Gamecock women’s basketball opens the season Wednesday with the early part of a day-night doubleheader.

1. Point guard

Replacing a four-year starter at point guard is a tall order, but South Carolina has plenty of talent ready to take the reins.

“There are things that they have no idea about because Ty took care of that,” Dawn Staley said.

Staley is taking a group approach to the job. Harris ran the show last season, and in big games that meant heavy minutes. Harris was also a distributor (sometimes too much for Staley’s liking), whereas Henderson and especially Cooke are better scorers.

“They’re very very different from Ty, and we welcome their differences,” Staley said. “We want people to honor them. We want them to be aggressive scoring the basketball, attacking. Don’t try to set up and remember 100 plays and confuse yourself. We want you to be able to recognize when you need to be aggressive and when you need to call the set out.”

Staley said she will probably call more timeouts so she can talk to Henderson and Cooke. Additionally, relieving them of some point guard duties will give them more opportunities to score. That’s why Destiny Littleton and LeLe Grissett have worked at point guard this offseason. Plus, freshman Eniya Russell played point guard in high school, although she has been working mostly off the ball because Staley doesn’t want to overwhelm her.

“We can get somebody to bring the ball up the floor and call a play,” Staley said. It’s a matter of players who can handle that along with their other responsibilities.

Wednesday’s game probably won’t be the best indicator of how solid the point guard position is. What made Harris so good was her ability to control tempo, pick her spots, and make the right plays at the right times, all things that probably won’t matter against the overmatched Cougars. But it’s a start and the best indicator of where the Gamecocks are when they head to South Dakota for the weekend.

2. What is the rotation?

South used the same starting lineup for every game last season, and the rotation was essentially the same all season. There were no games missed to injury - the only absences were from Laeticia Amihere (Team Canada play) and Elysa Wesolek (late exam). In some ways, Staley was lucky because the roster breakdown didn’t give her a lot of options, but also the players all bought into their roles.

Staley wouldn’t reveal the starting lineup, but has decided on her top five. She said there won’t be any surprises, so I would expect Henderson at the point guard, Cooke at shooting guard, Brea Beal at small forward, Amihere at power forward, and Aliyah Boston at center. Although she has mostly played center in her first two seasons, it’s possible Victaria Saxton could start over Amihere since whoever comes off the bench will be the primary backup at power forward and center (similar to Henderson at the guard spots last season). It’s worth noting that both LeLe Girissett and Staley identified Elysa Wesolek as one of the two most improved players on the team, and she should get some minutes as a backup power forward.

3. How good does Amihere look?

We’ve been told several times throughout the summer to expect a breakout season from Amihere. She is said to be fully recovered from the knee injury she suffered her senior year of high school, and Staley said that as a junior Amihere was one of the best players she’d ever seen.

“LA is moving and she’s doing good,” Grissett said. “I can’t describe how good she’s doing. She’s stepping up, she’s taking her time, she’s being patient, she’s doing all the little things.”

Before the injury, Amihere was touted as a player with guard skills in a big’s body. She flashed some signs of that last season, but she mostly dealt with inconsistency. It will be worth tuning in to see just how much Amihere has improved.

4. Cross your fingers

Basketball games have been dropping from the schedule like turkeys from a helicopter. They’re being canceled or postponed faster than I can make note of them. The contact tracing is more punitive in basketball than football due to smaller roster size, which not only prevents a lot of the social distancing measures used in football, but there aren't eight players at every position. It’s happening in men’s and women’s basketball, to big programs and small. The Gamecock men have already replaced one opponent who had to cancel. The Tennessee and Ole Miss men’s teams have canceled multi-team events. The UConn women have canceled their first four games. Mississippi State lost its MTE. Louisville had its season-opener canceled Monday morning, leading to coach Jeff Walz asking on Twitter for anyone who is willing to play to DM him. I don’t think anyone would disagree with his hashtag, #goingtobeonehellofayear.

Teams are doing everything they can within their programs to limit exposure. But ultimately all anyone can do is cross their fingers. It only takes one ignorant person refusing to wear a mask, socially distance, or monitor symptoms to shut down an entire program for two weeks*.

“I’m anticipating it a lot more than I usually do,” Staley said. “We could wake up tomorrow morning and they’re like, oh, the season’s gone.”

*As I'm posting this there are reports the CDC is planning to reduce the quarantine time from 14 days to 7-10 days. Presumably the NCAA would follow this recommendation. We shall see.

5. Scouting the Cougars

College of Charleston went 13-17 last season and 6-12 in the CAA. The Cougars return their leading scorer and rebounder from last season, and both were named preseason second-team All-CAA. 5-11 junior guard Latrice Perkins averaged 13.5 points per game and scored a career-high 29 points last season. 6-1 junior forward Arynn Eady averaged 9.7 rebounds last season and her 290 rebounds are the second-highest season total in school history. Point guard Tyler Collins was named preseason third team All-CAA.

But this game isn’t really about College of Charleston, who should be significantly overmatched. It is a tune-up for South Carolina before the (hopefully) three-game trip to South Dakota. As long as this game is still played, Staley will be happy.

“Tomorrow will be a good opportunity to break the monotony of playing against our practice guys,” she said, adding that although she loves basketball, they’ve been practicing for five months and she doesn’t know how the players have stayed focused.

The Ws

Who: #1 South Carolina vs College of Charleston

When: Noon, Wednesday, November 25

Where: Colonial Life Arena

Watch: SEC Network+

Warning: Due to safety precautions the entire arena will be emptied and sanitized between the women’s game and the men’s game. If you are lucky enough to be able to attend both games, you will still have to leave.