Seventh Woods would be USC’s biggest in-state catch yet

Frank Martin has talked about it and had a model to follow.

He’s starting to see results.

Martin is hoping to get a pledge from Columbia’s Seventh Woods on Wednesday, which would be his sixth Top-100 commitment in the past three years and the fourth from a native South Carolinian. Like Dawn Staley did when she took over eight years ago, Martin has started to construct a fence around South Carolina’s borders to keep the local talent home.

He got his first with Sindarius Thornwell, a Lancaster product who attended Oak Hill (Va.) Academy for a year, and added Marcus Stroman and P.J. Dozier. Each of the three were ranked in the Top 95 nationally of their respective classes, with Dozier checking in at No. 37 and as a McDonald’s All-American.

Martin received a verbal commitment from Sedee Keita, the No. 82 prospect in the class, last week. Keita is finishing his prep career in Greenville, but played last year in the Northeast. If Woods commits, he will be the highest-ranked prospect Martin has signed at USC

(No. 35), and will continue the local pipeline.

Martin spoke upon his hiring of his desire to make South Carolina basketball relevant again, and that would start with recruiting. He arrived as some prime national talent was burgeoning in his backyard.

Staley saw that as well. After molding the players she inherited and adding to them from her Northeast recruiting base, the recruiting cycle began targeting Columbia. Stars Asia Dozier, Khadijah Sessions, Aleighsa Welch and Alaina Coates were South Carolina-born, while Tiffany Mitchell and Jatarie White were from Charlotte. Then came the epic recruiting and signing of top national prospect A’ja Wilson, who played her high-school ball within seven miles of Colonial Life Arena.

Each coach understood they weren’t walking into a rosy situation. Years of ignoring a lot of the close-by talent and sour results weren’t going to have many major recruits looking USC’s way. But one player signed, and that led to more, and the Gamecocks are presently stocked with Palmetto State natives, as they should be.

Martin hopes to add one more Wednesday.

This story was originally published November 10, 2015 at 8:30 PM.