jr.
Sania Feagin, Fr.
As in 2019-2020, Brea Beal pretty much held down this position from start to finish and turned in strong defense with limited offense. I was disappointed to see her continue to look uncomfortable at the three point line -- this really does need to be her primary focus in the offseason.
LeLe Grissette was her primary backup and did LeLe things. Active defending, running the floor, a little more aggressive (and effective) offensively to the hoop, but despite the 1 three pointer not a threat out there. I probably came to favor LeLe's minutes there, but they brought something similar to the table.
While Staley is very deferential to incumbent starters this position would seem ripe for some freshmen to slip in. Rivers or I guess Hall could get breakout minutes here and Raven's minutes could effect the position.
The other option would be going big with probably Amihere playing 3 (I doubt this happens with Feagin as a freshman, but it is possible). This is worth exploring and I'm sure we will see some of it, but in the end I'm not sure I see that being crunch time.
Forward - Victaria Saxton, Sr.
Laeticia Amihere, Jr.
Aliyah Boston, Jr.
Sania Feagin, Fr.
Brea Beal, Jr.
LeLe Grissette, Sr.
Elysa Wesolek, Sr.
This was the second problem spot position for South Carolina, I thought.
Saxton is steady and dependable most nights, but did not add much of a face up game this past season, which I thought was something that could really help her. She had 0 points and 1 rebound in 30 minutes vs Stanford and could not defend Haley Jones.
Amihere is big and quick and occasionally very productive. It's easy to see why folks can see stardom for her and she did not shrink from the moment in NCAA games. I'm a skeptic. To me she looks out of synch with what is going on and isn't always making the right decisions. If it clicks for her, then she can be the dominant scoring interior player on a team with three or four WNBA players.
The addition of Cardoso makes Boston an option at forward in twin towers looks. Boston probably has a batter face up jumper than either Wilson or Coates at the same point, but I'm not sure it plays exactly to her strength. However, she's a unselfish player and willing passer and it could be a deadly feeding to Cardoso and vice versa.
I had Feagin down as likely to make a serious impact, but man it's going to be tough to break in. She's going to be a great player.
The final option here is Beal and/or Grissette to match up with small lineups. The Grissette injury impacted depth to where that was not an option in the NCAA tournament and Stanford probably beat South Carolina on Haley Jones exploring that matchup. The depth additions should permit South Carolina to get small if it wants or needs to.
Post: Aliyah Boston, Jr.
Kamilla Cardoso, So.
Laeticia Amihere, Jr.
Victaria Saxton, Sr.
Sania Feagin, Fr.
Aliyah Boston was first team All America this past season and that was largely based on her defensive presence. She added a few wrinkles to her post game inside but is not a completed project there. Her face up jumper as mentioned above has become more consistent, though some would argue perhaps she floats a little too much. Foul trouble is constantly a discussion with her though it's been relatively rare that it has actually been an issue.
Cardoso comes in as ACC Freshman of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year. I've watched several of her ACC condensed game, but I'm not going to pretend to understand exactly where she is. I will say that in the games I've watched Syracuse didn't seem to run a lot of successful post ups for her. A lot of three point bombing from that team and I think Dawn and staff are really going to do some good things for her. I don't know exactly how this is going to play out, but I suspect she starts out as a very overqualified backup. Which eliminated the issues of foul trouble and fatigue for Boston. She seems as though she was a more effective player at Syracuse than Saxton and Amihere were last season, so that seems like South Carolina is upgrading some minutes.
Amihere at center works and is an advantage more off the dribble and perhaps with the face up.
I think a lot of teams would probably start Feagin and she's well down the list here. This is the one player that might have some playing time issues that I would hate to lose after her freshman season. Because she's going to be very good.
