For the second time in three years South Carolina landed the nation’s top-ranked recruiting class. Dawn Staley went inside what it took to get the birdies in the nest in the midst of a pandemic.
The class, comprised of point guard Raven Johnson (#2), guard Saniya Rivers (#3), forward Sania Feagin (#4), and guard Bree Hall (#14), probably won’t top the 2019 class, but it has solidified South Carolina’s place in the national conversation for years to come.
There were the usual, traditional elements to recruiting the class. All four had been to campus, gone to games, and attended camps before the pandemic hit. Rivers was a long-time target. Feagin’s favorite player is A’ja Wilson. Both Hall and Johnson attended the UConn game in February. It was an eye-opening experience for Johnson, who hadn’t been strongly considering South Carolina before that game. Later both families began talking to each other.
“What really has taken us to the next level is when you come into Colonial Life Arena. I think the UConn game was a huge game for us,” Staley said. “It just all fell into place. It’s the culture that we’ve created, our fan base, our following, our culture, and our players that we have here. They only want to win and they welcome other great players. It’s a healthy, competitive environment. I think we’re being repaid for all the nos that we’ve heard over my 21 (year) coaching career.”
In a stroke of luck, the coaching staff visited Bree Hall following the SEC Tournament, right before the shutdown. Then everything shut down, leaving the Gamecocks freshest in Hall’s mind.
“We were questioning whether or not we should go,” Staley said. “It was a little bit of COVID but not a whole lot. We went there and I think that was the impression they needed to take us into where the pandemic took over.”
With the pandemic in full swing, South Carolina’s recruiting efforts took an unorthodox turn. The “For the Culture” documentary was already in the works, the most visible part of Staley’s determination to, in her words, “change the narrative.” It aired May 4th, the first day of a week-long recruiting shutdown. But the documentary kept South Carolina in the minds of recruits and when the shutdown ended the Gamecocks got their first commitment.
“The ‘For the Culture’ documentary was perfect (timing),” Staley said. “They aired that right before a dead period, and after the dead period was when we got one of our first commitments, which was Saniya Rivers.”
Staley believes that the pandemic restrictions actually helped bring the class together. With everyone stuck at home, the coaches were able to establish consistent lines of communication. The recruiting dead period (that is still in place), meant those phone calls and Zoom meetings were the only mode of communication while in-person visits, whether on campus or at games, were off the table.
Johnson kept her recruitment pretty quiet. She didn’t release lists of favorites or tip her hand in other ways, and had Staley under the impression she didn’t care too much for South Carolina. Then, suddenly, both found themselves with nothing but free time.
“I had not talked to Raven consistently prior to April,” Staley said. “I would text her and she would not respond. And then April hit and she was responding and she actually was initiating conversation and she was checking in on me. We did some competitions. She got me in shape because we started doing some burpees. We started out with five and then we added five each day. We got up to 100 and we were doing 100 and then we added push-ups. It was pretty cool that we could lock into something. She loves working out and I had nothing but time, so we did that.”
Johnson continued to follow her own timeline. She was the last of the four to commit to Staley (the “BIG birdie”), and while the other three went public over the course of about a week at the end of May, Johnson waited nearly another month to announce her decision. But behind the scenes Johnson was helping to pull the players and their families together.
“Raven Johnson pretty much took care of that player connection and communication,” Staley said. “Raven Johnson would ask who else we were recruiting. Or she would say, are we recruiting this person, are we recruiting that person. I got a phone call from Bree Hall’s mom asking for Raven’s mom’s number. I really could not give her Raven’s mom’s number, so I had to call Raven’s mom and see if it was okay to give the number. They somehow connected and that’s when the talk really started flowing between parents. When moms feel real comfortable with their daughters, they want to make sure they are linking up with good people and good players.”
After signing the 2019 class, Staley talked about the importance she placed on recruiting the entire family. The parents from that class have formed a bond, and when this year’s group began to do the same thing, she got excited.”
“They’ve got great moms,” Staley said. “We said, make sure that the young ladies that we bring into our program, they have some respect and fear when it comes to their moms. If they have that, then you’ve got a shot at shaping them a little bit and you know you’re not going to have to fight them on every little thing.”
That was when the Gamecocks began to realize they might be able to sign all four players. They weren’t expecting another 2019 class, a generational group of talent that some called the best class ever. But the success with that class, followed by only signing one player, Eniya Russell, last year, gave the Gamecocks the notion that they might get all four.
“When you recruit as long as we’ve recruited, you’re thinking two would be a really good class, two out of the four,” Staley said. “Then you start having these conversations and some of the things they say to you, you’re like, ‘Whoa, we might have a shot to get all of them.’”
Staley offered her breakdown of each of the four signees. She began with Feagin, the 6-3 forward with whom she scheduled weekly phone calls on Monday nights. Feagin is regarded as one of the best athletes in the draft as well as the player with the most potential.
“Sania Feagin, she is super skillful,” Staley said. “She is big, she’s a shot blocker, she can rebound and push the ball down the floor. She can shoot the three. She’s great on the block, she’s got great footwork, great hands. Quiet though. We’ve got to get her talking. She’s shy, but we’ve had that before. She speaks loudly with her play.”
Hall has seen her stock rise tremendously over that past 12-16 months. Her scouting report went from being an active defender (always a sort of back-handed compliment) to possibly the best player in the state of Ohio.
“Bree Hall is an incredible athlete, smart, can shoot it, and for right now her best ability that she brings to the table is her ability to be a defensive stopper,” Staley said. “But she’s got all those other elements. She’s got a quick first step, she’s long, she’s fearless.”
Johnson is the jewel of the class. She has the talent, the focus, and the drive (plus the nickname, “Hollywood”) to be an elite point guard. And Staley should know.
“Raven Johnson, she is going to be an Olympian,” Staley, the Team USA coach, said. “I really believe that. She already has the intangibles. She will tell somebody where they need to be and doesn’t mind imposing her will because she knows she’s right. She sees it all. She’s worked on her game. When I’ve watched Raven play a lot of people played off of her. A lot. But she got in the gym and her three-point shooting is respectable. She can get to the basket, she’s great in pick and roll action. She’s a communicator. She’s selfless but yet there’s a selfish part of her that knows when it’s time for her to take over and shoot the ball and keep people honest.”
Staley later complemented Johnson’s temperament.
“Raven, she’s nice, but she’s got a little bit of nasty in her, which I like,” she said. “That’s probably something that is missing from this particular team so it will be nice to add that to the fold.”
Rivers has been on the Gamecocks’ radar for a long time, and for almost as long she was identified as one of the best players in the class. Staley described Rivers’ game with one word: versatility.
“She can play the one, she can play the two, she can play anywhere on the floor,” Staley said. “Great court vision. Competitive. Can play both sides of the ball. Can shoot Stephen Curry threes. Can get to the basket. Very unselfish.”
Together, Staley described them as “fearless.”
“Probably the four of them are the most fearless young people,” she said. “And we’ve had some fearless ones, especially in 2019 as a class, they’re just unafraid. They know they are going to have to spend two years with the other number one recruiting class and they didn’t shy away from it.”
