South Carolina will hold its first practice of the 2021-22 season Wednesday. Dawn Staley will address the media after practice, but before that we’ll look at the questions South Carolina will try to answer over the next 42 days.
1. What is the rotation?
I’m going to keep focusing on this. South Carolina can legitimately expect another Final Four appearance this season, but the one thing I can see derailing the season is failing to figure out the rotation. There probably isn’t a more talented team in the country one through 16, but the fact of the matter is that you can’t really go more than 10 deep. South Carolina’s schedule doesn’t do any favors in this area either: the Gamecocks come out of the gate with some huge games, and the only cupcake games (when everybody can get plenty of court time) are midway through the nonconference slate. Dawn Staley is probably going to lean on experience during those challenging first few weeks.
During the 2018-19 season, Dawn Staley tried adjusting the rotation game-by-game, based on matchups and who had practiced well. It was a mess. In a perfect world, while Staley would still tinker with matchups now and then, there would be an established rotation.
2. Is LeLe Grissett at full strength?
To recap: Grissett suffered an undisclosed, non-contact foot injury in the SEC Tournament championship game and missed the NCAA Tournament. Grissett has been participating in offseason workouts and there are no indications she won’t be ready to play, but it is fair to wonder if she will be back to 100% (including conditioning) by November 9. If she isn’t, there are a bunch of talented players waiting to steal her minutes.
3. Will Aliyah Boston continue to be dominant?
It’s easy to forget now that there were a number of times last season when Aliyah Boston had quiet stretches (at least by her lofty standards). It was a two game stretch during the last week of the season when she scored just 11 total points that probably cost her a chance at being named SEC Player of the Year. Sometimes her teammates forgot about her, and sometimes Boston was simply too nice, deferring to teammates.
It was a learning season for Boston and the lightbulb came on in the postseason, when Boston was named SEC Tournament MVP and NCAA Hemisfair All-Region, as well as being named the national Player of the Year by The Athletic. There was no deferring, no settling for double teams.
“The coaches have really talked to me about that over the season,” Boston said during the SEC Tournament, “just continuing to be dominant.”
That was the same Boston that played for Team USA in the AmeriCup Tournament. Will she be that player all season? South Carolina will win plenty of games this season, but it will also lose a few without dominant Boston (not to mention the individual awards she could miss out on).
4. Will this be Laeticia Amihere’s breakout season?
For two seasons, Amihere has been more potential than production. But, like Boston, she seemed to find her groove in San Antonio, where she was named to the all-region team. Amihere averaged 10.0 points and 7.6 rebounds and set a school record for blocks in a tournament game with nine against Texas.
But Amihere’s real breakthrough came over the summer with the Canadian national team. She became the leader on the AmeriCup team and then was named to the Olympic team, where Amihere was Canada’s youngest rotation player.
Amihere enters this season in the best physical condition of her career, fully recovered from past injuries, and she should have more confidence than ever before. Will this be her year?
5. Will all 16 players make it to the start of the season?
I don’t expect anyone to leave. I think if anyone wanted to transfer, she would have already done it (for one thing, there aren’t a lot of good landing spots left). But as Staley said last summer, it’s an “innocent time of year” when playing time isn’t an issue. In all likelihood there will be some tough conversations with players who won’t be playing as much as they want. Could one of those players decide the grass is greener somewhere else? It’s possible.
