South Carolina is the odds-on favorite to win the national championship next season, and the Gamecocks are counting on rising junior Victaria Saxton to be their leader. Who?

Saxton has started just one game in her career, yet she is the lone returning captain. Last season, the leadership fell to seniors Tyasha Harris and Mikiah Herbert Harrigan… and sophomore Victaria Saxton? Harris was the coach on the floor, the calming influence, the steady, encouraging hand. Herbert Harrigan was the emotional fire. They were a perfect balance. And there was Saxton. Don’t forget Victaria.

Who is Victaria Saxton? Her name draws the ire of spell check. Her teammates just call her “V.” She’s 6-2, maybe 6-3 on a good day, undersized for a center on a championship contender. She’s from Rome, Georgia, where she was the 47th-ranked recruit in the 2018, yet somehow she is still forgotten in her own class between sixth-ranked point guard Destanni Henderson and forward Elysa Wesolek, an unranked local kid turned fan favorite.

Ideally, here is where I would share a great anecdote or two about Saxton to illustrate what she means to the Gamecocks. But I don’t have one. She’s quiet and unassuming, at least in front of the media, I know that. Some players who are quiet in interviews are boisterous in team settings (“Mad Kiki” stands out as an example - she has a big, wonderful personality, beloved by teammates, but she always hated doing interviews), but I don’t even know if that applies to Saxton.

Maybe I could find an insightful quote she once gave, something that could summarize Saxton as a player. I think I’ve only talked to her twice, and I got nothing from those conversations, except relative shyness. I know I’ve talked to her, but for the life of me I can’t remember a thing she said. That can happen when you are a role player on a team with big personalities.

So who is she?

Saxton averaged just 10.1 minutes per game as a freshman, but was named to the SEC all-freshman team.

Saxton isn’t a very good free throw shooter, except when she is. She holds the South Carolina freshman record by going 8-8 against Georgia and 5-5 against Arkansas. She was just 23-49 from the line the rest of the season.

Saxton played the entire fourth quarter against Alabama last season because Dawn Staley felt she was a better defender than starter Aliyah Boston (who had 17 points and 12 rebounds through three quarters that night, and, by the way, was the SEC Defensive Player of the Year).

Speaking of, she was never thought of as one of the Gamecocks’ shot blockers, but she finished 11th in the SEC in blocked shots.

Saxton may have never had a single play run for her, but she averaged 5.4 points in just 15.5 minutes last season and shot 57% from the floor, while grabbing 3.9 rebounds and blocking 1.3 shots per game. That is some impressive per minute productivity, yet I doubt anybody ever found themselves saying, “The Gamecocks could really use Saxton right now.”

Saxton had the steal at midcourt that led to the layup at the end of the third quarter against Kentucky that may have been the play of the season. I’ll take it over the Mississippi State fast break in the SEC Championship and I’m ready to fight about it. (TL;DR: it was the topper of the quarter that launched the Gamecocks to #1, and they never looked back).

Saxton has all of one career double-double, but it came in 20 minutes (10 and 10 against Missouri). Shoot, the most she’s ever played was 23 minutes. She did score 19 with 9 boards against Arkansas as a freshman, but everything about Arkansas feels flukey, right?

Saxton isn’t an imposing figure on the court, but she’s deceptively athletic. Remember when she decided to test her sprained ankle by throwing down alley-oop dunks before the Georgia game?

Hidden in there, somewhere, is the key to Victaria Saxton.

It’s an easy trope to fall into: great teams need role players too. The Bulls needed Rodman. The Warriors needed Draymond. But there is also truth to it. Somebody has to play defense, keep her teammates organized, and do the dirty work. Maybe it is even more important on ultra-talented teams: you don’t want Zia Cooke chasing that loose ball and possibly picking up a critical foul, but Saxton can do it. You don’t want Boston risking her fifth foul on a fourth quarter defensive possession, but Saxton can do it.

And chemistry matters. I’ve covered Staley’s entire tenure in Columbia. The teams that have more fun also win more. You need those glue girls, and about all I do know about Victaria Saxton is that she helps her teammates do what they do best while having fun, and that is the definition of a glue girl.

Way back in April, Staley was asked about the leadership void with Harris and Herbert Harrigan gone. She quickly shot back a reminder that Saxton was one of those captains, and the team now belonged to V.

“Victaria was the captain for our team last year,” Staley said, “so she is leading the young group.”

So who is Victaria Saxton? I’m still not sure. But I know she defends and avoids mistakes. I know she rebounds and blocks shots. I know she does the little things. And I know her teammates and coaches trust her. And I know I’m not dumb enough to question them.